Urban Vagabond: Reload

The second day of camp.

From dawn on, the training ground in front of the annex where the young rising stars were staying was thick with the heat and shouts of martial artists.

The young rising stars had gathered in their study groups, reviewing the previous day’s lessons through training and sparring. Among them, though, a certain few were breathing especially hard.

“Move faster! You think the enemy’s going to go easy on you just because you hit the ground?”

Kim Muhyuk shouted as he brought his sword down. Jeon Seungyeon, who had been sprawled on the ground, rolled across it. A hole punched into the floor right along the path of her movement.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

It was a move especially frowned on within the orthodox faction, which valued dignity, because of the mocking nickname “Lazy Donkey Roll.”

But with Kim Muhyuk charging at her like he really meant to kill her, she had no other choice.

“This is seriously pissing me off!”

After rolling across the floor several times and barely escaping, Jeon Seungyeon sprang back up on the rebound. Her long leg snapped through the air like a whip, aiming for Muhyuk’s side.

Muhyuk retreated a step and turned his sword sideways, bleeding off the force in her kick. The blade scraped against her shin guard, throwing sparks.

CLANG!

Then Jeon Seungyeon dropped her stance low and rushed him. Her eyes were blazing with the determination to never let him go if she got her hands on him.

If I get taken down by that tackle, I’m basically not getting out.

Remembering how Chae Eunsu had gotten dragged all over the ground for quite a while after being caught in her grip, Kim Muhyuk quickly shifted his footwork and slipped to the side.

At that exact moment, a spear tip stole up behind him and went for his right shoulder.

Ssshk—!

Even though it was a blunted practice spearhead, it still scraped his upper arm and drew blood. Muhyuk paid it no mind and spun his body.

Flap-flap-flap!

The hem of his training clothes whipped harshly in the wind. By the time he stopped, Muhyuk had already slipped past Chae Eunsu’s side and come face-to-face with Yang Hayun, who had been trailing behind him.

Suddenly left facing Jeon Seungyeon instead, Chae Eunsu broke out in a cold sweat and shouted,

“Hrk! I-it’s not me!”

“Tch. A pheasant or a chicken, same difference!”

Jeon Seungyeon’s flying tackle slammed straight into Chae Eunsu. As the two of them rolled across the ground in a chaotic tangle, Muhyuk squared off against Yang Hayun.

Startled for a moment, Yang Hayun quickly narrowed her eyes and thrust both palms forward with force.

“Haaap—!”

Even without gathering her Yin-Extreme qi, Yang Hayun’s twin palms were ferocious. Her elusive movement technique stood out even among the young rising stars, making her excellent at darting in and out.

But in a straight-up clash, she was no match for Kim Muhyuk. That was even more true now, with internal energy restricted. After several exchanges, Yang Hayun started backing away.

“Trying to run?”

“It’s a tactical retreat!”

Muhyuk did not chase the instantly widening distance. He stopped, took a moment to catch his breath, then looked around.

“Should we call it there for the morning session?”

The others moved as if they had been waiting for those exact words. They all stopped fighting and dropped where they were, gasping.

“Fuuuuh......”

“This is way too brutal for first thing in the morning......”

“Haa, haa.”

A chaotic melee with no internal energy, no distinction between friend and foe, everyone mixed together.

That was the training method Kim Muhyuk had proposed.

Since they were fighting without internal energy, the gap in skill between the young rising stars from the Eight Great Sects and those from mid-sized or smaller sects was not that large. Their constitutions ranged from Grade 1 to Grade 5, but even that was not a major issue here.

“If I could’ve used internal energy......”

Yang Hayun, whose stamina was the worst of the four, puffed out her lips in frustration, and Muhyuk pointed out an important fact.

“Of course you’d be the strongest if internal energy were allowed, Yang Hayun. If you just froze everything around you with overwhelming Yin-Extreme qi, it’d be over. But that works on us. It won’t work on the Strongest in Korea.”

In other words, Yin-Extreme qi would not help with the intuition that the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader had assigned as their task.

“......You’re right.”

Maybe she had only been grumbling for the sake of it, because Yang Hayun nodded without protest. What Muhyuk had said was exactly correct.

Even among Grade 1 constitutions, hers was the special Yin-Extreme body. Up to now, she had not spent much time on physical conditioning or external arts. She had needed that time to practice controlling Yin-Extreme qi instead.

So this kind of external-arts-focused training was unfamiliar to Yang Hayun. Normally, she would have wondered whether this was really the right training for her.

But...

Ever since she had started training with Kim Muhyuk, Yang Hayun’s eyes had been burning with resolve.

“I’ll work harder to make up for what I lack. I want to be as strong as you are too.”

Seeing that fierce motivation in her, Kim Muhyuk nodded with satisfaction. Yang Hayun, unable to meet that smile head-on, quietly turned her gaze away.

“All right, everyone’s rested enough, right?”

