I Woke Up as a Fox-Eared Girl

Therianthrope. A character that possesses the traits of both human and animal in a single body. Someone who just sticks on animal ears and a tail and pretends to be a beast. At least, that was the definition of a therianthrope handed down in subculture circles. No matter how hard you tried to imitate it with animal-ear headbands and tails, it was a virtual being that could never cross over into reality.

Even so, the existence of therianthropes began to spread through the world, starting with that one article.

“If a pretty girl turns into a gorilla therianthrope, isn’t that just completely fucked?”

“Khhuhuhu, no shit… I’d be so fucking pissed if that actually happened.”

The otaku friends from school all chimed in with their own takes after hearing the news about a disease that turns people into therianthropes.

“Still, cats and dogs are the standard, right?”

“You’re not into that weasel therianthrope I showed you last time?”

“That’s just furry shit, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you hairy bastard.”

“Hairy! Lol.”

Of course, otakus all over the world cheered for this unusual disease. A real-life XX-eared beautiful girl! What a wonderful ring to it. What a heart-fluttering phrase.

But the excitement that had set the hearts of otakus across the world—including Korea—racing didn’t last very long. Unknown cause, unknown route of infection, even whether it was contagious was unknown. The illness the public called the Beast Disease faded from the memories of many people, including me and my otaku friends, like just another rare-disease news story.

…At least until I caught the Beast Disease.

One ordinary morning.

“Lee Hyunwoo! Lee Hyeonseo! Get up before you’re late—! Huh?”

The second the room light clicked on I squeezed my eyes shut. Mom’s shout seemed especially loud today. For some reason it even carried a note of surprise. Whatever. Right now I hated the light. So I just yanked the blanket over my head.

But the blanket was immediately ripped away.

“Where did Hyunwoo go? Who are you?”

Mom suddenly asked who I was. Who else would I be? Obviously I’m Lee Hyunwoo, Seo Sujin’s son. She must be asking weird questions again to wake me up.

“What the… huh?”

When I opened my mouth to argue back with half-lidded eyes, a high, thin voice came out. My foggy mind snapped awake in an instant.

“A-ah?”

I tested my voice again like a mic check. It really was thin and high. It honestly sounded like a girl’s.

Only then did I finally look at myself.

Long orange hair cascading over my shoulders. Smooth, slender fingers without a single scar. The soft, fluffy weight I felt behind my waist. The heavy sensation on my upper body that felt like it could topple me at any moment. Even the twitching feeling on top of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my head.

None of it felt familiar.

Fluffy. Soft.

In a daze I reached up with both hands to touch the top of my head and the spot behind my waist. Thick fur slipped between my slender fingers, delivering an overwhelming softness.

And so I had become the object of every otaku’s admiration and lust… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a therianthrope girl.

“What the hell is thiiiiis—!?”

Why the fuck did my gender change too?!

“Oh dear, what in the world is going on…?”

A little later, Mom realized it really was me and looked at me with pity. Thankfully I wasn’t kicked out of the house. After all, in the spot where I had been lying there was… me. Wait, what am I even saying?

Anyway, that was the only way to explain it. In the place where I had disappeared, there was me. There was no other way to prove I was still myself.

It was the usual time for breakfast before heading to school. An incredibly awkward atmosphere hung over the table.

“So… Unni, you’re really my older brother?”

The moment Mom left to do laundry, my little sister asked carefully, suddenly using polite speech as if she felt awkward. She glanced around to make sure Mom was far enough away.

“Why are you using honorifics? It’s annoying as hell. Who do you think you’re teasing?”

“Oh, it really is you, Oppa?”

When I answered without hesitation in my usual rough tone, she realized it really was me and immediately switched back to her normal way of speaking.

She stabbed a Vienna sausage with her fork, scooped rice the same way, and never once let go of her smartphone the entire meal.

Tap tap tap tap. Her fingers never stopped moving. No matter how much I searched about the Beast Disease, the results were nothing but related articles. I even looked up the scientific name and scoured the internet, but there was nothing. The search history just kept piling up uselessly.

Was it really just news articles and shitposts from the galleries? I’d never heard anything about the gender changing too.

“Just give up already. They say there’s no cure anyway, right?”

“Shut up.”

Even while I was searching, Lee Hyeonseo kept poking at me. Out of pure reflex I spat out those two short words. She could talk so freely because it wasn’t her problem. I was already losing my mind from how messed up everything was.

“Lee Hyunwoo, I told you not to use bad language.”

