“I only thought about Seungjin, but to even consider his mother’s heart—Fire Fox-nim is truly ve…”
Shim Iyul firmly shook his head, guessing what Ban Hanseong was about to say.
“Don’t.”
“Huh? Don’t what?”
“Just don’t. And think about how to tell that woman about the kid’s death.”
“Me?”
“Then should I do it?”
“I’m not bragging, but I have slight issues with human communication. Should I call it the aftereffects of being briefly ostracized in the past?”
Ban Hanseong’s face was truly bright as he confessed his past.
“So you’re telling me to do it? I hate conversing with humans altogether.”
Shim Iyul crossed his arms. Informing a mother of her child’s death—even if he was a cold fox who considered humans as insignificant as ant droppings, this was something he couldn’t do.
“Let’s have the Gaju do it.”
“That sounds good. The Hunter is cold-blooded, after all.”
It was when the two reached an agreement. The door creaked open and Eun Seonmyeong came out to the main hall. Then he looked down pathetically at one fox and one human who flinched, knowing they’d been caught.
“Like I said before, I can hear everything. If you’re going to scheme, at least show the courtesy of moving somewhere I can’t hear you.”
Shim Iyul looked up at Eun Seonmyeong and grinned.
“You heard?”
“Very clearly.”
“Your ears are quite sharp, aren’t they?”
“Don’t you think your voice is loud?”
“That’s not it. My voice is just right. Beautiful. And sweet.”
“I hear bullshit coming from somewhere.”
“Bullshit… You should go to the hospital. If my voice sounds like bullshit to you, there’s definitely something wrong.”
“My ears are perfectly normal, so I’ll pass on your useless concern.”
“You’re the one harboring useless delusions. Did you think I was worried about you?”
It was when Shim Iyul, sitting and looking up, and Eun Seonmyeong, standing and looking down, were exchanging cold words while facing each other. Ban Hanseong, who had been lost in thought, struck the hall floor with his palm. He hit it so hard that it made a sound like a grenade exploding with a thud.
“That’s it!!!”
“Ah shit, you scared me. What? What’s it?”
Shim Iyul, who had jumped in surprise at the sudden noise, asked while pressing his fluttering chest. Tsk, for a moment I almost ended up in the Hunter’s arms out of shock. Shim Iyul’s eyes became fierce, having barely avoided the disgrace of jumping into the Hunter’s chest.
“I’m sorry. Something suddenly came to mind.”
Ban Hanseong looked embarrassed and blew on his reddened palm.
“So what is it?!”
“Gaju!”
Ban Hanseong stood up and approached Eun Seonmyeong closely. Eun Seonmyeong frowned at the close and burdensome distance where their faces could touch and stepped back.
“What?”
“Can’t the Gaju make some of a ghost’s memories resurface?”
He could. But forcibly recalled memories were fragmentary, and special water was needed. Specifically, the water from the Spring of Memory that had been passed down through the Eun family for generations. After making a ghost drink it, one had to pour the Hunter’s spiritual energy into them to forcibly revive the lost memories. Naturally, it drained the Hunter’s spiritual energy and stamina, and moreover, there was hardly any spring water left. This was despite several generations not using it since before his grandfather. Above all, the Spring of Memory was something brought by some ancestor from somewhere unknown, so once what they had was used up, they couldn’t obtain more.
“I can do it.”
Eun Seonmyeong looked indifferently at Ban Hanseong waiting for an answer. Where on earth had he heard about the Spring of Memory?
“Then…”
Ban Hanseong’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“But I won’t.”
“Why not?!”
“Do you think reviving a ghost’s lost memories is easy? Why should I do something annoying and troublesome?”
“Aren’t you curious about why Seungjin died alone?”
“I’m not curious.”
“B-but you must be curious?”
“I’m not curious. Not even a little.”
Ban Hanseong’s pupils shook at the cold and firm answer.
“H-how can I make you curious?”
“No matter what you do, I won’t be curious, so just take the kid to his mother and be done with it. Don’t have unnecessary sympathy.”
Eun Seonmyeong’s gaze as he spoke to Ban Hanseong swept over Shim Iyul standing there blankly. It was so brief that neither Shim Iyul nor Ban Hanseong noticed.
“I refuse. I need to know why Seungjin died alone. So please do it!”
“No.”
The answer that returned to Ban Hanseong’s plea was cold. Ban Hanseong sent a pleading look toward Shim Iyul. It was a look that said, ‘Fox-nim, please do something!’ Shim Iyul nodded and called out to Eun Seonmyeong gravely.
“Hey.”
“…”
“Do you… like flattery?”
Eun Seonmyeong, who had been thinking he was being so grave that he must be about to say something impressive, almost burst out laughing. Flattery out of nowhere. Was he planning to flatter him if he said he liked it? Eun Seonmyeong quickly composed his expression so no one would notice, then crossed his arms. Then he gestured at Shim Iyul with his chin. It meant, go ahead and try. Fire Fox-style flattery—let’s hear it.
“Hunter, you’re… hmm… for a human, you’re reasonably useful-looking. Of course, you fall far short of me, but you’re not bad to look at. And also… hmm… I think it’s amazing that you’re still a v*rgin at your age! It couldn’t have been easy to protect your v*rginity being born as a human, and a male one at that, but your patience is truly admirable.”
