It's been a little over a month now since Zhan and I moved into the new apartment. The move itself went quite quickly. We had already bought the new furniture in advance at a furniture store and set it up right away. Our new fitted kitchen also arrived a week earlier. And so we only had to pack everything we wanted to take with us into boxes and take it with us. Everything else, the old furniture and a few small things, we donated to the social department store for people with little money. They were very happy about all the furniture in good condition.

The move also meant that I had to get in touch with Youn. He still sends me a box full of blood bags every two weeks and I had to give him the new address. Since I had decided to talk to him again on our long trip anyway, this was a good occasion to do so.

But first to something else. Apparently, word has spread by now who the new bearers of the peace treaty are and where they can find us. Almost daily, always in the evening when Zhan and I were still alone in the office, we received visits from vampires or pure blood werewolves who wanted to meet us. Fortunately, thanks to Youn, I had plenty of blood bags at home, as he also sent them to me when Zhan and I were traveling, and could offer a "drink" to our vampiric visitors. The werewolves had no demands except water to drink.

The vampires and werewolves were looking for confirmation that Zhan was really a werewolf and I was a vampire. That was relatively easy to prove and so they never stayed long. Which was especially good for Zhan, because he could hardly stand the stench of the vampires. But we understood the need and were happy to provide the proof.

One of the vampires who came to us had been very old. He said that at some point he had stopped counting birthdays and guessed that he was older than 1000 years. He looked like that too! He brought Zhan and me a gift. A very old book about legends and myths. Very interesting, at least for Zhan.

This old Irish vampire told us about a myth according to which a, and now it's getting really crazy, female elf gave birth to a baby that later became a vampire and begun a love affair with a werewolf. This half-vampire and half-elf creature is said to be unique and even capable of bearing children!

According to myth, this hybrid of vampire and elf, with a werewolf should enter into a special connection, thereby change very much and the two would then have immortal offspring together.

Not that I believe in elves, because then that would mean my mother would be an elf, but somehow that is very, very strange isn't it? Zhan thinks the myth is worth checking out. Sometime in the future he wants to go to Ireland with me and investigate this myth. He asked, "if something like vampires and werewolves can exist, why not elves?"

I had no answer to that. Because I would call my mother anything but an elf. But I don't really know much about these creatures either. And who knows what really exists in this world? So yes, Zhan and I will pursue this myth at some point in the future.

But for now, let's stay in the present, and there was the conversation with Youn. I had called him and asked if he could meet me at the office. He immediately agreed and said he would bring Wooseok.

That same evening, he and Wooseok then joined us in the office. Zhan had rubbed mint oil under his nose to deal with the stench, which I imagined I must have noticed myself a few times during the evening.

We sat in the office and were silent for a few minutes. No one really knew who should start or how. We seemed very embarrassed. And that although I missed Youn, despite everything that had happened in the past. I left all that behind me long ago and wanted to give our friendship another chance. Because apart from the things he did, he had always been my best friend and never let me down.

Finally, it was Zhan who started it all. He said, "It's nice that you had time to come here. How are you guys doing?"

Youn: "Thank you, we are fine. We didn't have anything planned for the evening and I was happy to get Yibo's call."

Wooseok: "That's right. He was all excited and really wanted to meet Yibo."

Me: "I wanted to tell you about our move and tell you to send the blood here to this address now. So to the apartment next door. We're only here in the office now because Yizhan can't stand the smell of vampires and always goes crazy."

Wooseok: "You're a vampire too, aren't you?"

Me: "Yes, but I don't smell like one."

Youn: "That's true. Yibo smells like red roses."

Wooseok: "Oh, that's where the rose smell comes from. I was wondering."

Youn: "I had told you about Yibo's unique scent."

Seok: "Yes, you did. But I hadn't thought it would be so intense."

Zhan: "Speaking of smell. I perceive that you two are now full-fledged vampires? So you started drinking blood Youn?"

Youn: "Yes. But that was more of an accident or stupidity. Seoki had accidentally bitten his own lower lip when we kissed. In the process, his blood got into my mouth and so I turned completely. But like Yibo, we only drink blood bags."

Zhan and I looked at each other, and I knew Zhan didn't believe this was just an accident any more than I did. Maybe Wooseok had intentionally bitten his lower lip or Youn had intentionally drunk his blood. Actually, though, it doesn't matter as long as they don't kill people to satisfy their hunger. And if Youn can handle being a real vampire now, I can't say anything against it anyway.

