The Fox and the Crow
"Master? What's with the dog meat? Don't Koreans usually avoid eating dog?"
"In a world that's already ended, who's picky about meat? Let's just boil it up as sliced pork."
"Yes, understood. I'll make this for dinner tonight."
Mao Mei had been too proud to talk to me much for a while, but once she started learning martial arts under me, she took on a respectful attitude. That "Master" business still felt awkward coming out of her mouth, but what could I do about it?
Whether it was the Chinese blood from her mother's side or too many wuxia novels, she'd even thrown a fit insisting on performing the full nine bows of apprenticeship. So I'd settled for simply allowing the title of Master and leaving it at that.
Ah — my second disciple, Uncle Kim, had excommunicated himself, but I'd re-enrolled him and was putting him through training again.
As for that little Gakdagui girl and her younger sibling, I had no idea whether they'd made it safely into warlord territory. Not that it was my problem to worry about anymore.
The stray dog meat boiled down nicely and came to the table as sliced boiled meat. A few years ago people would have raised hell about dog meat being illegal, but now it was just precious protein. It even had less of a gamey smell than wild boar, and the meat itself was fairly tender.
I was just about to wrap a piece in the wild greens Mao Mei had foraged and take a bite when the pub door slammed open.
"B-Big bro!! You in there?"
The thug had come calling. What was that guy's name again?
"…I'm eating, here…"
He'd come running in with the look of a man who had urgent business, then casually sat down and helped himself to a piece of my meat.
A soft scrape. Mao Mei picked up the kitchen knife from the cutting board.
"Ah — no, don't."
"Yes, Master. Understood."
Apparently the memory of nearly suffering something unspeakable at these thugs' hands still burned as a grudge.
"So. What's going on?"
When I asked, he looked at me with a faintly puzzled expression.
"Big bro? How come you never call me by my name? Don't tell me you don't know it?"
"…"
This little bastard? Sharp, wasn't he?
Truth was, I hadn't expected these guys to survive this long, so I hadn't bothered memorizing their names.
"Hahaha, of course he knows your name, Gwang-sik. So, what's the matter?"
Uncle Kim stepped in, unable to watch any longer. Right — Gwang-sik. That was the name. The other one was Gwang-du, wasn't it?
The two of them often tagged along on my hunts and lent a hand. They kept asking me to teach them martial arts, too, but so far I'd been putting them off with vague excuses. Hand martial arts to guys who still made a habit of thuggery? Not a chance.
"Ah, we got word from the Hounds. They're securing a logistics warehouse this time, and they want us to send some people too. What should we do?"
"A Rift Zone?"
"Yes, that's right. There are still a lot of places that haven't been found."
When a crimson rift opened, erosion began across the surrounding area. Neither humans nor any kind of beast could survive there for long.
Those places were frozen as if time itself had stopped — which meant the food and other goods inside remained exactly as they had been before the collapse. Ordinary people, though, couldn't stay long. There were no hard numbers, but half a day was about the limit. On top of that, the place swarmed with zombies and magical beasts that had been exposed to rift particles.
"The Hounds say they'll clear out the zombies and beasts themselves, and they want us to send laborers to haul the goods. About ten people…"
"Send them."
"Huh? A-Are you sure?"
"Yes. People ought to earn their keep."
"Yes, sir. Then I'll screen some people and send them."
Do whatever you want.
For the past six months, whenever the Hounds had rift work, it had almost always fallen to me and these thugs. Sending people with no real combat skill would only get them killed, so I'd been fairly considerate about it.
But humans are quick to adapt. At some point the survivors had started taking it for granted that the dangerous jobs went to me and the thugs. Sure, these thugs bled the survivors dry in their own way — but at least they had proven their own worth.
And that worth wasn't complicated.
Self-reliance. And gratitude. Anyone who forgot those two things wasn't a person, at least not to me.
"…Master, shouldn't I go as well?"
