The fitting room, lined with all sorts of fox outfits Kessler had bought.
Nyaa!!
“Alright, we’re starting the shoot now.”
Jung Da-hoon lifted the Camera That Captures Memories. With a troubled heart, we began with some Instagram-worthy photos. When I walked slowly or did certain actions, he just snapped random shots.
We decided to pick the A-cuts and B-cuts together later.
“Starting video recording now. We’re shooting ‘What Happens When You Greet a Fox.’”
On screen, I walked down a path, then stopped when Jung Da-hoon waved and greeted me with a cheerful “Hi!” I turned to look at him, then suddenly dashed forward and hugged him.
More accurately… I leapt into the camera.
It was an act full of calculated charm, but thanks to my innocent face, it didn’t seem staged at all.
“Alright, great work everyone. Tomorrow we’ll be shooting ‘The Baby Fox Doing Calisthenics Under the Moonlight’ and ‘How a Fox Makes Perfume.’”
I nodded deeply and licked Jung Da-hoon’s hand to show my appreciation for the day’s work. Then I lifted my front paws and wiggled them forward and back.
“You’re saying we should strike while the iron’s hot, huh? Got it, champ. You’ve worked hard too. Rest well.”
There was no time to think—sleep overwhelmed me. I’d pushed this baby Arctic Fox body far too hard without enough rest.
Yaaawn. My eyelids dropped, heavy with exhaustion.
***
When I opened my eyes, I felt completely drained.
[System] : The baby Arctic Fox feels hungry.
I had slept far too long. Stretching by arching my rear up high, I checked the time on the bell tower and did a double-take.
The clock pointed to 5. But the sky was bright as day. It wasn’t 5 a.m.—it was 5 p.m.
“Champ, are you awake? Your tummy’s all flat. You must be starving!”
Jung Da-hoon quickly peeled the lid off some fox pudding and held it out. Just licking the sweet and moist treat brought back my strength.
[System] : Satiety has increased.
Click click. Jung Da-hoon took pictures from every angle as I ate.
We filmed until I fell asleep, and now we were filming the moment I opened my eyes?
“Let’s move to the next location.”
As Jung Da-hoon carried me over to the perfumery workshop, I checked the Relationship Panel.
[Relationship Panel] : Two new photos have been posted.
8:00 a.m. As usual, Kessler had unwrapped a golden pudding.
11:24 a.m. Kessler had liked every one of the empty bowl photos I uploaded.
‘Was he telling me to come eat and clean the bowls?’
2:43 p.m. Kessler unliked them all.
‘Are you serious right now…?’
3:10 p.m. A photo was uploaded of a Sand Dog walking by and licking the pudding with a smile.
The message was clear: You didn’t come, so I gave it to another dog.
Would you like to leave a voice message?
Nyaa nya-nya! Nya-nya-nyaa!
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
NYAA!!
I hit the send button, my voice flying up into the sky. It was a yowl filled with resentment and sorrow. That should be clear enough, right?
***
After smoothing things over with Kessler, I got back to work. Selecting natural ingredients for perfumery, wearing safety goggles while sterilizing perfume bottles, sniff-testing samples, flaring my nostrils as I focused…
“One-two, one-two. Yep, the baby fox hard at work, looking amazing.”
The artisan spirit was alive and well—truly a beautiful sight.
Once the sun had completely set, we moved the shoot outside.
One, two, three, four—ppukku nya ppukku-ppukku nyang-nyang.
After wrapping up the moonlight aerobics scene, I was totally wiped out.
“You did great today. We’ll slowly release all this over the next two weeks… screeeech.”
Jung Da-hoon, who had been praising me, suddenly shuddered.
“What was that bloodlust?”
Nya?
Even I, who had been slumped down, perked up. What was going on?
“I’ve got a real knack for sensing bloodlust, okay? It’s a perk of being a Murderer Class…”
I tensed, alert. But with the fox’s heightened senses, I couldn’t detect anything threatening.
Guess Jung Da-hoon must’ve been really tired. It was a moonlit night—everyone was asleep.
That’s when it happened.
[Relationship Panel] : A new photo has been posted.
I immediately tapped into the Relationship Panel to check the new alert. And there, a single black photo had been uploaded.
Nya?
What the hell is this?
Looking closely, it was a photo of me standing on a table with one hind leg raised. This was from earlier.
In the picture, I was gazing quietly into a dark, unseen space. Somewhere out there, Kessler was watching us.
As if telling him to come out already if he was going to, I barked at that direction repeatedly, then charged straight toward it.
