#71 The Nine-Tailed Fox
Choi Kang-ho sat in a lavish palace. Lavish? No, he shook his head. The room, decorated in such a cute and dainty way, felt like a scene straight out of a fairy tale—like a dollhouse brought to life.
"......"
Crunch, crunch, crunch!
Kang-ho watched Seol-a mercilessly devouring plate after endless plate from across the room. Fairies stood in line before her, each holding platters slightly larger than themselves. Spotting the cotton-candy-like treat in front of her, Seol-a snapped it up in one bite. It was called bread fruit—a straightforward name that perfectly matched its taste: soft, filled with cream like a cream puff.
'Wonder if I could grow one of those.'
Lost in such thoughts, Kang-ho glanced at the fairies before him. Human-sized fairies. He'd never imagined ones like these. The fairies he'd encountered before were all palm-sized little things, and even Johanna hadn't grown this big.
'This Great Spirit Stone must be something special.'
Learning about unknown worlds. Kang-ho found it quite intriguing and smiled faintly. He quickly pieced together what the Great Spirit Stone was.
'Eternal Crystal.'
It was the Eternal Crystal unique to each dimension. Just as the druids' forest life spring cradled its own Eternal Crystal, this Great Spirit Stone held Toonworld's.
[Ah.]
[You're smiling.]
[What a relief.]
[We thought you were in a bad mood, Absolute One.]
The four princesses before him finally relaxed, chattering away like birds.
"Sorry about that. I had some things on my mind. Thank you for the hospitality first off."
Kang-ho spoke politely, and the eldest among them replied. Her name was Ariana. The four princesses looked strikingly similar in an almost mystical way, but Ariana stood out with her flowing blue hair.
[We're the ones who should thank you, Absolute One. For bringing back our lost Johanna—we'll never forget this grace.]
Thanks to the translation magic, their fairy tongue came through clearly. She was exceedingly polite, every gesture exuding elegance.
Kang-ho had always wondered: Why are fairies so weak? From an ecological standpoint, they shouldn't exist. They were beings doomed to natural extinction. Most creatures had some defense mechanism, from lowly bugs and plants to massive beasts—no exceptions. But fairies? Nothing. Not a single one. All they had was their unique aura that revitalized nature.
[Um, excuse me, Absolute One.]
The second princess raised her hand.
"Yes."
[May I...]
The second princess hesitated before speaking again. Her name was Grandis, with emerald bobbed hair. Her gaze was fixed on Seol-a's plump cheeks.
[May I touch Silver White Fang?]
"......"
[You fool! Such rudeness...]
The eldest smacked the second's back. Kang-ho chuckled and nodded.
"Of course. Seol-a, come here."
"!"
Seol-a, on her 42nd plate, looked up. She toddled over and climbed onto Kang-ho's lap.
"Yummy!"
Seol-a beamed up at him.
[Kyaa...]
The second princess bit her lip, face flushed with ecstasy. At Kang-ho's nod, she tentatively reached out, hesitating before touching Seol-a's cheek.
[S-so soft. Oh my, impossible.]
[Is it?]
[Yes, sister. You try... Oops, my big mouth.]
The second covered her mouth and bowed deeply to Seol-a.
[Forgive me, Silver White Fang. I lost myself before our guardian deity.]
"Don't worry about it."
Kang-ho waved it off, and the quietest third princess spoke up.
[Um...]
The third was a girl with long black hair, named Katrina. She spoke cautiously.
[Me too...]
"......"
At Kang-ho's nod, the third stroked Seol-a's cheek and trembled. The youngest, Johanna, smiled watching her sisters, her eyes brimming with love for her long-lost family.
'I see.'
Kang-ho nodded slowly.
'Johanna's homeland. Returning home is every crash-landor's dream.'
He felt a strange affection for her. Emotions were peculiar things. After 30 years holed up in Cheorwon's mountains, Kang-ho realized his heart was softening, bit by bit.
[Forgive our rudeness, Absolute One. The last Silver White Fang we saw was enormous.]
Kang-ho nodded at the eldest's words. His memories of White Fangs were based on Seolhwa, who had been larger than Furball now—enough to make a rough guess.
[Even this transformed form looks just like you, Absolute One.]
They meant his adult male form.
"I see."
Yes. Seeing Seol-a giggling on his lap, Kang-ho felt a twinge of reluctance knowing she'd grow that big someday.
Suddenly, he sensed a shadow beneath the sisters' cheerful chatter.
'Come to think of it.'
