Into the Creations 26

Chapter 26 – 026. Yeongcheon Style

026. Yeongcheon Style

Back in the world of vampire detectives, I first opened the box I had brought from reality and changed into my suit. Using boxes is an effective way to store items. If you put a box in your inventory, the items inside the box go in with it.

‘A suit I wore once for the entrance ceremony and never again.’

It was the same plain black suit and shoes I had been wearing. I put the blood-stained clothes and sashimi knife into the box, retrieved the crowbar and baseball bat, and put them in reality first.
Then, I put the three gangster corpses into my inventory.

[List of Possessions]
1. Human corpse
2. Human corpse
3. Human corpse

“Ugh. The smell of blood.”

I shook my head and put on my backpack. Fortunately, I had taken it off before the fight, so it wasn’t stained with blood at all.
If I were aiming for a perfect crime, I would have to clean up the blood on the floor and walls… but that was too much of a hassle, and I didn’t have the time. Besides, I wasn’t confident I could clean it properly.

‘Since the bodies haven’t been discovered… there’s a low chance of a proper investigation.’

If the police come, I can just deny everything. Without bodies or weapons, how can they possibly confirm I’m the culprit?

‘Korea is covered in CCTV, so if I go to the Han River or the sea right now, they’ll chase me. I’ll have to dump the bodies later when I get a chance.’

I went back to a nearby motel, washed up, and slept.

•••

“What is this? There’s a lot of blood, but no bodies or weapons.”

Moon Ji-hyuk frowned, muttering as he looked around the alleyway.
What was annoying was that the lingering smell of blood was making his body heat up. It was a vampire’s instinct.
Detective Oh Jung-jin, the team leader, looked around the alley and said to Moon Ji-hyuk,

“This is a gang fight. Just handle it roughly.”
“Roughly… you say.”
“Yeah, roughly. There aren’t any bodies or weapons, are there? We’re already swamped, do we really need to stir up trouble with these gangsters?”

Moon Ji-hyuk bit his lip. He knew that Oh Jung-jin was this kind of person. But his attitude still made him angry every time he saw it.
Yes. This was a fight between gangsters, anyone could see that. Seeing as there were no bodies or weapons, it was almost 100% certain.

“Still, shouldn’t we investigate?”
“Investigate? Sure, go find the bodies. Find the weapons. …Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up. Hey, look at the blood. There are no signs of the bodies being moved, right? No footprints either, so we can’t tell where they went. The bodies are probably in the sea by now. And there aren’t many CCTVs around here. So how are you going to investigate?”

“But we can identify them with DNA testing, can’t we?”
“Do you think we’re going to do forensic science for something like this? We’re busy, man. DNA testing can only find so much. Besides, this is clearly a gang fight. If there are no civilian victims, just let it slide. The higher-ups will say the same thing. You know how many cases are happening these days, right? If you really want to investigate, do it later, or do it alone.”
“I can investigate alone?”

Oh Jung-jin glanced at Moon Ji-hyuk. Moon Ji-hyuk, with his unusually strong sense of justice, might actually try to investigate alone.

“Don’t be ridiculous, just handle it roughly. We have other things to do.”
“……”

Moon Ji-hyuk shut his mouth.

“Haa. Ji-hyuk.”

Oh Jung-jin sighed deeply, seeing Moon Ji-hyuk like that. He then grabbed Moon Ji-hyuk’s shoulders with both hands.

“Let’s be flexible. And this morning, another bloodless mummy corpse turned up in Yeoksam-dong. …Damn it. That’s the eleventh body already. You’re really interested in that case, aren’t you? Are you going to handle this case instead of that one? Huh?”
“……I’m sorry. I’ll handle it roughly.”

Moon Ji-hyuk had no choice but to answer that way. Mummy corpses. The culprit was definitely a vampire. If he could find and catch the vampire, he might find a way to become human. He absolutely couldn’t let that case go.

“Good. That’s the way. I’m leaving first.”

Oh Jung-jin left.
Moon Ji-hyuk looked at the blood-soaked alleyway again. Looking at the bloodstains, there were signs of a fight, but no signs of bodies being moved. With this much blood, there should have been at least two or three bodies. If you looked closely, there were more than one or two strange things, but he tried to ignore them.

‘The vampire. That’s more urgent. That guy has already sucked dry and discarded eleven bodies.’

•••

When I had 100 million won left, I returned to reality.

‘Let’s become a real hunter.’

I realized my weakness during the last gangster attack.
After that, for three days, I frantically went to rooms and jerked off to relieve my frustration and sexual desire.

‘Farewell to the fun life for a while.’

What would have happened if it hadn’t been three gangsters who attacked me, but three vampires? Lately, that thought kept popping into my head, making it hard to focus on my sex life.

