Our Fox Grew Another Tail!

"Our fox grew another tail!"

"A tail?"

Ordinary foxes did not grow extra tails.

"Is it going to keep growing more of them? Was this little one a nine-tailed fox all along?"

The fox had grown, by the look of it. I turned to Rangi with my expectations piled just as high.

"What about you? Anything?"

"Snff?"

He was just chewing away at his rice cake.

"...Nothing changed at all?"

"Still just as cute as ever, I think."

"Tch..."

My shoulders sagged with disappointment. Still — the fox had grown another tail.

Do Seohyeon came up from behind and scooped it into her arms. The little thing could not have cared less; it just kept chewing, two swaying tails tickling Seohyeon's face.

"Pfft! Yeonhwa, what's this one's name?"

"Haven't decided yet."

"If the tails keep growing like a nine-tailed fox, they'll bloom wide open like a flower someday."

Lee Yeonhwa's face lit up.

"Flower...! Let's use the same hwa as mine — the character for flower. Yeohwa!"

Had it understood? The fox snapped its gaze toward Lee Yeonhwa.

"Kyaang!"

"You like it too? Yeohwa!"

Yeohwa burrowed straight into Yeonhwa's arms.

"The name... um, Master."

"What? I think it's great."

"That's the problem. It makes Rangi's name look so slapdash by comparison."

"......"

That one stung. Had I named him too carelessly?

I looked at Rangi. The little guy was smacking his lips after the cloud rice cake, his broad tongue sweeping around his mouth and all the way up to his nose with obvious relish.

"...Rangi likes it."

"I think he likes the rice cake, not the name."

He looked that happy, though. That was good enough for me.

Dinner followed. It was Yeonhwa's celebration, so the conversation drifted toward the hunter industry as naturally as water running downhill. Not that it needed the occasion — these days, every Korean in the country was talking about SS-Ranks, the Master, the 54th floor. Hunter talk was the national pastime.

"But oppa, can't you do an SS-Rank Clear? If you can teach four SS-Ranks, shouldn't you be pulling off Master Clears or something?"

I nearly sprayed water across the table. I kept my face straight and played it off.

"Hey, you think anyone can just pull a Master Clear?"

"I was just saying."

Thankfully, the excuse was easy. There had only ever been one Master Clear in history. One You think that's me? and nobody could argue.

"Well, I believed the Advance Guild special advisor stuff because Yeonhwa proved it. But if you told me oppa was the Master, I don't think I could ever believe that in a million years."

Dad chimed in to help sell the story.

"Your brother's working on SS-Rank Clears too, you know."

"Wait, really? Wow — oppa really is amazing!"

That seemed like the less suspicious way to play it. Dad, however, had something far heavier in mind.

"Yeah, that makes sense. He's the teacher of SS-Ranks. But why doesn't oppa ever show up in the news? What floor is he on?"

"Hyeonseok's floor is classified."

"Huh? Why?"

"If his floor gets identified, he becomes vulnerable."

"Vulnerable how?"

"Your brother's safety."

"What?"

Do Seohyeon couldn't quite process the turn the conversation had taken.

"If word got out that Hyeonseok was on the 30th floor, you'd get killers from around the 40th coming after him."

"What?"

The smile drained from Do Seohyeon's face ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by degrees.

"But if his floor stays unknown, assassination gets a lot harder. Misjudge the force you need and you might lose one of your own country's precious hunters instead. And if Hyeonseok successfully fights back, there's the risk of the backers getting exposed."

"What does that even mean...?"

"That's reality. Your brother's in that kind of position now."

Do Seohyeon stared at me with hollow eyes, then lowered her head. She must have been badly shaken — she just picked at her food with her chopsticks. Mom had already set hers down entirely.

I leaned over and whispered to Dad.

"Dad, you scared them too much."

"From my experience, this is the right call. Better to cut it off at the source with a shock treatment so they never even think to question whether you're the Master."

He wasn't wrong. If the family found out I was the Master, they'd be in danger too. Scaring them now was what would keep them safe — and, in the long run, happy.

"Honey. We need to talk."

Mom took Dad into the other room. I could guess what it was about. I don't want Hyeonseok in this much danger. Try to talk him into stopping the climb. Something like that.

But it was too late. I was already too important a figure to stop now.

I pulled out my phone and looked at the articles.

Talk about the Master.

And talk about the Advance Guild special advisor, too.

I had become someone Korea could not do without.

And more than anything — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hunter work is fun.

I was happier as a Master hunter in the real world than I had ever been as Master the Hunter Management player.

Mom was pretty shaken, but Dad will talk her down.

I'm a hunter.

Hunters belonged to a very high income bracket. Wherever they gathered, commerce followed — and the most valuable stretch of that commerce sat right around Hunter Headquarters, where hunter traffic ran heaviest.

People called it the Power Belt. Hunters were human tanks, the saying went, which made this the single greatest concentration of firepower in the country. Department stores and luxury boutiques had packed themselves into the district accordingly.

