Urban Vagabond: Reload Chapter 44: I Don’t Really Like It

Martial Alliance martial-artist license exam control headquarters.

Hundreds of monitors—big and small—covered the entire test site.

“All chanism-and-formation arrays are operating normally at this ti.”

“Green Forest Ten Stockades reproduction rate is above 90%. Black-White 2 through 11, assigned to the stockade-chief roles, are in their designated positions. All other Black-Whites are on standby in the gaps of the spell formation.”

“Spell-formation error rate rising to 3%! Requesting stabilization work from the spellcasters of the Mystic Hall!”

More than several dozen staff mbers raised their voices, sharing and reporting the constantly shifting conditions on the ground.

“The leading group in the second-rate license exam has begun the second mission. The martial artists leading each team are Song Junho, Pi Seunghwa, Oh Jungmin, and then...”

“Martial Artist Shin Kangheon is making an unexpected move! He’s suddenly leading his teammates to raid a Green Forest stockade that has nothing to do with their mission!”

“The pinnacle-expert test is also progressing rapidly. In particular, Martial Artist Bu Yeonha of Azure Sky Sword Gate is displaying martial prowess far beyond projections...”

The Martial Alliance had poured everything they had into this license exam.

For the past few months, Yeo Pilgeuk had prepared it under airtight security, and everyone gathered in the control headquarters belonged to the pro–Alliance Leader faction—every pair of eyes set with the sa grim resolve.

But they were short-handed, so everyone had no choice but to push themselves. Inside the headquarters, most of them hadn’t been ho in days, pulling all-nighters since before the exam even began.

“Senior, have so coffee.”

“......Ah. Thanks.”

A man who’d been glued to the monitors accepted the cup from his junior.

He looked hollow-eyed, having stared at screens for over ten hours.

“I’ve lost count of how many cups I’ve owed you. I’m just... weirdly exhausted today...”

“It’s just coffee. Honestly, why don’t you go shut your eyes for even a few minutes? I’ll cover your screens.”

“.......”

Normally he would’ve refused, but [N O V E L I G H T] no matter how much coffee he drank, the fatigue wouldn’t lift. If anything, his head felt even foggier.

In the end, he nodded and stood.

At this rate, he felt like he might actually fall asleep sitting upright.

“Alright. I’m counting on you. I’ll sleep for exactly twenty minutes and co right back.”

“Yes. Rest well.”

After the senior left, the junior who’d handed him the coffee split the feeds the senior had been monitoring and moved them onto his own monitors.

“.......”

The Alliance Leader probably believed he’d prepared the license exam in perfect secrecy, but from the start, it had been impossible to completely hide an operation of this scale.

So of the Eight Great Sects knew and pretended they didn’t, choosing to watch from the sidelines, while others intended to take what they needed through this exam.

“......There you are.”

The operative’s gaze, sweeping rapidly across dozens of screens, stopped on one.

Yang Hayun and Kim Muhyuk were asleep with their eyes closed, the brazier between them.

He imdiately pulled a USB drive from his pocket, plugged it into the equipnt, and made a few quick inputs.

BZZZT—

A brief burst of static, and the sa scene began looping.

Sparks popping from the brazier, the two of them sitting face-to-face, sleeping peacefully.

Until soone noticed, that monitor would keep showing only that. And by the ti anyone did notice, it would already be over.

[Initiating Yin-Extre qi acquisition plan.]

After sending that ssage to soone waiting inside the spell formation, the operative settled in and began watching the monitor at his leisure—waiting for the senior, who by now should be sleeping deeply under the effects of the sleeping drug.

“An uninvited guest?”

Yang Hayun blinked, still half-asleep.

She didn’t understand what Kim Muhyuk was talking about.

Even when she spread her qi-sense wide to check their surroundings, she couldn’t feel a single presence.

“......There’s nobody. Didn’t you just dream it?”

Naturally, Yang Hayun didn’t believe there was any chance Kim Muhyuk’s qi-sense was better than hers.

Even so, with that frightening look in his eyes and that decisive tone, she could only nod obediently.

“Pack your bag first.”

“.......”

Yang Hayun did as he said, slinging her bag over her back and staying alert.

