All things considered Neugdae was having a pretty normal day. He might even go so far as to say that he was having a good day which is why he fully expected it to be ruined at some point. Like a self fulfilling prophecy his day did end up being interrupted and to add that extra sting it happened literally as he was on his way to have a nice relaxing lunch.

“Eun Sunbae!”

‘I hate Mondays’ he thought with an internal groan turning around only to be hit by the flying woman shaped missile that is Kyung So-Ra.

“I think Soyun’s dead!” So-Ra wept as she buried her face in his shirt.

“Ah…?” Neugdae awkwardly let out looking to her companion to do something.

Min-Son for his part cringed at the display and made to pull the woman off of him for propriety’s sake yet Neugdae could see that his expression is visibly troubled as he did.

“I’m sorry about her Sunbae.”

“It’s…fine?” well no it wasn’t because her little display attracted a few stares but he could only sigh internally at that “let’s find somewhere private to talk.”

They both nodded and the trio ended up going to the same restaurant chain located on campus that they went to before they were accosted by Officer Hwa. After ordering some food and taking a seat Neugdae got down to business.

“Now what’s this about Soyun being dead?”

So-Ra went on to explain how she caught the morning news where they were covering the incident on Saturday. Speaking of which, said incident has become a highly popular topic over the weekend. It already was considering it was a shootout in broad daylight but then information was leaked that all of the casualties, over a dozen, were all vampires. Now strictly speaking it wasn’t unheard of to hear vampires dying. A popular example of this being the case is the vampire gang wars that happened a few years back.

Everyone assumed this to be the case at first however in the two days since the incident multiple witnesses have come forward with claims that they heard gunfire and explosions. The former is something of a game changer because it is a generally accepted fact that vampires do not use firearms. So with that information rumors began to circulate that the ones responsible for the vampires’ death were in fact humans.

Now the rumors alternate between which factions were responsible (i.e. police officers, military personnel or civilians) but the idea of humans being the one to kill the vampires have taken root in social consciousness and people were running with it. To make a long story short the incident has caught the attention of the entire city, possibly the country, and the media is running with it. Everyone wanted to know everything about what really happened, how it happened, why it happened and who was involved.

Fast forward to this morning and the identities of the previously unknown family that were the only casualties were released and the news reported it. The neighborhood’s local foreign priest and ‘pillar of the community’ Stefan Joseph, along with his young adopted daughter and university student Hwang Soyun and the young twins are now officially dead. Understandably finding out your friend died over the weekend and through the morning news of all places is shocking and a certain amount of grieving is to be expected but…

‘This seems like a bit much.’

So-Ra isn’t taking the news well at all which sounds appropriate to the situation but form her reaction you’d think the one who died was a close family member or a treasured friend she knew for years. So-Ra has only known Soyun for a week and, no offense to Soyun, but Neugdae just couldn’t fathom someone leaving so much of an impression on another in such a short amount of time that they will grieve this much at their passing.

It made So-Ra seem very suspicious.

‘God I hope this isn’t a ploy to get close to me.’

Eun Neugdae is not an ignorant man. Of course he noticed So-Ra’s interest in him, frankly it’s harder to find a woman who isn’t interested which sounds narcissistic but that’s just the reality of the situation. Most normal people will take all sorts of umbrage with this hot take but in Neugdae’s opinion being handsome and desirable really sucks for those unwilling or otherwise unable to play into the ‘role’ such benefits will naturally afford them.

With that thought in mind he decided to bite the bullet and probe her mind for a bit. He did the surface thoughts just as he always did with most and hoped that his suspicions were unfounded. Thankfully the universe decided to throw him a bone as he found So-Ra to be genuine in her grief. Strange as that is but apparently her and Soyun have really bonded over the course of the week in a way that only women can apparently.

‘Or maybe So-Ra has attachment issues.’

He wasn’t diving any further into her mind to confirm that.

“You know everyone’s so busy talking about the vampires and whoever killed them but nobody’s talking about the victims that died even though one of them was our classmate” So-Ra mentioned with clear frustration and sorrow.

“Yeah…” he did notice that.

The incident had major news coverage, was at the top of trending on social media and forums were being filled with theories and analysis yet there was hardly any mention of Soyun and her family. Not to say there weren’t any but they seem to be a footnote in the story and Neugdae can’t decide whether that’s a good thing or not. On the one hand not being mentioned in the news constantly is ultimately good for the very much alive Soyun and her incognito status but on the other hand people are so desensitized to people dying that a whole family being killed is hardly worth continuous news coverage anymore.

“Sunbae do you want to go for drinks later?” surprisingly it wasn’t So-Ra who asked the question it was Min-Son “I know we don’t really know each other much but you and Soyun seemed close and as far I know we were her only friends.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

‘Ah...’ Neugdae internally winced, to be honest he’d rather not but there really isn’t an excuse for him not to. At least a reason that wouldn’t see him as a terrible person even if said reason was a legitimate one. Needless to say his usual excuses wouldn’t get him out of this.

“You’re right” he agreed “I’ll be there this evening. Same place where we met Soyun?”

Min-Son scoffed “as if there are any better places to be.”

Elsewhere…

The sun had gone down about an hour ago and Chiyon went to the rooftop of the precinct for a smoke break. Frankly after the day she had she needed desperately needed one. Just as she expected the weekend shootout had turned into a media storm after information was leaked. It wasn’t just about the possibility of a vampire gang war but that there may be a vigilante, a human vigilante. It didn’t help that the vampires killed looked to be part of some kind of organized gang (given that they were wearing matching suits of quality) which was its own headache.

