<b><i>The Land of Vampires, Beltane (3)</i></b>


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    <Do Jae-hyun Official Fan Cafe>.


    This fan cafe, true to its name, uniquely operates on a paid membership system.


    Monthly regr dues are collected from members, and only those who pay these dues are granted full membership status.


    Originally, it was a free cafe where anyone could join and share photos and news about Do Jae-hyun, but recently, such barriers have emerged, drastically changing its nature.


    The reason was simple.


    -Do Jae-hyun became too famous!


    He was already famous in the early days when he was rising as the most promising talent in the academy and domestically, but after founding the <Evil Hunter> n as a n master, his fame spread nationwide.Friendly n agreements with the top 3 domestic ns.


    The greatest achievement in the conquest of <Room of Deserters>.


    Friendly n agreement with the <Wings of Freedom> n….


    As big issues that were hard to handle kept breaking out one after another, interest in him surged.


    Among them, the biggest issue was, of course, his ‘S-grade Holder promotion’.


    By taking the title of the world’s youngest S-grade Holder, Do Jae-hyun’s poprity reached a global level.


    A Holder as handsome as a celebrity with top-tier skills.


    He couldn’t help but be an object of admiration.


    -This can’t go on.


    Thus, an enormous number of people flocked to the fan cafe.


    There were iparably more membership requests than before.


    And consequently, it became difficult to operate the cafe normally.


    There were those who sought attention by stirring up all sorts of trouble, and it wasmon for Do Jae-hyun’s anti-fans to sneak in and disparage him.


    So the management team made a decision.


    Mization of fan cafe membership.


    They changed the system so that those who wish to join the fan cafe must pay certain dues to register as members.


    Moreover, instead of collecting annual fees like ordinary celebrities, they decided on a monthly fee structure.


    They judged that no ordinary amount would be enough to deter the malicious individuals flooding into the fan cafe.


    “This seems like a really good move”


    Yoo Eun-seol, the most esteemed member of <Do Jae-hyun Official Fan Cafe>, nodded in agreement with this drastic decision.


    It seemed like the best possible choice the management team, whoever they were, could have made.


    Of course, there would be passionate members who might find it difficult to pay, but countermeasures were put in ce for such individuals to receive support for their dues if they consistently remained active as associate members.


    In any case, through these changes, the fan cafe has recently regained some stability.


    And after some time had passed.


    Suddenly, this opinion was proposed within the fan cafe:


    -Shouldn’t we hold a fan meeting?


    Fan meeting!


    A meeting with fans that any celebrity with arge fan cafe and core fandom would hold at least once.


    For celebrities, it was an opportunity to express gratitude to their fans, and for fans, it was a festival where they could meet the celebrity in person and enjoy rted events.


    The ones who proposed this idea were the so-called ‘Jeiten faction’.


    A group that ims Jeiten is the most suitable contractor for Do Jae-hyun to ride in battle.


    They are a fandom that rapidly grew in power after the establishment of the <Evil Hunter> n, a new force demanding radical fan cafe policies such as providing gifts and letters, meetings with fans, and events for Do Jae-hyun’s birthday.


    Naturally, hosting this fan meeting was also a perplexing demand for the conservative <Do Jae-hyun Official Fan Cafe>.


    And to this demand, the ‘Bond faction’, ssified as the old fandom, showed an unfavorable attitude.


    [Jae-hyun’sfirstkiss/Top] …Is there really a need to do this?


    [GrapevourPudding/Top] Hmm, I also feel like, is it necessary? A fan meeting is something that both fans and the celebrity need to agree on and actively participate in, but Jae-hyun rarely evenes to the fan cafe. Hehe.


    [BonOwner/Top] Anyway, those Jeiten faction people always say iprehensible things. First of all, about the contractor, huh? Isn’t it obviously Bon rather than Jeiten? He’s the very first contractor, and the time they’ve fought together-.


    Here, ‘Top’ refers to the most esteemed members.


    It’s a veteran rank that only 5 people, including the cafe president, have.


    As these influential veterans expressed negative opinions, the new force, the Jeiten faction, also strongly retaliated.


    [FriendYoungerSibling/Excellent] It’s good for all of us to meet! It’s already hard to see him because he’s so busy! And GrapevourPudding. Could you stop acting like you’re close to Jae-hyun and calling him ‘Jae-hyun’?


    [Jae-hyunoppa/Excellent] I can’t just let BonOwner’s words slide! No, isn’t Jeiten obviously the standard for contractors rather than Tirbon? That silver mane! Majestic figure! Loyal attitude and brave charge! Anyone can see it’s iparable to that weird bone fragment.


    [Jae-hyun and alchemy/Excellent] FirstKiss. I’ve been bothered for a while, but can’t you change your nickname?


    …Although there seemed to be many personal conversations, most of them were sharply divided over whether to host the fan meeting or not.


    They were already in conflict about whether to attempt hosting when Do Jae-hyun hadn’t even given permission yet.


    But among those opinions.


    Suddenly, a sentence caught Yoo Eun-seol’s eye.


    [LoveJae-hyun/Excellent] If we have a fan meeting, can we see Jae-hyun dancing and such? I’d like to see that….


    At that moment, lightning struck Yoo Eun-seol’s head.


