However, that dream he’d believed to be modest never came true. Only after time passed did he realize it was actually an impossible dream. He learned too late that love between a yokai and a human was impossible.
The human Shim Iyul chose as his first companion was a woman. When his first heat came, Shim Iyul chose a village maiden who had been especially affectionate toward him and proposed marriage. Though he hadn’t felt affection, she said she loved him every day, and when she looked at him she was so shy she didn’t know what to do with herself—it seemed fine to spend a lifetime with her. It seemed like even if he confessed that half his body was yokai, she would gladly accept him. At his proposal, she even shed tears of joy. He thought that living while looking at her like that, affection would stick like flesh and they could grow old together.
“Actually, I’m a yokai. A Fire Fox.”
On the night they lit the wedding candles, the confession he offered while removing her jokduri was met with a fierce scream. She ran out of the bridal chamber as is, and shortly after returned with the village men holding pickaxes, sickles, and hoes. Then she cursed Shim Iyul and threw stones at him, ahead of everyone else. Trembling in fear that Shim Iyul might transform into a beast and devour her at any moment. The love she’d spoken of every day was crushed by her instinctive dread and fear of yokai, disappearing without a trace.
He was disappointed, but not hurt. Instead of harming or forcibly bewitching the humans attacking in fear, he turned around and left that village, resolving to choose his next companion carefully. He resolved not to be fooled by false confessions, and to choose not a human who liked him, but a human he could also love. He believed there must be at least one human with whom he could truly share hearts, not just bodies. Like his mother and father.
Time flowed and flowed, and when he felt he was no longer young and naive, he met a man. That man who bore the surname Park was the second companion Shim Iyul chose.
“My dear.”
That man called Shim Iyul “my dear.”
“My dear.”
The days he lived with that man who called him “my dear” with a face full of affectionate smiles were 99 days.
“My dear.”
Little fox, little fox, what are you doing? Sleeping. Sleepyhead.
Little fox, little fox, what are you doing? Washing my face. Fashion plate.
A song came through his hazy memories. It was a song street children used to sing often at one time.
“Shut up, be quiet.”
The moment he opened his eyes, annoyed by the noise in his ears, what he saw was the Hunter’s face. So close that if they moved just 1cm closer, their lips would touch. To be more precise, he was in a position where he was pillowing Eun Seonmyeong’s arm and practically embraced in his arms. Even more troublesome and bewildering was that Shim Iyul was also completely naked.
‘Why am I naked?!’
Could it be that heat came while he was unconscious and he caused an accident?
Shim Iyul felt cold sweat running down his spine and carefully got up, worried Eun Seonmyeong might wake. Then he hurriedly put on his clothes and left the master bedroom as if fleeing.
“Little fox, little fox, what are you doing? Sleeping. Sleepyhead.”
“Little fox, little fox, what are you doing? Washing my face. Fashion plate.”
As he ran to the annex, he heard that song from before. He stopped walking and looked back to see pink punky hair. The punky-haired person who had been humming the song while sweeping the yard waved cheerfully at Shim Iyul.
“Hello, Fox-nim.”
What? What’s with that weird human? Shim Iyul’s eyes narrowed.
“…”
“This lowly one is a shaman, and I’m Ban Hanseong, a son of the Ban family that was once a vassal house of the Eun family.”
Shim Iyul stared at Ban Hanseong who was approaching and introducing himself. The more he looked, the weirder the human was. Not just his style, but above all…
“You command ghosts.”
A human, yet he commanded ghosts. Shim Iyul’s gaze went behind Ban Hanseong. A maiden ghost and a child ghost stood behind Ban Hanseong as if guarding him, and judging by the ghost energy and yin energy full in them, they seemed to be ghosts who had been dead for quite a long time.
When Shim Iyul glared, the ghosts trembled. Seeing that, Ban Hanseong commanded “Withdraw,” and the ghosts vanished.
