134 – Horror Summer Vacation #4
“What the hell are you?! And what did you do with the real Melinoë?!”
Alecto let out a furious shout laced with wariness. Right away, Manager Hector and Agent Narcissus grabbed their little sandbox shovels and watermelons—the tools they’d been using to build sandcastles—and brandished them like weapons at the mysterious Melinoë.
“Safety Team 1, evacuate the civilians!”
“Echo! Get back!”
The languid vacation we’d been enjoying under the scorching sun moments ago felt like a distant memory now. Even the nymphs were pissed off.
“You interrupted this Paranoy’s vacation…? There’s a nymph proverb that says not even flowers should disturb a nymph’s rest…! I can’t tolerate this-dat…!”
“This Carnoy doesn’t get what’s going on, but she’s thrilled at the chance to just beat the crap out of something…!”
This had to be what they meant by a powder keg ready to blow. The tension was so thick, one flick of a finger would set it off like a dud shell finally detonating.
I analyzed the chaotic situation spinning out of control.
So, this Okeanos beach connects to the deep sea, which might harbor some terrifying monster. And wouldn’t you know it, that monster was disguised as Melinoë. And I nailed the call on it?
This is bad.
I’d backed into a corner like a cow stumbling into a rat trap. If this unknown entity got taken down right here…?
—As expected of Manager Jo!
—Brother, thanks to you, our vacation is saved!
—Long live the liberating nymph Joinoi-dat…!
Obvious. Totally obvious! But I wasn’t going down without a fight. A true master knows to take that one extra step. So I slipped through the gap in the bloodthirsty crowd and positioned myself between the fake Melinoë and everyone else.
“You can’t hurt her!”
“Manager Jo! What the hell are you doing?! Defending some mystery monster?!”
“Brother! Step aside! Crowzer’s merciless harmonica thirsts for blood!”
Alecto and Crowzer naturally questioned my move. Shielding an unknown monster? If this were a horror flick, I’d just done the dumbest thing possible—the kind that piles on the hate and makes viewers rage-quit.
Which was exactly why I had to do it.
I suddenly wanted to protect this mystery monster!
“I believe in talking first with anyone who’ll listen! Sure, she’s imitating Lady Melinoë, but there’s gotta be a reason for it!”
“A reason to imitate Melinoë? To lower our guards and eat us, duh!”
“Just beat her senseless with our fists and call it a conversation-dat…!”
Totally normal, reasonable reactions. Time to drop the next line.
“She saved me back in that cave when the monster nearly got me. If she were some evil, brutal beast, she would’ve gone for me right then.”
My hunch was that the fake Melinoë had swapped in right when she’d chased off White Melinoë in the cave. Lady Melinoë never calls me “you”—she usually uses my name, Jo. But thinking back, this one hadn’t said my name at all. Like she didn’t know it.
So yeah, she’d infiltrated us starting then.
“She definitely helped me out back there!”
I had no clue if chasing off White Melinoë was really to help me, but I stated it like fact.
“Helped Manager Jo?”
“Why?”
“To lull him into a false sense of security and sneak in, right?”
Perfect—confusion and distrust were flaring up like a bonfire fed dry tinder!
“Wait, is Manager Jo in on it too?”
“Indeed! My brother Jo could be in league with the monster! He must’ve been swapped out when we checked the cliff and cave earlier!”
The suspicious glares sent chills down my spine. If I stayed put, I’d get labeled fake and chased off too.
“Pfft.”
Right then, someone let out a sultry laugh. It was the fake Melinoë.
“So you knew who I was from the start and didn’t let on? I was curious why, but it turns out to be some lame reason.”
“Lame reason?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t really trying to save you. I just wanted to build up some goodwill to blend in with you lot. But it’s gotten lame now. Time to end this backwater drama.”
Whoooosh—
Seawater from the nearby ocean began swirling around the fake Melinoë’s body. Like a vortex wrapping around her. And finally, her true form emerged: a two-meter-tall behemoth with a face like a toothy whirlpool.
A face that was a whirlpool lined with razor-sharp teeth. What kind of nightmare fuel was this?!
“Ch… Charybdis!”
Siren Rilke cried out.
Charybdis. The name conjured my favorite monster from myth: daughter of sea king Poseidon and primordial Gaia. Poseidon’s favorite, the dutiful daughter Charybdis! Hades doted on Melinoë like that. Poseidon was head-over-heels for his good girl.
But cursed by Zeus’s lightning, she became a tragic monster—the ocean’s ultimate terror, devouring countless sailors and heroes.
And she was the fake Melinoë?!
“Manager Jo’s done nothing wrong. The man’s just naive, that’s all.”
Somehow, Charybdis even seemed to be defending me.
Once, she was the heir to inherit all the seas. Charybdis, the goddess second only to Poseidon. That was her.
