Fox, I've Lost Half My Life!

"Naru, unnie scolded Subin unnie for you, so won't you come out?"

"..."

At Yerin's words, I carefully poked just my face out from under the sofa.

Keeping a wary eye on the human called Kang Subin—who was slumped dejectedly in the distance after getting chewed out by Yerin—I cautiously crawled out from beneath the couch.

"Honestly. You just got washed, and now you're covered in dust again."

Yerin brushed the dust from my fur, then seemed to remember something and went to fetch it.

"Naru, want me to brush you?"

"...?"

I didn't fully understand what she meant, and I already had a skill called Grooming that Boss had taught me, so I was about to refuse—until my eyes landed on the human still clutching her sore back in pain. I gave a small nod.

I was absolutely not scared. I just happened to feel like taking care of my fur, that was all.

"Are you sure it's okay?"

"I-I'm making a special exception!"

"Hehe. Thank you."

The moment I gave permission, Yerin scooped me up and settled me on her lap.

"Alright. Here we go."

Swish.

Flinch!

A strange sensation—like electricity—raced down my spine and spread through my entire body.

I froze in shock, and when I suddenly trembled, it was Yerin who startled and asked,

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing. It's nothing."

"Okay, I'll start again."

"Mm..."

Swish, swish.

As Yerin resumed brushing, tension flooded back into every muscle.

This feeling... this feeling is!!

It was so unbelievably refreshing.

Without even realizing it, the tangled bits of my fur were being smoothed out, and the gentle scrape against my skin was so exhilarating that the word "pleasant" couldn't begin to cover it.

Even places I could never reach on my own were being brushed with a soft, cool glide that left me utterly blissful.

"Purr. Purrrr."

"Looks like she likes it. Good."

"So cuuute."

"Unnie, stop filming. What if you get too close again and scare Naru?"

"It's fine. Look at her—she's completely melting into the brushing. She won't even notice."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

It seemed like Yerin was talking to someone, but I didn't care enough to pay attention.

I only noticed that the brushing had slowed, so I flicked my tail as a signal—and the wonderful strokes started up again at once.

From my head, past my ears, and now all the way down to my tail—my whole body felt like it was melting into a puddle.

"Hnyaaaah..."

To think something this wonderful existed... I felt like I'd lost half my life—no, my entire life—without knowing it.

I poured that injustice into my tail, wagging it harder to beg for more.

"Oh, she looks happy."

"Unnie, stop blocking Naru and move."

"Looking at Naru makes me think of Injeolmi when she was little."

"Injeolmi is a dog."

"Cute is cute."

With both body and mind so utterly at ease, a sweet drowsiness began to drift over me.

"Naru's going to sleep."

"Naru, let's brush your teeth first."

"Kyaaeng..."

When the brushing stopped, I waved my tail to signal for more, but Yerin put the brush away and brought something else instead.

"Good thing I bought kids' toothpaste and a toothbrush."

"Thanks, unnie."

"If she lived on the mountain, this is probably her first time brushing. Still, her teeth look pretty clean."

"That's a relief, at least. We should take her to a dentist later. Oh, and a hospital too."

"Hweeeh..."

Half-asleep, mouth hanging open without realizing it, I sat there in a daze—until something entered my mouth.

Scrub-scrub-scrub.

"Brushing someone else's teeth for the first time is weirdly nerve-wracking."

"Want me to do it?"

"Unnie, I still remember the time you brushed Injeolmi's teeth and hit her uvula."

"Ugh, that was an accident."

"After that, Injeolmi bolts in terror every time you pick up a toothbrush."

Scrub-scrub.

I didn't really understand what was going on, but a sweet fragrance filled my mouth.

Delicious...

Slurp-slurp.

"N-Naru! You can't suck on the toothbrush!"

Yerin seemed to be saying something, but I decided not to care.

Gulp.

"Aaah!! She swallowed it!!"

"What? It's kids' toothpaste, so it should be fine, right?"

"Naru, let's rinse your mouth with water first."

Kuuul...

"Naruuuu!!"

After finally managing to rinse Naru's mouth, she fell straight to sleep.

