****
“Kek!”
Se-geon, leaning his body outward in that manner, slid back down the slope and climbed atop a large Korando SUV parked next to the parking lot entrance. The vampire twisted its body and lunged at Se-geon, but at that moment, Se-geon lifted the front wheel to block the vampire’s charge.
Thud!
In an unsightly manner, the vampire fell between the cars. As soon as Se-geon confirmed that the vampire had fallen, he stepped on the accelerator and drove forward. Soon, with a squelching sensation, Se-geon’s motorcycle dropped onto the vampire.
“Kkweeeeeeeeeeeek!”
The sound of the vampire screaming and the sound of the car’s theft alarm shook the parking lot noisily. If Se-geon had not put the parking lot employee to sleep and set up a ‘No Entry’ sign on the outskirts, people would have already come down and it would have been a complete mess.
“This worked out well. I poured a fortune of 5 million won into your organization, so I’ll have to be compensated with your blood.”
Se-geon said so and stepped on the accelerator. As the vampire’s internal organs were squeezed out, the wheels began to spin idly.
“Kuaaaak!”
But at that moment, the vampire grabbed Se-geon’s ankle and clawed at it. Even if it was dying, a vampire was still a vampire; the thick boots, which seemed like they wouldn't give way to any force, were torn like bread, and the leg muscles were severed.
Even though Se-geon was a person hardened by anti-vampire training, the pain of raw flesh being severed was truly extraordinary.
“Kuaaaak!”
The blood flowing from his leg stained the floor in an instant. It was a natural result since it was torn deep enough for the bone to be visible, but he couldn't just let himself die.
“Damn it!”
Thump!
At that moment, Se-geon was blown backward along with the motorcycle. The motorcycle got caught on a car and couldn't get out, but Se-geon was thrown away as he was. It was a relief it ended at that level, because if the motorcycle had been thrown with him, it could have crushed him and broken his waist.
“Kuaaaak!”
Se-geon rolled onto the hard parking lot floor and screamed. The problem was the leg, which was torn so much that the bone was visible.
“Kueuk!”
Se-geon opened a small belt pouch and pulled out something like a glove and put it on his left hand. However, in the meantime, the vampire raised its body.
“You bastard! You did a real number on me! Damn it! All my internal organs are visible!”
“Kueuk… you’re sticking out something that isn’t even pleasant to look at!”
Se-geon muttered that and bit a shotshell in his mouth. It was to insert the shotshell into the glove. However, the vampire did not leave Se-geon alone.
“You bastard!”
At that moment, Se-geon’s RX-125 came flying in. Se-geon quickly turned his body to the side, but his right arm was crushed under the motorcycle wheel.
Crack!
The motorcycle spun forward and fell away from Se-geon’s arm, but the arm was already broken. Moreover, it was broken so viciously that the bone protruded through the skin.
“Kuaaaaaaak!”
Se-geon screamed and dropped the shotshell. The vampire took pleasure in seeing Se-geon suffer.
“Ahahahaha! This bastard! You acted so tough while crawling around like that! I’ll kill you!”
The vampire shouted that, climbed on top of Se-geon, and opened its mouth.
“Kueuk!”
Se-geon raised his left arm, grabbed the vampire’s neck, and tried to push it away. However, as expected, the vampire’s powerful strength pressed down on Se-geon’s arm and approached his neck.
“Kekeke, the smell of your blood is killer! Are you type AB?”
“I… don’t have a hobby of kissing men.”
Se-geon said that, placed his left hand against the vampire’s neck, and clenched his fist.
<><><>
Bang!
A sound closer to a firecracker than a gunshot erupted, and the vampire’s neck exploded. At the moment the vampire’s neck was severed, Se-geon kicked the vampire’s torso upward with his knee.
Splatter.
As the vampire’s internal organs were torn, blood poured down like rain.
“You son of a bitch!”
Se-geon, while lying down, threw a hook with his left arm, which was practically a lump of iron. Although a hook thrown from bottom to top couldn't exert its full power, it was enough to completely finish off the vampire whose neck was half-severed.
The vampire’s head was severed in an instant and rolled to the side, and its body soon lost its strength.
Se-geon’s glove was made entirely of steel, designed so that two shotshells could be mounted on the knuckles. And it was a tool made so that if the hammers in the back were pulled, the moment he clenched his fist and struck, the firing pin would discharge, slamming the front with a point-blank shot in a single blow.
Even in Korea, where firearms were strictly restricted, hunting shotshells were relatively easy to obtain, which is why he made this weapon; even though he had loaded only one round because of the vampire’s attack, it had that much power.
In fact, since this glove was practically the same as having no barrel, it had almost no power if it was even 3 meters away. It only produced that much power because it was a point-blank shot, so it could be called an excessively primitive weapon to be considered a modern one.
