"Wait."
Tae-yang asked.
"For what?"
"For that kid to become a Hunter."
"Is it just a matter of waiting?"
"I will try to persuade her."
"Until when? Until that girl says she'll become a Hunter? Next month? Next season? Next year?"
Se-yun pressed his hand to his forehead.
"I can persuade her."
This time, Jeong-hee asked.
"How?"
"What that kid needs is a purpose in life and a presence that will love her as she is. I intend to give her that purpose and affection."
Jeong-hee's expression changed in a flash, then returned to normal. However, no one noticed.
"Why did you try to trade your life for that girl? Just what in the world is that kid to you?"
At that moment, Yeong-hwan threw a question at Tae-yang.
"Tae-yang, you know, don't you?"
"Yes. I heard after I bit that girl."
Yeong-hwan turns his body toward Tae-kyeong. Tae-kyeong is someone Se-yun thinks of as a blood brother.
He probably knew from the very beginning, when this incident started.
"Tae-kyeong, you know everything too, right?"
Tae-kyeong readily answered, "Yes, for the most part." Just as Yeong-hwan was about to say something, Woo-seok quickly cut in.
"Then we need to know, too."
To receive support, he had to form a consensus with his colleagues. To do that, he had to tell them the story.
"It's a story I haven't even told that kid yet, but I suppose I must tell the Hunters first. Because it seems you will probably understand me only if I do."
Se-yun told the story of how the girl and he became entangled, from the beginning until the present.
It was a long story, but the Hunters listened intently. And slowly, they began to assimilate Se-yun's emotions.
After the story ended, the office became quiet. Everyone empathized with Se-yun's feelings and shared his burden.
Save for one person, Ahn Jeong-hee.
Just as the Hunters were coming to terms with Se-yun's emotions, Tae-yang spoke as if making a declaration.
"Then I will ask all the Hunters. Will you wait for that girl?"
All the Hunters, excluding Jeong-hee, said they would. Jeong-hee asked Tae-yang.
"Until when are you going to wait?"
Shin Tae-yang was lost in thought for a moment. And he made a decision.
"How about the day right after that girl's 'Day of Impulse' passes? The Day of Impulse is a day when one confronts the true nature of a vampire, and the time period seems sufficient."
90 days is too short. Se-yun thought so, but the other Hunters considered it appropriate.
Everyone answered that it was good. Sa-rang, finding Jeong-hee, who was showing no reaction at all here, to be strange, asked her.
"Jeong-hee, are you perhaps... thinking something different?"
"In the first place, it was wrong to bite such a kid and make her a Pure Blood. And I don't know if waiting until the Day of Impulse comes is the right thing to do."
Se-yun glared at her. She didn't budge an inch.
"Jeong-hee, do you have some other opinion?" Se-yun asked, and she replied.
"Is my opinion important here? It's already been concluded."
"I don't know why you're saying such a thing."
"I just don't know why such a powerful existence as a Pure Blood became a suicide attempter like that."
Sa-rang, unable to bear Se-yun and Jeong-hee tautly pulling at each other's nerves, cut the line between them.
"Jeong-hee, as you said, it's already been concluded. So it's not right for you to deliberately bring that up. If you had an opinion, you should have said it."
Jeong-hee nodded her head.
"Sa-rang eonni's words are right. I was in the wrong. I won't say anything more."
Se-yun wanted to say something, but he, too, thought it would be better to hold back at this point.
"In that case, we will decide the Pure Blood's disposal for the day after the Day of Impulse has passed. If that girl continues to refuse the life of a Hunter by then, we will proceed with the execution."
Woo-seok asked.
"How will she be executed?"
"I will rupture her heart. Very quickly, with as little pain as possible."
There were two people who had not offered their opinions: Lee Je-hyeong and Jeong Tae-kyeong. Tae-yang asked these two.
"Je-hyeong hyeong and Tae-kyeong hyeong, do you have anything to say?"
Tae-kyeong said.
