Chapter 2: Ousted

It was a quiet night, the sirens had just gone off and the announcement was made leading to a mass exodus off the streets. The only people still on the street are the ones frantically seeking shelter, the predators who hunt at night and of course the animals completely oblivious to the dangers. One such animal is a wild cat that made itself comfortable one of the many rooftops and was currently grooming itself-

*WHOOSH*

“MREOW!?”

-only to be left befuddled and confused when a brief yet sharp gust of wind swept past it carrying a single word that was said too fast for it to make out even if it could comprehend it.

“Dammit!”

Hwang Soyun, 20 year old first year university student.

“Dammit-dammit-dammit!”

And secret vampire leapt across the rooftops to her home at blinding speed like a silent shadow imperceptible to the human eye.

“Shit!”

Landing on the roof of the church she hurriedly yet quietly entered and rushed up towards her room.

“Where is it? Where is it-there!”

After searching through her room at speeds faster than the human eye could perceive she eventually find what she is looking for, a silver crucifix necklace with a sapphire jewel embedded in the center. Snatching the artifact she kneeled by her bedside with her eyes firmly shut while gripping the religious item with both hands as if her life depended on it. Soyun then began to recite a silent prayer and as she did her appearance began to change. Her black claw-like nails receding as was her silver hair and even the red coloring of her lips. After half a minute Soyun now held the visage of a typical if pretty Korean woman.

After checking herself over to ensure that the change was complete Soyun plopped onto the bed with her face to the ceiling. After mentally running over recent events she stuffed a pillow over her face and let out a muffled scream.

“You stupid idiot!” she berated herself “you had one job don’t blow your cover! And you forgot to bring the one thing that would stop you from doing just that!”

Like all vampires Soyun is able to maintain a human disguise so long as her emotions are kept in check. Whenever she gets riled up she transforms though unlike the typical vampire her ‘true form’ is much more ostentatious. This is why it is imperative that she keeps her emotions in check. To help her maintain her calm Father Lewis gave her a crucifix to be used as a focus and when combined with reciting prayers Soyun is able to maintain her human guise even when riled and drastically reduce the amount of time it would take to reassume said guise if she ends up transforming.

With this in mind carrying around the crucifix necklace should have been a simple and inexpensive endeavor for her. Unfortunately with it being months since any kind of situation requiring its presence came up and with Father Lewis away on business for several days now she became lax in her vigilance.

‘Now the one time where I absolutely needed it the most I left it at home!’

This mental reciting was followed by further self chastisement before the realization hit and she jerked upright.

“Eun-Sunbae knows I’m a vampire” she whispered then swallowed thickly “w-what’s going to happen to me from now on?”

She paced the room while biting her thumb as she thought of the scenario. The first thing that came to her head was having a squad of KNP SOU (Korean SWAT) busting through the front door with automatic weapons. And when that happens not only would she be taken away but so would Father Lewis for harboring a vampire and then what would happen to her siblings!?

At that thought she could only grab her head in aggravation “argh, dammit!”

Finally she fell back to the bed with the pillow still in hand “just when I thought I could finally start my university life proper after that disastrous first semester.”

A semester where she couldn’t muster the courage to approach someone to make friends then got so nervous that she ended up formally greeting literally everyone who crossed her path creeping everyone out and ensuring that no one would approach her. At one point she even started pretending she had friends when people looked at her sitting by herself and was constantly lying to her rightfully concerned siblings about having friends and participating in group activities.

Tonight was the first night Soyun made actual friends and now because of her screw up she ousted herself.

“No, it’s not my fault” she muttered turning to the side “I was just protecting a Sunbae. It’s that vampire’s fault.”

At that a hiss-like snarl escaped her lips only for her anger to subside.

“Why couldn’t I have been born a human?”

‘What good has being a vampire ever done for me?’

Ignoring the fact that had she not been a vampire both her and her sunbae would have been helpless against that other vampire Soyun did not have fond memories of being a vampire. When Father Lewis first found her she had no recollection of her past and did not know how to assume a human guise. She did not even know she could do such a thing and it took her years to figure it out. Even then her control was less than ideal and she could not attend school as she was back then.

From elementary all the way up to highschool Soyun spent those years being tutored by Father Lewis. When it came to getting a degree it was Father Lewis who pulled some strings to get her sitting national exams. He would have done something similar for university exams (or not at all) had she not finally put her foot down and demanded (or rather pleaded) with him to allow her to attend a proper university.

Not a simple task by any means as Father Lewis is very protective of her and critical of any mistake she may or may not make that would reveal her true nature to the public. It took a lot of work over the course of years for her to build up enough trust for Father Lewis to allow her this. Even then she had to make reassurances that she would be able to attend university without slipping up and being exposed.

And after a single semester she got complacent, slipped up and exposed herself in one of the worst possible ways.

‘Maybe Father Lewis was right.’

She wasn’t ready, she thought she was but she wasn’t and now her family was going to suffer because of her screw up.

“I wish I wasn’t a vampire” Soyun mumbled while hugging the pillow to herself.

The Next Day…

As the final bell for the day sounded two students left their shared classroom together while chatting until they were accosted by a rather infamous figure within the university.

“Excuse me.”

The two students looked to who called them only to gawk and gasp in astonishment at the tall handsome upperclassman standing before “E-Eun Sunbae?”

Neugdae nodded “Hung Min-Son and Kyung So-Ra right?”

