Urban Vagabond: Reload

The VIP room beneath the club.

A place only people with not just money, but identities that had been thoroughly verified, were allowed to enter.

That was why rumors were everywhere about what was traded inside, but almost no one had real °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° information.

“These are the items that came in this time.”

Sturdy martial artists in suits stood at attention to the left and right of a refrigerated display case that took up one wall of the VIP room.

Across from them, buyers who had come to purchase goods were carefully inspecting the products.

A middle-aged man who’d grown a stylish mustache took his eyes off the display case and clicked his tongue.

“The freshness is worse than before. And the grade doesn’t look that high either...”

“Boss Yang. What’s with the condition of the goods?”

“You think we’re regulars, so we’ll buy anything?”

The other buyers were the same.

To ordinary people, they would all look like the same organs, but the eyes of picky buyers sharply separated the differences.

The man they called Boss Yang soothed them with an awkward smile. He wore a deep wine-colored suit and a luxury watch worth tens of millions of won.

“Gentlemen. As you know, procurement’s been a bit difficult lately. This isn’t something you can just get whenever you feel like it, like slicing sashimi, is it? Even this was hard to bring in.”

The belief that a martial artist’s organs were far tougher and healthier than an ordinary person’s created demand.

That was why they were priced anywhere from several times to dozens of times higher than normal organs, and there were so many orders they sold out as soon as they appeared.

But that also meant obtaining the goods wasn’t easy.

Without the right connections, money, and force, you couldn’t even attempt this business.

“I get that you’ve got problems, but do you think we live off dirt? We’ll buy if there’s good product.”

“Boss Yang. Just because we’ve done business a long time, you don’t think we’ll only buy here, do you?”

“I heard the stuff coming out of Blood Tiger Gang lately was in decent shape...”

But like most of the types who scraped by in the back alleys, the buyers who trafficked organs weren’t pushovers either.

They picked at the condition of the products with every excuse, planning to hammer the price down, and acted like they could move to another supplier at any time.

Boss Yang, however, was also a man worn smooth by this industry.

“Blood Tiger Gang... how long do you think they’ll last?”

When Boss Yang smiled quietly, the buyers flinched.

They’d all learned a bit of martial arts, like people who lived in the underworld tended to, but in front of a refined master’s killing intent, they couldn’t help becoming frogs before a snake.

“At most, a few months. You know it, don’t you? Those kinds of punks look like they’re rising for a moment, then vanish—and look at how they vanished.”

“...”

More precisely, how they were erased.

Of those who’d dared to slip a spoon into GREAT HEAVEN GATE’s business, most were recycled in this VIP room.

Some of the buyers had seen that process with their own eyes.

“Gentlemen.”

In a soft, coaxing voice, Boss Yang persuaded the buyers whose faces had gone pale. He approached warmly, smiling, laying it on thick.

“Next time, I’ll set aside only high-quality goods for you—separately. So for this time, please be a little understanding...”

It was right as he cajoled and soothed them, trying with difficulty to close the deal—

BOOM! CRASH-CRASH!

At the commotion outside the VIP room, Boss Yang’s brow furrowed. He asked a subordinate behind him.

“What’s going on outside?”

“Looks like a fight broke out. I’ll give the order to clean it up immediately.”

But when the subordinate tried to radio outside the VIP room, no one answered.

Instead, the noise outside only grew louder.

Kyaaaah!

Run!

At the screams coming from outside the VIP room, the buyers’ expressions turned anxious.

Boss Yang, still frowning, ordered his subordinate.

“Go out and find out exactly what’s happening.”

“Yes!”

And a moment later, the subordinate returned, his complexion changed.

He leaned to Boss Yang’s ear and whispered.

“Captain. It’s a raid. Two bastards who look like serious masters are rampaging out there.”

“......”

Boss Yang, who oversaw the club’s VIP room—also known as the “butcher shop”—was a captain in GREAT HEAVEN GATE’s secret strike force, and the sect leader’s younger cousin.

