Fox, Accidents on Stream...
"Wow, the reactions are already exploding the second I posted the notice."
"When did you even put it up, Unnie?"
"The moment Naru gave me permission."
"That was fast."
"Of course it was. This much is nothing."
"What about the meat place?"
"I booked a samgyeopsal restaurant. The beef place said streaming would be difficult, so I went with pork on short notice."
"Well, samgyeopsal's plenty delicious. It should be fine."
"Meat! Meat! Meat!"
I marched toward the restaurant, stamping out a rhythm with every step and chanting the word like a war cry. I could feel the stares of the humans around us, but in the face of meat, none of that mattered. This was a special concession from the great and mighty fox herself — Lady Naru.
"Excuse me, could I just get a quick intervi— hiiik!?"
"Kyeng?"
"What's wrong, Naru?"
"Didn't someone just come up to us?"
"No, there was nobody there."
"...?"
I was sure I'd felt someone's presence just now, but whatever — it didn't matter. Meat was waiting. I pressed on.
For the record, I currently had Yerin's hand in one paw and Subin's in the other, though every fiber of my being wanted to drop to all fours and sprint. The rich, heavy scent of grilled meat drifting from far ahead kept needling my nose without mercy.
"Faster! Meat!! Faster!!"
Yerin and Subin's leisurely pace was pure torture.
"Naru, you don't have to rush. The meat isn't going to run away."
"Run away? So we hunt it first?"
"Ah... no, that's not what I meant."
"Naru looks starving — let's hurry!"
At that, Subin scooped me up in one smooth motion, settled me onto her shoulders for a piggyback ride, and took off running.
"Hold on tight, Naru!"
"Wooooaaah!"
As Subin barreled forward, the rush of racing along from up high was exhilarating — fresh air and pure excitement. Separately from that, though, it was also a little scary, so my instincts took over and I grabbed the hair right in front of my face.
"Na—Naru, ow!"
"Oh."
If I pulled right, we went right. If I pulled left, we went left. I felt like that cooking rat from the movie.
"Naru, you can't pull Unnie's hair."
Yerin, who'd been watching from behind, peeled me off Subin. Subin rubbed her scalp and muttered,
"Ayy, kids' grip strength is no joke."
"Well, whose idea was it to suddenly throw her on your shoulders and start running?"
"She looked like she really wanted to get there fast..."
"Meat!! Faster!"
"Haa... okay, okay. Just try not to go completely feral, Naru."
I was already drooling at the meat-scented wind, so Yerin wiped my mouth with a handkerchief and sighed.
"She really has zero chill. I can't take my eyes off her for a second."
"I'm starting to understand what parents go through."
"Anyway, shall we head inside?"
"Right — time to get the stream ready."
Barely any time had passed since Kang Subin posted the notice, and already the chat was on fire — people burning with excitement at the mere prospect of seeing Naru. The stream title promised a meat mukbang with Naru, feeding her while answering all the questions everyone had been dying to ask. Naturally, interest was massive.
And then, after what felt like forever, the stream everyone had been waiting for finally went live.
And there on screen, sitting in a meat restaurant: Han Yerin — no, Luna — with Naru perched right beside her.
As the chat began rocketing upward at breakneck speed, Han Yerin cleared her throat once, slipped fully into Luna mode, and fired off her greeting.
"Welcome to Nabi Garden, my lovely Nabis!"
"Butterflies? Are butterflies coming?"
"..."
Naru, who had no idea the stream had even started, asked the question with pure innocence from beside her. Luna's words snagged for a beat — but she was a pro. She pushed right through and finished the greeting.
"Your little pot of honey, Luna, is here!"
"Honey?? Luna-honey showed up? Oh — wait, this is a meat place, so maybe it's meat-honey?"
"Na—Naru, that's just a greeting. Luna is Unnie's name."
"? But Yerin isn't Luna. Yerin is Yerin."
"Th-that's true, but when I stream I use the name Luna."
"Why?"
"..."
