50 chapter - Vampire (5)

No way.

That couldn’t be.

Trying to push down the gnawing unease, I turned around.

“Grrrr.”

The one baring her fangs and growling… was Lee Yuna.

Impossible.

The sounds around me faded, and the sight of Yuna charging at me with naked hostility stretched out in slow motion.

“Krrraaaah!”

As she closed the distance in an instant, I stumbled back, shouting,

“Yuna! Snap out of it!”

“Haaagh!”

“Yuna, please!”

No matter how desperately I called her name, she only snarled like a wild beast and lunged.

“Goddammit!”

“Hahahahahaha!”

From behind came mocking laughter.

Kang Juhui’s voice dripped with scorn.

“Did you really think that woman would be fine? You thought you could save her just by showing up on time?”

Her derisive laugh played in my ears like background music.

Whoosh!

A swirling rush of water surged toward Yuna.

“Don’t!”

I stepped in front of it, blocking with my body.

Splat!

Hong Yura shouted,

“Snap out of it! She’s gone! She’s a vampire!”

I knew.

I knew Yuna, with her pale skin and sharp fangs,

Yuna, who howled like an animal and obeyed Kang Juhui’s orders,

was no longer human.

Still—

“Wait! There has to be a way to turn her back!”

Maybe Lee Yumi’s ability could return her to being human.

Hong Yura barked urgently,

“You idiot! Look behind you!”

I turned, and there she was—Yuna, still dutifully carrying out Kang Juhui’s orders.

“Krrraah!”

She bared her teeth for my throat.

I could have shoved her away easily, but I didn’t.

I even gave her my neck.

Yuna’s jaw strength isn’t enough to pierce my skin anyway.

A skin that even sharpened blades barely cut—there was nothing Yuna, who wasn’t even a physical-enhancement type, could do to it.

She bit down hard, but just as I expected, it didn’t hurt.

Vmmm.

Ridiculously enough, the moment she made contact, her skill activated and warm light wrapped around my entire body.

Damn it.

I couldn’t give up on Yuna like this.

Holding her tight, I shouted to Hong Yura,

“I’ll hold her! Finish off that woman—!”

“Oppa…?”

“…Huh?”

I lowered my head. Yuna was looking up at me with a dazed, half-awake expression.

“…Yuna?”

“Huh… mm?”

She slowly took in the situation, then flushed red.

“W-Why am I in your arms?”

Her skin was still pale, her fangs still there.

But she wasn’t under Kang Juhui’s control anymore.

She was fully conscious.

“O-Oppa, could you let me go—!”

I hugged her tighter and muttered,

“Thank god. Thank god…”

“…Oppa, what’s wrong? What happened?”

That was when I noticed—

The water on the warehouse floor was moving fast.

Looking around, I saw masses of water closing in from all directions.

This is bad.

This time the force behind it was different.

It was an attack filled with clear intent to kill.

Crash!

Dodging by a hair’s breadth, I shouted at Hong Yura,

“Noona! That’s enough—urk!”

Shaaah!

Expressionless, Hong Yura kept up the assault.

Something’s off.

She wasn’t attacking Yuna.

The strikes were aimed entirely at me.

No way…

Her eyes were vacant.

She was being controlled.

I looked toward where I’d left Kang Juhui restrained—

Only a mummified corpse lay there now.

She’d escaped.

Damn it. Where’d she go?

Luckily, not far.

I spotted her just as she was about to leave the warehouse.

How? I wrecked both her eyes.

Something was wrong.

Given Hong Yura’s state, it was clear she’d been hit with hypnosis.

But she can’t use it without eye contact.

While dodging Hong Yura’s attacks, my gaze caught the withered corpse.

…She can heal her injuries by feeding.

That was the only explanation.

Doesn’t matter. I have to chase her.

I was still in my awakened state.

I told Yuna,

“Hold on tight.”

“Huh? Kyaa!”

I sprinted at full speed, bursting through the warehouse’s front gate, and tore after Kang Juhui.

Her head was already in sight.

“Stop them!!”

Whooosh!!

At her command, seawater surged upward.

Hong Yura’s power.

Shit.

Until now, her control had been weaker—probably because it was hard to fully dominate someone stronger than her.

But in an environment where Hong Yura’s power could manifest at full force, even a weak control became dangerous.

“Snap out of it, Hong Yura!”

A wave several times my height crashed toward us.

At this rate, Kang Juhui would slip away.

And then it’s over.

If she got away, I’d have no way to break Hong Yura’s hypnosis. I’d have to fight her head-on.

An A-Rank Hunter.

In an environment that let her use her power to its fullest.

“Oppa.”

“What?”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but… we just have to catch her, right?”

Yuna was aiming a pistol at Kang Juhui.

A Hunter-issue sidearm from Mountain Guild.

“Shoot!!” I roared.

The muzzle flashed—

The bullet went clean through the back of Kang Juhui’s head.

Thud.

She collapsed, and—

Craaaash!

The oncoming wave shattered, roaring as it fell.

Hong Yura’s hypnosis was broken.

Splash, splash.

I approached to confirm—Kang Juhui was still barely breathing.

Even with a bullet through her skull, she clung to life.

I was about to finish it when Yuna spoke.

“Um… Oppa? Could you put me down now?”

“Oh—yeah.”

The moment she stepped away—

“Kraaaah!”

She suddenly turned feral, baring claws and teeth at me.

“…Huh?”

Then came the real shock—

She lunged, not at me, but at Kang Juhui.

“…Yuna?”

She was drinking Kang Juhui’s blood.

“What are you—?”

Only when Kang Juhui shriveled into a dried husk did it stop.

