Sea's Special Seonji Haejangguk

I didn't recognize the ceiling above me.

And beside me was the girl who'd been drinking my blood just yesterday. She was staring down at her phone, absorbed in something.

Come to think of it…

So I did pass out, huh.

She'd bitten into my neck, but there hadn't been any pain. It was a different feeling from a blood donation — a slow, drawing sensation, the kind that could get addictive if it kept up.

Is it morning already?

I propped myself up to get out of bed, and the moment she saw me move, she blurted out:

"I-I'm so sorry!!"

Was it because of yesterday?

More importantly…

Status window!

So she had been healed, thankfully. More importantly — was I supposed to claim this reward right now?

It wouldn't tell me what the reward was, so there was no telling what might pop out.

Ugh, fine…!

I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed Claim.

Ding—.

Another EX-grade skill, and yet I felt no joy whatsoever.

"…"

The reward for a quest I'd risked my life to clear was… the ability to change my blood's flavor to whatever I wanted.

My face must have been twisting into a scowl, because—

"H-hiik!"

a sound came from beside me.

"Ah."

I looked over, and the girl was taking off her clothes.

"Wh-why are you—why are you doing that…!"

When I stammered in a panic, she teared up and answered:

"You did a full dogeza and got no reaction at all, and your expression looked so grim… *sob*, I thought I had to apologize with my bare body… hiik."

Was I that focused on the status window?

Once she'd hastily put her clothes back on, she introduced herself.

"Please, just call me Remia…"

An S-rank hunter?

I looked from the card up to Remia, and the two simply didn't match. She looked nothing like someone powerful — just a frail, delicate girl.

Though she did seem taller than me.

"Thank you so much for saving me…! I almost died."

Almost died?

An S-rank hunter?

For now, I introduced myself.

"I'm Lee Sea."

Remia turned my name over in her mouth, lost in thought.

"So anyway, why were you lying on that bench yesterday?"

Startled by my question, she rushed to answer and bit her tongue instead.

"Um… hwaeg?!"

Ouch, that had to hurt…

Her ears turned red, and she fidgeted, at a complete loss — until finally she spoke.

"The truth is… I'm a vampire…"

Huh?

She wasn't an elf?

A vampire — wasn't that a monster?

When I stared at her strangely, Remia hung her head deep and murmured, barely audibly:

"Wh-when I awakened, my body had… changed into this…"

Remia told me she'd been an ordinary high school girl. But one day she awakened, and because her appearance had changed, she dropped out of school and started working as a hunter.

But still — S-rank…

Which meant that of the five S-rank awakeners in South Korea, four were active in the public eye —

and one, people said, lived in hiding.

She had the air of a hidden master — no name ever released, nobody even knowing what ability she used.

And that hidden master turned out to be a shut-in vampire…

"Hiik!"

The moment her eyes met mine, Remia bolted behind the curtain.

"Anyway, what did you mean when you said you almost died?"

At my question, Remia peeked her face out from behind the curtain.

"Th-that is… I receive blood supplies from the government…"

At some point, the blood the state had promised her had simply stopped coming. Unable to bring herself to feed on a human, Remia had held out and held out, until hunger finally drove her outside.

She said she'd been wrestling with herself, and the instant she saw me, the thread of her reason ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠snapped — and she drank my blood.

"I am so, so sorry!"

When I told her it was fine, her eyes lit up and sparkled.

Well, I do have things I need from her too…

"Sob… hk."

"Ugh..k… uk… hhh…"

I was thrown off. She just suddenly burst into tears.

"Th-thank you… hk. I was so scared someone would report me…! hk."

Reported, huh. Had she been spending way too much time on the forums?

But she was crying so mournfully that I couldn't bring myself to say a word.

Once she'd calmed down—

"Um, Benefactor…"

Benefactor? Was she talking about me?

While I was still puzzling over it, she quickly added an explanation — I'd saved her life, so that made me her benefactor.

Remia asked what my ability was. I hesitated over whether to tell her —

But she is an S-rank hunter, after all…

— and told Remia the truth.

"R-really? An EX grade?"

"You believe me?"

She said she'd believe anything that came out of my mouth. She trusted me immensely.

"And your blood can restore stamina too…! No wonder it tasted so delicious!"

Zzt—.

Something told me that was not a compliment.

