Let's Talk
Only after I finally revealed my name did Su-hyeok pull his foot back from shoving the table. If he was going to move it, couldn't he have just shoved the whole damn table out of the way? Seriously.
"Ow... Haa, I really thought I was gonna die..."
I shoved the heavy table aside and finally managed to breathe properly. That was when I realized every part of my body was screaming in protest.
I shrugged off my jacket and checked myself over. No major wounds, but mottled red bruises from the crushing pressure dotted my body here and there.
It was a heavy table to begin with, and an adult man had put his full weight on it. If nothing had happened, that would have been the strange part.
Or was it strange? My bones hadn't broken, after all. Honestly, with him pressing down like that, the fact that nothing snapped was the real miracle.
"You wouldn't have died even if it had hit you."
Su-hyeok sounded thoroughly unimpressed by my whining as he slipped the shotgun back into the folds of his coat.
Wrong, you bastard. Even an elder dies if their head gets blown off. I kept that particular thought to myself.
If trouble ever broke out between us later, I needed him to believe that solving things with violence would be extremely difficult.
As a monster it might be different, but when I was in human form I really, truly wanted to avoid getting ventilated.
If I kept groaning I'd only look weak, and more importantly it ruined the image, so I decided to wrap up the suffering act around here.
I'd claimed to be a vampire, even if it was a lie, so I at least had to play the part.
"So. When exactly were you planning on introducing yourself? If I've given you my name, shouldn't you give me yours?"
I shoved the upright table back over, righted the chairs one by one, sat down, and tried to get the conversation going again.
My goal was to forge some kind of connection with him, no matter how thin.
"You already know on your end. Is there any need for me to say it?"
But he was this uncooperative. I honestly had no idea what to even bring up next.
If it were just a lack of topics, I could force something out of thin air. This was different—he simply had no intention of talking at all.
"Haa, that's just basic manners, isn't it? We might end up family someday. Shouldn't we show each other at least that much courtesy?"
I was the one who needed this, so I summoned a mountain of patience and explained it step by step. If I'd been the one with the upper hand I would have opened with "Then die."
"...Kang Su-hyeok."
Well, that much was better than nothing. Looking thoroughly fed up, he set the money bag back on the table.
Good thing it hadn't opened. If it had, I'd have been weeping tears of blood picking up bills.
"If you're thinking of buying me into your faction with money, give it up. That amount doesn't even—"
I cut him off mid-sentence. His habit of running his mouth without being asked was starting to get on my nerves.
"As if. Do you really think I'd buy family with money? How vulgar. This is a test. A test to determine whether you have the strength to become part of our family. The results aren't even out yet, and you're already trying to negotiate a higher salary? I have to admit, that confidence is impressive."
I had absolutely no idea what criteria vampires actually used when expanding their numbers, but I made something up on the spot.
If I didn't know, he wouldn't know either.
More importantly, he was taking a cooperative stance after all.
I'd invented the whole thing in a panic, terrified my head might get blown off, but turning that improvisation into something this useful? That had to count as talent, right?
I congratulated myself inwardly. It made sense—he was in a pretty desperate spot himself.
He wanted to leave Korea, but he couldn't.
Su-hyeok raised one eyebrow slightly, looking faintly embarrassed that his assumption had been wrong.
"Huh. A test?"
"Obviously. Family means people you'll be seeing for a long time. You think I'd bring in some vulgar, untrustworthy person who only moves for money?"
At that, Su-hyeok seemed oddly convinced, as if thinking, Well, when you put it that way...
"So what am I supposed to do?"
"For now, just carry out the jobs I give you. Failing is fine—I want to see how far you can go."
I opened the bag, showed him the stacks of cash, and casually set about three hundred on the table.
"I heard an organization that caused trouble in our territory has reached its hands out here as well. I'd like you to find them and... make an example of them."
That wasn't true at all. This was purely a personal commission from me to Su-hyeok. The early-story mess those guys caused would be fine if it never happened.
Besides, it wasn't exactly a pleasant affair.
"The organization's name?"
"Rabbitfoot. Around here they might call it Rabbit's Foot? Something like that."
"Never heard of them."
Of course he hadn't. They hadn't even started operating yet. I just found them unpleasant and wanted Su-hyeok to wipe them out for me.
