NAPE - 41

Bibi and Namwon were standing right in front of the traffic lights.

The motorcycle, having crashed into the sturdy pole at a terrifying speed, was a mangled wreck. The person riding it was no better off. The helmet had flown far away, and the fragile human body was rolling on the ground. Dark red blood flowed thickly over the asphalt.

If Bibi or Namwon hadn’t reacted… they would surely have been in an even more horrific state.

“Shit…. A, a person…. What do we do! 1… 119, call…!”

Stunned by the sudden accident, Tung-tung took out his phone with trembling hands and made a call. Cars driving on the road stopped, and people gathered, but seeing the bleeding driver, no one dared to approach, just stamping their feet anxiously.

“Haa…”

Bibi gasped for breath. Until now, she had been appeasing her thirst by taking iron supplements. But that wasn’t satiation; it was merely alleviating the pain of her stomach touching her spine.

Seeing the hot, fresh blood flowing before her eyes, her suppressed appetite was stimulated. Not just stimulated, but it awakened her hunting instincts. An urge surged within her like lava, a desire to immediately pounce and tear at the vulnerable prey’s neck.

“...Hey.”

Namwon quickly noticed Bibi’s change. He saw the other’s pupils dilate to a spine-chilling extent.

“Hey!”

“…….”

“Hey, Bibi!”

“…….”

“Aren’t you going to snap out of it?”

He tried to distract her by nudging her side, but Bibi was already slowly approaching her prey. She gauged the distance between her target and herself, crouching down to lunge in an instant. Two more steps forward. If she ran at full speed, she could claim that human in five seconds.

Click.

A chillingly cold piece of metal touched her neck. Goosebumps spread all over her body.

“If you move any further, I’ll shoot.”

Bibi froze. She knew without looking. The thing touching her body right now was a hunter’s gun, used to eliminate vampires.

A growling rumble involuntarily escaped her throat. She had thought of Namwon as a pathetic human, but never as an enemy. However, the moment that black gun barrel was pointed at her, Namwon had clearly become a vampire hunter she had to defeat.

Bibi ran her tongue over her fangs and turned to look at him. Seeing her narrowed red eyes, Namwon flinched, creasing his brow in surprise.

“I didn’t want to do this either. But this is the only way.”

“…….”

“Right now, here, you’re a wild beast, and I’m the leash.”

“…….”

“You wouldn’t want to cause trouble for Kwon Doyoon, would you?”

The mention of Doyoon’s name brought her wandering mind back. Her coldly widened eyes gradually regained a naive light. Bibi shook her head almost imperceptibly. A sigh of relief escaped Namwon.

The gun that had been aimed at her neck slowly lowered. However, he didn’t put it back in his pocket.

“Since you’re agitated from seeing blood, I can’t let my guard down.”

Namwon had always shown a pathetic side, but when he played the role of a hunter, he was completely unyielding. He saw Bibi as a vampire he had to be thoroughly wary of. Ever since the first moment they met. Bibi was the one who felt bewildered now. It was obvious, so why… did it taste so bitter?

“First… let’s get out of here. Somewhere with as few people as possible.”

Walking side by side with Bibi, Namwon gestured to the side. She wanted to get angry and tell him to put away that ominous thing, assuring him that she wouldn’t cause any trouble he might be worried about, but she couldn’t speak. The other person wouldn’t understand Bibi’s feelings.

Namwon took Bibi to a deserted place. Since it was the school’s foundation day, the library was empty. He swiped the security key he had received from Doyoon and went inside, pointing to a corner seat sternly.

“Sit there and calm down.”

The vampire, with her wild instincts awakened, glared at Namwon before stomping towards the window.

________________________________________

Having received Namwon’s call, Doyoon came to the library immediately.

“Where is she?”

Namwon pointed a finger at Bibi, who was dozing off by the window.

“This is dangerous. Bringing her to school was insane.”

“...You did well. Go on for now.”

“Senior, what on earth are you thinking? You said you’d catch that trainer, but why are you being so sluggish?”

“Shh. She’ll wake up.”

