A Date with Maria
Argon snorted at that.
"Is that so? Poor Maria. Is 'little sister' as far as it goes for her?"
"Huh?"
"Nah, never mind. We should get going ourselves."
He pinched Rat's ear and hauled him along while Rat was stuffing a tea cake into his mouth in one go. Seo Rin suddenly wondered where they were headed next and asked.
"Are you leaving Korea now?"
"Yeah. We don't have much time left here. Truth is, Seo Rin does have his merits, but Han Se-gun is way too hard-line. That idiot baits a hook, casts it into the river, then starts blasting music on a boombox — what's he thinking? Who'd be dumb enough to go for bait like that?"
Even a powerful vampire like the Jinma Argon said so. Clear water holds no fish, was that it? With Han Se-gun so rigid and stubborn, eyes blazing, no ordinary vampire was going to flock to Seo Rin.
"I guess you're right."
"Plus there aren't many vampires left in Korea now. At this point it's basically extermination. Most of the ones still around have no interest in attacking or taking the bait. Maria's burning with revenge, though…"
"About Maria…"
Seo Rin suddenly felt worried. Thinking about it, there was someone who might challenge Han Se-gun even in a situation this dangerous. Maria, who believed her sister had been murdered by Han Se-gun and burned with the desire for revenge, was exactly that.
"How should I talk her down? If she goes after Se-gun hyung, it'll be dangerous."
"That's for you to figure out, Seo Rin. In this case, anything you say will land a lot better than anything from me."
Argon said so and suddenly held out his hand toward Seo Rin. Startled, Seo Rin tried to pull back, but Argon pressed a finger lightly against the bridge of Seo Rin's nose and said:
"Got it, Mr. Popular?"
"Ah—right?"
Whether he meant it or not, the idea that Maria would listen well to him… Seo Rin felt oddly pleased. Until moments ago he'd been in the absolute worst mood over Hyuk-jin, and yet something this trivial was enough to lift his spirits — he felt pathetic. Still, the fact remained that his mood had improved considerably. These vampires, for all that they were vampires, were so cheerful and entertaining that simply chatting and drinking tea with them had driven away much of the gloom.
"Alright, let's go. Thanks for the tea. Next time, whatever happens, don't sit out on the street in the rain."
"Ah, yes."
Seo Rin saw Argon off as he rose first from his seat.
The rain was gradually letting up. That downpour earlier must have been a summer shower after all. Seo Rin returned to the meeting place and sat again on the wet flower bed. Before long, a luxurious foreign sedan glided into the mouth of the alley. The door opened, and a blonde girl in a black pleated skirt stepped out.
"Seo Rin? What happened to you? You look a mess."
She stared at the thoroughly rain-soaked Seo Rin in shock. Seo Rin raised a hand in reply.
"Ah, it started raining all of a sudden."
"Oh dear. Didn't you check the weather?"
Maria put on a stern face and took out a handkerchief to wipe Seo Rin's hair and cheeks. At this point a single handkerchief wasn't going to do much, but Seo Rin let her do as she pleased.
"Ah, it's fine. I dried off a bit at the tea house. And you know I don't catch colds or anything."
"Even so, this is a date with a lady. What are you doing showing up soaked to the bone?"
When Maria pouted, Seo Rin burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Is that what this is? I see!"
"Is that what this is? I see"? Maria sighed. Passersby kept glancing at the two of them. Seo Rin, sitting on the flower bed as if nothing were wrong while soaked through, already drew eyes — and then a luxury car pulled up and a little foreign girl who was hard to ignore came running out, so people actually stopped in their tracks. But once massive men in black sunglasses climbed out of the car, everyone started moving again.
"Anyway, what got into you that you suddenly called me out here?"
Maria looked straight into Seo Rin's eyes as she asked. In truth she already had a rough idea of what had happened, having heard the full story of Giovanni's attack from Argon. At first she'd worried Seo Rin might have become a wreck, but looking at him now, she was relieved. Darkness still lingered in his eyes, but even that seemed largely cleared. Seo Rin smiled at her and said:
"Well, I got some time off for the first time in a while."
