"Han Cheong-ah."
A voice rousing Han Cheong-ah from her deep slumber.
"Cheong-ah."
Han Cheong-ah desperately resisted the voice she heard, pulling the blanket all the way over her head.
"Keep ignoring me, and your big sis might just lose her temper."
Han Cheong-ah bolted upright in bed the instant the threat reached her ears.
"Violence is bad..."
Lee Gyeo-ul, her roommate and self-appointed protector, casually greeted the mumbling Han Cheong-ah, who sounded like she was still half-asleep.
"Good morning."
"It's morning already...? For some reason, I feel extra sleepy today."
Han Cheong-ah let out a long yawn, brushing back her tousled hair.
Unlike Han Cheong-ah, who was rubbing her sleepy eyes, her protector Lee Gyeo-ul was already neatly dressed in her school uniform.
"You were up until dawn staring at that drawing, so of course you are."
Tucked in Han Cheong-ah's arms—in place of the doll she usually slept with—was a notebook precious to her, filled with croquis sketches.
Just yesterday, she'd stayed up until dawn, entranced by a drawing from some unknown artist, and now she felt more exhausted than ever.
She wanted nothing more than to flop back into bed for some extra sleep, but with Lee Gyeo-ul glaring at her with sharp eyes, that wasn't an option right now.
"I made breakfast, so eat up quick. And today, don't slip up and call me 'sis,' or 'Gyeo-ul,' or anything like that outside."
"I won't. I'm not a kid..."
"You called me by my real name at school yesterday, though."
Han Cheong-ah froze mid-rise and cleared her throat awkwardly.
"That was because you popped up out of nowhere so suddenly..."
"No excuses. Like I said, outside, I'm 'Fujiwara Miyuki.' It's been a whole month since I transferred in—how are you still mixing it up?"
Han Cheong-ah shriveled up under Lee Gyeo-ul's morning nagging.
Even the unpredictable, otherworldly girl Han Cheong-ah was just a meek little lamb in front of her protector.
"Ugh, we'll be late at this rate. Let's eat first."
"I haven't even eaten breakfast yet, but my stomach already feels full."
The two ate the breakfast Lee Gyeo-ul had prepared, chatting about their usual everyday topics.
"So, how'd you meet the guy who drew it?"
"I met him by fate, right in the middle of an adventure."
"You ran into him on the street by chance, huh."
Their conversation topic was the boy Han Cheong-ah had bumped into yesterday.
"Boys sure know how pretty our Cheong-ah is... So, what happened next?"
"Next?"
"You know, like plans to meet up after, or swapping numbers or something. A guy who can draw asking you to model? That's 100% him being into you..."
Lee Gyeo-ul seemed more excited than Han Cheong-ah herself.
"Nothing like that."
"Come on, liar. Encounters dripping with that youthful springtime vibe don't come around often outside school days. Your big sis totally supports you dating, so spill everything to me..."
"Dating?"
Han Cheong-ah tilted her head.
"I don't dream of becoming famous like you, sis."
"Not that kind of celebrity! I mean love! LOVE! And I'm not famous for that stuff anyway..."
"Oh, that kind of dating. But really, nothing happened."
It hadn't been some romantic encounter between model and artist in the first place.
The boy had only drawn her as an excuse for that punch incident—it wasn't the cherry-blossom-scented love story Lee Gyeo-ul was imagining.
"Fine, fine. Keeping secrets from your big sis, huh."
Ignoring Lee Gyeo-ul, who dramatically pouted with hands on her hips, Han Cheong-ah slurped her soup.
'Come to think of it.'
Slurp—the sweet, savory broth slid down her throat.
'I should've at least asked his name.'
Apart from everything else, Han Cheong-ah absolutely loved the croquis sketch of herself.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Illustrators are, by and large, nocturnal creatures.
Not because of some artistic calling... bullshit.
It's just that, without the need to wake up every morning like office workers, their sleep schedules naturally get all messed up.
As a night owl myself, I'd always felt this crushing fatigue whenever I had to rise early.
But right now, the exhaustion hitting me was on a whole other level.
"Groooan..."
Only now did it really sink in that I'd become a vampire.
The sunlight filtering through the semi-basement window was causing me this much agony.
