Urban Vagabond: Reload

Kim Muhyuk chatted with his master a little longer, then checked the alarm on his phone and got to his feet.

“Shin Kangheon says he’s at the café right now.”

“Hoh, he came early enough. Let’s go up together.”

The two of them went up from the basement training hall to the café together.

Shin Kangheon, dressed in his White Tiger Unit uniform, was chatting with Kim Chanho and Park Jiyeon.

The moment he spotted them, he stood up from his chair, planted both hands on his waist, and asked Kim Muhyuk,

“Well? What do you think?”

“What’s with you suddenly striking a pose?”

Unlike Kim Muhyuk, who answered bluntly, Choi Geon looked pleased when he saw the neatly pressed Martial Alliance uniform.

“It suits you rather well. Did you iron it for the party?”

“See, that’s why you’re the teacher! When they heard I was going to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering party, the White Tiger Unit commander personally ironed it for me.”

Apparently pleased with how he looked, Shin Kangheon grinned.

Kim Chanho and Park Jiyeon, on the other hand, glared at their son, who was dressed no differently than usual.

“Kangheon told us everything. You’re saying you’re going to some important party today where all the young rising stars are gathering?”

“You told us it was just a simple get-together with people your age.... Don’t tell me you were really planning to go dressed like that?”

Kim Muhyuk nodded as if he genuinely didn’t see what the problem was.

“It’s just a bunch of kids getting together to hang out. There’s no need to dress up—”

Before he could even finish, a storm of parental nagging came crashing down on him.

“What kind of fool goes to a party dressed like that? Are you trying to get turned away at the entrance and sent home?”

“Look at Kangheon. Doesn’t he look nice and tidy? Are you trying to embarrass your mother and father?”

“What would we have done if we hadn’t known? Thank goodness Mr. Jaechun agreed to lend you a suit.”

It seemed that after hearing from Shin Kangheon that the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was an important party, the two of them had asked Han Jaechun, who lived nearby, to lend him a suit.

Han Jaechun, suppressing a laugh, held the suit out to Kim Muhyuk.

“This is the only suit I have too. I’ve only worn it a few times, so it’s almost new. Go wear it and have a good time.”

Kim Muhyuk was taller, but the two of them had roughly similar builds, so the size didn’t seem like it would be a problem.

Even so, Kim Muhyuk took a step back with an uncomfortable look on his face. He had never once worn a suit in his life.

“What kind of martial artist wears a suit? If a fight breaks out, how uncomfortable do you think that’ll be—”

“Who in the world goes to a party planning to get into a fight?”

“Quit talking and go change already!”

A little later.

Dragged off by his parents, Kim Muhyuk came back down to the café wearing the suit, dress shoes, and even a tie around his neck.

“This is suffocating....”

Kim Muhyuk fidgeted uncomfortably around his collar, but soon gave up on resisting and decided to accept it.

His parents were staring at him with expressions that clearly said if he took that off, he was dead.

“Whoever’s son he is, once he’s dressed like this, he looks like a model.”

“Go have a good time. Make lots of friends too, all right?”

“...Yes.”

Nodding, Kim Muhyuk decided that for just today, he would put up with the discomfort of the suit and be a dutiful son.

Choi Geon also patted his disciple on the shoulder now that he was ready to go to the party.

“Even if there’s someone you don’t like, don’t go hitting them carelessly. Endure it the way you do during meditation training.”

“...What exactly do you think I am?”

“If you were the kind of brat who could laugh and mingle just fine at a place like the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, would you have become my disciple?”

At that answer, which left him with nothing to say, Kim Muhyuk let out a laugh.

He really wasn’t the type for a painfully awkward young-rising-stars party like this.

If not for the purpose of going to see the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader, he never would have attended in the first place.

“Hey, if we don’t leave soon, we’re gonna be late.”

After checking the time, Shin Kangheon tapped Kim Muhyuk on the shoulder. The two of them said their goodbyes and left Naru.

“Then we’ll be off.”

“We’ll be back!”

After Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon left like that,

the four people remaining in the café spoke with worried looks on their faces.

“I just hope those tempers of theirs don’t end with them picking a fight....”

“He’s my son, but sometimes I really can’t tell what in the world he’s thinking.”

“I’m worried about Kangheon too. When the two of them are together, they weirdly turn childish....”

“...My suit’s coming back in one piece, right?”

Leaving the adults’ worries behind, Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon headed for the Transcendent Extremity Gate, where the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was being held.

*****

Unlike most of the Eight Great Sects, which were gathered in Seoul, the Transcendent Extremity Gate was located in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

< Transcendent Extremity >

The first thing that caught the eye was the signboard, written in rough brushstrokes as though it had been slashed out with a sword. Beneath it stood buildings in the traditional hanok style.

