Chapter 10 …
“Are you feeling a bit more clear-headed?”
“Ugh… I’m dizzy…”
“You’ve been kidnapped.”
“Yeoul, what on earth are you talking about…?”
“It’s a line I’ve always wanted to try at least once.”
The kidnapped master baker clutched his spinning head and slowly sat up.
Fortunately, he no longer showed the same aggressive tendencies as before. He opened his eyes halfway, trembling slightly, and looked back and forth between Yeoul and me.
“You’re… Yeoul and Hyunsoo?”
“Yes. Though it’s a bit awkward to greet you like this… You’ve been well, right?”
“…Do I look well?”
“No.”
“…Heh.”
Since he seemed fully back to his senses, I untied the rope binding Juntak ajusshi. If it were the current him, he could’ve easily torn through such rope. The fact that he didn’t resist meant he had regained some rationality.
“So what happened? Why are you in this state?”
“Ha…”
As if recalling countless events, tears welled up in his eyes. He wiped them with his sleeve and began to speak with difficulty.
“Making it out of Daejeon alive was nothing short of a miracle.”
The story he had buried deep in his chest began to flow out.
The ones who helped evacuate the few remaining survivors of Daejeon were people from the slum district.
At first, the people from the slums carried out rescue operations with the goal of saving as many people as possible.
Although the Lich’s power grew stronger and they were eventually forced to retreat, thanks to the slum dwellers’ help, about thirty people from Daejeon survived.
They supported the Daejeon survivors both materially and emotionally and did their best until bringing them into the slums. Though they had lost their hometown, the people of Daejeon breathed a sigh of relief.
They were alive, and although Daejeon had fallen, they had found what seemed to be a safer refuge.
That was true—until two days after moving into the slums.
The problem began when Leon, the boss of the slums, started demanding taxes.
The people of Daejeon had a conscience. They had received help, so they paid the taxes without protest.
What began as small sums of money quickly grew exponentially under various pretexts.
Even if they wanted to ask for help, once they arrived in the village, the slum residents, as if by prior agreement, cut off all assistance at once.
They wouldn’t even glance at goods the Daejeon survivors tried to sell. They wouldn’t even speak to them.
Socially and economically isolated, the Daejeon survivors struggled to pay taxes—but how much property could refugees possibly have?
Their capital ran dry in no time, and eventually they reached a point where they could no longer pay.
And then, the real problem erupted.
Those who failed to pay taxes began disappearing one by one, only to return later looking emaciated and deathly pale.
When asked where they had gone or what they had done, they kept their mouths shut and refused to answer.
They simply bowed their heads with dark expressions, as if they had seen something terrifying.
Finding this suspicious, Juntak ajusshi secretly followed those who disappeared.
And he discovered it.
People offering blood instead of taxes.
They filled blood packs to submit in place of payment, even receiving food and daily necessities in return.
At first, he thought it was just blood donation. But soon, after the people left, red-eyed beings began drinking from the blood packs one by one.
Startled, ajusshi made a noise—and the red eyes that heard him gave chase.
There was no way a plump, middle-aged man who only baked bread could escape them.
“And this… is the wound I got back then.”
Clear fang marks were etched into Juntak ajusshi’s neck.
Blood-sucking, fangs piercing the neck, superior physical abilities, red eyes.
Only one type of being came to mind.
“Are they… vampires?”
“Yeah. They call themselves ‘Blood Demons’….”
“So what, does that mean you’re one now too, ajusshi?”
“……”
“Hey, Iram…”
Seo Iram’s blunt comment struck Juntak ajusshi right in the solar plexus. Hit squarely on the mark, he made a sorrowful expression and reluctantly nodded.
“Yes. You’re right.”
“……”
“Is there no way to turn back into a normal human?”
“I don’t know… It’s not like I became this by understanding anything.”
Even as he answered, he couldn’t lift his head.
The atmosphere sank heavily.
In the silence, Kim Yeoul spoke with difficulty.
“Do you know anything else?”
“Hmm… There are a few more things.”
“Oh? Like what?”
First.
They gather blood and periodically send it somewhere.
Second.
Those who take the blood send supplies in return.
And finally, third—
Before saying the last one, Juntak ajusshi glanced around cautiously and whispered into my ear.
“There are Blood Demons inside this village acting as surveillance.”
“Hm… I see.”
So that murky magic I’d been sensing was that.
“Yeoul, go get one.”
“Okay!”
Kim Yeoul kicked off the window and in an instant dragged in one of the red gazes.
“Huh!? Wh—what!? Huh!?”
Without even managing to resist, the Blood Demon was brought in by the scruff of his neck, utterly bewildered.
I forced him to kneel and dragged a chair in front of him before sitting down.
“If you answer honestly, I won’t kill you.”
“If you don’t answer honestly, I’ll kill you!”
Seo Iram smiled brightly and pressed a blade to his neck.
For someone we’d just met today, she synced with me surprisingly well.
“Th-this…!”
Realizing his situation too late, the Blood Demon trembled and opened his mouth wide, as if to scream.
I drove my knee into his jaw.
“Ghk—!”
His sharp fangs pierced his own gums, and blood flowed from his mouth.
“Iram, cut off his thumb.”
“Okay!”
