Chapter Text
Part 1 - New Moon
A lonely white wolf stood on the hill, observing the wonderful view of the mountains and valleys covered in blankets made of green forests. Summer was in full bloom, honouring their eyes with meadows of colorful flowers and their ears with the melody of gracious birds.
It was the right time to come back home. Even if she didn’t know yet how the home felt like. She was here to find out.
The wolf gracefully jumped off the small rock it was using to observe the neighborhood, and then ran down the hill, straight into the forest. The woods welcomed it with the nice coolness of the air, bringing the wolf a lot of relief after standing in the full sun for a while. The animal huffed silently, breathing in the fresh, humid, smelling of moss and rotting leaves air.
Then, out of nowhere, the white fur on the wolf’s head started to sparkle and shine. It took a couple of seconds, and suddenly a girl was sitting in the place where the wolf previously stood. Her hair was long, brown and just as shiny as the white fur previously covering her body. Her eyes were curious and attentive.
“What did you see?” A boy, in his early twenties, muscular but a bit short, asked. He came out of nowhere, as if from a shadow, bringing an aura of seriousness into the place. The way he passed a set of clothes to the girl sitting on the ground spoke familiarity achievable only for the closest of companions.
The girl accepted the clothes wordlessly, waiting until she was fully covered to speak.
“Nothing more than previously. It seems fairly calm there.” Her mind seemed to be somewhere else. Maybe somewhere years ago.
“So, are we going, or not?” There was urgency in the boy’s words. They had been waiting a while already. They wanted to act, move–
“Yes, we’re going. But not to Moon Grove yet. That would be too dangerous for you now. We’re gonna stay in the neighboring town, Moon Valley, or whatever its name is. Then we’re gonna patiently observe the situation and wait for the right moment to announce our presence and take control over this land.”
The boy huffed with a bit of annoyance, but nodded anyway. She was the boss, and he could only follow.
“Lead the way, alpha.”
(...)
The moon shined brightly that night, urging Mina to leave her room. It was very close to the full moon - the time that usually made her energized and eager to part ways with her lovely computer for a few hours… Only that these days, she was busier than ever, and didn’t really have much time to just go out of the house and run freely like she used to in high school, and even during the college years. Which was truly a shame, because the summer that year was wonderful. Not too hot, with just the perfect amount of rainy and stormy days, but also not too humid too, allowing her to open her window fully at night without the fear of an army of insects storming her sanctuary. But, as she mentioned, she was too busy for anything else than work.
And it was all her own fault.
Okay, not exactly. It was a bit of a huge simplification to say that, but Mina tended to think like that lately. Because how else was she supposed to say that because of her being single, she was scheduled to work longer than anyone else? If she said her thoughts out loud to anyone from her family, they would probably dismiss her idea and tell her that it was stupid. And they would probably be right. Still, Mina liked to think this way, and no one could take it away from her. Sana was excused from doing that work because of her demanding job, Tzuyu because of the long hours of her internship and because she had a girlfriend she wanted to visit often. Mina worked from home and she was single, so apparently , she had tons of spare time to help everyone around her.
Yup . Being a programmer was awesome. She could be as well working on a new NASA project (not that she was, but… she could), and her family would still see it as silly playing with her computer. Contrary to their opinion though, she was really working long hours and earned her money honestly.
However, that night, for some reason, the moon was calling her stronger than any other one. She tried to focus on her work, changing her position on the chair fifteen times (finally ending up with her legs almost on her neck). She also tried adjusting the display settings of her monitor, because suddenly the blue light started to hurt her eyes. She turned off the music, then she turned it back on, then she found a podcast to listen to, then she turned down the volume of her headphones, then she found a livestream on Youtube where her favorite gamer played the newest part of Witcher... And then she realized that, at least for the past hour, she made totally no progress with her code.
She was stuck. And not even that there was some error she couldn’t fix, or some hard thing to solve. No, she was just procrastinating.
Sighing tiredly, Mina took the headphones off and saved the local copy of her project. Then she also turned off her three monitors, not wanting their light to attract any potential insects and housemates into her room, thinking that she was there.
Not bothering to use the door, Mina quickly slipped her clothes off, and jumped out of the window, landing on the small roof at the back of the house, located over the back door. Then her way down was already easy; the roof wasn’t high over the ground, especially for someone athletic and strong like Mina.
The girl landed gracefully on the ground, feeling the pine needles instantly getting into the soft skin of her feet. She tsked silently, then immediately changed into her wolf skin, which was harder and able to protect her paws from the harsh forest grounds. In times like those, she grew quite fond of this feature of her body that she knew so well and that became such a pivotal aspect of her life. She couldn’t imagine not being able to use it anymore, and opposite to some members of her family, she even liked their curse.
