I had identified all the CCTV cameras in the village: sixteen in total.
Six were positioned near the village entrance, ensuring immediate detection of anyone entering.
The remaining ten were scattered throughout the village, mostly monitoring key intersections and the perimeter fence. The section of fence I had breached was partially obscured by a house, one of the few blind spots allowing for silent infiltration.
I slipped into the house directly adjacent to the fence. The cameras didn't monitor the interior, as it served as the vampires' living quarters. There was no need to surveil fellow vampires, only intruders.
Snore! Phew. Snore! Phew~
The rough snoring spilled out of the master bedroom. I'd never heard snoring this loud in my life.
Shouldn't he see a doctor about this?
I carefully opened the door and slipped inside. A man who looked to be in his early to mid-thirties lay sprawled on the mattress, fast asleep. The snoring grew even louder as I entered the room.
I quietly approached him and plunged my knife into his neck.
"Gah?!"
The man's eyes snapped open, staring at me. I didn't look away.
"Ghk... Grrr...!"
He gripped the knife with both hands, trying to kick me away with his legs. But his legs couldn't reach me because I was positioned above his head.
"Just give up. All you can do now is die," I said kindly.
The man still refused to surrender. His bloodied hands, which had been reaching for his sword, now stretched toward me. He seemed to think he could still do something, but it was far too late.
Thud.
His arm fell to the floor.
His loud snoring ceased.
Having killed the man, I thoroughly searched the house.
It was possible they'd hidden their secret funds in an ordinary house like this, rather than the village hall. There might even be someone else hiding here.
But there was no secret fund, nor anything of value. I wasn't disappointed; I hadn't expected anything in the first place.
Let's kill them one by one.
I climbed over the wall and moved to the next house. To avoid the cameras, I had to either scale the walls or find a hole to crawl through.
-Ooh! Fuck yeah! Fuck! Fuck me! Ooh! Yeah!
Peeking through the window, I saw a man enjoying a Western porn video.
Western porn. I like it too. I don't care about race when it comes to beautiful women. If she's pretty, I don't mind if she's Black.
But Western porn is just too exaggerated. And there are so many fake breasts.
Just as Korea is known for facial plastic surgery, the West is known for breast augmentation.
That blonde woman has fake breasts too.
The way her breasts jiggle is too unnatural. Her nipples are pretty, but that's about it.
Swish.
"Huh?"
Just in case, I tried opening the window, and it opened. It wasn't locked. The man's carelessness exceeded my wildest imagination. I quietly pushed the window open. Completely absorbed in his masturbation, he didn't notice a thing.
"Oh, fuck yeah!"
He was nearing his climax, but I wasn't about to wait. Why should I care about some other guy's pleasure?
With a swift motion, I severed his neck. His head flew off in a spray of blood. But, unlucky for me, his lower half twitched. I couldn't afford to watch any longer. I quickly averted my gaze and slipped out the window.
Next, I moved on to the next house. The houses were clustered tightly together, as if the residents believed safety lay in numbers. This worked perfectly in my favor.
"You... Ugh!"
I clamped a hand over his mouth and stabbed his neck with the knife held in a reverse grip. As I withdrew the blade, a fountain of blood erupted. I immediately moved on to the next house.
"Jeokgwang?!"
"...Shit. That's a real knife!"
"Damn it! Tell Big Brother now!"
As if I'd just stand there like an idiot. I activated my footwork technique, closing the distance in an instant and swinging my blade.
One man died instantly. The other two reacted to my movement, retreating and reaching for the guns on the desk trained reflexes.
Still too slow.
A crimson arc sliced across their necks. Blood gushed out as their bodies collapsed to the floor.
How pathetic, I thought as I looked at their corpses. In a direct confrontation, ordinary people were no longer a match for me.
...I wonder if vampires will be any different.
In less than twenty minutes, I had searched every house except the town hall. The number of people I had killed was eleven.
