I Changed My Mind
“Come on, big sis. That’s going too far. You think I became a washed-up has-been because I felt like it? I lived hard, and that’s how I ended up with a steel rod stuck in my back! If it weren’t for that rod, a punk squad of kids like that wouldn’t have been anything to me!”
“Anyway, we know where that bastard lives. We’ll go pay him a visit later and wreck him.”
“Hmph. Sure you will. You’ll be lucky if you don’t get wrecked yourselves. Looking at you two, it’s not gonna cut it. I’ll have to borrow a few people for a bit.”
The madam grumbled as she phoned the Sangbang faction, who had arranged temporary lodgings for them.
“Ah, this is Mirim. Yes, the police crackdown… no, not a crackdown—someone filed a report, so we’re heading over there now. But one of our kids got hurt by some young guy. Send me plenty of hot-blooded boys, would you? Huh? Are the cops coming? No. Yes, thanks. I’m counting on you.”
Thanks to the protection money they had been paying properly all this time, the mid-level boss of the Sangbang faction readily agreed to her request.
“So the young bloods are coming?”
Perhaps because he had been called a washed-up gangster, the driver slumped dejectedly, resting his chin on the steering wheel. The madam snapped at him.
“Can’t you drive straight? Is there anything you can do right? Huh?”
“Ah, I got it, big sis. Geez… this isn’t even about that right now… huh?”
The driver’s eyes suddenly locked on the rearview mirror.
Thud-thud-thud!
Someone was pounding on the side of their vehicle. Pounding on the door of a moving car?
“Eh? Wait—that’s the guy!”
Looking through the window, the madam recoiled in shock at the sight of the young man they had just encountered, now chasing them down. The startled driver checked the speedometer—they had just rounded a corner and slowed to 50 km/h.
“……That’s impossible!”
Ordinary people tend to think a sprinter who runs a hundred meters in ten seconds is moving at a constant 36 km/h. But a sprinter accelerates gradually, so peak speed can exceed 40 km/h.
That, however, is the limit of human ability. Fifty kilometers an hour already surpasses what a human can do. Even for a short dash it would be a miracle—there was no way anyone could keep up with a car that had already covered this much distance.
“What kind of monster is this?”
The driver immediately shifted gears and floored it. The speedometer climbed past 80, yet the dark figure still clung to the vehicle.
“Kh!”
CRASH!
The side of the door suddenly caved in hard. The black shadow had stretched out a hand and driven his fingers into the van’s door. The steel panel tore as easily as rice paper, screeching with an ugly metallic shriek.
“Aaaaagh!”
The tires skidded. The van slid sideways as if someone had grabbed the side of a sled on ice and yanked. The engine died, and the vehicle spun completely out of control.
Screeeeech!
The van skidded straight toward the traffic light on the opposite side of the four-lane road.
“Kyaaaaah!”
The women inside the van screamed as one. At this rate it would be a full-scale disaster. But then the black shadow planted himself once more—right between the van and the traffic light.
“Hup!”
Standing between the van and the light, Seo Rin threw himself at the sliding vehicle. The instant his palms met the body, the chassis crumpled and he was dragged along with it.
Screeeeeeech!
“Aaaaaaagh!”
Roaring as he caught the van, Seo Rin’s muscles swelled. His heart raced, flooding every fiber with blood. In the end the front of the van crumpled completely and ground to a precarious halt.
Thud!
The rear wheels, which had lifted slightly, slammed back down and rocked the vehicle violently.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“Wh-what is that!? A monster?! Is it a monster?!”
They screamed in terror. The driver immediately tried to open the door and flee, but the warped chassis jammed it shut. The window frames had already crumpled and the glass shattered into pieces, yet none of them dared try to climb out that way.
Because standing before them was a young man with differently colored eyes, radiating a terrifying pressure that pinned them in place.
“Uwaaaah! You bastard! That wasn’t the deal! You said if we let Hwa-young live you’d let us go……”
The driver clung to the pitiful promise. Seo Rin only snorted at them.
“I changed my mind!”
He climbed onto the roof of the van and crushed the window frames with raw strength. The metal bent like soft candy, narrowing the openings. Seo Rin folded the windows shut so that no one could escape.
Those trapped inside trembled at the sight. A monster who twisted solid steel as if it were taffy! Even watching it happen right in front of them, they could not believe it.
“That should do it. You’d better pray Hwa-young doesn’t die! If she does, you’re looking at assault resulting in death!”
