Urban Vagabond: Reload

Kim Muhyuk’s head tilted crookedly at the exact same angle as Sunwoo Jeha’s.

No matter how much of an unofficial Strongest in Korea she was, there was no reason for him to smile at someone who insulted him the first time they met.

In other words, if a martial artist from the orthodox faction couldn’t even act like someone from the orthodox faction, then Kim Muhyuk couldn’t help turning curt too.

“When did you ever see me that you’re calling me obnoxious?”

“Who taught you the sword?”

As if she hadn’t heard a word he said, Sunwoo Jeha only said what she wanted to say.

Muhyuk answered with a sullen expression.

“My master taught me. I can’t tell you who.”

“Your master? You smell a little like that bastard....... No. Similar, but different too?”

Sniff, sniff.

This was getting more absurd by the second. Sunwoo Jeha really did sniff at him as if he actually had some kind of scent on him.

She even narrowed her eyes and glared at Phantom Dream for a moment.

“A divine sword? Ah, no, a cursed sword....... And somehow you’ve managed to carry it around without getting eaten alive.......”

“......The scabbard blocks its energy, so how can you tell?”

Apparently, against a master on the level of the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader, even a seal made with a powerful spellcraft tool didn’t mean much.

She looked up at him with transparent eyes and warned him.

“Don’t take it overseas. With your current level, it’ll get stolen fast, and then you’ll die.”

“......Thank you for the advice.”

“What a waste. If I’d met you a few years earlier, I’d have taken it and used it myself.......”

“......”

Muhyuk took a step back from Sunwoo Jeha as she smacked her lips.

Then a strange thought suddenly occurred to him.

Why does nobody think this is odd?

Muhyuk looked around.

Even though the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader had appeared, nothing at all had changed at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering Dinner Party.

If anyone had heard the conversation she was having with him, they should have been able to guess who she was.......

“HAHAHAHA! Kangheon, you really are a funny bastard!”

At the center of the party hall, Great Saber Gate’s Kang Hyuntae was still leading the conversation, laughing and talking loudly.

Quite a few young rising stars from the Eight Great Sects and from mid-sized sects were gathering around him.

The young rising stars from smaller sects either hovered around nearby, hoping to build connections with the more mainstream martial artists, or else stayed completely among themselves.

But not one of them looked in the direction where Kim Muhyuk and Sunwoo Jeha were standing.

Even Shin Kangheon and Bu Yeonha weren’t paying this way the slightest bit of attention. It was as if the space itself were empty.

......They can’t even perceive us?

As Muhyuk slowly grasped the situation, he felt goosebumps rise across his skin.

Surprise filled his eyes as he looked back at Sunwoo Jeha.

Beyond the realm of a supreme master.

A long time ago, he’d heard rumors about that realm, the kind people told like urban legends.

That peerless masters could completely assimilate their energy into their surroundings.

Because of that, a peerless master was no different from a top-tier assassin, and at minimum one had to reach the realm of a supreme master to perceive their presence.

“You really are quick on the uptake.”

The Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader had been staring straight at him, and then she smiled brightly like something out of a horror movie. More cold sweat ran down Muhyuk’s back.

“Are you...... a peerless master?”

“No.”

For the first time since appearing, Sunwoo Jeha gave him a proper answer.

“This kind of thing is just a cheap trick.”

A cheap trick?

If she meant that literally, then with nothing more than a cheap trick, she could kill every young rising star in the party hall.

But then, thinking about it, there was something he didn’t understand.

Even if she wasn’t a peerless master, the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader was still in a realm incomparably beyond his own, and she had hidden her presence deliberately. So how was he able to sense it at all, even faintly?

As if she had read the question right off his face, Sunwoo Jeha answered.

“You’ve got exceptionally good instincts. That’s why you’re obnoxious. And...... I only started hiding it perfectly just now.”

“......!”

She was right in front of his eyes, and yet he could barely feel her existence at all.

Only by forcing his eyes wide open and staring with everything he had could he barely keep from losing track of her presence.

“Hm. Not bad.”

Despite the words, Sunwoo Jeha’s expression said she was displeased. She brushed past Muhyuk’s side.

“I don’t like you, but you’re interesting. I’ll see you again before long.”

Muttering to herself, Sunwoo Jeha walked straight past him and slowly let the presence she had concealed begin to show again.

“Huh?”

“......Who’s that?”

One by one, the young rising stars turned their heads and looked at her, and a few of the sharper ones flinched and reached toward their weapons.

Ignoring them, Sunwoo Jeha cut through the crowd of young rising stars and walked toward the center of the party hall.

There stood Kang Hyuntae of the Great Saber Gate, chatting away as if he were the star of the party.

“To be honest, I watched a video of your saber art, Shin Kangheon. It’s more than good enough as it is, but there were a few places where I found it lacking.”

And the person Kang Hyuntae was talking to at that moment was Shin Kangheon.

At the remark evaluating his saber art, Kangheon’s eyebrow twitched.

“Are you saying my saber art is weak right now?”

Kangheon growled as if asking whether Kang Hyuntae wanted to test it in person, but Kang Hyuntae waved his hands and smiled slickly.

“If that sounded offensive, I apologize. What I mean is, your saber art is already excellent, but it isn’t an advanced martial art worthy of supporting talent as outstanding as yours.”

“......”

Judging by his tone and expression, he really did seem sorry.

That was why Kangheon only looked uncomfortable and went no further than that.

Watching the scene, Muhyuk nodded to himself.

He’s not completely wrong. Kangheon’s probably the one who feels it most clearly.

The family saber art Kangheon was using now had been created by his father, so it was hard to call it an advanced martial art.

