The Bloodstone Pendulum
Even a year later, the occult shop Arjuna still stood in front of the neighborhood park. Customers did not seem to come in great numbers, yet the place remained immaculate, and the interior was refreshed whenever it risked growing stale.
A young man coasted in through the entrance on inline skates, baseball cap turned backward, blowing a bubble of gum.
"Still the same as ever."
He muttered the words while glancing toward the counter. CCTV cameras turned, yet no one stood at the register. A thief could have walked off with the entire cash drawer.
But Arjuna was no ordinary shop. It dealt in everything from casual occult novelties to items of genuine, proven power—and even illegal goods. Its defenses were equally extraordinary.
"Oh?"
The youth in the baseball cap seemed to notice something. He blew a large bubble and scanned the room. Rob this place carelessly and you would die before taking more than a few steps. Even if you survived, it was wiser never to touch Arjuna. That was an unwritten law of the underworld.
"Hm? Ah, a customer…"
The owner of this small yet formidable occult shop—Kim Seong-hui—greeted him in her still-beautiful voice. Her refined appearance, evocative of a high-class casino dealer, had not changed. What man would not feel his heart stir before such a woman?
Yet the youth simply raised a hand and pointed at the ceiling.
"Leaving something like that free? The Ministry of Health and Welfare would never allow it."
A red fly hung there. Called a tsetse fly, it was the host that still transmitted sleeping sickness with a ninety-percent fatality rate, sealed inside a tiny glass tube.
The tube was so small and the shop so dim that it was nearly invisible, but when the security system was active, the slightest touch of the counter would release the tsetse flies and, at the same instant, emit a frequency that drove them into a frenzy.
It was an excessively cruel punishment for a thief motivated by nothing more than cash.
"Oh my, is that you, Se-geon?"
She recognized him at last. It was not as though she had never seen him since Silvester first brought him, but Se-geon had been flooded with growth hormone and forged through brutal training; his body and presence had changed so much that her failure to know him at once was understandable.
Though still growing and therefore free of growth-halting steroids, he had received small, steady doses of hormone. Combined with Song Deok-yeon's regimen of physical conditioning, the treatment had remade him with startling speed.
The subject of that transformation, however, merely blew another bubble and answered as if it were nothing.
"Yes. Long time no see. Four months, maybe?"
Se-geon removed his cap. Seong-hui smiled.
"You've become a fine young man. You've grown so much."
"Growth hormone will do that."
He sat himself on the sofa without invitation. Kim Seong-hui studied his frame. Hormone and training together had explosively strengthened a body already in its growth years.
Side effects were inevitable, and even without them, hunting vampires was work that could kill a man at any moment.
She regarded him carefully.
"How has it been since then?"
"You know about it, then."
He met her eyes. He meant, of course, his break with Deok-yeon. Deok-yeon's lips were not sealed, yet neither was he the sort to broadcast every rumor through the neighborhood. She smiled and disarmed the security system.
"Song Deok-yeon raised you on Father Silvester's commission, and I serve as the representative of Jinma hunters in Korea, so I receive reports at least. But that doesn't seem to be why you came. What do you need?"
"A purchase, naturally. I heard you carry tools that can detect vampires."
Se-geon watched her. Kim Seong-hui's expression turned troubled.
"Ah, of course we do. They're considered standard equipment for vampire hunters. But they aren't nearly as impressive as you might hope."
She drew a small case from the display window. With the practiced ease of a dealer she opened it and added,
"Of course the price is every bit as impressive as you might hope."
"Performance lags while the price keeps pace. Sounds like a defective product. Surely it isn't three digits?"
"Fortunately it isn't that expensive. Wealthy civilians buy them often enough."
She opened the case. Nestled in luxurious silk lay a dark-crimson stone marked with blood-red ripples. A ring capped one end, and a cord inscribed with strange characters hung from it; one glance told you this was no ordinary trinket.
Price: 800,000 won
Detects vampires within a 20-meter radius
Standard reconnaissance gear for vampire hunters
"The Bloodstone Pendulum—eight hundred thousand won. It senses vampires nearby, but the range tops out at a twenty-meter radius. Finding them with this alone will be difficult."
Se-geon fell silent, weighing the cost. Having left Deok-yeon's house he needed a place to live; motorcycle repairs and a dozen other expenses waited. Even monthly rent these days required a deposit, so larger sums would be needed soon. Was an item of such limited power worth the money?
A veteran like Deok-yeon might make hunting pay, but a green hand like Se-geon rarely did. More often than not, ordinary work paid better than risking death against vampires.
"Well, I already know a few vampires for certain. I'll take it now."
"Really? I won't stop you, but spend carefully. I also have a crossbow loaded with silver-tipped quarrels—interested?"
"I already have weapons. But… I don't yet have a weapon in the true sense."
He produced a paper envelope and counted out the bills. She accepted the money and clicked her tongue.
"Old Man Ju won't sell to you? The Psychedelic Moon?"
"Right. Buying vampire blood is no great crime even if the police notice, but selling narcotics to a minor is. Old Man Ju is meticulous about self-preservation, so once I split with Uncle he cut me off. Without the Moon I can't keep fighting vampires. Is there another way to get it?"
