Chapter 20 – Fly Me To The Moon

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Revealing yourself as you are to others isn’t always wise.  

Not everyone thinks altruistically or morally, and social life is tangled with complex interests.  

Being completely open might make you seem friendly, but from an outsider’s perspective, it just gives them more weaknesses to exploit.  

Always hoping for humanitarianism is foolish, I can say that with certainty.  

Still, living under such beliefs, hiding yourself completely is just another way to ruin relationships.  

Finding the right balance is key. Knowing how much to reveal and how much to hide.  

Separating the public and private spheres. At least, that’s my theory.  

But the reason my relationships are a mess is precisely because I’m bad at this.  

Honestly, I’m not good at either hiding or revealing myself.  

But that’s why I sought places where I could reveal myself.  

Staying in an awkward middle ground only makes things worse.  

Anyway, the point of this story is that sometimes people just want to open up.  

Of course, you have to choose the right person.  

That person is most likely a close acquaintance or…  

“…So, I think I tend to only look forward. Yeah, like you said. You guys said you’d be fine being trapped in a dream forever if it meant reaching the moon. Right, it’s similar, I guess.”  

A creature that, even if it hears my story, lacks the intelligence to use it.  

It could be an animal, a pet, or something else.  

The important thing is, as long as it listens, it doesn’t matter.  

In that sense, “this” was perfect for the role.  

Even if it looked a bit grotesque.  

“No, no, of course, I also think about the future and make plans when I’m alone. But when a situation arises, I can’t see anything else. It’s like I forget everything else… I’m like a goldfish, a goldfish.”  

Being focused on the present, ignoring all calculations of gain and loss, acting on impulse.  

Honestly, it’s the kind of thinking you’d expect from a child.  

But it’s something everyone has in their heart.  

“Acting on your own feels like freedom. Yeah, freedom. If I could just stop caring about what others think, I could enjoy that freedom, but my personality won’t allow it.”  

But in front of “this,” I can act as if I don’t care about others’ opinions.  

Even though it’s something created by a collective “group.”  

Deep in the uncanny valley.  

In the end, I saw this thing created by the werewolves as a single entity.  

“By the way, ahaha, I never thought the hills would give me something like this.”  

This place is the shared dream of the werewolves, once mistaken for a subconscious world.  

A dream.  

And now, not a single werewolf remains in that dream.  

That means even the gray wolf, who agreed to share information at night, is gone.  

And they’ve all merged into one, forming a massive terrain.  

Now floating in the air, should I call it a sphere?  

‘A hive-mind werewolf… What kind of hybrid is this?’  

About 10 meters above the ground, there was a giant sphere.  

If you look closely, you can see arm-like things and snouts sticking out, wriggling.  

I feel bad for them, but it looks quite grotesque.  

I’m sensitive to this kind of thing. It feels like I’m about to vomit.  

But since this is a dream, that won’t happen. It’s just a metaphor.  

“Sigh… What should I do now?”  

Anyway, things have blown up.  

The reason why werewolves were disappearing every night, why Baekmo Cheong-an gathered them in one dream—the result is right in front of me.  

Was I too late?  

Is there no way to separate that sphere back into its original forms?  

“This is something I’ll have to think about in the real world.”  

There’s nothing I can do in the dream.  

But I remember one promise.  

If I don’t meet him in this dream tonight, I’ll storm into the dojo.  

It’s cringy, but whatever. I made a deal, so I have to keep my promise.  

“Alright, let’s go. I don’t care what happens now. I doubt anything more surprising will happen.”  

Now, I have no idea what form that dojo will take.  

What this giant “werewolf sphere” means, what’s going on.  

If all the werewolves are still living normally, it would be even stranger.  

The gap between what I know and the situation.  

After talking in front of that disgusting sphere for a while, I woke up.  

* * *  

“This guy keeps disappearing whenever I look away.”  

I didn’t need a priest, but I complained anyway.  

Outside, a light drizzle was falling, but the rain wasn’t heavy yet.  

But by tomorrow morning, it would get heavier.  

So, it’s better to handle things before then.  

Cheong-an’s deadline is also tomorrow.  

I have a reason, and I’m tired of just waiting.  

‘Alright, let’s not overthink it and just go for it.’  

…I think I’ve said something like this before and ended up in trouble.  

‘Whatever!’  

Overthinking and sitting around isn’t my style.  

I need to move my body to untangle this complicated mess in my mind.  

After confirming that the priest wasn’t anywhere in the factory grounds, I headed to the White Wolf Faction’s hideout.  

Having the priest here would only be a hindrance.  

Even if things go wrong, it’s better for me to go since I won’t die.  

If I cause unnecessary harm, things will get really messy.  

Drip, drip. My hair grew heavy from the cold rain.  

My body was getting colder, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It added just the right amount of tension.  

The sound of rain hitting everywhere drowned out smaller noises.  

Only the heavy sound of a 7-meter concrete pillar dragging through the muddy ground could be heard.  

With the moon hidden, the factory was pure darkness.  

And in that darkness, the White Wolf Faction’s hideout, blacker than the night sky itself.  

After pushing through the rain, I finally arrived.  

But I didn’t know the exact location.  

Where could it be?  

Should I deduce it?  

‘I don’t know.’  

When doing something big, clear your mind first.  

Detailed judgments can come later!  

“Ugh!!”  

The reinforced concrete pillar, now a weapon. Should I give it a name?  

“Big Magnum” should suffice.  

I swung the Big Magnum, craving blood, and struck a pillar in the damp, skeletal factory.  

If I can’t find the werewolves, I’ll make them find me.  

That was the plan.  

“Ah.”  

But I must’ve swung too hard, as one pillar collapsed, causing part of the ceiling to cave in.  

‘…This shouldn’t be a problem, right?’  

The sound of the structure collapsing created an eerie echo.  

Soon, I felt a presence and heard a voice nearby.  

“What’s going on?”  

The voice echoed everywhere, making it hard to pinpoint, but it was definitely Baekmo Cheong-an’s.  

I swallowed dryly and spoke.  

“What are you doing here?”  

A brief silence followed.  

Cheong-an answered through the rain.  

“Lately, some of the kids have been saying strange things. They said someone other than the White Wolf Faction’s warriors has entered their subconscious world.”  

“You know well. Then you must also know that everything that happened in that subconscious world… no, in the dream, has been exposed.”  

“I had no idea it was you, the Vampire Lord. Thinking about it, those stories started after you appeared, but I didn’t suspect you. How strange.”  

Baekmo Cheong-an remained calm from start to finish. Shamelessly so.  

“So, are you planning to punish me? If you knew exactly what happened there, you wouldn’t think that way.”  

With those final words, silence returned.  

I quietly picked up the Big Magnum.  

Of course, the Big Magnum didn’t stay quiet.  

‘One presence.’  

All I could feel was Baekmo Cheong-an’s life force.  

Did he not bring all the werewolves because the work wasn’t finished yet?  

That’s what I thought.  

‘Then there’s no problem.’  

What a careless thought.  

Logically, there’s no way he’d put himself at a disadvantage against an armed opponent.  

Maybe it’s a natural delusion.  

-Ting!  

Suddenly, at a completely unexpected moment, the sharp sound of blades clashing rang out behind me.  

A voice came from behind my frozen back.  

“…The White Wolf Faction’s werewolves are now one. Come back later, Vampire Lord. …And Baekmo Cheong-an….”  

Startled, I turned around.  

But there was no one there.  

Only the pouring rain and the footprints left in the mud proved anything had happened.  

In the faintly glowing mud, hundreds of footprints were chaotically scattered.