“I’ll destroy it all.” Dohyuk declared and added right after, “I’m not being emotional.”
He then took out a shell from his pocket. It was the communication equipment he had picked up a long time ago. Yuri was holding the other paired piece outside.
“It’s me.”
“Yeah, what’s up?” Yuri answered immediately. It seemed she noticed something wasn’t right as her voice shook at the end.
“There isn’t a safety issue.”
“Then?”
“There are more vampires here… and people that I need to rescue.”
Yuri responded immediately. She took pulled the shell away from her mouth. The sound of her cursing came through the shell muffled. It was apparent as she noticed why Dohyuk was trying to get help from others.
“Does it have to be now?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I’m talking about.”
Yuri was trying hard to hold back, but she was already raising her voice.
“I don’t know what this Vehume is, but I can make a guess… wherever you are right now, that bastard did some nasty stuff, didn’t he?”
“Yeah.”
“And that… I know damn well what kind of a mess these bastards make. And this one’s a bloodsucking type, for god’s sake! I’m sure it will be the worst sh*t I will ever lay my eyes on.”
And that was what Dohyuk was trying to show to the people.
“They have to see it sooner or later.”
“And that’s why I’m asking if we can push it to later!”
“No,” Dohyuk answered coldly. “Isn’t it weird? I wasn’t expecting you to react like this. Wasn’t it you who told me not to take on all the burden alone?”
“…!”
“I know I sound like a douche, but this is the best opportunity we’ll ever get. You know this.”
Dohyuk was right. Even Blass agreed as he listened to Dohyuk talking to Yuri. The scene that they witnessed was the ‘weakest’ of all the mess that they will ever witness. For example, if these ‘babies’ were born, Vehume would’ve gotten much stronger and proceeded with something much worse. And if that happened…
“It’s better to get used to this at this point, before facing it when it’s too much to handle, even if they end up having nightmares every night.”
“…”
“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“…Okay.”
Dohyuk placed the shell back into his pocket as he heard Yuri agreeing to his words. He became very pale.
“Get ready for the rescue mission.”
“Sure.”
Blass nodded, and soon, a drill-shaped metal pillar appeared from underground. The metal then began spreading to the room to allow Blass to move freely from within.
“You still have time to withdraw your order,” Blass said without looking back at Dohyuk.
“If I make puppets, I can take care of this place alone…”
“Not you too?”
“…”
“You know that this is the best for them.”
‘Yes, but you don’t look like you’d be able to bear it.’ Blass did not say that out loud, however.
“…”
It wasn’t only Jaehoon who was shocked. The people in his group, especially the ones who opposed Jaehoon were dumbfounded. How could they not? They were looking at the perfect remains of the old world’s city. To the people who were mostly from North Korea, Dohyuk’s city was like a city from a dream.
“Han Jaehoon?”
Jaehoon turned. There was a man standing there with a clean suit. He reached out to Jaehoon.
“Nice too met you. I’m Yoo Giwon.”
“Oh… yes. I’m Han Jaehoon.”
“I heard from Heeyun. So, you knew our mayor from before.”
Giwon didn’t seem to let down his guard and Jaehoon understood why. It seemed like this man was one of the leaders of this city. To him, it should be a concern as a man named Jaehoon who claimed to be a friend of their leader, appeared all of a sudden.
“If I, or anyone from my group can be of help, please tell me. I… don’t plan to stay in this wonderful city without giving back.”
And that made Jaehoon feel much better. He didn’t feel entitled to be treated with respect just because he knew Dohyuk, or because he saved Dohyuk’s life previously. He was rather welcome to prove himself as a member of the group.
“You don’t need to do anything for now.”
And Giwon answered formally.
“You have been ‘rescued’ by our mayor, and you will need time to adjust to the city.”
“But…”
“Of course, you will need to follow our basic rules. I heard you’re the leader, so I ask you to share the rules and announcements to your people.”
“…Yes, I understand.”
Jaehoon bowed. He glanced at his people. Unlike Jaehoon’s people who seemed to be squeamish against the grandeur of the city, the citizens were greeting new faces as they brought food and blankets and such.
At least to those people, this was a different place from the hell outside. If this city was going to provide them safety without any oppression, there wasn’t anything else that they needed.
“Thank you for everything.”
Jaehoon bowed politely again and Giwon nodded.
“You’re welcome.”
“How is he? He’s not as bad as you expected, is he?” Heeyun asked in a café as she sipped her grain tea.
“…Yeah.”
Giwon nodded as he walked. “He’s not as stuck up as I thought he would be.”
For a group that survived in a harsh environment, their leaders would usually be very stubborn in their ways. That was Giwon’s top concern with these people.
“The leader is okay… so I assume there won’t a big problem, but…”
Giwon then glanced below Heeyun’s chair. There was a very long metal cabinet flatly placed down. It was what Heeyun brought in along with Jaehoon’s people.
“What’s in that?”
“Oh.”
Heeyun smiled and tried to speak, but the cabinet door opened up from within.
“…!!!”
“…?!”
Giwon, and Heeyun who already knew what was inside, gasped and backed away.
“B-boss?!”
It was surprising to see Dohyuk appear out of the cabinet.
“Have you… been inside all along?”
“…”
Dohyuk nodded at Giwon. He was smiling, but he didn’t look energetic.
Double.
When Dohyuk fought Jang Gukhan, he had divided himself into two and never recombined himself. One body was left at Jaehoon’s original place. He asked Heeyun to protect him inside a cabinet so he wouldn’t need to move or feel anything.
Another Dohyuk stopped by just an hour ago to take Blass, Yuri, and the other fighters to go to Vehume’s region.
Therefore, if Dohyuk moved his body inside the city whereas his other body was busy working at Vehume’s region…
“You’ve won.”
“Yeah.”
Dohyuk nodded, but he didn’t seem all that happy.
“Do we have a lot of casualties?”
Dohyuk shook his head. The numbers were promising. It was less than 1/3 of what Giwon had prepared to hear.
“Then why…”
“I’ll tell you later.”
At that moment, Giwon realized if they had achieved victory at the Vampire’s lair… there was only one reason for Dohyuk’s face to be that grim.
“What of the other regions?”
“The two regions are half and half, Giwon answered Dohyuk’s question. The two regions he mentioned were the other two gods’ regions except Vehume’s. They weren’t fools. They knew what was going on — after Dohyuk’s city had arrived and Vehume’s region was being attacked, there were only two things for them to do: try to attack Dohyuk’s city, or barricade themselves in and watch out. One region chose former and another region chose the latter.
“Which region is on the attack?”
“Kelsed’s region.”
“Very good.”
But his voice didn’t seem good at all.
“I will finish them today also.”
“…! Can our fighters fight again?”
“No. I’m going alone. It will be done in an hour.”
And with that, Dohyuk’s body disappeared. His Double had deactivated and his body had reappeared in the middle of his two bodies.
It was at the center of Kelsed’s region, where it was mostly empty as most of the forces had moved out to attack.
