By Zephyria 
“Those sons of bitches! When I tell them not to show up, they swarm me in droves, but when I actually look for them, they don’t show a single damn trace! Absolute bullshit!”
Late at night, Man-soo, who was eating dinner in front of a campfire, shouted while stretching his legs out across the snow like a throwing a tantrum child. It was a sound loud enough to shake the heavens, but the snow-covered forest swallowed it whole in one gulp and spat back silence. The only thing audible was the crackle and pop of the campfire.
“Tell me about it.”
“Sigh…”
Those sitting around Man-soo let out sighs of agreement or clicked their tongues.
And for good reason; it had already been four days. For four days they had done nothing but run across the snow, and the Crimson Rain Brigade had yet to encounter a Tentacle Plant Monster.
Though they ran and ran, crossing mountains, plains, and occasionally lakes, all they saw was pure white snow. They occasionally encountered ghouls wandering without a leader, but since they were literally leaderless, they were useless.
The surroundings were irritatingly quiet, the destination was vague, and the snow was so white it made one’s eyes ache. Everyone showed clear signs of exhaustion. They weren’t exhausted from hardship, but from boredom. This kind of movement didn’t suit the Crimson Rain Brigade, who lived with ghouls right at their doorstep.
“…….”
Ho-eun, with a darkened expression, scooped up some soup. However, he didn’t bring it to his mouth. After pondering something for a while, he opened his lips as if to speak to those gathered around, then closed them again with a short sigh. Just as he put the now-cold soup into his mouth—
“What.”
Tae-muk, who was sitting beside him, spoke out of the blue.
“Pardon?”
Ho-eun asked back, raising an eyebrow. Tae-muk set down his empty bowl and looked at Ho-eun.
“You were about to say something. What is it?”
“…….”
Ho-eun unconsciously bit his lip. He had only twitched his mouth for a moment; how did he know? Ho-eun was about to answer that it was nothing, but seeing Dong-ja and Man-soo barely eating, and Gil-sang and Seong-im who had already put down their utensils, he swallowed hard. Then, he cautiously spoke.
“I… I was thinking, instead of searching for the ghoul, what if we lured it…?”
“Lured it?”
Gil-sang tilted his head.
“How?”
Man-soo asked back.
“That is…”
Despite having managed to throw out the introduction, Ho-eun couldn’t easily continue. Looking quite distressed, he cast his eyelashes down and let out a silent sigh. Tae-muk watched Ho-eun quietly. Then, he spoke in his characteristic deep voice.
“Blood?”
At that short word, Ho-eun’s shoulders flinched.
“The reason you’re hesitating is obvious.”
Tae-muk gave a small smirk and rubbed Ho-eun’s cheek with his thumb. Ho-eun gave an awkward, half-hearted smile.
“Blood? What do you mean by that?”
Just then, Byeonguk, who had brought Ho-eun’s herbal medicine, asked. Ho-eun bowed his head and received it with both hands. Then, he swallowed it gulp by gulp without complaint. He didn’t particularly want to drink it, but knowing that everyone’s concern was poured into this pitch-black liquid, he couldn’t refuse. In fact, thanks to that, he hadn’t caught a Gobul despite running through this cold for four days.
“Those ghouls are sensitive to the smell of human blood,” Tae-muk said, watching Ho-eun as if monitoring him. Occasionally, he gently brushed away the stray hairs tickling Ho-eun’s forehead.
“Everyone has already left this place, so there’s nothing to eat, and they must be starving. If there is one somewhere around here, it might rush in upon smelling blood.”
“Then should I bleed a bit?”
Dong-ja spoke, abruptly pulling out the spear she had planted in the ground. At that, Ho-eun coughed. Tae-muk patted Ho-eun’s back and looked at Dong-ja with irritation.
“Why the hell are you thrusting that hideous thing in while the kid is taking his medicine?”
“Geez, you said we need human blood. Young Master, were you surprised? Sorry.”
“No, cough, no. I’m, cough, I’m fine.”
Covering his mouth with the back of his hand, Ho-eun waved his other hand frantically. Then, in a voice slightly suppressed by the coughing, he tried to stop Dong-ja.
“But we don’t know how much blood we’d need to draw. Also, there’s no guarantee that a less intelligent ghoul—the kind we want—will come. If we’re unlucky, a Double Horn Type ghoul might appear. This isn’t a controllable operation. To begin with, getting human blood… it doesn’t make sense, so, yes, that’s why I didn’t mention it…”
Ho-eun’s voice grew smaller and smaller. However, Dong-ja spoke as if it were no big deal, her nostrils flaring.
“Why can’t we get blood? This place is full of guys who wouldn’t die even if you drew a pot’s worth of blood.”
