Bats in the Rain
An old waterproof tarp marked “XX Construction Dream Town” flapped and snapped in the wind. Construction had stalled when the company went bankrupt, and a subsequent fire had left the place a desolate black monster of a ruin, bleak beyond measure.
Demolition would have cost a fortune, and the landowner seemed content to wait for property values to climb; the eyesore remained exactly as it was, with no sign of repair.
A foreign boy walked into that building. His measured strides and the eyes that seemed to look down on everything around him still carried a distinctly aristocratic air.
He strode deep into the dark abandoned structure. Even the boldest person would have hesitated to enter a building that looked ready to collapse at any moment, yet he stepped inside and surveyed his surroundings.
Shaaaaaaa.
Sounds rose from the darkness, and eyes began to gleam. The boy approached without the slightest hesitation. One of those pairs of eyes stepped forward.
Walking out toward the outer wall where light filtered in, he proved to be an unexpectedly well-groomed young man with black hair. A cold wind clawed through the skeletal frame of the building, shrieking as it passed.
“You look rather human.”
The blond boy said that and set down the bag he was carrying. The black-haired young man smirked and raised a hand. From the darkness a human arm thudded to the floor.
“A lapdog who strutted about in his master’s arms and doesn’t know his place. Your master as well……”
“One piece of advice: if you make even a joking remark that’s disrespectful about the Master, I’ll blow this building to pieces with a missile. Keep that in mind. Missile misfires seem fairly common in this country, after all.”
The boy said that and kicked the bag, sliding it across. The black-haired youth shrugged and picked it up.
“Is this supposed to make us back off? A Jinma hunter killed our Master. Even if he died mid-fight with Chang-woon, we’re no match for that guy.”
“Hardly. I don’t think you lot could touch someone of that caliber. What I want is a much weaker one. Understood? Then go pick up that liver you dropped.”
He said that and flicked a photograph. It flew with a sharp metallic sound as if it were a steel plate, piercing a concrete pillar and embedding itself.
“Hmm!”
The black-haired man made no effort to hide his surprise—rather, he exaggerated it as he examined the photo. It showed a young man with green-bleached hair.
“So we just need to hunt this kid? Too easy, isn’t it?”
“As far as I know, he’s Silvester’s disciple. Won’t be that easy. No detailed investigation has been done on him, but he’s around Seoul’s Gwanak District, so look carefully. If he’s a hunter, he might come looking for you first.”
“Hmph. Really a shoddy client.”
The black-haired man said that and studied the boy carefully. The boy, with skin so translucent the veins showed through, shone pale under the moonlight.
“Hmm. A fellow who received Jinma blood would have considerable VT, right?”
“Is that something you say in front of the person himself?”
The boy answered and turned away. Showing his back to countless enemies aiming at him—that boldness was closer to arrogance.
“Well then. I look forward to good results.”
The boy called out arrogantly and vanished into the darkness. Then the red-eyed figures in the dark began to move. It was like a massive wave full of red bioluminescent insects crashing onto the shore. The sheer power, the oppressive presence, the murderous intent were so dense they felt almost tangible.
“Stop.”
But the black-haired man who had accepted the deal restrained them. With a single word he turned back the wave. He picked up the photo and tossed it in front of his comrades.
“We need money and power. Devouring the confidant of the one who holds those is not a wise course. Now then—shall we get to work?”
The rich inhabit a completely different space from ordinary humans. Of course Silvester the Jinma hunter was wealthy as well…… yet he was never as free-spending as Phantom the Jinma.
He would never travel by Airbus every time he left the house, after all.
“…….”
Watching the Airbus drop toward the hotel roof, Silvester let out a low sigh. Aware of his ambushes, they had simply started using helicopters.
“I’ll have to worry about Arjuna at this rate.”
He muttered that and tossed the rifle case onto the back seat. Clouds were slowly rolling in from the west.
“Rain again tomorrow.”
He murmured and looked up at the hotel. A man in a pure-white suit standing by a window met his eyes. Given that he was already up there, the one using the helicopter must be one of his spawns.
Looking down from the window, Phantom the Jinma brought a champagne flute to his lips. Since the helicopter had returned safely, Wilhelm must have succeeded in the negotiation. Juk-yo’s children had followed their parent to Korea and been stranded here after his death…… the calculation that they would have no choice but to accept the deal had proven correct.
