Page 2 of Gumiho Kiss
The world shifted, colors merging even as her surroundings became more precise.The price one must pay for the eyes of a fox.
Contrary to her neighbors’ superstitions, Chin Sun could tap into her gumiho abilities at will and didn’t need to first transform into the nine-tailed monster parents warned their children of.
Humans believed gumiho were wholly evil, consumed by lust and malice.Chin Sun didn’t know how other gumiho lived, having never met any magical beings besides herself, but she suspected the stories about them were more fiction than fact.She certainly didn’t lurk around cemeteries or eat human livers, nor was she hundreds of years old.As far as she could tell, her body aged just like a human’s, and her diet was much the same.
Shewaskeen on mice and berries while in nine-tailed fox form, but opportunities to shift had become rarer as she’d grown older and taken on more responsibilities.She only dared discard her human facade in the safety of the forest, where mist and shadow were her closest friends.So far, none of the townsfolk seemed to suspect their masked guardian was more than human, and she intended to keep it that way.
Chin Sun paused when the police bureau came into view.Great stone walls surrounded the outer courtyard, which connected to a covered terrace directly above the entrance.A large wooden plaque hung below the platform’s eaves, identifying the compound as Sokju’s police headquarters.Four square flags jutted out from the terrace like spears, banners fluttering in the light breeze.
She counted the guards at the entrance, noting their stiff postures.Two at ground level and three on the upper level.Assassins or not, they were definitely more intimidating than the ones she’d slipped past last month.One guard glanced toward her, and she drew back from the roof’s curved edge.
Her heart pounded.Had he seen her?
When no cries of alarm followed, she sneaked to the back of the building and dropped to the ground.Five guards should be easy enough to disarm, but she needed to witness Hong’s treachery before she gave away her position.
The light emanating from the magistrate’s office was a good sign, but she couldn’t hear anything from this far away.She had to get closer.
She reached for the bow slung across her back, then changed her mind.She tossed a stray rock down the alley behind her, the sound quiet enough that only the closest guard noticed.He whistled to the man nearest him, then marched toward the alley alone.
Chin Sun tucked herself into the recess of a doorway, waiting until he’d passed by to strike.With a sharp blow to the back of his head, he was out cold, as useless as a dead fish.
She huffed.She’d thought he’d be more interesting than tha?—
Chin Sun whipped around, meeting the second guard’s hwando with her own.His narrow eyes assessed her, but her black mask and robes were indistinguishable from the garb of Sokju’s criminal underbelly.He would find no markers, no clues to her true identity.She had too much at stake for carelessness.
She pushed forward, her strength more than enough to match her assailant’s.He grunted under the strain but didn’t fold.
A third guard appeared in the alley, swiping his sword at her.
Chin Sun jumped back, glancing between her opponents.She needed to incapacitate them quickly; otherwise, they’d sound the alarm and the meeting she’d been waiting weeks for would be over.
They must have had the same thought she did, for they turned and darted back toward the compound.Too slow.Chin Sun swept forward, bringing her blade down upon one’s head, then the other’s.
The guards collapsed to the ground, and Chin Sun dragged their bodies into the alley with the first, safely out of sight.She vaulted over the left compound wall and pressed her back against the interior wall.Footsteps rumbled nearby in a steady rhythm.More guards on patrol.
She waited until they’d crossed the outer courtyard to the entrance, then scurried through the inner courtyard to the main pavilion where the magistrate conducted his business dealings.
Voices whispered within, one of them unmistakably Hong’s.The foreign language they spoke was enough to answer Chin Sun’s question of the man’s loyalty.Unlike most women in Joseon, she’d had the privilege to study multiple languages from an early age, and the hushed conversation was too monotone to belong to the Ming.The whispers tickling Chin Sun’s ears were Japanese.
So, hewasin league with pirates....Reports of attacks on the coast had been frequent lately, but Hong had always sworn he would protect the citizens of Sokju, no matter the cost.
Another lie.Chin Sun scolded herself for the way her heart deflated.She shouldn’t be surprised Hong was just as corrupt as the officials who’d come before him.She would deal with him the same way she’d dealt with the rest.
And then what?Where did it end?Hong Shik was Sokju’s fifth magistrate in the past four years.Every time she found enough proof to put one behind bars, a worse one sprang up in his place.
She just needed to convince Kim Min Joon to stop skulking about in corners and take the position.He would?—
She broke off.She could hardly expect her old friend to step out of the shadows when she was doing the very same thing.Kim Min Joon may have been the son of a prominent yangban and a great candidate for magistrate, but he didn’t want to be in the spotlight any more than she did.He preferred being out on the streets among the people he was serving, not stuck behind a desk doing paperwork, even if it did afford more prestige than his current job as a police inspector.
“There he is,” called a voice from above.
Chin Sun ducked as an arrow whistled through the air, missing her by a hairsbreadth before it plunged into the ground.More followed in quick succession, raining down like fire from the heavens.
What?Where were they?She swung around, honing in on four men perched on the pavilion roof behind her.
Before they could nock their arrows a second time, Chin Sun darted behind the magistrate’s office, adrenaline pouring through her veins.
“After him!”
