Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: The Immortal Vampire Girl Rosen (1)
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“Rookie, there must be something good in this safe. The energy’s insane. Hurry up and open it.”
The magpie, having pinpointed the energy’s location, pecked at the safe door with its beak and spoke to Dong-su.
Dong-su, who had been scanning the area around the safe at the magpie’s words, put his strength into prying open the safe door.
Mi-seon, who had been standing silently, asked Dong-su.
“Are you thieves?”
Before Dong-su could respond to Mi-seon’s question, the magpie jumped in and answered.
“That’s right! We’re thieves. Heh heh!”
The magpie spread its wings wide and strutted around quite smugly.
Ignoring the magpie’s pointless antics, Dong-su silently gripped the safe door with both hands and tore it off.
A chilling cold poured out from inside the opened safe, revealing the source of the energy.
As Dong-su reached in to grab the sword, the magpie urgently stopped him.
“Rookie, don’t touch that sword! It’s engraved with a talisman that seals and destroys spiritual energy!”
Despite the magpie’s shout, Dong-su’s slow reaction meant his hand had already grasped the sword.
White spiritual energy rose from his hand holding the sword, climbing up his arm to his shoulder.
“Argh!”
Letting out a short scream, Dong-su flung the sword away and stepped back from the safe. His entire body became enveloped in smoke as the spiritual energy burned away.
It was the power of the pre-existing sealing talisman combined with the exorcism talisman Da-hee had applied.
“Hey, you idiot! I told you not to grab it! That sword’s no ordinary thing.”
With his spiritual energy draining rapidly and leaving him weakened, Dong-su felt unjustly scolded by the magpie on top of it all.
“You could’ve told me sooner. But magpie, am I going to die?”
“You’re already dead, so you won’t die again—you’ll just dissipate. Same difference, though. Even with all that smoke, you won’t die right away. Anyway, how do we get that sword out?”
The magpie paced back and forth in front of the safe with quick steps as it spoke.
Annoyed by the magpie’s fussing, Dong-su grabbed its wing to stop it and said.
“What if we ask that young lady to pick it up?”
At Dong-su’s words, the magpie peeked over at Mi-seon, then flapped the wing caught in Dong-su’s hand to free it, flew to Mi-seon’s shoulder, and addressed her.
“Hey, you with the red body! How about a deal? I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse. What do you say?”
Despite the Agwi faction members guarding the building entrances without a single gap, Mi-seon found the talking magpie that had slipped in quietly and the man who tore open the safe door barehanded more intriguing and trustworthy than frightening.
It was probably thanks to the armless ghost she’d met just moments ago.
“What kind of deal?”
* * *
The day before Emel went with Kwon-geon to find Agwi.
Dong-jin, who had been guarding Seol-mi’s funeral home with Na-rae without even changing clothes or resting, finally returned to his one-room apartment.
Just as he was about to enter his place.
A familiar blonde girl caught his eye from somewhere.
“Huh? You’re… Rosen, right?”
Dong-jin was surprised to see Rosen coming out of the apartment next door to his and asked.
“Oh! Uncle lives here too? We just moved in today… Seeing a familiar face makes me happy.”
Rosen recognized Dong-jin and greeted him.
Even though they’d only brushed past each other once, she had a great memory and was very friendly.
“Uh… Are we, uh, close? Next door, huh… Well, anyway, nice to see you. Ha. Ha. Ha.”
Dong-jin laughed awkwardly, finding the girl cute but somehow scary.
“Uncle, that’s booze, right? Alcohol thickens the blood. Drink just a little.”
Rosen pointed at the black plastic bag in Dong-jin’s hand and said.
Dong-jin had stopped by the nearby convenience store before heading home and bought some beer and dried squid.
“Ah, blood… Yeah, I’ll drink just a little.”
When blood was mentioned, Rosen’s eyes gleamed strangely.
“Okay. Well, see you later.”
Dong-jin recalled the day he and Byung-su had led the Dokkaebi elder to rescue Na-rae—he’d met Rosen there with Na-rae.
Despite such a brief connection, Rosen smiled brightly as if thrilled to see him.
‘Even the Dokkaebi elder was on edge around her…’
Remembering how the Dokkaebi father and son had said Rosen and Ran weren’t human, Dong-jin felt uneasy about this tiny new neighbor.
The next day, when Dong-jin told Byung-su about Rosen moving in next door, Byung-su said to play it cool and observe for now.
“Doesn’t seem like she’ll do anything bad. Let’s see why she moved in first.”
“What if she does something bad?”
“If she were going to do something bad, she’d have attacked you already. Why would she move in?”
“Leave the sword to them.”
“No. Da-hee’s purifying the sword’s evil energy right now, so let’s wait and see. What, you scared?”
With his pride pricked by Byung-su, Dong-jin got defiant.
“No. I’m not scared.”
Dong-jin, feeling uneasy and packing his things to move to Da-hee’s place entirely, was called by Rosen.
“Hi, Uncle.”
She really was a friendly girl.
Dong-jin, seeing nothing dangerous in this little girl, tried to act casual.
“Yeah, it’s Rosen. You shouldn’t go out alone at night. Did Ran-unnie go to work?”
“Yes, Ran-unnie will be back at dawn.”
“By any chance, has Ran-unnie ever gone to Reporter Eun’s place?”