Kim Muhyuk had taken it upon himself to act as both the leader of the study group and its drill instructor. As the only pinnacle expert among the four, no one objected.

And on top of that, Muhyuk led from the front in every exercise. He had taken the most combined attacks from the other three during the melee training, yet he did not look tired at all.

“Let’s finish with stamina training. We’ll just do twenty light laps around the training ground and call it a [N O V E L I G H T] day.”

“......Twenty laps?”

“You’re not planning to train in the afternoon too?”

“I-I’ll do my best......”

They all complained, but in the end they followed Kim Muhyuk and ran the laps together.

This is helping more than I expected.

Running at the front, Muhyuk reviewed the dawn session he had just spent with the study group.

All of them were talented young rising stars who had passed the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader’s first test.

Even if each of them was below him in martial level, once they worked together under limited conditions, he could not afford to let his guard down.

Besides, they were all so motivated that their concentration was high as well.

“Fuuuuh....... Twenty laps done. Now let’s all go eat breakfast.”

“I want to wash up first......”

“You know you recover better and grow better if you take in nutrients within an hour after exercise, right?”

“I-I’m coming.”

“What is this, the military......?”

They all grumbled, but they followed Muhyuk’s words anyway.

That was how they all ended up arriving at the dining hall together and eating. While they were in the middle of the meal, Chae Eunsu suddenly asked, sounding genuinely curious.

“But why did you let me into the study group? There were lots of other people......”

He was the only spearman among the young rising stars, but the Jingwan Spear Gate he belonged to was a mid-sized sect founded by former military men.

Put kindly, their martial arts were practical.

Put bluntly, they were simple and predictable.

To be completely honest, he was one of the weaker young rising stars there.

Staring down at his tray, Chae Eunsu spoke with a lack of confidence.

“I’m still kind of dazed just being here at all. I’ve never once thought I had any talent in martial arts, and I only came to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering because I wanted to see amazing young rising stars like you guys......”

“Brother Chae, you do have talent. I can see it.”

Kim Muhyuk said it with complete certainty. His expression was calm, as if he were merely stating an obvious fact.

“......Me?”

As Chae Eunsu stared at him blankly, Muhyuk nodded.

Unlike how timid he looked now, Chae Eunsu had been a famous martial artist in the future Muhyuk knew.

So you’re that Silent Spearman. Even seeing it with my own eyes, I can hardly believe it.

One of the Lone Wolves, and a peak spearman.

In Kim Muhyuk’s previous life as the Lone Ghost, there had been one single time when they had fought back-to-back together on a battlefield where their lives were on the line.

-You’re pretty good.

-You too.

If you erased the countless scars that had covered the Silent Spearman’s face, this was the face that would remain.

“Oh? Then what about me?”

Jeon Seungyeon, who had come back with her tray heaped high with rice and side dishes, cut into their conversation. She looked at Muhyuk with open curiosity.

“Do you see some kind of talent in me too? Or did you let me in because tall women are your type?”

True to her easygoing, teasing personality, Jeon Seungyeon asked with a mischievous joke.

Muhyuk answered with a joke of his own.

“I do. But it looks more like the kind of talent that’d shine in the unorthodox faction than the orthodox one.”

“What? You little bastard, that’s just straight-up abuse!”

Jeon Seungyeon laughed it off without taking offense.

But Muhyuk’s words were not just a joke.

In the future, she would become a martial artist infamous within the unorthodox faction.

Jeon Seungyeon the Back-Traitor Fiend. You were the traitor who got expelled from the Skybreaker Gate and fled to Martial Mausoleum Palace, one of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects.

Muhyuk did not know exactly what had happened to her, or what kind of disaster she had caused before she ran.

But when he had run into her by chance while carrying out a job connected to Martial Mausoleum Palace, she had helped him while he was fleeing with a severely wounded companion on his back.

-......Take the path to the right over there. Security’s thinner there.

The companion Muhyuk had been carrying had died in the end, unable to hold on.

But thanks to her, he had at least been able to return the body to the family.

Letting those two join the study group was also his way of repaying the kindness he had received in his previous life.

If they can learn from the Strongest in Korea and grow stronger, maybe their fates can shift in a slightly better direction too.......

The two people Muhyuk had known in his previous life might have been part of the underworld, but they had not been evil.

If they received more guidance while they were still young rising stars, and if their lives opened up more cleanly after that, maybe they could live better lives than the futures he knew.

Just as he himself had gone from a wandering drifter of the back alleys to an orthodox young rising star.

That feeling was part of why he had gathered them too.

At that moment, Yang Hayun puffed out her lips and said,

“......Why won’t you say anything about me?”

“Because there’s nothing to say about you, Yang Hayun. You’re already one of the young rising stars people count on one hand in Korea.”

She still pouted and muttered under her breath, but Yang Hayun looked pleased as she chewed her food.

In Kim Muhyuk’s eyes, the three of them were young rising stars overflowing with talent.