Yeah, you’ve heard her right - the curse. One that didn’t allow them to leave too far away from Moon Grove and their own pack, but also left Mina a comfortable excuse for not wanting to leave too far away from her own room. One that some of them deeply despised, and one that Mina didn’t really mind. A curse anyway, even if sometimes welcomed.
The air was heavy with something that night, as if anticipation maybe, or hope. Mina traversed through the wilderness silently, like the ultimate predator that she was, catching all the interesting smells while on the run, noticing the tropes of all the other wild animals living there and finally finding one she could definitely recognize. Intrigued, she followed the smell, until it started getting more and more intense, and suddenly she found herself on a clearing, lit up with the moonlight.
A lone wolf sat there, staring at the silver circle in the sky. It looked distracted, almost half asleep. Mina quietly sat beside her packmate.
The silence and the moon accompanied them for a long while. They couldn’t say anything, and even if they could, it wasn’t necessary. Silence was fine. Silence was comforting.
Sana decided to turn back to her human form almost an hour later. Mina didn’t feel forced to do the same at first, initially content with just staying by her friend’s side, but the sad and tired smile on Sana’s face changed her mind immediately.
“What’s wrong?” The worry didn’t let her stay quiet for any longer. At first, Sana just shrugged in response.
“I don’t know… I’m- I’m just thinking, probably too much.” She said enigmatically shortly after. Mina internally rolled her eyes, not impressed with the amount of information that she received.
“About?”
One another sigh from Sana.
“About life, you know… about me and Dahyun…”
Oh, so there lay the problem. Well, it was quite easy to guess, if Mina looked at it now, with how often Sana talked about it lately. She mostly told them about good things, like Dahyun’s part-time work with children, the exams that she passed with flying colors. But their phone calls weren’t as frequent as before, probably because of how busy Dahyun was with her education and work.
Mina just hoped that there wasn’t anything bad happening between the couple.
She hesitated before asking, knowing well how sensitive the issue could be to some people. She knew Sana pretty well, the girl was usually open about her feelings and emotions, but after all, there wasn’t just her feelings involved this time. It was Dahyun’s business too, and maybe Sana didn’t want to disclose it to anyone else.
“Sana… I’m sorry if it’s a bit of intruding, but… Do you and Dahyun have any trouble? You know, she’s my friend too, but you’re my sister first and foremost. You can say anything to me.”
The way Sana’s eyes widened immediately made her calm down a bit. Sana’s voice was defensive though, when she definitely denied that idea.
“No! No…” She sighed. “It’s just… I don’t know, probably I’m tired and starting to come up with things that don’t exist.”
Mina was dying to wipe the pout off her face and exchange it for the usual smile.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Yes, thanks for asking. You’re not intruding by the way. I’m glad that you care.” Sana smiled at her reassuringly, grabbing her hand to squeeze it.
Mina stared at the girl with sympathy.
“She’s gonna be back in a few days. And not just for a few days, but for the whole two months.”
“That’s not the issue.” Sana hung her head. “I mean, I miss her so much, but I understand that she has to focus on her education first. That’s what I’m actually worried about. I kind of think lately that I’m stopping her from living her life to the fullest. Like… She’s still partially stuck in Moon Grove, because I can’t put my foot outside of it, she had to commute so much, because I can’t go there, and I bet that if she was free of those things, she would be probably already living in the city, having a proper career–”
“Sana.” Mina’s hand landed on the girl’s shoulder, stopping the monologue. “Dahyun loves you so much. She’s happy to come back to you every time. I’m also sure that she loves Moon Grove, and living here. That’s obviously something you guys should talk through between the two of you, but… I think you’re really tired and too much in your head. How about taking a few days off from that work of yours, going outside and touching some grass?”
Sana snorted, despite the seriousness of the situation, hearing Mina’s choice of words.
“Sure. I’m the one that should take a few days off. How about you, huh? If you’re not in front of your computer, you’re working in the bar. I barely see you these days. Do you plan to code during the full moon too?”
“No?” Mina whined, knowing well that Sana was probably right. So they both worked too much. So what? “But I already promised Momo to take the shift tomorrow, and before that, I have a morning meeting with my team, before which I still have to finish my task.”
“Is this a suggestion that we should already be going?” Sana hummed. “But it’s so wonderful here. Look at those views… It’s Dahyun’s favorite place not without a reason.”
Mina raised her eyebrows, before standing up.
“Should I understand that you’re sleeping here tonight then?”
“Maybe…” Sana’s dreamy gaze measured the mountains.
Mina shook her head with disapprovance, hiding her fond smile.
“No, you’re not. Come on.” She offered her hand for the girl to take. “Race me back home? But no cheating, you can’t turn.”
