A/N: Well, the holidays were lovely but also exhausting hahaha I hope you are having a good new year so far!

I'm a little sick right now, so sorry if there are any lingering errors from my self-editing, but I am happy to be back with another chapter :) Not much angst this time (not much Ga Eul this time), just Lee Rang being his adorable trouble-making self ;)

Some Korean word notes:

jokattal = niece

samchon = father's unmarried younger brother

jageunabeoji = father's married younger brother

The complexity of Korean titles never ceases to amaze me. There are six different words for 'uncle' depending on whether the person is on your mother's or father's side, their age, and also their marital status.

To answer a guest reviewer (Leeta) asking about a crossover fic with Lee Ro Joon: sorry to disappoint, but I haven't watched "Mrs. Cop 2"; it's on my list, but I have no idea when I will get around to watching it, so the chances of me writing a crossover fic are really slim; but thanks for the ask! :)


Hey, you! When you were a cat, you saw me naked! the text from Ga Eul read, accompanied by one horrified wide-eyed emoji and one angry red-faced emoji. The message had been sent earlier that Monday morning, around five, and when Rang woke up and checked the phone on his bedside table, he laughed when he saw it. Not least because he wasn't expecting a text from Ga Eul at all that day. It was a nice surprise, even if it was accusatory. She must have finally remembered having locked him in the bathroom when he was masquerading as a cat. He responded immediately. Well, to him, it was immediate. To her, not so much, seeing as the message had been sent to him nearly five hours before.

Lee Rang: rolling on the floor laughing emoji You just realized that now? winking face

He smiled delightedly when Ga Eul began typing something not more than a few seconds after he hit send. The little text bubbles appeared, then disappeared, on his phone screen. Once, then twice, then three times. He could visualize her being frustrated at not knowing what to say—the cute half-frown, half-pout that would inevitably appear on her face, the way she would scrunch her eyebrows like she was trying to solve a complicated mathematical equation, the stubborn stiffness in her posture.

Rang raised himself to a sitting position and fluffed up the pillows behind his back. The air in his bedroom was slightly chillier than even he would have liked, seeing as he wore only his dark blue boxers and his luxurious white sheets had gotten twisted around his waistline, but he didn't waste any more time by grabbing his sweatshirt from a drawer. Ga Eul was probably fidgeting uncontrollably.

You can relax. I didn't see anything, he typed.

Except, of course, her underwear. Now that was a vivid memory, even more so because of that inappropriate dream he'd had of her afterward.

Anyway, it's not my fault you let some strange cat into your bathroom, locked him in, and then decided to start stripping. But I politely looked away because...Actually, I don't know why I did that. You should consider yourself lucky that I had a momentary flash of decency.

Nothing for a few seconds, not even text bubbles. Then:

Chu Ga Eul: Um...thank you? face with raised eyebrow

Lee Rang: You're welcome. smiling face with halo

Chu Ga Eul: face with raised eyebrow

Lee Rang: slightly frowning face

Chu Ga Eul: ...

Chu Ga Eul: Bad cat.

Lee Rang: crying cat

Lee Rang: Hey! It was bound to happen sometime. smirking face

Chu Ga Eul: That's not something you get to decide by yourself!

Lee Rang: Can't I?

Chu Ga Eul: face with rolling eyes

Chu Ga Eul: I have to go back to work now. We can discuss your spying activities later.

Lee Rang: Can we also discuss your shower activities later? winking face with tongue

Chu Ga Eul: …

Chu Ga Eul: woman facepalming

Lee Rang: winking face

Rang waited a few minutes, but when it became clear that Ga Eul had, indeed, gone back to work, whatever she was doing at work, he clicked his phone screen off and tossed his phone onto the empty space beside him on the bed. He sighed, then stretched and frowned at the rumble in his stomach. As soon as he'd woken up that morning, Rang had automatically reached for his phone so he could stare at the picture of him and Ga Eul on his lock screen. The Christmas trees were long gone now. Lotte World had taken the decorations down until next December. His phone and the message on it were not the first things he saw when he'd woken up though.

