NAPE - 21

Vampire Wars and Hunters

The emergence of hunters is closely linked to the First Vampire War, which erupted in the late 18th century.

The laws and order of the vampire world are determined by the decisions of the Elder Council. They had forged a peace treaty with humans long ago. The terms were that pureblood vampires would maintain a certain population and live in the shadows. In return, vampires would not hunt humans and would receive a fixed supply of blood.

One day, a certain family revolted against this. The rebel sought to overthrow the Elder Council and declare himself king, randomly biting humans to build an army. The common vampires created in this way were not as strong or beautiful as purebloods and lacked the ability to control their thirst. Their lifespans were the same as humans. Therefore, they were perfectly suited for use as expendable resources in the army.

London, with its exponentially increasing population due to the Industrial Revolution, became a major base for raising the rebel army. The dense residential areas and factory life provided many humans to bite, and tracking them was impossible.

Most of the common vampires were factory workers, and they had families. These individuals, who unknowingly became vampires overnight, returned home and lived with their wives. The hybrids born between humans and common vampires were even more uncontrollable.

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The rebellion was quickly suppressed, but the problem was the explosively increased number of hybrid vampires in the process. Hybrids born from humans and vampires mostly had low intelligence. Their survival and hunting instincts were strong. Some who were not properly educated ran wild like wild animals, biting and killing people indiscriminately, while some lucky ones naturally blended into society but caused antisocial problems due to their inability to control their thirst. (Jack the Ripper is one such example.) The rampant vampires worsened the public order in London.

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Vampire hunters were born to deal with this problem. The first hunters were those who had lost their families to vampires, but as humans seeking money gradually joined in, they formed a full-fledged force. They discovered that vampire organs were useful, and this became another business.

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Genealogy Table of 60 Pureblood Families

1. The Sergei Family

2. The Huntingjo Family . . .

Doyoon carefully examined the entire genealogy. He was certain he could find a clue about Bibi here. Children born between pureblood vampires were rare. Unlike other living beings, vampires increased their numbers by biting humans, not by mating.

It was almost impossible for pureblood vampires to conceive. Their bodies, possessing the perpetuity of health, regarded a fetus as a parasite and eliminated it. However, vampires had an inherent nature to mimic humans. Occasionally, some even wanted to follow the act of giving birth and raising children.

It wasn’t impossible. If they deliberately weakened their body’s resilience and immunity, the fetus would not be rejected by the mother’s body. The pureblood vampires born in this way inherited all the strong power and near-eternal lifespans. A baby born perhaps once a century received the entire family’s celebration and was recorded in the genealogy.

Understanding this genealogy made it easy to confirm who was whose bloodline, who was eliminated and when, and what problems had occurred.

“Hmm...”

Doyoon rubbed his brow and bit his lower lip. Despite going through the genealogy of all 60 pureblood vampire families distributed worldwide, there was no mention of the missing child. Thinking he might have missed it, he looked through it once more, but still, nothing...

“There are missing pages here.”

Doyoon noticed that the page number of the last page was different and gestured to the association president. The pages after the 60 families clearly ended at 111, but the very last page was 119. That meant 8 pages were missing.

“That’s how it was when we acquired it.”

“It was like that originally?”

“Yeah. But it wasn’t a big deal. After all, the genealogy for the 60 families is included. Maybe it was just blank pages or an appendix that fell off?”

“No. It’s definitely missing. There should be more content.”

At Doyoon’s confident tone, the association president narrowed her eyes.

“Do you know something? Like the existence of a missing family.”

“... Just a guess. You said this was written about 200 years ago, right? 200 years ago would be related to the vampire rebellion.”

Doyoon casually ran his hand over the book cover.

“Why is that?”

“I was wondering if someone deliberately deleted it. The content about the remaining families.”

“Deliberately do such a thing? Who and why would they?”

The association president looked surprised.

“Why? It’s a common occurrence, isn’t it? Deleting the family and personal information of a traitor from historical records.”

“... So you think the deleted family was a rebel family?”

“Probably.”

