I trusted my decision.
I’d always been known for my quick judgment—so much so that people called me a “human flashback reel.” In both big and small life choices, I’d consistently made the right calls.
One example was how I recently scrapped my long-standing plan to be a “one-club man” with a single company. Despite a strong five-year streak of tournament success and multiple offers to stay, I walked away from the team without a second thought.
And in the end, that decision was the right one. While some teammates were in talks with high-paying Chinese teams, a drug scandal involving the coach erupted, setting off chaos and sparking a boycott against the parent organization.
The once-solid team disintegrated in less than a month.
Fans praised my foresight, saying, “Only the smart ones escaped.”
‘So this choice must be right, too.’
Even if I ended up missing Kessler when I returned, even if I suffered the aftereffects for a long time… there would be no soul-draining regrets. I had made the right call.
“You okay?”
But when I opened my eyes, I found myself in Kessler’s arms. He had returned earlier than expected.
Meow.
…Was this his decision?
“Are you crying because you’re sad?”
In that moment, tears streamed down.
Was it regret for failing to escape? Guilt? Longing? Resignation? Despair? Or just plain emotion? Whatever it was, all of it was lumped into a single tear.
Even that vanished in an instant, erased by a single kiss from Kessler.
Strangely enough, I found myself wagging my tail in his hands again, wearing the kind of innocent face that never planned a thing.
“I’m here.”
[System]: !!! The system believes that if it’s you, you can be trusted. [Next]
That’s when it happened.
A mysterious pop-up notification covered Kessler’s perfectly handsome face.
‘What the hell is that?’
Meow?
My confused face was replaced by the image of a baby fox tilting its head and tugging at its soft chin.
chu chu chu chu
Each time his lips touched my snout, little heart effects exploded in front of my eyes.
“We’ve got some missed kisses to catch up on.”
Hey—wait a sec, hold on… I’m trying to read this.
My face was getting dragged this way and that by Kessler’s movements. No matter how much I squirmed, his lips relentlessly followed mine.
I reached out a paw to tap [Next], but Kessler seemed to mistake it for a request to hold hands and started kissing that too.
‘Fine… since I’m happy to see him, I’ll tolerate this for up to 5 minutes.’
But then came verse 2… verse 3… verse 4… and the brain-melting encore.
Even after 10 minutes, he showed no signs of stopping.
I finally lost my patience.
Meow!
Only then did Kessler spit out the tail he had been nibbling on.
“Did that hurt?”
At last… I could finally see it. The freshly issued quest.
[Designated User Exclusive Quest:
Player “Kessler” has been absent from the castle too frequently. The system has determined that Kessler is no longer fit to hold the title of Lord.
Separate him from the Shadow Castle and retrieve him!
>Watch Video<]
A forced delegation quest—with no reward even listed.
[System]: The Lord of the Shadow Castle has interfered with the results of the quest.
“Shut up. I do what I want.”
Maybe the system had objected to him rescuing me, but Kessler simply brushed the air like flicking off dust.
‘This is exactly why I keep getting weird quests like this.’
With me still in his arms, Kessler headed toward the cloud staircase.
“Wrap it up already. I wanna go down the slide.”
[Survival Quest: has ended.
!!! Designated User Exclusive Quest: has now been converted into a Secret Quest.
The executor may not speak to the subject about this quest.]
…What the hell?
The system almost felt like… it was tiptoeing around Kessler.
Anyway, once we reached the top of the cloud staircase, Kessler let me choose a color.
“What color slide does the baby fox want? Game’s over anyway, can’t I just blend the colors?”
– Totally doable mid-game
“Hurry up. Let’s go ride it.”
Clack-clack-clack-clack
Kessler kissed me in time with the hammering of a skeleton standing by to assist with quest progress. Soon after, the seven colors of the rainbow fused into one giant slide.
“Baby Fox, launching now.”
Perched on the slide, Kessler took hold of my front paws and posed me like Superman, then pulled me tightly into his arms. In the next moment, we were sliding down toward the ground.
As we reached the end of the slide, clouds billowed up like foam, and his posture wavered slightly as they wrapped around us.
“Ack!”
Meow!!
“Hehe. Fun, right? This fits your level way better than the tower sled. And the colors are so pretty too.”
I looked at him as he brightly laughed and shook off the rainbow foam clinging to his fur. Then he found the castle’s caretaker.
“Don’t remove this slide. Keep it.”
“Maintaining it consumes a lot of shadow resources.”
“Baby Fox says it’s super fun.”
“I see. Understood.”
“Wanna go again?”
‘…….’
From where I stood, it looked like he was having the most fun.
Kessler’s energy was a far cry from my drooping state. His pitch-black eyes were sparkling, and he looked genuinely excited.
“What, you wanna rest?”
