Urban Vagabond: Reload

The cool early-spring weather of March.

The moment we stepped out of the airport, palm trees and a cloudless, clear sky welcomed the tourists.

A huge crowd arrived on Jeju Island, but among them, there was one group that stood out.

“Shin Kangheon the Orange! Descending now to take over Jeju Island—!”

Shin Kangheon—his hair dyed orange—threw both arms up toward the sky and shouted.

His loud Hawaiian shirt couldn’t hide his thick muscles, and his jeans looked like they might burst from his massive thighs.

With sunglasses on top of that, he looked like a foreigner visiting Jeju Island for the first time.

“Ugh. That attention freak is embarrassing anywhere you put him.”

Kim Bokja came out of the airport keeping her distance from Shin Kangheon.

She wore a black one-piece dress and a wide-brimmed black floppy hat.

Like Shin Kangheon, she had sunglasses on, and with her model-slim body and red hair spilling down her back, she looked like a celebrity.

“......Is that person some kind of idol?”

“The guy looks like an athlete.”

“Huh? I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere...... aren’t they martial artists?”

Their entrance naturally drew attention.

Even while pretending not to care, Kim Bokja seemed to secretly enjoy it, lifting her chin slightly.

PYAAK!

At that moment, Apricot peeked its head out of Kim Bokja’s shoulder bag and looked around, whipping its gaze back and forth.

But with so many people around, it got scared and immediately shoved its body back inside.

“It’s fine. People can’t see you right now.”

PYAAK......

Only after Bokja whispered and stroked its head did Apricot poke its head back out and bask in the sunlight.

Last, Kim Muhyuk came out pushing a luggage cart piled high with everyone’s suitcases.

He’d lost rock-paper-scissors.

Seeing how excited the two of them were, Kim Muhyuk chuckled.

“You’re not kids—why are you so hyped?”

Unlike those two, who had dressed like tourists on purpose, Kim Muhyuk only had sunglasses on, wearing a simple blue hoodie and white shorts.

But his proportions were so good he still looked like a model.

Kim Muhyuk glanced at the sword case on the cart.

‘Getting the license makes moments like this nice.’

In my previous life, when I was a wandering martial artist, I had to go through annoying procedures to check weapons as baggage, or I had to procure weapons on-site each time.

But now that I’d obtained a pinnacle-expert license, Shin Kangheon and I could pass through the martial-artist-only gate and board easily.

“Mwahahaha! Wait for me, martial artists of Jeju Island! I’ll make all of you kneel before Lord Shin Kangheon!”

As if Shin Kangheon’s over-the-top energy was too much to deal with, Kim Bokja slowly backed away and whispered to Kim Muhyuk.

“Should we just leave him here and go on ahead without him?”

“That lunatic—this is probably his first time traveling with friends.”

“What? No way.......”

Kim Muhyuk stared at Kim Bokja with a look that said, Really? and asked,

“Isn’t it your first time too?”

“W-Wh-What? No it’s not! What, you think I don’t have a single friend besides you guys?”

At her reaction—more flustered than he’d expected—Kim Muhyuk shrugged.

“If not, then fine. It’s my first time, so I figured it was yours too.”

“.......”

“Anyway, since we’re here, let’s enjoy it to the fullest.”

After lightly patting Kim Bokja’s shoulder while she was momentarily speechless, Kim Muhyuk walked over to Shin Kangheon and smacked the back of his head.

“Gah! What the hell is your problem now?”

“Tone it down. Don’t you know you’re causing trouble for other people when a gorilla-sized guy is doing this?”

“What kind of bullshit is that. Where else do you find someone who looks as harmless as me. Excuse me, could I get a photo with you—why are you running away?”

Only then did Shin Kangheon realize no one was even stepping within ten meters of him, and he panicked.

Seeing that, Kim Bokja burst out laughing.

‘They’re both excited, excited.’