Rang had been sleeping with Ga Eul's red scarf every day since their argument. The knitted red material carried the faint scent of cherry blossoms, a light, sweet fragrance that he would forever associate with her, and he had neatly arranged the scarf on the pillow next to his so he would see it as soon as he opened his eyes in the morning. Unfortunately, that had the effect of reminding him that he would have to do without her for another six full days. He'd barely survived the past week without seeing her, and that was only because he'd spent all week at Shin-joo and Yu Ri's apartment, making up for lost time with Soo-oh and even sleeping there a few times to avoid going back to his own empty apartment. But as this arrangement of him only seeing Ga Eul once a week was to be extended for an unknowable period, it wouldn't do to keep sleeping over at Shin-joo and Yu Ri's place unless he intended to move back in.

He had considered moving back in, to be sure—not only would he see Soo-oh all the time, but he could annoy Shin-joo better that way—but then he'd decided it might look rather pathetic to Ga Eul—like he couldn't be by himself at all—which was ridiculous, as he'd been alone for hundreds of years. Also, he was holding out a feeble hope that Ga Eul would eventually change her mind about moving in with him or at least decide to visit his apartment every so often.

Not that either of those things were likely to happen any time soon. At night, Rang could sleep, but what was he to do all day now that he couldn't look forward to their dates? He'd survived Sunday by replaying his time with Ga Eul on Saturday over and over in his head, but what was he to do with the remainder of the week?

Rang rolled to one side of his bed, then to the other. He considered going back to sleep but knew he was too awake to do so. He considered going to get coffee but knew that would only remind him of the dozen or so cafés he'd visited with Ga Eul. He considered buying a new watch he didn't need or a dozen empty things he'd done to pass the time over the last few decades while he was waiting to get revenge on his brother. Restlessly waiting. Always waiting.

He considered finding some clueless human to prank or to elicit a favor from, not that he needed a favor, except maybe anything that would put him fully back in Ga Eul's good graces.

Which brought him back to Ga Eul, of course.

Frustrated, Rang tugged the drawer of his nightstand out and snatched up the list he'd squirreled away inside it—Ga Eul's list of things she wanted him to do.

Well, he wasn't coming up with any interesting ideas himself. Might as well see what she wanted. Again. The fancy stationary paper had crinkled from where he'd already looked at it a dozen times, mostly because the list was in her handwriting, because it was something she had touched.

Yes, he was pathetic. Ga Eul made him that way, and he'd finally accepted it like a mercy from heaven. There was nothing else to do, or, rather, nothing else he wanted to do.

Rang scanned the list and let the wheels in his head turn. Before, he'd bristled at the idea of her giving him what he considered to be rules, but maybe he could use her requests to his advantage. Maybe the more of these items he did, the faster she would come around to letting him pick her up from work. A plan for the week slowly formed in Rang's mind.

He was already going to take Soo-oh ice skating on Tuesday. That settled it then. Today he would visit his brother.

Surely he would only have to spend a week doing this. Ga Eul was a kind-hearted, benevolent soul. Once she saw how well he had done—and he would not visit her this week, as himself or anyone else, not once—surely she would see how unreasonable this one-day-a-week restriction was. He simply had to show her that he could survive for a week just fine without her. Just fine. And he could check all...okay, most of the items off of her list while he was at it.

Doing something good for someone he hurt? Something that wouldn't benefit him in any way?

Honestly, did she know him at all?

Annoying his brother, though...That always cheered him up.


"Hyung! I'm here to see your human offspring!" Rang happily announced when Yeon opened the door to the house he currently inhabited with Ji Ah, their child, and his in-laws. Rang rather hoped he wouldn't run into the in-laws. He could only imagine the awkward introduction Yeon would give: 'And this is my younger brother, who, you may remember, helped trap you inside a Chinese lantern plant for twenty years. Please let him hold your grandchild.'

Not that Rang was embarrassed by his actions towards them at all, but...apologies were so tedious, and human grandparents were so eye-rollingly protective.

"Sorry? You're here to see what?" Yeon asked, annoyance and confusion mingling in his features.

"Don't give me that look." Rang jabbed his finger in Yeon's face. "You've been pestering me about coming here for weeks." He slid past his older brother and entered the house without invitation. "So, where is she?" He turned his head this way and that, as if he expected his niece to come running to her uncle immediately. Of course, Rang knew she wasn't old enough for that yet.

"She's sleeping," Yeon said, quietly closing the door. "Finally," he added, holding a finger to his lips. "So shhhh."

