When he came to his senses, he was staring up at the sky. A salty, ashen sky and a chilling atmosphere…He liked this kind of gloominess. So he wagged his tail.
…? Tail? What tail?
A bewildered groan escaped from his muzzle. What the hell? He tried to spring up nimbly, but even that wasn’t easy. His belly was stuffed with fat.
Staggering… he barely managed to stand upright.
…On all fours.
Raindrops that had gathered on a leaf above rolled off and fell plop plop onto his head. Each time the tiny droplets hit him, his ears flattened and his head bobbed down.
Struggling, he raised his head and glared at the leaf that had assaulted him. Just then, beyond the leaf, he caught sight of something flying high across the sky.
[Predator detected: Black Eagle! Evacuate to a safe location before you’re eaten!]
[Shelter: Shadow Castle Train Shelter]
[Failure to evacuate = Death]
What the hell is this? His eyes widened for a brief moment before his survival instincts kicked in to escape the predator.
Fortunately, an arrow appeared right in front of him, and without thinking twice, he bolted after it.
He sprinted across a massive drawbridge—Thunk!
[Congratulations! You have successfully survived!]
Because his legs were so short, he couldn’t keep up with his own momentum and spun around in place. It had almost ended badly, but thanks to running at full speed, he somehow survived.
Watching the announcement window burst into fanfare, he finally realized how strange everything was and started skimming through the system log.
[System]: Congratulations on the birth of a Baby Arctic Fox.
So this was the very first record. And then…
‘Shelter… Shadow Castle Train Shelter?’
Looking around, the landscape felt oddly familiar. It was a scene from the horror game he had been playing just yesterday.
As a pro gamer, during the off-season, he had participated as an “alpha tester” for the upcoming horror game [Last Shadow]—a game where only the final survivor out of a thousand players would make it out alive after enduring all manner of trials. After endless effort, he had gotten close to being the last one standing. He had been grinding his character deep into the night, only to fall asleep at some point… So, was he dreaming right now?
For the moment, he crossed the drawbridge and descended the long stone staircase to the right. Soon, a long train platform came into view.
[You have safely arrived at the Shadow Castle Shelter. Please wait for your party.]
The polite tone of the guide message made it clear—it was definitely that game.
He was wagging his tail when he caught his reflection in the shelter’s glass window. The tail-wagging stopped abruptly.
…It was really an Arctic Fox.
Last night, while opening a cash box, he had received an egg, and after hatching it, a rare pet—an Arctic Fox—had been born. He had been fascinated by it, wondering if there were things like this in the game… But now, upon opening his eyes, he had become that very pet.
Was he dreaming? He lifted his front paws and rubbed his eyes. As the reality of being possessed inside a horror game set in, the entire environment around him began to make sense.
The clammy weather, the walls built from hardened bone dust, and this train shelter. The game began at this train shelter, with 1,000 players disembarking from a train, under the premise that they had come from the outside world.
Bringing his two front legs neatly together, he calmly organized the status window before him.
—The train is now arriving. All passengers, please step back two paces.
Shortly after, the long-awaited train pulled into the station. Though he was already standing far back, he reflexively stepped two more paces away.
It was then. Someone emerged onto the otherwise empty platform.
The figure was wearing a deep black hood, pulled down low over his head, but even from a distance, there was a strange sense of familiarity. He stared at the figure quietly.
A bizarre silence stretched between them.
Moments later, the train doors opened, and a flood of a thousand players spilled out.
At that moment, the man in the black hood locked eyes with him, and a shiver ran down his spine.
On instinct, he felt an overwhelming urge to chase after him, and he bolted forward. But amidst the forest of stampeding feet, he was lucky just not to get trampled.
“Kyah! What is this?!”
As he struggled his way through the crowd, his body was suddenly lifted into the air.
“Look at this!”
“Whoa, what the hell? It’s so freaking cute! Is it a Shiba Inu puppy? A white dog?”
“Would a Shiba puppy be this white? Looks more like a fox!”
