Chapter 23: Get Smashed Then Grabbed
Chiyon listened to the young woman she met not too long ago (who turned out to be a Pureblood vampire) give an abridged version of her encounter with the mysterious vigilante who calls himself Wolf. Turns out he isn't a wizard but rather a psychic or esper as it were which doesn't actually lessen his dangerousness. In fact thanks to Soyun's explanation Chiyon felt even wearier about the man. Not only can he move objects with his mind, teleport himself and other things, is powerful enough to easily take out groups of Common Blood vampires but he can also read and likely influence a person's thoughts.
'No wonder he said it's better to think of his abilities as magic' she thought feeling the echoes of a migraine 'because it might as well be.'
The worst part is Chiyon felt like there is more he could do.
In any case by the end of the vampire's long explanation Chiyon asked the most pertinent question "so what you're saying is…Wolf can be trusted?"
"Yes/no."
Father and daughter regarded the other with a disgruntled look cluing Chiyon onto the fact that it is a topic of contention between them.
"We've been over this" grunted the young vampire.
"I said I would give him the benefit of the doubt" Stefan defended "but I won't trust an unknown."
Before the potential argument is realized Chiyon dropped what was left of her cigarette and stepped on it for good measure before getting their attention.
"I don't care who or what Wolf is so long as his intentions align with ours. Is that the case?"
She posed the question to both and only Soyun answered "yes."
"Then that's good enough for me" Chiyon said in finality whilst keeping her gaze with the disguised Stefan.
The combat priest's expression is inscrutable however the dissatisfaction is clear to anyone who knew him well.
"Do you have a contact for Wolf?"
"I do"
"Then we should set up a meeting, preferably later tonight."
"Not tonight" Stefan shot down.
"Something wrong?"
"You're going to be busy tonight."
That caused Chiyon's back to stiffen. Her weariness only grew when she saw Soyun draping the hoodie over her head and a face mask over her mouth.
"Dare I ask why?"
Instead of answering he instead posed a question "are my weapons still in evidence lockup?"
Now she understood what he meant and giving him a look of incredulity she sighed with a shake of her head "last I checked it was still there. Do you need my help?"
"No, just stay out of the precinct."
"It would be too suspicious if I leave just before the precinct is robbed."
"Then you can stay outside and gawk at the fire with the rest of them" he said reaching into his coat.
"Wait what?" Chiyon asked before he pulled out a cheap burner phone "what are you panning?"
"I'm going to create a distraction."
"One that involves fires?" she questioned with mild confusion
"Don't worry about it."
She can't remember a single person who has ever said those words not do something incredibly worrying.
"How are you even going to…" she trailed off as she noticed something, Soyun was gone.
'When did she…?'
She didn't bother dwell on that considering who she was thinking about.
"I think you've spent enough time up here for a mere smoke break."
Chiyon stared at Stefan for a long moment before turning away with an aggravated sigh of frustration "fine, do what you have to so long as no one gets hurt."
And with that Chiyon left the rooftop and headed back down to her office cubicle. She all but dropped herself into the seat and went back to work as if nothing happened. A few minutes later there was an explosion just outside the precinct startling everyone in the room. Naturally Chiyon went outside, pistol drawn (along with everyone else) to see what had happened and proceeded to gawk at the flaming destroyed car in the parking lot.
'So that's what he meant by fire'
A moment later and the power cut out drowning the entire building in darkness. Belatedly Chiyon realized she hadn't manually saved her work on the computer which meant that hours of her time would potentially be wasted if the auto save feature hadn't kicked in.
"God dammit."
Meanwhile…
It is not for the first time Neugdae thought his telepathic ability to be a sort of monkey's paw. Sure the ability has greatly aided him in his life which took an interesting turn by his mid teenage years but it has also caused near irreparable damage to his social sensibilities. Part of the reason why he is reticent despite his seeming popularity is because it is very hard to make friends when you can perceive their thoughts and peer into their minds. There was once a time when Neugdae was very sociable but then he moved to another country where there was a language barrier and culture shock.
Combine that with newfound psychic abilities one of which had him catching stray thoughts from foreigners and he feared he may never have been able to make real friends again. Well make friends outside of certain circles in any case because he still made friends in America. Making normal friends however the jury is still out on even to this day. It's been almost two years since he moved back to Korea and he's met and hung out with quite a few people. He wouldn't necessarily call them friends rather they are peers or acquaintances.
