Tea-time at Byul's house was not as bad as Jaebum had thought it would be. He got to spend a nice evening with the Bloodsuckers mostly because Byul had locked Yoongi out of the dining hall after he kept on bugging Jaebum. They were very friendly towards him and it occured to him that they knew him quite well. Jaebum was surprised when Mrs. Min asked him about Nora, his cat, because she seemed very well-informed about her. Namjoon also managed to strike a wholesome conversation with him about their current reads. And the fact that Jin knew how much sugar he liked in his tea freaked him out a lot. 

When they had finished eating, Byul brought him out to the garden and they were finally alone to talk. Jaebum asked Byul about this because it was bothering him so much that those people, who he just met today for the first time, knew a lot of stuff about him. In addition to that, the warm treatment they offered made him wonder whether they're the same people who had been killing humans. It hurt Jaebum a bit to admit that whatever he and his friends had been doing in the name of 'justice' might not be the right thing to do after all, especially when he realised that this could just be a misunderstanding between humans and the Bloodsuckers. If they really were the bad guys, how come he's still well and alive after spending the whole evening with them? Nevertheless, until he obtained all the answers he needed, Jaebum decided not to change his stand just yet.

"They seem to have met me before. How is that possible? I have never met them." Jaebum asked.

Byul thought about it for a while before answering. She wasn't sure how to tell him what he didn't know without scaring him away. "This might sound unbelievable since you don't have any memory about this but... you've been here before. A few times actually."

Jaebum frowned in confusion. "But we're not that close? And if so, how can I not remember coming here at all?"

"We were close. The reason you don't remember is because you were hypnotised to forget." Byul told him. Her cold voice reflected the disappointment and regret that had been haunting her. Recounting what happened since last year for Jaebum was only making her sadder but he had the right to know about it.

"You can hypnotise people?" Jaebum's face showed a mix of disbelief and amazement that he felt.

"Well, yeah. Jackson didn't tell you guys? Usually he's the first to know newly discovered stuff by the special unit after you."

"No, he didnt. And... how is it possible for me to know first before him?"

Byul stared straight at Jaebum for a second, preparing herself for the emotional ride. "Okay, just brace yourself, this might sound crazy."

***

During the first day of summer camp held at the Hanok last year, Byul was surprised to see Jaebum among the participants waiting in line for their briefing. It was a nice surprise. At least there's someone her age joining the camp this year and not just younger kids. She's not sure if he recognised her though. They're classmates but Byul had never talked to him. Along with Jaebum, Byul also noticed Mark in the crowd. Of course, the inseparable pair of friends.

They had around thirty students from age 9-17, who were divided randomly into six groups, enrolled for the camp that year. Byul had hoped secretly for Hani to assign her as Jaebum's group's facilitator but she wasn't very lucky and got a group of kids instead. She braced herself to handle the team, which had a 12 year old as the oldest, and almost cried about it seeing that she's bad with kids. The only thing that helped Byul stood her ground was Yoongi's promise to supply her a month worth of ice-cream since she's only doing this to replace him. 

The first few days of camp was extremely tiring for Byul. The kids in her group were much more hyperactive compared to the others. She was so close to running away from the Hanok to escape from facilitating them. On the second day of camp, they were supposed to compete in producing the best cupcakes. It was done outdoor and every group had their own station. At first, the kids were just fighting over who should break the eggs and Byul managed that well but at the moment she heard what they had in mind to make their cupcakes better, she couldn't help but shed a tear.

"I have a secret ingredient we can put in." One of the boys said to his group mates and Byul. He was in charge of mixing the batter at the group's table. "We'd win this."

"Can I know what is it?" Byul asked but the rest of her group didn't even bother to know and just cheered in agreement.

"Put it in! Let's put it in!" They screamed.

"Ok, so just take some in your nose and mix it with the batter." The boy ordered, his finger already picking his nose while his friends followed suit. 

"NO! WAIT! STOP!" Byul cried in horror as she tried stopping five hands from picking their noses. The youngest in the group was quicker than Byul and dropped her bogey in their batter. 

