บท 3: Clearing The Air
Soyun lead Neugdae a far distance away from the house as a precaution. The entire time she was a bundle of nerves watching out for some kind of ambush but she couldn't exactly see or sense anything suspicious. Well that's not exactly true she thought she sensed something at the edge of her perception but it turned out to be nothing. She did not ignore it but it became clear to her rather quickly that the police isn't involved here. In fact the more she led them away the more Soyun felt like Neugdae wasn't here for an ambush
Eventually Soyun led to a small park that once would have had children in it however in lieu of the recent vampire attacks is now devoid of people.
Neugdae was quick to point this out with his next words "well this place is sufficiently abandoned."
Soyun regarded him with a wary glare "what do you want?"
"Last night you left before I could finish speaking."
'Did I?'
She couldn't remember any words being spoken by him. Though she was so caught up in being exposed the only thoughts on her mind was getting away as fast as possible.
'Now that I think about it I think his mouth was moving.'
"I was saying that I don't have a problem with you being a vampire."
"Y-you don't?"
"Not really" he shrugged "I mean are you like attack people?"
"I don't drink human blood."
"You don't?"
"No."
"Not even from like a blood bag."
Soyun scowled "drinking human blood is an addiction. I drink animal blood."
"Wow that's…wow."
There was a brief moment of silence at that before Soyun broke it "is that all you wanted to say?"
"Yeah. With how freaked out you looked at me finding out your secret, the panicked disappearing act and you not showing up to school today I figured I'd just set the record straight. Clearly you went through a lot of trouble to keep that side of you a secret."
'You have no idea' Soyun thought to herself with a frown.
"Although to be honest I would have been suspicious of you being a vampire even without you transforming in front of me."
"Huh?" that caught her off guard "you would? W-why?" she pressed with curiosity while mentally going over everything she's done over the semester and trying to find what gave her away.
"I mean there is no way a woman your size can pack away the amount of alcohol you consumed last night and still remain not only completely sober but without any liver problems."
"That…" she struggled to come up with words for a moment before continuing "m-maybe I just have a strong metabolism? I've seen videos of thin guys out eating fat guys before."
"There is that" he conceded "but governments have released a whole bunch of information about vampires that's available to public on their website and people repost said information all over the internet space. So it's public knowledge that vampires can't eat normal food without rejecting it but can drink anything and due to their unique metabolism most alcohol won't affect them."
"…" Soyun could only stare blankly at him.
He continues "I never saw you eat anything at the restaurant last night Soyun even when you were offered."
"…"
"I know that's not exactly something people usually look for especially in that setting but people are getting paranoid about vampires possibly being at school so…"
"…"
"Yeah…" he trailed off.
The awkward silence that ensued after his declaration was only broken up by the distant sound of a crow cawing.
"Soyun?"
She raised a finger "one moment please"
With that blank expression still on her face Soyun robotically made her way over to the nearest tree and proceeded to slam her head into the bark with meaty *thumps* each one followed by a single word of chastisement.
"Stupid. Idiot. Moron."
Neugdae watched on for a few moments with an air of awkwardness 'I should probably stop her buut this is kinda funny to watch.'
*Crack*
That last one actually chipped the bark completely off however despite this Soyun's forehead was devoid of any damage so she was still going.
'Okay I think that's enough'
Neugdae "I think the tree has had enough Soyun."
The disguised vampire paused, looked from him to the tree and blinked owlishly for a bit before nodding but she did not stop leaning on the tree.
"Right" she sighed an massaged her forehead wiping away to bark from it before glancing at him "so you really don't care about me being a vampire?"
"I don't"
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion "how can I trust you?"
"You mean aside from the fact that there isn't a squad of SOU officers coming out of the bush with rifles pointing at you?"
Soyun flinched as that example was too close to her worst case scenario but she held firm with furrowed brow "okay, then what do you want from me?"
"Whoa, this isn't a blackmail situation Soyun. I only came here to clear things up since you didn't show up to school today."
"Really, that's all?"
"Yes" he paused.
"I don't believe you" she said straight up.
"That sounds like your problem" he shrugged.
Soyun wasn't satisfied by his answer but before she could comment he continued.
"By the way did something happen to your phone?"
"It…broke…"
In truth she turned it off and took out the sim card. Father Joseph explained how phones can be tracked and taught her what to do stay off the grid should the need arise. She spent all day inside monitoring the internet for any news that may allude to her and preparing for the eventual visit of the police.
"Well you should explain that to your friends next time you see them."
"Wait what? Friends?"
"The two you were having fun with last night, Hung Min-Son and Kyung So-Ra"
"Oh!" she realized before patting herself down for her phone only to realize she didn't have it on her and cursed under her breath.
"As a heads up I told them about our encounter with that vampire."
"You what!?"
"Relax, I told them we got away but you got spooked by the encounter so there's your excuse for missing a day."
Soyun worked her jaw soundlessly for a moment before speaking "you didn't have to do that."
"It's the least" he waved her off "I can always respect someone trying to make something of their life despite the shitty circumstances."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, see you around I guess" he gave her a nod before walking away.
