The Fox's Chance to Proclaim Her Greatness!

"Oh..."

I couldn't help but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠honestly marvel.

The clothes I'd been wearing up until now had been, to put it frankly, uncomfortable. The sleeves kept sliding down and made it hard to use my hands, and the skirt would slip if I so much as let my guard down and trip me up. Worst of all, the fabric snagged around the base of my tail in a way that was constantly irritating — but I'd put up with it because I didn't have anything else.

Now, though, everything was different.

The sleeves and pants fit my body perfectly, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moving around was no trouble at all, and the fabric was soft enough that it didn't itch. Even the most troublesome part — the opening around my tail — was cleanly finished, letting me move freely. I was thoroughly satisfied. My tail swayed without me even realizing it, and still nothing felt awkward or uncomfortable, which only made me like it more.

"How do you like it?"

"...!"

At Jeong Haneul's question, I cleared my throat and carefully did not share my honest impressions.

"Eh... it's alright, I guess. I'll specially wear it for you."

Saying how I really felt would have been too embarrassing, after all.

"Hehe. Well then — shall we get started in earnest?"

"...Kyeng?"

But at that moment, I still had no idea.

That the only chance I would ever have to escape was right then and there.

"..."

By the time I realized something was wrong and tried to call Yerin and Subin for help, the expressions on their faces when I looked back were nothing like usual. They looked like predators who had just locked onto their prey.

And so, several hours passed since I'd first changed clothes.

Hell.

This place was hell.

"Waaah! Naru, it looks so good on you!!"

"We have to take a photo of this and preserve it for all eternity!"

"Kyeng..."

How many times had I put clothes on and taken them off...? I could no longer tell whether I was the clothes or the clothes were me. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠At this point, if someone's hand so much as passed by, my outfit would already be different. I slumped over, half-convinced I was about to melt into a puddle right then and there.

"Ah, unnie. I think we should stop now."

"Why? There are still so many clothes left... oh, but Naru's stamina is gone. She's turned into a slime."

"Ahem. I got a bit carried away myself — not very professional of me."

I collapsed the way a certain famous character does after failing to collect dragon balls in a cartoon, and called out to Boss, who was surely watching over me from the mountain behind the shop.

"Bossss... heeelp meee..."

"Sorry, we went a little overboard. Shall we go get some meat now?"

"Meat!!"

At the mere mention of meat, my melting body snapped back together as if the whole collapse had been a lie, and I was upright again in an instant.

"My, if you still have this much energy left, then these other outfits—"

"Grrrr!!!"

"Hehe. Just kidding. No need to bare your teeth. I'll carefully package these clothes and have them sent to your home."

"Alright then — shall we head to that meat restaurant our Naru has been waiting for?"

"Meat!!"

I bounced up and down with joy as if I'd never been tired at all, then immediately tried to climb back into the bag to get ready to go — only for Subin to speak up.

"Naru, you've got clothes and shoes now. You don't really need to go in the bag anymore, do you?"

"Hm?"

"Unnie, but people are still staring at Naru—"

"We can't hide her forever."

"Shouldn't we at least wait until the public interest dies down a little?"

"Interest in Naru is going to take months to cool off, at least. And since she's scared of strangers, wouldn't this be a good chance for her to get used to them?"

"That... does make sense, but..."

"Let's go eat meat already!"

"...!"

I waited with just my face poking out of the bag, and Yerin laughed as she said,

"I think Naru just likes being in the bag."

"Yeah, looks that way..."

And so we left the clothing shop in our new outfits, where Jeong Haneul — who had come out to see us off — spoke up.

"Thank you for your patronage. I hope you'll visit us again."

"Again...?"

"Well, when Naru grows, we'll need to take new measurements and buy new clothes, so of course you'll be back."

The thought of returning to this place and trying on countless more outfits made every single hair on my body stand on end. I secretly resolved that if I ever had to come back here, I would flee with everything I had — and then, at last, we set off toward the long-awaited meat.

Peeking just my face out of the bag to look around outside, I kept noticing unfamiliar humans whispering as they looked at me. It put me in a bad mood, so I tried to snarl and drive them off — but Yerin blocked me and said,

"Naru, you can't growl at other people."

"But! Strangers are dangerous! And they're acting suspicious!"

"Tsk! Do you have any idea how rude it is to do that to every single person who walks by?"

"But look! They're whispering about me again!"

I pointed a finger at some people far off who were smiling as they looked at me — and they just laughed and waved. Reflexively, I waved back before I could stop myself, then came to my senses and went back on guard. They giggled and walked on, and I had no idea what on earth they were thinking, acting like that.

"Maybe we should try streaming while we have the chance?"

"What? Unnie, even so, using Naru for a stream is a little..."

"Half the reason people are so interested in Naru right now is pure curiosity. So if we use this chance to answer that curiosity, and ask them to be considerate because she's a kid with a lot of wariness, that should help."

"That... is true..."

"Hehe. You haven't forgotten that I'm your manager, have you?"

"Right. Okay, I'll go with what you said, unnie. But we should get Naru's permission first."

"Me?"

"Naru, want to try streaming with unnie?"

"Streaming?"

"Yeah. Remember how unnie talked with other people before? You'd do that too."

"Talk with who?"

"With a whole lot of people. We'd tell them a little about Naru on stream, and if we tell them the things Naru doesn't like, then people won't do the things Naru doesn't like."

"???"

"Hmm... simply put, it's about introducing Naru to other people."

"Introducing me to other people?"

Hearing that, I realized something. Just like Boss announcing his territory to the other cats — I could announce myself to other people, and let them know that I was an immensely great and mighty fox.

"I'll do it!!"

"She looks like she's misunderstanding something... it'll be fine, right?"

"We'll need to go somewhere at the meat restaurant where we can stream, then."

Yerin and Subin kept talking, but I was already imagining myself proclaiming my greatness to the people and showing off how high I ranked in the hierarchy — and my tail started wagging all on its own.

In the wild, announcing your rank and territory was a privilege reserved only for the chosen strong...

...

Probably. That sounded right.

Honestly, I still didn't really know what streaming was — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but I was going to use this chance to let everyone know just how great I was!

For the sake of my success!!

+ Naru's new outfit designs, posted late because the author was running behind