Which meant that for Lee Yeonhwa, newly in possession of financial freedom, it was a shopping paradise.

"Here! In here!"

Lee Yeonhwa dragged me and Jo Youchan through the door. A luxury boutique.

"This is the only luxury shop in the country that sells pet clothes."

"Pet clothes?"

"These are for Yeohwa and Rangi. You think I'm going to pick just anything?"

"Kyeng?"

"Snff?"

Ah. The clothes were for them. Jo Youchan's face said he could not believe this was his life.

I shoved both shopping bags into his hands.

"Youchan. Take these."

"Sir?"

"I've got an appointment."

"Ah."

The look on his face said please don't do this to me. Hang in there. At least he got a cute Yeohwa fashion show out of the deal.

"Yeonhwa, it's time. I'm heading to Headquarters."

"Yes, Master! We'll be right here!"

"We...? I was going to—"

"Have a good trip!"

There was a reason I'd come to this particular commercial district. I had business at Headquarters.

Director Jeong Sangguk came out to meet me.

"We keep running into each other."

"Haha. That's just fine by me. Please — this way upstairs."

The reception room looked like someone had put real thought into it. I felt like a guest of honor. And yet...

There's no table?

A handful of ornaments and two chairs sat in the middle of an otherwise empty room. Director Jeong picked up both chairs.

"Shall we go into the Tower?"

"Sorry?"

We entered together.

"Why here?"

The 1st Floor, no less.

"Hm? Your father didn't mention this, I take it."

He explained.

"When hunters need to discuss something sensitive, we often step into the Tower. No risk of wiretaps."

"Oh?"

That was actually kind of sick. It was like a spy movie.

"It's also why the Headquarters Director has to be a hunter. The job involves a great many delicate conversations."

So. The reason he'd called me in today? Hearing all that made my heart pick up for no good reason.

"The United States has requested Korea's cooperation."

"Sorry? The US?"

The United States was the strongest hunter nation on Earth. People called it the capital of hunters. Why would a place like that need us?

"China failed its attempt on the 57th Floor."

"They what?"

That was unexpected. China, failing.

"Did they say why?"

"Nobody knows. No one made it back alive."

"What?"

That was impossible. You could exit the Tower quickly. Solo, it was instant. In a party, the delay was ten seconds times the number of people. Even in a crisis, could a whole team not last a minute? Total wipes were vanishingly rare — and this was China's First Conquest Team. A squad that sat within shouting distance of the strongest in the world.

"So the United States postponed its own 57th Floor attempt."

"Well, yeah. They can't afford to lose their first team the way China did."

But what was on the 57th Floor that could wipe a team like that?

It's exactly like Hunter Management.

In the game, teams that leaned on cheesy crutches like Tracking got demolished on the 57th Floor. Courtesy of the elf assassin.

"Anyway. That's why they're looking for Minji."

An SS-Rank Clear hunter from the 54th Floor was a different proposition.

"To be precise, they're looking for Hunter Kang Minji and for you, Hyeonseok."

"Sorry? Me?"

Why me?

"International attention is fixed on Korea right now."

"A lot of talent has come out of here in a short time, yeah."

"More than that. It's the 50th-floor range."

Most of the world's nations were clustered between the 51st and 56th Floors. Only two countries had reached the 57th: the United States and China.

The common thread through the 50s was the need for a Tracking skill. It was a rare skill, and even with one of those hunters in the party, the clears were brutal. And then Kang Minji had appeared.

"Alright... I follow the situation. But from other countries' perspective, isn't Minji basically interchangeable with a Tracking holder?"

As long as it wasn't the 57th Floor. All anyone needed was someone to clear the highest floor they could reach. For collapse prevention, an SS-Rank Clear didn't actually matter.

And Kang Minji had only one body. Nationality changes came with a three-month cooldown. She had to be back in Korea within eight months, which meant she could only help two countries. Functionally no different from the Tracking holders.

"Which is why you became the topic of conversation."

"Why me again...? Wait. Is this about—?"

Kang Minji had said it in an interview.

She had received a skill and pulled an SS-Rank Clear. Didn't that mean other hunters could do the same?

"I'll ask you directly. Is it possible?"

"I can't give you a definite answer. I don't know how many people out there even have the talent for it."

That was how it had worked in Hunter Management. Transfer was a skill-trading function between Masters — but the system put hard limits on it. If it hadn't, every player would have just bought tier-one skills with real money, and every character would have been identical.

What prevented that was aptitude. Every hunter character had one, and it restricted which skills they could learn — Transfer included. You couldn't just teach anyone Shunpo.

Youchan and Yeonhwa couldn't learn it, for a start.

Director Jeong nodded.

"I see. Understood. I'll take that into account during the diplomatic process."

"But why is the request coming from the US and not China?"

China had to be more desperate. Their team had been wiped out.

"China did make a request as well. Unlike the United States, however, the approach was unofficial."

"Pride."

"Exactly."

China had a great deal of pride. Until recently they had been baring their teeth at Korea. They would not want the world watching them bow their heads.