Yerin had been live for less than ten seconds and already felt exhausted. But she was a professional — she kept the fatigue off her face and pushed the stream forward.
"Naru, see the writing scrolling up on the screen? That's all from the people watching us right now."
"Really?"
Naru stared at the phone doing the streaming and the tablet displaying the broadcast feed, trying to read the text with a face that said she couldn't quite believe it — but the messages flew by so fast they vanished before she could finish a single line. It wasn't that Naru couldn't read Hangul; ever since Awakening and ending up in this tiny body, reading just took her a little longer.
"Alright, everyone. I've been away from streaming because of some urgent business, but I turned the stream on today to share an update and explain how everything turned out."
"Hey, this is MY stream!!"
"Kyeng?!"
Yerin's shout made Naru jump clean off her seat in pure startlement. Even while Yerin was mid-apology to her, the chat kept racing upward — all of it, of course, in the direction of roasting Yerin.
"Ahem! Anyway, let me go over what happened with this whole incident one more time."
Yerin doused the flaming public opinion as best she could and began walking the viewers through the recent events and everything that had followed — what had gone down at the Association, how an employee named Yu Nara had handled things cleanly, and how Yerin had become Naru's temporary guardian for two weeks.
"And the reason I'm streaming with Naru today is to help her. With all the attention focused on Naru lately, people have been approaching her, and Naru is a very timid—"
"I'm brave!! I'm not scared!!"
"...a very brave child who is still quite wary of strangers."
Yerin ignored the chat and kept going. She explained that Naru was a child with a lot of wounds, that excessive attention would only make things harder for her, and asked everyone for a little consideration. Beside her, though, Naru was simply bored out of her mind waiting.
And more importantly — she was sitting in a meat restaurant. A place saturated with the smell of meat. She'd been looking forward to this since the clothing store, and sitting here unable to eat was pure agony.
That was when it happened.
Because they'd ordered ahead, a staff member carefully set down a plate of glossy, pink samgyeopsal, juices gleaming under the light.
Yerin was locked in on the stream. Subin, her manager, was focused on filming from the opposite side. And right there in front of Naru sat meat that was practically begging to be eaten.
"Gulp."
Naru didn't hesitate. She reached out, pinched up a strip of samgyeopsal, and—
"Nom."
—sent it straight into her mouth.
"So going forward, even if you happen to run into Naru, please don't just— huh? Why is everyone reacting like that?"
Luna immediately sensed something was off in the chat. A wave of dread hit her as she turned to look at Naru — and found the little fox chewing on raw pork.
"Na—Naruuuuuuuu!!!"
"Grrrr!!"
Yerin lunged to snatch the raw meat away, but Naru's instincts kicked in hard — prey that had entered her mouth was not to be surrendered. She clamped down and refused to let go. Yerin was so frantic she grabbed the meat with her bare hands, but Naru still wouldn't release it.
"Naru, that's pork! Spit! Spit it out!"
"Grrrr!! Thish ish Naru'sh meaaaat!"
The words came out mangled around the mouthful of meat, but the claim of ownership was crystal clear.
"I know! I know, but you can't eat it raw!!"
"You have to cook it first, Naru!!"
Even Subin, who'd been filming, jumped in to try to pry the meat free — but she couldn't put any real force into it for fear of hurting Naru's teeth. That hesitation left a gap, and Naru seized it without mercy. Still gripping the meat in her jaws, she sprang up.
"Grrn!!"
Like a tiny wild beast breaking free of her seat, Naru instinctively poured mana into her body and reinforced herself. Then she dropped to all fours and bolted for a safe place to finish her meal — and just like that, Yerin and Subin were chasing after her, a full-blown pursuit erupting inside the restaurant.
The silver lining, if you could call it that, was that there weren't many other customers, so the chaos didn't cause much collateral damage. The staff member watching from a distance completely losing it with laughter was another matter entirely.
And then—
Yerin's ability let her hand her phone off to a butterfly during filming, which then hovered and recorded automatically like a drone — and thanks to that, the entire chase was broadcasting live in vivid, unfiltered glory.