"I think things are flowing as they should. I don't have much to say."
Je-hyeong also replied, "I have nothing to say, either."
"If that's the case, we will end today's meeting here. You may all return."
Without a word, Jeong-hee swiftly turned her body and walked out of the office. Je-hyeong followed after her, and the other Hunters also threw a light greeting at Tae-yang and left.
Tae-yang stops Se-yun, who was the last to try and leave the room.
"Se-yun hyeong."
"Yeah?"
"Will you be able to turn her around?"
A dark gloom settles on Se-yun's expressionless face.
"Didn't I say I would?"
"Hyeong, you will have to train a lot."
"What training?"
"Training for his heart to be torn apart."
As Tae-yang finished speaking, Se-yun felt his own heart tearing apart. Already... He turned his back on Tae-yang and walked out of the office.
When he arrived at the parking garage, Kim Yeong-hwan, Jo Woo-seok, Han Sa-rang, and Jeong Tae-kyeong were waiting for him. Ahn Jeong-hee's and Lee Je-hyeong's cars were gone.
"Why haven't you all gone..."
Tae-kyeong, with his arms crossed, looked around at the Hunters and said.
"Because the hyeongs and nunim have something they're curious about."
"But I've said everything."
Woo-seok said.
"What I'm trying to ask isn't something else, it's you. You."
"Me?"
Sa-rang said.
"Are you really confident you can turn that girl's heart around?"
"I'm going to try as hard as I can. I will do my best. I've watched her for a long time, and I know well what she needs."
Yeong-hwan cuts in.
"We're not trying to find out what you know."
"Then what is it?"
"If that girl dies, will you be able to go on living?"
Even while knowing he couldn't possibly feel the cold, Se-yun felt a chill.
"I promised Tae-yang I wouldn't die."
Yeong-hwan's face becomes like he's eaten rotten food.
"Hey, I'm not asking whether you'll live or die. I'm asking if you can go on living!"
Se-yun couldn't say anything to Yeong-hwan, who was getting angry.
"This bastard, his lips are sealed tight. Tae-kyeong. You say something."
"You didn't think I hadn't said anything, did you, Yeong-hwan hyeong?"
"What did you say?"
"I also said what you're trying to say, hyeong."
Se-yun opened his car door.
"Is there anything more you have to say?"
Sa-rang's affectionate voice embraced Se-yun's shoulders.
"If you need us, tell us anytime."
Woo-seok also chimed in.
"We'll come running."
Se-yun smiled at everyone. Then he got into the driver's seat and left the office building.
Han Sa-rang, Jeong Tae-kyeong, Kim Yeong-hwan, and Jo Woo-seok, who were watching him leave, felt as if a heavy weight was hanging from their hearts.
Yeong-hwan spoke, to no one in particular.
"Is it possible to endure properly after losing someone precious?"
Sa-rang let out a sigh.
"Does that girl even know what she is to Se-yun?"
Woo-seok speaks to Tae-kyeong.
"Tae-kyeong, we now know what that girl means to Se-yun. But does that girl know, too? Is it possible she doesn't?"
Everyone focuses on Tae-kyeong. Tae-kyeong also opened his car's driver-side door and got inside.
"I don't know. To be honest, I wouldn't know if she doesn't know, and I wouldn't know if she does."
"What does that mean?"
Yeong-hwan sneered.
"What do you think it means? It means he's not going to say anything."
Tae-kyeong waved his hand out the car window and left the parking garage. The remaining people just stared at each other blankly.
"What do we do?"
When Sa-rang asked, Yeong-hwan answers.
"What do you mean? We have to go, too."
"This feels extremely... unsettling."
"It's not like we're in a position to interfere right now, nunim."
Woo-seok, who had been sunk in deep thought, snaps out of it.
"We need to know more about the Pure Blood. It's our right, too."
Yeong-hwan nodded his head.
"That's right. We'll have to assert that right. But not right now. Let's just go home, hyeong."
