Urban Vagabond: Reload

“...A public hearing. This has grown far too large.”

The Supreme Pole Sword Gate sect leader narrowed his brow as he looked around at the countless cameras installed around them and the crowd filling every seat. He could feel the stinging gazes.

Among the five sects that had accused the Martial Alliance and Choi Geon, the four sect leaders other than the Skybreaker Gate sect leader had already taken their seats.

The sect leaders of Golden Glory Gate and Great Saber Gate also looked like they were burning up inside.

“If the results of the special audit do not turn out the way we expect...”

“Just what has the Skybreaker Gate sect leader been doing with himself?”

If they failed to use this opportunity to deal a blow to the Martial Alliance and reclaim power,

the five sects that had accused the Martial Alliance would have to shoulder the risk in full.

For that reason, the sect leaders had originally agreed to proceed with the special audit privately, then make a major announcement to the media only after the results were out.

But now—

If things go wrong because of the Skybreaker Gate sect leader...

We may all end up taking the blame together.

After the Skybreaker Gate sect leader claimed that the Martial Alliance had framed him to gain an advantage in the special audit, Ivan Volkov changed the confrontation interrogation to a public hearing as if he had been waiting for the chance.

And that very same Skybreaker Gate sect leader, perhaps burdened by the scandal he had been embroiled in lately, had contacted them saying he would not appear until just before the hearing began.

“...Some of us are this anxious, yet the spectators are having the time of their lives.”

“I cannot tell whose side they are on.”

The sect leaders’ displeased gazes turned toward the other Eight Great Sects’ leaders seated on one side of the gallery.

Woo Hyunje, acting sect leader of Transcendent Extremity Gate; the sect leader of Great Heaven Gate; and even the Glacier Priestess of Sun and Moon Gate, which had closed its gates. Because the matter was so significant, every representative of the Eight Great Sects had attended the public hearing.

“Hrr-hrr. Everyone, relax your faces. We have nothing to hide, so what is there to worry about?”

At that moment, the Azure Sky Sword Elder straightened his back and spoke as if to let everyone hear.

“Today will settle the matter. Where the justice of the orthodox martial world lies, and around whom we must unite as one.”

Seeing how confident he was—so confident he even looked relaxed—the other sect leaders felt greatly reassured.

“You are absolutely right. From now on, our five sects must take responsibility for leading the orthodox martial world!”

The Supreme Pole Sword Gate sect leader answered with a solemn expression, and the other two sect leaders nodded.

All of them seemed to believe that the Azure Sky Sword Elder had some sort of plan.

“Hrr-hrr. Yes. Do not worry. Let us sit back and watch.”

With a meaningful smile, the Azure Sky Sword Elder looked at Kim Muhyuk and Choi Geon as they walked over from the other side.

“I believe justice wins in the end.”

*****

At the exact announced time, Investigator Ivan Volkov appeared, dressed in the same coat as always.

When everyone’s eyes turned to him, he picked up the microphone.

“I will begin by stating that this public hearing is being conducted in order to produce a fair and transparent result for the special audit. The focus will be on whether the martial artist Choi Geon committed illegal acts or abused authority, and whether the Korean Martial Alliance was involved...”

As his explanation continued for a while, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader slipped in and took his seat.

When countless camera flashes burst toward him, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader frowned. He spoke to the other sect leaders.

“I am a little late because I had many things to prepare.”

His face looked terribly exhausted from the events of the past several days. His eyes were bloodshot, and his untrimmed beard was messy.

But a confident smile hung around his mouth.

“The rest of you need not step forward today. With my own hands, I will destroy the Sword Demon and clear myself of this unjust accusation.”

“...We will trust you.”

The sect leaders nodded heavily, and Ivan Volkov announced the beginning of the public hearing.

“Then we will begin the public hearing regarding the martial artist Choi Geon.”

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader immediately rose from his seat and glared at Choi Geon with cold eyes.

His voice, carrying internal energy, spread far even without a microphone.

“Investigator. Please look here.”

To clear the false accusation placed upon him, and to completely bring down the Sword Demon, his enemy of many years,

the Skybreaker Gate sect leader had spent the past few days putting his head together with Yang Seonu and devising a plan.

I have a hidden card—the Sword Demon’s disciple, who knows all his shameful secrets.

Seated on one side of the witness stand, Yang Seonu met his eyes and nodded. Feeling as reassured as if he had a thousand troops and ten thousand horses behind him, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader continued.

“I will submit a list of orthodox martial artists unjustly murdered by Choi Geon, the Sword Demon.”

“What...?”

While the Martial Alliance side was flustered, Ivan Volkov nodded.

“Very well. Display the materials.”

Soon, photographs, names, and affiliations of the murdered martial artists appeared on the screen set up in the center of the hearing hall.

Gasps burst from the astonished people as they saw the densely filled list. The reactions of those watching the hearing through the live broadcast were surely no different.

After confirming the gallery’s reaction, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader continued in a grief-stricken voice.

“Ninety-eight in total. That is the number of people Choi Geon, the Sword Demon, executed at his own discretion without clear evidence. This is more than most martial-world public enemies!”

It was a fierce attack from the very start.

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader shocked everyone by presenting a specific number and list of martial artists killed by Choi Geon.

“He killed almost a hundred people?”

“Even if they’re martial artists...”

“At that point, he’s just a murderer...”

The people attending in the gallery began murmuring. Among them were ordinary people who were not martial artists, and in the way they glanced at Choi Geon, fear and contempt could be felt.