“It’s a talent passed down through the family bloodline. Ghosts really like me.”
The little ghost, who had been hiding somewhere, sneaked over and stuck close to Ban Hanseong. Ban Hanseong smiled and patted the little one’s head. Then watching him smile happily like a dog receiving affection made his stomach turn a bit.
That ghost with no pride. When was it that he stuck to me saying ‘Fox-nim!’ acting all fond?
“A family with the talent to command ghosts… I thought the Han family was the only vassal house of the Eun family.”
“The Han family is the revealed vassal house, and our Ban family was the hidden vassal house.”
Ban Hanseong’s face was bright as he cheerfully revealed that the Ban family had been a hidden vassal house. Shim Iyul thought as he watched Ban Hanseong circling around him going “Wow, a Fire Fox. To meet a Fire Fox in my lifetime.”
‘Is he crazy?’
If they’d been hiding that they were a vassal house, there must have been a reason for hiding it, but Ban Hanseong who spoke of it freely to him at first meeting, and to him who wasn’t even human but a yokai—he definitely seemed to be crazy.
“By the way, this is my first time meeting a Fire Fox-nim. I heard Fire Foxes have especially beautiful appearances, but wow, indeed my eyes are dazzled. I feel it was worth rushing over first thing in the morning fighting off drowsiness after opening my eyes. Since you’re this beautiful, our family head who’s like a stone Buddha must have been captivated. I really hated seeing the family head waste his natural body while living in solitary celibacy for life. I told him if he was going to save and not use that fine body, he should give it to me, but he’s finally putting it to use. I can’t tell you how many nights I stayed up worrying about what I’d do if the family head died a virgin and appeared before me as a virgin ghost—would I have to hold a spirit wedding or what.”
Ban Hanseong, who seemed weird and somewhat crazy, talked a lot. On top of that, he even talked fast.
What the hell is he saying? Something about a stone Buddha, something about solitary celibacy?
The words Ban Hanseong spat out like rapid-fire rap without breathing went in his right ear and flowed out his left ear. All that remained in his brain were a few words.
“I was wondering who was making such a racket, and it’s you. When did you get here?”
Eun Seonmyeong, wearing only pants, came out to the main hall. He held onto the main hall railing to support himself while looking down at the yard.
“I arrived thirty minutes ago. You seemed fine when we talked on the phone, but in 16 hours you’ve become a complete mess. I don’t know if it’s because of the curse or some other reason, though.”
Ban Hanseong folded his eyes in half and giggled sleazily.
“What nonsense?”
“Right, where’s the client’s house? I need to go meet my goddess, so hurry and tell me the address.”
Ban Hanseong suddenly became urgent and stomped his feet. Eun Seonmyeong sighed. Ban Hanseong was originally this kind of human. Selfish, impulsive, and scattered.
“Keep him alive for at least 6 months.”
As soon as Eun Seonmyeong gave the Seonjin estate address, he shouted at Ban Hanseong’s back as he ran out.
“Got it!”
Ban Hanseong’s answer could be heard faintly as he was already running down the alley. Eun Seonmyeong, who had been about to go back to his room, changed his mind and sat at the edge of the main hall veranda. Except for when he’d practically kicked out Han Seolju who had been guarding the room entrance in the morning and sent him to the shop, he’d been forcing himself to sleep inside the room the whole time, so it was a bit stuffy. He thought he should get some air on the main hall veranda at least while the room full of sleeping herb scent was being ventilated.
“…”
But Shim Iyul’s gaze was annoying. He was standing far away in front of the door leading to the annex, staring this way.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
Why was he being so hesitant when it didn’t suit him?
At Eun Seonmyeong’s words, Shim Iyul, who had been considering briefly, approached. Shim Iyul peered at Eun Seonmyeong’s face.
“What are you doing?”
“Do I look different to you by any chance?”
Shim Iyul, who thought it was better to check for sure rather than feel uneasy for nothing, asked seriously.
