Two Foxes in the Night Sky

'I have to find a way to get Sehee away from this scene no matter what.'

If Sehee still couldn't shake off her suspicions and flung open the bathroom door behind me, or if Taeseok—who had been trembling inside—couldn't hold back and burst out, then this desperate act I was putting on with my life on the line would collapse instantly, ending in a disastrous, messy love-triangle tragedy.

Once I'd made up my mind, I leaned my entire body against Sehee's shoulder, her arms still wrapped tightly around my waist. Then I raised both arms and coiled them around her smooth nape like a soft, sticky serpent.

"Come on, honey..."

"Huh? H-honey, what's wrong? Are you hurting somewhere?!"

Sehee's voice flipped with urgency at the sudden closeness. I brought my face right up to her ear, close enough for my breath to brush against it, and whispered in a languid, melting voice.

It was the ultimate 'foxy act,' pouring every last shred of my soul into it—my pathetic pride as the former ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Rank 1 hunter tossed straight into the trash.

"I'll tell you everything once we're alone together on the way. Okay? I'm freezing and exhausted right now, honey..."

"Ah..."

Every time my lips grazed her ear, I felt Sehee's body flinch and stiffen noticeably beneath the arms wrapped around her nape.

I drove the point home, tightening my embrace around her nape and pulling her deeper into me while letting out a pained moan.

"I... want to sleep over at your place tonight. With a body this weak, like some pathetic guppy... I don't think I can handle being alone tonight. I'm scared."

"......!!"

With those words, I tilted my head slightly and looked up at Sehee with wet eyes.

The thin silk dress clung obscenely to my sweat-drenched skin. My face was pale from coughing up blood after the skill backlash, my shoulders trembling pitifully. And on top of it all, the blind, seductive gaze I gave her while nestled in my ex-girlfriend's arms, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠begging her to stay the night because I was scared.

Right now, I was firing off the ultimate charm skill that a stat-1 vixen's body could produce, without a single ounce of error.

In the end, Sehee let out a small sigh and nodded. Her strong yet gentle arms pulled my sweat-slicked waist and back into a tight, seamless embrace.

"Got it. Hold on tight, honey. Flying."

Whoosh—!

Along with Sehee's low, enchanting incantation, gravity vanished and our bodies shot straight up into the pitch-black night sky.

"Hng...!"

That sudden, tingling sensation of floating. It was the same dizzying thrill you get sitting at the very back of a Viking ride at its highest point—your stomach fluttering, toes tingling. I reflexively tightened my arms around Sehee's neck, clinging to her body.

Once we reached about the height of a building rooftop, Sehee began gliding through the air toward her house in earnest. The speed was incredible, like clinging to the back of a motorcycle tearing through the night at full throttle.

"Honey... this feeling is amazing...!"

A pure exclamation slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it. The cool dawn air felt refreshing against my skin through the thin, sweat-soaked silk dress. The fierce wind whipping past my ears and the sound of slicing through the sky brought a strange sense of liberation.

Sehee's steady heartbeat, carrying me through the night sky, resonated clearly against my chest. It felt like we were the only two people left in the world. Even the cold sweat running down my back seemed to wash away, and I found myself wanting to hold onto this moment forever.

That was when it happened.

"By the way, honey—!!"

Sehee's voice cut through the roaring wind like it was tearing my eardrums.

"What about Taeseok earlier—!! Why'd you send him away—?!"

Her voice kept breaking from the wind pressure, but the sharp core of her question pierced straight into my ears. I bit my lip hard. If I gave a sloppy lie here, there was no way I'd fool this sharp ex-girlfriend of mine.

So I decided to stick strictly to the facts. I pressed my lips right against her ear and raised my voice.

"Taeseok asked—!! After my body turned into a woman's, what our relationship was supposed to be—!!"

For a split second, Sehee's flight speed through the air faltered. Her arms holding me tightened with crushing force.

"What?! What do you mean?! What did you say—!!"

Sehee's voice sharpened, trying not to be drowned out by the wind. It was the precarious tension right before her fierce possessiveness and jealousy as an ex-girlfriend exploded.

