Don't Fall for Me
It would have been nice if the enthusiasm he'd started with had held — but Seo Rin's body always shattered completely before they could even finish a second round, and the sparring would grind to a halt.
This time, a single perfectly placed strike had wrecked him so thoroughly that the first round was already over.
Se-gun waited for Seo Rin to regenerate and threw himself into his meal with grim determination.
"…Ah, damn it. Ever since the training menu changed, twelve thousand calories a day isn't nearly enough. Do I have to push it to fifteen?"
Considering how relatively undernourished he'd been for the amount he burned — his body steadily thinning no matter what — ramping up the intake drastically shouldn't be a problem. His physical ability already far outstripped an ordinary human's, and with regeneration layered on top of that, his basal metabolic rate was sky-high. On top of which he had to replace whatever he lost whenever he healed.
The real question was whether Se-gun's stomach could keep up with that much food. Even with his metabolism running hot, digestion, excretion, and detoxification were grueling work. A normal vampire or lycanthrope wouldn't have had to worry — but for Se-gun, already carrying so many burdens, simply eating a lot was an ordeal.
Then Seo Rin stood up. The lower jaw Se-gun had shattered was already whole. Fractures of that sort regenerated in an instant for him.
And in Seo Rin's case, regenerative loss was almost nonexistent. Vampires reabsorbed their own blood to cut down on that loss — but Seo Rin went a step further. It was as if he were drawing nutrients straight out of the air, or running some kind of carbon-nitrogen assimilation the way a bean plant might.
"…Is it just me, or has his regen gotten even faster?"
Se-gun tilted his head, staring at Seo Rin, who was already back on his feet. A shattered jawbone was the kind of injury that would have a human rushed to a hospital on the spot. Even with surgery it was a major operation that took hours, and depending on the case, you were lucky if it simply knit at all.
And against Se-gun, it was always the worst-case scenario. He had refined his fighting style through endless research for one purpose: to inflict maximum functional impairment on regenerating enemies. External destruction of the body came first. And yet Seo Rin regenerated even injuries that severe in a heartbeat. Se-gun's bewilderment was only natural.
"W-was it?"
Seo Rin rose, rubbing his jaw. His abilities seemed to have climbed another notch ever since the day he'd met the Jinma Argon and fought a vampire under his own power.
If it's this bad on a normal day, what happens when the full moon rises? The thought worried him — he would only become more of a monster. But the moment he faced Se-gun, every one of those anxieties blew away.
Just now a left counter had connected flush and shattered his lower jaw in a single blow. No matter how much of a monster Seo Rin became, to Se-gun he was still a one-hit job, wasn't he?
"Hyung, how are you even that strong? You're not a vampire and you're not human."
He had never dared ask before — he'd been too afraid. Now it felt like a question he could risk. Se-gun, who seemed to grow more motivated the more he taught Seo Rin, answered the doubt with surprising honesty.
"First off, my condition… I'm forcibly blocking the vampire transformation with a drug. My bone marrow's contaminated. Whenever it produces vampiric factors, the drug-synthesis units injected into that same marrow process them into Psychedelic Moon. Thanks to that, I'm basically in a permanent state of Psychedelic Moon addiction."
An ordinary person would never have survived it. Living in a constant state of narcotic dependence was not a situation you walked away from. Se-gun kept his consciousness intact even so.
"The physical ability's one thing — but people say the mind that can endure that kind of drug addiction is even more impressive. For me it's just a good thing. Means I can kill that many more vampires. Yeah. That's the whole story."
His body was falling apart, his soul held as collateral, the whole balance teetering on thin ice — and he spoke of it as if it were someone else's problem. That cold detachment drew a sigh out of Seo Rin before he could stop it. Why was this man so hell-bent on destroying himself?
"I see. So getting wrecked by you is just inevitable, then."
Seo Rin immediately began rationalizing. Se-gun raised his fist again.
"And there it is. Unbelievable."
He couldn't quite bring himself to throw the punch. Hitting a kid whose jaw had just been broken and regenerated would throw the training schedule off. He clenched his teeth.
"It's entirely the result of your own inadequacy. You're a child of Lilith. Show me something."
"…You didn't have to go straight to inadequacy. Anyway, that chocolate bar you always eat…"
Seo Rin changed the subject at once. Se-gun wasn't fooled for a second, but he let himself be led.
"It's a protein bar."
"It's got protein in it? Weird. More expensive than a regular chocolate bar, right?"
