Third Vampire Shadows (An Urban Paranormal Romance Novel) (6 page)

He was just about to open his mouth to say NO when he realized something.

But if I let her roam around freely with her big mouth and her big feet, she will definitely get Ji Sun in trouble, too. I’m in enough trouble as it is by not biting her immediately to modify her memory.

Hyeon
Jin
was now giggling uncontrollably, as if Mun Oh’s indecisiveness was the funniest thing in the world.

Mun Oh stared blankly at her.

What an idiot…
he thought, shaking his head.
I’m not gonna make a deal with this retard. To hell with that secret; no one would believe her anyway.

He started to walk past her, quite arrogantly.

“HEY! Where are you going? What about our—”
Hyeon
Jin
hollered in surprise.

“I ain’t dealing with you. No way. Do whatever you want with that secret. Just remember that it’s not only MY secret… it’s also Ji Sun’s secret. It’s on your conscience,” he replied without looking at her, making sure to emphasize the last few words.

Hyeon
Jin
had nothing to say to that, but in the deepest and darkest recesses of her mind, an evil plan was slowly unfolding.

•••

Mun Oh opened his eyes. The sunlight coming in from the wide-open windows was burning his forehead as he lay stiffly on the couch.

He sat up and looked around, confused as to why the windows all around the living room were wide open. Then he saw her. Standing there, with a curious look on her face, at the left side of the living room and near the biggest window, was
Hyeon
Jin
. She was gazing at him as though he was some kind of science specimen inside a glass cage. Mun Oh composed himself before getting to his feet.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked her.

Hyeon
Jin
shrugged and started walking toward him. “I was just testing whether you’d get scorched by the sun. Vampires often do. But there’s this one vampire, his name is Blade; well, he’s a vampire and a vampire hunter at the same time. They call him day-walker or something like that, coz he’s the only one who can withstand the sun, and—”

Without warning, Mun Oh threw the first thing that he touched toward her: the remote control. She probably played dodgeball, for she swiftly moved out of the way to avoid the surprise attack, watching the remote control soar past the open window and land outside.

“Vampire reflexes, huh?” she said, continuing to badger him. The tone she was using was infuriatingly flat and matter-of-fact, as if she was explaining some kind of mathematical equation.

“
Why, you
—!”

“Morning… you two are up early,” Ji Sun said, coming out from their room, still in her pajamas.

“We were just… umm… I mean, I was just…” Mun Oh stuttered.

“We were playing catch, using the remote control,”
Hyeon
Jin
explained, still using that annoying tone.

Ji Sun studied them.

“I’ll cook breakfast!" said Hyeon enthusiastically. "How about
garlic
rice? Or toasted bread with lots of
garlic
in it? Ooohhh… I love garlic! And some
onion
rings perhaps?”

“What’s with the garlic mania? I thought you don’t like garlic and onions,” Ji Sun inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Drops of sweat were forming on Mun Oh’s forehead as he gritted his teeth.

“Well, it’s never too late to like something that might be useful to you someday. I mean, garlic is known to be—”

“I’LL COOK IT!” Mun Oh blurted out, raising his hand and grabbing
Hyeon
Jin
by the elbow. “You help me cook, all right?” he said through gritted teeth, dragging her to the kitchen.

Kim
Junjin
found a confused Ji Sun observing Mun Oh and
Hyeon
Jin
as they moved about in the kitchen. He placed his arm around her.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“There’s something really weird about those two,” she explained without taking her eyes off them.

“Weird? How so?”

“Last night, they were so freaking quiet all throughout dinner. They never said a word to each other. And they didn’t bicker regarding the bedroom-sharing thing; it’s like they had this silent agreement or something. And now, they’re cooking breakfast together.” She made a face as the smell of garlic filled the kitchen. “And it’s full of garlic.”

“You like garlic,”
Kim
Junjin
said nonchalantly, savoring the smell.

“That’s not the point,” Ji Sun replied, irritated. “I know my brother. He couldn’t have befriended
Hyeon
Jin
even if you paid him. That’s what makes them so similar. If they don’t like someone from the start, it stays that way unless a miracle happens.”