I wrapped my arms more seductively around her nape and drove the nail in.

"Mmm. So I told him he's just my comrade and little brother—!"

'......A fact with not even a shred of guilt attached.'

Even though barely ten minutes ago I'd been tangled up with that "little brother" in a cramped bathroom stall, swapping tongues like beasts and swallowing saliva. Still, the definition of our relationship that had come out of my own mouth was "little brother." I shamelessly rationalized it to myself.

And the moment my words landed—

"......Ah."

A small, trembling sigh escaped Sehee's lips.

The predatory glint that had been burning in her eyes just moments ago as she interrogated me instantly melted into relief and thick, sweet joy. It was the smile of a victor who had perfectly eliminated a bothersome male rival.

"I knew it... That's my honey. You have to draw a clear line with that beastly guy."

Sehee didn't ask anything else. A perfect escape from crisis.

Ding—!

At that moment, messages from the impatient gods began popping up noisily across my retina.

The gods' dumbfounded yet vivid reactions made me chuckle inwardly.

But I lightly ignored their cries and decided to focus only on the reality in front of me.

Whoosh—!

The cold night air of dawn lashed fiercely against my back, and I instinctively clung tighter to the warm Sehee in front of me like a lifeline to escape the biting wind.

"Hngh..."

Sehee let out a small moan at my closeness.

Her scorching body heat seeped through the thin, sweat-drenched silk dress. And the sensation of our chests pressed together without a single gap began to feel strangely soft and peculiar.

'Ah......'

It was completely different from the softness I'd felt when I used to hold Sehee with my old, solid, muscular male body. Now that I'd become a woman, it was the mutual softness of our full curves pressing and meeting without any space between them.

'Is my chest right now... as soft as Sehee's?'

My sensitive stat-1 body absorbed that unfamiliar, fluffy stimulation completely, sending a tingle down my spine. Wrapped in a bizarre mix of guilt and curiosity, I suddenly looked down at my own wrist wrapped around Sehee's nape.

High in the pitch-black sky, my arms trembling in the wind were impossibly slender and pale.

The thick wrists that once swung a heavy greatsword like a feather across battlefields were nowhere to be found. These were the endlessly delicate, fragile hands of a woman who looked like they would snap if someone squeezed even a little.

Yet Sehee held this frail version of me without the slightest tremor, steady and secure, as she cut through the night sky.

It hit me anew. Sehee had always been this amazing woman.

My lover and reliable comrade. Even back in my prime when I reigned as Rank 1, she was never some weak girl hiding behind me for protection. She always stood right beside me, boldly wielding her magic, the one and only perfect partner I could entrust my back to.

And now that same amazing woman was burning with blind affection, determined to protect my current weakest-possible body.

Not as the reliable boyfriend I used to be, but even as this frail and seductive woman's body. Strangely, a quiet desire began to smolder in my chest—to keep this sticky relationship with Sehee going somehow.

Of course, the trashy conscience that had been rubbing lips and swallowing saliva with that beastly junior in the bathroom stall just ten minutes ago felt a little pricked. But I didn't want to lose this bold, charming ex-girlfriend who seemed willing to give me everything from my life forever.

Rather, now that I'd become a stat-1 guppy, her warmth that completely enveloped me felt more dizzyingly sweet and reassuring than ever before. A strange, sticky bond that transcended the wall of gender—or perhaps bloomed anew because we were now the same woman.

I could tell just by looking.

She was definitely hiding snacks from me.

'Yeah. Let's try to keep this relationship going somehow.'

Until I regained my original strength, or maybe even long after. I wanted to stay by Sehee's side as someone special and secret, using every means this seductive and sensitive body allowed.

The path to her private space, pressed skin-to-skin with my ex-girlfriend who radiated blind obsession toward me, high above the pitch-black night sky.

I swallowed dryly and buried my face deeper into Sehee's shoulder in the cool wind. No matter what dizzying night ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠awaited beyond her front door, I felt like I could gladly handle it.