“Heeik.”
Bori let out a pained whimper.
“…I really didn’t want the game to end like this. I haven’t even properly made up with Da-hoon yet…”
Nyang?
Words that sounded like a dying wish poured out of her mouth.
It made sense. I knew that Kessler was the Lord, and more importantly, that being near him was the safest place in the game—but Bori noona didn’t.
[The Reaper is selecting a sacrifice from the group of three.]
‘Huh? A group of three?’
I tilted my head. That was strange. Wasn’t the sacrifice candidate list only supposed to include users? Could Lord Kessler really be one of the candidates?
[The Reaper looks at the Baby Arctic Fox.]
Upon seeing the alert, Kessler stood up from his seat. When he did, the height difference between him and the Reaper nearly vanished.
“You gonna leave or what?”
At Kessler’s blunt remark, the Reaper—who had been standing silently—smacked his lips, then turned his body and walked out of the room.
“What the… Did it leave?”
Bori noona, who’d been trembling in the corner, slowly stood up and began stretching. I also stuck out my butt and stretched with her.
“Seriously, why didn’t it kill anyone? Did it really leave?”
For a moment, I was spooked. Since there were three candidates, I thought maybe the Reaper could even cut down the Lord.
—Not enough blood…
I immediately rushed after the Reaper. Naturally, Kessler and Bori noona followed me out.
“Fox! Where are you going!”
Now that I’d been definitively excluded from the sacrifice list, I knew exactly what I needed to do.
The Reaper gave us a side-eye as we trailed behind him.
“What are you staring at?”
More precisely, he was watching Kessler’s reaction.
Despite his fearsome appearance, even the Reaper was just another helpless civil servant when faced with someone in power.
Frustrated by how sluggishly the Reaper was moving, I jumped out in front of him and meowed sharply. It was my way of saying: I’ll give you an easy target—just follow me.
The Reaper tilted his head, clearly confused, but ended up following me anyway.
“Fox! Run!”
“Damn it, why is Kessler just casually tagging along like he owns the fox?”
Mistaking the scene as me being chased, some users poked their heads out and shouted cheers of encouragement at me.
Total misunderstanding. This isn’t that. I’m just… giving directions.
The place I led the Reaper to was the underground prison.
Sure, I’d wasted a few meals trying to build rapport with Murderer Jung Da-hoon before he got released, but… he was still Target No. 1 on my personal extermination list.
‘If only this could work…’
I led the Reaper deep into the prison, stopping in front of Jung Da-hoon’s solitary cell. I meowed at it—Kill this guy.
“Fox?”
Inside the bars, Jung Da-hoon looked up, disheveled and ragged, as he picked chicken bones clean and assembled them into skeletal dolls.
Nyang nyang.
As always, Kessler silently watched everything I did.
Inciting the Reaper to kill Jung Da-hoon would serve two purposes: prove the innocence of Human Yeo Woo-rim in Kessler’s eyes, and let him rid himself—cleanly and without repercussions—of a walking time bomb.
“Da-hoon!”
Bori let out a horrified cry, clearly not expecting any of this.
“Bori, I’m sorry for complaining about the side dishes. I didn’t realize it, but I guess I got too comfortable with you. I’ve done a lot of reflecting in here. I realized how precious you are. But… I don’t deserve to be by your side. Can I just say one more thing, even if I don’t deserve to? Don’t meet another man. Just look at me.”
“Huk huk… Da-hoon.”
Kessler, watching their tearful reunion unfold, seemed to feel exactly what I did.
“Fucking melodrama.”
The Reaper stood there awkwardly for a moment, unsure of what to do, until Kessler’s words spurred him to readjust his grip on his scythe.
He was a rookie Reaper—he still hadn’t figured out how to time his swings.
“Huk huk… I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Unable to watch any more, the Reaper glanced toward Kessler, as if seeking permission. Kessler nodded.
Just as the Reaper raised his scythe to strike down through the bars, the skeletal prison guards came rushing down in a panic, clicking their jaws in alarm.
—You can’t kill him! He still has debts to repay!
The skeleton guards began desperately pleading for mercy on Jung Da-hoon’s behalf.
“That’s your problem, not mine.”
—This man… he is a god of bone assembly. He is… Bone Chief.
The skeletons dropped to their knees and began wringing bone broth from the floor.
Their numbers seemed to multiply rapidly, and soon even the Bank Director and the Loan Officer Skull joined in, crying.
