Urban Vagabond: Reload

It didn’t take long for us to clean up the Black Crow Gang.

“Heh-heh-heh—.”

“Let’s play! Play with me!”

Dozens of men ran around the front yard in giddy circles, like dogs let off their leash.

The Black Crow Gang boss was among them—despite having just been stripped of everything he owned by Kim Muhyuk.

The ones with broken arms and legs were sprawled wherever they’d fallen, wobbling and laughing.

It looked like they’d gotten collectively high on something, but the truth was they’d gotten hit by Kim Bokja’s spell.

“How long are they going to be like that?”

“If nobody wakes them up... about three days?”

At the explanation that they’d be living for days with brains as pure and blank as white paper, I nodded.

That was plenty of time to get the full picture and recover Phantom Dream.

“First, let’s collect the gift the Black Crow Gang boss gave us as an apology.”

“So this is all a perfectly legitimate settlement, right?”

Kim Bokja’s eyes sparkled like jewels as she pictured the nice little side income.

The three of us stuffed the van’s trunk and backseat to the brim with cash and stolen goods we’d picked up from the Black Crow Gang.

Then, as if it had only just occurred to him, Shin Kangheon asked,

“But can you even bring this stuff on a plane?”

“Of course not. You leave it with a place that launders it. They’ll dispose of it and wire it to your account afterward.”

“The cut they skim in the middle is pretty brutal, though. Another way is to rent a warehouse, stash it, and move it slowly.”

Kim Bokja and I talked about fencing stolen goods like seasoned professionals.

Shin Kangheon stared at the two of us with a face that said Is this really okay, then muttered,

“Am I seriously allowed to be walking around with people like this...?”

Ever since he started running with us, there were moments when he got genuinely confused about whether he was orthodox or unorthodox.

But the conclusion he reached every time was always the same.

Beat the bad bastards down, and that’s orthodox—that’s a heroic swordsman!

After we finished loading everything, I naturally moved to get into the driver’s seat, and Kim Bokja hurriedly blocked me.

“Kim Muhyuk, you are not touching the wheel! I’m driving us back!”

“Night driving’s dangerous.”

“Like you’re not more dangerous than night driving!”

I let her have it.

It was her first time driving at night, but Kim Bokja’s focus and survival instinct kicked in hard, and she got us back to the pension safely.

“Haaa... I can’t believe we made it back in one piece...”

“Honestly, I was a hundred times more terrified when you guys were driving than when we were fighting at the Black Crow Gang.”

By the time we returned to the lodging, it was well past midnight.

But none of us looked tired or sleepy.

There hadn’t been anything worth calling a fight at the Black Crow Gang. If anything, it was more like we’d gone out to loosen our bodies up.

The three of us stared at each other with wide-awake eyes—and spoke at the same time.

“...Aren’t you hungry?”

“Want to grill some meat?”

“It’s the first night—we’ve gotta crack open some drinks.”

We were barely in our early twenties. We had stamina to burn, and nights on a trip were short.

CHIIIIIISS-

Meat sizzled on the grill, while on the other side a meal-kit stew—spicy sausage-and-ham stew—started to bubble and boil, throwing off a smell that was impossible to resist.

Like three people who never lost to anyone in appetite, we had an obscene amount of food laid out in no time.

“Thanks for the food—!”

Starving, we dug in like it was war.

Shin Kangheon lined up the different kinds of alcohol he’d bought and provoked Kim Bokja on purpose.

“Care for a drink?”

“With pork belly, you start with clear liquor. That’s the law.”

Kim Bokja and Shin Kangheon started pouring and pounding, and before long all kinds of alcohol were getting mixed together in all kinds of ways.

I didn’t normally drink much, but I had a few light glasses with them. I decided to forget about Phantom Dream for a while.

Sometimes this is nice.

Nobody would’ve guessed these were martial artists who’d just finished looting an unorthodox gang.

We looked more like college kids on a trip.

None of us had much experience hanging out this normally with people our age, which made the night feel even more special—more unforgettable.

Naturally, we started talking about things we usually didn’t.

