Chapter Text
The moment Cha Eui-jae returned to his apartament, he asked Nexby about Pado's current business currency and what they specialize in.
"Searching. The Pado Guild established by Lee Sa-young's current currency is 7billion+ won.
Pado has specialization in many things, such as:
—production.
—industry or seen as "niche market".
—investigation."
The currency was something Cha Eui-jae would never be able to achieve even if he were to work in the hangover soup restaurant for 40 years. It wasn't a normal currency, the Pado Guild was known globally by every country, and they were active containing a lot of specializations.
It was no ordinary Guild that Cha Eui-jae could ignore. He knew, even if he didn't want that, that he will once have to deal with them once and for all.
"Thanks."
***
The next day at Pado's headquarters, Choi Goyo and the other Pado members entered their Guild Leader's office. Last night, they contacted Lee Sa-young sharing only the information that they got lost but found a way out, thanks to a person who showed them the way.
Lee Sa-young got interested and anyway, they were supposed to report the actual investigation to him in person.
"Come in."
They heard the distinct voice of Lee Sa-young's, informing them to enter in.
"Now. What's the data?"
The moment they took a step in, the Guild Leader's stare was as cold as ever, as he raised his head up to look at them. He wore glasses, sitting behind the papers on the desk.
Choi Goyo's companions both patted him on the back, implying for him to describe the details and hand over all the notes they took yesterday.
But, Lee Sa-young seemed rather at ease today. Even with that piles of work, he wasn't that scary as always.
Choi Goyo handed over the notes he and his companions had wrote. Waiting for Lee Sa-young's question or approval to leave.
Lee Sa-young accepted it, fixing his glasses with his finger. Then, he started examining it, reading what it was.
After a short while, he took his eyes back onto the three Pado workers.
"Did that person gave you his name?"
He focused his stare back onto them.
"He didn't give us his name, Guild Leader."
The female worker stepped up, responding firmly.
"Hmm... Is there at least anything that should be noted in his appearance, which you remembered?"
Choi Goyo was determined to say more, because he knew the information still very well. So, he decided to respond to the Guild Leader's question.
"He wore a black cloak, so we couldn't tell. But he looked young and presented himself as a passerby. Said he knows the woods because he goes through them everyday. What I can also add is he told us all the ways out, as if he knew the woods like his finger."
At that, Lee Sa-young left out a short chuckle. A someone who knew the woods well that he knew all the ways out, a pile of dead deers without blood?
If the one behind the death of the deers wasn't a vampire, what would it be? Officialy, Lee Sa-young was sure that an blood-sucker existed in that forest. What was left was the person who saved them there, whose indentity was yet unknown to Lee Sa-young.
But, with this type of information, it just made Lee Sa-young want to invest and try to find him much more faster. This was getting exciting and intriguing.
It was too ahead of time for Lee Sa-young to start an investigation team to find it, and he had other events to attend to anyway. So of course, to make it possible, he would need to buy more time. But, the moment he would launch it, would only be at the time where he got enough details on where to find the person mentioned in the notes by his workers.
Later at night when Lee Sa-young concluded into going the woods alone. He wore a jacket, and the typical clothing you'd take into a forest to explore it.
'It's quiet.'
What Lee Sa-young wanted to agree with was that the woods were unusually quiet. Usually you could hear bushes moving, or animals passing through it. Before attending to go deeper, he took out a flashlight and a map that he made one of his workers draw of how the forest looked like on the internet maps.
The deeper he went in, the silence became more unexplainable and disturbing.
There was something inside, something a normal human would be afraid of.
Same as yesterday, it started to rain gently. He didn't took with himself an umbrella, so he put on his jacket's hood.
Deeper, it got much more scarier. But he couldn't go back, not yet when he's this close.
Lee Sa-young was taking the mission to find the estimated 'vampire' seriously. He didn't want to hunt the blood-suckers, he just wanted to know if their existence was actually true.
Because it was a knowledge not even the government hadn't learnt about yet. Lee Sa-young didn't plan to tell it anyone, otherwise, he could start a chaos and people would hunt those vampires down. For some reason, he felt the need to not let that happen. Maybe it was pity, or his curiousity.
The footsteps next to him were hushed, but he heard them. This could be it.
However what he saw wasn't an accidental encounter or something someone would need to do.
It was the being he had been waiting so long to see. What Lee Sa-young thought will have to look around for so long to find.
What stood before him,
'It's definitely the suspicious guy they mentioned from yesterday.'