After listening in, it became clear: if Jung Da-hoon died like this, the skeletons would suffer massive losses. Not only was he their biggest debtor at the bank, but he’d recently emerged as a rising star in the bone figurine assembly business. Among the skeletons, he had quickly risen to become someone they could not afford to lose.
“Please, please, please…”
While everyone bowed their heads to Kessler in desperate pleading, Bori was the only one who clung to the hem of the Reaper’s cloak. She still didn’t seem to grasp who was really in charge here.
Kessler glanced at me, as if asking my opinion. I took two steps back in surrender, signaling my approval.
“Huk huk… At least I didn’t live my life in vain…”
Jung Da-hoon was deeply moved by the sheer number of entities hoping for his survival.
…Completely ignoring the fact that it was because he was in debt.
“Even if I die now… I have no regrets…”
“You can’t!”
—Clack clack! Absolutely not!! Clack clack clack!!
“Shut up and just fill this out.”
Once they’d come to a compromise, Kessler slid a sheet of paper toward the cell. I approached and glanced over it together with him.
***
Oath of Death
Jung Da-hoon’s life will be immediately forfeit the moment he causes harm to the Baby Arctic Fox.
Harm shall be determined as follows: if the Baby Arctic Fox feels threatened.
All standards and judgments are to be made by the Baby Arctic Fox.
Signature:
Nyang nyang!
***
It was deeply satisfying.
As Jung Da-hoon signed with teary reluctance, I rubbed my fur against Kessler in thanks.
[System]: The Baby Arctic Fox is in a great mood. It begins to dance.
Twinkle twinkle~♬ Bouncy bouncy, nyang nyang!
My body twirled on its own. Thanks to all attention being drawn to my dance—from the newbie Reaper and the skeletons—Jung Da-hoon managed to sign the contract without suffering their piercing stares.
Holding Jung Da-hoon’s life in my paw now felt incredibly satisfying.
—Before dawn breaks… time to go…
Having finished watching Yeo Woo-rim’s entire dance, the Reaper returned to the castle to fulfill his quota.
Having watched my dance, the Reaper departed to complete his quota and returned to the castle. As soon as he was gone, Jung Da-hoon, who’d been keeping his ass glued to the cell wall, crept forward and grabbed Bori noona’s hand through the bars.
I growled at him more sharply than usual.
Nyang nyang nyang nyang!!
It was a performance—just for show. Jung Da-hoon, picking up on the cue, glanced nervously at Kessler and began trembling.
“Our little Flower Fox doesn’t seem to like you.”
“W-What? No way. Woof! Woof woof woof! Me and the fox do this all the time!”
The skin under Kessler’s left eye twitched ever so slightly. Jung Da-hoon’s forced, cringe-worthy barking was more than enough to sour anyone’s mood.
But Bori’s reaction was completely different. Seeing her precious fox and her one and only boyfriend barking and meowing together left her flustered and giddy. She suddenly joined in, doing the wolf dance.
“I go growl growl growl~”
“Woof woof woof woof woof!”
Yeo Woo-rim quietly took a step back while watching the absurd couple.
I quietly stepped back from the couple, and Kessler picked me up as if to shield me from them.
No matter how much Jung Da-hoon barked, there was no way he could fool Kessler’s eyes now. With a sharp gaze directed at him, he could only whimper weakly.
“So damn noisy. Let’s go, Baby Fox.”
[Relationship Panel]: ‘Kessler’ has turned ON your location-sharing service. Your location can now be viewed.
He pretended to pat my butt, then discreetly turned the location setting back on.
“Nice weather, huh.”
He added casually, as if nothing had happened.
It was a beautiful moonlit night—the first in a while without clouds. To any onlooker, we were nothing more than a man and his pet fox out for a late-night stroll.
Somewhere nearby, someone screamed, begging for their life. The scent of blood wafted in the air.
Kessler sat on the edge of the rampart wall, looking down with a contemplative expression.
“Sorry I didn’t get to hear everything you wanted to say, Baby Fox.”
Was he talking about Jung Da-hoon? If so, Kessler had already done plenty.
Nyang.
I let out a soft bark, short and simple—It’s okay. Then gently licked the back of his hand.
“Yeah. That’s what it means to be a lord. You’re young, but so understanding.”
He lifted his hand—now damp with my saliva—and brought it to his nose.
Smelling it.
Then, holding me in his arms, he stared back and forth between my eyes and my snout.
“My pretty little Baby Flower Fox.”
Nyang?
And then—he started sniffing my mouth.
What the hell? You’re always putting on this act of being so clean and composed, and this is what you do to me now?