“Still, I’ll have to praise him when he gets back.”
He murmured that and turned. In the spacious living room of the suite, Yoon Mi-hye—already little more than a wreck—sat with her eyes closed. She had barely eaten and had cried herself raw. After managing only the single sentence “Thank you for looking after me,” she had simply sobbed and sobbed…… there had been nothing he could do.
“Did I just look like a rich playboy to her?”
Yoon Mi-hye’s sleeping face was swollen. All the careful work at the beauty salon had been rendered completely useless. He sighed at the thought.
“Giving the youngest of my bloodline the gift of revenge isn’t such a bad idea.”
Besides, the targets had escaped full responsibility as perpetrators for the sole reason that they were minors. They probably didn’t even realize they had destroyed one person and shattered her entire family.
Of course, if asked whether that crime was grave enough to warrant a death sentence for them as they were now, he could not simply say yes. But at the very least Yoon Mi-hye had the right to take revenge on them.
And affirming revenge was the law of the Clan of Phantasmagoria.
“……What exactly is a bloodline?”
Suddenly her voice broke the quiet of the room.
“Hmm?”
Phantom the Jinma shrugged. How was he supposed to explain this? After living as a vampire for thousands of years, explaining what a vampire was felt awkward at this point…… wasn’t there a better way?
While he was still thinking, the door opened and Wilhelm entered, slightly damp from the rain.
“The matter is settled, Master.”
“Good. Well done, Wilhelm.”
A broad smile spread across Phantom’s face as he drew a finger across his own throat. A sharp cutting sound rang out and the vessels in his neck parted. Wilhelm’s eyes went wide at the sight.
“Master!”
“Come before I change my mind.”
Phantom said that and shrugged out of his suit jacket. He reclined on the plush sofa and smiled.
“Ugh. Master…… what on earth—”
But Wilhelm could not refuse the invitation. He walked toward Phantom on the sofa and all but threw himself into his arms. Then, the way beasts carefully lick one another’s wounds, he carefully licked Phantom’s throat. Only then did blood begin to flow from the cut.
“Ahahahah. That tickles.”
Phantom tossed the jacket aside and stroked Wilhelm’s hair as if the boy were his own child. The act of blood-drinking between cursed vampires carried a thick, decadent beauty. The emotion was so powerful it was hard to breathe; an ordinary person could never have endured it.
“…….”
Yet Yoon Mi-hye, already broken beyond repair, merely tilted her head once at the shocking sight and showed no other reaction. So when Phantom smiled and extended his hand toward her, she took it without hesitation. Under the cool lighting the fine down on his hand glittered as he drew her closer.
Se-gun was hauling crates in a rain suit. Six hours of work a day for thirty thousand won—five thousand an hour—so it wasn’t exactly cheap labor, yet it still felt like nothing but exploitation. Today, though, something felt off.
“Hey! More coming! Don’t just stand there!”
The supervisor, who had the easiest sorting job inside the truck, barked at him. If he treated it as training it wouldn’t be so bad, but ever since meeting Jin Yu-mi he had felt his heart growing somehow more desolate.
He had already thought he was as desolate as a person could get, yet there still seemed to be corners left to hollow out.
“Tch. Pointless sentiment.”
Se-gun muttered that and caught the next box. Instantly his expression froze.
“What’s wrong?”
Kim Seong-ju hurried over in alarm and peeled off Se-gun’s glove. A fingernail had torn and was bleeding.
“What the hell is this?!”
“Nothing…… I was gripping with my fingers to train grip strength and it must’ve caught. Don’t worry about it.”
Se-gun said that and continued loading the truck with the injured hand as if nothing had happened. Watching him, the supervisor offered exactly one comment.
“Damn, you’re one tough bastard.”
Getting injured on the job and not even receiving a word of concern—only a remark like that. Kim Seong-ju made a sour face, but Se-gun simply went back to work in silence. Then a sudden whirring sound cut through the air.
“Huh? A bat.”
“What?”
“I used to see bats all the time when I was a kid, but they’ve mostly disappeared these days…… huh. Weird. Do bats still live around here?”
