Chapter 433

Chapter 433
## Chapter 433

Lycoris (3)

Lunatic Entertainment.

That was the title of the brand-new enterprise the Blood Alliance had set up exclusively for this initiative.

Naturally, forming an entertainment agency demanded compliance with all sorts of strict regulations, but for the Blood Alliance—which possessed both supreme authority and infinite riches—satisfying those conditions was barely an inconvenience.

With boundless capital injected, Lunatic Entertainment had rapidly adopted a thoroughly professional guise despite its recent inception.

Not only had they purchased a whole high-rise featuring an integrated ground-floor café as their main office, but they had also fiercely poached highly regarded industry professionals, enticing them with astronomical paychecks.

“Hey, Park, did you catch the rumors? That team leader from Team 3 who resigned the other day migrated over to some rookie firm…”

“No way? I was scratching my head wondering why someone who’s practically locked into an executive seat within a year or two would just pack up. And he jumped to some newborn outfit? Did they at least name him CEO or something?”

“Turns out it’s no ordinary venture. Word on the street is that a massive conglomerate is backing it fiercely—the money they’ve poured in is unbelievable. Not just the Team Leader, but all the recruited personnel received ridiculous salary adjustments.”

“Wow, even if the cash is incredible, migrating to a place with such an unpredictable trajectory…”

Inevitably, the updates sparked immense curiosity among industry insiders.

While entertainment businesses surfaced and dissolved every single year like clockwork, few threw around funding so extravagantly and aggressively pushed their footprint like this entity.

And Jin So-ran—the Blood Alliance’s second-in-command and the principal architect of the operation—hadn’t merely thrown wealth around during the preparatory phase.

‘This operation carries the destiny of all us vampires. With the Lord’s authorization already locked down, there’s no rationale for holding back.’

For those burdened with ailing relatives, she supplied restorative talents and elixirs—enigmas that raw wealth alone could never buy. For those nursing old vendettas, she deployed influence and connections to balance the ledger.

All of this was orchestrated to cultivate fierce devotion among her personnel and guarantee they’d commit everything to the initiative.

Lycoris—the groundbreaking idol collective made up entirely of vampires—was the ultimate product of those unrelenting labors.

📰 Breaking News

Lunatic Entertainment’s rising girl group ‘Lycoris’ begins final countdown to debut.

📰 Breaking News

Vampire idols?! Internet forums exploding over girl group featuring all-vampire roster poised to capture the industry.

📰 Breaking News

Lunatic Entertainment drops Lycoris member snapshots! Witness the fiendish charm!

With all elements finalized and the grand unveiling right around the corner, the unannounced media drops utilized for promotional momentum predictably threw the public into a frenzy—precisely as intended.

💬 Comments

— Netizen123

What? Pop stars? Who? Vampires??

— TrollKing

LMAO, pure fiction. Ain’t falling for this junk, scram.

— Netizen123

No, seriously? Why would this be a prank??

— AngryJoe

Vampires belong to the demon race, right? And they’re publicizing themselves as entertainers?? This nation is finished.

— AngryJoe

For real. End of days. What are the Guardians and authorities doing? Why aren’t they throwing those monsters behind bars?

They had anticipated a wave of resistance, but the public commentary was quite grim on the whole.

The public perception of vampires had advanced thanks to several past events, but deep-seated biases remained far too entrenched to embrace them as public performers—the very focal point of societal attention.

Grumbling on message boards was standard; savage abuse targeted anyone even remotely linked to the venture.

The silver lining? Their labors hadn’t gone entirely to waste—not every piece of commentary was hostile.

— VisualFan

Whoa… but their aesthetics are out of this world. Music video teaser playing on repeat. Cannot stop watching…

— VisualFan

Snapped out of a trance myself. Is this what people mean by getting bewitched by a spirit?

No, not a spirit—a vampire for sure.

— MusicLover

The looks are one element, but the melodic coordination? The teaser snippet hooks you instantly even though it’s incredibly brief. When is the full track dropping??

— RealTalk

Reflect on it—this changes nothing for us, right? We don’t socialize with media stars anyway. Vampire or otherwise, if they look stunning, isn’t that enough?

— RealTalk

Honestly, yeah lol.

Granted, a bit of calculated public relations manipulation had gently guided the discourse forward.

But it was a fact—not everyone opposed their arrival.

“Hee-hee, awesome… Upvoted this one too…”

Nahee—the maknae tasked with lead vocals and endearing charm for Lycoris—was sprawled across the residence couch, snickering at her screen.

Hostile remarks easily outnumbered the supportive ones, but she cold-bloodedly flagged them without a single flinch.

‘Eh, absorbing vitriol simply for being vampires? Nothing new there.’

