Chapter 15: A Great Trap

The woman shook her head and didn't look at me. She turned around quickly and left as if she were in a hurry. When I asked her a follow-up question, she pretended to get a broom to clean their deck, even though there wasn't a single leaf or piece of trash around. I just sighed and tried to figure out what was going on. People I asked for directions to this place in a sketch might be afraid of modern foods. I don't understand why, after seeing the sketch, they act indifferently—like they have forgotten that they once smiled at me when I first approached them.

Just by asking for and trying to understand the directions, I've almost kept myself busy for more than four hours. I saw an old man sitting on that swing made out of bike wheels that had been put together to make the width wider. He tried to get up when he saw me looking at him. He was already using his cane, so I quickly walked over to him instead.

“Y-You look familiar…” As soon as I stopped a few feet away from the elderly man, he abruptly spoke. I repeatedly cleared my eyes and gazed up at him with open eyes and motionless lips.

I turned my head sideways. I was about to query the reason behind it but I realized he's already old and possibly has been generating suspicions involuntarily so I just shrugged my shoulders to shove this concern away.

When his attention was unexpectedly drawn to the ring, I handed him the sketch and asked if he knew this *location* and in which direction I could proceed without spending too much time deciphering it myself.

The old man just looked at the sketch for a few minutes. Then he looked up at me and then at the sketch, which made my eyebrows move in surprise and confusion. "Do you know this place, mister?" I asked. The old man chuckled and pointed to my face, saying, "Your energy feels like an oyster in the ocean, but you haven't found the pearl yet."

I gulped and wet my lips as I tried to figure out what he meant. I kept looking everywhere and making myself smile. My stomach felt like it was going to burst from the inside. It started creating a sound popping in the middle. *Ah, I must be very hungry now…* “I-I don’t understand…” I told him.

“What’s your name, young lady?”

Blinking my eyes several times in a row, I replied with a hesitating voice, “L-Lita… Lita.”

The old man cautioned me, "I don't know what restaurant you're referring to, but this place you're looking at is dangerous."

*Dangerous?*

He subsequently inclined his head and strolled away. I could only see his rear. I moved a step forward and waved a hand at him, although he was unable to see it. Then, I yelled loudly enough for him to hear. “B-But! What do you mean by that? Where is the direction to this restaurant?"

A frigid wind gust rubbed against my face, causing my hair to obscure my vision. When I turned around to peer at the path where the old man had passed, he was no longer there.

I swallowed my saliva, and my fist appeared motionless in the air after being sucked down. I repeatedly blinked my eyes and even gazed in every direction to dispel my hallucinations. However, there is little likelihood that his abrupt disappearance was just a hallucination! I literally see him vanish before my eyes!

I went to other locations instead, trusting my intuition that I understood the directions. Until I arrived at a nearby market selling mostly fish, vegetables, and melons with scarcely distinguishable appearances. I inquired about the sketch to the proprietor, but he simply shook his head and walked away. I asked with the customer standing next to me, but she advised me to reconsider my decision to visit this *place*.

I further asked, “But they are selling food like pizza, aren’t they?”

The woman's response left me perplexed, my eyebrows arched in bewilderment as she laughed and strolled away.

“Pizza? What’s that?” She even pronounced the word wrongly.

The woman's response left me puzzled, and her eyebrows raised in bewilderment as she let out a little giggle. I let out a heavy sigh and was about to continue on, expecting to receive some pertinent information about the location, when suddenly a hand touched my shoulder from behind. I turned around and looked in the direction of the tap.

It turned out to be the proprietor of one of the stalls in the marketplace. Even though his hand was damp, it wasn't enough to have my shirt drenched.

“Huh?”

“You should listen to that customer,” he intervened.

“I-I don’t understand at all—”

He insisted, “It’s hard to explain. Just listen to us.”

Following that, a few other people walked in, which caused him to break short our talk so that he could entertain the new customers. I scrutinized every aspect of their outfit from head to toe. When I turned to look around, I saw that a few people were staring at me. The people here wear patterns that are almost identical to those worn in ancient times. It turned out that the dress I was wearing was completely different from the *one they were wearing*.

After the children had finished looking at the clouds, I could hear their parents yelling at them to get back inside and secure the doors and windows. I was in the middle of this street when I glanced up to see the moon in its full phase hanging above the clouds. It was as if the moon was saying good evening to me as it shined brightly above me. It was huge and dazzling.

I went back over the sketch and gave some consideration to whether or not I should believe what these individuals are saying. But in the end, I decided that I would insist on finding the place.

The more they advised me not to enter the place, the more intrigued I became by the prospect of dining in this restaurant. It's possible that they just aren't aware of how mouthwateringly good these contemporary cuisines are. I wish I could give them a sample sometime! After I had asked the individuals around me for directions, I found myself lying to them later on.

"Only members of the authorized staff are permitted to enter that area."

"I am an authorized member of the personnel."

"Oh, you mean," the individual said after pausing for some time and looked at me from head to toe before responding. "You are a werewolf hunter? So you go around this place looking for werewolves?"

*Huh?*

“Y-Yeah?” *But, what does a modern restaurant have to do with werewolf hunters?”

As the minutes passed and I arrived at my destination, I positioned the sketch directly in front of my eyes and compared it to the actual appearance of the location. It resembles a forest with its lofty trees and gloomy spaces—totally far from what I expected.

*So, where’s the restaurant?*

I could hear various insect species humming in my hearing. Then, a faint wail could be heard in the distance, until its voices became more distinct to my hearing. A werewolf raced at me from my right, causing me to flee and collapse to my feet! This werewolf is twice as large as the last one I saw before. Its irises were crimson, and it constantly displayed razor-sharp fangs! His wailing causes my hair to float like cotton!

“I-Is this really a…werewolf?”