But when sea king Poseidon clashed fiercely with new king Zeus, she took her father’s side too enthusiastically. Lightning and curse struck her down.
Her beauty twisted into a hideous monster resembling a whirlpool. And she became cursed with eternal, insatiable hunger.
—Father, I must go to Okeanos’s depths. It wouldn’t look good for an ugly monster like me to roam the seas.
—My daughter, never forget your father loves you deeper than the ocean, no matter your form.
Poseidon was a wild playboy, but no cold-hearted monster who’d discriminate based on looks. He still loved his eldest, who’d become a beast helping him. But Charybdis herself wanted to hide in the abyss.
She was a destructive monster now. The deep sea’s darkness would conceal her. Hunger grew familiar over time. The depths teemed with whales, sharks, ship-swallowing octopuses and king squid—plenty to eat.
But loneliness? That never faded.
So as Charybdis passed her solitary days, she spotted hordes of people flocking to Okeanos beach for vacation. She watched them. And remembered her own days mingling with crowds.
Then—she saw a man. Descending a precarious cliff upside-down on human legs. Approaching him in disguise was a whim. Part prank.
But instead of exposing and mocking her like everyone else would, he acted like he’d protect her. Even if it meant universal hate.
Someone taking her side after so long. Charybdis wasn’t shameless.
“Manager Jo’s blameless. I just tried something naughty and got caught. It’s getting boring anyway—I’ll head back now.”
She’d tasted the lively vacation vibe, if only briefly. More would just annoy everyone.
But unlike hunger, sated by scraps, loneliness deepened with every taste of attention. A mere pebble of an encounter.
Yet her insides churned like a storm. Her feet wouldn’t move easily. That’s when Manager Jo shouted.
“Lady Charybdis, why not just vacation with us like this?”
“What?”
“You never know what’s out here on this coast. If you escort us, we’d feel safer. Everyone cool with that?”
“Ahem, s-sure… fine…”
“…Honestly, Charybdis is kinda scary…”
“See? They’re good with it.”
Such a kind offer. Goodwill wrapped in practicality. Warm enough to make her grab his hand on impulse.
Mushy mush—
That kindness stirred the ferocious whirlpool Charybdis’s heart. Then, something amazing happened.
Whoooosh—
Charybdis’s body began glowing brilliantly. The nymphs noticed first.
“Ahh—!? Charybdis’s state is weird-dat…!”
“That’s the light of evolution…!”
Light of evolution. Charybdis was evolving.
When the glow faded, she was a stunning beauty with sea-blue hair and swirling eyes.
Touching her face, Charybdis was stunned.
“…Zeus’s curse is broken? I thought it’d take millennia more. Manager Jo, your touching words moved me, letting me overcome the curse!”
Splash—!
A trident-wielding man leaped from the sea.
“Everyone, freeze!”
In a beachy shirt and shorts, blue-haired. The restored goddess spotted him first.
“…Father!?”
“That voice—my daughter Charybdis! I rushed here by swim to stop you meeting Jo, but too late? Wait, how’d you revert?!”
Poseidon was shocked his daughter was back to normal. Guilt for abandoning her mixed with emotion.
“My girl! You’re my prettiest no matter what! But how…?”
Tears like waves poured from Poseidon. The fearsome sea goddess pointed at Manager Jo.
Truth be told, I wasn’t big on the ocean. But right now, I had the insane urge to dive in and hold my breath forever.
Inviting the monstrous Lady Charybdis to join our vacation? Simple reason: spend time with a terror, and everyone tenses up. Ruins the vibe for all.
But she got so moved by my suggestion that her heart stirred, breaking her curse on her own—and poof, back to a gorgeous sea goddess.
What kind of bullshit story was this? Okay, not total bullshit. Daughter of Poseidon and Gaia—stockpile power, and even Zeus’s curse isn’t unbreakable. Just perfect timing.
Not my fault.
But apparently, no one else saw it that way.
“Turning that horrific beast back with one sentence! Jo! My brother! This Crowzer always believed in you!”
“The liberating honorary nymph Joinoi frees us all from curses and ugliness-dat…! A miracle only an honorary nymph can pull off-dat…!”
“Let’s dance the nymph dance of joy…!”
Thump thump thump—
It’d been creature-feature horror a second ago; now it was a family flick. The real problem came next.
The boisterous sea king Poseidon clamped his meaty palm on my shoulder.
“Manager Jo, you deserve a reward for restoring my daughter. And I’ve got the perfect one: marry my girl Charybdis!”
What…? Marry…?!
“She’s beautiful and proud—no shame anywhere. You’re not thinking of refusing my daughter, are you?”
This was straight-up forced sale! And that moment—
Lady Melinoë, in her fluffy ghost mosquito net, stopped dead in her tracks approaching.
“The beach was so noisy, I came to check… and this is what’s going on?”