Ch.132Chapter 132 – Vampire (3)

“Wow, I saw Zeus in person and he’s really pretty! He could’ve been an actor or model?!”

#VersaillesPalace #Paris #Zeus

“Hehe, I am quite pretty, aren’t I?”

Perched atop a spire, Euphemia was contentedly admiring her photos and the reactions they garnered on social media. SNS was abuzz with Zeus’s escapades touring all of Paris’s attractions. The praise in the comments, the fervent interest—it was becoming addictive.

“Let’s see… any other posts? If I search the Paris hashtag…”

Zeus enjoyed the attention and admiration of others. It was a typical high schooler’s way of relieving the stress that came with being a hunter. She was browsing the internet for more attention when a strange post caught her eye.

“The area near the Eiffel Tower is covered in fog…?”

Her gaze sharpened. Fog. It was a trace of the monster she had been pursuing—Jack the Ripper. With the sun setting, it was about time for that creature to begin its activities.

Though playful and tomboyish in personality, she wasn’t irresponsible enough to forget the real purpose of her visit to Paris. Her figure, wrapped in lightning, shot up into the air.

***

“Yu-jin! Answer me!”

The fog-covered world was terrifyingly quiet. Shin Jae-hyuk felt his heart sink. In less than fifteen minutes, Yu-jin had disappeared.

It was useless when Jae-hyuk tried to dispel the fog with his barrier. The shield allowed air to pass through, and fog was a type of air. The deployed barrier helplessly swept through empty space, changing nothing.

“Who could have created this fog…”

Jae-hyuk bit his lip tightly. One person came to mind. Duke August. This fog was quite similar to the one he had conjured with blood magic. The faint metallic smell of blood, the characteristic that it couldn’t be dispersed by ordinary means.

But there was no way he could have created this fog. First, he should be imprisoned in the Empire, and second, as a criminal, it would be impossible for him to pass through the tight security around the Eden Gate.

‘Rather than identifying the culprit right now, finding Yu-jin is the priority.’

Jae-hyuk immediately expanded his spiritual perception to search the surroundings. He felt nothing. The Eiffel Tower plaza, which should have been crowded with tourists, was eerily silent without a single living being. No, there was one thing he could detect.

‘From above?’

Something was approaching at high speed. Its aura was quite powerful. Powerful enough to be suspected as the source of the fog. Without hesitation, Jae-hyuk aimed and fired a lightning spear upward. He sensed the approaching entity dodge it.

‘Here it comes!’

Jae-hyuk prepared for battle. Without weapons, he floated six lightning spears around him. Immediately after, lightning struck through the fog. Jae-hyuk gathered his spears to deflect the attack. Lightning against lightning. Intense sparks flew as both sides’ electricity scattered.

“What? A hunter?”

A youthful voice came from beyond the fog. A doll-like woman appeared, parting the mist. Jae-hyuk recognized her.

“Zeus…”

“Hey, you’re human! Did you just attack without confirming who you were targeting? That could have been really dangerous if it wasn’t me. And you’re lucky I’m an awakened one of the same element—what if you couldn’t deflect my lightning!”

Zeus, realizing the attacker wasn’t a monster, expressed her annoyance. She had counterattacked thinking it was a monster when lightning suddenly flew at her from the fog, only to find it was a hunter. Jae-hyuk apologized readily.

“Sorry. I thought you were a monster when I sensed a powerful aura approaching. And I was desperate because my companion went missing…”

“Missing? What do you mean? Explain in detail.”

“I don’t understand it myself. I came down from the observation deck to follow my group, and found this situation. The ground is covered in fog, and there’s not a single sign of life. Everything seemed normal when I was looking down from above…”

Jae-hyuk explained the situation haltingly in English. He had a feeling that Zeus, who had responded immediately to the fog, might know something about this incident.

Indeed, as Jae-hyuk expected, Zeus showed signs of contemplation, as if she had some idea. Should she tell this man about the details of the case? Tracking Jack was classified, and it was a politically sensitive matter for both Britain and France.

‘But time is of the essence. I can’t predict his intentions…’

Jack the Ripper’s current behavior was extremely unusual. Normally, Jack targeted one or two victims in deserted alleys rather than densely populated areas. This peculiarity was why he had earned the name “murderer” and why he had evaded capture for so long.

However, since suddenly fleeing London for Paris, he seemed to have decided not to behave quietly anymore, attacking tourist sites as if his habits had changed. This was the result—the Eiffel Tower plaza shrouded in fog.

The change in behavior pattern meant his actions were now unpredictable. His nickname might change from murderer to mass murderer. To catch him before the damage spread, she needed help.

‘This man blocked my attack without breaking a sweat. He’s definitely powerful… he’ll surely be helpful. But if I involve a civilian on my own, those old geezers will nag me, so I should at least pretend to get permission.’

Zeus made a call to the French intelligence agent who had told her to contact him if anything happened. Leon answered.

“Bonjour? It’s Zeus. I’ve found traces of the fugitive mob near the Eiffel Tower.”

-Oh…! Understood. I’ll dispatch personnel immediately.

“Can I include a hunter I met at the scene in the operation? His name is… Shin Jae-hyuk?”

-What? Shin Jae-hyuk is there?

“Hmm? Do you know him?”

-Yes… He’s an S-rank from Korea visiting Paris as a tourist. He participated in the Pyongyang operation with Geomgwi.

Zeus’s eyes sparkled upon hearing Leon’s explanation.

‘Ah, so he’s that S-rank! No wonder! An ordinary hunter couldn’t have blocked my lightning so easily.’