There were no towering skyscrapers, and nothing on the overwhelming scale of the Martial Alliance. The buildings had been kept old as they were, to the point that they even felt weathered. Even so, they did not feel shabby. They felt solemn.

“This place has an insane atmosphere.”

“...It really knows how to make people tense.”

After stepping out of the car sent by the Transcendent Extremity Gate, Shin Kangheon and Kim Muhyuk looked around and murmured in admiration.

Even though it was the day of a party for young rising stars, the Transcendent Extremity Gate was quiet overall. There were no banners welcoming guests, and none of the bustling liveliness one might expect.

If anything, martial artists of the Transcendent Extremity Gate were moving around as if wary of unfamiliar visitors, inspecting the young rising stars one by one.

“Please let us check your invitations for a moment.”

A martial artist of the Transcendent Extremity Gate approached and checked both their invitations and their IDs.

After personally verifying that they were not wearing any skin masks, the martial artist nodded.

“You may enter.”

Once they stepped inside the Transcendent Extremity Gate, it finally felt like they had arrived at a party venue.

Soft music was playing, and young rising stars could be seen gathered in groups, chatting.

‘Quite a lot of them are already here.’

The young rising stars had naturally split themselves by similar age groups and by sect.

The smaller sects with the smaller sects.

The mid-sized sects with the mid-sized sects.

And the Eight Great Sects with the Eight Great Sects.

The nominal purpose of this Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was harmony and exchange between the Eight Great Sects and the other sects, but a hierarchy that had been divided for so many years was not something that could simply be mixed together by force.

“Huh?”

“Those two are...”

The moment Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon entered the venue, the eyes of the young rising stars turned toward them. Their whispers reached the ears of the two of them as well.

‘That guy’s Kim Muhyuk, right?’

‘Seeing him in person, his face is seriously sharp.’

‘The one in the Martial Alliance uniform next to him is Shin Kangheon, isn’t it?’

‘Wow, he’s tall, but his build is insane too....’

Most of the young rising stars gathered at the party were older than Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon.

Because in the martial world, you were still called a young rising star until you were thirty.

And among the people gathered here, there wasn’t a single one who didn’t know the two of them.

“I’m heading over there. What about you?”

Kim Muhyuk jerked his chin toward a secluded corner, radiating as plainly as possible that he had no interest in anybody else.

He intended to quietly kill time until the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader appeared.

“I’m gonna get some food first!”

Shin Kangheon smacked his lips and strode toward the area where the food was gathered.

When Kim Muhyuk saw the young rising stars starting to drift toward him, he took a step back.

‘While Shin Kangheon draws their attention, I need to slip into a corner and hide.’

But Kim Muhyuk’s plan did not go the way he wanted.

“Kim Muhyuk!”

At the sound of someone calling him, he turned his head with a doomed expression and saw Bu Yeonha.

Dressed up in a suit, she strode toward him with a brisk, refreshing gait.

“I heard you might be coming, but it was really true? I didn’t think you’d like this kind of party.”

“...Honestly, I was considering not coming. Do you like places like this, Senior?”

“As for me, I have to attend for business reasons if nothing else.”

The annoyance on Bu Yeonha’s face was obvious as she shrugged her shoulders.

She was of the age to be called a young rising star, but she was effectively in the position of the next sect leader of AZURE SKY SWORD GATE.

Because of that, she couldn’t skip a major event like the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

Starting with Bu Yeonha, familiar faces who knew Kim Muhyuk began approaching one by one.

“Muhyuk, why are you hiding way off in a corner?”

Oh Jungmin of Songwol Gate walked up to him and spoke with his amiable face as usual.

“Ahem. Long time no see. Have you been well?”

Then Pi Seunghwa of Golden Glory Gate, the same age as him and someone who had taken the license exam with him, looked back and forth between Bu Yeonha and Kim Muhyuk before coming over and acting familiar.

More than anything, there was also a welcome face he had never expected to see here.

“...It’s been a while.”

“Yang Hayun? You came too?”

After the Glacier Priestess had played a major role in bringing down the Black Heaven Society’s society leader,

the image of the Sun and Moon Gate, which had hit rock bottom, had recovered at least a little.

The sect itself was still under closure, but Yang Hayun, being a young rising star, seemed to have attended the party as an exception.

The black mini dress contrasted beautifully with her pure white hair.

“...You got taller?”

After walking closer, Yang Hayun rose up on her toes to look at Kim Muhyuk. The gap between their heights looked to be over thirty centimeters.

Kim Muhyuk bent slightly at the waist and smiled as he spoke to Yang Hayun.

“You’ve been doing well, right?”

“Mhm....”