“I really caught a rat by stepping backward like a cow!”
Se-geon muttered that and raised his body. Thanks to the vampire bleeding heavily on top of Se-geon, Se-geon’s wounds were healing even though he hadn't injected the blood yet.
But as expected, that much was not enough. Se-geon stuck a syringe into the decapitated vampire’s torso. Then he sucked out that blood and injected it into his own body.
“Uuuuuuk!”
It wasn't the first time he had experienced it, but injecting vampire blood into his body was never a pleasant thing. They said it wasn't very common to become a vampire by injecting vampire blood, but even so, there were those who ended up becoming vampires.
Anxiety that he might also become a vampire, and the foreign substance in his veins that called for physiological disgust.
However, the disgust for that was more bearable than the pain of the injury. In the end, the human spirit might be inferior to the survival instinct… Se-geon gritted his teeth and raised his body.
“Fucking hell! To think dealing with just one guy is this hard! It’s driving me crazy!”
Se-geon stuck a blood collection device into the vampire and lifted the motorcycle. Perhaps because the vampire had picked it up and thrown it, the handlebars were bent, the axle was unstable, and the entire frame was a mess.
“Should I take this opportunity to change it to a Yamaha one?”
Se-geon muttered that and inspected the motorcycle. Even so, it was lucky that it was only damaged enough that he could go to a repair shop under his own power.
If the frame itself was bent, the repair cost would be terrifying, but this RX-125 was a memento left by Se-geon’s hyung. Se-geon said with his words that he would change it, but unless it was an extreme situation, he wouldn't be able to do something like changing the motorcycle.
“Damn it.”
Se-geon rummaged through the gangsters’ bodies and looked for their guns. As expected, two of them had pistols; one was a Tokarev, and the other was a Chinese Type 54 pistol, which was a licensed version of the Tokarev. Both used 7.62mm pistol rounds, but each only had one round inside.
“Damn it. Are you guys some kind of marksmen, or legendary killers? How did you plan to survive with only one initial round in a Tokarev that doesn't even have a safety?”
Se-geon grumbled like that but packed the guns away. In the meantime, the vampire had turned to ash, as if all its blood had been sucked out. The blood collected from this vampire was enough for two 400cc vinyl packs; since it was likely a low-class vampire, it didn't seem like selling two would even bring in 6 million won.
Thinking about the 5 million won in capital spent to draw out the Sangdong-pa, the price of various equipment, and the motorcycle repair costs, it was absolutely not a profitable business.
Originally, more blood could be sucked from a single vampire, but the mistake was entering into a striking battle. If you fought for a long time while inflicting wounds on a vampire, the vampire’s body would consume the blood, so not much would remain.
“It can’t be helped.”
Se-geon muttered that and dragged the motorcycle. It would cost an enormous amount in repairs if he left it at the repair shop, but since the engine was fine, he would be able to ride it.
However, he didn't think he would be able to deceive Deok-yeon’s eyes after causing such a ruckus. His clothes were torn and the tachi was broken, so as long as Deok-yeon wasn't blind….
“Are you coming out now?”
Deok-yeon spoke to Se-geon, who was dragging the motorcycle up along the Hanshin Securities parking lot. Se-geon was startled and raised his head to look to the side. Deok-yeon’s white Pride sedan was parked by the roadside like a frog.
“Damn it!”
Se-geon took off his helmet and ran his hand through his hair. Sweat poured from the helmet like water, looking as if he had just come out from underwater. Deok-yeon looked at Se-geon with an indifferent expression.
“Does it feel refreshing to have a go at it, you punk?”
“How did you track me?”
“There’s a thing in this world called GPS. I know you treat that motorcycle like a sacred object, but it seems you’ve been a bit lax recently.”
Deok-yeon shrugged his shoulders, hinting at the existence of a transmitter. Se-geon looked at Deok-yeon and let out a sigh. He grabbed the bent handlebars and rode the motorcycle forward for the time being.
Even though vampires didn't even leave corpses, the other gangsters were seriously injured, and leaving one car as a total loss was not something that would just be overlooked.
If someone came and things became noisy, it was Se-geon and Deok-yeon who would be in trouble. Deok-yeon seemed to know that fact too, as he started the Pride without a word and followed Se-geon.
<><><>
The two stopped their cars in front of a convenience store standing by the road. Se-geon parked the motorcycle with the bent frame by the roadside and sat on a flower bed made of red bricks.
“You knew that the Sangdong-pa guys were involved with vampires too, ajeossi. Why do you just leave them be? Because they’re organized gangsters? Because it’s not profitable to fight them?”
“That’s right.”
