The Blood Ghoul

At this moment, Kenzo was lying on his bed in his room, holding his cell phone while answering some messages.

"[Take care of delivering the materials today; the situation has been quite turbulent lately, so you must stay calm!]"

"[Yes!]"

After giving some orders, he didn't know exactly where to go next after coming to this place. He was very different from other young people his age. He attended school when he wanted to and skipped classes when he thought it unnecessary to go. Typically, he caused trouble at school, which is why he repeated several years.

Many years had passed since he left high school, so now he believed it was unnecessary to give it another try since he was already 22 years old and had more important plans.

He needed to take care of his organization and recruitment. Not everyone passed the test unless he accepted them. Not everyone had the qualities to judge the good from the bad roots. If he allowed a bad plant into his beautiful garden, the infection would spread throughout his domain, and he couldn't allow that.

His monopoly in District 20 was sustainable. He had control over crematories where bodies arrived daily, as well as the areas where people typically took their own lives. He created websites to help those who had suffered much in life to end their lives, and in turn, he bought the corpses from traffickers who occasionally asked for jobs they couldn't complete themselves.

After the death of his adoptive father, he used his meat company to distribute human flesh and launder money effortlessly, where he wouldn't face any problems. Most of the workers had been replaced, but some were still simple humans.

The organization of the Three-Eyed Crows was straightforward. They didn't harm humans, and they didn't start fights that weren't worthwhile. Revealing their strength was a death sentence, so the smartest way to act was to control the ghouls and keep the enemy away from District 20.

As a non-hostile organization, Kuzen, who controlled District 20, allowed the Three-Eyed Crows to operate with the deal of providing him human flesh at a modest price. If Kenzo provided it for free at that time, suspicions about his true purpose would arise, which would be a significant problem.

"The recruitment date is approaching. I should be there for that..." Kenzo knew it was necessary to increase the numbers of his subordinates, but that was the problem because the larger it became, the more suspicions there would be about what was happening in this place.

Knock-knock! Knock-knock!

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

"I already told you I'm too tired to work today, leave me alone," Kenzo said without getting up from his bed when he heard the knocks on the door.

However, as soon as his words sounded, Touka entered from the other side of the door.

"Hey... Don't you recognize my voice?"

Kenzo was about to say something when he saw Touka's figure entering, so he immediately turned off his cell phone in his hand and put it in his pocket.

"Eh?"

Touka frowned, knowing that Kenzo must have been looking at disturbing and mentally unhealthy things.

"Why did you come into my room again?" Kenzo said in a cold and highly indifferent tone, looking at the girl who was beside him.

"How long are you going to lie down in your room? If you continue like this, Manager Yoshimura will worry a lot, you know?" Touka said, hands on her hips and a serious face.

"I don't care about that!" Kenzo remained lying down while closing his eyes.

"You... Get up now!" Touka said, taking a step forward and forcibly lifting Kenzo.

"Stop being so stubborn and get out of here!"

In no time, a fight between two mad individuals erupted in the room, which continued for some time before Kenzo, who didn't want to mess up the entire room, stopped. Besides, he was sure that everyone knew he was human, although this wasn't the case.

Of course, Kenzo had no intention of revealing that he was a Ghoul, not for now, as his identity as the Crow Master would be quickly exposed, and Kuzen could pose many problems for his future plans in this place.

What would he gain even if the people in this café knew? Only pity, of course, many unnecessary questions, and in the worst case, he would get involved in difficult situations with his mysterious business.

So, after a small fight, Kenzo let Touka, who was determined to make him and her father Kuzen get along, win. She had been trying for five years.

...

A few minutes later, Kenzo reluctantly put on his work clothes.

"It seems our dear Touka has a way to redirect Kenzo!" Koma Enji couldn't help but silently congratulate Touka.

Speaking of which, Touka and Kenzo have known each other since they were very young, and their age difference can be three to four years. However, due to Kenzo's circumstances of constantly repeating school years, they even managed to go to high school together, so their relationship is relatively good.

He was smart enough to understand that Touka behaves this way, very shy and cold with strangers, but extremely sincere and careful with acquaintances.

