World of Vampire Detective [18]

"Ugh…!"

"Hey, rookie! If you're going to puke, do it outside! If you puke in here, you're dead!"

Detective Chief Oh Jung-jin's voice echoed through the apartment.

The young rookie, who had recently joined the force, covered his mouth with a pale face and ran down the hallway. Moon Ji-hyuk watched the rookie's retreating figure.

Memories surfaced. He, too, had turned pale at the sight of his first corpse and couldn't eat meat for a while.

This was something Moon Ji-hyuk couldn't help with.

In the detective business, you encounter worse scenes. Though dismembered bodies are rare, they do exist. You have to overcome it and get used to it on your own.

"He'll get used to it, just like I did."

Moon Ji-hyuk turned his attention back to the crime scene.

The horror of Unit 603 in Saeoneul Apartment.

Around 7 a.m., a man discovered a pool of blood in the hallway while using the stairs for his morning exercise. Blood had seeped from under the front door of Unit 603 into the hallway.

It was now 8 a.m. Police and forensic teams, including Oh Jung-jin and Moon Ji-hyuk, had taken over Unit 603 to investigate.

Six bodies were found.

The peculiar part was that three of the bodies appeared to have been killed with a long blade, like a katana, and one had been decapitated.

The other three bodies were found in the master bedroom, and they clearly looked like gangsters. Judging by the evidence, they were killed with sashimi knives.

"Damn. How did they decapitate him?"

Oh Jung-jin grimaced at the sight of the man's severed head on the floor. The cut was unnaturally clean.

This couldn't have been done with human strength. Even executioners rarely managed to decapitate someone in a single blow. And it's not like they brought a guillotine or a cutting machine.

"It's impossible for a human to cut this cleanly."

As he pondered, Moon Ji-hyuk clenched his fists.

"A vampire. A vampire's strength could cut through a neck in one go."

The puzzling part was the state of the bodies. There were no signs of blood being drained.

"If it wasn't blood they were after, then…"

First, they needed to identify the victims.

"Chief, I've gathered information about the victims from the neighbours."

Detective Park approached Oh Jung-jin.

"Yeah?"

"The owner of this apartment is Jang Seong-min, who's been living here for about a year."

"The one who was decapitated."

They had already identified him. His wallet and smartphone were left untouched.

"The neighbours said four people lived here together."

"Four people?"

"Yes. They don't know their jobs, but they often act together. They didn't talk to the neighbours and lived quietly without causing trouble."

"Did anyone notice anything unusual yesterday?"

"No, nobody did."

Whether they genuinely didn't know or were pretending not to was uncertain. Most people prefer to avoid getting involved in incidents.

"So, was the fourth person a gangster?"

"Not the bodies in the master bedroom. The fourth person was a blonde guy with ear piercings, described as a punk."

"Three are dead; one survived. He's the prime suspect. Get him."

"Yes, sir."

Detective Park immediately began the search.

"Detective Moon."

"Yes."

"Secure all nearby CCTV and dashcam footage."

"Understood."

Moon Ji-hyuk moved quickly. As he distanced himself from Unit 603, the thought that a vampire was behind this incident lingered in his mind.

***

"Did the CCTV catch anything?"

Oh Jung-jin approached Moon Ji-hyuk, who was sitting in the office reviewing CCTV footage on his laptop.

"No, nothing significant. But there is one guy who stands out."

"One guy?"

Oh Jung-jin looked at the laptop screen.

"What's wrong with the footage?"

Part of the screen was damaged.

"It's from the CCTV in front of the apartment. I thought it was broken, but only the front part of the camera was damaged. The video was still recording properly."

Moon Ji-hyuk rewound the footage.

"This guy?"

A man in a suit appeared. He had an impressive physique, but his face was obscured by the damaged part of the footage. With no distinguishing features on his body, identifying him would be tough.

"Yes. For some reason, I have a feeling he's the culprit."

"Your hunch?"

"…Yes."

Moon Ji-hyuk nodded slowly. It was just a gut feeling.

"Detective Moon, we're not fortune-tellers. Even if he seems like the culprit, we need a valid reason. Without evidence, it's just slander. Besides, this guy doesn't seem like the culprit."

Oh Jung-jin tapped the monitor with the back of his hand.

"The culprit must be at least two people. We believe the gangsters were killed elsewhere and brought here. The severed pipes around the bodies indicate there was a fight. I don't know how they cut the pipes and severed the head, but it's beyond what one person can do."

'What if it's not a person but a vampire?' Moon Ji-hyuk almost said it, but he bit his tongue. There was no point in making Oh Jung-jin suspicious about vampires when he knew nothing about them.

Oh Jung-jin was not someone he could trust with this information.

"Also, this guy isn't carrying anything. No knife, not even a pocket knife. No bag, either. Unless he has some magic pocket, he can't be the culprit."

"…"

Moon Ji-hyuk thought differently.

What if this man was a vampire progenitor? What if he had some kind of ability to conceal objects?

'…No. That's too far-fetched. There's no proof he's a vampire, and a progenitor wouldn't do something like this.'

Moon Ji-hyuk dismissed the thought.

He trusted his gut, but he couldn't base an investigation on it. He decided to exclude the man from the list of suspects.

"Oh, right. We found out who Jang Seong-min was. It turns out he ran an illegal sports betting site. That punk we caught earlier said there were 4.8 billion won hidden in a closet. As you know, we didn't find a single penny. This mess was probably all about money."