Deok-yeon said so and approached the vending machine in front of the convenience store, inserting coins. Before Se-geon could say anything, Deok-yeon threw a cold can. Se-geon caught it with one arm and opened the can.
“Those guys deserve to die. Whether it makes money or not, aren't things called vampires a spreading infectious disease that spreads more the more you leave them alive? It’s easier to cut them when they are sprouts than it is to cut a giant tree.”
“So, you’re going to be the one to judge whether someone deserves to die or not? Don’t make me laugh. I don’t kill even vampires or mosquitoes if it’s for an ideology. I only kill for money and profit.”
Deok-yeon said so and snorted loudly. Of course, there was no way Se-geon would listen to his advice. Adults have always given advice to young people, and that advice has always been ignored. This is something humanity has repeated along with its history.
“Damn it. I shouldn't have agreed to the Jinma Hunter's deal. I shouldn't have taken charge of you.”
Deok-yeon said that and inspected Se-geon. His clothes were torn and blood was still flowing from his wounds, but if he finished off a vampire without even using Psychedelic Moon, he could be seen as already doing a man's share excellently.
“You, pack your things and get out. I don't want to fight the Sangdong-pa because of you.”
“…….”
Se-geon looked at Deok-yeon and let out a sigh. He knew that a day like this would naturally come eventually, but it was much sooner than expected.
“I’ll do that.”
Se-geon said so, finished the canned drink, and tossed it into the trash can with a flick. Then he dragged the motorcycle and walked forward.
“Thank you for everything until now.”
“Yeah…….”
Se-geon disappeared into the darkness, dragging the motorcycle. Then Deok-yeon laughed ‘hahaha’ and, at the same time as he turned his body, he hurled a can toward the vending machine.
Clang!
“That moron bastard!”
<><><>
Se-geon returned to his dark room. In fact, even though it was called a room, strictly speaking, he didn't have many memories of it. It didn't have much meaning beyond a place to sleep. Se-geon thought that and looked inside the closet. There weren't many clothes in the closet.
“Hmm.”
Se-geon packed his clothes into a large backpack and took several tools and his bankbook. Thinking that he had lived in this dark room for a year without nice clothes, fancy accessories, or music CDs, giving up all the pleasures a Korean youth of the same age should enjoy, he felt pathetic himself.
Se-geon picked up the family photo sitting alone atop the closet. It hadn't been that many years, but he felt as though the photo was already fading. Was it because he left it by the window where the sunlight was the only thing that hit it? Se-geon let out a sigh.
“Don't make such a dorky expression, hyung. I’m not doing this for some pre-modern idea like family revenge or whatever.”
He tapped the frame with his fingernail and put the photo in his backpack. Se-geon grinned and stood up from his seat.
“I just got bitten unluckily!”
He said that, opened the door, and came outside. Se-geon let out a sigh as he saw the empty house without Deok-yeon. Of course, he only felt grateful toward Deok-yeon… but as expected, the path he and Se-geon were taking had to be different.
“In that case, I can take a few of these many swords, right?”
Se-geon said that and picked a few swords hanging on the wall. Just then, the front door suddenly swung open.
“You’re doing a real great job, honestly.”
“…….”
When Se-geon turned around, Deok-yeon was standing there holding an ammo can. Se-geon saw him and shrugged his shoulders.
“It would be a waste for them to just decorate the wall forever. A few of them should get a taste of vampire blood, right?”
“Fine. Take them if you're going to take them, you punk. And this too.”
He said that and opened the ammo can to show him. Inside were 7.62mm pistol rounds.
“There are only about 500 rounds, but you’ll probably die before you use them all up.”
“Ah. Ajeossi…….”
“Hurry up and take it, you bastard. Oh, and this is Hungarian-made and past its storage date, so be careful. If you’re unlucky, the gun might rupture.”
Deok-yeon said that and forced the ammo can into Se-geon’s hands. Se-geon took the ammo can and walked past him toward the entrance without a word. He had already said his goodbye, so there was no need to do it again. However… without even looking back, Deok-yeon said one thing to Se-geon.
“Don’t become a vampire. When that time comes, I’ll hunt you down without mercy too.”
“…….”
For a brief moment, Se-geon’s footsteps stopped. But Se-geon soon moved his feet again. Se-geon himself knew better than anyone that Deok-yeon’s words were sincere.
He walked up the stairs. The future… a path where the future couldn't be seen, he felt as if he was walking toward a path of blood, death, and hatred.
Ah!
But Se-geon suddenly let out a cry of admiration. When he came out of the entrance of the old building, there was clear and transparent moonlight. This place, which was once called a ‘Moon Village,’ its owner most befitting that name was floating in the firmament.
Moonlight was so blue it made his eyes ache….
Today was a day where the moon was so beautiful it brought tears to his eyes.