****
The crackling sound of a radio flowed out from an old Pro-10 speaker.
In 21st-century Seoul, long after the day of ruin prophesied by Nostradamus had passed, a bartender in an old-fashioned teahouse was carefully wiping old record plates with a cloth.
The speaker roughly reproduced the voice of an old Sinatra. Outside the window was rain, and the dim lighting was just enough to allow the sodium streetlamps illuminating the street to penetrate inside the shop; it was a peculiar bar where it would have been strange if business was good. But it was a place that had its own old-fashioned charm.
Dong…… Dong…….
A grandfather clock hanging on the wall began to let out a dull chime, announcing that it was 8 o'clock. And at the same time, the door opened and a man walked in.
The attire, glimpsed underneath the black coat that enveloped his entire body, was unmistakably a Catholic priest's habit. Although they did not forbid alcohol, it was not a very common thing for a devout Catholic priest to visit a bar in person. Especially if it was a young, silver-haired foreigner.
“It’s quite harsh for a spring rain.”
He spoke thus and walked inside without even taking off his coat. It was surprisingly fluent and accurate Korean for a foreigner.
He glanced once at the bartender and then looked around at a corner seat. On the sofa, hidden by a palm tree pot that was out of place in a bar like this, there was a middle-aged man sleeping with a round beret pulled down low over his face.
The priest strode over and sat down across from the man. That action, more akin to an outlaw's than a clergyman's, was enough to draw attention, even aside from his unusual appearance. But, fortunately or unfortunately, there was no one around except for the old bartender and the sleeping man.
“The night is coming. You shouldn’t have time to be sleeping, should you?”
The priest spoke thus and shook the sleeping man's table. At that, the middle-aged man took off his beret and stood up from his seat, only to sit back down.
“My, my. This is quite a surprise. I thought you were Korean because of your fluent Korean. It just goes to show you can’t know a person over the phone.”
<><><>
“I didn't come here to make small talk with you about my nationality. If you want to make that kind of small talk, why don't you go to a phone room. Rather than that, hurry up and spill where that bastard is. If you called me all the way here, he must be somewhere nearby, right?”
He said that and looked out the window. The early spring rain was beating roughly against the window like a monsoon rain. The man said, taking off his hat.
“He was in this area, but I don’t know his whereabouts after that. He just left an egg behind.”
“You don’t know the bastard’s whereabouts?”
“Yes. But his spawn….”
The man said that and smiled servilely. But the silver-haired priest coldly cut him off.
“I have no interest in guys like that. If you don't know his whereabouts, then our deal ends here. Well then, I'm leaving.”
He said that, got up from his seat, and strode out. At that, the man in the beret stood up in surprise.
“But if it’s them, they should know his whereabouts! No matter what anyone says, they're his children!”
At that, the striding priest’s feet came to a halt. At the same time, as if the needle had reached the end of the old LP record, an unpleasant noise came from the speaker.
“Cunning bastard.”
<><><>
A jet-black Corvette coupe slid out of the two-lane road that had all but turned into a parking lot. The silver-haired priest sitting in the driver's seat was passing quickly down the road, turning the steering wheel as if he were a car racer.
“How bold of you. A car like this would attract people’s attention….”
“How many times do I have to tell you it’s none of your business? If you really want to run your mouth so much, why don’t you talk about the place we have to go?”
He spoke thus and drove the car. Hearing those words, the middle-aged man gave an awkward smile and began to explain.
“That place is an illegal club made from a remodeled warehouse located at the coastal pier. It was a place like a room salon under the Sangdong-pa that mainly retailed drugs, but at some point it became a Spawning Sanctuary and….”
“Spawning Sanctuary? Then there must be a lot of vampires? Did you guys just stand by? It should have been quite profitable.”
“The Sangdong-pa is an organization founded by its boss, Jeong Sang-dong, in the early 90s; it’s not big, but it’s dangerous. We aren't the police, so there was no need for us to recklessly mess with them.”
“How ridiculous. You’re not afraid of vampires, but you’re afraid of organized crime gangsters?”
Screeeech!
