NAPE - 91

Side Story 2

The founder of Grape hummed a tune as he emerged from the bathroom of a luxury hotel suite, adjusting his robe. As he approached the bed, a call girl dyed with cheap drugs greeted him.

“I dressed in a red set, just as you ordered. Do you like it?”

“I like it very much.”

The room service meal had been amply finished. Now all that was left was to leisurely satisfy his lust and thirst.

Since it was Friday, he planned to do it in the form of butchering. Though he belonged to a forbidden world where harming humans was prohibited, a single prostitute posed no problem. He could cover it with money, or power. If even that became difficult, he could simply disappear for about three years. There were still many loopholes in human society.

“How would you like to start? Should I take care of you down there first?”

The woman, unaware of the fate awaiting her, smiled vulgarly yet innocently. She was immensely pleased to have a young client for a change. Normally she would have charged extra, but today she was willing to perform fellatio.

As she crawled off the bed and assumed a cat pose, approaching the man, he readily unbuckled his belt. He was just about to pull down his drawers when the hotel bell rang suddenly and loudly. The woman looked up at her client with a puzzled expression.

“I called for one more.”

At his lewd smile, the woman looked very annoyed.

“You didn’t say anything about a threesome.”

“What’s the big deal? If two people do what one person would do, won’t it be easier for you too?”

The founder pressed the door-opening button on the side table. The smooth hinges of the luxury hotel made almost no sound when the door opened and closed. Still, he felt the sensation of fresh air entering and heard the footsteps of another person.

“Come into the bedroom!”

The founder, excited at the thought of feasting, shouted to the other call girl who must have entered the suite. Then, as he lifted the peeved woman’s chin and aimed for her genitals, he suddenly felt, with an animalistic instinct, that something was wrong. There was no alluring scent of cheap perfume or enticing words about a cheap outlet from the entrance.

Instead, he felt a much heavier... damp air, as if rising from the bottom of the deep sea.

“Who’s there!”

As he shouted with a voice laced with caution, the footsteps of the uninvited guest approached steadily. As if confident that they no longer needed to intentionally hide. The man quickly grabbed his phone to call for help.

“It’s no use.”

A chilling low voice was heard.

“Because I just came from the VIP room.”

The unidentified intruders, along with a group of about a dozen, entered the bedroom. The founder’s eyes widened. He was so surprised that he couldn’t make a sound, merely gaping, before pushing the woman aside and rushing to the window.

“Make him kneel.”

At Doyoon’s command, his retainers moved swiftly to seize him. The founder screamed and struggled, but it was futile. He was forced to his knees on the floor. The call girl, belatedly realizing the situation, screamed and fled into a corner. Doyoon took out his phone from his pocket and gestured to River.

“Is this man the one in the photo? You should have sent a more recent picture. I can’t even see his face properly.”

“Ah, if you zoom in on this part, there’s a mole...”

River zoomed in on Doyoon’s phone screen. Doyoon carefully compared the screen with the man’s actual face and nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Just needed to confirm. I’m here to beat you up, so I can’t afford to get confused.”

“Wh-who are you? This is my territory. Who dares enter here so presumptuously?”

The founder narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth. Doyoon shrugged.

“Whether this is the territory you pissed on or whatever, I come if I want to come.”

“What exactly are you...”

“Henry Tudor.”

“What? He-Henry Tudor...?”

The man’s face was painted with terror. He realized the identity of Doyoon, who stood tall like a grim reaper, and the black-clad vampires who followed him.

“Henry Tudor... The Executioner. And then those are the Ball Python...?”

The man’s lips began to tremble. He was almost about to wet himself.

Ball Python was the name of the vampire group loyal to the Tudor family. In the past, it operated as an army, and now it was managed in the form of a private mercenary company. These individuals, who lived in an abyss deeper than the shadows, possessed excellent combat ability and intelligence thanks to drinking the mighty blood of the Tudor family. Thus, they held the epithet of being the strongest among existing vampire organizations.

All vampires knew that Henry Tudor had received the succession during the blood ritual. Receiving the succession meant having the authority to move the Ball Python and personally identify and punish criminals. Everyone speculated about what the Executioner Henry Tudor would be like, but they didn’t consider him a major threat, thinking he was just a young vampire not even 300 years old... If they were to face him like this, perhaps they should have attended the rituals more often to familiarize themselves with his face or actions.

