He’s a Fox Ch 14

Chapter 14

While Hohyun’s ears perked up, a gray tail poked out from between the green-tinged leaves.

The long tail with its rounded tip was unmistakably part of a cat.

Judging by its gray fur, it seemed different from the cat the crocodile claimed to have seen that morning.

As expected, it wasn’t yellow, but it was without a doubt feline.

Hohyun was about to call over Yuri, who was ahead of him, when the creature hiding in the foliage suddenly leaped out.

In Hohyun’s mind, there was an audible pop! sound effect, like a character out of a cartoon, as the cat sprang upward and stared intently at the fox.

Except for the black fur around its eyes that looked like eyeliner, the cat was overall a pale, grayish color.

Even to someone like Hohyun, who knew little about cats, it was clearly a pretty one.

With a face full of curiosity, it approached slowly.

Without the slightest hesitation, the cat came close and began circling around him.

It sniffed here and there as it moved, as if wondering just what this creature was.

In the West, where wild foxes were so numerous they were treated like stray cats, such a sight might not have been unusual,

but in the East, where they were almost extinct, it was only natural that a cat would find one curious.

“This thing… not quite a dog, not quite a cat—what a strange look,”

or so Hohyun felt he could read in the cat’s eyes, even if no words were exchanged.

After circling the fox for some time, the cat finally plopped down in place, licking its front paw with a satisfied air.

A soft purring sound rose from its sleek, glossy little body.

Even without words, Hohyun knew what that meant—it was obvious the cat was showing affection.

From the side, the tiger watching this muttered in a slightly baffled tone:

“Was the shampoo Juwon bought catnip-scented?”*

First Yuri, and now even a stranger cat…

Kangwoon’s tone carried the skepticism of someone who doubted that such unprovoked affection could happen without reason.

It sounded like he was implying that, unless Hohyun had bathed in a plant that stimulates the nervous system of felines, there was no way they would act like this.

The fox jumped in protest.

Yes, he had once managed to charm a tiger cub—a large feline predator—but that had been a special circumstance: his resemblance to the dog in a fairy tale.

He had never so much as gone near catnip, let alone bathed in it.

Watching the fox shake his head violently in frustration, Kangwoon’s lips curved ever so slightly.

With a fully functional sense of smell, the tiger knew better than anyone that this wasn’t the case.

He had only made the remark in jest, seeing the fox staring blankly at the cat.

But the variety of reactions he got was so amusing that quiet laughter slipped out.

Just as Kangwoon was debating whether to tease the fox further for yelping that he had never done such a thing,

another presence was felt from the same bushes the gray cat had jumped from.

The big tiger’s pupils suddenly dilated wide as he snapped his gaze toward the source of the sound.

His bright golden irises were almost eclipsed by the expanded pupils as an orange cat emerged.

Not one cat, but two—had Yuri, who had marched off determinedly to find cats earlier, seen this, they would have been indignant at the timing.

The orange cat’s size wasn’t much less than that of the fox, whose body (including tail) measured about 105 cm.

Its well-developed jaw muscles marked it as a dominant local tomcat.

Unlike the gray cat, which had approached brimming with friendliness, the orange one had its ears pinned back, radiating wariness—

specifically, toward Kangwoon, who watched from a distance.

Hohyun found himself quietly agreeing with the newcomer’s caution.

From what he had seen, the tiger was actually more attentive than expected and merciful to smaller creatures,

so he wasn’t as frightening as when they had first met—but the natural intimidation unique to tigers remained.

Once he realized the unexpected movement was “just” a cat, Kangwoon’s interest faded quickly.

Big as it might be, it was still only a cat, no threat to a tiger.

Even after the tiger withdrew his hostile gaze, the orange cat never lowered its guard—instinctive fear of a predator high on the food chain was not so easily quelled.

It stepped forward a few paces, paused, then advanced again several times, constantly gauging the situation.

When it noticed that Kangwoon wasn’t even looking at it, the orange cat fixed an intense stare on the gray cat instead.

