FOX IN A SUIT

Chapter 22: Mythical Creatures

The night was tense as Han-neul slowly came to, his head hurting horribly. After the meeting with the mysterious people, he lost his memory and passed out.

He woke up in a cozy bed in a room with soft lighting. Faint sounds and unfamiliar smells emanated from outside the door. As Han-neul struggled to stand up, he looked around the room desperately for any sign of where he was.

At that very moment, the door slowly opened, revealing Minwoo standing in the doorway with a worried look. Minwoo whispered, "You're awake."

Han-neul fought to get up, but his mind was still on edge. "Where am I?" His voice was rough as he asked, "What happened?"

"You passed out," Minwoo said as he walked over to help Han-neul sit up. "I brought you back to my house."

Han-neul watched the two women at the table, who were deeply interested in their food. Nearby, Ryu, the teen, was sitting next to a woman about the same age as him. Recollections came flooding back, and Han-neul instinctively reached for his gun, but it wasn't there. His eyes instantly went to the carefully ordered gun on the table before him.

Thinking quickly, Han-neul tried to remember what had happened that night. "What about Jiyeon? Is she all right?"

There was a subtle shift in Minwoo's expression. Choosing his words carefully, he said, "She's... not here right now. She's okay."

He could not get rid of the thought of what had happened. He and Jiyeon had seen two odd creatures earlier. One of them—its tail, was on fire. Even though the scene was very strange, what drew him in was the being's intense anger. It was very focused on Jiyeon like it was desperately looking for something.

However, Jiyeon isn't available right now, and it's unclear why he went to Minwoo's house after they had already left with Jiyeon. He remembers meeting a dragon, a young, fierce creature that seemed angry at the world. With a strong feeling of mental breakdown, he tightly gripped his head.

Fear filled Han-neul's chest as he thought about Jiyeon. "Where's she? What happened to her?" he asked, his worry rising in his voice. "Have the monsters already eaten her and..."

Hye-sun's hand struck the table, abruptly cutting off Han-neul's words. The woman at the table was now staring at him with a very beautiful face.

Right away, Hye-sun got up and walked over to Han-neul. He grabbed him by the neck and made him stand up.

Minwoo was about to stop Hye-sun when the door suddenly swung open dramatically, showing Jiyeon standing there with a serious look on his face. "Hurt him," she said with a firm voice. "I am going to shoot you." She pointed her gun at Hye-sun.

Han-neul felt a wave of relief when he saw Jiyeon standing there, not hurt. "Thank goodness you're okay," he said with a sad tone in his voice.

Hye-sun let go of Han-neul as soon as she saw Jiyeon. While looking around the room, Jiyeon looked at everyone. In response, he turned away from Minwoo.

Jiyeon recognized him and nodded. She spoke with a quiet determination. "We need to talk."

In response to the seriousness of the situation, Minwoo moved back to give them some space. With their eyes locked, Han-neul and Jiyeon are lying on the bed, and you can feel the stress in the air.

People in the room looked at each other as Jiyeon turned to face them. "Please respect our need for privacy."

Before signaling for his friends to leave the room, Minwoo quietly cleared his throat. Minwoo quickly shut Hye-sun up and led her out of the room with the rest of the group. Hye-sun was about to say that she was unhappy.

Instantly, after Minwoo and his friends left, Jiyeon got up and locked the door.

"What happened out there?" Han-neul asked, looking over Jiyeon's face to try to understand.

After pausing, Jiyeon took a deep breath to gather her thoughts. A strong voice asked, "Do you remember what happened?"

Han-neul arches his eyebrows in confusion. "Bead fox. Those creatures are in search of a fox bead. Imagine that everything that happened today was just a dream. It seems like a dream to me."

"I have no idea what that thing is," Jiyeon confirmed. "Do you think everything we saw tonight was just a dream?"

Meanwhile, the friends listened in on the talk from the living room, where they were more comfortable. Minwoo gave Hye-sun, who was always with him, a soft push.

"Enough already, Hye-sun. They are not food." Minwoo said

"They're not food, so what are they? Reservation?" Hye-sun posed a question. "Besides, they aren't a loss in the world of people. The world is already too crowded for humans, so it's okay for us to cut down."

