Urban Vagabond: Reload

“......You want me to let you meet Han Shinhu?”

Sunwoo Jeha narrowed her eyes, as if she had a rough idea what Kim Muhyuk was thinking, and asked,

“So you can meet him and kill him?”

“Meet him and kill him?”

“You’re going to kill Richard Han?”

Shin Kangheon flinched at the story he was hearing for the first time, then opened his eyes wide and glared at Kim Muhyuk.

“The Strongest in the World? People keep calling you crazy, so now you’re really trying to pick only the craziest things to do? At that point, it’s a mental illness, you bastard!”

“Would you get off me already......!”

After barely prying off Shin Kangheon, who had grabbed him by the collar and started shaking him, Kim Muhyuk sighed and glared at Sunwoo Jeha.

“What kind of misunderstanding is that? I asked because he’s been my idol for a long time, and I’ve always wanted to meet him at least once.”

Despite Kim Muhyuk’s explanation, Sunwoo Jeha snorted as if she did not believe him.

“He isn’t someone you can meet whenever you ask. He’s the busiest martial artist in the world.”

“......Of course he is.”

Kim Muhyuk had not thought he could meet Richard Han at whatever time and place he wanted.

And killing him?

That was impossible to begin with.

No matter what I do with my current skill, I couldn’t even put a single scratch on him.

......He had no other intention.

He was simply curious.

The Strongest in the World, whom he had only been able to watch through screens in his previous life.

If he could meet him even briefly and speak with him, Kim Muhyuk did not want to miss that chance.

“Couldn’t you at least set up the meeting once? I can adjust to his schedule.”

“Hmm.......”

Sunwoo Jeha stared at Kim Muhyuk’s rather complicated expression, then gave a faint laugh and nodded.

Han Shinhu and this guy meeting, huh.......

Something interesting was bound to happen.

“Once the Great Anomaly hunt is over, I’ll contact him and ask if he wants to have a meal.”

“Good.”

When Kim Muhyuk nodded, Sunwoo Jeha added one condition.

“Ah. If you promise not to attack first, I can guarantee the minimum level of safety when you meet Han Shinhu.”

The phrases “attack first” and “minimum” sounded strangely unsettling, but Kim Muhyuk did not think too hard about it.

If even the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader was like this, then in private, Richard Han was obviously not going to be normal either.

“I really will just sit quietly, eat, and talk.”

“What? You’re really going to meet the Strongest in the World and have a meal with him? Teacher, I want to go too!”

Shin Kangheon, who had been quietly listening to the conversation between the two of them, suddenly begged to come along with sparkling eyes.

But Sunwoo Jeha shook her head.

“You haven’t entered the world of madmen yet, so you don’t qualify.”

“What? Seriously, what kind of crazy bullshit is that? Explain it so a normal person can understand—”

CRACK!

After running his mouth, Shin Kangheon took Sunwoo Jeha’s kick to the jaw and sprawled flat on the floor, seething with frustration.

“Ah, damn it! I could’ve dodged that one if I’d done a little better!”

“......Are all kids these days fast? Looks like this one’s got one foot in the door too.”

Sunwoo Jeha muttered while looking down at the external disciple who kept earning himself a beating.

After they wrapped up the talk about Richard Han to a reasonable degree,

“The operation begins ten days from now. The Great Anomaly we’ll be hunting is called the Giant Tree Ghost.”

Sunwoo Jeha’s expression went cold as she took out the documents related to the Giant Tree Ghost and handed them to Kim Muhyuk.

“No leaking this outside. Read everything you need right here and memorize it.”

Kim Muhyuk flipped through the documents page by page and asked,

“This is the owner of the heart I saw underground, right?”

“......The main body is enormous. Imagine a tree dozens of meters tall fighting by freely moving hundreds of branches.”

Sunwoo Jeha’s expression twisted as she recalled the Giant Tree Ghost, which had kept growing back no matter how much they cut it.

“It regenerates endlessly. Deep inside its body is a heart. We’ll have to destroy it completely to end the thing. I’ll handle that.”

