****
On the Bongcheon-dong hill, where high-rise apartments now stood in rows after the reconstruction project had already finished, there was one old building.
While the surroundings were all newly renovated with high-rise apartments, it alone was hideously adorned with old tiles. Moreover, its entrance faced away from the main road, making it a place even less likely to have tenants. Song Deok-yeon's hideout was in its basement floor.
“Alright, come in.”
“Ah, yes.”
Se-geon's eyes widened as he went inside.
At first, things like stuffed dolls and thread were piled up at the entrance, so he had thought it might be a factory, but the inside was not only neatly organized, but all sorts of swords, be it Japanese or Korean, were packed tightly into the wall, and above them was a geumgangjeo (vajra) that was closer to an antique than a weapon, and on either side were some rather suspicious-looking machines—Se-geon didn't know for sure, but they were devices for barrel exchange and repair.
“How is it?”
“If the police came in, you’d be in handcuffs right away, sir.”
Se-geon stated his impression. It was no exaggeration; even a gangster's office would look more moderate than this.
“Why would the police come into my house? If they don't have a search warrant, that's the end of it.”
Song Deok-yeon said that and came inside, taking off his shoes. Then he pointed to the room on the right.
“This will be the room you'll use from now on. Provided you clean it, of course.”
“I see. But how do you find vampires, and how do you catch them?”
“A guy who can't even crawl is already trying to fly. A vampire might catch you, but do you think you're in any position to catch one?”
Deok-yeon dismissed Se-geon's impatience with a single remark. Deok-yeon had been giving Se-geon a hard time continuously without much explanation since earlier, but for the current Se-geon, who found everything fascinating, such things were not a problem.
“There are no talismans or things like that. Do vampire hunters only use illegal weapons like these?”
“Our enemies squirm back to life even after being shot by bullets. Holy water and such aren't very effective either. And talismans are even more useless.”
Deok-yeon said those meaningful words and looked at Se-geon.
“Did you bring your things?”
“I left my motorcycle behind. Well, I don't have that much stuff to bring, so I can just go get it quickly.”
“Really? Then bring it tomorrow. We'll start proper training the day after tomorrow.”
Deok-yeon said that and was heading to his own bedroom when he seemed to remember something and turned back to Se-geon.
“Clean your room first. Otherwise, where you'll sleep tonight will become a mystery.”
Hearing that, Se-geon opened the door to the room. Indeed, Deok-yeon wasn't just making idle threats. The main living area was at least neatly organized, but that was because the things in the living area were 'weapons' rather than furniture or luggage, and by no means because Deok-yeon had a clean personality. The room Se-geon entered was so messy that it was hard to tell if it was a room or a warehouse.
Se-geon let out a soft sigh and began to tidy up the room.
<><><>
Se-geon had handed over his father's house and factory to his younger uncle on the condition that he receive living expenses from him. Han Gyu-il felt sorry for his nephew, but as a businessman, he could not refuse the offer.
Although Se-geon had been hurt by Han Gyu-il, he had no intention of blaming him. However, when he arrived near the house, seeing that most of the belongings had already been cleared out, tears suddenly welled up. Even though he rode a motorcycle and had more courage than most, Se-geon was still a high school student.
For a high school student from the Republic of Korea, who had been raised gently in a well-to-do home, this incident was far too harsh.
“Se-geon?”
At that moment, Se-jin, who was approaching with a bag, looked at Se-geon. Se-geon quickly wiped his tears and turned his head.
“Noona?”
“Ah, why didn't you listen to me.”
“…”
Since Se-jin was on extremely bad terms with her own father, she seemed to be very displeased that Se-geon had handed over the house. But to say such presumptuous things so carelessly without offering a single word of comfort to Se-geon. Se-geon found his cousin noona's indifference truly, horribly detestable.
“I came to get my things. What about you, noona?”
“Uhm. I came to meet you and persuade you, you haven't gone through the official procedures yet, have you? Then it's not too late even now!”