It had only been a few days, and yet I was already starting to forget Kessler’s face. He’d turned off his location too, so we had no way of finding each other.
The problem was, my body was completely drained from two days of hard labor. My legs kept giving out, making me stumble.
[Relationship Panel] : You have turned ON location-sharing. Your location is now visible.
I opened the Relationship Panel and set my location to public. Then I silently hoped Kessler would come find me.
As I turned a hallway corner, I saw a familiar silhouette in the distance. I squeezed out the last bit of strength I had and sprinted toward him.
Nya, nya-nya!
I barked at him to stop.
[System] : Stamina depleted. Movement speed decreasing. Hold on with willpower.
[System] : Mental strength is draining.
I barely managed to stumble up to him, just short of reaching his feet.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here, you damn mutt-fox.”
And finally, I collapsed right at his feet. At the very least, I’d shown some sincerity, hadn’t I?
[System] : All stamina exhausted. Entering faint-sleep.
I felt his hand scoop me up. That familiar warmth made me want to sleep even deeper.
***
“……”
Kessler picked up the baby Arctic Fox, who had fallen asleep the moment it reached him.
Even though he hadn’t been able to take care of it for a few days, its coat still looked pristine. That irritated him.
Sniff sniff. Had it rubbed up against some other male? He sniffed carefully, but only a soft peachy fragrance lingered.
Kessler gazed silently down at the sleeping baby fox. Its nose was round like a cherry and jet black. When he pressed his lips against it, he could feel its faint little breaths.
Mmnya mmnya-nya
The fox snuggled deeper into his arms with a peaceful expression. From its back to its rump, he gently stroked it with care.
At that moment, Kessler had no idea. That the baby fox wouldn’t wake up for over seventeen hours.
Around the ten-hour mark, Kessler lightly froze some pudding. It was about time the fox usually woke up.
He finished preparing the meal and quietly waited for it to open its eyes. He tapped its tail gently, but the fox only slept with its mouth slightly agape.
“Are you really asleep, or are you just pretending?”
After twelve hours, he started to get genuinely worried.
He picked up the now-thawed pudding and held it near the fox’s nose.
“Not even this wakes you?”
The baby fox sniffed at the sweet scent contentedly, then returned to complete stillness.
“Did you skip yesterday because you were sleeping too?”
Normally, baby foxes sleep a lot. But this one was different. This one used to be human, and maybe because of that, it always came over when breakfast was served.
Sniff sniff. Maybe it was the sweat from sleeping, but a sour, milky scent was wafting faintly from its parted mouth.
“……”
Until then, he tried to brush it off. But by the fifteen-hour mark, Kessler couldn’t hold back the anxiety anymore.
He’d planned to have a serious talk once the fox woke up. To scold it, demand answers. He’d already simulated every word and possible reaction in his head.
But the fox was still asleep.
“……”
Its curled-up body in the palm of his hand didn’t move a muscle. He checked its breathing again and again. Pressed his ear against its belly fat. The heartbeat was so weak…
And in that moment, his heart dropped. Was it always supposed to beat this faintly?
Come to think of it, he’d never properly listened to its heartbeat before. He’d been too busy poking its belly or sniffing it.
Carefully, Kessler lifted the fox and laid it inside the Shooting Star Stroller. Then he headed straight to the animal hospital.
“Health check for a baby fox. It’s been sleeping for over 17 hours now.”
—Baby foxes usually sleep a lot~
“Yeah, but not like this. It’s been two days in a row. The heartbeat is too weak.”
—It’s normal for small bodies to have weaker heartbeats~
“If you’re a vet, how about you actually check it instead of flapping your damn jaws?”
Kessler reached out and casually shut the vet skull’s flapping jaw with a smack of his palm.
Watching that bone-headed vet clack its jaw without even doing a proper exam was infuriating.
“It’s a fox that never misses breakfast, lunch, or dinner. But it didn’t eat a single bite today.”
—Clack clack. When you’re exhausted, sleep is the best medicine~
“Oh yeah? Then what about the belly? It’s completely sunken in.”
—Clack clack? Baby fox belly is obese~
“Obese, really?”
—You can hear sounds even when it breathes. It ate too much. That’s why the baby fox got chubby.
“So you’re saying it’s fine? But it didn’t eat. Give it some supplements, at least.”
Clack clack.
Kessler watched the IV needle pierce into the fox’s front left paw before finally leaving the clinic.
“Overwork isn’t something I can forgive.”
Even little skeletons don’t do labor. And yet, a creature smaller than them had been pushed this far.
Someone was going to be held accountable.
