Chapter 1684 – 1684. Hunter Vs Vampire
“Choi Sang-woo. What about you?”
“Me….”
Choi Sang-woo slowly opened his mouth.
“I don’t care who my partner is, as long as I can kill vampires.”
A thick murderous intent was felt in Choi Sang-woo’s voice. Neither I nor Ji Hyun-sung cared about Choi Sang-woo’s brutal answer. We had already experienced Choi Sang-woo’s hatred for vampires to the point of exhaustion at the training center.
‘Well, Choi Sang-woo will probably have a werewolf half as his partner, just like in the original story.’
If nothing goes wrong, I’ll probably have a will-they-won’t-they relationship with Choi Sang-woo, just like in the original story.
‘The original story isn’t a romance genre, so the romantic feelings will develop quite a bit later.’
And even when we realize our romantic feelings, nothing really changes.
I thought of Choi Sun-young, the original heroine and the most likely person to become Choi Sang-woo’s direct superior. She was somewhat popular, but she was not exactly the typical pretty female lead.
“Yoo-jin, what about you? Who would you like as your partner?”
“Of course, it’s Joo Seo-hyun.”
“Why? Because she’s pretty?”
“Well, that too.”
I held back my words. I couldn’t say that Joo Seo-hyun and I knew each other. I hadn’t decided yet how to treat Joo Seo-hyun.
‘I’ll have to decide after seeing Joo Seo-hyun’s reaction.’
As the topic of partners came to a standstill, Ji Hyun-sung brought up another topic.
“Recently, vampires have been running rampant. Last week, a famous American businessman turned out to be a vampire slave? There are even rumors that the Japanese Yakuza are controlled by vampires.”
While driving, I checked the rearview mirror and glanced at Ji Hyun-sung, who was sitting in the back. Ji Hyun-sung was smiling and sharing information as if he was having fun.
“Where do you get that kind of information?”
I asked Ji Hyun-sung. Even when he was at the training center, Ji Hyun-sung had made friends with various trainees by providing all sorts of information.
“I did some research before entering the training center. The more information you have, the better. At the training center, I became friends with the instructors and heard things from them. The information I just shared was found on my smartphone this morning.”
Choi Sang-woo, who had been quiet, quietly asked Ji Hyun-sung.
“Do you have any information about the vampire lords?”
“I have a few. Are you interested?”
“What is it?”
Choi Sang-woo straightened his back and turned his head to look at Ji Hyun-sung. He looked like he would throw a punch if he didn’t speak. Ji Hyun-sung was a little flustered and said.
“Uh, well. They go to high-ranking people like company presidents or government officials and make offers. Offers to become a vampire, I mean.”
“The vampire lords are moving themselves?”
“If you have the blood of a vampire lord, you can create a noble.”
“…That’s right. Those guys know how precious their blood is. That’s why they don’t create noble-level vampires. Noble-level vampires could become their rivals. They refrain from creating noble-level vampires to protect their own power.”
“You’re right. But maybe that idea and policy have changed recently. The fact that they’re looking for famous businessmen and powerful people….”
“It means they’re trying to grow their power by making them their own kind. If they’re nobles, the rich and powerful would be tempted. Because the limit on their lifespan disappears.”
“That’s right. And it seems quite a few people are accepting those offers. Well, it’s not incomprehensible. No matter how good you’ve lived, you never know how you’ll change when death is near.”
“The important thing is that the vampire lords are plotting something.”
“Isn’t it obvious? They’re trying to control humans, starting with the higher-ups in society.”
“It’s not like the old days. It’s difficult to do that in this day and age. The companies won’t stand still.”
“From the vampires’ point of view, it’s better than doing nothing.”
“……”
Silence fell in the car. Choi Sang-woo was staring blankly out the window, lost in thought, and Ji Hyun-sung was fiddling with his smartphone, searching for something. I was focused on driving.
‘That son of a bitch! How dare he cut me off? Alright! I accept your challenge!’
I decided to show him what retaliatory driving was. I stuck close to his rear, honking and flashing my high beams constantly.
The Veloster that had cut me off started flashing its low beams, annoyed. I stuck my car almost right up against his.
“Hey, wait a minute. What are you doing?!”
“Safe driving! Let’s drive safely!”
Choi Sang-woo and Ji Hyun-sung were flustered and grabbed the handles on the ceiling tightly.
“That bastard cut me off! I can’t let this slide!”
“Calm down. We’re on our way to the company. Just try to….”
Screeeeeech!
I slammed on the brakes. The Veloster bastard had suddenly braked, so I had no choice.
A man got out of the driver’s seat of the Veloster. He was a pot-bellied man with a tattoo on his left forearm. The pig-tattooed guy boldly walked towards us with an aluminum bat. I could feel the murderous intent in his eyes. Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to be intimidated.
“You son of a bitch, you wanna die.”
“Wait….”
Ignoring Choi Sang-woo’s attempt to stop me, I got out of the car.
“You son of a bitch, you drive like shit… Ugh!”