All the cars left the office parking garage. Tae-yang, who confirmed it via CCTV, was about to return to the game characters that were waiting for him.
But he couldn't easily press the start button. He felt as if something was continuously whispering to Tae-yang.
Things more fun than games are waiting.
Tae-yang smiled a chilly smile.
The girl was in the factory's library, having found an author with a familiar name, and was reading her book.
The time was 4 AM. It was soon time to sleep. Drowsiness was slowly starting to pour in.
She heard the sound of a car engine. She looks out the window. There was a hill, obstructing the view.
She could see Se-yun's Chevrolet approaching over the hill. To think she could hear the engine sound from this far away.
Her sleepiness vanished completely. He was returning, bearing the results of the meeting.
The factory door opened, and Se-yun came in. The girl looked at his hands. He was holding a load of shopping bags.
"What is that?"
He poured the shopping bags out in front of the girl.
"Your underwear and clothes. I stopped by the department store and bought them before going into the meeting."
Before she could make any judgment, the girl's hands had already opened the shopping bags on their own. They were very pretty clothes, and the sizes were a perfect fit for the girl.
Se-yun spoke to the girl, who was sitting down and staring blankly at the clothes.
"You'll be able to get by with these for a while."
They were mostly clothes that were good for wearing at home. A sky-blue training suit set, loose-fitting yoga clothes, and some one-piece dresses that would be fine to wear when going out. The 7 sets of underwear, which seemed to have been bought for each day of the week, looked like they would be comfortable to wear.
"I'm grateful, but... isn't spending money on me a waste?"
As if it was the first time he'd heard such a foolish thing, Se-yun was dumbfounded.
"Do you think it would be?"
No. She didn't know why, but he was a person who would do anything for the girl.
That much, she knew clearly.
The girl organized the clothes and underwear without a word. The dressing room was spacious, and there was enough storage space. The girl, having finished the task, stood up.
"Today's meeting?"
Se-yun pressed his hand to his forehead.
"This isn't a conversation to be had in the dressing room. Let's go out, for now."
The two came out of the dressing room and stood in the middle of the factory's library.
Se-yun just scowled grimly and didn't try to say anything.
"Tell me. I'm ready to hear it."
How should he say it? Finally, Se-yun opened his mouth.
"There can be no vampire who is not a Hunter, and you said you would not become a Hunter."
"I did."
Without realizing it, Se-yun presses his lips firmly together, then opens them.
"And so, our leader, Tae-yang, has delivered your death sentence."
The girl's heart pounds, and her mouth falls open without her realizing it.
"The day right after your 'Day of Impulse' passes is your execution day."
"How will you kill me?"
"Our leader, Tae-yang, will pierce through your heart."
"Will it be painful?"
How should he answer this?
"No. The speed will be fast, and the pain will be instantaneous."
He told the truth. The girl's eyes were shedding tears, but her lips were smiling.
Pressed down by the life she had gained as a bonus, the girl hadn't even been able to breathe. She had been frustrated that there was no death she could choose.
But now, a death sentence had been decreed. A quick and short death would be far more comfortable and certain than taking pills and cutting her wrist.
"I'm finally dying."
Se-yun lifted the girl's wrist, where the deep scar remained.
"You already died once. You are not in this world. The you standing here right now is a different person."
"It's no use, whatever you try to say. I've decided to die. So, grant my request."
He said nothing and gently set down the girl's wrist he had been holding.
"Request?"
Taking a deep breath in and out, the girl spoke.
"Instead of your leader, you carry out my execution."
Se-yun's gaze flashed. What is she trying to do to me?
"Why?"
"Since you gave me life with your hands, it's only right that you reap it with your hands."
The girl's true intention was conveyed to Se-yun.
It's revenge, for pulling me back from death.
"You have to grant it."
The girl's assertive words sounded as if Se-yun was naturally expected to do so.
Se-yun was stiff, but not so much that he couldn't speak. He conveyed his will.
"I will."
The girl was satisfied.