Urban Vagabond: Reload

Kim Muhyuk realized he could not answer Na Ilcheon’s question carelessly.

I have the power to change the balance of the Korean martial world?

Na Ilcheon, the Azure Sky Sword Elder, might look like a kindly old man, but among the sect leaders of the Eight Great Sects, he was the one who had held his position the longest.

It was true that he had taken a liking to Kim Muhyuk, but had he come here in person to say something like this out of simple goodwill?

Through every kind of experience from his previous life, Kim Muhyuk knew the world did not operate that simply.

......He was probing my true intentions.

The moment he realized that, Kim Muhyuk felt a faint chill rise along the back of his neck.

He came all the way to the office himself to see what I’m thinking, and what kind of ambition I have.

The man before him was an old veteran of the martial world, one it would not be an exaggeration to say had a hundred-year-old serpent coiled in his belly.

The conversation they had just shared was a warning bell, telling him not to become intoxicated with power and act rashly.

“Heh heh. Sharp little brat. Now you understand how the old foxes of the martial world will treat the leader of Blue Wolves, don’t you?”

Na Ilcheon sipped the tea set before him and smiled. Then, as if he had read Kim Muhyuk’s mind, he asked,

“Do you feel hurt by me?”

Kim Muhyuk shook his head.

“I don’t.”

If anything, he felt grateful to Na Ilcheon for coming to warn him like this in person. Thanks to him, Kim Muhyuk could look back on the things he had done.

Maybe I’ve been gathering the fighting strength needed to oppose the Heavenly Demon Cult without even realizing it.

Something he had done without being conscious of it himself.

Because he was a returner who knew the future, he had been able to gather the most outstanding talents and help them blossom into the potential they had never fully achieved in his previous life.

Because the enemy is that powerful.

The Heavenly Demon Cult Kim Muhyuk had seen in his previous life possessed enough power to overturn the world in a single breath.

It was not as though martial artists had failed to resist their tyranny. Countless heroic swordsmen had risen in righteous fury, declaring that they would not allow the demonic path to rule the world.

But the result had been horrific. Giant overseas sects far stronger than the Eight Great Sects had been annihilated and reduced to ash, and peerless masters had been hunted down by the Heavenly Demon Cult’s experts.

National leaders and politicians became puppets of the Heavenly Demon Cult, and they helped make the world even more terrible.

It was a trite expression, but hell had unfolded in the present world.

“......You are right, sect leader.”

“Hmm?”

Blue Wolves’ fighting strength?

Kim Muhyuk did not know what others might think, but to him, who knew that future, it still felt nowhere near enough.

To Na Ilcheon, who was wondering what he truly intended, Kim Muhyuk decided it was time to honestly reveal his plans for the future.

“I want to change the balance of the Korean martial world. I have a reason I must do that.”

Na Ilcheon did not look surprised. He simply set down the tea he had been drinking on the table.

Then he met Kim Muhyuk’s eyes, as if telling him to continue.

“But I don’t want to create a large sect like the Eight Great Sects. I already get headaches even now, with fewer than ten people. Hundreds of them would be...... horrifying just to imagine.”

Na Ilcheon smiled gently at Kim Muhyuk’s half-joking show of weakness.

But his eyes were serious, and he silently waited for what would come next. He had realized that what Kim Muhyuk was about to say was important.

“Sect leader. Have you heard of the Heavenly Demon Cult?”

“......It sounds like a type of heretical cult. Is it connected to the heretical cult from roughly twenty years ago?”

Na Ilcheon’s eyes narrowed, gleaming sharply.

He was also in a position where he heard all kinds of information, so he knew that Jang Jinmyeong and the Black Heaven Society’s society leader were connected to an organization called the Cult.

But what Kim Muhyuk said next was something he had never heard before.

“The real name of that heretical cult is the Heavenly Demon Cult. The people who were subjugated in this country roughly twenty years ago were only a tiny part of it.”

“What did you say......?”

Na Ilcheon stared at Kim Muhyuk with a stiff expression.

Because he remembered the sacrifices paid to subjugate the heretical cult twenty years ago.