The association president stared at Doyoon with a meaningful look. She instinctively felt that Doyoon knew something more and was eager to press him. But Doyoon avoided her gaze.

“But what are you trying to find out with this?”

In the end, the association president gave up asking and sighed.

“Just... I was wondering if I could find information about the trainer.”

Doyoon closed the book. He was lost in thought for a moment. He thought he would be able to clearly find out about Bibi’s birth... but there were no clues anywhere. He felt frustrated in many ways.

“This here, the family seals. Can I take pictures of them?”

The family seals. Maybe these could be helpful. Doyoon asked with a rare spark in his eyes.

“Absolutely not. External leaks and photography are prohibited.”

“... Then how about drawing them?”

“Can you draw them? In one minute?”

“Probably not.”

Doyoon frowned and gave up. Memorizing each seal in his head wasn’t very difficult. But it was impossible to bring out the complex and elaborate drawings stored in his mind for others to see. Doyoon’s drawing skills were terrible. Should he just bring Bibi directly?

“Here, a key card. If it’s about catching the trainer, we’ll support you without hesitation, so come to the association anytime if you need anything. You can also look for materials in the archives.”

For some reason, the association president handed over the archive key card. Doyoon’s eyes lit up as he snatched it.

“Thanks.”

“But Kwon Doyoon, do you know you’ve been sweating like rain since a while ago? It’s cold here because the heating isn’t on.”

The association president looked Doyoon up and down, unable to hide her bewilderment. Doyoon’s cheeks were very red, and beads of sweat dotted his forehead. Doyoon wiped the sweat with the back of his hand. He let out a hot sigh. It wasn’t hot, but he felt strangely feverish.

“It’s not hot, I just feel a bit...”

“Feel a bit? Did you catch a cold? Weren’t you usually healthy?”

“It’s not a cold. I just feel... strange today.”

“So you do get sick too.”

“You look happy?”

“I was wondering if the early morning ritual I performed is finally having an effect.”

The association president chuckled and blew on Doyoon’s sweat-drenched hair. Doyoon pushed her away with an expression that said she wasn’t worth dealing with and left the archives.

Was it because his blood had been sucked too often recently? Doyoon mentally prepared himself slightly. This symptom wasn’t unfamiliar to him.

________________________________________

Late at night, Doyoon entered his house and witnessed an amusing scene. Bibi, sitting on top of the refrigerator, and Namwon, holding a pizza, were having a staring contest in the kitchen.

Bibi was the victor of the fight. Namwon eventually closed his red, bloodshot eyes. In contrast, Bibi’s eyes were wide open and completely calm. The sight of her fiercely glaring at Namwon with her large eyes until the end made him chuckle.

“Bibi won.”

Doyoon placed a bag of waffles on the table. Bibi’s triangular eyes turned round as she smelled the waffles.

“Why is she acting like that towards me?”

“Well, you’re a human and a hunter.”

Doyoon was slowly understanding the structure of Bibi’s mind. To her, anything in human form was categorized into exactly four things: ‘owner’, ‘trainer’, ‘food’, and ‘hunter’. It was obvious how much she would despise and be wary of Namwon, who was both human food and a hunter.

“Sunbae is also a hunter. Why does she wag her tail at you like a tamed mutt?”

“She’s just used to appearance-based hierarchy, her eyes are.”

Doyoon didn’t bother explaining that he was giving her blood and had recently been recognized as her owner.

“What are you talking about? I’m not bad-looking either, you know?”

“Don’t worry. Even if you become a widower, I’ll take care of you.”

“Then call me on Valentine’s Day and Pepero Day too.”

“That’s a bit...”

“Then forget it, damn it.”

Along with the curse, Namwon threw the pizza he was holding into the sink with a disgruntled expression.

“Sunbae... but seriously, just in case, you’re not giving her blood, are you?”

Instead of answering, Doyoon lowered his shirt collar. A white neck without any marks was revealed. Bibi, who had been looking down at him from the refrigerator, was surprised to see that the wound he had received from her strong bite ten days ago had healed without a trace, and at the same time, she smacked her lips. Come to think of it, it was almost time for her to drink blood.