The Fox Marble
All at once, the sound vanished. The silence was so complete that not even a breath could be heard, and Yeo-won slowly blinked.
A few seconds later, her expression flooded with horror.
She had realized what she had just blurted out.
“No, I didn’t mean it that way…!”
Yeo-won’s face burned crimson with shame. Her lips fluttered as she stammered, until she finally hung her head, unable to bear the embarrassment.
Just kill me. Please, just let me die, Han Yeo-won.
She had never been particularly eloquent, but never before had she so bitterly cursed the limits of her own tongue.
As Yeo-won gnawed at her lip and inwardly tormented herself, a rich, booming laugh rang out from above.
When he laughed, the frigid air in the room lifted, replaced by a gentle warmth. Yeo-won’s eyes widened in surprise, but he only continued chuckling, thoroughly amused.
It was better than anger, yet his laughter somehow felt even more unsettling.
As if to prove her unease correct, his gaze slid toward Cheong-sil. Though his smile remained picture-perfect, his eyes were as cold as a winter blizzard.
Cheong-sil, still dangling by the scruff of his neck, squirmed violently. His fluffy tail trembled as he pleaded in a pitiful voice.
Tears welled up in his large, doll-like eyes.
The sight was pitiful enough to stir sympathy, but he had brought this on himself.
Yeo-won inwardly called him a clueless fox and shot him a merciless glare.
Before the words had even fully left his mouth, Cheong-sil began thrashing wildly. After a desperate struggle, he finally broke free and flung himself into Yeo-won’s arms.
He burrowed his face between her arm and her side, trembling without end.
At the pitiful whimpering, Yeo-won let out a small sigh.
When such a tiny ball of fluff shook this violently, even her heart softened. Besides, skinning him really did seem excessively cruel.
“Um… skinning him seems a little harsh. He still looks like a pup…”
When Yeo-won spoke up cautiously, Cheong-sil’s trembling stopped at once.
Shin-wol let out a short burst of laughter.
Though he was smiling, the eyes that watched Cheong-sil remained strangely icy.
At the cold words, Cheong-sil flinched.
His once-proudly raised tail and ears drooped limply. Unlike before, he swallowed his sobs, desperately trying to hold back his tears.
Yeo-won still found the fox’s earlier words unforgivable. Yet to see him hide in the arms of a complete stranger like this… just how terrifying must this man be to him?
Had he lived in fear like this for a hundred endless years?
“…I know this is presumptuous of me to say.”
Yeo-won gently stroked Cheong-sil’s back. She could feel the trembling through his soft fur.
“Couldn’t this fox also be doing his best in his own way? It seemed like he only said that because he wanted to be praised.”
It was truly an overstep. But she wasn’t heartless enough to ignore the pitiful creature burrowing into her embrace.
The casual question carried an obvious ulterior motive. It sounded as though he were ordering her to deliver the punishment with her own hands.
After a brief hesitation, Yeo-won let out a small sigh and answered.
“…He was that frightened. Isn’t that enough now?”
The moment she finished speaking, Cheong-sil perked his ears and cautiously lifted his head halfway from her side.
The way his eyes sparkled as if she were his savior left Yeo-won speechless.
He had lived a hundred years, yet his speech was still so childlike.
To her eyes, Cheong-sil truly looked like an underdeveloped pup.
Yeo-won, who had been looking down at Cheong-sil, suddenly lifted her head.
Shin-wol met her gaze with a smile. It was a bewitching, strangely familiar smile.
“Twice?”
Yeo-won’s brows furrowed slightly. Aside from when he had helped her while she was being chased, had there been another time? Now that she thought about it, even then he had seemed oddly familiar.
She was certain she had seen him somewhere before, but the memory remained frustratingly out of reach.
When she finally looked at him in confusion, he clicked his tongue softly.
“Enchanted?”
She wasn’t entirely sure, but it did sound familiar. And most stories involving foxes usually ended with the victim having their liver devoured…
Yeo-won shrank back warily.
A large hand cupped her cheek. Before she could resist, something touched her lips and then pulled away.
Chu.
The world turned golden. His eyes, like transparent jewels, were so close they seemed to fill her entire vision.
At that languid voice, the fog in her mind lifted as if it had never been there.
Meeting Cheong-sil on Mount Inwol. The sound of an empty bell ringing. A black fox appearing, and then…
As the memories unfolded like a panorama, Yeo-won’s face slowly burned scarlet.
She couldn’t speak. Her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish.
She remembered. It hadn’t been a mere glimpse of his face.
Even if the pain had stolen my reason, how could I have done something so… so shameless…
It would have been far better to remain oblivious.
The memories crashed over her like waves. She bit down on her lip as if to resist them, but it was useless.
Her head naturally bowed toward the floor.
She couldn’t possibly meet his eyes.
To Yeo-won, who had never even dated, let alone experienced anything resembling a fling, such an act with a complete stranger was an enormous shock.
Get a hold of yourself. The kiss isn’t the problem right now.
Yeo-won shook her head, trying to banish the vivid recollection of that day.
She turned his words over in her mind.
The conclusion was that he had helped her.
And the fact that he had emphasized it meant he wanted something in return.
Yes. What was a kiss, really?
Yeo-won steadied her expression as best she could and slowly spoke.
“Thank you… for helping me.”
Her voice grew smaller and smaller toward the end; she couldn’t help it. Not only the kiss, but now she also remembered sobbing like a child in front of him.
Even with her squeezed-out words of gratitude, Shin-wol simply wore an ambiguous expression and said nothing.
“Pardon?”
Being compared to a beast stung, but that wasn’t the important part.
Repayment? She hadn’t thought that far.
Yeo-won glanced at him carefully and fell into deep thought.
“If it’s a monetary reward, then within the limits of what I can afford…”
He cut her off decisively.
Honestly, if he wanted something, he should have said so from the beginning.
Yeo-won pouted, displeased.
“Then what do you want?”
At her question, a dangerous light flickered in his golden eyes.
“A marble?”
Was this some nonsense he was spouting out of nowhere?
Though she found the statement incomprehensible, his expression was so serious that she couldn’t simply dismiss it.
Yeo-won’s eyes darted around as she patted her clothes. She knew the only thing she carried was a crumpled receipt, but she felt she should at least pretend to search.
“I don’t have anything like that…”
He chuckled and reached toward her. As a hand large enough to cover her entire face approached, Yeo-won instinctively tried to pull away.
His voice was as gentle as if he were soothing a child, yet it carried a strange, compelling power.
His fingertips finally touched her cheek. The hand against her flushed skin was so cold it raised goosebumps.
“Eep.”
After lingering on her cheek, Shin-wol’s hand moved to her eyes. His fingers traced along her eyelids, then gently caressed her long, thick lashes.
The touch was so delicate it felt as though he were handling a precious jewel. Yeo-won’s body flinched of its own accord.
When she squeezed her eyes shut, Shin-wol urged her.
He had only touched her face, yet the sensation was strangely intimate.
Through the gaps in his long fingers, her brown eyes were visible. As he gazed at her trembling pupils, a faint jade light flickered deep within them.
It was Shin-wol’s fox marble—the one stolen from him five hundred years ago by ‘that child.’