Living with the Dangerous Beast-Chapter 111: A Story About a Rabbit

Noksu glared at her silently.

“If it was so precious, you should have kept it safe instead of using it to flirt!”

“Sigh....”

Letting out a deep sigh, Noksu began packing his belongings, just as Sohwa had urged him.

However, he didn’t take anything from the guest room beyond the sliding door.

“Why is your luggage so bare? Are you leaving everything behind?”

“Yes. Those things are useless now.”

“Well... it must’ve been tough dealing with all of this. Let’s make sure we never meet again.”

Feeling a twinge of guilt, Sohwa handed him some snacks she had prepared in advance.

“Do you have somewhere to go? Dohwi moves like a flash, almost impossible to shake off once he’s locked onto you....”

Her eyes lit up.

“Ah! Go to Tamna Island—it’ll be safer there.”

“I’ve already decided on heading north.”

“North? Why on earth would you go north??”

The north was precisely where Dohwi had been frequenting the most lately.

She tried to stop him, but Noksu dropped an even more baffling statement.

“I’m going to collect tails.”

“C-collect... what?”

“I said, I’m going to collect tails.”

“....”

Sohwa’s jaw dropped open in disbelief. As if expecting her reaction, Noksu sighed.

“How could a young fox like me become a gumiho before living even a full hundred years?”

“But you said you achieved it through isolated training!”

“Can you imagine yourself sitting still for even a moment?”

“Not at all. I’d probably get sores on my backside.”

Foxes, male or female, were known for their restless nature, always darting about like unruly colts.

“And so can’t I.”

“But then how did you—”

“I didn’t.”

“....”

“I was just bluffing.”

A fox’s tail wasn’t something that can be easily gained.

For a fox, it took countless rounds and years, even decades, of training and self-discipline to even hope for a single new tail.

“If I admitted I became a gumiho as easily as snapping my fingers, do you think the elders would have granted me the title of Fox Patriarch? Especially when I’m still so young?”

Even Daebeom, trained under the famous monk at Ogyeam Temple on Mount Yeehwang, hadn’t grown so much as a single strand of tail fur...

“How could a greenhorn fox, barely a century old, possibly become a gumiho? Ridiculous.”

“Unbelievable... how could this be?”

‘Deceived—yet again, by one of her own!’

Sohwa pressed her hand to her forehead in disbelief, her legs faltering as she leaned against the gate, trying to make sense of it all.

“A-Are you serious? You really picked up eight tails and became a gumiho that way?”

“That’s right.”

“Do not tease me. What kind of sense does that make!”

She lowered her voice, worried that the servant might overhear.

“Believe me or don’t—it’s up to you. But why would I lie for no reason?”

With an air of righteous indignation, Noksu pouted his lips.

“I must have lost my mind. What’s the point of this teacher thing now... I’m leaving.”

“Wait!”

Without a trace of hesitation, Noksu turned away, but Sohwa quickly stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

“You’re tricking me, aren’t you?”

“Think what you will. As someone said, I’ll grab those tails and leave before that damned tiger catches up to me.”

“No, wait. Listen.”

Sohwa thumped her chest in frustration.

What she had just heard from Noksu was utterly ridiculous.

“Tails aren’t acorns—how could they possibly just lie around on the ground?”

Noksu, looking as if he couldn’t be more annoyed, replied.

“What’s the point of having this stupid debate? If you don’t believe me....”

He was right.

Sohwa was nearly at her wit’s end.

‘It’s absurd, and yet I can’t completely dismiss it either. Could there really be a way to just pick up tails...?’

“There’s an old saying, ‘Seeing is believing.’”

“....”

“If you’re that curious, why not see it for yourself?”

* * *

The two crossed several valleys.

Though the trek would have been exhausting under normal circumstances, Sohwa felt surprisingly energetic.

“I’ve heard of people gathering chestnuts or walnuts, but tails? This is a first.”

“Of course it is.”

“But how could tails... why would they end up just lying on the ground?”

The thought raced through her mind.

‘And even if they do lie on the ground, how could one even pick them up and ‘attach’ them to their own body?’

“Have you’ve ever heard the story of Mr. Ra?”

“Mr. Ra?”

Noksu, walking ahead, began to explain.

“There’s a story about a rabbit who was nearly tricked by a turtle into being taken to the Dragon King’s palace.”

“What nonsense.”

“But that day, Mr. Ra had left his liver at home.”

“Left his liver...?”

“Yes. Since the turtle was after the rabbit’s liver in the first place, he had no choice but to let him go.”

“What a lucky rabbit he was.”

“Indeed. Rabbit livers are said to be a cure for incurable diseases, so he kept it safe at home.”

Hearing this, Sohwa grew serious.

“So the world outside this mountain has such troubles... I thought all I had to worry about were hunters, but turtles too?”