SAFBIAN Ch 4

Chapter 4

 

No matter how unskilled he was in the art of transformation, if he stayed in this village any longer, there’d be nothing left of his fox body. Even now, the torn corners of his mouth and the plucked tail fur made his blood boil!

‘I can’t let that happen.’

He had to leave the village.

Of course, not on Hori’s wedding day like in the original story, but a few days afterward. He wasn’t happy about it, but the reason he was keeping quiet and doing as told for now was because of that.

‘Red fox or not, Haban won’t help Dori at all. The best thing to do is to gather a fortune and leave this village.’

In the original, Dori met Haban on Hori’s wedding day. After being cast out from the village, he wandered the forest and happened to run into Haban who was out hunting.

So, as long as he avoided the wedding day, it should be fine to leave then, right?

He never intended to stay in the village for long. He planned to hide out near the village entrance for a few days until Haban’s hunting was over, then move on somewhere else after they were gone.

Dori’s dream was gradually becoming more concrete.

‘First, I’ll buy a small house suitable for living alone. I’ll have a chicken coop in the yard and a vegetable garden in the back…’

A remote mountain village with sparse population. A small, warm house with chickens and chicks wandering the yard. A tiny garden with fresh green vegetables growing, and a cluster of earthen jars lined up on the other side.

The more he imagined, the clearer the image of a pastoral life became.

‘Dried persimmons must be hung under the eaves!’

The storage would be filled with firewood, sweet potatoes, and potatoes to last through the winter.

To do that, he definitely needed—

‘Money! I need money!’

Dori’s golden eyes sparkled as he slightly lifted his tail to check the bundle that seemed heavy underneath.

In the original story, Dori left the village like he was being kicked out, so he hadn’t even thought about it, but the fortune he had steadily gathered bit by bit was securely hidden in that bundle.

Dori gently rubbed the cloth’s surface with his paw.

It was quite a haul for something he had gathered in such a rush. By tracing the shapes of the bulging areas, he could guess what was inside.

A pair of jade earrings and a pearl necklace Hori discarded after growing tired of them. Several amber buttons belonging to the elder that he found rummaging through a storage filled with old burnable items. A pouch of curved and flat beads found in the same box. And… five gold tortoises.

Strangely, his eyes began to sting. His nose pricked with heat. They were the gold tortoises his mother had left him before she died, the ones the elder had hidden away.

He knew if he thought about it more, he’d just get sad, so Dori moved his paw aside. Then he opened his teary eyes wide.

A smooth and round surface. A small hole in the center. It was a ring Wonwoo had secretly come to slip on Dori’s finger.

Dori rolled it between his paws and scoffed.

‘As if! A measly jade ring? Please.’

Since that day, Dori had been keeping a clear distance from Wonwoo. In the original story, Wonwoo was a minor character anyway and would soon form a mate bond with Hori.

Mate bond.

A lifelong promise, a mark.

Red foxes were strictly monogamous, never cheating unless their mate died. What made that possible was the mate bond.

A vow that only death could break.

Well, since bonding focused their soul entirely on their mate, it was probably better for both of them anyway.

But strangely enough, Wonwoo’s personality had started to shift a little, enough to make Dori wonder if he had always been like this. The more Dori distanced himself, the more obsessive Wonwoo became.

For example, in the original novel, the ring was a plain bronze band, but now it was an expensive white jade one.

‘If you want, we don’t have to hold a wedding.’

Just last night, a month before the wedding, he had come to Dori in the middle of the night, desperately clinging to him.

[“You’ll understand, right? Don’t look so sad. Our love won’t change. It’s just the mate bond that I’ll form with another fox. The one I love forever is you, Dori.”]

Said the same crap in the original too.

‘That bastard!’

Dori trembled from head to tail in disgust.

And then it happened.

“Dori.”

The voice of the soon-to-be groomed fox.

‘Ugh. I don’t want to hear it.’

Dori pressed his ears flat and covered them with his paws.

“Dori.”

The voice calling again was careful, almost heartfelt enough to believe it sincere—if one didn’t know the circumstances.

But in reality, he was a trashy bastard who had thrown away a long-time lover to marry another fox.

What the hell was a fox getting married in a week doing lingering around his ex’s room for? Especially when that ex was a sibling of the fox he was marrying!

‘Disgusting. I refuse to stoop to that level.’

He wanted to kick the door open and throw salt in his face, but salt was too precious to waste on such a wretched fox, and besides, he had to get through the wedding quietly.

“I have something to say. If you’re in there, can I come in?”

The shadow gradually approached, as if tired of waiting.