"Time off?"
Even for Maria, who had lived a long life, the idea that a vampire hunter got vacation was news. Seo Rin continued.
"Some things put me in a bad mood, and I suddenly wanted to see you."
"When you're in a bad mood, you want to see me?"
"Not like that. I just wanted to see you."
"Heehee."
It wasn't an unpleasant thing to hear. Hearing it from someone she was interested in could only make her feel good. Maria puffed up with pride looking at Seo Rin, then suddenly proposed:
"Still, first let's get you into some dry clothes."
"Huh? How?"
Change into what, where? Seo Rin looked at her in puzzlement. Then Maria said without hesitation:
"We'll buy some."
"Ah."
Even though he'd started making money, for Seo Rin with his penniless mentality drilled into his head, it was a radical idea he couldn't have imagined. Buy clothes just to change into them?
"Perfect. You've got a good frame for clothes, so you'll look fantastic for sure. Anything would suit you."
Maria was so excited she was practically bouncing. She'd clearly lived a long life and had plenty of experience, yet something like this still made her this happy? Seo Rin looked at her and asked back:
"R-really?"
"If you've decided, we should go right away. Are there any good clothing stores around here?"
"T-tons of them."
Korea was overflowing with clothing stores to begin with. And if they moved just a little from here, they'd be right at Dongdaemun.
"Great. Let's go."
"Uh… okay."
Seo Rin was pulled along by Maria and reluctantly climbed into the car. People's stares bothered him, but once he was inside they all looked away. When Maria sat beside him, the car glided out into the street.
"Actually, I ran into Argon a little while ago."
When Seo Rin brought it up, Maria was startled.
"Argon? Hmm, so that was it. Well? How was he? Don't tell me he was strutting around saying he'd saved you?"
"Huh? No. Not at all. He seemed like a good guy? Fun, too."
Calling a vampire a "good guy" — once the words were out, even Seo Rin found it odd. But Maria looked at him strangely at that.
"Don't tell me you like Argon, Seo Rin?"
"Wh—what do you mean by that?"
"I hear there are a lot of gays these days."
"No way. I'm one hundred percent into women."
Embarrassing as it was, Seo Rin cut that off cleanly. He'd been the one to say Argon was a good guy, but to take it that way — what was she thinking?
Maria grinned at his firm answer.
"I thought so. Good."
"Why?"
"No reason. Argon may not look it, but he's popular with guys."
If Argon himself heard that he'd leap up calling it a smear campaign, but as far as Maria knew it was pure fact.
"He's gay? H-he didn't seem like it."
"Of course not. Just saying."
Maria said so and patted her knees. Seo Rin snorted a laugh at that. Man, just like with Han Se-gun, Argon had material to tease him with for ages. If they ever got closer, he'd have to use it often. With that thought, Seo Rin filed the fact away in his mind.
"So, something happen?"
Maria probed carefully. She must have read his gloomy atmosphere. After all, Seo Rin himself could physiologically read others' moods from heartbeat, scent, the state of the blood vessels in their eyes — there was no reason Maria couldn't do the same.
"Well…"
Seo Rin told her everything that had happened. How he'd accidentally killed Hyuk-jin, how he'd wandered because of it, how he'd gotten time off from Se-gun today and been wandering around — he explained it all carefully, one thing after another. Maria listened intently.
"Your first kill."
"…Yeah. First kill. That's right."
"It's natural to be shaken by that. But… I agree with everyone else. You can't die to atone for it. And it's not like there's some other path to atonement either."
Maria's stance was clear too. Once you'd stepped into the world of the mad moon, killing others was something they'd steeled themselves for a hundred times over. She understood suffering because the victim had been a friend, but collapsing under that suffering was not acceptable. Seo Rin nodded, thinking that Maria was truly a resident of this night world as well.
"I guess so."
"If you've committed a sin and it hurts, that just means you still have a human heart. If it really hurts that much, how about supporting his family? Taking responsibility that way might be self-deception, but it'd be of real help to them, wouldn't it?"
