Urban Vagabond: Reload

The morning of the operation.

I was staring at the whiteboard in the Blue Wolves hideout.

On the large whiteboard, the Black Heaven Society’s forces, its relationship with Red Worm, and the other data we had obtained through the Martial Alliance and Blood Tiger Gang were all connected together like a spiderweb.

“The biggest variable is still.......”

It was early enough that Kim Chanho and Park Jiyeon had not gone in to yet.

Only my muttering echoed quietly through the hideout.

I had already reviewed this operation over and over again, but I kept checking through the night, practically without sleep, to see whether there was any variable I had failed to calculate.

‘People around me could die or get hurt because of a bad call I make.’

In my previous life, every time I went out onto a battlefield, I had to lose comrades. Those horrific experiences made it impossible for me to allow even the slightest carelessness.

No matter how much of a regressor I was, it was impossible to make it so that none of my allies died or got hurt.

But I wanted to make that impossibility possible.

‘Thankfully, every situation is in far better shape than it was in my previous life.’

The allied strength I could mobilize, and the cards I could play, had both increased beyond comparison.

Just when I had once again reached the conclusion that this was more than worth trying—

VROOOOM—!

At the loud noise, I looked out the window and saw a motorcycle racing down the road.

A moment later, the bike came to a stop in front of .

Striking an exaggerated pose as he took off his helmet, Shin Kangheon gave a thumbs-up to me as I looked down from the fourth floor.

“Shin Kangheon the Spy! Mission complete and back!”

“That psycho’s acting up first thing in the morning.”

“You bastard with no sense of romance.......”

Grumbling as he came up into the hideout, Shin Kangheon looked at the whiteboard and the papers scattered all over the table and shook his head.

“Why don’t you just get a big monitor and do it that way? What are you, some detective in a drama.......”

“I focus way better when I print things out and look at them directly than on a screen. What about Shin Junhyun?”

The moment I got straight to the point, Shin Kangheon’s expression quickly turned serious too.

“I stuck trackers on his car and his clothes. I also confirmed which direction he was moving.”

When Shin Kangheon pulled a tablet out of his coat and set it on the table, one dot could be seen moving quickly across the map on the screen.

I studied it for a moment, then nodded.

“He didn’t show any sign of suspecting you?”

At that, Shin Kangheon smiled coldly.

“Mr. Shin Junhyun thinks I’m a total moron. He probably can’t even imagine I’d stab him in the back.”

Over the last several days, Shin Kangheon had planted tiny trackers and bugs in Shin Junhyun’s room and car and watched his every move. He had also investigated Shin Junhyun’s past activities.

Thanks to that, he had learned in detail what kind of person Shin Junhyun really was—something he had never known for years.

Every business Shin Junhyun had done until now had been illegal.

Loan-sharking. Smuggling. Drugs.

Every single one of those diligent “business trips” had been about exploiting and hurting someone.

That alone was enough to strip away every last shred of affection, but Shin Kangheon [N O V E L I G H T] had found one more decisive piece of evidence.

“I tracked down the person who was headmaster when I was left there and confirmed it. The description of the man who left me at the orphanage matches Shin Junhyun exactly. But when he came to pick me up, he acted like he was seeing me for the first time. And.......”

His face turning even more serious, Shin Kangheon continued.

“......He had already entered Korea before my father died. But when my parents died, he didn’t even show his face. So all that stuff about being overseas and hearing about the accident late—it was all a lie.”

That had been the decisive trigger that made Shin Kangheon start thinking Shin Junhyun might not actually be his real uncle.

Once he started suspecting it, Shin Kangheon secured Shin Junhyun’s hair and requested a DNA test, and the results would be out soon.

“The more I look at it, the more I think he’s fake. No, I hope he’s fake. Because if he’s my real uncle, I think I’ll want to kill him even more.”

There wasn’t even a trace of hesitation left in Shin Kangheon’s face when he spoke about Shin Junhyun.

At that resolute expression, I nodded and asked,

“Are you confident you can beat him?”

From what I had determined, Shin Junhyun’s level was first-rate expert.

To put it bluntly, for Shin Kangheon—who had not even been a year out from obtaining his first-rate license—it was hard to confidently guarantee victory.

But Shin Kangheon pounded his chest and told me to trust him.