"Yay!! The cupcakes will taste delicious now!" She jumped in innocent happiness. 

"Yoona!!" Byul could only sighed in disappointment. She could feel her tears well up. Someone chuckled from the next table and Byul turned to see Jaebum observing them. He then mouthed 'fighting' to her while mixing his group's cupcake batter. Byul smiled back at him, appreciating that he's trying to make her feel better, but a tear fell down her cheek suddenly and it startled Jaebum. He rushed to get to her but tripped over a stone and the bowl he was holding flew out of his hand. The batter splattered everywhere, which made his little group mates yelled at him in anger for messing up. Both of the groups lost the competition but at least Jaebum had won Byul's heart and she cancelled her plan to ditch the camp just so she could see him until the end of the week.

Two days later, Byul noticed that Yoona was not with her group mates for dinner thus she went to look for her at the girls' dorm. It was empty when she got there and it alarmed her. She searched through parts of the house that the kids had visited before but found Jaebum and Mark instead on her way out to the lawn. 

"Hey, guys. Have you seen a girl around here?" Byul asked them since they appeared to have been hanging out by the garden for some time.

"I don't think so..." Mark exchanged looks with Jaebum in hesitance.

"Is it your group member?" Jaebum asked.

"Yeah, Yoona. She didn't show up for dinner." Byul told them.

"We'll help look for her." Jaebum got up on his feet right away and Mark tailed him. The three of them walked around the garden while calling out for Yoona. Byul then saw her playing with Shadow near the fish pond. She ran up to her and checked for any wounds or bruises in worry.

"Yoona! Why are you here? You should've told me if you wanted to go somewhere!" Byul tried hard not to scold the girl but her voice sounded mad enough to scare Yoona. She started sobbing, feeling guilty and wronged. "Oh no, please don't cry. Oh no, what should I do?" Byul panicked, wasn't sure of how to calm a crying kid.

"Uh... let me try..." Jaebum stepped closer to Yoona and rubbed her shoulder. "There, there, Yoona. We're just worried about you. You can stop crying now. They won't punish you."

"Wow, that's terrible." Byul commented because Jaebum only made Yoona cry louder by saying the word 'punish'.

"Oh no, I can't. Oh God, how to do this?" He also panicked and moved away from Yoona. The two of them turned to Mark in hope he could comfort Yoona. Mark seemed unsure too but he knelt down in front of the girl and talked to her in a gentle voice.

"Hey, Yoona. Don't cry. We're not mad at you. Everyone was just wondering where did you go. Would you like some candies?"  Yoona stopped sobbing gradually when she heard 'candies' and nodded at Mark. "Good girl! Here you go." He took out some sweets from his pocket and handed them to her. "What were you doing out here?"

"I was just following the cat..." Yoona answered Mark's question.

"That black cat?" Mark pointed to Shadow who was lazing by the pond.

"Oh my God, that's a big cat!" Jaebum exclaimed in shock after noticing Shadow when Mark mentioned him. He went over to pet Shadow while Mark was still talking to Yoona. Byul followed him.

"His name's Shadow." She said.

"He's a very black, beautiful cat!" Jaebum replied,amazed at Shadow's gorgeous fur. Byul just smiled at his comment.

"Thank you for helping me look for Yoona."

"No problem. You must've been very tired having to take care of five bogey lovers for a whole week." Jaebum uttered, which made Byul laughed a little. "We've never talked before. Even though we're in the same class." He stated and Byul was taken aback.

"You noticed we're classmates?" 

"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I notice the quiet girl who sits alone at the back of the class?"

Byul chuckled."People are not usually aware of my presence."

"Maybe you should start talking to some."

"I am now."

"Am I the first person in that class to talk to you?" Jaebum asked in disbelief.

Byul thought about it for a second. "Yes actually. I mostly hang out just with the other school patrons during lunch."

"I'm glad I joined the camp. I thought it's gonna be a boring week."