Kenzo labeled Touka's profile as cold, reserved, and even hostile, but transforming into someone warm, sensitive, and friendly on occasion.

"All the symptoms of that so-called Tsundere, how chilling..." Kenzo thought as he walked to his work station while recalling what he knew about Touka.

She hates CCG investigators, although she is hostile to humans, she is very kind when dealing with her human friends. However, not even Kenzo has spare time to try to find out if this behavior was just something she did to fit into the society that every Ghoul wanted to belong to.

"Hey, you brat, what would you like to drink?"

At that moment, Kenzo was taking an order from a customer.

The boy, around eighteen years old, looked at Kenzo, who had the appearance of a man who only knew how to seek trouble.

To others, Kenzo isn't ugly; he has small, sad-looking eyes, uncombed black hair, thin eyebrows, and a scar on the right side of his mouth. His tall, muscular body couldn't be concealed, so normally anyone would be frightened if he stared at them for a few seconds.

"I... I want a cup of coffee..." The customer looked at the fierce man in front of him, initially surprised and stammered when placing his order.

Bam!

After Touka saw it, she quickly led Kenzo aside. What was this guy trying to do? Scare away customers again? Although he didn't do anything, she knew his unfriendly attitude scared normal people.

"Hey, honey, aren't you supposed to be working? We need to earn enough money to get married once and for all; I think we're made for each other." Kenzo, who had the upper hand this time, began to take revenge for being dragged out of bed when he didn't want to move.

Touka squeezed the tray in her hands so hard that it began to bend, while maintaining her calm expression and saying in a friendly tone, "I'm... so sorry, he has trouble communicating with people. What would you like to drink?"

"Trouble communicating?" Kenzo wondered as he returned to the café's bar.

But at that moment, a slender yet strong hand grabbed him by the arm, and Touka, who had suddenly appeared, took him to the back of the café and asked in a cold tone, "Hey, brainless gorilla, do you want to ruin this place with your terrible customer service?"

Looking at Touka's slender body so close to him, Kenzo brought his face closer to hers and whispered, "Hey, Touka, we're of marriageable age. There's no better marriage than a young one with a lot of energy. If you can't find a good man, I'm always willing to get married whenever you want."

Touka wasn't bothered by Kenzo's sarcastic words; his attitude had drastic turns, so she had gotten used to it. Instead, she asked, "Don't you plan on changing that attitude? Nobody will ever understand who you really are if you don't change a bit."

"But you understand me, right?" Kenzo looked into Touka's eyes, and his attitude returned to normal. He gave a short sigh while ruffling the girl's head in front of him and said, "Besides, I already told you I wasn't in the mood to work right now. That's it!"

Brushing off Touka, Kenzo started to take off his top without caring that he was being observed by a woman. He wasn't so childish as to be embarrassed by something like this.

"Are you going out again?"

Seeing Kenzo change his clothes, Touka asked with suspicion.

"I'm just going for a walk. You've accompanied me on occasion, and in case you're worried, I don't have a girlfriend out there... If I ever choose someone, you'll be my first choice. Am I romantic enough?" Kenzo asked as he turned around and walked straight to the door.

Just as Touka was about to follow him, Yoshimura appeared in front of her to stop her.

"Manager, he..." Touka turned to look at the store manager.

"Let him go, don't worry." Said Manager Yoshimura, not saying anything more.

...

The current District 20 can be considered a safe zone. Although there are Ghouls that hunt at night, this situation is very rare, with the Night Crows hunting Ghouls not affiliated with the Owl Organization and Anteiku.

As for Kenzo, the reason he went out was to hunt a Ghoul who had been under surveillance for the last two days by his Night Crows. His presence wasn't necessary for this type of operation, but he accepted this elimination mission because he had been losing control of his anger lately.

There are different ways to detect an active Ghoul in District 20. Two types of Ghouls came to this place. The first were those seeking refuge and joined either Anteiku or the Owl Organization of the Three Eyes. As for the second type, these were unrestrained Ghouls who only sought to establish a domain for hunting.

This happened frequently because it was known that District 20 was one of the weaker ones. For this reason, Ghouls who considered themselves somewhat strong decided to come to this place to hunt. However, there are only two outcomes for these Ghouls: join the Crows or get eaten by them.

