Side Story 31

A cave, emanating a chilling cold like a freezer, appeared. It was wide enough for three adults to walk abreast. It wasn’t naturally formed; it was artificially carved out of rock. It seemed quite treacherous to navigate without equipment.

Aside from the eerie atmosphere, there was an ominous smell: damp earth, faint gunpowder, and the scent of buried death. The intern hunters, feeling a natural revulsion, stood blankly at the entrance.

“What is this place?” someone bravely asked.

“It’s a former coal mine from the Japanese colonial era. We bought the entire mountain and converted it into a training ground. It’s quite deep and treacherous. Without landmarks, you’ll get lost. Quite a few people have died here, unable to escape. The test will be conducted inside. If you escape within the set time limit, you pass. We’ll send you in three at a time, so form temporary teams.”

As soon as the examiner finished speaking, the intern hunters busily moved to form teams. Bibi, unsure who to team up with, wavered. Everyone moved without making eye contact with Bibi.

In the end, Bibi was left alone, like an outcast. A wave of sorrow washed over her. She hadn’t done anything wrong... She couldn’t understand why she was being given the cold shoulder. Everyone avoiding her left a significant scratch on her heart.

“One person left. That shouldn’t be. There are twelve people taking the test today. Ah, why are there five over there? You two, come over here.”

The examiner forcibly assigned teams. Even though she had teammates, Bibi wasn’t happy. The faces of the two intern hunters were horribly contorted just by being on the same team as her. She already missed Namwon, Doyoon, and Lau Yuan.

“Alright, first team, please enter. The hunter guns are on the left side of the entrance.” The examiner gestured to the tall group of men at the front.

“Wait, hunter guns? You mean we’ll need to use weapons?” someone asked in surprise.

“For your information, the pledge you all signed includes a clause stating that no responsibility will be taken if you lose your life during the test.”

“......”

“Those who are not confident may return now.”

Everyone fell silent for a moment, seemingly contemplating. Breaths mixed with tension and fear echoed. The pitch-black cave entrance looked ominous, like a grave.

“I’ll do it.” “Me too.”

Having renewed their resolve, the hesitating intern hunters exhaled tremblingly and stepped forward.

“The time limit is three hours. The timer starts as soon as you step inside. Then, good luck.”

With the examiner’s words, the three stepped into the darkness. The bunker door closed with a chilling groan. All that was left for the remaining people was to wait for their turn.

Bibi’s turn was last. She had happened to form a team late and had lined up late. There were a total of four teams. If the test took the full time, she would have to wait at least nine hours. Nah, they wouldn’t really take three hours, would they? Everyone was well-trained and confident, so it should take less than that. Bibi put her hopes in the confident attitude of the hunters.

You never know until you know. The sun was already setting. The first team to enter barely clocked in at two hours and 59 minutes, and the second team just barely succeeded in three hours. The third team exceeded three hours and failed.

“It’s finally our turn. Damn it, if it was going to be like this, they should’ve just told us to come late...” The examiner gestured, and the teammates stood up, stretching and grumbling. The initial tension had long since turned into boredom.

“More importantly, what’s it like inside?” “Yeah, I can’t believe there’s a dropout.” “Given that they’re giving us weapons, it’s obvious. There must be vampires inside.” “Hey. If you get in the way, we’ll ditch you. Got it? I can’t stand crying and whining. Don’t expect us to carry you.”

One of the larger teammates suddenly frowned and warned Bibi. Bibi, dusting off the dirt from her rear, tilted her head.

“I wasn’t expecting anything.”

“Why are you speaking informally? How old are you?”

“...I don’t know exactly. But I’m older than you.”

Bibi knew well that she should use polite language to show respect to strangers. But since they had disrespected her first, she decided there was no point in speaking formally.

“Huh?”

“Hey, hey. Just ignore her. It’s obvious she’s wearing lenses to look cool.”

The comparatively smaller guy sneered, looking at Bibi’s eye color.

“If she just acts submissive, we’ll naturally drag her along.”

“She needs a good lesson to get her head straight.”

Bibi couldn’t understand why her teammates were suddenly hostile towards her. She still didn’t understand the concept of territoriality or hazing.

As they glared at each other, the bunker door opened without warning. A chilling aura flowed out like mist, moistening their necks. Bibi took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the damp air.

