Life Isn't as Precious as You Think
March was nearly over, and still winter showed no sign of ending. Someone once said that Korea was no longer a country of four distinct seasons. He wanted to agree a hundred times over. But that was as far as the thought went.
"So... I..."
The boy found himself at a loss for words. What was he supposed to say? His heart hammered so hard he could barely force anything out. Honestly, he was scared, and cold. March had arrived and school had reopened, but the wind was still pure winter. Was this even spring? A bitter gale that belonged in the dead of winter made his body shrink and stole his courage. Yeah. It was because of the cold.
Wheeeng.
But the eyes fixed on him urged him forward. Sadistic eyes waiting for a fallen hero's collapse. Yeah. Once he fell, the mockery would begin. That meant being left behind, and a life left behind had no value. Stamp a loser’s brand on someone and they never climbed back onto the winners’ stage again.
The path had been decided from the moment he stepped onto this stage. The boy threw himself backward.
Wheeeeeeng.
It did not take long for the city’s pitch-black dark to swallow him whole.
Han Se-gun sat in Arjuna staring at a three-pronged vajra. The bronze piece had a light bloom of verdigris that made it look almost convincing. But he already knew it was a fake — the owner had told him so in advance.
"What’s wrong? Something on your mind?"
Lee Jin-hye set a warm cup of black tea on the table and, as if the disorder itself offended her, neatly rearranged everything on the surface. Se-gun looked at her and sighed again.
"It’s not the kind of thing you tell other people."
"Why? Did you fight with your girlfriend or something?"
"......"
Se-gun gave Lee Jin-hye a look of pure pity. His eyes said, Must be nice, having that easy a life.
"Wh-what is that look? You’re making fun of me right now, aren’t you?"
"No, it’s more that..."
The door opened just then and Deok-yeon walked in, cutting the conversation short. The instant Se-gun saw him, his face lit up and he rushed over.
"Ah, Se-gun."
Thud!
Se-gun’s left uppercut cracked beautifully into Deok-yeon’s chin. Even Deok-yeon did not have a jaw of nickel-titanium alloy, so folding from a single punch was only natural.
"Gah. What the hell are you doing, you bastard?"
"Oh? You sell a man out and then talk big? Let’s discuss this particular matter quietly, shall we?"
"You hit me and then tell me to be quiet?"
"Heh."
Se-gun snorted and threw another punch. The assault was sharp enough that Deok-yeon had to give ground. Se-gun was still at the age where he could fly around the place, and even though Deok-yeon had trained him, those fists were vicious. Getting beaten down by this kid would be pure humiliation.
"Stop, stop. Fine, fine. There are other people here — let’s call it."
Se-gun quit attacking, though his eyes stayed full of distrust. Swinging fists when everyone was watching was clearly the wrong move. Even if the owner had no intention of calling the police, a vampire hunter had no business drawing attention so easily.
Besides, after the last mess he had caused, the cops were already going crazy with biker crackdowns and the like. So Se-gun had carefully unfolded his folded-up license plate again and made a point of wearing his helmet properly. Only the poor, unrelated bikers got snagged by the police.
"How about we sit down and talk?"
Se-gun headed for a table by the window. Deok-yeon sat across from him and pulled an envelope from inside his coat first thing.
"Take it. Your bounty money."
"Sarhyuk paid this? Heh. Pretty decent amount."
Se-gun counted the cash and pocketed it in a flash. At that age he ought still to have been an unspoiled college freshman, but watching him act like this made it clear Se-gun was thoroughly going to seed. Not that Deok-yeon had any reason to care about Se-gun’s character — but seeing him snatch the money up so greedily left a bitter taste all the same.
"Damn, look at this kid chasing cash. They say a thief who learns late doesn’t know when to stop for the night."
"If other people heard that, they’d think I was an actual thief."
Se-gun grumbled as he stuffed the money into his coat.
"What’s Sarhyuk up to?"
"That crazy bastard? No idea. He’s holed up somewhere."
But maybe that was for the best. Could Deok-yeon and Se-gun together even beat that monster? They’d be lucky just not to die. If a creature like that decided on revenge, there would be no plan for it.
"The cops are on high alert. Moving around right now would be a disaster. He is the worst of the worst, after all."
"By the way — what are you going to do about the military?"
"......"
Se-gun lost his words. Military service was something most Korean men went through, and vampire hunters were no exception. Only now registering the problem, Se-gun broke into a cold sweat and shot back,
"...Come to think of it, my physical was in May, wasn’t it? Well, I’m an orphan with no parents, so it should be fine, right?"
"You think Korea is a joke? Orphans get drafted even harder. You need dependents. What, did you knock some girl up?"
"......"
Embarrassment washed over Se-gun’s face. Not many Korean men actually wanted to serve, which was why military-related corruption never stopped. And Se-gun, already outside the law’s leash, was hardly about to turn into a patriotic youth and enlist — especially not with a body soaked through with Psychedelic Moon.