In his previous life, Shin Kangheon would have entered the Great Saber Gate through that fake uncle of his, learned an advanced saber art there, and later been called the strongest saber in Korea.

The internal energy cultivation method is fine with the Blazing-Yang Art, but if the saber art can’t keep up, he’ll end up a half-finished saber artist with nothing but output.

Of course, with Kangheon’s talent, it was possible that he could develop his family saber art into an advanced one himself.

But it was also true that if he encountered a higher martial art early, or received instruction from a true master, he could shorten that time dramatically.

As if he fully understood that dilemma, Kang Hyuntae continued.

“Even if you belong to the Martial Alliance, if you form ties with our main sect as a lay disciple, you can still learn parts of Great Saber Gate’s saber arts. In that respect, we’re pretty open-minded too.”

“......”

He was speaking to Shin Kangheon, but in reality, he was talking to every young rising star in the party hall.

More precisely, to the young rising stars from mid-sized sects and smaller sects.

If he could bring in those who were starved for advanced martial arts as lay disciples, then naturally Great Saber Gate’s influence would grow significantly.

Not exactly the sort of thing you should be doing in another sect’s territory.

But because the Transcendent Extremity Gate had little interest in expanding its power, Kang Hyuntae probably thought there would be no real issue.

The problem was whether the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader, who had watched the whole process unfold, thought so too.

At that moment, Sunwoo Jeha, having passed through the crowd of young rising stars, stopped right in front of Kang Hyuntae.

“No soliciting.”

“Huh?”

Because she had altered her features slightly with the bone-shrinking technique, Kang Hyuntae didn’t recognize the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader right away.

“Haha. Who was it again? Sorry, but I can’t seem to remember immediately.......”

“The person who said I’m no fun to have around at parties?”

She had stayed quiet when he was talking behind her back, so Muhyuk had thought she might be more tolerant than expected, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

Kang Hyuntae’s eyes slowly widened, and he hurriedly opened his mouth.

“N-no, that’s not what I......!”

“No excuses.”

Sunwoo Jeha kicked Kang Hyuntae in the shin.

CRACK!

With a sound like bone breaking, Kang Hyuntae’s body pitched forward. Sunwoo Jeha swung her fist and flicked him hard in the forehead.

BOOM!

Kang Hyuntae slammed face-first into the floor, and the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader lightly stepped onto his back.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“How dare you lay a hand on senior brother—!”

A few of Great Saber Gate’s young rising stars, too oblivious to read the room, started to draw their sabers, but—

“Don’t move.”

“Brats. Show proper respect to our sect leader.”

The martial artists of the Transcendent Extremity Gate, who were handling security for the party hall, released their killing intent, and the others froze where they stood, trembling.

Sunwoo Jeha, who had been quietly watching them, swept her gaze over the young rising stars now focused on her and opened her mouth in a calm voice.

“Nice to meet you, young rising stars. I’m the sect leader here.”

The young rising stars of the Eight Great Sects swallowed hard, their faces tight with tension.

Sunwoo Jeha, the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader.

She was famous as both the unofficial Strongest in Korea and an eccentric who could jump in any direction at any moment. No one could begin to guess what she was going to say.

“I’ll get straight to the point. The Martial Alliance Leader asked me for a favor.”

In a flat voice without the slightest rise or fall, Sunwoo Jeha kept speaking only what she wanted to say.

“He told me that if I saw any juniors with decent promise at this Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, I should teach them a move or two. I usually refuse requests like that, but I agreed this time because I’m getting paid. What the payment is isn’t any of your business.”

The way she stared up at the ceiling and spoke rapidly, almost like she was talking to herself, created a strange kind of fear.

“The Transcendent Extremity Gate pursues the ultimate mysteries of martial arts. But to pursue those mysteries, you need minimum qualifications. Put simply, talent. Most of you, though, don’t have any.”

She was completely doing whatever she pleased.

The young rising stars realized that the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader was even more of a lunatic than the rumors said.

“Sorry about that. No, actually, I’m not sorry. If you don’t have talent, it’s better to quit being a martial artist. If you’ve got no talent and nothing but drive, you go mad fast. Mm. So what I’m saying is—”

Still gazing at empty air, Sunwoo Jeha lowered her eyes and looked back at the young rising stars.

“I’m going to test your talent right here. Your current martial level doesn’t matter at all. I’ll be evaluating nothing but pure talent.”

She looked utterly uninterested, as if she expected very little.

“If you pass my test, I’ll teach you a move.”

But the young rising stars were already captivated by her overwhelming power and presence.

“The first talent I’ll evaluate is death. I’m going to see how much resistance you have to death.”

The Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader drew a sword from her back with one hand and a saber with the other, then swung both so fast her hands disappeared.

“Try dying once.”

After more than several hundred sword-and-saber trajectories spread out without a single gap and blanketed the entire party hall—

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud......

Most of the young rising stars in the hall collapsed to the floor.

“Cough, ghk!”

“Hah......!”

A few barely managed to remain standing, but blood was already beading from cuts all over their bodies.

Step. Step.

Sunwoo Jeha slowly walked past the young rising stars lying on the floor. Her face was indifferent, as if the scene she had created meant absolutely nothing to her.

Then she stopped in front of one person, and only then did she furrow her brow in open displeasure.

“You really are obnoxious after all.”

A young rising star stood there exactly as he had at the beginning, completely unaffected. There wasn’t a single scratch on his body.

Loosening his tie slightly as if it felt tight around his neck, Kim Muhyuk answered,

“Ah, well, this is a borrowed suit.”

“......You even take people off in the same way.”

That calm backtalk made someone flash through Sunwoo Jeha’s mind, and for a moment she almost swung her sword for real.