"Why did you think that?"

"Well, I prefer sleeping at home during summer." Jaebum shrugged. "And I'm only here because Mark's parents forced him to get out of the house during the holiday and he dragged me along." 

"Do you still think it's boring now that you're here?"

"No. Of course not! If I didn't come here, I wouldn't get to talk to you." Jaebum grinned at Byul, leaving her smiling shyly. 

"I'm glad you joined the camp too."

***

For the rest of the summer vacation, Jaebum and Byul hung out together a lot. They never told each other about their feelings but it was pretty much mutual and they were comfortable being close friends. None of Jaebum's friends knew about them, even Mark. The only people who were aware of their friendship were those who lived at the Hanok. Jaebum would visit there all the time to see Byul because Yoongi didn't allow her to go out on her own frequently. It was obvious that he actually didn't trust Jaebum to take care of Byul. On the rare days that he did let them go into town, Yoongi would send them off and just thirdwheel for the whole day. Jaebum and Byul tolerated that only because all their expenses for food or movie tickets would be paid by Yoongi. And that was also the reason they'd rather just hang out at Byul's house. 

That one day, however, they really wanted to watch a movie so Yoongi drove them to the town. Somehow, he wasn't interested to watch anything that day and left the two of them on their own while he went to buy some groceries for Mrs. Min. That was the day Jaebum and Byul believed miracles do happen. Yoongi promised to pick them up when they're done. It was Jaebum and Byul's first time out together, alone, without Yoongi between them. They felt relieved to finally be able to breathe and just be themselves around each other.

"What should we watch?" Jaebum asked as they both skimmed through the showtimes displayed on a screen at the cinema.

"There are a few movies I wanna watch... but only that Japanese movie will start soon. We can't watch a later one or Yoongi would need to wait for us and you know how he is." Byul replied, her eyes still glued to the screen.

"Then let's watch that one." 

"But it's a horror movie. I can't watch a ghost movie without having someone to hold on to." Byul told Jaebum.

"Just hold me then."

Byul was stunned to hear Jaebum saying that to her. She looked at him who had turned red from embarrassment. The two of them stayed quiet for a moment, wasn't able to comprehend what to say next. 

"Okay, let's watch that then." Byul voiced out at last, her face also turning red like Jaebum. Slowly, Jaebum reached out to take Byul's hand and she let him lead her to the ticket counter.

***

"What did you guys watch?" Yoongi asked when they were on their way to send Jaebum back to his house. 

"The new Japanese movie." Byul replied. Yoongi gave her a look. 

"The horror movie?" He asked again.

"Yes. Why?" 

" Did Jaebum make you watch it?" He said while glaring at Jaebum through the rearview mirror. Jaebum was pretending to be drinking water at the back, not wanting to make eye contact.

"No! Why would he?" Byul furrowed his eyebrows at Yoongi.

"So that you would hold him when you're scared!" 

Jaebum choked on the water that he was drinking when Yoongi made that remark. He coughed a few times while Byul just looked down at her knees. She shouldn't have told him what movie did they watch. 

"God! These kids! I let them be one their own once and they're all over each other!" Yoongi's voice went up higher a notch, feeling betrayed by Byul. His expression turned sour.

"We didn't do anything! Why are you so upset!" Byul responded, getting annoyed at Yoongi. 

"Why did I trust him? Why? Why Yoongi, why?!" Yoongi questioned himself out loud as he hit his head on the steering wheel repeatedly. They were at a red traffic light and people in the car beside them were watching him, weirded out.

"Oh my God, stop being so dramatic!" Byul shrieked as she held Yoongi back to stop him from hurting himself. "If you don't trust him, just believe me okay? We didn't do anything at the movies. I swear."

Yoongi ignored Byul and just stared out of the car window. Byul turned to Jaebum who was out of words and gave her a look that said 'I better shut up'. She let out a heavy sigh and took Yoongi's hand that was on the steering wheel to hold it. "Yoongi-yaaa, don't be like this. I would never make you sad, you know that right? Please smile for me!! You're my favourite person!!" Byul's cute voice managed to get Yoongi's attention and he looked at her from the corner of his eyes with a small smile on his face.

