Ace Party (2)
A guesthouse on Gwangalli Beach, Busan.
There existed another group of vampires.
Unlike the vampire group led by Ahn Sang-hyuk, this one didn't have a single leader guiding the group.
Instead, five mid-level vampires each led their own factions and operated in the form of a council.
"The humans around here are all dried up now."
"We can't keep increasing our numbers. At this rate, we're all going to starve to death."
They had entered a period of stagnation.
All the nearby survivor groups had already been subdued.
The people once scattered throughout Gwangalli had either been killed by vampires or turned into vampires themselves.
Oh Yeoreum, the only woman among the gathered vampires, sighed as she spoke.
"I told you, Lee Jun-young. I told you to stop mindlessly increasing the numbers."
"What?"
"Am I wrong? Isn't this all because your people kept turning everyone into those lowest-level vampires? Huh?"
Lee Jun-young glared at Oh Yeoreum, his face contorted, then finally opened his mouth.
"My method wasn't wrong. I had the most results out of all of us."
"Isn't that just because you had more people, so you got to feed more?"
"You bitch."
When Oh Yeoreum replied mockingly, Lee Jun-young clenched his teeth like he might lunge at her any moment.
"Enough."
At that moment, a middle-aged man who had been quietly watching the meeting with his chin rested on his hand stepped in and stopped the two vampires.
"Hmph."
"Watch yourself. One day, I'll break that smug jaw of yours."
"Oh please. Coming from someone surrounded by half-wits who can't even think for themselves."
Though they continued sniping at each other, the atmosphere wasn't as hostile as before.
The other vampires, used to such squabbles, didn't even pay attention and continued with the meeting.
"How about we take this opportunity to relocate? Somewhere with more humans than here."
"I've been thinking the same thing."
But the man who had mediated earlier, Kim Jun-ho, quietly shook his head.
"No."
The response was immediate.
"Why not, Jun-ho? Why are you so obsessed with staying here? You've always refused to leave. If we stay here like this, we'll all just starve together, you know?"
Kim Jun-ho's words held weight—he was the first vampire to form this organization, just like Ahn Sang-hyuk.
However, unlike Ahn Sang-hyuk, he preferred an equal footing rather than ruling over others, which allowed the rest of the vampires to freely express their opinions.
When he didn't answer, the man who had just questioned him grew frustrated, thumping his chest as he spoke.
"This is driving me crazy. Even though you were the one who turned us into vampires and gave us a new life, I can't just sit here and starve without even knowing why. I'm leaving."
Just then—
"You can't do that."
A strange voice rang out.
"Who's there?!"
The man who had declared he was leaving turned his head toward the voice and was about to shout—
Squelch!
"Gahk!"
A stranger emerged from the shadows and bit into his neck.
"Grrkk—!"
The man's body quickly shriveled like a mummy, his blood completely drained.
The vampire who had sucked him dry slowly pulled back from his neck and gave a simple remark.
"Hmm. Well aged."
The mid-level vampires, who had been frozen in shock watching the scene, suddenly erupted in rage.
"This lunatic!"
"Kill him!"
Lee Jun-young, who was sitting to the right, swung his fist at the stranger.
But—
Squelch!
Lee Jun-young's punch hit nothing but air, while the stranger's right hand pierced straight through his heart.
And just like before—
Squelch!
The stranger sank his fangs into Lee Jun-young's neck and began sucking his blood.
Another mid-level vampire, who had quietly drawn a kitchen knife from his clothes, approached the stranger's back.
"Die!"
Seizing the moment while the stranger was focused on drinking Lee Jun-young's blood, he aimed for his back.
"Take this—!"
Squelch!
The knife plunged deep into the stranger's back.
"Hehe! Where do you think you're crawling off to, you retard—!"
But his words never made it to the end.
Squelch!
A burst of blood sprang from the spot where the kitchen knife was stabbed, piercing straight through his throat.
"Guh! Gkk! Kk!"
Thud!
The tentacle, made of thick, red blood, devoured the man's blood greedily.
The body of the mid-tier vampire, whose throat had been pierced, quickly withered and shriveled up.
At the same time—
Lee Jun-young, who hadn't even managed to resist, ended his life as a dried-up mummy.
"Slurp. Mmm. Not bad at all."
Clang!
The sound of the kitchen knife that had been lodged in the man's back echoed loudly as it hit the floor.
"When you run away like a little rat…"
At that moment, a blood vessel extended from the man's back and shot out, striking Oh Yeoreum in the back as she tried to flee quietly.
"Hiiieek!"
Hearing the shrill scream, a smile crept across the man's lips.
"Did you really think you'd survive?"
"I-I was wrong. Please, just spare my life… guh…"
But there was no mercy.
Squelch!
Likewise, Oh Yeoreum shriveled up without putting up any real resistance.
"Hmm. This is actually pretty nice."
At that moment, Kim Junho, who had been observing everything until then, stared blankly at the stranger and finally spoke.
"It's been a while, Younghoon-nim."
The monster who had devoured four of his comrades in an instant—Jung Younghoon—smiled broadly and replied:
"Yeah, it has. What's it been, a month?"
"…Seems about that long."
"Right. Been doing okay?"
***
"Thanks to the power you gave me, I've somehow managed to survive until now."
"I see. Good work."
Kim Junho asked calmly:
"Is it my turn now?"
"That's right."
"Was that why you told me to stay put and not move from here?"
"Exactly."
With a sigh that seemed to shake the ground, Kim Junho pleaded:
"Please, let me live."
Jung Younghoon burst out laughing, then responded:
"You still don't get why I'm doing this?"
"I do. Drinking blood from mid-tier vampires, which is much more concentrated, is far more beneficial than tracking down and sucking from humans one by one."
"Oh? You know quite a bit."
