NAPE - 69

The shrill, echoing sound caused even greater pain to the vampires. Bibi and River desperately covered their ears.

“Wh-what is that sound?” River asked Namwon.

“It’s an intruder alarm,” Namwon said, clenching his fist. He picked up the internal phone to connect to the office for a situation report.

“Yes, it’s me. What’s going on outside? Ah... intruders. How many? Quite a lot. Mixed-blood vampires heavily armed with silver bullets. Yes. Understood.”

Namwon sighed and hung up the phone.

“It seems our location has been discovered too.”

“Yeah, but the way they’re just blindly sweeping shows they definitely don’t know Bibi’s exact whereabouts yet. They’re just poking around places they think might be possibilities.”

In his ten years as a hunter, Namwon had never experienced anything like this. Mixed-blood vampires attacking the association? Oh... wait, no. Come to think of it, something like this happened in Korea too, didn’t it? The media reported it as a gang fight. Could that have been the Trainer’s doing back then too? Damn it, he should have asked Kwon Doyoon!

“I have to go.” Namwon resolutely closed his laptop and pulled out a holster and magazines from the cabinet, arming himself.

“Me too! Take me with you!” Bibi jumped up and grabbed Namwon’s arm. He recoiled, pushing Bibi away.

“No, you can’t. That Trainer’s target is you from the start. You’d just walk right into that?”

“I’m good at fighting! I’m confident I won’t lose!”

“No!”

“Anyway, staying here won’t do any good. They’re rushing in like a flood; do you really think this reception room will be safe? It’s only a matter of time before they break through!”

Namwon’s expression wavered. “Damn it, then it would be better if you went to the mansion...”

“No, you can’t,” River said, shaking his head decisively.

“Why?”

“Lady Isabel knows that Lady Bibi is a descendant of the Servant family.”

“So what?” Namwon, unaware of the full details, furrowed his brow.

“...River is right. I can’t go there. Isabel is an executioner. She has a duty to deal with me.” Bibi was deeply disheartened that Isabel knew about her birth. They had just become friends... now they couldn’t be like before. An executioner couldn’t defend a traitor.

“Damn it... but I can’t take you with me... Hyde Park... no. If that’s also attacked...”

“Namwon, but do you know where Doyoon is?”

At Bibi’s question, Namwon gasped. He quickly tried to check his laptop to see where Doyoon’s vital signs had cut off.

“Damn it... why did this senior bastard set this to secret mode? Is he crazy?” Namwon cursed, realizing Doyoon had deliberately hidden his location. No, was Kwon Doyoon really determined to die? Of course, he wouldn’t die, but anyway, what was he thinking going alone? And he himself had been too careless for trusting such a guy and not getting an address!

“I’ll tell you. I know.” Bibi seized her chance to step forward. She clearly remembered the numbers Jack had written on the ground. She desperately clung to Namwon’s arm again, pleading.

“You know? Where?”

“Instead, promise me. Promise to take me with you.”

“Ha... fine. Where is it?”

Bibi wrote the numbers on Namwon’t phone.

“It’s coordinates. I looked it up, and it pops right up. The location... Ah, it’s not too far. If we drive as fast as possible, we should arrive before evening.”

“I’ll come too,” River said, loyally following. The three nodded resolutely and left the reception room. The Hunter Association was in chaos. Hunters with guns ran around frantically, injured individuals were carried on stretchers, and mixed-blood vampires who had luckily managed to infiltrate caused mayhem before being shot down.

“Where’s Bibi?” a wounded hound stumbled and shouted. The fact that they were looking for her confirmed that the Trainer had sent them. Bibi covered her face with a mask and quietly moved to the car, sticking close to Namwon’s back.

________________________________________

***

“Nice to meet you.”

An irritating voice reached Doyoon’s ears. In the old attic of the mansion, Doyoon felt terrible pain as he lifted his head. He was bound to a chair, trapped inside a cage-like iron bars.

There were five hounds guarding the area. One of them stood far off, holding a camera and a phone. The screen showed “Call in progress.”