"Tell me you love me." He requested. Byul held Yoongi's hand tighter and gave him a warning stare. "Stop crushing my hand and do it or I'll drop Jaebum off here and make him walk back home!" He threatened in haste.

Byul immediately let his hand go. "I love you, Yoongi!" She smiled sweetly and threw him some invisible hearts. Yoongi giggled before her head happily.

"Ah~ my cute Byul!" 

Jaebum who was sitting at the back covered his face in attempt to stop himself from laughing out loud. Byul saw that he was enjoying it and scowled at him. He knew that she did it only because Yoongi would really leave him by the roadside if she had refused. Since Yoongi was satisifed with her aegyo, he drove all the way to Jaebum's house in a good mood and even said goodbye to him. When they've arrived, Byul followed Jaebum getting out of the car to talk to him before leaving.

"Today was good." Jaebum told Byul with a content smile on his face.

"It was great! Thank you for today." Byul said in return, also smiling.

"Thank you for the aegyo. Even though it wasn't for me, getting to watch it was good enough." Jaebum .

Byul hit his arm, still embarrassed about it. "If I didn't do it, you would still be walking home now!"

Jaebum groaned in pain as he rubbed his arm."That's why I said thank you!"

"You were laughing at me! Anyway, you should go in now before Yoongi gets mad again. I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah, of course! I'll go in now. Bye, Byul!" He patted Byul's head two times and quickly ran away into his house, leaving Byul flustered beside the car. Jaebum's touch was soft and so gentle that she almost missed it. For a few minutes, Byul just stood there, heart still beating fast and b with love for Jaebum. This feeling that she couldn't express in words almost burnt her from the inside for she had no place to just pour everything out. Byul wasn't sure if Jaebum was ready to cup the feelings she had for him so she had decided to wait a little bit longer. She looked over at Jaebum's house one last time, convincing herself that whatever she had with him for the time being, was enough for her. Any more of that would only make her lose all of herself to him.

"So, this is your boyfriend's house?" A rough voice greeted Byul. She snapped her head up to see a man balancing himself on top of Jaebum's house gate. She recognised him. It's one of the rotten Bloodsuckers! Fear engulfed her in an instant. Sweat trickled down the back of her neck as the man jumped down off the gate and faced her. Byul took a step back but she was stuck between the car and the man. Her face became hot as blood rushed through her entire body, alarming every single cell of the danger in front of her. She knocked the car a few times in hurry to warn Yoongi. As soon as Yoongi saw the guy towering over Byul, he got out of the car. 

"Step away from her, Ravi!" He ordered with a threatening tone, eyes looking fierce. His fangs and claws came out then, preparing himself in case a fight break out. Slowly, his white eyes turned blue while his pupils stayed brown.

Ravi put both his hands in the air and moved a step back. "I wouldn't dare touch your little princess here." He said mockingly with a disgusted expression. "But I'm only here because Jiyeon asked me to say hi to you. She's sad her little brother wouldn't play with her anymore." Ravi told them, pretending to be upset. However, in a flash, his claws and canine teeth grew longer while his eyes became yellow with black pupils, mimicking a cat's eyes. He changed his stance to attack.

Seeing Ravi had transformed, Byul acted upon it and wanted to do the same but Ravi was agile. Without wasting a second, he smacked Byul to the side, sending her across the small street and hitting a lamp post. A painful cried escaped her lips as her body came into contact with the metal. The impact was so strong, it left a bent in the pole. Byul couldn't move her body and she felt dizzy trying to stand up.