Man-soo immediately nodded.
“Exactly. If you count the blood Dong-ja has transfused into me, it’d probably be, uh, as much as the Han River. But look at me. I’m sturdy as a rock.”
He then slapped Dong-ja’s thick forearm with a loud crack. The blow was quite fierce, but Dong-ja didn’t even blink, as if a fly had simply landed and flown away.
“Ah…”
Ho-eun let out a small lament. Right, half of the people here were God of War, and according to Tae-muk, they wouldn’t die even if a bomb exploded or they were shot. So, they wouldn’t die from bleeding a little. But that wasn’t the point.
“Regardless, you have to make a wound. How can you do such a thing to a perfectly healthy body? It cannot be done.”
However, no one entertained Ho-eun’s concerns. Byeonguk looked at Tae-muk and said, “I think it’s worth a try. We can’t just keep searching forever.”
Gil-sang also nodded.
“Me too. If we sprinkle a bucket of blood and hide, then once the smart ones show up, we just pluck out the leader and kill ’em, and the rest’ll be easy to handle. That way, a Leaf Type or Sprout Type will probably show up.”
At the succession of words that were not just devoted but dangerous, Ho-eun shook his head as if having a convulsion.
“No, no… you can’t. You can’t do that.”
He looked at Tae-muk, pleading with his eyes for him to stop them, to say it couldn’t be done. But Tae-muk, as if he hadn’t heard anything or simply didn’t care, was staring with a serious face only at the herbal medicine Ho-eun hadn’t finished. At that, Ho-eun let out a deep sigh and swallowed the rest of the medicine. And the moment the bowl became empty—
“Bring the map.”
Tae-muk commanded.
* * *
The sky was deep blue as it was still before dawn. Under that sky, a single tiled house stood tall, and the entire house was dripping with blood. It looked as if it had been dipped entirely in blood and then pulled out. Above, nameless black birds flew by, cawing, adding to the bleakness.
It was a sight that went beyond ominous to be downright creepy. At the same time, it was a scene fitting for the Crimson Rain Brigade.
“Haa…”
Ho-eun, hiding behind a wall, let out a deep sigh at the piercing smell of blood. Then, Gil-sang, who was beside him, asked worriedly, “Young Master, are you feeling unwell?”
Gil-sang’s wrist was wrapped tightly in bandages. This was because he had cut his wrist with a knife to draw blood. Not only Gil-sang, but every God of War had bandages wrapped around their wrists.
Right now, only Tae-muk, who was standing on the roof of the tiled house pouring blood from a bucket, had no bandages on his wrists. It wasn’t that he hadn’t drawn blood; he had cut both wrists deeply, but the wounds had already healed.
A few hours ago, Tae-muk, while examining the map, had found a village abandoned long ago. He came here immediately, drew blood from the soldiers, sprinkled the drawn blood from the village entrance to the tiled house, and finally poured blood all over the house. He sprinkled it so thoroughly that the roof was soaked, the walls were stained, and blood dripped from the eaves down to the floorboards.
The vibrating scent of blood was so intense it felt as if it could reach all the way to Hanyang.
“No. I’m not sick. I’m just… worried. Everyone has even shed blood; what if things don’t go well?”
Ho-eun asked with a face full of concern. Perhaps because of the smell of blood, he kept feeling tense and anxious. His heart beat rapidly. However, Gil-sang instead gave a beaming smile.
“Don’t worry too much. It’ll go well.”
“But… I’m afraid something might happen.”
“We’re here precisely so that something happens. It’d be a bigger problem if nothing happened.”
Gil-sang deliberately furrowed his brows. His face was sly and playful, unlike his usual self, and Ho-eun forgot the situation for a moment and let out a faint smile.
“…Yes. You are right.”
It would indeed be a problem if the ghoul didn’t appear. That was the reason everyone was going through this hardship. As Ho-eun nodded and took a deep breath—
Thump! Clatter, clatter.
A loud noise echoed through the village. Startled, Ho-eun peeked his eyes over the wall. The bucket that had held the blood was rolling on the ground. It seemed Tae-muk had thrown it from the roof. Ho-eun shifted his gaze upward to look at Tae-muk.
Tae-muk brushed back his unkempt black hair with his hand and took a cigarette from his trouser pocket. After lighting it, he slowly paced the not-so-wide roof, scattering smoke. Occasionally, he kicked a broken tile or frowned at the blood staining the hem of his trousers.
While all the soldiers, including Ho-eun, were hiding behind the walls, behind the house, or on the roof, only Tae-muk was exposing himself like that.
This was because a smart ghoul might appear. If no people were visible, it might suspect a trap, and in the process, other soldiers could get hurt. Thus, Tae-muk was volunteering himself as the bait.