Hwanggu the Werewolf
I looked down at the werewolf girl lying collapsed and unconscious on the ground.
It hadn’t been intentional, but no one had ever survived after showing me hostility.
Lavina, who had tried to drink my blood to see my memories.
The human man who had pierced my throat.
And the two human players.
Hadn’t they all ended up swallowed by my shadows?
And yet, no killing intent rose in me toward the werewolf girl.
Apparently, I had a weakness for children.
It was a fact I’d never even realized about myself until that moment.
"Charlotte-nim! Are you all right!"
Aurell, who came running up late, started fussing over me.
Given a vampire’s regenerative power, and my level on top of that, it hadn’t even been a dangerous situation. She was making an unnecessary scene.
Aurell drew closer and looked at my chest with a cautious expression.
"Y-you didn’t get punched in the chest, did you?"
"I’m fine."
"T-then, maybe it left a scar?"
"Why would anything like that be left behind..."
"I’ll check...! Yes, I’ll check...!"
Looking terribly worked up, Aurell reached out her hands.
I sighed and flicked her on the forehead with a knuckle.
Thwack!
"Eek!"
A heavy smack sounded out—one that should never have come from a human head.
Aurell clutched her forehead and sank to the ground.
"Don’t get carried away."
What was this tiny little thing trying to climb all over?
I put a hand on my hip and looked down at Aurell.
We’d grown fairly close over the time we’d spent together, but we still weren’t at the point where we could joke around that much.
"I’m sorry..."
She lowered her head, eyes cast down under my stare.
Still, I did like how readily she admitted when she was wrong.
I turned my gaze away from Aurell and looked at the werewolf girl.
She was unconscious for now, but if werewolves really did have the kind of regeneration I expected, she’d be back on her feet before long.
"Um, Charlotte-nim..."
"What?"
"Are you just going to leave that child there...? What if she wakes up and attacks again...?"
That was a real concern, too.
Binding her hands and feet with rope or wire wouldn’t stop her movements anyway, and I was just thinking that maybe I should cut the tendons in her limbs when—
"Uuugh..."
With a tiny groan, the werewolf girl began to sit up.
Like someone waking from a deep sleep, she stretched her whole body and tried to yawn.
The attitude she’d had a moment ago, charging straight at me, was gone without a trace.
And now she had two strangers right in front of her, yet she still looked completely at ease. It was absurd.
I crouched down in front of the werewolf girl.
"Hey."
"Yess?"
At my call, the girl lifted her head and met my eyes.
Her gaze was loose and unfocused, and she wore a dazed smile.
Was she always like this?
Startled by her reaction, I took a step back.
If she’d gotten angry or scared, I wouldn’t have been this surprised.
"What’s your name?"
"My name...?"
The girl couldn’t answer.
She only stared blankly at me, mouth open.
I moved my trembling gaze and looked at the katana.
The katana I’d used to smack the werewolf girl in the head.
The blade still bore the evidence of it, red blood trickling down the steel.
No way.
No, there was no way.
"Um... does anyone here know my name?"
The werewolf girl smiled brightly and asked me and Aurell, as if she truly couldn’t remember her own name.
A groan of despair escaped me at that innocent-looking smile.
"Gasp... Charlotte-nim... is this perhaps a vampire’s charm skill?"
"I don’t have anything like that..."
I let out the answer with a sigh and rubbed my dry face.
A charm skill—of course I hadn’t taken it.
Charm skills were only useful for side quests, after all.
So I hadn’t taken it, obviously.
And even if you did use a charm skill, it wouldn’t make someone forget their own name, like this werewolf girl had.
"As expected of Charlotte-nim...! Amazing! You charmed her without even using a skill!"
Aurell was sending me a look of boundless admiration, as though she honestly believed that.
Her sparkling eyes were uncomfortably intense.
I shook my head and said to the werewolf girl, "Hey, you really can’t remember your name? Anything else? Don’t you remember anything at all?"
"Hmm... I don’t know!"
"T-think carefully. You were chasing something, weren’t you?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. It seemed like something really important."
"Hmm..."
I waited anxiously for the werewolf girl to answer.
How long had passed like that?
Her eyes suddenly widened, as if she’d remembered something.
"I remember!"
"Yeah. What is it?"
"I was chasing you!"
With that, the werewolf girl sprang to her feet.
Then she leaped straight at me.
I didn’t react. There was no hostility in the movement; it was harmless.
The werewolf girl flew lightly into my arms and grinned, bright and sunny.
"Hehe!"
"Ah! Hey! You little— Get off me right now!"
Aurell immediately exploded in anger at the sight of her.
And from the red blood energy gathering at her fingertips, she really was furious.
I shot Aurell a warning glance, just in case.
Was it really common sense for someone to suffer amnesia just from getting hit on the head once?
I was still suspicious of this little girl.
