“……”
“……”
A suffocating silence flowed.
Theodor didn’t enter and stopped in place. The bowl in his hand tilted slightly. Splash. The clear water in the bowl rippled.
An ordinary person would have screamed or stepped back. Who wouldn’t be startled when a stranger was in their room? But Theodor didn’t move an inch. His gray eyes scanned the man.
Jet-black hair was scattered messily. The loose white shirt had buttons fastened wrong, revealing his collarbone completely, and the pants were too long, covering his feet entirely. It was a ridiculous outfit for a thief. His pale face was neat and beautiful, not matching the sloppily worn clothes. The man shifted his gaze with eyes colored by confusion.
Blue.
His eyes were very similar to the fox’s.
Wait, the fox? Where is the fox now?
Theodor took his eyes off the strange intruder and scanned the room. But it wasn’t on the bed, on the windowsill, or on the cushion placed on the floor.
The fox was gone.
“It’s mealtime.”
Theodor’s gaze turned back to the man in the center.
“It seems the guest has changed.”
As Theodor took one step inside, he reached behind his back and locked the open door. He knew better than anyone that there was no route for anyone to infiltrate this room. The window was locked from inside and he had personally locked the door before leaving.
Yet here was some strange man wearing clothes from his wardrobe—messily at that—prostrate on the floor. And the fox that should be in the room was nowhere to be seen.
“The fox that was here. Where is it?”
Clear murderous intent was loaded into his low voice. The man cowered, thoroughly frightened. His lips opened and closed but no sound came out. He only clenched his fists so tightly his fingers turned white.
Theodor slowly set the bowl down on the table. Clatter. The sound of porcelain and wood colliding rang unusually loud. The man’s shoulders jumped. That appearance brought to mind a terrified stray cat.
Theodor strode toward the man. His shadow cast long over the man. Theodor’s gray eyes and the man’s blue eyes tangled in midair.
The eyes seen up close were eerily clear. The saturation was too high for human eyes. It was like finely cut gemstones had been embedded. They really resembled the fox’s eyes chillingly.
Could it be, this man is…
No, that can’t be. For a moment an absurd thought occurred, but Theodor immediately denied that possibility. A beast becoming human was a story that only appeared in fairy tales. He was convinced that the man before him was an intruder who had taken the fox somewhere.
“I’ll ask once more. The fox, where did it go?”
The man said nothing. He only rolled his annoyingly clear and transparent eyeballs around.
Theodor reached out and grabbed the man by the collar.
“Don’t you have a mouth?”
He put strength into the hand gripping the shirt collar. The man’s face contorted.
“The black fox that was here, where did it go? And what is your purpose for stealing my clothes and hiding in my room?”
The man’s lips trembled. Finally they moved as if trying to say something. But no voice came out.
The last thing the fox hadn’t realized was:
“Uh…”
That it didn’t know how to speak in human language.
It was bewildering. It thought it would naturally be able to speak once it became human. Because it could understand their language. But its tongue fumbled inside its mouth. A human’s vocal cords had a different structure from a fox’s. The length of the tongue, the way to expel air—everything was unfamiliar.
How am I supposed to speak?
The fox moved its lips. Clearly sentences came to mind, but they didn’t come out of its mouth. It was the moment of realizing that listening and speaking were completely different domains.
But I have to speak. I have to let this man know that I’m the fox.
“I, uh, um…”
However, only sounds like a beast’s moans rather than human words circled inside its mouth before bursting out. It wanted to say ‘It’s me. I’m the fox! No, strictly speaking I’m a nine-tailed fox. Anyway, I’m that black fox!’ but its tongue twisted on its own.
As the man didn’t speak properly and just stuttered, Theodor’s anger surged. His patience had already run out long ago from the fox not readily opening its heart. Moreover, he wasn’t generous enough to extend patience even to a man whose identity he didn’t know.
Theodor grabbed the man by the collar and hauled him up. The loose shirt collar was pulled taut. The light body was dragged up like a paper doll.
