Picking a Fight
Sa Jun grumbled on like that for a while, then said to Se-gun,
"Then let's share the intel by email. Ah—have you eaten lunch yet?"
"I'm not enough of an idiot to put food in my mouth on enemy ground."
Se-gun said it flatly, stood up, and walked out the door. On the way he casually scooped up three pebbles and flung them, one by one, into the shadowed corners of the house.
"Keep raising dogs with those outdated bastards. I'll be waiting for your call."
With that he swung astride his motorcycle. Instantly three figures in black—two men and a woman—materialized from the shadows like ghosts. Until that moment they had been completely invisible to the naked eye; now they stood fully revealed, each gripping a hexagonal steel club and wearing a mask. They looked thoroughly startled that Se-gun had pierced their concealment.
"As expected… you're beyond the rumors."
They offered the praise without reservation. Sa Jun merely smiled and flopped onto his back on the wooden platform.
"…Tsk. Just like the man who killed my brother. Doesn't look like we'll be able to take that guy out the easy way."
A dog that had been eyeing its chance leapt up onto the platform and immediately began slathering Sa Jun's face with its tongue.
"Ugh… cut it out, you mutt. Hey! How many times do I have to tell you not to climb on the platform—!"
Sa Jun flailed and finally managed to shove the dogs off.
The mages sat around a nearby park, staring blankly into space while they waited for further orders. They had contacted the Isaac Faction mage guild in Brasília only yesterday; until the leadership finished assessing the situation they were under temporary stand-by.
"They're just going to tell us to keep making contact, aren't they?"
Tito muttered, his face still gaunt. Se-gun's motorcycle had shattered his leg; vampire blood had regenerated it, but he had spent the entire night writhing in fever.
In truth none of them wanted anything more to do with Han Se-gun.
Giovanni Vantero and the Bernardo brothers already stood far beyond ordinary vampires. Yet Han Se-gun had fought those three and still held the upper hand. Granted, the sun had not fully set and Giovanni had been handicapped, but even in a no-handicap match the outcome would hardly have changed.
"Probably no recall order either… Those old fossils don't know the first thing about fieldwork. All they ever do is brag about how they once traded blows with Jack the Ripper back in their youth."
Anthony grumbled while licking an ice-cream cone. Barey looked up.
"Rossini Isaka Bergenev… Isaka—could that be Isaac? Issac?"
Isaac would line up perfectly with the name of their own faction. The others shook their heads.
"Jacob's father? Nah. I'm pretty sure it's more like Isaac with a 'k'."
"Isaka's a Japanese name, isn't it?"
"Who cares whether he's Korean or Japanese when he's from Irkutsk?"
"Come to think of it, it kind of sounds like a gun factory."
"Wait—wasn't that a place-name in Ulysses?"
They traded theories, then slumped back onto the benches and sighed. The mere thought of clashing with a monster like Han Se-gun again was enough to make phantom ulcers flare.
What they secretly hoped for was an order to abandon Korea entirely and fly straight to Irkutsk to dig through parish records under the name Rossini Isaka Bergenev. Russia was Eastern Orthodox territory; unless the subject was Muslim there would inevitably be baptismal records. Through a godfather or the priest of the time they might learn something about the mother.
But after that?
Without Seo Rin himself the trail would still go cold. If only they had extracted a little more information… then headquarters would never send them to Irkutsk. The objective remained the capture of Seo Rin—which meant they would once again have to work alongside monsters like Se-gun and Giovanni.
"Aaaah… Tetra Anax has probably already dispatched people to Russia."
"Damn it. Want to hit the racetrack instead?"
Tito, who could never resist horse racing, shot to his feet. The other mages yawned and trailed after him, looking for all the world like a pack of unemployed layabouts.
Once the sun had set, Han Se-gun armed himself again. A ceramic knife with high silver-oxide content went under his left shoulder; Glocks rode both thighs; the Beast rode the small of his back; he carried the USAS-12 and fitted knuckle-shot attachments. That completed his standard load-out.
The detonating cord—enchanted to prevent sympathetic detonation—was packed into his racing jacket, belt pouches, waistband, and sleeves: one thirty-meter length and the rest mostly nine- or three-meter coils.
