The City of Foxes
Hoeyeon, Gayul, and Yujeong each reacted differently to the underground city.
"F-fox ears everywhere...! So fluffy... and the tails, too...!"
Hoeyeon's breathing grew ragged as she stared openly at the Fox-kin, only to realize how rude she was being and hastily restrain herself.
"How is this even possible...? This could never have been built in a single construction project. Has it been expanding for hundreds of years...?"
Arang marveled at the city's structure and admired its beautiful scenery.
"Uuuugh... I'm sorry... Please just spare me......"
Yujeong, the one who had smashed through the ceiling, was flat on the ground, trembling as she prostrated herself.
"Don't take it so hard, Yujeong."
Brushing the dust from her body, Arang comforted her.
"This city ought to have seen the sunlight long ago. The method may have been a touch radical, but..."
"Please just spare me..."
"Come now, pull yourself together and stand up."
Arang hauled her up with an exasperated look, and Yujeong immediately clung to her waist—ready to beg the elder's granddaughter for protection if anything went wrong.
"S-so fluffy..."
"Hoeyeon, I rather feel like binding your hands. Would that be all right? Just in case."
"This one agrees as well."
"Could you not treat me like some weirdo? The way you say it makes it sound like I'm the kind of person who gets excited over demi-humans' special body parts!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"W-why is everyone so quiet...?"
Seizing the moment of silence among the four, the elder approached, the tap of her cane announcing her.
"...I shall receive you as guests. Follow me."
Your grandmother?
Hoeyeon asked with a glance. Arang gave a small nod.
The walk from the crash site to the residence was not far, yet the number of eyes fixed upon the four was beyond counting.
"Th-they're staring so hard..."
Yujeong was no longer glued to Arang's waist, but she still kept a firm grip on the fabric at her side.
"Is it any wonder? Mere curiosity—do not take it too much to heart."
"Y-yes..."
As Yujeong glanced about, she spotted two girls looking their way and whispering among themselves.
"...Those three, with Lady Arang..."
"Who's Lady Arang's mate... Wait, all three of them...?"
Arang shot them a glare, and the pair scrambled to hide behind a wall.
"Those children from earlier, I see..."
"Huh?"
"It is nothing."
With a sigh, Arang gestured to the three once they reached the residence.
"Here we are. All of you, come inside."
"The decorations are a bit... unique, aren't they?"
"Hm? Ah, you mean these weapons."
When Yujeong commented on the weapons littering the garden all the way to the front gate, Arang explained.
"Not decorations. Those are the ones that fellow flung at this one just a short while ago."
"Pardon?"
Yujeong started to ask again, but the even greater chaos that greeted them when the front door opened shut her mouth.
"I mean, between family... No, never mind."
It was not a conversation for these four.
"What of it? Kin trying to kill one another is hardly uncommon."
Gayul spoke as if it were nothing.
"I myself nearly lost my life to that person once."
"That person...? You mean your teacher?"
At Hoeyeon's question, Gayul nodded.
"Still, it is curious—trying to kill each other moments ago, and now sitting here as if nothing happened."
"It was not so grand an affair."
Arang laughed lightly.
"In the end we merely hurled harsh words at one another. Once we worked off the anger by running wild, it was something we could move past."
"D-didn't you say this was the person who hated you most in the entire world...?"
Still holding Arang's waist, Yujeong realized that if the elder was an enemy, the status of granddaughter would be of no help at all, and let go.
"She has every reason to, but..."
Arang turned her gaze aside.
"The words were merely a little harsh."
"A little?"
Hoeyeon raised an eyebrow without the slightest attempt to hide it, but Arang kept her eyes averted and pretended not to notice.
The elder, who had been leading the way, spoke for the first time once they entered the study.
"My granddaughter smashed the window and left the place in this state, but please, make yourselves comfortable."
"Your words are so full of thorns they'll catch in my throat, Grandmother."
Arang laughed heartily, but Yujeong groaned inwardly.
Even if she tells us to sit...
One table, four chairs.
There were already fewer chairs than people, and one of those was unusable after tea had been spilled on it.
Who would sit, who would stand, which seat was the place of honor... Imagining the battle of nerves and the struggle for dominance made Yujeong's head ache.
"I gratefully accept your kindness."
At that moment Gayul spoke and calmly sat down on the floor.
"Eh?"
Yujeong made a blank sound, but Gayul gestured for her to sit as if it were the most natural thing in the world. By the time Yujeong hurriedly planted her rear on the floor, Hoeyeon and Arang were already seated.
And with the same matter-of-fact air, Gayul addressed the elder.
"Being covered in dust has left my throat rather rough. If it would not be too much trouble, might I ask you to extend your kindness once more?"
She had been tested—and overturned the board of the test itself.
And she had trusted that the others would follow as naturally as breathing when she did so. They had.
Then, so that the other party would not feel merely slighted, she emphasized "kindness" and "favor" while requesting something small—raising up, with care, the one she had just brought low.