“Speak!”
Theodor shouted.
The fox couldn’t breathe. Fear covered its mind white. It squeezed its eyes shut then opened them again in fear that it might be hit. It had to speak. It had to clear up the misunderstanding.
“Meee…”
A cracked voice burst out. It was an unfamiliar voice mixed with metallic sounds. It couldn’t even be sure if it was a sound it had made. But it couldn’t stop. If it couldn’t explain to Theodor, it would be misunderstood as a kidnapper who had abducted the fox.
The fox searched its memories. The sounds and words humans used when calling it. The way to move lips, roll the tongue, and put strength into the throat.
“I. Fo…”
Its lips trembled awkwardly. The tongue, throat, vocal cords were unfamiliar. But it continued.
“Fo-ox.”
Theodor’s eyebrows twitched.
“What?”
“I. Fo-ox. Here. Fox!”
The man pointed at itself with a desperate expression. When Theodor still didn’t understand, the fox alternately pointed at the bowl and itself while making chewing motions. It was trying to indicate that it was the fox that had eaten the meat in this bowl.
Theodor’s brow narrowed.
Fox? He’s saying he’s the fox?
He almost let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity. Was he crazy or was he mocking him? When told to bring out the fox, he claimed he was the fox. He wasn’t in his right mind.
“Are you trying to play games with me right now?”
Theodor’s voice sank even colder. He shoved the man against the wall. Thud. The man’s back hit the wall.
“Don’t test my patience. I asked where you took that beast.”
“No. Noo…”
The man shook his head vigorously. His eyes reddened with injustice. Why won’t he believe me? Frustrated, it beat its chest.
“Me! Fox! No, ni-ine-tailed fo-ox! Ah, no, fo-ox!”
The wrinkles in Theodor’s brow deepened further. His gray eyes held such murderous intent it seemed he would tear apart the opponent before him right now.
The fox’s body instinctively shrank. He won’t believe me. No matter how much I say, it doesn’t reach him. Having a mouth was useless. Human speech was clumsy and human thinking was rigidly blocked. Then there was no choice but to show him. That I am that fox. That the beast you fed earlier and put a collar on is me.
The fox squeezed its eyes shut. It rewound in reverse the hot sensation it had felt when becoming human. It forced the energy it had expanded back deep into its heart.
“What are you doing?”
When the man suddenly closed his eyes, Theodor wondered if he was pretending to faint. Who does he take for a fool? Just as he was about to let out a hollow laugh at the clumsy act—
“…!”
The man’s body went limp and seemed to tilt to one side, then his shoulders narrowed. No, they collapsed. The man became gradually smaller and soon hid his form inside the shirt.
Theodor inadvertently let go of the collar he’d been gripping.
Swoosh.
The man’s form that had been before his eyes was nowhere to be found. The loose white shirt and black pants that had been floating in midair collapsed helplessly to the floor. It was as if the contents inside the clothes had evaporated in an instant.
Shocked, Theodor couldn’t even breathe and stared blankly down at the pile of clothes spread on the floor. Just moments ago he had felt the warmth and pulse of a living human. Now there was nothing. Except for the pile of clothes.
Was it a dream? Had he seen an illusion?
His thought circuits weren’t working properly. At that moment when Theodor stood dazed, not knowing how to react to the scene unfolding before his eyes, the white shirt wriggled as if alive. Soon the cloth that had swelled up was pushed aside and a familiar black snout suddenly popped out through the gap.
“Yip!”
The small head was completely revealed outside the clothes. Disheveled black fur, perked ears, a fluffy tail. And the same clear, deep blue eyes as the man who had just disappeared.
It was the fox.
The fox struggled several times caught in the large shirt sleeve, then whimpered as it pulled out its front paws. Finally crawling out of the pile of clothes, the fox looked up at Theodor.
‘Do you believe me now?’
The blue eyes filled with injustice were saying that.
