The Magical Girl and the Werewolf 5
It had been a year since I possessed the world of Under the Blue Moon as both the magical girl and the werewolf. I had come to accept this reality and fully embrace life as a werewolf. Human, yet not quite human. The me of now felt zero revulsion at the thought of eating raw meat, and I no longer rejected the core trait of werewolves in this game—consuming hearts to grow stronger. But maybe it was the lingering memories from before the possession. Or perhaps because werewolves were still half human. Either way, meat just tasted better when it was grilled.
The meat sizzled on the iron griddle, juices popping and dancing. I picked up a piece with my chopsticks, dipped it in sesame oil, laid it on a lettuce leaf, then grabbed some garlic to crown it. That was when my eyes caught on the pair of chopsticks dancing across the grill. Three pieces at once. No dipping, no wrapping—just straight into the mouth. She chewed noisily, already stacking the next tower of meat. I set down the ssam I’d been holding.
“You really put it away.”
“You’re the one who said you’d buy, so I’m making sure I eat my fill.”
The image of her throwing a tantrum back at the café had vanished completely. Watching her devour the meat with such urgency left me feeling strangely hollow. But that lasted only a second. At this rate, every piece I grilled was going straight into Go Yu-jin’s stomach.
“Slow down. Want me to order some rice and doenjang stew?”
“Why would I eat that when I’m already full?”
She swallowed the barely-chewed meat and immediately brought another pile to her lips. Goddammit. I shoved my own wrapped ssam into my mouth, flagged down a server, and ordered five more portions of meat.
“Do you usually walk around starving? They can’t possibly be paying you that little.”
I didn’t know the exact figure, but I knew that as the company’s literal advertising tower she received a hefty sum. Probably on par with a senior specialist at a major hospital, if I had to guess.
“I have a lot of places to spend it.”
“University textbooks?”
“What nonsense.”
Go Yu-jin flipped the meat with a cold reception to my joke.
“……Then?”
“There are things. I have a lot of items to craft and plenty of research to do.”
Must be her work as a magician. I had no intention of digging into her personal affairs over money talk. We weren’t friends, family, or lovers. This was strictly a business relationship. Still…
“About what I mentioned earlier. Any chance you’ll reconsider? Playing nice with the boss will work in your favor during future salary negotiations. Better than earning his dislike for no reason. It’s still employment, after all.”
Using this moment to circle back to the original topic didn’t seem like a bad idea.
“The advertising?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm.”
Go Yu-jin furrowed her brow, popped a raw garlic clove into her mouth, and crunched down hard. Her expression wasn’t pleasant. Still, she seemed far more willing to have a serious conversation than she had been at the café.
“Even if I don’t bother with watches or shoes, I’m already using Black Star products.”
She raised her index finger and lightly pressed her own cheek. From the look on her face, she wasn’t trying to be cute.
“Cosmetics, perfume—everything.”
She pulled her finger away, then grabbed a lock of her long hair.
“Even my shampoo is Black Star. Doesn’t that generate plenty of advertising effect on its own?”
“How would anyone even know that?”
“There are comments about it.”
“You’re saying they recognize it just from the smell?”
Were all the viewers werewolves?
“There are probably people like that.”
Once again, Go Yu-jin gathered three pieces of meat and shoved them into her mouth. She chewed several times, swallowed, and continued.
“Though most of them are probably hired part-timers.”
“Part-timers?”
“The boss must have hired them. Haven’t you looked at the comments? Most of the accounts mentioning specific product names were created recently. It’s viral marketing. Viral.”
Was that how it worked? I hadn’t bothered checking that deeply.
“But what more do you want me to do? I’m already doing everything. Haven’t you seen? Black Star cosmetics are flying off the shelves. Those are all products I use.”
One side said it was enough. The other side demanded more. It was always like this. The person stuck in the middle was the one who suffered.
“Still, if you could at least show a little sincerity—”
Weeeeing—!
“Hold on.”
I checked my phone.
“……It’s the boss. Keep eating.”
“What are you doing right now?”
“I’m in the middle of eating.”
“Is now really the time to be leisurely eating?”
“I couldn’t help it. I felt like I was going to starve to death.”
“……Have you transformed?”
“Yes.”
“Can’t be helped. How much longer do you think it’ll take?”
“Not sure. I just ordered five more portions.”
Thanks to Go Yu-jin’s unexpectedly voracious appetite, I had barely eaten anything. Out of the remaining five portions, at least three needed to be mine.
“Is Double Melon with you?”
“She is.”
“Once you’re both finished eating, come to my office together. We need to talk.”
Must be about the Authentic Blood attack.
“Understood.”
“Good. See you soon.”
The call ended.
“The boss?”
“Yeah.”
“What did he say?”
“He wants us to come to his office after we eat.”
“Really? Sounds like a pain.”
I lifted my chopsticks and pointed them at Go Yu-jin.
“You’re coming too.”
“What?”
Go Yu-jin’s face crumpled instantly. She made no effort to hide her disgust.
“Cut the bullshit.”
“It’s true.”
“Ugh…… I’ve lost my appetite. You eat the rest.”
Go Yu-jin set her chopsticks down with an irritated scowl. For me, it was an offer I had no reason to refuse.
“He said to finish eating first, so just wait.”
I laid the remaining meat on the grill. Finally, I could have a proper meal. The conversation I’d planned to have today…… Well, it could wait. Time to eat. The boss seemed to be in a hurry too.