Soyun watched him go out of view before releasing a breath. She hadn't realized how tense she was.
"I can't believe I made it out of that okay."
It really was an unbelievably lucky thing that the person who ended up finding out about her secret did not have an issue with it especially at a time when the fear and paranoia of vampires are at an all time high thanks to the frequent attacks. Surely she thought he would have hated her on principle but he wasn't which was weird. No doubt it was good for her but weird nonetheless.
'He wasn't bothered by me being a vampire.'
With the benefit of hindsight as well as a lack of anxiety to color her thoughts Soyun also realized that even last night Neugdae looked more bewildered by the sudden turn of events than with her turning out to be vampire.
'He even tried to talk to me but I panicked and ran away~' she mentally reflected with a groan.
He really didn't look the slightest bit phased with the knowledge that he was talking to a vampire, disguise or not. It made her very curious about the person her Sunbae is to not care about confronting a known vampire.
In any case "man, I dodged a bullet."
If it were anyone else the situation would have been much worse but it wasn't.
'It feels like I'm getting away with a crime'
These were her thoughts as she made her way back home and upon entering called out "I'm back."
"Welcome back."
The voice that greeted her caused her to freeze up as her head swiveled to the sight of the last person she wanted to meet at this point.
"F-Father Joseph" Soyun felt cold sweat gather at her brow "you're back."
"Yes."
Father Joseph is a tall European man slightly taller than Neugdae with short cut brown hair, a well kept goatee, a vertical scar running down the left side of his face and he wore the traditional western clerical clothing of a priest. Joseph came to Korea over a decade ago and set up the church coincidentally just before the existence of vampires was revealed. During the height of the initial attacks he along with the church exploded in popularity and before long he became a respected and beloved pillar of the community.
"Your siblings have been telling me an interesting story."
'No…'
"You were visited by a boy?"
Soyun gave a sideways glance to the two snickering hellions poking their head out from the doorway.
'My vengeance will be swift!'
As if sensing her intentions the two scampered away but she doubted they truly grasped the severity of her mental threat…they will.
"I don't know what those two have been telling you but Eun Sunbae is just a friend."
"Just a friend?"
"Yes!"
"I'm sure I approve of boys visiting you at home when I'm not here."
Soyun rolled her eyes at the amusement in his eyes "I'm allowed to socialize."
"Hmph" he scoffed but did not press the issue "follow me, we need to talk."
Soyun did as she was told and followed him upstairs to the small rooftop balcony where some laundry was hung up on the side and a table with two chairs was present. Joseph went to the edge to look over the neighborhood whilst Soyun stood nervously a few feet behind him.
"So I heard you were doing charity work" she spoke in a bid to ease the tension "how did that go?"
As Joseph spoke he took out a cigarette and lit it "it went well, met some nice people who shared some very interesting stories."
Soyun tried not to show her spike in tension as she calmly retorted "oh, what kind of stories?"
"I think you know what I'm talking about."
'It couldn't have been about last night!' she convinced herself 'right?' or at least tried to.
To that he pulled out a rolled up newspaper of all things and slapped it on the table. Whatever thoughts Soyun has at the moment were set aside as she looked over the contents of the.
"Huh?"
On the paper Soyun saw a picture of herself being hugged by a woman with a crowd in the background. The caption under the picture read Local Woman Saves Child From Car Collision.
"Oh" she voiced out with an expression that was cartoonishly blank only to flinch at the infuriated glare of her guardian/father figure.
"What were you thinking!?"
"I thought I left before any pictures were taken" she said more to herself than to the irate priest.
"You shouldn't have been involved in the first place!" he took a deep drag of his cigarette "what if you got caught? Have you thought of what would happen to your siblings or the people in the neighborhood?"
"What did you expect me to do, just let that child die?" Soyun snapped.
Joseph didn't answer at first instead taking a long drag and blowing a puff of smoke to the side "you're supposed to be incognito Soyun."
"I know but look" Soyun urged while holding up the paper "they don't know who I am and they don't have my face."
In the picture the hood of Soyun's jacket was up and from the angle of the picture no one could see her face and they don't her name. Take away those and really Soyun could be any young Korean woman. This did not seem to assuage the priest at first but in the end he could only sigh as he put out the cigarette.
"The situation's changed" he began gravely "the Noble Bloods have been increasing their powers over the past decade and we don't know how far along they've gotten. What we do know is that the number of vampires in the city has grown significantly. They have gangs organized like terrorist groups, the backing of major corporations and they've infiltrated circles of influence like the military and government."
Soyun could only swallow at his words 'I didn't know it was this bad.'
"At this rate it's only a matter of time before they take over all of Korea and if they find out about your existence then they'll come after you."
Soyun winced "okay, I'm sorry it won't happen again."
"See that it doesn't because this" he tapped the paper "could have been much worse."
It really was a blunder on her part, she should have just ran the moment she confirmed the child was saved however she got distracted by the mother thanking her. It actually felt good to be thanked by someone for doing a good thing, especially where her vampiric abilities are concerned.
'He's right, this could have been a lot worse.'
At least it doesn't appear like anything has come from such an incident.
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