Third Vampire Shadows (An Urban Paranormal Romance Novel) (3 page)

Kim
Junjin
scratched his head. “Actually, I… I kinda know about
Ouagadougou
.”

“What?”
Hyeon
Jin
snapped.

“Errmm… it’s the capital of
Burkina Faso
, in the central part,” he explained nervously. He glanced at a grinning Mun Oh. “Right?”

Mun Oh slowly nodded. “Right you are…
Ouagadougou
is the capital of
Burkina Faso
.”

“And
Burkina Faso
was called the
Republic
of
Upper Volta
when it gained independence from
France
in 1960!”
Kim
Junjin
added excitedly.

Mun Oh’s grin was like that of a Cheshire cat. “It is actually the country's largest city, with a population of 960,116, I think, as of 2000.”

Hyeon
Jin
was now positively livid, but it wasn’t enough for the relentless Mun Oh. He gazed at his sister, who was observing the exchange of ideas like a tennis game.

“Umm… I like it how they often shorten its name to
Ouaga
,
”
she commented shyly.

Mun Oh returned his gaze to
Hyeon
Jin
, who swallowed a large chunk of pineapple, annoyed.

“Hmm… Seems like
you’re the only one
in this table who doesn’t know where
Ouagadougou
is, huh?”

Hyeon
Jin
dropped her fork with a loud clatter. “Did you know that your name means
OCTOPUS
in Korean?!” she blurted out, the vein in her forehead throbbing madly. “Ha! What kind of name is that? Maybe your parents think you look like one!” She laughed aloud maniacally.

An embarrassing silence ensued. Nobody joined in her laughter.

Ji Sun cleared her throat loudly, catching
Kim
Junjin
’s attention. The latter blinked twice and then cleared his throat, too.

“You know what? I think you should tutor my daughter. I mean, you’re such a smart boy. I’m quite impressed! Maybe you could help her with a few of her subjects—” he said to Mun Oh, carefully glancing at
Hyeon
Jin
before adding “especially English.”

“What?”
Jin
snapped at her father, who jumped in his seat, startled. “Why do I need a tutor all of a sudden?”

“Well… It’s not really ‘all of a sudden,’”
Kim
Junjin
pointed out. “You already needed a tutor badly, even before Mun Oh came here.”

“I can accept anyone but him.”

“I can tutor her for free,” Mun Oh offered earnestly.

“Really?”

“What?”
Hyeon
Jin
snapped again, this time at Mun Oh.

“That’s great!”
Kim
Junjin
remarked cheerfully, ignoring
Hyeon
Jin
’s piercing glare. “It’s all settled, then! You can tutor her in English, geography, history, math, science…” he paused to think. “Well, I think you need to cover almost everything… Is that okay with you?”

“What?!”
Hyeon
Jin
exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock upon hearing her own father bash her in front of this total stranger.

Mun Oh shrugged and sipped some water. “It’s totally fine with me.”

“I’m not cool with it—”

“Okay, then! Let’s all take a rest for now and have a good start tomorrow!”
Kim
Junjin
said, drowning out
Jin
’s objections.

“Hey! I’m talking here! I said—”
Hyeon
Jin
started to say, but everyone seemed to be in such a hurry to leave the table that no one paid her any heed.

Kim
Junjin
helped Ji Sun clean the table and wash the dishes while Mun Oh strode over to
Hyeon
Jin
’s room, humming to himself.

“You little jerk!”
Hyeon
Jin
hissed, getting up from the table and beating Mun Oh to her room.

“HEY! Where do you think you’re going?” she yelled at him.

Mun Oh yawned widely. “I’m going to take a rest now… I’m kinda tired from the trip.
Ouagadougou
’s a long way from here, you know.”

Jin
gritted her teeth. “Ouadogaogou, my ass! Do you think I’m just gonna let you sleep in MY room after what you did you— you little SUCK UP!”

“It’s
Oua-ga-dou-gou
,” he corrected slowly. “And I can’t remember doing anything to piss you off.”