I hid behind a gate and watched two men on patrol. They were slowly approaching my position.
"Ugh... I'm bored to death. Even when I was in the military, it wasn't this dull."
"I'm on leave tomorrow. I'm going to get laid."
"Oh, right. Didn't you have a girlfriend?"
"...We broke up. She kept asking about my job... You know how it is. Our work is classified. Ugh."
"...Hang in there, man. At least you're making good money."
"Fuck. If it weren't for the money, I'd quit this shit job right now. Lately, I've been wondering if learning Judo was even worth it. I feel so pathetic..."
[Hacking successful.]
[Camera hacked for 30 minutes.]
Having hacked the camera, I immediately rushed out and split the man's upper and lower body in two as he was lamenting.
"You fucking bastard!"
The guy next to him quickly drew his gun, but my left hand snatched it away in an instant. I plunged my knife into his throat.
Having swiftly dispatched the two men, I strode confidently toward the village hall. The area around the hall was heavily guarded, leaving hacking as my only means of infiltrating undetected.
[Hacking successful.]
[Camera hacked for 27 minutes and 11 seconds.]
[Hacking successful.]
[Camera hacked for 23 minutes and 27 seconds.]
I hacked every camera within range. The guard monitoring the feeds would suddenly notice the video streams freezing.
[Hacking successful.]
[Camera hacked for 19 minutes and 40 seconds.]
Reaching the main entrance of the village hall, I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Eleven men playing poker and Go-Stop snapped their heads around to stare at me.
"..."
Our eyes met. As a greeting, I sliced the throat of the man closest to me.
"Jeokgwang!"
"Why is that bastard here?!"
"What are you waiting for?! Kill him!"
"Fucking kill him!"
Chaos erupted instantly. They aimed their guns at me, but I ducked low and darted toward them. Tight, crowded spaces favored me.
[Accelerate.]
[Acceleration activated. Duration: 10 minutes.]
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Aaaaaaah!"
Gunshots and screams mingled. The bullets meant for me struck their own comrades instead. Yet the gunfire didn't cease.
It's not that they lack camaraderie, nor do they harbor any personal grudge against me. They simply fear me. Fear has paralyzed their reason, driving them to kill me first and foremost.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Click-click.
The last remaining man frantically pulled the trigger of his empty gun. Seeing his pathetic state, I said, "You need to reload."
"...Ah."
Thwack!
The man's head fell to the floor. Without pausing, I kicked open the door. There would be more hiding inside, and the hidden funds must be somewhere here as well.
"You bastard! What do you think this is?!"
As soon as the door swung open, a grenade came flying at me as if they'd been waiting for this moment. I snatched it out of the air with my left hand, hurled it back at the man, and slammed the door shut.
Boom!
When I reopened the door, I saw the mangled corpses of the men, torn apart by the grenade.
"Not here either. Are they on the 2nd floor?"
I went up to the 2nd floor, kicked open every door, and killed the remaining five men. The 2nd floor housed a CCTV monitoring room and a break room.
Smartphones lay scattered on the floor. It seemed they had called for backup after hearing the commotion on the 1st floor, but it would take at least an hour for reinforcements to arrive from Seoul.
Damn it. They actually called for backup.
I felt a pang of regret. I had moved so cautiously precisely to avoid this.
Should I have breached the 2nd floor instead? No, the only entrance to the village hall was the front door on the 1st floor. The windows on the 2nd floor weren't large enough for a person to enter. It was unavoidable.
"Where's Kim Chunseok's slush fund?"
I thoroughly searched the second floor, but found neither the slush fund nor even a single ten-thousand-won bill.
Not here either. Then... the basement?
It couldn't be gone. I forced down the rising anxiety and began rummaging through the village hall.
"Found it!"
It was in the kitchen area. What appeared to be a boiler room had a hidden door in the corner leading to the basement.