Se-geon no longer listened to her story. He first took out the RX-125 from the garage. The RX-125 was an off-road motorcycle, so it wasn't very good for carrying luggage, but a single off-road touring bag that his hyung had used was enough to carry all of Se-geon's belongings.
In truth, he wanted to leave behind everything in this house if he could, but he didn't think that doing so would allow him to forget this incident.
“Se-geon! I'm doing this for you! You're being used by my dad right now!”
Se-jin said that and continued to follow Se-geon around. From her perspective, she probably thought she was giving excellent advice to her beloved cousin and standing up against her wicked father, who was mired in ugly greed and trying to swallow up even his nephew, but from Se-geon's perspective, he disliked her the most.
“Stop it. Right now, I dislike you, noona, more than anyone else. Do you hate your father that much? He's a father who will surely pass away before you, noona, but do you hate him so much that you'd bad-mouth him to your cousin and pull strings from behind to mess things up? Don't make me laugh. For my sake? You know how I feel right now, and you're saying crap like that!”
“...Se, Se-geon?”
“Shut up! I'd appreciate it if you never acted like you knew me again! It's not like we'll see each other anyway!”
Se-geon shot those words at her and then started the engine of the RX-125. Although the unfortunate accident that had happened to Se-geon was extremely 'uncommon,' Se-geon was still not an orphan with no living relatives. But now, Se-geon had completely severed all ties that had anchored his real self.
<><><>
When Se-geon returned to Deok-yeon's hideout in Bongcheon-dong, it wasn't even lunchtime yet. Se-geon went into the room he had cleaned yesterday and unpacked his things.
The belongings he had brought were just a 3x4-sized family photo that could fit in a pocket and its film, and a few sets of clothes. Se-geon organized the clothes in the closet, placed the photo on top, and let out a sigh.
The family in the photo was gathered with indifferent expressions, with the East Sea behind them. It was a photo taken last summer vacation, after they had suffered from the air conditioner breaking down in the middle of a heavily congested road and had only just barely arrived, so their expressions couldn't possibly be pleasant. But only the good-natured hyung, Se-hyeon, was smiling at the camera.
“To think this is the only family photo I brought...”
Se-geon muttered to himself, feeling pathetic. Standing alone in the dark, semi-basement room, Se-geon was frozen like a doll. If Deok-yeon hadn't woken up and looked for Se-geon, he might have kept staring at the photo and gone mad.
“You're back? Se-geon?”
“Ah, yes.”
Se-geon came to his senses and looked at Deok-yeon. This former special forces sergeant was one to fall asleep as soon as the sun rose, as if he himself were a vampire, and indeed he had a drowsy look in his eyes, as if he had just woken up from a nap.
“It would be best to start the training tomorrow. Well, if you have any other places to go, make sure to go beforehand.”
Deok-yeon said that and went back to his own room.
“Places to go?”
Se-geon mulled over Deok-yeon's words and let out a sigh. There was no such place. He had never thought his circle of friends was that small, but... when something like this happened, there were no friends he could rely on. However, he suddenly felt the urge to ride his motorcycle. Se-geon turned the family photo with the not-so-happy faces around and left his room.
<><><>
The reason Deok-yeon had left Se-geon alone the previous day was not because he found training Se-geon bothersome, but simply because he was trying to be considerate of him, who had lost his family at a young age. But there was no need to extend that consideration for more than a day.
Being a vampire hunter was, in fact, a job where one had to hunt an enemy, the vampire, who was far superior to oneself. In modern society where war was not occurring, there were probably not many who were closer to death than them. That was why vampire hunters needed to train themselves.
The training began in the morning. Deok-yeon, unlike his usual self, woke up with the sun and prepared breakfast. Perhaps because it was the day the training started, the breakfast Deok-yeon prepared could be described as a collection of high-protein, high-calcium, and high-calorie foods.
If one could digest this kind of thing in the morning, they must be a very healthy person. But Se-geon had to force himself to eat such healthy foods.
“This is amazing.”