“I’m not exactly thrilled to meet you. The hospitality is pretty bad,” Doyoon replied gruffly, his voice hoarse. His ribs ached terribly. He had always been the one shooting, but this was his first time being hit directly by a silver bullet. A burning sensation rose from the wound, like being hit by white phosphorus. They said it was painful enough to make one wish for death. It really did hurt.

But it didn’t matter. He had intended to get hit. What worried him now wasn’t his physical condition. The broken bio-signal meter attached to his clothes bothered him the most. With the signal cut off, Bibi would be incredibly anxious. He had to finish this quickly and go back.

“I’ve been waiting for you, successor to the Executioner. Or should I call you Hunter Kwon Doyoon?”

“Doesn’t matter which. More importantly, you know a lot about me... You’ve been waiting for me?”

“Regrettably, Jack told me everything. That you’re staying at Longmelford’s Tudor family, and that you’d come here to find out about Bibi’s birth.”

Doyoon exaggeratedly furrowed his brows. The Trainer smiled contentedly, as if the camera had captured his expression perfectly.

“Now, tell me. Where is Bibi?”

“You seem quite fond of her. Your obsession is much stronger than other hounds’.”

“Of course. She’s a pureblood. A very useful tool.”

“Is that all? Not because of a special relationship?”

At the sharp question, the Trainer fell silent for a moment. Doyoon realized he was agitated.

“You... what do you know?” The Trainer probed. Doyoon frowned at his slowly healing wound and smiled at the same time.

“You’re her uncle. Claireval Servant.”

“...Did Jack tell you?”

“I deduced it. Someone who knew about Luna Servant’s pregnancy and shows a strange obsession with Bibi. It clicked that it was you. It’s widely known that all members of the Servant family were eliminated by the Executioners... but Bibi is alive. I judged that there might be a different story from what Jack knows.”

Doyoon slowly tugged at the handcuffs on his wrists, which were bound behind the chair, and revealed his deduction.

“Yes. I have no intention of denying it now. Bibi, that child... she’s my sister, no, that filthy traitor Luna’s daughter.” Claireval readily admitted.

“To train your own niece as a hound. What’s your reason?”

“Do you have the luxury to hear that? Your wound must still be hurting.” The Trainer laughed mockingly as Doyoon gasped slightly. It did hurt. It hurt a lot. But it wasn’t unbearable. Fortunately, the silver bullet had pierced his side, avoiding vital organs, and the terrifying regenerative abilities of a pureblood vampire had stopped the bleeding. The wound would heal anyway once he drank blood.

“Anyway, we have plenty of time. I’ve always wondered about the reason you started the vampire rebellion. Hearing it from you would be more accurate than distorted records.” Doyoon threw out bait that the other party couldn’t help but take. Claireval Servant had been isolated from vampire society for at least 200 years. Few people would have listened to him. Especially a person so full of ambition that he would wage war would not miss this opportunity.

“Well... hmm. There’s no harm in it.”

Just as expected, the fellow took the bait. Claireval began his story calmly.

“Not all purebloods live as well as you. Among the 60 vampire families, only nine exclusively monopolized power, resources, and even humans. Our family always lived in hunger for blood. When the humans we kept below us rose up with their technology, even the class system we barely maintained began to shake. Eventually, I made a decision. To overturn this rotten vampire world. I dreamed of reform.”

“Reform?”

“Yes. I secretly built an army in the shadows, little by little. Those are the hounds. Furthermore, to achieve my grand plan, I sent Luna as a maid to the Executioner’s house. She was obedient at first. Every day, she would go to the Executioner’s household, provide blood, and extract information. But...”

The Trainer’s voice suddenly wavered. A fierce rage felt like a tsunami approaching from afar.

“Who would have thought this bitch would fall for that bastard there?”

Doyoon’s heart pounded. This was finally the moment he could learn about Bibi’s biological father. He composed himself and asked as calmly as possible, “...Fell for who? Who?”

“Who else? That damned man,” Claireval hissed roughly. He paused for a long time before uttering the name of a family. A name that would undoubtedly shock Doyoon.

“The terrible and fearsome Ecstecold!”

“Ecstecold, then...” Doyoon’s thought trailed off.

“The Executioner?”

“...”

Silence was affirmation.