Fitting for someone who handled the back-end business, he looked smooth and easygoing on the surface, but in truth he was known for ruthless hands and a crafty disposition.

As he fell quietly into thought, the buyers, watching his face, spoke up.

“Uh, we should probably leave for now. Next time, if we get the chance, we’ll come back and—”

“Oh, gentlemen! It’s nothing.”

Boss Yang beamed at the nervous buyers.

“Just stay here for a moment. I’ll go out and handle it myself.”

When Boss Yang said he’d go personally, the buyers looked at each other, then nodded.

They knew GREAT HEAVEN GATE stood behind Boss Yang.

He’d never stated it outright, but there were ways you ended up knowing.

“Well, if Boss Yang is stepping in...”

“We can relax, at least.”

“Yes, yes. If you just sit—still—I’ll have it cleaned up in no time. We’ll do business again after that.”

After smiling brightly at the buyers and turning away, Boss Yang’s face went cold as ice.

“Perfect timing. Looks like I’ve found a way to procure fresh goods locally, for our valued customers.”

With a cruel smile, Boss Yang reached for the door to go out.

“Hm?”

At that moment, Boss Yang sensed something off. He hopped back from the door—

—and a series of massive impacts slammed into it.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

After several strikes, the dented iron door creaked, then toppled inward with a THUD, and two figures walked in beyond it.

“Whew. It’s disgustingly solid.”

HISSSSS—

A bandaged freak spewing flames from his body dragged a saber along the floor as he came in.

Saaaaaak—

A young man wrapped in a pure-white wind swept his indifferent gaze across the VIP room.

When he spotted the refrigerated display case, Kim Muhyuk’s eyes narrowed.

“So this is the butcher shop...”

“Uup— Hey, that... that’s what I think it is, right?”

“No matter what you think it is, it’s worse than that.”

Kim Muhyuk had seen things far worse countless times in his vagabond days, but Shin Kangheon went pale like he was about to throw up at the sight inside the refrigerated display case.

Seeing with his own eyes what he’d only heard about seemed to send his fury boiling over. Shin Kangheon’s hand clenched hard around the hilt, tendons standing out.

“Trash. I’ll make sure you can never do this kind of shit again.”

“......”

Boss Yang quietly watched the two of them, then gestured to the subordinate beside him—an order to hand over a proper sword, not the hatchet he usually used.

‘They’re both masters.’

Boss Yang was a master on the doorstep of the pinnacle.

After he’d gotten hooked on the business, he’d focused more on managing customers than training, but he’d never once thought his skill had rusted.

His enemies looked like masters too, but he was confident he could deal with them if he stepped in himself.

“From what I can see, you aren’t just riffraff... so who might you be, visiting our workplace with such a rough method?”

“What, if you find out who we are, you gonna run and tattle to your mom?”

“Hahaha...!”

Kim Muhyuk knew exactly how to scratch the nerves of men like that.

Orthodox cockroaches hiding in the back alleys, acting like kings.

Pathetic idiots convinced that the moment they revealed their true identity and power, everyone would tremble and drop to their knees.

And sure enough—

“You little punks, do you even know where you’re acting up—”

Whoosh!

Kim Muhyuk’s sword flashed in a surprise lunge, aiming for Boss Yang’s throat. Boss Yang hurriedly retreated, and his necktie was cut nearly in half.

He’d almost been embarrassed. His face flushing red, he shouted.

“A sneak attack in the middle of a conversation! As a martial artist, do you lack even the bare minimum of manners?!”

Shrrk.

A sword slid free of its scabbard, pouring out a cold, blue edge aura. The sticky killing intent a pinnacle expert exuded crawled in like it meant to bind the entire body.

But Kim Muhyuk acted as if he wasn’t affected at all. Instead, he snorted and mocked him.

“Martial artist? Manners? Coming from an organ trafficker. What, did we fail to recognize some notorious elder of the unorthodox sects?”

“......So you do know who I am.”

Boss Yang’s eyes, slick with killing intent, couldn’t possibly be called the eyes of an orthodox martial artist.

