When I wagged my tail at Kessler, he dropped me off in front of a large boulder.
Poof. My hand landed squarely on the surface of the massive rock.
“Is there a lake nearby?”
“Is it not going to rain? How’s the rainwater collection system?”
While the others continued their heated debate, I channeled my power into the boulder.
This stone holds the power of an ancient scream. Souls dried out by time are weeping silently. Would you like to restore all of them?
[System]: ‘Tiny Eradicator’ activates a power of great erasure.
[System]: !!! Insufficient power.
[System]: Would you like to borrow accumulated merit power? (Merit points will be consumed at a rate of 10,000 per soul.)
[System]: Using 1,000,000 out of 13,220,221 merit points. (Remaining merit points: 12,220,221)
Light flared beneath my tiny paws, growing in strength until it blasted through the dark waterway like a flood.
“Gyaaah! What the hell?!”
My entire body glowed, radiating as though I were a beacon—or as if I were sucking in all the light around me. The gust of wind that followed whipped my fox tail out of control, and the skinny little baby fox who had come with us was flung into the air, tumbling helplessly under the force.
“A warning would’ve been nice before pulling something like that!”
“Apologies. It’s a personal quest. I didn’t expect it to be this powerful.”
…I didn’t know either. Honestly, the wind nearly scraped my butt across the rock, but I managed to hold on thanks to Kessler, who had stepped up beside me to shield my small frame.
—Uaaahkkkkkak
—Ttakakak
—Uuuukkkikikikikiik
Grating, spine-chilling voices like metal being scraped against steel amplified and then slowly faded. And then—total silence, as though all sound had been cut off.
“Huff, huff…”
A hundred souls, buried deep over countless years, now make their way to rest.
They could’ve continued as spirit bodies, but they were far too weary for that.
In gratitude, they leave traces of their existence to the baby fox-lizard who granted them release.
—Collected 100 Soul Fragments.
A tremendous feat has been accomplished. The proficiency of the skill ‘Soothing Spirits’ is now maxed out.
Quest <Baby Fox-Lizard, Do You Want to Be Human?> has been completed.
From now on, you can form a human body freely without any special materials. The soul’s promise is eternal, and no matter where or in what form you exist in the future, this promise remains valid.
“Hey! Mr. Fox-Lizard! Blasting away a fellow fox and living your best life, huh-nyang!”
“Let’s cut it out with the dusty, inconsiderate antics!”
Voices filled with irritation bombarded me from every direction, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the quest alert—what it said was too important.
There didn’t seem to be any special command… so, by my will, then?
‘Humanization.’
And just like that, I became human—Yeo Woo-rim, in human form.
Even the people who’d been coughing and swearing from all the dust went silent, clearly startled by my sudden transformation.
“Sorry.”
“Gasp…”
“Baby Fox is sorry too.”
I picked up the fox covered in dust, gently brushing off its fur.
Its round eyes rolled up and looked at me.
“If you’re sorry, scratch my back a little-nyang.”
Scratch, scratch.
[System]: The baby fox is in a good mood. It begins to dance.
With a happy noise from its snout, it began to dance joyfully, so I quickly set it down.
Nyang, nyang nyang~!
It looked so cute, dancing alone among all the humans. I suddenly realized—that’s probably what people used to see when they looked at me.
After watching the baby fox’s antics for a while, I turned to the shattered boulder.
“Most quests can be interpreted pretty intuitively. This city needs water. But—”
“Yes, Pro!”
Jung Da-hoon clasped his hands and his eyes sparkled. A bit too much enthusiasm, honestly.
“You mustn’t forget that this is inside a game. Sometimes, the mass or concentration of a resource doesn’t match its appearance.”
If we thought about it realistically, the logical solutions would be to dig a channel from a lake or collect rainwater. But this wasn’t reality. This was a game.
“For now, how about heading to the lake and befriending the Water Fairies? In my experience, connections are stronger than water veins.”
“Sounds great. Once we’re there, we can try forming a contract with them or figure out another way to supply water.”
Just as we came to that conclusion, other players started entering the waterway from behind us.
“Excuse me… everyone. What’s in there? You said the waterway was blocked, right?”
“It’s been cleared, but there’s no water. We’re about to head to the lakeside—want to come along?”
“Ah… yeah, okay.”
The size of the quest and the city was simply too vast for any single player to hoard all the credit. No one even knew how much water was needed. Naturally, the atmosphere had shifted toward sharing information.
“Everyone, let’s go.”
“Go on.”
“Kessler, want to stay here with me instead of going?”
Nod.
Kessler stood beside me like it was the most obvious thing in the world, cheering on the others. And standing right beside him, waving at the departing players, was Jung Da-hoon.
“Good luck, everyone!”
“…Da-hoon, you’re staying too?”
“You both seemed like you weren’t leaving. It’s because of the souls, right? If I leave, who’s going to take the pictures?”
