Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Dead End In Ark (6)
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I dismantled the blood wall in my exhausted state.
Han Cheong-ah was waiting patiently. I worried she'd be drenched from the rain, but somehow she'd produced a folding umbrella to shelter herself.
"Do-hyun, are you alright?"
She held the umbrella and drew close to me. I was already soaked through anyway—what was the point?—but her worried voice made me nod faintly.
"Hoo... I'm a mess, but don't worry. I'm not human; I'm a vampire."
The pain lingered, but the bleeding had stopped. The wounds from Kang Chang-su were healing.
As the injuries mended, my thirst grew fiercer, but what could I do? There was nothing around worth draining.
If I'd known it'd come to this, I should've taken a sip of Kang Chang-su's blood.
"Our part's done. All that's left is for Yubyeol-ha and Sister Winter to stop the monster..."
"Do-hyun, are you really okay? Your breathing's been ragged since earlier."
Only then did I realize my state. Like a beast stripped of self-control, drool trickled from my mouth.
I felt a powerful urge to drain Han Cheong-ah.
Her smooth jawline framed a pale, pristine nape. One bite, and sweet blood would surely flow. It had to taste like the nectar the gods once savored.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and shook my head. As I barely suppressed the impulse, Han Cheong-ah gazed at me intently... then pulled me into an embrace.
In a seductive whisper, laced with a devilish sweetness unlike anything before.
"If it's too hard to hold back... you don't have to."
The words tickled my ear.
My mind went blank as a fresh sheet of paper, snapping the fragile thread of reason I'd clung to.
The umbrella slipped from Han Cheong-ah's grasp, tumbling to the rain-slick road below.
I seized her soft, warm body with one forceful arm and gently bit her nape.
"Hng..."
A moan escaped as crimson liquid flooded my mouth. Blood drawn straight from a living human—unlike a transfusion pack—felt intoxicating.
As it wrapped around my tongue and slid down my throat, the thirst ebbed, and my heartbeat slowed.
"..."
I pulled away from her nape. Han Cheong-ah winced in pain, pressing her palm to the spot.
"Drinking blood stings more than I thought. Movies make it sound dreamy and pleasurable... What a lie."
I averted my eyes. Showing her my beastly excitement was embarrassing—deeply so.
"So you tempted me on purpose?"
"I won't deny curiosity was part of it."
This woman had no sense of fear. Her dizzyingly bold reply left me speechless.
"But the main reason... you looked like you were suffering, Do-hyun. If sharing my blood eases that, I'm satisfied."
She always knew how to leave me at a loss for words. I let out a quiet sigh, picked up the umbrella, and tilted it toward her.
"Let's go. It's raining—dry off at the hideout."
"Understood."
My body was already flawless, wounds gone. I felt peak condition, like before the fight.
We headed toward the AOD hideout.
Explosions still boomed around us.
I glanced up at the sky.
It remained red. Yubyeol-ha's signal was due soon, but the chaos showed no signs of letting up.
'Blue flash if they stop the rift. Yellow if they need backup. No flash means no time even for a signal—emergency.'
Anxiety gnawed at me as I quickened my pace.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Am I... alive...?"
Kang Chang-su blinked up at the ceiling. An unfamiliar one, caked in dust. The stale, musty odor suggested long neglect.
"You're awake?"
Something soft pillowed his head. Ichika was giving him a lap rest. He blinked and reached toward the ceiling.
Even with Accelerating, he couldn't beat Baek Do-hyun.
Passing out in the golden hour before killing him meant total defeat. He'd been sure death awaited when consciousness faded.
"That guy injected a stabilizer before leaving. The sparks have quieted, so no erosion worries."
Sparing Ichika was one thing, but why had Baek Do-hyun stabilized him—a terrorist behind mass destruction?
Kang Chang-su closed his eyes as his head spun. Ichika stroked his forehead gently.
"Don't think now. Just rest. Erosion's settled, but your wounds haven't healed..."
"Sorry, but that's not happening. My juniors will have to come along quietly."
A weary Cheryl stepped into their hiding spot. Federal Guidance Bureau Guidance Chief and Arcana third-year cadet, she was also their senior.
"Cheryl Bloomingrose of the Federal Guidance Bureau. Kang Chang-su, Akeboshi Ichika—you're under emergency arrest for terrorism. You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..."
Cheryl recited the Miranda rights, cuffing the unresisting pair, then offered a bitter smile.
"I'm truly sorry it came to this."
"Guidance Chief..."
"Senior Cheryl."
"I thought you were promising juniors. Steady, diligent, upright—such cute underclassmen..."
Cheryl gazed at Kang Chang-su with regret.
"I'm a failure as a senior. I should've acted before darkness spread in your hearts..."
She handed them off to the trailing guidance officers and stepped outside.
The drizzle had stopped, but the sky stayed red. Staring at the ominous hue, Cheryl lit a cigarette.
"Minors smoking okay?"
"I'm not from California."
She exhaled smoke. A pint-sized prisoner in an inmate jumpsuit approached, hand wiggling for one of his own.
Goat lit up expertly.
"This is sex."
The Guidance Chief and a criminal puffing away casually together.
To explain, rewind to when the sky turned blood-red.
Terror attacks hit Academy City simultaneously. The largest targeted the juvenile hall.
Nearly every inmate joined, sparked when EMPs disabled the electronic chokers suppressing psyker powers.
The facility devolved into chaos, buildings crumbling from the center outward.
It wasn't some month-long master plan—the Bureau had heard rumors of suspicious inmate activity. They just hadn't anticipated the scale: over a thousand psykers.
Cheryl learned the plot's details from an AOD meeting and alerted the Bureau for swift action. Even so, guidance officers and agents couldn't quell it easily.
They were losing ground to the escapees. Numbers overwhelmed all.
Enter Goat, savior in their dire hour.
He'd planned to bolt but realized he had nowhere to go.
Baek Do-hyun's orders bound him to the city; as a prisoner, he couldn't even rent a room, let alone buy necessities.
Betray the Society, and Zero One would personally split his skull.
Prison suddenly seemed safest: food, climate control, books and phones after labor. Livable, even.
Double-crossing his double-cross, Goat helped Cheryl—aiming for special treatment unlike other inmates. He rallied short-sentence allies to aid the Bureau.
The riot ended. That's why he trailed her now, sniffing for scraps.
'And Do-hyun-sama said he'd kill me if I didn't help...'
(Note: "Joo1ji" came from Baek Do-hyun's text first. "Help" as "joo1ji" adds tacky flair—he loved it. Goat agreed fully.)
"'Sex' is vulgar. Mind your manners."
"Preaching manners to a centuries-old geezer?"
Like Baek Do-hyun, they watched the crimson sky, awaiting Yubyeol-ha's signal.