As a result, the Martial Alliance’s power had greatly weakened afterward and the era of the Eight Great Sects had begun, but the damage suffered by the Eight Great Sects had not been small either. Several martial artists from AZURE SKY SWORD GATE had lost their lives.

“It may be hard to believe, but it is true. And among the heads of the Eight Great Sects, there are people colluding with the Heavenly Demon Cult.”

“......Can you take responsibility for those words?”

“Jang Jinmyeong was one of them. I believe there is at least one more.”

At those words, Na Ilcheon realized one thing and burst into a dry laugh.

“The fact that you are telling me this means you’re certain I’m not one of the collaborators, does it? On what grounds?”

Instead of offering some pleasant line like, “You are absolutely not that kind of person, sect leader,” Kim Muhyuk simply shrugged once and said,

“If you were, the Namcheon Sword would have secretly told me.”

“Hahahaha!”

As the Azure Sky Sword Elder burst into hearty laughter, the Namcheon Sword at his waist rang with a Woooooong!

Kim Muhyuk continued.

“With the Martial Alliance Leader’s help and my master’s help, I have been secretly searching for the Cult’s backers. We have made a certain amount of progress.”

“......How astonishing. To think something like that was happening beneath the surface. And to think you are the one directing all of it.”

“......How astonishing. To think something like that was happening beneath the surface. And to think you are the one directing all of it.”

“That’s not really......”

“Don’t play dumb with me, you brat!”

The Azure Sky Sword Elder honestly found it questionable how Kim Muhyuk knew so much about an organization called the Heavenly Demon Cult, which even the Eight Great Sects had not noticed.

Even so, there was enough persuasiveness and sincerity in Kim Muhyuk’s words. He also trusted his own eyes.

If those eyes and that expression are lies, then this brat would be capable of deceiving the world.

The Azure Sky Sword Elder no longer acknowledged the young man before him as a mere young rising star, but as the leader of a force capable of shaking the balance of the Korean martial world.

“So, why are you telling me something so important?”

“Please help me stop the Heavenly Demon Cult. I need definite allies who will stand with me against the demonic path.”

Kim Muhyuk was certain that AZURE SKY SWORD GATE, at least, had no connection whatsoever to the Heavenly Demon Cult.

Na Ilcheon, of course, but also Bu Yeonha and the other senior figures of the sect.

It was a conclusion he had reached after seeing and experiencing them up close.

“......Hah. I came here intending to give you one little poke, and now it seems I’m the one about to get hooked. What a troublesome thing.”

But Na Ilcheon’s expression looked closer to enjoyment than trouble. He stared briefly at the empty teacup, then reached a conclusion.

“Very well!”

Among the countless choices he had been forced to make as the sect leader of AZURE SKY SWORD GATE, this might have been the most difficult decision of all, yet there was no hesitation in his words.

“You have a great cause. From now on, AZURE SKY SWORD GATE will officially support Blue Wolves as an ally. As we have for the past several hundred years, AZURE SKY SWORD GATE will stand at the forefront in punishing the demonic path.”

It was the moment AZURE SKY SWORD GATE decided with certainty to lend Kim Muhyuk its strength.

Kim Muhyuk, who had been inwardly tense, let out a sigh of relief and said,

“Phew....... Thank you for believing me.”

“What do you plan to do from here on?”

Kim Muhyuk, who had only been thinking of persuading the Azure Sky Sword Elder for the moment, scratched his cheek.

“Well. If Blue Wolves has suddenly become that famous...... what should I do?”

At the sight of him honestly acknowledging what he lacked and asking for advice, Na Ilcheon took another sip of the tea he had set down and said,

“The head of an organization must know how to distinguish friends from enemies. However, you must also keep in mind that friends and enemies can change at any time. If your thinking is not flexible, you cannot endure in this turbulent martial world.”

It was advice from an old master who had served as the sect leader of one of the Eight Great Sects for the longest time. Kim Muhyuk engraved it deep in his heart.

“......I will keep that in mind.”

The martial world was a place where no one could be trusted easily, a place where schemes and stratagems ran rampant.

