I naturally settled into Kessler’s arms. Even as he tried to push me away, I kept creeping closer and held my ground.
He would grab me and set me far away, and I would crawl back stubbornly to lie in the same spot again.
Even in this sticky, humid heat, Kessler was sensitive to the cold. Shivering under the blanket, he curled up like a crumpled piece of paper, his body trembling as if stricken with chills.
I licked his chin a few times. It meant, Are you okay?
“…Go.”
His voice cracked. Coughing hard, he contorted his face and hurried to shove me away.
“You’ll catch my cold.”
Each time he pushed me away, I came back. Again and again, I returned. After about ten repetitions, it had clearly become a battle of pride.
And usually, in these kinds of situations, the one in better shape always won.
In the end, Kessler must have given in, because he pulled me close and hugged me tightly as I kept digging in. I had barely won this spot, but now that he was pressing me against him, it felt suffocating.
Still, there was a gain. My belly must have felt warm and soft—his groaning gradually died down.
Once his breathing steadied, I barely managed to slip out of his arms and stepped a few paces away to observe him.
Is he sleeping after taking medicine?
Wondering if there might be anything else that could help, I rummaged through my bag.
[Seedling Pot
A pet plant pot. Depending on who raises it, the fruit it bears may differ.
—Grade: Unique]
‘Summon.’
I pulled out the pot and placed it on the floor, tilting my head as I looked at it.
[System]: It says it’s thirsty. Please give it water.
Having a plant or two in the hospital room wasn’t a bad idea.
‘Humanize.’
And immediately, I attempted transformation. After all, as a fox, my mobility was limited. I couldn’t pick up medicine with my mouth and feed it to him.
Having hands and feet definitely skyrocketed my quality of life. First, I watered the Seedling Pot with some leftover water Kessler hadn’t finished.
[System]: The Seedling Pot is smiling.
Next on the list was finding the medicine box. I was sure I had kept some emergency meds around here somewhere.
“Ah, found it.”
But even after finding it, there was still a problem—the medicine was all mixed together, indistinguishable. Fortunately, I had a useful ability.
[System]: What would you like to steal? —Panacea
The Item Theft Detection Function. A new search skill acquired after leveling up the Thievery skill to Intermediate.
[System]: Panacea. A magical medicine that cures all illnesses. Extremely valuable.
A black hand instinctively reached out and grabbed the Panacea. It was a blue liquid, unmistakably fitting of something called a miracle cure.
I uncorked the bottle and poured it into Kessler’s mouth. With his lips pried open, the liquid streamed in—but he didn’t swallow. It trickled right back out the corners of his mouth.
‘That was the only one…’
Panic-stricken, I licked the dripping trail with my tongue. Lick, lick. It wasn’t a big deal—I had done this all the time when I was still in fox form.
Then I mixed it with my saliva and gently fed it into his mouth. Since the undrunk medicine was still pooled inside, I pushed my tongue in deeper to get him to swallow.
That’s when it happened. His limp lips suddenly clamped shut, trapping my tongue firmly inside his mouth.
No, wait… This is kinda—this is really awkward. I tried to pull back quickly, but I couldn’t. At some point, he had tightly gripped my tail.
“Mmgh…!”
I struggled, trying to get out of the situation.
The rain was still relentless outside, pelting against the window, shattering into droplets.
Flailing my tail and squirming to escape, I eventually relaxed my body. Come to think of it, maybe my rebellious fox instinct was acting up again and making him hold tighter. But since my initial objective—getting the Panacea into him—was fulfilled, I let myself go along with Kessler’s rhythm now.
Kessler slipped four of my nine tails between his legs. Then, as if he had finally found the perfect position, he nuzzled his cheek against them with a satisfied expression.
[System]: Four tails have been removed.
Leaving my tails wrapped in his embrace, I stretched my back while still above him. That’s when I caught sight of the Golden Hour Hand attached to the wall clock above the bed.
“……”
I had given that to Kessler as a birthday present, but it was really just a way to store it safely.
Honestly, it made no sense. I had fought tooth and nail to retrieve that item from the First Treasure Vault. And if this man really planned to stay in this cold war with me, then as part of a clean break, it made sense to reclaim such a rare and expensive treasure…
I reached for the wall clock. I was a handspan too short, so I fumbled and barely managed to grab it—when I suddenly felt something strange from below.
