The Fox's Long-Awaited Meal
The precise pronunciation reverberated not in her ears but directly inside her skull. It was unmistakably human speech, the kind no animal could ever produce.
The tongue against her cheek, the colossal black fox, the voice echoing through her mind.
She had no idea what to feel shocked by first. Yeo-won remained frozen in place, her slightly parted lips completely forgotten.
The piercing golden gaze slowly traveled down her body.
Can't you speak?
The pointed question drained the color from her face. Yeo-won stammered, on the verge of collapse.
"A fox... a fox is talking..."
How amusing. If mere humans who live less than a century can do it, why shouldn't I?
The fox's eyes narrowed into sly crescents.
Maybe this was a dream. Maybe she had gotten lost in the mountains, passed out, and this was all in her head.
Or perhaps it was a hallucination. After all, Yeo-won had always been able to see ghosts. Hearing voices or seeing illusions at this point shouldn't come as any surprise.
Yes. This had to be a hallucination. A fox bigger than a house? Impossible.
This low vantage point is rather inconvenient.
Just as she was desperately denying reality, a low voice drifted down from above her head.
The thick fog that had been spreading lazily began to gather around the fox.
A whirlwind whipped through the air, and the mist gradually cleared. From within it, a tall, powerfully built man emerged instead of the fox.
He wore his glossy black hair long and loose, and his disheveled hanbok hung on his frame with an elegant sort of carelessness.
It's been several hundred years since I last took human form.
The man clenched and unclenched his fists, testing the movement of his new body.
Though he had imitated a human shape perfectly, the nine tails swaying behind him, the glowing golden eyes, and the vertically slit pupils all proclaimed that he was anything but.
He swept his long hair back and approached Yeo-won, smiling with seductive grace.
There. Now our eyes are properly level.
He was still tall enough that she had to crane her neck, but that was no longer the problem.
Had she truly been bewitched by a fox?
Her brain shut down from sheer confusion. The man's eyes narrowed as he looked down at her motionless form.
"Ugh...!"
He suddenly seized her cheek in a brutal grip and yanked her forward. Not content with that, he twisted her head this way and that like a toy, inspecting her.
Judging by the texture of your flesh, you must be a descendant. Well, of course. No human could live for hundreds of years.
His strength was so overwhelming that Yeo-won's face turned helplessly under his fingers.
She couldn't even register what he was saying. The sting of her scratched cheek from his long fingernails finally jolted her back to her senses.
When red marks rose against her pale skin, the pressure in his hand eased slightly.
"Let go!"
Yeo-won seized the moment and shoved him with all her might.
Fortunately, he released her without resistance. If he had braced himself, her face would have suffered far worse damage.
The corner of his mouth curved into a chilling smile.
What an ill-mannered child. I would be perfectly justified in tearing you all to pieces.
When Yeo-won staggered backward, the man closed the distance again. She kept retreating until her back hit something solid and she could go no farther.
"D-don't come any closer."
Terrified, Yeo-won barely managed to force the words out. The man ignored her completely and grabbed her by the collar, lifting her off the ground.
Because of his height, her feet dangled in the air.
Close enough to feel his breath, he stared down at her with an expressionless face.
Her own terrified reflection stared back at her from his clear golden eyes.
This must be how a rabbit felt before a lion. His large hand looked as though it could snap her neck at any moment.
"H-hic..."
The tears she could no longer hold back spilled down her cheeks. When Yeo-won cried, the man let out a sharp, cold laugh.
Yes. There it is.
"Sob... let go, please let me go."
Yeo-won's hands clutched desperately at the fist gripping her collar. It was a pitiful resistance, but the best she could manage.
At the sight of her trembling form, the man chuckled as if entertained.
Let you go? I've waited five hundred years to reclaim this.
He licked his lips as though savoring the moment. Through her blurring vision, she could faintly see his face drawing closer.
When Yeo-won squeezed her eyes shut, he whispered directly into her ear.
Don't worry. I have no intention of killing you now. For the moment, I simply...
Something damp touched her cheek. It felt similar to when the fox had licked her, only warmer.
Let me enjoy a meal I've waited far too long for.
"Hngh!"
The man's tongue traced the path of her tears.
Startled, Yeo-won flinched and tried to pull away, but his arm had already wrapped around her waist.
The hand that had gripped her collar now held her cheek firmly in place. He wasn't using the same brutal force as before, yet she remained completely immobilized.
Pushing against his shoulders was useless. Despite her weak struggles, the man continued licking away her tears without the slightest concern.
"Hic... sob."
The eerie sensation made Yeo-won whimper. His lips followed the trail of tears and pressed against her eyelids.
Only after he had drawn even the last drop clinging to the corner of her eye into his mouth did he let out a satisfied sigh.
Normally she would have fought wildly, but for some reason her body refused to obey.
She didn't understand the meaning behind any of this. All she could think was that she wanted this moment to end quickly.
If only this were a dream.
His lips touched her eye again before pulling away. The right side of her eye socket burned with an unnaturally intense heat.
"It hurts... it hurts..."
