Heading up north of Sokcho town, 10KM into the woods, stood a well-known Korean traditional house to the people who live there. Its size was thrice as big compared to a normal traditional house and the lawn surrounding it was a perfect green of Japanese carpet grass. On the left side of the house, there's a huge fish pond while trees with bright-coloured leaves were all over the place, making it a gorgeous garden where one could spend hours to enjoy nature. The house gate was bordered by thick forest and there was only one decently-built track that connected the house to the town for cars and taxis. This house was famous to tourists, especially, for their excellent bed and breakfast service. They also provided interesting workshops for those who wanted to learn more about Korean culture and during school holidays, the place usually organised camps for students. The house did not really have a name but for generations, it had always been referred to as The Hanok and no other Hanok could ever top this particular one's beauty and extraravagance. Everyone knew the house had been there since forever.

What people did not know about The Hanok was, the bed and breakfast service was just a cover up for its real purpose. 

Owned by the Min family, they built the house centuries ago as a place to govern and run the Bloodsuckers' affairs. As the head family of all Bloodsuckers who lived in Korea, the Mins were in charge of taking care of the Bloodsuckers' well-being and protecting the clan from harm and danger. After the death of his father and uncle, Yoongi was the one who stepped up to be the leader of the clan and was also basically the owner of the bed and breakfast service. He was helped to run the business by his aunt, Byul's mother, while Byul herself was Yoongi's right hand since she's the next one in line to take his place as the leader if anything were to haappen to him. It's a huge responsibility for her but not being born into the family was never a choice she could make.

The Hanok was also house to the Mins and a number of other Bloodsuckers who worked there as the bed and breakfast service staff. It was built inside the forest to keep humans away from it initially but it arose suspicions and attracted too much attention when development started taking place outside the forest area, so Yoongi and Byul's grandfather decided to start the business as a cover up. It was a brilliant decision since it became their main source of income now. Another reason to why The Hanok was located there was because Bloodsuckers kept wolves in the forest as their hunting partners. It would be impossible to do that if they lived in town with the humans. 

That morning, as per usual before heading to school, Byul went into the woods through the back gate of her house to check up on Suki, the wolf that had been with her ever since she was little. She saw Suki sleeping under a tree nearby and went up to her with some fresh chickens in her hand. Kneeling down beside Suki, Byul placed the chickens in front of her as she woke up and stretched lazily. Suki head-butted Byul gently as a greeting and Byul hugged her. "Good morning bbg." Byul said with a smile. Suki then Byul's face and had her breakfast while Byul groomed and accompany her.

"Suki, is it alright if I got you ducks for tomorrow's breakfast?" Byul asked. "We have so many at home because Star is sick of them." Star was Yoongi's wolf name. Like Byul and Suki, Star had been with Yoongi since they were a cub and a kid. 

Suki just replied with a soft growl, which Byul understood as she didn't mind eating ducks for breakfast. They continued to converse for a while before hearing another wolf running towards them from the east side of the forest. It was Star with Yoongi on his back; they must had just gotten back from their morning run. 

"Hey girls." Yoongi greeted after getting off of Star's back. He walked up to Byul and Suki before petting Suki's head. Suki his hand in return.

"Hey. How was your run?" Byul questioned. She looked over to Star who was resting near them, clearly looking full and happy.

"Cool. Star managed to catch a deer for breakfast. Tough guy, huh? Would you like to date him, Suki?" Yoongi joked but was ignored by Suki. Byul just stared at him with a 'don't do it again' look. "Fine! Was just trynna help my man here. By the way, what time is it?" 

Byul glanced at her watch. "Ten minutes aftter seven. I should go to school now."

"Sure. Tonight's plan is good to go right?"

"Yeah. Everything's good. Just, Jin said he might not be able to come tonight. Work stuff."

Yoongi responded with a nod. "We might be able to come back early tonight. Clearance is almost done anyway near the river area. You can sleep early for school." 

