77. Travel

77. Travel

The sun is rising.

Brilliant sunlight chased away the darkness that had filled the room and soon poked and prodded my eyelids.

“Kkang….”

My body feels heavy.

Is it because I couldn’t sleep well?

Sister told me to sleep early and rest, but I couldn’t help but feel excited about my first long journey, spanning both my past and present lives.

As a result, my tail kept wagging on its own, and I ended up falling asleep late at night.

Children are supposed to sleep soundly at night, but since I slept late and woke up early, my physical condition couldn’t possibly be good.

I rubbed my face against the blanket covering my head. I don’t know why, but it was fluffy and soft.

And it was ticklish.

A strange, fur-like sensation brushed against my nose.

Every time I inhaled, the fur would lie down with the wind, continuously tickling my nose…

“A-achoo!”

“Kkang?!”

I ended up sneezing.

Then, the ball of fur that had been covering my head, which I mistook for a blanket, was startled and moved off my head.

Seol-gu was sleeping soundly on top of me.

No wonder I felt so heavy…!

It’s no wonder I felt heavy when such a giant furball was weighing me down. I glared at Seol-gu and opened my mouth wide, yawning.

“Haaawwwm….”

Still, fortunately, I feel refreshed now. Instead of feeling heavy, I feel energetic.

Seeing that my body is healthy even after oversleeping like this, I am reminded once again that I am a wolf.

However, if I were to oversleep like this every day, Sister would surely smack my bottom. Based on my past experiences, I’m sure I’d get two smacks on the bottom.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

To become a strong and powerful wolf, I need to live a healthy life, so I had absolutely no intention of oversleeping on purpose.

“Is Sister… still sleeping?”

Looking out the window, the sun was just rising above the horizon. The house was also very quiet, and it seemed I was the first to wake up among my family.

In that case….

“I should wake Sister up!”

Usually, I’m the one being woken up by Sister, but today it’s the opposite. I’m the one waking up the sleeping Sister.

Heh heh….

Usually, when Sister wakes me up, she strokes my head.

Then, when I groggily get out of bed, she gently removes the sleep from my eyes with her soft hand, and then brushes my tail and hair beautifully with a comb.

This time, it’s my turn.

“Seol-gu! Let’s go!”

“Kkang.”

I stuck my comb into Seol-gu’s tail and then, holding Seol-gu in my arms with both hands, headed towards Sister’s room. Seol-gu was so big that I had to walk wobbly.

The path to Sister’s room.

It’s right next door, so it’s hardly a path, but the brief glimpse of the house’s scenery was enough to make me feel strange.

“I feel weird….”

Usually, I wake up after the rest of the family, so perhaps that’s why I haven’t seen such a quiet morning scene.

While my heart felt calm, a sense of pride welled up inside me for waking up so early.

Well, Sister will wake up soon anyway, and the house will become noisy.

All thanks to me!

And then, for the first time, I will step outside the Arctic.

My heart is pounding, my tail is wagging. I feel excited.

“Seol-gu, let’s go in quietly and wake Sister up. Okay?”

“Kkang.”

As I lowered my voice, Seol-gu responded with a quiet bark. Knowing we were ready, we gently pulled the doorknob and opened the door.

Creeeeak-

“Oh….”

As I expected, Sister was fast asleep. Seeing the blanket on the bed gently rising and falling, I grinned and approached Sister.

“Ho, heave….”

Sister’s bed was much larger and higher than my children’s bed. No matter how hard I reached, my hand couldn’t reach Sister’s head from outside the bed.

Since I couldn’t stroke Sister’s head like this, I crawled onto the bed. I wondered if Sister would wake up from the bed tilting, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

“Phew!”

Seol-gu also quietly climbed onto the bed and looked down at Sister from on top of my head.

Her pink lips were tightly closed.

Below them, Sister’s chest could be seen gently rising and falling.

Her posture was very modest and upright overall. It showed that Sister had very good sleeping habits.

If Seol-gu were in this position, he would be kicking the blankets around and snorting loudly in an impressive pose.

“Hee hee.”

Looking at Sister’s sleeping face, a mischievous idea struck me, and I extended my tail to cover Sister’s face.

Covered by my tail, Sister seemed to inhale normally for a moment, but then, perhaps finding it difficult to breathe, she scrunched up her face. Then, in a sleepy voice, she mumbled.

