33. Guarding the House

33. Guarding the House

“Okay, Seol-gu, you shouldn’t cry outside. Understand?”

I realized firsthand how dangerous it is to shed tears in this cold place. I sat Seol-gu down on the snow and lectured him.

If I hadn’t cried this time, Seol-gu wouldn’t have known that he shouldn’t cry outside, and then something bad could have happened if Seol-gu cried at an important moment. But thanks to my demonstration, Seol-gu will be able to be careful from now on.

So Seol-gu should be grateful to me!

“Kkang….”

“D-don’t look at me like that!”

However, this ungrateful foolish fox, instead of being grateful to me, looked at me as if I were something insignificant.

If you think about it that way, you’re insignificant too! I’m a magnificent wolf, and Seol-gu is a small fox, so Seol-gu is a hundred or a thousand times more insignificant!

“Besides, I’m a magnificent wolf, so I wouldn’t have cried normally!”

“Kkang?”

Wolves are strong and powerful hunters, but that doesn’t mean they never cry. Behind their cold and rational demeanor, wolves also have an emotional side that can deeply empathize with others. That’s why I cried this time.

“Memorize this, Seol-gu: wolves are super cool animals!”

“Kking….”

This is even in my number one treasure picture book. Be sure to remember it, Seol-gu!

After the commotion subsided, silence began to fall over the front yard of the house. After drawing wolf pictures in the piled-up snow, I pondered seriously.

“Seol-gu, I feel like I was supposed to do something, but I can’t remember. What was it?”

“Kkang Kkang!”

“No. I wasn’t trying to tease you… I mean, I’m sure there was something I absolutely had to do….”

Something that would get me spanked by Sister if I didn’t do it quickly. My wolf intuition is sounding an alarm, but I can’t recall what it is.

However, that intuition vanished as soon as I saw the wolf picture I had drawn on the snowfield. I proudly showed the picture to Seol-gu.

“Seol-gu, look! It’s a wolf!”

“Kkang!”

However, instead of admiring it, Seol-gu threw itself down and ruined my drawing. With a thud, Seol-gu, with only its lower body stuck in the snow, shook its body and popped out with something in its mouth.

“Huk! A hamster…!”

What Seol-gu had in its mouth was a white, round Arctic hamster. The hamster squeaked and struggled, angry at being caught.

Seeing that, I remembered what I had to do. I quickly started running across the snowfield.

“Let’s go hunting, Seol-gu!”

“Kkang?”

“Hurry! Before Sister comes back!”

Sister went to catch a huge prey. I can’t catch prey that big, but I can definitely hunt small animals like rabbits.

When Sister returns and sees the prey I’ve caught, she’ll surely praise me immensely. Maybe my abilities will be recognized. Plus, I can brag to Polar Bear Uncle and Yura and Yuri. It’s nothing short of a rosy future.

I threw the hamster Seol-gu gave me far away and said.

“You can let the hamster go, it won’t even fill my stomach anyway.”

“Kkang!”

“Don’t worry, I have a plan!”

I understand how dangerous it is to go out alone. There are many dangerous animals in the snowfield, just as Sister worried.

But, I am not alone now. I have Seol-gu, my cute little danger-sensing sensor, by my side! If we combine our strengths, we will surely achieve tremendous results!

I hugged Seol-gu and started running with all my might.

——

“Okay, Seol-gu! Tell me quickly if there are any animals around!”

“Kkang!”

Entering a suitable forest, I put Seol-gu down and said. Seol-gu has the ability to sense danger, so it can probably sense the presence of animals.

However, it seemed to take some time to find them. This was within the expected range, so it didn’t matter.

“Then, in the meantime, I’ll look around in the snow!”

I closed my mouth and started listening intently to the snow. Prey sometimes hides in the snow, so I need to focus my hearing to find them.

“Not here….”

It’s fortunate that the weather is nice today. The weather in the north is unpredictable, and you never know when a strong wind might blow. Then it would be difficult to find prey because I wouldn’t be able to hear.

“Not here either… Huk!”

I jumped high into the air without hesitation. Using my tail to balance, I plunged my head into the snow at super speed.

Poof!

With a slightly anticlimactic sound, I found myself in the snow with…!

“What, it’s just a stone.”