Byul smiled when he said that. "He gave me coffee yesterday because I was sleepy in class." She told Yoongi. He whistled and smirked at her.

"Boy knows his game. What else after this? A ring?" teased Yoongi playfully while Byul just laughed at his comment. "Oh ya, what's up with your friends? Have you settled that?"

"All done. I got the Principal to warn them about their activities. That should do, I think."

"Why didn't you just hypnotise the boys?"

Byul sighed at Yoongi's question. "You know I can't."

"Because of Jaebum?" Byul didn't answer him this time and looked away. "Byul, you know it's dangerous for him if the others knew. He could be a target."

"I know. Just give me some time."

"You're a leader. Remember your position. Don't reveal anything that could be used against you." Yoongi reminded her in a stern voice.

"I'm not the leader. You are." Byul replied while looking down at her feet, avoiding eye contact.

"Byul, let's not do this again. You know damn well you are. Everyone in this family is. It but what can we do?" 

Byul held her tears back, trying not to cry again. "God! I wish Dad's still here. I wouldn't have to handle all these." She said, her voice cracking.

Yoongi sighed and hugged Byul gently, trying to comfort her. "I know. It's okay. You'll be fine." 

***

"Alright, class. We're discussing yesterday's homework. Take it out." Mrs. Choi ordered. Byul took out her exercise book, like everyone else was doing and flipped it open. Her eyes scanned the pages, pleased at how every answer space was filled with the right answer.

"Byul." Jaebum called.

"Yes?" Byul aswered with a small smile.

"Did you find the answer for question three? I'm so bad at this." He laughed nervously.

"Really? The top student is bad at Maths? I wonder where I stand!" Byul chuckled and her smile lingered on her face. "Let me see." Byul moved closer to look at his book where the answer space for question three was only filled up halfway. "Ah, you missed one calculation here......"

As Byul explained to Jaebum how the question should be solved, he just stared at her, completely forgetting that he had asked fo her help. He couldn't help it. Byul was so close to him, he could smell the faint scent of her peach perfume. He noticed how brown her eyes were and just realised that she had a dimple on her left cheek. Her long, black hair was tied up in a ponytail and Jaebum could see her cat-shaped ear studs. He also just realised how long Byul's eyelashes were. Suddenly, he heard Byul laughing and realised he's been caught admiring her.

"What's so interesting about my face that you won't listen to me?" Her question made him blush and he quickly looked away.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." 

"It's fine. Would you like me to explain again? But this time you need to look at the book, okay?" Byul couldn't resist teasing him. 

"I was looking at the book! I just got distrac--"

"Im Jaebum! Min Eunbyul!" Mrs. Choi angry voice cut Jaebum off. "Pay attention to the board!" 

"Sorry, Mrs. Choi." Jaebum and Byul said simultaneously. They then shared a look and snickered quietly. Mark watched them from his place with a slight pang of unexplained dismay.

***

Later in the evening, Byul was busy going around The Hanok to make sure everything was in place for their hunt that night. She first visited the wolves in the forest behind her house to make sure that they're taking their early dinner. Hani was in charge of feeding them and Byul found her trying to get her wolf, Kirin, to eat her food. Other wolves were eating theirs hungrily, understood that they must be well-prepared for tonight. 

"Hey, Hani." Byul greeted. "Kirin's not eating?" She noticed Kirin's untouched meat on the ground.

"Yeah, she's refusing to go hunt tonight because I can't go." Hani replied with a small sigh. Her wounded leg was still healing and Yoongi ordered her to be excluded from hunts until she got better.

Byul faced Kirin, who's known to be the most arrogant wolf around. She's a special character for her loyalty was only for Hani and no one else could control her. "Hello there, Kirin. Looking beautiful as always today." Byul said, her hand brushed Kirin's fur softly. Kirin gave Byul an unimpressed look. She looked away, sat down and rested her head on her paws, pretending to be sleeping.

Byul and Hani looked at each other. "I'm sorry. You know how she is," uttered Hani.

