The new moon had arrived.

The pitch-black night when witches were said to hold their banquets.

Gazing up at the starry sky, which seemed ready to spill its starlight over the moonless night, Isaac climbed the hill with a fluttering, buoyant heart. Even his footsteps felt light and bouncy.

At the end of the uphill path, the desolate, ruin-like church building came into view. As Isaac strolled up the dark, eerie path with a smile on his face, a man stepped out of the building. It was Hoden, dressed in his uniform and heading down for his night shift.

“Isaac. Must be on your way back from work. Have a few drinks? You look like you’re in a great mood.” 

“Yeah, I had a few. Are you heading out for your shift now?”

Isaac hadn’t touched a single drop of alcohol today, but he smiled and answered anyway. It was easier to just say that rather than try to explain why he was feeling so giddy and elated.

It was always like this on the new moon. His body pulsed with vitality, and he felt inexplicably euphoric, almost as if he were intoxicated. At times like this, Isaac truly felt the witch’s blood flowing through his veins.

“Yeah. Until dawn. I’m on guard duty at the Byeok-yeong Palace…… Haizz. Of all days, it had to be today.”

The moment Hoden pulled his cap down and let out a heavy, ground-sinking sigh, Isaac’s soaring mood plummeted instantly. It felt exactly like sobering up from alcohol he hadn’t even drunk.

Byeok-yeong Palace.

Tonight, there was a man there who would be experiencing an entirely different sensation for the exact same reason as Isaac. In stark contrast to Isaac, who was buzzing with energy thanks to his witch’s blood, the Prince would be writhing in horrific agony all night because of the witch’s curse.

Asking Isaac to pray for his safe return, Hoden trudged down the hill. Isaac stood there watching him until his figure disappeared into the darkness, then resumed his climb. Even though he still felt that buoyant, drunken high, a wave of melancholy rippled through it. Puffing out a long sigh like a drunkard, he stepped inside the building.

When he was young, his mother had told him the story as if it were a fairy tale.

The Great Witch Grandmother – her great great great great grandmother – had bestowed immense wealth upon a soldier, who was the progenitor of the current royal family, and asked him to retrieve her treasure. But to everyone’s shock, that greedy, wicked soldier not only stole the Great Witch Grandmother’s treasure, he also murdered her. Using that stolen treasure, the treacherous villain assassinated the kingdom’s true King, took the Princess as his wife, and usurped the throne.

Because of this monumental sin, the soldier was struck by a curse the Great Witch Grandmother cast with her dying breath. From that day forth, anyone who carried his bloodline was doomed to suffer unimaginable torment every new moon, the night when a witch’s power peaked. That bloodline was the current royal family, and they were, in truth, the descendants of a thief who stole the witches’ most precious treasure——so his mom had told him.

His mother had lamented how deeply unfair it was that those thieves, without a single shred of remorse for their ancestor’s sins, had the audacity to slaughter the witches.

“Even if that soldier deserved to suffer and die in agony every new moon for the rest of his life, what sin did his descendants commit to deserve it generation after generation…..?” 

Isaac muttered to himself with a sigh. But at the same time, he wondered: ‘And what sin did the slaughtered witches commit to deserve their fate?’

“This is why answering evil with evil only creates an endless cycle……”

Isaac let out another heavy sigh, standing blankly for a moment before letting out a soft, wry chuckle and tilting his head.

Whatever. The world was going to turn the way it was going to turn, and whether they were witches or humans, everyone was just quietly rolling along on the great wheel of fate. More importantly, wasn’t today the new moon?

The new moon—when he felt full without eating a single bite, and euphoric without doing a single thing. Bouncing on his heels, Isaac stepped into his room. And then he froze.

Inside the dim room, lit only by a single small oil lamp, the occupants had been playing around as if they owned the place. The moment the door opened, they froze perfectly still. From the bed, from the table, and from inside the food basket, three pairs of brightly glowing eyes stared directly at him.

“……”

It really was bizarre. He was absolutely certain he had closed the windows tight when he left, so how did they manage to get in every single time? Did Hoden leave something open by mistake?

Isaac stood in the dim doorway, quietly locked in a standoff with the three cats, before stepping inside and closing the door. Rolling up his sleeves, he approached them with the intent to grab them one by one and toss them out the window like usual. But for some reason, they were acting strange today. Instead of running, they simply sat perfectly still, staring intently at him.

“Are you hungry? Fine, I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll give you each a piece of cheese. So let’s get you outside first……”

Just as Isaac reached for the cat closest to him, murmuring softly—

——It is the new moon.

——It is our night.

He thought he heard voices coming from somewhere.

Isaac flinched and looked around. Not only could he not tell where the voices had come from, but there was no one else in the room. He stood still for a moment, listening, but all he heard was the sound of leaves rustling in the wind.

“……, ……My energy really must be drained.”