"It's okay. I can wake her up," Rang assured him with a smile. He turned and made to walk in the direction of the bedrooms, but Yeon bolted in front of him and put a hand on his arm, guiding him towards the kitchen instead.

"Why don't you have something to eat first so you don't clean out our refrigerator later?" Yeon suggested wryly.

Rang's lip curled. How amusing. His brother hadn't even told him not to wake her—for that surely would have resulted in him doing that very thing. Instead, he was trying to distract Rang with food.

Rang cocked his head and squinted at Yeon. He really shouldn't give in, but...ah, his brother still had that desperate, exhausted look about him, and Rang was hungry, despite having eaten a large breakfast.

"Fine," he agreed. "But only because you look so pitiful."

"That's a way to talk to your older brother."

"That's the only way I can talk to you. First, it was Nam Ji Ah, and now it's a human baby you look pitiful over," Rang informed him, brushing past his brother to go into the kitchen. "You'll start taking in stray animals next, and then you'll be as bad as Shin-joo."

"You're the one who took in a puppy," Yeon retorted, following him.

"True, but...he was my puppy, and you gave him to me." Rang collapsed lazily into a chair and peered up at his brother. "So, what's for lunch?"

"Pork," Yeon said without elaboration. He shuffled over to the refrigerator and started removing plastic containers. Leftover pork, then.

"So tell me. Why are you really here?" Yeon asked, taking a plate down from a cabinet. "What's this sudden interest in my daughter? When I asked you to come meet her, you never said anything. Oh, and what's this I hear about you dating a human teacher?" He turned back to Rang with that final question, his eyebrows raised. Shin-joo must have told him something about Ga Eul, and Rang wanted to be irritated with the other fox for doing so, but he knew that his loyalty to Yeon was absolute. He also knew that Shin-joo must not have told Yeon about any recent, unfortunate developments since Yeon was looking at him with curiosity but not disapproval.

"She's not just a human teacher," Rang boasted, deciding to project total confidence in his relationship. "She's my soulmate. Get your facts straight," Rang admonished. "So, of course," he continued, gesturing nonchalantly, "she's far superior to every other human ever. Including yours."

"Oh? Is that true?" Yeon leaned back against the counter, now fully ignoring the food he'd been arranging on Rang's plate.

"My human has a power that's so advanced even I can't do it," Rang commented, referring to Ga Eul's tongue-rolling, of course, but Yeon didn't need to know specifics. "You couldn't do it either," he added for good measure. "Not even when you were a god."

Yeon looked doubtful.

"And what is this special power of hers? Putting up with you?"

Well, there was an argument for that, but all the same, Rang bristled.

"It's a physical power," he retorted, "and just for that comment, I'm not telling you what it is."

"Hmm, interesting. Can your human resist the memory-erasing powers of a nine-tailed fox?" Yeon pressed, probably referring to Ji Ah's remembrance of Yeon appearing to her when she was a child.

"How would I know that?" Rang scoffed. "You think I go around trying to erase her memory? Give me a little credit."

Yeon nodded, seeming to consider that.

"Then...would you say she's clever enough to see through your deceptions?" Yeon asked. "Is she clever enough to deceive you?"

Obviously no, and hell no. But...

"You have a very twisted idea of how human dating works," Rang evaded. "Which my human is an expert on, by the way."

"Well, my human is an expert on many things in the supernatural world."

"Well, my human is an expert on the human world. She's a teacher, so she knows everything about the human world, and anything she doesn't know about the supernatural world, I can teach her. And then she'll know everything there is to know about everything." Rang smiled. "But if there's something your human doesn't know about the human world, I'm afraid you can't help her."

"My human doesn't need help with anything. She's been taking care of herself since she was a kid, thanks to you."

"My human takes care of everyone's kids, different sets of them every year."

"My human just delivered another human into the world."

"And yet my human will be teaching your daughter everything."

"My—"

"My human is better than yours. Just admit it and bring me my food."

"What human? You're back to messing with humans again?" Ji Ah herself answered, and Rang swiveled his head to see her standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Worse," Yeon answered, spooning rice onto Rang's plate. "He's dating one."

Rang rolled his eyes.

"You make it sound so mundane. I'm not just dating her. She's my soulmate."

