The Howl That Echoes Through the City
The evil werewolf’s boss wants to make me known to the public. First, I show myself. At the same time, the company releases the videos they prepared. Of course, they aren’t uploaded from the official company account. They use several dummy accounts created in advance for simultaneous uploads. The goal is to make people think this is all a show. To plant the idea that I’m a manufactured monster. So that when they see me, they won’t be shocked. To take the first step of that plan, I left the company building.
I wore the suit the boss had prepared for me, my hair neatly parted in a two-to-eight ratio, and black horn-rimmed glasses. Blending in with the employees leaving work, I stepped out of the headquarters. I took the subway, transferred to a bus, and melted into the evening streets. Doing this made me think of my old life. Back then I wasn’t even a proper member of society, but still, looking at streets that looked so much like my original world, those thoughts would suddenly surface. How long will I have to live here? Will I ever be able to go back? If not, what am I supposed to do here?
While I sat in the bus lost in those thoughts, I suddenly realized I had reached my destination. I got off and walked through the tangled alleys. Emerging from the narrow paths and climbing a long uphill slope, I finally saw the abandoned elementary school I was looking for. Weeds had grown wild in the flowerbeds, and a thick iron chain was wrapped around the metal front gate. Maybe it was because of memories from when I was still purely human. Staring at the deserted school at night sent an eerie chill down my spine.
“Ha.”
I lightly slapped both cheeks to snap myself out of it, then jumped over the school wall and slipped inside. The area beyond the gate was just as neglected as the outside—completely trashed. Weeds grew everywhere. I passed a lone soccer ball sitting in the middle of the playground and stopped in front of a building covered in graffiti. It looked like the marks left by visitors who had come before me. Even those traces were already fading.
“Sniff.”
There was no scent of humans. I stood in front of the building, scanned the surroundings, then climbed the wall up to the rooftop. The roof was just as messy as the playground. Old junk was scattered all over. I roughly cleared a space in the middle and stood there.
“Huu.”
I steadied my breathing and transformed into a werewolf. Even though it was an abandoned building in the middle of the city, the act of transforming brought a strange sense of liberation. I looked up at the sky and inhaled deeply.
Werewolves are powerful warriors. Most of their skills are physical techniques. But there is one special ability that functions like magic: Howling. Originally it was just one form of wolf communication, but the howling used by werewolves in Under the Blue Moon has far greater effects. Back when I was playing the game seriously, an enemy werewolf’s howl once froze my character in terror, rendering it uncontrollable. That werewolf had amber eyes, so I’m not sure if I can use it now. Besides, I’ve never learned the skill version of howling anyway.
Still, a werewolf is a werewolf. At the very least, I can make the sound. I planted both hands on the ground and released the breath I had drawn in with a roar.
“Awooooooooooo──!”
The sound was louder, deeper, and rougher than I expected. Birds that had been perched in the trees burst into flight with a frantic flutter. I heard stray dogs yelping and stray cats scattering in panic. After letting it out, I felt strangely refreshed inside. With a light heart, I kicked off the rooftop.
I jumped from the school roof and landed cleanly outside the wall in a single bound. Then I leaped onto the roof of an abandoned building next door and jumped high toward another building of similar height nearby. I kept repeating the process, running. Past the sparsely populated area near the abandoned school and gradually toward the bustling downtown. I climbed to the top of a large building in the busy district and stood on its roof, looking down.
The people below looked as small as insects moving along the sidewalks. One of them, purely by chance, looked up and met my eyes.
“Huk!”
The man, who looked to be in his fifties with a receding hairline, collapsed on the spot the moment our eyes met. Then, with a trembling hand, he pointed in my direction. His mouth fell open.
“Whoaaaaaaa! Whoaaaat!”
When a middle-aged man suddenly sits down in the middle of the street and starts shouting while pointing somewhere, of course everyone looks. The eyes of the pedestrians turned toward me. I met their gazes for only a brief moment before turning and dashing to the back side of the building.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
“I-it’s a monster!”
