****
Han Se-geon did not welcome this match from the beginning. There was nothing to gain by winning, and if he lost, he would have to lose everything.
Of course, even if he lost, he had no intention of handing everything over obediently, but to do that, he would have to kill them. Even if he was a fellow whose vampirization was progressing, Jeong Yong-jin was still human.
Not just Jeong Yong-jin, but all of these people, the biker gang members, were human and were people he knew. Unless one hated them enough to kill them, how difficult was it to kill someone one was acquainted with?
‘Kill them. If the premise is that there's a need to kill a person, then there's nothing to think about. Though I don't know in what case there would be a need to kill a person.’
Song Deok-yeon ajeossi’s voice tore through the roar of the motorcycle and shook Han Se-geon’s head. But there was no need to kill all of these many people.
‘Because I will win!’
Han Se-geon gritted his teeth and exerted his strength to control the motorcycle that was running wild. The 2-stroke racer V2 was an object with a displacement of 2000cc achieved by boring out the cylinders, but its output was not stable, making it too difficult to handle. However, Han Se-geon drove the motorcycle with precise control.
“Damn it! An MX with more power than a Vulcan!”
Jeong Yong-jin shouted that and sped out at high speed. Since there were many cars during the day, weaving through those cars was truly a crazy act. But Han Se-geon slipped between the vehicles running on the urban expressway.
It was a thrill and a terror to glide between giant city buses and large concrete mixer trucks while racing down the road. In the days when he did not know death, it was something Han Se-geon could have done without a second thought.
However… now that he had faced the death of his family and had come to know the smell of death, fear welled up, and it felt as if his body would freeze.
But Han Se-geon gathered his mind in order to win. Speed flowed through his veins and drove out the fear of death.
Wiiiiiiiiing!
The outlines of objects pierced his vision as sharply as needles. The wind brushed past his entire body… and in an instant, the world changed abruptly.
As if time had stopped, the surroundings appeared slow. The giant dump trucks and buses completely lost their outlines and turned into mere black shadows and green shadows.
“Aaaaaah.”
Han Se-geon looked behind him through the side mirror. Behind him, Jeong Yong-jin was following closely, while the other bikers did not even dare to try.
‘If there is a need to kill….’
If it was just one person, there would probably be no burden in killing them. Han Se-geon thought that and tilted his body to the left.
<><><>
It was two minutes after Han Se-geon and Jeong Yong-jin began the Cannonball that the call came for Cheon Yeong-hu and his clique.
“Yes. This is Sangdong Credit Loan.”
Cheon Yeong-hu spoke in a heavy and trustworthy voice. Recently, the economy had recovered quite a bit, so the private finance business was not running properly. No matter how much of a gangster one was, they had to be kind to customers. However, what was heard from the other end of the phone was the voice of youths who did not seem like they would borrow money at all.
Cheon Yeong-hu was momentarily flustered because the contact had come much sooner than expected, and only then did he rise from his seat.
“What? You’re in pursuit of the fellow right now?”
“It’s a race rather than a pursuit. The destination is the entrance of the Gyeongin Expressway, so it’ll be fine if you come and wait there.”
“Understood! I’m going right now! Keep that fellow pinned down!”
Cheon Yeong-hu said that and stood up. At first, he tried to call his vampire subordinates, but the sun was still up outside.
“Damn it. What a headache! It’ll be a disaster if I take those guys out during the day!”
He thought that and tried to call other boys. The Sangdong-pa had many businesses they were involved in, but the number of people belonging to the organization's direct line was not that many. But would they really be able to fight against a fellow who even had a gun without seeing blood?
“Would it be better to just report it to the police?”
However, Cheon Yeong-hu changed his mind. If that fellow had a gun, and if he was caught by the police and said something about the Sangdong-pa, it would immediately become the day the Sangdong-pa's sign was taken down.
“Damn it. What a real headache! He probably only has two bullets, should I really just push through?”
Cheon Yeong-hu thought that as well, but the Gyeongin Expressway entrance had many vehicles and many eyes. It was not a good place to cause an incident. Moreover, above all else, if he did not go right now, he wouldn't even get to see Han Se-geon.
‘Fucking bikers! Why a match, of all things!’
<><><>
Han Se-geon continued to pull the throttle without a single thought and ran at full speed. The engine greedily swallowed the air and produced a terrifying speed.
At the end of speed, the spirit transcends the flesh.
Han Se-geon’s spirit certainly felt a sense of liberation from his body at that moment. Though it was a liberation provided by adrenaline, the feeling at that time was, needless to say, electrifying.
But where does the spirit liberated in such a way go? This was an inquiry Han Se-geon did not even need to have. Because the place his spirit would go was already decided.
Pant, pant!