Sunwoo Jeha calmly explained the plan while suppressing her rage. Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon listened seriously.

“What you two need to do is pin it in place as much as possible. Can you do that?”

“Preparing in time will be a little tight. Still......”

Kim Muhyuk closed the final page of the documents he had been given and raised his head to look at Sunwoo Jeha.

“It’s nothing we can’t do.”

He answered with the seasoned eyes of an anomaly hunter who had done similar work several times before.

*****

Kim Muhyuk, who came home still wearing the Transcendent Extremity Gate training clothes, was seized by his parents the moment he returned and stripped.

“......What are you doing?”

“You got hurt again, didn’t you?”

“Take this off first!”

Kim Chanho and Park Jiyeon, who were half-forcibly checking their son’s body for injuries, soon looked puzzled.

“Why is he fine this time?”

“I know. I don’t see any sword cuts either......”

Their son had always come home injured whenever he went somewhere, so now his unscathed appearance felt awkward to his parents instead.

“Come on. Anyone would think I get hurt all the time.”

“If you have a conscience, you don’t get to say that! Who’s the one who comes back torn up and broken every time he’s gone for a few days?”

At his grumbling father, Kim Muhyuk showed them Han Jaechun’s suit, freshly cleaned and brought back in a paper bag, and grinned.

“What would I get hurt doing? I told you it was a fun, safe training camp for exchange and unity among young rising stars.”

There were probably more than a hundred young rising stars who would not agree with that statement, but Kim Muhyuk’s parents had no way of knowing that.

The two finally seemed relieved, and their faces brightened as they asked their son all sorts of questions.

“So, how was the training camp?”

“It was fun. The food was good, and I learned a lot from the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader.”

“Did you make a lot of friends?”

“I think I made a few. They’re all decent people......”

Kim Muhyuk had dinner with his parents at home after returning for the first time in days, chatted to his heart’s content, and then went to bed.

Maybe he had been more tired than he realized. That night, for the first time in a while, he slept deeply without waking even once.

And the next day.

The Blue Wolves crew members gathered at the hideout one by one.

“A Great Anomaly hunt?”

Hwang Suksu, who had come running first after hearing there was a big job, made a fuss the moment he heard the details of the commission.

“Where does our crew leader even find jobs like this? I spent more than twenty years living as a wandering martial artist and never even saw the tail of a Great Anomaly. But after joining Blue Wolves, this is already the second one......”

When Hwang Suksu turned his head to look at Apricot, Apricot, who was sitting on Shin Kangheon’s shoulder, puffed out its chest proudly.

Pyaaak—!

“It must think we’re talking about it because you said Great Anomaly. We’re talking about something way bigger than you, okay?”

When Shin Kangheon tickled its belly wildly with a thick finger, Apricot pecked at his finger with its beak, then flapped away and fled to Kim Bokja.

“If it’s that big, it sounds insanely hard. They’re paying just as well, right?”

Kim Bokja, who had caught Apricot in both hands and hugged it to her chest, had her eyes shining. When Kim Muhyuk brought in a big job, she started drooling over the money first.

“The conditions are very good. The advance alone is several hundred million won, and—”

“I’m in!”

“You’re letting me join too, right?”

Kim Bokja and Hwang Suksu raised their hands in excitement as if they needed to hear nothing more. Han Jaechun also raised his hand carefully.

“Would there be something for me to do too? I don’t need to be paid, but I want to gain experience......”

“If you’re fine with support work from the rear instead of direct combat?”

“Of course I’m fine with that!”

“Then Han, you’re coming too.”

The meeting with Richard Han was a personal request, so Kim Muhyuk had secured additional compensation for the crew members.

As befitting the sect leader of one of the Eight Great Sects, the compensation Sunwoo Jeha offered was beyond imagination.

“Good. Then I’ll assign each of you a task.”

Kim Muhyuk looked around at the crew members and assigned their duties one by one.