The secret Korean hunter whose existence had been confirmed by Geomgwi. Now his level made sense. She trusted both his identity and abilities. Zeus decided to enlist Shin Jae-hyuk’s help.

“Alright, I’ll tell you everything. In return, help me catch him.”

***

“Damn it, you’re saying Yu-jin was taken by a demon. And not just any demon, but that famous serial killer from the evening news!”

Jae-hyuk shouted after hearing the details from Zeus. It wasn’t clear whether she had been kidnapped or killed, but judging by how all those tourists had disappeared without a trace, it was almost certainly kidnapping.

“In London, victims were found as bloodless corpses in alleyways. But now there’s no trace like that, so it must be kidnapping. I don’t know what his intention is, but…”

“Fuck…”

Jae-hyuk cursed anxiously. Regret washed over him. Why had he given in to her stubbornness? If she hadn’t come to Paris, this wouldn’t have happened. Yu-jin’s uncertain fate, whether she was alive or dead, maximized his anxiety.

-Yu-jin, where are you? Are you safe?

‘Please… answer.’

Jae-hyuk quickly texted her. He couldn’t call—if the demon was nearby, the ringtone might agitate it. Fortunately, a reply came back.

-Sennnior? Why am I in a place like this? It’s like a sewer. It smmells and it’s damp

The typos in the message reflected Yu-jin’s anxious state. Grateful that she was safe, Jae-hyuk urgently replied.

-Are you okay? What happened?

-I don’t know. I remember getting off the elevator and inhaling the fog, then I lost consciousness and woke up walking through a sewer among other people.

-You’re with the other missing people?

-Yes. They all seem unconscious. They’re not waking up. They’re walking in one direction like they’re entranced by will-o’-the-wisps.

“A mental ability…”

According to Yu-jin’s testimony, the monster called Jack seemed to use illusion or hypnosis abilities. This was something he had already considered. For a large crowd to disappear silently, it would be impossible to forcibly drag them away.

‘That component must be in this fog. It numbs consciousness and makes people follow orders. Yu-jin, being an awakened one, was able to resist the hypnosis, albeit belatedly.’

-Can you escape?

-No… People who fall behind or take different paths get attacked by shadows flying through the fog… I don’t know, I’m scared.

-Okay. Stay calm. Don’t show any signs that you’ve regained consciousness and act calmly. You mustn’t catch his attention. Hide among the procession and behave. I’ll definitely come to rescue you.

This creature was intelligent enough to use underground passages. Who knows what would happen if it discovered she had regained consciousness. They needed to pinpoint Yu-jin’s location and secure the hostages as quickly as possible. Fortunately, there was a way to locate her.

‘That’s right! We have that…!’

Jae-hyuk opened the couple location-sharing app. It was an app Yu-jin had forced him to install during their tour, saying Jae-hyuk might get lost, but he hadn’t expected it to be helpful in this situation. Her location was marked with a heart shape on the Paris map. The signal was weak, probably because she was underground, but he could roughly track her route.

Zeus glanced at the map and recognized the area.

“Ah, that’s a military restricted area?”

“Military restricted area? A monster voluntarily crawling into a military facility? What’s there that’s so important?”

“You know, that place. The Eden Gate checkpoint.”

The Eden Gate was a direct passage connecting the capital of the Empire with France. It was essentially a border, managed even more strictly than other gates. It was suspicious that a demon’s movement overlapped with such a place.

‘A coincidence? Or…’

Something felt off. There seemed to be some hidden intention behind the creature’s actions. Anxious, he urged Zeus.

“Let’s hurry and track him. We should be able to catch up soon. It seems they haven’t gone far, moving underground.”

“Ugh… are you telling me to go into the sewers?”

Zeus made a disgusted face. Having superhuman power didn’t mean she had a superhuman stomach. She protested with revulsion.

“I can’t even fight properly in that narrow space. Do you want to see my electricity fry the hostages?”

“…Then let’s split up. I’ll go through the sewers. You block his escape route from above. He’s presumed to be a flying monster, right?”

“That’s right. He crossed the Dover Strait, which is infested with sea monsters.”

“If he’s using underground passages as a means of transportation, he’ll eventually emerge from another hole. You monitor all possible exit points from the air. Can you do that? You are the master of the skies, after all.”

“…Ha! Are you challenging me?”

Electricity crackled around her body. A confident smile spread across her face.

“Hmph. Do you think there’s anything impossible for me, the one called Zeus?”

‘Didn’t you just say you couldn’t fight underground?’

Hiding his exasperation, Jae-hyuk shared Yu-jin’s location from his app to Zeus’s phone. While Zeus checked it, Jae-hyuk examined the ground around them. Perhaps because the monster had moved far enough from the scene, the fog was dispersing and visibility was returning as they talked. At the tail end of the thinning fog, he spotted a large manhole. There were traces of people passing through.

‘The fog is coming from inside. This must be where the missing people disappeared…’

After a moment’s hesitation, Jae-hyuk made a final request to Zeus.

“And just in case… alert the soldiers at the checkpoint. Tell them to prepare for any contingency.”

“Sure. But why?”

“I have a bad feeling. And my intuition tends to be right only about ominous things.”

With those final words, Jae-hyuk jumped into the manhole. The bloody-smelling fog and darkness swallowed him. In the darkness, Jae-hyuk repeated only one name.

‘Yu-jin… please be safe.’

***

Kwak Tae-woo, walking the night streets of the island, suddenly stopped and stared ahead.

“…Fog?”