Beast, Blue Blood - Chapter 68

Chapter 68

After finishing dinner and cleaning up, Ha-yeon picked up her backpack.

“I’m leaving.”

Si-woo, who was wiping down the kitchen counter, turned around as if caught off guard.

“You’re leaving already?”

“I only came for dinner. I’m going now.”

Without waiting for a response, Ha-yeon left the house. Si-woo swallowed a sigh. It seemed she had no intention of easily letting him back into her life.

The fault likely lay in the fact that after Ha-yeon left for Africa, he hadn’t made time to visit her for many years, using busyness as an excuse.

Si-woo untied the apron around his waist, placed it on the island counter, and took a pack out of the refrigerator, tossing it next to the apron. He then opened a drawer below and took out a pack of cigarettes.

Lighting a cigarette, he brought it to his lips, inhaled deeply, and exhaled. Inside the pack on the island, the bright red liquid slowly swirled.

Soon, he tossed the cigarette into the sink, grabbed the pack, opened it, and tilted his head back to drink it all in one go.

* * *

Si-woo was standing by the window, looking out.

Behind him, the door opened, and someone entered, spotting Si-woo, who appeared to be Selena, standing by the window.

“You look troubled.”

The person said.

Si-woo turned around. Lowell, dressed in a beige two-piece suit, approached him and looked out the window at what he had been gazing at. The view of Seoul from a high vantage point spread out before them.

“You said you used to live here, right?”

“Yes, a long time ago.”

Seeing the distant look in Si-woo’s eyes as he gazed at the city, Lowell asked curiously.

“Haven’t you visited from time to time?”

“No, I hadn’t been here until we moved the office.”

Although he answered, his eyes seemed distant, as if they weren’t truly focused on this place.

Lowell followed his gaze back to the view. Seoul had changed so much since the first time she came here that it felt like a different place. She wondered if it still looked the same to his red eyes.

“Still, this is your hometown. Don’t you miss it?”

Si-woo shrugged slightly.

“Everything I knew here was gone long before.”

It must be the fate of Luax.

Lowell turned to go inside.

“Come in.”

As he followed her into the office, a nurse at the entrance held out her hand.

“Your coat….”

“Thank you.”

Responding reflexively to the kindness, Si-woo smiled as he handed over his coat. The nurse, somewhat overwhelmed, blushed slightly as she took it.

Lowell watched the scene as if finding it exasperating.

The office was decorated in a low, wooden tone, resembling a scholar’s study. Lowell sat in one of the two chairs facing each other in the center and asked.

“How are the hallucinations these days?”

Si-woo sat down in the chair opposite her and replied.

“They’ve gotten much better.”

“Even without makeup?”

Si-woo nodded.

“Drinking blood helps.”

Lowell briefly checked the electronic medical record, then clasped her hands on her lap and asked, sounding almost like a psychiatrist.

“In times like these, especially for someone in your position, isn’t it difficult to accept that you have to drink blood by nature?”

“I’ve lived drinking blood much longer than I’ve been using Flos, so I don’t have any particular feelings about it. But there are times when it’s inconvenient. The product our company developed conflicts with my constitution.”

Of course, Ivan, the head of the clan, and Alex were aware that Si-woo needed to drink blood. However, it was agreed that it would be best to keep this fact a secret from most of the clan members, limiting the knowledge to as few people as possible.

Even though the blood was being purchased legitimately.

“Why do you think the hallucinations started in the first place?”

Lowell asked gently, her tone probing.

“Are you still not ready to talk about what happened in the past?”

Si-woo remained silent.

“I think your cross-dressing is also related to it….”

Just then, a beep sounded from the speaker, and a nurse’s voice came through.

[Excuse me. Your secretary is asking if you can leave now.]

Si-woo stood up. Jerome was already waiting for him at the door.

But suddenly, Lowell placed a hand on Si-woo’s shoulder. This surprised Si-woo because, despite Lowell being his therapist, they weren’t on such familiar terms. When Si-woo turned to look at her in confusion, Lowell pulled a single fine, light brown hair from Si-woo’s shoulder and smiled playfully.

“The person you’ve been seeing lately, do they have brown hair?”

Jerome, knowing that the hair belonged to Ha-yeon, wondered how Si-woo would respond, but Si-woo simply took the hair from Lowell without saying much and turned away.

“See you next time.”

Jerome and Si-woo got into the elevator together. As the elevator descended, Jerome, standing behind Si-woo, suddenly spoke up.

“Don’t see Dr. Lowell anymore.”

Si-woo turned around, puzzled as if asking what Jerome was talking about, and Jerome added.

“I mean Dr. Lowell, not you. It seems like she has feelings for you.”

