****
A worn-out waterproof tarp for something called XX Construction Dream Town flapped as it caught the wind. The construction here had been halted due to the company's bankruptcy, and a fire had even broken out, turning it into a gloomy and desolate black monster.
However, demolition also cost a lot of money, and the landowner, as if waiting for the land prices to rise, had left the hideous structure as it was, with no signs of it being fixed.
A foreign boy was walking into that building. His disciplined steps and the eyes that seemed to look down on everything around him clearly held a lingering aristocratic air.
He strode briskly into the dark, abandoned building. He entered the structure, which seemed on the verge of collapse and that even a person with considerable courage would not dare to enter, and looked around.
Shaaaaaaaa.
A sound came from the darkness, and pairs of eyes began to glow. The boy approached them without any hesitation. Then, one of those pairs of eyes walked out.
The figure that walked out toward the outer wall of the building, where the light streamed in, was unexpectedly a neat-looking young man with black hair. A cold wind screamed as it clawed its way through the grim frame of the building.
“You look quite human.”
The blond-haired boy said so and put down the bag he was holding. At that, the black-haired young man smirked and raised his hand. With a thud, a human arm fell from the darkness.
“A puppy that was posturing in its master's arms doesn't know its place. Your master also…”
“I’ll give you one piece of advice. If you say anything irreverent, even as a joke, about my Master, I will blow this building away with a missile, so you'd better understand that, right? A missile misfire accident seems to be quite common in this country.”
The boy said so and kicked the bag, pushing it forward. The black-haired young man then shrugged his shoulders and accepted it.
“Are you telling us to take this and get lost? The True Blood hunter killed our Master. Even if he died during the fight with Chang Woon, it’s a raw deal to fight a guy like that.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t think you guys can touch a big shot like that. What I want is a guy who is much weaker than that. If you understand, why don't you pull yourself together?”
He said so and flicked a photograph. The photo flew with a sharp sound as if it were a steel plate, piercing through a concrete pillar and embedding itself.
“Hmmph!”
The black-haired man did not hide his surprise—no, rather, he looked at the photo with an exaggerated show of astonishment. In that photo was a young man with green-streaked hair.
“So I just have to hunt a brat like this? Isn't that too easy?”
“I can't be sure, but he is Silvester’s disciple. He probably won’t be that easy. There hasn't been a detailed investigation on him, but he’s around Gwanak-gu in Seoul, so look carefully. If the punk is a hunter, he might even come looking for you first.”
“Hmph. What a truly pathetic client.”
The black-haired man said so and observed the boy carefully. The boy, with skin so transparent that his blood vessels seemed visible, was glowing palely in the moonlight.
“Hhmm. If he’s a brat who has received the blood of a True Blood, his VT must be considerable, right?”
“Is that something you should say in front of the person himself?”
The boy replied so and turned his body. To show his back in front of the countless enemies aiming for him, his boldness was, rather, arrogance.
“Well then. I’ll expect good results.”
The boy shouted so arrogantly and vanished into the darkness. At that, the red-eyed people in the darkness began to move. It was a sight like a giant wave, laden with red noctiluca, crashing over the shore. The immense power, pressure, and murderous intent were so dense they felt as if they could be grasped by hand.
“Stop.”
However, the black-haired man who had agreed to the deal restrained them. With just one word, he repelled the wave. He held up the photo and threw it before his comrades.
“We need money and power. It's not a wise move to devour the trusted underling of someone who possesses both. Now, shall we get to work?”
<><><>
Being rich means the very space you live in is different from that of ordinary humans. Of course, the True Blood hunter Silvester was also rich, but… he wasn't as lavish with his spending as the True Blood Phantom.
He probably wouldn't ride an Airbus every time he went out.
“…”
Watching the Airbus fly over the hotel, Silvester let out a low sigh. Mindful of Silvester's ambushes, they had begun to use a helicopter altogether.
“I'm going to have to worry about Arjuna.”
He muttered so and tossed the rifle case behind the seat. He could see clouds slowly rolling in from the west.
“It looks like it will rain tomorrow, too.”
He muttered so and looked up at the hotel. A man in a pure white suit standing by the hotel window met his gaze. Seeing that he was already there, it seemed the one using the helicopter was his Spawn.
<><><>
The True Blood Phantom, who had been looking out the window, brought a glass filled with champagne to his lips. Seeing that the helicopter had returned safely, Wilhelm must have succeeded in his negotiations. The Children of Jeokyo had followed their parent, Jeokyo, only to be suddenly isolated in Korea when he died… his thought that they would have no choice but to agree to the deal had hit the mark.
“Still, I should praise him when he returns.”
