NAPE - 12

Turning her head to the side, she saw Doyoon sitting on the floor, leaning against the sofa. Her heart sank, and a wave of self-loathing washed over her.

Falling asleep defenselessly in the presence of a vampire hunter! Even if the taste of blood had been intoxicating, how could she have been so careless? The results of all her training had gone to waste. Bibi gritted her teeth and glared resentfully at the back of his head.

Could it be that she was really going to be tamed by that human? He was an adversary of the trainer. Rather than unknowingly becoming complicit, wouldn’t it be better to… bite him to death right now?

Yes. Let’s just bite him to death quickly now. Now was the perfect time.

Bibi drew upon all the experience she had accumulated through training. The 60 vital points of a human, how to subdue large and strong prey… Her brain whirred intensely. In 10 seconds, no, in just 3 seconds…

“Hungry?”

Had he heard her thoughts? Doyoon, who had been focused on his laptop screen, suddenly turned around abruptly. Their gazes collided in mid-air. Unexpectedly, Bibi couldn’t move from where she lay on the sofa. Her heart stopped for a moment, then pounded.

Looking into his indifferent eyes, he definitely didn’t know what she had been thinking. Bibi deliberately maintained a nonchalant expression to hide her murderous intent.

“Looks like you are hungry. Judging by the way you’re glaring.”

Despite her attempt at controlling her expression, the other party had noticed her hostility. Bibi’s eyes darted around as if her hidden weapon had been discovered.

What should she do? Should she attack now? Was there a chance? Should she just… just tear out that neck right now? He was sitting, making it easy to pounce. This was the first time in her hunting dog life that she felt so restless.

“I’ll give you something different today.”

Doyoon didn’t seem to care much whether Bibi intended to kill him or not. He didn’t seem threatened. He nonchalantly stretched and got up from his seat, taking something out of the refrigerator.

Curious about what Doyoon would bring, Bibi decided to delay her attack for just one minute. What he took out was a slice of cake packaged in a square box.

“Even vampires like eating human food. It can also help with suppressing thirst.”

“…….”

“There’s no fork. Just eat with your hands.”

Looking at the cake placed on the side table, Bibi hesitated before sitting down on the floor.

Cake… she had eaten it before. Occasionally, her owners would throw her expired milk, old gum or candy from their bags, or food that had been in the refrigerator for a long time, just to get rid of it. She remembered it not being as ecstatic as drinking blood, but reasonably edible.

However… Bibi looked down at the cake with suspicious eyes. Had he given her something moldy? Or… something rotten? If so, she had no intention of eating it.

Noticing her suspicion, Doyoon dipped his finger deeply into the whipped cream. And then, as if to show her, he brought it to his mouth. Seeing that, Bibi also took some whipped cream with her hand and put it in her mouth.

“?!”

What was this taste?

Bibi’s eyes widened. This, which melted away in her mouth in an instant, was both savory and sweet. The whipped cream tasted much better than she had expected. There was no greasy feeling at all. Bibi grabbed the whole cake with both hands and began to munch and gobble it down, stuffing it into her mouth. The fluffy bread, fruit, and tangy jam melted softly on her tongue.

“You’re really going at it.”

As Bibi’s expression brightened, Doyoon, looking intrigued, took out other kinds of food from the refrigerator. There were many strange and unfamiliar kinds. Fish on rice, strawberries coated in chocolate, kimchi, and so on.

Bibi completely forgot about her assassination plan and kept accepting the food Doyoon gave her. Doyoon observed and analyzed Bibi’s eating habits with the studious attitude of a zookeeper.

She doesn’t really like caramel, but she eats chocolate and sour things well. Is it because she’s a hunting dog? She likes raw things. Her eyes become brighter when she eats what she likes. The way her cheeks puff out is kind of cute…

Having grasped Bibi’s eating preferences, Doyoon brought her similar yet different foods to try from that day onwards. Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Western, all sorts.

Bibi, who was properly eating human food for the first time, tried hard to remember their names. What he brought was generally delicious. Except for spicy things. When she ate something with red seasoning, her tongue would usually hurt, and she would sneeze. Seeing Bibi’s reaction, Doyoon avoided bringing bright red food as much as possible afterwards.

Her diet had changed drastically. Before, she mainly ate blood, but now she was eating human food. Bibi was freed from hunger for the first time. Oh, and thirst too. Doyoon not only gave her food but also regularly gave her blood.

“I’ll ask questions later, so quench your thirst for now.”