The personnel of Lycoris were meticulously chosen prodigies.

Psychological resilience was heavily weighted during recruitment, so despite her tender age, Nahee dismissed this level of friction effortlessly.

“Nahee! Are you looking us up online again? Management explicitly ordered no checking!”

“Ah!”

An admonishing feminine tone snatched the mobile device straight out of her grip.

Nahee thrashed around momentarily from her face-down posture before collapsing in resignation.

Even as a Level 4 vampire, she hadn’t detected the theft—getting it back through raw strength against an unyielding opponent was practically out of the question.

Yoon Seol—Lycoris’s captain, principal dancer, and resident allure specialist—exhaled heavily, turning the device over in her fingers.

‘Fixating on hostility achieves nothing positive. It might appear harmless at the moment, but toxic sentiments accumulate deep down, waiting for a vulnerable instant to shatter you.’

Yoon Seol, intimately familiar with this reality through past trials, peered apprehensively at her naive youngest member.

Like the majority of debuting performers these days, the Lycoris personnel were quite youthful.

The oldest, Yoon Seol, was a mere twenty-two.

The youngest, Nahee, was a basic middle-school student—the collective average fell in the late adolescence bracket.

However, that specific ‘age’ possessed an underlying twist…

‘Three of us five are returners possessing far more lifetime experience than our Earth documentation indicates, but Nahee is genuinely that immature.’

It was calculated based on Earth’s demographic data, not cumulative lived centuries.

The remaining high school returner vampire adhered strictly to institutional mandates, tuning out the public square. Yet the inquisitive Nahee simply couldn’t help herself—a constant source of anxiety.

‘Should I confiscate the device…? But penalizing only her feels discriminatory… Ah! That works.’

An inspiration struck Yoon Seol.

She fixed her gaze intensely on the couch-bound youngster.

“Persist with this behavior, and I will report every single detail to Manager Ha. Concerning your defiance of company mandates.”

“Eek! Manager Ha?!”

“Precisely, it might be wiser to surrender this device to him permanently. You can request to use it when absolutely required?”

Nahee’s expression warped with absolute terror.

Manager Ha—the figure Yoon Seol invoked—was by no means an ordinary individual.

“Unnie! That is…”

The newest assignment to Team Lycoris: ‘Manager Ha’.

Nobody possessed knowledge of his actual name.

He was addressed solely as Manager Ha.

Even Lunatic Entertainment’s chief executive likely lacked that information.

His status within the organization was that anomalous.

In stark contrast to the exhausted employees drowning in debut preparation chaos, he accomplished absolutely nothing.

He simply devoured refreshments non-stop, casually watching the environment.

Which only served to make his aura appear far more imposing.

‘Talk about a high-level connections hire? There is zero chance he is a conventional handler.’

An overseer from the upper echelons or a supreme combat specialist assigned to deter security hazards—that was exactly how the Lycoris members and Lunatic personnel classified him.

Nobody presumed to address him with casual familiarity.

…His crushing aura rendered initiating contact virtually impossible regardless.

“I will overlook this singular instance. But the next occurrence? You go straight to him, just as I warned.”

“…Understood.”

Nahee submissively agreed under the weight of Yoon Seol’s warning.

She possessed absolutely no inclination to anger that terrifying older figure over basic nosiness.

Yoon Seol offered a melancholic grin toward her brooding, device-restored youngest member.

Still incredibly juvenile despite everything.

‘Deploying an individual of his caliber implies that management anticipates massive complications arising from our public promotions.’

Despite Heinz’s benediction augmenting their capabilities far past their prior limitations—even Yoon Seol at Level 6 found herself incapable of measuring Manager Ha’s hidden depths.

She released a breath, silently wishing for minimal disruptions.

Days drifted by.

At long last, the morning of Lycoris’s official introduction arrived.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“Hmm, the true performance commences.”

Slicked-back locks, rugged facial architecture, dark-tinted massive eyewear, and a straining black tailored suit.

Hari—deeply alarming upon initial inspection—leisurely stroked his jawline.

Then evaluated the pre-debut showcase arena.

Their media saturation strategy had yielded immense results: the overflowing gathering mirrored the intense Lycoris fascination.

‘Hardly unexpected.’

The world’s inaugural vampire pop collective!

Human minds remained apprehensive of danger, yet they were helplessly compelled to verify that magnetic pull with their own eyes.

Media correspondents could never bypass such guaranteed traffic either.

‘Though not everyone gathered here is driven by harmless fascination.’

Hari closed his eyes, extending his absolute domain over the entire perimeter.

Perceptions flared to life completely independent of vision.

‘Just as predicted. Quite a few individuals are highly displeased by this performance.’

