The Modern World Makes No Sense
“……So close. Insanely close.”
[Grrr.]
“Quiet. I know.”
Once the map stopped spinning, it took less than ten minutes to reach the front gate of the Baekya Guild.
I should've asked ages ago, if I'd known it'd be this easy.
I crunched down the remaining candy from my lollipop and tucked the stick back into its plastic sleeve. The lingering scent of strawberry had actually improved my mood, so I decided to forgive everyone—up to and including killing the fake Hero and the higher-ups.
“The building's pointlessly big and tall. No idea where they'd even be.”
“Alright, wolf. Let's head up first.”
[Arf!]
The very moment I climbed onto the wolf's back, intending to assault the guild's top floor, a woman in a business suit came sprinting out of the building and planted herself in front of us.
“Lady Arte, just a moment, please!”
[Whine?]
The wolf looked up at me as if to ask whether it could clear her out of the way. I calmed it down for now. Annoying as she was, low-level grunts like her rarely knew the real story behind anything. No sense stirring up trouble in front of so many watching eyes.
“What.”
“You're here to see Hunter Baek Siwoo, aren't you?”
“Is that a problem?”
“N-no, not at all! It's just—Hunter Baek Siwoo isn't in the building right now.”
Playing busy, just because he calls himself a Hero. I would definitely collect compensation for this wasted trip.
“Where did he go?”
“He, um, has an interview at a broadcasting station. He should be back in an hour or two.”
“A broadcasting station? Which one?”
“Uh, INC. Do you know it?”
I fished the phone out of the envelope I'd stashed it in and searched for INC. 1.2 kilometers. A heartbeat away, riding the wolf.
“……Wolf, let's go. It's that way.”
[Howl?]
“No getting lost this time. No spinning map either. Now—run.”
“W-wait, please!”
The woman threw herself in front of the wolf again, fearless as ever.
“What.”
“C-could you tell me the nature of your business? If you leave your name, we can contact you when—”
“No.”
Announcing 'I'm going to kill you' in advance was a move for edgy amateurs. If the target decided to run, things got complicated. The original Hero had been an idiot who never fled no matter how dire the situation became—but I had no idea how this fake one would react.
Either way, I needed to see his face in person first.
“Still, if you could just—”
“I said no. That's twice now.”
“Hff…….”
When I radiated a faint killing intent as a warning, the woman crumpled to the ground as if her legs had given out—but if one of those uselessly tall heels snapped, that would be its own headache, so I caught her.
Not with my hands, of course.
“……Thread?”
“Get up. I'm leaving.”
With the slightest twitch of my mana-woven threads, the woman rose from the ground like a marionette being pulled up by its strings. Part of me wanted to march her straight into the building like that, but I figured she wasn't so stupid as to miss a warning this obvious, so I let it go.
[Awooo!]
My patience was starting to fray, and the wolf seemed to sense it—she threw her head back and howled. The howl rattled the building's windows, and the people who had been creeping closer scattered in fright.
Well then. The path was clear.
“Wolf, run.”
[Awooo!]
I could have traveled through the shadows, but this time I'd decided on a frontal assault. After crossing blades with him briefly yesterday, I was confident I could win a head-on fight.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
At the entrance to the broadcasting station, a cluster of women—who for some reason were squaring off against the station's security guards—began to scream.
“Wolf, apparently they're scared of you.”
[Awooo.]
The wolf lifted her chin with evident satisfaction. Being a monster that fed on fear at its core, she had always enjoyed startling and frightening people.
Pathetically weak, and nothing but bluster.
“……Let's use the front entrance.”
Climbing over the wall after showing myself would just be poor form.
At the station's main gate, the wolf stopped awkwardly in front of the lowered barrier, front paws shuffling in embarrassment. She clearly wanted to smash straight through, but I held her back.
“Don't break it. I'll do the talking.”
“Uh…… what's the purpose of your visit?”
Wait. What am I supposed to say in this situation?
'They say the Hero's here. I came to kill him.'
'Wh-what! Call the police, now!'
No, that one was out.
'I, uh, know the Hero.'
'You? Kid, go drink some more of your mother's milk.'
That had more or less been the reaction back in the other world, so that was out too.
'Vivian. Die or something. Pick one.'
'Aaaagh! Somebody call the police!'
If this was how it went, sneaking over the wall would have been a hundred times better. This wasn't working at all.
“Uh, um, your reason for visiting, and some ID……. Do you have them? Ahem. What brings you here today?”
“……Hold on. Thinking.”
“Lady Arte! I'm a fan!”
“Hehk?!”
An out-of-nowhere voice made me emit a genuinely ridiculous sound. It belonged to one of the women from the crowd I'd just seen.
I shot the wolf a glare—why hadn't she stopped them from approaching?—and she tilted her head with an air of practiced innocence.
