Chapter 101
Translator: uly
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Lycanthrope (4)
Mi-seon was alone in the car, scraping away at the inscription engraved on the knife with a nail clipper. That's when a bizarre group of men caught her eye.
Countless long-haired men were climbing up the dark road toward the funeral home.
Their eyes glowed red under the orange streetlight.
They were about twenty meters away from Mi-seon.
"One, two, three... fifty-four, fifty, sixty. What the hell? Are they all coming to pay respects as a group? Walking here at night?"
Even if they'd taken a taxi, they'd have to get out in front of the funeral home building. And if they'd driven, they'd park in the lot.
It didn't look like the overnight visitors were just taking a group stroll for some air, either.
"What weirdos."
She muttered to herself but kept diligently erasing the inscription.
One of the men in the group perked up his ear, which twitched visibly, then turned his head to stare at the car Mi-seon was in.
"Huh? Did that guy's ear just move like a dog's? Nah, must've been my imagination."
As Mi-seon muttered, the man's ear twitched again.
His long hair hung down to his shoulders, covering his ears, but they perked up, parting the hair as they moved.
"Gasp! His ears really moved like a dog's. What is that guy?"
The man whose ears moved freely broke away from the group and approached Mi-seon's car alone.
"Huh? Why? Why's he coming toward me?"
Mi-seon panicked as the man drew near.
He clearly wasn't approaching with good intentions.
But she couldn't open the car door and run back into the funeral home, either.
"What do I do? What do I do?"
Getting past that horde of men to reach Dong-su's funeral hall seemed impossible.
She checked first that the car doors were locked.
Fortunately, they were.
"Why's he coming for me? You're freaking me out."
The group continued toward the funeral home, but only the man with the perked ears approached her alone.
The long-haired man quickly reached Mi-seon's car and pressed his hand against the rear window where she sat, peering inside.
As their eyes met, the man raised one hand, gesturing for her to roll down the window.
"No way! Why would I roll down the window?"
Mi-seon shook her head and said. The man laughed.
Between his grinning lips gleamed white fangs.
They were white and pointed—inhuman.
Mi-seon focused on his fangs, gripping the knife tighter.
The man's fangs grew longer, extending down past his lower lip.
"Wh-what? Why are his fangs growing?"
Even as Mi-seon freaked out, the fangs kept elongating, and his mouth began to protrude.
His snout pushed forward, fangs growing, while his jaw and forehead receded.
"Hey! Don't do that here!"
Mi-seon yelled in shock at his transformation, but the man's body didn't stop—it shifted form bit by bit.
His neck thickened and lengthened. His arms, pressed against the window, bulked up and stretched, hands morphing into beastly paws.
"Again! Your neck's getting longer! Stop changing and get lost!"
As if mocking her panic at this unprecedented sight, his back elongated, his entire body sprouting thick, long fur.
"Wh-what? He turned into a dog!"
In her stunned gaze, a massive dog planted its paws on the window and peered inside.
Through the front windshield, she saw the group heading to the funeral home also transforming into fur-covered beasts.
"Ah, you son of a bitch! What kind of night is this?!"
Mi-seon screamed, unable to open the door and flee. The dog clinging to the car bared its teeth and growled at her instead.
"Go away! Go to the funeral home or the hospital or wherever—just not here!"
At her shout, the beast's red eyes flashed.
It was the savage glare of a feral predator.
Mi-seon's spine chilled at the dog's crimson gaze. She leaned back against the opposite window.
The dog watched her intently through the glass, then reared its head high—
and slammed it down into the window.
Crash!
The window shattered, the dog's head bursting through the broken glass.
"Aaaah! What the hell! Stay out! Don't come in!"
As the dog's head forced its way through, Mi-seon shoved it back with both feet in her high heels.
The dog snapped its jaws at her right foot in its high heel.
Mi-seon yanked her foot back in alarm, and in that gap, more of the dog's body squeezed inside, front paws following.
With both front paws planted firmly on the rear seat, it steadied itself and lunged mouth-first at Mi-seon.
"Aaaah! Why's everything going wrong for me tonight?!"
Mi-seon kicked the dog's snapping jaws with the heel of her right high heel, shoving its head up toward the roof.
The dog's eyes burned redder from the heel's strike, and it lunged again more fiercely.
"Take this, you mutt!"
She gripped the knife in her right hand tight, yanked it free, and stabbed the dog's snout.
The small blade, radiating chill yin energy, glowed blue as it sank in.
Yelp!
The dog let out a sharp cry, thrashed, then slumped lifelessly.
As the beast that had attacked her went limp, Mi-seon pulled the knife from its snout with a sigh of relief.
"Ah..."
Awooooo.
The pack heading to the funeral home halted and threw their heads back, howling at the dark night sky.
Mi-seon, exhaling in relief, startled at the sound and tried shoving the dog's head—which had broken through the window—back out with her feet.
But it was heavier than expected; it wouldn't budge.
"Ah! Let's drive out of here!"
