I had mapped out all the CCTV cameras in the village.
Sixteen in total.
Six were positioned near the village entrance. The moment I stepped through, they'd be alerted. The remaining ten were scattered throughout the village, monitoring roads and fences. The spot where I entered was partially obscured by a house, making it one of the few places to infiltrate quietly.
I slipped into the house near the fence. The cameras didn't monitor the interiors; it was their living quarters. There is no need to surveil their own.
"Snore! Wheeze~! Snore! Wheeze~!"
A loud snore echoed from the bedroom. I'd never heard such severe snoring before.
"Isn't this guy in need of a hospital?"
I carefully opened the door and stepped inside. A man, looking to be in his early thirties, was sprawled out on a mat, dead asleep. The snoring grew louder as I entered the room.
Quietly, I approached and stabbed him in the neck.
"Gah?!"
The man's eyes flew open, locking onto mine. I didn't look away.
"Gurgle…!"
He grabbed the knife with both hands, trying to kick me off. But his legs couldn't reach me; I was positioned above his head.
"Just give up. The only thing you can do now is die."
I offered some friendly advice.
The man refused to surrender. His hands, bloodied from gripping the knife, reached out towards me. Too late.
Thud!
His arm fell to the floor.
The obnoxious snoring was gone.
After killing him, I searched the house thoroughly.
They might have hidden slush funds here instead of at the village hall. There could also be other hidden enemies.
But there was no money or anything valuable. I wasn't disappointed; I hadn't expected much.
"Let's kill them one by one."
I scaled the wall to the next house. To avoid the cameras, I had to climb walls or crawl through gaps.
"Oh yeah! Fuck yeah! Fuck me! Oh yeah!"
Peeking through the window, I saw a man enjoying Western porn.
Western porn. I liked it too. I didn't discriminate if the girl was pretty. Race didn't matter if she was attractive.
"But Western porn tends to be over the top. And too many fake tits."
While Korea was big on facial surgery, the West seemed to favour breast implants.
"That blonde girl's got fake tits too."
The breast movements were unnaturally stiff. Only the nipples looked nice.
"Huh?"
On a whim, I tried opening the window. It wasn't locked. The man's negligence was astonishing. I quietly opened the window. He didn't notice and was absorbed in his activity.
"Oh, fuck yeah!"
He was about to finish, but I didn't wait. Who cares about someone else's climax?
In one swift motion, I sliced his neck. Blood sprayed as his head flew off. Unfortunately, his dick twitched. Any longer, and I'd be in trouble. I quickly averted my gaze and exited through the window.
I moved to the next house. The houses were closely packed, probably for convenience, but it worked in my favour.
"What the—?!"
"Shh!"
I muffled his mouth with one hand and stabbed the back of his neck with a reverse grip. Blood gushed out as I withdrew the sword. I moved on to the next house immediately.
"Hey, Red Maniac?!"
"Holy shit, that's a real sword!"
"Crap! Alert the boss!"
I wasn't dumb enough to stay still. I closed the distance in an instant and swung my knife.
One fell instantly, and the other two reacted to my movement. They retreated, reaching for guns on the desk. Trained moves.
"Still too slow."
A red arc slashed their necks. Blood spurted as their bodies hit the floor.
"Too easy."
I thought, looking at their corpses. In a head-on fight, ordinary people were no match for me anymore.
"Vampires might be different."
It took less than 20 minutes to clear out all the houses except the village hall. I had killed 11 people.
I hid behind the main gate, watching two patrolling men approach. They were slowly heading my way.
"God, I'm bored to death. Even in the army, I wasn't this bored."
"I'm off tomorrow. Gonna get laid."
"Oh, right, you had a girlfriend?"
"… We broke up. She asked what I do for a living. You know we can't talk about our work. Sigh!"
"…Hang in there, man. At least you make good money."
"Damn. If it weren't for the money, I'd quit this sh*t right now. Lately, I feel so useless. I didn't learn judo for this.
[Hacking successful.]
[You have control of the cameras for 30 minutes.]
I hacked the cameras and sprinted, splitting one man's torso from his lower half.
"Shit!"
The other quickly drew his gun, but my left hand snatched it away. I shoved my knife into his throat.
With both men down, I boldly walked toward the village hall. To sneak in, hacking the cameras was the only way.
[Hacking successful.]
[You have control of the cameras for 27 minutes and 11 seconds.]
[Hacking successful.]
[You have control of the cameras for 23 minutes and 27 seconds.]
I hacked every camera I saw. The monitor operators would see frozen images.
[Hacking successful.]
[You have control of the cameras for 19 minutes and 40 seconds.]
I reached the entrance of the village hall and walked in.
Eleven men playing poker and go-stop turned to stare at me.
"..."
"..."
Our eyes met. I beheaded the man closest to me as a greeting.
"Red Maniac!"
"What's he doing here?!"
"Kill him!"
"Damn, kill him!"
Chaos erupted. They aimed their guns at me, but I dove and swiftly approached them. In tight, crowded spaces, I had the advantage.
"Accelerate."
[Acceleration activated. Skill lasts for 10 minutes.]
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Argh!"