“Ha! You—”

“You guys, turn off the lights in the hallway before you go to sleep, okay?”
Kim
Junjin
called out as he passed them, overlooking the fact that the two were clearly not yet finished getting on each other’s nerves. Ji Sun came after him without a single word.

Mun Oh stretched his arms upward. “Could you move out of the way? I’m kinda sleepy now.”

Hyeon
Jin
opened the door and quickly locked it behind her before Mun Oh could react. The latter started banging on the door.

“Open up, you twit! I don’t have time to play an immature game with you!”

“Sleep on the couch,”
Hyeon
Jin
called out. “I bet there are no beds in Ouadoogadoug…”

“IT’S
OUAGADOUGOU
, freak!” Mun Oh shouted. “IF YOU DON’T OPEN THIS UP IN THE NEXT FIVE SECONDS, I’M GONNA—” He stopped himself, realizing what he was about to say.

He was just about to tell her that if she didn’t open up, he would suck her dry. Good thing he was able to control himself.

“You’re gonna WHAT? Call your little Ouagoogoodou friends and lecture me about geography?”
Hyeon
Jin
mocked. “Good night!”

He heard her walk away from the door and settle on the bed. Admitting defeat, he strode back past the kitchen and into the small room where two wooden chairs and one long, old-looking couch were set up in front of the flat-screen TV. He eyed the long couch anxiously.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered, shaking his head. He could not believe that that mere human girl had had the last laugh.

But as he lay down on the couch, curling up because it was too small for him, he thought that this was just the beginning. He was not just an ordinary bloodsucker—he was LEE MUN OH. A future legend. And legends did not go down in history as someone who lost in a “last laugh war” with a mere human.

Especially a GIRL,
he thought furiously.
I’m gonna make your life so miserable, you’d beg me to just bite you.

Hyeon Jin woke with a start
,
as though something unseen had shaken her. She turned her half-opened eyes toward the pig-shaped alarm clock on her bedside table.

Seven o'clock...

"Seven o'clock!!!"
Hyeon
Jin
yelled, jolting out of her bed. "I'm so LATE!" She cursed under her breath, then took a two-minute shower and got dressed as quickly as she could.

She grabbed her school bag, some books, and her shoes, and then dashed out of her messy room and into the kitchen.

There were three people sitting at the dining table as she passed it, sprinting toward the refrigerator to grab a carton of milk. She was gulping down the milk when she realized something. Confused, she took a couple of steps backward, peeked at the dining table and started counting.

Her father was there, already dressed for work, perusing his daily dose of news. Ji Sun was eating a piece of toast while typing a message on her cell phone... And the third person was just sitting there, his arms crossed smugly, dressed in formal clothes and enjoying a cup of tea.

Hyeon
Jin
cursed, her hand quickly slapping her forehead. How could she forget? It was that wretched Mun Oh.
The Brother from Hell.

She finished the milk, tossed it in the nearby trashcan and stomped toward the table. Nobody seemed to take notice of her, not even Mun Oh. So she reached out for a piece of toast, but before she could even touch one, her father's hand flew from across the table and swatted her hand away. She stared at him, surprised.

"No breakfast for you today, young lady," he simply said, getting back to his newspaper.

"WHAT? Why?"
Hyeon
Jin
demanded.

"
Kim
Junjin
… Don't be too harsh. It's not a big deal if she left Mun Oh to sleep outside. He's really used to sleeping on couches," Ji Sun explained.

"No, I'm not! I got bitten by those tiny insects and it was so cold and my neck and back hurts and… and… I didn't have a pillow!" Mun Oh whined.

Hyeon
Jin
crossed her arms. "So that's how it is? You let your daughter starve to death just because I left this—
PEST
here to sleep on the couch...?”

“That’s not what it is,”
Kim
Junjin
replied without looking at her. “You should learn to be more hospitable.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know what the word means,” Mun Oh suggested.