“Don’t worry. Today’s Shin Kangheon is at 300 percent condition.”

“.......”

At a glance it sounded like a joke, but in his eyes I could feel that desperate wish to handle this himself.

After thinking for a moment, I finally nodded.

‘And lately, I can feel that something in his martial arts has changed too.......’

There are some problems that can only be resolved if a person overcomes them on their own, without anyone else’s help.

At times like this, the best thing I could do as his friend was a short word of support.

“......Be careful.”

At that serious concern—something that was hard to see from me normally—Shin Kangheon broke into a bright grin and held out his fist.

“When I get back, I’ll tell you all kinds of heroic stories, so look forward to it. Tell Bokja, Teacher, and Mister Suksu I said hi. And.......”

“Quit laying down bad-omen foreshadowing and get the hell out already.”

I kicked Shin Kangheon in the ass.

*****

After Shin Kangheon, noisy right to the very end, left to track Shin Junhyun—

the other Blue Wolves crew members started gathering in the hideout one by one.

“It’s loud enough to kill me. Is that idiot going around announcing that he stopped by the hideout?”

Kim Bokja came up first from downstairs, wearing a leather jacket and leather pants studded with metal spikes, with spellcraft accessories hanging all over her wrists and fingers.

“You should’ve come up and said something to him before the psycho left.”

At my words, Kim Bokja shook her head with a look that said she did not even want to think about it.

“I don’t want to plant a flag too.”

BBAK!

As if agreeing with her, Apricot poked its head out of her shoulder bag.

The second person to arrive was Hwang Suksu.

“Crew Leader! I even closed the shop and came today. You better not disappoint me when it comes to spoils. Got it?”

Though Hwang Suksu grumbled like I had dragged him here by force, his face was full of excitement at the thought of going into the field again for the first time in a while.

“Taking down one of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects....... This is the kind of thing you’ve got to do if you want to become a heroic swordsman, right?”

Han Jaechun, who had ended up becoming a crew member before he knew it, came carrying a backpack stuffed to the brim with things, wearing an expression like he had steeled himself for something. He muttered to himself with the face of a soldier heading off to war.

Looking over the people gathered here, Kim Bokja asked me,

“Is Teacher not coming?”

No sooner had she finished speaking than something rose slowly out of the shadows in the corner of the room.

“I just arrived.”

When Choi Geon appeared like a ghost without the slightest sign of his presence, everyone except me jumped in shock.

“Ghhk! Holy shit, you scared me!”

“Teacher, please make some noise when you walk around!”

“Huuurk! I-it’s been a while, sir! I’m Han Jaechun, someone who’s indebted to Muhyuk!”

Meanwhile, Choi Geon looked at me with a disappointed expression.

He had been planning to surprise his disciple, but it seemed I had noticed him first. He muttered in a somewhat let-down voice.

“I suppose I need to train my concealment technique a little more.......”

“If you train it any more, the crew members are going to drop dead of heart attacks.”

Letting out a small laugh, I looked around at the crew members gathered in one place.

Except for Shin Kangheon, who had been assigned a separate mission, everyone was here.

‘Looking at them like this, they really do feel reassuring.’

Compared to the forces the Martial Alliance, the Eight Great Sects, and the Black Heaven Society would be mobilizing in this fight, Blue Wolves was tiny.

But every single one of them was elite enough that I could confidently say they would play an important role in this operation.

“Now that everyone’s here, I’ll give the final short briefing. Operation commencement is at eleven in the morning. The Martial Alliance and the elite of the Eight Great Sects will hit the Black Heaven Society’s main base.”

“But why eleven? Wouldn’t it be better to attack at dawn or at night?”

At Kim Bokja’s reasonable question, Hwang Suksu and Han Jaechun nodded too, like they had been wondering the same thing.

“For major sects, security is actually tighter late at night and at dawn. It’s better to avoid those times. And.......”

I explained to everyone why I had persuaded the Martial Alliance Leader to set the start of the operation at such an awkward hour.

“Martial artists usually eat their second meal sometime between ten and eleven. Which means if we attack then, the enemy will have to fight with the discomfort of not having fully digested yet.”

At that extremely underhanded yet convincing reason, the three of them gaped.

“Kim Muhyuk, you really are.......”

“Our Crew Leader really doesn’t know the saying about not bothering even a mutt while it’s eating, does he?”