“Hwang Suksu and Han, first get the necessary items by the operation date. I wrote everything down here, so check it, and if there’s any problem along the way, contact me immediately.”

“Okay! Let’s go get ready to make money, Jaechun!”

“Yes!”

Hwang Suksu, full of excitement, took Han Jaechun and headed for the underworld black market.

“Bokja, I need you to make a few spellcraft tools. They need to be usable like this...... Can you do it?”

After listening to Kim Muhyuk’s explanation, Kim Bokja nodded.

“If I close the beauty shop and start working today, I think I can. I’ll make a prototype first!”

Kim Bokja rolled up her sleeves, full of motivation. She shot to her feet and headed down to her shop on the floor below.

“You, nutjob. Spend the next few days training with Apricot glued to you. Keep it by your side as much as possible when you train.”

“With the little fireball?”

Pyaak?

Kim Muhyuk explained the reason to the two of them, who looked puzzled.

“The Giant Tree Ghost is a Great Anomaly with the wood attribute. If you absorb as much of Apricot’s flame as possible, it’ll definitely help in the fight.”

Understanding what he meant, Shin Kangheon grinned, grabbed Apricot, and shoved it inside his clothes between his thick pectoral muscles.

“You hear that, little fireball? Starting today, you’re training hard with your big bro!”

Pyaaaaak!

Shin Kangheon took the struggling Apricot, who clearly hated the idea, and went down to the underground training room.

“Everyone’s excited.”

Kim Muhyuk was quietly smiling as he watched the crew members leave to handle their assigned tasks.

Srrrk.

“My disciple. Why have you asked nothing of me?”

When he turned around, Choi Geon stood there with his arms crossed, even though Kim Muhyuk had deliberately not contacted him.

“Are you perhaps excluding this master alone? They say the old and useless should hurry up and die......”

Choi Geon made a joke he did not mean, and Kim Muhyuk instead asked as if he genuinely did not understand.

“You want to step in personally for a mere job like this, Master?”

“Hmm?”

Choi Geon looked at his disciple with a puzzled expression.

This was, after all, a hunt for a Great Anomaly.

His disciple was not the sort of person who would act recklessly without knowing how dangerous it was......

Kim Muhyuk confidently lifted one corner of his mouth.

“Blue Wolves’ secret weapon should be saved for more important moments. So I’m not planning to use it this time.”

“Hoho......”

Choi Geon realized this was his disciple’s consideration for him.

Even if he wore a Blue Wolf mask, someone at Sunwoo Jeha’s level—or one of the Transcendent Extremity Gate elders—might recognize his identity and martial arts.

The fewer people who know Master’s identity, the better.

Also, in the end, this matter would be helping one of the Eight Great Sects.

Choi Geon would step forward for his disciple as many times as needed, but separately from that, Kim Muhyuk knew he still held bad feelings toward the Eight Great Sects.

“......Will you truly be all right?”

At his master’s repeated question, Kim Muhyuk nodded firmly.

“Yes.”

Sword Demon Choi Geon’s combat power made up a large part of Blue Wolves, but Blue Wolves without him was by no means weak.

And Kim Muhyuk had one more thing he was counting on.

“If it’s the Strongest in Korea, then even if she isn’t quite as good as you, Master, wouldn’t she do enough of her share in a Great Anomaly hunt?”

Choi Geon burst into laughter at his disciple’s cheerful joke, which praised him to the end.

“Klk-klk. You’re right! Maybe that one might even be just a tiny bit better than me!”

Once he reminded himself that the Strongest in Korea would be participating, Choi Geon felt somewhat relieved.

Then, when a question suddenly occurred to him, he asked his disciple,

“Everyone went out because they had something to prepare. Do you have anything you need to prepare as well? If you are busy, I will get it for you.”

“There is something I need to prepare...... but I think I’ll have to go personally to receive it.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

When Kim Muhyuk told his curious master what it was, Choi Geon gave a small sigh.

“You truly are......”

And the next day, Kim Muhyuk visited AZURE SKY SWORD GATE.