A Meeting Under the Streetlight

I wasn’t in the mood for part-time work, and I didn’t have the time for it either, so I headed home. The rain had already stopped, but a light fog still hung in the air, blurring my vision.

As I walked along the alley through the murky haze, I could see the streetlamps painting the fog with color. The nighttime residential streets, lined with rows of old apartment buildings, glowed with a warm palette where mercury and sodium lamps mixed in a strange, perfect blend.

So this is what it looks like when the dim sodium lamps and the pale mercury lamps come together, I thought as I walked. And then I noticed a girl leaning against one of the streetlights.

“Ah!”

I stopped short in surprise. She stood beneath the mercury lamp with slightly waved blonde hair falling to her waist — and after that terrifying attack earlier today, she didn’t have a single scratch on her. She was even humming a little tune. Hmm… it sounded familiar somehow. I just couldn’t place it.

It was right there on the tip of my tongue.

Either way, she looked as cute as a doll. She wore a pure white dress trimmed with lace and held a wide-brimmed hat in one hand. Seen through the fog she had an almost eerie quality, ghostlike — though in a quiet park or forest, she would have fit the scene perfectly.

Of course, wondering what a child like her was doing here only made the whole thing feel more unreal. Spotting a foreign kid like that in Seoul wasn’t exactly an everyday occurrence.

“Hello!”

The girl greeted me in perfectly natural Korean, without a trace of awkwardness. Startled, I looked at her and nodded without thinking.

“Yeah… are you all right?”

“Mm-hm. Hmm.”

When I asked after her well-being, her eyes went round as if she found it genuinely fascinating. Feeling oddly embarrassed, I came to a stop. The truth was, I was a little shaken. A clearly terrifying aura was rolling off her — the presence of something other than human, something like a predator that could devour people whole.

It was completely different from before: a far more powerful presence, thick and unmistakable. Honestly, I didn’t want anything to do with anyone who gave off that kind of ominous feeling.

But… today was the first time I’d ever met a non-human other than myself. An opportunity like this might never come again. I couldn’t run.

Then the girl spoke.

“Sorry about earlier. Dragging you into something that had nothing to do with you. Still… what a coincidence. You… are you a lycanthrope?”

She asked it outright. I nodded at the question.

“I don’t know if ‘lycanthrope’ is exactly the right word, but I’m definitely not human. So what the hell is that guy, Han Se-gun, anyway?”

I said it while adjusting the strap of my bag. She ground her teeth.

“He’s a Jinma hunter. Someone who hunts monsters that aren’t human. He killed my family.”

“…You’re a lycanthrope too?”

“No. I’m… a vampire, for the time being…”

“Damn it.”

The moment I heard that, I let out a breathless laugh of sheer disbelief. Haha — of course I was in no position to judge anyone for that. But a high-school werewolf and a vampire girl meeting in the middle of the city? What kind of nonsense was this?

When I snorted, the girl clasped her hands behind her back, lowered her head, and looked up at me. Those eyes of hers were enormous…

“….”

Cute! No, no — this was not the time for that.

I walked past her. It wasn’t that I felt no curiosity, but if I started asking detailed questions I had the distinct feeling I’d be pulled all the way into that other world. Of course I was interested. I wanted to know what my mother really was, and how many others like me existed.

But I still had a human life I needed to protect. So I buried the curiosity as curiosity and turned back toward ordinary days. Fortunately, for someone who wasn’t even human, I still had a family I could call my own.

“Five hundred billion in bounty money is a shame to leave on the table, but I don’t want anything to do with a guy like that. So how about you just leave me alone? I may not look like much, but I’m a normal student. Or… are you planning to drink my blood?”

Only then did it hit me that she was a vampire, and my guard went up. Vampires were monsters that drank human blood, right? If lycanthropes — who transformed under the full moon and hurt people against their will — were victims of their own savagery, vampires were monsters who actively deceived and murdered humans.

In movie terms, it was the difference between Nazarenus and Dracula.

Maybe my suspicion showed on my face. The girl smiled and waved a hand.

“No. I just came to apologize, that’s all. And lycanthrope blood is worthless to a vampire anyway.”

“Hmm. Well, that’s a relief, then.”

“But you’d better watch out for Han Se-gun. He doesn’t have the ability to recognize a lycanthrope on sight… but if he ever finds out you’re still alive and well, he will come to kill you.”