“Hey, psycho. You joining the Martial Alliance?”

“Tsk. I want to, but my uncle’s going to oppose it no matter what.”

“That’s ridiculous. Why does your uncle get to decide your future?”

“Applications close next week. If you keep overthinking and miss it, you’ll regret it.”

“...I already applied.”

“Oh? Behind your uncle’s back? Look at you, Uncle Boy. What’s gotten into you? Aren’t you gonna get chewed out?”

“Ah, I don’t know...! For now, let’s just drink and die today!”

I saw Shin Kangheon’s face full of a kind of worry I’d never seen on him.

And—

“But I lost both my parents when I was little... Kim Bokja, do you not have parents either?”

“I got abandoned when I was little.”

“...Damn. That’s the kind of thing you signal before you say it!”

“You don’t even have a license—what signal are you talking about?”

Kim Bokja—who usually hated even mentioning parents—said her family history like it was nothing.

“My dad was a wandering martial artist, my mom was a shaman. And the child born from pleasure with zero responsibility is me, Red Rabbit!”

“...Yeah, no. Even I can’t accept that. You psycho, say something.”

“What’s the problem? Thanks to your parents, you’re drinking good booze right now.”

At my offbeat answer, Kim Bokja burst out laughing and slapped my shoulder. She laughed so hard tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. Shin Kangheon, like he expected nothing less, gave me a thumbs-up.

“So basically, we’ve both lived wildly dramatic lives, and only Kim Muhyuk was born into a happy family, huh?”

“But for someone born into a happy family, why’s his personality like that?”

Now that I was the target, I snorted on purpose.

“So you jealous?”

In times like this, you weren’t supposed to look apologetic or pitiful. You were supposed to brag proudly. I knew that.

“Yeah! I’m jealous, you bastard!”

“Know how blessed you are. Be a good son and do your duty properly. Got it?”

On top of all the time we’d spent together through one mess after another, the magic of drinking together for the first time on a trip piled on.

Three people with strong defenses slowly lowered their walls, inch by inch, and got closer.

I’m glad I made the crew.

I truly meant it.

Of course, I still wasn’t showing them the deepest part of me.

But I believed that one day, even that would be possible.

Because I was going to work to become someone who could.

“My mom and dad really like you two. They said if you guys were the second and third kids, the house would be so lively, how nice it would’ve been. So come over a lot. These days they cook a ton just in case you show up.”

“......”

“.......”

After a brief silence, Kim Bokja and Shin Kangheon grumbled for no reason.

“But why are we second and third? I’m a year older than you guys, so I’m the first.”

“We’re the same age, but I’m taller, so I’m the second!”

“Are you stupid? My birthday’s earlier.”

“Then we settle it with a spar!”

The three of us talked nonstop, bickered nonstop, snapped at each other nonstop.

You’d think we’d get tired, but we were having too much fun to feel sleepy.

We didn’t know when we’d get another night like this, so we meant to enjoy it to the fullest.

Of course, the drinking didn’t stay beautiful all the way to the end.

“You think you can challenge Red Rabbit with alcohol—? Wake up, brat!”

“What are you talking about, you tiny little thing. Why don’t you admit defeat instead of puking your brains out later—?”

“Kkagwi! King Snake! Shaggy Dog! Bite that bastard!”

“Hey—don’t ruin the drinking mood by calling out anomalies!”

...Was it possible they had no friends because their personalities were like this?

Starting with an alcohol duel and ending with the two of them grabbing each other and throwing the ugliest tantrums imaginable, I sighed quietly.

And since I needed to break it up anyway, I shared the information I’d gotten out of the Black Crow Gang boss.

“There was one thing all the recently missing swordsmen had in common.”

The two of them—who looked like they were about to start a life-and-death spar on the spot—froze.

They’d been wondering when I’d finally tell them.

I summarized what the Black Crow Gang boss told me.

“The missing swordsmen... they’re all from underground arenas.”

Underground arenas were gambling dens where illegal sparring bets ran rampant.

