When She Stopped Breathing
Se-gun had truly backed off, just as he'd said he would. Of course, he might still be watching Seo Rin. No — he almost certainly was.
Maria, and Han Se-gun too — both of them were far too conscious of Seo Rin. He wished they'd just tell him straight why, but both kept their distance and never gave him a proper explanation.
In the end, from Seo Rin's perspective, neither of them was trustworthy. Normally, as a human, siding with a vampire hunter over vampires would be the natural reaction — but when the vampire was a pretty young girl and the hunter was a vicious murderer through and through, it was hard not to lean the other way.
"……Haah. This isn't the time for this."
Seo Rin looked at the monitor. On the screen Han Se-gun had left him, the men who had just dragged Hwa-young in were roughing her up on the floor. Now that he'd given up on "extralegal sanctions," Seo Rin had no other options. Contacting the police was the best — and only — way.
But he didn't know what to do. If, as Han Se-gun had said, Shin Hwa-young was addicted to nalbuphine, the police would arrest her too. With no family and dumped in a psych ward for drug addiction, she might never get out.
He knew full well that prison was better than a mental hospital. The record would stay, making employment impossible; with no family to pull her out, she'd be trapped forever, wasting what was left of her life.
If he imposed private justice and helped her escape, maybe that wouldn't happen. Probably. Private justice had its own definition of right, separate from the law's, and applying it was purely a matter of Seo Rin's own heart.
But judging by Han Se-gun and Maria's attitudes, they would judge him for using extralegal means. Maybe Se-gun was waiting for him to fall. Waiting for him to break the law and wield power for his own desires, only to appear and say—
I knew it. Monster! Something like that……. It might be overthinking, but there was no absolute proof the assumption was wrong either.
While Seo Rin was lost in those thoughts, a bizarre sound came from the speakers of the LCD monitor.
"Huh? Sh-she's not breathing?"
"What? She's faking it, right? Huh?"
"She's gasping?"
At that moment, cries of shock erupted from the men and women on the screen. The men who had dragged her in moments ago panicked, exchanged glances, then rushed at Shin Hwa-young.
"……"
Seo Rin stared in shock. Things were going wrong. He jumped down from the building and set the LCD monitor aside. Then he immediately sprinted toward the building.
The multi-family house seemed to be used only by them; the front door was locked tight. Seo Rin vaulted the wall in one bound and entered. The front door was locked, but when he gripped the handle and twisted, the metal handle shattered and the door opened.
"Kyaaaaaah!"
"Wh-who the hell are you?!"
The pimps and women inside stared at Seo Rin in shock. But he opened the door, came in, and looked at Shin Hwa-young lying there. From the beating she'd taken while being dragged, she was having trouble breathing. Seo Rin immediately approached and checked her condition.
But he didn't know anything about this kind of situation, and he'd never received special training, so he had no idea what was going on. All he could tell was that if left like this, she would die soon.
"Damn it, what am I supposed to know how to do?!"
Seo Rin immediately grabbed the telephone on the wall.
"Wait a minute! What do you think you're doing?!"
A neurotic middle-aged woman shouted. Unlike the younger women who were panicking at the situation, her voice was annoyingly calm. She even looked the part, wearing those pointed glasses that were practically a requirement for evil aunties in weekend soap operas……. Seo Rin frowned.
"Calling 119. You want a corpse on your hands?"
"Who are you to barge in here and use someone else's phone as you please……"
Then the men recognized Seo Rin. Now that they looked, wasn't this the student who'd turned them away at the door before? Back then he'd played dumb as if he had no idea who Hwa-young was — so why was he here now?
"Ah, this bastard!"
They finally realized they'd been fooled by Seo Rin's act. Losing themselves to rage, they charged at Seo Rin's back. But……
Thwack!
Without even looking back, Seo Rin swept his leg across the floor and then picked up the phone. The men went flying from his leg sweep, crashing down hard. An ordinary leg sweep was one thing — this was a lycanthrope's. Power equal to a giant industrial cutter.