“How long until vacation?”
“Final exams are in two weeks. Vacation starts right after they end.”
“No other activities or clubs?”
“Company work doesn’t leave me any time for that.”
“The way you talk…… Never mind. Is the commute from school to home far?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Just answer. Is it far?”
“About an hour by subway.”
“Round trip?”
“One way.”
“Really? That’s farther than I expected.”
“But why are you asking?”
“I’ll give you a room at headquarters. It has everything you need. Commute from there. Vacation starts in two weeks, right? University breaks are long, so you can stay here the entire time once they begin.”
At the boss’s words, Go Yu-jin shot me a glare. Even if she looked at me like that, what was I supposed to say? She turned back to the boss.
“What is this all of a sudden?”
“Do you know what kind of people attacked you today?”
“Of course. They were vampires. The same as you, boss.”
“Same, she says. Similar, but different.”
“Ha. Here we go with the clan talk again. I suppose so. I’m human, but I’m still different from Americans or Japanese.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Listening to their exchange, I quietly took a step back. Both the boss and Go Yu-jin were stubborn as mules. Getting caught between them would only give me a headache. The smart move was to observe from a safe distance.
“Do you know which clan they belong to?”
“How would I know that? Can you tell a Kim from a Lee or Park just by looking at them, boss? How impressive.”
“……Rin. You saw them, didn’t you?”
The boss suddenly turned his gaze on me. Why was he dragging me into this?
“What are you referring to?”
“Which clan those bastards belonged to.”
“……Authentic Blood.”
“Correct. What kind of clan is Authentic Blood?”
Goddammit. Why was he making me explain this crap?
“Vampire supremacists?”
“Exactly. In human terms, they’re basically racists.”
“What does that have to do with anything? Are you saying they’re going to form a political party, take over the country, and start a war?”
Go Yu-jin stretched her right arm out dramatically while pressing her left hand to her stomach.
“Shut up and listen.”
The boss leaned all the way back in his chair and propped both legs up on the desk. I quickly averted my eyes to avoid seeing anything I shouldn’t.
“People who discriminate based on race or gender fall into two categories. The first are losers trying to compensate for their rock-bottom self-esteem and incompetence by assigning grand meaning to things they were born with. The second are the con artists who exploit those losers.”
“What does that have to do with our current situation?”
“Think about it.”
The boss tapped his temple with his index finger.
“No group is made up entirely of losers. There’s always balance. The same applies to Authentic Blood. Their lower ranks are just thug-like brutes driven by vampire supremacy, but the upper ranks are different. They’re clearly after tangible benefits.”
“And?”
“The ones who kidnapped you might have acted on individual orders, but we can’t assume that’s the whole story. If the upper ranks gave the order—”
Knock, knock—!
A knock sounded, and all three of us turned toward the office door.
“The work is finished.”
“Really? Come in.”
The door opened at the boss’s reply. A beautiful woman who appeared to be in her mid-to-late twenties entered. Her gait suggested she was wearing a tight skirt. She had a slim waist, full breasts supplemented by small pads, and neatly groomed body hair. On her back was a large blood emblem symbolizing the Bloodycore clan.
She walked past us, approached the boss, and stood beside him. Bowing slightly, she whispered into his ear.
“Hmm. Is that so? I see. You may leave. Dispose of the body yourself.”
“Yes, boss.”
After she passed us again and left the office, the boss picked up where he had left off.
“If the upper ranks issued the order, it either means there’s significant profit to be gained or that there are forces behind them with power comparable to ours.”
“What exactly do you mean by ‘ours’? The Bloodycore clan? Or Black Star?”
“Both. And according to the fresh information that just arrived, it looks like we’ve reached the worst-case scenario I imagined.”
“What do you mean?”
“Samgunhoe. That’s the name of the organization backing Authentic Blood.”
“Samgunhoe? What is that?”
It was a name I’d never heard before either. I had played through the game three times—once as a vampire, once as a human, once as a doppelganger—but I had never encountered it. Was it a faction unique to the werewolf scenario?
“It’s a type of Chinese mafia in this world. Composed of vampires, doppelgangers, and a small number of magicians. There were rumors about them expanding into Korea this time. Looks like that’s what this is about.”
“So they’re a criminal organization? But what does their business expansion have to do with Black Star? Black Star is an ordinary company. At least on the business side.”
“Not just on the business side—it’s an entirely ordinary, legitimate, and legal company in every respect.”
The boss looked up at the ceiling and let out a short sigh.
“Whew. When expanding into another country, establishing a solid base is crucial—whether you’re a corporation or a criminal syndicate. It seems they’re trying to swallow us to create that foundation.”
The boss squeezed his eyes shut.
“Kidnapping you was probably part of that plan. So I’m telling you to be careful. They aren’t like normal clans or guilds. They’re a literal criminal organization. Do you understand? For the time being, the magical girl project is suspended.”
“Suspending it doesn’t mean they’ll leave me alone! They kidnapped me, not Double Melon. They have all my information!”
Go Yu-jin slammed her hand down hard on the boss’s desk as she shouted.
“That’s exactly why I’m telling you to change where you live.”
“What about school? Do you know what happens if I miss my final exams?!”
Even with her life potentially on the line, she was worried about her grades? Quite the ambitious one.
“School? Go. I’ve been saying that from the start. Go. However.”
The boss raised his hand and pointed at me.
“With Rin.”
……Huh?