Chapter 5. The Past Will Come to Bite You

On the way back to her dorm, Minju shuddered at her previous conversation with Chaewon, and probably how awkward she was being. 

Why did I have to flirt with her like that? She probably thinks I’m a weirdo.

And now, she had gotten herself into a little road trip with her, with the totally unbelievable excuse that Wonyoung would feel lonely without her. Minju shook her head at her poor decision. 

Arriving at her dorm, she opened the door to see an almost empty room, all except one raven-haired girl with clothes scattered all over her bed and on the floor. Minju walked up to the corner of Wonyoung’s bed and put her hand on the bedpost. She watched Wonyoung with a light expression, amused at how the girl was so immersed in annoyance that she still hadn’t noticed that Minju had arrived. She continued to throw clothes around with furrowed eyebrows, and so Minju cleared .

Wonyoung looked up at her and flashed a smile.

“Unnie.”

“Why are you so stressed?” Minju asked, crossing her arms.

Wonyoung sighed, running her hand through her long hair.

“I’m going on a trip with Yujin sunbae. I need to pack some stuff because it’s a long journey.”

Minju took the opportunity to tease Wonyoung.

“Oh, a trip?” Minju said with a cheeky tone. “To do what?”

“Unnie,” Wonyoung said, having realised the direction her tone was headed in. “It’s for class, okay. We have to collect wolfsbane.”

Minju walked over to the other side of the room and opened her closet. She put her hands on her hips as she scanned the clothes on the rack.

“What should I bring?” She said, eyes towards her closet.

“Bring where?” Wonyoung asked, folding a shirt up and putting it in her tiny bag.

“To Germany,” Minju replied simply.

“What? Why are you going to Germany?”

“I’m coming with you,” Minju said, turning around to face Wonyoung with a soft smile.

“Why…” Wonyoung trailed, looking at her friend questioningly.

Minju faked sadness, “if you wanted to be alone with Yujin you should’ve just told me.”

Wonyoung’s jaw dropped and she shook her head vigorously. 

“Absolutely not- feel free to tag along,” she said, earning a laugh from Minju.

This was the first time that Chaewon would see her out of her school uniform, and so Minju wanted to wear clothes that looked at least half presentable. She didn’t actually know what to pack, as Yujin had said it was only going to be a night trip, but Germany is at least a five hour journey so Minju figured that she should pack a little heavier in case there was a hold up. 

It was a warm night, so she decided that she didn’t need to wear a jacket. The outfit she went with consisted of a white long sleeve button up shirt, topped with a v-neck green sweatshirt and black trousers. It made her look like a cute preppy girl. 

She looked over back at Wonyoung’s side of the room, and the girl had finally narrowed down her outfit choice to a white frilled top with a beige blazer and black skinny jeans. Wonyoung’s fashion sense was very much a contrast to Minju who liked to wear loose, comfortable clothes. Her wardrobe consisted of much more chic clothing - Minju never asked her where she got her clothes from because she was sure they were probably from some high end fashion brand that she couldn’t pronounce the name of. Minju did, however, question why she wanted to look this good on a simple trip, though. They were going to collect wolfsbane not visit Tinkerbell’s magical abode. 

There was a knock on the door that drew the attention of both girls inside the room. They assumed that it was Yujin so they gathered their things up and headed to the door.

“Sunbae-” Wonyoung started as she opened the door, only to be taken aback when she clocked the face of someone else.

“Chaewon sunbae?” Wonyoung said dubiously as she slowly opened the door the rest of the way.

Minju stepped out from behind Wonyoung and gave the girl a soft smile. Likewise how it was Chaewon’s first time to see Minju in clothes other than her uniform, it was also Minju’s first time seeing Chaewon, too. Minju felt her heart flutter slightly at the sight of Chaewon in loose clothes, much like her own, except she sported an oversized hoodie and mom jeans. 

“You guys ready to go?” Chaewon said, smiling.

“S-sure,” Wonyoung said, still surprised from the unexpected greeting.

Wonyoung waited for Chaewon to leave before she tugged on Minju’s sleeve as the girl attempted to walk past her through the doorway.

“So this is why you’re coming,” Wonyoung said in a tone which Minju recognised all too well.

“Shut up,” Minju replied, trying to stop herself from smiling. She shook herself out of Wonyoung’s grasp and followed shortly after Chaewon.

-

The journey to Germany was surprisingly a lot shorter than Minju expected. It was a given, really, considering the wicked speed that vampires could travel at. 