“I won’t kill you right away. The freshest way is to dismantle you while you’re still alive.”

Boss Yang licked the blade of his sword and lunged at Kim Muhyuk with arrow-like speed. Kim Muhyuk didn’t dodge, meeting the sword head-on.

CLANG-KRAK!

Steel struck steel, sparks bursting in all directions. The shock became a gale that whipped around the room in razor-sharp waves.

‘Ice technique?’

Boss Yang felt his body stiffening little by little.

Each time the pure-white current beading on Kim Muhyuk’s sword climbed up along his own blade, a chill seeped in that felt like it reached the bone. This was no sloppy ice technique.

‘And the bandaged saber-wielder with him is spewing flames hot enough to scorch the skin...’

Naturally, the name of the great sect famous for ice techniques and blazing-yang martial arts surfaced in Boss Yang’s mind.

‘Don’t tell me... Sun and Moon Gate?’ 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Boss Yang was skilled enough that GREAT HEAVEN GATE trusted him with dangerous work. He was also quick-witted and knew how to read situations.

When Kim Muhyuk saw Boss Yang’s expression change, he smiled slightly.

“So you’re not completely clueless.”

“W-what the hell are you thinking?! If you start something like this, we won’t just sit and—”

“And if you don’t sit still? What can GREAT HEAVEN GATE even do?”

“......!”

At that arrogant statement, as if he had GREAT HEAVEN GATE under his feet, Boss Yang’s suspicion edged close to certainty.

As if to seal it, from behind Boss Yang—through clenched teeth—came the low, modulated voice of Shin Kangheon.

“It’s all cleaned up back here.”

While Kim Muhyuk fought Boss Yang, Shin Kangheon had subdued every buyer and subordinate who tried to run, then joined the fight.

FWOOSH!

A saber wreathed in flame slashed for Boss Yang’s waist. Facing a strike that would split him in two, Boss Yang barely managed to twist his sword around and block.

KRAAANG!

“Ghk— What kind of strength—!”

As Boss Yang slid backward, Kim Muhyuk stuck to him.

Boss Yang pulled out a throwing knife he’d kept hidden as a trump card and hurled it, but Kim Muhyuk simply tilted his head and avoided it.

“Aaaagh!”

Thinking he’d been cornered, Boss Yang bit down on a pill he’d kept between his molars. A drug that explosively increased internal energy for a short time.

As Boss Yang’s eyes flooded blood-red, Shin Kangheon flinched and asked.

“Shouldn’t we be careful?”

“Beat him down before the drug fully starts circulating.”

“That simple, huh!”

Once Shin Kangheon joined in, the rest of the fight was one-sided.

The room repeatedly blackened, froze solid, then melted down again. Even with the drug, Boss Yang couldn’t seize the advantage, and took a long, brutal beating.

THUD!

In the end, Boss Yang lost his grip on his sword and collapsed, looking half-dead.

The luxury suit that had been spotless was torn to shreds, and his face was so bruised and swollen you could barely recognize him.

Kim Muhyuk crouched in front of him and said,

“Tell your sect leader. Fold every business you’ve stretched out on this side.”

“W-why are you doing this? You wouldn’t have been unhappy with it!”

Boss Yang felt like he’d go insane from injustice.

This business had started in the first place with Sun and Moon Gate’s cooperation.

Because GREAT HEAVEN GATE alone couldn’t steadily obtain that many martial artists’ organs.

Naturally, they handed over a significant portion of the profits to Sun and Moon Gate—

“Well. It wasn’t bad.”

“Then why?!”

“That’s why. I figured it’s better to do it directly than to go through distribution.”

“......!”

Kim Muhyuk grinned, then drove a kick loaded with internal energy deep into Boss Yang’s lower abdomen.

THOOM!

The force drilled into his body and shattered his lower abdomen. Pain followed so violent his eyes rolled back.

“Keoheuk...! Sun and Moon Gate, you bastards...!”

In that horrific pain, Boss Yang lost consciousness, cursing Sun and Moon Gate—the ones he believed had done this to him.