Living with the Dangerous Beast-Chapter 92: The Man Wearing a Bangsangsi Mask

Fiddling nervously with the fan, Sohwa was the first to break the silence.

“Is this your fan?”

“It is.”

The reply came, his voice rich and melodious—strangely incongruous with the eerie mask.

“And are you the mistress of these sacred mountains?”

“I’m not the mistress—I’m the owner myself.”

Sohwa’s confident retort drew a hearty laugh from the masked man.

‘So, he’s alive after all!’

The man wasn’t a ghost.

Rumors of vengeful spirits lingering where the White Tiger had passed had quietly unsettled Sohwa, but she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s long been said that a husband and wife are one. Whatever belongs to the groom also belongs to me. But tell me, how did you know?”

“Who else but the wife of the mountain lord would wander alone in such a place? If you’re not a celestial fairy, then surely you’re the mountain’s mistress.”

With that, the man leaped gracefully from the rock, landing right in front of Sohwa’s feet.

“At first, I thought you were a celestial fairy, but alas, you didn’t have wings.”

“....”

By no small exaggeration, the distance he covered in a single leap was easily miles—an astounding feat.

‘Could this be... some kind of superpower?’

Startled, Sohwa’s grip on the fan loosened, and the man deftly reclaimed it.

“Did you leave your wings behind in the Moon Palace?”

He teased, his voice laced with playful charm.

But Sohwa’s focus had already shifted. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

“Are you a Taoist, by any chance?”

“Me? A Taoist? Of course not... I’m just a mere traveler passing through, who stopped by to enjoy the serenity of the mountain.”

The way he spoke, laced with flowery idioms, was enough to make her skin crawl.

Even his soft-spoken demeanor felt unnervingly artificial.

“Seeing how effortlessly you string your words together, I’d guess you’ve read your fair share of books.”

“Do I?”

The man snapped the fan open, revealing an image of a celestial fairy with elegant wings.

‘Not a painting of bamboo or plum blossoms, but a celestial fairy?’

A man carrying such a fan couldn’t possibly be a Taoist hermit—or even a proper scholar.

He was undoubtedly a libertine, wasting his days toying with women.

“Are you curious about my identity?”

“I’m not. Now be on your way.”

Sohwa turned to leave, her tone indifferent.

But before she could take another step, the man burst into laughter and closed the fan with a sharp motion.

“I see that you have quite a temper, my lady.”

“Humph. Whether I have a temper or not, it’s none of your business....”

Her words trailed off as the man reopened the fan.

“Wait... The celestial fairy!”

The image on the fan had changed entirely.

The celestial fairy was now gone, replaced by a new painting that was even more astonishing.

The fan flashed an image of a man clad in a flowing robe and a Bangsangsi mask, standing amidst the secluded mountains—the very man before her eyes was now inside the fan.

Behind him spread a magnificent display of... fox tails!

‘It’s not even just one. One, two, three, four....’

Startled, Sohwa gripped the fan tightly and leaned in for a closer look.

How many tails did he have?

Her eyes widened as she counted them, one by one, and the final number was....

“Nine?”

The man was a nine-tailed fox.

When she looked up again, he was gone.

“W-where did you go? Hey! Answer me!”

Panicked, Sohwa glanced around, but the landscape was eerily silent.

There wasn’t a single footprint or even the faintest trace of scent left behind.

Had she been ensnared by a ghost?

The man in the Bangsangsi mask had vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving behind only the fan in her trembling hands.

“I had this weird feeling from the start... He was one of my kind.”

The man in the Bangsangsi mask was none other than the legendary gumiho—a nine-tailed fox.

Bonus Story Chapter 2-2. The Man Wearing a Bangsangsi Mask

‘Truly mysterious... Utterly fascinating. How could a fox have not just one tail... but nine?’

Sohwa lay sprawled on her bed, nibbling on a piece of dried persimmon, her gaze fixed on the folding fan.

Behind the Bangsangsi-masked man depicted on it, nine lush tails spread out magnificently, each more mesmerizing than the last.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine... Nine tails. Nine!”

Her eyes gleamed with envy as she stared at his tails, her hand reaching out to brush over the image.

“A gumiho....”

Sohwa glanced back over her shoulder.

From beneath the hem of her skirt, a tail resembling a sprig of foxtail grass shyly peeked out.

Fluffy and soft, its fur rippling with a gentle sway, her tail was one of Sohwa’s few sources of pride.

‘If only my tail could grow to nine... how wonderful that would be.’

If that were to happen, she wouldn’t just be called the mountain lord’s wife—Dohwi would be known as the husband of a gumiho.

And that wasn’t all; not even the White Tiger would dare to dream of stealing her husband away.