“Y-yes!” So-Ra answered with a bright smile on her face.

Min-Son was a bit more respectful “is there something we can help you with Sunbae?”

“Yes actually, I was wondering if you’ve seen Hwang Soyun today. I only asked because I saw you chatting with her last night at the party.”

This made So-Ra frown “Soyun didn’t come in today and she’s not answering my messages.”

Neugdae frowned “I see.”

“I saw you leaving with her last night” Min-Son spoke in a not quite accusatory tone but it towed the line “did something happen?”

“We encountered a vampire when I was escorting her home.”

“What!?” they both exclaimed in shock.

Neugdae held up a hand before they could “we encountered a vampire but we managed to get away. We didn’t really say much to each other after that but she looked really spooked so I just wanted to see if she is doing alright, apparently she’s not.”

So-Ra was already furiously typing on her phone getting both their attention with her friend asking “what are you doing?”

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“I’m calling Soyun” she waited for a moment only to click her tongue “she’s not picking up.”

“Damn” Min-Son cursed “Sunbae, do you know where she lives?”

“I don’t” he lied smoothly before adding “I wouldn’t worry too much about her though.”

“Why’s that?”

“I’d like to think I’m a good judge of character and Soyun is stronger than she looks”

‘Literally’

“Anyway I just wanted to see if she showed up today” he turned to leave.

“Wait!”

Neugdae did so looking at So-Ra “yes?”

The Hubae held up her phone “let’s exchange numbers” at his raised eyebrow she went on “for in case we see Soyun.”

‘That’s actually not a terrible idea. Now if only she didn’t have an ulterior motive as well.’

Still he agreed to exchange contacts with the two before gently turning down So-Ra’s invitation to have drinks with them.

“I have to take care of something important.”

As he exited the university gates along with a thrum of students there was another sparser group entering. It was the evening class and among their numbers is a familiar face Neugdae hadn’t seen in quite a while. As they crossed paths Neugdae’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

‘I’ll have to check on that later.’

Neugdae did not take the bus to his usual stop instead he got off in a neighborhood that could be considered a ghetto with shabby houses, dilapidated roads, narrow interconnected streets and consisting of people teetering on edge of poverty. He could even see a few shady characters loitering about but thankfully none seemed to be brazen enough to try and make an attempt on his valuables.

Eventually he arrived at the only Catholic Church he’s seen since he came back to Korea and remembering what Soyun told him he instead went to the building attached to it.

‘I really hope this is the right place.’

He knocked on the door a couple times and waited for a minute before the door was opened. Rather than Soyun however it was a younger boy who opened the door.

“Excuse me is Hwang Soyun home?”

Rendered speechless by his presence the boy could only stare up at him in awe. Luckily before things could get too awkward a familiar voice reached his ears and the woman he’s been looking for appears.

“Yu-Jin who’s at the door?”

Hwang Soyun froze at his appearance and ‘wow she looks rough.’

As someone who is intimately familiar with the effects of stress he could say with some degree of certainty that the events of last night are taking a toll on Soyun even if she appeared fine at first brush.

“Who is it Unnie?” the voice of a young girl spoke up and managed to push her head through to peer up at Neugdae. The moment she did her eyes bugged out however instead of panic they became angry as she shouted “ah, you’re with those gangsters that keep bothering us aren’t you! We already told you we’re not giving up our home!”

Neugdae raised an eyebrow at the little girl while Soyun worked to hold back the hellion who looked as if she wanted lay into him.

“Su-Yung stop it, he’s not a gangster.”

Seeing as how he did not want that smoke Neugdae raised an arm in surrender and even took a step back “I’m not a gangster, I’m your Noona’s Sunbae from university” he explained.

This gave the girl pause “really?”

She then looked between Neugdae and Soyun for a moment before she gave the latter a sly smile that should not be on a 13 year old girl.

He could actually hear Soyun mutter “oh no” under her breath

“Oh~ our Unnie is being visited by a boy.”

“Woow~” spoke Yu-Jin having gotten over his fear but still contained the awe as he regarded Neugdae in a new light “hey Hyung are you Noona’s boyfriend?”

Neugdae couldn’t help the smirk that formed especially as Soyun’s face flushed a bright red “alright that’s it both of you back in the house!”

“She’s right Yu-Jin we shouldn’t interrupt Unnie when she’s getting all lovey dovey~” Su-Yung spoke with all seriousness.

Yu-Jin nodded empathically and as Soyun managed to shove to two siblings inside behind a locked door Su-Yung got in a few words with all the inflection of a parent wishing their child luck.

“Have fun you two~”

“Don’t do anything you’ll regret Noona!” Yu-Jin also spoke before Soyun shut te door and gave out an aggravated groan.

“Heh”

That single sound was enough to have Soyun stand up ramrod straight and give him the finger poke of doom.

“Not. A. Word.”

Again he held up his hands in surrender and Soyun’s exaggerated scowl lessened to a more concerned frown as she regarded him.

“I’m guessing you know why I’m here.”

“Yeah” Soyun looked around wearily.

“We should talk somewhere more private” he spoke in a lowered voice while pointing to the door behind her.

In response Soyun unlocked the door and jerked it back hitting two eavesdropping adolescents sending them tumbling onto the floor with cries of shock and pain. Soyun held a satisfied smirk as she properly closed the door. Said smirk was wiped off her face however as she turned to Neugdae.

“You have somewhere in mind we can talk?”

“Follow me.”

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