Urban Vagabond: Reload

The Fifth Tiger clicked his tongue as he watched the screen showing Goggle Killer leaping into the cave first.

Reckless bastard.

Three swordsmen, killing intent bared, chased after him.

They exchanged glances like they knew each other, and it was obvious what they were after—him.

Did he think starting early gives him an advantage? He didn’t look that simple-minded... Or is his confidence just that excessive?

On the way to the cave’s exit, countless traps, poisons, and obstacles were laid out.

Being in the lead meant you had to face all of it first.

And right behind you, swordsmen hungry for the bounty hanging from your neck were pursuing you.

No matter how outstanding a single person’s martial arts were, surviving in there on that alone was damn near impossible.

Unless you were a veteran master who’d fought every kind of battle under the sun...

That’s nonsense.

The Fifth Tiger had a rough idea who Goggle Killer really was, so he shook his head, judging it impossible.

A brat from the orthodox faction who was, at most, around twenty—there was no way he had that kind of real combat experience.

That was when an intrigued voice spoke up behind him.

“A bold swordsman. He’s the one who killed Hell Hound recently, right?”

The Elysium Casino’s VVIPs were gathered in one place, monitoring the screens.

Old men with wine in hand, sinking into plush sofas, watching the match with lazy amusement.

The Fifth Tiger turned to them and smiled smoothly.

“I didn’t realize the Tamra Alliance’s alliance leader took such an interest in underground arena fighters.”

“I sometimes go watch in person. Isn’t the desperation of young martial artists with nothing to their name... beautiful?”

When the old man in the center asked that, a gentle smile settled at the corner of the Fifth Tiger’s mouth.

Disgust surged at the filthy voyeur, but he answered while expertly hiding it.

“Of course. Still, I didn’t expect you to come all the way here.”

“I wanted to watch from up close. Is it uncomfortable? Because I invested some money, and I’m inserting myself into the table you set up however I please?”

“Not at all. On the contrary, it’s an honor to host the three of you in person.”

The Fifth Tiger bowed and offered formal courtesy to the three old men.

They were people even an executive of the Blood Tiger Gang had to treat with respect.

They were the Tamra Alliance’s alliance leader and his left and right guardians—the most powerful martial-world force on Jeju Island.

Not strong enough, in pure might or size, to compare to the Eight Great Sects.

But on Jeju Island, they ruled like kings.

Crafty old bastards. What are you plotting?

In Jeju’s martial world, people said the division between orthodox and unorthodox didn’t mean much. It was because the Tamra Alliance encompassed both.

The Blood Tiger Gang had been able to acquire Elysium Casino without trouble thanks to the Tamra Alliance’s cooperation.

That was why even the Fifth Tiger couldn’t treat them lightly.

“Pass along my thanks to the Blood Tiger Gang’s boss as well.”

“I will. If there’s anything you need, please tell me anytime.”

As the Fifth Tiger stepped back, the three old men began talking among themselves.

“The participants are better than I expected. For men who came sniffing after money, that is.”

“A few of them are the real deal. If they’d been born into a proper main house, they’d have made something of themselves...”

“You mean someone like Talbaek Sword Gu Hyeonwoo.”

“The Blood Tiger Gang and Black Bandit Society joined too. They’ve got a few men worth watching.”

They watched the swordsmen who had entered the slaughter match with a ten-billion-won prize, evaluating them like merchandise.

Mixed into it were bits of conversation the Fifth Tiger couldn’t understand.

“...We’ll be able to observe, in detail, how it changes inside a controlled environment.”

“It’s perfect timing. An event like this happening right when a sacred weapon is about to bloom...”

“Watch closely, and when the time comes, send in the retrieval team.”

The Fifth Tiger realized something was happening inside the cave—something he didn’t know about.

It had been the Tamra Alliance that secured this cave as the venue for the hundred swordsmen’s slaughter match.

They were using this location and these swordsmen to aim for something.

But the Fifth Tiger couldn’t protest, and he couldn’t stop the match.