……She hasn't been put in her place lately, so her ego's been quietly growing again. I'll have to retrain her later.
“'Hehk,' she says! So cute!”
“Her face is a kid's, but her body is, ohhh……”
“Are you not wearing any makeup? Aww, look at that messy hair. Can we fix it up for you?”
“Uh, um……”
“She said yes! Hey, hand that over!”
What—what is that thing?
The moment the swarm of women closed in around me, every muscle in my body locked rigid. Click. Click. Shutter sounds chimed from their phones, and flashes began popping in broad daylight. My mind went hazy.
I need to get out of here. But how?
Physical force was impossible—one careless sweep of my hand and they'd all burst like crushed larvae.
“Hunters really do take care of themselves, huh. Your hair is so soft, and your skin's straight-up baby skin. Kind of makes me insecure, honestly?”
“D-don't touch me. I'll kill you.”
“Tsk. No saying mean things.”
“Don't worry! Just bear with it for a second and we'll have you all cleaned up in no time.”
One of the women spritzed some liquid from a small spray bottle onto my hair and started running her fingers through it this way and that.
It probably wasn't poison or anything—but one assassin against a crowd was far too much to handle……!
“W-Wolf. Do something about this……”
“Wait, the wolf's name is just… Wolf?”
“Isn't that a little too lazy?”
“Look how glossy her coat is. She's better groomed than the dogs at actual pet salons.”
That little traitor. She's enjoying this……!
“Is that a real knife on your thigh?”
What, do assassins carry props now?
“What's your relationship with the Hero? Are you a member of his otherworldly harem too, Lady Arte?”
You'd have to be insane. In thirty minutes I'd be facing him blade-to-blade, killing or being killed.
“What do you eat to get that chest and those hips?!”
I never grew those things……!
I wanted to fire back something cutting and chase these deranged women off on the spot, but being surrounded by people was so foreign after all this time that my body had simply frozen up.
Who even are these people? How are they this fearless?
“When Lady Arte came back and we saw her on the news, the Hero was so happy.”
“Right? He didn't cry or anything, but honestly it looked like a long-lost family reunion.”
Just as the word Hero soured my mood, they began poking and prodding at my equipment as if it had caught their interest, and my mind snapped alert. One wrong touch and a hand could come off. Who manhandles an assassin's gear like this? Are they out of their minds?
I had no idea what the Hero had told these people about me.
“D-don't touch…….”
“Wow, if I were a man I'd kidnap you on the spot.”
“She really is adorable.”
“M-move. If you get hurt, that's on you. Not my responsibility.”
The instant I resolved to force my way through, even if it meant using actual strength, the women blocking my path must have sensed it—because they obligingly stepped aside.
“Have a good one!”
“Make sure he buys you lots of tasty food!”
I understood that images of me had spread across the media. What I did not understand was what my public image was supposed to be. Back in Arcadia, all it took was one glimpse of black hair and red eyes for people to flee in terror…….
Enjoying a woman's touch, are we. Some 'wolf' you are.
“Wolf. Shrink. More. More. More. You want to rebel again?”
“Whoa, she can adjust her size……. I want one.”
“I'm more of an Arte person, myself……”
Leaving the women chattering absolute nonsense behind me, I set the wolf—now shrunk down to lapdog size—on my shoulder and approached the security desk again.
“……Ahem. They said the Hero was here, so I came to see him.”
“Of course. Your entry permit has already been approved—just stop by the front desk and ask to be shown to Studio 7.”
The swarm of human women who had mobbed me for no discernible reason had been a formidable obstacle, but I had overcome them in the end.
After catching my breath, I walked proudly through the main gate and spoke to the receptionist.
“I'm going to Studio 7.”
“Certainly. A staff member over there will escort you. Enjoy your visit.”
The staff's politeness, delivered with practiced smiles, felt strange, and I gave a curt nod. I had come here to kill the Hero, and yet everyone was so nice.
“Studio 7 is in the annex, not the main building. Right this way, please.”
“Yeah.”
Friendly gazes followed me from every passerby. I hated it. Unexplained goodwill had always, always been the first thing to betray me. The kindness of someone who hides their own desires is the most difficult thing in the world to face.
“Here we are. It's quite large, isn't it? That's because the studio was built for Awakened and Hunters.”
“Mm.”
The Hero was on the other side of that door.
Every fiber of me wanted to burst in and butcher him right now, but I had to hold back. I was, first and foremost, an assassin. Slaughtering everything in sight merely because it annoyed me would make me not an assassin, but a monster.
Precision, always. A measured death.
“Wolf.”
[Huff.]
“If I do anything weird again, feel free to swallow me whole.”
[Hmph.]
Together with the wolf, who answered with an explosive snort, I heaved open the massive metal door and took one more step toward the studio, where brilliant lights poured down from above.