Only now noticing the keys in the ignition, Mi-seon scrambled to the front seat, aiming for the driver's position.
With half the massive dog's body inside, moving was harder than thought.
She'd barely shifted her upper body halfway without touching it when, through the front windshield, she saw the pack charging her way.
"Oh no! Why are they all turning back toward me? Go to the funeral home!"
* * *
The massive, malevolent aura reached everyone in Seol Mi's funeral chamber.
"No way! That's definitely the energy from the sealing blade. Why here?!"
Na-rae, who had already sensed the knife's evil aura before, reacted first.
The magpie perched on Dong-su's shoulder flapped its wings and cried out to him.
"Hey, rookie! Something's off outside. That's wolf energy. Huh? And that massive aura?"
Having never seen the knife drawn from its sheath, the magpie was quite flustered by its first taste of the energy.
Awooooo.
Dozens of wolf howls shook the quiet funeral home.
"Lycans!"
At the wolves' howls, the magpie yelled in alarm and flew out recklessly.
Dong-su didn't know what "lycan" meant but worried for Mi-seon alone in the parking lot and followed.
Il-han and Na-rae rushed out after them.
Awooooo.
Na-rae's pocket fan trembled at the wolves' cries.
* * *
Mi-seon shrieked in terror at the pack charging her.
"Stay back! Over there! There's tons of people at the funeral home!"
Against her hopes, the pack beelined straight for her.
The "wolves" the magpie mentioned were just dogs to Mi-seon.
"I said go away! Don't come here!"
Mi-seon struggled to shift to the driver's seat to drive off and escape the pack.
The space was tight; she stepped on the dead dog's head—stabbed through by the knife—and crouched to squeeze through again.
She barely wriggled past the narrow gap to the front seat. As she moved to slide into the driver's position...
A large dog's head burst through the driver's side window.
Mi-seon yanked back in panic, but the dog's front paws followed.
"Aaaah! Same as before!"
With its upper body inside, the dog bared its fangs and growled at her.
Mi-seon retreated to the back seat and stabbed its jaws with the knife in her right hand.
Yelp!
This one too let out a short cry and slumped across the front seat.
Mi-seon was amazed that a mere prick from the small knife dropped these huge beasts so easily.
"This knife... is badass!"
But she had no courage to open the door and fight the pack with it.
Back in the rear seat, clutching the knife, Mi-seon just stared through the windshield at the approaching horde.
Between the charging dogs, she glimpsed people at the funeral home entrance.
* * *
As Na-rae stepped out of the funeral home, the fan in her pocket called to her.
"Woman! Pledge your loyalty to me! I shall resolve this chaos."
It was a deep baritone voice.
"What? What's this now?"
The magpie, flying ahead, halted and turned back to Na-rae.
Na-rae reached into her pocket, pulled out the fan, and unfurled it.
"Ah, a direwolf!"
The magpie cried out in shock at the wolf image on the fan.
"Woman, pledge your loyalty to me. I shall end this uproar."
The gray wolf on the fan gazed up at Na-rae calmly.
"Close the fan!"
At the magpie's shout, Na-rae glanced alternately at the wolf and the bird.
"Don't let that thing out! Human, demon—it's all prey to him! Stubborn bastard!"
The magpie clearly knew of this wolf, but the wolf seemed oblivious to the magpie.
"Noisy bird. Woman..."
Before the wolf on the fan could say more, Na-rae snapped it shut.
"I have to pledge loyalty to you? Why should I pledge to you?!"
Dong-su glanced at Na-rae's fan, then shouted at the magpie and ran outside.
"Come on, magpie!"
"What's with her? What's she carrying around?"
The magpie grumbled and followed.
Before Dong-su even emerged, four wolves bounded into the funeral home.
"Argh!"
A woman in the lobby was tackled by a wolf. Il-han and the motel owner rushed to save her.
But wolves lunged at them too.
"Damn it!"
Dong-su solidified his spirit body, unleashed physical force, and plunged into the wolves.
Inside the funeral home, he couldn't command animal spirits—only corpses—so he moved his body directly.
Two massive wolves pounced on Dong-su simultaneously, pinning him down with their front paws.
"Woman, release my imprisonment. I shall put an end to this chaos."
The fan in her pocket called to Na-rae again.
"Shut up!"
At Na-rae's yell, the two wolves attacking staff turned toward her.
"Th-this! Ugh!"
Na-rae punched one lunging wolf square in the face, then rolled aside to dodge another.
The struck wolf flew out and crashed onto the asphalt outside. Then over a dozen more wolves charged the funeral home.
Il-han and the motel owner, having barely saved the woman, spun to flee—but the wolves were faster.
Dong-su hurled himself in front of them, guarding the funeral home door and blocking the wolves' attacks.
His spirit energy burned away, thick smoke rising from his body.
He needed to get outside to summon animal spirits, but the wolves' onslaught left him defenseless.
"Woman, pledge your loyalty to me!"
The fan called to Na-rae even louder.