NAPE - 28

Doyoon touched his lips and lowered his head for a moment. He wasn’t hesitating. He was just pausing before speaking the secret he had kept to himself.

Watching him, Bibi felt as if something clicked in her mind. Her neck, where wounds healed so quickly, his appearance that made it impossible to guess his nationality or age, his sensitivity that allowed him to notice her presence more easily than others, the refrigerator packed with blood packs, the sweet taste of his blood, the way he had blindly lunged for her neck...

Ah, he... he wasn’t a different being from her.

Bibi plopped down at Doyoon’s feet and placed both hands on his knees. A slight tremor ran through him.

“Doyoon.”

His gaze fixed on Bibi. It was a look different from any she had received before. His pupils were shaking.

“Are you a vampire?”

Doyoon, who had been hesitating, nodded slowly, admitting it. He reached out towards Bibi’s chin but then retracted his hand as if realizing something.

“A hybrid? Or a common one?”

“Neither.”

“Then... could it be...?”

Bibi’s eyes widened with a look of disbelief.

“Yeah. I’m a pureblood like you. Ah, but I have a peculiar constitution, so I only get thirsty about once every three months.”

A peculiar constitution... The questions she had all along were finally answered. The reason Bibi’s withered body had changed so suddenly overnight must have been because Doyoon’s blood was special. In any case, Bibi was happy. Doyoon was the same kind of being as her. The distance between them felt much smaller.

“Originally, when I felt thirsty, I endured it by taking iron supplements or drinking blood packs. But this time, for some reason, my body was different from usual.”

Doyoon looked down at the small hands on his knees and pondered for a moment.

“If we find the cause, it must be because you were by my side, because I gave you my blood.”

“Then what will happen from now on?”

Bibi asked, feeling slightly uneasy. His expression changed to one of distress.

“First of all, I don’t want to go berserk like yesterday. Seeing you unconscious in the morning was the worst feeling I’ve had in 60 years.”

It felt like a declaration that he wouldn’t give her any more blood, wouldn’t drink any more of hers. A sense of resentment washed over her.

“...But, but I’m okay. Can’t we just drink each other’s blood?”

“Do you even know what it means for vampires to drink each other’s blood?”

Doyoon raised an eyebrow as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“No.”

“It’s a very intimate act. As much as a physical exchange.”

“I don’t know about that, I don’t care. It’s okay if Doyoon touches me. We have the same taste, don’t we?”

Bibi knew what “taste” meant to vampires. Just as humans had favorite foods, vampires had favorite blood. It was like a complete food that gave them powerful strength with an incredibly sweet taste. However, it had the disadvantage of being difficult to find, and once they tasted it, they would only feel thirst for that specific individual.

“I felt good yesterday. Really good. So, let’s keep sharing blood. Okay?”

Not being able to taste Doyoon’s sweet blood anymore. Feeling impatient, Bibi rested her chin on Doyoon’s knees and gave him a desperate look.

She herself thought it was incredibly cunning. At first, she didn’t care whether she drank blood or not, but now it was different. She wanted Doyoon’s blood so badly. She couldn’t even imagine a life without drinking it. Ah, so just as she was Doyoon’s “taste,” Doyoon was also her “taste.”

“......”

“Huh?”

Doyoon quietly stared at Bibi, who had placed both hands on his knees. Normally, he would have coldly pushed her away without hesitation. But looking at those round eyes and pitiful face, his firm resolve wavered helplessly. He couldn’t bring himself to reject her.

He had thought she was cute before... but that feeling was quite different today.

“I didn’t know... I was weak against this type.”

Doyoon muttered blankly, looking down at Bibi. It felt like a child had grown up overnight and now looked like a member of the opposite sex.

Well, what could he do? He was now like Eve who had eaten the forbidden fruit. It was unavoidable that Bibi looked different. When did she start looking different? Yesterday, when he drank her blood? Or the day before, when she seduced him? No... his heart had softened a bit earlier...

Was it when she broke the computer? Or... when she approached him to sleep together? When he saw her hiding in the closet? Ah, the moment when she had bared her claws fiercely and then trotted over to him, wanting to drink blood? Ah. Now that he thought about it, there were so many things that clicked.

“The important thing isn’t that, it’s the future.”

He laughed self-deprecatingly. So... a possibility had opened up. The fact that it felt good to see an abused vampire regain her vitality might not have been solely due to altruistic feelings. It seemed to have slowly seeped into him without him even realizing it.

