Chapter 40 :

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Instead of answering, Se-gun looked at Detective Sim as if he were staring at a lunatic. In response, Detective Sim suddenly sprang to his feet and kicked the bench with his foot.

“You little motherfucking bastard, no bigger than a cockhead. What, you think you’re going to exercise your right to remain silent? Huh? Maybe I should smash your damn skull with a millstone.”

Detective Sim Gu-jin said that, but soon suppressed his anger and shook his head vigorously. If he were his usual self, he might really have gone and fetched a millstone from somewhere and brought it down on Se-gun’s head just as he threatened. But lately, suffering from neurosis due to constant surveillance, he had lost most of his strength. He couldn’t afford to lose Han Se-gun—the only link who might provide even the slightest information about that incident—so easily.

“Alright, alright. Let’s just talk among ourselves. What the hell was that? What shoots guns in the middle of a city and leaves not even a single corpse behind?”

“It was a survival game.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. I’ve eaten police rice for years—do you take me for an idiot? Does the Republic of Korea police look that easy to you?”

Saying that, Detective Sim glanced around. It was the kind of attitude a street thug would take before beating someone up—checking to see who was watching. That much he was conscious of the eyes around him.

“I’m going crazy. Every passing bird’s staring at me, dogs are staring at me, even cats are staring… Damn it. I’m losing my mind! You know something about this, don’t you? Talk. Huh?”

Detective Sim Gu-jin asked in a near-hysterical outburst.

“If you’re asking what it was, then that’s my official statement.”

Se-gun explained calmly to Detective Sim Gu-jin. In other words, no matter what, that was all he could say in an official testimony. Detective Sim Gu-jin was sharp enough to understand the implication easily.

“Damn it all. Then outside of your statement, what are you going to say?”

Se-gun drew a deep breath.

“You’d better not get involved in this. You’ll die. That’s the only advice I can give…”

“Bullshit. I’m Republic of Korea police. What bastard’s going to kill me?”

He said that, but he knew full well that in a situation where even the confiscated evidence was disappearing, being police meant nothing. If birds or dogs attacked and killed someone, it might make a sensational headline in some tabloid like Incidents and People, but that would be the end of it. There were those capable of killing within the framework of the law, stepping right past the shield of being Korean police.

Detective Sim Gu-jin felt his throat go dry and swallowed hard.

“You know very well what would kill you.”

Se-gun said that. Of course, he didn’t utter the word “vampire”. Detective Sim Gu-jin was certainly being watched by birds and beasts, but he had no information whatsoever about vampires. Se-gun felt a flicker of pity for the detective, but sentiment and action were separate matters.

The taboo shared by vampires and vampire hunters was simple: never reveal their existence to outside society.

Of course, if humans learned the true identity of vampires, the military might deploy and drive them back. Even if vampires had taken control of the armed forces, human society itself was like a living organism—any virus that entered the body would eventually be eliminated by antibodies. Attempts had been made to drag vampires up to the surface of society by trusting in that human “resistance”.

However…

Such attempts were dismissed as absurd nonsense, like stories about UFOs, and the evidence prepared by those challengers vanished by the power of Tetra Anax, who possessed superhuman strength. Hypnosis, trance, inhuman physical abilities, all kinds of magic… To try to confine vampires—who employed supernatural and extra-legal means—within the boundaries of the law was nothing more than futile delusion.

Se-gun himself was nothing more than a trivial novice vampire hunter. He had no ability to shake the dominion of vampires said to have begun thousands of years ago, alongside the Iron Age.

“… Fine. Then what should I do?”

“Let it remain an unsolved case. If your superiors pressure you, endure the scolding. Is there any other way?”

“Damn.”

He ground his teeth at Se-gun’s words. After graduating from the Police University and keeping his distance from promotion because he had opposed injustice, he thought he had finally been given a big case. And now—was he chosen as a shield for disciplinary action? If the investigation closed as unsolved, maybe it would end in reprimand. But in the worst case, he might simply die.

“… Help me.”

Detective Sim Gu-jin thought himself pathetic for saying it, but he asked the young man for help. The age difference was enough that he could be his father, yet at this moment, this youth was the only one he could rely on.

“Excuse me? What? Just drop the investigation and crawl along quietly. Like when you investigate high-level officials. If you play along, they’ll probably leave you alone.”

“I’d like to, but the moment I met you, I think it was already too late. You heard the sound of wings too, didn’t you?”

