NAPE - 44

“Too bad. The elevator is going up faster than you’re recovering.”

Choi Haejin wore a sly smile. The elevator whirred upwards, and Bibi’s body rose into the air along with it. At this rate, her outer torso would soon hit the ceiling of the entrance… and it would undoubtedly be crushed with tremendous pressure. Or perhaps torn in two.

“Don’t even think about running away.”

Choi Haejin tightly gripped the half of Bibi’s body inside the elevator. Her head reached the ceiling of the entrance. Anticipating immense pain, Bibi squeezed her eyes shut.

Thwack!

At the same moment, she focused her meagerly recovered strength on her toes and pushed against the elevator floor. She felt empty air behind her back.

“Uh-oh-?”

Choi Haejin’s upper body, which was holding onto Bibi, was also about to be dragged out of the door. With quick reflexes, she tried to bend back into the elevator. But Bibi’s eyes flashed, and she grabbed Choi Haejin with all her might.

Crack!

“Aaaaaaah!!!!!”

The elevator instantly pulled her lower body upwards. However, the torso that Bibi was holding onto remained on the first basement floor, scattering entrails and blood everywhere as it rolled around in agony.

“It hurts, it hurts!!! It hurts!!! You fucking bitch, it hurts!!”

Bibi lay on her stomach, panting, and stared at Choi Haejin, who was crawling on the floor. Chunks of what looked like soft, red liquid were splattered everywhere. Her enraged face had burst blood vessels. Even the whites of her eyes were completely red. Nausea and disgust surged, but she probably looked similar right now anyway.

Hiccup, tears and sobs welled up again. This time, she didn’t know why. Bibi was crying silently, without making a sound. As if begging for forgiveness, she crawled clumsily towards Choi Haejin’s severed torso.

“You’re crying? You made me like this and now you’re crying? If you’re sorry, hurry up and bring my lower body, bring it! Hurry, or I might not forgive you!”

Bibi picked up Choi Haejin’s torso, which was screaming hysterically. Two black holes were visible on her neck. Bibi opened her mouth again.

“You, what are you….”

Crunch!

“Aaaah!”

Was it because her lower body was gone? The blood that had been gushing out like a pump was now mixed with air. It was like sucking the last bit of a drink with a straw, when the bottom is visible. But now wasn’t the time to worry about that. She had to drink even one more drop. She had to gather even a little bit of strength to go to ….

“Th-, that’s enough…. Ugh, kkeueuk….”

Choi Haejin, drained of blood, couldn’t make any more sound. Bibi dropped her torso onto the floor. Thankfully, thanks to her former master’s sacrifice, she had regained enough strength to walk. Though her appearance was still a mess.

With legs as thin as a corpse’s, Bibi headed somewhere aimlessly. Her steps wobbled like a child learning to ride a stilt. Her vision wasn’t clear either. Was this what the night scenery looked like to someone with severe astigmatism? It didn’t matter. Bibi walked hastily.

She heard the screams and fainting sounds of several humans she encountered along the way, but Bibi didn’t stop.

“You….”

A familiar voice reached her ears. It was the voice of someone who called her by her name, not as a hunting dog. When she turned her head, she saw a white face. Dark in a white world, but a person with a white glow in a dark world. Bibi realized she had been looking for this person.

When he stood before her, her tears stopped. Her heart, which had been pounding as if it would burst, found its rhythm. Bibi took a deep breath.

“Do….”

“Who is it?”

At the cold voice, Bibi momentarily recalled her appearance. Ah, perhaps he didn’t recognize her. Or… did he dislike her because she wasn’t his type? When they first met, Doyoon hadn’t shown much interest in her appearance….

“Who is it, the bastard who did this to you?”

Doyoon’s voice trembled with anger. It was the first time Bibi had seen him so overcome with emotion. Thank goodness. Only then did Bibi relax. Her body tilted sharply, and she fell forward. Doyoon caught her in his arms. He held her up, unable to even hold her tightly for fear of breaking her.

“I… I killed her….”

Bibi confessed what she had done, unable to bear not to vomit it out.

“...What did you say?”

“Master… killed… I… I killed the master… because I didn’t want to go back….”