At some point Mom had come to stand beside us and scolded Hyeonseo, who was sitting across from me, for using harsh words. She had already adapted to my new appearance.

“Ah, but she’s the one making me mad.”

I answered with a mix of complaint and sigh. Mom always only ever scolded me. How many times had I yielded just because I was the older brother?

After we finished eating while ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bickering like that, I called out to Mom, who was moving back and forth between the washing machine and drying rack.

“Mom, what about school?!”

Mom froze at the word “school.” She shook out a T-shirt, hung it on the drying rack, and said,

“You’re not sick anywhere, right? No headache or anything?”

“I don’t feel sick, but…”

When Mom asked if I hurt anywhere, I answered weakly while checking my own condition. My body had undergone a massive change, but I wasn’t in pain. After hearing my answer Mom straightened her back and asked again.

“What’s the name of that disease?”

“The Beast Disease. Why?”

Mom suddenly asked for the name of the disease I had caught. Why ask now when she hadn’t shown any interest when I first told her about it? The moment I obediently answered, Mom started tapping on her smartphone and said,

“Mom will call your homeroom teacher and explain, so leave your school uniform here and wear the clothes I gave you.”

“What?! You’re really sending me like this?!”

When she said she’d call the teacher and that I still had to go to school, I immediately shrieked. Mom just stared at me with wide, innocent eyes as if she couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t go.

“If you don’t go, what then? Are you going to drop out?”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

Faced with such an extreme suggestion I could only answer awkwardly. Still, couldn’t I at least take one day off…? The world wouldn’t end just because I missed one day of school. But Mom was dead set on making me attend no matter what. Why were her only two options going to school or dropping out?

“I’m using the bathroom first—”

Even though I was on the verge of losing my mind, my sister acted like nothing was wrong. She casually announced she was using the bathroom first, went in, and locked the door.

Ring ring, ring riiing. Soon the sound of Mom’s call connecting came from her side. After a click, Mom spoke.

“Yes, this is Hyunwoo’s homeroom teacher, right? Yes, this is Hyunwoo’s mom… The child has caught something called the Beast Disease. Yes, yes.”

She spoke the name of the disease so casually, like I had just caught a cold, while on the phone with my homeroom teacher. Was I the only one who found this situation hard to accept? Had I been the only one-eyed person in a village of two-eyed people? I turned into a girl overnight and grew animal ears and a tail?

While I was still lost in confusion, Mom hung up and said,

“The teacher said they understand for now.”

Mom spoke with a perfectly calm, expressionless face. Understand what? Have any of them ever caught the Beast Disease? What could the homeroom teacher possibly understand? Feeling completely dumbfounded, I asked,

“Understand what, exactly?”

“They said go straight to the staff room as soon as you arrive at school.”

“But…”

Mom just stared at me with those wide, innocent eyes, as if asking what the problem was. I couldn’t even finish my sentence and could only let out a hollow laugh.

“You don’t have to wash your hair or tail today, dear.”

“No, ha…”

Mom didn’t even pay attention to my hollow laughter. She had already moved on to a completely different topic and was praising my soft fur. That wasn’t the important part right now. It looked like there was absolutely no way I could skip school.

“…Then what about clothes?”

I gave up on trying to persuade her and simply asked what I should do about clothes. Whether it turned out good or bad, I’d just have to deal with it. I almost wished this was a contagious disease that spread like wildfire. Then I could have at least said “I told you so” and threatened not to go to school.

“First try on the clothes you have.”

“Yeah…”

I let out a weak reply to Mom’s words and obediently went into my room. I took out a set of clothes from the closet. Because of my tail the pants wouldn’t pull up past a certain point. The belt felt like it was digging into my pelvis because of the tail too. The top was hopeless because of my chest.

“God damn it…”

All the clothes I used to wear had become completely useless overnight. Even I could see how ridiculous it was, and it pissed me off.

“Hyunwoo, you don’t have a bra, do you? From the size I saw earlier, none of your shirts will fit. Wear one of mine.”

And of course Mom had zero delicacy about it. The moment she helped me put on the bra, my dignity vanished completely.

“Pffft!”

While Mom was fastening the bra and I was sitting there with dead-fish eyes, the sound of footsteps entering the room and bursting laughter assaulted all five of my senses. In my vision was Hyeonseo covering her mouth, desperately trying to hold in her laughter. The way her eyes curved into perfect crescents made me want to smack her.

Fine. You’re asking for a fight? Today it’s you or me.