Ch.24EP 1 Fenrir

“Wh-What is this?!”

Cheon-hwi touched his face with a shocked expression.

His soft cheeks squished like dough under his small palms.

I was just as confused.

I didn’t know the Subordination skill had this kind of effect.

My surprise was even greater because when I used it on cats and dogs in the game, there were no physical changes.

“I-I can’t believe this…”

Even Aurel, who had first suggested Subordination, was trembling.

Flushed cheeks, furrowed brows, quivering lips.

How shocked must she be to make such an expression?

At that moment, Cheon-hwi jumped up and shouted.

“G-Give me back my body!”

Cheon-hwi yelled with a bright red face.

If he had been in his previous form it might have been intimidating, but now he just looked like a little girl throwing a tantrum.

I crossed my arms and looked at Cheon-hwi.

Was it because he had become my subordinate? I felt as if something small connected us.

“Sit.”

“Huh…”

Cheon-hwi immediately sat down at my command.

Just like an obedient puppy.

Curious, I extended my hand and said:

“Give me your hand.”

“Ah…!”

Cheon-hwi couldn’t refuse my command.

With a tearful expression, he extended his hand.

His tiny palm rested on mine.

“Oh…”

Just as Aurel said, those who become subordinates cannot refuse their master’s orders.

I put my hands on my hips and said:

“Cheon-hwi.”

Cheon-hwi didn’t answer.

He just pressed his lips together with a defiant look.

It seemed that commands that weren’t clear enough didn’t trigger the compulsion.

Even though Cheon-hwi unexpectedly turned into a girl, what I needed to do hadn’t changed.

Only my attitude toward him had softened slightly.

“Cheon-hwi. How was that Human Liberation group formed?”

“W-Well…”

Cheon-hwi began explaining how the Human Liberation group was formed.

At first, he said, the group didn’t have any grand goal of “human liberation.”

They just banded together to survive, and it evolved from there.

The turning point came with the sudden appearance of shops.

Places where werewolves and vampires didn’t roam.

Naturally, human users were the first to use the shops that appeared in the sewers.

Humans began gathering weapons and silver bullets, and started systematically hunting werewolves and vampires.

Since they had just begun their activities, the vampire and werewolf factions apparently didn’t have much information about them.

“I see.”

“Mmm…”

Cheon-hwi nodded with a gloomy expression.

He probably hadn’t intended to explain in such detail, as he covered his mouth with both hands after spilling all that information.

Of course, that didn’t mean he could refuse my orders.

I continued asking questions.

“What happened to the people who were fighting the Fusion Bodies?”

“What do you think? They all scattered. How could they keep fighting against creatures that kept appearing…”

“Is anyone still active now?”

“Maybe if you look hard enough. The world changed and people became more isolated. I don’t know much else…”

“Hmm…”

I nodded at Cheon-hwi’s words.

I had come to Seoul hoping to join forces with people who might still be fighting, but they seemed to have dispersed.

Well, if there had been a solution, the world wouldn’t look like this now.

There was much more information I could extract from Cheon-hwi.

I got a large map from Ham-jumuk and handed Cheon-hwi a crayon.

“Mark where humans are hiding and where the shops are located.”

“Nngh…”

Cheon-hwi groaned and frowned deeply.

But he couldn’t refuse my order.

Soon he lay flat on the floor and began drawing various markings on the map with the crayon.

After some time, Cheon-hwi jumped up and handed me the map.

He was still clutching the crayon tightly, apparently unwilling to give it up.

I didn’t particularly care about getting it back, so I ignored that.

“Hmm…”

I unfolded the map and checked the areas Cheon-hwi had marked.

Since he couldn’t refuse my orders, this information had to be accurate.

I neatly folded the map and handed it to Aurel.

“Aurel.”

“Yes!”

“Give this to Ham-jumuk.”

“Understood!”

Right now, Ham-jumuk would be the one most eager for revenge against human users.

So it was right to pass this information to him.

Aurel answered energetically and ran off toward where Ham-jumuk was.

Cheon-hwi sat on the floor, watching blankly.

Judging by his resigned smile, he seemed to have given up resisting.

“What are you planning to do now?”

Suddenly Cheon-hwi asked me.

What did he mean by what I was planning to do?

I tilted my head as I looked down at the small girl.

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Kill you? Me? You?”

I shook my head.

What a horrible thing to say.

I had no hobby of killing little girls.

Besides, wasn’t Cheon-hwi my subordinate?

Although his level had decreased during subordination, I had no intention of killing someone who could be useful.

He was cute, too.

“I don’t plan to kill you.”

“Th-Then…”

Cheon-hwi’s face suddenly turned pale at my answer.