It was an incredibly appealing suggestion. Binding himself with some duty as a substitute for atonement. Yes, it was appealing. But Seo Rin thought it over coldly and shook his head.
"I don't think it's a problem money can solve. Besides, that Cheol-jin hyung is at the police academy — once he graduates he'll be a high-ranking civil servant on the rise. How am I supposed to support them when I make money catching vampires and turning them into drugs? And I don't even know when I might die. Still… yeah, I should be good to them."
"Right. And after some time passes, you could use magic or something to let them know in a dream. Telling them their son is dead is sad no matter how you do it, but if the living don't accept death, they can't go on living. People cling to that kind of thing even in the twentieth, twenty-first century. They're all romantics, you know? What could be clearer and more definitive than their son appearing in a dream, telling his parents of his death, and vanishing?"
Come to think of it, these people already had the power to manipulate memories. Sending a dream to someone asleep was far easier by comparison. In a way it was a technique for toying with people, but the intention was clearly rooted in goodwill. How long a parent's heart would keep waiting for their child was anyone's guess, but he didn't want to leave Hyuk-jin's parents suffering indefinitely either — it was worth considering.
"So there's a way like that. Thanks. That helps a lot."
"Ahem. This body is a Jinma. Of course. However young I may look, I'm far more used to these things than you are, Seo Rin."
"…I see."
Seo Rin nodded in agreement. That only made Maria more full of herself. Before long they pulled into the parking lot of a large shopping mall. Maria and Seo Rin got out of the car, left the bodyguards behind, and walked into the mall entrance.
Inside it was lit bright as day and thronged with customers. Even on a weekday evening, this place was always packed.
"Whoa. Lots of people."
"If there weren't, this place would go under."
Seo Rin said so and started toward the floor selling men's clothing. Formal wear wasn't really his style, so he headed for casuals — but Maria grabbed his arm and pulled.
"Ah! Seo Rin! Try that on. I think it'd look good on you."
"Huh?"
Seo Rin was half-forcibly dragged into a fitting room by Maria. Since he'd meant to change out of his wet clothes anyway, he tried them on. A modest checkered shirt and wide-legged pants with some incomprehensible straps attached at the knees. Seo Rin suddenly took hold of the two straps and muttered:
"What are these?"
When he muttered and walked out, Maria approached him carrying clothes the clerk was recommending. She seemed to want to hold them up against him and gauge the fit, but they didn't even reach his shoulders.
"I'll do it. How about this one?"
When the clerk held the clothes against Seo Rin's body, Maria looked satisfied.
"Mm, that suits him really well too. We'll take that as well."
"H-hey, Maria. Aren't you buying too much? It's not like I have no clothes."
"Whatever. It's fine."
Maria just chattered on, excited. She was enjoying herself so much he couldn't really refuse, and it wasn't as if Maria would be short of money. Thinking that, Seo Rin let himself be dragged around by her. A short while later a large shopping bag hung from his hand. Thank goodness they were all summer clothes — if it had been fall or winter, he wouldn't have had enough hands.
Feeling he couldn't let this go on, Seo Rin suddenly proposed to Maria:
"Then how about you pick something out too?"
"Huh?"
"I'd like to buy you at least one outfit as a gift."
He was getting paid by Han Se-gun, so one set of clothes as a gift should be fine. Buying a gift for a vampire with money made from selling vampire blood. No matter how he looked at it, this was insane. Besides, he'd never even bought clothes as a gift for his own little sister… if Yeong-eun found out, she'd be furious.
"Ah…"
Maria flushed and looked delighted. The look was so cute Seo Rin nearly lost his mind. Thanks to that, the wild buying of clothes for him stopped. An effective attack after all. Admiring his own quick thinking and wit, Seo Rin led Maria this time toward the women's clothing section.
As expected, dresses of the kind Maria usually wore suited her. What could possibly suit a refined, mysterious-looking little girl better? Thinking that, Seo Rin spotted a mini dress on display in the shop and stopped.