## Chapter 38 – 038. Vampire Detective
038. Vampire Detective
“Goddamn it! Just kill him! He’s not the kind you can capture alive! Shoot him!”
Im Bu-jeon’s judgment was swift and accurate.
However, no matter how much they trained, they were still just ordinary humans. They couldn’t hit me while I was using acceleration. On top of that, there were exercise equipment and corpses scattered around, making for good shields.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
There was no chance of getting hit by a bullet. I already knew the positions of all the guys with guns. To hit me, they’d have to pull the trigger from outside my field of vision.
“……”
I swung my sword almost unconsciously.
Perhaps it was the influence of the Level 5 Yeongcheon Style trait. I could naturally use the practical techniques of the Yeongcheon Style without even having to consciously think about it.
I wasn’t thinking with my head and then swinging my sword. I was just swinging it as I saw, as the Yeongcheon Style guided me.
Thudududududu!
An assault rifle spat fire. I dodged the bullets, ran along the wall, and sliced the neck of the guy holding the rifle. Blood gushed out.
The red blade didn’t stop. Every time a red trail was drawn in the air, red liquid followed behind it.
Kill. Kill. Kill.
“……”
Suddenly, when I came to my senses, there was no one standing around me except for myself. The surroundings were filled with blood and guts.
“You… you crazy monster bastard…!”
Im Bu-jeon, his legs severed, distorted his face as he cursed at me. He was trembling, terrified of me.
Im Bu-jeon threw the hatchet he was holding at me. I knocked the hatchet away with my sword.
“Ah.”
Combat Awakening.
An experience that hunters of D-rank or higher had at least once.
This was a different kind of pleasure than sex. It wasn’t for nothing that there were stories of hunters dying during combat by pushing themselves too hard to experience combat awakening again.
“……I don’t have time to be doing this.”
I pierced Im Bu-jeon’s heart with my slightly trembling sword. My mind was calm, but my body was excited.
I had killed a total of 28 people today. I repeated the number in my head and went upstairs.
The upper floor was an armory. The iron door was wide open, as if they had hurriedly taken out weapons.
“Oh.”
Stepping into the armory, I let out a small exclamation and smashed the camera on the ceiling.
Just like in dramas, there were various weapons, from cold weapons to firearms. I grinned as I looked at the guns.
“Firearms are hard for even real-world hunters to get.”
Hunters in Korea cannot possess ordinary firearms. The weapons that hunters can possess are cold weapons.
The firearms that hunters use are specially made for hunting monsters, and they can only possess special firearms with the association’s permission.
South Korea is pathologically strict about firearms.
“The cold weapons are just trash.”
The cold weapons that real-world hunters use are made using monster byproducts as materials. Because of this, they sometimes have special abilities, and most of them boast durability beyond that of steel. The cold weapons here didn’t meet my standards.
I brought a box from the real world, packed the firearms, and carried them back to the real world.
‘There are so many bullets too! There must be tens of thousands.’
I put the ammunition boxes into the box as well.
“Is this a sniper rifle? Is this really South Korea?”
Of course, I took the sniper rifle too.
The main method of vampire hunting for vampire hunters is long-range sniping.
Although it might not be the case during the day, at night, a vampire’s physical abilities become so high that humans can’t handle them, so they hunt safely with sniping.
However, vampires are also aware of this fact. Vampires don’t often go to places that are good for sniping.
“I’ve seen this in a game… what was it called? M24?”
I wasn’t good at games, but I especially liked sniper rifles. I knew they were difficult to handle, but the thrill of a successful snipe was something I couldn’t give up.
Come to think of it, I especially liked assassin characters.
“Let’s gooooo!”
Having packed all the firearms, I shouted loudly and went downstairs, jumping out of the third-floor window. Considering my physical abilities, the third floor was nothing.
Thud!
I landed on top of a truck parked in front.
“Kyaaaaaaak!”
The people around me screamed and scattered in panic when they saw me.
My body was covered in blood. My white shirt had already turned bright red, and my black suit was soaked in blood. On top of that, I was holding a sword and its scabbard in both hands.
‘I must look like a crazy murderer.’
I shrugged and ran to the car I had come in. Just in case there was someone who might try to attack me, I put the sword I was holding into my inventory.