The supervisor, who normally never stopped nagging them to work, actually paused and stuck his head out of the truck to stare at the bat. Kim Seong-ju snickered at the sight.
Piercings aside he was a rather handsome young man, yet in the delivery company’s work clothes even his smile looked awkward.
“Heh heh. Maybe it’s a vampire bat? You know, a vampire or something.”
“No. As far as I know, vampires like that—”
Han Se-gun started to answer, then jerked his head up in shock. The gray sky had opened as if someone had punched a hole through it and was dumping an insane amount of rain. How could a bat be flying in weather this violent?
“Kh!”
Se-gun sprinted for the locker cabinet.
“Hey!”
“I’m leaving early!”
He shouted that, changed clothes in a flash, and swung onto his motorcycle. Before anyone could stop him he tore off into the rain at terrifying speed.
“Huh?”
Kim Seong-ju and the supervisor stared at each other blankly. Kim Seong-ju put on a bright smile and asked the supervisor,
“Do I have to load all that myself?”
“Guess so. Get to it.”
Clinging to his older brother’s old RX-125, Se-gun leaned low over the tank and wrenched the throttle wide open.
Rain hammered the front of his helmet; water forced its way through the visor seal and soaked his neck. The one small mercy was that midday traffic was light. Riding hard, Se-gun stretched every sense outward. The Bloodstone Pendulum stirred, however faintly.
“Vampires that actually turn into bats—seriously?!”
Everything he had faced until now had been nothing more than monsters without real techniques. These enemies felt different. He should have walked away the moment he heard a Jinma was involved! But regret meant nothing now.
Fwit!
A sharp whistle of wind cut through the rain and struck his helmet. The dull thump that rang through his skull felt nothing like ordinary hail. Se-gun looked up and saw something bird-like knifing through the downpour. Of course no ordinary bird could chase a motorcycle at speed through rain like this.
“Tch!”
He swerved into a narrow side street to dodge the attack. No matter how much shooting practice he had put in, he had no confidence he could hit a flying target with the Tokarev. Better to let the buildings create blind spots. The destination was that way anyway……
“Keong!”
A massive Korean Jindo dog lunged into the road ahead. Something like a strange lump of flesh was growing between its eyes; the animal charged straight at Se-gun like a rabid beast. Se-gun simply gripped the handlebars tighter and ran it down.
Kwagagagak!
The motorcycle crushed the dog, bounced, and slammed back onto the asphalt. Rain-slick tires sent it into a fishtail, but Se-gun’s uncanny balance righted the machine before it went down and he roared on.
“Damn it! What the hell is this leather carpet? Animal control?!”
He glanced back while riding. The lump between the dog’s eyes had been yanked free. At least it hadn’t latched onto a person. While that thought was still in his head, something dropped in front of him.
“Kh!”
A heavy impact crumpled the front of his helmet. Se-gun immediately cut the corner toward Jin Yu-mi’s place. Come to think of it, the rain had blotted out the sun today.
Not as good as night, but still weather suited for vampires to roam. Letting his guard down because he was working a daytime part-time job had been his own mistake.
“Out of the way!”
He kicked a trash bag blocking the path and sent it flying, then rounded the corner. On the street leading to Jin Yu-mi’s house, several vampires were already waiting. Maybe they had dismissed him as a greenhorn; they didn’t even bother pretending to be human. They simply stood there.
“Hmm. Pretty sharp for a brat.”
“Right?”
A pale-faced man and woman exchanged glances as they spoke. Different sexes, yet they looked almost like twins—long hair hanging down, lifeless eyes. Their monochrome presence was closer to human than any vampire Se-gun had met, yet in another sense more purely vampiric. Instinct screamed danger; he drew the Tokarev.
“Oh my! Pulling out something so dangerous.”
“Hey. South Korea has gun control, you know. Put away that obvious illegal—”
The vampires chattered as they closed in. In that same instant Se-gun’s muzzle spat fire. And with it, full throttle! The RX-125, bucking like a mad horse, kicked its front wheel off the stone wall of the slope and slammed straight down onto the female vampire’s face.
“Oh my! What do you think you’re doing to a lady?”
Yet she caught the front wheel with astonishing strength and stopped the motorcycle cold. Still clinging to the bike, Se-gun pressed the Tokarev to her head.
“Drop dead, lady.”