"No. You don't need to."
"B-But…"
I popped a piece of meat into my mouth and stood up.
"You've got cooking to do."
Mao Mei had more than earned her place.
Soon enough, the time to head for the Rift Zone drew near.
Right! It's time we handled this kind of work ourselves! We can't keep leaving everything to other people forever!
…Nothing of the sort happened.
Gwang-sik and Gwang-du, the thug brothers, had tried to select people fairly by their own standards — but try telling that to the people who'd been selected. They pushed back hard, and it escalated all the way into a physical clash.
Gwang-sik's crew numbered fewer than ten. The survivors, on the other hand, were well over a hundred. Once they rose up as a group, there wasn't much the thugs could do about it.
In the end, Gwang-sik and Gwang-du came rushing back to me.
"B-Big bro! We're sorry. These bastards are refusing to go…"
"Yeah! That's right."
I'd figured they were at least useful for this kind of thing. A sudden doubt crossed my mind. I hadn't even been here a full year yet. What about before that? Had these thugs really been handling all the dirty work themselves?
"That's strange."
"Huh? What's strange?"
Gwang-sik asked back, looking puzzled.
"I mean, sure, the rough jobs have been me and you guys since I got here — but what about before I arrived? Did you go then too?"
"Ah, n-no. Hahaha. Back then, well, you weren't around, so… we just sent people."
"So why can't you send them now?"
At that, Gwang-sik and Gwang-du both looked oddly confused.
And then I understood.
It was because of me. The survivors treated me like some kind of savior, and because I was here, they no longer listened to these guys. The thugs, for their part, were too afraid of me to lean on the survivors the way they used to.
"…Don't worry about me. Just send them again yourselves. There are only two things I won't allow."
At that, they finally smiled.
The two things I wouldn't permit, no excuses: murder, and sexual violence.
"Th-Then, if we take that as your permission, we can handle this our way?"
A murderous glint entered their eyes.
"Just keep those two rules."
They cracked their knuckles and stood up from their seats.
Once they were gone, Uncle Kim came over with a worried look.
"You sure about this? Letting them go like that?"
"You've been out there plenty of times yourself, Uncle. It's fine. It's not like they're going out to beat down zombies — they're just hauling cargo."
"Well, that's true… and people have gotten a little too comfortable taking it for granted lately…"
A day later, ten people had been assembled.
"Hahaha! Big bro. Here's your ten."
One, two, three…? Wait. That was nine. And sure enough, none of them had listened to reason — every last one of them was busted up somewhere.
When I gave him a questioning look, Gwang-sik scratched his head and said,
"Hahaha, I'm going too, of course."
What? Had this guy turned over a new leaf?
"You're going too, Gwang-sik?"
"Come on, big bro, what are you talking about… At least one experienced guy has to go."
Fair enough — these two had moved with me more than anyone. Not purely for the sake of the shelter residents, of course. Part of it was keeping people from running off midway, and the Hounds would look the other way if they skimmed a reasonable cut for themselves.
"Ah — big bro, is there anything you need? It's a logistics warehouse this time, so there should be just about everything."
Anything I needed? What did I need?
My eyes happened to catch how worn Mao Mei's clothes looked. I'd grabbed whatever spare clothes were left around the neighborhood for her, but they were all winter gear — she looked hot in them.
"Don't push yourselves. Hmm… some summer clothes a girl could wear, and if you happen to spot any swords or blades, grab those too."
"Swords? Ah — blades? That's our big bro for you. I'll find you some good ones. With your skill, it's gotta be a sword. King of a hundred weapons, right?"
This guy had clearly read a few wuxia novels himself.
"Oh, right — big bro. The Hounds said… to get ready to receive a guest. For you. They sent a separate message earlier."
"Who?"
"I just got it secondhand from the advance team, so… Ah, and they said they're running a landline out here this time too? Looks like we'll be able to use phones."