Still, she couldn’t sense anything.

This isn’t ordinary killing intent.

I could feel it—faint killing intent approaching slowly from outside the cabin.

My senses had been sharp from birth, and then I’d sharpened them to a vicious edge with my first life’s experience and the guidance of my ntor, a forr professional assassin.

aning: when it ca to killing intent, I could react faster than anyone in this test site.

It’s not like the beasts or ghosts the spell formation creates. This...

It was far more discreet, more refined—yet at the sa ti, it carried a sticky malice.

That texture was painfully familiar to .

A trained assassin.

My grip tightened on the sword hilt without even thinking about it.

Soone who should never exist inside a license exam site had slipped in.

I glanced at Yang Hayun, who was scanning around with a doubtful look.

An assassin ca after her?

What I knew about the future was fragntary.

A late-bloom talent with a Yin-Extre body suffered an unexpected “accident,” beca permanently crippled, and that incident led to the Martial Alliance Leader’s authority being cut down even further—until he ultimately resigned in disgrace.

I didn’t know what kind of “accident” it was. I’d only guessed.

I’d assud it was an injury from a heated clash between late-bloom talents, or damage from chanisms, formations, or the spell formation itself, but...

“From now on, don’t make a sound. Breathe slowly—like you’re asleep.”

“.......”

Yang Hayun still looked unconvinced, but she nodded and slowed her breathing as I told her.

The killing intent that had been drawing closer paused.

At the sa ti, Yang Hayun’s eyes widened.

There’s sothing outside!

So you finally noticed.

As we spoke silently with our eyes—

Ssssss...

Sothing drifted into the cabin on the wind.

The instant I heard it, I whispered fast and low.

“Hold your breath and wait. I’m going to break through the ceiling, so—”

“I’ll break it.”

People called Yang Hayun blunt and headstrong, but she was a late-bloom talent coveted by the Eight Great Sects. As a martial artist, her aptitude overflowed.

The mont she sensed the assassin’s presence, she drew up Yin-Extre qi.

Her white hair fluttered up in the air.

CRRACK—CRRACK—CRRACK—!

When Yang Hayun fully opened Yin-Extre qi, the cabin flash-froze white.

So did the sleeping powder drifting in. The frozen grains fell in a dry, rattling spill.

She really is a monster.

I couldn’t help admiring it.

A Level 1 constitution.

When soone with a special constitution like that got serious, an unimaginable cold stord through the area. Thin frost instantly ford across my fur hat and the surface of my gloves.

“......Be careful.”

Yang Hayun warned, aiming both palms—now washed in white—at the roof.

At the sa ti, the force bursting from her twin palms blew the roof apart.

BOOOOM—!

The mont a huge hole opened overhead, the two of us shot upward through it.

In midair, I swept my eyes across the surroundings.

One, two, three... eight.

Assassins in black, masked and dressed for infiltration, were staring up at us.

“......!”

They didn’t make a sound, but the way their movents froze told everything: they were rattled.

Soone had deployed assassins to target Yang Hayun—there was no longer any doubt.

Sneak into a Martial Alliance exam site and go after a prized late-bloom talent from the Eight Great Sects?

To pull off sothing this insane, there had to be a much larger organization behind it than I’d imagined.

Along with the thought that maybe I’d stuck my nose where it didn’t belong, another suspicion rose up—

Could this be tied to the Heavenly Demon Cult?

For now...

My head was a ss of possibilities and calculations, but my decision ca fast.

I grabbed Yang Hayun and pulled her south.

“This way!”

We sprinted in the sa direction we’d started after receiving our first mission.

If we got there, Black-White 1—or soone—should be waiting.

If we found an examiner, we could secure at least a minimum level of safety from assassins.

WHIIIP—!

But before we’d even been using our body-lightening technique at full power for long, we realized sothing was wrong.

Yang Hayun looked around with a panicked expression.

“Isn’t this... the path from earlier?”

“......They brought a spellcaster, too.”

Space itself was warping.

The trail twisted—and then, suddenly, the cabin we’d fled stood right in front of us again.

“If we hadn’t brought a spellcaster just in case, this could’ve gotten troubleso.”

