He spent the entire night digging around for any new clues about the murderer. Although there wasn’t much to show for it, he did manage to gain something.
[You have obtained a bundle of Coins!]
[ !!! Title acquired: Fox with the Most Coins! +More]
For example, things like this… What’s with this “+More” now?
[ !!! Title acquired: Fox with the Most Coins! You can now extort coins from other foxes.]
He had become a fox that mugged others. Dumbfounded, he let out a helpless, silly laugh—when suddenly, a shadow loomed over his body.
“Why are you here?”
Kyuuu.
A voice he didn’t recognize. And because the light was shining from behind, he couldn’t make out the man’s face clearly.
“This isn’t a place where a little fox should be.”
The man lifted him up. Being scooped up by random users wasn’t an unusual occurrence, so he relaxed and let it happen. But something about the direction this man was heading felt off.
Fending off the clinging ghosts with a whip made for exorcising spirits, the man strode all the way to the storage room at the end of the hallway. Then, leaning against the door, he shut it behind them.
His lips, partially visible through the backlight, curled into a meaningful, twisted smile.
“Good boy.”
The man, murmuring in a whisper as he relentlessly stroked his head, suddenly grabbed his Golden Collar. He felt a sharp tug at his throat—he struggled briefly, but then the collar snapped apart with a snap.
He stayed still as the man tore it away from him and set his now bare body down on the floor.
Every instinct of the weak screamed at him: Stay still, stay still.
“Such a quiet little fox. No wonder you get so much affection.”
The man, rubbing the top of his foot against his belly, suddenly shoved him hard with a swift kick.
Keeeee!
A sharp cry escaped him instinctively as his body skipped across the floor like a flat stone skimming water.
Thanks to his fluffy body, it didn’t actually hurt much. But just as he tried to get back up, the door cracked open in the man’s hand. The man slipped out in a flash, and before he could even think about chasing after him, the door slammed shut.
The man had locked him inside this dank, musty storage room. He sat there, staring blankly at the closed door.
‘…What the hell is that psychopathic bastard?’
He was utterly dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events. The man had abducted him, stolen his collar, and locked him up here. He was the one who had acquired the Extortion skill—so why was he the one being extorted?
Just because he looked cute didn’t mean everyone would treat him kindly. The law of the jungle—bully the weak, fear the strong—applied to all creatures in nature.
On the second day when he was starving, someone had suggested beating him to death for meat. Another time, someone tried poking him with a stick for no reason while he was walking by, and Haru had gotten angry on his behalf.
A sliver of light leaked through the narrow, tiny crack in the door. Relying on that faint glow, he turned his body and lay down. Now, there was no one left to protect his small self.
Ghosts tried to squeeze in through the narrow gaps, but upon seeing him, they quickly lost interest and drifted away, finding him unworthy.
No matter how much he whimpered like a desperate fox needing to poop, nothing would change.
He closed his eyes. For now, surviving the day was the goal.
***
When Kessler woke up from his sleep, he realized that what he was holding onto was not the plump butt-cheeks of the fox, but the tail of the strongest reptile on earth—Snake Rim.
“Why are you sticking your tail in my face?”
“I was just trying to cover you with a blanket, but you grabbed it, Kessler-nim.”
Snake Rim was utterly wronged. He hadn’t even wagged his tail once—he had only stood quietly, cheering on his master’s good night’s sleep. And this was the thanks he got—scolded for his efforts.
To make matters worse, Kessler even tossed the tail away in annoyance. Snake Rim’s precious tail hit the floor with a dull thud.
Expressing his hurt feelings, Snake Rim curled his scales in displeasure, but Kessler paid him no mind and headed outside.
“Where the hell is that little rascal running around again?”
He prowled around where users were gathered in small groups. Places the fox often wandered into.
Considering how much the little guy was adored, he figured the fox was probably nestled happily in someone’s arms, playing and showing off.
But no matter how much he scanned the area, he couldn’t spot the fox.
Kessler resonated the air to make the fox’s Jingling Bell ring from his neck. But there was no response from anywhere inside the castle.
Kessler’s brow furrowed sharply. The bell wasn’t ringing?
Had someone taken it off the fox’s neck and stolen it? If so, there was a high chance it was treated as a trophy.
How dare they. Who the hell?
“Ugh? Why do my ears feel clogged?”
“Same here, same here.”
“I swallowed, but it’s still weird.”
Kessler kept resonating the air. He had to make sure he could locate whoever had taken the bell at any moment.
While walking through the crowd of users, Kessler approached a group of girls playing marbles against a wall.
“Huh? Kessler! You wanna play too?”
“Did you see our fox?”
“Oh, the baby Arctic Fox? Hey, you guys saw him, right?”
“Didn’t see him after last night, right?”
“Yeah. Why? Did he go missing?”
Kessler ignored the only part of the answer he wanted to hear and turned on his heel to leave. Whatever else the girls were muttering behind him, he didn’t care.
“Hey! Kessler!”
The next group to grab Kessler’s attention was a cluster of users grilling meat over a charcoal fire. Responding to a beckoning from a female user, he approached, his gaze involuntarily drawn to the meat sizzling on the grill.
No way, he thought. That meat looked yellowish. There was no way the pure white, soft-furred fox would turn into such greasy-looking meat.