“Maybe they don’t want to worry us anymore with their bickering. Don’t worry; I know my daughter, too, and she seemed happy to have Mun Oh around. She just doesn’t really know how to express her feelings properly,”
Kim
Junjin
assured her.

After almost ten minutes, the four of them were already sitting at the dining table, staring at the food the young ones had prepared.

Kim
Junjin
decided to make the first move. He reached for the omelet with garlic, tomatoes and onions inside, placed some on his plate, and then put a piece in his mouth.

“I didn’t know you could cook!” he said to Mun Oh.

“I learned it from my sister. It’s our
favorite dish
,” he replied, glancing at
Hyeon
Jin
.

Hyeon
Jin
rolled her eyes and stood up. She didn't really eat garlic and onions; she was just trying to expose Mun Oh. Sadly, her clever plan failed. Now she had to think of another way to make him come out of the closet, or
coffin,
rather.

“What’s up?”
Kim
Junjin
asked her.

“I just remembered that I have to meet up with Shin Erin today. We need to study for the finals,” she said, inching away from the table.

“How about having breakfast first?” Ji Sun offered, taking a sip of her coffee.

Hyeon
Jin
smiled. “You know what they say: when you cook something, you lost your appetite for it.”

“You mean LOSE, not LOST,” Mun Oh corrected, quite loudly.

“Shut up, mosquito,” she snapped.

“Be sure to be here before 7 PM, okay? It’s Saturday,”
Kim
Junjin
reminded her, going back to his second helping of garlic toast.

“Yeah, sure.” She headed outside, cooking up another devious plan to pester the ‘mosquito.’

•••

An hour and a half later, she was leaving a video-and-book rental shop just around the corner from That Place, with a bag full of borrowed DVDs in one hand and another bag of pocket books and novels in the other hand. Since this was her last stop, she decided to linger for a while and drop by That Place. Ten minutes ago, she was relieved when Shin Erin replied to her message saying she was okay. Maybe Mun Oh
had
modified her memory,
Hyeon
Jin
thought.

She arrived at That Place and ordered the usual: a platter of sweet and spicy rice cakes and some soda. She got so damn hungry after refusing to eat that horrible garlic-themed breakfast. After devouring her late breakfast, she went on her way home.

Back at home, Mun Oh was finding the right time to talk to his sister without
Kim
Junjin
in the picture, but it almost seemed impossible. The two were inseparable! They did the dishes together, showered together and even took the garbage out together. Now, they sat in front of the television set in the living room, snuggling close to each other.

Mun Oh irritably looked at them. They were laughing aloud like there was no tomorrow as they watched X-Men. He had no idea how they could find something as crappy as that hilarious. Although he was feeling irritated and disappointed at seeing his sister transform into a fully-fledged human, he couldn’t help feeling a bit happy for her. He had never seen her
so
happy before.

“Wait! Pause right there. I need to take a little detour,”
Kim
Junjin
suddenly said, standing up from the couch and running to the bathroom.

Mun Oh took the chance to sit beside his sister and talk to her about the ritual.

“Ji Sun, we need to continue our talk,” he began to say.

Ji Sun glanced at her. “Talk?”

“What’s with this family and memory gap?” Mun Oh grumbled. “The Ritual of Renunciation! I need you to do it now. I can’t stand being here another second!”

Ji Sun nodded slowly. “Oh, that…”

“
WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘Oh, that’? I’m going crazy here and that’s all you have to say?!
”

He stood up and crossed his arms furiously. Ji Sun was about to say something when the door opened with a bang and a jovial-looking
Hyeon
Jin
came in, humming to herself.

“Ugh. Nice timing,” Mun Oh muttered under his breath.
Kim
Junjin
returned from the bathroom and sat beside Ji Sun again.

“You’re back early,”
Kim
Junjin
remarked.

“I have something here,” she said excitedly, placing all the stuff she had borrowed on top of the coffee table.