"So, it's about money."

"Nothing new. Crimes involving money are common. And the three gangsters were from the Baewonpa. Remember the bloody alley incident? Those were their guys."

"What? Wait a minute. Isn't something odd?"

"It is. It turns out they were reported missing. Then they showed up dead today. The Baewonpa boss claims ignorance, and the club they worked at denies involvement."

"The alley blood belonged to four people. Was there any information on the other person from the DNA analysis?"

"A healthy guy in his early twenties. Judging by the blood volume, he was definitely cut by a knife. Detective Park checked local hospitals, but no young man with knife wounds turned up."

"Were the gangsters killed just yesterday?"

"Yes. Forensics confirmed it. They were fresh. There were no signs of torture, but one of them had his testicles crushed. Died as a eunuch, poor bastard."

"Was another gang holding them captive? No, there's no reason for that. What the hell is this?"

"Who knows? The more we dig, the weirder it gets. It's not normal. You'd think a wizard did it."

"Maybe it really was a wizard."

"Why are you saying that? Anyway, wrap this up and send it to the special unit."

Special Unit.

Officially known as the Special Investigation Unit, they handle extraordinary cases.

"Special unit again? We just handed over the mummy case, and now this?"

"Orders from above. The special unit specializes in this sort of thing."

Moon Ji-hyuk could easily predict the common thread in the cases being transferred to the special unit.

Vampires.

The Special Affairs Bureau transfers most cases they suspect involve vampires to the special unit.

"Get it sorted and sent over today. That CCTV footage too. Or they'll raise hell."

"…Yes, sir."

Moon Ji-hyuk responded with difficulty, feeling powerless.

There was nothing he could do as a mere detective.

"If I can't do anything as a detective, I'll have to act on my own."

***

I woke up in a bed that smelled sweetly of a woman.

My body felt stiff. Last night, after an epic night out, instead of heading to a motel, I came to Hera's place, and we had another round of sex.

My life in 'Vampire Detective' was truly filled with sex.

"Should I crash at Mi-young's place tomorrow?"

I had a few women with whom I had casual sex. When they felt horny, they'd call me, and I'd do the same with them.

Hera was the one I had the most sex with. Her libido was way stronger than I had anticipated.

Hera had already left for her job at the company, leaving me alone in her apartment.

I opened the fridge and grabbed a can of soda, walking over to the sofa.

Hera lived in a high-end apartment, which was spacious and spotless, better than most hotels.

As I turned on the TV, the 7 o'clock news was on.

"This morning, an explosion occurred in a residential area in Seoul. The fire engulfed five nearby houses, resulting in three deaths and four injuries. Thanks to the swift action of the firefighters, the fire was quickly contained. The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation, but an LPG gas tank explosion is suspected."

"Oh! That's that episode."

The fire incident on the news was actually arson. The arsonist was a vampire who set fires just for fun.

This Chapter marked the beginning of the mid-season. Moon Ji-hyuk would catch the vampire arsonist and learn from the vampire that the organization Kantara knew how vampires could become humans.

"And then the arsonist gets killed by a vampire hunter."

This Chapter also served to introduce the threat of vampire hunters to the viewers.

"Early this morning, gunshots were heard at a museum. The police explained it as a gang conflict, vowing not to tolerate armed gangsters. The police chief advised Seoul citizens to avoid going out at night.

"What?"

My eyes widened.

The museum battle.

This was supposed to happen later in the story.

The police explained it as a gang conflict, but un reality it was a battle between vampires and vampire hunters.

"…Fuck!"

I swore.

This marked the beginning of a full-scale war between vampires and vampire hunters. And it was already ignited and would explode in a few days.

Seoul's nights, unknown to its citizens, would become a battlefield.

'I expected the story to twist somewhat, but this is too fast.'

At this rate, the Flower of Life that produces the Orb of Life might not come to Korea at all. That would be the worst-case scenario.

'What went wrong? Killing Jang Sung-min? No… That wasn't it.'

That was two nights ago. It's too soon for that to have caused this.

"The bus terror attack."

That had to be it.

Because of that, vampire hunters flocked to Seoul, and the Black Cross Society was desperately searching for the terrorists.

'They must have discovered the vampire group living near the museum in the process.'

Originally, they found them later, but the bus terror attack must have really pissed off the Black Cross Society.

'Damn it. If vampires go into hiding now, the Flower of Life might not come to Korea.'

The Flower of Life was currently in the possession of a high-ranking member of Kantara. He planned to bring it to absorb the energy of the Korean Peninsula soon.

But if the Black Cross Society is wreaking havoc in Korea? He wouldn't bring it here, not even if he were an idiot.

Although it would be a waste of energy that would erupt after three hundred years, it was better than losing the Orb of Life to the vampire hunters.

I planned to intercept the Flower of Life before Moon Ji-hyuk got his hands on it when it produced the Orb of Life.

'The Flower of Life not coming to Korea is unacceptable.'

After over thirty minutes of deliberation, I jumped up from my seat.

"I need to significantly reduce the number of vampire hunters."

I retrieved an item from reality. It was something I had obtained from a random draw.

A clown mask with a white base. The mouth and nose were red; the left eye had a green star pattern, and the right eye had a blue cross pattern.

The clown mask had a curly red wig attached to it. Overall, it had a rather childish design.

[Demonic Clown Mask]

[A clown mask imbued with demonic power.]