Even this ordinary kit was already enough firepower to wipe out a hundred vampires. Fully armed, he walked over to where Seo Rin was reading a book with the television on and kicked him.
Seo Rin, who had been spearing pieces of pineapple he had cut himself while half-watching the screen, jumped in surprise.
"Get up."
"Ah, why? Another patrol?"
"No. We're going to pick a fight. You're coming too."
Se-gun snapped it out. Seo Rin only shrugged.
"Huh?"
"You're too weak. Honestly, weaker than I was when I was still human. If it stays like this I have to keep babysitting you forever. What the hell kind of arrangement is that?"
The issue had been stressing Se-gun out for days. When enemies made trouble he could simply kill them; when an ally made trouble there was nothing he could do. Yet Seo Rin answered with perfect calm.
"What else would it be? You finally met your match. This is just the karma you racked up coming home to roost…"
Se-gun nearly drove a kick into Seo Rin's face, then stopped himself. The kid's condition was still shaky; needless damage for a joke could leave him useless when it actually mattered.
"Ahaha. I'm only following the excellent advice of physiologists. Stress the muscle, then rest it—that's how it grows, right?"
"You ever stop to consider that your metabolism is a hell of a lot faster than a normal person's?"
Se-gun glared. Seo Rin clapped his hands once.
"Ah! Right."
Se-gun exhaled a long, weary sigh. Back when the kid had been human he had clawed his way through poverty, studying like his life depended on it so he could turn things around. The moment he entered the world of the mad moon he had completely lost the plot. Se-gun had seen people burn out and self-destruct before, but never quite like this.
"You planning to pass the civil-service exam when you go back to being human?"
How desperate did he have to be to spit out nonsense like that? Seo Rin was never going to sit the civil-service exam… and for him to return to ordinary human life either Lilith and Tetra Anax both had to be smashed, or Seo Rin himself had to seize a position as unshakable as Tetra Anax's. Until then the constant attacks aimed at him would make any normal life impossible.
"…"
Seo Rin knew it too, but he didn't call Se-gun on the point. Se-gun simply dragged him along by the arm.
"First we train your resistance to illusion magic so human mages can't mess with you. Follow me."
"Ah, that sounds good. I do need to be able to handle mages. But who exactly are we picking a fight with?"
Mention of anti-illusion training made Seo Rin's eyes light up and he fell into step. Nearly every ridiculous disaster of the past few weeks had started because Seo Rin fell for a mage's illusion far too easily—being lured into empty streets, suddenly walking into a movie theater under suggestion, then getting ambushed. A man who got caught every single time like that would never survive the world of the mad moon.
"What else? Vampires. What's the point of picking fights with humans?"
"What? Vampires? Not Giovanni or anybody like that, right? And how does picking fights with vampires help with illusion resistance?"
"Vampires use a little illusion by default. Call it a charm for beguiling humans. You've heard of that much, haven't you?"
Se-gun sighed the words out. Seo Rin's eyes sparkled.
"Can you do it too, hyung?"
"A little."
"Show me—wait, no, never mind. Let's just go."
Sensing that Se-gun was already in a foul mood, Seo Rin hurriedly pulled on his racing suit. His only real weapon was a TEC-9 submachine gun. Se-gun had warned him more than once that vampires these days wore body armor and nine-millimeter pistol rounds would barely scratch them, yet Seo Rin still insisted on carrying the thing—probably because it had been a gift from Maria. Se-gun had checked it thoroughly for bugs or trackers just in case; there were none.
"I'm going to lose my mind."
Se-gun let out another deep sigh. Silvester had been wise. If Silvester had trained Se-gun in person the way Se-gun was now training Seo Rin, Se-gun's own style would have been ruined the same way.
They rode into Seoul. Seo Rin was hopeless on curves and could never match Se-gun's pace, so Se-gun had to throttle down to match him.
Once they arrived they parked the bikes in a nearby lot and stepped out into the night city.
