Free Web Novel“Hojin... congregant? cough cough.”
The man spoke in a faint voice, as if he had recognized him too.
“Yes. Th-that’s right.”
It was all the more embarrassing that his name was so similar to someone else being congratulated in the worship hall.
“Um... but are you feeling sick anywhere?”
His labored breathing looked precarious. He seemed like someone who belonged in an ICU rather than a church.
The man nodded weakly, as if even that small movement was exhausting him, silently begging for help.
“I... cough cough!”
“Yes?”
But his voice was so small and weak that it was barely audible—like someone who hadn’t eaten or had been kept locked up somewhere and then released.
“Do you have a cold?”
Come to think of it, he’d been coughing lightly when they first met too. His condition looked far worse than before.
As Hojin hurried to help him up—
“Gurk!”
Hojin froze in shock at the blood smeared across the man’s palm. Asking if he was okay seemed meaningless now. This man was far from okay...!
“M-mentor. I’ll fetch someone. You need to go to a hospital—”
As Hojin fumbled to move aside, the man shook his head, pleading.
“Don’t... say anything. kuh...”
“Y-yes?”
He looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie, blood dripping from his mouth. Hojin felt like crying.
“No, wait here. I’ll go get someone right away—”
Just as Hojin decided he couldn’t handle this alone and tried to pull his hand free to stand, the man’s grip tightened as if he would crush Hojin’s arm.
“Ugh.”
He gripped so hard that the flesh bled under his fingernails, leaving red scratches. Hojin looked at him in pain, but the man only squeezed harder.
“I... kuh... I have to... go out.”
He meant he would send help, but Hojin, unable to bear the pain, could only nod.
“All right. I’ll go out now. I’ll take you to the hospital.”
Hojin carefully lifted the man to his feet. His breathing grew rougher, but taking him to the hospital came first. Looping the man’s arm over his shoulder, Hojin staggered forward. Even the guard who normally stood at the entrance was gone, leaving the door deserted. He’d never seen him leave his post—it was strange.
“Um, we’ll need to walk to the main road to catch a taxi. Just a little way.” freёweɓnovel.com
Hojin led the man out of the church and, with some effort, hailed a taxi.
“cough! cough cough cough!”
The man’s coughing worsened as time passed. The blood that had barely appeared now soaked his palm. His relentless coughing showed no sign of stopping. The driver, glancing in the rearview mirror, scolded Hojin with a displeased look: every cough splattered blood across his seat.
“He looks terrible. Why are you dirtying my car instead of calling an ambulance? Dirtying it!”
“I’m sorry. I’ll clean it all up before we get out.” freeweɓnøvel.com
“Clean it up and get out! There’s tissues up front.”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
Hojin found himself apologizing he’d never imagined, trying to appease the driver while tending to the man. As the man continued to cough up blood, Hojin anxiously wiped his mouth with tissues.
“Um, driver. Could you go a bit faster...?”
At Hojin’s urgent plea, the driver accelerated with a scowl. Hojin, busy wiping blood from the seats with wet wipes he’d stuck behind the passenger seat, was caught off guard by a sudden—
Thud!
“Kuh!”
Screeeeaaak!
Crash!
With a grinding screech and a thundering collision, the taxi smashed into the guardrail and came to a halt. The impact threw Hojin’s head hard against the front seat.
‘What’s happening? What’s going on...?’
He’d been wiping blood from the seats, but his vision swam and his body would not obey. Then a strange sound rang in his ears, barely holding him conscious.
“Kyaaeek! cough cough.”
It came from right beside him. He felt sure he could see the source if he turned his head—but he couldn’t move. His limbs were numb, heavy as if they weren’t his own.
‘It hurts....’
Sticky liquid dripped down from above his head. Hot and unpleasantly viscous. Even through his fading consciousness, Hojin realized it was blood.
‘Why blood...?’
Screeeeaaak!
Crash!
Bang!
A cacophony of colliding cars and people’s screams filled his ears. It was only then that Hojin realized he was in a traffic accident.
“Kyaaeek!”
But above all the noise rang a sound that chilled his blood. A sound he’d heard in the media before. If he was right, it was the wail of a blood fiend.
‘Why is it so close...?’
