The morning after the first Survival Quest ended, dawn broke.
Frost had completely fogged up the corridor windows. A single fox strutted down the stone floor of the quiet hallway with majestic grace. That fox was me.
Mawong, nyang, nyang.
“Mm, is it morning already? Hey, little fox, you’re here?”
Nyang?
“But do foxes normally meow like cats? Aren’t they part of the dog family?”
“He’s just a baby, so I guess his pronunciation slips. Look, he doesn’t even have all his teeth yet.”
Since the Seeker had already been found, it was now necessary to figure out who else had Special Occupations. For now, I wandered around people, rubbing my face against them. Luckily, I was a beloved fox to all, so even when I stared at them piercingly with an insightful gaze, the players just thought I was zoning out adorably.
“Ah, I’m starving.”
“What are we supposed to eat?”
As hunger set in, people’s stamina started to plummet. One man, clutching his stomach in hunger, rolled his eyes wildly and pointed at me.
“Wouldn’t eating that thing boost our buffs?”
What the hell kind of nonsense is that? I immediately stepped back fiercely and barked harshly.
Nyang nyang!
“How could you say something like that?! There’s nothing on me to even eat!”
Thankfully, Haru Noona and Bori Noona quickly pulled me into a tight hug, shielding me.
They stroked my snout soothingly, though I was still growling in anger.
“You must be hungry, little fox… Huh? What’s all this mess around your mouth? Is that milk? Where did you even find food?”
“Maybe he wandered around and got fed here and there?”
“Wow… Everyone must have scavenged a lot of junk loot from the corpses yesterday. They even bought the fox some milk… I feel like we’re falling behind.”
“Seriously.”
“This won’t do. We need to go pull some flags too.”
“But that’s just tedious grinding for pocket change!”
“Still, we need to at least afford some ramen!”
When Haru Noona stood up with me firmly in her arms, the others followed suit.
The bearded man and Bori Noona. From the way the bearded guy spoke politely to everyone, it seemed he was the youngest among them.
“Flags, flags~”
The “flags” referred to random spawn points scattered throughout the castle. If you dug under them, you might get a few measly coins—beginner-level content. Still, if you were lucky, you could sometimes dig up potions or jewels. The odds were just miserably low.
“There’s a flag. Quick, start digging!”
There were already plenty of people busy digging everywhere. Our group hurried to pull a flag and dig beneath it. Coins clinked as they tumbled out from the dirt.
“… 60 won. How much was ramen at the cafeteria again?”
“20,000 won.”
“For one bowl?!”
“……Yeah.”
“These crazy bastards. Even if it’s in-game inflation, charging twenty times the cost of something that’s originally a thousand won? We’ve barely scraped together 1,600 won so far.”
“Let’s speed it up.”
After digging up about four flags, a huge yawn stretched out of me. Even if we spent the entire day running around, it felt doubtful we’d even make 10,000 won… To make matters worse, the competition over flags was ridiculously fierce.
“If this keeps up, we’ll starve. My stamina is almost gone.”
“Anyone got a potion? Potion?”
This wouldn’t do. I bit onto Haru Noona’s pant leg and tugged hard.
Kkeung! Kkeung!
“What is it, baby fox? You want me to hold you?”
Shake shake!
“Looks like the baby fox wants us to follow him?”
“Maybe he’s bored.”
Even if the others didn’t notice, Haru Noona immediately started following me.
“Where are you taking us?”
I hopped down the gloomy stone stairs like a rabbit, but misstepped at the last three and went rolling down with a thud onto the floor.
Here, here.
“Where even is this place—huh.”
Hundreds, no, thousands of eyes gleamed through the darkness. And Haru Noona’s eyes, even sharper than theirs, began to glint dangerously.
“…Found it. Our food supply.”
A massive swarm of bats—an extremely useful food source. Haru Noona’s eyes sparkled like she had just found a treasure trove.
Of course it would be her. She had a surprisingly strong survival instinct.
When Haru Noona returned to the surface, she was carrying a massive haul of bat meat, all strung together like a bundle of dried fish.
***
With the few coins they earned from flag hunting, the group bought firewood.
The cleaned bat meat sizzled deliciously over the crackling fire, spreading a mouthwatering aroma.
Other teams, exhausted from the grueling flag grind, came over and managed to snag a few pieces of bat meat from us.
“Looks like we won’t have to worry about food anymore. Let’s eat bat meat again tomorrow. My stomach’s about to burst.”
The midday heat of the desert was brutal.
Even though some people skipped their own meals, they insisted on making sure the baby Arctic Fox was fed, pooling together their spare change to buy me a full bowl of milk.
I lay there after finishing it all, staring up at the dusty sky.
“Ugh, it’s so hot.”
“It’s insane. How is it this hot even in the shade?”
“This little baby fox must be suffering even more with all that fur. Look, he’s already knocked out from the heat.”
Whether inside or outside, the heat was merciless, and everyone was practically dying.
But I was fine.
‘It’s thanks to eating Jewel Ice. It has a cooling effect that keeps my body temperature down.’