It was surprising for Jerome, but even though Si-woo dressed like this, women still seemed to sense the man inside him. He never had trouble attracting women. What was even more surprising was that none of these women had any homosexual tendencies.

It was indeed a strange world where someone could cross-dress and still not have difficulty dating women.

Si-woo responded.

“You’re being disrespectful to the doctor. To her, a patient is just a patient.”

But Jerome only looked more exasperated.

“What kind of patient says nothing and leaves after being forced to come here a few times because Ivanov told him to?”

Si-woo looked at Jerome curiously.

“How do you know I say nothing?”

After all, the soundproofing in the room was designed to block even Luax’s hearing, and Jerome, being human, shouldn’t be able to hear anything at all.

Jerome shrugged.

“You don’t have the expression of someone who’s been talking.”

Si-woo slightly shook his head.

“You should consider talking less yourself.”

* * *

“Have you ever heard a rumor like this?”

Myung-jin suddenly asked while looking at her monitor.

“The rumor that human plasma is needed to manufacture ‘Flos.'”

Ha-yeon, who was sitting at the table looking for materials, turned her head with a confused expression.

“Flos is made from flowers.”

“That rumor has been around since Flos first came out.”

Myung-jin said, still not looking back.

“The whole idea that flowers could replace blood was absurd to begin with. So, the rumor started that they were secretly using human plasma and just marketing it as flowers. ‘We no longer drink blood.’ That sort of thing.”

Without turning around, Myung-jin continued.

“After all, humans and vampires once had a war, right? After that, they had to find a way to coexist, but with the traditional image of vampires drinking human blood, it was hard for them to live together peacefully. So, something like Flos, a blood substitute, was essential.”

Ha-yeon frowned.

“But the chemical formula for Flos has been public for a long time. It doesn’t contain anything like human plasma.”

“That’s why the rumor died down.”

“Then why are you bringing it up now?”

“A news article came out.”

Finally, Myung-jin turned around and pointed at the article on her monitor. As Ha-yeon approached to read it, Myung-jin explained.

“A young man collapsed and died in front of ISLE’s headquarters. The direct cause of death was a heart attack, but about a third of the blood in his body was missing.”

“Wasn’t that something a Luax did?”

Ha-yeon asked. Myung-jin shrugged.

“Maybe. Or it could have been a human fanatic.”

There had been so many incidents where humans, trying to find a way to become Luax, resorted to all kinds of rituals and cult practices. There were enough of those stories to fill a book, not to mention the Brotherhood incident.

Myung-jin pointed at the article on the monitor again.

“They wrote an article about it, dragging up the old rumor that Flos contains human plasma. And it was published by a major newspaper.”

Ha-yeon let out a dry laugh.

“This is pure fiction.”

“Well, these days, there’s no juicier target than ISLE.”

Then, with a shrug, Myung-jin added.

“Though it’s ironic to say that to vampires.”

As Myung-jin returned to her computer, Ha-yeon put her hands on her hips, deep in thought.

It’s been more than a generation since the world learned that vampires were real, yet humanity still hadn’t shed its prejudices against Luax. Even with all the laws, social systems, and even moral standards in place to keep them in check, it was understandable that people couldn’t easily feel at ease knowing some beings could attack and drink their blood at any moment.

In the end, ISLE was a company founded and operated by Luax, so it was natural for it to be viewed with suspicion.

‘But ISLE won’t take a tabloid-like story like this seriously.’

As always, they would handle it on their own, so there was no need for her to worry about it.

* * *

“What kind of nonsense is this?”

Jerome said in disbelief.

Though Jerome had been hired early on into the CEO’s office and had proven his capabilities, he was still young and sometimes lacked a certain gravitas in his speech, especially when it was just the three of them.

In the meeting room, Si-woo, Eugene, and Jerome were gathered, with today’s article displayed in front of them.

“Isn’t this just a speculative report, something even yellow journalism would hesitate to publish?”

Jerome said indignantly. Eugene then looked at Si-woo and asked.

“Should we have the legal team respond?”

Si-woo, who was leaning against the conference table, unfolded his arms.

“No, it’s better not to respond hastily.”

Overreacting when the police weren’t even investigating could backfire.

“But it’s pretty nasty that they brought up that old rumor about human plasma being in Flos.”

Jerome said, though Si-woo’s expression remained indifferent.

“Don’t worry about it. Those kinds of rumors will keep following us as long as we live.”

“Don’t you not die…?”

Jerome asked cautiously, to which Eugene replied.

“He means they won’t go away. Anyway, understood.”

* * *

“Hello?”

At the sudden voice, Ha-yeon looked up.