The back of my head throbbed. I had just started to open up to Kessler. Sure, he was a bit of an ass at first—but he bathed me, touched my butt, protected me… and fed me tons of delicious food.
But it wasn’t just kindness. It was kindness with a purpose.
Creepy bastard.
I growled at Kessler as he held me in his arms.
Nyaa!
The sound that came out was unbearably cute and utterly ineffective.
[Black X: A person who can turn you into a lump of fox meat at any moment. Exercise extreme caution.]
A person who can turn you into a chunk of fox meat at any time. Be extremely cautious.
I turned over the meaning of that symbol in my mind. If he could hurt me whenever he wanted, why bother pretending to like me and getting close?
Could it be… is Kessler suspecting I’m a user?
Licking at my pudding with a troubled face, I saw Bori Noona approaching.
“You’re eating sooo well.”
She squatted beside me, watching me eat.
Lick, lick.
Unlike the two with the Black X over their heads, hearts of affection popped like fireworks above Bori Noona’s head.
Though Haru Noona was dead, I still had Bori Noona—with her plump little hearts. I snuggled up to her.
“All done? Baby, roll left!”
Nyaa?
“Now roll to the right!”
Nyaa.
With a face that screamed I’m dying from the cuteness, Bori noona rolled his body left and right as if kneading dough with a rolling pin.
“Good job! Sit.”
Nyaa?
“Stand!”
“He’s still a baby, so he can’t do that yet.”
“Really?”
Kessler, who had been silently watching my belly-flop show, acted like he was a fox expert. My head started to hurt from how blatantly this guy was pretending to be my owner.
“All right, did everyone enjoy their meal? Time to head back!”
In the wolf-slaying operation, eleven people had died. After recovering the bodies (looting), we retraced our path up the snowy mountain we’d barely climbed before.
As I followed the group, I slowly slipped out of formation on the downhill path.
Kessler watched me for a moment, then followed.
Now that I think about it, it was weird how he’d just let me roam free. I’ve never raised a puppy, but a proper owner would hover over their pet, keeping an eye on every little thing they did.
But Kessler didn’t. It was like he was studying my every move.
I glanced back at him while pressing forward. We were nearly there.
Pushing through the brush, I finally came upon the skull-shaped basin, where a whirlpool of crimson and gold water shimmered in the light of the setting sun.
[You have acquired Dew of Twilight.]
[This item is a quest material required for <Baby Arctic Fox, Do You Want to Become Human?>.]
I had already gathered two quest items. The remaining material was…
[< Baby Arctic Fox, Do You Want to Become Human? >
Quest Item Collection Status:
Soul Flower (1)
Dew of Twilight (3)
Mystic Multicolor Powder (0)]
Now, all that remained for completing the quest was the Mystic Multicolor Powder. That could be obtained at the soon-to-open Shadow Night Market.
Before long, I could become human too.
‘I have to become human before the killer gathers all the puzzle pieces.’
That was the only way to escape the murderer.
Kessler, who had climbed up after me, silently gazed down. Dressed in black, with his dark hair whipping in the wind, he looked exactly like a grim reaper come to capture a fox.
“What are you doing?”
It was at that moment—
“Kyaaaaaa!”
“Holy shit, who is it this time?!”
Chaos erupted halfway down the hill. The torches swaying clumsily in the distance made the commotion obvious.
At this level of noise, a normal person would at least glance back. But Kessler didn’t even twitch—he kept his eyes locked on me.
This guy… there’s no way he’s normal.
I bolted downhill. Kessler followed at a normal, unhurried pace.
“The Bearded Guy is dead!”
The youngest member of Haru noona’s group, the Bearded Guy, had been murdered, his eyes wide open in terror. It was clearly the work of the killer.
Even in panic, people frantically rifled through the corpse—for loot.
“Are you okay, Bori-ssi?”
I watched Jung Da-hoon embrace the trembling Bori noona, patting her gently to calm her down. Even as he comforted her, his fingers subtly twitched under his sleeve, sneakily rifling for any loot…
Huh?
He wasn’t looting. Besides, all the loot had already been stripped away. Instead, he was probing for something beyond the Bori noona he was clutching so tightly.
For what? From the corpse—what exactly?
[The murderer has discovered a clue about you. (3/5)]
The popup notification arrived right after.
‘What’s the condition for the murderer to obtain a clue?’
There had to be a specific method for the murderer to gather information. Murder, or something from the corpses.
The first clue had been a backlash from me discovering his existence. If he had obtained the third clue from the Bearded Guy, then the second clue was probably… from the charred remains of Haru.
Jung Da-hoon’s lips twisted into a crooked smile as he hugged Bori noona.
“Why the hell is that guy smiling like that?”
Kessler, who had approached without a sound, scooped me up into his arms and muttered.
“Maybe he ate a poisonous mushroom. He was wolfing them down earlier.”
If Jung Da-hoon truly was the Special Occupation ‘Murderer’, Kessler needed to watch what he said too. Nothing good would come from getting on a murderer’s bad side.
Amidst the pandemonium caused by the killing, the expedition leader worked to calm the crowd and spoke firmly.
“We must identify the culprit immediately!”
“It could’ve been the ghosts! Maybe the ghosts did it!”
“If there’s anyone who belongs to a Special Occupation, please step forward now! If anyone can help us apprehend the murderer, please speak up!”