With those words Seo Rin stepped off the roadway onto the sidewalk. For someone who had just done something like this…… he was the sort of person who ordinarily obeyed every traffic rule with scrupulous care.
Through the narrow gap of the crumpled window, the madam watched Seo Rin’s retreating back, then turned a withering glare on the driver.
“……So if it weren’t for that steel rod in your back, you could take on a whole platoon of things like that?”
“Hahaha. A-as if.”
Standing above a sea of light cast by sodium streetlamps, the vampire hunter Han Se-gun watched the exploits of Seo Rin—one who would become an enemy—and let out an empty laugh.
In the world of the mad moon, killing an enemy was the same as killing a part of yourself. The fight against monsters that could never be won without destroying a piece of yourself, without being broken in the process. Those who survived that fight were few. Aside from Silvester, the monster hunter who had been forged as a monster from the start, and himself, who had hunted monsters and become a beast in turn, almost no one remained.
Yes—in this world, the only ones who could hunt monsters were the monsters who danced in the dark. Compared to that, how pure was this monster who bore the name Seo Rin? A girl who had nothing to do with him had simply asked for his help…… and even knowing Se-gun was watching, he still released his power. That purity was something Se-gun himself had already lost, and the sight of it made his chest ache.
“A monster with a human heart. Yeah…… it’s not the first time I’ve seen one.”
Even among the mighty vampire lords called Jinma—the true kings of the night—there were many who possessed human hearts. To beings who lived for such vast spans of time, a human heart was little more than a mindset for enjoying diversions.
Without savoring human values and human civilization, their souls could never have endured the long history stretching back to the early Iron Age. Se-gun had hunted such vampires. By killing things that held human hearts, he himself had come to possess the heart of a monster, until their positions reversed and he no longer knew which path was the right one.
“……Just because it has a human heart doesn’t mean I intend to forgive it.”
He spoke to the specters that drifted around him. Born from the long struggle among vampires and humans, lycanthropes and mages, those ghosts clung to him, whispering every secret and sometimes leading him astray.
Se-gun pressed the black blade against his chest, overpowering the specters, wrapping himself in his own hatred, and edged ever closer to becoming a true beast.
The mad moon, distorted, carefully slid past overhead. As if afraid to look upon the beast it had conceived—Han Se-gun—the moonlight, already faded by the sodium lamps, cast a jaundiced yellow glow and faded away.
Seo Rin did not return to the rescue team; he headed for his own home. He was worried about Hwa-young’s condition…… but this was as far as he could go. The only road left for her now was the path of recovery—and it might prove even harsher than what she had already endured.
It would have been better if someone could stay by her side and help her, but Seo Rin could not be that person.
“It’s cowardly, but to me…… my family is more important.”
He spoke the words as if trying to convince himself. Simply keeping his own body and soul together was already a struggle. He had to worry about his next meal and about tuition.
Coward. She doesn’t have family or friends left. She’s completely alone. You’re just going to leave a kid like that by herself? It’s a miracle she hasn’t killed herself already!
Another voice inside him lashed out. Seo Rin pushed through the crowds that stared at him with strange eyes, weaving unsteadily like a drunk. He had never expected a guilty conscience to literally make him dizzy.
“There’s nothing I can do. I’m powerless. Powerless…… powerless……”
In physical ability, no one could boast of their strength in front of Seo Rin. But socially he possessed no power at all. And more than anything, he loved his family and his everyday life. He knew perfectly well that what Shin Hwa-young needed was no one’s devotion but his own—and he refused to give it.
Unable to endure the contempt he felt for himself, Seo Rin reeled.
When the dismissal bell rang, Seo Rin opened his eyes.
“Ahahaham. Ahh, I’m so sleepy. Feels like I’m dying.”
It wasn’t only him; the students who had been face-down on their desks slowly began to revive.
“Hey, man. You’re gonna swallow a fly.”
Hyuk-jin had sidled up beside him, grinning. With the weekend approaching, the single-set uniforms of the student gentlemen reeked fiercely. Clothes stained with sweat and soup from side dishes—to Seo Rin, whose sense of smell was keen, it was almost unbearable. He scowled at Hyuk-jin.
“What? Why are you snickering?”
“Nah. Hey, Seo Rin, you got skills? You were pretty damn fast.”
“What?”
“I heard the escort-bar group that had Hwa-young got arrested. You made the report, right?”