“….”

I had been about to walk past her when I stopped dead in shock. Come to think of it, I’d been wearing my school uniform then. It was the same nondescript uniform you could find anywhere in Korea, but if he started combing the high schools in this area, mine wouldn’t be hard to find. And I had the most obvious identifying feature imaginable — my heterochromia.

“You should be careful.”

“Be careful how? How am I supposed to watch out for some guy who drops out of the sky without warning?”

I muttered it under my breath. The girl gave a short laugh.

“That’s something you’ll have to figure out yourself, obviously. Right? I can’t spoon-feed you everything. If you’re a lycanthrope, handle it yourself.”

“…That’s pretty irresponsible! I told you I don’t want anything to do with a guy like that. Are you trying to drag a peaceful civilian into your mess? And how the hell did he counter my attacks so easily anyway? I’ve never lost to anyone in my entire life! He’s different. He’s terrifying.”

Yeah. Honestly, he scared me. I’d only faced him once, but I wasn’t sure even five of me could take him.

“Jinma hunters are public enemies to lycanthropes and vampires alike, so what does it matter? Oh — I’m Maria, by the way. I may not look it, but I’m a Jinma. Ahem.”

“Whatever that means, I guess you’re one of the main targets those Jinma hunters go after. Oh, hunting? Popular, aren’t you, miss? You two can sort it out yourselves. That kind of business.”

I grumbled and walked past her. She hurried after me in surprise and pulled out something like a business card.

“Don’t just brush me off like that. Hunters are enemies of both vampires and lycanthropes, so this is already your problem too. Here — this is my number. If you ever need help, call me! Got it?”

“Hmm. Perfume.”

I took the card, which carried a strong scent of lavender. It looked like a personal card printed on cardstock, and on it was written Damned One Maria — a terrifying phrase paired with an utterly mismatched drawing of a teddy bear and lavender flowers.

“Ugh… overdesigned much.”

She certainly had a strong sense of self. I thought that as I lifted my head. But when I looked up from the card, she was already gone without a trace.

“….”

It felt like I’d been bewitched by a fox.

The next day, after finishing my newspaper route, I called the school and told them I couldn’t come in. I’d been in a traffic accident the day before anyway, so I had a solid enough excuse. The teacher told me to take care of myself… and yeah, my conscience hurt a little.

But even with a guilty conscience, getting to skip school was a wonderful thing. I caught up on sleep through the morning, ate lunch, changed into street clothes, and headed out.

I usually went around in my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠uniform, but I did own regular clothes. Of course I had no money to spend on them, so they were free hand-me-downs from friends who’d outgrown them after putting on weight.

Today was my little sister’s birthday.

As I’d mentioned before, the woman who actually gave birth to me was one thing — but my father’s legal wife (an extremely complicated phrase) came from a very prestigious family. Of course, dig into any “prestigious family” in Korea and you usually hit pro-Japanese collaborators somewhere in the lineage, so it wasn’t exactly something to brag about. Still, they clearly had money. (And that alone was plenty impressive!)

When the cherished eldest daughter of a house like that announced she was marrying a man from a family with no pedigree, the opposition from her side must have been fierce.

And then the real problem: that man had the nerve to show up with a mixed-blood child he claimed as his son. On top of that, his business failed and the family fortunes collapsed… while the kids were still growing up.

So they said this:

We don’t even want to look at you — but the girl is our daughter’s child, so we’re taking her.

And just like that, my father lost custody of his daughter to his father-in-law and brother-in-law. As a result, Yeong-eun was adopted into her maternal relatives’ family as their daughter.

“Haa…”

Pigeons — the ones everyone called “chicken-pigeons” — kept getting underfoot. I’d been poking around the window of a gift shop when I sighed and stepped back. Damn it. When your gift budget is limited, the repertoire dries up fast and shopping becomes a nightmare. And the recipient was a rich-family young lady, more or less. I figured she already had just about everything. Still, I had to find something.

Hmm… here’s what I think. Family is something precious even without Steven Spielberg hammering the point home. Both my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠father and Yeong-eun accepted me as family — me, who they could just as easily have ignored. So as her older brother, shouldn’t I at least make sure her birthday got celebrated?

“Not that I know what a rich girl would even need as a gift.”