“Sure.” Sana accepted the hand innocently, using Mina’s strength to lift herself up. Then a mischievous sparkle danced in her eyes and Mina was graced with the memory of a younger Sana, the one that didn’t carry so much responsibility on her shoulders. The image was so vivid in front of her eyes, that she almost missed the moment when the girl set off, turning into her wolf form practically in the middle of the move.
Then all that was left for Mina was to watch the dust still flying in the air behind Sana’s tail.
“Hey! We were supposed to not turn…” She tried to object. Then a sigh left her lips, when she turned too, jumping between the trees and disappearing into the night.
(...)
The bar, located in the town neighboring to Moon Grove - a cozy place called Moon Valley - was a fairly new occurrence. Even though the building itself probably remembered the times when Mina’s grandparents were born, for the residents of the small town, the fact that the place was bought by two young women and completely rebuilt, still appeared as something worth the biggest fuss and the hottest gossip.
Truly, it had been only a few months since the opening of ‘Strategy’, but in Mina’s opinion, the people should already let it go and stop staring at her as at the eighth miracle of the world, when she stood behind the bar and served the drinks as a favor for her sisters, who couldn’t for the love of God decide who to hire as their bartender. But the bar was Jeongyeon and Momo’s baby, so despite being really busy with her work, and despite not being really socially prepared for the job, and despite being a bit bitter that no one else had to help with it, Mina still took over some of the shifts, allowing her sisters to take a break from being the big new owners.
After the first month, or two, when she already caught the grip on how to interact with the customers, and how to prepare all the drinks, it was even a fun way to spend her evenings. Obviously, she got only half of the wage she would normally earn while doing the job, but it was per her personal request, simply because she wanted to help Momo and Jeongyeon recover after all the expenses they had when buying and then renovating the place.
Most of the evenings during the week, like tonight, were quite calm. Mina spent them occasionally serving a beer or two, keeping the place clean, and simply admiring the amount of work they all put into making the bar look so cozy and warm. Some of the days were busier, when someone decided to celebrate their birthday or a promotion with a couple of drinks, or when people simply got their monthly pay and could afford to drink out, and then she had to stop with the daydreaming and actually move her ass. That was nice too, sometimes, both for the budget of the bar, and for Mina’s sanity.
But, as she mentioned, luckily tonight was one of the calm days. The patrons sat by the counter, sipping their beer, Momo was by her side, learning how to do the finances under Mina’s watchful eyes, and Jeongyeon was in the back, preparing a burger ordered by an old man that Mina knew lived nearby. The time went by really slowly.
It was nearly ten, when Momo glanced at her gracefully, closing her laptop.
“Thanks for the help. I’m always nearly sure that I’ve done it well, but then one can never be sure, right? So thanks for checking.”
“No problem, I struggled with accounting too, in the beginning. But you’ll get a grip on it soon, I promise.” Mina patted her back.
“You know what… I think I’m good here for tonight. You can go home already, if you want. We’ll be fine on our own with Jeongie.” Momo offered, looking around the place with her watchful eyes. There were a few people sitting at the tables, but generally nothing that couldn’t be handled by just one person.
Mina nodded.
“Fine, I’ll just check what this guy wants, and then the bar’s all yours.” She pointed at the young man that just entered the place.
He was short, but clearly well-built, with his hair dark as night. His face was handsome, but looked definitely unfamiliar to all the residents of Moon Valley. A few curious pairs of eyes followed the guy as he approached the counter.
“Hi, what can I get you?” Mina smiled her best polite smile, as always trying to appear welcoming. “Beer, whiskey? Maybe something to eat?”
The man didn’t react to her cheerful tone at all. To be fair, he didn’t even look like he knew why he found himself in the bar.
“Hi, ummm…” He scratched his head, not even once looking at Mina and focusing on the menu on the left. “Ummm… A pizza, maybe? Or… Or maybe some pasta.”
Mina waited patiently for him to read the menu until the end. He seemed really unsure and definitely didn’t ooze confidence. Now that she could look at him a bit longer, he was probably in his early twenties, even younger than her.
She tried to discreetly sniff the air, trying to catch any smells coming from him that could probably tell her anything about his mood or emotions, but there was literally nothing. In times like this, Mina really felt like cursing out loud her own faulty nose. Because that’s how she always thought about it. Just as her human brain had troubles with understanding people's emotions, her wolf nose sometimes failed to catch smells and for the love of God, she couldn't understand what they meant.
“Okay, I’ll take the spaghetti, and… And a small beer.” The guy finally decided, and Mina nodded with relief that she was finally spared from standing uselessly in front of him. She rushed to pass the order to Jeongyeon, and then grabbed a clean mug to fill it with the golden liquid.
Since Momo seemed to temporarily get lost somewhere, she then grabbed the food Jeongyeon finished preparing, and delivered it to the old man waiting for his burger. In the meantime, the black-haired unsure guy was already almost finished with the beer. Mina’s eyes almost opened with amazement.
