54. Finding Ice Fruit

54. Finding Ice Fruit

“The sun!”

Fifteen days have passed since then.

Finally, the long night ended, and the sun rose above the horizon.

How long I had waited for this day. I was so happy to see the sunlight after so long. I truly missed the dazzlingly white snowy landscape stretching out to the horizon.

Daylight meant I could legally go outside. And at the same time, it meant the tribe members would soon go hunting together.

“Hoo hoo…!”

I’m already looking forward to seeing Sister’s surprised face when she sees my magic. My tail had been itching so much to show Sister my magic.

Since that day, I had secretly used magic a few more times, but because I hid it so well, Sister seemed to think I was just playing with the stone. She probably never imagined I could actually use magic.

This is exactly the gap in her thinking I’m aiming for. Appearing spectacularly with dazzling magic at a moment she least expects it… Sister, Dad, and Mom will all have no choice but to widen their eyes at me.

And then, I will earn the honorable title of the first magical wolf of the tribe…!

This is not the time. To surprise Sister, I need to practice magic as much as possible. There are limits to practicing secretly at home.

I hurried to Sister’s room.

“Sister!!”

When I burst into Sister’s room, which I opened with force… instead of the familiar white wolf, only a fluffy white fox was sitting on the chair.

“Huh? Sister?”

“Kkang?”

Could it be… Sister has turned into a fox?!

After that day, she sometimes brought Seol-gu into the room to do something, and perhaps Sister has finally turned into a polar fox. Good heavens, how could such a terrible thing happen…!

“No!!”

“Seol-ah? What’s wrong, coming to Sister’s room?”

At that moment, Sister’s voice came from behind me. Startled, I turned my head, and there was Sister, just opening the door and coming in.

White triangular ears, a fluffy tail, blue eyes, tall and cool appearance… the Sister I knew.

“Oh, Sister! You’re a wolf, right…?”

“Yes…? I’m a wolf. What’s wrong?”

“I thought you had turned into a fox….”

If that’s the case, is that sitting in Sister’s chair Seol-gu? Looking closely, his face looked foolish and vacant, as if it had ‘I’m Seol-gu’ written all over it.

To mistake Sister for Seol-gu… I must have picked up some fox-like habits from playing with Seol-gu so often lately. Snap out of it, Seol-ah!

“Hoo hoo, why would Sister turn into a fox? Don’t worry, Sister will always be a wolf.”

Sister chuckled and scattered the items she was carrying onto the desk. At a glance, they were educational materials for learning letters that I used when I was much younger.

I mean, paper covers with things like ‘Ga Na Da Ra…’ written on them.

“What are these?”

“Yes. I was trying to talk to Seol-gu, but he just wouldn’t speak, so I was trying to teach him letters.”

“… To Seol-gu?”

Sister’s expression was serious as she said that. Her eyes were so bright, she truly seemed to believe she could teach Seol-gu the letters of the Wolf Tribe.

No, really?

“Yes. I think Seol-gu is smart, so even if he can’t speak, he can write. Don’t you think so too, Seol-ah?”

“….”

I have no objection to Seol-gu being a rather intelligent fox. But… I’m not so sure if he can write.

“It might take some time, but I’m sure he can do it.”

“Uh, yes. Good luck, Sister.”

Even though I’m just a child, I don’t think Seol-gu can write, but Sister was full of confidence from an unknown source.

Seol-gu, sitting on the chair, tilted his head, looking at me as if he didn’t understand the situation. Seeing his foolishly happy expression, I doubted even more whether Seol-gu could learn letters.

Well, maybe… it’s possible.

Sister is a wonderful wolf whom I admire, but sometimes she has such eccentric ideas. Instead of arguing, I decided to quietly support Sister.

“So, why did you come to Sister’s room?”

With the letter-learning books placed in front of Seol-gu, Sister turned to me and asked. Regardless of Seol-gu, I had my own business, so I stated my purpose.

“Can I go outside?”

“Outside? Hmm….”

Sister looked outside and fell into thought. Finally, an answer came.

“You can go. However, it’s only been a short while since the polar night ended, so the sun will set very early for a while. So you must come back before it gets too late. Understand?”

“Yes!”

“I’ll trust you, Seol-ah.”

“Don’t worry!”

Having received the answer, I immediately ran out of Sister’s room.

From inside the firmly closed door, I could hear Sister’s voice trying to teach Seol-gu letters, but I deliberately ignored it.