…But then again, if the belly was chubby, it would be full of fat, right? Now that he looked closer, this meat was indeed packed with fat. And strangely, it was small.
Kessler’s expression stiffened as he stared intently at the meat.
“What kind of meat is that?”
“Oh, this? Fox meat.”
“…….Which fox.”
At that moment, the users froze. Not a metaphor for the mood—literally frozen solid.
[System]: You have fallen into a Frozen state!
Frost gathered on their eyebrows, and their gaping mouths refused to close.
One of them, who had been slightly less affected, managed to gulp down a potion and break free from the status effect, then looked up at Kessler with an annoyed glare.
“I hunted that fox outside, okay? Why the hell are you cursing us all of a sudden?”
“You should’ve said so sooner. Why were you wiggling your damn eyes like that?”
Not wanting to argue anymore with Kessler, who was basically growling with a rag stuffed in his mouth, the user bit back any further words.
Kessler—that bastard’s eyes had clearly gone mad. And when a guy with good looks went crazy, there was no way to win against him.
Meanwhile, Kessler, with a sharp, irritable kick, flipped the entire grill over.
Where the grill clattered down, there was a skinned fox hide. It was yellow.
“Isn’t that guy totally insane? Ack! What’s happening to my body?! D-d-d-damn…”
Upon confirming the yellow fur, Kessler felt an odd wave of relief, and turned to leave. But not before freezing the body of the user who had just called him a “psycho” for a full hour.
He scoured every corner of the castle. Any ghosts that dared to wobble into his field of vision were annihilated on sight. It was a form of venting his rage.
Sensing the foul temper of his master, Snake Rim swore not to appear before him at all today.
“Baby Arctic Fox, if you can hear my voice, answer me.”
Kessler walked the corridors, listening carefully. Anyone making the slightest noise was immediately silenced.
After failing to find the fox, Kessler returned to his room and flopped down heavily on the sofa. As he did, a few strands of white fur floated up into the air. They were the Baby Arctic Fox’s fur.
He caught it—a tuft of white fur that had ridden the air, soaring lightly before fluttering down with a fragile motion.
Suddenly, he recalled his first encounter with the Baby Arctic Fox. The only being that had dared to run toward him, even when everyone else was terrified of him.
That tiny body had bumped into him, clumsily demanding to be held. Those wide-open eyes, the tongue lolling out, the tail swaying gently.
When the fire had broken out, the little thing had rubbed its soft rump frantically against his face to wake him up. Remembering that small, desperate gesture, a hollow, lonely smile tugged at his lips.
It was all just a fleeting, meaningless bond.
***
Screeeeeeeeeech.
The door creaked open, letting in a flood of sunlight. He squinted against the glare filtering between the rib bones and cracked skull of a skeleton holding cleaning tools.
Nya?
The skeleton lifted its twisted hand in a stiff wave. He raised a front paw in return.
Clack clack clack.
The skeleton, as if grinding its teeth, clacked its jaw together in a sound that oddly resembled laughter.
He stepped aside to give the janitor skeleton room to clean, stretching his body in a long, lazy motion.
[The murderer has found a hint about you. (2/5)]
Just then, as he habitually glanced at the system window, he caught sight of the ominous message. He had no idea how the murderer had found anything—but their speed at uncovering clues was alarming.
‘Could it be that guy from last night?’
Maybe. Maybe not.
Now freed from the storage room, he scampered busily among the users.
“Oh? It’s the Baby Arctic Fox!”
“Fox! Your owner was looking for you earlier!”
Owner? Who the hell’s owner? He launched a dirt-flinging attack at the man spouting such nonsense, but his strength was so pitiful that he only managed to cover a nearby worm and some soil.
“Fox, where were you? Everyone was looking for you.”
Nyanyanya!
Bori, who had been with Haru’s group, scooped him up into her arms and stroked him. When he stuck out his tongue and beamed, she burst out laughing, calling him a “total flirt.”
“I wish Haru could see you like this too.”
“Why are you bringing up someone who’s dead?”
Exactly. Rather than staying in this stifling game, struggling to skin and roast bats in the heat, it would have been a better, more constructive life choice to get eliminated early and enjoy premium shaved ice somewhere cool.
It was an enviable thing to think about. Especially for someone like him, trapped inside the game, with his entire life held hostage.
Which meant he had to find that murderer—and fast.
“Hello, Bori-ssi.”
In that instant, he was so startled he nearly barked out loud. It was the voice of the man who had locked him up the night before.
“Hello! Jung Da-woon… or was it Jung Da-hoon?”
“Da-hoon.”
After fumbling slightly, she looked up at the man. The man smiled softly with his eyes and naturally reached out to pat the Baby Arctic Fox’s head.
“Hello to you too, little fox.”
The one standing before him appeared, at minimum, shameless—and at worst, a full-blown psychopath. He burrowed deeper into Bori’s arms, but for some reason, she seemed unusually nervous. Pricking up his ears, he could even hear her heart pounding louder.
“Do you like animals?”
“Yes, they’re so adorable.”
“Would you like to hold him?”
“I’d love to.”
Bori, as if offering up a mere affection prop, handed him over without a shred of hesitation. It was at that moment—
“Don’t you dare lay your filthy hands on my fox.”
Kessler appeared, just when he was desperately trying to avoid being hugged. He must have rushed over—the bangs that were usually sleek and composed now whipped messily in the air.