Would it be unusual for a bartender to ask what he was doing in Moon Valley? Probably not. Was it unusual for Mina to interact so eagerly with someone she didn’t know? One hundred percent yes. But… She was so curious…
As it turned out, fate was favorable for her that night, because just at that moment, the old man with the burger, as if reading her mind, turned to the unsure guy.
“Tell me, young man… What brings you to Moon Valley?” He asked, inevitably causing the attention of the whole bar to focus on them. Mina’s ears were wide open too; she absolutely needed to hear this one, even if just to pass it later to her sisters.
The unsure guy turned slowly towards the old man asking him the question. There was something hard to decipher flashing in his eyes just for a second, before his hand grabbed the mug to finish the beer.
“I guess you could say it’s family.” He smiled politely.
“Oh, are you visiting someone? I don’t really remember you from around here, so you surely had to avoid meeting your family before, right?” The old man laughed. The guy’s polite expression didn’t change.
“I’m not visiting.” He shook his head. “But… I guess it depends really on what you consider as a family, right?” He hummed, leaving the old man a bit dumbfounded. Then, completely unbothered, he turned back to the counter, taking his phone out of his pocket and seemingly ignoring his surroundings.
Mina’s eyes connected with the old man’s ones and the girl shrugged helplessly. Surely, that guy wasn’t one of the locals. He was definitely way too impolite for that.
“Gimme one more, sweetie.” The old man called out to Mina, pointing at his own mug of beer. “This evening’s just starting to be interesting…”
(...)
The lights of the multiple police cars shone brightly in the earliness of the July morning. The air was a bit humid, because of the previous night’s rain, strengthening the various smells of the woods.
Sana’s hands were shaking a bit as she walked behind the sheriff through the forest, watching out as to not get her shoes dirty with the mud. It was inevitable, as she was soon about to find out, but for now, she preferred to focus on this task anyway, distracting her thoughts from what, or maybe rather who, was awaiting her in their destination.
She couldn’t avoid it in the end.
“A man, in his late sixties. The family you can see over there found him while they were hiking. They state that he’s from Moon Valley, but honestly, with the amount of wounds, it was hard to even find where his face was supposed to be in the beginning, not even talking about his identity, so they might not be exactly correct.” Mark, Sheriff’s deputy, stated right when they arrived. “I’ll be honest, sheriff. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Me too.” Sheriff, a man in his early fifties, had a lot of experience. He had been leading the police forces, responsible for taking care of the residents of Moon Grove and the neighboring towns, for over twenty years. If he had never seen anything like this before, Sana was excused from panicking a bit.
It was her first dead body since the moment she decided to become a police officer nearly five years earlier. But what could she do? People in Moon Grove simply didn’t kill each other. They died of old age, or maybe because of some diseases. But not… Not this! Whatever it was. She had a bit of trouble keeping the dinner from last night inside her stomach.
“What did the doctor say?” Sheriff asked Mark, who was still busy with taking the photos of the body. Sana knew she was probably supposed to do some notes, but her eyes couldn’t focus on anything else than the blood covering the man’s stomach, on the intestines lurking at her from his insides, on the throat parted in half.
Yeah, she was a wolf. But a peaceful and good one. She had never murdered a mouse, not even talking about a human being.
“He has to do the autopsy to be sure, but for now… It seems that it was a wolf’s job. Maybe even a few of them. We don’t know why the victim found himself in the middle of the forest at night, because the wolves surely didn’t attack him in the town. From the traces here, I would say that he had barely even fought before he died. He either came here on his own feet, or was carried here by someone else before the wolves fed on him.”
“Hmmm… Seems like you’re right.” Sheriff nodded his head. “No traces of fight, the ground looks pretty much untouched. Did he have any IDs with him? Do we know his name?”
“Yeah, it’s here. Jackson’s already asking people in the town about him.” Mark provided, focusing on his camera.
Sana didn’t look anymore. Her mind was focused on one word - wolves. It appeared in front of her eyes, it rang in her ears.
Did- Did she hear him right? She surely had to overhear something, because it definitely couldn’t be a job of any wolf living in this area. She knew them all, they were her family. Not murderers. They could never kill anyone. It was either some kind of bizarre mistake, or… Or they had intruders in their neighborhood.
Sana gulped, the whole blood flowing away from her face just at the thought of that. Who could even do something so… so cruel? She couldn’t even look at the man’s massacred body, because it was causing her to feel nauseous, and someone was ready to do this to the poor man…
“Officer Minatozaki? Minatozaki! Hey! Sana? Oh, damn. Don’t tell me you’re gonna faint.”
“No. No, sir.” Sana wiped her face, trying to focus. “I’m- I’m fine.”
“Good. Just tell me earlier, okay? Don’t want you to fall down here and ruin some of the traces, just in case the doctor suddenly says that the wolves came later and just finished someone else’s job.” Sheriff scratched his neck.