He was suddenly fox-napped by a bunch of unfamiliar women. No matter how much he struggled to get free, it was useless. He was just a tiny handful of fluff, making helpless little squeaking sounds as the women, spitting with excitement, clutched him tightly.
He had no strength to escape.
“Let’s go, let’s go! Time to play the game!”
Miyang!
“Yeah, yeah. Good boy.”
Kki-guk!
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you, little cutie.”
Finally, after everyone had disembarked, the train stood empty. A bottleneck formed at the stairs. And there, a man boarded the now-empty train.
It seemed like their eyes met. But it was too late. The train, now filled only with that man, departed.
He needed to go that way. He had to find out what that was. Why was he stuck like this? Was this some kind of bug?
“I saved you from getting trampled, you know?”
Annoyed by the useless bragging, he stopped struggling for a moment and bit the woman holding him as hard as he could.
“Ow, that tickles.”
Maybe his teeth hadn’t fully come in yet, because it was utterly ineffective. After that, there was no point in resisting, so he let his body go limp and stayed still.
“Oh my, where did you get that one?”
“Picked him up. Cute, right? Hey, Fox, say hi. Wave hello~”
While they climbed the stone stairs, he soaked up all the attention. Every time someone looked their way, the woman who had picked him up would grab his left front paw and wave it gently like he was greeting them.
“Wow, this place is huge!”
At the top of the stairs, the inner city of the castle spread out before them. The streets stretched wide, from a park to a marketplace.
Though their access would probably be limited to certain areas.
Skeletons “welcomed” them by waving their bony joints in greeting. Each time that happened, the woman would grab his paw and not just wave it but even make him bow his head as if greeting back. He really was just a living toy now, wasn’t he?
“Say hello. Mister Skeleton, hello~”
Sure, he had made his fox sit, stand, poop, and do all sorts of tricks last night after hatching it…But now that he had become the fox, this was sheer hypocrisy.
“Where are we supposed to go? Oh, to the assembly hall? But are pets even allowed?”
…When did he become a pet? That was wrong, too. He was a companion animal! No—why was he even bothering to correct this?
He was Yeo Woo-rim, a human being!
“It says… it’s a pet? Haru-ya, let’s give him a name. Doesn’t look like he has any command functions?”
“Sit. Stand. Maybe he’s too young to know yet?”
While the girls were playing around with him, a boy who had been lurking nearby, sneaking glances at them, finally approached.
“Such an adooorable puppy~!”
“Right? He’s super cute!”
“Where did you get him?”
“Why?”
“Just curious.”
Their in-game chat messages were being converted into voice and flowing out into the open. And in that moment, he realized it in a flash.
This wasn’t the test server that he had been playing on until yesterday.
Another server for the horror game [Last Shadow] had opened, and somehow, he had been thrown into it.
[Welcome to Shadow Castle. Food has been prepared for all of you. Please enjoy yourselves.]
The game had begun.
The players sampled the lavish spread of food, checking the buffs each dish provided.
Nom nom.
The women who had picked him up also returned with plates piled high with food.
“This cheesecake increases movement speed.”
“The strawberries give you rosy cheeks. Here, Foxy, you eat too.”
They tossed a piece of cake his way, and he eagerly picked it up and started licking it—
[System]: This is not food that Baby Arctic Foxes can eat.
Nyang?
Nya-mam!
[System]: This is not food that Baby Arctic Foxes can eat.
Frustrated, he tried yelling, but whatever weird vocal system he had now only produced pitiful whimpering noises.
Nyah!!
Feeling totally cheated, he resigned himself to licking some milk instead. That’s when he noticed the woman who had picked him up grabbing a chocolate mushroom brownie.
Immediately, he pounced on her, scratching her hands wildly, then snatched the brownie and darted under a table.
“Ah! Foxy, what’s wrong with you?!”
“Maybe he wants some.”
He spat out the brownie with a pweh pweh, rinsing his mouth with water just as the event he had been expecting began.
[Some participants have contracted mass food poisoning!]
People began collapsing one after another.