“……”

Only then did Se-gun realize how serious things had become. The detective in charge of investigating a vampire-related shooting had met a vampire hunter? Of course, Se-gun didn’t go around wearing a sign that said I am a vampire hunter, but Tetra Anax’s information network was mythical in scope.

“But…”

He could just say it wasn’t his problem. Let the man die if he must. Pretend nothing happened and deal only with vampires. Se-gun resolved this inwardly as he walked. After already killing humans, there was no reason to risk himself for some shallow sense of justice now. With his power, he couldn’t drag a human chosen as a burnt offering down from the altar.

“… I’ll take payment.”

Justice couldn’t move a person. Money could.

So Se-gun decided to take money from him and act. He had no intention of declaring war on Tetra Anax as a whole. If necessary, he would negotiate with them. It was strange to trust vampires enough to negotiate, but he judged they probably didn’t want to kill a police officer if they could avoid it. However, if it came to battle, he would prepare thoroughly.

First, he selected the ground that would become the battlefield, prepared his equipment, and set traps. This feed warehouse backed against a mountain, and there was only one road leading to it. Of course, vampires could cross the mountain; they had no reason to cling to human roads. Still, that was enough.

“Damn. Even if I win, it’ll be dangerous.”

Se-gun thought so. Even if negotiations succeeded, his position would be awkward. If they failed, he would have to fight vampires. Anyone who didn’t tremble before battle was nothing more than trash craving base blood.

“First, think about surviving.”

Muttering that, Se-gun placed Psychedelic Moon on the back of his hand. Blended with narcotics, Psychedelic Moon appeared pale white under the moonlight. Even Se-gun was beginning to show signs of addiction to the drug. Though it was a poison slowly ruining him, he brought it to his nose.

Huuup.

Absorbed through his mucous membranes, the drug invaded his brain at once like strong vodka.

At that moment, the darkness of night vanished. Night vision goggles couldn’t compare. He could easily read a signboard over five kilometers away, and the outlines of the night—replacing the colors of day—played before his eyes. In a field of vision close to monotone, pronounced contours gave him a sight sensitive to movement, like the compound eyes of an insect.

Was it because a bit of heroin had been mixed in instead of cocaine? A languid drowsiness washed over him, but at the same time his pulse slowed and his muscles relaxed, bringing a calm like a placid surface of water. He had heard there was no better blend for sniping and long-distance shooting.

“It really… kills.”

Se-gun muttered, forcing away the surge of happiness flooding his body. The vampires would come—certainly. Se-gun and Detective Sim Gu-jin had coordinated and submitted plausible information to their superiors to lure them in. To refute the superior’s investigation claiming all the bullets used in the incident were Pungsan rounds, Se-gun had handed over his Tokarev round as newly discovered evidence… The vampires would surely find it absurd.

They were used to turning innocent people into criminals. But would they sit still when the very person they had framed now claimed a different item as evidence and countered with fabrication? It wasn’t just pride. If only to transmit their intent, they would make contact.

Vrrrroooom!

As if on cue, a Galloper vehicle could be seen approaching along the road. It might be dismissed as a passing car, but the village ahead was still a mess from flood damage and hadn’t been fully restored. Moreover, it was driving down the dark road at night without headlights. Most likely, vampires had come carrying information.

The Galloper slowly approached along the dry asphalt.

A four-inch small thin-film LCD display emitted a pale glow. On the screen was the image of an ordinary Korean hillside thick with pine trees. It was the hill behind the feed warehouse, installed deliberately because surveillance from there was otherwise impossible.

‘But coming head-on is a bit unexpected.’

Se-gun watched the Galloper approaching head-on and thought so. For a moment, he considered just blasting it apart right now with the AUG-Steyr, but he couldn’t yet be certain they were vampires. So he waited. It wasn’t long, but it felt unbearably stretched—long enough to be tedious.

Tick. Tock.

Perhaps because his senses were heightened by Psychedelic Moon, even the second hand of his sports watch sounded as loud and distinct as the chime of a massive grandfather clock. Like a German soldier crouched in a trench waiting for the order to charge, Se-gun sat still, clutching his rifle. As he endured that drawn-out moment…

“I’ll give you some advice. Let that detective die.”

From the darkness—so indistinct it was impossible to tell whether it was reality or hallucination—a cold, rational voice echoed.

“You crazy bastard, do you want to die? Even Sylvester doesn’t pick a fight with Tetra Anax! What’s the big deal if one lousy cop dies? Why risk your life over that?”