“It’s time to speed.”
I turned up the volume on a popular girl group idol song and stepped on the accelerator as hard as I could. I ignored all the traffic lights and lane-changed like it was second nature. Speed limits? I don’t know about that, I don’t have a license.
‘It’s after rush hour, so the traffic isn’t too bad.’
Wee-ooh! Wee-ooh! Wee-ooh! Wee-ooh!
Soon after, police cars appeared, chasing after my car. The siren was so loud that I turned up the music even louder.
I want to meet you~
It reminded me of the cops and robbers game I used to play with my neighborhood friends when I was a kid. I didn’t like that game very much. If I was the robber, I’d get caught quickly, and if I was the cop, I’d just suffer without catching anyone. Hide-and-seek was more my style.
“Oops.”
There was a group of police blocking the road ahead. They had predicted my route and set up a barricade with police cars and a police bus.
“My car doesn’t stop for barricades~ Police ♂”
[Hacking successful.]
[You can hack the police bus for 1 minute and 30 seconds.]
The police bus moved, pushing away the police cars nearby and creating space. The police panicked and moved away from the bus.
I passed through the barricade leisurely through the empty space.
Glancing back. I saw in the rearview mirror that the police were following me urgently.
“The alleyways I was aiming for are coming up… shall I try to shake them off?”
[Hacking successful.]
[You can hack the traffic lights for 5 minutes and 12 seconds.]
[Hacking successful.]
[You can hack the traffic lights for 4 minutes and 28 seconds.]
[Hacking successful.]
[You can hack the traffic lights for 3 minutes and 41 seconds.]
…….
[Hacking successful.]
[You can hack the traffic lights for 12 seconds.]
I hacked more than 10 traffic lights while speeding down the road. I changed all the red lights to green, causing chaos on the road. The intersections I had passed through were especially messy.
No matter how skilled a driver was, it was impossible to chase me through a road that was pure chaos.
I abandoned the car at my intended location and ran into the alleyways. It was a place with unusually few CCTVs. I went into a random store, wiped my body with a wet towel I had brought from the real world, and quickly changed my clothes. The inventory was useful for times like this.
I took off the clown mask, put on jeans and a hoodie, and became an ordinary college student. I put my hands in my pockets and walked out of the alleyway.
I blended into the crowd of people walking down the street, watching the police running around in a hurry.
Soon after, three police officers blocked my path.
“Hold on. We’ll need to do a check.”
“A check?”
“Yes. Please show us your belongings and ID.”
“……Belongings? Why all of a sudden?”
“The clown murderer escaped this way. We would appreciate your cooperation.”
“……If that’s the reason, I guess I have no choice.”
I took out my wallet and showed it to the police. The only thing I had was my wallet.
“Thank you for your cooperation. Since the murderer is on the loose, it would be safer for you to go home as soon as possible.”
“A murderer…. Oh, how scary. I should go home quickly. Good work.”
I didn’t go to Kang Yu-jin’s studio apartment, but to Hera’s officetel.
My body, excited from slaughtering over 20 people, wouldn’t calm down. It seemed like this could only be resolved with sex.
I desperately hoped that Hera would come home quickly.
•••
“……”
The atmosphere in the Black Cross Society’s headquarters conference room was like walking on thin ice.
No one in the room opened their mouths, and their eyes were coldly sunken.
The executives, including the head of the headquarters, Lee Mun-hyun, were watching a video being projected on a large screen on one side of the wall.
It was a video of the carnage at ‘Noeul Fitness Club,’ one of the vampire hunters’ training facilities, which had occurred just an hour ago.
A red-haired clown in a suit was wielding a red sword, massacring vampire hunters.
Massacre.
Literally, he was killing 23 vampire hunters by himself. The red trails created by the dancing sword were so graceful that they seemed like living creatures.
The silver bullets, which were supposed to be a weakness of vampires, didn’t even graze his clothes.
The clown’s blood-soaked massacre ended with him stabbing the chest of Im Bu-jeon, whose legs had been severed, with his sword.
Before going upstairs, the clown looked at the camera and smirked once, then raided the armory.