Holding the machete I gave her, Seo Iram stomped hard on his left hand.
“Aaa—!”
“Scream and you die.”
“Kh—!”
“Oppa, can I cut now?”
“Yeah.”
Without hesitation, she sliced off his thumb.
The Blood Demon’s eyes bulged. His body trembled violently, but he didn’t scream.
I tapped his head lightly.
A proper amount of fear is always helpful.
“Now we can finally have a conversation.”
“Is it really okay to treat a Blood Demon like this…?”
“He’s a Blood Demon. If you don’t want to see it, close your eyes.”
Even after taking a blow that would’ve shattered a normal person’s jaw, his seemed intact.
“Well then, shall we continue?”
I sat down again.
Seo Iram prepared to cut off his index finger next.
“What’s your name?”
“……”
“Cut it.”
“Lee Jangwoo! My name is Lee Jangwoo!”
“Oppa, cut?”
“…Hmm. I’ll let it slide this time.”
Nine fingers left.
That should cover three or four questions.
“What exactly are Blood Demons?”
“We are vampires who live by drinking human blood. We weaken under sunlight. We are vulnerable to fire-based attacks. Garlic and crosses do not work.”
“Finally, some sincerity.”
I crossed my legs and stared into his red eyes.
His pupils shrank; his skin trembled slightly.
“Where did you Blood Demons come from?”
“…That… I don’t know. Until a month ago, I was an ordinary human.”
“Oh? A human?”
“…Yes!”
“Iram, two fingers.”
“W-wait—!”
Slice.
His middle and index fingers fell.
He didn’t scream, of course.
The way he bit his lip as tears streamed down was quite impressive.
“If you lie, you lose two at a time. Got it?”
“I—I’m telling the truth! I really was human!”
“Did it sound like I was questioning that?”
“…Huh?”
“Saying you don’t know—that’s the lie.”
I grabbed his hair and lifted his head.
Fear. Terror. Shock.
A storm of dark emotions swirled in his red eyes.
Quite the sight.
“Oppa, cutting just fingers is kind of unsatisfying…”
“Hmm. Then next time, should we take the wrist?”
“Sounds good!”
“I-I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”
Seo Iram grinned and pressed the blade to his neck. Just the edge touching him drew blood.
The Blood Demon understood the threat. He trembled and even wet himself.
“Go on. Start talking.”
“O-of course!”
The Blood Demon, who introduced himself as Lee Jangwoo, began spilling everything.
First, in Seoul there exists a ‘True Ancestor’ who rules over all Blood Demons, and the blood gathered here is sent there.
Second, Leon is one of the First Progeny—direct subordinates of the True Ancestor.
Finally, Seoul has already become a city completely dominated by Blood Demons.
“That’s all? You don’t know how many First Progeny there are?”
“Yes! That’s truly all! I’m just a low-ranking member!”
His desperate eyes suggested he wasn’t lying.
I gently took the knife from Iram’s hand. The Blood Demon exhaled roughly in relief.
Patting his shoulder, I asked one last question.
“Oh, one more thing. Do you know how to turn a Blood Demon back into a human?”
“What? Ah—yes. If you kill the one who granted the power—the one who turned the human into a Blood Demon—or kill a higher-ranking progeny above them.”
“Oh? Then those below revert to normal humans instantly?”
“Yes, that’s correct!”
I glanced at ajusshi and smiled faintly.
“Thanks.”
Then I slit the Blood Demon’s throat with the kitchen knife in my hand.
Experience points flowed in from someone who claimed he’d been human just a month ago.
“Ah! Oppa, I wanted to do that!”
“I’ll let you next time.”
“Promise!”
“Promise.”
Kim Yeoul chuckled as she restrained the corpse.
“You’re still a complete psychopath when it comes to monsters.”
“Of course. Did you forget what killed your parents and mine?”
“I know. How could I forget?”
After wiping the blood from my hands, I looked at Juntak ajusshi.
Surprisingly, he didn’t seem shocked. He sat on the bed, staring blankly at the dead Blood Demon.
Then he looked at me and asked in a gray, drained voice,
“If… I can’t return to being human, can you send me off without pain?”
“……”
If he couldn’t return, he wanted to die.
I could feel his sincerity.
But I had no intention of sending off the Republic of Korea’s master baker like this.
I still haven’t tried his new cream cheese strawberry bagel.
“Ajusshi, no matter what, I’ll turn you back into a human. So don’t think useless thoughts.”
“You? Not me?”
“Whose summon are you?”
“Tch.”
Kim Yeoul cut in to lighten the mood, and even ajusshi gave a hollow smile.
“So, who was the Blood Demon that bit you?”
“Ah… Did you see the deal I made in the alley?”
“Yes, we saw it.”
“Then it’s simple. The Blood Demon who sold me the blood pack that day—that’s the one who bit me.”
He turns someone into a Blood Demon and then sells them blood packs?
What a lunatic.
“Then can we call that bastard back here—”
“Hyunsoo, move!”
A crimson spear flying at high speed shattered against Kim Yeoul’s fist.
The spear made of blood lost form and dripped down.
“…Saves us the trouble of looking for him.”
On the rooftop of the building across from the inn—
Red sunglasses. Black coat.
And a man with snow-white hair glaring down at us.
