I Became the 7th Fox God

1.

Yeah. I'm screwed.

Was there really a better word to sum up my current situation than that one? This morning I'd woken up with a chest that swayed when I moved and four fluffy tails flaunting their presence on their own.

"...My chest... wait, no, that's not the point!"

When I belatedly stepped into the bathroom to get a grip on reality, a beautiful woman with a face I'd never seen before was glaring into the mirror, fluffy fox ears standing straight up, her expression one of sheer bewilderment.

"What in the world is going on here?!"

Grrrumble—

"...First things first, I need to eat something. Deep breaths..."

I half-hoped it was all a dream as I filled a cup ramen with water, but the hot water splashing over my hand told me otherwise pretty quickly.

"Ow ow ow— hnngh. Whatever. Fine."

I am, after all, a man of stability and calm.

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

Who is now a woman, sure.

But I'd never had much of a libido to begin with, and I'd quit my job just yesterday and gotten roaring drunk. No family either, so a sudden change in my appearance wouldn't cause any problems for the time being.

Swish—

As long as I ignored the four tails that kept insisting on their own existence, that is.

"Fox tails? But why are there four of them?"

Does that make me a four-tailed fox? Ha. Hahaha.

After cleaning up my meal while entertaining those pointless thoughts, the crushing weight of reality came flooding back.

"...So what the hell am I actually supposed to do now?"

And for starters, what was with this speech pattern? No matter what I actually thought, my words kept getting auto-translated into this soft, elegant voice like some highborn noble lady out of an anime.

"Ugh..."

There was nothing left to be surprised about at this point. Might as well just display a system window right in front of my eyes.

The moment I thought that, a blue screen popped up before me.

"...?"

I stared at the window in silence for a good while.

"It actually appeared..."

This wasn't some RPG I was playing. My suddenly becoming a fox was absurd enough, and now an actual game system had shown up too.

But one entry caught my eye.

"Hmm..."

Hold on. So I'm a god right now, and I can't do a single thing?

"..."

So what you're telling me is that I'm an unemployed, jobless fox god? No worshippers, no divinity, no sacred power—and now no job either?

"...!"

Did it just answer me?

"You there! Can you respond to my words?"

When I asked again, the "system" replied without so much as a beat of silence, as if working from a script.

After a brief pause, the next message appeared.

"Ah, that is most gracious of thee. No— wait, more importantly, is this manner of speech thy doing?"

"..."

I didn't understand everything, but I got the gist: I'd be stuck talking like this for the foreseeable future. It's not like anyone was around to see me, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so did it really matter?

"Then at least help me hide these tails! If things stay as they are, I won't even be able to set foot outside, will I not?"

"And how exactly does one go about amassing this Divine Power?"

Worship? Ah, like paying respects at a shrine or praying at a church, that sort of thing...? No—wait, hold on—

"To receive worship, I would need to meet people, would I not...?"

"If I go outside looking like this, I'll be captured and dissected on the spot, or mistaken for a cosplayer at best..."

The eyes and ears I could write off as a headband and colored contacts, but these four fluffy tails were a hopeless case. Watching them whip around on their own whims, it was obvious as day that this room would be carpeted in shed fox fur before long.

"More to the point—thou didst say thou passed it on to me. What did thou mean by that? I have no memory of receiving anything from any—"

The moment I said it, an event from just a week ago surfaced in my memory.

A business trip to Japan to cover the Koshien tournament. I'd thrown aggressive, pointed questions at a certain Korean player over his unprofessional conduct, and as a result I'd been effectively exiled—shipped off to do overseas reporting as a way of getting rid of me.

At first, I'd only felt wronged.

But after spending a few days in Japan, a different thought started creeping in.

No matter how hard I worked, a single backroom deal between the industry's players and their senior-junior networks could bring everything I'd built crashing down.

It was from the moment I realized that that I began to wonder why I'd even lived the way I had for so long.

And then, the night before I was due to fly back to Korea—

I happened to stumble upon an abandoned little shrine down a quiet alley.

It had clearly gone untended for a very long time. The weeds grew thick, and the weathered pillars were furred over with moss. Inside sat a single small fox god statue, blanketed in dust.

In a place no one visited. Like a god no one remembered.

I stared at that statue for a long time.

Even now, I can't say precisely what I, an atheist, was thinking as I looked at it. Only that, strangely enough, that tiny fox statue showed me a reflection of myself.

Aren't we exactly the same, it and I?

No matter how I thrashed about, no one would ever notice. No matter how hard I tried, I could be tossed aside at any moment.

Maybe that was why.

I dug through my pocket.

Clink.

A single coin caught on my fingertips.

"Sorry, but I've got no yen on me. You'll have to take a 500-won from Korea."

Clunk.

I set the coin down in front of the shrine.

I didn't pray. I didn't make a wish. I only muttered one thing before I left.

That was all.

"......"

I couldn't speak for a long while.

I looked at the blue system window floating before my eyes. It was nothing more than a message made of text.

And yet.

Something was wrong.

These were words that should have been incapable of carrying emotion—and yet each and every line seemed to convey a strange feeling.

Loneliness.

And a warm affection, as though it had been harbored for a very long time.

I didn't answer. The next line appeared immediately.

"...I did."

It came back to me, faintly. At the time, I'd thought it was nothing—truly nothing at all. A single coin, and a single line. I couldn't have imagined it would lead to this.

Lines appeared one by one on the blue window. And strangely enough, this time each word felt heavy.

I looked at the screen quietly.

For a moment, no message appeared.

Then, again:

"..."

I let out a hollow laugh without meaning to.

"Trivial, my foot."

I mulled it over for a moment, then tilted my head.

"So thou art saying I became the Fox God over a single coin I left behind that day?"

"Huh?"

A moment later, one very short line appeared.

And then—

"......"

Something in the corner of my chest itched, oddly. I turned my eyes away for no good reason, and the system window flickered to life once more.

"'Junior,' is it."

I gazed at that line for a while in silence—the words seemed to carry a gentle smile.

And then it hit me. One very important fact.

"...Hold on."

"Was there truly any reason I had to become a woman?"

"Last I knew, there are male fox gods as well."

A brief silence. Then an utterly unbothered line appeared.

"......"

"......"

I turned slowly toward the mirror. A luxuriant mane of black hair. Fluffy fox ears perched atop my head. And then—

I lowered my gaze just a little.

"......"

Bounce.

"......"

I looked back at the screen.

"You can't be serious."

For a moment, I almost imagined the system window glancing away, averting its gaze.

"......"

"O great former Fox God."

"Can I not return this divinity immediately?"

"......"

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

I buried my face in my hands. But from beyond the system window—

For the very first time—

a line appeared that truly sounded like someone laughing.