——

“Hoo hoo….”

Perhaps it’s because I’m outside for the first time in a while. The air felt particularly refreshing. The weather was clear, perfect for enjoying the sensation of the soft, crunching snow underfoot.

I took out the transparent stone from my tail.

The stone, which had shone brightly and illuminated the cave, was now sparkling transparently as if nothing had happened.

“Okay, first….”

Based on my experiments so far, special conditions must be met to use magic. I cleared my throat and howled with all my might.

“Kkang!”

Woo-oong-

The stone glowed in response to my howl. Only in this state can I use magic through the stone.

“What magic should I use today….”

A pleasant dilemma. Just the fact that I can use magic makes my heart flutter. Even though I’ve practiced magic for half a month, I can’t control this excitement.

Okay… let’s start with the basics first!

“Freeze!”

I held out the stone and shouted towards our house. Then, a powerful light emanated, and the window of the house, which was the target, froze with a crackle… and a loud “krrk” sound, a large crack appeared.

“Ah.”

It wasn’t me. It was the stone.

I averted my gaze from the window, which had become frozen, and ran towards a random spot far away.

“Phew… If I’ve come this far, they won’t know, right?”

I waited for a few minutes, but Sister or Dad didn’t come running out of the house to look for me. That’s a relief. If Sister had seen what I did, she would have definitely spanked my bottom.

I shook my head and decided to focus on what I had to do. There was something I really wanted to do after the polar night ended and I came outside.

That is, to find ice fruit!

My family had stored a large amount of food in advance to endure the polar night, but eventually, the pantry became empty towards the end. Ice fruit was no exception.

It’s already difficult to find, and I couldn’t go out to look for it because of the darkness. Around the 18th day, we ran out of ice fruit completely. Since then, I haven’t eaten ice fruit.

“Kkaeng….”

The sweet, sour, cold, and crisp taste of ice fruit lingered on my tongue. I wanted to eat it so badly that I even chewed on the memory of the last ice fruit I ate, recalling it.

But those gloomy times are now over.

I will use magic here to get a lot, a lot of ice fruit…!

“Okay, stone! Tell me the location of the nearest ice fruit!”

Woo-oong-

The stone shone brightly. The light emitted by the stone gradually converged into one point, and then began to point in a certain direction.

“It’s that way!”

Just imagining the countless ice fruits that will come into my possession makes my tail wag uncontrollably. But I must not let my guard down. There are so many wicked creatures in the world that covet ice fruit.

“Chik!”

“Hamster…!”

“Biiik!”

“Rabbit too…!”

“Kkwa-ek!”

“Even penguins!”

Perhaps it’s because the harsh polar night has just ended. A great variety of animals have gathered for a single ice fruit.

Hamster, rabbit, penguin, and wolf.

There are four animals, but only one edible ice fruit. There isn’t an animal here that doesn’t know what that means.

A fierce battle of nerves unfolds, with flames shooting from their eyes. It’s a situation on the verge of breaking out. The moment someone takes even one step, a huge fight will break out immediately.

“Hoo….”

I take a deep breath. The rabbit’s ears twitch. The penguin glares at me, and the hamster peeks out halfway from its burrow, carefully observing its surroundings.

Whoosh… The wind blows. Snowflakes flutter.

Numbers appear in everyone’s minds, and the countdown begins.

3….

2….

“First come, first served!!”

“Chik?!”

I moved a beat early and snatched the ice fruit. The animals’ eyes widened, as if they hadn’t expected this method at all. Indeed, wolves are more amazing than any other animal….

“Kkang?! W-wait!”

Then, the three animals united and began to attack me.

——

“Okay, Seol-gu. Look at these letters carefully.”

“Kkang?”

“This is read as ‘Yeo.’ This is ‘U.'”

“Kkang!”

Seol-yeon pointed at the letter-learning poster and explained seriously to Seol-gu. Seol-gu let out an ambiguous cry, as if he understood or didn’t understand.

“Now, can you find the card with ‘Fox’ written on it among these letter cards?”

“Kkang!”

“That’s not ‘Fox,’ it’s ‘Ice Fruit.’ Don’t pick it just because it has a picture of ice fruit drawn on it; pick the one that says Fox… Yes, well, it’s okay. I thought it wouldn’t work on the first try. Let’s try again….”

Teaching Seol-gu letters seemed like a distant prospect for Seol-yeon.