“Your name is more important than mine, isn’t it, Edan...”

Doyoon, calling the man’s name, frowned as if confused. It wasn’t that he couldn’t remember the long name of his opponent, but rather that he hadn’t properly read or memorized it. Because there was no need.

“It’s Edan Frans Kalenskynoble.”

River, standing beside him, recited the full name. Doyoon threw a banknote to the trembling call girl in the corner and gestured for her to leave. The woman picked up the money scattered on the floor and hastily exited the suite in her underwear.

“Why has the Executioner come to meet me, leading these snakes?”

Despite his fear, Edan managed to push it away and tried to maintain his dignity in the face of Doyoon’s arrogance.

“From now on, let’s use this mouth only for answering my questions.”

Doyoon, approaching like a gentle lover, sat down opposite him and tapped Edan’s cheek.

“Edan. Your base was in Czechia, so I suppose coming all the way here means you intentionally fled to avoid the Executioner, right? The people there were all quite naive.”

“...When did you meet the vampires of my retainers... Ugh!”

Edan gasped, a sudden fiery pain erupting. A pointed cross-shaped earring was lodged in his left earlobe. It had to be made of the same material as silver bullets. Something that delivered excruciating pain to vampires... that material that ultimately snatched away the certainty of immortality.

“Perhaps because you’re an old-timer, you don’t understand what I’m saying. I just told you how to use your mouth.”

“Ugh...”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t kill your retainers or the guys playing in the VIP room. But they won’t be able to get up for a while. All of them.”

“Th-that can’t be...”

Edan’s mouth hung open in disbelief at Doyoon’s calm tone. Leaving Czechia aside, those in the VIP room were an elite unit, handpicked from among his retainer vampires. Their numbers were also quite large.

But for all of them to be unable to get up... He knew the Executioner’s retainers were strong, but he hadn’t realized the difference would be so overwhelming.

“I didn’t come to eliminate you.”

“Th-the Elder Council won’t stand for this. No matter if you’re the Executioner, suddenly, without warning... Argh!”

His left earlobe finally tore. As Edan startled and got up, Doyoon’s foot slammed into his abdomen. It was an immense force, as if he’d been hit by a meteorite.

“Think clearly.”

“Cough...!”

“I’m giving you a chance to make excuses, aren’t I?”

“...A ch-chance to make excuses?”

“You’re the one who dug up my information from the Korean Hunter Association Head and reported it to the Elder Council.”

“...Ho-how did you...”

“Well, hacking the Association’s server is nothing. The Association Head used her corporate card when she met you, didn’t she? I checked the CCTV and saw your dog was there.”

“...Th-that guy, whoever he is, I don’t know him! It has nothing to do with me!”

“Shall I bring him here and make him kneel and confront him? Oh, but I saw him first on my way here, so his tongue might not be intact enough for a conversation.”

“...”

“Anyway, let’s skip that. I think this wasn’t just your doing, but that there was a conspiring force involved.”

Doyoon tilted his head, looking as if he was dying of curiosity. Edan gasped, biting his lip. Having lived for 800 years, he was a vampire who knew how to enjoy thrills and how to plot appropriately. He was confident he could always counterattack and overturn unfavorable situations.

But looking at the Executioner’s abyssal eyes staring down at him... he felt like a frog before a snake, unable to move. Was it because he had tasted the pain of the silver earring out of the blue? Or was this simply how it was meant to be?

“The pl-plan was...”

“Ah. So there definitely was a conspirator.”

“...”

“The Executioner has been quiet until now, right? So it seems the world has changed, and they thought if they played their cards right, they could secure an important position in the Elder Council and exert significant influence in vampire society.”

Doyoon pushed the silver earring on the floor with the tip of his foot. Edan, who had been looking down, discovered that the sole of Doyoon’s shoe was densely studded with sharp silver tacks, like a comb. Edan, terrified, tried to crawl away. River swiftly moved to block his escape route.

“...Do-don’t... Don’t do this!”

Doyoon, who had calmly followed, lifted his foot.

“If you lack power, then living quietly in hiding is a universal truth of nature. Why do individuals like you only learn this through direct experience? Is it because you’re pure-bloods, so you develop greed? Or do you want to die but can’t, so you’re acting this way hoping someone will finish you off?”

Immense pain pierced Edan’s neck.