Se-geon substituted his admiration with words that could be interpreted in various ways. However, Deok-yeon simply looked at Se-geon and gave him a simple piece of advice.
“I'll do all the chores for today only. From the next time on, it's your job. And the meal plan won't change from this at all, so eat up and memorize everything.”
After breakfast, Deok-yeon took Se-geon to the Bongcheon-dong YMCA gym. It seemed an agreement had already been made about the place, as neither the manager nor anyone else stopped the two of them. After a light warm-up, Se-geon and Deok-yeon immediately entered the training program.
“Jump rope, two jumps per rotation for 5 minutes, three jumps per rotation for 1 minute, then back to two jumps per rotation for 1 minute. We'll go for 30 minutes in this pattern. You can jump rope, I assume?”
Deok-yeon said that and handed a jump rope to Se-geon. Se-geon took the jump rope and began to jump according to Deok-yeon's instructions.
At first, he just thought it was what it was, but it wasn't long before he felt his heartbeat growing stronger. The routine Deok-yeon had ordered was a formidable amount of exercise that would make even a decent athlete surrender immediately.
Although Se-geon had been training his body for a motocross license, there was no way he could keep up.
“Heh! You're getting tired from just this? Tuck your chin in, you son of a bitch! I'm about to punch you in the jaw.”
Song Deok-yeon said that and really did smack Se-geon's chin. With things like this, he had no choice but to jump, no matter how much it felt like he was dying. It was better to end up suffering to the point of death than to actually die, after all.
Se-geon jumped frantically, panting for breath. His breath was so short it reached his chin, his heart was pounding, and he felt like he was about to cough up blood. Still, Deok-yeon ruthlessly pushed him, as if it wasn't his own body.
“Don't just pant, preoccupied with clearing the rope, use your explosiveness when you kick off the ground. And aren't you going to straighten your back? Do you want a steel rod shoved in your spine?”
Song Deok-yeon spouted verbal abuse and continued to make unreasonable demands of Se-geon. And so, if Se-geon failed to meet those demands and collapsed, fists and feet would immediately fly at him.
“The vampires would laugh, you punk! Did the floor ask you for a hug? Huh? If you like the ground so much, should I just bury you in it?”
Deok-yeon rained down verbal abuse and beat Se-geon with gusto. Perhaps because of that, Se-geon was able to digest a workout volume that even a decent athlete would struggle with, all at once. This could be considered close to a mystery of the human body, but for Deok-yeon, a former special forces soldier, it was an all-too-natural (?) result.
“Not yet. From now on, you'll do burpees (Burpee: burpee test, placing both hands on the ground, kicking the feet back and lowering the stomach as if to touch the ground, then returning to the original position), 100 reps. From now on, remember that 100 reps is one set for everything. There's no 150 or anything like that. If it increases from 100, it's 200, and if it increases from 200, it's 300!”
“…”
Se-geon couldn't say a word. To Se-geon, who was already exhausted from jumping rope, 100 burpee tests was no different from being told to die. However, from Deok-yeon's expression, one could feel a fervor so intense that it wouldn't have been strange if the words 'just die' had actually come out of his mouth.
Thus, Se-geon and Deok-yeon did four hours of intense training, then returned to the hideout, ate a meal that was not much different from breakfast, and slept.
For a vampire hunter, sleeping during the day could be considered a kind of virtue, as it was a way of matching one's life pattern to the enemy's activity cycle. But that wasn't the only reason Deok-yeon had set the training schedule that way.
Since Se-geon was still in his growth period, it was more effective for him to be sleeping when growth hormones were secreted through exercise.
The protein and testosterone consumed through meals would cause protein anabolism, not only increasing muscle mass but also causing the growth plates of each bone to undergo cell division, increasing his height.
However, the day's training did not end with just that. After a four-hour nap for cell division, they would wake up and head to the next training ground. Of course, Se-geon complained of muscle pain and creaked like a poorly oiled machine, but since Deok-yeon's motto was 'If it can't be done, make it so,' that wasn't much of a problem.