Se-gun closed his eyes. He could feel the reinforced plastic rifle against his chest. He hugged it tightly, as though it were a person. Fear of battle clawed at him, like something tearing a piece from his heart—but something else mattered more than that.

“Someone once told me I look like Kurt Cobain.”

“…You insane son of a bitch.”

The voice vanished. Even Se-gun himself found that answer unexpected. Why would he remember something said by a woman who was neither his lover nor his friend?

He opened his eyes and checked outside through the mirror. The Galloper had drawn within two kilometers. Without revealing himself from the window, he shouted:

“Stop! Let’s negotiate!”

No matter how loudly he shouted, no human could hear from that distance. But the vehicle halted instantly. The window rolled down, yet no one stepped out. If they heard him from here, they were certainly vampires.

“Negotiate?”

A voice came from the Galloper.

“Yeah. This detective’s scared out of his mind. If you don’t touch him, we’ll do things your way—so how about taking it easy?”

Even as he spoke, Se-gun kept his eyes on the LCD panel. There was no way an assassin from the mighty Tetra Anax would come in just one car. The Tetra Anax currently in Korea weren’t the true vampire himself but merely his subordinates—but even so, due to their role in manipulating information, they could command other vampire factions.

“Sorry, but we’re not in a position to make that decision. We don’t have authority.”

The vampire’s reply reached him. The moment he heard it, Se-gun sprang to his feet and aimed the AUG-Steyr at the Galloper.

“Huh?”

The voice had clearly come from the Galloper—but now there was no one there. Had they concealed themselves? Se-gun scanned the surroundings with burning eyes. The bastards were moving at terrifying speed, leaping from tree to tree, building to building, closing in.

“Damn it!”

Rrrrttt!

He fired short bursts. But the vampires advanced so fast he couldn’t even tell whether he was hitting them or not.

Bang!

They had guns too. A bullet grazed past his ear, and the horrifying sensation made him duck instinctively. They seemed to be using pistols—trying to hit from this distance with handguns was absurd. Of course, Se-gun was wearing level 4 reinforced ceramic armor plates; pistol rounds outside effective range wouldn’t do much. But if one struck his face by bad luck, it would be over in a single shot.

“Tch.”

He pulled out cocaine and Psychedelic Moon again and inhaled. PCP would be best for aggression, but its aftereffects were too severe—even for someone who already considered himself ruined. As the drugs entered his system, he felt his fear evaporate.

“Fuck it. Let it happen!”

He stood again and sprayed bullets wildly. The vampires fired a few pistol shots as a threat, but it had little effect.

“Damn. Is he insane?”

Muttering that, the vampires ducked behind trees. Even so, they had closed a full kilometer in a flash from the vehicle—an impossible dispersed assault for any human to replicate. But a vampire hunter was no easy prey either. Psychedelic Moon granted abilities capable of rivaling vampires.

He could shoot with considerable accuracy at targets over a kilometer away and see in this darkness as though it were broad daylight. To vampires, that was plunder. The drug Psychedelic Moon, made from their blood—and the vampire hunters who hunted to obtain it… Naturally, vampires could not look kindly upon vampire hunters.

“Hah!”

One vampire sprinted forward and fired again with a Beretta M9. No one would believe a pistol shot from eight hundred meters could hit a person—but the bullet clearly struck the vampire hunter in the chest! Yet the hunter paid it no mind and unleashed rifle fire in return.

“Damn it!”

The vampire rolled along the ground and took cover in a ditch on the opposite side. He couldn’t avoid being hit either—already struck four times by rifle rounds. The bullets, fired from beyond effective range, lacked strong penetration—but ironically, that worked against the vampires.

Lower-velocity rounds might penetrate less, but their stopping power was higher. If a bullet passed cleanly through at high speed, the wound would be too neat, not particularly devastating to a vampire with regenerative ability. But when a bullet struck after losing force, it could cause far more serious injury.

Of course, that wasn’t always the case. The energy spent in flight wasn’t negligible.

“Argh! At this rate I’m dead! What the hell is Gerder doing?”

“I don’t know! How the fuck should I know what that bastard’s up to?”

The vampires snapped irritably while keeping their eyes on the hunter. In any case, while they held his attention, Gerder would cross the rear hillside and reach the warehouse. And once that happened, that arrogant vampire hunter wouldn’t have long to live.