This wasn't the usual swelling from crying. The completely foreign pain tore a tortured moan from her throat. The agony felt as if her eye were being scorched. Yeo-won clawed at the man's shoulders, the ones she had been pushing against moments ago.
While she writhed in pain, the man spoke in a calm, almost gentle whisper.
This is karma. Retribution for your ancestor who stole the Maegu's marble.
As if savoring her suffering, he continued to press his lips to her eye with leisurely grace.
"It hurts, it hurts... sob!"
You look truly miserable.
Not a trace of pity or sympathy could be heard in his voice.
Yeo-won had neither the presence of mind to process his words nor the capacity to understand them. Simply enduring the pain that made her want to gouge out her own eye was taking everything she had.
Here, I'll help you. Open your mouth.
Anything. She would have given him her soul if it would stop the pain.
Her lips parted slightly. Behind them, her small red tongue trembled like a cherry.
The man's eyes narrowed with satisfaction before he claimed her mouth completely.
A thick tongue pushed between her parted lips. Yeo-won jolted at the unfamiliar invasion.
He coiled around her hidden tongue and sucked on it wetly, then explored every corner of her mouth, gently teasing the soft flesh.
His hand stroked down her throat, the touch so tender it seemed to coax her into swallowing.
"Mmm..."
Yeo-won swallowed the saliva that had pooled awkwardly in her mouth.
The saliva she couldn't quite manage to swallow dribbled down from the corner of her lips.
Then, as if by magic, the pain began to subside.
When she instinctively opened her mouth wider, he rewarded her by pushing his tongue even deeper.
Yeo-won could no longer tell what she was doing. Her mind, clouded by pain, felt wrapped in thick fog.
How much time had passed? Their lips finally parted after what seemed like an eternity, connected by a sticky silver strand of saliva.
The broken thread of saliva was drawn into the man's mouth and disappeared. Still not satisfied, he licked the corner of her lips once more and clicked his tongue in mild regret.
Yeo-won gasped for breath, her body twisting weakly.
Her reed-like frame swayed before finally tilting to one side.
The man caught her as she collapsed, murmuring softly.
Goodness. Fainting after only this much?
His seductive lips curved into a beautiful arc.
This was your first time having your spiritual energy drawn out. You should rest a while.
Yeo-won didn't even hear the rest. Her eyelids fluttered weakly before she lost consciousness completely.
*
It was the next morning when Yeo-won finally opened her eyes again.
Lying down, she rolled her eyes and realized she was in Grandmother Yoon's house.
"Why am I here..."
She clearly remembered climbing the mountain to collect the medicinal spring water, filling the plastic bottle, and then the fog growing so thick she couldn't descend...
Everything after that was blank. Her memories felt jagged, as if pieces had been cut away, refusing to connect smoothly.
As she sat there in a daze, footsteps sounded from outside. They were light, so they probably belonged to Grandmother Yoon.
As if to confirm her guess, Grandmother Yoon's voice came through the door, accompanied by a groan. "Aigoo."
Yeo-won stayed silent and waited for the door to open.
When Grandmother Yoon entered and saw Yeo-won sitting up, she jumped in surprise.
"When did you wake up!"
"Just now. But why am I here..."
"Goodness gracious, don't even speak of it. The sun was already setting and you hadn't come down, so I went up to look and found you collapsed on the mountain! I told you it was dangerous, didn't I?"
Grandmother Yoon raised her hand high, then stopped. She had been about to smack the girl on the back, but Yeo-won's complexion was so deathly pale that a single tap might knock her over. Instead, the old woman struck her own chest.
"You nearly died out there all alone. Do you know where I found you? It was a narrow animal trail that even the beasts rarely use. Getting all the way in there was quite the feat, quite the feat!"
Just before sunset, Grandmother Yoon had gone up Mount Inwol with her husband.
But Yeo-won was nowhere near the spring or the mountain path.
If the sun went down, wild animals would start roaming. It would become even more dangerous.
She was anxiously wondering whether she should report it when something fell onto her head with a soft thud.
It was a pine cone.
When she looked up, a squirrel perched on a branch was tilting its head at her.
She tried to ignore it and keep going, but another pine cone dropped onto her head.
The squirrel leaped to a tree in the opposite direction, still watching her as if to say, Follow me.
Noticing the strange behavior, Grandmother Yoon followed the squirrel. It nimbly led her along paths no humans used, through animal trails and steep slopes.
Every time she hesitated, another pine cone would fall from above.
Though it annoyed her, the behavior was too peculiar to dismiss. Following the squirrel with growing suspicion, she finally found Yeo-won collapsed at the end of the animal trail.
Even while placing the porridge she had brought onto Yeo-won's lap, Grandmother Yoon didn't stop scolding her.
Yeo-won listened in silence for a while before suddenly speaking.
"Grandmother..."
"What?"
Despite her gruff tone, the way she blew on the porridge to cool it was full of tenderness.
Yeo-won thought how nice it would have been if Grandmother Yoon had been her real family.
With a weak smile, she slowly asked.
"Did I manage to bring back the spring water?"
At the question, Grandmother Yoon froze as if struck on the back of the head, then immediately raised her hand.
"You foolish child!"
Smack!
The crisp sound of the slap against her back echoed through the room.