‘No way in hell.’

Dori bristled, raising his tail in anger.

Thankfully, Wonwoo didn’t come inside.

Just in case, Dori slipped a claw between the crack in the door. Through the narrow gap, he saw Wonwoo being pulled away by a group of red foxes.

Snippets of advice floated in—about how a soon-to-be groom shouldn’t be associating with a cursed white fox.

Talk about projection!

‘Just wait. I’ll show you. I’m going to be happy. Just you watch!’

Dori crunched on some dried vegetables and renewed his resolve.

Several more days passed.

The end of winter. The cold wind that had seeped through the walls began to warm, and the days grew slightly longer.

Dori, who loved winter so much he’d roll in the snow, couldn’t help but be glad that the weather was warming now that it was time to leave the village.

‘It’s tomorrow already.’

His round, expectant eyes sparkled gold.

Tomorrow was the day of Hori and Wonwoo’s wedding.

It was also the day Dori would become a saint fox—and in the original story, the day he was falsely accused and driven out of the village.

[“If you wag that vulgar tail at my Wonwoo one more time, I won’t let you off!”]

The fierce malice of Hori from the novel surfaced in his memory, and Dori shuddered again. But this cruel treatment would soon be over. After the wedding, he’d be leaving the village!

Dori lay half-turned and stared at the ceiling. With his hands neatly folded over his belly, his eyes grew hazy.

‘It felt like this back then too.’

The night before he left the orphanage was the same.

A mix of liberation and the fear of tomorrow, anxiety, and a sliver of hope. So many emotions that he couldn’t sleep. It felt like those feelings had returned.

“Are you asleep?”

…He could’ve stayed in that reverie longer if not for the uninvited guest who never tired of showing up.

What the hell was wrong with this guy! Did he really have to act like this the night before his wedding?!

Was this what a text from an ex at 2 a.m. felt like? Dori sprang up in irritation and flung the door open.

“There you are.”

As expected, Wonwoo smiled brightly at him.

“Are you insane? What if Hori sees you?”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry. She just fell asleep.”

In other words, he’d been by Hori’s side until just now. Whispering fake sweet nothings. And yet, here he was, running over to Dori—just how lightly did he take him?

Dori flicked his ears to hide the irritation making them twitch.

‘Well, the real joke’s on Hori. Her supposed mate is snooping around another fox’s door the night before the wedding. Not my problem though.’

Wonwoo was good at hiding his dark intentions under a practiced, gentle smile. Behind that tender look lay nothing but greed.

The whole reason he was marrying Hori was to secure the elder’s seat. One day, he planned to take over the entire village.

Of course, none of that mattered to Dori.

“…What are you thinking about?”

At Wonwoo’s low murmur, Dori quickly lifted his chin. Suspicion narrowed Wonwoo’s gaze before he smiled faintly.

‘Seriously, what’s this guy’s deal? Why won’t he stop coming around?’

If it were the original, he should be finding Dori annoying by now and scheming with Hori and the elder to get rid of him. Instead, he kept coming back. Why?

Just because Dori took a few seconds to answer, Wonwoo’s gaze had already turned intense.

“I’m listening. What did you come here for this time?”

“I just… wanted to see you.”

“If it’s nothing, then leave. I need to sleep.”

“Let’s stay together a bit longer. You know it’s not easy for me to come like this.”

In short, he wanted Dori to be grateful that he made the effort to visit. Dori clenched his jaw to keep his anger down, though his cheek twitched.

“Haa…”

But he couldn’t stop the sigh that escaped. A cold palm gently cupped his cheek.

“Looks like you’ve gotten used to transforming. Your fever’s gone down a lot.”

Wonwoo stepped into the room as Dori instinctively tried to step back. Maybe it was the time apart, but Dori’s pale cheeks and moist lips drew his eyes.

Just as he was starting to get tired of Dori’s innocence, the elder had proposed the wedding to Hori, and Wonwoo had accepted without hesitation. But now that he was about to let Dori go, the soft skin and naïve eyes stirred his lust again.

The red foxes praised Hori as the best in the village, but to him, she couldn’t compare to Dori. No matter how extravagantly Hori adorned herself with expensive jewelry, she couldn’t match Dori’s natural charm.

As he kept staring, Dori’s eyelashes trembled and he looked away. His cheeks flushed red in embarrassment.

‘If he’d just been this obedient from the start, I might not have considered throwing him away.’

Dori was dumb, but had a cunning side. He’d stubbornly insisted he would only give his body after forming a mate bond.

‘A cursed white fox as a mate? Know your place.’