Sana hesitated a bit, but then she suddenly felt brave enough to speak up.
“Wolves don’t usually attack humans.” She noticed, trying to sound absolutely like she had read it on Wikipedia, and not knew from her own experience. “Unless they are really hungry and desperate, but that hasn’t happened in decades in those forests.”
The man patted her shoulder reassuringly.
“You’re right, officer. That’s why I was adamant to believe it when I got the phone call from Mark in the morning. Seems like it happened though after all, right? Well, we’ll see what the doc says later. For now… I think It’s worth digging a bit in this case, even if just to check why the wolves suddenly decided to change their normal behavior and attack a human being. How about you join Jackson in Moon Valley and ask people there a bit, huh? I think Mark and Bam are fine here.”
“Ye-Yes, sir. Copy that.” Sana wiped her hands on her pants to dry off the sweat from them. Then she threw one last glance at the old man’s body, the image of it forever imprinting in her mind.
On the way back to her car, following the Sheriff just like she did earlier, Sana realized that she was now a different person than before. And she was never going to get that old self back.
(...)
The atmosphere was tense that evening, when Mina allowed herself a break and crawled out of her cave to the outside world in search of food. Chan was walking in circles around the living room, when she arrived downstairs, looking like a storm cloud and pulling his hair out his head.
“We have a problem.” He said to Mina right away. The girl raised her eyebrows.
“Okay? Are you sure? I’m doing pretty good right now.” She shrugged.
Chan scowled at her.
“Be serious. Sana’s on her way home. Apparently a group of wolves murdered someone in Moon Valley last night.”
Mina’s eyes widened instantly and her heart fastened its pace for a moment, making her sweat out of the nerves.
“But… You… You don’t think it’s me, right?” She gulped. “I- I could never. Definitely.”
Not even talking about the fact that she was at work last night, Chan couldn’t seriously consider that she was responsible for murdering a human being, right? That was ridiculous. He knew her better than that.
“No! No, relax.” The man stopped for a moment, his face softening. “I didn’t mean it like that. I said that we have a problem, because it’s obviously not us. And it’s gonna put us in a lot of danger, because no matter who it was, the possible consequences may be directed at us, and… Ugh , let’s just wait for Sana. Maybe it’s not as bad as I think it is. Maybe it’s just some stupid mistake.”
Apparently, it wasn’t a mistake. Sana confirmed Chan’s suspicions right after arriving home. The woman’s face was almost white, her eyes tired after the whole day of work. Mina felt an urge to hug Sana tightly, but Jeongyeon beat her to it. Sana literally melted into Jeongyeon’s arms, looking as if she was on the verge of tears.
“How are you holding, Sana-yah?” Jeongyeon was quick to console the poor girl, slowly stroking her hair. “Do you want some dinner? Maybe something to drink?”
Sana’s whine was so long that it could probably sound overdramatic, if not for everything that Mina heard from Chan just minutes earlier.
“After days like this I really regret becoming a police officer.” Sana mumbled. “And no. I don’t think I can swallow anything after… after what I’ve seen today.”
“You have to eat, baby. You’re gonna lose all of your strength without food to lift your spirits.” Jeongyeon reasoned, pulling the exhausted Sana towards the kitchen. “Try to eat some soup first, okay? Then we can discuss whatever needs to be discussed.”
It was obvious that both she and Chan wanted to interrogate Sana right away, the two of them acting the most parent-like towards their little patchwork family, but the questioning needed to wait this time. Mina secured herself a spot nearby, with a bowl of food of her own, suddenly too nervous to go back to work.
Could it be that some other wolf, unrelated to their pack, really violated their territory like that? Generally, the forests far away from Moon Grove, towards the other neighboring towns, weren’t considered theirs anymore, but they still visited them frequently. And during over ten years since Chan approached Mina in primary school to confront her about being a bit different from their other classmates (meaning being able to change into a wild animal), through the times they spent building their pack and then living together as a family, the only foreign wolves they had met in those woods were Sana and Tzuyu, both of which joined them immediately. No one else had ever dared to intrude on their territory, let alone commit the grave violation of murdering an innocent human being.
They had some rules for a reason. It was hard for them at the beginning anyway, even without people from the town hunting them for being a danger for children and adults. Their pack was peaceful, not bothering the locals even once. Heck, the people from the town were their neighbors, classmates, and coworkers. They didn’t want to cause anyone any trouble.
Mina suddenly didn’t feel like eating dinner anymore. She could understand Sana now, and she didn’t even see any dead, massacred bodies today.
Despite the initial lack of appetite, Sana finished her meal quickly, the events from the whole day taking a clear toll on her body and making her more hungry than a… wolf.