Doyoon’s face froze in shock. Bibi trembled with fear.

A hunting dog killing its master. That was as great a sin as a child killing its parents, as a human cursing the god they worshipped.

But once someone bites into the fruit of good and evil, they cannot go back to the way they were. Bibi’s doubts had gradually burrowed deep within her, slowly collapsing the walls built of principles, rules, and worship.

Bibi forcefully pushed off the solid ground she stood on. It wasn’t a leap, but a fall. The pain of the impact was indescribable.

But a bird that hasn’t fallen cannot possess the sky.

Did she also have wings? What was certain was that just now, Bibi had crashed into the ground like a meteor, shattering everything that made her who she was. Not only had she defied the trainer’s words, but she had also shattered the very principles she lived by. She had destroyed the world and the self she had so firmly maintained.

What would she do now? Would she fly, or… would she be reborn as something else?

That was something no one else could decide for her.

***

Doyoon laid Bibi down on the bed, took off all her blood-soaked clothes, and carefully wiped her body with a damp cloth. His touch on her shrunken skin trembled uncontrollably. Not because he was disgusted, but because he was afraid she would crumble to dust if he handled her carelessly.

Bibi’s appearance was utterly  miserable. The healthy weight she had gained had melted away in an instant, and even her muscles had completely atrophied. She looked healthier when he had first found her. It was a miracle she had walked around in this state. It must have been out of sheer desperation.

“Ugh….”

Bibi let out a painful groan and thrashed her limbs. Doyoon threw down the damp cloth and hurriedly pulled her into his arms. He was shocked by her ice-cold skin. Bibi’s body temperature was dropping rapidly.

It must have been the drug. Judging from the changes and symptoms in her body… she had probably ingested a drug used to torture vampires. A rare substance that attacked immune cells and disrupted the nervous system, causing organ damage.

Even among pureblood vampires, only a very few knew of its existence, so it was practically impossible for a common vampire like Choi Haejin to obtain it. Having such a thing meant… there was someone behind her.

Doyoon bit down hard on his molars. This had happened while he was off guard…. This was clearly his mistake. In fact, Doyoon had anticipated it from the power struggle between hybrid vampires in front of the Hunter Association’s yard and the time a new security company was being established.

Just as he was tracking the trainer, the trainer was also figuring him out and watching him intently from somewhere. That was why he had deliberately brought Bibi to school. He had expected someone to approach him. And that someone was Choi Haejin.

Doyoon had planned to use Choi Haejin. He was looking for an opportunity to use her as a stepping stone to reach the trainer, periodically bringing Bibi to school. If that bastard moved by scent like a stray dog, he had planned to lay a spider web and capture him… but things had turned out this way while he was careless.

To think he would use such an outrageous drug… Not only had he treated Bibi like a hunting dog until now, but his attitude was that he didn’t care if she was ruined as long as he got his hands on her. Doyoon desperately wanted to see the trainer’s face. Just wait until he met him… he would repay him exactly as Bibi had suffered.

While his teeth ground and nausea rose, there was someone else he was even angrier at. It was himself. He should have warned Bibi that Choi Haejin might approach her. Not saying anything beforehand was due to a complete misjudgment and selfishness.

On the surface, it was because he didn’t want to make things unnecessarily unsettling, but deep down, he was also worried that Bibi, fully aware of herself as a hunting dog, might secretly contact Choi Haejin and try to return to the trainer. He had just thought he could handle everything himself. The result of his arrogance was this mess. Ah, damn it.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

A call came in from Namwon. He had given instructions for the cleanup, so he had to answer.

“Hello.”

- Oh, Senior. We’ve finished silencing the witnesses for now. And Choi Haejin, who was torn in two… she had turned to white bones before we could even clean up. It’s the same silver bullet that killed Bibi’s master last time.

“I figured.”

Doyoon imagined the black shadow leisurely leaving the school.

- We copied and deleted the elevator CCTV footage separately for now. I’ll send it to your phone, so check it. Hey, is Bibi okay?

“What’s it to you?”

- No, I’m worried. Is she alright?

“...I’ll make her alright.”

Doyoon hung up the phone with a cold reply.