He muttered so and turned around. In the spacious suite's living room, Yoon Mi-hye, who had become a complete wreck, had her eyes closed. She couldn't eat properly, and there was no telling how much she had cried. After properly saying just one sentence, 'Thank you for your concern,' she had simply burst into tears… there was nothing he could do.
“Did I look like a rich idler to her?”
The sleeping Yoon Mi-hye's face was swollen and puffy. At this rate, wasn't it useless to have gone through all the trouble of getting her done up at the beauty shop? He thought so and let out a sigh.
“It wouldn’t be so bad to gift revenge to the child who will become the youngest of my bloodline.”
Moreover, the opponents were those who had not fully taken responsibility as perpetrators simply because they were minors. They probably had no awareness that they had broken one person and destroyed her family.
Of course, if one were to ask if that was a crime so great as to warrant a death sentence for them now, it was true that one could not entirely affirm it. But at the very least, Yoon Mi-hye, she had the right to take revenge on them.
And affirming revenge was the rule of the ‘Clan of Phantasmagoria.’
“…What is that bloodline?”
Suddenly, her voice was heard in the quiet room.
“Well?”
The True Blood Phantom shrugged his shoulders. How should he explain this? After living as a vampire for thousands of years, explaining what a vampire was now felt pathetic… wasn't there a good way?
As he was contemplating this, the door opened and Wilhelm, slightly drenched in rain, entered.
“I’ve taken care of it, Master.”
“Yes. Well done, Wilhelm.”
He smiled broadly and drew a finger across his neck. With a sharp cutting sound, the blood vessels in his neck were severed. Upon seeing that, Wilhelm’s eyes widened.
“Master!”
“Hurry and come before I change my mind.”
The True Blood Phantom said so and took off his suit jacket. He lay down on the plush sofa and showed a smile.
“Kugh. Master… what in the world.”
But Wilhelm could not refuse the temptation. He walked towards Phantom, who was leaning on the sofa, and embraced him as if throwing himself into his arms. And just as beasts lick each other's wounds, he carefully licked Phantom's neck. Only then did blood begin to flow from the wound.
“Ahahahat. That tickles.”
Phantom took off his shirt, threw it behind him, and stroked Wilhelm's hair as if he were his own child. A strong sense of decadence flowed from the bloodsucking between the cursed vampires. That emotion, so powerful it was hard to breathe, was something an ordinary person would not be able to endure.
“…”
However, Yoon Mi-hye, who was already broken beyond repair, only tilted her head once upon seeing the shocking scene and showed no other particular reaction. So, she nonchalantly took Phantom’s hand, which he extended towards her with a smile. Under the cold lighting, his hand, on which fine hairs shimmered, grasped her hand and pulled.
<><><>
Sae-geon, wearing a raincoat, was carrying crates. A job where he worked six hours a day and received a daily wage of 30,000 won. It was 5,000 won per hour, so it wasn't that cheap, but no matter how he looked at it, he couldn't help but think it was labor exploitation. But for some reason, he felt strange today.
“Hey. More is coming. Don't just stand there with your hands idle!”
The foreman, who was doing the easiest organizing work inside the truck, urged him on like that. If he thought of this as exercise, there was nothing to suffer about, but since meeting Jin Yu-mi recently, he felt his heart becoming desolate for some reason.
He had thought it was as desolate as it could get, but it seemed there was still room for it to become even more desolate.
“Tch. Useless sentimentality.”
Sae-geon muttered so and received the approaching box. At that moment, his expression hardened.
“What’s wrong?”
Kim Seong-ju approached in surprise and took off Sae-geon’s glove. He could see that his fingernail was broken and bleeding.
“What is this?!”
“No… I was trying to train my grip and relied on my fingers to grab it… I think it got caught there. Don't worry about it.”
Sae-geon said so and calmly loaded the luggage onto the vehicle even with his injured hand. Seeing that, the foreman said just one thing.
“What a tough bastard.”
He got hurt while working, yet the foreman said something like that instead of offering comfort. Kim Seong-ju made a displeased face, but Sae-geon silently started working. But then, suddenly, he heard the sound of something flying by with a whoosh.
“Huh? It’s a bat.”
“Hmm?”
“I feel like I saw a lot of bats when I was young, but they've disappeared a lot these days… ha. How strange. Were there still bats left in this neighborhood?”
The foreman, who always just nagged him to work, work, for some reason stopped what he was doing and stuck his head out of the truck to look at the bat. Seeing that, Kim Seong-ju giggled and laughed.
He was a young man with quite a handsome appearance if you ignored the piercing, but since he was wearing the work clothes of a delivery company, even his laughing figure looked clumsy.