A phone?
Well. A phone they'd be installing? I'd rather not take their calls if I could help it — but unless I planned to run somewhere, there wasn't much choice. One of the reasons this area didn't have that many magical beasts and zombies was the Hounds, after all.
They had their role to play, in their own way.
"Ah — I remember now. Something like Red… Box? Red Box? No, that's not it. Bugs? Red Fox?"
I flinched.
Red Fox? The crimson fox? It couldn't be—
"You mean Red Fox? Lee Hee-su, the Red Fox?"
"Ah! That's it. First Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hee-su. Hahaha. That's right, isn't it? I heard you two are pretty close…"
Close?
Were we close?? I had some memories of getting along, sure — but I had a lot more memories of fighting like dogs.
"…If anyone comes looking for me… tell them I left."
"Huh? Y-Yes, sir. Got it. Well then, big bro, we'll get ready to head out."
And with that, they left for the Rift Zone.
I should run, shouldn't I?
"…This is a problem."
"Commander, why are we hiding?"
"Shh! We have to surprise him."
"…"
Lieutenant Kim Hui-seong was at a loss over his battalion commander's uncharacteristic behavior.
This was Red Fox — the infamous tyrant of the region, a woman who treated human lives like flies and still walked out alive from swarms of magical beasts and zombies. And here she was, acting like a mischievous teenage girl?
"Have a drink while you wait. It's liquor we brewed here at the shop."
"Ah? Thanks, Uncle Kim."
"Yes, thank you. Raven should be here soon."
Red Fox lightly scraped a nail across the tabletop.
Screeech.
A clean gouge remained in the wood beneath her fingernail.
"You didn't tell him, I trust?"
The cold rolling off her made Uncle Kim's spine go stiff. This woman was a fundamentally different kind of being from him.
New humanity, Awakeners, Hunters, Psychics — the names varied by region.
Capable of surviving even inside Rift Zones. Humanity's last hope, and its tyrants.
And among them, she was one of the rare few classified as S-class.
Cross her, and no one walked away. Government and rebels alike had long since fallen into hands like hers.
"O-Of course not. He'll be here any moment."
"Goood~ That's what I like to hear. Do you know how much attention I've been giving this place?"
Once Uncle Kim had gone, Kim Hui-seong asked Red Fox,
"Uh, Commander? He's not even an Awakener. So why is Raven called Raven?"
Epithets were something like the nicknames given to masters of the old Murim. Red Fox's original epithet had been the Witch of Massacre — but she'd actually massacred the people who said it, so no one used that name anymore.
What remained was the one she'd given herself: Red Fox.
"Hm? Why? Hmm… Aha. You don't know, do you?"
"No, ma'am. I haven't been stationed here long…"
"It's nothing special. I gave it to him."
"You did, Commander?"
"Yeah. The first time I met that guy, he actually had crows following him around. He was so good at killing zombies that the crows trailed after him in a flock."
The door burst open with a crash.
Raven — Seo-woo — came charging roughly into the Eclipse.
"U-Uncle! Uncle Kim! Mao! Mao Mei!!"
"Whoa, what's got into you? Mao Mei went out foraging for greens."
"W-Why does that kid love foraging so much? Ugh — a-anyway, I'm going to be gone for a few days. If anyone comes looking, tell them I'm not here."
Uncle Kim just stood there with an awkward smile, going heh heh heh.
"Huh? What's wrong with you? A-Anyway… you've probably heard of her too, Uncle. That crazy bitch who dyes her hair bright red is going to come looking for me. Just say I went hunting up the back mountain."
"…Hahaha, Seo-woo. Ahem… sh-she's here."
"What is? What's here?"
Only then did Seo-woo notice the woman sitting off to one side, draining a cup of liquor.
"Oh my? Raven? A crazy bitch, am I? Don't you think that's a little harsh? Hmm?"
"………"
She was the first person he had met after returning from the Murim.