One by one, she took out the DVDs and books and then carefully displayed them on the table.
Kim
Junjin
scratched his head, and Ji Sun raised an eyebrow while Mun Oh slightly bent his body to get a closer look.

“What are all these for?”
Kim
Junjin
inquired, still scratching his head.

“Just take a look for yourself,”
Hyeon
Jin
replied with a wink.

The three of them, except for
Hyeon
Jin
, moved closer to the table, kneeling in front of it. They all grabbed different things at once and studied them.

Kim
Junjin
was holding a DVD of the old movie “Interview with the Vampire” in his right hand and the "Queen of the Damned” movie in his other hand. He still had no idea what it was about.

Ji Sun stared at the book “The Last Vampire” by
Christopher
Pike
along with
Anne
Rice
’s best-selling novel, “The Vampire Lestat.” Her face was unfathomable, as if she was trying to ward off a scary thought.

Mun Oh’s hands were shaking as he held a DVD collection of all the “Blade” movies.

Hyeon
Jin
joined them, savoring the moment of confusion and tension. “You like it? I call it our little '
vampire marathon
,'” she said animatedly.

“Huh?”
Kim
Junjin
and Ji Sun blurted out at the same time.

Hyeon
Jin
turned to face a shaking Mun Oh. His expression was dark and sinister as he dropped the DVD with a clatter.

“What do you think,
Mun Oh?”
Hyeon
Jin
asked sweetly.

Mun Oh glanced at his sister, who looked horrified as she suddenly realized what was going on, and then cast a death glare at
Hyeon
Jin
. He was bursting with fury, disgust, and extreme hatred for this girl, but he knew that opening his mouth might make him say things he would regret later.

And so it appeared that
Hyeon
Jin
had won this round.

The next few days had
been nothing but a blur of endless jeers, teases and relentless attacks by Hyeon Jin. She never let a second pass without mocking or pestering Mun Oh with her
“vampire jokes,”
and even going so far as calling Mun Oh a vampire in front of everyone while they were having dinner.

Mun Oh, on the other hand, was reaching his limit, as he carefully avoided a deadly confrontation with his sister. Inside his head, a heated debate was seriously going on. One side said:
just bite her and get it over with
, while the other, which was powered by his ego, strongly advised him against it. He had never been in a tight spot like this before; everything usually worked out fine for him. It was as if some invisible hand had dumped a bucketful of shitty misfortune over his head ever since he had arrived.

Unable to endure her curiosity anymore, Ji Sun cornered her younger brother minutes before she left for work with
Kim
Junjin
. She took the opportunity after getting
Kim
Junjin
to change his tie, which would take about five minutes.

“What?” Mun Oh snapped at her as he lazily sat in the couch.

“Don’t ‘what’ me, you twerp!”
she snapped back, placing her hands on her waist. “When did she find out? HOW did she find out?”

Mun Oh sat up straight. He knew his sister wasn’t that stupid. But he didn’t really wanna admit that he had been caught in the act, especially by that retard
Hyeon
Jin
.

“I don’t know how she found out. I was just as surprised as you were,” he said. It wasn’t a complete lie. He really had been surprised that she found out about it.

“You know the rules, right? You know you couldn’t just let her run around freely with our—
your
secret…”

“Are you telling me to bite her? That’s ridiculous. I don’t even like her,” Mun Oh replied with revulsion.

“Since when did it become a rule that you have to like someone to bite them?”

“That’s
MY
rule. Besides, I wouldn’t want to have even a drop of her blood inside my system,” he added with a shudder.

“You’re right. I couldn’t just let you bite her. It’s not right. I mean, it
IS
the right thing to do in our world. But here… it just doesn’t seem right. She’s as good as my daughter now. I couldn’t betray her.”

Ji Sun covered her face with her hands in confusion and exasperation. Mun Oh felt sort of sorry that she had to be dragged into this. What should’ve been a peaceful and uneventful reunion between him and his sister had turned out to be a disaster, thanks to that big-footed girl.

“I’ll fix this up in no time. Don’t worry,” Mun Oh assured her, standing up.