When I glared at her, the puppy wagging its tail a second ago had her head bowed all the way down.

"Well then, I should get going."

At my words, Remia's head shot up in alarm.

"Huh…? Already?"

She asked me to stay for lunch, but when I asked what lunch was —

she showed me two blood packs she'd apparently drawn from me while I slept, pulled straight from the fridge.

She drank all that AND still drew extra to store?!

Seriously, I need to report her to the police—

As I watched her, Remia grew more and more restless — then, declaring her repentance, slammed her forehead to the floor.

I tried to raise her back up, but—

Hiik—!

Remia trembled and covered her face.

"Please don't report me, I'll never drink blood again, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorryyy."

I kept telling her it was okay, and little by little she calmed down.

*Sigh*…

Now I understood why I still felt dizzy. I could have gotten angry, but knowing her circumstances, I decided to let it slide — just this once.

As I was heading out the door, Remia caught my arm in the entryway and threw a tantrum, begging me to hang out more.

"Can't you stay? Let's just live together forever, right here. Benefactor…!"

I barely managed to wriggle free, and only by handing over my contact info was I finally able to escape and head home.

…

"Haah… finally, home."

Without thinking, I opened up the Gallery—

One post in particular caught my eye.

.

.

.

A chill ran down my spine.

There's no way that's Remia…

I could have just gone straight to rest, but instead—

"Hmmmmm…"

—I stood glaring at the wall, locked in the greatest dilemma of my life.

"Augh!!"

THUD—.

Once again, I smashed my nose against it.

Then I began filling the bottles I'd set aside.

Did I hit it too hard…?

My nose throbbed, and the nosebleed showed no sign of stopping, just flowing and flowing. Only after I'd filled all three bottles did it finally begin to slow.

And there go all the bottles they gave me.

I picked one up.

"If I use this to make seonji haejangguk…"

First, I ordered a haejangguk — a Korean hangover soup — off the delivery app.

And as for the other two bottles…

Did I have to sell these too? I had about seventy thousand won left to my name, and I needed clothes, which meant I needed to make money.

I was mulling over what to do next when—

Ding-dong—.

The delivery arrived. I peeled open the plastic bag and stared down at the haejangguk, then dropped the clotted blood from the bottle into the soup and…

immediately had an existential crisis.

"Haah… damn it, what am I even doing…?"

There was no way I could put this in my mouth. At this rate I'd have wasted both my blood and my money.

Left with no choice, I texted Remia.

Was there some kind of emergency?

The thought had barely formed when—

ZZZRT—.

Space split open right beside me.

…?

"Benefactor, I'm here…!"

Out of the tear stepped Remia.

So this is what S-rank looks like…

And so Remia and I ended up having dinner together.

Remia had the seon…ji haejangguk I'd made, and I had the leftover tteokbokki. Remia took one bite and her eyes went wide and sparkly.

"Benefactor, this is SO good!!"

Remia asked why I wasn't eating something this delicious, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I couldn't bring myself to answer.

By the time she was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠scraping the bowl clean, she started fidgeting like she had something to say. When I told her to just spit it out—

"Um… th-that is, would you… maybe want to be my friend…?"

So that was it.

Having an S-rank hunter among my acquaintances couldn't hurt, so I readily accepted.

"Th-then… from now on I'll talk casually…"

With dinner finished, I sent Remia on her way once more. She said she wanted to sleep over at my place, but I refused so many times that she finally tucked her tail between her legs, opened a portal, and went home.

Maybe I should try out my new skill?

For freshness, I'd stored the blood in the fridge. Since I'd need to sell it eventually — time for a market survey, maybe?

.

.

.

Hmmm…

The responses were pretty ambiguous. I pulled the blood out of the fridge.

Maybe because I hadn't gotten it in fast enough, the blood had clotted slightly.

I took out a spoon, mashed up the clotted blood, and closed the lid again.

"Huh?"

Wait, this is totally Coco P*lm…

I used my skill on the bottle. Externally, nothing had changed.

"Should I try just one sip…?"

*Gulp*—.

Exactly the same. Even though it was late, I called Yuseul.

Riiiing—.

"Oh, Sea! What's up?"

I asked if we could meet tomorrow, and she told me to come by her workshop.

"Then I'll stop by tomorrow morning after breakfast."