In a public hearing, the side that seized public opinion inevitably had the advantage, and those materials were fatal to Choi Geon.

This is rather significant.

Ivan Volkov looked at Choi Geon with a cold gaze and asked,

“I will ask the martial artist Choi Geon. Is that list factual?”

Choi Geon skimmed the list with his eyes, then slowly nodded.

“It is. They were all shameless evildoers who died by my hand.”

He had added a qualifier, but it was still an answer that calmly admitted the fact.

The corner of the Skybreaker Gate sect leader’s mouth rose faintly.

It was because he could feel the gazes around Choi Geon turning even colder.

“Shameless evildoers...”

Forcing down the corner of his mouth that kept trying to rise, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader let out a sigh.

He was certain that today, he would become the hero who condemned the peerless murderer known as the Sword Demon.

“Let us see if you can say that in front of their families and friends as well. Investigator. The victims’ families and colleagues have come here as witnesses.”

As if he intended to surge forward all at once and choke the life out of him, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader brought forward the witnesses he had dragged to this place by any means necessary.

The first witness had barely taken the seat before pointing a finger at Choi Geon.

“My brother was so honest he could have lived without the law! But overnight, he became a corpse. Because of that man, our family was ruined, and our parents collapsed from the shock and passed away only a few years later!”

As soon as one person left, another entered.

“That friend was a colleague who served as a model to everyone around him. He was never someone who deserved to die like that...”

“You horrible devil! May heaven punish you—!”

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader had prepared more than a dozen witnesses.

All of them were colleagues, friends, or family of orthodox martial artists killed by Choi Geon.

Among them were martial artists who held grudges against Choi Geon, and some who had been bought with money.

Master. You should have killed every person who could serve as a witness too.

Yang Seonu, who was waiting at the witness stand, watched the scene.

He filled his eyes with the sight of his master, who looked haggard after losing a little weight over the past few days.

Heh.

In the end, your own weakness is what killed you. Not me.

That list was something Yang Seonu had prepared long ago in case of an emergency.

A noose that would surely tighten around Choi Geon’s neck if he ever returned.

It was proof of his blood-soaked deeds and sins, proof from which he could never escape.

Still, you won’t be especially lonely this time. I’ll send your junior martial sibling along with you soon.

Yang Seonu smiled faintly as he looked at Kim Muhyuk, who sat beside Choi Geon with a grave expression.

Each time one more person testified, the atmosphere grew heavier, and public opinion turned further and further away from Choi Geon.

“Enough.”

As the testimonies repeated, Ivan Volkov sorted out the situation.

“We will hear only this much from the Eight Great Sects’ witnesses for now. Submit the rest as materials.”

“There are still many people who have suffered injustice! Only by hearing everyone’s voices can we show what a horrible evildoer that man is...”

“Enough.”

Ivan Volkov firmly cut off the Skybreaker Gate sect leader as he tried to keep pressing to the end, then turned to Choi Geon.

“Martial artist Choi Geon. Do you have anything to say in rebuttal regarding the testimonies given so far?”

Everyone waited to hear what would come from Choi Geon’s mouth.

He could claim that everyone he had killed was an evildoer who deserved death, or he might belatedly repent and beg for forgiveness.

Or perhaps he could shift the responsibility, saying it had all been under the Martial Alliance’s orders.

“...I have nothing in particular to say.”

But there was no method that could erase the smell of blood from Choi Geon’s hands. He knew that better than anyone.

“Those who died by my hand must also have had families, siblings, and friends. To someone, they may not have been evil, but good people. Therefore, their grudges are justified. However...”

Choi Geon did not avoid the eyes of the people who had come forward as witnesses. He looked straight at them.

It was an undeniable fact that he had killed the evildoers on that list.

He had no intention of denying it, and he had no intention of feeling sorry for it either.

“Even if I returned to that time, I would do the same.”

“...This is driving me mad.”

Yeo Pilgeuk’s quiet sigh made it clear how badly the current situation was turning against Choi Geon.

He had stayed quiet because he had been told not to step forward until asked, but for whatever reason, Choi Geon was pouring oil onto a public opinion already on fire. Kim Muhyuk, likewise, said nothing in particular.

“Wh-What did he say?”

“He ought to be begging forgiveness right now...”

“Isn’t he a psychopath?”

Far from showing remorse, Choi Geon’s confident attitude was making public opinion toward him worsen in real time, and the reporters began typing up sensational articles.

“Ha-ha-ha! How can such a shameless man exist?”

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader disguised the laughter bursting out of him as an angry, hollow laugh.

You are finished now!

Since he had acted so shamelessly even in front of the victims’ bereaved families, public opinion toward the Sword Demon would never be recoverable.

If he maintained this atmosphere just a little longer...

It was then that Choi Geon’s private transmission reached the Skybreaker Gate sect leader’s ears.

[You seem to be enjoying yourself.]

Choi Geon looked at the Skybreaker Gate sect leader with a tranquil gaze.

He did not radiate killing intent, nor did he make any threatening move.

He merely stared at him with deeply settled eyes. At a glance, he even looked drained, as though he had given up.

Gulp...

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader swallowed without realizing it, tense despite himself. A chill he could not explain ran through his body.

[But one thing has been bothering me for a while now.]

Turning his head, Choi Geon looked again at the list on the screen—the list of evildoers who had died by his hand.

[Two more and it would be a hundred.]

The Skybreaker Gate sect leader was the only one who heard that eerie voice.

[Did you write your will properly before coming here?]

The moment Choi Geon turned back toward him, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader felt pitch-black darkness descend over him.