In the end she seized complete control of the room, yet left the other side feeling not wounded pride, but admiration.
"I thought my granddaughter's way with words had improved remarkably... so she has been tempering herself against someone like you..."
"I win about half the time, you know."
Arang laughed, and Gayul smiled as well. The elder drew a deep breath.
"You there! Bring cool water!"
She called to the servant beyond the door, then sat down on the floor herself.
"If it is something this old woman knows, I shall tell you everything. Ask whatever you wish."
It was her second surrender of the day.
What the elder told them, summarized, was this:
In the time of the elder's own grandmother—Arang's great-great-grandmother—someone had arrived carrying a pair of daggers and begged that they be safeguarded here.
Arang's great-great-grandmother had accepted, and hidden them in the deepest part of the city. In the course of stopping those who tried to steal them, Arang's parents had been killed.
One of the pair of daggers had been taken then. The other was still under their protection.
Having said that much, she rose. The four needed to discuss the information they had learned, and the hour for the evening meal was drawing near.
"Ugh..."
Each of the four had been given a guest room, so Hoeyeon flopped alone onto the bed in hers. Strangely, the quiet made her uneasy.
Why?
She wondered, but it did not take long to understand. Ever since the day she had reunited with Gayul, someone had always been at her side. She had never been alone.
"Not even a single day...?"
She tried saying it aloud because the silence felt so odd, but it was not very satisfying. No matter how she thought about it, someone truly had been beside her the entire time.
"Mmm... up we go."
"Ah... hello."
Bored, Hoeyeon stepped out of her room just as one of the servants was arriving with nightclothes, towels, and the like.
"Hello."
Hoeyeon returned the polite greeting with a bow of her own. The girl glanced left and right, confirmed no one else was near, and then whispered to Hoeyeon.
"Are you... by any chance Lady Arang's mate?"
She had expected the question, but not that it would come so quickly.
"...Yes."
Embarrassed, Hoeyeon scratched her cheek as she answered. The maid—who looked about the same age—sparkled with bright eyes.
"That Lady Arang...!"
Not just "Lady Arang," but that Lady Arang. The phrasing piqued Hoeyeon's curiosity.
"Do you know what Arang was like as a child?"
"My mother served here as well, you see. I've known her since I was little."
Just then Gayul and Yujeong, who had come out of their rooms, overheard and approached.
"How interesting. If you are not too busy, might you share a few stories of Arang's past?"
"Uh... b-but..."
"Even Arang won't be able to hear us from inside, and we absolutely won't tell. Just one!"
Hoeyeon gently coaxed the hesitant maid.
"J-just one... if it's only one..."
She caved far more easily than expected. At this rate, had she not been waiting for someone to ask so she could finally spill everything?
"But was Arang's way of speaking always like that? Earlier she seemed to talk a bit more casually with her grandmother."
"My lady, the truth is her mouth is incredibly foul!"
The moment Yujeong asked, the maid answered with the excitement of someone who had been waiting for exactly that.
"Especially right around puberty—it was no joke! And that was when she was at her wildest, so every single day it was fight and get hurt, fight and get hurt!"
The maid was so worked up she clapped her hands together with a sharp smack.
"Then one day she picked a fight with an entire gang of thugs—"
The maid's voice cut off abruptly because Arang, who had approached without a sound, rested a hand firmly on her shoulder.
"It has been a long time, Gaon."
"I-it's been a long time, L-Lady Arang."
"Was this one the subject of some amusing tale?"
Arang's hand pressed down on the maid's shoulder. Cold sweat beaded on Gaon's brow as she spoke.
"N-no? I-I should go help with the evening meal now..."
"A moment."
Gayul stretched out a hand to stop her and addressed Arang.
"Arang, you still owe me one favor, do you not?"
"...Surely not."
Before she could even answer, Gayul's eyes said that it was precisely that "surely not."
"If you do not interfere with this person here, I shall consider the debt forgiven."
"..."
"Lady Arang, that hurts—aaah!"
Arang's fingers dug into the maid's shoulder; only when she registered the cry did she let go.
"Must you truly do this?"
"If it truly displeases you, refuse. But then I shall collect in some other form next time."
"Do you so desperately wish to see this one look embarrassed?"
"What else would I demand of you all? I simply wish to tease you once and settle my feelings with that."
"How very human of you."
"I am human, after all."
Caught between the two, the maid sensed danger to life and limb and tried to slip away.
"I-I have work piling up, so I'll just..."
But Gayul was not one to fall for so thin a ploy.
"Come now, do not be so hasty. Attending to guests is work as well, is it not?"
"Gaon. You may answer honestly... honestly, I say."
"H-hiii..."
Pinned between Gayul's gentle smile and Arang's icy gaze, the maid made a terrified sound. Had it not been her own doing, one might almost have felt sorry for her.
But it was her own doing.