‘The plan is… to become a hunter first. And then learn proper combat skills.’

I hadn’t properly learned the combat skills of a hunter. The hunter department at Gukcheon University only lectured on theory and taught the basics of combat skills.
And according to the Hunter Law, you have to become a hunter to learn a hunter’s combat skills.

‘The only problem is that I can’t reveal my ability.’

If my pleasure-life ability becomes known, the world will become noisy. In the worst case, I might not be able to use my ability freely. It’s such an unconventional ability that the state itself might intervene. So I have to keep it a secret.

‘To become a hunter, I have to reveal one of my skills.’

Complete recovery is my trump card. Even if I revealed it, it can only be used once every 24 hours, and only on myself, so I’d only be laughed at.
Hacking is a dangerous skill. Depending on how it’s used, it could shake the very foundations of the state. If this skill becomes known, the state will definitely react somehow.

‘If I had a backer, maybe… but I don’t have any backers. So, I need to have a suitable skill to become a hunter.’

Without an ability, you can’t be recognized as a hunter.
I made up my mind.

[Sung Yu-jin
 Level: 14
 Strength: 10 Stamina: 10 Agility: 10 Intelligence: 2 Virility 15]

[Available Points: 23]

I would use all 23 points on random draws. The goal was to draw a suitable skill to be recognized as a hunter.
There was a high chance of failure, but this was the best I could think of.

‘Let’s gooooooo!’

I spammed the random draw, and in front of me, junk like alarm clocks, 100g of pork belly, and yellow spray paint piled up.
But on the ninth try. Finally, the skill I wanted appeared.

“It’s hereeeee!”

[Acceleration Lv.1
 Accelerates the body for 1 minute.
 Cooldown: 1 hour]

Although the duration was short and the cooldown was long at 1 hour, my goal was achieved in that it was a suitable ability to be recognized as a hunter.

“Damn it! I’m a real hunter now!”

I was in a very high mood.
I felt like dancing.
So I danced in my room.

“Hahaha!”

I rushed to the Hunter Association and got my hunter’s license.
From now on, I was an F-rank hunter.

•••

“Oh~! As expected of Sung Yu-jin! I knew you’d become a hunter!”

Oh Jun-hyuk, whom I met in the lecture hall, patted my shoulder and congratulated me.
Starting with him, my classmates came over. Hearing Oh Jun-hyuk’s voice, they congratulated me. Even if it was just words, I was still grateful.
The rumor spread through the department in an instant.
Even the professors came to congratulate me. They knew, at least roughly, how much I had suffered.

“I heard you became a real hunter? Congratulations.”
“You always had potential. Acceleration is a pretty common ability, but how you use an ability is what matters.”
“You’ve awakened, right? Now, be a little more diligent.”

Professor Park congratulated me but also nagged me. I had done wrong, so I could only smile wryly and listen quietly.

“Hunter! Sung Yu-jin! You’ve finally joined my ranks. Shall we go clubbing tonight? I know a place that gives hunters a 50% discount.”
“I went there with you last time.”

I had gone with Oh Jun-hyuk about two months ago. It was a club in Gangnam, and the crowd was good. The problem was that at the time, I had no money, my looks weren’t great, and I wasn’t a hunter.
The girls didn’t look at me.
While Oh Jun-hyuk laughed and talked with the girls, I sat at the table, picking at the snacks. I even danced, pretending to have fun.

And when Oh Jun-hyuk went to a motel with a girl, I went back to my room alone, feeling lonely.
But that was a story of the past. From today, I was a hunter, and thanks to the effects of Complete Recovery, my skin had improved, and I was now considered somewhat handsome. I didn’t have money, but I had a bright future as a hunter.

“A club… how about a room?”

There were many pretty girls at clubs, so it was okay, but they weren’t my type. To get a club girl, you had to cater to their every whim. And even then, you often couldn’t get them.
Oh Jun-hyuk in front of me also had a one-night stand success rate of less than 20%.
So, Oh Jun-hyuk would spend a long time flirting with a girl he met at a club before finally getting her. I didn’t have the patience for such a bothersome thing.

“…A room?”

Oh Jun-hyuk asked back with surprised eyes. It seemed he had never been to a room before.

“Yeah. Ten-percenters are expensive, but the girls there are like celebrities. If you have money, there are places where you can even get a second round.”
“……Wow. I never thought you’d say something like that. You talk like you’ve experienced it?”
“Experienced? I have. This is a picture I took back then…”

I said that and played a video on my smartphone. It wasn’t with Yeong Hye-jeong, but a picture I took with girls from another place.
It wasn’t a nude photo. It was just a picture of us wearing clothes. Of course, the clothes were very revealing, showing off their underwear.