Something felt off. Palace. Four princesses. Something was missing.
"The king seems to be away at the moment?"
[Ah...]
[......]
[......]
The sisters fell silent, a heavy quiet settling in.
[Mother and Father exhausted all their energy reinforcing the Great Fairy Stone and entered a long slumber.]
"......?"
The eldest stood.
[If it's not too rude...]
"Of course."
Kang-ho nodded readily. Following the princesses to the royal bedchamber, he saw an elderly couple lying neatly on the bed, lost in deep sleep, their faces serene.
Kang-ho gently took the king's wrist.
'His energy is extremely faint.'
The queen was the same.
"What happened?"
The eldest hesitated before explaining.
[A few months ago... a Corpse Dragon revived in the north.]
Corpse Dragon. Kang-ho echoed.
"The Corpse Dragon Johanna mentioned from the past...?"
[Yes. It's still festering grotesquely in the north. But it came back to life. Smaller than before, but that foul aura unchanged.]
The eldest sighed.
[Without the White Fangs who rushed to our aid, Fairy Tale would have fallen already...]
White Fangs. Kang-ho nodded. It clicked then—the reason fairies lacked defenses.
'They don't lack them. Their defense is the White Fangs.'
That's why fairies became easy prey outside Toonworld. Oddly, when opening the gate to Mu continent before, Seol-a's third tail—born from absorbing Mu's Eternal Crystal—had shimmered. A clue, perhaps. But this time, only her original white tail glowed.
'Maybe White Fangs originated in Toonworld.'
Kang-ho pondered, then recalled the Corpse Dragon.
'Suspicious.'
A dead being revived? He needed to see the corpse first.
* * *
Thud—
Thud—
Thud—
Kang-ho raced north. The surroundings were paradise itself—a vibrant otherworld stretching endlessly in dazzling colors.
But at some point, the hues drained away, the world turning gray.
'Demonic energy?'
Faint demonic energy—so subtle only someone as attuned to mana as Kang-ho could detect it. But unsettling.
'It's concealed.'
Hidden presence. An advanced technique. Kang-ho knew well how hard it was to suppress one's power.
'Well, well?'
He accelerated.
Whoosh!
The vast Fairy Tale landscape blurred past in an instant.
Trot-trot-trot!
Kang-ho smiled at Seol-a chasing breathlessly behind.
'She's grown a lot.'
Transformed into her fox form, tongue lolling, she pushed hard to keep up. Kang-ho wore training gear of immense weight, offset by mana for daily life but fully applied otherwise. Even so, Seol-a had improved. Her legs were muscled and sturdy, her frame well-developed. Her standout traits: endurance and toughness, fueled by—
'Her fighting spirit.'
That unyielding refusal to lose would drive her growth.
'Still, I hope she stays our little Seol-a forever.'
Kang-ho had no children of his own, but he understood the feeling now, raising her.
As that thought faded—
"......"
He reached the vast northern land where the Corpse Dragon had died. Even from the sky, it was immense.
'Ridiculously huge.'
The blackened, upright corpse loomed. Size-wise, like Korea's—
'63 Building, maybe?'
Snake-like, half reared up, half coiled around the earth. Its length was staggering, but the girth absurd—like a black mountain range from afar. The ancient White Fangs had triumphed over this. Their prowess was imaginable.
Pant, pant—
Seol-a arrived late, standing before him with expectant eyes. Kang-ho smiled.
"Our Seol-a is the best, the greatest."
Yip!
He scooped her up. Noticing the coils gripping something, he began climbing the body. Decades had birthed a new ecosystem: moss, grass, even trees in spots, creating a grotesque landscape of dark foliage.
At the coiled center rose a mountain, hidden from outside by the layered body but visible within. Low and rocky, it emanated an uncanny sacred aura.
"......!"
Kang-ho headed there. Made of white stones, neat yet irregular. At the peak: a large cave.
He entered slowly.
"!"
Seol-a perked up, head snapping around. The cave was deep, oddly familiar. Kang-ho tilted his head, proceeding cautiously.
Plop!
Seol-a leaped down, scanning before dashing ahead—totter-totter! Kang-ho hurried after. Dim yet faintly lit, the cave felt oddly cozy.
Suddenly, a vast chamber opened. On its wall: a massive engraving of a fox.
A nine-tailed fox. Each tail shimmering with bizarre hues.
"......!"
Kang-ho had seen this mural before.
In Seol-a's dream, where she gazed longingly at the image.