Urban Vagabond: Reload

If you told Kim Muhyuk to pick just one thing he regretted most from his previous life, he would answer without hesitating for even a second.

Not going with my parents on their Jeju Island trip.

My parents hadn’t been able to travel even once for years because they were busy supporting their son who wanted to become a martial artist.

But after I was declared to have a “martial-artist-incompatible constitution” and sank into despair, I became a wreck and locked myself in my room for months.

When I finally managed to pull myself together and come outside, my parents—watching my mood, careful with every breath—brought it up.

“Maybe we should take a family trip for the first time in a while. Just to clear our heads?”

But back then, I couldn’t possibly feel like it. It was hard enough just trying to gather up my ruined body and mind.

“...I’m sorry. I’m going to rest at home, so you two should go.”

“If you’re not going, we don’t really...”

“If you don’t go because of me, you’ll just feel guilty. So please. Go, just the two of you.”

I was twisting the words as hard as I could to say I needed time alone. There was no way my parents wouldn’t notice.

“...Alright. Then this time, just the two of us. Haha—this is nice. It feels like when we were newlyweds!”

“Even if Mom and Dad aren’t here, you still have to eat properly. Got it?”

The look on my parents’ faces that morning, right up until the moment they left for Jeju Island—still only worried about their son.

That was the last time the Kim Muhyuk of my previous life ever saw them.

And now.

“Jeju Island? You’re going on a trip there?”

“The license exam is over, so I figured I’d go cool my head for a few days.”

I told them I’d booked a place with friends, that we’d train during the day and rest our tired bodies and minds at night with a barbecue party.

Kim Chanho’s eyes lit up when he heard that.

“I’ve been thinking about a Jeju trip lately, too. How about we delay opening the café a bit and Mom and Dad come along?”

“No way. You two still have to do handovers before you leave your jobs, and you’re already busy getting the café ready.”

For a moment, I decided to be an unfilial son.

I was sorry, but I couldn’t take them back to the place where I’d lost them in my previous life.

“We are busy, but... still. A shot of soju while watching the night sea would be perfect. Right, honey?”

Kim Chanho said it with regret in his voice, and Park Jiyeon—who’d been looking up café interiors for a while—answered coolly.

“It can’t be helped. Then when you come back, you have to buy omegitteok. Got it?”

“You don’t want to go to Jeju Island?”

“The kids said they’re going to go have fun together. Why are you so lacking in awareness?”

“...Fine. You young people have fun.”

In the end, leaving behind my sulking father and my mother scolding him to focus on the café opening, I went into my room.

As if the °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° laughing conversation I’d just had with my parents had been a lie, my eyes sank cold.

“...”

I thought of the true culprit that had killed my parents in my previous life.

The cursed sword, Phantom Dream.

A weapon that showed hallucinations to whoever held it, calling blood without end.

One day, as if it had dropped straight out of the sky, Phantom Dream appeared on Jeju Island—and bewitched martial artists until they went mad.

A horrific bloodbath with over two hundred dead and several times that number injured. Among the innocent victims caught up in it were my parents.

I know its route of movement, so finding it won’t be hard.

After my parents died, I read everything I could get my hands on about Phantom Dream, over and over again.

Predicting where it would appear soon was more than possible.

The problem was the aura that cursed sword carried—an aura that drew in martial artists, and especially swordsmen.

They said most of the swordsmen on Jeju Island back then moved toward where Phantom Dream was, instinctively.

Most of those bewitched by Phantom Dream were second-rate martial artists or lower, but even among them there had been experts with high reputations.

One name rose in my mind, and I murmured it aloud.

“Talbaek Sword, Gu Hyeonwoo.”

A tragic swordsman who stepped forward to stop the bloodbath, only to be bewitched by Phantom Dream, slaughter countless people, and then kill himself after regaining his senses too late.

He was also the man who murdered over a hundred people—including my parents—and shocked the entire world.

I might have to fight him on Jeju Island.

If it were me... could I handle Phantom Dream?

After it became known that even pinnacle experts could lose their reason to it, Phantom Dream was classified as an anomaly-disaster-divine weapon.

And since I was a swordsman, it would be a lie to say I felt no greed toward a divine weapon.

Besides, Phantom Dream had never had an owner to begin with. If I found it early, I could claim ownership with full legitimacy.

Of course, I had no intention of charging in with nothing but reckless confidence.

“I need to prepare properly before I go.”

I paused my search on Gu Hyeonwoo and sent someone a message.

[Senior. Are you busy right now?]

Then, just as I was about to start searching other things again, a reply came back in less than ten seconds.

[I’m not busy. What is it?]

[You helped me before, so I wanted to treat you to a meal at least once. Are you free today or tomorrow?]

Before going to Jeju Island, I planned to ask someone for advice—someone who would know how to deal with a cursed sword.

[I can do today.]

This time, the reply came in five seconds.

It was short and simple, but I couldn’t shake the image of the person on the other end brightening like a predator spotting prey.

“So you still haven’t given up.”

Smiling faintly, I started typing slowly.

[Then would you like to have dinner tonight? Actually, there’s something I wanted to ask y—]

BZZZZZT—

Before I could even finish the sentence, a call came through.

I deliberately let it vibrate a few times before answering.

“Yes, Senior.”

“You’re buying me a meal? That’s a little awkward. Why don’t you just come to our sect instead? I’ll give you a quick tour, too.”

“...Sure. Then should I come by 6 p.m. tonight?”

“You can come earlier. I’m already starting to get hungry.”

Her smooth shamelessness made me smile faintly.