“You have three hours. Check the fluorescent watch on your wrist carefully. Then, begin.”

As she stepped forward and grabbed one of the hunter guns provided at the entrance, the door closed firmly behind her. Light was instantly cut off. An impenetrable darkness descended. The fluorescent watch barely illuminated the path ahead, but it was insufficient to pierce the deep cave’s gloom. Unable to see properly, the intern hunters groped along the walls, slowly moving forward.

Following behind them, Bibi flared her nostrils, sniffing around. For Bibi, the darkness in this cave was not very threatening. As soon as the light was cut off, her eyes quickly adapted to the darkness, and she could soon perceive the entire terrain.

She wanted to lead the way, but she might be suspected of being a vampire. She had to act as much like a human as possible.

Bang!

While walking through the pitch-black passage, something suddenly burst out in front of her with a spark.

“Kyaaah!”

Bibi, startled by the smell of gunpowder and the sudden flash of light, shrieked in a high-pitched voice and jumped.

“W-what?!”

“Aargh!”

The intern hunters were just as surprised. In the darkness, one naturally became sensitive to small sounds, and the sense of detecting threats became even more acute. Startled by the unexpected situation, they began running forward like mad, abandoning Bibi without even checking what had happened.

“Wait, there’s some...! Aaagh!”

“Waaagh!”

The intern hunters who had been running ahead screamed and came rushing back. Seeing their pale faces, Bibi jumped up and asked what was wrong.

“V-v-vampire! It just tried to bite me...!”

“Damn it... I-I need to shoot it with the gun, but it’s too dark...”

Their initial confident demeanor was gone, replaced by a sight of them stammering in utter panic. Bibi brushed off the gunpowder residue from her clothes, gripped her gun, and took a step forward.

“I’ll go first.”

“W-what?”

“You two just follow.”

“Huh, what do you think you’re going to do...?”

“If you don’t want to pass, then don’t.”

The intern hunter, who had looked doubtful, reluctantly nodded. As Bibi took the lead, they cautiously followed behind her.

“Hey. But why is she so good at going forward? It’s so dark.”

“I don’t know. Anyway, if we encounter a vampire, it’ll probably attack her first. Let’s use her as bait and shoot it.”

“But... what if she dies?”

“Did we say we’d lead? She said she would lead.”

They had whispered lowly, thinking the person in front wouldn’t hear, but due to the cave’s acoustics, the sound echoed loudly. Furthermore, Bibi had excellent hearing and could understand everything. As she listened, she seriously considered abandoning them, feeling resentful.

“Graaah!”

As they entered a narrower section of the terrain, a hybrid vampire suddenly appeared in front of them. Bibi quickly ducked down to avoid the attack. The creature recklessly lunged forward, opening its fangs, trying to bite anything.

But it was incredibly sluggish, as if it had been starved. It was like a sick mosquito. The intern hunters screamed. They fumbled for their guns, pulling the trigger repeatedly. But due to the poor visibility, they couldn’t hit it properly, just wasting precious silver bullets.

“Damn it, why can’t I hit it! What the hell?!”

“J-just aim properly. Lure it this way... Urgh, aaagh!”

As the intern hunters trembled in fear, Bibi, having caught her breath, aimed her gun with one arm. The moment the target entered her sights, she pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang!

The silver bullet, flying in a red trajectory, precisely struck the hybrid’s head. The smell of gunpowder spread, and the vampire in front of her collapsed, turning into ash in an instant.

“Yes! Nice! Our team took it down!”

“Hey, your shooting form is pretty good! This team composition is alright. We lured it well, didn’t we?”

The intern vampires cheered and rushed forward. They were full of bravado, confident that their team would be the first to escape.

On the other hand, Bibi didn’t feel good. Even though it was a hybrid vampire, it was still of her own kind. The thought that they were being simply used up as obstacles by the Hunter Association bothered her. One of Doyoon’s reasons for advocating for vampire integration was to prevent such things.

“Sometimes I just don’t understand senior. Sometimes he’s so cold and chilling, and then other times, why does he feel such pointless compassion? Honestly. He has no standards, does he?”

Namwon’s rambling remark came to mind. Lee Namwon had said he had never seen anyone as contradictory, two-faced, and fickle as Kwon Doyoon.