“Shut up, you pest!”
Hyeon
Jin
snapped at him. “I’m late. Just give me my allowance.” She held out her hand to
Kim
Junjin
.

"I already gave you this month's allowance."

Hyeon
Jin
's outstretched hand went up to scratch her head tensely.

"Well... I... I bought a couple of things for school... so…" she stuttered.

Kim
Junjin
eyed her curiously. "Hmmm. For school, eh? Well, I guess you could show it to me, then, along with the receipt."

"Oh, come on, Dad! I'm LATE!"

"You should've woken up early," Mun Oh said nonchalantly.

"One more word and I swear I'm gonna—"

"
Hyeon
Jin
!"
Kim
Junjin
said in a dangerous tone. "If you don't have anything to show me, then just leave. Stop being rude to our visitor."

Hyeon
Jin
pouted, stomped out of the kitchen, and headed toward the front door.

She then started the twenty-minute walk to her school. Normally, she would have ridden her bike or on the back of Park Juno’s bike, but since she had neither anymore, she now had to endure the five-block walk every school day.

She was a block away from her school when she decided to stop walking and scream her lungs out in fury. A few passersby stared at her anxiously.

"What are you looking at?!" she yelled at a couple of elementary students, who immediately broke into a sprint, clearly terrified.

She continued walking, now cursing and muttering under her breath.

"Sucking up to my dad... What was he thinking? That he could win him over just like that? And why is he here anyways? Such a pain in the—"

"Since when did you start talking to yourself?" A voice behind her said.

She quickly spun around and found herself face to face with a spiky-haired guy wearing a familiar, innocent smile.

Park
Juno
...

Park Juno was her ex-boyfriend. They had been together for
almost
70 days. Sadly,
Hyeon
Jin
never really showed interest in their relationship. They never even reached their 100th day as a couple.

As usual, Park Juno's eyes were glinting with mischief. He parked his bike as
Hyeon
Jin
looked around. She didn't realize that she was already inside the school gates while she was so busy mumbling to herself.

As she felt Park Juno's presence behind her again, she closed her eyes tightly, her face flushing. If there was one thing more embarrassing than talking to yourself, it was being caught by your ex-boyfriend while doing it.

She waited for him to say something. Thirty seconds went by. One minute. Another 30 seconds. She could only hear the chattering of the students as they passed her by. When two minutes had passed, she slowly looked over her shoulder.

Park Juno was not there. He had already gone inside the building.

"Really,"
Hyeon
Jin
muttered. She started stomping toward the school building, continuing her mutterings under her breath. "Why did I even wait for him to say something? What was I thinking? Damn. I'm such an—" She stopped in mid-mutter, spotting someone. "HEY! Shin
Erin
!"

A slender girl with wavy golden hair and dark blue eyes waved for
Hyeon
Jin
to come over. She was standing opposite the line of lockers in the hallway, fumbling with her things.

Hyeon
Jin
halted in front of her, putting her hands on her waist to appear annoyed.

"Have you seen my iPod?" she asked
Hyeon
Jin
without looking at her.

"You lent it to me the other day, twit,"
Hyeon
Jin
replied crossly.

"Oh, really? I forgot." She closed her bag and flashed
Hyeon
Jin
a grin.

You would never, not even once, think that they had been best friends since childhood. With just one glance, you'd assume that they belonged in two completely different cliques.

Their common denominator?
Bullying.

Shin
Erin
was quite a remarkable flirt, as
Hyeon
Jin
always pointed out. The evidence? She dated five different guys from the same class, every year, without them knowing.

Hyeon
Jin
couldn't really tell if they were
plain dumb
or just
playing dumb
. After all, it was quite a privilege for them to date the hottest girl in town, even for just a week.

Shin
Erin
got her gorgeous features from her mother, a former beauty queen. Being half-Italian, Shin Erin had a rather perfect combination of genes, and she had never failed to make someone's head turn—whether it was a boy or a girl. She had been offered a bunch of acting roles since the early age of six.