“No. I don’t want you to do anything to her. Just… let me handle this,” Ji Sun said frantically. “I’ll talk to her and explain everything.”

“I already did that. Why do you think she never told her father? She might despise me and everything, but she still respects you.”

Ji Sun gave him a wan smile. “But,” she said as she stared at him with those round eyes, “you still have to bite her eventually. You are aware of that.”

Mun Oh sighed. “Yeah. I guess so… Look, I’m sorry for causing you all this trouble—”

“What trouble?” a third voice interrupted. The two of them spun around and found a confused
Kim
Junjin
straightening his shirt.

“Oh! You’re here! That was before… We were talking about our past—you know how troublesome he was when we were younger… and… oh! We’re gonna be late! Let’s go,” Ji Sun said, hurriedly dragging
Kim
Junjin
out of the house before he could utter another word.

She gave Mun Oh a meaningful glare before closing the door, which probably meant
behave yourself, don’t do anything stupid and we’ll talk later.

But Mun Oh was already thinking of a wily plan, something to get back at
Hyeon
Jin
for all the humiliation she had caused him.

He had learned from his father that when you wanted a sure victory, you had to find out your opponent’s weakness and attack it relentlessly. Without changing into normal human clothes, he went out of the house with a devious smile on his face.

•••

On Shin Erin's neck were two tiny, almost inconspicuous holes, which could've been nothing but moles. But
Hyeon
Jin
knew better. She was well aware that those weren't just moles on her best friend's neck. Those were bite marks from that vampire, Mun Oh.

She had tried to squeeze information from Shin Erin regarding that night. To her dismay and surprise, Mun Oh wasn't lying about the whole memory modification thing. It seemed like he’d pressed an invisible delete button inside her head, removing every single memory Shin Erin had of him. When
Hyeon
Jin
attempted to refresh her memory and convince her that she'd been bitten, she called her a lunatic. End of story.

The bell rang, finally ending another miserable and boring history class.
Hyeon
Jin
quickly placed her empty history notebook back in her bag and followed Shin Erin out of the room.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything at all?" she asked, catching up to her.

"What is wrong with you? Are you on crack or something? For the hundredth time: I have no idea what you're talking about!" Shin
Erin
said, stopping in front of her locker.

"Maybe you have to see him. Come with me to the house! Once you see him again, you'll definitely remember everything,"
Hyeon
Jin
said breathlessly, like a crazy fan girl talking about her obsession.

Shin
Erin
shook her head and sighed heavily. It was so unusual, even for someone like her, to see
Hyeon
Jin
like this. It was as if she had totally lost it or something. Since she really had nothing much to do that afternoon, she decided to give in to
Hyeon
Jin
's demand.

They heard loud noises when they arrived at
Hyeon
Jin
’s house. There seemed to be a commotion inside.

"Is there a party or something?" Shin
Erin
asked, hesitating at the door.
Hyeon
Jin
gave her a slight shrug as she pushed the door open.

"Of course!"
Kim
Junjin
screamed, followed by a chorus of laughter from the other three people in the living room.

"You snore louder than me!"
Kim
Junjin
went on merrily. Nobody seemed to have noticed the two girls' arrival.

"Of—" Ji Sun started to say, but thought better of it. She then stared daggers at a chuckling
Kim
Junjin
. "Excuse me! I do
not
snore louder than you!"

Another round of boisterous laughter as Ji Sun tried to explain herself.

Shin
Erin
glanced sideways at a stupefied
Hyeon
Jin
. Following her stare, Shin Erin instantly realized why she looked as though she was being forced to eat something nasty. Aside from
Kim
Junjin
and Ji Sun, two other guys were in the scenario. One was laughing his head off while the other was simply smirking handsomely. Shin
Erin
recognized the one laughing as Park Juno.
Hyeon
Jin
's ex-boyfriend
. The other one, though, was completely unfamiliar to her.