"Hmm. Old Man Ju is the most reliable vampire dealer there is—and therefore a stickler for principle."
Seong-hui opened a drawer. Inside lay a small glass vial of capsules.
"It's only Vamplic Transrate 13, but I have a little. Want it? No cocaine mixed in, so it's hardly ideal for combat, but…?"
Psychedelic Moon was a specialized drug created by blending conversion factors drawn from vampire blood with ordinary narcotics such as cocaine or heroin. Used raw, it produced little effect. In the worst case the user became a vampire; at VT 13 the potency was low enough to be relatively safe.
"VT 13… I don't have a tolerance yet, so it'll do. But what you said just now—there are other vampire dealers besides Old Man Ju?"
He took the vial as he asked. Kim Seong-hui's eyes flew wide; only then did she realize she had let slip something significant. Words already spoken, however, could not be unsaid.
"There are. Dealing isn't their main trade—they're real drug peddlers. Apparently they pay better than Old Man Ju."
"Can you give me their contacts?"
"They won't deal with a minor either, you know."
"Then I'll have to hold out with this until then."
He held up the vial she had given him.
"All right. I'll look into it. Where are you living these days?"
"No need for you to know that."
"A good attitude. But you know the Sangdong-pa is hunting you, don't you? Best stay out of the city for a while. And the motorcycle… maybe just let it go. It's already badly wrecked, isn't it?"
She offered the advice gently. Ordinarily she cared little whether vampire hunters lived or died, yet she could not remain indifferent toward Se-geon. Perhaps it was simply because he was still so young.
Without answering, Se-geon left Arjuna.
"That boy…"
Watching his stubborn retreating back, she understood: even if it meant a head-on clash with the Sangdong-pa, he would never lightly abandon the RX-125 that had been his brother's keepsake.
Jeong Sang-dong, boss of the Sangdong-pa, possessed a kindly face no one would associate with organized crime. The building that served as his office even bore a plaque for the M High School Alumni Association, and he hired only clean-cut men so that the neighborhood would think well of him.
Locals still regarded the group as thugs, yet he prided himself on never losing a businessman's composure.
Until today, that is.
"So? You all got beaten? Magnificent!"
He returned a coat hanger to its place while catching his breath. The duralumin hanger was soaked dark with blood; the men who had dyed it lay writhing on the floor.
Cheon Yeong-hu, too, had taken several blows; the gash on his forehead twitched. Once Jeong Sang-dong's temper lit, friend or foe ceased to matter—he was a pure fuse-type.
"But… who knew the bastard was a vampire hunter."
"Hmm."
That single remark cooled him.
Losing even with vampires in the mix meant the opponent was a professional hunter drilled in anti-vampire tactics. No matter how well-armed or skilled, if you failed to assume the enemy transcended humanity, you fell in a single blink.
"This is a headache. Until now no one had the guts to touch the Sangdong-pa. Is this kid new?"
Jeong Sang-dong shrugged back into his suit jacket. Cheon Yeong-hu nodded; blood ran down with every movement of his head.
"He's a minor, no question. And they say he rides a motorcycle like a devil."
"A minor on a motorcycle… Then the bike gangs might know something. Splash a little pocket money around if you have to—find him and kill him!"
He opened the safe and pulled out bundles of cash. At a glance there were twenty packs of million-won notes—twenty million won.
Compared with the fortunes flashed by larger syndicates the sum looked modest, yet few organizations in the entire country would casually drop twenty million on a single target.
"W-will it be all right?"
Even mid-boss Cheon Yeong-hu trembled at the sight of so much money. Knowing the organization's books, he hated to see it spent.
Jeong Sang-dong felt the same.
"Hmm… hmm. Use some for medical bills, and try to bring the rest back."
"…"
As his blood pressure fell, the fuse reset; the boss of the Sangdong-pa showed a weak side unbefitting his station.
Somehow, among certain kids who fancied themselves hard, the romantic image of organized crime had hardened into something close to faith.
Thus when Cheon Yeong-hu's black Grandeur rolled into the construction-site entrance, the biker gang practicing wheelies and Maxwell turns (spinning in place with the front wheel locked) in the empty lot froze as one. Pride kept them from doing more than that.
"Ahem."
Cheon Yeong-hu stepped forward, adjusting the bandage around his head. Two vampires—his "juniors"—followed close behind.
The riders were burning scrap timber left by construction workers in a steel drum. Firelight painted unfriendly faces. Even if the visitors were gangsters, there were only three of them. Bikers who raced with death as a constant companion were rarely cowed and never gentle.
"What's the business? Huh?"
They swaggered closer. Cheon Yeong-hu carefully raised his left hand. At the signal the bodyguard beside him moved; in one motion he seized a rider by the ribs. Bone screamed.
"Gyaaaaah!"
The rider collapsed mid-sentence, mouth gaping. Cheon Yeong-hu hastily restrained his man. The sun had not fully set, yet the vampires still lost reason easily and turned vicious.
Fortunately the human consciousness that remained was strong enough to obey him—for now. How long that would last was anyone's guess.
"What a headache. If only crosses and garlic still worked on them."