“Huh? Well, yeah. Why are you making a big deal out of something obvious?”
The moment the words left his mouth, a flicker of unease rose. Yesterday he had been so furious he had exposed his power in front of them without thinking. If they talked about it they would just sound crazy, of course—but wouldn’t he end up exposed as well?
“Thing is, those guys who got arrested are spinning some interesting stories.”
So it was that, after all. Seo Rin waved a hand.
“Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about it. It’s just nonsense.”
“Well, sure, it’s nonsense. Get this—they claim the one who caught them was that terrorist Han Se-gun. Would a big shot like that bother with some escort bar? Seriously?”
“Huh?”
Seo Rin stared at Hyuk-jin in surprise. The answer was completely unexpected. Even if he had told the truth—that he himself had caught them—ordinary people would have found it absurd…… but the legendary bomber Han Se-gun? That turned the whole thing from reality into urban legend.
But why had those guys said that? Because the clothes Seo Rin had been wearing looked similar to Han Se-gun’s? Or had Han Se-gun somehow intervened afterward?
“There’s a five-hundred-billion bounty on the guy, right? I don’t know if they were just talking crap, but if it really was Han Se-gun, I’d want to catch him myself.”
Hyuk-jin said it with real fire in his eyes. Seo Rin looked at him and let out a dry chuckle.
He knew full well that Hyuk-jin was exceptional for an ordinary high-schooler. But that kind of talk only came out because he had never seen Han Se-gun in person. If he had ever actually faced the man, he would never say such things. Thinking that, Seo Rin snorted a laugh.
“……I wonder. Would they put a five-hundred-billion bounty on someone a high-school punk could catch?”
“If you look at it that way, you couldn’t even play the lottery.”
“Legally, minors can’t, yeah.”
“That so? I buy ten thousand won’s worth every month, regular as clockwork.”
“With ten thousand won I’d rather buy ramen.”
Seo Rin grumbled as he packed his bag and stood. Because of the Hwa-young business he had been running all over the place, every one of his part-time jobs had dried up; making ends meet looked bleak.
“……Sigh. Why is living as a person this hard?”
It would have been nice if things had worked out thanks to his help, but nalbuphine addiction was not something that could simply be fixed. Shin Hwa-young was currently locked up in a psychiatric hospital. Her father was in one too for alcoholism—so the household had completely fallen apart.
Not that Seo Rin could help the father and daughter. He was barely managing his own life as it was.
“Anyway, no part-time work, so I might as well catch up on the studying I’ve been putting off.”
“That so? Then I’ll hang around and play a bit longer.”
Hyuk-jin parted ways with him at the school gate. Seo Rin let out a long breath and turned his steps toward home.
Just then a motorcycle burst out of an alley. Startled, Seo Rin stopped and looked at the man astride it. He had never seen the face before, yet the scent of gunpowder, the smell of pine-soot ink, and the reek of blood told him at once that this was Han Se-gun.
“Hey, idiot!”
“Eh…… hahaha. Why are you here? And that face of yours is looking pretty sharp.”
A strange emotion seized Seo Rin. There was no question Han Se-gun was terrifying. The first time they met, the man had beaten him half to death several times over. If Han Se-gun had ever truly intended to kill him, he would already be dead. And yet—for some reason—he absolutely, absolutely did not want to show this particular bastard any sign of weakness!
“You think this is funny?”
Han Se-gun shook his head as if he could not believe the kid either. Seo Rin even managed a sneer.
“……Haa. Magnificent work. I’m truly in your debt.”
Whoosh!
In that instant Han Se-gun’s hand shot toward him. Startled, Seo Rin raised an arm to block—only for something to smash into his temple and withdraw just as suddenly.
“……Huh?”
The left half of his body went numb and he crumpled to the ground. Se-gun’s strike had been delivered with the first joint of his thumb against Seo Rin’s temple. That single blow was enough to cause severe concussion and functional impairment.
“I like gutsy bastards—vampire, human, whatever. But having guts and having no brain are two different things. You fool.”
“……Is this something you do with a brain? Beating a person to death in the middle of the street?”
Seo Rin protested, but Han Se-gun only smiled at him. Of course he had thought it through. First, the kid wasn’t human, so a certain amount of damage wouldn’t kill him and he would regenerate. Second, Se-gun needed a clearer gauge of Seo Rin’s physical abilities. The boy could turn into an enemy at any moment—no, he was already as good as one. But Se-gun gave no outward sign of any of that.