Part Three: A Speck of Light

Yoo In-su shuffled through the papers and back again. He couldn't read them fast enough, and often he switched to the next page before he was finished with it.

 

The severity of the boy's injuries prevented anyone from developing suspicions, but In-su had some. Chris Jae-min Bak should have died from gunshot wounds, then he should have died from blood loss, then he should have died from the trauma he suffered during surgery. Everyone had been so frantic to keep the boy alive that they believed his miraculous, quick recovery was due to their efforts. Not true. In-su knew better. He had taken advantage of the frantic atmosphere to steal the gauze pads that were used to soak up Chris's blood during surgery, then used instruments in his own apartment to study them privately. Through a magnified scope he watched as drops of his own blood were spilled onto a sample belonging to Chris.

 

 

What he saw was astonishing, almost like the way cancer cells devoured healthy ones with nothing able to stop them. Chris's blood cells soaked into In-su's to become one and then...that was that. Or so it seemed. In-su didn't have time to marvel at the sight before the blood cells swiftly disintegrated beneath the microscope. In three seconds there was no trace of any blood cell left.

 

 

Still In-su had nothing more than suspicions. To confirm his thoughts once and for all, In-su saved some of his stolen gauze pads and took them to the hospital. Now that Chris was well into recovery, he had to use a great deal of stealth, speed, and dexterity to freeze the blood samples once he introduced his blood to Chris's, catching them the moment they had merged. It was all he could do not to destroy the samples completely as he ran them through a DNA test. That was the most difficult part of all, performing each step of the test without anyone seeing and making sure that he left no sign of his actions behind.

 

 

Somehow In-su succeeded in getting what he wanted. When he saw the results of the DNA test a tiny spark of hope was lit. He nearly ran to create more excuses to draw blood from Chris Bak and perform yet more tests. He had to be sure. In-su's heart couldn't afford to feel any more breaks and disappointment.

 

The tests confirmed it! Any and all blood samples infected with Chris's blood was converted into the boy's DNA, transformed completely. There was no sign of any infections and diseases that arose when two mismatched types of blood were mixed together. When In-su introduced Chris's blood to other organic materials such as plain old bread, half a loaf turned to blood before it dissolved. The same incident took place with a piece of uncooked meat. In-su trembled hard with anticipation at the last stage of his experiments, when he injected a live mouse with Chris's blood.

 

 

The mouse squealed and stiffened at first, but after a few moments it seemed to recover. In-su drew out a sample of the mouse's blood and studied it, performed tests on it. He went as fast as he could before Chris Bak was discharged from the hospital. He hadn't thought of an idea on how to extend the boy's stay.

 

In-su was stunned at the results of the mouse's blood tests. There was no sign of change at all. It was still a mouse's blood and a mouse's DNA. He didn't understand. It should have been converted to human DNA or held some trace of it. There should have been some kind of difference from the norm.

 

He needed to keep that boy at East Dae-gu Hospital. If Chris Bak really was a vampire and not the delusional hopefuls that Draculas were, then In-su couldn't let him go.