Sssssss—

At that moment, a pure white current of air swirled around only the two of them.

Kim Muhyuk looked at the Yin-Extreme qi drifting around them and let out an admiring sound.

“Oh....”

Because he could feel just how much more skillful Yang Hayun had become at handling Yin-Extreme qi.

The current of qi gently circling around the two of them held the cold in so well that it did not feel nearly as chilly as before.

Kim Muhyuk looked at Yang Hayun with an excited expression. It was the look of someone who had found an opponent among his peers worth becoming a rival.

“You’ve gotten stronger than before, haven’t you?”

“...Yeah. I have to keep my promise.”

Why was her face turning red?

“Then I’ll see you again later.”

Watching Yang Hayun turn away after only that brief greeting and walk off, Kim Muhyuk tilted his head.

On one side of the party hall, Shin Kangheon and Song Junho were in the middle of a chase.

“Hey, shorty! How many centimeters of height insoles did you put in today?”

“Don’t come any closer! If you come any closer, I’ll seriously kill you!”

“If you just take your shoes off once, I won’t come any closer~.”

“Get lost!”

At the sight of Song Junho running away while cursing and Shin Kangheon chasing after him with a grin, people all around them snickered.

“Hahaha! Mind if I come say hello to the younger crowd too?”

Just then, a young man smoothly slipped into the group and spoke to the young rising stars gathered around Kim Muhyuk.

Kim Muhyuk felt the man’s qi and let out a quiet note of admiration inwardly.

‘He’s pretty impressive.’

He was a muscular martial artist whose build was thick enough to compare with Shin Kangheon’s. The large saber strapped to his back was impressive too.

“I’m Kang Hyuntae of the Great Saber Gate. Nice to meet you, juniors.”

With an easy smile, Kang Hyuntae shook hands with them one by one as he spoke.

“To be honest, I’m just a tiny bit older than you all. I turned thirty this year. I barely managed to squeeze into a young-rising-stars gathering! Hahahaha!”

Kang Hyuntae seemed to be the type who liked gatherings, because he naturally took the lead in the conversation.

When Shin Kangheon eventually wandered over this way, he even remarked that it was a shame they hadn’t been able to be together.

“It would’ve been nice if you’d come to the Great Saber Gate, Shin Kangheon. Even our sect leader had high expectations. Any chance you feel like changing your mind even now?”

“Nope. I’m going to become the Martial Alliance Leader later.”

“What? Hahaha. Then please take good care of me ahead of time!”

He didn’t look like a bad person. He just had a somewhat light and frivolous side to his personality.

Lowering his voice, Kang Hyuntae winked.

“I don’t know if all of you know this, but the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader is a bit... lacking in social skills. So even if she comes to the party hall, it probably won’t be all that fun. That’s why a guy like me has to step up and liven up the mood.”

At the joke about the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader, the young rising stars either suppressed their laughter or glanced around to see who might be listening, but the martial artists of the Transcendent Extremity Gate showed no particular reaction, as if they hadn’t heard.

Kim Muhyuk, however, thought differently.

‘This could turn into a disaster.’

Quietly concealing his presence and slowly increasing the distance between himself and the group, Kim Muhyuk turned to the side and said,

“He doesn’t seem like he means any harm, but you’re not standing there quietly listening because you’re thinking about cutting something off, are you?”

Startled at being addressed, the woman who had been creeping up from behind widened her eyes and stared at Kim Muhyuk.

Her face looked around the same age as the young rising stars, but there was something strangely deep in her eyes.

“Wow, you’re sharp. How’d you know?”

“My master really likes hiding and sneaking up on people.”

Though he looked calm enough to be casually talking to her, a line of cold sweat was running down Kim Muhyuk’s back.

‘She got almost all the way behind me before I noticed.’

Her presence had been so faint that if he hadn’t grown used to Choi Geon using stealth techniques all the time, even he might not have noticed.

“Hm....”

The woman raised one corner of her mouth as though intrigued, then tilted her head and looked up at Kim Muhyuk.

She had slightly distorted her features with a bone-shrinking technique, but Kim Muhyuk had no trouble guessing who she was.

‘It’s the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader.’

After staring at Kim Muhyuk as if trying to see right through him, she frowned as though something displeased her.

“You....”

Her gaze flicked once to Phantom Dream hanging at Kim Muhyuk’s waist, then she folded her arms.

Then, as if talking to herself, she muttered,

“...You look like him.”

“Huh?”

“What an obnoxious bastard.”

Kim Muhyuk looked at Sunwoo Jeha with a blank expression.

He had imagined meeting the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader and having a conversation with her many times, but he had never imagined that the very first thing she would do upon meeting him was curse at him.