The clown left the cold weapons behind and took all the firearms. There were many speculations about how he had taken them, but the most plausible one was that he had a hidden accomplice. It seemed that smashing the camera in the armory was also to hide the accomplice.
The problem was that none of the people around Noeul Fitness Club had seen the accomplice. Because of this, the Black Cross Society suspected that the clown and his accomplice were vampire progenitors using superpowers.
“……What is the clown’s superpower?”
After more than 10 minutes of silence, Lee Mun-hyun finally spoke. Baek Ji-wook, the head of the investigation department, immediately answered.
“We are deducing that it is machine manipulation. We have confirmed that he moved a police bus that was stopped and manipulated traffic lights to break their control circuits.”
The traffic signal controller was fine, but some of the traffic light parts had to be replaced.
“The bus terror from a while ago was also the clown’s doing. That damn bastard…. What are the limitations of his superpower?”
“It can’t be used indiscriminately, the duration of the machines he can manipulate is short, and it seems to have a distance limit. Based on the video of him manipulating the police bus, it’s about 30 meters.”
“…I see. There would be limitations. Still, it’s an outrageous superpower. What are the countermeasures?”
“It’s simple. When facing him, we simply don’t bring any machines. Also, even if we bring machines, if we maintain a distance of 50 meters, we won’t be manipulated. However…”
“However, it’s not accurate. There’s a possibility that he’s deliberately putting limitations on his superpower to deceive us.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Tap tap.
Lee Mun-hyun’s fingers tapped the desk rhythmically. Anger surged when he thought of the clown, but now was the time to calmly assess the situation.
“…Can we catch him?”
“We can catch him.”
Ki Han-jun, the head of the combat department, answered strongly. His eyes were burning with intensity.
He was the superior of the vampire hunters who had died today. His main job was to train and manage them. He still vividly remembered the faces and voices of the dead vampire hunters.
“If we are well-prepared…! If we can find out where he is, we can definitely catch him!”
“……”
Lee Mun-hyun was lost in thought.
It wasn’t that he was disregarding the vampire hunters in Korea. However, it was undeniable that the Korean hunters had less practical experience, as Korea was a peaceful country.
Lee Mun-hyun was considering asking for help from the British and American Black Cross Society branches. It would be a blow to his pride, but it was more important to stop the clown from running rampant.
“……Can you do it?”
“We will definitely do it.”
“If you fail, we will immediately request support from the British and American branches. Don’t fail.”
“…Yes!”
Vvvvvvvv.
Lee Mun-hyun’s smartphone vibrated. The conference room was quiet, so everyone heard the small vibration.
Lee Mun-hyun checked the screen of his smartphone and sighed.
“It’s the Blue House.”
He gave a warning and connected the call.
“Yes, Chief of Staff. …What do you mean? That’s a bit different from our regulations. ……I understand. I’ll be there soon.”
Lee Mun-hyun put down his smartphone, closed his eyes, and sighed.
“……”
In the uncomfortable silence, Lee Mun-hyun stood up.
“Support Department Head. We might have to cooperate with the police. Be aware of that.”
“…Yes? That’s not something that fits our regulations.”
The Black Cross Society does not cooperate with the military or police unless it’s a special case. It was a rule that had been in place since long ago.
“Ah. Are you talking about cooperation in the form of information exchange?”
If that was the case, he could understand. There were quite a few organizations that had such relationships, including the National Intelligence Service.
“No. It’s full-scale cooperation.”
“Yes…?”
“The clown caused such a mess that the police couldn’t do anything this time. Because of that, the police are extremely angry this time. Moreover, the clown has already become known to the public. From the police’s perspective, they can’t just stand by and do nothing.”
From the Black Cross Society’s perspective, he was a vampire progenitor. From the perspective of other ordinary people, the clown was just a crazy murderer. This was something the police had to get involved in.
“The clown broke the unwritten rule.”
That was the unwritten rule between vampires and vampire hunters. Not revealing their existence to the public.
From the vampires’ perspective, they wouldn’t want to turn all the humans in the world into enemies, and from the vampire hunters’ perspective, they wouldn’t want to make people afraid by revealing the existence of vampires, so this unwritten rule was in place.
“We must find and kill him before he does something again.”