"Aaaaargh!"
Indeed, one of the men hit by Seo Rin's kick clutched his shin and rolled around on the floor.
"Perfect. An ambulance can take two people at least!"
Seo Rin glared at the men with contempt, then dialed 119. But he soon realized he didn't know the exact address or location of this place. He'd seen it on the map, but that alone wasn't enough.
"……What's the address here?"
When Seo Rin asked the madam, she sighed. Even if Hwa-young was dying, she couldn't just call 119 so easily. There were clear signs of assault, and the house had been obviously converted into a dormitory. Bringing 119 rescuers into this situation would make it obvious how things would go.
"The address is……"
She shifted her gaze from the still-young-looking Seo Rin to the men sprawled out. With them down, bullying Seo Rin into doing what they wanted was impossible. The only silver lining was that the other party seemed a bit awkward? She clicked her tongue at Seo Rin's flustered expression, then seemed to make up her mind, her eyes flashing sharply.
"……Fine then. We'll all clear out, so just take that kid with you."
"What? What did you say?"
Seo Rin couldn't help but be shocked. A person was dying right now, and this woman was calculating how to get herself and her people out first. But she was bold about it. Running a brothel as a woman clearly wasn't something just anyone could do.
"Isn't that right? If you don't call soon Hwa-young will die…… and we don't want to get tangled up and end up in a bad spot either, so we're taking our girls and getting out. Or would you rather bicker with us until Hwa-young dies?"
"You people! So your own safety matters more than someone dying right now?"
Seo Rin glared at her, appalled. Someone was about to die and she was thinking of saving her own skin……. Enraged, he raised his fist and smashed the wall. His fist punched a hole through the plywood paneling. The women flinched at the sight of the furious Seo Rin, but the middle-aged madam just looked at him with that same annoying composure.
Judging by Hwa-young's labored breathing, leaving her like this would definitely lead to disaster. Lack of oxygen damaged the brain first, and that kind of damage was fatal. After breathing stopped, recovery became nearly impossible after a minute; even if she miraculously revived, she'd likely be better off dead.
"Fine, just tell me the address already!"
When Seo Rin gave in like that, the madam jerked her chin at the women and men. They seemed used to this sort of thing; they immediately gathered their meager belongings and finished preparing to move.
"Looks like they've even practiced for raids."
Seo Rin scoffed at their swift response. In the end, they all slipped away before the 119 ambulance arrived.
"Damn it."
While waiting for the 119 rescue team, Hwa-young's condition kept worsening until her breathing stopped completely. But Seo Rin had no idea what to do and just stared blankly. So when the 119 rescuers arrived, the first thing they did was perform CPR on Hwa-young.
"What the hell are you just staring at when a kid can't breathe? Huh?! Isn't she your girlfriend?"
Some of the rescuers got angry at Seo Rin. Unlike the always-polite TV shows, they were exhausted, under extreme stress, and yet still driven by a sense of devoted duty — thoroughly contradictory beings. Even though they'd yelled at him, Seo Rin had nothing to say and just hung his head at the sight of them.
One of the 119 team members approached him. Stroking his rough stubble and tucking a clipboard under his arm, he sighed as he looked at Seo Rin.
"Who beat up a girl with a pneumothorax like that?"
"Huh? Pneumothorax?"
Pneumothorax was when a hole formed in the lung and air leaked into the chest cavity, right? People with that tendency relapsed easily, and even a small shock could put their life in danger. Seo Rin was startled by the words.
"Will she live?"
"Don't worry. She won't die. She had breathing difficulty from the pneumothorax, but if it's not too severe the other lung still works to some degree, so her breathing didn't completely stop. The air in the chest cavity interferes with breathing, but people don't just die that easily. But the bigger problem is…… there are a lot of needle marks on her arms……"
The rescuer glanced sideways at Seo Rin. Seo Rin wordlessly pulled back the sleeve of his racing suit and showed his own arm. Of course there were no needle marks on his arm. The rescuer nodded at the clean arm.