But it was also a place where people lived who would throw away their lives like blades of grass to uphold their convictions.

“Heh heh. I’m sure you’ll manage well enough. My needless worrying made me nag too long.”

Na Ilcheon rose from his seat and patted Kim Muhyuk on the shoulder.

“I’ll be going now. Next time, I may bring Yeonha with me, yes?”

“Of course. Please take care on your way back.”

Kim Muhyuk was walking with him to the front door to see him off.

Wait.

On Na Ilcheon’s shoulder, where he had been sitting with his arms folded while silently listening to the two men’s conversation, the Namcheon Sword’s spirit jerked his chin toward Phantom Dream.

Can I take that little one with me? There are a few things I want to teach it.

“......Phantom Dream?”

“You’re going to teach it?”

At Kim Muhyuk and Na Ilcheon’s startled expressions, the Namcheon Sword nodded with an arrogant look.

That little one only got bigger. It still doesn’t even know how to handle its own power properly. It’s frustrating, so I think I need to teach it a little.

Phantom Dream’s spirit body, which had recently absorbed the Giant Tree Ghost’s energy and grown from a boy’s appearance into that of an adolescent, looked at Kim Muhyuk with a pitiful expression.

M-Master? You’re going to refuse, right? I don’t want to go with himmm—!

Without even thinking about it, Kim Muhyuk handed Phantom Dream to the Azure Sky Sword Elder.

“Sect leader. Please take good care of it.”

“Heh heh. It seems the Namcheon Sword has taken quite a liking to your cursed sword. I’ll tame it properly and return it to you.”

Hey! Master, you dirty coward—!

Kim Muhyuk also grabbed Phantom Dream’s spirit body, which was trembling with betrayal, and sat it neatly beside the Namcheon Sword.

“Think of it as going to school.”

When we reach the main sect, I’ll teach you manners step by step.

Sob, sob. Master abandoned me.......

And so, Phantom Dream temporarily left for training at AZURE SKY SWORD GATE, the place in Korea with the greatest know-how in suppressing and controlling demons.

*****

Late at night, a secret emergency meeting was held at one of the Eight Great Sects.

Inside a meeting room where only senior figures such as the sect leader and elders had gathered, a somewhat agitated voice rang out.

“The Sword Demon has shown himself again? Is that true?”

“Yes. This is footage we obtained with great difficulty.”

A moment later, a video played across the screen that filled the wall.

A figure wearing a Blue Wolf mask was entering a branch of the Black Heaven Society.

He wore an old bomber jacket, and blood dripped from the sword hanging down at his side.

“......A wolf mask?”

“Haven’t they said people wearing those masks have been running wild lately?”

“I’ve heard of them. Blue Wolves, I believe......”

As several people murmured among themselves, the footage changed, and the Martial Alliance appeared in the background.

A vehicle could be seen speeding out of the parking lot at a frightening pace.

Startled Martial Alliance members blocked the vehicle with their bodies, and the window lowered halfway.

An old man wearing sunglasses was saying something with an anxious look on his face.

“......That is him.”

One of the people watching the footage shot up from his seat.

His wide-open eyes were trembling with fear.

“That is the Sword Demon, Choi Geon. I’m certain.”

His expression had been stiff from the moment he saw the first video. When it came to information about the Sword Demon, his testimony could be trusted more than anyone’s.

“So it really is the Sword Demon. Hahahaha! Unbelievable. How did he even think of crawling back into the world?”

The sect leader seated at the highest place in the meeting room spoke in an excited voice. In the sound of his grinding teeth, a faint anger could also be felt.

“So that’s where he’s been hiding all this time. Wearing a mask, walking in and out of the Martial Alliance as if he owned the place....... Hahahaha!”

The Sword Demon.

It was an epithet that had made countless martial artists, orthodox and unorthodox alike, harbor vicious grudges.

It was also a card that could overturn the balance of the Korean martial world, which had begun to revolve around the Martial Alliance.

“Inform not only the Eight Great Sects, but all five of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects! The Sword Demon, Choi Geon...... has reappeared wearing a wolf mask.”