It was the choice of the ‘Fox Ambassador’ and the ‘Photographer’. Still, honestly…
“Wouldn’t the lakeside be more mysterious and beautiful? The photos would come out dreamlike. Your skill proficiency would go up a ton too.”
Jung Da-hoon shook his head with confidence and said firmly,
“There is no subject more perfect than a human.”
Click, click.
Watching Jung Da-hoon rapidly snap photos of me left me utterly dumbfounded.
“Da-hoon, send all those to me on KakaoTalk.”
“What’ll you do for me if I do?”
“I bought two baby fox flashlights—one for you.”
“Gasp… I missed that sale. You actually got it?”
“I even learned direct-linking. Just trust me.”
“That’s cheating, isn’t it?”
“Is it?”
…What the hell are these two doing?
Leaving them to their antics, I turned my attention back to the system message I saw earlier, when I saved the souls.
You’ve achieved a tremendous feat. The skill ‘Soothing Spirits’ is now at full proficiency.
The proficiency, honed to its peak through countless repetitions, had plateaued.
Maybe, if I managed to save this city, I’d unlock the path to mastering the skill completely.
“Pro, your complexion… are you alright?”
“Yes.”
Honestly, I hadn’t expected things to unfold this way. I chose the Undertaker class just out of curiosity, to enjoy the game. But this setup—it’s almost too perfectly tailored for an Undertaker. A quest in a city overflowing with souls to save.
That was exactly the problem. If my team cleared the game in first place, our journey would be broadcast. And with someone like Kessler—who’s already known as a developer—on our team, and me having landed such an ideal class… it’d definitely spark controversy.
For a pro gamer, accusations of rigging are fatal. So many careers have ended over “rigged content” scandals.
I made up my mind and turned to Kessler.
“Kessler, how about we form a team—just the two of us?”
“Sure.”
“Pro… what about me…?”
Jung Da-hoon’s face turned into that of a duckling left adrift on the Nakdong River when Kessler replied without hesitation.
“If there are any casualties later, recruit those players to form your squad.”
“What? You mean a squad team? But why?”
“I don’t intend to win.”
“Why… Are you worried about public scrutiny? Everyone’s waiting for Baby Yeo Woo-rim to shine…”
Baby Yeo Woo-rim, huh. Anyway.
“You saw my score in the swamp zone. Even that stirred up a lot of talk about rigging.”
“I worked hard to clear that up! And once the winning video is released, people will understand!”
“What if they don’t? At this rate, I’ll master this city and end up with the ‘Final’ title. This city feels like it was designed for me. A city of the dead—where even the dead are dead. And my job is to bring them back to life. Doesn’t that line up a little too perfectly?”
“So… you’re afraid of being accused of cheating? But can’t we just explain everything?”
“Kessler participated in the development of this game. And people already know he’s my friend. He’s even shown his face a few times on my mother’s YouTube channel.”
“Well… alright. If that’s how you feel.”
“Neither Kessler nor I can win this. Otherwise, it becomes a rigged game with a rigged team.”
I understood Da-hoon’s desire to help me win and to be part of that victory.
But the pro scene is a long road, and even if we’re not on the same team now, there will be plenty I can do to support him in the future.
“But… is it really necessary to leave the team? Without team chat, communication will be harder… Isn’t the main point just to not look rigged?”
He had a point.
After thinking for a moment, I lifted my head.
“In that case, Mr. Jung Da-hoon, you’ll need to be the protagonist of our victory.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Please allow me to become your secret kingmaker.”
I grabbed Da-hoon’s left chest and yanked—ripping off the name tag left over from <Challenge! Skull Bell>. I slapped it onto my own chest, then shifted my appearance to look exactly like Jung Da-hoon.
“If you’re not too bothered by it.”
“Gasp. How did you do that?!”
“Once I gathered the soul fragments, I gained the ability to humanize. I can change my form however I want now.”
“Gasp!”
<Baby Fox-Lizard, Do You Want to Be Human?>
“What I’m asking is—would it be alright if I move around as Jung Da-hoon?”
Da-hoon nodded so frantically it looked like his head might fall off, his face clearly unable to cope with the surrealness of seeing his own doppelgänger.
“Kessler, are you okay with this? I kind of made the call on my own.”
“I’m fine, but… can’t you just be Woo-rim?”
“I am Woo-rim. You liked me even when I was a baby fox-lizard, remember? But now that I’m Da-hoon, you’re suddenly backing off?”
“…I’m a sucker for looks, baby fox.”
“Didn’t you say you’d still love me even if I turned into an old fox?”
“Wait, hold on. Are you saying my face isn’t good enough? I’ve never once been told I wasn’t good-looking!”
I returned to my Yeo Woo-rim form.
The argument between them continued nonstop.
“Da-hoon, if Bori changed into my face, could you kiss her?”
“T-That… might be difficult.”
“Exactly. Same thing. Jung Da-hoon, I’m your type.”
“Juwon, where the hell did you even learn words like that?”
Amid the chaos, we somehow managed to reach an agreement.