Was a vampire who kept leaning, feeding blood off a boar.
Lee Sa-young wasn't scared, but everything in him told him to run. That was engraved in him, telling him to get away. To get away as quick as possible so he avoids danger.
But he didn't move, watching the situation happen infront of his eyes.
Then, he was spot by that very vampire.
This could be his last day on earth, unless the blood-sucker was merciful enough to set him free.
No, who was he kidding? Beings like that are intelligent if they've been hiding to a fact they haven't been talked about by anyone. And, since they were real, they would dispose of anything which could put their race to exposure. Lee Sa-young should be aware of that fact.
Silent woods which almost no one taken interest in, yet there was the Pado Organization, that appeared twice in a row. Cha Eui-jae knew who this man which saw him sucking off blood of an animal was. It was the Leader of Pado himself. What was he doing here?
He thought the leader of Pado would be older, someone who would have no balls to enter woods alone at dark. But looks like the fate showed him otherwise.
But what mostly was important to Cha Eui-jae was that he did not expect for that day to come so quickly. The day where he will have to deal with someone who belonged to that guild eye to eye.
They stared at each other. The rain which softly poured stopped, as if to engage in the moment.
Lee Sa-young thought he'd be being sucked off in an instant, but looks like the unknown man infront of him didn't keep any intentions to do it. He wanted to ask why.
"Why are you not killing me?"
What he thought would be kept in his thoughts was said aloud.
"Is there a need to?"
The voice sounded like honey. It was unfit to a creature who's supposed to be terrifying. Lee Sa-young's eyes didn't go anywhere else, staying on the vampire.
Cha Eui-jae let go of the boar he held onto, throwing in the dirtied overgrown grass. The moon catched Cha Eui-jae, revealing his red glowing eyes in the dark. It was the same as in the movies, where the blood-suckers had red eyes the moment they were tempted to caught a prey.
"I'm still a man of honor. Why would I kill you?"
Lee Sa-young heard the question which was repeated.
"..."
"..."
"Shouldn't you get rid of me for your safety?"
Cha Eui-jae scanned him down and up, then thought about his response, which he gave away.
"I don't have to."
"Why not?"
"Does there have to be a reason?"
"There should be."
"I don't want to."
"What if you didn't kill me I would spread the information that vampires exist now that I saw you blood-sucking a boar?"
"Would you really do that?"
"It won't be an issue."
Right. Of course it wouldn't be, for someone whose Guild's currency is over billions...
"I just don't want to. That's all."
Lee Sa-young was confusing to Cha Eui-jae. How come wasn't he scared? A normal person would be shaken, seen very far away probably outside of the woods already the moment they would see him drinking blood off an wild animal. But Lee Sa-young didn't, he just continued to talk.
It's not like Cha Eui-jae was interested in killing Lee Sa-young anyway. He never tried a humans blood, and he never wanted to try it either. That was his choice.
"Are you confused on why I didn't ran away?"
And why did he ask questions as if he could read Cha Eui-jae's mind?
"...Well, yeah."
"I wanted to. I don't know why, but I chose to just be stuck and not run away instead."
"You're making shit up."
"I don't think anyone would risk lying in front of someone who could just kill you in an instant if they wanted to, you know?"
"I already told you I have no intentions to kill you."
"Why?"
"Because I'm not interested in human's blood."
"Why? Do you not like their taste?"
I don't even know how they taste, yet he was asked this question as if he ever tried to drink a humans blood before.
"No. What?... I just don't want to drink any humans blood, that's all."
"Vampires in movies are different..."
"This is the real world, not an movie."
"But aren't you supposed to drink a human's blood to survive?"
"No. I can also just prey on animals and keep on living, it doesn't matter."
Cha Eui-jae knew the Pado leader wouldn't come here for no reason. He wanted to uncover it before he was caught in something big which could make his family worry about.
"Let's get to the point. What do you want from me?"
"Did you help my investigation team members yesterday to find the way out of the Seoul woods?"
"Yeah, that was me. But this definitely is not the only reason you came so far to find me, isn't it?"
Lee Sa-young's thoughts of vampires intelligence wasn't wrong. They were most likely more smarter than the usual humans you'll meet on streets. Cha Eui-jae was one of those.
"I'm not here to hunt you down. But... I have a rather interesting proposition, that I don't think you will refuse."
Cha Eui-jae wondered, couldn't this person just get to the point at the start of the conversation instead of drag it at the start with sentences that made no sense?