I Thought It Was a Fairy Tale but the Genre Is Strange

The Three Little Pigs (3)

At Alice’s brutal suggestion to pull out all their claws and teeth and cut off their hind legs to roast them, the wolves’ faces turned pale. Alice’s eyes sparkled as she pitched her idea, but I shook my head.

“Well, I think it would be better to figure out what’s going on first.”

“So, are you going to assess the situation and do as I say?”

[Stop bothering the prince!]

Ariel roughly pulled Ellis, who had his arm around my shoulder, away from me and growled like a wolf. Ellis shrugged his shoulders.

“Bothering? I’m just trying to make things more fun! And if you lost the bet, you should behave, kid.”

[Who said I lost the bet! I won!]

“Oh my, your eyes must be deceiving you. You caught 6, and I caught 7.”

[Nonsense! I caught 7, and you caught 6!]

“Alright, stop fighting. Let’s talk about this later.”

I barely managed to calm down the bickering Ellis and Ariel. I hadn’t done much, but I felt strangely tired. It was like being a mother watching her children fight.

I scratched my head and stood in front of the trembling wolves. The wolves gulped as they looked at my giant scythe.

“So, what’s your relationship with the pigs, and can you explain the situation properly?”

[If you try to gloss over it, I’ll turn you into skewers]

“Who should I taste a hind leg from~”

Ariel and Ellis added their terrifying threats from behind. The bespectacled wolf buried his head even deeper into the ground and began to explain.

“I’ll explain properly! The pigs borrowed a lot of money from our Wolf Company. If they fail to repay the principal along with the interest, our company gains ownership of the borrower’s body. The pigs fell under this category. They borrowed money and got addicted to gambling and drinking, and naturally, they couldn’t repay the money.”

“How much did they borrow?”

Out of pure curiosity, I asked, and the wolf hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“One billion.”

“One billion!?”

“No, a total of three times, one billion each.”

For a moment, my jaw almost dropped. Lending a whopping billion won, and that too three times? No, it doesn’t make sense, does it? Lending a billion won with a written agreement to give up his body, and then lending more money to a pig who couldn’t even repay it?

“Huh, it sounds like you lent more money to a pig who couldn’t repay it?”

When Alice spoke in a way that showed she didn’t understand either, the wolf cautiously opened his mouth.

“Technically, the principle is to catch that pig and let the boss eat it, but the pig did something unexpected.”

[Could it be human trafficking, like when he sold us?]

“Yes, that’s right. The pig found and sent victims to be eaten in his place.”

So, to summarize, the pig borrowed a whopping billion won, and when he couldn’t repay it and was about to be eaten, he found other victims to sell instead.

“The boss was satisfied with this. The animals the pig offered suited the boss’s taste. So, he forgave the debt. But then the pig borrowed money again.”

“Who were the victims that were sold instead? Were they travelers like us?”

“No, the pig sold his own siblings.”

The shocking news from the wolf’s mouth left me stunned, as if I had been hit on the head with a hammer.

“His, his siblings?”

“Yes. He handed over the first and second pigs to us. Ah, the meat was so tender, I’ll never forget that taste.”

[Shocking! He sold his family? What a piece of trash!]

“Ha ha ha! That pig was more interesting than I thought!”

The bespectacled wolf smacked his lips as if the memory of that day was vivid. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand how he could sell his own family instead of deceiving passing travelers like us. How could he do that?

In the fairy tale, the first and second pigs, who built flimsy houses and were eaten by the wolf, were sold by the third pig and went straight into the wolf’s belly.

As I was too shocked to say anything, Alice glanced at my face and then grabbed the wolf’s thick hand. And she lightly squeezed it.

Crack!

“Ahhh!!! My, my hand!!!”

With an unbelievable grip, the wolf’s hand turned into a crushed can. I was once again at a loss for words at this astonishing sight. I knew Alice was strong, but her strength surpassed my imagination. She was truly a giant.

The bespectacled wolf shed thick tears, clutching his crushed hand in agony. Alice grabbed the wolf by the scruff of his neck and smiled sweetly.

“My darling’s expression is sour because of you. You should be crawling around, watching our mood. How dare you smack your lips arrogantly? If Siu’s face turns sour again because of you, I’ll rip out your tongue and make a whip out of it.”

