Let's Live Together

After our tearful reunion, we spent a while trading stories about what had happened in the dungeon, and then I told her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the truth — that I was no longer human, that I had become a vampire bound to this dungeon with no way back. Sitting at the living room table, I made my proposal.

"Noona, would you... want to live here with me?"

"Okay."

"I figured... that'd be too hard to just — huh?"

"I said let's live together."

With those words, Han Gaeul pressed the message that had appeared on her status window.

Faced with her desperate longing to stay by my side, refusal never stood a chance.

"Take me, Gyeoul."

A single line surfaced on my status window.

"Noona? What is this..."

"Accept it."

"You're an A-Rank hunter though. Don't you have to go back?"

"Don't need any of that. All I need is you."

Then she added one more thing.

"Besides, you said you can't leave this place, right? Then live here. There's plenty of wildlife and plants outside the cave. You always said you wanted to try living in the countryside once, remember?"

"I... I mean, still, because of me..."

"Accept it."

"Yes ma'am."

Noona's chilling smile. She was clearly smiling, but it was a killer's smile — like a blade pressed against my throat — and so I accepted her as my vassal.

The moment I pressed accept, noona's body was engulfed in light, flooding the entire cave beyond the mansion with radiance.

"Mm... So, how do I look?"

"Hawawa..."

When the light faded, there stood my sister — now a vampire. Her eyes had turned crimson, her ears and canines were now pointed, and her hunter's uniform had transformed into an elegant formal suit.

Just then, another status window appeared before me.

Along with the achievement notification, a massive surge of Blood Qi flooded into my body in an instant, the enormous mana filling me with vitality.

I was still reeling from the torrent of Blood Qi when the status windows kept popping up one after another, dazzling my eyes.

I can't even tell what any of this says — please, just give me a summary!

The instant I thought it, the status window froze.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong, Gyeoul?"

Once all the commotion had died down, I filled my sister in on my stat changes.

"Fascinating... I knew status windows differed from one awakened person to another, but I've never heard of or seen one change this much."

"Really? Did you change a lot too, noona?"

"Me? My race went from Human to Vampire, and my class went from Swordsman to Vampire Duke."

The moment she finished speaking, a status window popped up in front of me.

"Hoeeek..."

"What's the matter?"

"Noona, you're insanely strong..."

"Well, I was an A-Rank hunter for a reason, you know!"

In the middle of our chat, a huge realization hit me.

"Oh, right! The shop!"

"Hm? Shop?"

"Yeah! There's a shop function on my status window. I was so nervous earlier that I never got a chance to look at it!"

"Why would you have a shop?"

"Huh?"

"So what you're telling me is, your status window can manage the dungeon, run a shop, AND take pictures? A real all-in-one, huh?"

"Er... yeah."

"Normal status windows only have skills and stats, you know. Nothing like that."

"Huh? Then why do I have one?"

"It's probably because you're a Pureblood. And this Demon God person or whatever also seems very interested in you."

That Demon God bastard — he's after my little sister?!

"Ah-ha! So that's how it is! Thanks for explaining, noona!"

I opened up the shop.

"Ha? What is this, some kind of Carrot Market?"

This seemed pretty different from the shop I'd imagined... but it still seemed like a genuinely great system. Probably.

"Noona, is there anything you need?"

"A sword would be nice, first of all. It disappeared along with my hunter uniform when I transformed earlier."

"Okay. Seir! How much for a sword?"

At this point why even list the first two — shouldn't the category just be the Long Sword? The thought flashed through my head, but I ignored it.

"Give me one Long Sword."

Along with the message, a sword materialized before me.

"Here you go, noona."

I handed her the sword. Even though it seemed to have quite a bit of heft to it, noona lifted it as casually as if she were twirling a stick.

"Thank you, Gyeoul."

Is the problem just... me being weak?

Anyway, my sister agreed that the shop was far better than expected and that leveling up was absolutely essential. And since the sun had already set and night had fallen, we decided to head out and hunt.

"Wait, why can't you go out in the morning? You'd think a Pureblood would have at least some resistance."

"W-well, actually, I tried going out once before, and the moment the sunlight touched me, all the strength drained out of my body... So I just waited until nightfall."

"That's a relief. At least you didn't burst into flames or anything."

We walked through the forest surrounding the cave, chatting away, while the skeletons I'd brought along followed us obediently, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠marking the trees as we went.

"Traveling with skeletons... that's pretty wild."

"Have you fought skeletons before, noona?"

"Of course. They're one of the most common monsters in F-Rank dungeons. Most hunters can handle them just fine."

"Whoa! Then if anyone other than you had come into the gate..."

Noona looked at me with her glowing crimson eyes and said,

"I'm the one who came, in the end. Someone like me could take on a B-Rank hunter party without breaking a sweat."

As we made our way through the forest, the cry of some animal rang out through the trees.

Kyaahng! Hing... hiii...

There, fallen into the grass, was a tiny baby bird.

"Hm? It's a little bird. Looks like it fell out of its nest."

At noona's words, I lifted the bird up into my hands.

"What an unusual bird. I'd like to try raising it."

I'm no bird expert, but I could say with confidence I'd never seen one like this. It had a head like an eagle's, but its body was fluffy and downy — and it had four legs. Definitely one of a kind.

Anyway, we decided to take the fluffy white bird home with us. Thankfully, noona managed to bag a wild boar on the way back.

"Gyeoul, dinner time~"

For the first time in ages, I got to eat a meal my sister had cooked. Okay, it had really only been about a week, but after all that time barely eating at all, I dug into the boar meat with tears in my eyes.

"It's raw meat — are you sure it won't give you parasites?"

Noona worried. Honestly, I was worried too, so I bought a parasite purge potion from the shop for 100 Blood Qi. With that settled, noona relaxed and joined me in tearing into the meat.

"Did you treat that bird properly?"

"Yeah, its leg seemed to be the only thing broken, so I splinted it and wrapped it in bandages."

After we finished eating, I helped noona clean up, then settled in front of the table beside my bedroom, where the little bird was waking up on its cushion.

Ppi-it?

The little bird looked startled by its strange new surroundings and by me, but once it checked its bandaged leg, it quickly calmed down.

"You're pretty clever, aren't you? Figuring out right away that someone saved you. Hehe..."

Ppi-ik!

"Oh? You can understand words too? You're amazing, you know that?"

Ppi-ppi-ppi...

What is this — is it laughing? What an odd-looking bird, right down to its sounds. I fed it the leftover meat and said,

"From now on, you're my vassal too. Got it?"

With those words, the status window appeared.

I pressed accept and declared,

"O tiny bird. I hereby bestow upon you the name Argen. Will you not become my faithful retainer?"

Please, please, please, please. I prayed with all my heart for the little bird to become my vassal.

Ppi-ik♡

Argen had become my vassal.

Noona got in through a special recruitment, so that makes Argen my very first vassal.

In the span of a single day, I had gained not one but two vassals. Still, that little guy's chirp when it accepted sounded awfully suspicious. I'd definitely have to give it some special training later.

'Tis only fitting that one who is my vassal possess proper dignity and grace.

My speech was getting weirder and weirder, but eh — who cares?