Gunfire and screams filled the air. Bullets meant for me hit their comrades. But the gunfire didn't stop.
It wasn't that they lacked camaraderie or bore special grudges against me. They were simply terrified. Fear had paralyzed their reason, driving them to kill me at any cost.
"What the hell!"
Click! Click!
The last man standing kept pulling the trigger of his empty gun. Seeing his desperate state, I spoke.
"You need to load the bullets."
"…Oh!"
Slice!
His head rolled to the floor. Without stopping, I opened the door. There would be others hiding and some hidden funds somewhere in this place.
"Fuck! Do you even know where you are?"
As soon as I opened the door, a grenade came flying at me. I caught it mid-air with my left hand, threw it back at the guy, and shut the door.
Boom!
When I reopened the door, the grenade had torn apart the bodies of the men inside.
"Not here either. Maybe it's on the second floor."
I went upstairs, opened all the doors, and killed the remaining five men. The second floor had a CCTV monitoring room and a break room.
Smartphones were scattered across the floor. They must have called for backup after hearing the commotion on the first floor. It would take at least an hour for help to arrive from Seoul.
'Damn, they actually called for reinforcements.'
It was a bit disappointing because I had been moving carefully to avoid that.
Maybe I should have infiltrated from the second floor. But the village hall's only entrance was on the first floor. The second-floor windows weren't big enough for a person to enter. It couldn't be helped.
'Where's Kim Chun-seok's slush fund?'
I searched the second floor meticulously but found neither the hidden funds nor even a single bill.
'Not here either. Then… maybe the basement?'
It had to be somewhere. Ignoring the growing unease, I started searching the village hall again.
"Got it!"
It was near the kitchen. What looked like a boiler room had a hidden door leading to the basement.
It was obvious there would be money down there. I descended with glee and found a man standing in front of a massive safe.
A man in his forties, wearing a suit. His face was contorted with anger, and his triadic eyes glared at me fiercely.
I tensed up at the sight of him.
"You're a vampire, aren't you?"
His pale skin and the aura around him were definitely not human. He was certainly a vampire.
Kim Chun-seok's money and power were enough to have even a vampire as a subordinate.
"You must be Red Maniac. Judging by your actions, I thought you were a vampire, but you reek of humanity."
He held daggers in both hands. The muscles in his arms and torso were impressive. He must have continued training even after becoming a vampire.
"What? Vampires can tell humans and vampires apart by smell."
"A vampire of my level can detect the unique scent of a human. It's slightly different for everyone, but you smell of rot."
"That's just the sweat from the guys upstairs. Even if a vampire's sense of smell is better than a human's, how can you distinguish individuals? What a load of crap."
I pointed my sword at him.
I activated my Yeongcheon style, sensing his openings and range instinctively.
There were gaps. I could see them. The problem was that those gaps were deliberate traps.
'It's a trap.'
If I approached recklessly, I'd likely get shredded.
The opponent was a vampire. And one who kept training. I couldn't overpower him physically.
'Hmm.'
This situation wasn't unfamiliar.
In reality, I sparred with Jin Se-young every day. This situation was very similar to facing her.
'In situations like this, she told me to either trust myself and charge in or create an opening by throwing something like a stone.'
I opened my mouth.
"Did you become a vampire by choice?"
There are surprisingly many vampire progenitors, most of whom create vampires as they please. But some turn people into vampires for a price.
"Yes. The human body is weak. So I chose the vampire's form. As long as you're careful during the day, you can be superhuman at night. No matter how you think about it, vampires are superior to humans."
"But you're too weak against silver."
"Just avoid getting hit. It's the professional vampire hunters who use silver, and they're nothing if you avoid their snipers."
"I can agree with that."
While talking, I searched for gaps. But he was too calm.
"I see you're strong for a human. But in the end, you're just a human. You'll die by my hand."
"Talk about arrogance. You know I'm not bad, right?"
"I've never heard of such martial arts. Where did you learn it?"
Did he gauge my martial arts skills just from my stance? He's not ordinary.
"I learned it at an academy. But there's something I'm truly curious about."
"What?"
"Does it feel good to fuck a vampire woman?"
"…"
"Oh! Have you never fucked a vampire?"
He looked at me intently, trying to figure out my intention.
There was no ulterior motive for this question. Just pure curiosity.
Honestly, I was really curious. If the opportunity arose, I even considered raping a female vampire.
"…I have. But it's better to fuck human women."
"Huh, why? I thought vampires would have a better grip."
"They do. But they lack warmth. Their body temperature is low. It's like holding a corpse."
"Cold, but with better grip… I don't get it. I guess I'll have to try it myself if I get the chance."
Having satisfied some of my curiosity, I made the first move.
No matter what I said, he wouldn't be shaken.
In that case, there was no choice but to fight to the death.
'I still have the advantage.'
I have the Yeongcheon technique.
"…Hmph!"
He swung his dagger from a distance. Suddenly, the dagger elongated, turning into a whip aimed at me.
"Shit!"
I cursed, stepping back and deflecting the whip knife with my own blade. It wasn't the knife that was special; it was him.
"Superpowers… Are you a progenitor?!"