“Ugh! Ah, understood. I will never do that again! I swear on everything I have!”

“There’s no need to go that far…”

Alice looked at me with a proud face, and I couldn’t finish my sentence, so I forced a smile and gave a thumbs up. And I vowed to myself never to upset Alice.

[Actually, Siu is troubled because of you. Siu doesn’t like cruelty!]

When Ariel glared, Alice chuckled.

“At times like this, you have to be tough. You can’t always see only good things, kid.”

[I’m not a kid!!! How many times do I have to tell you!!]

The two started bickering again. I chewed over the wolf’s words and opened my mouth with a sense of disbelief.

“You were talking about the pig’s mother earlier, so does that mean the pig originally intended to sell his own mother?”

The bespectacled wolf glanced at Alice and nodded, sweating profusely from the pain.

“That’s right. The product we were supposed to receive was originally the pig’s mother. But for some reason, you guys were here.”

“This is insane…”

[Shocked! How could you think of selling your own mother? You’re a monster! A scoundrel!]

Selling his own mother. I recalled the moment I first met the pig. Back then, his face was full of worry and concern. Thinking that he was tormented by guilt because he had to sell his own mother gave me chills.

When Alice glanced at my face, the bespectacled wolf hastily hid his other hand, fearing it would be crushed too. Alice burst into laughter at the wolf’s frightened appearance and asked me.

“What a despicable pig. Siu, what do you want to do?”

“…We have to go after him. He’s crossed the line way too far.”

“Kya ha ha ha! Great! Let’s turn that pig into a barbecue!”

[But how do you know where the pig ran off to?]

At Ariel’s sharp remark, the bespectacled wolf hurriedly stood up. His eyes were filled with a primal desire to live.

“I, I know!”

[Where is it?]

“Be-before I tell you, could you promise me one thing?”

Ellis tilted her head and asked back.

“What promise?”

“If you promise not to harm us any further and let us go safely, I’ll tell you right away.”

The bespectacled wolf was smart. He was certain that if he handed over the information easily, he would not receive good treatment, having heard threats of roasting his hind legs or turning him into skewers. He needed a safe insurance. An insurance that would ensure their safe return.

Ellis smiled as if she found the wolf’s words amusing. But it wasn’t a smile born out of genuine amusement. It was a chilling smile. A smile that said, “How dare you speak so arrogantly?”

“Heh, you’ve got some guts, huh? You tried to kill us, and now you’re begging for your life? You should be groveling and giving us the information first!”

Ellis grabbed the bespectacled wolf’s jaw and forcibly opened his mouth, clutching his tongue. The wolf’s massive body began to tremble madly. His face was gripped with the fear of having his tongue ripped out.

“It seems like your tongue is the problem. I’ll be your doctor for today and fix it! To prevent it from causing any more trouble, I’ll have to rip it out completely!”

[What do you think, Siyu?]

Ariel quietly observed the scene and then asked me. Ellis also seemed to be waiting for my answer, as she hadn’t ripped out the tongue yet. They all seemed to act on their own, but surprisingly, they respected my decision.

I couldn’t answer readily. The wolves were, in today’s terms, vicious loan sharks involved in human trafficking. They turned a blind eye to innocent people being sacrificed as commodities for their own profit.

The pig who sold his family was trash, but these wolves were no different.

If they returned safely, they would probably repeat the same actions.

The wolf pack collectively sent me pitiful, silent pleas for their lives. The victims must have begged for their lives with the same look, but thinking of them inside the wolves’ bellies made me feel disgusted instead.

So, my conclusion was as follows:

“If you tell me where the pig went, I won’t kill you.”

The wolves’ faces brightened at the declaration that their lives would be spared. Some of them even shed tears of relief, thinking they would face a terrible fate.

“However, let’s cripple them so they can never do this again.”

Elise smiled brightly, showing her gums, as if she liked my decision.

“Kya-hahaha! Great~ Just killing them would be too boring!”

Thus, under Elise’s lead, a time of ruthless violence began. The wolves screamed to be killed instead, but Elise took their screams as delightful songs, breaking their limbs and pulling out all their claws and teeth.

Ariel and I just watched the scene. We didn’t have the courage to intervene.

On one hand, I felt sorry for them, but they had to pay for their sins.

That day, the wolves’ desperate screams, as they fell from predators to prey, echoed through the forest.