"I warned you not to eat them. Especially since Detective Jiyeon has my fox bead," Minwoo said

Hye-sun arrives in Minwoo. "How could your fox bead have fallen on a human? What foolish thing did you do?" Hye-sun inquired, looking very angry.

As Minwoo thought back on what had happened before Jiyeon got the fox bead, he couldn't help but scratch his head in confusion.

Honestly, he said, "It's a long story."

"That girl is mine. Okay, I'll take care of her for you." The room was bright with Hye-sun's sweet smile.

Shortly after getting up, Minwoo grabbed her wrist tightly and stopped her. They looked each other in the eyes and spoke quietly.

"If you don't want to be friends, do it," Minwoo said with a serious expression.

Furious, Hye-sun took her hand off of Minwoo's. The room was full of heads turning as the door opened. They came out of the room, Han-neul and Jiyeon.

She looked for Minwoo quickly, who was standing next to a beautiful woman whose hair was intensely orange. She somehow wrinkled her brows because she wasn't sure if her hair was real or just a wig for her costume.

"I'm sorry to bother you." Jiyeon said, "We're leaving."

After sneaking a quick look at each other, Jiyeon and Han-neul turned to leave. Jiyeon's bright fox bead caught Minwoo's eye, but he didn't go after her.


***
Because of what happened, Minwoo couldn't fall asleep. Notably, his fox bead is another image that stands out. An intense glow came from it, which he had never seen before.

Taking a deep breath, he retreated through the window.

He went to Jiyeon's house. He went into the house very carefully and headed for her room. One light was on in a dimly lit room early that morning, making it look like no one was there.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of water splashing in the bathroom. A slow pace guided him to the bathroom of Jiyeon's room. Along with Jiyeon's small moves, he could pick up the smell of body soap filling the room.

Feeling an unknown presence, he quickly hid for safety.

Meanwhile, Jiyeon let the showerhead's water flow. Thoughts were flying through her mind like a tornado. She felt completely overwhelmed by all the things that happened that day. In addition, she was sure that the amazing sight she had seen earlier was real, as was the spell that had made the charm disappear. She came across a magical creature that looked straight from a dream. Surprisingly, there were two women with the item. She held her head up.

"I'm going crazy," Jinyeon said in a low voice.

She felt an unsettling presence, which made her quickly turn off the shower. She quickly took the towel, wrapped it around herself, and carefully left the bathroom.

She was very worried as she thought about the scary idea that there might be a gumiho in her room. The creature stole her first kiss. She won't let the gumiho get close to her anymore. As she reached under the bed for her gun, she noticed a strange sparkle. A ghostly hug enveloped her, startling her as she turned around. It led her to a dark part of the room.

As he spoke softly into her ear, she would have stood her ground. "Fight, and you will die," Gumiho whispered. "If you want to live, stay still."

A quietly spoken, soft voice stroked her ear, giving her a chill. She felt compelled to follow his instructions. Feeling his strong grip on her, she froze in fear.

Eventually, though, she found strange things hiding in her bed. Through the window, it got inside.

This creature has hairy skin and strong claws on its hands. Its horns are very big, its eyes are bulging, and its mouth is full of very sharp teeth. Jiyeon's eyes grew wide with surprise as the small thing, which was about the same height as a person, came in through the window. The room echoes with a low rumble.

Her disbelief surged as an unexpected embrace enveloped her from behind, revealing a mysterious figure standing before her. Fear and nervousness made her heart beat so fast that it felt like it might burst.

"Don't leave, and I'll get rid of that ugly thing," Minwoo calls out.

She didn't say anything. Eventually, she could feel his grip getting weaker. As he put his hand gently on her chest, they looked at each other and felt closer. Although her eyes got bigger, all he could see was the gumiho's sly grin as he quickly let go of her, letting the towel fall to the floor with style.

As Minwoo got closer to the goblin, he hit it very hard. The goblin, caught off guard, jumped, sending Jiyeon's belongings flying around her room in a jumbled mess.

"Are you surprised?" Minwoo asked.