In the meantime, Tzuyu joined them, having finished her day as an intern in the local veterinary clinic, and got nearly as shocked by the news as Mina, Jeongyeon and Chan.
“How is that even possible? Literally yesterday we went through the woods near Moon Valley with Yeji, and there were no strange smells around. Nothing. How could they do it then?” She opened her eyes wide with worry.. “We would hear something, or smell the blood.”
“That’s the case, I thought the same thing.” Sana agreed with much more energy than she had before eating. Then she groaned. “ Ugh… I shouldn’t be telling you any details, because it’s part of the investigation, and it’s technically a secret, but the doctor didn’t say for sure that being bitten by an animal was the cause of death. Maybe, but the chances are really low, it’ll turn out that an animal attacked the guy later, after something else happened for him to die. So let’s not panic yet.”
Chan picked up on that tiny bit of hope right away.
“Yeah, I agree - let’s not panic yet.” He immediately agreed. The proposition he came up with surprised Mina though. “In case it was some wolf’s job though, we have to deal with it before it blows up in our faces. First of all, we have to find whoever, or whatever, has basically eaten the poor guy alive. We can divide into smaller groups and patrol the woods for a few nights, search for any clues. Then, if we find them, we can politely ask them to leave.”
“And if they’ve already left?”
“Then we’re at least gonna know that we’re safe here.”
“Don’t you think it’s too dangerous?” Mina’s worries kicked in right away. “If they killed an innocent person, what would stop them from hurting us, since we’re technically their enemies?”
“But we’re not helpless and weak. We’re not as vulnerable as humans.” Sana picked up on the idea. “We have to at least try, right? Without it, we’re basically sitting and watching our peaceful life here go to hell.”
As far as Mina was concerned, unfortunately she had to agree with the last sentence. And she wasn’t feeling like moving out of Moon Grove. She absolutely loved the forests around it, and also, her family lived there. It would suck if she had to leave them behind.
When she looked around the room, at each one of her packmates, she realized that the case was mostly decided already anyway. Sana was probably going to follow whatever Chan decided, always trusting her friend. Jeongyeon, despite not talking much, seemed to be rather determined to protect their territory. Momo was probably going to trust their gut and just follow along, and the kids were mostly still a bit too young to look at things responsibly and worry about their well-being, eager to just act and put their sharp teeth to work. Minho loved them all too much to refuse trying to protect them, just because it was potentially too dangerous.
There was only one person whose opinion Mina wasn’t sure. Sana had to think similarly, because she asked:
“Tzu, what do you think about it? Can you help? Or do you go to the capital this weekend?”
The girl appeared too deep into her thoughts at first to hear the question, but when her eyes finally lifted to connect with Sana’s, there was determination there that Mina hadn’t seen before. Tzuyu’s usual calm demeanor was temporarily mixed with a hint of anger.
“No, I’m staying to help. Jihyo still has a few exams left anyway, I don’t want to bother her there.”
Chan accepted her answer with a big smile and a pat on her shoulder.
“Great. She wouldn’t be safe here anyway. We don’t need people walking around the forest until we don’t solve this issue. Sana…?”
Sana guessed what he meant and shook her head right away.
“Dahyun’s coming back tomorrow one way or another. She’s already packed and returned the keys to the apartment. She can’t stay there anymore.” She explained. It wasn’t any kind of surprise for Mina, she actually chatted with Dahyun quite often, so she was up-to-date with the girl’s living status. Dahyun, and Chaeyoung who lived with her, had the apartment rented only to the end of the school year. It was nice enough of the owner to let Dahyun stay a few days longer so the girl could finish with the piano classes she had been giving to kids as a part-time job.
“So we have to keep an eye on her.” Chan sighed, scratching his head. Then he straightened, glancing at each of them as if they were a team of soldiers preparing for a battle. “Remember, keeping the family safe is our greatest priority. Also, no one stays alone in the forest, we can’t risk that.”
His voice carried a determined, confident tone. Mina felt a shiver run down her spine. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like that their peace was disturbed. She didn’t like changes. No, she liked the safety of their forests, the night walks in the light of the moon, the mundane boredom of her days.
“We’ll handle it.” Sana put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing slightly. She was looking at Chan, probably only sensing instinctively that Mina didn’t feel right and wanting to reassure her. “The news will probably spread around the town soon, if it hasn't yet. We don’t know how the people will react, but it quite likely won’t be joy, so let’s prepare to avoid getting too close to the town in our wolf forms. Also, Mina and Jeongie…”
Both girl’s eyes immediately snapped to Sana.
“According to the victim’s friends and neighbors, he was a regular in ‘Strategy’. You two, and Momo too, are probably going to be called to give your testimony, since you were probably one of the last people to see the man. Don’t be scared, it’s nothing bad, just a normal procedure. I’m just giving you a heads-up, because the officers will probably come to the bar tomorrow.”