Hearing their screams, I jumped down from the building. The moment I reached the ground, I released my transformation and rolled across the pavement. I had tried to imitate the shock-absorbing landing I’d seen in comics and movies, but it didn’t work as well as I hoped. With a heavy thud, I tumbled roughly, slammed into a utility pole, and finally stopped. I stood up, rubbing my ringing head.
“Ugh.”
As I picked up the glasses that had fallen to the ground and dusted them off, an old man came rushing out of the alley toward me.
“What was that noise… Young man, did you see anything fall?”
“Pardon? Ah, I’m sorry. That was just me tripping and falling.”
“That was the sound of someone falling? Are you okay, son? Should I call 119?”
“No, I’m fine. It was loud but I didn’t get hurt. Thank you, sir.”
I bowed repeatedly to the kind old man in gratitude, then stepped back onto the street. Latecomers were already holding up their phones toward the spot where I had been. The operation had been a success. I let out a small sigh of relief and headed home.
Operation Phase 1 Complete. Public awareness of the werewolf has begun to spread.
I repeated the same stunt for three days. I would climb an abandoned building in a deserted area, transform into a werewolf, let out a howl, then run across rooftops toward the bustling streets. At the end, I would deliberately reveal myself to people for a split second before vanishing. As a result, the internet was now burning with news of “the werewolf appearing in the city center.”
A few lucky people had managed to snap photos and videos of me and uploaded them. Using those as material, countless videos were being produced.
Behind the man’s voice, photos and videos of me played. It wasn’t TV, but seeing my appearance frozen in an internet video still felt strangely embarrassing. I pressed a cold cola can against my flushed cheek to cool down.
The man pretended to wipe sweat from his forehead with his arm.
I thought he was finally getting to the point, but the man suddenly changed direction and spent a full eight minutes and thirty seconds talking about the origins of werewolves, how they were portrayed in various media, and the similarities and differences between those depictions. The video ended with a vague question about whether the werewolf in the city was real and what its purpose might be.
“……Huh?”
I felt empty at the abrupt ending and dragged the progress bar, but that really was the entire video. When I checked the comment section, it was filled with curses aimed at the channel owner and everyone’s personal theories about the werewolf. The mainstream opinion was that it was either a movie shoot or manipulated footage, but scattered among them were a few voices saying it might be real. Of course, those rare opinions were mercilessly mocked in the replies.
I watched a few more videos after that. They were all similar. A werewolf had appeared in Seoul. What could its true identity be? They padded the space between those two sentences with enough filler to reach over ten minutes of runtime, yet every single one had massive view counts. It was proof of just how much the werewolf’s appearance had become a hot topic. It also showed how thirsty people were for information about it.
“Is this really okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“We pulled way too much aggro. If a video titled ‘The Werewolf Was the Enemy of Magical Girl Double Melon’ gets uploaded after this, we’re going to get absolutely roasted.”
The boss chuckled lowly.
“Still, we’ve definitely drawn attention. And when people are on edge like this, if a plausible explanation appears saying the werewolf was fake, they’ll swallow it without question. That’s exactly what we’re aiming for, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Hmm.”
Looking at this one operation, he was right. But a lot of people were going to be disappointed, and they would want to vent their frustration on someone. And the most likely target would be…
“……What?”
Go Yu-jin, who had been reading the plan the boss gave her, noticed my gaze and asked in a curt tone.
“Nothing. Never mind.”
The one who would receive the most hate would be Magical Girl Double Melon. That’s how it always is with idols, isn’t it? The company makes the plans, and the idols take the blame.
“Hmph. How boring.”
Go Yu-jin turned her eyes back to the plan.
“Alright, both of you listen up. We’re uploading the video tonight. The operation begins tomorrow. So get plenty of rest today. Keep your condition at its peak.”
“But boss.”
“Yeah? What?”
“Will they really go through with the show? They must have seen the videos by now.”
“They definitely will.”
The boss answered with absolute certainty.
