Chapter one
(Jackie’s POINT OF VIEW)
THE WAY I SEE IT, LIFE IS LIKE A VAMPIRE. It sucks most of the time, period. It’s ever thirsty for pain, and it aims to drain you dry.
And that is why most people appreciate my work of killing them. My name is Jackie Chang, and I’m a Vampire Hunter… in the loosest sense of the word. Although I’ve said that life sucks like a vampire, it actually pays to get them killed. Well, I’m an expatriate from Singapore invited by the governor of Jeju Province to hunt these bloodsucking creatures – For every vampire slain, a quarter million Korean Won goes into my pocket. And that roughly equates to about two hundred and fifty U.S. dollars. Sounds lucrative huh? Well, not everyone can be a vampire hunter, though. In fact, I’ve gone through years of rigorous apprenticeship in Tokuyama, Japan to become one.
Jeju Province is the only special self-governing province of South Korea, situated on and coterminous with the country’s largest island. The volcanic island lies in the Korea Strait, southwest of South Jeolla Province, of which it was a part before it became a separate province in 1946. Jeju Province is sort of a city-state, so its capital city is also called Jeju. To the south, it meets Seogwipo City at the top of Hallasan, the island’s only mountain. The island is half a size bigger than Singapore, but yet it only has a population of less than 400,000 – not even one-tenth of Singapore’s population.
Here I am, on Jeju island working with two other vampire hunters; my team of sorts – Seiji Inada, and Han Mirae. Like me, Seiji is also a foreigner except he’s from Tokuyama, Japan. Seiji has far more experience than me, given the fact that he’s nearly twice my age.
Of course the ability to hunt vampires isn’t always about experience; it could be just a matter of luck and timing. Yes, there were times when Seiji reported five or six vampires slain in a single night. But that’s probably because he had gotten there first, was equipped with better weapons, and got to to kill these vampires first. Yet, among the the three of us, I’m definitely not the worst in terms of number of total kills. Han Mirae scores the lowest number of killings – She scored zero, to be exact.
To be fair, Mirae isn’t actually a vampire hunter. She’s actually an orphaned native of Jeju island, whom we invited to help us with the daily administration of paperwork, as well as to bridge the cultural differences between the locals and us. Mirae was orphaned at a tender age, and had been raised in a Catholic Convent, until she was old enough to work and make a living. That’s how we met her and invited her to work for us. Apart from secretarial work, Mirae also treats the wounds and injuries that we receive after fighting and killing the vampires. Mirae just doesn’t enjoy that feeling of stabbing a sword across, or gunning a bullet into a vampire’s chest. She feels really bad about having to kill a fellow Korean. It just didn’t seem right to her about killing a fellow countryman. And I guess, that is why foreigners like Seiji and I were hired to do the killing. So that they can “outsource” the burden of guilt to us.
*******
I SIGHED HEAVILY AND RESTED MY CHIN on the table in front of me. I squinted at the stainless steel bowl in front of me for a moment, lifted my head slightly, and poured the ice-cold sour broth into my open mouth. Then I stood on my feet and left, leaving a few korean bills on the table to pay for my meal consisting primarily of Mul Naengmyeon, and small side-dishes of Kimchi and Banchan.
Mul Naengmyeon are strands of thin, hand-made buckwheat noodles, and is served in a large bowl with a tangy iced broth, raw julienned vegetables, a slice of a Korean pear, and often a boiled egg and/or cold beef.
Kimchi (also spelt gimchi or kimchee) is a traditional Korean fermented dish made of seasoned vegetables. Kimchi is also a common ingredient and cooked with other ingredients to make dishes such as kimchi stew (kimchi jjigae) and kimchi fried rice (kimchi bokkeumbap). Moreover, because it is both flavourful and healthy, the world-wide appeal and popularity of kimchi continues to grow.
Banchan refers to small side-dishes served in Korean cuisine. Banchan are served in small portions, meant to be finished at each meal. They can be replenished during the meal as they are finished.
“Annyung hee kaseyo,” said the storeowner, as he bowed and greeted me goodbye. It’s autumn, and the weather was rather cold. I put on my coat and slid my hands into the deep pockets. Inside the fleece-lined black jacket nestled a silver gun loaded with matching bullets. It never hurts to be careful, but it certainly will if you were caught off guard and wind up as the next victim.
I have seen far too many victims lying in some back alley of the Samdo-2-dong neighbourhood, where they had been dragged when they were still alive and kicking, but were drained of blood before an hour had passed. And then there were even another sort of victims lying at the back alleys. I don’t usually concern myself too much with a vampire’s life, but it piques my curiosity whenever I find a dead vampire lying, well…dead, in an alley somewhere.
Today however, I haven’t killed a single vampire, though I had found a dead one, slain by one of it’s own kind. I didn’t know why they killed each other, but frankly, it mattered to me. For each one murdered is one less I could have killed by myself. Well, there goes half a million Korean Won, which I could have made otherwise.
