Jin was known in underground fighting circuits as the kid who never quit.
Nineteen, a drop out, fighting grown men in illegal boxing rings after sunset. He never smiled when he won, never complained when he lost. He fought because he had to, because rent didn’t wait, because bruises healed faster than debt.
By the time he dragged himself home each night, his knuckles were split, ribs aching, vision swimming. He lived alone in a narrow apartment above a closed-down laundromat, the walls thin and the lights flickering. No parents. No coaches waiting with towels. Just silence, ice packs, and the steady drip of blood into the sink.
That night, the fight went wrong.
Jin won, barely, but the crowd wanted more. Someone didn’t like the way he fought. Someone bet too much and lost. By the time he stumbled out the back alley, his legs gave out.
That was when Dimitri found him.
Dimitri hadn’t gone to the ring for entertainment. He went because it was his territory. Twenty-five, ruthless, and quiet, he ran the city’s underbelly with calculated precision. People didn’t scream his name, they whispered it. His red hair and scarred eye made him recognizable, but it was his presence that made men step aside.
He noticed Jin because the boy didn’t beg,
Bloodied, barely standing, jaw swollen, yet silent. No fear. No pleading. Just stubborn refusal to fall apart.
Dimitri stopped walking.
“Who let a high schooler fight here?” he asked calmly.
No one answered. No one dared.
Jin wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, eyes sharp despite the pain. He didn’t look grateful. He didn’t look scared. He looked… tired.
Dimitri crouched in front of him, studying him like a weapon left out in the rain. “You’re strong,” he said. “Not reckless. Not stupid. Strong.”
“You live alone,” Dimitri continued, already knowing the answer. “You fight to survive. And you’re going to get yourself killed doing it for people who won’t even remember your name.”
He stood and offered nothing resembling kindness — just a fact.
“Come with me,” he said. “Fight for money that actually protects you. Or keep bleeding for scraps.”
The alley was quiet. Sirens wailed far away.
YOU ARE READING
Flowing Blood
VampireJin shin is a quiet, cold twenty-year-old who survives by fighting in illegal boxing matches. With no family and no stable life, he relies on his strength to get by. Dimitri Volkov is a calm and calculating mafia leader who runs an organization know...