I picked up a semi-transparent sky-blue stone.

Normally, I might have been happy to find such a unique stone. I like collecting stones. But now that I have a perfectly beautiful transparent, sparkling stone, most stones don’t impress me.

Still, since I found it, I’ll put it in my tail. Be grateful to my generosity, stone!

“Seol-gu!! Did you find any animals?”

I shoved this slightly foolish stone into my tail and approached Seol-gu. Seol-gu was stuck in the snow with only its legs sticking out.

“Seol-gu!! I told you to find prey, not play!!”

“Kkang! Pant, pant.”

As Seol-gu dug through the snow, a hamster was in its mouth. It seemed Seol-gu had also been hunting while I was.

“Good job!”

“Pant, pant.”

I took the unconscious hamster from Seol-gu. It’s too small to fill my stomach, but since it’s already dead, I guess I have to take it home.

So, I need a place to store it.

“If I leave it out like this, other animals will steal it.”

“Kkang.”

“What should I do….”

At that moment, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind. My own secret place that no one can find, that’s a den!

I am a wolf who is very good at digging dens. So, I can dig a den, hide the hamster there, and take it all at once when I return later! This way, no one will steal it, and the corpse won’t spoil in this cold.

Without hesitation, I started digging through the snow. A huge amount of snow scattered, and by the time Seol-gu was covered in snow, I had finally dug a perfect den.

“Done!”

I nodded, looking at the perfectly camouflaged den, after putting the hamster inside and covering it.

“Kkang!”

“Huh?”

At that moment, Seol-gu reacted. At the same time, I started hearing something rustling.

This is definitely the sound of an animal’s footsteps. Moreover, since the sound is light, it must be a very small animal!

“Seol-gu, let’s hurry!”

“Kkang!”

We started running in a hurry.

What we found at our destination was a penguin. That is, a waddling Arctic penguin, revealing its plump white belly as it spread its black wings.

This world is the Arctic, but there are penguins. After all, this isn’t Earth, so it’s not strange for penguins to be in the Arctic.

I’ve only seen penguins in books, and this is my first time seeing one in person. The penguin is even cuter than I thought.

A penguin that is half my size, and I’m only 8 years old. Its black hair and round eyes seem to reveal the penguin’s innocence. Its waddling gait is really cute. Are there no friends around?

I approached the penguin. If the conditions were right, I might want to make this penguin my pet….

“Kiiiiiieeeeeek!!!”

“Ugh!!”

Then the penguin let out a terrible scream and opened its mouth towards me. The sight inside its mouth, like a hellish monster appearing, made me scream just as loudly. As the penguin started attacking me with its beak, I quickly ran away from there.

After running for a while, I looked back. Only Seol-gu was behind me. The penguin didn’t follow.

“Huk, huk….”

The sight of the penguin’s mouth, the first I’ve ever seen in my life, both past and present, is something I never want to recall. The penguin in my mind was a cute ball of fluff waddling around, but my childhood innocence is being shattered.

“Kkang….”

My proud tail fur was torn off by the evil penguin-shaped monster. I shed tears looking at my tail, which was torn in the shape of a beak. It was fortunate that only the fur was torn.

“Kkang! Pant, pant.”

“Seol-gu… help me….”

“Kkang!”

Seol-gu stuck out its tongue and licked my tail. I pleaded with Seol-gu, and in response, Seol-gu took out the stone from its tail.

Then, a “Kkang” echoed.

Light flashed, and my tail began to be restored. The tail, which had been gouged in the shape of a penguin’s beak, now maintained its fluffy egg-like shape!

“Amazing!!”

“Kkang!”

I hugged Seol-gu. The fluffy ball of fur licked me and cried happily. I also cried “Kkang!” and rubbed my face against Seol-gu’s belly.

“Okay, let’s never go near penguins again. Understand?”

“Kkang… Kkang Kkang!”

“Huh? Did you find something?”

As I was reflecting on the new lesson I learned, Seol-gu suddenly stood up and started barking, pointing in a certain direction. It seemed to be saying there was an animal over there.

I hesitated and said.

“It’s, it’s not a penguin, is it…?”

“Kkyang!”

“Okay, let’s go!”

I hugged Seol-gu and started running towards where Seol-gu was pointing.