“Ugh, seriously…. Jeez, never mind. Forget it.”

Namwon, realizing he was only hurting his own mouth by talking, let out a deep sigh and left. Doyoon quietly approached Bibi, muffling his footsteps. He sat down in front of her without making a sound, propped his chin on his hand, and observed her.

Doyoon liked looking at Bibi when she was asleep. She seemed peaceful, and his heart didn’t flutter with complicated emotions like when their eyes met. Somewhere along the line, their roles had reversed. He used to find it bothersome when Bibi followed and watched him, but now he missed it and found himself observing her.

He took a soft breath, and her closed eyes suddenly snapped open. When Bibi’s eyes met his, Doyoon’s heart inexplicably sank. What was happening? While scratching his head, Doyoon felt like he could finally understand the poems, literature, movies, songs about passion, and even his parents’ relationship, which had been incomprehensible until now.

“You look like a student, sitting here like this.”

At Doyoon’s words, Bibi blinked and looked around. She seemed both disbelieving and awkward that she blended into this scenery. More than that, Bibi focused on Doyoon being in front of her. Even though it had only been half a day, a wave of relief and comfort washed over her. She wanted to tell him about the friction she had with Namwon earlier.

“If you were my student, I would have been fired from my professorship.”

He chuckled as if he had a funny thought. Bibi wondered what it would have been like if she had lived like a normal vampire. Games… she probably would have liked them, and she would have eaten delicious desserts often. And… what else would she have done? She had never lived a life other than as a hunting dog, so she didn’t know.

“Say something.”

“…….”

“Even though you’re right in front of me, I miss you.”

“…….”

“I also want to keep seeing you being yourself.”

Bibi being herself. That felt like saying that she, as a hunting dog, was wrong. Denying the hunting dog was the same as denying her own existence.

Bibi took Doyoon’s hand. She furrowed her brow and met his gaze. She strongly conveyed the message not to say such things anymore, that she was fine as she was and wanted to be left alone. Since some time ago, he had been reading her mind even without words.

“Sorry if you took it that way.”

As always, he did.

“It’s not that you’re wrong. You’ve done your best. Admirably so.”

“…….”

“I just wish you would consider my opinion too. I told you, right? I have no intention of becoming your owner.”

“…….”

“I wish you would open your heart a little more to me. It’s okay to be angry like you are now.”

Angry?

Bibi was momentarily bewildered. Had she been angry? She looked at the window. Thanks to the pitch-black darkness, the glass reflected her face like a mirror. She saw the face of a woman with a deeply furrowed brow. It was clearly an angry face.

A hunting dog… showing emotion. That was something that shouldn’t happen. Being angry was very different from expressing aggression towards prey or intruders. This was a very emotional thing. Without her realizing it, so much had crumbled.

Since meeting Doyoon, she hadn’t been herself. Bibi couldn’t accept it. Flustered, she jumped up from her seat, and Doyoon grabbed her wrist.

“I’ll go. You stay here.”

He got up from his seat and picked up his briefcase.

“I’ll be in the usual parking spot, so come there when you’ve calmed down.”

Doyoon gave Bibi time to be alone. This meant he trusted her. Left alone, Bibi sat on the chair with a gloomy expression. Confusion and melancholy washed over her. She already felt like a defector.

The fact that she naturally ate the food Doyoon gave her, familiarly fell asleep in his bed, and even got normally angry was proof of that. Her identity as a hunting dog had already become this blurred.

She hated her disheveled state. Just a few months of comfort, and everything she had rigorously trained for so long was collapsing completely. It was truly futile.

Betraying the trainer, giving up being a hunting dog, was like everything she had done turning to nothing. She really hated that. Wasn’t the time she had spent… precious?

Should she just leave Doyoon? What if she went out to find the trainer herself?

Doyoon now completely trusted her. He judged that it was okay to leave her outside. Now was the perfect time to run away. Besides, Bibi had a vague understanding of how human society worked. She would need to take buses and trains to go far away. She was confident she could do it easily.

Yes, let’s leave Seoul. Let’s escape from this confusion.