Blood vessels split off from Younghoon's body and slowly approached Kim Junho.
One of them turned into a sharp needle and stabbed Junho's face.
A drop of blood from the wound traveled along the vessel and was absorbed into Younghoon's body.
"You're pretty smart. But that just means you should know better, doesn't it? That begging for your life won't save you. You should've tried coming at me with everything you had."
"I'm not the type to fight battles I have no chance of winning."
"Hehe. That's funny."
Kim Junho spoke calmly:
"This organization still has many low-tier and bottom-tier vampires. While they may be more nutritious than regular humans, they're probably not worth your time to hunt down yourself. I'll produce three new mid-tier vampires before your return."
"I heard humans around here are all but wiped out. How are you going to do that? Planning to leave this place?"
"But vampires still remain, don't they?"
He continued explaining:
"The ones with the greatest numbers right now were led by Lee Jun-young. I plan to label him a traitor and feed him to the rest."
"…Go on."
"Once they taste the blood of a fellow vampire and gain strength, they'll realize the efficiency of cannibalism. They'll learn that eating fellow low-tier vampires is more beneficial than preying on dozens of humans. If left alone, they'll devour each other and evolve into mid-tier vampires."
After listening to everything, Jung Younghoon burst into a fit of hearty laughter.
"Puhaha! You're something else! Doing all that just to live a few more days? You really are one hell of a bastard. Heheh."
"If I can prove my worth to you, perhaps I can be moved to another location and continue playing the role of a farm owner."
"Wow. You thought that far ahead?"
"If you just spare my life, I'll be the goose that lays golden eggs for you."
"Puhahahaha!"
Jeong Young-hoon, who had been laughing for a while, tilted his head at a 45-degree angle and gave Kim Jun-ho a piece of advice.
"Just in case you're thinking about it—if you're trying to buy time so you can somehow become a high-ranking vampire like me, forget it."
"High-ranking vampires aren't born from lowly origins like you guys. You have to be personally chosen by Him. I was a high-ranking vampire from the beginning, and no matter how hard you struggle, you'll never become one."
"…I'll remember that."
The blood tendrils that had extended from Jeong Young-hoon's body slowly receded back into him.
"Heh."
After chuckling for a while, Jeong Young-hoon casually added,
"Well then, I'll look forward to it—Farm Owner."
With that, he faded back into the darkness.
After he left, Kim Jun-ho didn't move for some time.
As if time itself had frozen, he just sat there, staring into the darkness.
Creak.
Patiently waiting, Kim Jun-ho finally rose from his chair and looked over the bodies of his dead comrades.
His expressionless face twisted into something demonic.
"…Son of a bitch."
With eyes full of rage, he began collecting the corpses of those he had personally raised into vampires.
Crunch.
Gritting his teeth, he thought to himself:
'Can't wait to see if he can still make that smug face when he's about to die.'
The only reason that bastard spared his life was likely just a whim.
A confidence that no matter what Kim Jun-ho tried, he'd never be able to do anything to him.
'Annoying bastard.'
While Kim Jun-ho was vowing revenge, Jeong Young-hoon was deciding on his next destination.
"Hmm. Where was it again? I think it was some apartment complex."
It took less than an hour for Ha Dong-geon's party to gather in response to the summons.
In unit 2901, now a dump filled with liquor bottles and trash thanks to the antics of Kang Deok-su and Kim Gun, a quick briefing on the vampires was given.
"…That's why I called you all here."
After hearing the situation, Ha Dong-geon asked,
"Are they still there?"
"Yes. They haven't made any significant movements yet."
Even now, he was using the Eye of the Absolute to monitor them.
Thanks to Seo Ye-jin's mice having completely taken over the sewers beneath the apartment complex, their movements were clearly visible.
"With your skill levels, you should be able to handle them with no problem."
The strongest among them, Ahn Sang-hyuk, was only a level 38 mid-rank vampire.
He wouldn't stand a chance against Ha Dong-geon's party, where everyone was at least level 40.
Honestly, for them, this operation was little more than a casual outing.
"Ye-jin's mice will guide you to the apartment complex where they're holed up. It's pretty close—you'll get there quickly."
Even if some variables came up, they weren't likely to pose much of a threat to Ha Dong-geon's party.
"If there's one thing I'm worried about… it's that these monsters were once human."
Ha Dong-geon answered calmly,
"But now, they're just monsters that eat people."
"…Will you be alright?"
Having faced Je-gal Seong-gyu, a low-rank vampire, myself—I knew it better than most.
'They don't look any different from humans.'
Even knowing they were evil beings that viewed humans as prey, it still felt wrong to kill them with gas explosions or poison—simply because of their human appearance.
Ha Dong-geon's party likely wasn't much different from me.
'You do get used to killing them eventually…'
But since they were already mentally worn down, I worried even more.
"Are you really going to be okay?"
As if sensing my concern, Ha Dong-geon looked me straight in the eye and spoke seriously.
"I understand what you're worried about, Jaehyun. But to survive in this changed world, I believe this is something we have to go through at least once."
"Sorry?"
"We don't know how many more times this will happen. Eventually, we might not be dealing with human-like monsters—we may have to kill actual humans. When that time comes, I don't plan to hesitate."
He gave a faint smile.
"Consider this a rehearsal for that day. I'll be fine. And if my mental state breaks again, I'll just take another break. Honestly, ending up in a drunken stupor like those guys isn't the worst coping method."
He spoke with firm conviction.
"Don't worry too much. Neither I nor my party members are that weak. Even if we falter along the way, we'll get back up. Just like today."
I let out a small laugh and replied,
"Seems like I was worrying over nothing."
Ha Dong-geon's resolve was clear.
"I'm counting on you all again."
The ace party had returned.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]