He asked because he'd once bought ordinary chocolate bars and gotten an earful from Se-gun for it.
"They're decent enough… and I need a lot of protein either way."
"Supplements aren't enough?"
"You have to take them often. Eat a huge amount at once and it doesn't all absorb anyway. I'm not a cow chewing its cud. If you're going to manage nutrition and recovery while watching carb loading and insulin response, the quality of the food and its nutrient profile matter — and so does how conveniently you can eat it."
"You keep track of all that?"
Seo Rin stared at him, floored. Seo Rin was the one who bought the groceries and did the cooking; matching all of that to some calculation had to be exhausting. Se-gun just nodded as if it were nothing.
"Of course. Building muscle is about training, nutrition, and rest. If you want to be a vampire hunter, you have to care about that even more. You need every scrap of performance you can get out of your body."
"So that's how you end up jacked. Not just to pick up girls?"
Se-gun's eyes turned murderous.
"I really hate that word. It's annoying. Shut up."
"…Hahaha. Anyway, then you could just eat regular chocolate bars."
"I eat them thinking they're better than regular chocolate bars. Eating a lot of protein does put a load on the liver as a side effect, but mine's solid. Want to try one?"
Come to think of it, Seo Rin needed protein too. Whenever he got into a brawl, body composition, size, and muscle mass all mattered — so training and growing the body was never a loss.
"I've tried them. Nothing special. You sure they're not just padding the ingredient list and jacking up the price?"
"…You're thorough in the strangest places."
Se-gun had never met anyone who suspected the nutrition labels on instant food and candy. He looked at Seo Rin with genuine surprise. If only the kid were that meticulous about everything else. Seo Rin just grinned and raked a hand through his hair, clearly pleased with himself.
"Hahaha. I'm pretty thorough, yeah."
"If you're done regenerating, get up, Thorough Seo Rin. Next item on the schedule."
Se-gun hauled him to his feet. Then Se-gun's phone rang. The phone almost never rang unless it was Kim Seong-hui from Arjuna or the information network — and the same handset doubled as a short-range detonator remote for his homemade bombs. A call at this hour was hard to believe.
"…Yes. This is the phone's owner."
Seo Rin snorted at the way Se-gun answered. This is the phone's owner? How many people in the world picked up like that? Se-gun shot him a look that said shut up.
"Hello, Mr. Han Se-gun? You're a member of Weapon.com, correct? I'm calling to let you know about a very special service we've prepared just for our valued memb—"
The second the pitch started, Se-gun hung up and checked the caller ID. Of course it was a blocked number.
"…This bastard."
A wanted man like Se-gun would never have registered for any site under his real name. He had already scrubbed his records and layered on every precaution he could. The phone he was holding was a prepaid burner registered under some credit-delinquent stranger's name.
"Weapon.com, huh. That address is already taken somewhere else."
Muttering to himself, he immediately set about tracing the call. In the worst case he could have the phone company dig from the inside through employees he'd already hypnotized in advance.
Se-gun had assaulted and hypnotized several people in various public utilities and cut them loose as sleeper assets — the kind of thorough preparation that made him fast in a situation like this.
But the second call came even faster than he could move.
"Hello?"
This time a man burst out laughing on the other end.
"Hahaha! Se-gun, why so serious? It's me, Sa Jun. Got you pretty good just now, didn't I?"
"Did your brother wave at you from across the river in a dream last night? Because the way you're clowning around, it sure looks like it."
Se-gun asked it flat, deadpan. The tone said I'll send you across the Jordan myself, and Sa Jun recoiled.
"Whoa. I just wanted to lighten the mood, so I found a lady and had her do the talking. A woman's voice is softer, right? Nicely? If you say no, I'm going to assume you're gay."
"Shut up. What do you want?"
Se-gun found Sa Jun repulsive. Having killed Sa Jun's brother Sa Hyuk, he should by all rights have been the man's mortal enemy. And yet Sa Jun kept sidling up with that shameless grin, and Se-gun could not look kindly on it.
Even if the brothers had hated each other and been as good as strangers — even if neither would have shed a tear if the other died at anyone's hands — that still didn't mean Sa Jun needed to seek Se-gun out on purpose. There had to be an angle.
Sa Jun stayed shameless even under that reception.
"Cold. Heartless. Anyway, I've got important information."
"Calling out of nowhere is weird. You could've just mailed it."
"It's time-sensitive. Last mail I sent you sat unread for ages."