I wasn’t as hyped as those two, but a smile still rose to my lips.

I couldn’t even remember the last time I traveled.

In my previous life, I was so obsessed with martial arts that I could count on one hand the times I’d gone out to have fun, and even when I went overseas, it was only for work.

‘After regressing, I was always busy.’

This Jeju Island trip’s main purpose was to find Phantom Dream, but I planned to enjoy some sightseeing while I was at it.

Looking up at the sunlit sky, I said with a relaxed face,

“Nice weather~.”

After Jeju Island became safe, I swore I’d definitely come here again with my parents and my master.

At that moment, Kim Bokja called to us.

“Hey, come over here for a second!”

Even though she’d just been embarrassed about getting caught for it being her first trip with friends, Kim Bokja decided that since things were already like this, she was going to do everything she’d wanted to do.

“Here, look at the mirror. We’re taking a commemorative photo.”

With palm trees behind us, the three of us posed in front of a full-length mirror.

“Hrrrrng!”

Shin Kangheon struck a pose, squeezing his huge biceps as hard as he could, while Kim Muhyuk kept both hands in his pockets and lifted just one corner of his mouth.

“Okay, I’m taking it?”

Kim Bokja stood between us, crossed her legs into an X, and held up her smartphone.

Apricot—after briefly releasing the invisibility spell—hopped up onto her shoulder.

PYAAK!

Only after taking dozens of photos, changing our poses little by little, did Kim Bokja finally get one she was satisfied with.

Looking at the pretty great commemorative shot, Kim Muhyuk said,

“Later, let’s print this and hang it framed in the crew office.”

“Won’t Hwang Suksu and your teacher feel left out?”

“Then we’ll take more. With everyone, and in pairs or trios too. We’ll fill the office wall with crew photos.”

As they heard my plans, Shin Kangheon and Kim Bokja couldn’t hold back the smiles that kept trying to leak out.

For the two of them—who’d never really had an ordinary family and friends—what I was saying felt like something that tickled their hearts.

“Ugh, cringe...... why go that far?”

“Can I bring the awards I got from competitions and decorate it with those too?”

“You know I’ve got way more awards than you, you freak.”

“Ahh! You little bastard, you always have to ruin it!”

A trip starting with good weather and good moods.

We took a bus near the airport and headed to the rental car company.

We loaded all the luggage into a mid-sized SUV with a sunroof, and Kim Bokja—the only one of us with a driver’s license—sat in the driver’s seat.

“......You actually know how to drive, right?”

The two men stared at Kim Bokja suspiciously as she gripped the steering wheel with both hands, tense.

Just last night, she’d been banging her chest, bragging that we should leave the driving to her.

Unfortunately, Shin Kangheon didn’t have a license, and I was confident in driving, but after regressing, I’d been too busy to get one.

“I told you I can. I got my license last year, I remember everything. B-But how do I move the seat? Oh, got it!”

But when she pulled the seat so far forward her body looked like it was almost touching the steering wheel, both men’s expressions turned uneasy.

“Be honest. How much have you driven since you got your license?”

When Kim Muhyuk narrowed his eyes and pressed her from the passenger seat, Kim Bokja confidently held up one finger.

From the back seat, Shin Kangheon asked with an even more anxious face,

“Th-That means a month, right? Not a week, right? If you’ve got any conscience, it won’t be once......”

With help from Kim Muhyuk, Kim Bokja finally adjusted the seat position properly, then confidently turned on the engine and said,

“What are you talking about? This is my first time since I got my license.”

“......Hey, that’s a little.”

“I’m getting out! Someone has to live so they can say Kim Bokja was the culprit!”

But before Shin Kangheon could throw a fit, open the door, and get out, Kim Bokja released the brake and stepped on the gas at the same time.

VROOOOM!

“Waaahhh!”

“Easy! Step on it easy!”

With the two men’s screams, our first drive in Jeju began.

Thankfully, Kim Bokja had good instincts for driving.

