7. Grooming My Tail

7. Grooming My Tail

A moment, about the wolf tribe.

The North is a difficult place to live. It’s cold, harsh, and there’s not much food. It can be called the worst place for humans to live.

To survive in such a place, wolf suin have always lived by helping each other and receiving help from each other. Therefore, wolf suin place more importance on being ‘the same tribe’ than on actual blood ties, and this habit is expressed by attaching the same surname to all wolf tribe members.

My name is Rang Seol-ah. My sister is Rang Seol-yeon. The child living next door also has the surname Rang. Although we usually only say the two characters excluding the surname…

The reason I’m rambling about this is that my sister is about to hit my butt.

“Uh, Sister. I tried my best to clean it up….”

“Shh.”

“Hing.”

As blood relatives and also as members of the same tribe, it is natural for a sister to listen to her sister’s words. Of course, it is.

But my sister didn’t seem to intend to listen to me.

“Seol-ah, what did I tell you you need to do to become a cool wolf…?”

“Don’t cause trouble….”

My sister said, drawing out the word ‘wolf’ strangely. Although the middle part was a bit odd, I knew what this sentence meant. It was what my sister always said when she scolded me.

“Seol-yeon wants Seol-ah to become a cool wolf… You want that too, right?”

“Yes….”

“Then I’ll ask Seol-ah.”

My sister knelt down to meet my eye level. Then, stroking my head, she said.

“Seol-ah, you decide how many times you’ll get your butt spanked.”

My sister smiled at me. That look somehow reassured me. I wagged my tail and continued speaking softly.

“0 times!”

“….”

“H, how about one time….”

Soon, the sound of “Eu-ang!” echoed through the hallway.

——

It hurts.

I rubbed my butt over my pants. It felt like it was burning.

It felt a little better thinking of this pain as a hurdle to overcome to become a strong and powerful wolf, but it still hurt.

My sister was cleaning the messy hallway with me. Next to my sister was an unidentified bag she had been holding until a moment ago, and out of curiosity, I stared at it. Then, my sister accidentally knocked the bag over while cleaning.

The contents spilled out with a rumble.

I thought my sister would put the items back soon, but after a long time, the bag remained as it was. It seemed she was so focused on cleaning that she didn’t notice the fallen bag.

At that moment, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind.

I would pick up my sister’s spilled belongings!

This is the so-called “Good Deed Operation.”

If I return the neatly organized bag to my sister, she’ll be surprised and look at me. Then she’ll stroke my head and praise me, saying, ‘Our Seol-ah is amazing!’

And starting from that, I will be recognized as a grown, cool adult wolf. Not a young wolf that needs protection anymore, but a cool, strong, and powerful wolf!

Just thinking about it makes my tail fluff up. My ears perk up. I can’t help but smile foolishly.

There was no reason to hesitate. I immediately approached my sister with quick steps. Walking softly so as not to make a sound was natural.

Even at this point, my sister hadn’t noticed me. She was just cleaning the high places, casually wagging her tail with its messy fur sticking out. Smiling slyly, I lowered my head towards the fallen bag.

What spilled from the bag were various books and papers. One of them was titled Arctic Fo-

“Seol-ah!!”

“Whoa!”

At that moment, my body flew high into the air. I was lifted by my sister’s hand. Startled, I cried “Kkae-ang!” and tucked my tail.

My perfectly large tail could cover my entire body.

After a very brief moment, I peeked my head out from within my tail. My sister was looking at me with a scary expression.

I remembered the dream I had before. The dream where my sister scolded me with a very cold face. I had tried to dismiss it as just a dream, but seeing that face in reality was terrifying. Tears welled up.

“Huk, huck….”

“S-Seol-ah?”

I was trying to do a good deed. I was scared. I was wronged and scared. A cool wolf doesn’t cry, but my tears wouldn’t stop.

My sister was startled and hugged me.

“S-Seol-ah. Were you very scared? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to….”

“Ae-ae-ang!”

As my sister’s face returned to normal, my tears flowed like a burst dam. My sister hugged me tighter and tried to comfort me.