“Great. I can’t wait.” Jeongyeon groaned, falling down onto the couch tiredly. “Nothing helps business more than dead clients.”
Mina only gulped, already feeling the stress crawling up her stomach and causing it to twist uncomfortably. Actually, she thought she would prefer it if Sana didn’t say anything. Now she was probably going to be too nervous to do anything productive, not even talking about having a good night’s sleep. And the project was waiting…
Maybe it was a good idea after all to catch that murderer and let them taste a bit of their own medicine for disrupting their peace?
(...)
Officers Wang and Tuan truly came to ‘Strategy’ the next day, right after Jeongyeon opened the bar. Mina was not there yet, but the officers insisted on talking to her too, so Momo reluctantly called for her sister. Right after the girl arrived, officer Wang explained briefly that they just wanted to gather the witnesses’ testimonies and that no one should be worried about anything.
Mina had a weird feeling that he wouldn’t be so smiley, if he found out who they truly were.
“We found out from Mrs. Kwang - the victim's neighbor - that the victim, Mr. Lee, used to come back home around eleven in the evening every day, right before she was heading to bed. She emphasized that he was pretty fond of his routine and rarely did anything outside of it, that’s why it really surprised her when Mr. Lee didn’t come back yesterday. Apparently he used to be a regular in your bar. Is that right?”
Jeongyeon was the one to answer, seeing how both of her sisters squirmed nervously in the presence of the officers.
“We opened the bar barely a few months ago, so ‘a regular’ might be a bit of exaggeration, but generally that’s right. He used to come here very often. His wife died many years ago and his son lives far away, so he doesn’t– well, didn’t have anyone around. When he found out we were renovating this place, he came here personally to tell us how happy he was that there would finally be a place in Moon Valley where he could spend time after work with people around, not alone at home.” She explained. Mina didn’t know that fact, so it was a surprise for her too, but she could recall the man often picking up a conversation with her, or any of her sisters, so Jeongyeon’s story sounded pretty believable.
“So he came here every night?” Officer Tuan made sure, when his partner noted it down in his small notebook. Once again it was Jeongyeon who answered.
“Almost every. There were some days when he didn’t show up. Once a week, sometimes more often.”
“And you remember this because…?”
“He was a nice man, everyone liked him. Besides, as you mentioned, he was pretty much a regular. He ordered a burger every time, and drank a mug of beer, sometimes two. The same thing all the time. Also, he sat at the same place…. You learn to remember such things.”
“And do you know why he didn’t show up on those other days? Since Mrs. Kwang pointed out how much he liked his routine…” It was officer Wang’s turn to ask. Jeongyeon only shrugged her shoulders, and so did Mina and Momo. They skipped to the next topic.
“Did he have a lot of friends here, among the bar’s patrons?”
“Not exactly ‘friends’, I wouldn’t call it like that.” Mina felt brave to fulfill this time, since it was her that stood on the front most of the time. “Just… friendly faces to drink a beer with? He usually chatted with other patrons, but sometimes he just sat here in silence. Last night… There was a guy here, a new one. No one’s seen him in Moon Valley before, so he immediately drew everyone’s attention. They had a little chat with Mr. Lee, and the guy wasn’t the happiest when he was asked questions. But they didn’t argue, or anything, if that’s your question, officer. They just chatted, and then the guy left long before Mr. Lee even finished his beer.”
The hum officer Wang let out was a bit too long in Mina’s opinion. She knew that meant that more questions were incoming. She just hoped they would finish until the first customers arrived at ‘Strategy’ for the early dinner.
“Do you remember anything the guy said?”
“Not really, sorry. I was busy serving the drinks, but I guess there was something about the guy visiting his family. I’m not sure whether he confirmed or denied it though…”
Unfortunately, both of her sisters were somewhere else at that moment, so no one could provide any more information.
“Excuse me, officer, but…” Jeongyeon butted it, before the guy could ask them more questions. “As we’ve heard, Mr. Lee has been attacked by an animal, right? Did you probably find out something more about this, with all the questions you’re asking…?”
Both officers glanced at each other, probably wondering whether they should reveal anything about the ongoing investigation. The gossip in the town was already spread, people were saying things, creating their own theories, solutions, pointing out reasons for why the wild animals could attack one of their own. Adding more fuel to those discussions couldn’t be wise.
“We’re just checking every possibility, we can’t confirm nor deny that the cause of Mr. Lee’s death was connected with the presence of other people.” Officer Tuan said vaguely. “For now, we’re just trying to establish what he was doing in the middle of the forest so late at night. That man you mentioned… What did he look like?” He glanced back at Mina, who sighed, before digging deep into her memory. She wasn’t great with faces.
“Dark hair, that’s for sure, quite short. He was short too, only a bit taller than me.” Her face scrunched in the visible effort to recall anything more. “His voice was deep.”