‘Hearing auditory hallucinations now? I definitely need to get some herbal tonics,’ Isaac thought, reaching for the cat once more. The instant his hand was about to brush its fur, the cat – which had been staring at him unblinkingly this whole time – suddenly leaped into the air. Stepping off Isaac’s shoulder, it sprang onto the table, whipped its tail, and knocked the oil lamp right off the edge before bounding up the bookshelf. The lamp tipped over, the flame sputtered out, and the room was instantly plunged into pitch-black darkness.

Isaac stopped dead in his tracks. Plunged into sudden darkness, his vision went completely black for a moment.

The new moon. A night without even moonlight. The only light filtering through the window was the faint, shattered glimmer of starlight.

As Isaac’s light-deprived eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, the stars began to appear one by one. The night sky, scattered with countless twinkling stars, was devoid of the moon. The spot where the moon usually rested was completely black. It was the night of the witches.

Isaac’s heart pounded.

It was a strange night. Feeling a giddy, drunken high was normal for the new moon, but tonight it felt excessive. His heart fluttered inexplicably.

As Isaac stared out at the pitch-black sky in a daze, a low cry reached his ears. A cat had quietly approached his feet and let out a thin meow. ‘Come to think of it, isn’t this the first time I’ve actually heard this one meow properly?’ he thought. As he lowered his gaze, the one on the bed stared at him and meowed as well. As if on cue, the one on the table did the same.

All three cats cried out to him. Taking turns, one by one, as if they were speaking to him.

“What is it…..?”

Isaac whispered, his eyes wide as he looked at each of them in turn. Wondering what was going on, the most plausible conclusion he could reach was:

“What? Do you want food? Alright, alright, I get it, you little gluttons.”

The moment Isaac spoke, the cats raised their voices in what sounded like indignant fury, but there was no other reason for them to suddenly act like this. Amidst their fierce meowing, Isaac walked over to the cupboard.

Since the cupboard was near the door, far from the window, and didn’t even catch the starlight, finding something suitable for cats in the pitch black was no easy task. He grabbed a loaf of bread, put it back, pulled out some dried meat, realized it was heavily salted, and put it back—repeating this several times.

“I really need to light a fire first.”

Eventually, Isaac walked back to the table and picked up the fallen oil lamp. Just as he turned to head to the kitchen to light the wick from the stove, the cat on the table leaped lightly down, landed right in front of his feet, and dropped something from its mouth with a *thud.*

It was the rock. The same rock that had been rolling around carelessly in the corner of the table for days.

‘Why the rock all of a sudden?’ As Isaac looked down at it, another cat sauntered over and dropped a piece of metal with a clatter. Seeing the rusted piece of steel that had been discarded in the corner with the rock, Isaac finally remembered the striker set they had brought him a few days ago.

“……, ……, ……”

‘What the hell are these guys…… This is creepy……’

Isaac looked down at the cats with deep suspicion and unease. ‘Just how many humans have these cats conned to become this terrifyingly perceptive?’ Isaac looked at them, clearly intimidated. He finally gave in to their relentless, demanding yowls and picked up the flint and steel.

‘Whatever.’ He figured they meant for him to hurry up, light a fire, and give them food, so he decided he would quickly find them something to eat, kick them out, double-check the locks, and go to sleep.

Using an oiled piece of paper as tinder, Isaac struck the steel against the flint.

*Clack.*

The moment the sound rang out, it felt as though the air right in front of him rippled.

“…..?”

It looked exactly like a heat haze rising in the darkness, causing his vision to waver for a split second. Isaac slowed his hands. But perhaps he had just imagined it, because the darkness remained perfectly still.

‘I really do need those herbal tonics. Now I’m getting dizzy spells for no reason.’

Isaac struck the flint again. As the sparks crackled and flew, that bizarre sensation of rippling vision returned, but this time he didn’t stop. He needed to feed the cats, sure, but more importantly, he needed to get some food in his own stomach.

And so, when the sparks finally caught the tinder and illuminated the room once more—

Within that bizarre, undulating shimmer of air, Isaac lit the oil lamp and turned around.

“Alright, I’ll give you food now, so hurry up and get o——”

He lost his words mid-sentence.

In the spot he had just turned to face, three massive tigers – one with eyes the size of teacups, one with eyes the size of millwheels, and one with eyes as huge as towers – were crouching, staring directly at him.

“——.”

Pitch-black, glossy fur. Piercing, fiercely glowing eyes. Massive bodies large enough to swallow a human whole in a single bite.

Isaac froze completely solid.

‘This makes no sense.’

‘I must be dreaming with my eyes open right now.’

‘No, I must have just fallen asleep at some point. Right, my body has been feeling weak lately, so it wouldn’t be strange if I just passed out without realizing it. Yes, this is a dream.’

Because if it wasn’t a dream, how else could he possibly explain this bizarre situation?

The three massive beasts were staring intently at him. Just as the thought crossed Isaac’s mind that those three pairs of impossibly large eyes looked awfully familiar…

「Are you Kali’s son?」

He heard a voice. It was that bizarre sound—as if it were whispering directly into his ear, yet simultaneously echoing from beyond a distant mountain. Blankly watching the jaws of the beast right in front of him move as the voice flowed out, it took Isaac a delayed second to realize he had just heard a deeply missed name.