I nodded.
“Okay. Let’s go rest. Meow-meow.”
The reason I couldn’t share in his excitement lay in the setting.
As Kessler carried me back to the room, I looked over his shoulder at the slide.
Beneath the rainbow slide, hundreds of corpses—remnants of poor decisions—were tangled together. Seeing the messy aftermath of their failed logouts, a storm of emotions surged through me.
‘What would’ve happened to me if Kessler hadn’t caught me? Would I have vanished, not returned to reality but been erased entirely by death?’
Crunch.
A user’s bone snapped beneath Kessler’s foot.
He kept walking without hesitation, stepping over the mountain of corpses.
“Didn’t you miss me?”
Meow.
“Meow-meow-meow.”
We rolled around in the grass field, now completely empty of people.
“I missed you so much. Honestly, that’s why I couldn’t help myself and came back.”
Holding me in his arms, he flew me around like a toy airplane, blinking slowly with sleepy eyes.
“Seeing you… makes it really feel like I’m home.”
At some point, his eyes drifted shut.
The corners of his lips were curved upward in bliss even as he slept.
Nestled in his arms, I reopened the quest window I’d received earlier.
I had noticed before that there was a “Watch Video” option at the bottom, but I’d saved it, afraid it might be a one-time-only clip. Now seemed like the right time.
[Designated User Exclusive Quest:
Player Kessler has been absent from the castle too frequently. The system has judged that Kessler is unfit to serve as Lord.
Separate him from the Shadow Castle and retrieve him!
> Watch Video <]
‘Player Kessler. Player Kessler?’
That line had been bothering me ever since I read it.
Isn’t the title “Player” reserved for users, not NPCs?
Trying to uncover a clue, I pressed Watch Video.
Somewhere, a music box began playing, and I was drawn into the video.
Shaking myself off, I looked around.
It was the Shadow Castle.
3D augmented reality unfolded before my eyes—it looked like it was going to show me Kessler’s story.
In front of me stood a man stepping on a pile of corpses. His figure was unclear, but the arrogant stance made it obvious—it was Kessler.
Skeletons lined up on both sides were clapping their bony hands.
…Wait.
Amid the ten identical corpses beneath Kessler’s feet, I spotted a familiar name—Tester 334.
…That’s me.
‘Was this from alpha testing?’
My eyes moved upward—and I realized it.
‘Tester No. 1.’
This was the moment when “Tester 1” had won.
‘So the one who won back then… the one who won the game… was Kessler.’
As I pieced the scene together, the real Lord of the Shadow Castle approached to honor the first-place winner.
They offered Kessler a ticket to leave the castle.
But Kessler simply looked down at the small child in front of him.
‘The true Lord of the Castle… is a little kid.’
Kessler took the ticket that had been handed to him and gently placed it back into the child’s hands. The child looked up at Kessler with wide eyes. In response, Kessler reached out and softly patted the child’s head, as if in encouragement.
The two began to speak. Though no sound came through, it was clear what kind of conversation had passed between them.
‘…Ha.’
The scene shifted.
Now, the child holding the ticket stood alone on a train platform. I silently watched, breath catching in my throat from an eerie sense of déjà vu.
Wait a second—this scene… that person…
‘It’s him from that time.’
The memory from the day I first possessed this body.
When I, as a fox, fled a predator eagle and took refuge in the Shadow Castle’s shelter, there—beyond the crowd of users—I had seen that unknown figure.
And just as if to confirm that my memory had been accurate, I saw myself standing across from him. Back in that moment before Haru Noona and the others had come rushing in—back in that same space.
The moment I thought I had locked eyes with him again, I dashed forward without hesitation, at the fastest speed my body could manage.
This time, I couldn’t let him slip away.
But then, I realized something.
He had no face.
He was a being composed entirely of shadow.
Staring at the child’s pitch-black, void-like face, I finally noticed the golden ticket held in his hand.
[Destination: Trash Disposal Site]
The destination printed clearly on the ticket.
Even though I stood directly in front of him, the child continued to gaze past me—at the exact spot I had been standing.
That’s when I understood.
I had thought we had made eye contact, but I was wrong.
He hadn’t been looking at me—at the Arctic Fox me—from back then.
What he had been watching was Kessler, standing behind me.
– The train is now approaching. Passengers, please take two steps back from the platform.
As the train approached, the rushing wind lifted the hem of the child’s cloak.
Etched in my vision was the single point of color on his shadowy black body: a heart, shaped like a clock.
The heart had an empty hollow where the hour hand should have been.
[System]: You have acquired a hint regarding the Golden Hour Hand.
[System]: You have acquired a hint about the one who must be restored and their location.
Moments later, the train came to a halt.
Users poured in, and the child departed—seeking eternal rest.
