The Adult

Korven ran with all his might. His leg muscles propelled his body forward each time they slammed against the ground. With his client already dead, he could not simply turn back. It would bring shame upon the Blood Clan. To accept a request, fail to protect the client, and leave the mission unfulfilled—it would stain the honor of the Blood Clan beyond repair. He could not endure such disgrace. And so, he ran at full speed.

The flames around them now belonged to the mystic. She could not use them in rapid succession. After all, mystic arts still relied on the body’s physical limits. Boom. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Boom. Boooom! With every stride, stone fragments scattered as he accelerated. His once-pure white armor had been battered beyond recognition, appearing to ordinary human eyes like a streak of pure white lightning.

Both Ha Jinwoo and Korven had reached the same conclusion. They agreed that one of them had to be removed or pinned down first. Therefore, they closed the distance.

The moment Korven smashed through a display stall and accelerated toward the top floor, he sensed death approaching in utter silence. The faintest ripple in the air. An attack that drew near without a sound until the very instant before impact. Yet the body heat was unmistakable. The instinctive warning that prickled across his skin.

He twisted reflexively, raising his sword. But—

He should have blocked it. Yet the blow had landed. Without wasting time questioning how, Korven immediately counterattacked.

Shhhhwack!

A slash that tore through empty space. The warrior had already vacated his position, widening the gap. Even as he landed on the railing and swung his weapon, there was no sound. The fact that such a massive body could move in complete silence was horrifying.

An assassin by trade?

He didn’t know. But the enemy was right in front of him. Korven’s crimson eyes met a pair of pitch-black ones.

He jumped down from above.

That was what Korven himself would have done. Footsteps without the slightest sound spoke of the enemy’s mastery. This was the one who had been lurking in the shadows.

Korven’s eyes darted after realizing this. His targets were Jenia and Moare—the human girl and the beastkin girl. They were nowhere to be seen. Had they been evacuated? Or lured away? He didn’t know. In that case, what he needed to do was—

Korven gripped the long hilt of his sword, spreading his legs wide. His feet slid forward as if gliding, and the blade accelerated alongside his stance.

Even though Korven held the advantage in raw power, he was the one sent reeling. In that opening, the enemy closed the distance. The instant their eyes met, both warriors understood each other perfectly.

In strength, Korven held the edge. But in technique, Ha Jinwoo was overwhelmingly superior.

How can a mere human—?

Korven suppressed the rising question and twisted his hilt. Death drew beautiful arcs through the air, each collision with the swinging mace producing sparks as the attacks halted. He pulled his foot back, swung upward from below, then immediately thrust straight for the head. As soon as the downward slash was blocked, he shook off the suppressing mace and struck with the pommel. Without giving any room to respond, he followed with a diagonal upward cut.

A ceaseless, flowing barrage of attacks. Ha Jinwoo received every single one and countered.

Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang! Crack!

He leaned sideways to dodge the rising slash, knocked away the thrust with his mace, then hammered down on the descending cut to suppress it. The pommel strike was slapped aside with an open palm. The diagonal upward cut was met by the mace that rose as if it had anticipated the angle, blocked against his arm. Then came the kick.

The impact that slammed into the armor was no joke. The moment his body instinctively drew breath, the mace came flying. There was no time to block—his head took the full force.

He stabbed his blade into the ground to stop himself. Feeling the blood that had been pouring from his head already clotting, Korven was stunned.

It was shocking. To think there existed a human this strong. A mere human who not only matched a vampire but held the upper hand. And this was a rookie who had only become a beginner adventurer yesterday.

If not for his regeneration, the fight would have ended just now. Yet thanks to the Blood Clan’s regenerative ability, he endured. All of it pointed to one conclusion.

Korven looked at Ha Jinwoo.

“An Easterner, then.”

