Chapter 107
“Do you know the tale of the Fox Sister?”
The white fox, speaking in a heavily lowered voice, plucked a handful of fur from his tail and attached it to his face. The long wound on his left cheek and jaw disappeared without a trace, instantly restoring his original appearance.
Indeed, it was an impressive display of magical skill befitting a fox monster with five tails.
The Fox Sister…
A story suddenly came to mind from when Gabi was living as the dokkaebi king. When disaster struck the household of a human he cherished like a disciple, he gave them three gourd bottles containing fire, water, and thorny bushes.
‘You mean the story of the fox who pretended to be a rich family’s youngest daughter, wreaked havoc in the village, and then was killed by the family’s son?’
“Actually, that was the story of my sister.”
The white fox, who had been chewing his lips as if swallowing rising emotions, plucked four of his five tails and threw them into the air while shouting:
“She seems to have learned something somewhere in her quest for revenge. But such petty skills can’t defeat me. I’ll show you how different my level is from my foolish sister. You’ll regret appearing before me again!”
The scattered tails transformed into copies of the white fox. He had performed a body-splitting technique.
There are five of them now…!
Eun-hwi opened his eyes wide, trying to find the original body among the copies. Not only did they look identical, but the mystical energy emanating from each was also the same, making it impossible to distinguish between the original and the copies.
They all glared at Yeo Moon-beom with gleaming red eyes, licking their lips as if about to slit open his belly and devour his liver. A chill ran down Eun-hwi’s spine, raising goosebumps all over.
“Kikikikikik! Will you still resist?”
It was incredibly eerie how they spoke simultaneously with identical faces and voices. The five white foxes, with their long, pointed claws extended, circled around Yeo Moon-beom before suddenly attacking him all at once.
It was no easy task to face five enemies alone when there had been just one before.
Yeo Moon-beom was fully occupied with defending his body, barely managing to block the attacks from the monsters with their tails standing stiffly upright.
Please…
Please let me wake up from this nightmare.
He seemed to be struggling just to survive, let alone counter-attack. It was devastating to be unable to help his lover who was in danger.
A sense of helplessness, incomparable to when they faced the human-faced bird or the Eodukseoni, overwhelmed him. The ominously clouded sky smelled of death.
“Kyaaaaaak!”
Just as Eun-hwi squeezed his eyes shut at the sight of the white fox slashing down with its long claws, while letting out a shrill cry—
‘Are you done playing?’
Yeo Moon-beom, who had countered the attack with metal-bladed gloves, asked the white fox with a smiling face. Both his fists were engulfed in dokkaebi fire that blazed like the fearsome flames of hell.
These flames, which could crumble a fox’s soul just by approaching, possessed an overwhelmingly different power from any dokkaebi fire Eun-hwi had ever created.
Looking at the flames burning silently and coldly like an endless abyss, the half-dokkaebi unconsciously swallowed.
“I thought it strange that spirit power suddenly appeared where there was none before…”
The white fox, who had momentarily stopped moving and stepped back, pulled up the corner of his mouth in a sinister smile.
His expression suggested he had figured out the source of a power that no human should possess.
“My, my. You drank dokkaebi blood and gained the power of a spirit?”
…Dokkaebi blood?
Eun-hwi snorted as if he had never trembled in fear. And for good reason, as the fox was half right and half wrong.
Yeo Moon-beom might have sucked his saliva like a leech, clinging to his lips, but he had never made a single drop of blood come out of Eun-hwi’s body. He had merely borrowed Gabi’s divine power through the ring, as he always had.
Sure enough, when Yeo Moon-beom showed no reaction and maintained his defensive stance, the white fox probed further:
“No? Then what, did you join navels to gain power?”
Huh…?
Join navels?
Could he possibly be referring to sex play?
Eun-hwi’s eyes widened at the unexpected question. To think one could gain a dokkaebi’s divine power through sex.
Even for a dream, this was an absurdly far-fetched idea.
But instead of glaring at the white fox with raised eyebrows in displeasure, Yeo Moon-beom smiled faintly with an expression that seemed to say, “So you’ve finally figured it out.”
At this silent confirmation, the five white foxes standing in a wide circle looked at each other’s faces and noisily chattered:
“I was going to tear him apart painfully while he was still alive, but I’ve changed my mind.”
“Then how will you kill him?”
“If he only joined navels, that means the dokkaebi is still alive, right? Let’s steal this guy’s skin, approach the dokkaebi, and then suck its blood. What do you think?”
“Oh ho! Get the power of immortality and have it stuffed too? That sounds fun!”
“A stuffed dokkaebi—as expected, the white fox is a genius! It’ll be the ultimate collection piece!”
Not content with just wearing Yeo Moon-beom’s face, they planned to drink Eun-hwi’s blood and even stuff him.
