Chapter Text
Note: This piece is based off "Tale of the Nine Tailed" 구미호뎐 that was aired in 2020. The plot and events are ideas stemming from there hence some similarities with a bit of eunhae's twist. None of the events here are real or have any references to any real events. Names used are of coincidence only. Any death mentioned here are purely for the storyline and have no relation to any reality.
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The world is filled with a lot of unknowns, and one of the largest mysteries in the mortal realm hinted that even the most ordinary look of a person could potentially hide their real form. The spiritual realm was more than real, but no one questioned it or challenged it. They move in the dark or even in broad daylight under the sights of the human eye. Their job is to keep the ecosystem balanced, to maintain harmony within the living, and to ensure the dark ones stay out of trouble. Hiding in plain sight for thousands of years, there is nothing most of them haven’t seen.
Some believes it is a facade, some believe that it only exist in folklore, the truth is far from what they cry in legendary stories. Folk towns that served as tourist attractions sometimes bring more of a temporary shelter, illusion and security than it’s intended purpose. Some hiding in eternal darkness under infinite spans of curses, sealed tight in spaces that are absolutely forbidden for any creature to come nearby.
“Are you a lonely man?” A child asked while the background chatter of many other children echoed in the playground.
“Why? How can you tell?” Hyukjae asked nonchalantly.
The child giggled and then ran off when his mother called him. Several seconds later, he ran back towards where Hyukjae is.
“Because you’re not smiling..” the child whispered in Hyukjae’s ears and ran away into his mother’s arm again.
Hyukjae sighed. To him, human lives are far more fragile than his. What human care for is survival, rebuilding the country, getting out of economic crisis, feeding their own families, getting a good job, some far more fortunate, some much more unfortunate. Hyukjae also witnessed many cycles of births and unfortunately deaths too. Too fragile he thought, so unprecedented. It’s, so short as well. The seasons changed within a few months, from hot to cold and humans scramble themselves to adapt for the weather. Either piling layers or dropping layers.
Hyukjae remained the same. Neither the hot or cold affects him. He thought that was the fortunate part of him.
With autumn slowly creeping in, the sweltering heat in Seoul slowly disappeared, and the foliage around started to turn into a beautiful yellow hue. Autumn wasn’t necessarily Hyukjae’s favourite. To him, it meant another year is coming to an end. However, the people surrounding him now in the park thought otherwise. Both adults and children were having fun around the riverside, escaping the busy metropolis.
However, Hyukjae felt unsettled. He felt something was not right.
Something feels off.
“Hyuk-ya!” A sweet voice called from a corner.
Jiha, Hyukjae’s informant, walked closer to him. She caught Hyukjae lazing around on the grass, out in the direct sunlight and immediately opened an umbrella, sheltering Hyukjae from it. “Are you an idiot, what are you trying to do scorching yourself under the sunlight?”
“I applied sunscreen. Isn’t human technology amazing. I saw from an advertisement saying that this little white liquid can protect my skin from sunburn.” Hyukjae rolled over and planted his face down into the grass. He smelled the earth and let his body absorb all of the earth’s energy.
“Hah, you should have known yourself better. A fox doesn’t get sunburnt, but your fur will start to burn if you don’t shield yourself!” Jiha crossed her arms at her dongsaeng that has been idiotic lately. “Why? Have you become too human now that you have been mingling too much with them?”
“Go away, stop bothering me. I’ll come back later.” Hyukjae shooed her and scoffed at all the comments. Jiha couldn’t do anything about Hyukjae’s stubbornness for sure and left the umbrella shielding his face and walked away from the direct sunlight.
Hyukjae laid on the ground, and checked his watch. The date showed October 15th, year 1990.
Human lives, so fragile, so pathetic. Struggles are for the living, feelings are for them. Who am I to even feel anything at this point.
Hyukjae got up from the sunlight and dusted his sweatpants from all the grass that was sticking onto him. He picked up his belongings and walked towards the intersections and alleys nearby the big buildings. While inside the alley, he took out a mysterious talisman and hung it around his waist. Once making sure there was no one around, he relaxed his body and mysteriously let out a raw form of energy and let it engulf him completely before vanishing from the alley.
No one noticed, and the humans around continued their day.
Night fell, and rain poured. Hyukjae was back in his apartment by now, and he opened his curtains to soak in the view of Hangang. Seoul was fast developing, and skyscraper after skyscraper was constantly filling empty grounds. Hyukjae absorb into the city light views and thought of what it was like in the past. He obviously had lost concept of time. Unbothered, he ate his berries that was served on a plate, and dug his fridge for mint flavoured ice cream. He wandered around his apartment before turning on the TV. The TV was playing that night’s news and was showing how a freeway that had no cars suddenly clogged up into a massive traffic.
Before more information could even be reported from the TV, a swoosh of cold air passed through his face.
“Kyuhyun, why are you here..” Hyukjae asked.
“Oh, you found me eh? Section 7, Baekdu Intersection. You’re summoned there.” Kyuhyun handed him a note on a wooden plate.
“Official business?” Hyukjae asked. He examined the name that was written on the plaque and stared at it intensely.
“Yes. A child is involved.” Kyuhyun replied. “He’s still alive.”
He looked at the name written on the wooden plaque. It spelled out in Hanja ‘李東海’. Hyukjae got up from the sofa, and pulled out the plug on the TV as he was too lazy to find the remote to turn it off, and pulled the curtains closed. He changed into his official clothes and came back and summoned Kyuhyun.
“Any background details of the child?” Hyukjae came out as he tidied his collar and run his fingers through his blonde mullet.
“Born in 1986. 15th October. Mortal. You have 10 minutes before the grim reaper arrives.”
“Not today.” Hyukjae’s stern voice shook the apartment and he dashed out from the window, onto the freeway that Kyuhyun mentioned.
He arrived at the scene in seconds, and looked at the gory sight. It was dark, and the air was filled with multiple mysterious energy. Hyukjae walked throughout the area, and found the car that was flipped into the ditch, with no form of blood present. There were no drivers, and the shatter of the glass was too clean, almost supernatural. He also noticed there was a child seat at the back, and colourful birthday wrappers around. Today was perhaps the child’s birthday. Hyukjae walked further into the scene before he stopped when he heard sirens coming from the other direction.