I opened my wallet and checked the budget. Money I could spend on a present: ten thousand won, max… The idea of buying a cheap mug and calling it done crossed my mind, but I’d already given her a cup before. No, no — in this case it was the thought that counted more than the money. I had plenty of time, so I’d keep thinking.

I wandered the streets turning it over in my head. Even though school wasn’t out yet, high-school girls in uniform were walking around, which struck me as odd. Well… I was in no position to talk. And then my feet stopped.

“A crane game.”

Inside the claw machine set up in front of the arcade were piles of slightly shoddy plush toys. It was a terrifying machine designed to encourage gambling — you controlled an unbelievably weak claw and tried to grab a prize.

Honestly, the cheap dolls inside were such low quality that hardly anyone played these days. But if you collected twenty of them, you could trade them in for a pretty decent large one. Five hundred won got you three claw attempts, so if you grabbed one every try, that was only 3,500 won!

“All right! Let’s do this, Seo Rin!”

I shouted it to myself, went into the arcade, changed money into five-hundred-won coins, and set to work fishing out dolls.

But contrary to expectations, the job was brutally hard. I’d already put in two thousand won and only pulled out six dolls… At this rate I was going to blow the entire gift budget. And that was when a guy with a hat pulled low over his face came walking out of the arcade.

“Seo Rin?”

“Huh? Ah… Seong-chan?”

I stared at him in surprise. Clean jeans, hat pulled down deep — he was looking right at me. This guy… why was a celebrity hanging around a place like this?

“…What are you doing? Skipping school?”

Seong-chan asked me that. As if he was in any position to ask.

“Ah, I need a gift for someone, so I’m trying to grab enough dolls to trade up for a big one.”

“Hmm. Want me to do it?”

“Are you good?”

“Yeah.”

Seong-chan said it, put in his own money, and started pulling dolls.

“Huh?! Wha— two at once?”

I gawked as he operated the claw once and yanked out two dolls in a single go.

“Yeah. Doing them one at a time is too easy.”

He said it with a clearly shy look on his face.

“Whoa, that’s amazing! Um… could I ask a favor? I need twenty, and my budget’s kind of…”

“Yeah. Leave it to me.”

Seong-chan said it and started extracting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dolls one after another… until the arcade uncle came out and glared at the two of us.

In the end, I walked away with a Winnie-the-Pooh doll stamped MADE IN CHINA. These days so few people played the crane games that a thick layer of dust had settled on the plastic wrapping, and I had to brush it off — but still. It was something.

“Th-thanks, Seong-chan.”

“Don’t mention it. By the way, have you had lunch?”

Seong-chan asked.

“No. I should eat, though…”

When I said that, he pointed to a nearby fast-food place.

“Want to stop in there?”

“Mmm… eating out is a bit…”

“My treat.”

“Well, that changes everything!”

And so I let myself be led to the restaurant. Seong-chan took my order, went to the counter, got two set meals, and brought them back.

“So you have a little sister.”

Seong-chan nodded as he sucked on his cola. I brought a french fry to my mouth and looked at him. I didn’t watch much entertainment programming, but I knew that the popularity of Zen — the dance idol group Seong-chan belonged to — had been steadily climbing.

So why was Seong-chan, one of its members, out in a place like this? He was one of the more popular members of Zen, too; there was no way the agency would have cut him loose.

“Ah, they told me to take a bit of a break.”

“Yeah? What about school?”

“…I’m not great at studying. Just need to fill the attendance days.”

“Hmm.”

I looked at Seong-chan. After the crane game earlier, my impression of him couldn’t help but be a good one. The way he talked… he was so shy it was hard to believe he was a celebrity, and for someone who did rough things like breakdancing, he had a thin frame ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and a pretty face.

With a hat pulled down, he looked more like a girl than anything else.

“Being a celebrity must be tough. Ah — isn’t it dangerous for you to be in a place like this?”

“W-well… I figure I won’t get recognized for now.”

Seong-chan said it while glancing around with an uneasy look.

“Hmm. In your case, dressing as a girl would probably work better.”

I said it and finished off the fast food. Unlike humans, my sense of taste was sharp, so salt-and-oil-heavy junk food was hard for me to get down.

“Well, I should get going. Thanks, Seong-chan. See you around.”

“Mm. Yeah.”

Seong-chan raised a hand with a faintly regretful look.

All right then — thanks to Seong-chan I had a Winnie-the-Pooh bear. Time to go!