“I told you, this is a challenge. It’s a gauntlet thrown down by copying a project no one had ever touched before—the magical girl project! This is us answering that challenge. If they back down here, they’ll be branded as cowards. So they won’t retreat. No, they can’t afford to retreat.”
“But they’re a criminal organization, aren’t they? Would they really care about something like that?”
“Precisely because they’re a criminal organization, face is even more important.”
Seeing the boss’s confident attitude, it seemed there was no need to ask any more questions.
“Understood.”
“Good. Then both of you head back quickly. Preparing hard is fine, but if it ruins your condition it’ll be a problem, so manage yourselves properly.”
“Yes.”
I opened the door so Go Yu-jin could leave first, then followed her out and closed the door. As usual, we walked down the hallway in silence with some distance between us. Then suddenly Go Yu-jin stopped walking.
“……What’s wrong?”
“Hey.”
Go Yu-jin turned to face me.
“Yeah?”
“After… this job is over, can we talk for a bit?”
“About what?”
“I just have something I want to say.”
I watched her face the entire time she spoke, but it was hard to guess her intentions. Her expression kept changing so unpredictably.
“Uh… sure. Okay. Let’s do that.”
“Good. Don’t forget.”
“I won’t.”
“Let’s go.”
I followed behind Go Yu-jin as she started walking again in silence.
“We must change the plan. Or cancel it entirely. There must be a reason the werewolf revealed itself. We need to prepare for that!”
At the doppelganger Hyun’s words, the vampire Hwan slammed his hand on the table.
Bang—!
“Those who have already failed have no right to speak. So shut your mouth!”
“Failed?! I successfully followed the plan and lured out the master of Bloodycore!”
“And as a result, you lost dozens of subordinates. Along with all the weapons and drones we armed them with.”
When the magician To spoke while putting both legs up on the table, Hyun ground his teeth.
“Gathering information was your job! If you had properly analyzed the Bloodycore master’s strength, I would have deployed appropriate forces!”
“Because we never anticipated a situation where the Bloodycore master would actually appear. Hmph.”
To snorted and put a pipe in her mouth. She was the only woman among the three executives currently seated at the table. Despite the way she was sitting—completely exposing her underwear—she didn’t seem to care at all.
“This operation was prepared by the vampire side. We must respect their plan.”
“No, you just want the vampires to fail.”
“Enough with your baseless speculation. From the beginning, it was Hyun who suggested using the magical girl, and at the time we supported your opinion and cooperated fully.”
“…….”
Hyun closed his mouth and glared at To.
The Samgunhoe was an organization with three leaders, and because of that characteristic, it was internally divided into three factions. Magicians. Vampires. And doppelgangers. The number of executives who had arrived in Korea was the same. The three races maintained a perfect balance. The three races and three factions within the organization were always checking and competing with one another.
This invasion of Korea was no different. Whose opinion would produce results? That point would determine the operation of the Korean branch after the occupation and how the profits would be divided. They had been full of confidence thanks to their power back in mainland China and had judged that taking root in Korea would not be difficult. So they had rushed to offer opinions without thinking deeply, and the result was the plan to kidnap the magical girl and capture the werewolf Rin. The operation to prevent him from returning by having him rape Double Melon had ultimately failed, and Hyun, who had proposed it, had lost a great deal of influence.
“Whatever they’re plotting, it doesn’t matter. What’s important in this operation is dealing with the werewolf. He will definitely reveal himself.”
“Think again. Even if he reveals himself, there’s no guarantee he’ll appear in human form like you think, Hwan. What if this is some kind of declaration of confidence—”
“There’s no problem.”
Even if there was anxiety, they could not retreat. The moment they retreated, it would be an admission that their opinion was wrong. That would only give greater power to the magician faction, the last player who had not yet offered an opinion. Therefore, the vampire Hwan stubbornly held his ground.
“Even if it is a werewolf, there is only one. The Bloodycore master will not be able to appear, so that is enough.”
Those who had already failed felt anxiety. Those who were attempting it could not stop despite their anxiety. And the one who still held an opportunity was smiling.