The atmosphere practically screamed "slush fund." Giddy with anticipation, I descended the stairs and found a man standing before a massive safe.
He was a man in his forties, dressed in a suit. His face was twisted into a scowl, and his sanpaku eyes glared fiercely at me.
Seeing him, I tensed, ready for a fight.
"You... you're a vampire."
His pale skin and inhuman aura left no doubt. He was definitely a vampire.
It seemed Kim Chunseok's wealth and power allowed him to command even vampires as subordinates.
"...So you're Jeokgwang? Your actions made me think you were a vampire, but you reek of humanity."
The man held knives in both hands. His upper body muscles, including his arms, were no joke. He must have continued training his body even after becoming a vampire.
"What's this? Vampires can distinguish humans from other vampires by scent?"
"A vampire of my caliber can sense the unique scent of humans. It varies slightly from person to person... but your scent is rotten."
"That rotten smell is the sebum from the bastards above. Even with a vampire's superior sense of smell, how could you possibly distinguish people? Stop spouting such nonsense."
I pointed the tip of my sword at him.
By unlocking the Youngcheon Style's true potential, I could instinctively sense my opponent's weaknesses and attack range.
There was a weakness I could see it clearly. The problem was that this weakness was deliberately created, a trap.
A trap.
If I ignored it and charged in, I'd likely be torn to shreds.
My opponent was a vampire, and not just any vampire one who had been relentlessly training. I couldn't simply overpower him with brute force.
Hmm...
This situation felt strangely familiar.
In reality, I spar with Jin Se-yeong every day. And this scenario was remarkably similar to facing her.
"In situations like this, I'd either trust me and charge in, or throw something like a rock to force an opening," I said.
I opened my mouth.
"Did you perhaps become a vampire willingly?"
True Ancestor Vampires are surprisingly common, and most create new vampires on a whim. However, some also offer to turn humans into vampires for a price.
"Yes. The human body is weak. That's why I chose the vampire's form. If you're careful during the day, you can become a superhuman at night. No matter how I look at it, vampires are superior beings to humans."
"But you're so vulnerable to silver."
"If it doesn't work, so be it. Silver is mainly used by those professional Vampire Hunters anyway... and they're nothing special as long as you watch out for their snipers."
"I agree with that."
Even as they spoke, I scanned for an opening. But the creature remained unnervingly calm.
"I can tell you're strong for a human. But you're still just a human. You'll die by my hand."
"Spare me the bravado. You can feel it too, can't you? My skills are no joke."
"...That level of martial arts... I've never even heard of it. Where did you learn it?"
He could gauge my martial arts prowess just from my stance? This guy was no ordinary opponent.
"I learned it at the academy. But hey, I've got a real question for you."
"What is it?"
"Is it... good to have sex with a female vampire?"
"..."
"Ah, you've never been with a vampire before?"
The man stared at me intently, as if trying to discern my motives.
There was no ulterior motive behind my question only genuine curiosity.
I wasn't lying; I was genuinely curious. If the opportunity arose, I'd even considered raping a female vampire.
"...I have. But if you're talking about bedding women, human women are better."
"Huh? Why? Vampires should have a tighter grip, right?"
"Their grip is definitely superior to humans. But they lack human warmth. Their body temperature is low it feels like embracing a corpse."
"...Low body temperature but a tight grip... I'm not sure about that. Guess I'll have to experience it myself. If I get the chance, I'll definitely fuck one."
Having satisfied my curiosity to some extent, I made the first move.
He likely wouldn't be fazed by anything I said.
If that's the case, there's no choice but to kill him with my blade.
My advantage remains unchanged.
I had the Youngcheon Style.
"...Hmm."
He swung his knife from beyond my reach. Suddenly, the blade elongated into a whip-like form, lashing out at me.
"Fuck!"
I cursed, retreating while parrying the knife-whip with my sword. It wasn't the knife that was special, but the man himself.
"A superpower...! You're a True Ancestor!"