The night sky had grown even darker now, it was a black blanket decorated with beautiful silver stars. They found themselves in the middle of a stunning landscape, on top of the hilly mountains of Berlin. The hills overlooked the bustling city, and it was so dark that one could only just differentiate the glow of the stars and the glow of the city lights. 

On the way up, Minju maintained conversation with Wonyoung while Chaewon was next to her conversing with Yujin. Minju found it difficult to focus on her own words as every now and then, she would feel a hand brush against hers. And when it did, Minju would glance down and notice that Chaewon’s hand stayed extremely close to her own. Whether Chaewon was doing it on purpose, Minju did not know, but she could have sworn that she felt a pinky finger graze hers at one point.

“Wolfsbane is found at the top of mountains,” Chaewon explained. “You have to search for a sort of patch of purple flowers, and there’s a large purple flower in the centre. You have to dig the soil around the centre flower and pull it out gently so that the root isn’t destroyed.” 

Yujin and Wonyoung nodded.

“Minju and I will just stay around this area while you guys explore for yourselves,” Chaewon said, receiving a nod from the two youngest.

Wonyoung and Yujin headed off in the other direction, scanning across the seemingly endless hills of the terrain. 

“This is gonna take ages,” Wonyoung groaned.

“It’ll be obvious once we find it,” Yujin said. “Just look for a patch of purple flowers.”

They walked probably around five steps before Wonyoung stopped again.

“I can’t be bothered.”

Yujin scoffed and crossed her arms as she stared at the stroppy girl.

“If you acted like this at the monthly evaluation I would have whooped your .”

“Well regardless, you didn’t,” Wonyoung gave her a mocking smile as she walked past her.

Yujin let out a huff and followed her.

“I could’ve easily beat you, you know,” she said with a pointed tone.

“Except you didn’t,” Wonyoung teased on.

“Right come on then. Let’s duel right now!” Yujin said, standing in front of Wonyoung and stopping her path.

Wonyoung continued to walk, however, until the front of her shoes came into contact with Yujin’s. She stood there with a serious expression, staring at Yujin. She chuckled when she saw the girl tense up, a nervous look in her eyes. 

Yujin could finally inhale again once the image of Wonyoung disappeared from in front of her.

“I’d still win though,” Wonyoung’s voice echoed backwards, and it took Yujin multiple seconds to figure out that she was already ahead of her, skipping off into the distance.

-

Minju and Chaewon sat at the edge of the hill wrapped in a comfortable silence. Chaewon leaned back on both of her hands as she threw her head back to gaze at the sky. Minju kept her eyes towards the city landscape and held her hands together in her lap.

Minju missed this, the relaxing feeling of being able to simply sit outside in nature. She couldn’t do that at the academy, as they had night time classes and they weren’t allowed outside of their dorms in the daytime which was the assigned sleeping hours. Taking in a deep breath, she absorbed the feeling of having the breeze in her face, rippling through her clothes and her hair. She examined the silhouette of the city landscape and felt the nostalgia of her own home in Seoul hit her. How was mom doing? Minji, her sister? It had been a long time since she felt completely free, free of any kind of responsibility other than her school work. She reminisced on the times she spent in her school, her extra studying classes in hakwon, too, if maybe, if she were to come back into the human world then everything would go back to normal. 

It’s dangerous to think things like that, Wonyoung would often tell her. To dwell on the past is to ruin your present and future, she would say. Minju thought very hard about this, and maybe there was some truth to it. Remembering the past would just make Minju feel bad about herself- but she still felt like she was missing something. Sometimes she hated being a Bloodbound. The mere idea of dedicating yourself for someone else’s satisfaction sounded like the epitome of slavery to her, and so growing up knowing that this was going to be her destiny utterly frightened her. 

She always wanted things to change; she didn’t want to be a vampire if she drew the shortest straw from the pile. She wanted to be normal if it meant that she could enjoy life and it’s hardships in their entirety. 

But things were about to change.

The brunette’s lips parted slightly and her shoulders grew stiff when she smelled a mint scent dangerously close to her, followed by a weight on her left shoulder. The minty aroma became even stronger and Minju side glanced to check if this was really happening. She gulped as she tried to stay as still as possible, trying to seem unfazed by Chaewon’s head on her shoulder. 

She shut her eyes tightly when she felt Chaewon’s hand slither into her own, breaking her hold from her own hands. She couldn’t risk Chaewon sensing a physical change in her air. She pressed her lips into a tight line as she tried so desperately to act nonchalant. 