Byul observed the rest of the pack, they were almost done eating. "Oh well, I think it would be fine if Kirin doesn't come tonight. We have enough numbers." 

"Thank you, Byul."

"No worries. Kirin, make sure you eat even though you're not going tonight." Byul said and this time, Kirin replied with a huff. Suki then came to Byul for pets. She rubbed her body against Byul's legs. "Hey there, Suki. Are you done eating? Ready for tonight?" She scratched Suki's head for a few minutes and Suki chuffed happily at the attention given.

"All right then, I need to go now. See you tonight bbg!" 

Hani and Suki waved goodbye to Byul as she left to inspect the weapon inventory. Even though Bloodsuckers didn't really use weapons to hunt, they still equipped themselves with some for long-ranged combats since they're naturally good only at short-ranged ones. This helped mostly when they're ambushed by the special unit during hunts because humans had the advantage to attack from afar with their guns. When Byul reached the weapon vault, she saw Namjoon, who was on duty to clean the guns that day, loading bullets into some. "Hi, Byul. Done with the wolves?" Namjoon said with a smile.

Byul smiled back at him. "Yeah. You doing good here?"

"Of course. I'm almost done. Will head to the dining hall in a bit."

"Good. I'll just double check everything, yeah?" Byul asked, to be polite.

"Go ahead, boss." 

She proceeded to check all the weapons to be used that night one by one, making sure everything was cleaned and loaded. Satisfied with everything, she nodded at Namjoon who had been following her with his eyes. "Looks good. Let's have dinner shall we?"

Namjoon opened the door for Byul and let her pass through first before shadowing her from behind.  They walked to the dining hall together, where everyone was already there for dinner, except Yoongi. His seat at the head of the table was still empty. Byul took her seat. Her mother, who was sitting in front of her, was having a conversation with Hani and Momo about their plans for the upcoming school holiday camp. She listened silently to the discussion while waiting for Yoongi to come down. Her eyes wandered on the table, observing that night's dinner. As usual, there were a few different types of meats, kimchi stew, rice, seaweed soup, side dishes and of course an ice container filled with blood bags. The Bloodsuckers' diet was pretty much similar to humans' but with the addition of fresh blood, which they needed to consume at least twice a day. Different blood types had different distinct tastes and for Byul, she liked B- type the most. It's sweet but also had a slight saltiness and tanginess to it that she enjoyed. 

"Where's Yoongi?" Jimin, who was sitting at the other end of the table, asked. Byul looked over at him and the other eight familiar faces around the dining table. Everyone who lived in The Hanok usually ate meals together and they shouldn't start eating untill the leader was there with them. 

"I'm not sure. He had been waiting for a call from Mr. Wang today." Mrs. Min said. 

"If he doesn't come down soon, we'll be late on schedule." Momo stated while looking at the wall clock above the dining hall's door. The door was suddenly opened from outside and Yoongi appeared. He entered the hall and took his seat hastily. 

"Sorry I'm late. I was on the phone with Mr. Wang." Yoongi apologised. Everyone at the table just looked at him in silence. "What?" He asked.

"Duh, we wanna know what did you talk about with him!" Byul answered.

"Oh. He said, things are actually getting better down there in China. The rotten ones are being caught and those who were suspected of spreading ideas are being questioned. He also wished us luck."

"Okay, wow, thanks Mr. Wang. Gee, your wish is really helpful." Byul commented sarcastically.

"Hey, at least he meant well and did not try to compete on this like he always does with everything." Yoongi pointed out and everyone laughed a little when reminded of how competitive Mr. Wang was even though they're on the same team.

"Just admit it, Yoongi. You would prefer it if he's dead and replaced by his grandson!" Namjoon said, still laughing.

"Ugh, it's a good dream. That old guy won't be dead for another 500 years at least." Yoongi shook his head and sighed. "Anyway, let's eat. We should go out in an hour." 