He tried his best to think of the Hunter’s good points and made an effort to praise him, but it seems he wasn’t very pleased. Shim Iyul glanced at Eun Seonmyeong whose expression had turned fierce.
Ban Hanseong crept up beside Shim Iyul and whispered.
“It’s not working, is it? The Gaju must not like flattery.”
Of course, only Ban Hanseong thought he was whispering—his voice was loud and transmitted very clearly to Eun Seonmyeong’s eardrums. Eun Seonmyeong’s fists clenched involuntarily.
“Fox, you should go study the difference between flattery and provocation first. Ban Hanseong, same goes for you.”
They say the sister-in-law who stops the fight is more hateful—Ban Hanseong, who as a human naturally accepted such things as flattery, was even more infuriating.
“Provocation! I thought so hard to come up with that praise!”
“Right! To call Fox-nim’s praise provocation—Gaju, you should reflect!”
“Apologize!”
“Apologize!”
The two were a complete set of annoyances. Eun Seonmyeong, swallowing a sigh, grabbed both Shim Iyul’s and Ban Hanseong’s necks, one in each hand, and dragged them outside the gate.
“Get lost.”
The moment he slammed the gate shut, he remembered Shim Iyul’s heat cycle. Tsk, clicking his tongue, Eun Seonmyeong reopened the gate and grabbed only Shim Iyul’s neck. Then he said to Ban Hanseong, “Only you get lost,” and slammed the gate shut again before heading to the detached house.
“Let go of this! For a Hunter to drag a noble fox around like luggage! Aren’t you afraid of the consequences?!”
Shim Iyul struggled and shouted. Regardless, Eun Seonmyeong threw Shim Iyul into the detached house and coldly retorted.
“I’m not afraid of consequences, and fox brat, from now on, v*rgin is also forbidden.”
“Then what should I say?”
Don’t call it sympathy either, v*rgin is also forbidden. How particular. Shim Iyul shook his head, stood up, and dusted off his clothes.
“Don’t. If you mention sympathy or v*rgin one more time, I’ll pin you underneath me.”
Eun Seonmyeong left a cold warning and went to the main house. Shim Iyul belatedly scoffed, “Hmph, as if I’d be intimidated by that.”
As if I’d let myself be pinned by a mere Hunter.
***
It was when he thought, “Should I call the shaman?” and took out his phone that he realized the latest model phone Old Man Kang had boasted he’d send right away hadn’t arrived. Shim Iyul furrowed his brow and called Old Man Kang instead of Ban Hanseong.
—Fire Fox.
“What happened to my phone?”
—Hehehehe. I’m sorry about that. I slipped and fell while leaving the shop that day and got a bit hurt.
“Are you badly hurt?”
—Just a little. My tailbone is fractured.
Old Man Kang laughed as if it was nothing, but Shim Iyul couldn’t laugh.
“You should have been more careful. Did you forget that if an old person fractures a bone, they might never get up again?”
—You try getting old yourself. My legs lose strength and sometimes I can’t move my body as I will.
“Which hospital?”
—Are you coming to visit? Don’t bother.
“What do you mean don’t bother? Wait for me.”
Shim Iyul, who had hung up the phone, came out of the detached house with a dazed expression. It would be troublesome to take an express bus. Should I just call a taxi? It would be nice to have a car at times like this. While pondering this and that, the moment he came to the main house, he spotted Eun Seonmyeong on a call in the hall. Shim Iyul exclaimed ‘Lucky me!’ inwardly. Come to think of it, there was a car. The Hunter’s. Of course, that ill-tempered Hunter wouldn’t easily give him a ride, but it was worth trying.
“I told you I was busy, didn’t I? I’m hanging up.”
Eun Seonmyeong’s gaze flew toward Shim Iyul after he spoke in a voice dripping with ice and hung up the phone.
“Come to Sokcho with me. I need to go there right now…”
“Let’s go.”
“…What?”
“You said let’s go to Sokcho?”
“Really? You’ll go with me?”
“Don’t make me repeat the same thing and make my mouth tired. Come out.”
Eun Seonmyeong strode out the gate as if he was the one in a hurry. What’s this? Normally he should react unpleasantly, saying “Why should I go to Sokcho with a Yosu?” with irritation.
“What are you doing?!”
Only then hurrying after Eun Seonmyeong, Shim Iyul asked cautiously.
“You’re not sick, are you? Do you have a fever?”
“No fever, not sick.”
“Then why are you complying so readily?”
If he wasn’t sick, was he hiding some impure intention?
Eun Seonmyeong, who flicked Shim Iyul’s forehead with an audible snap as Shim Iyul looked at him with suspicious eyes after casually suggesting they go together but now that they were actually going, opened the driver’s side door.
“If you don’t want to, forget it. My purpose right now is just to leave the house anyway.”
“…”
“I’ll take that as a no…”
“Who said no? I’m getting in right now.”
If he hesitated even a little, it seemed he’d leave without him. Shim Iyul hurriedly climbed into the passenger seat.