Ha Jinwoo did not answer. He extended his mace forward in a ready stance, pulling his shield close to his body. It was an unfamiliar posture. But the core principle was clear: push with the shield and swing the club or blunt weapon. Korven might be inferior to Ha Jinwoo, but he was still a knight. A knight of the Blood Clan who had devoted over a century solely to martial training since the day he was born. Simply watching the stance revealed its essence.

Therefore, he was certain. This was different from Eastern martial arts. But Korven had no right to comment on that. After all, the foundation of his own swordsmanship also originated from the East.

Instead, he analyzed why the enemy held the advantage. In strength, Korven was superior, but the gap was not overwhelming. The enemy’s power also far exceeded that of an ordinary human. That left technique as the deciding factor. Grappling, swordsmanship—there was no weakness anywhere. Against an ordinary human, Korven could have slain twenty without breaking a sweat, yet here he was being pushed back.

Korven let out a hollow laugh.

“You must carry ogre blood. That monstrous strength could only come from such lineage.”

Ogres were the polar opposite of the Blood Clan. A race blessed by the God of Blood, possessing overwhelming physical prowess. They shared the East with humans and were generally on poor terms with the Blood Clan, who stole power from blood. Usually.

Korven was an exception.

“That must be it. Nothing strange about it. After all, one of my close friends came from the East.”

Ha Jinwoo still offered no reply, but Korven felt a pang of regret. Raising his beloved sword, Jeokjo, high, he spoke.

“I ask for a proper bout.”

Instead of answering, Ha Jinwoo simply charged forward.

*

The plan was simple. While Ha Jinwoo held down the strongest vampire, Vertea would buy time to recover. Jenia and Moare would finish off the rest and then join the fight to eliminate the vampire. It was straightforward, and he judged that such a simple plan would be far more effective among people who had barely coordinated before.

He had overlooked nothing. Ha Jinwoo had assumed the enemy would be stronger than himself. Yet he had believed that if it was merely a matter of strength, he would still prevail.

But the battle unfolding before his eyes was nothing like he had imagined.

The irritating clang of metal rang out like a swarm of hornets. Deflect, deflect again, push away, knock aside—only then could he take a single step forward. He shoved the arm holding the pommel with his shield and swung his fully drawn mace with all his might.

For an ordinary human, that would have been the end. But Ha Jinwoo twisted away from the slash that sliced through his senses.

Shhhhwaaaaack!

Korven, in a stance that looked as if he might topple, drew his body back fully before swinging Jeokjo. The slash did not reach Ha Jinwoo, but the fierce assault finally paused. A tiny opening appeared.

The two warriors stared at each other. Effective hits had already landed dozens of times. The armor was dented everywhere from mace strikes, stained with coughed-up blood and covered in wounds. Yet the vampire did not die. He did not faint. He did not stop.

Was the armor simply that tough? No, that wasn’t all. It was regeneration.

Ha Jinwoo had felt something similar before. During his prime, when even using every piece of equipment he possessed was not enough and he had to burn his life to the very limit to fight. His old nemesis. The regeneration felt comparable to that.

Even though his own body remained completely uninjured, Ha Jinwoo stayed far more cautious than necessary.

This is insane.

Claaaaang!

He raised his mace vertically to block the wide horizontal slash, but his feet slid backward. Once he stopped, he pushed forward with his shield. An open chest. He no longer even tried to dodge.

Ha Jinwoo tilted his body to evade the counterattack aimed at his head and swung his mace upward from below. A cross counter—only with a mace instead of a fist.

Yet the vampire, Korven, whose head had snapped back violently, only staggered. He did not fall.

It was tenacious. How was he still standing?

Ha Jinwoo guessed. Because he was a vampire. A race that did not die from stakes, garlic, crosses, or silver bullets. The setting he had read about in old novels.

Ha Jinwoo clicked his tongue in frustration. He had no idea what might be happening to his companions while he was tied down here. That fact made his heart uneasy. The plan was for him to hold out while the others defeated the remaining enemies and joined him, but—

Rather than placing excessive expectations on children who were still young, Ha Jinwoo simply drove himself harder. He met Korven’s gaze. He could see the eyes inside the helmet. Glowing red eyes. The emotion dwelling within them was almost closer to ecstasy.

