Urban Vagabond: Reload

Of all the young rising stars attending the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, Kim Muhyuk was the only one who neither fainted nor suffered a single injury.

But that was not because Kim Muhyuk was overwhelmingly superior to the other young rising stars.

There were already several pinnacle experts among them, including Bu Yeonha, Shin Kangheon, and a few of the other young rising stars from the Eight Great Sects.

“Ugh.......”

“What the hell......?”

Every last one of the young rising stars staggered in shock.

The clothes they had dressed up in were torn here and there, and blood was running from the wounds on their skin.

A closer look showed that most of the injuries were shallow, but when the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader had swung her sword and saber, the word that had flashed through their minds was death.

If it had gone just a little deeper.......

I would’ve died without being able to do a thing.

M-mom.......

The hands and feet of the young rising stars who represented the Korean martial world trembled with fear.

Even so, they deserved praise just for having stayed conscious.

Most of the young rising stars had already collapsed unconscious across the floor of the party hall.

The countless wounds covering the bodies of those still standing were the result of them desperately trying, somehow, to block or evade the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader’s attack.

“But then why...... is he the only one completely fine?”

“D-don’t tell me he dodged all of that?”

With stunned expressions, the young rising stars stared at the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader, then at Kim Muhyuk, who stood calmly in front of her.

Had he really seen through and avoided every last one of those attacks that had blanketed the hall like a spiderweb? If so, then he wasn’t a pinnacle expert at all, but......

Before the misunderstanding around him grew any worse, Muhyuk cupped his fist toward the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader and spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“It didn’t look like I’d be able to dodge anyway, so I just stayed still. I got lucky.”

“......What?”

“What are you talking about?”

Everyone looked dumbfounded at that answer, but Sunwoo Jeha only folded her arms without much reaction.

In truth, it was a fact that Kim Muhyuk had not reacted to her attack at all.

“You were certain? That I wouldn’t really kill you?”

Muhyuk nodded.

When the sword-and-saber trajectories had spread through the party hall like a web, he had been the only one who grasped the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader’s intent.

“It looked like you were swinging them wildly, but someone at your level wouldn’t do that. I judged that every trajectory must have been thoroughly calculated, and that no matter how I moved, I probably wouldn’t be able to avoid them.”

“And?”

“So I figured maybe the right answer was to stay still.”

“......”

So he hadn’t moved.

No matter how unsound the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader might be, he had thought she wouldn’t massacre the orthodox faction’s young rising stars in the middle of a party hall.

If she had really meant to kill us, she wouldn’t have stood there explaining in detail that this was some test of talent.

That instinct came from the intuition he had developed during his wandering years, when he had crossed the boundary between life and death countless times.

As Muhyuk had felt it, the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader had not revealed real killing intent.

Sunwoo Jeha stared up at the ceiling and muttered to herself in confusion.

“I didn’t expect this. Usually, the more wounds someone has, the better their talent is. The ones with good instincts normally struggle like hell to survive and end up covered in cuts. That’s how that obnoxious bastard was back then. Me too. For example....... Right. Like that one over there.”

Still muttering to herself, Sunwoo Jeha turned her head toward someone.

Naturally, Muhyuk’s gaze followed hers.

There, Shin Kangheon was staggering, covered head to toe in blood.

“Ghhh......!”

The moment he saw Shin Kangheon pouring blood, Muhyuk looked startled and asked,

“What the hell happened to you?”

“Shut...... up.......”

“Don’t tell me.”

Clicking his tongue, Muhyuk quickly realized why Kangheon had ended up in that state.

He had judged the situation in the exact opposite way Muhyuk had and moved accordingly.

“So that saying’s true. If you’re stupid, your body suffers for it. You threw a full-on fit trying to dodge every last one of those, missed all of them, and ate the whole attack clean?”

If he’d lacked experience, Muhyuk probably would have done exactly the same thing.

Shin Kangheon wiped the blood running down from his forehead with the back of his hand and glared at Muhyuk. He seemed more irritated by Muhyuk being completely unharmed than by his own injuries.

“Damn it, this stings like hell....... Isn’t that cheap? Why do you get to have all the easy luck by yourself?”

“Being able to read the room is a skill too, dumbass.”

Sunwoo Jeha looked back and forth between them and shook her head.

“This one’s weird, and that one’s weird too.”

Her eyes looked as though she were studying some fascinating species.

When she had swung her sword and saber earlier, she had calibrated the attack around the level of a pinnacle expert with excellent senses.

No matter how much they struggled, she had designed the spacing so they wouldn’t be injured past a certain point.

But one of them didn’t get hurt at all, and the other got hurt way too much.

Since one stood there perfectly fine while the other was bleeding all over, both had produced results outside what she had expected.

Which also meant the two of them had even greater talent than she had guessed.

As she looked at Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon, the corners of Sunwoo Jeha’s lips curved slightly upward.

“Pass. Pass.”

Beyond them, a few of the Eight Great Sects’ most promising young rising stars also caught the eye of the Strongest in Korea, including Bu Yeonha, Song Junho, and Yang Hayun.

“You, you, you, you. And you lot too. Pass.”

She also pointed out several people from the mid-sized sects and smaller sects who were still on their feet, swaying.

“Th-thank you!”

“We’ll work hard and learn!”

Compared to the Eight Great Sects’ young rising stars, their martial level was lacking, but just as the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader had said from the start, the standard for passing was not current skill, but talent.

After selecting the ones who had passed, Sunwoo Jeha gave an order to the martial artists of the Transcendent Extremity Gate.

“Carry out the ones who fainted. Contact their sects and tell them to come take them.”

“Yes.”

As if they were used to this sort of thing, the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s martial artists slung the unconscious young rising stars over their shoulders and carried them out of the party hall.