“Seol-gu… get off me….”

Huk.

Did she mistake Seol-gu’s tail for mine?

Both are pretty and fluffy giant tails, so they are similar. But no matter what, how could she mistake a wolf’s tail for a fox’s tail?

I could list hundreds of differences between Seol-gu’s tail and mine right now. Yet, Sister seemed unable to distinguish them.

My goodness.

I feel disappointed.

I pouted and deliberately didn’t move my tail. Then, Sister let out a deep sigh and lifted my tail.

“Seol-gu, I told you to get down….”

“Kkang!”

My body was lifted upside down, and Seol-gu, who was on my head, tumbled to the floor. As we both exclaimed “Kkang!” in unison, Sister’s eyes widened.

“Seol-ah…?”

“Uh, Sister….”

——

“Were you trying to wake me up?”

“Yeah!”

“Isn’t it a bit… early?”

Sister yawned and reached out, pointing towards the window. There, the newly risen sun was shining on the snowfield, smiling brightly.

“But it’s morning!”

“Yes, yes….”

Today, Sister seemed particularly drowsy. As I tilted my head, seeing her unable to regain her senses, Sister chuckled lightly and explained the reason.

“I was a bit busy preparing various things yesterday… so I went to bed very late. Did you sleep well, Seol-ah?”

“Yeah!”

“I see….”

Sister reached out and stroked my tail. However, her eyes were tightly closed, and only her arm was moving.

Did I wake Sister up too early?

Wait a moment.

I keep forgetting, but I have a transparent stone that can use magic. Perhaps I can help Sister using this.

Since Seol-gu healed my injured wound through the stone, I’m sure I can do something similar.

“Stone…! Wake Sister up!”

I took the stone out of my tail and muttered as I held it up to Sister.

Then, a brilliant light flowed from the stone and enveloped Sister. A moment later, as the light subsided, Sister looked at me with wide-open eyes.

I was a little worried, but it seems to have worked. Sister said.

“You can do this with magic too?”

“Yeah!”

“Haha… Thank you. Thanks to Seol-ah, I feel completely refreshed.”

Sister stroked my head. My tail wagged uncontrollably with pleasure.

Ah, no, wait a moment. This is not the time.

I stood on my tiptoes and reached out towards Sister’s head. As I stretched my hand towards Sister’s head, which I couldn’t reach, Sister tilted her head and asked.

“Why?”

“This time, I’m going to stroke you!”

“Oh my… Yes, here.”

I had been thinking of stroking Sister’s head since I first entered her room. I almost forgot due to the addictive sensation of having my head touched, but fortunately, I remembered.

Sister smiled and lifted me up, placing me on her shoulders. It was a piggyback ride. Thanks to this, I could stroke Sister’s hair to my heart’s content.

“When I grow up, I’ll be able to reach Sister’s head just by stretching my hand, right?”

“O-of course.”

“Heh heh… look forward to it! I’ll be looking down at you then!”

Someday, when I look down at Sister, I won’t even see Seol-gu. Because Seol-gu isn’t a wolf who can grow incredibly large, but a small Arctic fox forever.

Huk… Then I might accidentally kick Seol-gu while walking.

I’ll have to walk while carefully watching the ground!

“Kkang?”

“Heh heh….”

As I looked down at Seol-gu and smiled, Seol-gu tilted his head, expressing his confusion.

But I didn’t tell him why I was smiling. If I told him I was laughing out of pity for a fox that could never grow, Seol-gu would get upset!

A moment later, Sister put me down on the floor and said.

“We’re leaving right after breakfast, so get ready in advance. Got it? I’m going to wake Father up.”

“Yeah!”

The only preparations I was allowed to make were Seol-gu and the bag. Well, it’s better than nothing.

I returned to my room and put Seol-gu into the red randoseru, saying.

“Seol-gu, you have to stay in here, okay? Don’t sneak out because you’re curious about the outside. You’ll get lost!”

“Kkang kkang.”

“Oh, I’m the one who might get lost! I’m a very mature wolf, so I don’t get lost?”

“Kkang.”

“Y-you…!”

How dare a fox say that to a wolf.

Fine, just you wait! If I get lost, then I’ll be a fox, a fox!

A fiery war of nerves.

A moment later, after eating breakfast, we stepped out of the house. It was the moment the journey truly began.