“Your hands are cold,” Chaewon spoke up in the silence.

Minju’s reply was delayed, still taken aback by the unexpected movement. 

“O-oh, yeah, a little,” Minju responded, cringing at how she stuttered. 

Chaewon straightened her posture as she retracted herself from Minju’s shoulder, and lifted her hoodie off.

“Wear this,” she said. 

Minju decided that rather than be weird and awkward by rejecting the offer, she should instead just accept it with no words said. She gratefully took the hoodie from Chaewon’s hand and put it on over her head. She was immediately swamped in a minty scent and it made Minju feel at peace.

As if Chaewon’s previous action wasn’t heart fluttering enough, Minju’s eyes widened when the girl proceeded to resume back to her original position on her shoulder. She was certain that Chaewon could hear her heartbeat now- it was echoing even in her own ears.

“This view brings back all the memories,” Chaewon voiced into the empty air in front of them.

“You’ve been here before?” Minju replied, gazing forwards.

“I used to come here a lot with my cousin and we used to-” 

Minju glanced down towards her shoulder when Chaewon failed to finish her sentence.

“Unnie,” Minju said softly, squeezing her hand which was still entwined in her own. “You can tell me.”

“Me and my cousin used to do such stupid things here,” Chaewon said in a reflective tone. “Did you know that there are a lot of Bloodbounds in Germany?”

Minju shook her head.

“I had the best and the worst time of my life here. Worst, because I did such inhumane things. But also the best, because it was in this city here, that I was able to feel entirely free.”

“What did you do?” Minju asked carefully, trying not to trigger her.

“My cousin is a Talgory of course, but she’d been raised to have slightly different morals than me.”

Minju listened with welcoming ears.

“She grew up in a family where there was absolutely no ounce of self control. It was kill, kill, kill, all the time,” Chaewon said quietly.

“There are some members of my bloodline who think that killing is the most important aspect of a Talgory’s life. Why should we be forced to exercise self control when our natural instinct as the original vampires of the supernatural world, is to kill?” She continued. “And so a lot of my cousins and family members grow up to be rippers.”

Minju cast her mind back to the times when her mother used to warn her against going outside during the nighttime. Around three years ago, there were hundreds of cases each day about the deaths of thousands of Bloodbound vampires and humans. This particular era was called the Ripper killings. In which over two hundred thousand Bloodbounds and human beings were killed by the notorious Talgory rippers in the span of three years. She recognised the term ‘ripper’ when Chaewon used it, but given the historical background, she grew increasingly discomforted at what the girl could possibly say following it. 

“To say the least, my cousin took advantage of how bloodthirsty I was and coerced me into participating in the ripper killings.”

The muscles in Minju’s body tensed up and she suddenly felt like a deer in headlights.

Chaewon felt this, however, and so she sat up away from Minju’s shoulder in hopes of allowing the girl some space to relax.

Chaewon looked down at her own hands which were now placed on her lap and her eyes became droopy while the corners of her lips pulled downwards. 

She could feel her voice breaking when she spoke, “that’s why I regret everything,” she said, trying to hold back her tears. 

Minju was now looking at her from a distance with worried eyes.

“I regret coming to school during that time because all I did was put my Bloodbounds in danger,” she said, her voice breathy and tears threatening to fall from her eyes now.

Minju’s eyebrows knitted together and she felt her stomach drop seeing Chaewon in such a vulnerable state. She internally cursed at herself for moving away from Chaewon just then, just when she needed her the most. She realised the amount of self-restraint the girl must have had to apply throughout their time together, how even just sitting next to her must’ve put her into some kind of frenzy. But every move that the orange-haired girl made towards her was soft and gentle, sweeter than any way she had been treated before and Minju had only just appreciated it. She’d only just appreciated how Chaewon would go to any lengths to make her feel safe. 

“Unnie,” Minju said just above a whisper, immediately embracing her in a hug as she felt a tear trickle down her cheek. She wrapped Chaewon’s head into her chest and dug her face into the girl’s hair, her head desperately with the tips of her fingers.

“I’m so sorry Minju-ya,” she cried, her voice muffled in Minju’s chest. 

Chaewon pulled away, tears stained all over her face as well as on her hoodie that Minju was wearing. She took Minju’s hand into hers gently as she slowly rolled the sleeve of her hoodie up. 