Before he could even finish his words, the Corvette stopped in front of the warehouse. Two well-built men were standing at the warehouse entrance, and the entrance was blocked with black glass. The parking lot was outside the building, and they were also providing a service to put a cover over the license plate.
“If you look behind the seat, there should be a case.”
The priest spoke thus, opened the door, and strode out into the pouring rain.
“Are you talking about this?”
The middle-aged man held up the long bag that filled the back seat. It was a black case that seemed like it could fit a small child if it were a little wider, and its weight was also heavy, as if a person had really been put inside. The middle-aged man clicked his tongue inwardly and took it out.
“It would have been nice if it were a guitar case, but it wasn't easy to find a guitar that big. A cello or a bass is too big.”
The priest said that and strode toward the entrance. At that, two men who were clearly bodyguards blocked the entrance.
“Excuse me, but could you please show me your invitation.”
“What the hell?”
The priest immediately feigned ignorance. At that, the bodyguards were instantly flustered. If these members of the Sangdong-pa were capable of conversing with a foreigner, they would have been tour guides, not organized crime gangsters. They looked at each other, unable to hide their bewilderment.
“Ah, fucking hell. This isn't even Itaewon, but it's a real Yankee. We're fucked. Hey, do you know English.”
“I’m sick and tired of ‘English’. Go get Gyeong-hyeon. They said he drank university water….”
However, before they could even move, the priest moved.
Thwack!
While one was distracted, he threw a punch at the one standing in front, and with a back kick, he precisely struck the jaw of the bodyguard next to him.
“Ughh….”
With a clean cracking sound, the two men collapsed. Their teeth broke and a gush of blood poured out, staining the floor. His skill in neatly taking care of gangsters who were said to be tough was no small feat.
“Well then, shall we go inside?”
He said that and received the case. The middle-aged man was startled and looked over the fallen men.
“They’re the kind of guys who pass out after getting hit a few times. Nothing to see.”
He said that and went inside. The illegal club, made by remodeling a warehouse, was packed with rooms along a long corridor. At the entrance, waiters with business smiles were standing, and when the two men entered, they approached as if they would give them their own livers.
“Welcome. Is it for two?”
The priest suddenly looked around, examining the waiters' attire. At that, the waiters were startled by his attitude and flinched back.
“Hmm~. It's not these guys either.”
Just then, one of the waiters discovered the two collapsed bodyguards beyond the translucent glass.
“Aah! Chang-su hyung!”
“Wha-what?”
In that moment, the waiters wiped the smiles from their faces. It was a rapid change of expression, as if they were taking off masks.
“This bastard!”
Crack!
But the priest's jab had already struck the waiter's face. His hand was so fast that even after completely crushing the man's nasal bone and retracting his fist, the one who was hit just stood there dumbfounded.
“Uwaaaaak!”
The waiter with the crushed nose finally covered his face and screamed. The other waiters were startled and tried to surround him, but even that was not easy in the narrow hallway. Without the priest needing to lift his hand more than a few times, the waiters lay down in the hallway together.
“That’s amazing.”
“There's something else that’s amazing. If this trip turns out to be for nothing, I’ll be sure to show you that amazing thing, so you can look forward to it. The guys here are all human!”
He shouted that and kicked the door open. It wasn't a typical room but a rather spacious one, and inside there was a large table, and the glasses on it were filled with dark red blood.
The gang members, and a few VIP guests, whose cozy banquet had been disturbed, glared at this sudden intruder.
“What the hell are you bastards!”
“Bingo.”
The priest said as soon as he saw them. The middle-aged man was startled and pulled a pistol out from his clothes. The gun he pulled out was a Colt Government .45 ACP, one of the most common pistols in the world, but it was a rare sight in Korea, where guns are not common.
“These sons of bitches!”
Bang!
One of the gang members who had been sitting down started to rise, but in that instant, a bullet lodged in his shoulder. The cowering middle-aged man, it seemed, had skill uncharacteristic of him, as he had accurately shot the flustered opponent.
The 45 caliber ACP round was a bullet with excellent stopping power so a tremendous amount of blood splattered behind the table. But he got up from his seat, perfectly fine. A human would never have been able to withstand it, so the fact that he stood up proved that he was not human.
