by Geli Cake
He had lived his whole life never truly belonging anywhere. If he was going to be a monster, he wished he had become a complete one. He was, literally, only half.
He was naturally pessimistic about his existence. Because not a single half-vampire had become one willingly.
Haylan was relatively well-off. There were others who became so consumed by their despair, repeated suicide and self-harm, eventually losing their minds, neither dead nor alive. He had heard that one of them had completely disappeared, no one knowing where or what he was doing.
Snow and Odin, who had adapted to reality and were living diligently, were the wise ones.
"...."
What had happened?
Haylan froze, his feet rooted to the spot at the gruesome sight before him.
The stench of death filled the air.
He had only been gone for a moment to exchange books, but Chahyun was slumped against the wall, his head hanging low. The sharp, metallic scent of blood stung his nose. Crimson blood splattered all around him.
He couldn't deny it. It would be stranger if Chahyun were still alive in that state.
'Is it because of me?'
He wasn't sad. It was simply too sudden. Nevertheless, Haylan felt something crumble within him.
'It's because of me…'
The monster had dared to dream of a future. Blinded by foolish greed, he had lost someone else again.
At that moment, something unbelievable happened. He blinked once, and the scene changed instantly, like turning a page in a book. The gruesome scene vanished, replaced by Chahyun slumped in the same position in the middle of an ordinary room.
He opened his eyes a moment later. His dark eyes, revealed as his eyelids lifted, focused on Haylan, then his expression shifted as if realizing he had been caught.
He was alive.
"You were clearly dead just now…"
Haylan finally thought he had gone mad.
"That's my secret."
Chahyun said. He remembered the incident a few weeks ago. Despite losing so much blood, Chahyun had recovered quickly, and the priest from the temple had said a blood transfusion wouldn't be necessary.
The splattered blood vanished without a trace. Unable to hide his confusion, Haylan asked,
"That time when you were seriously injured… even then…"
"It's similar."
"Are you a monster too?"
"...."
Chahyun stared at Haylan, tilting his head. His expression seemed displeased.
"Who else is a monster besides me? You seem to know a monster. Is it Haylan?"
It felt strange to hear his own name from Chahyun's lips at this hour.
"He's not a monster."
Listening to Chahyun's words, his face clear and bright, Haylan realized he felt slightly disappointed. He seemed to have felt an inexplicable sense of kinship with Chahyun the moment their eyes met.
"Neither I nor Haylan are monsters."
Why are you saying that? Why are you so confident?
"We just have our own circumstances… and it's not right for someone to be denigrated for such trivial reasons."
Trivial? That might be true only for you.
But I keep causing the people around me to die. Haylan hated himself for that.
"So apologize to me."
He ran away like a coward. If he apologized to Chahyun, he would have to forgive himself too.
Forgiveness required resolve. Haylan wasn't ready to forgive himself yet.
After that, Haylan distanced himself from Chahyun. Even when he heard Chahyun moving around at dawn, he pretended not to hear and covered his ears with a pillow.
Chahyun would know better than anyone that his attitude was unusual. Whenever Haylan stopped talking or remained silent, Chahyun would fidget, looking for a place to put his hands, before becoming dejected, like a dog with its tail between its legs.
A day passed, two days passed, three days… His growth at dawn stopped. Around that time, Haylan roughly figured out the rules governing this transformation.
The trigger was Chahyun's blood. His body had started changing after the day Chahyun was injured. And after a certain amount of time, the growth was reflected in his daytime body. The transformation at night seemed to be proportional to the amount of blood spilled.
Chahyun, like Haylan, was someone who couldn't die. It seemed there were other types of monsters in this world besides him.
Someone who defied the laws of time and revived life.
The changes he had experienced because of Chahyun was as sweet as a midsummer night's dream, but it was time to wake up. Haylan didn't want to grow at the cost of Chahyun's injuries. That was parasitic.
"Do you happen to know someone named Lena?"
"No."
His heart skipped a beat at the thought that Chahyun, just like himself, had been thinking about him all day, but he pretended not to know.
