Page 16 of Gumiho Kiss
He wandered onto a precipice and peered down.About ten paces below was a brook that flowed into a pool of water.Several rocks jutted out of and around the pool, and a lone musk deer leaned over it to get a drink.
Hyun Soo started to lean back to search elsewhere, then froze.A second animal was crouched against the rocks, so well hidden he’d almost missed it.Wait, was that—it couldn’t be?—
Hyun Soo gawked, unable to believe what was right there in front of him: a small white fox with, not one, but nine tails.A gumiho.The monster Grandmother had claimed would snatch him away in the dead of night if he didn’t respect his elders.
But gumiho weren’t real.They were figments of the imagination, created for the sole purpose of frightening children into good behavior.Like goblins or haetae.
He rubbed his eyes, but the scene before him remained.The creature was exactly as his grandmother had described, except ...
“If you see a gumiho, you must run to the safety of home as quickly as you can, little one.If you don’t, it will trick you into swallowing its fox bead.And if it can’t do that, it will eat your liver.”
“Why does it do that, Halmeoni?”
“Because a gumiho has one desire above all else: to become human.If it takes enough human lifeforce, it will obtain its wish.It gains the most lifeforce by sharing its bead, but when that’s not an option, a few human livers will do nicely instead.”
“But you said gumiho could transform into people.Why would they need my lifeforce if they can already become human?”
“Monsters come in many forms, but no matter what shape they take, their evil nature remains the same.Theirs is a life without joy, without honor, without love.That’s why they envy us.And that is why we must appreciate how precious our humanity is.Do you understand, my treasure?”
“Yeh, Grandmother.”
Except in the story of the great dragon, the gumiho from his grandmother’s tales had always been evil, and regardless of their shapeshifting and trickery, they were unable to fully conceal their true natures.Something would always give them away, whether it was a sharp word, a sadistic aura, or a blood-stained hand.
But while the animal cowering at the water’s edge was undoubtedly gumiho, seeing it didn’t evoke fear within him.Instead, he was overcome by a sense of awe, as if his whole life had been building to this very moment.He remained absolutely still so as not to make a sound, watching this beautiful creature that had walked straight out of a fairytale.
But why did it seem so scared?He followed the gumiho’s line of sight, and his blood ran cold.
Somethingelsewas here.
Blue flames flickered atop a stone on the opposite side of the pool, and within the blaze stood a being Hyun Soo struggled to describe.Such terror seized him that he found himself clamping his eyes shut without even realizing it, a scream lodged in his throat.
What was wrong with him?It hadn’t even done anything and he was already terrified?He needed to assess the threat like he would have when he was still a royal guard, not get worked up like this.
He forced himself to open his eyes, though that same, almost-debilitating panic latched on to his heart as soon as he took a second look.
The willowy figure at the edge of the water resembled a human in many ways.It had the same build, height, and even wore white hanbok.Long black hair hung in messy strings around its angular face, and a thick beard covered its chin, reminding Hyun Soo very much of the homeless ahjussis one might see on the streets.But its body radiated with an eerie shimmer unlike anything he’d ever seen before, and the hungry expression on its face was too feral to belong to a human.
Worst of all was the malicious energy wafting off it.Whatever that thing was, Hyun Soo knew without a doubt that it was evil.
And it had its sights set on the fox.
The gumiho took a hesitant step to the side, but its front leg gave out, sending the animal to its knees.That was when Hyun Soo spotted the blood gathered at its feet, no doubt the reason it hadn’t already bolted as the musk deer had a few minutes ago.
It was injured, maybe even dying.
The monster surged forward, the movement so fluid it was like water sliding over rock.The blue fire that had heralded its arrival evaporated, but the unearthly glow on the creature’s skin remained, a chilling reminder that this was no human.Its long fingers reached toward the gumiho, which snarled and bared its teeth.
Just before the monster made contact with the fox’s fur, it paused.“Thank you for your sacrifice,” it rasped, its gentle voice like sweet poison.
The figure tapped one sharp nail on the gumiho’s chest, sending something shooting out of the fox’s mouth and into the air.The gumiho howled before collapsing, but the thing it had expelled, a glowing blue orb, hovered just above its head.
Its fox bead.
The source of the gumiho’s magical essence.Hyun Soo’s grandmother hadn’t explained all the details when he was a child, but he’d heard enough since then.Young men must be cautious around beautiful women, for they could be gumiho in disguise, and if one were to receive a kiss, his death was almost guaranteed.
For a gumiho’s kiss was much more than a kiss.
It was the method by which they transferred their fox bead into a human’s body, where it would then absorb its host’s lifeforce.Once swallowed, the gumiho must remove the bead in a relatively short span of time; otherwise, the human would perish.And gumiho were not known for being kind.