Most participants were martial artists who’d learned third-rate martial arts—people drowning in massive debt or pushed all the way to the edge—who came in staking their lives for a one-shot chance at a fortune.

And the result, most of the time, was cheap death.

“Isn’t that just coincidence? People die there by the day. What’s ‘missing’ supposed to matter...?”

Kim Bokja said coldly. It was the kind of thought you’d expect from a spellcaster living in the shadows of the urban martial world.

At first, I’d thought the same.

But there was one strange point.

“Dying is common. That’s exactly why ‘missing’ is strange. Who? Why? There’s no reason to kidnap people at rock bottom with nothing but debt.”

“Could it be organ trafficking, like what GREAT HEAVEN GATE was doing?”

“Creditors would be hunting them with fire in their eyes. Even organ traffickers don’t touch merchandise that dirty.”

“...True.”

I had a strong feeling this was connected to Phantom Dream.

Officially, Phantom Dream is said to first appear a few days from now. The sword’s first owner hurt dozens of civilians inside a recreational forest, then fled.

The simplest method was to go to that forest and wait.

But it was too wide, and there was no way to know exactly where he’d show up—plus there was the risk he’d take hostages.

The best option is to find Phantom Dream and secure it before it surfaces outside.

I judged there was a high chance Phantom Dream was currently at the underground arena the Black Crow Gang boss mentioned.

A sword that dragged its wielder into hallucinations and thirsted for blood, and the madness of an underground arena—those were a perfect match.

That was when Shin Kangheon, who’d been quietly listening, sprang to his feet with swagger.

“Where is it? I haven’t even warmed up, I’m itching. Let’s go raid it right now!”

He looked like he was ready to drive his internal energy around and bolt out the door.

But I shook my head.

“That’s the biggest problem. The underground arena the Black Crow Gang boss talked about is under the biggest casino on Jeju Island.”

Meaning, to reach the underground arena, we needed permission to enter the casino in the first place.

“Only foreign tourists or locals with entry permits can go in... and we’re neither. We have to find a way to infiltrate quietly.”

At my words, Shin Kangheon and Kim Bokja crossed their arms and thought with me.

Once the three of us put our heads together, we found a method faster than expected.

CLAP!

Kim Bokja suddenly clapped her hands and said,

“Why are we sitting here thinking about this ourselves? There’s an expert in our crew for this field!”

“An expert?”

Instead of answering, Kim Bokja video-called someone.

A moment later, Hwang Suksu’s sulky face appeared on the display.

[What? Did you call to brag that the three of you went to Jeju Island to have fun?]

I’d offered the Jeju Island trip to Hwang Suksu too, but he’d refused, saying he was busy with business.

I understood immediately why Kim Bokja was calling him.

Hwang Suksu was addicted to sparring bets. To the point he held tournaments in his own place...

Kim Bokja asked him with a bright, beaming smile.

“Mr. Suksu. Have you ever been to the underground arena in Jeju Island?”

The instant a topic he loved came up, Hwang Suksu’s eyes changed completely.

[Of course I’ve been. You think there’s a sparring-gambling den in the country I haven’t visited?]

Lately he’d been busy handling Blue Wolves business, so he’d cut back on hosting sparring bets, but his connections in that world were still alive.

I turned the smartphone so the camera faced me and asked,

“We need to get in there. Can you get us entry permits?”

[You guys are going to a sparring-gambling den? Mine can’t be transferred, so you wouldn’t be able to use it even if I gave it to you.... Hold on. Wait a bit!]

Like he’d sensed there was a “job” in my question, Hwang Suksu hung up.

He called back about ten minutes later.

[There is one way, but... the crew leader might feel a little uncomfortable. Is that okay?]

“Something that would make me uncomfortable?”

[To get permits, there’s someone you have to meet... and it’s a guy the crew leader knows.]

I waited in silence for what came next—

And then a name I never expected came out of Hwang Suksu’s mouth.

[That casino. Blood Tiger Gang acquired it recently.]

The moment I heard that name, suspicion bloomed in my head.

Maybe Blood Tiger Gang and Phantom Dream’s bloodbath were connected.