“Yes! She has. I went up to the front with her, but there were weird things at the crosswalk, so I blocked them while Ran-unnie went in to meet Na-rae-unnie.”
Dong-jin smiled at Rosen, who answered his question so innocently.
‘Doesn’t seem like she’s lying. Probably not dangerous. Like the team leader said, better to watch and wait.’
As Dong-jin thought this to himself, Rosen tightly gripped his hand.
It was a small, tiny hand.
“Uncle, going to the convenience store for booze again?”
Rosen asked, her big eyes sparkling.
Dong-jin, who had been packing to leave, absentmindedly replied.
“Yeah, gonna have a beer and sleep. You heading to the store too?”
“Yes!”
Rosen answered brightly to his question.
‘But how did she know I often buy beer at the convenience store?’
Feeling uneasy, Dong-jin cautiously asked Rosen.
“How did you know I buy beer at the convenience store, Rosen?”
“You had some yesterday too… And it seemed like you drink it every day, so I asked.”
It felt a bit off, but Rosen’s innocent smile eased Dong-jin’s unease a little.
Dong-jin held Rosen’s hand as they walked and spoke kindly.
“Rosen, you shouldn’t follow just any uncle, okay? It could be trouble. Got it?”
“Yes! But Uncle, Ran-unnie said what I mentioned yesterday—drinking every day makes your blood thick and tasteless. So drink in moderation.”
At Rosen’s somewhat absurd words, Dong-jin took it as a joke.
“Is that so? Does my blood taste that bad? Guess I’ll have to drink less from now on.”
“Yes!”
“So how’d you end up moving here?”
“Ran-unnie said the rent’s cheap and it’s spacious here. We’re poor. And it’s the easiest place to move around in. So we have to be here.”
“Ah! Yeah, the rent for these one-rooms is cheap. Not sure about moving around easily. Anyway, glad you’re here.”
Rosen beamed happily at his words.
The convenience store in front of the one-room apartments was quiet at night with few customers, and the path to the nearby apartment complex was deserted.
The two headed cheerfully to the store when a man who looked drunk staggered toward them.
Dong-jin pulled Rosen’s hand and dodged the man, quickly entering the convenience store.
“Hello!”
As soon as they entered, Rosen greeted the female clerk loudly.
“Oh, Rosen! You came with the uncle next door.”
The clerk, in her mid-twenties, welcomed Rosen warmly from the counter.
The doll-like, friendly Rosen had apparently befriended the clerk in just one day.
While Rosen and the clerk chatted, Dong-jin went to get beer.
“Oh! Reporter Park, is that guy with you?”
Dong-jin turned at the clerk’s question.
In his view was a man outside the store, plastered to the counter’s glass window, baring yellowed teeth at the clerk.
He was dressed in a neat suit, but his crazed eyes were unsettling.
It was definitely the drunk who had approached Dong-jin and Rosen moments ago.
“No, I don’t know him. He seems weird—want me to call the cops? I’ll stay until they get here.”
Grateful for Dong-jin’s kindness, the clerk smiled and said.
“It’s fine. He hasn’t done any harm yet, so reporting might be overkill… But thank you.”
At the clerk’s polite refusal, Dong-jin turned to grab beer from the fridge.
Thud!
At the sound of the counter window being knocked, he turned to see the man slamming his palm against the glass outside.
It was extremely irritating and threatening behavior.
“Eek!”
The clerk let out a sharp scream at the man’s bizarre actions.
The man, who had been pounding the glass with his palm, opened his mouth and scraped it with his teeth, and one front tooth popped out.
The extracted tooth stuck to the glass with sticky blood.
Even with a missing tooth, the man kept scraping the glass with his teeth.
It looked just like he was trying to bite the clerk visible through the window.
“What the… Stay at the counter.”
Dong-jin put the beer back in the fridge and headed to the store door, telling the clerk.
The clerk nodded at Dong-jin and stared straight ahead, shrinking her neck.
She probably didn’t want to make eye contact with the man baring his teeth at her.
“Uncle!”
Rosen shouted at Dong-jin as he tried to open the door.
Dong-jin turned to look at Rosen.
Rosen raised her right hand and pointed outside.
‘What is it?’
Shifting his gaze to where Rosen pointed, he saw three men staggering toward the convenience store.
About twenty meters away.
It was hard to tell if they were heading for the store or just passing to enter the apartment complex.
Judging by their staggering, they seemed to be with the man stuck to the window.
Something felt ominous.
“Shh!”
Dong-jin put his index finger to his lips to calm Rosen and the clerk, then turned the upper latch on the store door.
Clunk!
At the metallic sound from the door, the man at the window turned his gaze to Dong-jin standing in front.
Dong-jin quickly secured the lower latch too and stepped back from the door.
Bang!
The man slammed into the door and stuck to it.
His shoulder seemed dislocated from the impact, his right arm dangling loosely.
‘He’s not normal.’
The men who had been twenty meters away were drawing closer bit by bit.
Two high school girls in uniforms emerged chattering from the apartment complex.
Spotting them, Rosen urgently shouted to Dong-jin.
“Uncle! Those unnies!”
The men’s staggering steps quickened slightly.
Dong-jin alternated glances between the men and the girls, tense.
‘Dangerous!’
It looked like they were targeting the schoolgirls.
He noticed dark red footprints—three or four—on the asphalt where the men had passed.
Dong-jin felt that if the girls ran into the men, nothing good would come of it.