    ‘…Jae, Jae-hyun’s dance?’


    Content she had never imagined.


    Yoo Eun-seol had no strong opinion on this topic or had a simr view to the Bond faction, but as soon as she saw thatment, her mind changedpletely.


    I want to see it.


    Curiosity fills her head.


    …Of course, she had no particr intention.


    She simply wanted to see a new side of her disciple, as befitting a master’s duty.


    Therefore, Yoo Eun-seol carefully left ament on the cafe.


    [Jae-hyunSS/Top] A fan meeting… I don’t think it would be bad either.


    [Jae-hyunsFirstKiss/Top] ……?


    [GrapevourPudding/Top] Ah! SS, if you suddenly agree to that…!!


    [BonOwner/Top] Geez, who on earth is this person to have the top-tier rank?


    It was the moment a bomb dropped on the once peaceful fan cafe.


    ***


    Ippotrantion


    * * *


    After calming the uneasy gazes of Ripley and Jeiten as much as possible.


    We continued to enter Baroness Caroline’s territory.


    I dismissed Jeiten for now, and wandered around the baronial territory with Ripley as my guide.


    Of course, the baroness’s minions weren’t just golems.


    [‘You have purified a Revenant inscribed with the ‘Dark Oath’. The mercy of the holy Sednilen touches the sword. The performance of the holy sword ‘True Repentance of Kelbilid’ improves.’]


    [‘You have purified a Wraith inscribed with the ‘Dark Oath’. … … ]


    Numerous minions under Baroness Caroline blocked our path, but they all quickly fell to a few swings of my holy sword and Ripley’s magic.


    To begin with, they were all iparably weaker than the Emerald Golem we first encountered, so the hunt itself was very easy.


    We hunted carefully, checking if there were any members of the Termen or Ludenark schools, but there didn’t seem to be anyone like that.


    “Here it is.”


    After walking for quite a while, we arrived at arge mansion.


    Ripley, standing in front of the door, spoke with her arms crossed.


    “Is this Baroness Caroline’s mansion?”


    “You can tell just by looking. It’s almost the only castle in this barony. In Beltane, it’s called the ‘Vampire Castle’.”


    “Then there must be a castle like this in your county too, Ripley.”


    “Are you kidding? My castle doesn’t evenpare to this trash. There’s no aesthetic element to this castle at all.”


    Ah, right.


    Seeing Ripley getting slightly angry, I remembered.


    This one was a level 18 [Skilled Architect]….


    She probably designed and decorated her own vampire castle herself.


    “Ahem. Anyway, let’s go in.”


    “You, you always clear your throat when you’re at a disadvantage.”


    “It’s because it’s my first time seeing a vampire castle too. If I had seen your castle first, I wouldn’t have said that.”


    “Hmph. You can look forward to it. Once you see my castle, everything here will look trivial.”


    “Yeah, yeah.”


    Agreeing with Ripley’s boast, we entered the castle.


    Creeak-


    The old gate between the massive stone walls slowly opens.


    As we could guess from the exterior we saw outside, Caroline’s castle had a circr staircase stretching up from the entrance.


    Aplex structure like a maze of stairs.


    The iron decorations hung at intervals and the old structures maximized the eerie atmosphere inside the castle.


    “Ripley, is this part of thebyrinth too?”


    “Well, if we’re being picky. But it’s so low level, honestly, it’s a waste to even call it abyrinth.”


    Ripley snorted and pointed ahead with her chin.


    “There are five magic traps right there. Hmph. Who would fall for such traps.”


    “……”


    …That would be me.


    I almost fell for it.


    I wasn’t particrly using the [Descendant of the Barbarian King] rune, so the lower-level search rune [Prey Search] wasn’t activated, making it difficult to detect traps.


    If Ripley hadn’t told me, I probably would have fallen into the trap.


    Of course, then I could have just smashed the trap with my holy sword, so it wouldn’t have mattered much.


    Detecting traps wasn’t the end of it.


    Ripley also yed a significant role as a guide when distinguishing rooms.


    “Not that room. I can’t feel Caroline’s energy at all.”


    “Not this room either. There’s no smell of blood at all.”


    “There are minions in here. Go in if you want to hunt.”


    Thanks to Ripley, we could figure out what was inside the rooms we saw on the way up without having to open the doors.


    And so we arrived at the top floor of the castle.


    This time, instead of an old door, there was a door made of expensive metal.


    Even without Ripley’s exnation, I could tell this was Caroline’s room.


    ck, ckck-.


    It’s firmly locked, but I open it easily by infusing magic.


    The room, befitting the top floor of the castle, boasted a considerably spacious area.


    A desk and bed made of high-quality old wood, and parchments fluttering here and there caught my eye.


    Perhaps because a vampire lived here, although it was clearly a room, it feltpletely devoid of life.


    “Do Jae-hyun, over there.”


    Suddenly, Ripley points to one side with her finger.


    My gaze follows it.


    There was a wardrobe there.


    An old wardrobe that seemed to bear very old traces.


    Also, a familiar yet ominous energy surrounding it.


    -Kelbilid, you who have forsaken your kin. Why are you here?


    And inside that wardrobe.


    A man in full armor was looking at us with red eyes.


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