Last night was a happier moment for me, as I had beaten the silver-haired japanese by one dead. I had killed one while Seiji hadn’t killed a single creature. That alone would have given me teasing rights for some time, though the fact that I myself had gotten one made it even better.
A sudden sound to my right made me freeze and melt against the side of Ramada Plaza, the gun loaded with silver bullets grasped firmly beneath my jacket. When the sound didn’t come again I slowly crept from the shadows and continued on my way, though a bit more wary than I had been. It never hurts to be extra careful. It might be approaching daybreak already… but still, it wasn’t too late - or too early, however you choose to view it - for vampires to be out and about.
Seiji had stayed indoors tonight, down with the flu, leaving me to do the hunting all by myself. Ah-chew!!! We normally work together, even if we aren’t often within arm’s length, and the Japanese hunter’s absence makes me feel a lot more vulnerable, so it was probably a good thing I hadn’t encountered any vampire tonight. The older man and I work separately, often on opposite sides of the island. But either of us would still be able to come to the other’s need if necessary. Just knowing the silver-haired hunter was out could make me feel a bit more secure. Honestly speaking, Seiji had saved my butt more times than I could count.
I let go of the gun in my pocket as I neared my home at the Samdo-1-dong district, which also functions as our team’s headquarters. I glanced around a few times for any preying eyes, just to play safe. When I found none I stepped into the house, closing out the night that was brightening into dawn at last.
The interiors of the house were quite neat, a result of Mirae’s efforts. If I were living by myself, the house would have been strewn with empty instant noodles cups, tidbit packages and candy wrappers. So it’s really fortunate that Seiji and I have Mirae living with us. The girl was currently curled up in the large armchair that gave her a nice view of the empty street outside, a book on her lap. She looked up when I came in, and smiled.
“Nuh Muol ilk-go itsuh?” I asked her what she was reading.
“I’m reading a korean romance novel,” replied Mirae. “It’s entitled “The First Shop of Coffee Prince”. It’s about a tomboyish female who gets mistaken as a guy, and she starts working in a coffeeshop owned by the cocky son of a rich family.”
“Chaemi it-neun geot gat-ey,” I said it sounded rather interesting. “By the way, how is Seiji getting on with the flu?”
“Seiji is sleeping now. Before he turned in, he said he’ll be feeling better enough tomorrow to go hunting with you,” said Mirae, before returning to her book.
“Muoragu?! What!!!” I gaped until my jaws dropped to the ground, and my eyes could see my hair growing. The Japanese hunter’s presence makes me feel safer, but still… “If he comes with me, he’ll start killing more vampires!”
Mirae rolled her eyes. “Well that’s the point, isn’t it?”
“Well yeah, but so what? He’s already…” I tried to come up with a number but failed, “a lot ahead of me, and pretty soon he’ll be so far ahead I’ll never be able to catch up with him!”
Mirae sighed and set her book down. “I’m going to sleep now, you probably should too.”
“I don’t need any sleep!” I declared to her retreating back. “I can stay up all day and night if I want to!”
“Keojitmal hajimayo! Quit lying, Jackie!” Mirae ordered, crossing her arms, and after furrowing her eyebrows at me as if daring me to do it, she turned and headed up the stairs.
“I’ll prove to you I don’t need sleep, Han Mirae,” I said to myself. Then I seated myself in the chair she’d vacated, staring out the window with wide-open eyes, determined to prove the korean girl wrong. Almost immediately though, my eyes started drooping, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep to meet Alice in Wonderland…
I awoke with a start, all senses alert. I didn’t remember having slept for a long time… But, oh my goodness, a day had passed, and it was already evening right now. Actually, I didn’t need to look so surprised that I woke up this late. We hunters sleep and awake according to the vampires’ hours so we could hunt them down more efficiently. Yawning widely and stretching my arms above my head, I saw Seiji eating a bowl of cereal, while Mirae grabbed a bowl from the cabinet and poured herself some as well.
“Chal jasseoyo? Did you sleep well?” Mirae grinned. “I remember last night someone was saying he didn’t need any sleep.” She giggled.
I grabbed a bowl too, and poured myself some cereals, which I wolfed down entirely before Mirae had even taken three bites. I then set about gathering my weapons, belting and strapping them on accordingly, before sitting on the armchair. I stared sternly at Seiji - almost like my high school principal - urging him to eat faster so we could leave immediately and hunt those vampires.
Seiji continued eating at a normal pace however, completely denying my existence. For a while I thought I was the invisible man, he had no regards for me at all. I decided to give up and slumped over backward into the chair. The moment Seiji stood however, I sprang on my feet and sprinted out the door like the roadrunner. Beep! Beep!
“I’m going to beat you tonight!” I challenged. Seiji lugged a bag of weapons over his shoulder and smiled mockingly.
“No you won’t.” His smile turned into a look of sheer confidence.
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