Reflexively calling Rashanin’s name thinking I should stop them, at the same time he rushed at Elisabeth.
Before I could even take a short breath, the two vampires fiercely struck and fought. Dull impact sounds rang out amid short screams and commotion.
My head became dizzy at the nightmare-like sight that seemed like something only seen in movies.
It was a 6-star hotel lobby. The aftermath would definitely rot the insides. Moreover, despite the fierce momentum, quite a few people weren’t leaving and were watching the fight. If they got caught up in it, it would be a big problem.
Following the habit of a low-level civil servant, thinking with one part of my head that I had to at least prevent the worst-case scenario, my body wouldn’t move.
His instincts were telling him that if he interfered, he would die.
He had seen many video records related to vampire crimes. If they so desired, they were beings who could rip a human’s head off with their bare hands. Blocking vampires who were fighting seriously while emanating murderous intent was no different from suicide.
At the unprecedented commotion, hotel security personnel in jet-black suits had come running in droves, but they too couldn’t easily approach.
What do I do about this? I have to stop them, but no matter how much he thought about it, there was no way.
“Hello. You are traveling with the Duke of Tula, are you not?”
He was watching the two vampires, whose injuries were increasing one by one with an anxious heart, when someone spoke to him from the side. A foreigner he’d never seen before had approached him at some point. He was a cold-faced handsome man with black hair wearing a black suit.
“My name is Manuel Wagrbut. I am the assistant to the Princess over there.”
Duke of Tula, Princess, assistant. Even in the chaotic situation, he understood that these words were referring to Rashanin, Elisabeth, and the man himself.
“Ah, my name is Lee Unhyuk. I’m working as Rashanin-ssi’s guide.”
“I wanted to inform you in advance, but your cell phone was turned off.”
“…!!”
At Manuel’s words, he finally remembered that he had turned off his phone. Not only could he not change his cell phone number because of his job, but it was a rule that he had to always keep the power on so that he could be contacted at all times.
It was a mistake. If he had received the contact, this kind of hellish scene might not have happened. As his expression hardened, as if reading his thoughts, Manuel shook his head.
“The two of them originally have a very bad relationship. It was bound to happen anyway.”
“But why did it have to be here?”
The situation was bad enough that he was complaining to a vampire he’d never met before. Rashanin and Elisabeth, who were now separated and keeping each other in check, were both covered in blood.
Especially Rashanin’s appearance, cut here and there, was a complete mess. His suit was slashed in various places, and a long wound was visible on his handsome right cheek. A scar on that handsome face… no, that’s not the point—how are we going to clean this up?
Damn vampires.
“I agree. When the Princess gets angry, she charges in without thinking, so it’s really a headache.”
Manuel’s voice saying it was a headache was calm, but he could feel the troubles of a subordinate, or rather, a subordinate vampire.
“Do you want to stop them?”
“Pardon?”
“I asked if you want the fight to end.”
“Of course I do.”
“I feel the same way. So please excuse me.”
“…?”
Before he could even ask what he meant by “excuse me,” Manuel grabbed him by the collar.
“This is the best method. I apologize.”
Manuel, who said he was sorry, threw him with a face that looked not at all sorry. Before he could even say “huh,” his body was in the air. With the chandelier visible below his feet, his eyes met with Manager Ko Chang-seok’s shocked gaze. Screams erupted from here and there.
Damn it. Was this what he meant by sorry? He could feel his body, floating in the air, descending according to the law of gravity. When I fall, I’ll crash. Thinking he was dead, he squeezed his eyes shut, when someone caught his body and at the same time a strong impact struck the back of his head. With terrible pain, stars flashed before his eyes.
“Elisabeth!”
Rashanin’s voice rang out loudly from above. It seemed that Rashanin was the one who caught him.
He opened his eyes with difficulty, but his vision wasn’t very clear. Rashanin’s hand wrapped around the back of his injured head. The throbbing became much worse.
“Oh no, are you alright?”
No. I’m not alright. He moved his lips, but no sound came out. As a ringing sound echoed, his blurry vision turned pitch black.
