23. Snowball Fight

23. Snowball Fight

“Huk!”

A surprise attack to startle Sister. However, Sister calmly blocked the snowball that flew at her as soon as she opened the door.

The snow, blocked by Sister’s hand, fell to the ground powerlessly. Sister smiled at me.

“Hoo hoo, our Seol-ah, you’re even ambushing now?”

My wolf senses sounded an alarm. I have to escape from here!

As expected, Sister’s hand was already holding a massive pile of snow. Sister scooped snow with her other hand, packed it tightly, and threw it at me.

Thwack!

“Hieek!”

The snowball embedded itself in the ground with a tremendous whistling sound. At this rate, it was as if Sister had secretly put stones in the snowballs. I quickly raised both my arms and signaled my surrender!

“W-wait a minute! Sister, time out!”

“No, because Seol-ah ambushed first.”

“Kkang!”

Snowballs rained down again. This time, Sister seemed to be seriously determined. If it’s like this, I won’t be able to show my cool dodging skills. Instead of showing off, I’ll probably end up covered in snow and crying like a loser.

It’s too late to regret not ambushing. I threw snow at Sister, and now Sister is shooting a snow machine gun at me!

“Ugh!”

A barrage of snow flying towards me. I dodged it and ran. To the right, then to the left, I dodged forward, and then I jumped.

Generally, jumping high into the air when you’re being targeted like this is a bad idea. That’s because humans can’t move in the air. If I were a normal wolf, I would be hit by the snow, snow, snow, and become a pathetic, foolish snow wolf.

But!

“Kkyang!”

I’m different!

Because I can use my unique advantage, this giant, fluffy, bouncy, super-soft, chewy tail, I can show limited movement even in mid-air!

Using the law of action and reaction for aerial maneuverability, Sister’s snow bullets whizzed past me, not hitting me even once.

I bent my knees for a hero landing and confidently said to Sister.

“How about it, Sister! Isn’t this super cool… Ugh!”

So, the immense amount of snow, flying without stopping. Before I could even strike a triumphant pose, I had to move my legs quickly.

There are no obstacles to hide behind from the diagonal attacks on the snowfield. The only place to hide, our house, is where Sister is standing, so I can’t approach it. I had no choice but to be exposed to the hail of snow.

But seeing the snow whizzing past me at lightning speed, I couldn’t help but hide.

“Kkang!”

I hid behind the four majestic snow wolves that Sister and I had made yesterday. The snowballs flying towards me hit the snow wolves instead of me, and unable to withstand the destructive force, the snow wolf split in half….

“Eh….”

“S-Seol-ah?”

Sister’s hand stopped urgently, but the snow wolf had already been shattered into pieces. I picked up the remains of the snow wolf with trembling hands. Next to the Father, Mother, and Sister wolves, the wolf symbolizing me no longer existed.

“No, well, Seol-ah, this was Sister’s mistake….”

“Hic….”

Tears blurred my vision. The world turned hazy.

Although I had only known it for a day, the snow wolf held so many memories. Memories of happily piling snow with Sister on a day of soft snowflakes, proudly smiling at the finished snow wolf, and seeing the fox acting like a wolf. But now, it’s gone. It’s gone.

Born from snow, it was named a wolf by my hands, and now it has returned to its original form, becoming snow again. Only I could cry for it. As I looked down at the snowfield, shedding tears in vain, Sister cautiously approached me.

“Seol-ah… I’m really sorry….”

“You were tricked!”

Thwack! A snowball flew and hit Sister’s face. Snow dripped down, and Sister’s eyes trembled. Her soft hand, which had been reaching out to me, stopped in place, trembling slightly.

“I won!”

“….”

 This is strategy. The true ability of a wolf is its excellent intelligence to turn a crisis into an opportunity. I raised both my arms and shook my tail vigorously with excitement.

Of course, it’s truly regrettable and sad that the snow wolf is gone. But hey, it’s not that complicated to make another snow wolf, is it?

