Gyeryusan Mountain’s Bacchus Winery is located halfway up the mountain.
The cool climate of Gyeryusan Mountain must have made it suitable for creating a wine cellar.
They say the ideal humidity and temperature for storing wine is 60% and 12 to 16 degrees.
“Gyeryusan Bacchus Winery Summer Brewing Experience Now Open!”
“Women’s groups, couples, and married partners all welcome!”
Looking around, I saw a lot of women.
There were also plenty of people who looked like older married couples or young couples.
‘I can’t be the only guy here alone, right?’
Of course, I came with Boribori.
But Boribori isn’t visible to other people.
“Urrrr….”
For the record, Boribori has been in defense mode ever since she fell off my back.
If I even try to reach out a hand—
Whoosh—
She immediately puts distance between us like that.
‘What was that earlier, anyway?’
I recalled what happened when I carried Boribori up the mountain.
People couldn’t see me, and no matter what I said, they couldn’t hear me.
It felt like I was being shut out from the world.
Thinking about it again gave me chills.
I looked around at the scenery to change my mood.
Even though we were halfway up the mountain, the view was completely different from the city.
Living in a studio apartment neighborhood where utility poles stretched like spiderwebs, it felt great to look down at such an open city view.
‘It’s 1:50 PM right now…’
Our appointment was at 2 o’clock.
Thump, thump, thump—my heart pounded like it was knocking on a door.
So who exactly am I supposed to meet?
Where are they?
Like I said earlier, there were a lot of women.
Maybe a women’s wine enthusiast club made a group reservation?
There were also many young couples and quite a few middle-aged married pairs.
I was the only guy standing around alone.
Maybe that’s why I could feel people’s gazes lingering on me as they passed by.
‘It’s like I’m an uninvited guest.’
As I awkwardly looked around, my eyes landed on someone standing under a parasol that seemed set up for guests.
Long, jet-black hair.
Skin so pale it looked translucent, long eyelashes, and reddish eyes—they instantly grabbed my attention.
I could see a black women’s suit, a handbag in her hand, knee-high socks, and dress shoes.
Even with my lack of discerning taste, I could tell at a glance they were luxury items.
Suddenly, I remembered the VIPs who had rented out the restaurant when I worked there.
The people that haughty Head Sommelier, Team Leader Jeong, personally served.
That woman was probably from that same class.
She was alone too.
An absurd thought crossed my mind.
Maybe she’s the one—
The person I’m supposed to meet.
My heart’s pounding reached its peak for the day.
With nervous hands, I pulled out my phone and made a call.
Connecting…
“010-9XXX-7XXX”
……
The signal went through—
And the woman in the shade pulled out her phone from her bag.
Then she parted her lips.
—You’ve arrived.
“You’ve arrived.”
Her voice was calm.
I heard it both through the phone and from under that parasol.
At this point, I had no choice but to be certain.
That woman was the answer from the “Monkey’s Paw Site.”
However, my feet wouldn’t move toward her, so I froze for a moment.
The woman by the parasol seemed to have spotted me first.
She hung up and slowly stepped out of the shade.
Ssssssh—
At that moment, the back of my head went cold, as if touching ice.
Because her ebony-black hair appeared red like wine for an instant.
Was it my imagination? I thought, but only for a moment—she approached me and asked.
“You’re from Marina Entertainment, right? The dating agency.”
Huh? What’s this about a dating agency?
“Marina Entertainment”—I’d heard that name somewhere recently.
The business card Jo Sena gave me, tucked inside my wallet in my inner pocket.
“Marina Entertainment Director – Jo Sena.”
A coincidence?
As I was lost in thought, the woman in front of me looked me up and down.
Like Chef Seong inspecting the tuna that just arrived in the morning.
It was a blatant look of appraisal.
“I requested someone with a Cheongdam-dong model look, you know. The height fits, but the clothes are shabby. I suppose it’s too late to ask for a replacement.”
Sssssh—
Her red eyes narrowed into slits.
“Well, you barely pass. Let’s go inside. The event registration ends soon. If we miss this chance, we’ll have to wait until next year.”
What is she talking about right now?
Why does everything keep moving forward without my input?
“Um, sorry, but what exactly are you talking about?”
Frown—
A crease formed between her brows.
Her face was so striking that even that single wrinkle carried immense presence.
“There’s a couples-only program at the winery event tonight. That’s why I requested a dating partner. Didn’t the company tell you?”
“Oh.”
“Or are you not actually from Marina Entertainment?”
At this moment, a flood of thoughts rushed through my mind.
Depending on how I answered, everything ahead of me would change drastically.
After a brief moment of deliberation, I pulled out my wallet.
Then I took out the “Marina Entertainment” business card I’d received from Jo Sena.
“I am from Marina Entertainment. My name is Ha Yuseong.”
“I’m Saya.”
Saya. Wow, even her name is unique.
It suited her face—a pretty name.
Crunch, crunch—
I walked with her along the gravel path.
Meanwhile, Boribori was circling around Saya, tilting her head.
“…Malka…?”
She was muttering something incomprehensible to herself, as a bonus.
Watching Boribori’s tail curl like a question mark, I thought it was a tail pattern I’d never seen before—
Then Saya spoke to me.
“If you keep hesitating like that, it’ll be obvious you’re a fake partner. Let’s hold hands.”
“Huh?”
“Couples usually hold hands, don’t they? That seems normal.”
Saya’s eyes looking up at me felt like those of a sharp bird of prey.
Come to think of it, this woman barely had any expressions to speak of.
You couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
But maybe because of that, she had a strange kind of presence.
“Oh.”
I held out my hand absentmindedly.
Saya grabbed it without a moment’s hesitation.
Her hand was much smaller than mine.
I couldn’t believe something so soft could exist.