"And even then, the request was limited to Hunter Kang Minji. Not you."

"That's... odd."

"It is. Very odd."

Do Hyeonseok mattered more than Kang Minji. That was information that had reached even my ears; there was no way China didn't know.

So they just want the 57th Floor cleared, and then they'll handle the rest themselves?

That was a very Chinese way of thinking.

"Then Minji isn't going to China, is she?"

"Of course not. She's the highest-value hunter on the planet. There's no telling what might happen to her there."

A country that ran close to a dictatorship was not, as a rule, a safe place to send someone.

"Thank you for coming all this way. I'll keep you informed as things develop."

"Yes, sir. Good luck with it."

We exited the Tower.

"Uh. What about the chairs we brought in?"

"We leave them. There might be a recording device attached."

"Ohh...!"

I suddenly felt like I'd become a Very Important Person.

"Um. One more thing."

"Yes?"

"That... Zhang Xuan? China isn't demanding their Tracking holder back?"

Zhang Xuan the junkie, who had become a national villain. A Chinese hunter. Forcing his return, however ugly the pretext, should have been less damaging to their pride than asking Korea for help.

"Ah. That fellow is dead."

"What?"

D-dead? Just like that?

"Didn't the Guild Master tell you?"

Why was Uncle Paldeok coming up now?

Do Hyeoncheol grabbed a fistful of shrimp crackers.

Crunch.

"Eat like a normal person."

"Jo Paldeok. Don't be stingy."

"You're wrecking my restocking cycle. I keep a bag in that drawer for a reason."

"You worry about the weirdest things. Just put more in when you fill it."

Crunch.

"Oh, right. Speaking of shrimp crackers — what did you do with that Chinese junkie's body? Toss it in the ocean?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

How you got from shrimp crackers to a corpse was anyone's guess. More to the point, this was not the place ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for that conversation.

"Want to enter the 1st Floor?"

"Forget it. Never mind, then."

Jo Paldeok finished signing the documents, lifted his head, and spoke.

"Hunter Zhang Xuan went missing during a solo Tower run, apparently."

"Did he."

"Must've been short on drug money and tried a low-floor clear."

Die in the Tower and even the body disappeared. A perfect crime, in other words.

Do Hyeoncheol nodded, still chewing. As far as he had been able to determine, Zhang Xuan's disappearance had not even been officially reported to the police. Which meant nobody was supposed to know the cause of death.

"You really haven't changed."

"It was for your son."

"Hm?"

Every current Tracking holder was either clearing their own country's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Tower or locked behind the three-month nationality-change cooldown.

"And Kang Minji is following my orders, so she has no time to go to China."

"So?"

"The only option China has left is Hyeonseok."

"Oho."

On top of that, their rival — the United States — wanted Hyeonseok as well.

"Your boy's market value is going to keep climbing for a while. No ceiling in sight."

And with it, the value of Advance Guild.

"That's not the only reason, though, is it?"

"I don't make a habit of leaving enemies alive."

Zhang Xuan had deliberately tried to screw Advance Guild. There was no telling what kind of enemy he might have become later.

And so he had gone missing.

I returned to the boutique. The two of them were still there.

"I'm back."

"Kyaaang—!"

"What's wrong, Yeohwa?"

Yeohwa greeted me with a desperation that was almost heartbreaking. She looked thoroughly worn out.

"Yeohwa, we're not done yet! Try this one next!"

"Yeohwa, come here! Oppa's clothes are more comfortable, right? Let's put this on!"

Ah. I see. They had been at this the entire time I was gone.

"Oh, Master, you're back!"

"We got Rangi's ready too!"

Rangi flinched on my shoulder. Should I unsummon him?

"The kids are tired. Let's wrap this—"

"GRRAAUGH—!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Rangi had leapt down without warning, every hair on his body standing on end, a growl rolling out of his throat.

"Hey — Rangi, what's wrong?"

"R-Rangi, are you mad at nuna? I'm sorry, I won't put clothes on you, so please calm down, okay?"

He still wouldn't hide his teeth. Then he bolted out of the store.

"Rangi!"

What had gotten into him? I ran after him at once — and a scream tore through the air outside.

"AAAAAGH!"

Oh, hell. Don't tell me.

"R-Rangi, don't—!"

I burst outside and saw Rangi pinning a man to the ground — no. Wait. What was that.

A tiger the size of a small wolf stood in the street.

"Rangi? Is that you?"

"H-holy— what is that? Is that Rangi?"

"Kyaa! Rangi, you can't do that!"

Right — this was not the time. I went straight to the man underneath him.

Attacking a civilian. This is a genuine disaster.

How was I supposed to fix this? A dozen thoughts crashed through my head at once.

"Excuse me, are you alr—"

"O-oh, this is misunderstanding! I am not killer! We want conversation!"

"What?"

Clumsy Korean. A distinct Chinese accent.

Don't tell me.

Rangi unsheathed his claws. The man pinned beneath them scrambled to explain himself.

"Is not kidnapping! I came to respectfully escort you — to the People's Republic of China!"