Ha Jinwoo glanced at his shield, which had been battered countless times against the helmet until it was nearly worn through, then tossed it aside from his arm. It was time to execute the second plan.

He charged forward.

Korven held the advantage in speed, but this knight was hopelessly outclassed in technique. Therefore, he responded with speed. Instead of using complex techniques, Korven thrust his sword straight forward. The trajectory of the stabbing longsword aimed for the head. But it did not connect.

The instant the sword tip shot forward, Ha Jinwoo pivoted on the foot he had stepped with, spinning to evade. Before the scattered sword strikes could even be retracted—without drawing a single drop of blood—Ha Jinwoo released his mace. Both hands seized the uneven surface of Korven’s armor.

There was no time to react. Ha Jinwoo had already clenched his teeth, eyes wide with concentration. Beneath the muscle layers modeled after electric eels. Electrocytes. Electric organs. Whatever one called them, they flared brightly in that instant.

Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle-crack!

The lightning erupted. Korven’s muscles twitched uncontrollably and froze. The hand gripping the sword released it against its owner’s will. There was no need to pick up the sword rolling across the floor. It was the kind of attack living beings found nearly impossible to resist. Even Ha Jinwoo could not maintain it for long. Moreover, the electricity could not escape the metal armor and instead circulated endlessly within it.

The moment repeated shocks caused his consciousness to fade—Ha Jinwoo’s right foot swept the knight’s legs out from under him, launching him into the air. A throw. And not just any throw—performed with the combined weight of two people from the fourth floor, accelerating toward the ground under gravity. Its destructive power could not even be adequately described as lethal.

They shattered the stone railing and accelerated toward the ground. Straight toward the five charred ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠corpses that remained as nothing but ashes where the flames had already died.

Right before collision, Ha Jinwoo slammed the vampire into the floor.

—!

The armor shattered. Bones crushed. Muscles pulped. Internal organs were pulverized. Overwhelming kinetic force. Along with a choked gasp, blood and finely ground pieces of organs sprayed from his mouth, but Ha ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Jinwoo did not stop. The impact of the throw had also struck him. His body tingled. Bones were broken. Nevertheless, the gamble had been worth it.

Ha Jinwoo raised his fist high and drove it down onto the helmet.

I’ll crush his head along with the helmet.

After that, burn him, tear him apart, soak him in acid, or feed him to fairies—anything to ensure he could never regenerate again. Mounting him with that final plan in mind, he rained down punch after punch.

Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boooooom!

Yet the vampire’s vitality far exceeded his expectations. It was incredibly tenacious. Using what little core strength remained, Korven shoved Ha Jinwoo away. Ha Jinwoo rolled across the floor before springing back to his feet. As he clenched his fists, bracing for the next clash, Korven suddenly spoke.

“You are not… an ogre after all.”

Only now? Ha Jinwoo answered without thinking.

“I never said I was.”

The vampire let out a hollow laugh.

“I suppose that’s true. My apologies for the misunderstanding.”

But he could roughly guess why the misunderstanding had been cleared. After all, no one would have expected bare-handed electrocution. Whatever ogres were like, they probably did not possess such an ability.

“If you are not an ogre… then I am even more curious. Why are you helping those girls?”

At the question, Ha Jinwoo caught his breath. His head hurt. His body was screaming that he had drawn out far too much power. Out of habit, Ha Jinwoo reached into his coat and pulled something out. It was a crumpled cigarette pack. Only a single cigarette remained inside. The one that ‘girl’ had given him.

Ha Jinwoo stared blankly at the cigarette for a moment, then closed his eyes. There was no time to save it. He placed it between his lips and lit it with a spark. Inhaling deeply along with the rising flame, he filled his lungs.