Boss. What the hell are you thinking?

Because the Blood Tiger Gang’s boss had negotiated directly with the Tamra Alliance.

The details of that deal hadn’t even come down to him.

Still, there was one thing the Fifth Tiger had learned for certain while preparing this.

This cave... is designed so escape is impossible.

All one hundred swordsmen who entered the cave would die here.

For whatever it was those old men wanted.

That fact made the Fifth Tiger deeply uncomfortable. Annoyance boiled up at the way they’d barged into his plan and altered the table however they pleased.

Better yet... I wish someone would flip the table.

Without meaning to, the Fifth Tiger’s gaze drifted toward Kim Muhyuk.

Right then, as he was breaking through the mechanism formation installed in the tunnel, he was being ambushed by swordsmen approaching from behind.

*****

THUD!

A sword stabbed into his back and poked out through his chest.

Blood ran down the blade in thick streams.

The man stared down at his own chest with an expression that couldn’t believe it, then hacked up blood with a curse.

“Fuuuck....”

He’d waited patiently for the exact moment the mechanism formation activated, then ambushed from behind.

A perfect instant—perfect enough to swear it was impossible to dodge—and with the fast strike he was most confident in.

But his target was suddenly behind him.

The arrows pouring from the mechanisms buried into his own body, and from behind him came the voice of the reaper.

“If you’re going to ambush someone, at least hide your killing intent properly.”

Kim Muhyuk yanked his sword free from the man’s body and shoved him forward.

The limp corpse collapsed, and in the same moment, the two swordsmen who’d ambushed Kim Muhyuk along with the dead man charged again.

“You fucking bastard!”

“Diiie!”

But if a three-man ambush hadn’t worked, there was no way two of them could win in a straight fight.

Kim Muhyuk cut down the swordsmen who’d ambushed him, one by one.

SHAAAAK! FWOOOOSH!

There was no hesitation in the way Kim Muhyuk butchered them. He checked their faces and muttered.

“Every last one of you deserves to die.”

He’d already confirmed most of the participants’ personal backgrounds through Park Gwangtae.

He’d categorized them into those who deserved to die, and those he didn’t need to kill.

If he set a standard, he wouldn’t hesitate.

Drip... drip...

Kim Muhyuk flicked the blood off his sword, then tore the identification tags off the dead swordsmen and hooked them onto his own necklace.

Then he moved again toward where he could feel Phantom Dream’s aura.

After walking a bit, he stopped and glanced to the side.

“If you don’t want to die like a dog, stay hidden there and wait quietly until it’s all over.”

“...!”

A young swordsman who’d been hiding and trembling clamped a hand over his mouth.

One of the few participants Kim Muhyuk had confirmed he didn’t need to kill—someone who’d joined to pay off his parents’ debts.

Kim Muhyuk didn’t look that way again and kept walking.

KURRRRUMBLE.......

The cave’s terrain was changing little by little. Entrances that hadn’t existed appeared. Passages were blocked. Hidden weapons rained down. The ground suddenly surged upward.

But Kim Muhyuk acted like he was used to this, knocking things aside or dodging, and even when a fork appeared, he chose a direction without hesitation.

[Kill them all!]

[Hand over your number tag and I’ll let you live!]

[P-please... spare me.......]

Monitors and speakers were mounted along the cave walls. They displayed swordsmen fighting each other or breaking through traps.

Beneath each screen, a rough location marker was displayed, revealing positions. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

They’re even guiding people to go kill them.

Kim Muhyuk could feel the intent of whoever designed this event.

They’d crammed a hundred swordsmen into one place, built a table that forced them to kill each other, and kept stoking the fire.

At that transparent, horrific malice, Kim Muhyuk looked up at the ceiling and murmured to himself.

“You never intended to pay the prize from the beginning, did you?”

The Fifth Tiger of the Blood Tiger Gang.

He was a big shot in the unorthodox faction—Kim Muhyuk hadn’t thought he’d pull something this petty...

