“Excuses? For what exactly?”
“Yipe!”
“You little—!”
The village chief snatched up the broom beside him, and the fox yelped in shock, scrambling over the wall and fleeing.
Watching it bolt, the chief sighed and shook his head.
“I keep telling you to be careful around humans, but you never listen. One of these days you're going to get yourself in real trouble…”
After staring in the direction the fox ran off to, the chief eventually disappeared as well.
***
“*&#$^&*@$%”
Jiho, who had been unconscious, slowly began to stir from the sound of voices and the damp sensation brushing against his face.
“It’s been ages since we saw a human, squeak!”
“Don’t get close, meow. He reeks like something rotten, meow.”
“There’s something dangerous coming from his stomach area, squeak.”
“With that stench and that energy? He doesn’t have long to live, meow.”
“Poor guy, squeak.”
“Don’t pity him, meow. Humans don’t live long anyway, meow.”
Jiho forced himself upright and turned his head toward the voices.
Then, he screamed without thinking.
“AAAAAHH!!”
“Squeak! Why are you yelling, squeak!!”
“Quiet, meow! My ears are ringing, meow!”
The two snapped in irritation at his outburst.
One was a normal-sized yellow cat.
The other was a giant squirrel—easily three feet tall.
Jiho stared at them, frozen, then slowly reached up and pinched his cheek.
“Am I… still dreaming? Ow! That hurt. So I’m awake… Then what the hell is this?”
Muttering in confusion, he wore a stupified expression.
The yellow cat smirked.
“Hmph. You look ridiculously stupid, meow. You’re awake, so stop pinching that ugly face of yours, meow.”
At this, the squirrel gasped, appalled.
“Squeak! It’s wrong to attack someone’s appearance, squeak!”
“What do you mean wrong, meow? He is ugly, so I said he’s ugly, meow.”
“Do you think he wanted to be born ugly, squeak? And hurting others with your words earns you no virtue, squeak!”
“Hm. When you put it like that… you have a point, meow.”
Jiho stared blankly as the cat nodded in agreement.
‘What do I even comment on first? That I’ve been called handsome my whole life and it’s the first time I’ve ever been called ugly? Or that animals apparently have a wildly different beauty standard? No, scratch all that—why the hell are animals talking? Am I hallucinating because of the cancer? Do I need to admit myself into a hospital right now?’
As questions tangled endlessly in his head, the door slid open.
The village chief from earlier walked in, surveying the room with a click of his tongue.
“Tch.”
“Dae-woong. Why did you bring this stinking human into the village, meow?”
The man called Dae-woong set a tray with a cup onto the floor.
“I didn’t bring him in. He came in by himself.”
“Hooong? What do you mean, meow?”
“Humans can’t enter through the barrier, squeak!”
The two creatures looked aghast.
“I felt a human inside the village earlier and went to check,” Dae-woong explained.
“....”
“He was there. I tried to send him back, but he suddenly fainted, so I had no choice.”
The cat’s expression turned grave.
“Is something wrong with the village barrier, meow? Is that how he got in, meow?”
“No. I checked it after laying him down. There was nothing wrong.”
“Squeak? Then how did he get in here, squeak?!”
The squirrel trembled, but the cat patted him with a paw.
“Calm down, meow. This isn’t the first time a human has wandered in here, meow.”
The squirrel’s eyes widened.
“Oh! Right, squeak! I forgot, squeak!”
“Sometimes, very rarely, humans with special power can enter, meow.”
“So this human has special power, squeak?!”
“Not that I can sense, meow. He doesn’t have any remarkable energy at all, meow.”
The cat turned to Dae-woong.
“And you? You sense anything, meow?”
Dae-woong shook his head.
“No. Nothing at all. Which only makes this more confusing.”
Jiho, who had been silently listening, cautiously spoke.
“Um… Sir? What exactly is going on? Am I… insane?”
“Tch. Your body is rotting away, but your mind is intact. You’re not crazy. Don’t worry.”
“Well… but animals are literally talking in front of me…”
The cat immediately bristled.
“How dare you call me an animal, meow! I am the great cat demon, Myorang, meow! Do not lower me to a mere beast, meow!”
“That’s right, squeak! I am an extremely rare and noble squirrel demon, squeak! I am revered by all squirrels in this mountain, squeak! And my name is Darong, squeak!”
Dae-woong rubbed his temple and sighed.
“As you heard, they are not animals. They are yokai. This is a village of yokai.”
“Yo… kai?”
“Yes. This place is sealed by a powerful barrier that humans shouldn’t be able to enter. Now tell me again—how exactly did you get in?”
Jiho’s mind was spinning.
But he forced himself to answer anyway.
“Uh… nothing unusual. Like I said earlier, an animal ran onto the road, I swerved, crashed into the pavilion at the village entrance…”
“When I got out, I saw a stone marker that said “Yoiri”, so I thought that was the village name…”
“.....”
“And since I wanted to pay for the repairs, I followed the road and ran into you.”
“You saw the stone marker? And you could read the name “Yoiri”? And you saw the path leading into the village?”
“Yes…”
Dae-woong massaged his forehead.
“Unbelievable… the stone actually reads “Yoiri”. Only yokai can see it and the path into the village. So why could a normal human see it?”
Jiho had no answer.
Dae-woong studied him for a long moment before speaking.
“You fainted, so I had no choice but to bring you here. I wanted to leave you be, but someone clinging to you begged me to take care of you—so I did. Now it’s time for you to leave.”
“T-thank you, I guess… But wait. Who was clinging to me? I’ve been alone for years.”
Dae-woong silently tilted his head toward where Jiho had been lying.
Jiho turned.
His eyes went wide.
Voice trembling, he spoke.
“Baek… Seol-ah. That’s you, right? That is you, isn’t it?”
“Woof!”
The moment his voice called her name, the dog leapt into his arms.
Black and white fur, warm, familiar, alive.
Jiho burst into tears.
“Baekseol… why are you here? I thought you crossed the rainbow bridge… I thought you were resting in peace…”
“Woof! Woof!”
She barked loudly, licking his tears away.
Baekseol was Jiho’s dog.
She had died five years ago.
After his parents passed, when Jiho was completely alone, he found her—old, sick, curled up in an alley.
Everyone else walked past her.
He did too, at first.
But guilt gnawed at him all day.
So when work ended, he ran back to find her.
She wasn’t there.
He searched the entire neighborhood until finally finding her near his home.
Exhausted, he dropped to his knees.
“You know how much I ran to find you?”
The dog simply stared back.
Then slowly, weakly, she walked toward him.
And his heart broke.
“…Do you want to come with me? I’ll help you find your owner. And if we can’t… how about staying with me?”
She licked his hand.
He took it as her answer.
He rushed her to a 24-hour veterinary clinic.
No microchip.
No owner.
The doctor warned him—she was old, sick, frail.
“Even if treated, she has maybe two or three years. Caring for her will be difficult. You might regret it.”
Jiho shook his head.
“…Even if it’s only a short time, I want her to live it with me.”
So he named her “Baekseol”.
And from that day, they were family.