Even though his eyes were wide open and he was running, Han Se-geon was wandering through a dream. It was clearly something he had experienced, yet it was a scene viewed through the eyes of another, like a third-rate horror movie watched in a theater—an obvious progression, an obvious direction, and blood, blood, blood, blood scattered vulgarly….
That was the first time he had directly seen blood spilled in such a way. Because the movies he had seen were so realistic, the actual blood instead looked too cheap.
‘Aaaaaaaack!’
Han Se-geon screamed. But in the midst of the tremendous speed, the only thing heard was the roar of the motorcycle; even his own scream was not heard at all. However, the remaining senses were approaching death with extreme vividness.
The fishy smell of death pierced the tip of his nose. But every time Han Se-geon pulled the throttle and sped forward, that fishy smell retreated backward and the path opened.
‘Yes. The soul transcends the body!’
Han Se-geon laughed. Racing along the urban expressway, he checked the vehicles on the opposite side and immediately steered into a curve toward the center divider.
“Crazy!”
Not just Jeong Yong-jin, who was pursuing him, but all those who were driving cars on the road together spat out such a flippant exclamation as if with one mind.
Han Se-geon lifted his body as he slipped through the narrow gap in the center divider. He placed both legs onto the seat so they wouldn't get caught, which was reminiscent of Mongolian nomads performing tricks.
BEEEEEEP!
The cars coming from the opposite direction honked their horns in surprise, but the moment Han Se-geon pierced through the road was truly an instant. Han Se-geon continued to pierce between roads and roads, exiting the urban expressway.
“Why is that fellow doing that?”
Jeong Yong-jin thought that and moved forward, and finally discovered the reason. At the access road entering the Gyeongin Expressway, cars were already swarming and crowded.
“Damn it!”
Jeong Yong-jin felt a premonition of defeat, but he stubbornly drove the Vulcan and slipped through the cars. Because the Vulcan, a typical American-style bike, was quite wide, it took a lot of time to slip between the cars.
“Fucking hell! Am I going to lose to such a greenhorn again!”
Jeong Yong-jin shouted that and ran, pushing past the cars. Whether it was good luck or bad, even though Han Se-geon had overtaken him by cutting across the road, he was not more than 400m away from Jeong Yong-jin. Was it because he decelerated a lot at the curve? Or….
While keeping his hand on the throttle, Han Se-geon pulled the Tokarev from his chest with his left arm. It was a very uneasy thing to carry a gun around that was loaded entirely with silver bullets and had no safety.
One never knew when there would be an accidental discharge. Of course, no matter how much it was a single-action gun, it wouldn't discharge easily under normal circumstances. Han Se-geon lightly drew the pistol with one hand and held it.
And he intentionally drove the bike toward a sparsely populated road. If it was an afternoon in Seoul, it was always a bustling time. However, once he passed the city center, the cars and pedestrians decreased significantly. Han Se-geon also inwardly prayed that he wouldn't have to use this gun because there was no place without people, but he finally managed to find a quiet apartment complex with no one around.
<><><>
The path between the quiet apartment complex was like a scene in a landscape painting where time had stopped. Of course, there were residents in the buildings and security guards at the parking lots, but the side path passing between complexes did not have a single window facing it. Once a decision is made, the execution is not that difficult.
Screeeeeech!
Han Se-geon immediately hit the brakes and stopped his body. Since it was a gentle curve, even a motorcycle would have to decelerate here. He only needed to fire a single shot at Jeong Yong-jin, who was entering along the trajectory he had just returned from. Han Se-geon stopped the motorcycle and turned his body.
Jeong Yong-jin, who was following without knowing anything, was visible through the rearview mirror. He must not shoot the helmet. If the projectile of the silver bullet were to remain, wouldn't a deep investigation be launched unless the police were all blind? However, if the bullet pierced through and Jeong Yong-jin collapsed, then nothing would happen afterward.
There is a severe lack of coroners in the Republic of Korea. Therefore, unless it is an extraordinary case, there is no autopsying of bodies, and everything ends moderately at the level of an accident.
Unlike criminals who are eventually caught even after putting in immense effort like in mystery stories, in reality, one can kill a person cleanly with a simple method.
Jeong Yong-jin was a dropout of this world anyway, and the world wouldn't change just because one dropout died.
Bang!
Han Se-geon fired the gun, the sound mixing with the noise of brakes and horns. Jeong Yong-jin, who was coming around the corner, stopped and looked with startled eyes at Han Se-geon, who was waiting for him. The fallen leaves of the sycamore trees that filled the spaces between the apartment complexes fluttered in the wind. And something flew through those fallen leaves.
One moment!
A moment where time was so sluggish it felt as if the bullet could be seen….
The 7.62mm pistol round flew at high speed and pierced through Jeong Yong-jin’s neck.
Shick!
