Blood and Devotion | Woosan (English version)

25 - Epilogue, Together

"Thank you, San," Mingi said in a rough voice, after San had moistened his lips with an ice cube.

He had awakened a few days ago. San, Wooyoung, Hoongjoong and Yeosang had visited him after getting permission from Seonghwa. Mingi did not remember anything about the day of the accident, so forgiving them had come easier for him than for others. San liked spending time with him. He was a one-of-a-kind, sensitive guy, plus, even if he was bedridden, he would always make him laugh.

Since Wooyoung had started teaching Seonghwa and Jongho mind manipulation, they spent almost every day in the forest with them.

After a short time, Hongjoong and Yeosang had also wanted to join them and had gone to apologize to the group for everything that had happened. Actually, Jongho had apologized to Yeosang too for almost pulling his arm off, scratching his head in embarrassment. Now, inexplicably, the two of them had become inseparable and did nothing but play pranks on each other constantly.

It was good there, in the middle of nowhere, free to be fast, strong, loud — themselves.

Seeing Seonghwa and Jongho's obvious progress in mind manipulation, their smiles when they returned victorious from a hunt with Wooyoung, even Yunho had softened toward the group. He couldn't wait for Mingi to be better to start learning that technique as well.

They had all agreed that Hongjoong would teach them, so that he and Wooyoung would share the work. After much insistence, Yeosang had obtained that he, too, would have had a chance to try learning together with Yunho and Mingi.

As for San — he was not interested in doing so. To his immense delight, he and Wooyoung had discovered that now that the bond had been established, they no longer needed anything but each other. He would have never needed to manipulate someone's mind so that they would not remember being attacked by him. Every night, he and Wooyoung found each other's arms in that oh-so intimate, personal, perfect exchange. It was the moment San waited for all day, and he knew it was the same for Wooyoung.

The only human from whom San had continued to drink blood was Mingyu, who had endured it a full five weeks before giving up and turning himself in to the police. Honestly, San had been looking forward to it; all his bravado and confidence when he had threatened and frightened him were just an act.

The truth was that his blood, although it was just normal human blood, disgusted him. Even when he was the one with power, with his teeth sunk deep into his throat, feeling Mingyu's hands touching him, even though they were pushing him instead of holding him...it distressed him to death. Even though there were tears on his face instead of a smile. They brought him right back to that terrible day that he knew could not forget for all eternity.

Seeing San come home in tears and then rush to the shower every week, sometimes throwing up, Wooyoung had been on the verge of intervening and manipulating Mingyu's mind to make him go to the police, but fortunately San had managed to stop him. Mingyu had eventually turned himself in, just as he had planned, and would have lived forever with the fear that San had managed to inject into him. That nightmare was over. Justice had been served.

After giving this comfort to himself and his parents, he had begun to insist on seeing the latter. By now it was clear to him that he would not harm them, but the vampires were reluctant to allow him to reveal their secret to humans. Eventually, in the face of his insistence and desperation, Wooyoung and Seonghwa did their very best to help him convince all of the others. If they had not had the privilege and good fortune to live with their family in their time, they could not deprive San of that. His parents had a few years to live, when compared to the rest of eternity, so it was not fair to stole from San that time.