"YOU !" Yoongi growled before jumping over his car to get to Ravi. His face was scrunched up in anger. Yoongi landed on top of Ravi and took him down with his body weight. They rolled over on the road, struggling to get on top of each other. Yoongi then exerted force on Ravi and pounded him to have him stay on the ground. He hit Ravi's face with a few strong punches, each one leaving a bruise. Feeling numb, Ravi gathered his strength to block Yoongi's next punch before kicking him in the stomach, throwing him off of him. Yoongi's body was rammed into his car and he then fell to the ground. Ravi ran up to him. He picked Yoongi up by his neck to strangle him in the air. Yoongi kicked his legs frantically as he struggled and gasped for breath. His face started turning blue due to the declining oxygen volume in his body.

While Yoongi was suffocating, Byul finally regained her senses back. She picked her head up to see Ravi almost crushing Yoongi's throat. On impulse, Byul sprinted towards them and threw herself at Ravi, smashing him against the car. Yoongi slipped from Ravi's grasp. He landed on the road with a thud. As he coughed and wheezed, desperate for air, Yoongi watched Ravi clawing Byul without hesitating even a bit. Having her shoulder teared open, the poor girl screamed, which sliced Yoongi's heart. He couldn't bear seeing her getting hurt thus he collected himself to get on his feet back and attack Ravi.

Seeing Yoongi coming for him, Ravi took out his gun that he kept in his jacket pocket but it was too late. He was already within Yoongi's reach. He didn't have enough time to fire a bullet and Yoongi managed to stab his torso with his claws. Ravi howled in agony when Yoongi twisted his hand, ripping his stomach open. Blood gushed out of the wound like a waterfall. The second Yoongi drew his hand out, Ravi got himself to pull the trigger of his gun to shoot him. Unable to dodge, the bullet hit Yoongi right under his chest. He gasped as pain travelled throughout his whole body. Dropping himself to the ground, he heard Byul calling his name, hysteric to see him took the hit. Byul quickly went over to Yoongi, kneeling beside him to check the gun wound. 

"Byul..." Yoongi panted. "Jaebum..." 

Byul turned her back towards the direction Yoongi pointed at to see Jaebum standing outside of his house with eyes wide opened and fright was painted all over his face. The trash he was holding that his mom asked him to throw away had slid out of his hand. "Jaebum!" She said in total shock. The two of them just stayed dumbfounded, incapable of expressing any of the things they're thinking of.

Ravi, who was on the ground too, began to move again. Byul realised Jaebum was going to be his target next if she didn't act fast so she leapt to her feet and pinned him down by the neck. "Don't you dare!" Byul warned, tightening her grip. Her tone was harsh and dangerous. Ravi stopped trying to get up, conserving his energy to focus on staying alive.

"Finish him off, Byul." Yoongi whispered, his consciousness was fading.  He's lying on his back with a hand pressing on his wound to control the bleeding.

"What!" Byul turned to Yoongi. "I can't do it in front of him!" She was frightened. She couldn't let Jaebum see any more than he had. He would definitely run away from her.

"Hypnotise him to forget." 

Byul's heart skipped a beat when Yoongi said that. Tears were forming in her eyes. "B-but... he'll forget me!" Her voice came out as a crack.

Byul was getting more agitated as the second went by. She knew she needed to listen to Yoongi but that would mean sacrificing her feelings for Jaebum. Hypnotising humans came with a price. If a Bloodsucker were to do it, the bond that they've formed with someone would disappear along with the memory that they wanted to erase. To hypnotise Jaebum would not only result in him forgetting about that evening, but he also won't be able to remember his relationship with Byul.

"Would you rather have him dead then?!" Yoongi scolded. He groaned after, the pain stinging him again for getting all worked up. He understood how hard it was for Byul but if Ravi escaped, he'd only come back here to find Jaebum and his life would be in danger. The only way he could think of to get out of this complicated situation was to kill Ravi off and alter Jaebum's memory. Yoongi felt sorry for Byul but at least Jaebum would still be around.

A tear dropped from the corner of Byul's eye. Of course she'd rather have him forget about her and live than seeing him get killed one day. 

"Feeling sorry for humans made you guys weak! You all will be dead just trying to protect them!" Ravi interjected. Byul could hear the disgust in his voice. She's pretty pissed off that he could still talk like that even though his life was in her hand. 

