Amid the chaos stirred by an unexpected assassination on a stage that had captured everyone’s attention, Bori Noona returned to her seat with a perfectly casual demeanor.
“…I went and changed my class.”
“Are you the Murderer, by any chance?”
“Yeah. My murder index was screaming ‘It has to be now!’ so I had no choice.”
Apparently, she had used this opportunity to successfully switch to the Murderer Class.
“You did the right thing. Better we take the job no one else wants to touch.”
“Hehe, I got praised. I did good, right? Whew… That felt so satisfying.”
Due to the death of the leader ‘Yuri,’ the leadership role is now transferred to the second-highest vote-getter, the player ‘Yeo Woo-rim.’
“…”
[You have been appointed as leader. Clear your quests with a sense of duty and responsibility!]
I dismissed the popup message and checked the quest options.
[Currently Active Quest
Creator – Yuri
<Fox Hunt>
Deadline: None
※ You cannot exploit the fox in this quest.]
“…Killing the leader doesn’t make the quest go away, huh.”
Everything had progressed rapidly, and as everyone’s gaze settled on me, newly appointed as leader, Kessler stood up and spoke.
“Let’s split into teams for the fox hunt. I’m with the fox. You three are one team.”
You just want to be with Woo-rim, don’t you, Juwon?”
“And what if I do?”
“That’s so unfair. Fine, the rest of us will go together.”
“Sure, works for me. Hmph.”
Wait, what do you mean, ‘hmph’? I was too busy staring at the commands filling up my screen.
[Quest Add/Delete]
Without hesitation, I pressed Delete.
[Do you want to delete the <Catching the Fox> quest created by ‘Yuri’?
Yes / No]
“Yes.”
Immediately, [!!!] marks popped up above the skeletons’ heads—those very skeletons who had been peacefully spectating even the murder.
“Whoa, what? It’s been canceled?”
“Dang! No hesitation! Straight-charge leader, I like it!!”
[System]: You have unilaterally canceled a quest that was agreed upon without any discussion with the Elderskulls. Your hostility level with the skeletons has increased by 100% due to abuse of power.
“Whoa, Pro…”
“It was something I had to deal with eventually, now that it’s been handed over to me.”
The me who had once been possessed would never have done this, but now I’m no longer possessed—just a regular player. Moreover, I’m not a professional who needs to take responsibility and always give it my all.
Even if I repeatedly faced countless challenges and failures, I could reset the game and continue playing for fun. Therefore, I could do whatever I wanted.
“But the skeletons are going to shun us, you know?”
“It’s not like I acted without a plan. Did you forget already?”
I turned around and looked at my teammates.
“Who won the Beta?”
Quietly, I placed my hand on Kessler’s shoulder, who had stepped up to stand by my side. Yes, it was us.
[System]: The skeletons are coming to capture you. Run now!
“Hold up. I’ve got somewhere to go first.”
Dodging the enraged Skulls charging at me, I hurried towards the nearest Treasure Tower. However, perhaps the news had already spread, because the Gatekeeper Skull was also extremely agitated.
“Open the door.”
– Nuuuh uh! Sooo mad! Skull mad mad! Too much! Too much!
As if to make his sulking known, the skeleton tucked his hands into his armpits and turned his head rhythmically with his speech.
“Oh, move already.”
[System]: Entry requires permission from the Gatekeeper.
I attempted to push my way through using my leadership authority, but entry to the Treasure Tower was still restricted.
‘Is it because the hostility level is too high?’
I opened the settings to find another method. In this situation, I planned to use every advantage I’d gained from winning the previous game.
‘How do you do ‘Account Binding’ again?’
Then came a spine-chilling groan behind me—the enraged skeletons were closing in, and Kessler had followed in right behind them.
– Clack clack! STOP RIGHT THERE!
– You are our ENEMY!
– NO ENTRY, NEVER!
– I’M ANGRY HUMAN!! CANCEL RIGHT NOW! WE NEED OUR FOX!!
“Why are you acting like this? I’m trying to usher in a new era.”
– NO NO NO!!
Eleven Elder Skulls encircled me, furiously jabbing their bony fingers. One of them, overcome with anger, stomped his feet so hard he tore off his own bone and hurled it my way.
The projectile racing toward me abruptly halted mid-air. Kessler had swiftly appeared and caught it effortlessly.
“Nice.”
I gave him a thumbs-up, but he didn’t respond to my praise as usual.
“I’ve got a bad feeling.”
My intuition was correct. Without hesitation, Kessler hurled the bone back toward its owner.
THUD!!
The skull who got smacked in the face by his own bone went tumbling backward. As stars and moons spun over his head, the other shocked skeletonss hurried to reattach their dislocated jawbones and started screaming in protest.
– WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!
– BAD HUMAN’S FRIEND = WORSE HUMAN!!
– GOLGOLGOL!!
As one skull pointed and cursed at me, Kessler picked up another loose bone, threateningly brandishing it toward them.
“You guys threw first. And who gave you permission to point fingers at my fox, huh? Wanna get all your bones yanked out?”
Quickly, I stepped in front of Kessler to prevent further trouble.
“Okay, okay. I’ve got him. You all can be on your way now.”
– ROTTEN HUMANS!!