Chaewon visibly broke down again, tears welling up in her eyes once more when she saw the several marks from her own teeth scarred into Minju’s wrists. 

She dropped her head into her hands which were holding Minju’s and whimpered, “I’m so so sorry Minju-ya.”

Minju’s lips parted and her eyes shone brightly due to the reflection of her tears. Her heart was so pained to see Chaewon like this. 

“I’m such a monster…” Chaewon whimpered. “The fact that my hunger is replenished but only with the cost of your pain. It’s such an evil thing,” she cried even more.

Minju pulled her into another hug and placed her chin on top of the weeping girl’s head. She placed a delicate kiss on the crown of her head and caressed her hair in the process. 

“Your beautiful wrists have been ruined because of me,” was her final phrase when the initial sobbing was over. Her voice was small now, her breathing irregular. 

“Unnie, look at me,” Minju said quietly, moving Chaewon’s chin upwards to connect their eyes. 

Minju felt her heart skip a beat when Chaewon’s red eyes stared deeply into hers.

“I would do anything for you,” Minju said.

Now it was Chaewon’s turn to melt internally. She didn’t quite know if she was hearing things correctly.

“I don’t care what it is I have to do…” Minju trailed, gazing into her eyes. “As long as it’s for you.”

For the first time, Minju wasn’t even bothered by the flashing city lights, or her memories of the past. She would push all of these thoughts away if it meant that she could stay in this very moment forever. Because right then, having Chaewon in her arms was the only thing that mattered.

The eye contact became so intense and prolonged that Chaewon took the initiative to realise that they had been staring at each other for too long. She cleared and sat up.

“You wanna know something really annoying,” Chaewon said in a reflective tone as she looked back at the city.

“Hm?” Minju sounded.

“I can’t read your mind anymore.”

Minju turned to her swiftly with widened eyes.

“You can read my mind?” She said, shocked.

“Used to,” Chaewon chuckled in response. “I don’t know why I can’t seem to anymore.”

Chaewon paused.

“I thought you knew that my gift was mind control?”

“Yeah well I didn’t know that included telepathy,” Minju retorted.

Minju had flashbacks to the time when Chaewon had been her unexpected saviour. Her mind took her back to all the moments when Chaewon had had a reaction to something she was doing.

“The Eligiato freshmen…” Minju trailed.

“I was reading your thoughts that night, and I suddenly sensed your fear, so I knew,” she said simply.

“What about that time in class when you were smiling out of the blue?” 

Chaewon laughed outwardly, remembering that particular scenario.

“You know you’re not very slick, Kim Minju. I knew you were watching me,” she chuckled.

“Ya, I was-” she stopped. She had no witty response to that.

“So you think I’m pretty, huh?” Chaewon said in a suggestive tone, looking at Minju with playful eyes. 

“You-” No response, again. Dangit Minju! 

“Oh just shut up.”

Chaewon smiled. 

Their conversation was interrupted by a piercing scream.

“Minju unnie!”

The pair stood up alarmingly fast, and frantically looked around their surroundings.

“Jang Wonyoung!” Minju cried out.

Just then, Chaewon heard a howling noise along with the rustling of leaves and a low growling. She glanced around in disbelief and she slowly came to a gut wrenching realisation.

. They were in werewolf territory.

Chaewon’s eyes widened and she grabbed Minju’s hand and they ran together into the heart of the nearby forest. They followed the screaming sounds until they came to the front of a clearing in the middle of the woods. They hid behind a large tree and peeked around the trunk.

Wonyoung and Yujin were surrounded by a pack of angry wolves, who grew dangerously closer to them. Wonyoung and Yujin were holding onto each other’s waists, hissing at the wolves but failing to cause any real scare. They were too young to have experienced any real life encounter with another supernatural creature. 

Without warning, Chaewon ran out from their hiding spot and Minju covered to prevent herself from shrieking. 

But when Chaewon tried to run over to the younger pair using her enhanced speed, it failed. Now a werewolf was hurtling towards her in full speed and Chaewon desperately tried to injure it using her mind control but that too, failed. 

Before she knew it, she was pinned to the ground with her face mushed against the wet soil. She grimaced as she could feel the wolf’s snout up close to her face, and she expected the worst.

That was, until, the low growling noise of the wolf who had captured her suddenly disappeared, and she opened her eyes to see the shadows of the wolves diffusing away from the area.

Chaewon cautiously sat up, brushing herself off, when she was taken aback by the sight of a figure whom she knew all too well.

“Sakura unnie?”