He didn't think he would make any friends at all before he met Soyun and yes he did consider her a friend. His first friend since coming back home which is admittedly a bit weird to think about but considering the things they've done together even he couldn't deny they were more than just acquaintances who happen to but be under extraordinary yet relatable circumstances. After all you don't just allow anyone to delve into your mind and Neugdae certainly wasn't someone to just put that sort of thing out there as an option to a mere acquaintance.
So yeah he considers Soyun a friend and this can be considered doing her a huge favor because Min-Son and So-Ra are not Neugdae's friends they are Soyun's friends, her only other friends. At least that is the impression he got from their interactions which actually blows his mind a bit. He knew that his Hubae got a bit of a bad reputation after making a fool of herself during the first semester…actually she did a whole bunch of things that got her labeled a weirdo and socially toxic.
He found that whole situation to be weird but he still understood it. The fact of the matter is that Soyun wanted friends almost desperately and her stunt last week finally managed to net her two who happened to share her class. It was a given then that she would treasure them but he wasn't really sure they reciprocated the feeling. Of course they enjoyed each other's company and it's not like Soyun has social anxiety which is a surprise all things considered.
Still it only made sense that while they had gotten close as classmates and even friends they've only Soyun for less than a week.
'So why then' Neugdae felt his eyebrow metaphorically twitch 'is she reacting this way.'
'She' being So-Ra and 'reacting this way' being the fact that she's now at least half drunk and sobbing. When Neugdae agreed to go out drinking with them he figured they would have a few drinks, share some stories and so on all in memory of Soyun. However this somber yet respectful gathering was soon shattered as things devolved into what he considered lunacy.
It all stems from So-Ra who seemed to be on a mission to get black out drunk as fast as possible. Neugdae found out that So-Ra is an emotional drunk because at some point the small talk that they'd been engaging in had devolved into her sobbing and rambling drunkenly. As if that wasn't awkward and weird enough, most of her reaction seems to stem from grief over Soyun. The way how she spoke/rambled about her you'd think So-Ra and Soyun were close siblings or inseparable childhood friends who have known each other all their lives.
But the weirdest part of it all is that Neugdae is certain now that So-Ra wasn't putting on an act or had any kind of nefarious purpose. She is legitimately heartbroken and beside herself at Soyun's loss and this is part of the grieving process, a grieving process that involved Neugdae giving her a literal shoulder to cry on. To say that he is uncomfortable would be an understatement and compounding his discomfort with an added layer of embarrassment is the fact that the bar is filled with people from both their years and naturally they gained attention.
After all there is a drunken girl crying and making a commotion. Eventually the story is explained and the grieving mood is spread especially amongst her classmates. Frankly with how she's going he's surprised they didn't know about it sooner but that might just be the result of liquid courage coursing through her veins and upping her blood alcohol content. There turned out to be one upside to the attention they garnered though and it was the fact that once people realized who Soyun was and her involvement in a certain incident that happened over the weekend that has become massively popular they started to engage more with them.
Now with so many people distracting her So-Ra had eased up on using his shoulder to cry on to engage with everyone else. That created an opportunity for Neugdae to slip away with the most universal excuse known to any man.
"I have to use the bathroom."
"Oh, okay" So-Ra mumbled absentmindedly as she chatted with four people about Soyun.
Neugdae got out of there as fast as he could while being inconspicuous about it. Arriving inside the bathroom he could not help but release a breath of relief. Taking out his phone he checked the time to find out it has been…
'THREE HOURS!? When? How!?'
That's when he realized that due to the special circumstances he was under (being distracted and pressed by So-Ra and the others who eventually joined them) he forgot to check the time as he normally did during these outings. And you know the old saying time flies when you're drinking at a bar with acquaintances.
'I think I've filled my quota for being a supportive Sunbae today.'
Meaning it is time for him to leave.
'Right after this.'
Going to the bathroom wasn't just an excuse he actually had to pee and set himself up at the farthest urinal to get his business done. Not a moment after he started that the door opened and Min-Son entered taking the second urinal stall to his right leaving an empty one between them.
"Sunbae" Min-Son greeted briefly and Neugdae acknowledged him with a curt nod.
The two did their business in silence and Neugdae finished first before going to wash his hands. Min-Son finished just as he was lathering his hands with soap and as he began to do the same the silence is finally broken.
"Sunbae I would like to apologize for the trouble So-Ra has caused you."
"It's alright" not necessarily but he wasn't really too bothered with it more confused by her behavior than anything else.
He wanted to ask "is she normally like this?" but he recognizes a faux pas for what it is.