***

Byul and Suki were assigned to cover the edge of the forest, near the river where they met the 7 Slayers a few nights ago. Byul was riding Suki on her back and they were going around the perimeter to make sure the area was clear of harm. It's quite a chilly night but at least they could hear the hootings of owls and sounds of crickets from behind bushes instead of the usual deafening silence. The full moon that night shone their path with an excellent yellow light and Byul loved it. After an hour of scouting, she got down off Suki by the river bank so that they both could rest for five minutes to hydrate themselves up. Byul drank some water from her tumbler while looking across the river to observe any human activities going on but the town was already dead and no one was around.

She then picked up the sound of leaves rustling behind them. Byul immediately turned around and watched for any movements between the trees. She hopped on Suki's back again before stealthily directing the wolf to head back into the woods. Carefully, they monitored the place. Byul's heart pounded in her chest but she was ready to engage in case someone attacked her by surprise. Suki stopped walking abruptly and sniffed around with suspicions. A branch above them snapped loudly. On impulse, they booth looked up and was surprised to see a black figure in the air. The figure knocked Byul off Suki and she fell onto the ground with a thump. Suki howled in surprise when another wolf pounced on her and dragged her away from Byul.  

"Suki!" Byul exclaimed but she didn't have time to go after Suki as the figure that attacked her just now swished his claws at Byul. Fortunately, she managed to block his hand and rolled away before getting up off the ground. The girl breathed heavily, feeling nervous being on her own without Suki. With the help of the moonlight, Byul got to see her attacker's face. An expression of surprise was stamped on it when she saw who it was; Taehyung.

"Taehyung..." Byul whispered. He smirked in reply.

"Surprise!" Taehyung said with a creepy smile. 

"What are you doing here?" Byul asked, her voice crowned with fear. 

Taehyung scoffed, "isn't it obvious? To kill you, of course. Oh God, did you become stupid after I left? I told you to stop hanging out with Yoongi. He's an idiot and surely you'll be like him too if you don't get out of that house."

"He's not an idiot. You are!" Byul said, feeling provoked when Taehyung talked about her cousin. She did perceive Yoongi as a nuisance in her life but at the end of the day, Yoongi had always been there for her and was like a brother. No one should ever fight him, if they did want to, they would need to go over her first.

"Tsk tsk tsk... You stupid girl. Still playing his guard dog are you?" Taehyung laughed in amusement. "Oh well, we all know how to get this over with. Come, Byul. Show me what that old prick has taught you." 

"He taught me a lot but one thing for sure is, I'm not that same girl you mentored years ago." Byul said angrily.

"Okay, let me be the judge of it, yeah?" He replied in cockiness.

Taehyung then charged at Byul with full speed, his claws ready to tear her flesh apart. She ducked from the attack and ripped Taehyung's torso with all her might, knew that a good chance like this was rare in a battle. He cried in pain but didn't surrender at once. Blood began soaking his shirt with a dark red colour. They stared into each other's eyes intensely while Taehyung's breath was running out of rhythm.

"You can't even remember you taught me to hit after dodging an attack? Pathetic. What has your prick girlfriend taught you?"  Byul remarked with loath.

She didn't wait another second to go in for another hit, this time aiming for his neck. She tried slashing it but Taehyung was quick to jump a few steps away from her. He then leapt on Byul and pinned her down on the ground. When she saw Taehyung coming down to rip her neck off with his fangs, she blocked him with her arm. His fangs penetrated her flesh. She hissed in pain before grabbing Taehyung's collar and flipped them both so that she's now on top of him. Surprised by Byul's strength, Taehyung couldn't even scream when she swiftly slit his throat open. Blood gushed out of the wound and pooled around him. 

"You're the stupid one! You're the one still playing guard dog for that !" Byul screamed into Taehyung's dead face.