What could he be thinking to react like this?

Curious, I ordered Cheon-hwi:

“What are you thinking?”

“I-I was thinking about human pens… That’s what will happen to me too, right…? Not dying but producing meat forever…”

“No.”

I shook my head.

Cheon-hwi apparently didn’t understand his current state.

Of course, if Cheon-hwi were still human, I might have considered that option.

But now Cheon-hwi was a vampire, not human.

Vampire blood and flesh weren’t necessary for werewolves and vampires to survive.

“R-Really…? I’ll be okay?”

“Yes, really.”

“Huh… Huh…”

Just then, Aurel came running back after successfully completing my order.

“I’m back!”

“What did Ham-jumuk say?”

“He said thank you so much!”

“He’s not planning to move right away?”

“No!”

I nodded at Aurel’s words and looked around.

The werewolves had suffered significant damage too.

It would be burdensome to attack right now.

I crossed my arms and looked at Hwang-gu.

We came here to recover Hwang-gu’s memories.

Of course, we hadn’t achieved that goal.

“Hwang-gu.”

“Yes?”

Hwang-gu tilted her head at my words.

Seeing her tail wagging happily, she still hadn’t recovered her memories.

I asked Hwang-gu, just in case:

“Do you want to stay here?”

“No!”

Hwang-gu answered without hesitation.

I scratched the back of my head and looked up at the sky.

“Hmm…”

How should I explain this to Ham-jumuk?

Ham-jumuk and the werewolves were so happy when Hwang-gu and Meong-meong Gongju returned.

How could I tell them, “Your leader likes me, so I’m taking her with me”?

“Don’t leave me behind!”

While I was lost in thought, Hwang-gu must have felt anxious.

She ran over and clung to my body.

Her soft, warm skin pressed against my leg.

I stroked Hwang-gu’s head as I pondered.

Hwang-gu wasn’t someone who would let go easily.

With the stamina of a level 20 werewolf, she could chase me to the ends of the earth no matter how fast I ran.

In the end, I could only make one decision.

‘I’ll have to sneak out.’

I looked around and nodded.

The best time to slip away from the werewolves would be now, while everything was chaotic from the attack.

The problem was Cheon-hwi.

Having changed bodies, Cheon-hwi had lost his sense of balance and couldn’t even properly manage his small body.

How could someone who kept stumbling and falling run properly?

I called Cheon-hwi over.

“Cheon-hwi, come here.”

Cheon-hwi pouted at my words.

But contrary to his expression, his body began moving toward me.

As the distance between us closed…

The shadow at my feet writhed, and Cheon-hwi’s small body was sucked into it.

“Charlotte…?”

Hwang-gu and Aurel looked shocked at this sudden development.

But I wasn’t surprised.

I could feel Cheon-hwi’s movement deep within the shadow.

Just to be sure, I called Cheon-hwi again.

“Cheon-hwi.”

Then, a small vampire girl’s head peeked out from the shadow.

I instinctively understood.

Cheon-hwi had been reborn in my shadow.

In other words, he had become like a shadow itself.

Cheon-hwi looked up at me with an unperturbed gaze.

As if this transformation was perfectly natural to him.

It seemed that during subordination, part of his common sense had been altered.

“Are you uncomfortable in there?”

Cheon-hwi just nodded slightly without answering.

That was good.

“Wow…”

Aurel lay flat on the ground to see Cheon-hwi who had become a shadow.

Seeing her repeatedly putting her hand into the shadow, she probably wanted to go in there too.

Cheon-hwi made a sour face and hid deeper in the shadow.

Before sunrise.

I quickly led the children out of the werewolf camp.

I felt sorry for the werewolves we left behind, but I wanted to believe they would do well with Ham-jumuk.

“Hehe…”

Hwang-gu seemed delighted to be coming with me, smiling happily.

After leaving the werewolf camp, we headed for Seoul Station.

My original destination.

The place where most vampires gathered.

And the starting point of the world’s transformation.

The sight of Seoul Station was devastating.

There wasn’t a single intact building, and craters pockmarked the area as if bombs had exploded.

And there were so many Fusion Bodies roaming around.

Of course, ordinary Fusion Bodies weren’t the only things visible.

I narrowed my eyes and looked at a large object far away.

Grotesquely extended limbs and muscles that seemed about to burst.

Its overall appearance was similar to a werewolf’s anthropomorphic form, but its body proportions were deformed, and the color of its fur and other details were different.

[Fenrir]

Level: 20

Race: Fusion Body

Health 100%

Mana 100%

[Monster’s emotional state cannot be determined.]

The special entity Fenrir.

The boss you encounter in the first act of Blood Carnival’s main quest.