So the prevailing highlights of the incidents/worries of the public are: possible vampire gang war, dangerous vigilante on the loose and the existence of organized vampire gangs.

A vampire gang war meant that there was going to be armed and dangerous vampires prowling the streets looking for trouble. That would put Gwangju in an even worse position than having at least one person being murdered every week for months on end. Fights between vampires are naturally destructive and cause much in terms of property and collateral. That’s not even mentioning any innocents or officers caught in the crossfire since as records show it never ends well for anyone.

The vigilante aspect has twofold problems because they don’t know if said vigilante was a group or individual or if they were human, vampire or possibly an alliance of the two. If it were Just a vampire(s) then you’d have a vampire running around using illegally acquired and modified military weapons which is a very scary thought. If this were a human vigilante group than it opens up to a different kind of fear because in the past there used to be vigilantes or rather people who would actively attempt to fight against vampires who were more akin to.

Key word being attempt.

Part of the reason why the casualties were so high back then was because some people were actively hunting vampires. There were a few reasons but it mostly boiled down to either revenge for a friend or loved one lost, fear of a emerging new species that were predatory towards humans or a sense of obligation fueled by patriotism, religious belief or Xenophobia.

The newest theory to hit the mainstream that’s seeing traction is the theory that this vigilante group was some kind of alliance between vampires and humans then it brought to question what kind of threat would be big enough to make a vampire and human cooperate. And this leads into another leak to hit the media which has brought down more awareness on another rather controversial topic, organized vampire gangs.

Vampire gangs becoming organized should be a eventuality if one really thought about it. In fact it is no secret to Chiyon or officers who deal with vampires that they have gone into organized crime. The public however is a bit different due to government suppression, propaganda and just blatant misinformation the perception of vampires is a bit skewed.

‘So skewed that a group of misguided university students thought they could subdue one with only a dozen people, some concealed weapons and absolutely no kind of training or experience in wielding said weapons’ she thought her mind turning to that incident at the university a few days ago.

Those kids had no idea the kind of trouble they were inviting pulling that kind of stunt. If there was a vampire in that crowd of students then she had prevented a possible massacre. Or rather that young man did by stalling the proceedings long enough for her to notice and call for backup. Something like that couldn’t be allowed to happen again so an example needed to be made. Unfortunate as it is more than a few students were brought in and while no serious charges were levied the incident would mar their record.

She had no sympathy. As the saying goes play stupid games win stupid prizes.

‘And speaking of stupid…’

The reason for why she’s on the roof lighting a cigarette came to mind. When the first leak happened the police chief made a statement. By the time the third leak occurred the public was whipped into a frenzy and the media being the sharks that they were ended up lobbying to pressure the police to answer said questions. The result ended up being a press conference and seeing as she was both a leading detective on the case as well as an expert in vampires Chiyon had to be there to help the chief field questions.

Chiyon has been on long fruitless stakeouts before and just the other day she spent hours looking through crime scene photos in order to write down a timeline of events but by God was that press conference the most infuriatingly tedious endeavor she’d had to do in the last couple of years.

So that as the highlight of her day which is why she savored the hit of nicotine as she inhaled the smoke. This combined with the view of the area from her vantage point and the relative silence made the whole experience a rather peaceful affair.

That peace is then broken by a voice “I thought you gave that up”

Chiyon wasn’t so much as startled at the interruption keeping her eyes forward and enjoying the view as she replied “I said I would consider it.”

A figure walked from her blind spot into her peripheral “and?”

“My next case was a vampire attacking an orphanage” Chiyon shrugged giving the figure a side eyed glance “new look?”

“Well I can’t go around looking like a dead man now can I?” answered Stefan.

Far from his usual look Stefan now wears a black long coat, grey shirt and sunglasses. The thing that really separated him however was the fact that he is now clean shaven and his hair is dyed black.

“Point” she conceded “I wasn’t expecting another contact so soon.”

“The situation has changed”

“How so?”

“Before that” he interrupted “you can come out.”

And in the next instant someone was standing next to him. This time Chiyon was startled though she kept it hidden enough.

“Who…?” she trailed off a bit as the woman pulled down her hoodie and mask to reveal a familiar face “Soyun.”

Soyun gave a small nod “officer Hwa.”

Chiyon knew who she was of course but she was under the impression that Stefan didn’t involve her in this side of the business.

‘I guess secrecy went out the window when he decided to fake their deaths.’

“Are you sure about involving her in this?”

“She can handle herself and besides she’s not as innocent a bystander as she appears.”

“How do you mean?”

At this Soyun gave Stefan a glance to which he nodded and she sighed then right before her eyes the young woman changed. Her skin turned a shade bit paler, her brown hair lost its color but gained luster turning a pure white that gleamed in the moonlight, her eyes became the deepest shade of red with a vertical slit, her lips became noticeably more red, her ears pointed and her nails became black and sharpened into claws.

“You’re a vampire” she paused swallowing “you’re a Pureblood.”

“Yeah” the now revealed vampire observed her “you’re taking this remarkably well.”

Chiyon was admittedly surprised especially the implications brought on by her Pureblood status.

Still “in my line of work you get used to seeing weird things, just the other I was telling your dad how a supposed wizard broke into my house.”

At that Soyun winced “ehh~”

“What?”

She looked to Stefan who sighed “about that.”

And in that moment Chiyon found it fortuitous that she already had a lit cigarette in hand and several more in a pack in her pocket.

‘I hate Mondays.’

~To Be Continued~