The moment it touched my skin, it stung like hell, and I felt my energy draining out of me.
I had no idea why dust was piling up on the bed or why a coffin that didn't fit was taking up space in the room.
Ten minutes under the sun... and I'd be dead.
To me, the sun was murder.
Literally.
Still, there was one silver lining: a way to overcome the sun existed for me.
⚔ STATUS ⚔⚡ Level.1 - Heat Generation (Psi Ability) A superpower that generates heat.💨 C-Rank output, equivalent to a standard Psyker. The Barrier Field protecting the body✨ also falls under this ability.💪 Evolution Condition: 100 Evolution Points,🍀 ■■ Aria Blood von Direwolf.
The villain I'd possessed, Baek Do-hyun, was a Psyker.
In other words, a vampire and a superpowered human.
Psykers could envelop their entire bodies in a tough membrane called a Barrier Field, just like Dimensional Beasts, and I could use that to block out the sunlight.
I deployed the Barrier Field over my whole body with ease.
It was as natural as breathing, something I'd instinctively mastered.
Heat Generation worked the same way.
Imagine the superpower in my mind, thrust my hand forward, and whoosh! Flames scorched the air, flickering through the semi-basement.
In this modern age where tech makes starting a fire a breeze, what practical use did flames even have...?
Well, setting aside Heat Generation, the Barrier Field itself was a godsend for a nocturnal vampire like me, letting me move around in daylight.
Before I possessed him, Baek Do-hyun must've used this Barrier Field to attend school.
Speaking of which, Baek Do-hyun was a student in Academy City too.
After getting that shady message at the pier and heading home,
I'd scoured the semi-basement to gather intel on Baek Do-hyun.
That's when I found his student ID and uniform, confirming he was a high schooler at Cuvette Psi High School, same as Han Cheong-ah.
Of course, besides the ID and uniform, there were other things: drawers stuffed with white powder I suspected was drugs, and shady business cards.
Was Baek Do-hyun transporting drugs on top of doing jobs for the 21st Century Secret Society?
Come to think of it, there were drug-related episodes in Red Ark.
Might come in handy someday, so I left them where they were.
Among the suspicious cards was one for a 'doctor'—probably how he got his blood supply.
Hadn't tried drinking any yet, but the fridge was stocked with what looked like bags of red liquid.
Finally, I'd found info on the 21st Century Secret Society too.
Hadn't checked it out yet.
Planning to after school today.
"Alright then..."
It was 7:30 a.m. now.
I'd finished showering and changed into my uniform.
It'd been ages since I'd worn one—heading to school after so long didn't feel half bad.
Like reverting to my vibrant teenage years.
I whistled at my reflection in the mirror.
Baek Do-hyun was one hell of a handsome character.
Shorter than my real-life self but a solid 170 cm, decent height.
His blue hair fell in long waves past his nape, perfectly suiting his androgynous, almost feminine face.
Those red eyes, dubbed Hypnotic Eyes, had a hypnotic allure that could entrance anyone.
True to a beautiful, seductive vampire, he boasted stunning looks.
I grabbed my small bag with the pad for class and headed out.
The walk to school was thick with new-semester vibes.
Cherry trees everywhere, sidewalks packed with uniformed students beside the asphalt roads.
Cherry blossom petals danced in the wind as I strolled through them.
On the way, I pulled out my smartphone.
The screen still showed those cryptic System messages.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙System: Evolution Points are awarded based on survival days and fate divergence points. System: Looking forward to the story you'll unfold in 'Red Ark' from here on.
If things followed the original story, Academy City would face crisis after crisis, tragedy after tragedy.
Psykers turning into Dimensional Beasts, rifts opening in the sky and unleashing hordes of them, and more.
At the heart of every major incident was the 21st Century Secret Society I belonged to.
Even if I'd dodged one crisis, since this world's framework was Red Ark, I'd only just cleared the prologue for now.
"Fate divergence points and survival days... plus evolution conditions."
Plenty of things to worry about.
To survive, I'd have to scheme somehow.
Though for now, just attending school without skipping was the best play.
No thanks to refusing mandatory education and getting shipped off to the most dangerous spot in Academy City: the juvenile hall.
I sighed and quickened my pace.