I can’t lose consciousness. I haven’t even turned on my phone. How am I going to clean this up? He tried to stay conscious with all sorts of miscellaneous worries, but it didn’t work out the way he wanted. The one fortunate thing was that the fight had stopped. He finally understood why Manuel had thrown him.
“Lee Unhyuk!!”
Rashanin called out to him urgently. That was the last thing he remembered.
* * *
In 1998, there was an incident where a VS high on drugs went berserk on the streets of New York, America. Although it was footage recorded by a crude CCTV late at night, he could clearly see a vampire ripping off an ordinary person’s arm with tremendous force. And before that, in 1993, a power struggle broke out between lower-level vampires at a dock loading area in Chicago. The video quality was worse than the one from New York, but a photo of a dented steel container box was attached as supplementary material. In 2001, the bodies of a vampire and a werewolf were discovered in a forest on the outskirts of Hamburg, Germany. How and how much they fought was unknown, but around their bodies, dozens of centuries-old coniferous trees were completely shattered to pieces.
The recorded videos and materials he saw while receiving new employee training after joining the Management Bureau were all things that proved the monstrous strength and destructiveness of vampires. Although Korea was incredibly peaceful, old agents testified that the Management Bureau had been turned upside down when the culprit of a serial murder case in Seoul before the 1986 Asian Games was revealed to be a VS. Besides that, there had been various incidents, large and small, such as causing a disturbance while drunk or getting into fights when provoked.
A secret agent in his fourth year. Although they lived among us with appearances no different from humans, he never overlooked the fact that they were dangerous beings. However, he had never dreamed in his life that he would see a spectacle of high-ranking vampires clashing with each other.
As soon as he opened his eyes, that’s what he thought. That he never wanted to see it again.
Blood-soaked vampires and such—the sight of a man who always wore a mask-like smile rampaging with the cold face of a monster was something he didn’t want to see again.
“You’re awake?”
While looking at the white ceiling where light softly spread and thinking about where this was, a voice came from the side. When he turned his head, Seong-jin was sitting next to him.
“Seong-jin-ah?”
“Yeah.”
“Where is…?”
“The hospital. You got hurt. Don’t you remember? According to Jeongho sunbae, there was a fight at the hotel?”
“Ah, right!!”
There was a reason why the image of blood-soaked Rashanin came to mind as soon as he opened his eyes. He tried to jump up from his position, but his head throbbed. In the end, unable to get up, he lay back down. When he raised his hand to press his forehead, he could feel the bandage wrapped around his head and the needle stuck in the back of his hand rustling.
“They say you have a mild concussion. They said you’d be in pain because of the bruising and a big bump. But there’s nothing seriously wrong, and they said you’ll be fine if you rest. Just in case, they did an MRI too, but there was nothing wrong.”
Seong-jin told him his entire situation at once. He remembered. Manuel had thrown him into the fight. Rashanin caught him, and someone hit the back of his head, causing him to lose consciousness. That someone was probably Elisabeth.
“What happened? What time is it now?”
“9:30. The matter was handled well. No one was hurt besides you, and although there were many witnesses, they covered it up saying it was a fight between martial arts experts.”
“Ha, martial arts experts?”
“High-ranking vampires fought, so it must have looked that way.”
That made sense. Who would suspect that the brawl in the hotel lobby was vampires? The explanation that martial arts experts were fighting would have been more convincing.
Still, it was fortunate that it was handled well. Along with a sigh of relief, his strength drained away. He even thought it was good that he had lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes, everything had been resolved, so that was nice too.
“But you know what? How was it seeing it in person?”
Seong-jin, who pulled his chair close to the bed and sat down, had sparkling eyes. This guy was a vampire enthusiast.
“According to Jeongho sunbae, the young lady who fought with Rashanin is one of the successors of the Grand Duke of Saxony. Isn’t that amazing? The successors of the Grand Duke of Russia and the Grand Duke of Saxony had a showdown. And they’re engaged, right? But they fought like it was life or death. Isn’t that intriguing? Huh?”
“The successor of the Grand Duke of Saxony?”
He was shocked by Elisabeth’s unexpected status.
“Yeah. That’s what they said. Even though she’s an unreported entrant and caused this incident today, Jeongho sunbae was sighing saying they can’t kick her out.”