“Ah, damn it. He's a young kid, so I can't even give him steroids.”
Deok-yeon grumbled as he dragged Se-geon, who was screaming from muscle pain, this time to a live-fire shooting range.
“Aah, are we using guns?”
Se-geon, who had been collapsed in the passenger seat of the Pride sedan, let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the sign for the live-fire shooting range. He was inwardly relieved, thinking that shooting a gun wouldn't be too physically demanding. Deok-yeon pulled Se-geon up from his seat.
“Follow me. First, let's order a bulletproof and stab-proof vest.”
Deok-yeon consulted with an employee at the entrance, had Se-geon's body measured, and then brought a bulletproof and stab-proof vest made of a Kevlar and Dynamo blend. Se-geon tried on the bulletproof and stab-proof vest and tapped his chest once.
It was a bit cumbersome to move his body, but considering its defensive effects, that much was certainly bearable.
Just then, Deok-yeon, while putting on his own bulletproof vest, said.
“It's 380,000 won. It's more than cheap for its performance.”
“Eeek? You're selling it?”
“Although I've taken you in and am training you, and I received most of the necessary expenses from Father Sylvester, shouldn't we calculate things like this separately?”
Deok-yeon said that and entered the live-fire shooting range first. Se-geon let out a sigh, took out his debit card, paid for the bulletproof vest, and followed him in.
“Alright, let's start with a .22 caliber for now.”
“Yes.”
Se-geon received a CZ-75 (.22 caliber pistol) from the safety officer and was coached on the pistol shooting stance and other things. At first, he thought the recoil would be tremendous and tried shooting, but the recoil wasn't that severe. He also tried shooting a .357 Magnum, and as expected, there wasn't the big recoil that movies or comics talked about.
However, even the .22 caliber bullet, which had the least recoil, had enough kick to reduce accuracy.
“Hmm. I'm not hitting it well.”
Se-geon looked at the target and sighed. It was a pistol whose sights hadn't even been zeroed in, but the fact that the shot grouping wasn't even formed was entirely because Se-geon was a poor shot. However, even for someone as grim as Deok-yeon, he didn't have high expectations for a high school dropout holding a gun for the first time.
“Alright, then... follow me again.”
Deok-yeon said that and exited through the shooting range lobby to the parking lot. Se-geon followed Deok-yeon, letting out a sigh.
He might have been able to somehow keep up with the training today, but he began to worry if he could really keep up if every single day was a repetition of this.
Even after that, Se-geon's training continued. There was urban warfare training in an abandoned factory area, operational training on improvised explosives and various tools, training in various martial arts, and of course, continuous study of the nature of their enemies, the vampires. And it was only around dawn that he was finally able to go to bed.
“Well then, sleep well. You'll be waking up in the morning again anyway, so you'll only sleep for about four hours. That should be enough.”
Deok-yeon said that and threw the exhausted Se-geon into his room. Se-geon couldn't even lay out his bedding and lay sprawled on the floor, staring at the ceiling. He really thought he might die here. The amount of training today alone was so immense that an ordinary person would never have been able to pull off that crazy feat.
Could Se-geon, whose body hadn't even fully grown yet, endure such a forced march from the very first day without any preparation?
But Se-geon thought of his family. When thinking of his family, who had been brutally killed by a vampire, one would normally be consumed by a desire for revenge. But unfortunately, Se-geon's case was different. The vampire who was his enemy was already dead, and the only one left in the world was Se-geon.
He should definitely be angry, but the target of his revenge, the target that should receive that emotion of anger, was already dead. That was why Se-geon had no choice but to turn that anger on himself.
Every time he thought of his dead family, he thought about what a luxury it was for him to be alive, what a self-indulgent act it was to engage in strenuous exercise and groan in pain. Thinking that, Se-geon moved his body.
It is often said that the mind transcends the body, but there was no phrase that suited Se-geon more than that.
“…”
Se-geon quietly fell into a deep sleep.