A low voice from behind interrupted her internal battle.
“Don’t we have cameras pointing at the bar and outside the building?” Momo noticed, surprising Mina, who until now was utterly convinced that her sister wasn’t even aware of the CCTV system in her own building. “The image should be clear enough to see the guy.”
This information managed to please the two police officers, and they both smiled gratefully at Momo. Mina didn’t spare more time before bringing them to the computer in the back, where all the recordings from the cameras had been stored. Looking for the actual recording of the moment the guy came to the bar wasn’t hard - after all it was barely over a day since that time, and Mina watched the video with both officers standing behind her back.
It revealed nothing more except what the girls already said, with the man leaving long before Mr. Lee. Both Wang and Tuan were happy though with the material they managed to obtain, and patted Mina’s back on their way out, expressing their gratefulness for all the help.
“Please, keep your eyes open, ma’am. If you see anything suspicious, contact us, or your sister. We have to put forth our greatest effort to protect our land from anyone who’d like to put our lives in danger.”
Mina had only enough social battery left in her to nod vaguely, promising to be watchful. Then she sighed deeply, seeing that they were both finally out. She was happy to go back to her usual duties of restocking the alcohol and cleaning up the glasses left there the previous day by whoever served the clients then (Mina was nearly sure it wasn’t Jeongyeon). The interaction with the officers took only a little bit more than an hour, yet now she felt more drained than after her whole usual shift. She could only hope that the rest of the day would be a bit easier for her.
Busy with washing the dishes, she didn’t notice that she didn’t stop the recording on the computer, and the video kept playing on the monitor behind her back in fast forward. The people kept walking out of the bar in a funny, unnatural way, sometimes stopping to chat, sometimes heading towards the nearby town center, sometimes getting into waiting cars. The hour displayed in the left corner of the monitor changed into eleven p.m., when a figure with dark hair walked slowly out of the forest, at the back of the building, nearly getting out of the reach of the CCTV. The footage was clear as the day before, but then it suddenly skipped a few frames. When it got stable again, a big black wolf stood there instead, looking around watchfully.
The animal disappeared between the trees before anyone could notice anything suspicious happening in the town.
(...)
Contrary to Mina’s fear, the rest of her shift turned out to be really peaceful. Obviously, people that came to the bar talked about the terrifying incident in the forest a lot, cursing out the brutality of the wolves responsible for Mr. Lee’s death, which made the girl nearly nauseous from the nerves, but that was all. No one yet came up with any wild idea to maybe blame any of their neighbors for being said wolves, or even haunt the wild fauna of the Moon Valley’s forests in search of revenge. Most of the town residents were simply sad that such a thing happened to one of them.
The time flew slowly as the clients exchanged their comments and worries, including Mina in their discussion from time to time, when she found herself nearby. It was what one could describe like a sleepy day. The world seemed to move in a slow pace, a bit dull and wearisome.
Then, out of nowhere, a woman came into the bar, and suddenly the world around Mina came back into life. It was as if everyone else faded into the background, playing extras in the movie of this girl’s life, while she was walking through the bar towards Mina. She didn’t seem to look at anyone in particular, not even at the bartender herself, just glancing at the walls and smiling to herself, while her hair gently brushed her shoulders and neck as if playing with non-existent wind. Mina didn’t have to wait for her to get closer to recognize that this woman there - she was Mina’s type. That… That was it. Mina could literally stop looking at anyone else ever, because this woman single-handedly checked every box on Mina’s list of must-haves in a potential girlfriend. She was fairly tall, but not too much. She had shiny hair, as if she walked straight out of a hairdresser's and she had cute little bunny teeth shining out when she smiled. And what a smile that was… Mina’s own smile turned dreamy on its own just looking at it.
Then…
“Hey, there!” The woman greeted, and her voice filled Mina’s ears, hugging them with its colorful timber and touching just the right neuron connections inside Mina’s brain. “Can I possibly get a drink from a beautiful woman like you?”
The grin was full of confidence, and the girl was visibly even too sure of herself. Now that she stood so close, allowing Mina to precisely discover all the curves of her body and face, the bartender had a feeling that she’d seen her somewhere before.
So it was probably the nerves and shock of meeting the woman of her life that caused Mina to open her mouth, and before she could stop herself and think about what she was doing, she was already asking:
“Have we met before?”
And then it was too late to take those words back into her mouth, and she could only observe in embarrassment how the girl’s eyes seemed to really look at her. The wide grin didn’t leave the woman’s face even for a second, as she measured Mina’s face slowly, something akin to recognition flashing in her eyes. Mina had to wait additional minute or two, before she was finally granted with any kind of answer from her client, the tone of the woman’s voice tinted with surprise:
“Wow. I believe we actually have.”