Yuna collapsed unconscious.

**

“What are we supposed to do with them?”

“Yeah.”

“We can’t just leave them like this.”

The seventeen subordinates Kang Juhui commanded—Hong Yura had them buried under the sea with her power.

All seventeen were vampires.

“Kreee!”

Maybe because they were weaker than Kang Juhui, they had no intelligence—just like Yuna had been moments ago.

“They’re not people anymore. It’s cruel, but we’ll have to kill them.”

Which meant we’d also have to kill Yuna, lying unconscious nearby.

“That’s not happening.”

“Hunter Choi Changshik.”

Yura’s tone turned formal.

“Get a grip. They’ve crossed the point of no return. They’re monsters now.”

“…”

“They’re baring their teeth at us right now. Them, and Yuna. She’s a man-eating monster now.”

Her words brought back the image of Yuna feeding on Kang Juhui.

I couldn’t deny she’d become a monster.

“She has to be killed.”

I shook my head.

“Even if only briefly, Yuna regained her senses.”

“Are you sure you weren’t hallucinating?”

“You don’t remember, Hunter Hong Yura, because you were under hypnosis at the time.”

“…!”

Her face flushed red, embarrassed.

“I told you to watch your eyes…”

“You never said anything about recovering! And—and it wasn’t complete hypnosis! If it was, you think you’d still be standing?”

She let out a small sigh.

“Fine. If you can show me she can think clearly, I’ll go along with you. But if you’re lying, I’ll drown them all myself.”

“Fair enough.”

Yuna had regained her mind the moment she came into direct contact with me.

When her skill activated and that light wrapped my body, she’d snapped out of it.

That light must have restored her.

The problem was, I couldn’t always keep touching her—when I slept, showered…

Not that it matters. Her mana will run out first.

When the light faded, she’d become a blood-drinking vampire again.

And then… we’d have a problem.

Maybe I should buy restraints.

Just as that thought throbbed in my head—

“Changshik Oppa?”

Her voice came from beside me.

She was awake.

Yuna scanned the area blankly, then spotted Hong Yura.

“Oh, Soo-ah unnie’s sister is here too?”

Strangely, she was lucid even without touching me.

A theory popped into my head.

Pointing to the vampires thrashing under the water, I said,

“Yuna, try telling them to stay still.”

“Huh? All of a sudden?”

“Quickly.”

“Uh… okay.”

She reached toward the sea, confused.

“S-Stop!”

In an instant, the frenzy ceased.

“Huh?”

Just as I thought.

Yura looked at me.

“You’ve figured something out, haven’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Explain.”

“Yuna inherited Kang Juhui’s power.”

“Inherited?”

“Yes.”

When she drank Kang Juhui’s blood as she lay dying, she inherited her abilities.

That’s why the subordinates obeyed her now.

Yura thought for a moment, then nodded.

“All right. I won’t kill them. But there’s no way to restore their minds, is there?”

Maybe, like Yuna, the light could bring them back for a short while.

But that was only a stopgap.

“…No.”

“Then we’ll keep them under control at the guild’s lab.”

“The lab?”

“Yes. They may follow Yuna’s orders now, but what if something changes? Hunger, for example.”

She wasn’t wrong.

They were monsters.

They could turn on people at any time.

“Honestly, I’m worried about Yuna too. Even if she’s fine now, will she still be fine later?”

“What do you mean?”

“Rank up or not, she’s still a vampire. Can she live without blood?”

Yuna’s voice trembled.

“Wait… wait a second. Why are you talking like I’m a vampire?”

“…”

Yura averted her gaze.

Yuna’s face crumpled as she turned to me.

“Oppa, say something! She’s treating me like a vampire!”

I bowed my head.

“…Sorry, Yuna.”

“W-What? You too? You’re taking this joke way too far.”

“…Sorry.”

I explained everything to her, step by step.

When I finished, she shook her head in denial.

“No. No way.”

As she cried, I soothed her and said to Yura,

“I’ll take Yuna. The rest is yours.”

“…Fine.”

She kept her head down the entire way back, silent.

“We’re here. Let’s go up.”

When she didn’t move, I tried again.

“Yuna, we’re home.”

She slowly looked up at me.

“…Oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry, but…”

“Go on.”

“Could you take me to my brother-in-law’s funeral hall? My sister will be struggling alone.”

Her face looked like she was barely alive. My chest tightened.

“You sure?”

She gave a faint smile.

“I’m fine. I’ve actually got a lot of advantages now. I’m stronger, my senses are sharper—I think I could even hunt a few monsters alone.”

“…”

“I can see well in the dark, and… oh! I can order those weird guys around.”

She was trying so hard to pretend she was fine that it hurt to watch.

I stopped her from getting out.

“I’ll take you. Let’s go.”

“…I’m really fine.”

“Just listen.”

“…Thank you.”

We were almost at the funeral hall when the sky began to lighten.

The sun was rising.

Wait. Is this okay?

Vampires were known to be rare even in B-Rank Gates—very little was known about them.

All I knew was that sunlight was harmful. How harmful, I didn’t know.

We need to get indoors before sunrise.

I sped up—

Hsssss!

Mist rose from Yuna’s body.

“Yuna!”

The sun hadn’t even crested yet.

Damn. So even indirect light can hurt her?

Frantic, I searched for any building to duck into.

Then, from within the mist, her voice came.

“I-I’m fine! It doesn’t hurt at all!”

“Really?”

“Y-Yeah. Totally fine.”

I rolled the window down to ventilate.

The mist cleared—and I froze.

“Yuna…?”

“Yes? What is it?”

The pallor was gone from her skin—color had returned.