A few warriors with large health pools stepped forward. But that was all—no one else moved.
“Goddammit. If only we had someone from the Ttubi Sect.”
“Why did they have to kill the poor Bearded Guy?”
“How long until the next quest starts…?”
“Three days left.”
“What are we supposed to do…? How can we continue like this when we’re scared out of our minds…?”
“Without a Special Occupation user stepping up, there’s nothing we can do.”
The atmosphere remained tense and chaotic as the group tried to reorganize. An emergency meeting among the expedition officers was quickly called, but they couldn’t come up with any effective solutions.
In the end, the only conclusion was to beef up personal security.
The sky had completely fallen into darkness. Clutched in Kessler’s arms, I was carefully moving along at the back of the group when, from beyond the mountain, something flashed in a flicker of light.
[System]: !!! Baby Arctic Fox has encountered a fellow fox! Entering an excited state!
[System]: Baby Arctic Fox is frolicking joyfully!
‘What the hell is this now…’
Suddenly, a subtle heat spread through my body, and before I knew it, I started leaping up and down uncontrollably.
Then, veering away from the group, I dashed into the mountains. Silently, Kessler followed behind me.
[System]: You have discovered a beautiful Flower Fox. Entering a shy state.
‘What the hell is a Flower Fox now?’
When I arrived, I found ghostly foxes gathered there. They all paused momentarily at my sudden appearance, tilting their heads at my twitching and bouncing before eventually beginning to hop along with me.
My tail flapped wildly.
—Come with us.
—Yes, come with us, Baby Arctic Fox.
—Become one of us.
[System]: Auto-translating language: Fox Speech.
I glanced over at Kessler, signaling pick me up already with my eyes. But Kessler simply stood there in silence, unmoving.
[System]: Your body responds.
Tears streamed down uncontrollably, bittersweet as I leaped and stumbled, overwhelmed with both joy and sadness.
—It’s time to go.
—Farewell.
The ghost foxes, who had appeared so suddenly, now vanished just as quickly.
As their mournful cries echoed, my own muzzle let out a heart-wrenching sound.
Nyaaang! Myang! Nyaa-aaang!
[System]: Baby Arctic Fox falls into a state of longing.
Once the ghost foxes disappeared, my tail drooped heavily, no longer able to wag.
Feeling hollow and gloomy, I curled up right where I was and lay down. Kessler scooped me up into his arms.
“You need to be a brave little Baby Arctic Fox.”
…Okay…
“I understand how you feel.”
He gently stroked my back. The touch was so tender, it was hard to believe he was marked with a black X.
“There was a time when I was abandoned too.”
Nyang?
“Being alone feels like that. But if you overcome it, you can live a successful life like this. You need to become a successful fox too. You’ve already started speeding down the road to success by ending up in my hands.”
Maybe this guy was an orphan? The way he spoke so calmly felt lonely somehow, and I burrowed even deeper into his hand. I licked it thoroughly with my tongue and rubbed my face against him.
Kkiiing.
“Such a pretty little thing.”
I burrowed even deeper into his embrace. Even though we were connected by the system, there were things that couldn’t be contained within a mere black X—feelings that seeped through the gaps.
Suddenly, a thought struck me.
I remembered something from the presentation when I became an alpha tester for this game. The horror game [Last Shadow] had been described like this: a child abandoned by the world, unaware of having been abandoned, kept building sandcastles while waiting endlessly for a guardian who would never return, until thousands of years passed by.
The child, gathering shadows darkened by the sunset, eventually came to command them. Overlaying the shadows onto the sandcastle they built, that became the Shadow Castle. The child, now the master of the castle, gathered shadows to use as expendable resources. That was the core concept behind the battle royale game [Last Shadow].
‘Could it be… this guy also started playing because he resonated with the orphan concept?’
There are plenty of people nowadays who are that self-deprecating.
“Let’s go back.”
Following the faint tail of the now distant formation, we started walking. Without a word, for a long, long while.
By the time we finally arrived at the castle, the sky had already brightened.
“Finally, no more wolf howls! I can finally breathe again!”
“Wow, I leveled up! I can learn a new skill now! Let’s gooo!”
Despite having stayed up all night, everyone was bustling with energy. They sold and deposited the items they had brought back, and used the money to learn various skills and abilities.
Kessler watched the players moving so busily, as if he couldn’t comprehend their actions.
“Kessler! What are you going to learn?”
“I’m not learning anything.”
“Why not?”
In response to Bori noona’s question, Kessler simply looked baffled.
“Why are you all working so hard? You can just settle down and become a resident.”
“What are you talking about? If we want to smash through the gloomy, ghost-infested castle, we need to level up our skills, duh?”
“Yeah, well, good luck with that. Die doing it if you want.”
Kessler shot a rather annoyed look at me as I lapped up my milk.
“Hey, Baby Arctic Fox. Do you want to leave this castle too?”
As he asked, his hand naturally wiped the milk smeared on my cheek.
I didn’t understand why he was asking that. Was he playing the game, or was he just way too immersed?
“If you don’t want to leave, jump once. If you do want to leave, jump twice.”
Nyang?
I tilted my head, pretending not to understand. In response, Kessler grabbed my front paws and pulled me snugly into his arms.
“Of course you’re on my side.”