I laid her down on my bed and stepped out of the room. In the living room, Subin was sorting through the things we'd just bought.

"Is Naru asleep?"

"Yeah. Between the landslide and the bath, she's had a lot today. She's exhausted."

I glanced at the clock—somehow it was already past midnight.

"Taking care of a kid is more tiring than I thought."

"Then can I take Naru home with me?"

"Naru isn't a pet like Injeolmi!"

"It's just a figure of speech... Wow, you've gone full mom already."

"I'm still a fresh, green twenty-two. Unlike a certain unnie who's past her prime."

"What?! I'm only twenty-five!"

"Shh. You'll wake Naru."

"You're using Naru as a shield? That's low."

Just then, the phone I'd left on the dining table started ringing.

"Huh? My editor? Wait, there are a ton of missed calls."

Lee Jaehyun—my YouTube editor—had already left thirty missed calls.

I'd been too frazzled even when I first found Naru to pick up, so I felt a twinge of guilt as I dialed him back. He answered before the first ring finished.

Jaehyun explained that the internet was flooding with speculative posts about me, and that the claim that the whole box-fox incident was a staged act I'd orchestrated was spreading as if it were fact.

The real problem: a famous wrecker YouTuber had posted a video treating these false accusations as the truth, and everything had exploded.

"What?! It's only been two days. How did this get so big already?"

"Haa... This got complicated."

I'd posted the notice and planned to stream, but then I saw the rain and went out to rescue Naru instead. The timing had been disastrously perfect for the internet to lose its mind.

A quick search confirmed it—plenty of wrecker channels were already spreading the nonsense, and my own video comments were buried under a mountain of hate.

"What exactly are they basing this 'staged' claim on?"

Jaehyun hung up, and moments later a YouTube link arrived.

"What's going on?"

"Unnie, did you not hear from Jaehyun?"

"I gave him the rough idea, but he doesn't know the details. I didn't fully understand the situation myself."

"Want to watch it together?"

I opened the link Jaehyun had sent, and Subin and I watched side by side.

"Wait—isn't this the guy who came after you last time?"

"Yeah. Last time he claimed my tower review video was faked, then got exposed for making baseless accusations and vanished... or so I thought."

"So he's using this as a chance for revenge?"

"Let's see what he's spouting this time."

The video started. A person with their face hidden behind a mask briefly introduced the recently viral box fox.

The intro alone made me snort, but I kept watching to grasp the full situation.

The video's claims boiled down to this:

First: My abilities specialize in tracking and surveillance, so losing a fox right in front of me made no sense.

Second: The footage conveniently only showed the fox's tail, as if it had been carefully prearranged.

Third: Looking closely at the "child's footprints" in the video, they weren't shoe prints. In other words, not real footprints—fabricated traces.

Fourth: Even if the handprints and footprints belonged to a child, there ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was no evidence it was a beastman. By claiming a fox beastman existed without proof, I'd essentially confessed to staging it myself.

Fifth: The cat food was eaten by stray cats, not a child—and I'd deliberately framed it that way for views.

And finally, the most "definitive" proof:

That even after using my abilities, I'd still lost the fox.

The fact that I'd used my powers and still lost either a fox or a child was, according to him, completely impossible.

In other words: I'd invented something that didn't exist, lied about losing it, and hastily ended the stream.

"Ha. Every single one of these is baseless speculation."

Subin, watching beside me, let out a hollow laugh of pure disbelief.

I agreed completely—and when I saw there was another video, I played it right away.

"The title alone—'Ironclad Proof. Luna Ran Away'—is ridiculously clickbaity."

"What's this one about?"

The next video, in short, claimed that despite posting a notice, I still hadn't done any clarification stream.

Apparently, right after I'd posted the notice, I'd been busy rescuing Naru and couldn't upload anything—and of course the hit piece dropped exactly then. My silence made it look like I'd run away out of guilt. That was the whole argument.

Grit—

It seemed the Association wasn't the only opponent I had to fight.

"Unnie. Get the stream ready."

If you pick a fight, you'd better be ready to get hit back.