And then…
KABOOM! A loud explosion was followed by a small groan. It was Chahyun's voice.
He knew that Chahyun was still roaming the hallways, but this was the first time he had heard such a loud noise.
'Don't mind it.'
But he couldn't help but mind it. Haylan got up and sat down repeatedly, paced around his room, and then, angered by his own actions, grabbed a pillow and stormed out of the room.
He threw the pillow with all his might at the figure hovering over Chahyun's head and stood defiantly before Chahyun. Chahyun had a strangely disappointed expression.
"Hayl…"
"Shut up."
He was waiting for 'Lena.' It was infuriating to see Chahyun react that way to one side of himself even though both sides were him.
"I can't sleep because of you."
When he suggested Chahyun do something about his forehead, Chahyun healed the wound without a word. It was an absurdly monstrous skill.
"Get out of my house. Pack your things and leave right now."
He couldn't keep Chahyun by his side. Chahyun's purpose in this house was different from his, and this house would keep causing him to die.
"If you stay here, you'll only get hurt because of me. I was too… greedy."
"…W-Wait, hold on, Haylan! I was wrong to sneak out at night."
"Don't give me lip service when you don't even mean it. …I don't want to hear it."
Chahyun averted his gaze, seemingly affected by his words.
"I'm sorry for making noise. But if you tell me to leave so suddenly…"
"...."
"I'm a patient."
"Don't bother. I already know you're a monster who can't die."
"...Huh?"
"I have no intention of apologizing to you."
He hadn't thought he could hide it forever. But he also hadn't expected to reveal it at a time like this.
"If you still don't understand, I'll help you want to get away from me."
The trigger for the transformation was blood. The time frame was from midnight until just before sunrise. When all the conditions were met, the magic would take effect.
Looking at the horrified Chahyun, Haylan said in a resigned tone,
"Do you understand now?"
You can't handle me.
9. To Asileth
I was kicked out of Haylan's house without a clue as to why.
Sitting in front of the train station, holding a huge bag, I sighed repeatedly while watching people pass by. I could feel the locals glancing at me, puzzled by the behavior of this strange traveler.
'Should I really leave?'
I hadn't even said anything to Odin. No, I hadn't even said goodbye to the people in that house. I had begged and tried to persuade him, but Lena… no, Haylan was resolute.
'You can't handle me. Everyone who stays by my side dies.'
What did that even mean? He knew I couldn't die, and I couldn't understand the connection between my presence and death.
In other words, I had no idea what he was talking about.
'Lena. Ah, no…'
'I never lied. Let me tell you, you're the one who made assumptions and misunderstood me. I was just playing along with you.'
He blocked every one of my arguments before I could even voice them. In the end, I couldn't even ask him why he had lied to me and just blurted out something nonsensical.
'You said you liked me.'
'…Like I said, I never lied.'
So, did his feelings just disappear overnight? That's not it. If he still liked me, why would he suddenly kick me out?
[Haylan's affection decreased by 1.]
I didn't understand why he was trying to distance himself from me. He said he wasn't sorry, but I still wanted an apology from Lena.
'Go back. We shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place…'
So I was kicked out before sunrise. I left in such a hurry that I didn't even know if I had left anything behind.
[Main Quest ??'s Identity has been completed.]
[Reward: 1 Quest Point and 100 Solra.]
[Time until next quest: ?? days…]
What good was the quest progress if I was kicked out? The irony of me, the player who was desperate to leave that house, now being kicked out, was almost comical.
I was bewildered. Lena was Haylan, and Haylan was Lena. Now that I looked at it, Lena's information, which had been marked as '??' in the character encyclopedia was gone, and his profile was merged with Haylan's.
[Likes: You, Sweet desserts, Reading
Dislikes: You, Sour food]
"...."
I was listed in both his likes and dislikes. I finally realized that his behavior, which I had attributed to puberty, had been because he was conscious of me.
It was so strange, so chilling, to realize that Haylan, whom I had considered just a cute kid, had actually been thinking of me in a special way.
I still felt like Lena and Haylan were two different people.