If it was time-sensitive, he shouldn't have opened with a prank call. But pressing further would only get Se-gun an earful of nonsense, so he kept it short.
"I had my reasons."
"Reasons, huh. So you really went toe-to-toe with Argon? Who won?"
He asked it the way someone might ask who'd won last night's soccer match. The fact that he already knew Se-gun had fought Argon was irritating in itself, even for a man who moonlighted as an information broker.
"…Go ask Sa Hyuk in the next world. I've got no reason to tell you. Just get to the point."
"Hmm. Information's give-and-take, you know. You're being pretty one-sided."
A full minute of the call had already slipped by. Se-gun's speech was bullet-fast; Sa Jun was deliberately slow, dragging every word as if he meant to torment him. Se-gun sighed and put a threat into the receiver.
"The way you're stalling, this doesn't sound important. Mind if I hang up? You're getting on my nerves."
"…Unbelievable. I don't usually have to beg anyone like this. You're really full of yourself. Haughty's cute on a beauty, but isn't this a bit much?"
"Don't fall for me."
Se-gun said it dead straight. On the other end of the line, Sa Jun exploded with laughter.
"Hahaha! Fine, fine — we do need to talk. So. That kid who was being held by Giovanni Vantero? For whatever reason, he's been released. Problem is… the man and woman who were locked up with him reported him, so if he goes home he's headed straight for the police station. He's a key witness in those kids' deaths, after all."
Meaning Choi Hyuk-jin had either escaped or been deliberately set free. Se-gun's gut clenched and he looked at Seo Rin. With hearing that sharp, there was no chance the boy had missed a call like this. The second he learned Hyuk-jin was free, the idiot would insist on going to see his friend without a second thought — and that would be a real headache.
"Hmph. Good for him. The police lockups and prisons built on taxpayer money will keep him safe. We're done here."
"Hmm. You're just going to leave him?"
"Of course. If there's even a tracker on him, Seo Rin making contact is a bad idea. I'm hanging up. The cell towers around here have a high chance of being tapped."
Se-gun cut the call. Seo Rin was staring at him, eyes wide.
"Hyung…"
"You heard."
"Yeah. Every word."
"Then I don't have to spell it out. Don't go near him just because your friend's wanted by the police. Even if he ends up eating prison rice for a while, staying alive is better. Either put him under hypnosis the way I do, or…"
As Se-gun explained, Seo Rin nodded.
"Got it. I'll be careful not to fall for you, hyung."
"…Th-that's…"
Having said it himself, Se-gun seemed to feel the embarrassment catch up. He had a habit of tossing out strange jokes without thinking and then getting thoroughly flustered when someone teased him for them.
"H-he started it. He was trying to mess with me with that weird crap. You know I hate losing at that kind of thing."
Oh. Se-gun was actually stammering. Seo Rin kept his face perfectly straight.
"Hyung. Anyway, if Hyuk-jin's in that situation…"
"What?"
"I should be careful not to let Hyuk-jin fall for me, right?"
Got him.
This time he'd walked straight into it.
"Haa. Wonder if this blade's still sharp. Dog Days already passed, but maybe I'll catch a wolf instead of a dog. Come on. Transform. Right now."
Se-gun drew a military combat knife and checked the edge. As threats went it was childish — but pointing that out here might get him actually murdered. Everything up to now had been play. One more step and his life would be on the line.
Come to think of it, Seo Rin was the kind of person who risked his life even on jokes. Truly the most dangerous habit imaginable. If Se-gun ever actually lost his temper and killed him, it would make international headlines. Or rather — Se-gun would quietly dispose of the body, so there would be no headlines and no body. Seo Rin put on a serious face and pushed back.
"Anyway, looked at the other way, isn't this a perfect chance to draw Giovanni's people out?"
"You little—"
What are you changing the subject for? Se-gun wanted to say it, but he wasn't in a position to press this particular point. Who wanted to keep arguing about a mistake that was being dug open right in front of him? While he hesitated, Seo Rin spoke again.
"If you want to wipe out the vampires, shouldn't we take out Giovanni of the Tetra Anax first? This is a good chance. Looking at it the other way."
"It is. But the reason we can't is that you're not reliable enough."
Se-gun slid the combat knife back into its sheath. And with that — with Se-gun declaring he would leave Choi Hyuk-jin to live or die as long as it protected Seo Rin — Seo Rin faltered.
"That's overprotective. If you keep this up, I…"