*
It was well past 10 o’clock when we finished dinner with Elisabeth. Elisabeth, who had taken lodging somewhere other than the Rudan Hotel, confirmed again her words to contact her anytime if I changed my mind.
And just before getting into the car at the hotel’s main entrance, she asked a very direct question.
“Exactly how much do you need?”
“I need 200,000 US dollars.”
I hesitated briefly, but thinking it might be an opportunity, I told her the truth. I couldn’t cling to her asking for money because of my damned pride. But if she gave it, I had the shamelessness to take it without hesitation.
Elisabeth gazed at me with her blue eyes for a moment, then soon smiled.
“You don’t want eternal life but you desire wealth—you must be a much greedier person than you appear.”
“……?!”
“I like that too. See you later. Unhyuk.”
Elisabeth’s lips, as she slightly bowed her waist, came very close as if they would touch my cheek or not. I, who had been distracted by Elisabeth’s words whose meaning I couldn’t understand, tensed up as if I were one step away from being bitten by a beast of prey.
“You endured well.”
Elisabeth, who had come close enough that I could feel her breath, praised me for enduring well, then got into the waiting car. After confirming that the BMW carrying Elisabeth had completely disappeared, I hesitated about whether to return to the guest room. Since Rashanin had left in anger, and there was also last night’s incident, I hesitated to go up to the guest room, but the fact that tomorrow was Monday weighed on my mind.
Given the time, I thought I wouldn’t run into Rashanin and entered the guest room. But Rashanin was sitting on the living room sofa waiting for me. Then he suddenly held out his hand.
“Give me the business card.”
“Pardon?”
“Isn’t it something you don’t need? Don’t tell me you only refused verbally to gain Elisabeth’s favor?”
His thin smile and sarcastic tone were no different from usual. This person had fallen into ennui, thrown away his work, and ran away to Korea? This accomplished person?
I shook my head.
“That’s not it. Absolutely not.”
“Then give me the business card.”
“What does the business card have to do with anything?”
“Don’t you understand it’s a trap? If you keep the business card, you’ll endlessly be in conflict, won’t you?”
“My mind could change.”
“Insurance for the future?”
I definitely felt thorns in Rashanin’s tone as he sneered, calling it insurance. While no one knows what the future holds, unless I was desperately in need, there would be no reason to call her. I had simply kept it since I received the business card, but when interrogated, I became upset.
“I only received it because she gave it to me. I don’t know why you’re asking for this, Mr. Rashanin, and this is something for me to decide.”
Even to my own ears, it was an extremely cold and businesslike answer.
“So you’re telling me not to interfere?”
“Yes.”
Rashanin’s gaze turned cold. It seemed like the temperature around him had dropped several degrees. Still, I didn’t back down and met his gaze.
Our eyes locked. I couldn’t tell what the man with a coldly hardened face, devoid of even a thin smile, was thinking.
“Hand it over.”
After a brief silence, Rashanin held out his hand once more. Rather than making a person surrender by scraping at their insides with words as before, he was trying to make me submit by force. His purple eyes had somehow turned gray. Though it was only his gaze, I could feel violent power.
Damn it, what ennui. While glaring at me as if to kill, what’s so boring about life, what lack of motivation?
“Here it is.”
Without hesitating twice, I took out Elisabeth’s business card from my pocket and placed it in Rashanin’s hand. Rashanin looked at me with a puzzled expression for just a moment, then clenched his hand tight and crumpled the business card.
“I’m not stupid. I can memorize a twelve-digit number in no time.”
“……!!”
“Sleep well. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I greeted him and turned around, heading straight to my room. I felt a sharp gaze following from behind, but I pretended not to notice.
And I didn’t forget to deliberately close the door loudly.
* * *
Location: Rudan Hotel Western Restaurant Lavald. Present: Elisabeth von Schwaben ‘hereafter Schwaben’, Ilya Mikhalovich Rashanin ‘hereafter Rashanin’, Manuel Wagrbut ‘hereafter Wagrbut’. Time: 20:20 to 22:30. Rashanin left the table during the meal. Afterwards, Schwaben mentioned that Rashanin came to Korea not with a purpose but chose it as a refuge. According to Schwaben, Rashanin is fallen into ennui. Schwaben came to Korea to persuade Rashanin but seems to have failed to achieve her goal. Based on Rashanin’s behavior in Korea so far, Schwaben’s words are believed to be correct. There is a possibility that another vampire will visit Korea along with Schwaben to persuade Rashanin. Continued observation is necessary.