I threw an uppercut into the jaw of the guy who was scowling and cursing at me. It seemed like he bit his tongue, as blood spurted from his mouth. I didn’t miss the opportunity and punched him in the head. The guy, who had been hit by my trained fist, staggered as if he was about to fall, then swung his bat.
“Die, you bastard!”
I felt something was off, but I moved my feet and dodged the guy’s bat.
‘Didn’t he bite his tongue? But why is his pronunciation so clear?’
I kept punching him in the head. Thwack! Thump! Thwack! It was a force that would have knocked out an ordinary person, but the guy endured it.
“Sung Yoo-jin! Are you crazy?! What are you doing to a normal person?!”
Ji Hyun-sung ran over to try and stop me, but Choi Sang-woo grabbed his shoulder and held him back.
“Ji Hyun-sung. Wait a minute. There’s something strange about that guy.”
Choi Sang-woo sniffed the air. Soon, his expression changed in an instant.
“That guy is a vampire!”
Choi Sang-woo charged forward. He attacked the guy’s side with a killer shoulder tackle. The guy, who had barely managed to keep his balance, fell to the ground.
“Kaaaaaaak!”
I stepped on the guy’s head, and Choi Sang-woo stomped on his chest.
“Damn it! Are you sure he’s a vampire?!”
Ji Hyun-sung, who had run over, started stomping on the guy’s crotch without any mercy. Ji Hyun-sung was more ruthless than I thought.
“You son of a bitch! How dare you cut me off?!”
“Die, vampire!”
“He’s a vampire, right? Are you sure? Huh? We’re not catching the wrong guy, are we?”
As we were stomping on a person in the middle of the road, people started to gather around. And the police arrived in less than three minutes. They arrived so quickly that I wondered if they were really police.
“What do you think you’re doing?! Stop immediately and step away! Now!”
The police officers ran over.
We had no choice but to stop our attack. The vampire didn’t miss the timing when the continuous pain stopped.
The vampire’s skin began to squirm and turn a dark gray color. He was trying to reveal his true form.
‘He must be really pissed. To reveal himself in broad daylight.’
Even if he had applied a coating to his body, it wouldn’t make him immune to sunlight. If he transformed into his true form, he wouldn’t last three minutes in the sunlight.
“Uh, uh, uh?”
The police officer who was running over was flustered.
I stretched out my right index and middle fingers and stabbed them deep into the vampire’s eyes. Choi Sang-woo clasped his hands together, jumped, and used his body weight to strike the guy’s chest.
“Kaaaaaaaak!”
The vampire writhed in agony. But it wasn’t enough.
“Hey, police officer! What are you doing! Hurry up and take out your gun! That bastard is a vampire!”
Ji Hyun-sung scolded the police officer. In a world where vampires were causing all sorts of problems, the Korean police also used pistols instead of tasers. The bullets were, of course, silver bullets.
“Uh, uh, well, that’s….”
The police officer was flustered and took out his pistol. The muzzle was pointed at the vampire, but the hand holding the pistol was trembling.
“Shoot! Shoot him!!”
At Ji Hyun-sung’s shout, the police officer pulled the trigger. A silver bullet hit the guy’s thigh. Smoke rose from the wound.
“Aim for the head! Or the heart! You’re a police officer, you should know that much?!”
The police officer gritted his teeth and shot all the bullets into the guy’s chest. The vampire died, and the situation was over.
“……I have a rough idea of who you are, but you’ll have to come with us.”
The police officer said with a haggard face.
The situation wasn’t over yet.
After that, we didn’t do anything. We had just finished our training at the training center, but we were employees of HC Company. It was common for HC employees to hunt vampires.
The company sent a car. The head of Special Division 2 even came to pick us up himself. As we got into the car, we received some praise from him, and a lot of scolding.
• • •
We arrived at the Seoul branch of the company.
There were military weapons everywhere near the company, such as turrets and armored vehicles. It was indeed a company that specialized in dealing with vampires.
“You guys wait here.”
“Huh? Here in the lobby on the first floor?”
Ji Hyun-sung asked back. There were many people passing through the lobby on the first floor, and the atmosphere was fierce due to the armed guards.
Department Head Goo Hyung-jin grinned.
“Our branch has a tradition. The new recruits are taken to the office by their partners themselves. It’s a kind of initiation ceremony.”
“So that’s why there are so many people watching us.”
“That’s right. We didn’t announce who your partners would be this time. It’s for this event. Haha. And you guys caused a big accident on the way here, didn’t you? You’re new recruits who are attracting attention in many ways. I’ll be going now. Just wait here for about five minutes.”
Goo Hyung-jin disappeared, and three minutes later.
Three men and women came down to the lobby from the upper floor. Two were women, and one was a tall, lanky man with a beard. They were heading straight for where we were.
The people who were watching the small event were all showing signs of bewilderment.
“Oh, wait a minute. Isn’t that Deputy Manager Joo Seo-hyun?”
“Deputy Manager Joo Seo-hyun… coming here means….”
“Deputy Manager Joo Seo-hyun chose a new recruit? Wow, this is huge?”
“Big news!”
Joo Seo-hyun was walking towards me confidently, making eye contact with me.