「He looks just like her.」

「He really does.」

The other beasts took turns opening their mouths, and each time, that eerie voice echoed in his mind. After that, the voices crashed over him like a wave.

「She had a pretty face, came from a great family, and was so smart. How on earth did she end up taking a human as a husband and suffering so much?」

「Well, for a human, he was quite decent-looking. You know she was always picky about faces since she was little.」

「What does that matter? Humans have ridiculously short lifespans anyway.」

「Humans are naturally short-lived. They barely make it to a hundred.」

「What about this one, then? Does he only have about seventy years left?」

「He’ll probably outlive his father. After all, no matter how half-baked,* a witch is a witch.」

(*반푼: Half a penny = a half-baked sth. A Korean idiom meaning something that is neither one thing nor the other—neither fish nor fowl. )

「I heard that when Kali crossed over to the Land of the New Moon, she went around bragging every single day about how incredibly pretty and smart the son she left behind in this world was. Since no one can go back and check, isn’t she just blatantly scamming everyone?」

「Leave her be. Her father is just so thrilled his runaway daughter finally came back that he’d agree with her even if she said the sky was green.*」

(*팥으로 메주를 쑨다: to make meju (soybean paste blocks) out of red beans = even if you tell them something ridiculous, they’ll still agree/do it. A Korean idiom meaning doing something absurd/impossible.)

Staring blankly at the beasts, Isaac’s scattered mind slowly pulled itself back together. ‘Right, it’s a dream. A dream. Because it’s the new moon, I’m having a really vivid, strange dream.’

But it was a good dream. Even if it was only in a dream, hearing that his mother was living happily and having fun in the other world warmed Isaac’s heart and filled him with deep affection. ‘Mom, you always used to nag me, saying I was just as clueless and dense as Dad……’

Once he realized it was a dream, and a good one at that, Isaac felt his heart grow significantly lighter and more at ease. Watching the large-eyed beasts with a calm expression, Isaac suddenly blurted out:

“You guys…… are the cats, aren’t you?”

Instantly, all three beasts flinched in unison, the fur on their backs standing straight up.

「W-W-What of it?!」

「So what if we are?!」

It was quite grotesque to see them yelling defensively, puffing up as if someone had stepped on their tails, while glaring at him with their already massive eyes bulging even further. But Isaac just thought, ‘I knew it,’ and firmly planted his feet. It was a dream, so there was no reason a cat couldn’t turn into a tiger, and more importantly, there was no way there were other creatures with eyes that ridiculously huge. If they were the cats, he wasn’t scared.

“Why are you little runts pretending to be so big and talking down to me?”

「Little runts?! We are beings of noble and elegant standing! How dare a lowly half-blood speak to us like that!」

“So what if I’m a half-blood? What, are you guys pureblood witches?”

「Of course!」

「And not just any purebloods! We are the magnificent, holy three brothers of the illustrious Gregoroborius family!」

「You lowly creature, now that you recognize our greatness, fall to your knees and worship us!」

This incessant, chattering nagging sounded awfully familiar, too. ‘Right, so these were the ones blabbing in my dreams every night.’

As the tension left his body, hunger washed over Isaac. Letting them babble away, he pulled a loaf of bread from the basket and took a bite. Since payday was only a few days ago, he luxuriously pulled out some butter to spread on it, and even poured a cup of milk instead of water. The cats-in-tiger-suits immediately shut their mouths and stared intently at Isaac’s fingertips. He could hear the sound of them gulping down saliva.

“Are you guys hungry too?”

「Ahem, ahem. If you wish to offer us tribute, we would be willing to accept it.」

‘Where did these arrogant stray cats even come from?’ Dumbfounded, Isaac snorted and continued chewing his bread.

“No thanks. Even if I emptied my entire month’s food supply, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to fill the bellies of three beasts your si——”

「What?」

「What about us?」

Before Isaac could even finish his sentence, the house-sized beasts vanished without a trace. In their place, three normal-sized cats sat squarely on the floor, rolling their impossibly large eyes around in innocent confusion.

“……”

These little……

Forgetting to even chew his bread, Isaac stared at the cats before bursting into a disbelieving laugh. All the tension left his body, and he chuckled softly. He was already in high spirits because of the new moon, but honestly, having a dream like this was quite fun.

‘Ah, what the hell. I’m in a good mood.’ Isaac pulled out the herring he had packed in ice to grill for tomorrow’s breakfast. The moment he set the fish down in front of the three cats, whose eyes instantly began to sparkle, they practically merged with the fish, rolling around in a chaotic pile.

Crouching next to the three cats as they happily tore into the raw fish with loud *smack-smack-smack* sounds, Isaac reached out a hand to pet one of them. The attempt failed instantly when a tail swiftly smacked his hand away. How incredibly haughty.