Fortunately, he didn’t ask anything difficult, which relieved her. Bibi carefully drank the red, sweet liquid to her heart’s content, being careful not to touch him. Ah, to be so full. The awareness that she had to meet the trainer and leave this place gradually faded without her even realizing it.

________________________________________

Just as modern vampires hid their instincts and lived as if they were human, Bibi was also able to perfectly imitate their way of life. Every morning, she woke up in bed, washed up, changed her clothes, and then ate. It was as natural as if she had lived like this since birth.

Bibi had perfectly adapted to life in the building. She had even mastered the difficult task of handling household appliances. Setting the television with the remote control, the refrigerator, the microwave, and so on. Bibi hadn’t known she was so quick to learn. If she were given a mobile phone that humans used, she was confident she could master it in a day. She also gained confidence that she could naturally hide the fact that she was a vampire if she went outside.

Was her arrogance the problem? She encountered an unexpected difficulty. Bibi stood blankly in the kitchen, staring at the blazing fire. Was what she was seeing real? Was it okay for flames to be raging inside a house, a place where people lived? How on earth had this happened?

Bibi had simply been trying to heat up the food that Doyoon had left for her. Having learned how to use the microwave by watching over his shoulder, Bibi placed the foil-wrapped bread on a sturdy-looking metal plate and pressed the button as Doyoon had done. That was all she had done.

She turned around to wait at the table, feeling pleased with herself, when suddenly, a loud bang exploded. Turning back hastily, she saw that the microwave had exploded and was burning fiercely. Bibi was so taken aback that she froze for three seconds.

Humans often enjoyed something called ‘fire-gazing’ in winter, but she didn’t understand why they liked it. The flames grew larger and larger, increasing in volume above her head. If this continued, that demonic fire might grow even bigger and devour the entire space.

She felt a sudden fear. An animalistic sense of extreme terror. Vampires had great regenerative abilities like monsters, but they were vulnerable to burns. She had heard that if they were unlucky, they could often die from fire.

What to do, what to do?

She had learned how to hunt humans, but she hadn’t been taught anything about how to deal with situations like this. What on earth should she do? Two options came to mind. One was to abandon this place and run away, and the other was to try to put out the fire somehow.

In her heart, she wanted to break the window right away and escape outside… but Doyoon came to mind. It wasn’t guilt she felt, but fear of the aftermath. What if he chased after her, demanding responsibility and shooting her with his gun? Maybe… maybe it would be better to just burn to death. The fire was still controllable. Let’s try everything she could.

Bibi gritted her teeth and lifted the burning microwave whole. Before she could even feel the heat, she dashed into the bathroom. There was water in the bathroom. Fire could be suppressed with water. She would try to put it out somehow with the shower.

Swish!

She threw the microwave into the shower booth and quickly sprayed it with cold water. She worried that it might explode again like before, but thankfully, that didn’t happen.

Come to think of it, something like this seemed to have happened before. Bibi frowned, focusing on the blurry afterimages floating in her mind. Someone’s scream, the sound of beautiful porcelain shattering, unique patterns… Was this a forgotten memory from the past? She tried to recall something more, but it was like groping in the dark; she couldn’t grasp anything.

The fiercely burning fire slowly subsided and then was completely extinguished. Bibi gave up and turned off the shower. She watched anxiously for about an hour, worried that the fire might reignite, but there were no more explosions.

Before she could even let out a sigh of relief, Bibi felt a burning pain in her hands. Looking down, the surface of her skin was swollen and red. She had moved a burning object with her hands, so it was only natural that she would get burned. She ran cold water over them at the sink to soothe them, and it felt a bit better. But every time the coolness faded, the burned areas continued to burn and ache.

She couldn’t just keep standing in the bathroom. Bibi filled a large pot with water and ice from the kitchen, sat on the sofa, and immersed both hands in it, lying down. Sweat broke out on her relaxed body. There was also a slight tremor.

The moment just now was more frightening, nerve-wracking, and terrifying than when she hunted humans. She shouldn’t have done anything unnecessary, she shouldn’t have stirred things up… Why had she developed a taste for human food she never used to eat…?

Everything came back as self-reproach. What would happen if Kwon Doyoon found out the microwave was gone? If he found out she had almost set the house on fire, he might shoot her with that terrifying gun. With the same cold and ruthless look as when they first met.

Wouldn’t it be better to… escape?

Bibi jumped up and headed for the front door.