“Huk, huck….”

“I-I’m sorry. Really.”

“No… huck.”

It took a long time for me to stop crying.

So much time had passed that the snow piled up in the hallway had melted, making the floor messy. It seemed difficult to clean it up myself now. My sister stroked my head, picked me up, and headed somewhere. This direction… was her room.

On the way to the room.

Now that my mind had calmed down, I felt like a little child. Crying my eyes out and then being carried in my sister’s arms felt like something a baby would do. It couldn’t be helped that I had already cried, but I called out to my sister by flicking my tail against her face.

“Yes? What is it?”

“I want to get down.”

“Are you okay now?”

“Yes.”

My sister set me down on the floor. I struggled with my short legs, whining, and finally managed to stand on two feet on the floor. My tail wagged furiously.

Tail?

“Ah, right! Sister, Mom told me to get groomed by you.”

“Already? How long has it been since….”

My sister remembered that I had slept in a cold burrow all day and let out an “Ah.” Then, while rummaging through my very soft tail fur, she said.

“Your fur is quite damaged. I’ll brush your fur right away in my room.”

“Yes!”

Getting my tail brushed feels really good. This is a sensation that ordinary humans can never know, a sensation that only suin can experience, but it feels really good. It’s addictively good.

That’s why I used to ask my sister and parents to brush it for me every day, but I was hit on the head for doing it too often, as it could damage my tail.

Enough with the embarrassing old stories. Walking down the hallway, I soon entered the room. The log walls were permeated with my sister’s scent.

My sister’s room was bigger than mine. It was a long rectangle, with a stove in the center of the long wall and my sister’s bed and desk on either side. I immediately ran to the bed and climbed onto it, and my sister followed.

“Brush it nicely!”

“Yes, yes.”

“Brush it like a cool wolf!”

“L-like a wolf. Okay.”

At my command, my sister smiled lightly and slowly brought the brush in her hand to my huge, soft tail. The soft, white fur was brushed neatly, and the tangled hairs were untangled.

Swish, swish….

A pleasant sound, a pleasant sensation.

Swish, swish….

My whole body melted away.

My sister detached the tangled fur from the brush and neatly gathered it in one place. I have a very large tail among wolves, and because of that, a lot of fur falls out, so when I brush my tail, I always have to spend a lot of time tidying up the shed fur.

But even these moments were precious to me. In my past life, I never had time to sit leisurely like this. Listening to the crackling fire in the stove and the swishing sound of the brush on my tail, I closed my eyes.

A quiet moment.

My small chest rose and fell rhythmically. Regularly, quietly. My head kept nodding, threatening to fall.

But I don’t want to sleep. If I fall asleep, I won’t be able to feel the grooming sensation. I tried hard to keep my eyes open. But the soft touch of my sister stroking my tail was too powerful.

“O-oh, Sisterrr.”

“What is it?”

“I’m so sleepy….”

“It’s okay to sleep.”

“I don’t want to sleep.”

I tried to lift my nodding head and put my hands on my hips. In that posture, I straightened my chest and said to my sister.

“Because I am… a strong and powerful wolf….”

Strong, and powerful, wolf. With each word, my sister’s body trembled. I didn’t know why, but it was more important to stay awake than to know that. I shook my head from side to side.

“Eung-ae….”

——

“Kkang….”

I open my eyes. It’s quiet around me. Lying in bed, I turn my head and look. Outside the window, it’s dark.

A thick blanket is covering my body. I sniff and smell it. It’s not mine; it carries my sister’s scent. It seems to be my sister’s bed.

The stove next to it is still burning with a crackling fire. Seeing it blaze, it looks like someone just added firewood.

Is my sister still awake? It seems to be late at night…

And beyond that, I can see my sister’s desk. My sister isn’t there. However, since I can smell her, she must have been sitting at the desk and then went somewhere briefly.

I got up from the bed with great dignity and headed to my sister’s desk. Under the soft candlelight, I saw the mysterious books and papers my sister had brought.