Urban Vagabond: Reload

Kim Hyunseung stood frozen in an unnatural pose, his neck bent way too far, staring straight at me.

A twisted grin split his face, and a creepy laugh leaked out of his mouth.

“Hehehe...”

For a human voice, it was way too dark and ominous.

But the audience seemed to think even that was part of the performance.

It wasn’t unusual for contestants to pause in place for a moment—either for facial acting or to play with tempo and dynamics.

“Hahahaha—!”

Bursting into loud laughter, Kim Hyunseung started his sword dance again.

The faster and more violently he swung his twin swords, the louder the cheers and applause from the audience grew.

It was a flashy, explosive display you almost never saw in the High School Division.

The problem was that the guy in question was not in his right mind—and the only ones who’d noticed were the two of us.

Of all times...

If this had happened in the General Division, the judges would’ve picked up on it in no time, but the High School Division judges, with less skill and experience, didn’t seem to have noticed a thing yet.

I leaned toward Bokja’s ear and asked in a whisper.

“If it’s a ghost, are we talking a wandering spirit or an evil spirit?”

Among anomalies, there are ghosts, spirit creatures, and disasters.

And ghosts are split into wandering spirits and evil spirits.

A wandering spirit is a dead person’s soul that hasn’t moved on; if you go through a shaman or spell-caster, you can communicate with them to some extent.

But an evil spirit has lost its self and is nothing but resentment; it’s a vicious ghost, and the only option is to exorcise it.

Bokja looked surprised that I knew those concepts at all, but when she saw how urgent my face was, she explained quickly.

“Evil spirit. It didn’t latch on by itself—someone forced it on him.”

“How dangerous is he right now?”

Blue ghost-flame flickered in both of her eyes.

The crowd was too focused on watching Kim Hyunseung drive his sword dance toward its climax to pay us any mind.

After taking a good look at him, Bokja clicked her tongue.

“Tsk. He’s not going to last long. His qi was weak to begin with, and now a ghost’s stuck to him. Any minute now he’s going to start swinging his blades at whoever’s closest.”

She said the evil spirit was even drawing on Kim Hyunseung’s innate qi to fuel itself.

“...Okay.”

I shrugged off my outer layer so I could move more freely, and Bokja stared at me, flustered.

“What are you going to do?”

“Get him off people before he causes an incident.”

I’d gone up against anomalies like this more than a few times in my last life.

I’d killed the host before. I’d also worked with shamans on missions to seal them.

The hell I went through in the process is beyond words, but...

One thing I’d learned for sure was that evil spirits only turn into bigger disasters the longer you leave them alone.

“And something about this stinks.”

Maybe I was overreacting, but the moment I saw evil-spirit-possessed Kim Hyunseung, the Heavenly Demon Cult came to mind.

When they launched their terror campaign across the world.

Inside government buildings in every country, traitors possessed by evil spirits had popped up everywhere, plunging things into even deeper chaos.

I’ll know for sure once I check.

Of course, if I jumped in now, I’d just be the crazy bastard who interrupted the competition.

So I asked Bokja for one favor.

“Can you provoke the evil spirit?”

She looked at me like she didn’t get it, then let out a sigh and nodded.

“It’s not hard. That ghost’s already been pissed off by me for a while.”

That was probably because Kim Bokja wasn’t just any spell-caster—she was a spell-caster with shaman blood.

The fact that I knew that was still a secret, though.

“Then I’m counting on you.”

“...I’m getting every topping.”

Muttering under her breath, she let that blue ghost-flame flare up in her eyes again.

Then she murmured in a voice so soft only I could hear it.

“Evil spirit, evil spirit. What grudge keeps you clinging to this world? Look at the state you’re in. Why don’t you come dance for me for a change?”

A lilting, almost seductive tone completely unlike her usual voice.

In that instant, Kim Hyunseung, who’d been snickering and swinging his swords, suddenly stopped cold—then let out a shriek and charged straight toward us.

“GRAAAAH!”

The audience, who’d thought everything up to now was just performance, screamed as soon as he jumped down off the stage.

“Stop right there!”

“What are you doing?!”

The judges leaped to their feet and shouted, but Kim Hyunseung was already stepping on the shoulders of the people in the front row, lunging for Bokja and slashing down with both swords in a savage arc.

“Kyaaaaaa!”

As people screamed, ducked, or tried to run, I exploded forward and slammed into him.

THUD-THUD-CRASH!

We hit the ground tangled together and rolled.

I chopped at his wrist with a knifehand strike, making him drop one sword first, then pinned the other with my knee so he couldn’t move it at all.

“GRAAAAH! GRAAAAH!”

Possessed by an evil spirit, Kim Hyunseung thrashed and twisted his body in wild resistance.

I used my whole weight to pin him down and shouted.

“Kim Hyunseung! Snap out of it!”

“GRAAAAAH!”

The easiest way to deal with an evil spirit is to kill the host.

Back when I was a vagabond, I’d used that method because I didn’t know any other, or because that was what the employer demanded.

But now was different.

“There’s something in his stomach. Make him puke it up.”

Following the advice from behind me, I drove my fist hard into his abdomen.

“Guhhh!”

Once wasn’t enough, so I hit him again, and again.

Foam bubbled up at his mouth; something came out mixed with his spit.

Shredded talisman paper. The characters on it were blurred now, but it looked like the character for “demon.”

Got it.

The moment I quietly palmed one of the torn pieces, the High School Division judges, using their light body techniques, dropped down around us. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

“What in the world is going on here?!”

“Restrain them both!”

As they shouted, the strength went out of Kim Hyunseung with the talisman coming up, and he glared at me like he wanted me dead—then, in an instant, his eyes went dull and his expression went vacant.

“Why are you...?”