"You're wrong. Humans are the ones who make us strong! You need them to stay alive. Without them, you wouldn't be here!" Byul said, pulling herself together. She needed to put her feelings aside for this one. Determined of what she was about to do, Byul took one last look at Jaebum who was still speechless. 

In a swift motion, she slashed her claws across Ravi's neck, creating another opening on his body which had caused more blood pooling around him on the road. With tears still wet on her face, Byul then stood up and walked over to Jaebum. He flinched, making Byul stopped in her track. It tore her heart to see him fearing her as if she's going to hurt him. But it's not his fault. A Bloodsucker had always been the symbol of the devil to mankind so it was only typical of Jaebum as one to be petrified.

"Y-you're not going to kill me, right?" Jaebum threw the question at Byul. "Because if you had intended to since the beginning, I would've been dead by now." He was shaking but was still sharp enough to figure that one out.

"Of course I'm not going to kill you. I like you!" Byul burst out sobbing right then, suddenly having doubts whether to carry this on or not. How can she face Jaebum later with their memories still fresh in her mind when he wouldn't be able to even recognise her? Her eyes, claws, and fangs turned back to normal as she cried. Her whimperings were so sad and devastating, which made Jaebum wonder if she's the same girl who just killed a Bloodsucker a few minutes ago. His heart ached to see her like that and the terror that he felt grew into sympathy bit by bit. Instinctively, Jaebum closed himself up to Byul before wrapping his arms around her, causing her to startle. "Jaebum?" Her voice escaped her lips as a whisper.

"I'm sure you have an explanation." He said into her ear softly. "You are one of the kindest people I've ever met." 

Hearing that, Byul hugged Jaebum back tightly, feeling relieved that he's giving her a chance. They stayed like that for a few seconds before Byul broke the embrace. She then looked into Jaebum's eyes to thank him for wanting to understand. For a moment, she felt as if everything could stay the same even after what just happened. A drop of happiness in her started to grew bigger but before she could say anything to Jaebum, sirens blared throughout the neighbourhood from afar. The both of them froze in their places.

"Someone must have called the police after hearing the gun shot." Jaebum said.

"Oh no." Byul knew she had to bring Yoongi out of that place as soon as possible. They couldn't let themselves be caught in police affairs, that would endanger the whole clan. "Help me carry Yoongi to the car." 

Jaebum went over to Yoongi as told by Byul in hurry. The man had passed out. He lifted Yoongi up and brought him to the car where Byul had opened the door for him. With care, Jaebum put Yoongi down at the back seat and closed the door. Byul got into the driver's seat while trying to control herself from panicking. She's been practising driving a few times before but had never done it to run away from the police. Jaebum stood outside her door, leaning over to help her relax. Byul turned to him. Her lips was sealed as she took the time to trace his face with her eyes. 

"Just do like you've practised before. You'll be okay." Jaebum uttered, mantaining a calm voice so that Byul wouldn't know that he's freaking out. 

Instead of saying goodbye, Byul became aware of something. "I still need to hypnotise you." She told him, ripping her own heart apart as the words came out of . Her expression was empty and hopeless. 

"What? Why?"

"You're in the middle of a crime scene! They wold suspect you to have information about us. The police wouldn't be suspicious of you as much if you lose your memory because they always get witnesses who had lost theirs when things like this happen. We're the ones who made them forget." Byul explained. Her eyes started glistening again. She couldn't run away from doing it this time. The street was covered in blood while Ravi's lying dead in front of Jaebum's house. The special unit would want to interrogate him.

"No! I heard what you said! I'll forget you if you do that!" Jaebum also was feeling tensed up like Byul. He's desperate to change her mind at that second. The sound of sirens were getting closer as they spoke. "Look, I can pretend I don't know what happened. It'll be fine."

Byul shook her head. "No. They're not stupid, especially the special unit. I don't want to cause you trouble. And I can't have my family at home be exposed to risk. As much as I appreciate you wanting to help, I need to keep them safe."