The familiar languor that filled his chest. His overheated brain cooled. His overworked nerves settled. Once his electric organs produced just enough electricity to maintain a micro-current, he exhaled the smoke that filled his lungs.

“What about you?”

“I live for the honor of the Blood Clan…”

“Isn’t it more like you can’t resist a worthy opponent?”

Korven smiled.

“Then what about you?”

“I don’t particularly enjoy fighting—”

“You’ve only been with them for a day or two at most. You could have simply walked away. Why choose such a difficult path?”

Ha Jinwoo could not refute him. He had chosen the difficult path. An irrational and difficult path at that. They were little more than acquaintances. He barely knew them. This world itself was still unfamiliar to him. It was Seoul, yet not Seoul. It was fantasy, yet not purely fantasy. Amidst all that was strange, there was one thing that felt familiar.

He was an adult. And those girls were children.

“Because I’m an adult.”

The Third World War. The very first artillery shell that announced its beginning flew toward Ha Jinwoo’s house. It smashed through the roof and fell upon his family right before the eyes of the boy who had just woken up. In that way, the ten-year-old Ha Jinwoo became an orphan overnight.

Just yesterday he had been sleeping well, eating well, living well at home. Then, in a single day, he was forced to rummage through trash cans and drink filthy water. From then on, he was constantly starving. Though he longed for revenge, harboring a grudge against an entire nation was no easy task. Before long, Ha Jinwoo lost the will to seek vengeance. All that remained was the stubborn desire to survive.

But the world was not kind to orphans trying to stay alive. Children without even the qualifications to enter an orphanage often chose suicide instead. If not, they collapsed from starvation in the mud and died. Sometimes, simply because they were slightly luckier and could not even manage that, they were murdered.

It was destitute, ugly, and wretched. Ha Jinwoo was no exception. The only reason he survived was pure luck. A few adults had willingly stepped forward to save him simply because he was a child. Adults who gladly gave up their own food and tried their hardest to teach him how to live. Even after all that long time had passed, they remained in his memory not as faces but as voices and intentions.

As time flowed and he grew older, Ha Jinwoo came to understand just how fortunate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he had been. How lucky it was that there had been someone to show a child abandoned in the world the path he should take. Even though his dreams had faded and his wishes had been abandoned. Even though he could not remain a child and had been forced to become an adult. That one truth remained crystal clear.

Ha Jinwoo had wanted to become that kind of adult.

Unfortunately, that was the kind of person Ha Jinwoo was.

And right now, he wanted to be here. In this very spot, directly beneath the ceiling where the fire alarm was installed.

He exhaled the cigarette smoke he had drawn deep into his lungs.

“A proper adult doesn’t just stand by and watch when someone tries to extort money from little blood clots.”

“Well said.”

Whiiiiiiiiiirrrrrr!

A tremendous noise erupted in the middle of their conversation. The fire alarm. A piercing siren. He flicked the cigarette butt to the floor. The sprinklers began spraying water.

Inside the water scattering in every direction, the vampire knight could not grasp the situation. Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang! Shutters descended. They were special-order items made of superalloy. Something installed in nearly every building after the Third World War began.

Clothes soaked through and clinging to his body. Even his hair was wet and stuck to his forehead. Ha Jinwoo swept it back with his right hand. This was why he had used Vertea’s flames in a surprise attack. This was why he had smoked a cigarette in this exact spot.

“…Water?”

Amid the pouring streams, the vampire stared at Ha Jinwoo.

“So this is all you have? Then—”

His open mouth closed. Those crimson eyes froze while fixed on Ha Jinwoo.

“You… Just what the hell are you?”

Ha Jinwoo felt blue sparks racing across his skin. The current that surged from beneath his muscles all the way to his fingertips. Sparks coiling around his clenched fist. The electricity drawn to its absolute limit felt as if it were awakening his nerves and burning his brain.

When his tightly gripped fist hardened atop muscles pulled taut, he assumed his stance.

“Ha Jinwoo. Adventurer.”

Lightning writhed within his fist.