“Kekeke. Don’t you think it might be something like a vampire bat? Or a vampire.”
“No. As far as I know, a vampire like that…”
Han Sae-geon was answering like that when he looked up at the sky in surprise. The gray sky was pouring down a tremendous amount of rain as if a hole had been punched through it. A bat was flying in such a heavy rain?
“Keuk!”
Sae-geon immediately ran towards the cabinet.
“Hey!”
“I’m leaving early!”
Sae-geon shouted so, immediately changed his clothes, and got on his motorcycle. And before they had a chance to stop him, he began to ride through the rain at a terrifying speed.
“Huh?”
The dazed Kim Seong-ju and the foreman looked at each other. Kim Seong-ju asked the foreman with a bright smile.
“Do I have to load all of that by myself?”
“Well, I guess so. Hurry up and load it.”
<><><>
Sae-geon, hanging onto the RX-125 that was his hyung’s memento, lowered his body forward and pulled the throttle with all his might.
Rainwater continuously poured down in front of his head, entering through the gap in his helmet's front mask and soaking his neck. But fortunately, perhaps.
There weren't that many cars on the road during the daytime. While riding the motorcycle, Sae-geon sharpened his senses to his surroundings. He could feel the Bloodstone Pendulum moving, albeit faintly.
“To think there’s really a vampire that turns into a bat!”
The ones he had dealt with until now were nothing more than monsters with no special arts, but this time's enemies seemed to be something different. He should have backed out from the moment he heard a True Blood was involved! But there was no point in regretting it now.
Pyut!
Then, a sharp sound of wind cutting through the rain hit his helmet. It was no ordinary object, as his head rang with a thud as if he had been hit by hail. When Sae-geon raised his head, he saw something like a bird flying through the rain. Of course, there was no bird that could chase a motorcycle running in the rain.
“Tch!”
Sae-geon dodged the attack and turned into a narrow road. No matter how much Sae-geon had practiced his shooting, he had no confidence in shooting down a flying bird with a Tokarev. That was why he turned into a narrow road where buildings created blind spots. It was also the direction he had to go anyway…
“Keong!”
Just then, a large Tosa dog leaped out from the front. The dog, which had a strange lump-like thing growing from its brow, had leaped into the middle of the road like a truly mad dog and charged at Sae-geon. But Sae-geon gripped the handlebars tightly and ran the Tosa dog over as it was.
Kwagagagak!
The motorcycle crushed the Tosa dog, jumped up onto the road, and then fell. The rainwater caused it to spin, and the motorcycle wobbled from side to side, but Sae-geon, with his amazing sense of balance, righted the falling motorcycle and rode forward.
“Damn it! What is this leather carpet! Animal control?”
Sae-geon looked back while riding. He could see the lump on the Tosa dog's brow being pulled out. Still, it was a relief it didn't attach to a person. As Sae-geon was thinking that, something fell in front of him.
“Keuk!”
With a dull impact sound, the front part of his helmet crumpled. Sae-geon immediately turned the corner and headed towards Jin Yu-mi’s house. Come to think of it, the sun was covered today because it was raining.
It was suitable weather for vampires to roam around, even if it wasn't as good as night. It was Sae-geon's fault for being careless while working his part-time job during the day.
“Move it!”
Sae-geon kicked away a trash bag blocking his path and turned the corner. On the path leading to Jin Yu-mi's house, a few vampires were already waiting there. Was it because they looked down on Sae-geon as a brat? They stood there without even pretending to be human.
“Hmm. For a brat, he’s got good sense, doesn't he?”
“I know, right.”
A pale-faced man and woman were looking at each other and talking like that. Although they were male and female, they resembled each other like twins, with long, flowing hair and lifeless eyes.
In their monotone appearance, they were much closer to human than any vampire Sae-geon had seen until now, but in a certain sense, they were much more vampire-like. Sae-geon instinctively felt the danger and pulled out his Tokarev.
“Hah! Look at that! To pull out something so dangerous.”
“Hey. The Republic of Korea is a gun-control country. You should put away something that's obviously an illegal weapon…”
The vampires chattered away as they approached Sae-geon. But then, the muzzle of Sae-geon’s gun spat fire. And at the same time, full throttle! The RX-125, bucking like a wild horse, kicked the stone wall beside the slope once with its front wheel and then fell right onto the female vampire's face.
“Oh my! What are you doing to a lady?”
However, with surprising strength, she grabbed the front wheel of the RX-125 and stopped the motorcycle. Sae-geon, still hanging onto the motorcycle, aimed the Tokarev at her head.
“Drop dead, lady.”