Thankfully he needn't ask that tactless question as the younger man seems keen on explaining his friend.
"So-Ra doesn't have a lot of friends" he began "she can be a bit…clingy at times" he hesitates then grimaced at the wording "especially with those she is close with and she doesn't deal with grief well."
So his previous hypothesis was correct then 'she has attachment issues.'
"I've noticed" Neugdae commented having finished washing his hands.
Min-Son shook his head "she should have known better than to just drag you into her melodrama-"
Now it was Neugdae's turn to grimace. Having felt the thought process behind her actions all night (three! Hours apparently) he wouldn't go so far as to call her reaction melodrama.
With that thought he interrupted turning off the faucet and grabbing a nearby paper towel "hey like I said before, it's alright. I'm not angry or feel inconvenienced of anything."
'At least not by too much anyway.'
"I was a little put off by her reaction though but you've already explained that."
He wouldn't cast judgment on someone's grieving process.
"Thank you for understanding" he gave a respectful bow as he said this.
Neugdae waved him off and added "I don't think I can stay for much longer though."
"I understand" he said with a knowing look.
'That obvious huh?'
At least Min-Son understood and implies that he will become the shield that will protect Neugdae from his drunken best friend. Still with how clingy she's been all this time both men expected a lot of protest and possibly ending with Min-Son bodily carrying her away or something along those lines. So imagine their surprise when they actually found the woman in question waiting for them outside the bathroom on unsteady feet.
"Took you guys long enough" she slurred "let's get outta here!"
Both men shared a look and while Neugdae wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth Min-Son is just too curious. Neugdae is curious too since they left her in the company of her classmates and even a few Sunbae from his class.
"So-Ra, what happened?"
"The jerks started talking about vampires and vigilantes" she mumbled with a red faced scowl that was not completely caused by the alcohol.
Neugdae looked over to the group and found that they are indeed gossiping about the incident, vampires and vigilante. It appears that Soyun was no longer a topic in the conversation which Neugdae is not all surprised by.
"That's just distasteful" he shook his head.
Min-Son agreed and after bidding farewell to his Sunbae began the arduous task of carefully escorting So-Ra to her apartment. Along the way they got a few looks because at some point So-Ra got fussy and refused to take another step leading Min-Son to give her a piggyback ride.
"This is nice~" So-Ra sighed as she laid her head against the crook of his neck.
"Glad one of us is enjoying this" Min-Son grunted.
"What are you complaining about? You get carry a pretty girl like me."
"You mean a heavy girl like you."
In response she tightened her arms around his neck "don't think I'm too drunk to choke you out."
"Stop that or I you get to walk the rest of the way" he replied in challenge.
The threat is significant enough for her to abate with a huff "ugh."
"Are you about to throw up?"
"…you think I came onto strong with Sunbae?"
"Yes" he answered immediately.
"So blunt!"
"I don't even know why you bother."
He didn't think much of Eun Sunbae at first since he didn't know him apart from the gossip that went around. He is an older student who spent some years in the west before transferring to their school the year prior. All that combined with his handsomeness and aloofness made him appealing to damn near every woman in the school and subject to all sorts of rumors and gossips. So-Ra was not an exception and prior to meeting him Min-Son would say that he hated the guy.
Now that he has met and actually had a conversation with him on multiple occasions Min-Son could say a few of the rumors had the guy all wrong.
"Hmph, you're just jealous!"
'Not anymore' Min-Son thought to himself.
His thoughts are then interrupted by a van pulling up next to him.
'What the…'
Before he think further on this the side doors opened and two men rushed out faster than should be possible. They crossed the threshold to him and So-Ra so quick even if he wasn't giving So-Ra a piggyback he could have hardly reacted. All the same So-Ra elicited a scream or rather tried to but she was silenced before it ever got above a brief shriek. As for Min-Son his yell is abruptly silenced by a hand clamping over the lower half of his face. At the same time So-Ra was pulled off him, her muffled screams audible to him.
With his hands free he should have been able to do something however it hardly mattered as the strength started to drain from him even before he became unencumbered. Belatedly he realized the hand over his face had a rag in it that is being stuffed over his mouth and nose. Before he knew it the strength in his legs failed him however he is caught before he could hit the ground.
Min-Son felt himself being dragged into the van and he imagined the same happening to So-Ra, the last thought he had before finally succumbing to unconsciousness.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Streggae
Streggae Advance Chapter available on my Pa treon for those interested.
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