It’s only right to consider it a valuable sacrifice, being able to defeat a superior opponent by sacrificing one snow wolf.

As I wagged my fluffy butt in celebration, I looked at Sister, who was unusually silent.

“Uh, Sister?”

“….”

“Huk….”

Sister’s tail was emitting an ominous aura. This is definitely Sister’s appearance when she’s extremely angry. Although she’s smiling on the outside, her inner feelings are not like that, as shown by her tail.

Sister doesn’t get angry often. She always indulges me no matter what mischief I cause. But like most saints, when Sister gets angry…

“Seol. Ah. Ya.”

“Kkang!!”

I quickly started running to escape Sister. But with my short legs, no matter how much I ran, I was still in the same place, and soon an enormous amount of snow, enough to block the sun in the sky, flew towards me.

——

“Kkang… Kkaheung!”

Sister’s machine-gun barrage didn’t stop until I was covered in white snow. By the time my head was matted with snow and my tail was firmly frozen, Sister finally stopped attacking and approached me, who had become a snow wolf.

“Sister….”

“Seol-ah.”

My body was lifted into the air. The snow covering me fell to the ground with a rustle, and I sneezed “Kkaheung” as I was embraced by Sister. It was warm.

“Is it okay to use the fact that Sister worries about Seol-ah?”

“Of course it’s… Kkang!”

I was flicked on the forehead. She seemed to have hit me with quite some force, and although I couldn’t see it, it probably turned red. It stung.

“Stop fooling around. Is it okay, or not?”

“It’s not okay….”

“Don’t do that next time, okay?”

“Yes… Kkaheung.”

I sneezed. Sniffle, I swallowed my snot. Sister touched my forehead and then, looking surprised, opened her mouth in a fluster.

“Did I… overdo it? Seol-ah, are you cold? Uh, let’s go inside quickly.”

“Yes….”

Wolf suins have a strong resistance to cold, but they are not invincible. Even suins need to wear thick clothes to withstand the harsh cold of the North.

But I had dressed lightly today. I thought I didn’t need to dress warmly since it was just in front of the house, but now I regretted it a little.

“Kkyang.”

“Oh dear….”

As I entered the warm house, I started to feel my body heating up. As my body thawed, the numb sensations seemed to return. My body started to tremble.

My cries also lost their strength. Instead of a strong “Kkang,” a weak “Kkyang” came out. It wasn’t a pleasant sound.

As Sister brushed the snow off my body, she said with concern.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s okay… Auaaang….”

I couldn’t muster any strength. It seemed my condition had rapidly worsened, likely due to being buried in the cold snow for two consecutive days, following yesterday.

I let out an unidentifiable groan and was led by Sister’s hand.

“It’s cold….”

“The stove is off… Seol-ah, please bear with me for a moment.”

The stove in my room was off. Perhaps because there was no time to relight it, Sister took me to her room.

Fortunately, Sister’s room had a lit stove, and as Sister added firewood, the fire began to blaze.

It’s warm.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not okay….”

Sister’s hand touched my forehead. Sister’s hand, which had been warm just moments ago, felt so cold that my eyes involuntarily squinted. Sister couldn’t have gotten cold, so I must have gotten hot.

“Eungae….”

Sister laid me on the bed and covered me with a blanket up to my head.

Suddenly, memories of my past life surfaced. Memories of struggling on the verge of death in bed with a severe cold. The sensations felt similar to then.

Hot, cold, throbbing, and the world spinning.

But what hurt me more than anything was the loneliness of having no one by my side when I was sick.

But it was different now.

Sister is by my side. She is holding my hand. Just that alone makes me feel no more pain.

“Hehe….”

“Seol-ah?”

“Kkaheung.”

I still sneeze, but it’s much better than in my past life. I can confidently say it’s a hundred times, no, three thousand times better.

Sister tilted her head in confusion, looking at me giggling. Perhaps Sister didn’t know what I was thinking. Neither Dad nor Mom would know.

… Wait a minute, but where did Mom and Dad go?