One of the assassins tightening their encirclent was muttering a spell under his breath, and the one who looked like their leader stepped forward, speaking in a distorted voice.

His gaze was on .

“If you’d just slept soundly under the sleeping powder, it would’ve been easier for everyone. But your pointless teammate has sharp instincts and makes things difficult.”

“.......”

“.......”

The assassins slowly narrowed the ring.

I drew my sword naturally, ready to swing at any instant.

Yang Hayun’s hands were wrapped in white cold.

These aren’t amateurs. They’re real assassins.

Not like the alley punks who slap a sign on a door and call themselves assassins for hire.

Each one was a skilled fighter, holding razor-edged killing intent.

That was why I’d chosen to run first instead of forcing a fight from the start.

Even I can’t handle three or more at once. And—

The biggest problem was the leader, watching from several steps back.

He felt far more dangerous than the others.

“We’d rather not let this get any ssier than it already is.”

Then the leader offered a “deal.”

“What we want is one Yin-Extre body. Won’t you step aside and pretend you didn’t see anything? If you do, we’ll let you finish the rest of the exam safely.”

“......What?”

In that instant, anxiety flickered in Yang Hayun’s eyes.

When I looked at her with a blank face, she spoke in a trembling voice.

“C-Could this... be part of the exam? Like, if you abandon your teammate, you fail imdiately...?”

Her words were desperate—don’t throw away—but I didn’t answer.

“.......”

My goal was to earn a top result in the exam, obtain a first-rate license, place in the overall top three, and demand the Five Elents Divine Art from the Alliance Leader.

Coldly speaking, Yang Hayun was soone I could help or not help.

And this... was going to happen anyway.

At that mont, the assassin leader glanced up at the sky and clicked his tongue, as if annoyed.

Then he looked back at .

“No ti. I’ll count to five. If you don’t move aside by then, we kill the teammate and capture the Yin-Extre body alive.”

The assassins nodded, and the leader began counting.

“One. Two.”

Each number, spoken in that calm voice, made the killing intent pressing down on us grow heavier and thicker.

“Three.”

Under that suffocating pressure, Yang Hayun’s face went pale.

I still didn’t say a word.

“Four.”

In that mont, Yang Hayun shoved my back from behind.

“Go.”

“.......”

When I turned, Yang Hayun was biting her lip hard.

Her eyes were full of fear.

“Go. He said he won’t kill —he’ll capture . So... go. Go by yourself. And tell my master.”

Yang Hayun was shaking.

For the first ti in her life, she was feeling real assassins’ killing intent, terrified like her heart might burst—yet she forced strength into her eyes and glared at them anyway.

“You’ll regret this.”

The assassins didn’t answer. They just watched .

I slid my sword back into its sheath and slowly raised both hands.

“......Fine. I’ll step aside. Open the ring.”

The leader nodded like he’d expected it.

“Practical. Open it.”

A gap appeared in the encirclent, and I started walking toward it.

At that mont, Yang Hayun pressed sothing into my hand.

“Take this.”

“.......”

It was the egg we’d received at the start of our first mission.

I tucked the still-frozen egg inside my clothes, bowed my head, and began walking.

The long sigh I let out made look like a defeated soldier surrendering after a war.

But—

As I passed beside the assassin who was maintaining the spell, I drew my sword and swung like lightning.

“Hngh—!”

He reacted instantly, sensing the danger—yet my draw was faster than he expected, and my acting had been good enough to bait even an assassin into letting his guard drop.

SHLK—!

His neck shot up into the air.

His wide-open eyes were still staring at .

One.

I kicked off the ground and burst sideways.

As a thrown dagger sliced through the air, I was already carving into the second assassin’s flank.

SHHRAK—!

Two.

The crippled assassin stumbled back, spraying blood.

But in an instant, the assassins re-ford the encirclent around .

Their leader’s voice hardened like stone.

“......Is there a reason you insist on doing this?”

As the killing intent thickened to sothing almost unbearable, I smiled a slick, bitter smile.

“I get lonely pretty easily.”

I let my eyes shine with madness.

“I don’t really like going around alone.”

For a mont, I was the Lone Ghost again.