Blood and Devotion | Woosan (English version)

1 - Innocence

Wooyoung looked at San's face, covered in blood, unconscious beside him.

How had they gotten to that point? How was it possible that Wooyoung, in all of his long life, had vowed to protect only one person and had failed to do so? He could not wrap his mind around it.

How was it possible that even the pure heart of the one person who had restored his faith in humanity was now as tainted as his own?

He laid a hand on San's hair, gently stroking the raven locks. He did not know whether to hope he would wake up soon or not. He did not know how to explain him what he had done to him.

If he thought back to how it all started, he felt like crying. The others were right. He should have left him alone from the beginning, he should have not gotten involved, he should have ignored him as he did with everyone else.

Now San's life was ruined, and it was all his fault.

SIX YEARS BEFORE THE MOMENT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Wooyoung entered the school where he would spend the next month, inhaling deeply that intoxicating scent of fresh, young blood.

After years of hiding in the dark, talking exclusively to Hongjoong and Yeosang, Wooyoung had decided to pretend to be a new student and attend one year of school. It was the best solution he had found to fight boredom.

Being physically 20 years old, he could not pass himself off as younger than an 18-year-old, so he had given up to the idea of spending more than one year there, but it was still better than nothing.

Hongjoong had heavily criticized him for his choice, saying repeatedly it made no sense to put himself in the position to risk getting caught if it was not strictly necessary. A school was a place full of temptations. However, Wooyoung had well mastered the art of self-control, so he felt confident enough to try his fate. He had decided that he would not feed on any student in order to prevent strange rumors from spreading, so all in all he felt the risk was rather limited.

Yeosang, on the other hand, had teased him nonstop. "Are you so bored that you are going back to school after two hundred years?"

Yes, he was that bored.

He walked along the hallways, feeling like a wolf in disguise among his preys — which, he kinda was, come to think of it.

He looked at his own class schedule. Frankly, classes were the thing he looked forward to the most. He was curious about what was being taught in school these days compared to when he had first attended. So many years had passed — something had to have changed. He had literature for the first class. Well, at least the day would have been interesting from the very beginning.

He passed in front of what should have been an empty classroom and, thanks to his overdeveloped hearing, heard that someone inside was crying. Or rather he was trying hard not to, but the small, sporadic choked sobs he could not hold back had betrayed him. Wooyoung opened the door, intrigued.

He saw a petite little boy standing motionless in front of a glass terrarium. The little boy, hearing the door open, turned around to look at him. His eyes were glazed over and his red nose was running.

"Hey there... Is something wrong? Who are you?" asked Wooyoung. He was always fascinated when he did not understand humans.

The young boy blushed, "I'm a freshman. I — couldn't wait for the first day, but then they told me that in two weeks we're going to vivisect these frogs," the little boy moved from the terrarium, allowing Wooyoung to see the two unfortunate frogs. "The thing is — that's not fair. They are imprisoned here, poor things, and they don't know that soon they will die. It's too cruel, I don't want them to die because of us," the little boy concluded, pulling up with his nose.