Unable to stand her curiosity anymore, she cleared her throat quite loudly. The noise ceased at once. All eyes were on her. A bit shy, she slowly pointed a finger at
Hyeon
Jin
, who was right next to her.

"Oh, you're home!"
Kim
Junjin
said, breaking the silence. "And this pretty young lady is... Er..." he paused. "Shin
Erica
?"

"It's Shin Erin," she corrected with a giggle.

"I knew that,"
Kim
Junjin
replied, quite embarrassed. "Come and join us. We're having an 'Of Course' game here."

"Tch,"
Hyeon
Jin
scoffed, kicking her shoes off. Neither Park Juno nor Mun Oh had taken their gaze off her.

"Don't 'tch' me, young lady. You're next. Let me just finish off Ji Sun."

Ji Sun made a face before saying she was out, declaring
Kim
Junjin
as the winner.
Kim
Junjin
eyed a humiliated
Hyeon
Jin
and motioned for her to join him in the middle of the room.

"Dad, I'm not playing this stupid game anymore... especially with these people around,"
Hyeon
Jin
stated, quite irritated. "And why the hell is he in here?" she added, glancing at Park Juno, who was still looking at her.

"Mun Oh invited him over. I don't see anything wrong with that,"
Kim
Junjin
said nonchalantly.

WHAT? Since when did they become friends? Is this a joke?
Hyeon
Jin
thought angrily.

Hyeon
Jin
gave her father a death glare, but he was too busy rolling with laughter to notice. She motioned for Shin Erin to come with her as she walked away from the living room. But before she could totally escape, Mun Oh spoke in his deep and suave voice.

"Maybe she's afraid that I'll beat her ass this game; that's why she's running away."

Okay, he did not just say that
,
Hyeon
Jin
thought, turning to look at him. The ‘Of Course’ game was a game of wits, popularized by a variety show on TV. It involved insults, sarcasm and lies. Whoever got sour and pissed off first lost.

Mun Oh simply shrugged and flashed a teasing smile.

"Listen, you
pest
. I'm the
QUEEN
of this game. No one beats me here. So you better take back what you said,"
Hyeon
Jin
threatened.

Mun Oh stood up. "I ain't taking back anything, big feet."

Hyeon
Jin
strolled back to the middle of the room and halted, inches away from a smug Mun Oh. Shin
Erin
went to sit on one of the couches, looking excited, along with Park Juno and
Kim
Junjin
. The only one who looked somewhat concerned was Ji Sun.

"You ready, big feet?" Mun Oh said.

"Whatever, bloodsucker,"
Hyeon
Jin
mumbled before she could stop herself. Ji Sun choked but Mun Oh simply smirked.

"
Hyeon
Jin
, no swearing in my house,"
Kim
Junjin
said after a while.

Hyeon
Jin
turned to look at him. "I wasn't swearing, I said bloods—"

"Stop. I said no swearing."

"Fine!”

"Let's get this over with," Mun Oh interrupted. "I'll start." He moved his head left and right, quite smugly before continuing. "I heard that this guy right here," he glanced at Park Juno, "
dumped you
."

Shin
Erin
chuckled but was instantly quelled by one death glare from
Hyeon
Jin
.
Kim
Junjin
and Ji Sun looked as if they were deliberating whether it was advisable to laugh. Park Juno simply gave a wan smile.

What the—!
Hyeon
Jin
thought angrily. She was on the verge of exploding.
Who the hell told him about that? Goddammit. Okay, get a grip. It's only a game. Just beat him and get it over with.

"Of course," she said in an exaggerated loud voice. "Pfsssh. It's only a game, anyway."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Mun Oh jeered. "You know the reason why he dumped you?"

Could you lay off the whole dumping thing? HE DID NOT DUMP ME, OKAY? It was a mutual decision!
Hyeon
Jin
wanted to scream in his face.

"O-Of course..." she said in weaker tone now. Actually, she had no idea why.

"Coz you're a mean bully and you're such a bad kisser."

Kim
Junjin
and Shin Erin burst out laughing. Ji Sun chuckled lightly. Park Juno shook his head, smiling widely.