“Whatever. It’s not like I expected anything in the first place.”

Throwing out money so big it’s hard to refuse, then pulling strings from behind.

It was something the Kim Muhyuk of his past life had experienced countless times back when he was a drifter.

This time was the same.

Even if he assumed the worst, was there any guarantee a Blood Tiger Gang master wouldn’t be waiting at the end of the tunnels to kill the exhausted winner and reclaim the prize?

But even while imagining the worst, a smile spread across Kim Muhyuk’s lips.

“You started it first, so don’t complain later.”

Because he’d been screwed over so many times, Kim Muhyuk knew exactly how to make bastards trying to rip him off eat shit.

Even in his drifter days, except when he was green, no one had ever managed to steal his pay.

SHOO—

He dodged an enemy sword dropping from the ceiling, and at the same time, a flying sword shot out of the darkness.

CLANG!

He smacked the flying sword aside, spun, and cut the throat of the enemy who’d fallen from above. Then he snatched up the enemy’s sword and threw it at the one fleeing—followed by a THUD! and a dying scream.

“Doesn’t look like there are many who move alone.”

After adding two more identification tags to his necklace, Kim Muhyuk started running again toward the direction where he felt Phantom Dream’s aura.

His expression grew serious.

The aura’s getting stronger, and it keeps moving.

As he chased Phantom Dream’s aura, if swordsmen attacked him first, he cut them down.

Even without meaning to, the number of identification tags around Kim Muhyuk’s neck increased naturally.

And the more it increased, the more frequently the monitors installed around the cave displayed Kim Muhyuk—and the more his position was exposed.

“If you kill that bastard, it’s a billion!”

“Kill him and split it by headcount!”

Having a lot of identification tags on your necklace meant you were strong.

But it also meant you became everyone’s target.

SHAAAAK, SHAAAAK!

As enemies gathered, Kim Muhyuk swung his sword, and swung again.

As time passed, more cuts appeared on Kim Muhyuk’s body. He didn’t allow fatal wounds, but there were several moments that came dangerously close.

“Hoo....”

His breathing was starting to shorten.

Fighting nonstop, the identification tags around his neck had already passed twenty.

Inside a fairly wide cavern chamber, more than ten corpses were piled in front of him.

As he took a moment to steady his breath after a major fight, new enemies appeared.

“You’re a fairly impressive swordsman. This’ll be great for trying a few experiments.”

With a murky male voice, more than ten black-clothed masked men approached, surrounding him.

“Hoo, hoo....”

Breathing roughly, Kim Muhyuk narrowed his eyes and sized them up.

“You don’t look like participants.”

The black-clothed masked men wore unified outfits, and the energy they emitted was similar—hallmarks of martial artists trained in the same martial art.

And there were even some among them holding spears or sabers instead of swords.

The black-clad subordinate with the murky voice didn’t bother chatting with someone who was about to become a sacred-weapon experiment subject.

“Bring him.”

Five black-clad men rushed Kim Muhyuk at once. The rest blocked off the escape routes and waited.

They were confident they’d capture him quickly. They’d watched Kim Muhyuk’s skill through the monitors, and they’d also confirmed he was exhausted to the point it °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° was hard for him to move properly.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

So even when Kim Muhyuk fought harder than expected, they assumed the fight would still end quickly.

It was only after quite a bit of time had passed that they noticed his breathing—so ragged it looked like it would give out—had returned to normal.

“That bastard... don’t tell me...?”

“I didn’t expect him to catch the scent this way.”

A meaningful smile formed at the corner of Kim Muhyuk’s mouth.

And in that moment, another variable occurred—one the black-clothed men hadn’t expected.

“Ghk!”

With a dying cry, one of the black-clothed men blocking the escape route collapsed.

A moment later, Talbaek Sword Gu Hyeonwoo walked out of the darkness.

“I’m late. I had to go smash every camera and monitor nearby first.”

Kim Muhyuk lifted his goggles slightly and smiled with ease.

“You came faster than I expected, sir.”