Compared to the gunshot, the sound of the impact was far too small. The lethal bullet, which pierced the neck in a single blow, passed through Jeong Yong-jin’s body as it was without leaving many traces. Blood splattered from the red dot that was initially just a small hole.
K-k-k-k-k-k!
Jeong Yong-jin’s Vulcan lost its balance, fell to its side, and slid across the ground. Jeong Yong-jin also slid across the ground along with the motorcycle. The fuel tank of Jeong Yong-jin’s beloved horse, the Vulcan 800, broke due to friction with the asphalt, and the gasoline ignited from that frictional heat, engulfing it in flames in an instant.
If that was the case for a motorcycle made of iron, there was no way a human made of flesh and blood could withstand it.
Jeong Yong-jin, who had slid across the ground, was truly in a wretched state, barely gasping for breath.
“Krrr-rrr-k!”
Was it because a hole had been punched in his airway? Jeong Yong-jin made a gurgling sound like a drowning person. The difficulty in breathing seemed more painful than the abrasions, contusions, or fractures. He was already exhibiting cyanosis, his face turning blue.
“It’s painful, isn't it?”
Han Se-geon looked down at Jeong Yong-jin and tore open a pack containing vampire blood from his chest. He did not know why he did it. Why did Han Se-geon tear open the blood pack even while using vampire blood that cost millions of won per bag, when it wasn't to save him but merely to ease the pain of death?
“I’ll take away the pain. Drink. Maybe you'll live.”
Han Se-geon said that, sliced the blood pack with a knife, and let the blood flow. Jeong Yong-jin, who was breathing roughly with his mouth open, accepted and drank the blood he provided without resistance. It was impossible to resist in a state where the airway had been pierced.
“Kuaaaaaaaack!”
The wound on Jeong Yong-jin’s neck healed. But at the same time, his skin dried up, and as he gradually turned into a vampire, he was being killed by the sunlight. This was murder. Not only had he pierced the neck with a gun, but he was also carrying out a poisoning with the poison of vampire blood.
“I’m sorry.”
Han Se-geon muttered in a tone that contained no emotion.
Jeong Yong-jin’s flesh caught fire and soon burned away without a trace. If it was like this, there would be no coroner or anything else.
Han Se-geon picked up the shell casing and left Jeong Yong-jin’s corpse and the motorcycle behind.
There was no one passing by. The apartment security guards were startled, but by the time the heavy-seated guards came out, Han Se-geon would have already hidden his presence.
If Jeong Yong-jin, famous as a biker, left no corpse and his motorcycle burned away, it would be processed as a disappearance or an accidental death.
To think it was this easy to kill a person….
No. He wasn't a person. He was a human whose vampirization was already progressing. Humans have something called a constitution, and there are those who immediately become vampires just by being bitten once, and there is another category that does not.
Jeong Yong-jin was simply the latter. Once the vampirization progressed, there was no way to save that human by any means.
Han Se-geon drove the bike as if running away from his sin. Speed liberates the soul? If so, liberate me from my sin! Han Se-geon screamed soundlessly. And even that scream was buried in the sound of the motorcycle.
<><><>
When Han Se-geon arrived at the Gyeongin Expressway entrance alone, there was no one around. A Cannonball is that kind of race. A race where those who were at the starting point cannot come and wait at the finish line first.
If they had intended to sell Han Se-geon out somehow, there was no reason to choose this kind of match. A Chicken Race would be better. Han Se-geon thought that and let out a sigh.
‘Aaaaaah!’
Jeong Yong-jin had no intention of catching Han Se-geon from the beginning. It was just the complex emotions he had toward Han Se-geon, the wavering that anyone might feel in front of money—that had simply moved Jeong Yong-jin.
“Damn it!”
Han Se-geon pulled over to the roadside, stopped the bike, and waited quietly. In a place like this, he couldn't pull out the Tokarev. Surveillance CCTVs were installed at the expressway entrance, and there was also a police checkpoint.
It was also a place where a fight was impossible. When Han Se-geon saw those things, he somehow shed tears. He was merely a fellow who couldn't even be called a friend, and even though shooting him was everything possible for Han Se-geon…. Han Se-geon could not endure the tears flowing.
Han Se-geon turned the bike around. If he waited here, he would be able to meet Cheon Yeong-hu and his clique. Even if not, he could meet his old comrades (?) from his biker days and crush their mouths. However, Han Se-geon did not want to see them.
Han Se-geon could no longer distinguish what was right and what was wrong. Pulling the trigger and feeding the vampire blood to Jeong Yong-jin… was it not a mistake? Perhaps this pendulum was a defective product and Jeong Yong-jin was merely slightly injured. Han Se-geon might have really committed murder.
“Aaaaaaaack!”
Han Se-geon turned the motorcycle's handlebars again and began to run frantically.