Birds that could soar much higher with just a little push from behind.

It was impossible for his hands not to itch, just like they had when he first met Shin Kangheon.

Shin Kangheon can handle himself just fine now. I want to polish this side a little more.

That did not mean Kim Muhyuk was only helping them one-sidedly.

He too was being stimulated greatly through their training together.

*****

The afternoon of the second day.

Sunwoo Jeha, the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader, came to the training ground while the young rising stars were deep in training.

“Greetings, Sect Leader!”

Even seeing the young rising stars standing far straighter than they had on the first day, her face was still full of obvious annoyance.

“You’re all working hard, huh? I don’t like it.”

By now, everyone was used enough to the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader’s dissatisfied grumbling that they only smiled.

“All right. Today is question-and-answer time.”

Sunwoo Jeha dragged over a chair, sat down with her legs crossed, and looked around at the young rising stars.

“Ask about anything you’ve been curious about during martial training. No personal questions. Be as specific as possible. If you ask a stupid question without even knowing what you’re trying to ask, I’ll throw you out.”

“......!”

At the chance to exchange questions and answers about martial arts with the Strongest in Korea, the young rising stars’ eyes lit up. It was an opportunity worth a thousand gold pieces.

Most of them raised their hands immediately. Once again, Bu Yeonha was the fastest.

“If it’s not rude, may I record this?”

“Do whatever you want.”

Sunwoo Jeha nodded. Bu Yeonha immediately turned on the recording function and asked her question.

“A few years ago, I suffered a serious internal injury. I was definitely declared fully healed, but when I use my swordsmanship, there’s a particular technique where the tip of my sword sometimes trembles. My sect leader only said it would get better with time......”

“Didn’t you get that internal injury while using that specific technique?”

“Y-yes. How did you......?”

“It’s a mild Inner Demon. Azure Sky Sword Elder is right. For most people, it gets better with time. Or you can break that technique down completely and rebuild it in your own way.”

“Ah......”

Bu Yeonha nodded blankly, as if she had realized something, and other young rising stars immediately shot their hands up.

“I have a question too! Recently my footwork has started feeling subtly off, but I can’t figure out what the problem is.”

“You’ve got an imbalance problem. I noticed in yesterday’s spar that your left side is twisted. If it started recently, go to a hospital.”

“If I do a lot of mental-art training, I break out the next day. Does that mean my internal energy doesn’t suit my constitution?”

“More isn’t always better. Cut your training time in half and increase it gradually. And I recommend a half-bath afterward.”

Sunwoo Jeha answered the young rising stars’ questions simply, clearly, and kindly. She did not use difficult terminology, and when she did not know something, she said she did not know.

The question-and-answer session went on for an hour. After checking the time, Sunwoo Jeha got up with merciless precision.

“That’s it for today.”

Aaaaah—!

The young rising stars groaned, wishing she would do just a little more. Looking around at those faces full of regret, Sunwoo Jeha opened her mouth.

“Oh, one thing I should tell you.”

The young rising stars immediately brightened with expectation, and Sunwoo Jeha told them what had been decided the night before.

“If any of you still haven’t gone home two days from now, and if you pass the test after that too, and if there’s anyone left at the very end......”

She hesitated for a moment, then continued with an expression twisted into a deep frown.

“I’ll take you as my disciple and teach you martial arts. You won’t have to enter the Transcendent Extremity Gate. It’ll be in the form of an external disciple.”

“......!”

In that instant, the young rising stars’ eyes flew wide open.

A disciple of the Strongest in Korea.

And if it was as an external disciple without having to enter the Transcendent Extremity Gate, that meant they could receive her teachings regardless of what sect they already belonged to.

I don’t think the Transcendent Extremity Gate’s sect leader has ever taken a disciple before.

Then is this a chance to become her first and only disciple?

No matter what, I have to......!

Everyone was just about ready to swear off sleep starting that very day.

“I have a question.”

For the first time, Kim Muhyuk raised his hand.

That guy?

Since Kim Muhyuk had not asked a single question until now, Sunwoo Jeha found it unexpected and nodded.

“Go ahead.”

“If I make it to the end......”

No way.

For a moment, in Sunwoo Jeha’s eyes, another man’s face overlapped Kim Muhyuk’s once again.

Wearing an awkward expression, Muhyuk continued.

“If I don’t want to become your disciple, Sect Leader of the Transcendent Extremity Gate... can I refuse?”

A few of the young rising stars, already able to imagine what would happen next, turned their heads away as if they could not bear to watch.

Sunwoo Jeha blinked a few times, then crooked a finger at Muhyuk.

“You. Get up here.”

“Huh? I thought today was only supposed to be Q and A?”

As Muhyuk stared at her in confusion, Sunwoo Jeha drew her sword and walked toward him.

“Advanced prep.”

“What kind of—”

In the second day’s spar, Kim Muhyuk carved far more lessons into his body than he had on the first day.