The gaze was so piercing that even the gray cat, who had seemed the very picture of a friendly “dog-like” cat**, stopped purring and stared back.

There was clearly some deep, complicated history between the two—and it seemed like stepping between them would not be wise.

Having already encountered two cats in such a short span, Hohyun figured there must be others nearby.

He looked up at Kangwoon and gave a small cry to signal he wanted to leave.

“Kyok-kaek?”

The fox tilted his head and motioned with a front paw toward the direction Yuri had disappeared.

Kangwoon replied casually:

“If we just go, Yuri will scold us. Better to call them over here—”

“Uweeeng!”

The tiger’s words halted abruptly.

The sharp sound, as loud as an alarm, made him whip his head around—

to see the orange cat pouncing on the gray one.

Thankfully, this was not a situation warranting a “restricted”*** sticker—

it was simply a dominance fight, the attacker pinning the other down.

The large male orange cat, who had claimed the vast garden as his own since before the gardeners had started feeding the cats,

had apparently been biding his time, ready to punish the “intruder” who had begun showing up lately.

But to outsiders unaware of the backstory, the fight seemed to erupt out of nowhere.

The once-docile gray cat bared its teeth, thrashing to get free.

Harsh hisses, ear-splitting shrieks, and the thud-thud of striking paws filled the air.

Watching at close range, Hohyun’s eyes widened with alarm.

Should I stop them?

But how? They were cats, and there was no reasoning with them.

And their fierce momentum made jumping in a bad idea.

As the fox hesitated, trying to edge backward from the brawling pair, it happened before he could escape—

the tangled ball of cats slammed right into him.

In the midst of the fight, neither cared what color the fur they were hitting was.

Hohyun ended up caught in a flurry of rapid-fire punches from both cats.

“HISSSSS!”

“KYANG, KYANG!”

Startled by the vicious blows, the fox tried to retreat but slipped hard on the muddy ground,

exactly as the tiger had warned earlier.

To get caught up in a cat fight and wind up caked in mud—

either incident alone might have been a minor misfortune, but together, they were a real blow.

Completely disoriented, Hohyun couldn’t do anything but take the assault until the tiger strode over and swept him into his arms.

The cats, seeing a tail swinging upward, tried to latch on and bite.

But unlike the fox, who made no move to fight or flee, Kangwoon had no intention of tolerating such behavior.

A deep, resonant growl tore from his lungs;

at the overwhelming threat unique to a predator of an entirely higher tier, the cats scattered in all directions like hens with their tails on fire.

Only after ensuring they hadn’t fled toward where Yuri was did Kangwoon finally look down at the fox dangling from his grasp.

In the blink of an eye, the once-clean creature was filthy.

Hohyun averted his gaze in embarrassment.

Now that the pain had faded, all that remained was shame.

From the way he lifted a paw to cover his face, he was clearly feeling self-conscious.

Did he seriously just lose to a cat?

It’s not like Kangwoon had expected him to win,

but he never imagined the fox would be this helpless against a smaller animal.

He’d seen Hohyun snark boldly at crocodiles, boars, and bears—menacing beastfolk all—so his current impression was sheer disbelief.

Was this really the same fox who had no qualms about sticking his nose near the great predators of the land?

And the opponent wasn’t even beastfolk, but an ordinary animal.

To be pushed around in a fight with a cat barely bigger than a loaf of bread…

Kangwoon paused, weighing the thought.

notes

* Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is a plant that many cats respond to with heightened affection or playfulness; this is due to a compound called nepetalactone, which affects feline neural receptors.

** “Dog-like” cat (개냥이, gaenyangi) is a colloquial Korean term for a cat that is exceptionally friendly, affectionate, and sociable—traits stereotypically associated with dogs.

*** In Korea, “미성년자 관람 불가” (“No viewing for minors”) is equivalent to an 18+ or R-rated content warning. Here it humorously describes that the scene was not inappropriate, just a fight.