"Parks, under bridges, anywhere people are scarce or won't look twice no matter what happens—those are the places they hunt. Got it? First we start hunting for vampires. Keep this in your head at all times: if I were a vampire, where and how would I hunt? Figure that out and you'll find them easily."
With that order Se-gun vanished soundlessly toward the park. Seo Rin clicked his tongue as he watched him go. He already knew from others how Han Se-gun had become a hunter: a year of training so brutal it was as if he had abandoned the idea of being human, remaking himself into a pure hunter; the living embodiment of hatred who had even addicted himself to drugs just to keep killing vampires…
Unlike Se-gun, Seo Rin had no iron-hard motive. Of course he wanted to protect himself and his family from the enemies who hunted them. But compared to vengeance that motive was pitifully weak. And Seo Rin could never cast everything else aside and leave only pride and will the way Se-gun had. He already had a family.
"…Seriously, hyung's something else."
Seo Rin muttered and scanned the surroundings. Se-gun had told him to think like a vampire choosing an ambush site, but Seo Rin couldn't get a feel for it at all.
"Still… places with fewer people, right?"
Thinking that, he turned down an alley. After walking for a while he suddenly felt someone following him and broke into a run.
"What the hell is hyung even thinking?"
When you thought about it, Seo Rin himself was the prize everyone was hunting. For the prize to go out hunting others was absurd. Of course, given Se-gun's personality, simply standing guard over him forever would have been equally unbearable.
To Se-gun a lycanthrope was every bit as hated an enemy as a vampire… Even if Seo Rin was a precious existence linked to Lilith, merely protecting him day after day was piling stress on Se-gun's shoulders.
"…Who's there?"
The instant Seo Rin rounded the corner he drew the TEC-9. A little girl's voice floated down from above his head.
"My, my. You're starting to look like a real hunter."
"Huh?"
Startled, Seo Rin looked up. A blonde girl in a pure-white dress stood atop the wall. In the darkness her bright hair and white dress gave her an almost unearthly air.
It was Jinma Maria—the younger sister who had succeeded Messiah as leader of the Damned after her death.
Well… hyung told me to find vampires, so I guess I found one…
The problem was that it felt less like he had found her and more like she had found him. Seo Rin looked up at her.
"What is it?"
"…Seo Rin!"
Maria leapt lightly from the wall and landed in front of him. A soft fragrance drifted from her. Seo Rin startled and dropped into a guard stance, but Maria only made a faintly sulky face and did not attack.
"Seo Rin! Why would you team up with that demon beast? That monster doesn't spare lycanthropes either. Sooner or later he'll kill you too!"
"Well, yeah, but if you get to know him, Se-gun hyung is actually a pretty pitiful guy."
Seo Rin said something even he didn't understand. If Se-gun had heard it he might have killed him on the spot.
Seo Rin was privately startled by his own words. He wasn't the only one. Maria had gone pure white and was staring at him; she was so shocked she even stammered.
"W-what are you talking about all of a sudden? That bastard killed my sister together with Sa Hyuk!"
"Ah… well, yeah, that part is… a little awkward."
Seo Rin scratched his cheek. This was no time for conversation. If Han Se-gun came back and saw this scene he would probably kill Maria and Seo Rin both. So Seo Rin clasped his hands and begged.
"Maria, please. Just leave. I'm out on patrol with Se-gun hyung right now. If he catches you it'll be a disaster!"
"Why? Does he have some kind of hold over you?"
Maria still didn't understand; her blue eyes sparkled like jewels. Every time she asked a question she tilted her head slightly and fixed him with that bright, direct gaze—everything about her posture and manner was ridiculously cute.
But even a girl like this was still a vampire… He absolutely could not let her meet Han Se-gun.
"No, it's not like that… it's more that my position is complicated… like I've become a bat caught in the middle."
Seo Rin babbled, trying to convey his 'complicated situation.' Maria sighed.
"There's a rumor you fought Giovanni Vantero. What happened?"
"Ah, that was… Look, we don't have time for this right now."
Frustration burned in Seo Rin's chest. Maria crossed her arms, puffed out her cheeks, and turned her head with a little "hmph." Even the way she turned away was picture-perfect.