There was a reason she’d been the team leader of a major sect’s scouting team.

We quickly set the time and place.

“Then I’ll see you later, Senior.”

When I ended the call, my smartphone showed:

Staring at the name, I murmured.

“When it comes to cursed swords, there’s nowhere more knowledgeable than them.”

Azure Sky Sword Gate.

In my previous life, it was the sect that ended the Phantom Dream bloodbath.

*****

Long ago, people had their lives threatened by anomalies.

Ghosts. Spirit creatures. Disasters.

Ghosts born from grudges and vicious spirit creatures harmed people as a matter of course, and against disasters, people died without even being able to resist.

So there were eight heroic swordsmen who stepped forward to fight and protect the innocent. Through training, they learned to wield internal energy freely, and they could stand against even terrifying anomalies.

After saving countless lives, the eight heroic swordsmen earned the people’s respect and worship.

They were the founders of the Eight Great Sects.

From that day on, suppressing Great Anomalies remained the duty and tradition of the Eight Great Sects to this very day.

“Even though a lot of time has passed and we’ve changed into what we are now, Azure Sky Sword Gate still teaches first and foremost that we have a duty to protect people with the sword.”

Bu Yeonha said that as she looked up at the founders’ statues, standing in front of the Azure Sky Building’s main entrance.

“Well? Our founder is cool, right?”

A statue of a man with a sword at his waist was staring up at the sky.

Handsome features with clean, sharp lines, and a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.

Namcheon—the founder of Azure Sky Sword Gate and its first sect leader.

Looking up at the statue of the martial artist whose name had been left in history as a heroic swordsman, I murmured.

“He’s cool. Even if his descendants are getting cursed out in every direction these days...”

“Hey. Did you really have to say that in front of our founder?”

Bu Yeonha shot me a look.

But she didn’t look offended. If anything, she looked embarrassed, almost shy.

I knew it. She’s a good person.

Among the Eight Great Sects, Azure Sky Sword Gate—along with the Blue Wind Gate—had the fewest scandals.

When it came to the sword, they always fought the Supreme Pole Sword Gate for the top spot, and for the last few decades, they’d been acknowledged by everyone as the Strongest Sword Gate in Korea.

Until recently they’d been inside the same giant fence called the Eight Great Sects, but with Sun and Moon Gate closing its gates, the alliance itself had loosened.

If this becomes a chance for at least a few of them to wake up and start cleaning house.

In my eyes, Azure Sky Sword Gate was a place you could afford to hope for something like that.

“So,” Bu Yeonha asked, “you contacted me first for once—what’s going on?”

The Azure Sky Sword Gate building narrowed the higher it rose, like a sword.

We passed through the entrance and walked together for a bit, talking.

“I told you. I wanted to thank you for helping me last time, and treat you to a meal.”

If Bu Yeonha hadn’t helped stop Jang Jinmyeong at the license exam site, Shin Kangheon and I would’ve been badly hurt.

But inviting her out to eat as thanks was only an excuse.

“You think I’d believe that?”

Of course she’d noticed.

She’d spent months trying to recruit me into Azure Sky Sword Gate.

So she prided herself on knowing me pretty well, in her own way.

“You’re not plotting something else, are you? Like you need a favor, or there’s something you’re curious about.”

“This is why people with fast instincts are a pain...”

I shrugged once, then answered honestly.

“Yeah. I did contact you because I’m curious about something.”

“I knew it. Since we’ve met up anyway, let’s eat first and talk.”

Even though she knew I had other business, Bu Yeonha smiled brightly.

I glanced at her profile, a little puzzled.

I thought she’d show me around the sect and brag about a bunch of things. Did she give up on recruiting me?

If she really had, that would be a relief.

Just as I let out some of the pressure and relaxed, Bu Yeonha turned back like she’d remembered something.

“Oh, but—is it okay if I invite one more person to dinner? There’s a fan in our sect who really wants to meet you.”

A fan?

Without thinking much about it, I nodded.

“I don’t really mind...”

If anything, the moment I stepped inside Azure Sky Sword Gate, I’d been feeling eyes on me from all directions.

Curiosity. Wariness. Competitive hunger—martial artists forcing it down with effort.

Every last one of them is sharp. There’s a reason they’re the Strongest Sword Gate in Korea.

With that pleasant tension, the corners of my mouth lifted slightly.

I even found myself hoping that this “fan” would be a strong swordsman, if possible.

...But I hadn’t asked for this.

“Hoho. It’s my first time seeing you this close.”

When we reached the restaurant, a staff member came out and guided us to a private room.

Inside, the sect leader of Azure Sky Sword Gate—Azure Sky Sword Elder Na Ilcheon—was already there, waiting.

“The person who was your fan...”

“Yeah. My maternal grandpa.”

Realizing too late that I’d been played, I shot Bu Yeonha a look, but she just kept smiling like she hadn’t noticed a thing.

There was a fierce resolve in her eyes.

You thought I’d give up? You’re signing the contract today!

Avoiding Bu Yeonha’s burning stare, I cupped my fist to Na Ilcheon.

“Kim Muhyuk, a late learner of the martial world, greets the sect leader of Azure Sky Sword Gate.”

“No need to be so stiff. Sit comfortably. Yeonha, you sit too.”

“......”

In an instant, the room became uncomfortable.

Not knowing where to put my eyes, I spotted the sword Na Ilcheon had leaned at an angle beside him.

Woooong—

Looking at the sword that was releasing a strange wave of internal energy on its own, a thought struck me.

Don’t tell me that’s a cursed sword?

Even if it was uncomfortable, it looked like I’d come to the right place.