"Byul--"

Byul brought her face closer to Jaebum's and kissed his cheek. A new tear rolled down from her eye. "Take care, will you? Forget tonight and go inside your house."

***

Jaebum was quiet for a long time trying to process Byul's story. It seemed absurd that he had went through all those things but remember none. Even so, he knew Byul was only telling the truth because he could never recall how he spent last summer and that was most probably caused by her. She did say they spent a lot of time together, so those days must have been erased from his mind.

"Wow, that's a lot to take in." He exhaled a deep breath. Byul stared down at the grass, her foot playing with some dead leaves. She couldn't bring herself to say anything more. It's now up to Jaebum whether to believe her or not.

"Who are the rotten guys you mentioned?" Jaebum enquired since Byul kept silent.

Byul gave a thought about it before answering, wanting to find the simplest way to explain. "There are some of us who kill humans for sustenance... and that's not how it's supposed to be. We call them rotten because they believe in the idea that we're better than humans since we stand higher in the food chain. Our ancestors taught us to co-exist with you peacefully since it's possible to get blood by not taking someone's life. We only consume blood given with consent." She said in a careful tone. "They're causing a lot of trouble by breaking our own sets of laws. Making humans our enemies was never our intention and now, the rotten ones are getting bigger in number so we had no choice but to hunt them down."

A pang of sadness hit Byul when the image of Taehyung dead in the woods from last night crossed her mind. He used to be a kind person and a skillful mentor. She respected him a lot. Not long ago, he was influenced to go against their ancestors' belief by his rotten friends. It was a heartbreaking news for the clan to lose someone like him to the wrong party. Nonetheless, their last meeting wouldn't change the way Byul thought of him. She would always cherish him in her heart.

"And... how do you take blood with consent?" Jaebum questioned, couldn't imagine how someone would voluntarily give away their blood to these Bloodsuckers.

"Uh, it's not the most honest way but... my grandfather established a blood bank to have humans come and donate their blood. We never really mention clearly who the blood was for but of course everyone assumed it's for people who need them. And we need blood, so..." Byul shrugged dismissively. She felt a bit guilty about it but if the people who came to donate blood had read their policies thoroughly, they would know to whom they're donating to.

"That's smart. At least you don't kill people..." Jaebum replied, sounding unsure of himself but somehow glad to know that Byul would not kill him, or other humans, for blood. "So like, they're the bad guys and you're the good guys?"

"Yeah, you can say that."

"And you guys have been protecting us from them?"

"Well, we got to. They're basically my family's responsibilty since we're in charge. If they do wrong, they need to be punished."

"And I have been going around hurting your family with my friends without a clue..."

Byul understood what Jaebum was trying to say. "No, please don't blame yourself! We get the reason why you do it. It's totally for a noble cause and you didn't know any better!" She tried convincing Jaebum that it was fine. Him feeling bad about it made her feel bad too. 

"No wonder you tried stopping us..."

"We only wanted you to stop because it was troubling us! We didn't want you to risk your life. It was also hard having to hunt the rotten guys and protect you at the same time from them." Byul blurted out only to realise that it was not helping the situation at all. Jaebum palmed his face, his ears hot from embarrassment.

"And we think we were trying to protect other people..."

Byul ran out of words to comfort Jaebum. She was afraid she's going to say the wrong thing again. 

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted on my own." Jaebum apologised. His tone sincere and full of regret.

Byul smiled at him. She patted his shoulder. "It's okay. You were just trying to help. At least now you know why I told the Principal." She took a glance at her watch to look at the time. "Anyway, are you up for part two? It's gonna be dinner time soon so we need to hurry."

"There's more story?"

"Well yeah. Did you notice my mom said 'again' when I told her you knew? That's because you were hypnotised one more time a few months ago after learning about us."

Jaebum inhaled a generous amount of air, getting ready for another crazy story about himself that he never knew about. He nodded at her, notifying that he's sure he could handle this. "Go on, then."