Eventually I also found my way into the conversation and told Youn about Zhan's and my ritual and the changes in us that came with it. I also told him about the reconciliation with my dad and how great I think my stepmom is. I explained to him when, how and where Zhan and I got married. Then I told him about the conversation with my mom and how cute I think my little half-brother is and how much I would like to see him more often. Youn listened intently the whole time and smiled.

Seeing him smile like that while I was talking really made me miss him. "You guys have been through a lot. Congratulations on your wedding. I'm happy for you that you found the man of your dreams." Youn finally said.

Wooseok looked at Zhan and me thoughtfully and asked, "You guys got married after less than a year of dating?"

Zhan: "Yes, we did. Why?"

Seok: "Well, you can't be sure after such a short time, can you? I mean, you read something about a legend and now you think you're meant to be together?" I could see how angry Zhan was getting at these questions.

Me: "We are meant for each other. Even without the legend, we are meant for each other."

Youn: "Don't be angry with Seoki. He doesn't believe in predestined love and things like that."

Zhan: "Wooseok you are over 100 years old as far as I know and now you want to tell me that you seem to be the only vampire who hasn't heard of the legend?" Zhan was really angry. He ignored what Youn said and demanded an answer from Wooseok.

Seok: "Yes, I have heard of that legend. But what makes you think that the legend means you two of all people?"

Me: "Because Zhan is a white werewolf and I am a vampire. And Zhan is the only white werewolf that exists. Now that Mira is dead! And even before her death, no one had seen Mira and Oleg in a very long time."

Seok: "Did you kill them both?"

Zhan: "No, of course not. We found them in Finland. They were both very old and weak. They said they had been waiting for us for a long time. We talked to them and they gave us the peace treaty. We had to sign it in front of them! When we left, they were both still alive. The next day we wanted to talk to them again because there were still so many unanswered questions, so we went to their house and found only their remains."

Seok: "So it's really true! I met them both about 70-75 years ago when they were in Seoul for a short time. I saw them only this one time and even then they looked old and weak. They told me that they were waiting for their successors to entrust them with the peace treaty."

Me: "And did they say anything else?"

Seok: "Unfortunately, no. They were only there because they had heard that there was a white wolf living in Korea. But it turned out to be false. I think they had hoped to find their successors. But in the end their long journey had been in vain. They left after less than a week. I remember how disappointed they were and how exhausted they had looked."

Zhan: "How did you come to meet them?"

Seok: "My family was living away from everything in a forest at that time. One night there was a knock on the front door and it was the two of them. They said they were looking for a white wolf and explained that it was part of a legend and that it was about the peace treaty. They did not go into much detail. They stayed with us for about an hour before moving on. All we heard then was that they found out there was no white wolf in Korea, so they left."

Me: "It seems like they never talked much to others. Not even to us. As I said, there are a lot of unanswered questions. Especially about their past."

Youn: "All that matters to you two is the present and the future. Focus on that rather than digging into their past."

Zhan: "You're right. It's just that we would have liked to know more about them. Especially how they managed to live undetected for so many centuries. Because that knowledge can help Yibo and me, too."

Seok: "Then ask older vampires. They also live for centuries without being discovered." Why didn't Zhan and I think of that? Were we too focused on Oleg and Mira?

Me: "Right, you're right. We can ask old vampires. We haven't even thought of that yet."

Youn: "My father, well the vampire, he said he moves every 10 - 15 years. He has a big stack of fake passports."

Zhan: "Yeah, we suspected that too. We also said that we will probably move every ten years from now on. Unless we live in a remote area where there are few or no neighbors. Like Finland or Iceland. Or at all those countries and states where there are few people."

Seok: "Good idea. That's how my family does it. They move every 10 years and if they do want to stay in one place longer, they move to where there are no people or very few people."

Finally, Wooseok told us where they got their passports, where they've lived, and gave us some helpful tips, such as not posting pictures or videos of ourselves on the Internet or avoiding others doing it for us. Because the Internet never forgets. We should keep a low profile and create a numbered account where we save our money. When we move, we should cut off contact with the people we dealt with as slowly as possible.

All in all, he had a lot of useful tips for us. And also some contact details to good passport forgers. They can of course not only forge passports, but also birth certificates and any other important documents.

This evening went really well. Youn and I decided to try to save our friendship. We want to put the past behind us and look forward. While our friendship will never be the same, we will be friends again. And we got all these useful tips and information from Wooseok that will help us in the future.