Hyeon
Jin
didn’t really mind all the attention that her best friend was getting. There were only two things that she cared about: liberating herself from this pathetic high school as soon as possible and bullying all the weaklings in the world until they developed a backbone. Well,
Hyeon
Jin
wasn't really ugly. It was just that next to Shin Erin, who wore makeup every day and took care to look pretty, Hyeon Jin was nothing more than a plain-looking girl who didn't even use a comb every day.

"I need it back," Shin Erin said in her overly sweet voice.

"'I need it back,' my ass!"
Hyeon
Jin
said. "Why did you tell my dad about Park Juno?!"

Shin
Erin
curled her brows. "What about him?"

Hyeon
Jin
scoffed. She didn't really want to say it out loud because she believed that doing so made it official.

"
Oh..
." Shin
Erin
said. "Well, he asked me where you were last night. I couldn't really tell him you were off bullying a bunch of geeks, so I just told him a lie." She thought for a while. "Well, half a lie, actually."

"Whatever. I'd still appreciate it if you didn't tell him..."
Hyeon
Jin
mumbled darkly, starting to walk toward the end of the hall where their classroom was.

Shin
Erin
followed her, finger-combing her hair gracefully, making a group of seniors drool stupidly as they passed by.

"So what happened last night?"

"Don't ask,"
Hyeon
Jin
replied shortly.

"Okay," Shin Erin said, nodding but looking unconvinced. "So... what happened?" she asked.

Jin
pushed open the door to their classroom just as the bell rang throughout the building. Students immediately went to their respective seats and classrooms.
Hyeon
Jin
studied her best friend, staring into her comically anxious face, which somewhat resembled that of a tabloid reporter waiting for some juicy gossip. She sighed, thinking it would be best if she let out some of the anger and frustration she'd been harboring since last night.

“Get inside, twit. I’ll tell you about it.”

“Ah-ha!” Shin
Erin
cheered loudly as she entered the room and settled into her seat at the back, with
Hyeon
Jin
in her wake.

•••

Mun Oh yawned widely as he clicked the remote control, surfing the TV channels for a decent program. He was alone in the house.
Kim
Junjin
had already left for work. Mun Oh found out that he was working at a public relations agency. By the looks of it, he could tell that
Kim
Junjin
was not yet the "top" employee in their company. But being the eccentric man that he was,
Kim
Junjin
appeared to be indifferent about it. For him, it was enough that he could bring food to their table three times a day.

Mun Oh was hoping to finish the conversation with his sister as soon as possible. He didn’t want to spend another night in this wretched house. His plans had been thwarted by the fact that Ji Sun also had had to leave for work. She worked as an assistant manager at one of the fast food chicken restaurants in the area. Although Mun Oh argued that he couldn’t see the point of having an “
assistant
” manager when there was already a manager, Ji Sun heard none of it and told him that their conversation would have to wait until she got back.

Since he didn’t really like the idea of being held up inside the house, much more a
human
house, he stood up from the couch, turned off the TV, and dragged himself outside, not bothering to change into casual clothes.

Right after jumping over the green picket fence, however, he remembered his sister's admonition just before she had left.

"Whatever happens, don't—and I mean
DON'T
—leave the house. Especially if you're off to look for a
catch,"
Ji Sun had hurriedly whispered to him that morning while
Kim
Junjin
had gone to get his tie from the bedroom.

Mun Oh made a face but Ji Sun had chosen to ignore it. "Listen here... if you get 'thirsty,' there are two cartons of blood in the refrigerator, disguised as tomato juice," she said, pointing in the direction of the kitchen. "That should be enough for you for the whole day, at least until I come back."

He wanted badly to argue that he did not drink just anyone's blood, he preferred the blood of a particular
type
of human. He liked to get to know his catch first before sucking its blood; that way, he could be assured of the quality of the blood and the satisfaction that he would get from it.

Unfortunately for him, by the time he had opened his mouth to speak,
Kim
Junjin
was already sprinting toward them, ending their conversation right then and there.