After putting a period, I checked the text displayed on the monitor. The stiff writing in the form of an informal report was somehow unsatisfying.
I wondered whether to polish it more, then judged there was no need to put effort into an informal report and pressed the save button. I accessed the Management Bureau server, uploaded the report to the Department Head, saved it separately in my storage, then closed the window.
Pressing my strained eyes, I checked the clock and it was already approaching 1 AM. While stretching my arms out to loosen my stiff shoulders, my eyes caught the memo pad placed next to the laptop and the twelve-digit number scrawled carelessly on it.
It was Elisabeth’s contact information I had written down as soon as I entered the room so I wouldn’t forget.
When I wrote it, I was burning with anger inside, and now my stomach hurt.
“Damn it……”
I rubbed my face with a frustrated heart, but my mood didn’t improve. Vampires caused a disturbance in the hotel lobby, I got knocked out, Namsu died, Huijeong got divorced, I kissed Rashanin, my stepmother’s debt exceeded 400 million won, loan sharks came looking, and I received an offer to become a vampire. Too many things had happened all at once. Perhaps because of that, this moment didn’t feel real.
Moreover, I had even gotten into an emotional fight with Rashanin. There had been times when I got irritated alone, caught up in Rashanin’s pace, but there had been no incidents where feelings were hurt. But this time I was definitely angry.
What’s so important about a business card that he threatens people?
Actually, if I put my mind to it, I was confident I could act tomorrow morning as if nothing had happened. I could smile as if nothing was wrong and ask what he wanted to do about today’s schedule.
Should I do that? So I wouldn’t think complicatedly or worry anymore. At times like this, Rashanin’s advice came to mind. As my heart feels comfortable, without regret, without lingering attachment, decisively.
With my arms crossed, I glared at the laptop monitor with its blinking cursor. Since we’re not family or lovers, it’s not too difficult to have no expectations. If I put my mind at ease and think of it as work, that’s all there is to it.
“Whatever will be, will be.”
As I realize every time, no matter how ruthlessly I steel my heart, it’s the way of the world that things don’t go as intended. I gave up organizing my thoughts and turned off the laptop. My mood was gloomy too, so I was considering whether to call Seong-jin and have a drink as I got up from the chair, when the balcony window outside was bright with moonlight. It was a full moon.
Despite being in downtown Seoul, because the elevation was high and it was the hotel’s top floor, the black sky and full moon filled the window. It was beautiful like a picture, as they say. I’d been sleeping and waking here for two weeks already, but this was a first. Thinking I should take a walk rather than drink, I grabbed my outer coat and went outside.
*
Outside was chillier than I thought. While walking one lap around the hotel’s walking path in the night breeze, I let out deep sighs repeatedly. Even when I tried not to care, because I had to face him tomorrow and take him to an appropriate place, I had to keep worrying about what to do. Then I noticed cherry blossoms fluttering down here and there along the walking path. I remembered the Friday news anchor’s comment that cherry blossoms were already starting to fall at Yeouido, and it would be perfect to go cherry blossom viewing during the weekend.
I’d been so busy during the week that I had no time to pay attention to whether the cherry blossoms had bloomed or were falling.
How about combining official duties with personal interests to go cherry blossom viewing in the near future? Cherry blossoms falling at night are pretty. As I thought that and was blankly watching the cherry blossoms fall, there was a throat-clearing sound from behind. I didn’t notice at first, but realized much later it was a deliberately made sound to announce someone’s presence.
“I made a sound to announce my presence as you told me to, but what should I do if you don’t even pay attention?”
I was startled at Rashanin’s voice and turned around. Upon discovering the man with a smiling face at an appropriate distance, I unknowingly took a step back.
“Ah, Mr. Rashanin.”
Unlike my blatant evasion, fortunately my voice flowed out calmly. But Rashanin frowned.
“If you avoid me so blatantly, doesn’t it make me look like I did something bad?”
“Didn’t we fight?”
I held back from arguing that even if he didn’t do something bad, hadn’t he hounded me? Instead, I openly said didn’t we fight. Then Rashanin made a strange expression. It’s right that we fought. Enough that we had to manage our expressions and face each other.
An unintended silence flowed for a moment. Disliking it, I spoke first.
