Three days have passed since the incident.
Three days without news from Ren.
Three days without sleep for Aven.
Hana sat on a rickety sofa in the old headquarters left by Aven's father, while Aven stood in front of a large wall covered in maps and scribbles. Like a real hunter's den—gloomy, dense with information, and the smell of old blood.
"I can't sit still any longer," Hana muttered.
Aven replied without turning his head, "Then get out. I'm not forcing you to stay here."
Hana rolled her eyes. "I mean, we have to find out what that masked creature was. Vampires aren't that strong. They don't even... smell blood."
Aven approached the iron table, opening a secret drawer. Inside, there was only one object: an old key engraved with the hunter's symbol.
"Do you know why senior hunters never tell me about strange things like that?" he asked suddenly.
"Because... they died first?" Hana guessed.
"No. Because they swore." Aven held up the key. "There's a place that only blood can open. A place where hunters keep the most taboo information—one that even the guilds don't dare touch."
"...and you want to go there?"
Aven simply answered with determined steps.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
That night, the two of them snuck into an old, disused church. Beneath the altar, Aven stabbed his finger into the stone altar and dripped blood onto the carved symbol.
The ground shook.
With a crack and a shower of dust, the stone floor gave way to a basement.
"Seriously, this is like a high-class horror movie," Hana muttered.
"You can back off if you're scared."
"I'm scared. But I'm also curious."
A spiral staircase led them into a narrow, cold hallway. At the end of the hallway was a two-meter-tall iron door. On it was written in red paint:
["CLOSED CODE. FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN DEATH ONLY."]
Aven touched the door. His hand shook slightly.
As the door opened, the air inside was immediately piercing.
Inside were old shelves filled with notebooks, recordings, and old documents. But Aven's attention was drawn to a single glass cabinet.
Inside, tightly wrapped in a magical seal—was an old photograph.
He stepped closer.
And his heart skipped a beat.
It was an old photograph of his father.
Standing with Lucien… and the masked creature.
Hana stared from behind Aven. "So that creature… has been around for a long time?"
Aven didn't answer. His eyes were fixed on the small handwriting beneath the photo.
[ "Experiment #12 – 'Shinra Project'. Purpose: to create an anti-god weapon. Status: failed. Being status: indestructible."]
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
"Shinra Project…?"
Hana said it softly, almost like a forbidden spell.
Aven gritted his teeth. His hands clenched on the sides of the glass cabinet, shaking slightly—not out of fear, but out of anger. Anger because all this time… they had been lied to.
"My father… was involved in this project," Aven muttered.
"So… he was part of them too?"
"No," Aven turned around, his eyes sharp. "My father died because of this project. Because he tried to stop it."
CRACK!
Aven smashed the seal of the glass cabinet with his knife. The glass shattered, but Aven's hand remained steady, reaching for the photo and the scroll of documents tucked behind it.
"Aven…" Hana swallowed. "Are you sure—"
BOOM!
The back wall exploded.
Dust and rocks flew. Red light flashed from the ruins. Thin smoke carried a distinctive scent—metallic and… burning flesh.
"Finally found."
Ren emerged from the smoke, wearing a long black robe, but this time… he wasn't the most terrifying one.
The masked creature stood beside him.
But now, there was a big change.
His mask was cracked.
And behind the cracks… were human eyes.
Eyes full of suffering.
Ren walked casually, as if he had just come out of a movie theater.
"You guys are too curious. The truth is poison," he said with a grin.
Aven immediately threw two knives at him. But Ren parried them with his bare hands, without even blinking.
"Do you think I came here to chat?" Aven stepped in front of Hana. "I'm ready to burn everything, even the truth."
Ren laughed softly. "Unfortunately, you didn't have time to burn anything."
The masked creature raised its hand.
The ground shook.
The bookshelves began to collapse one by one. Blue flames erupted from the floor, incinerating all the documents. Aven and Hana were pushed back by the wave of energy, while the air was filled with screams—screams from papers, from spirits, from memories being destroyed.
"Stop!!" Aven lunged, trying to save one more document.
But Ren was faster. With a single kick, he sent Aven flying into the wall.
The masked creature stared at Hana. Silently. But his gaze seemed to say: you don't belong here.
And for the first time, Hana… trembled.
Ren stepped back slowly. "We won't kill you now. You're… too interesting to end like this."
In an instant, they vanished into blue flames.
All the documents were burned. All the secrets were gone.
But…
Aven still held one thing.
A small scroll, half-burned, with faint writing at the end:
["If Shinra rises again… then the hunters must choose. Become gods, or become ashes."]
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Ren's body was drenched in cold sweat as he opened his eyes in the secret basement of an old vampire family. The damp stone ceiling, the scent of old, drying blood, and the soft breathing of a figure in the corner of the room—the masked creature, sitting as still as a statue, its back against the wall.
Ren wiped his face. His hands were shaking.
"I hate doing that," he muttered.
The creature didn't answer.
Ren stood up, walking closer.
"Why didn't you kill them earlier?" His voice was low, almost a whisper.
Still no response. Only the soft cracking of the mask that was almost completely broken now. Ren looked down, staring into the human eyes behind the gap. Eyes he once knew.
"...Hyun."
That was the creature's name.
Ren gritted his teeth. "How much longer are you going to keep quiet? I've lost everything to keep you alive. I can't keep doing this if you don't even remember me."
A soft voice escaped Hyun's mouth. "Ren..."
Ren froze immediately.
"I'm... thirsty," Hyun whispered, his voice like winter fog.
Ren laughed bitterly. "Of course. Always thirsty."
He stood up, taking a vial of pure blood from the steel cabinet. But as he was about to hand it to her, his hand stopped.
"This is high-class vampire blood. But you're not an ordinary vampire, are you?" Ren leaned in, his voice sharp like a knife. "Do you still remember who you are?"
Hyun stared at him. Silence. But something behind that gaze began to crack.
And then, a flash of the past crept in—as fast as lightning, slashing at Ren's head like a knife.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Eight years ago.
Ren ran through the halls of the hunters' compound. His hand gripped a secret document. Behind him, alarms blared and magic bullets flew.
"I have to get out! I have to—"
CRASH!
Someone bumped into him from the side—a boy, younger, with dark red eyes.
"You..." Ren stared at him, gasping.
The boy smiled thinly. "You stole the document on the Shinra Project, didn't you?"
Ren froze.
"I want to get out of this too," the boy continued. "But you can't take it by yourself. They'll kill you."
Ren swallowed. "Who are you?"
"I'm Hyun. And I know how to get out."
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Back to the present.
Ren looked into Hyun's eyes again. The cracks in his mask now ran deeper, revealing a human cheek… pale, with faint blue veins.
"You're half-vampire, half-human… something more sinister."
Ren lowered his head.
"And you… my first friend."
The masked being—Hyun—trembled softly.
"If you're still in there… then I'll burn this world down until you wake up again."
Ren gripped his sword.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Meanwhile, far away in the city across the street, Aven and Hana returned to the now-half-burnt old base. Aven unfurled the remaining scroll.
Behind the scroll… a name appeared.
[ "Experiment #00 – H.Y.N"]
Aven froze.
Hana moved closer. "H.Y.N? That's… a name?"
Aven nodded slowly.
"And it seems… he's still alive."
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*