Anteiku typically doesn't directly involve themselves with these Ghouls, but they do provide warnings. Still, their intelligence isn't sufficient to maintain control over the entire district. This is why Anteiku formed an alliance with the Owl Organization of the Three Eyes and granted them the authority to act in such situations.

That's why today, unbeknownst to everyone, the Crow Master, who is Kenzo, will move to neutralize or recruit the threat. Hunting is one of his favorite things to do. Unfortunately, living with his father, who was very strong, prevented him from acting frequently. A single mistake and he would be discovered, which would be quite troublesome to face.

"All this drama makes me sick..." Kenzo muttered as he walked through the darkness.

Throughout all these years, Kenzo has had a reason to create his organization and protect himself from both humans and other Ghouls. Being a curious Ghoul regarding his family, he had been investigating and soon found the existence of the V organization.

While he was indeed an orphan, he could infer that his mother had been killed by that organization.

His father, Kuzen Yoshimura, obviously had the ability to kill all the Ghouls pursuing him, but he allowed his mother to die due to something he knows nothing about.

So, while Kenzo can't say he hates his father, he also can't say he has a good opinion of him.

"That's strange..." At that moment, a young man wearing a baseball cap frowned. He seemed to realize he was being followed but couldn't see who was following him.

The man in the baseball cap had just left the old café, and he was naturally the Ghoul who was Kenzo's target.

"Don't turn around; I'm right behind you!"

At that moment, a voice came from behind the man in the cap.

Thud!

The man suddenly turned around and struck the person following him with all his might.

This blow was easily received as Kenzo approached.

"You are... Wait, wait, who the hell are you?" The man initially thought he was dealing with some enemies who had found him, but he soon realized that it wasn't the case.

"Well, yes, this place is quite remote, and now you're my prey!" Kenzo, who was gripping the Ghoul's hand, began to squeeze it slowly.

Crack!

"Argh... You son of a..." The man in the baseball cap didn't finish his sentence. His eyes suddenly changed color, and he attacked Kenzo.

"That's right, this is my prey. You must resist to make this interesting!"

The man in the baseball cap swiftly transformed into a being known to all as a Ghoul.

"That's how it should be." Kenzo remained still, not moving a muscle. But as he raised his right hand, a drop of blood formed very slowly. After moving his finger, the drop shot forward at high speed, much like a bullet.

Boom!

Kenzo's cold voice echoed from the shadows as he walked toward the pile of debris where the defeated Ghoul lay.

"A grade A Ghoul, but I think you only know how to eat and sleep!" After dodging the initial attack, Kenzo's voice sounded lightly.

"What... What did you just do?" The man rose with a large hole in his right chest, looking in disbelief at the gaping wound.

How is this possible? He was certain the person in front of him was a human, but not only did he dodge the initial attack, he also counterattacked with something like blood.

Even a Ghoul investigator, without their Quinque as a weapon, wouldn't dare be as reckless as Kenzo had been.

But the young man in front of him hadn't even bothered to hide.

"Tell me, Ghoul, you've invaded my territory, so I'll ask you a question: will you serve the Crows, or will you die as food?"

"I'm not here to be a damned pacifist like the Crows!" The Ghoul yelled as he moved his Kagune rapidly.

Kenzo saw the shape of this man's Kagune, and truth be told, it wasn't useless on the battlefield. However, it wasn't worth investing time and money in a Ghoul that showed no intelligence.

There were many species of Ghouls, and the one in front of Kenzo was a discard class. In other words, it was an animal trying to feed irregularly. Even if they were trained, there would be very little progress in their strength and abilities.

Knowing that there was nothing more to be done, behind Kenzo, a thick curtain of blood began to gush from his body, and soon the entire alley was flooded with that blood-like aura. His right arm, one of his main Kagune forms, was slowly covered by this mist that seemed to be alive. However, he knew his enemy was not formidable enough to use his Kagune. In an instant, Kenzo disappeared from his position, only to reappear like a phantom behind the Ghoul who had openly displayed his Kagune.

"Aaahhhhh!"

In this desolate alley, only a man's scream echoed in the middle of the night.