“Do you want to be in a blood-sharing relationship with me, Bibi?”

“Yes.”

“Then the master-hunting dog relationship won’t work.”

Doyoon took Bibi’s hands, pulled her up, and sat her on his lap. He naturally wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close, and looked into her eyes as he said clearly,

“Starting today, I’m going to stop being your master.”

“What?”

“Ah, but I’ll still find your parents for you, so don’t worry.”

Doyoon declared a new relationship. It was a shocking moment for Bibi. She gaped blankly, filled with confusion and shock.

“You’re going to stop being my master?”

“Yeah. I’ve become interested in you. In a slightly different way.”

“......”

“Let’s wait and see what happens.”

In that moment, Bibi felt a delusion that the lap supporting her, no, the ground, was shaking. Doyoon had been the best owner she had ever met. But now he was saying he wouldn’t be her owner anymore. Had she been abandoned?

Her eighth owner came to mind. The owner who had locked Bibi in a cage and left, saying she was useless, never returned. Bibi was left in the darkness, so thin that her arm could pass through the iron bars.

She could endure anything else, but at that time, it was so hard she would have rather died. It felt like the whole world was moving on without her. Becoming a useless being was so empty and difficult. Bibi never wanted to go back to that time.

She had to come up with a plan.

________________________________________

Bibi looked at the plate in front of her with dissatisfied eyes. Bright red blood was drizzled over the pudding like syrup. As soon as they returned home, Doyoon had busily moved around and presented this to her, saying it would be palatable this way. The pretty plate and her favorite food mixed with blood looked quite appetizing.

Under Doyoon’s expectant gaze, Bibi scooped up a large spoonful of pudding and put it in her mouth. The fishy smell and the egg scent mixed disgustingly. It was a taste that made her instinctively frown. She wanted to spit it out immediately.

But Doyoon had given it to her. She had to eat the food her master gave her gratefully. Bibi forcibly suppressed the rising nausea and barely swallowed what was in her mouth. There was still a lot of food left. She had to eat quickly. She barely managed to smooth out her deeply furrowed brow and continued to spoon the pudding when Doyoon stopped her hand.

“Don’t force yourself to eat it.”

“...You gave it to me, Doyoon.”

Before Bibi could take another bite, Doyoon quickly took the plate away. Bibi stared blankly at his back. Doyoon not wanting to drink her blood was one thing, but his attempt to break their master-hunting dog contract was something she couldn’t understand at all. Why did he have to do that?

“I don’t understand, Doyoon.”

Bibi stood up abruptly and approached Doyoon, who was cleaning up the kitchen.

“Why do things have to change now? We were getting along fine. Is it because I hunted humans without permission? Or, or... what’s the problem?”

“There’s no problem.”

Doyoon replied curtly, looking at Bibi. Unlike before, there was warmth in his eyes as he looked at her.

“Then why? Why are you trying to break the contract? I’m a good hunting dog. If Doyoon wants, I can become his fangs, I can give him all my blood and flesh. How useful am I?”

“From the beginning, I didn’t need a hunting dog itself. I told you.”

“Still. Why now? Why, why? Why now?”

Doyoon quietly stared at Bibi, who was following him around and bombarding him with questions. Her eyebrows were drooping in a worried expression, and her chattering reminded him of a sparrow.

“Human relationships are fluid. They change when one person starts to feel differently.”

Relationship?

Bibi’s head tilted to one side. The only relationships she had formed since birth were with the trainer and her owners. Those were the only two.

In Bibi’s world, there were no friends, lovers, or family. Only vertical relationships where only commands existed were everything. Therefore, when one side refused their role, she... became a state of floating in the air without gravity. A useless being like dust, a futile existence that no one would notice even if she disappeared into the darkness.

“What does Doyoon want us to be?”

“We’ll have to wait and see.”

If Namwon were here, he would have made a fuss, calling it irresponsible. But for Doyoon, this was the best he could do.

He felt attracted to Bibi as a woman and had developed feelings for her. But he couldn’t just start a reckless affair with her as he had with other women. He didn’t want to do that to Bibi. So, wouldn’t they have to wait and see? Until he could nurture these feelings and grow them further.

The problem was that the other person didn’t know such concepts and believed in serving him as her master. Bibi also had to feel attracted to him as a man... was that even possible?