Eun-hwi shuddered, turning pale blue at the mere imagination. He desperately wanted to escape this terrible nightmare.
‘What? Steal my skin and do what? These fucking bastards treating me like trash. They’re utterly out of their minds.’
Yeo Moon-beom, who had spat out curses in a low voice, leaped up and threw something engulfed in blue fire. The five pieces with sharp, sickle-curved ends were tiger claws endowed with the power to defeat evil spirits.
The high-purity yang energy pieces lodged precisely into the right shoulders of the white foxes.
“Kuaaaaaaak!”
The tiger claws burrowed into the white foxes’ pale, thin skin as if melting it, like red-hot iron. The foul smell of burning flesh spread. The foxes’ desperate cries of agony shook the surroundings.
‘You know what? It’s harder for monsters to be born than to die.’
Yeo Moon-beom pulled up his exquisitely drawn lips. It was a cruel, merciless, and strangely twisted smile. Soon, as he raised dokkaebi fire around him like a sea of water, he said:
‘So, would you die for me?’
The white fox stepped backward in the face of the cold, rational killing intent, sharp as a meticulously honed blade.
But that step was merely a temporary retreat for an attack. The fox bead, a crystallization of condensed malicious energy, appeared between the white fox’s parted lips.
Soon, the white fox, having recalled all his copies, bit his own shoulder and embedded the fox bead over the tiger claw. The immensely strong negative energy dissolved the claw without a trace.
“To think you’ve reduced me to such a miserable state… I can’t forgive you. I will never forgive you!”
A red light flashed in his bloodshot eyes. The white fox, his right arm now free, raised it and scattered fur as sharp as white daggers in all directions.
Countless strands of fur, too many to count, formed an enormous whirlwind and charged toward Yeo Moon-beom. Their power was tremendous, crushing surrounding rocks into pieces and even grinding trees.
“No, don’t! It’s dangerous…!”
Eun-hwi shouted. But Yeo Moon-beom didn’t hear any cry and was about to jump into the center of the storm.
What should I do?
The fur, imbued with the white fox’s desperate thoughts ready for death, carried a curse that would stick like a shadow and follow forever.
A terrible curse that would suck out life force, decompose the body, and eventually lead to death.
Being merely a witness in the dream, he couldn’t possess free will. Nevertheless, driven solely by the thought that he must save him, Eun-hwi threw himself forward and embraced Yeo Moon-beom tightly.
“…Aaaagh!”
The white fox’s fur, mercilessly lodged into his back, inflicted tremendous pain unlike anything he had ever felt before.
It was hard to endure the pain, as if his flesh was being torn and limbs severed, but Eun-hwi spread his arms as wide as possible to shield Yeo Moon-beom.
Even if it was just a dream, he was glad to be able to help him like this.
‘…Eun-hwi?’
Perhaps sensing his energy, Yeo Moon-beom called his name with a puzzled voice.
His figure, unable to hide his bewilderment, gradually became blurry. Realizing the dream was ending, the half-dokkaebi left only an earnest plea in his ear before closing his eyelids.
“Don’t die. Please survive and come back to me, Moon-beom…”
His soul, which had been flowing backward like a fish swimming against the current, suddenly stopped moving, and soon his eyes opened again.
“Ugh… Kuk!”
The ceiling he had seen just before falling asleep was before his eyes. It was clearly a dream, yet somehow the pain in his back felt vivid.
With recognition, sensation throughout his body revived. Something hot and fishy burst out of his mouth.
“Young master!”
“Mr. Eun-hwi!”
He couldn’t bear the dizziness, like someone who had just emerged from a pitch-black cave. The unbearable pain made him feel like something was wrong with his head.
Eun-hwi looked at Choi Eun-young, who was checking his condition with trembling fingertips, and Dr. Hong, who was making a phone call somewhere while wrapped in shock, before closing his eyes again.
“What are you doing? Pick up quickly. Hurry…”
In his consciousness, sinking endlessly like settling in darkness, he heard a voice, breathless as if having just finished a final strike.
— What’s the matter?
“Manager Yeo! The young master has collapsed, coughing up blood!”
— What are you saying?
“I don’t know either. He was sleeping after shopping, but suddenly blood… His whole body is ice-cold, like he’s been cursed. It must be the work of a spirit! There’s no other explanation!”
The white fox with five tails, Yeo Moon-beom who gained dokkaebi power through sex, and himself rushing to protect him from danger. Were they all not just dreams?
He couldn’t tell what was what. Waves of confusion awakened the half-dokkaebi’s consciousness as it faded in and out.
— I’ll come right away. Let’s return to Wolhwa immediately.
Whether he knew these thoughts or not, Yeo Moon-beom spoke to Dr. Hong in a deliberately calm tone.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