– DON’T LIVE LIKE THAT!
– CHANGE IT BACK NOW!! NEED OUR FOX!!
While hurriedly dismissing the flustered skulls, my eyes busily scanned the settings screen.
Ah, found it.
[System]: You can merge with the Baby Fox account. Upon merging, you will become subordinate to the player ‘Kessler,’ and will no longer be able to retain human form.
The subordination used to escape the server remained intact. Only after finding a way to break this subordination would I regain my human form.
After a brief hesitation, I called out to Kessler, who was aggressively throwing stones at the fleeing skulls.
“Kessler, come here.”
“…”
“Juwon-ah.”
Only then did Kessler turn around, approaching me and burying his reddened face into my shoulder.
“I’m so fucking pissed off.”
“They’re NPCs.”
“Exactly. And NPCs are harassing you. Where the hell do they even think it’s okay to throw bones?”
“You’re too cool to let it get to you.”
“I’m mad. I’m so mad I need to cool off…”
Saying so, he subtly pressed his body against mine.
But this wasn’t the real issue right now.
[System]: You and your party are on the verge of being exiled from the castle.
“We’re fucked.”
“How bad?”
“Mega fucked.”
Even as I listed the issues, frankly, I didn’t really care.
“Should I turn into a fox?”
“Now?”
“Yeah, now.”
After confirming Kessler’s nod as his eyes studied my face, I immediately pressed the merge button.
Shortly after, now transformed into a Baby Fox, I sat calmly in his arms. He curiously examined every part of my face.
Nyang.
When I softly barked at the entranced Kessler, he leaned his cheek beside my snout. Then he narrowed his eyes and smiled blissfully.
“Hehehe. Let’s have a look.”
Kessler lifted me with both hands, inspecting my belly—checking if I’d lost any weight, making sure everything below was still intact.
[System]: Welcome back to the castle. All entities in the castle welcome your return.
[System]: Baby Fox is feeling happy. Baby Fox wants to ask his owner to dance.
Kessler gently grasped my front paws, playfully lifting and lowering them like a doll.
♪? Step nyang nyang, step nyang nyang♬
“Are we dancing?”
With one hand, he securely held me, and with the other, he carefully captured my dancing on camera. His lips stretched into a wide grin.
“What even are you?”
Nyang.
He rubbed his nose against my soft belly fur.
“Is it my birthday or something, huh? You adorable little baby fox.”
Kessler’s eyes were crinkled so much from smiling that his pupils disappeared. Seeing this usually cool guy so utterly charmed lifted my mood as well.
If I’d known he’d be this delighted, I would’ve chosen the fox as my starter species from the beginning.
At this point, becoming a fox wasn’t a choice—it was a necessity.
The Elderskull Council deliberating your exile begins to feel doubt.
The votes in favor of exile begin to drop:
99.9999%, 97%, 92%, 84%, 44%, 34%, 25%, 18%, 9%, 3%, 1%, 0.1%, 0.0001%…
The blinking red popup window that had screamed urgency now flickered white, as if the danger had passed.
“Ugh, dizzy.”
Meanwhile, Kessler still seemed to have an exile warning in his view. He winced and tightly shut one eye like it was stinging—but kept staring at me intensely with the other.
Nyang nyang.
When I lifted a paw with a small bark as if to ask, “You okay?” he responded with smoochy kisses.
– Golgolgoll!
– Where is the baby fox!
At the news of my return, the skulls and ghosts came rushing over from afar in a chaotic tumble. And now was the time to use that.
[System]: You have declared this area as “Baby Fox’s Peace Zone.” (Time remaining: 00:59:56)
When I won the beta server and was rewarded with a transfer vault for the next server, this was the only skill I brought with me. I’d given the rest of the slots to Kessler.
To stop Kessler from getting violent again with the skulls crowding around us, I smacked the back of his hand lightly with my tail.
– Baby Fox is the leader!
– Cool leader!
Nyang nyang nyang, nyang nyang!
– What is he saying?
– He’s asking us not to kick that man out.
Kessler still had the winner’s buff intact. In this place, there was a statless force called “Qi” in addition to “Path of Shadows.” The more influential you were, the stronger your Qi became. And Kessler, who had won twice in a row, had terrifyingly high Qi. Most beings feared him.
– Baby Fox, we would grant your request,
– But that one must still leave.
– We’re sorry, Baby Fox.
Some of the skulls even clasped their hands together solemnly as if in prayer, visibly remorseful.
Nyang…
Canceling the quest had been entirely my decision. Because of the shared responsibility, it caused the skulls’ hostility meter to rise toward my whole team. To make it worse, Bori Noona got penalized for “murdering the original leader,” and Kessler had racked up aggression by using violence in an attempt to protect me.
So now, Kessler had been sentenced to exile… while I, the actual offender, had transformed into a fox and essentially gotten off the hook.
Nyang nyang?
– Dancing won’t save him,
– No! Don’t forget—the fox canceled the fox hunt quest!
– Yeah!! We don’t need foxes like you!!
– Don’t say that!!
As one rebel skull shouted sharply at me, the others turned on each other, arguing and blaming one another.
– Don’t hurt the fox’s ears!
Amid the clacking chaos of bone on bone, our fate was being sealed.