Struggling to turn his head, Hojin caught sight between the headrest of the passenger seat: the driver slumped over the steering wheel, his upper body soaked in blood, a jagged wound at the nape of his neck as if impaled.
And right next to him—
“Kyaeeek! cough! It hurts, it hurts so much.”
His mentor writhed, hands dripping with blood, claws scratching at Hojin’s throat with unnaturally long nails.
‘I’m sca—scared.’
Hojin wanted to open the door and run, but his body wouldn’t respond. All he could do was choke down panicked breaths, terrified that any sound would bring his doom.
“Kyaek, cough cough!”
The man emitted beastly sounds and coughs, his agony unending. His bloodshot eyes dripped blood, his lips frothing dark red. Hojin’s mind went blank with a fear he’d never known. He squeezed his eyes shut, praying for the moment to end. But he was so tense that a whimper escaped him.
“sob.”
Though barely audible, the man sensed it immediately. Just as Hojin realized his mistake and ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) his eyes flew open, he met those crimson eyes. The man had become scarcely human. That was... a blood fiend.
“hic.”
Startled, Hojin hiccupped. He tried to stifle it by clamping his hands over his mouth, but his trembling body wouldn’t obey. Tears welled in his eyes at the thought he might die.
“sob. P-please... save me.”
Tears rolled down Hojin’s dirtied cheeks. In that moment, the man’s reason returned.
“Ho, cough, Hojin congregant. Please... help me. I’m in so much pain.”
Gripping Hojin’s wrist, the man’s sharp nails tore into his flesh. Still, Hojin couldn’t bear to show his own pain. He barely nodded, promising to help. The man seemed dizzy and disoriented, but at least right then he was lucid.
“I-I’ll help you. There’s a hospital just up ahead.”
He could see the sign for the Awakened Hospital in the distance. If it was visible to the naked eye, it couldn’t be far. Hojin carefully opened the car door.
“L-let’s get you o-out... I’ll guide you.”
He told himself not to cry, not to upset the man, but the tears would not stop. Wiping them away, Hojin forced himself not to look at the nails embedded in his arm. Thankfully, the man still followed him, seemingly coherent. He’d never heard of a person turning into a blood fiend. Though the appearance matched, he was sure there must be some explanation he didn’t yet know. Surely the hospital would have the answers. Besides, didn’t Yeonwoo say he felt like someone else when he awakened? He’d even lost memory of that moment.
‘Of course my mentor’s been awakened a while, but maybe this is a re-awakening, and...’
Hojin repeated to himself that the man was still himself, trying to steady his nerves.
“All right, you did great. But there was an accident here—”
He was about to say they’d have to walk the rest of the way to the hospital—
“AAAAH!”
A passerby spotted the man and screamed.
“It’s a blood fiend!”
“A blood fiend?!”
“Run!”
Their sudden panic drew everyone’s attention. In an instant, the road was chaos as people fled in terror.
“Grr, be quiet! It’s noisy... too noisy...”
It wasn’t unbearable, but the man covered his ears, wracked with pain. Hojin’s heart raced with fear.
“Congregant, please... please get a grip. Okay?”
Hojin gripped the man’s wrist and spoke as calmly as he could, but the man didn’t seem to hear. He was howling again.
“Kyaaaek!”
In that moment, Hojin instinctively knew he was about to die. They say a person sees their life flash before their eyes. The first face that came to mind was Roy’s pretty smiling face.
✧
At that same time, Roy was being escorted in handcuffs. Where to? The Detention Bureau.
“No—it’s really a misunderstanding!”
“.......”
Had he spoken in a foreign language? Couldn’t they see him? Being treated like a criminal was one thing, but this felt like they didn’t consider him human at all. Roy’s indignation grew, and he pouted, twisting to sit facing the opposite way.
‘If we go to the Detention Bureau like this, is it prison next?’
Trapped in this world—and now prison on top of it. How long had it been since he’d broken his parents’ hearts? The cooldown on his filial guilt had come back faster than he expected.
‘I’ll hold out for now. I won’t say a word until my lawyer arrives.’
He thought of the drama trope: arms crossed, feet propped on the desk, demanding a lawyer. Explaining himself might only give them more to pin him on. Resolving to stay silent, the car screeched to an abrupt halt.
Screeeeaaak!
Thanks to not wearing a seatbelt in his defiance, his body rolled across the floor.
“Argh!”