“Kyaaah!”
The vampires, revealing their true forms, all rose from their seats. But just then, the priest opened the case.
“I don’t care what kind of party you bastards are having here. But the heretic who sold you fake eternal life….”
He said that, took a huge rifle out of the case, and fired it at the vampire that charged right at him.
KABOOM!
With the explosive roar, not only was the vampire's torso blown to pieces, but the unfortunate other vampires behind it also met the same fate. The power of the bullet, as if it had not diminished even after piercing through seven heads, destroyed the opposite wall.
“I’m lucky today.”
The priest said that and properly held the Beretta-M82A1. The moment he took this heavy rifle out of the case, he had fired it like a pistol and annihilated the vampires. And accurately at that! He grabbed the huge rifle and immediately opened fire on the vampires.
“Kweeeeeek!”
“This son of a bitch! I'll make you puke up your intestines!”
The vampires charged, their fighting spirit ablaze, but the priest calmly concentrated only on shooting.
<><><>
KABOOM!
The priest who unleashed roars with a calm demeanor as if he had come to a shooting range at an amusement park—every time a flame sparked from his muzzle, numerous vampires fell one after another. It was an unbelievable battle record, considering he had used a gun longer than a fair-sized child in this narrow space.
“Kyaaaaaaak!”
“Wh-what are you doing!”
The young man, the only vampire to survive, was terrified and stepped back. The priest approached the terrified vampire with the muzzle aimed at him and spoke.
“No, on second thought, I think I can get the answer even if only one is alive. How about you tell me? Where is the heretic who sold you guys a false eternal life?”
The priest said that and approached. At that, the vampire backed away, waving his hands.
“H-Hold on! I don't know anything! I just took some kind of medicine that came from above! At first, I thought it was Bacchus!”
In that moment, the priest lowered the rifle. The vampire's relief was brief; with an explosive roar, his arm was severed.
“Kraaaaaak!”
The priest held a Desert Eagle in his left hand and threw the rifle to the middle-aged man behind him.
“Put it in the case.”
“Um, these vampire corpses….”
“Do as you please. Wasn’t that the deal from the start? You damn rat bastard.”
“Yes.”
Even though the priest insulted him, the middle-aged man, for some reason so pleased, soon took out some kind of metal device from his clothes. It was connected to a thick plastic pack, and when he inserted the device into the vampire's corpse, blood began to collect inside the plastic pack.
“Keeeeuuuk!”
The vampire who had lost his arm had collapsed to the floor and was screaming. In his current state of mind, he wished the police would come running, but strangely, even though gunshots were ringing out, there was no sign of the police moving.
“You don't need an arm to talk, do you? Right? Now, next up will probably be your left leg. If you don't talk soon, the Action Train (Action Express) will depart. It's a good opportunity to test your patience. Isn't it?”
He said that and aimed his Desert Eagle .50 Action Express at the vampire's left thigh. At that, astonishment appeared on the vampire's face.
“Y-you crazy bastard!”
Of course, the price for the profanity came back swiftly. With an explosive roar, his left leg was torn to shreds. To borrow the priest's words, the Action Train (?) was a .50 caliber special magnum round, and in terms of lethality, it was no less than a rifle round.
“If you won't answer my question, it’s also fine to just suck your blood like this. Vampire. If you have your blood sucked by a human, you might feel more like talking about that 'eternal life' thing. Right?”
The priest said that and glanced to the side. There, the middle-aged man was excitedly inserting a blood collection device into the bodies of the fallen vampires and drawing out their blood.
In reality, the pain would have been almost nonexistent, but there was no better intimidator than imagination. This vampire was struggling to endure the pain from the bullets, and he had not been a very patient person even when he was human.
Boasting of his bravery in front of the crazy priest and having his body torn to pieces instead was against his beliefs.
“I'll talk! I'll tell you everything I know. Please, just stop.”
“Good. Where is he?”
“He said he was going down to Chuncheon two weeks ago. But I don't know if that's the truth. There's no reason for him to trust us!”