"……"
"And this house…… there's a padlock outside the door, and what was a student like you even doing here? The caller's voice was a student's, so I assume that was you."
"Yes, that was me. This place…… isn't my house or anything, I just…… I'm friends with Hwa-young."
"Then what about the rest of them?"
The 119 rescuer's eyes sharpened. A veteran who'd been through everything, his instincts were sharp.
"They ran away."
"……As I thought. So those bastards assaulted the girl. Right?"
"Yes."
Seo Rin hung his head. Earlier he'd been pushed by the situation into that pathetic deal with them, but thinking about it now made his blood boil. Beating a girl with a pneumothorax — if left alone she would have died. Not only could they not refrain out of conscience, they'd even negotiated……. Seo Rin was furious at how pathetic he'd been for going along with that deal.
"We don't have time for this. For the report and investigation, you'll need to come with us……"
"Before that, just a moment……. Can I go take care of something?"
"Huh?"
"……There's something I absolutely have to handle."
"Running away would be a problem."
The rescuer glared at Seo Rin openly. Suspecting the tipster first in a situation like this wasn't unreasonable, but it was still unpleasant.
"……That's exactly why I have to handle it now."
"I'm the one who said it would be a problem if you run."
"Still, please trust me and let me go. I'm a high school student. A high schooler running a minor brothel business? No matter how cold the world is, there's no way someone like that exists!"
Seo Rin begged stubbornly. But the rescuer was unmoved. From his position, he couldn't let Seo Rin go.
"By that logic, sending a high schooler after pimps is also unreasonable. The police will handle that sort of thing, so don't get any reckless ideas and just come with us."
"Ah, you're really a thick-headed idiot! Fine! Then I'll handle it myself!"
"What?"
Giving up on further persuasion, Seo Rin turned and started running. The startled rescuer tried to grab him, but Seo Rin left him in the dust with terrifying speed and raced toward the alley. It was a steep slope of about thirty steps, but Seo Rin jumped down it in one bound, then vanished into the side alley with a near-right-angle turn.
Sparks practically flew from where Seo Rin made that turn — the force behind it was beyond imagination. The rescuer who'd grabbed at empty air looked at his colleagues in shock.
"……That bastard's seriously fast."
"Whoa, that kid's quick as hell."
He stood atop the beer company's advertising billboard installed on the building. The young man with green-dyed hair pierced the darkness with his blazing blue eyes as he looked down over the city.
"……Well then, shall we see what you're made of, child of Lilith?"
Se-gun tracked Seo Rin's movements with his eyes from atop the billboard, looking down on the city.
Seo Rin was racing between buildings as if flying. And as he ran, he cursed himself. Even though he knew nothing about Shin Hwa-young, she had been asking him for help. That unspoken plea — Seo Rin had ignored it. He'd come this far out of sympathy and curiosity, but while he hesitated at the entrance, Hwa-young's condition had deteriorated beyond the point of no return.
"Damn it, we're looking at huge losses……. Because of Hwa-young and that guy, what is this?"
The madam clicked her tongue as she sank into the seat. They'd all gotten out ahead of the raid, and the house used as a dormitory was still in her name, but this incident didn't look like it would end with a modest bribe. If they'd called the police it might have been different, but calling 119 had blown things up bigger.
"Urgh, that bastard. What the hell was he……"
The man with the broken leg clutched it and groaned. The women packed into the back of the van complained at the sight of him.
"What's wrong with him anyway?"
"You should've just let Hwa-young go! I knew this would happen. Like burning down the thatched roof to catch one bedbug — what was the harm in just letting Hwa-young leave? Why go chasing her and drag some weird kid into it?"
The women blamed the man and the madam instead. Some of the women were locked up working, others had jumped in themselves to make money, so this kind of uproar wasn't what they wanted either.
"Shut up! There are minors among you too! You think you'll be fine if we get caught? And you lot are useless too! Getting beaten by a punk kid……. Acting like washed-up thugs, pulling a stupid stunt like that!"