“This is the merciless world of drifters.......”

“No drifter I know is like that!”

In truth, Yeo Pilgeuk had reacted much the same way at first.

“Disciple.”

Even Choi Geon, who was only just now hearing why the operation time had been chosen, clicked his tongue under his breath.

“Even I have to admit, this really is a dirty method.”

“Is it that bad?”

When I scratched my cheek awkwardly, Choi Geon broke into a broad grin and said that wasn’t what he meant.

“I mean I like it very much! The enemy is a pack of corrupt-path filth. It’s only right to beat the hell out of them without caring about means or methods!”

“As expected of you, Master.”

At the sight of the master and disciple being so perfectly in sync, everyone shook their heads.

I continued explaining the operation.

“In this operation, five of the Eight Great Sects will attack the Black Heaven Society together with the Martial Alliance.”

AZURE SKY SWORD GATE. Sun and Moon Gate. Supreme Pole Sword Gate. Golden Glory Gate. GREAT HEAVEN GATE.

Those were the members of the Eight Great Sects that would be directly participating in the attack on the Black Heaven Society.

“The remaining three sects will keep the other Five Great Unorthodox Sects from moving.”

Great Saber Gate. Blue Wind Gate. Transcendent Extremity Gate.

Those three sects had each been assigned one of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects to keep them from interfering.

“Huh? Then the numbers don’t match, do they? That means one of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects would be left over......”

At Hwang Suksu’s worried words, I nodded.

“I’ve already thought of a way to handle that. There won’t be a problem on that side.”

Skipping over the part that would take too long to explain, I continued and laid out each crew member’s role.

Bokja and Apricot, first join up with Mystic Hall. Help them dismantle mechanism formations and spell formations, and keep relaying the situation to me.

“Okay. So it’s something we’ve done before.”

BBAK—!

Kim Bokja nodded, and Apricot snapped one wing up like a salute.

I turned my head and looked at Hwang Suksu and Han Jaechun.

“Hwang Suksu and Han, you’ll go with Master and support the Martial Alliance special operations team.”

“Me......?”

“Understood!”

The two of them, together with Choi Geon, had been assigned to strike the Black Heaven Society’s branch bases.

‘In terms of sheer combat power, Master alone would be enough. But there are things only those two can do.’

Choi Geon, with his overwhelming strength and infiltration ability, Hwang Suksu, the information broker who had learned every dirty trick under the sun, and Han Jaechun, the drifter who prepared thoroughly—those three made for a very solid combination in my view.

Though I had no idea what they themselves thought of it.

“Consider it an honor. As of this moment, you have been incorporated into the Martial Alliance special operations team.”

Choi Geon had already started riding Hwang Suksu mercilessly.

“And you in particular, Hwang Suksu—if I see even the slightest sign of greed for valuables during the mission, I’ll cut off your hand.”

“Why is it always only me.......”

“Hssst!”

I pretended not to notice Hwang Suksu’s resentful stare.

“What about the Crew Leader?”

“I have something separate to do. Once that’s done, I’ll look at the situation and join wherever I’m needed.”

When the final briefing ended, Kim Bokja pulled something out of the bag she had brought and handed one to each crew member.

“All right then, everyone put one of these on!”

They were masks with the face of a blue wolf. Once you wore one over your face, a vivid glow flowed from the eyes under the effect of spellcraft.

[They’re sturdier than most helmets, and if you pour internal energy into them, you can turn on a voice-changing function too. Pretty amazing, right?]

Everyone put on the masks Kim Bokja had handed out, touched them with their hands, and admired them.

[Ho. It feels like I’m not wearing anything at all.]

[Hahaha! Looking at myself in the mirror, I look pretty cool.]

[These are perfect for a secret operation like today!]

Since this was an operation we could not carry out with our faces exposed, I had just casually asked Kim Bokja for something simple, but she had made something far better than I expected.

[Blue Wolves.]

At last, I put on my own mask and looked at everyone.

Seeing the crew members wearing blue wolf masks, I really felt like we had become one pack.

[We spread out, begin the operation, and later regroup here together.]

Over the map on the whiteboard.

After checking the point I touched with my finger, the crew members dispersed in their respective directions.

It was the beginning of Martial Crew Blue Wolves’ operation.