Looking down discreetly, I saw Kessler watching my every move.
Wait, how is the Panacea that fast-acting? Why does he look totally fine already?
Startled, I froze. But only for a second—before my entire field of vision flipped upside down. When I regained focus, I was pinned beneath Kessler.
Through the sound of the rain, our gazes met and parted. His tired eyes slid down from my face—eyes, nose, lips—until they landed on the Golden Hour Hand gripped tightly in my hand.
For a moment, I considered making some excuse, like I’d just wanted to fix the time. But I didn’t want to be that pathetic.
“What the hell are you?”
“It was mine to begin with. Please return it.”
“……”
“…Didn’t you break up with the baby fox anyway?”
“Look at this brazen bastard, calling himself a baby fox.”
“You seem pretty lively again, judging from all that talking. I even fed you the Panacea, remember?”
“……”
“I’m your lifesaver. So hand it over.”
He pressed his lips tightly together and stared at me. I couldn’t tell if he was offended, hurt, or maybe both.
But I wasn’t about to back down either—I stared right back, eyes wide with determination.
I had learned from Kessler’s imprisonment incident. The Golden Hour Hand had the ability to control the flow of time according to the owner’s will.
It could very well be the key to saving me in the games ahead.
“You really are…”
“……”
“…the worst.”
Kessler’s voice faded, swallowed by sleep. The hand he had extended toward the Hour Hand lost strength and flopped down limply.
“……”
He had gripped it so tightly, pouring all his strength into trying to stop me—but now I let it go just as easily.
“…Did he fall asleep?”
He was weak, but damn, he was heavy. I tried to wriggle out from under him, but he didn’t budge. All it did was remind me how much bigger he was than me.
“Undo humanization.”
I turned back into a fox. The four tails trapped under his weight braced themselves to keep me from being crushed, allowing me to slip out easily.
I looked down at Kessler, fast asleep on his stomach, then—thanks to the support from my tails—I reached up and reinserted the Golden Hour Hand back into the clock.
[System]: You have acquired the title: “Tick-Tock Baby Fox”!
What the hell? What kind of ability comes with that?
[System]: A title awarded to the fox who fixed the clock.
…Yeah, skip the useless stuff.
For a second, I considered just grabbing it and bolting—but it didn’t feel right.
“You really are…”
“……”
“…the worst.”
That weak little murmur that had reached my ears stuck in my throat.
At least while I was still the Baby Fox, I wanted to be on Kessler’s side…
With a sigh, I hopped down. From the hallway came the sound of damp footsteps, and the manager entered.
“Baby fox, were you guarding your master?”
Placing a lantern on the shelf, he patted my head as if praising me. I accepted his touch, then slipped quietly out.
***
When Kessler awoke from his deep sleep, the first thing he did was glance up at the clock. The golden hour hand sat firmly in place, as if it had never been moved.
“……”
Was it all a dream? Did he have such a ridiculous dream because he hated the fox so much?
Rubbing his eyes and raising his torso, Kessler realized how unbelievably cozy his sleeping environment had been. Four white tails were gently nestled between his legs and behind his neck.
On the table sat the empty bottle of Panacea and a plant pot he didn’t recognize.
“So it wasn’t a dream.”
Yeo Woo-rim had tried to pull something. The little bastard had actually tried to steal the Golden Hour Hand without a shred of fear.
But then… why was it still here?
With a body that now felt much lighter, Kessler stood up. As he began picking off the baby fox’s leftover hairs clinging all over his body, he reached for the fur jar—and froze.
Long ago, he’d created that jar to collect intact follicles of the baby fox’s fur. For the distant day when the baby fox became an old one, and all his fur had fallen out, longing for a transplant—Kessler had planned to implant these very hairs back into him.
“I’ve gone this far for him…”
The amount of effort he’d poured into that fox wasn’t ordinary. No wonder he was fuming.
“You’ll never steal it.”
Opening the jar, Kessler took out a vial of black ink. Since disguising it with shadow alone had its limits, he was planning to coat the hour hand entirely in pitch black.