It felt like a silk handkerchief gently placed in my palm.
“The couples experience program is at 7 PM after dinner, apparently. I really wanted to participate. Since it seems I can become even more beautiful.”
I was worried an awkward silence would follow.
Fortunately, Saya seemed to be the type who talked more than she appeared.
I quickly responded before the awkward silence could swallow us.
“Becoming more beautiful?”
“Yes. You become more beautiful. As a woman, isn’t pursuing beauty just normal?”
“Well, that’s…”
My little sister used to spread yogurt on her face with our mom, claiming she’d get prettier.
She fell asleep like that and ants swarmed her face—it was chaos.
Remembering that almost made me laugh.
But that laugh disappeared the moment Saya spoke next.
“So, what should we do until 7?”
Good point.
What should we do?
I was at a complete loss.
“…Want to have some wine?”
#
“Oh, oppa, hurry up!”
Kim Seonyeong urged her boyfriend, Bang Suhyeok.
She kept descending the stairs into the underground—the cellar where the wine was stored.
“Hurry up!”
“Seonyeong, wait a sec…haah. We’re not late yet, so let’s just leave. Let’s wait until 7 and come back then! What if we get caught!”
“Oppa, don’t you want me to get prettier? If I get prettier, is that better for you or for me?”
“I like you just the way you are now…”
“What? Anyway, we’re almost there, so hurry up!”
Seonyeong kept descending underground.
She thought of her friend.
Her friend Kim Yeeun, who used to be fat with bad skin.
When she showed up handing out wedding invitations, Seonyeong was shocked.
Because she had become unrecognizably beautiful.
When asked what her secret was, Yeeun said.
‘There’s a couples experience program at Gyeryusan Winery…’
Seonyeong couldn’t stand the fact that Yeeun, who used to be uglier than her, had become prettier and was marrying a better man because of it.
So today she came to Gyeryusan, ready to throw herself into it whether she believed it or not.
When there were no more stairs to descend—
Seonyeong found a wine hot spring bubbling furiously in a very cold, damp place.
It was exactly as Yeeun had said.
“Oppa, hurry up!”
“Haah, haah.”
“Hurry up, take your clothes off and get in there.”
“What? Me? No way. You’re the one who wants to get prettier, so why would I…”
“I don’t care! It has to be a man who goes in!”
Suhyeok had never won against Seonyeong, his girlfriend.
If he won once, she’d make his life miserable for a month, so it was better to just lose.
So Suhyeok reluctantly took off his clothes and submerged himself in the so-called wine hot spring.
The lukewarm temperature and slimy texture felt disgusting—the moment he thought that—
“Wh-what is this, something’s wrong, Seo-Seonyeong! Seonyeong! Ugh, ughhh!”
Suhyeok’s plump body began to shrink in an instant.
His cheeks hollowed out, and his skin dried up like rough dead wood.
Seonyeong was horrified at the sight, turning pale.
“O-oppa!”
She rushed over to save her boyfriend.
Then she caught a glimpse of her own face reflected in the wine hot spring and froze in place.
White skin, a sharp nose, red lips.
Her face had blossomed so fully she couldn’t believe it was her.
“Ah…“
“Haah, I-I’m alive, haah…”
At that moment, Suhyeok had managed to pull his upper body out of the hot spring, gasping for breath.
This hot spring is dangerous.
I need to get out of here fast! With that thought, she reached out to her boyfriend Seonyeong.
Seonyeong seemed to grab Suhyeok’s hand—then—
Splash—
She pushed Suhyeok right back into the hot spring.
Then, to keep him from escaping, she grabbed his head with all her strength.
“Mmph, mmph, Seo-Seonyeong mph, urk, hhk…”
The more he struggled, the more the splashing wine droplets touched Seonyeong—her skin seemed to grow tauter, and an indescribable pleasure washed over her.
Splash, splash—
Splash—
When she came to her senses, Seonyeong was alone, soaked in the bath.
Suhyeok was gone.
Instead, women wrapped in red cloth stood in a circle around the wine bath.
From beneath their red cloth, they spoke.
“Maina-des.”
“Ba-kai.”
“Bakan-tes.”
They were incomprehensible words.
But Seonyeong felt wonderful.
The euphoria she’d never experienced in her life made her feel like she could do anything.
Seonyeong accepted the red cloth they offered and draped it over her face.
She had become a bride in the truest sense.
Just like them.
So then, who were their husbands?
Who was her husband?
The answer came quickly.
Because among them stood a massive wooden statue, carved.
Blasphemous, ominous, and therefore sacred.
Seeing it, the bride trembled with ecstasy, and one woman made a phone call.
“Tell Team Leader Jeong to prepare as planned. The order quantity we requested will be fulfilled soon.”
She was the magician Ju Doyeon.
The successor of bloodline magic coiled around Gyeryusan.
Even the Witch of Isan herself wouldn’t dare trespass into Ju Doyeon’s Gyeryusan recklessly.
And it was precisely because she was Ju Doyeon that she could sense it.
That something utterly preposterous had entered her domain.
For some reason, it seemed to be hiding its identity by imitating an ordinary person.
But it couldn’t escape Ju Doyeon’s instincts.
Ju Doyeon raised the “Magic Cup Kantaros” without hesitation.
As the wine in the cup bubbled up like carbonation—
Bubble, bubble—
Every wine in the Gyeryusan Winery surged.
Rumble—
Clouds gathered over the once-clear Gyeryusan.
But what fell wasn’t rain—it was something unusually red.
“Hey? Oppa, look at this. Something red’s falling from the sky…”
“Huh? What is this, wine?”
That.
Hit.
The women.
…
..
.
.
.
.
“H-Help! Aaaagh!”
“Goddammit! What the hell! What is this!”
“Close the door! The door!”