With Kim Muhyuk’s desperate crash-course tutoring from the passenger seat, she somehow started adapting to the road little by little.

“Phew.......”

I let out a relieved sigh and leaned back into the seat, then chuckled.

Honestly, for martial arts masters, a car accident wasn’t that scary.

The reason Shin Kangheon and I had made such a fuss was closer to a prank to tease Kim Bokja.

“Driving’s easy as hell. Should I try the highway too?”

“......There’s no highway in Jeju.”

“Please calm down, you crazy bitch.......”

“You guys got scared just now, didn’t you? I’m just saying!”

Giggling, Kim Bokja held the wheel much more comfortably now.

With the sunroof open and the windows down, the three of us enjoyed the cool Jeju Island breeze of early spring.

I closed my eyes for a moment and enjoyed the sensation, then slightly opened them at a familiar smell riding in on the wind.

“......I didn’t expect to smell it already.”

“Smell? What smell?”

“Isn’t it Shin Kangheon’s body odor?”

“Ah, quit your bullshit!”

Even though we hadn’t gotten far from the airport, an unpleasant smell had spread faintly.

To me, it was a familiar scent of blood that brought back a few memories from my previous life.

*****

Since we’d arrived early on Jeju Island, the three of us first enjoyed sightseeing to our hearts’ content.

Shin Kangheon ate everything he saw—black pork skewers, hot bars, hallabong oranges—like some kind of YouTube mukbang channel had nothing on him.

“Are you a pig? It hasn’t even been an hour since lunch. How does that fit?”

“Munch munch. Want one too?”

Kim Bokja cleaned out souvenir shops. Tangerine chocolates, hallabong jam, handkerchiefs—she even bought three tangerine-shaped hats and forcibly put them on Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon.

“Hey, wearing this makes us look stupid!”

“Tsk! Hold still. I need it on camera.”

Unlike those two, who were absorbed in eating and shopping, Kim Muhyuk walked slowly through Jeju’s natural attractions with his hands behind his back, appreciating the scenery.

“Nice view~.”

“Wow, you’re such an old man......”

“My uncle doesn’t even act like that.”

PYAAAK!

Apricot seemed excited by the outside air too, and settled on top of Shin Kangheon’s head—the tallest of the three—enjoying sunbathing.

Like that, the three of us spent almost the entire day touring sights until the sun went down.

As we went around here and there, people sometimes recognized me and Shin Kangheon and approached to talk.

“Are you Kim Muhyuk, the martial artist?”

“Th-That’s Shin Kangheon.......”

“I saw the license exam video! Seeing you in person, you’re both really huge!”

Meanwhile, men who came over to try to talk to Kim Bokja took one look at the two men flanking her and quietly backed away.

“Could I get your number—ah, never mind.”

After we spent the whole day going around Jeju Island like that—

Only late at night did we arrive at the pension we’d reserved and unpack our bags.

“Haa—pretty tired.”

“You had a hard time driving, so go in first. We’ll unload the luggage.”

Kim Bokja didn’t refuse the offer to rest first and hurried into the room, while Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon started taking luggage out of the trunk.

We’d deliberately rented a private standalone pension with a wide yard and a quiet-looking area around it.

It was great for having a barbecue party at night, and also perfect for waking up early to train martial arts in the morning.

The best part was that there weren’t many people around, so even if there was a decent amount of noise—or a knife fight broke out—we could handle it quietly.

“It was worth walking around so much. Looks like something bit, at least.”

With a small chuckle, Kim Muhyuk took the sword case out of the trunk.

Then he casually started the car again.

“Yaaawn. I don’t know what kind of idiots they are, but...... let’s finish this quick and get some sleep.”

Shin Kangheon yawned until his mouth was about to split as he opened a saber case as big as a guitar bag.

He didn’t look tense at all.

At that moment, the killing intent that had been tickling my skin from outside the pension grew thicker.