Psychedelic Moon was different from other drugs; its existence had never been revealed to society. Because it was so tightly bound to vampires, Tetra Anax was fighting tooth and nail to keep it from going public.
"Isn’t there some way I don’t have to go..."
Smack!
As if he’d been waiting for it, Deok-yeon cracked Se-gun over the head with his fist.
"Kids these days, always trying to dodge the draft. Just suck it up and go. What are you, a National Assembly member?"
"That doesn’t even make sense. I’ve already broken every law there is, and now you’re talking about the military, and besides..."
"Shh. Your voice is too loud."
Deok-yeon quieted him and let out a sigh.
"So how do you plan to get out of it? Got some high-powered relative?"
"Of course not."
Se-gun shrugged. But thinking about it, it really was a massive problem. The physical was coming up, and if he simply got dragged in, starting with the arsenal of firearms stockpiled at home, the headaches piled up like a mountain. And for all the excuses he kept making, the truth was he just didn’t want to go. A lunatic who danced on a knife’s edge high on drugs adapting well to military life would be the strange thing.
"I just don’t get kids these days. They chop their fingers off to dodge the draft, or jump off rooftops because school is hard."
"Huh?"
In that moment Se-gun felt something wrong and stood up from his seat.
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
A scream like tearing fabric ripped through the night air. For it to carry even into the well-soundproofed Arjuna, it had to be deafening. Se-gun kicked the door open at once and ran outside.
On the far side of the small park facing Arjuna... a human silhouette had fallen.
"A jump suicide?"
Se-gun muttered, unable to hide his dismay. If someone jumped, the police would come. Neither he nor Deok-yeon were wanted men, but dealing with cops was still awkward at best.
"Kyaaak!"
Because the body had dropped straight onto her from above, one woman was crawling along covered in blood. She might have been pretty originally, but with a corpse landing on her out of the sky, her looks weren’t doing her any favors.
"Where?"
Se-gun checked the rooftop. Maybe someone had staged a murder as suicide by shoving them. But there seemed to be no one up there. No matter how you spun it, this was a clear suicide.
"Damn it. If you’re going to die, take pills in your own room. Why jump into the street..."
Se-gun propped up the staggering, half-conscious woman and glanced at the corpse. It was the body of a boy who looked as if he’d just entered high school, in a uniform that didn’t quite suit him yet. The oversized uniform relative to his frame — he’d never have the chance to grow into it now. Brain matter ran from his shattered skull; the ground was a mix of filth and blood.
There was no clothing in this world that would suit a human in that condition.
"Crazy bastard."
Se-gun felt as if a cold gun barrel were leveled at him and stepped back. By then other onlookers had crowded in, all staring at the scene. The corpse was nauseating by any measure, yet people kept pressing closer as if testing their own stomachs.
"I-is this one of those chain suicides?"
"Right? Crazy bastards. Kids these days, I swear!"
People’s reactions ran more toward disgust and contempt than sympathy. Such raw feeling didn’t usually come so easily in front of a suicide. But the chain of suicides sweeping Seoul had been branded “crazy” by the media.
Not many people would spare sympathy for one of those crazy bastards jumping off a building and ending his sacred life.
"......"
Se-gun looked down at the corpse without a word. As someone who had occasionally pressed a pistol’s cold barrel to his temple for the sheer coolness of it, he had no intention of condemning a suicide. The idea that death ends everything is sweeter to someone living in agony than any afterlife a religion might promise.
But Korean society, staking the sanctity of life, does not recognize suicide. Whether this society actually respects human life is another question — but it is strict about suicide.
"Damn it."
A cold wind blew, as if spring still hadn’t arrived.
Sarhyuk put a cigarette between his lips and snapped his fingers. Without a lighter, the tip caught fire.
Huuuuuuh.
He drew a deep breath and the cigarette slowly burned down. The lung capacity was unbelievable for any human smoking.
"Hwaaaaaah."
Pure white smoke streamed slowly from his nose and mouth. Sarhyuk set the cigarette — burned almost to the filter from a single draw — into the ashtray.
"Yeah. This is how you smoke a cigarette."
Then the door opened and a young man stepped in. The fairly young-looking man was smiling cheerfully.
"Boss. Confirmed the deposit. Those guys really are a solid client. No processing needed, so it’s convenient."
"Well... but we can’t deal with them too many times. If word gets out, they’d be in trouble too. My worry is they’ll try to kill us to shut our mouths."
Sarhyuk grinned and leaned back in his chair. For all his words, he looked inwardly satisfied. Having snagged a pile of vampires as pure windfall, it was free money.
"We’ve recovered the money we burned coming to Korea. No problems until we lock down a drug route."
Sarhyuk stretched.
"Since we’ve got a little free time, shall we head out?"
"Boss. Be careful. The hunters put a bounty on your head."
"How am I supposed to do this business if I sweat every little thing like that?"
"You still need to be careful."
The subordinate spoke cautiously, but Sarhyuk let it go in one ear and out the other. He slipped on his bulletproof coat, still showing signs of repair, and grinned.
"Careful for what? Listen. Life isn’t as precious as you think."