Soojin slowed down to a walk after her twentieth circle around the huge park. It was empty since the sun was about to rise, and most purebloods were already in the safety of their houses. She sat under a large oak tree to take a rest while enjoying the peaceful lull of nature when she heard careful, almost doubtful, thuds on the ground. She looked back behind the tree only to witness a child garnered in dirt-filled white shirt and worn out pants. She could tell just by his clothing that he was not a pureblood. No doubt, he came from the forest behind the park because that humongous forest is what separated the purebloods and the hybrids. The high class and the low life.

He has guts to be wondering around this area. Soojin thought as she watched the hybrid sneakily walk through the park.

Purebloods have strict rules with hybrids that pass by their place. They either have to be employed by a pureblood or a supplier—the taboo word that nobody seemed to ever talk about, but everyone knows that almost each household has them. In order to keep the treaty with the humans, the vampires had to promise to erase human blood in their diet. Animal blood, of course, was the alternative, but it was just not satisfying so the purebloods made hybrid suppliers instead. Hybrids have half human blood running through their veins, and yes, it was as euphoric as human blood. But who would ever be proud that they drink rotten blood? That is just repulsive.

The child walked to a trashcan and hastily searched around for scraps of food that he can hopefully gather to calm his growling stomach. Yes, vampires drink blood to survive, but they also need food to function. Soojin could see his face brighten when he held up an apple that only had been bitten once, and a bag of half-filled chips. The kid quickly strolled away back into the forest and out of her sight. Soojin’s ice-cold heart constricted unexpectedly. She never did care about them-or at least tried to show that she didn't-nor did she care about the purebloods, but why was it so painful to witness such a thing? Was the environment in that side of the society so bad that the kids have to dig through trash just to find food?

Even before she could realize it, she was already walking through the woods following the clueless hybrid who was just too ecstatic for his own good. After around thirty minutes of walk, she came to a clearing. The place wasn’t far from what she expected it to be. Rundown buildings were everywhere and the house conditions were poor. Even though they follow the same time frame as the purebloods, a lot of people were still roaming the streets at the time. They were unaffected by the sun anyway. Everybody minded their own business, so they didn’t even notice when Soojin passed by. The kid quickly came to a halt in the middle of a dirty alley while quickly hiding his food behind his small back, which made Soojin stop and look up. There were three old, lanky men towering the little kid. By their disgusting smile, Soojin could tell they were up to no good.

“What do you have for us today, kid?” the bald one asked smugly.

“N-nothing,” his voice shook in terror.

the biggest one out of the three that was standing in the middle yanked the little one’s arm and lifted it up so the latter was hanging in midair face to face with the bloated face of the man. The man took the apple that was now in full view from the kid’s hand and ate it. Soojin didn’t like what she was seeing one bit, so once again, she acted on her own accord. She grab the guy’s arm that was manhandling the kid then glared ferociously at him.

“Let go,” she was dead serious.

The guy mockingly smiled at her then dropped the kid who harshly fell on the floor. He didn’t even hesitate to run away without looking back at his savior. The three men forgot about the kid as they all had their attention at their new target.

“We did you a favor, young lady. Wouldn’t it be polite to return the favor?” the one with barely any teeth smiled disgustingly at her.

The guy in the middle grabbed her by her wrists and pinned her against the damp wall, and she couldn’t be more disgusted. Soojin kept her gaze fierce as she glared without backing down.

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