Which definitely did not mean I thought her embrace felt warm and nice or anything like that.
She was giving herself over to me completely, defenseless.
If the werewolf girl were to put strength into her arms right now, my spine would snap and I’d start bleeding out of every hole in my body.
In other words, this was the perfect position for an attack.
But the werewolf girl didn’t tense her arms.
Instead, she rubbed her cheeks all over my clothes with a dumb, dopey grin.
"Charlotte-nim!!! That’s dangerous!!! Get off her right now!!!"
Aurell started shouting at the sight of the werewolf girl clinging to me.
Her face had gone bright red.
I coughed awkwardly and pushed the werewolf girl away.
"Hey."
Ah.
I didn’t know her name, so calling her was inconvenient.
I frowned.
"Yes?"
"You really can’t remember your name?"
"Yess!"
The werewolf girl answered while her wolf ears twitched above her head.
"Charlotte-nim! This one’s very scary! She’s probably pretending to have lost her memory right now!"
"I was thinking the same thing..."
I sighed at Aurell’s words and looked at the werewolf girl’s face.
How could that possibly be acting?
I tucked the katana in my hand into my shadow and shook my head.
Then, without a word, I reached out and patted the werewolf girl on the head.
Contrary to her scruffy appearance, the texture under my hand was wonderfully soft.
"Aah...!"
Aurell watched the scene with obvious envy.
I took my hand away from the werewolf girl and turned around.
"Let’s go, Aurell."
"Eh? Huh? Go?"
"Yeah. We’re going."
"Ah. Yes!"
I got on the bicycle that had been propped upright and put my foot on the pedal.
Aurell climbed on behind me naturally.
Left all alone, the werewolf girl tilted her head and watched me.
I ignored her stare and pedaled off without a word.
It had been an unfortunate accident, but what else could I do?
It had already happened.
If werewolves really did regenerate as well as I thought, she’d recover her original memories before long.
Just as I started picking up speed on the bike—
Aurell’s scream came from behind me.
"Hiek! Charlotte-nim! She’s chasing us!"
I turned my head with a what-on-earth look on my face.
Behind the bicycle, along the long stretch of road, the little girl was chasing after us with a pitiful expression.
And she was doing it on all fours, like a beast.
"Wait for me!"
Why was she following us at all?
Clatter, clatter—
As time passed, the distance between the bicycle and the werewolf girl grew smaller.
She was moving with no hesitation at all.
I finally had no choice but to stop the bicycle.
"Ch- Charlotte-nim! Why did you stop!"
I said nothing, only shook my head.
The werewolf girl didn’t look tired at all, even though she’d been running full out.
If we left her alone, she’d probably keep chasing us on our bike the whole way.
I let out a sigh.
"Hey."
"Yes!"
"Are you going to keep following us?"
"Yes!"
I folded my arms and thought it over.
A werewolf girl who’d lost her memory.
What was I supposed to do with her?
"Charlotte-nim! What are you thinking about? Let’s just eat her!"
"E-eat me...? You’re going to eat me?"
"That’s right! Our Charlotte-nim is going to gobble you up!"
"Hii... then please eat me gently..."
Listening to the conversation between the two girls, I let out a long sigh.
"You. We’ll start by giving you a name."
"M-my name?"
The werewolf girl looked at me with round, wide eyes.
I nodded.
I couldn’t keep calling her “hey” or “you” forever.
"Charlotte-nim! No way, right? That’s dangerous!"
I know. I knew it was dangerous.
But what else could I do? She was a child who’d lost her memory because of me.
I couldn’t just abandon her here and leave her behind.
I looked at Aurell and then at the werewolf girl.
Yep. I really was weak when it came to kids.
Anyone who saw me allowing these two burdens to travel with me would probably think the same thing.
I said to the werewolf girl, "How about Reed?"
"Reed...?"
"You’re a werewolf with brown hair, so Reed."
It seemed the werewolf girl wasn’t fond of the name Reed.
She turned away with a sulky expression.
"I don’t think Reed is a very good name..."
Aurell also spoke up in opposition to the name Reed.
Until just a moment ago, she’d been vehemently against the girl joining us, and now she apparently wanted to interfere with the naming too.
I folded my arms and sighed.
Reed.
Wasn’t that surprisingly good, though?
"Then let’s make it Hwanggu."
"Hwanggu...?"
"Charlotte-nim..."
That one wasn’t to your liking either?
I frowned.
A white puppy was called Whitey, right?
Then a brown puppy was Hwanggu.
No, wait. Was it more like Reed-y?
"Let’s go with Hwanggu."
"Hwanggu..."
The werewolf girl looked on the verge of tears.
Aurell chose silence entirely.
"From today on, you’re Hwanggu."
I was the leader of this group.
That meant I got to decide.
The werewolf girl who had become Hwanggu.
Hwanggu looked like she might cry.