Amidst the swirling movement, he let out a low chuckle from his premium seating.

Yet he remained unmoving.

Blood Alliance vampires, having arranged their security flawlessly, were soundlessly neutralizing the targets.

‘Indeed—you can’t expect the rulers of Korea’s underworld to stumble over basic sabotage.’

From a middle-aged male holding a priest-garbed explosive device loitering around the exterior structures, to a female slipping inside disguised as media, down to ticket winners, contracted stage assistants, and facility crew.

A multitude caught red-handed—either active conspirators or blind instruments.

‘Tch, this degree of hostility directed at vampires?’

Hari grimaced, clicking his tongue in disapproval.

Minor hazards, contained prior to execution by the alert vampires.

No grand malevolent faction—simply decentralized citizen sabotage.

Designed to prevent vampires from integrating into the mainstream gaze.

‘…Is this the catalyst?’

In that exact moment, Hesperon extracted data fragments from the vast intelligence sea using Mechanized Eye: Kallikas.

Delving into the captured perpetrators’ online histories exposed an underground digital network.

— VictimAnon

Perpetual annihilation to the blood-drinking abominations.

— GrievingDad

The hour has come to reunite with my girl. Appreciate everything. I intend to drag at least one more bloodsucker down with me as retribution.

— VictimAnon

May you find peace.

— SoonToFollow

I will join the effort shortly.

A support space for casualties—spouses, parents, or companions ripped away by vampires.

Their spirits were completely locked away, deeply cynical toward the heroic rebranding of the Blood Alliance.

‘…’

Admittedly, the Blood Alliance’s current restraint originated entirely from Heinz’s authority.

Barely a single year prior, radicals dictated policy; vampires represented absolute nightmare incarnate. What use was there in informing historical casualties that ‘we have evolved’?

‘…Tragic, yet there is nothing immediate we can alter.’

No common ground existed with souls consumed by vengeance—even those bent on self-immolation.

A minor consolation: their desperate thrashing achieved very little.

Hardly any awakened beings existed among their ranks anyway.

The Blood Alliance governed the shadows of Korea without rival.

Ordinary, non-transcendent agitators possessed no capability to derail an event they had staked everything on.

‘Furthermore, I am stationed here specifically to guard against potential Reverse Heaven Society interference.’

The exhibition rolled forward flawlessly for a long duration.

The introductory performers concluded their sets; the schedule arrived at Lycoris’s premiere track.

“It begins.”

The true climax of the entire gathering.

The definitive instant to reveal Lycoris to the global population.

~♪

A spectacular musical introduction washed over the auditorium.

Composed by High Elf Harris of the Elven Kingdom alongside his associates—utilizing authentic, manual orchestration.

Its absolute pinnacle of acoustic ‘balance’ penetrated the core of every listener present.

“Mm, this quality is…”

“Wow, even the promotional snippet left me speechless, but this…”

Sentiments were utterly commandeered.

A cadence so exquisite, celestial—the production methodology remained an absolute puzzle.

Human awareness became utterly chained to the performance area, trailing the auditory sensation.

Subsequently, riding over the cresting symphonic waves, alluring, fatal vocal layers joined the arrangement.

“…!”

“…”

Reporters typing away furiously on their devices for rapid publishing went completely rigid.

Digital commentators broadcasting live remained frozen, eyes locked onto the stage.

Cynics who had kept their arms defensively crossed gradually loosened their posture.

Was this akin to sea sirens beckoning mariners toward destruction?

Elven acoustic balance merged with vampiric enchantment completely dominated human minds lacking auditory defense traits.

And concurrently.

The debut single from Lycoris, titled ‘Amaryllis’, went live across all major audio distribution networks.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Predictably, the inaugural release completely caught fire.

Even the loudest detractors were rendered mute.

Amidst violently climbing chart positions.

Lycoris capitalized on the momentum to arrive at…

“Check it out, the actual Lycoris! No deception. They look way more striking in person.”

“Quiet! Moron, shut your mouth! Even the smallest creature over there could dismantle you with her bare fingers!”

“Gah!”

They had arrived at the television studio for a nationwide live music program broadcast broadcast.

“…We do not dismantle individuals.”

Nahee—the most petite member—pouted quietly in response to the aggressive observation.

The onlookers had spoken in hushed tones, but every single vampire ear present intercepted the words perfectly.

Perceived as escaped predators, the terror coloring the humans’ language brought forced expressions to the faces of the Lycoris members.

“Kahahat! This is highly entertaining! I have visited broadcasting hubs before, but wow? What is that gadget over there? Fascinating!”

Manager Ha, perpetually cheerful and buoyant, stayed entirely untroubled as he always did.