The tension melted out of his body, but I didn’t relax.

I’d met more than a few ghosts that pretended to be back to normal just long enough to stab you in the back.

“Let’s start by getting the rest of it out.”

“W-wait a sec—!”

I slammed both fists into his abdomen with everything I had.

“Guh! You son of a bitch...!”

He stared up at me with a look full of resentment—then lost consciousness and went limp.

*****

“A contestant possessed by an evil spirit...”

Once Kim Hyunseung went berserk, the High School Division competition turned into a total shitshow.

The organizers announced that it was qi deviation triggered by excessive stress on a student, but more than a few people realized it was something more serious than that.

And now, every single competition judge had gathered in one place.

No Gucheon, the Martial Alliance elder who was the most senior in the room, looked grave as he questioned one of the High School Division judges.

“What of the student, Kim Hyunseung?”

“He was taken straight to a hospital that has specialists for qi deviation cases.”

“...And the origin of the item that came out of his mouth?”

“His family looked completely unaware. We’ll have to ask the student once he wakes... For now, our assumption is that he got it somewhere in the underworld.”

“...”

When No Gucheon closed his mouth, a heavy silence fell over the room.

And I was standing there among them, awkward as hell.

This is uncomfortable as shit.

Since I was the one who stopped the rampaging Kim Hyunseung, they’d dragged me here to get my statement in front of everyone.

“I’ve known Hyunseung for a while from seeing him at competitions. Today he looked off, so I’d been watching him closely. Then he suddenly screamed and charged straight at us, so my first thought was that I had to stop him somehow. I rushed in without thinking... and I was so rattled I hit him harder than I should have. I do regret that part.”

I’d said everything I needed to say, and now I was just quietly waiting for the conversation to wrap up.

Just then, No Gucheon called me.

“Student Kim Muhyuk.”

“...Yes, sir.”

Even in that calm gaze of the Martial Alliance elder recognized as an old master, there was a sharp glint.

It felt like he was trying to see right through me, and I waited for his next words with a bit of tension in my shoulders.

“In all the chaos, I didn’t even get to thank you. If not for you, someone among the audience would have been seriously hurt. I’ll speak to the Martial Alliance and see that you receive at least a modest reward.”

The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes softened.

I let out a sigh of relief inside and bowed my head.

“I just did what I thought anyone should have done in that situation. Anyone else would’ve done the same.”

At that textbook righteous-path answer, No Gucheon smiled in satisfaction, and the other judges were quick with their praise as well.

“Ho... That’s not the kind of mindset you usually see in kids these days, is it?”

“After that outstanding performance in the competition, too. The future of Korean martial arts is bright.”

“Have you given any thought to your path?”

Yeom Myeonghwan, the division head from Songwol Gate who’d judged the General Division, and Daecheon Gate’s youngest elder, Gu Jaseung, were just as generous with their compliments.

If doing a little ghost-handling leaves a good impression on the judges, that’s a profit in my book.

They even gave me a gold-grade wound salve as a gift. It was good enough quality that it felt wasted on the shallow scratches I’d picked up rolling along the floor.

“Then may I ask you just one more thing?”

“Yes.”

With a kindly smile on his face, No Gucheon used the moment I let my guard down to throw me a question I hadn’t expected.

“Your swordsmanship is far from ordinary. From which departed master did you learn it?”

“...I built my basics at an entrance-exam academy. I’ve never had a personal master; I learned most of it on my own.”

Masters of the martial world can tell lies just from a person’s breathing, complexion, and the finest movements.

No Gucheon in front of me was more than capable of that, but he still wouldn’t have been able to find anything strange in my words.

Because I hadn’t lied.

“Self-taught, hm... That’s impressive.”

Maybe I was imagining it, but even so, he didn’t look like he believed me completely.

He didn’t ask who you learned from, he asked which departed master. Meaning he saw traces of someone’s sword in mine.

In my last life, I’d drawn inspiration from the swords of many masters—Richard Han included—to build my own swordsmanship.

But I couldn’t deny that there was one style that had formed the foundation.

If No Gucheon had recognized traces of that style...

This could get a little annoying.

For now, though, he only seemed suspicious, not certain.

Even if he’d found a common thread, it would’ve been very faint.

Since there was no reason to stay here any longer, I asked the judges for permission to leave.

“I’m sorry, but I have a really important appointment... Would it be alright if I headed out now?”

No Gucheon stared at me quietly for a moment, then nodded without making an issue of it.

“We’ve kept you too long. You may go. However, do keep everything you heard here today to yourself.”

“Understood.”

“Then, let’s see each other at the award ceremony.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

I cupped my fists to the other judges in salute, then escaped that suffocating room.

Only after I hurried outside did his earlier words float back into my head and make me blink.

See you at the award ceremony?

It could’ve been just a polite parting line, but I doubted that slippery old fox would say something like that for no reason.

“...Whatever. I’ll think about it when the time comes.”

I shook my head to clear out the stray thoughts and checked the flood of messages in our group chat.

[Rabbit : I’m starving to death. When are you coming?]

[Rabbit : Why aren’t you coming?]

[Rabbit : Fuck it, I’m going home. I mean it. I’m going, okay? Huh?]

[Rabbit : I’ll just go first and order the spicy rice cakes, so get your ass over here.]

[Rabbit : Hey! I already ordered the spicy rice cakes, so hurry up!]

[Rabbit : Ugh, this is so embarrassing. You ditched me and now I’m the weirdo eating three servings of instant spicy rice cakes alone.]

Along with a photo of pan-cooked spicy rice cakes buried under a mountain of toppings, Kim Bokja had spammed a ton of bunny threat emojis.

[Kimoo : I’m on my way. Save mine.]

After I sent the message, I took off at a run toward the instant spicy rice cake place.