"We hadn't heard of them either. From what we extracted during interrogation... a monster is supposedly in charge? Ha, isn't that hilarious? Trash like that, daring to pick a fight with nobles."
Strictly speaking, the vampires were the outdated relics and the monsters were the modern ones, but right now I had to act like a vampire.
"A force under a monster, then. The leader's identity?"
Telling him that would be a spoiler, so I played dumb.
"Just kill a few of the small fry. They caused trouble, sure, but no one actually died. That should be enough of a lesson."
"Deadline?"
"Two weeks."
"Any other information that might help?"
The way he asked for more intel so naturally made me think this might be the key to keeping the conversation going.
"I just said it was a test, didn't I? This isn't some kids' addition-and-subtraction exam. You're asking for hints? I'll give them if you want... but there'll be a price."
I let the corner of my mouth curl up in a playful smile. Su-hyeok watched me for a moment, then asked what the price was.
"Nothing grand. Just... who you are, or even just some idle small talk. That's the price. Doesn't that sound doable?"
"...I don't understand. Calling that a price."
Su-hyeok frowned at me like he genuinely couldn't comprehend it, then said he couldn't answer everything but told me to go ahead and ask something.
"That shotgun earlier—where and how did you even pull that out? Looking at it, there's no way it would fit in those neat little sleeves of yours."
I already knew exactly how it worked. But for someone seeing it for the first time, being curious was only natural, so I asked.
And part of me just wanted to talk.
"...Starting with a question that's genuinely hard to answer."
"Hmm, is that trade secret?"
"Something like that."
Of course he wanted to hide it. Being able to store something that was physically impossible to store was thanks to his monster powers.
"Boring. Well, fine. If it's a trade secret, I get not wanting to spill it. Okay, your turn now. Anything you're curious about?"
When I told him he could ask anything, Su-hyeok looked even more baffled and shot back that I was the one who'd wanted to ask questions.
"Hmm? I said we should make small talk, didn't I? If I was just going to keep grilling you, I would've held a hearing. Conversation means taking turns, right? Oh, and for the record, this is also part of the test. Sociability and things like that are virtues we look for in family. Go on, ask me anything!"
Without some coercion he probably wouldn't participate at all, so I slipped the word "test" in to add a little pressure.
"Ah, except age and weight."
I added that for reasons I myself didn't fully understand.
Su-hyeok gave me a thoroughly skeptical look, then asked with clear reluctance.
"...Are you really a vampire? You seem far too frivolous for that... and it's still daytime. How did you even get here? Did you come with a parasol or—"
His expression said otherwise, but he clearly had a lot of questions.
"Whoa, whoa. One at a time, one at a time. We've both got plenty of time. Hmm... you asked if I'm truly a noble of the night, right?"
"Yeah."
Hmm. What to say. Solar immunity? That felt a little...
After some thought, I came up with a fairly plausible excuse.
"My... blood's a bit thin."
"Thin blood?"
I'd just made it up, but it sounded pretty convincing. Vampires grew weaker with each successive generation, after all.
"Well, simply put, you could call me a 'modern vampire'? Weaker, sure, but that also means I'm not particularly bound by the usual weaknesses... something like that."
"I didn't know there was such a thing."
"Of course you didn't. Normally I'd have been executed as an abomination long before anyone called me family. The Elder showed me mercy and tolerance, and took even someone like me in. That enough of an answer?"
If Ilie heard that, she'd clutch the back of her neck and collapse. The house that gave Ilie the most trouble was the Arad family, and Mircea was its head.
But the person in question wasn't here, right? So it was fine.
"Huh. So that was it."
"That was it. Okay, my turn again? What should I ask... Ah, right. Where'd you get the gun?"
"Secret."
"Ehh. Then how come you're rotting away in a place like this?"
"Secret."
"You've got a lot of secrets."
"That's why I'm holed up in a place like this, isn't it?"
Well, he had a point.
In the end I didn't get any real information out of Su-hyeok, but it didn't matter. I already knew everything anyway.
For today, I'd settle for having forged some kind of connection with him, no matter how thin.
That was enough.
"Then see you later. I'll be looking forward to good news. Same place for contact, like today?"
"Fine."
"Okay then, bye-bye~"
I waved goodbye, grabbed the money bag, and escaped the reeking office.
Whew.
I really thought I was going to die.