93. Library

93. Library

“Hostile?”

“Yeah?”

Lucy and I tilted our heads, then, as if by agreement, we both turned to look at Seol-gu simultaneously. Seol-gu had his usual silly, foolish face.

Far from being hostile, he looked like he’d be lucky to catch a hamster. He was surprisingly harmless.

“Hostile means… liking to fight, right? I don’t know if Arctic foxes are hostile….”

“Yeah. It’s strange.”

I asked Lucy if I might be misinterpreting the word, but that wasn’t the case. The book clearly stated that Arctic foxes disliked humans.

“Seol-gu, do you hate Lucy?”

“Kkang?”

“Like, do you want to bite her or something?”

I picked Seol-gu up and held him close to Lucy’s face. If the book’s description were true, Seol-gu would attack Lucy the moment he saw her. He would surely bite Lucy’s soft cheeks maliciously.

“Kkang!”

However, Seol-gu showed no hint of aggression whatsoever. Instead, he smiled brightly and only licked Lucy’s cheek. Lucy giggled, saying it tickled.

Hmm….

No matter how I looked at it, he seemed closer to ‘friendly’ than ‘hostile’.

Seol-gu’s tail wagged back and forth, scattering tail fur everywhere. The bookshelf was slowly covered in white.

Perhaps the person who wrote this encyclopedia mistook Seol-gu’s vigorous tail-wagging, done out of affection, for aggression.

But there’s no reason to feel threatened just because cotton candy is wagging vigorously….

I rested my chin on my hand and pondered.

“It’s possible… because encyclopedias are written by people who observe animals diligently. Mistakes can easily happen.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“That’s why revised editions often change the previously written descriptions. Maybe this is one of those cases?”

Lucy suggested the possibility that the encyclopedia might be incorrect.

I happened to be thinking along similar lines. My experience of raising and being close to Seol-gu for several months was vastly different from what was written in the encyclopedia.

Of course, it’s possible that Seol-gu is an exceptionally friendly Arctic fox among his kind, but what else could I do? The only evidence we have right now is this ball of fur in front of us.

Unless I meet another fox besides Seol-gu, I can only describe Arctic foxes as foolish and fond of people.

And it was clear which I should believe: the words of a writer with a strange name I’ve never seen, or the fox making “Kkang” sounds right in front of me.

“Read something else.”

“Okay.”

Lucy began to read the explanation aloud again. Since the previous explanation had errors, it was highly likely that the following explanations might also be incorrect, but I decided to think about it after reading.

“Arctic foxes are characterized by being wary, intelligent, and extremely elusive among fox species. They wield strange magic, but the method is unconfirmed. They often trap humans, so caution is advised during observation.”

“No way! This foolish fox is intelligent? That’s impossible! This encyclopedia is completely wrong!”

I pulled Seol-gu’s cheek. Seol-gu, who stretched like a soft, roasted marshmallow, looked far from intelligent to anyone who saw him.

However, the description of being elusive seems accurate. Although he’s always in front of me now, when I first met him, Seol-gu was a fox that would suddenly disappear and then reappear at some point.

And he can use magic. Through this transparent, sparkling magic stone!

But as for trapping people… I’m not so sure.

When I first met Seol-gu, I chased him and fell down a steep slope, but there’s no way Seol-gu would have intended that.

As I mentally sorted out the correct and incorrect descriptions, Lucy continued reading.

“Unlike the Red Fox, Arctic foxes also have suins of their species, and it has been observed that suins and foxes often travel as pairs. However, their relationship beyond that is unconfirmed.”

“Hmm.”

Arctic fox suins.

I’ve seen wolf suins and bear suins, but never a fox suin. I wonder what they look like.

They must look incredibly foolish, just like Seol-gu. They’d probably be short, like ground dwellers, and weak too.

But their tails must be huge. Seol-gu’s tail is as magnificent as mine, Rang Seol-ah.

I imagined an Arctic fox suin traveling with Seol-gu. A suin with white hair, perky fox ears, and a huge, fluffy tail.

A suin who, like Seol-gu, often does foolish things and causes accidents. They would surely give their guardian a lot of trouble.

Just thinking about it is hilarious. Puhaha.

I burst into silent laughter, then asked Lucy.

“Is there anything else written?”

“Yes, just a moment… And it says that the current population of Arctic foxes has significantly decreased due to hunting and poaching. They say they were hunted a lot because they attacked humans.”

“Huk. How could they….”

I looked at Seol-gu with pity. Seol-gu tilted his head, looked back at me, and wagged his tail with a smile, as if he knew nothing. “Kkang!”

Such a pure and kind fox being hunted.

Seol-gu mentioned it before. He said there were no other Arctic foxes. Perhaps that statement is truly true.

“Seol-gu-ya….”

I buried my face in Seol-gu’s belly and shed tears. To lose his kin and live alone forever. It’s so pitiful.

Should I give him a belly rub now?

Prrrrrrrrr.

“Kkaeaeng!”

“Heehee. Sniff, sniff.”

Although I was teasing him, my sympathy for Seol-gu remains unchanged. All I can do for Seol-gu, who has lived alone for so long, is to be his friend.

This is what I should do: play pranks like this sometimes, eat together, and sleep together so that Seol-gu doesn’t feel lonely.

“Seol-ah, help me hold the book.”

“Okay.”

After reading the description of the Arctic fox, Lucy seemed to have lost interest in the encyclopedia and closed the book. Then, four small hands vigorously lifted the book and placed it back on the shelf.

“Phew.”

“It’s heavy.”

I wiped my sweat with my sleeve.

… It wasn’t exactly sweat, but I wanted to create the atmosphere.

Seol-gu had already returned to my bag. I picked up the bag and slung it over my back, and Lucy also stood up.

Perhaps it’s because we read some dark content. The atmosphere seems quite subdued. I glanced at Lucy and opened my mouth.

“Shall we go find picture books now?”

“Yeah.”

The reason we’ve been wandering around the library so much, despite constantly getting sidetracked, was to find picture books.

Geez, why is it so hard to find just one picture book? This library seems to have no consideration for children.

“Seol-gu, do you know where the picture books are?”

“Kkang.”

“Yeah, you probably don’t know either. How could you possibly know among all these books… Wait, you do?!”

It was a question I asked without much thought. However, an answer came back.

Seol-gu extended his tiny paws and pointed downwards. It seems to refer to the first floor.

“Lucy! Let’s go down!”

“Uh, yeah!”

We hurried down the escalator.

The sound of two children pounding the ground with all their might. However, for some reason, no matter how much we ran, the first floor didn’t get any closer.

A moment later, Lucy exclaimed.

“We got on the escalator going the wrong way!”

“Huk!”

What an absurd mistake.

We quickly got on another escalator and went down. This time, we checked the direction to avoid going in circles.

“Kkang!”

Seol-gu, who had popped out of the bag, ran forward as if to guide us. We followed him.

And the place we finally arrived at…

“Huk…! It’s the ‘Picture Book’ section! They were all here!”

“Wow!”

Rows and rows of bookshelves filled with children’s storybooks stretched out.

No wonder we couldn’t find any picture books no matter how much we searched. They were all concentrated on this first floor, so naturally, no picture books would appear on the second floor.

If it weren’t for Seol-gu, we would have gone up to the third floor, searched in vain, and only then found the picture books. Still, it’s a relief. At least we know now!

We pulled out picture books and spread them on the floor, and began to read them with sparkling eyes.

Of course, I only looked at the pictures, not the words.

“Seol-ah.”

After being engrossed in the books for a while, a familiar voice was heard. I perked up my ears and jumped to my feet.

“Sister!”

Sister had come to find me.