“…Wow…”

Oh Jun-hyuk let out a gasp of admiration as he looked at the girls. I could feel a deep envy in his eyes.

“They’re all like celebrities… and you’re even touching their chests…”

Oh Jun-hyuk swallowed hard.

“What room did you go to? No, did you even have the money to go to a room? How much was it?”
“The room was in Gangnam. But I heard it’s closing down. I think the police caught them. As for the money, man, do you think I spend it all at clubs like you? I held back and used it to celebrate becoming a hunter.”
“You ungrateful bastard… you should have called me…”
“You told me not to call you at night because you’re with a girl.”
“……That was in the past. If something good like this happens, you should call me!”
“I’ll call you next time. But I don’t have any money, and I don’t know where any good rooms are, so there’s no telling when that’ll be.”
“But did you do it?”
“……”

I just smiled silently.

“Ah, damn it. I’m so jealous. Which of the five did you do it with? The one you’re touching the chest of?”
“Yeah. That’s her.”

Actually, I did it with all five, but he wouldn’t believe me, so I just agreed.

“Was it good? Was it good?!”
“Of course it was good. Look at the size of her chest. It was amazing when it jiggled. Wow. Just thinking about it makes me horny again.”
“…Damn it. I have to go to a room sometime.”
“Prostitution is illegal, so the girls won’t be willing to do it. It’s important to find a good place. And you need a lot of money.”
“How much do you need?”
“Uh… about five million won should get you a second round.”

Actually, I was just making that up. I had been spending money like crazy in the pleasure world, so I didn’t know the exact market price. It might be possible for less than a million won.

“……Crazy. Five million won isn’t just some dog’s name. It’s better to just go to a club with that money.”

That’s right. That was the usual reaction.
I was the weird one for spending tens of millions of won on rooms.

“Hey. Is there a good academy?”

I asked Oh Jun-hyuk. Oh Jun-hyuk was a hunter with more than a year of experience than me.

“Academy? Oh, a hunter academy.”
“Yeah. I’m thinking of going to a hunter academy. I awakened late, so I should go to a good hunter academy.”

Hunter academies.
Academies for hunters that teach combat skills. They’re also called hunter-only martial arts schools or hunter-only gyms.
The good thing about these hunter academies is that low-rank hunters like me can learn combat skills professionally. The downside is that they’re several times or even tens of times more expensive than a personal trainer at a regular gym.

“Hey. Good thinking. I go to one. Do you want to go with me? There are pretty female hunters there too.”
“Oh. Really? What’s the name of the academy?”
“Gangnam Tank Academy.”
“……Tank Academy?”
“It’s a tank specialist academy.”

Tank.
The position that takes the brunt of the monster’s attacks at the front of the party. It’s dangerous and difficult. At the same time, it’s considered an essential position in a party.

“…No. I’m not a tank.”

My physical abilities are lower than other hunters. Moreover, my publicly known skill is acceleration. It’s far from being a tank, who has to withstand monster attacks.

“Ah. That’s right. Your ability was acceleration, right? Then a melee dealer?”
“I use a sword, so I’m a melee dealer.”
“There are plenty of hunter academies that teach swordsmanship. What are the specific conditions?”
“A place where I can properly utilize my acceleration ability, that’s not too expensive, and… has pretty girls?”
“Heh heh. You.”

Oh Jun-hyuk laughed at my words. But he didn’t take it as a joke. Oh Jun-hyuk knew that I liked women as much as he did.

“Acceleration, huh. Then a speed-based fighting style… Yeongcheon Sword Hall (影天劍館). That place would be good.”
“Yeongcheon Sword Hall?”
“Yeah. They teach a swordsmanship called Yeongcheon Style (影天流), and the acting director there is super pretty. She’s a B-rank hunter, and her body is so amazing, I thought she was a celebrity.”
“Oh~. But why aren’t you going to that academy and going to the Tank Academy?”
“That place is really damn hard. I quit after two days. When I went there, there were about three male hunters, and I heard they couldn’t last even a week.”

They’re so strict that hunters can’t last a week?
My face stiffened slightly. I knew myself well, and I was definitely not the type to deliberately choose a difficult path.

“…Isn’t there anywhere else?”
“There is. But they’re all places where old men teach.”
“……I’ll go check out this Yeongcheon Sword Hall or whatever it is.”

I’d rather suffer under a pretty beauty than under smelly old men.

“Hey. Cheer up. It’s really damn hard there. But the trainer is super pretty. Well, after half a day, that face will look like a demon.”

He was grinning, as if he was sure I wouldn’t last and would run away.