She let go of him and sat down on the grass. Her chest went up and down in a fast pace, trying to catch her breath after that fight. She then heard a wolf yelped in pain a few feets away from her. Byul stood up and got a glimpse of Suki still rumbling with Taehyung's wolf between the trees. In the midst of that fight, she saw a torchlight nearby the two wolves. Byul knew right away that that was a human because Bloodsuckers could see in the dark well even without light so they didn't need a torchlight. She ran towards the human, worried that he might be caught up in the middle of the wolves' brawl. Suki shoved Taehyung's wolf with her head and sent him flying towards the human's direction. Byul got there just in time to push him out of the way and Taehyung's wolf hit a tree bark instead. It whimpered and tried to get up again but his leg that Suki broke before failed him. Suki took the opportunity to inflict her final blow and killed it off by biting into its neck, ripping it off.

Byul shivered at the sight. "God, that's brutal. I'm sorry you had to see that. Are you okay?" She said with her eyes still on Suki and the other wolf. 

"B...Byul...?"

Upon hearing that voice, Byul turned her head quickly to her side. She gasped in disbelief and her eyes went wide. Jaebum had the exact same expression as her when he saw her face covered in blood, sharp fangs in between her lips, her white eyes had turned blue while her pupils stayed brown and they were cat-like. She also had long and sharp fingernails, or what he might call claws. 

"Oh, ." Byul uttered under her breath, definitely not expecting this.

Jaebum appeared to be scared. He frowned in confusion. "Wha...what are you doing here? Why do you look like that? Are you really Byul?" 

"No, no,  no, no, no! I am Byul! See!" Jaebum's frown became tighter and his confusion doubled when Byul's teeth, eyes and nails turned back to normal (or as how she always looked like at school). She took a step closer towards Jaebum, desperately wanting him to understand but he backed away from her. "Please don't be scared of me." Byul's voice was quiet, almost a whisper. Jaebum could see her eyes glistening under the moon.

"I am... No, why...? What... what are you, Byul?" Jaebum was speechless, he had so many questions and he just didn't know what or which one he should ask first.

"I am me, Byul! The same girl who sits next to you in class."

"You didn't look like her just now."

"Look, I can explain."

"Okay then, why don't we start with why are you here?"

"Me? Why are you here? Didn't the Principal gave you guys a warning to stop this stupid you're doing?"

Jaebum stared hard at Byul, realising that she was the culprit who exposed him and his friends. "You're the one who told him. You've been listening to us every morning!"

"It's for your own good! It's too dangerous for you boys out here."

"Oh yeah? Maybe we were a threat to you only because we could kill you! You wanted us out of the way so that you could kill more humans!"

"No. You're wrong. I... Some of us do not kill for human blood..." Byul took a brave step forward to get closer to Jaebum. He instantly pointed his gun at her and she stopped moving.

"Stay there! Or I'll--"

"Sleep!" 

Yoongi ordered after jumping down from a tree branch and smacking Jaebum's head. Jaebum slumped onto the ground and fell asleep right away. Byul gave him a disapproving look. "You didn't have to do that."

"He was gonna shoot you! No one points a gun at my Byul!"

"You know he wouldn't do that."

"Oh, come on. He's not gonna listen to you anyway, not now, not here in this situation." 

Byul exhaled sharply. "Fine. What now?"

"We need to leave. The ing special unit is here. They figured out we can hypnotise humans by touch so they had this new suit that... how to put it simply...? Okay, if you touch them, you're ing dead."

"Oh, my god! How did they know...?"

"I don't know. Smart humans are ing annoying."

"Stop cursing so much!"

"Oh, what, you trynna be a good girl now in front of your stupid boyfriend?" Yoongi scoffed while giving the sleeping Jaebum a dirty look. How can Byul like this guy? He didn't seem smart. Or handsome. He definitely had better looks than this Jaebum guy.

"Shut up, ."

Yoongi smiled smugly. "That didn't last long." 

They both then heard soldiers running, heading towards their way.

"Oh, . Let's go."  Yoongi straight away climbed a tree near him to escape from the special unit. Byul glanced over at Jaebum sadly one last time before following Yoongi, disappering into the night.