Still… how did that Seeker guy even get his hands on it? He had it sewn into the buttons of his clothes.
“Where are you going, little fox?!”
“Let him be. He’ll just wander back like a cat anyway.”
“Don’t go too far!”
Yeah, this kind of semi-abandonment was perfect.
The skeletons stationed throughout the village waved their bony hands at me as if I were adorable.
The ghostly figures, vague as mist, would try to scare me, but whenever I barked—Wang!—they crumbled into dust and vanished.
I climbed the stairs with confident strides, heading higher and higher. Finally, I reached the top floor of the bell tower.
There was an item to be found here. Something untrackable—it shouldn’t have been taken yet.
‘The wind sure is strong up here.’
Using the terrain, I barely managed to scramble onto the railing, standing precariously, peering down at the dizzying height below.
Then, across from me on another building, I locked eyes with the Seeker.
He stood frozen for a moment, as if startled, then hurriedly rushed down the stairs, clearly intending to come my way.
‘Seriously? Why is he over there of all places?’
This wasn’t good. I needed to hurry.
I had to succeed in one try.
I leaned my body slightly back, then leaped forward with all my strength.
Nyang-ang!
I hurled myself toward the bell, just barely brushing the bell’s clapper with the tips of my outstretched paws.
And then, following the law of gravity, I crashed straight down onto the floor.
…Was it a success?
[System]: Unique Item “Jingling Bell” has been equipped!
Huh?
I barely managed to get up and looked around, confused. What the hell? Why is this thing equipped on me?
I shook my body frantically like a fluffy dance, but the more I shook, the louder the jingle jingle noise got.
‘How do I get this off… Take it off! Take it off!’
…….
No matter what, I had to get it off. This was a luring item meant to attract enemies—there was no way I should be wearing it!
While I was spinning in place in a panic, it happened.
“Fox.”
The voice sent a cold sweat trickling from my back down to my tail.
Frozen stiff, I couldn’t even move as the Seeker approached and scooped me up into his arms.
His blank, unreadable eyes bore straight down into me. Flustered, I quickly averted my gaze.
“Where’d you get this bell?”
Kkeung… Had he figured out I was a player? Or was he just planning to steal my bell? Tension crept into me.
“So you’re a fox that already belongs to someone, huh?”
Phew, looks like it wasn’t that.
“And yet you were still flirting with me?”
I struggled, thinking, What the hell kind of nonsense is this?
“Why, you want me to let you go so you can run back to your owner?”
No, just let me go, period.
“Who’s your owner?”
‘I don’t have one! And seriously, why are you so obsessed?’
“You’re just a baby. You shouldn’t be climbing up dangerous places like that. Understand?”
Kkiing.
“I’m telling you, whoever can’t even manage a little fox like this should have their custody rights revoked.”
Though he said that, the moment we reached the bottom of the bell tower’s stairs, the man set me down without hesitation.
Unexpectedly freed so easily, I trotted off with little steps.
And behind me, the man quietly started following.
‘What the heck? Why is he still following me so creepily?’
As I wandered down the corridor, I ran into Haru Noona’s group.
“Little fox! Where have you been? We scored some potions! Let’s go get something delicious!”
At the sound of her calling me, my tail wagged before I even realized it.
“What’s this little bell? It’s so cute.”
Even as Haru Noona scooped me up and headed toward the cafeteria, the man silently followed us, sticking close behind like a ghost.
Glancing over Haru Noona’s shoulder at him, I felt a strange discomfort and dropped my gaze.
There, on Haru Noona’s backside, a white tail had appeared.
‘Wait… That’s the cash item ‘Wagging Tail.’’
“Hey! I grew a tail too, little fox! We’re matching now!”
“But why is that guy still following us?”
“I don’t know. Should we try talking to him?”
Feeling the weirdness, the group turned around and faced the Seeker, and collectively gasped.
“Whoa. Handsome.”
“Is that an avatar? His aesthetics are insane.”
At the sight of the man’s face, the bearded guy immediately took a cautious step back, while the Noonas suddenly became unbelievably friendly, as if they’d never intended to interrogate him.
“Hello. Um… what’s with that face?”
“What about it?”
“Did you use a buff or something…?”
“This is just my face.”
The Noonas’ faces lit up with excitement.
‘Aren’t you being way too obvious about how happy you are?’
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“And your name is?”
“Kessler.”
“I’m Haru, and this is my friend Bori.”
So the Seeker’s name was Kessler. I felt like I’d heard that name somewhere half-asleep before.
Kessler’s gaze dropped subtly toward me.
“You’re the fox’s owner?”
“I mean, not officially? He just came with us, why?”
Still staring down at me without a single change of expression, the man replied.
“Because he’s cute.”
“Want to hold him?”
I was once again handed over to the man named Kessler.
I flailed in protest, refusing to go, but it was useless—he grabbed my tail and smoothly pulled me into his arms.
Feeling his gentle, unhurried strokes, my frantic tail-wagging slowly came to a stop.