“…”
Eun Seonmyeong made the same expression Shim Iyul had made when looking at Ban Hanseong earlier. In a word, an expression that said ‘Is he crazy?’
Though he saw Eun Seonmyeong’s expression become insolent, Shim Iyul ignored it. What was urgent now was confirming whether or not he’d mated with the Hunter. Of course, his own body was clean. There was no unpleasant dull pain or anything. But he’d hurried out in a panic and hadn’t been able to check the Hunter’s body. Especially his lower body. Since he might have inserted into the Hunter’s body, he needed to check.
“I’m asking if I look different to you?”
A human who mates with a Fire Fox becomes addicted to the Fire Fox, unable to forget the pleasure of mating. So if he and the Hunter had mated, desire should be blazing in the Hunter’s eyes looking at him.
“I originally thought you were a somewhat crazy fox, but now you look like a completely insane fox.”
The emotion filling Eun Seonmyeong’s eyes looking at Shim Iyul was displeasure. Though it seemed they hadn’t done it, for 100% certainty he asked to check something else.
“You’re not hurting anywhere, right?”
“My head hurts because of you.”
“Anywhere else?”
“Are you hoping I hurt?”
“You really don’t hurt anywhere? To be precise, I mean the back. Your anus, that is.”
Eun Seonmyeong, who had exhaled a long sigh at the even cautious question, got up. It was an attitude that he didn’t want to deal with this anymore. Shim Iyul persistently glared at the back of Eun Seonmyeong walking into the room. Though his steps lacked strength, perhaps exhausted from suffering the curse, there was no sign of him being in pain.
‘We didn’t do it.’
Didn’t do it, for sure. Only then did relief spread across Shim Iyul’s face. He’d almost broken his vow.
A hundred years ago—to be precise, about a hundred and twenty years ago—Shim Iyul had vowed never to carelessly mate with humans again. His partner in the vow was Master Wonmi, a highly respected monk at the time. When he met the Master, Shim Iyul was in a near-death state from an attack by another Fire Fox of the same species. With the Master’s level of spiritual power, he could have easily killed him with a single gesture. However, the Master did not kill Shim Iyul.
At that time, Shim Iyul had been betrayed by the man surnamed Park, and his disgust toward humans had reached its peak. So he’d been bewitching anyone indiscriminately, regardless of gender. It was during that time that he’d been reduced to a near-death state by a Fire Fox’s attack. Despite having come at the plea of the family of a human Shim Iyul had bewitched, the Master didn’t even attempt to exorcise him. Rather, he protected Shim Iyul while he recovered from his near-death state.
Only at the moment when the recovered Shim Iyul was about to leave did he request: ‘Do not carelessly bewitch humans. Do not mate with anyone except the human you choose as your companion.’ It wasn’t a demand. It was truly a request. Shim Iyul vowed to the Master that he would do so, and the Master simply smiled and said ‘I trust you.’ He didn’t impose any prohibition. Afterward, the Master passed away within a few years.
Though the one he’d vowed to was dead, no matter how painful and difficult the heat was, Shim Iyul chose to hide and endure it alone. He didn’t want to become like faithless humans who betrayed as easily as eating. There was no longer a Master to reproach him for not keeping his vow, but his pride as a noble Fire Fox wouldn’t allow it.
“I need to be more careful from now on.”
He should refrain from carelessly entering the Hunter’s room while seeking revenge. It would be troublesome if something like today happened again. The Hunter seemed to weaken while suffering the curse, so he shouldn’t even go near him. If he lingered around the weakened Hunter and heat started, leading to them mixing bodies, that would truly be a disaster. Who knows, he might end up in the crazy situation of having to take the Hunter as his companion to keep his vow with the Master.
Shim Iyul shuddered. Just the thought was horrifying. It would be better to betray his faith instead.
Shim Iyul’s steps lightened at the fact that they hadn’t mated, and he hummed as he headed to the annex.