Some of the more fainthearted among them would probably end up with trauma for a while. The Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader’s attack had filled them with a fear °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° that felt like brushing right up against death.

If they break from just this much, they should quit.

Muhyuk thought that if someone didn’t have the nerve to put their neck on the line at the edge of death, then they were ill-suited to the life of a martial artist from the start.

That was why, unlike his poor first impression of her, he liked the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader’s first test very much.

“Welcome. Young rising stars who’ve proven the most important talent.”

With an expression full of annoyance, Sunwoo Jeha looked over the young rising stars remaining in the party hall. She showed no sign whatsoever of actually welcoming them.

Out of the more than one hundred young rising stars who had attended the party, only around fifteen or sixteen remained to look back at her.

“Those of you who overcame your fear of death have the minimum talent needed to be martial artists. Physique and bone structure come after that.”

When the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader raised her sword and saber again, the young rising stars flinched and stepped back.

“If you’re scared, you can go home whenever you want. Actually, I’d prefer it if you did. You’re all incredibly annoying.”

Her tone was blunt.

A few of them trembled in fear, but not one person left.

They had all realized it.

An opportunity worth a thousand pieces of gold had just been offered to them—the chance to learn martial arts from the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader, the woman known as the unofficial Strongest in Korea.

“You’re really not leaving? Maybe I should’ve dealt with a few of you as an example.......”

Muttering something that did not sound remotely like a joke, Sunwoo Jeha pinched the bridge of her nose in apparent difficulty.

The lively party hall was now splashed here and there with the blood the young rising stars had shed.

At the center of it all stood the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader without the slightest expression. It was a chilling sight, and yet it suited her strangely well.

After waiting a little longer for an answer, she gave a small nod.

“Starting today, you’ll be staying at the Transcendent Extremity Gate.”

At those unexpected words, the young rising stars’ eyes widened. Some glanced at one another, gauging the room.

“E-excuse me, but how many days......?”

At the question, asked with difficulty by one of them after mustering the courage, the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader tilted her head.

“I already told you. If you want to go home, leave whenever you want. But if you do, you don’t get to come back.”

“......”

“Treat your injuries first. Then gather at the training ground tomorrow morning. That’s it for today.”

Having said all she wanted to say, the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader left the party hall without a trace of hesitation.

After she was gone, the young rising stars who remained stood there staring at one another in a daze.

“A group stay all of a sudden.......”

“What exactly is going on here?”

“I-I should contact my sect first.”

“I didn’t even bring a change of clothes......”

“Who would’ve thought to pack for that?”

While most of the young rising stars panicked, Bu Yeonha—one of the older and more senior among those who remained—forced a smile and tried to calm the others down.

“I’m actually kind of excited. I’ve always trained only with my fellow disciples, so this is my first time doing a group stay with people from other sects.”

“Ah, that, I am too.......”

“Same here.”

Song Junho and Yang Hayun, both from the Eight Great Sects like her, nodded as if they agreed.

All of them had been raised in their sects like treasures. There was no way they would have any experience training martial arts outside.

And on top of that, none of them had ever received such rough instruction as the kind the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader had just given.

“Everybody contact your sects first. If you explain the situation properly, most of them will probably allow it...... but you never know, right? If they object, hand the phone to me.”

As Bu Yeonha sorted out the situation in a calm voice, the juniors seemed to steady themselves a little and began nodding one by one before scattering to make calls.

“Haa.......”

Only then did Bu Yeonha let out a breath. She herself had been extremely tense the whole time.

She didn’t even have the energy to call, so she sent a message to the Azure Sky Sword Elder explaining the situation. The reply came back short: Learn as much as you can and come back.

If there was anyone who wouldn’t feel tense in a situation like this, they would probably be someone crazy like the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader.

“......Like those two.”

When she turned her head without thinking and looked at Kim Muhyuk, he was already walking up to one of the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s martial artists and speaking to him.

“Excuse me, but could I borrow some training clothes? I only have this borrowed suit right now, and I think it’ll be uncomfortable to swing a sword in it.”

“......Wait a bit. Someone will guide you to the room you’ll be staying in. There’ll be training clothes there too.”

“Thank you. And may I ask one more question? Earlier, the sect leader said I looked like someone.......”

The Transcendent Extremity Gate martial artist looked at Muhyuk as if wondering what kind of lunatic this kid was.

For some reason, Bu Yeonha suddenly felt embarrassed and turned her head toward someone else.

“Ugh. This stings like hell.......”

Shin Kangheon was sitting on the floor like he was in his own living room, slathering wound ointment all over himself.

Then he started to take off even his pants, and a horrified Bu Yeonha immediately threw her outer robe across his thighs.

“Cover yourself while you do that!”

“Huh? I don’t mind.......”

“I do!”

After snapping at him, Bu Yeonha let out a deep sigh and asked,

“But you and Muhyuk both look weirdly used to a situation like this.”

“Well, getting bloodied while training is basically an everyday thing.”

“That does not normally happen every day.......”

Giving up on trying to understand, Bu Yeonha shook her head.

Seriously, neither of them is normal.

Even now, Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon looked different from the other young rising stars from the light in their eyes alone.

Far from being flustered by the sudden turn of events, both of them were practically buzzing with excitement, smacking their lips.

With a crooked grin, Shin Kangheon said,

“You never know, right? Maybe the one the Strongest in Korea recognizes as the most outstanding during this group stay......”

As if he had been listening, Muhyuk walked over and picked up the line.

“......might become the Strongest in Korea of the next generation?”

The two of them glared at each other, neither willing to give an inch.

“You two really know how to piss people off.”

“Look at you, acting all smug!”

“......I’ve never lost to anyone in talent.”

And once they were provoked by those two, the expressions of Bu Yeonha and the other young rising stars quickly changed as well.