"…Still. Why don't you ever call? Hmph."
Apparently she was sulking about the lack of phone calls. But how was Seo Rin supposed to call when he was living with Se-gun? The one small mercy was that even after Se-gun had obtained Maria's number he never dialed it.
"Please, spare me. Are you doing this on purpose? I live with Se-gun hyung, so of course I can't just call whenever I want."
Seo Rin pleaded. Maria suddenly smiled.
"So you think you did something wrong?"
"Yeah."
"You feel bad about it?"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"Then let's meet up sometime, just the two of us. You look busy right now, so later. Okay?"
"Ah—s-sure, of course!"
"Great. It's a promise."
Maria held out a finger. Seo Rin immediately hooked his own around it. Maria stuck out her tongue playfully, then sprang away over the rooftops and vanished.
"Huuuuuu…"
Only then did Seo Rin collapse onto the ground and exhale in relief. Was that girl deliberately trying to shave years off his life by being so friendly? She already knew he had sided with Se-gun, yet she still acted like that…
"Man… people are just too nice sometimes."
Seo Rin brushed off his pants and stood. Maria had approached him with what seemed like pure goodwill and no ulterior motive. Of course, in a situation like this a person with zero ulterior motives probably didn't exist…
Even so, he wanted to believe her. Se-gun would have called him enchanted and lost his temper, but wasn't it natural to feel fondness?
Se-gun was the strange one. Good vampire, bad vampire—he intended to kill them all without distinction. What kind of twisted mind-set was that? One of these days Seo Rin was going to have a serious talk with him… Thinking that, he stepped out of the alley.
"…What took you so long?"
Se-gun already had one vampire pinned on the ground and a pistol trained on him; he glanced up at Seo Rin. In that instant a blue fire flashed in Se-gun's eyes—so hungry it looked ready to devour vampire and human alike. It was terrifying.
Whatever rebellious feelings had been growing toward Se-gun a moment earlier vanished in a single flash of those eyes.
"N-no. Ahahaha. Nothing at all."
"Honestly. Waiting for vampires in an alley—you're weird too. Korea's a country where bars close late and people go to bed ridiculously late; residential streets still have plenty of foot traffic, especially with summer coming. Keep that in mind."
Se-gun lowered the gun. The vampire on the ground immediately scrambled up and threw a punch. He wasn't a proper clan vampire; he was a drifter who had been swept up during the Jinma conflict in Korea and turned by accident—a mass-produced type, you could say. His attack form was sloppy and undisciplined.
Crack!
Se-gun casually countered and dropped him again. Vampires born with superior bodies never learned to use their strength properly; humans who suddenly gained that power found their old techniques collapsing under the new strength. Whether a freshly turned human or a lifelong vampire, in front of a meticulously trained Han Se-gun they were nothing more than scarecrows.
"Not me—him. Got it? If you win I'll kill you without pain, so do your best."
As if any vampire would fight hard after an offer like that. Seo Rin looked at the vampire with something close to tears in his eyes. The terrified drifter-vampire swallowed hard and glared at him.
Was this how the gladiators of the ancient Colosseum had felt when they were forced to fight just to live? Pity welled up and Seo Rin protested.
"Do we really have to go that far?"
"Hey!"
Se-gun barked. Looking away in the middle of a fight! The vampire who had been cowering a second earlier instantly changed expression and lunged at Seo Rin with startling speed.
"Ah—!"
Startled, Seo Rin raised a guard, but the vampire kicked him square in the stomach. It didn't hurt much, yet Seo Rin's light frame couldn't absorb the force. His body left the ground and he flailed in panic. The vampire used the opening to bolt.
"…"
Se-gun wordlessly drew a Glock and put a round through the back of the vampire's skull. A low-grade vampire with almost no VT died from a single silver bullet and tumbled forward.
"Haaaah… This is terminal. The future is pitch-black. What the hell did I do in a past life…"
Se-gun covered his face with one hand and slowly shook his head. The brutal hunter training, the years of fighting vampires while destroying his own human body—he had endured all of it. For the first time he found himself cursing fate and feeling genuine despair.