"Yes. You said that." Yeon gave him a curious look. "Well, I'm eager to see this rare specimen that hasn't been driven away by your...you-ness." He placed Rang's plate of food in the microwave and pressed a few buttons. Soon, the microwave was droning in that monotonous way it had.

"So am I," Ji Ah chimed in, pulling out the chair across from Rang and sitting down. She, too, looked tired, but she'd put on makeup in an attempt to mask it. After a moment of them listening to the microwave, she continued, "You said she's coming to Ha Eun's birthday party, right?"

Oh. Crap. He had said that, and now he honestly had no idea that Ga Eul would come if he asked. Of course, he couldn't admit that to either of the humans curiously studying him at the moment, so he responded affirmatively and gave them a confident grin.

Crap, crap, crap.

"Well, I'm glad you'll have someone to occupy yourself with," Ji Ah noted dryly, "so you won't have time to terrorize the rest of the guests."

"Terrorize? Humans are just naturally afraid of me," he responded lightly, used to this slightly teasing, slightly serious back-and-forth with Ji Ah. "Remember your poor frightened coworkers?"

"But your girlfriend isn't frightened? Are you sure she isn't being coerced?" Ji Ah asked, and maybe she'd meant it as a joke, but it hit a little too close to recent events for comfort.

"No." Rang narrowed his eyes. "I doubt she'd be scared of your little Imoogi act either."

Ji Ah scoffed through her laughter, then went quiet. Perhaps the Imoogi memory was still too fresh. Well, if it was, Rang didn't care. Ga Eul wasn't scared of him; at least, she hadn't been, and soon she wouldn't be ever again. He would see to that.

The microwave beeped, and Yeon soon set a steaming plate of rice and seasoned pork down in front Rang.

"By the way, where are your parents who have so miraculously returned from the dead?" Rang asked, changing the subject more for his benefit than for Ji Ah's as he dug into the pork with the chopsticks Yeon had provided. "I thought they were here making sure the two of you don't kill my niece."

"They went grocery shopping," Yeon said, sitting down next to Ji Ah. "Lucky for them, you just missed them."

"I assure you, it's lucky for me too. Conversing with two humans is exhausting enough. Four? Forget it." He chewed leisurely on a mouthful of pork. "This food's not bad though. Who prepared it? Surely not either of you."

"My mother cooked the pork. She's only been having to make up for twenty years worth of meals." Ji Ah gave him a pointed look.

"You mean she didn't have to slave over your meals for twenty years? She probably enjoyed her vacation."

Ji Ah picked up an extra pair of chopsticks and made a stabbing motion with them. Rang merely chuckled at the scowl on her face and the pointed ends of the chopsticks aimed at his heart.

"You're one to talk," Yeon reprimanded Rang while placing a hand over Ji Ah's raised fist and forcing the chopsticks back down. "Do you cook anything ever?"

"Unlike you, I can cook. I just choose not to." Rang stuffed his mouth full of rice and pork. "I didn't live this long to still be preparing my own meals," he grumbled, the syllables nearly unintelligible as they were muffled by the food in Rang's mouth.

Suddenly, there was a loud wail from the other side of the house.

Rang swallowed and smiled cheerfully at the two tired parents.

"It sounds like my niece has woken up," Rang noted pleasantly while Yeon stared at the table with a defeated expression and Ji Ah uttered an exclamation of disbelief and got up from the table.

"She hardly slept all night. How can she be awake again?" Ji Ah muttered, wandering out of the room.

"She's probably crying because she didn't sleep last night," Yeon called after her. When Ji Ah didn't answer, he got up too and chased after his wife.

Rang, being left alone at the table, decided his stomach was full enough and that it was time to see what he'd come to see, even if the tiny being was currently raising hell.

"Sounds like my kind of niece," Rang noted aloud as he wiped his mouth on a napkin and pushed back his chair.

A minute later, he was standing in the center of Ha Eun's bedroom, watching Ji Ah try to calm the baby by rocking her in her arms. Ha Eun was round and pink and covered from neck to toes in a pink onesie with a red-and-white fox embroidered on the front. Her bedroom had also been decorated in a fox motif with light pink walls; a soft pink blanket hung over the edge of her crib, and a fox mobile consisting of bright green leaves and multicolored forest animals, of which one was a red fox, hung over the crib.

"Should I try?" he offered. "Maybe she wants to be held by a superior being."

"You have to be really careful when you hold her." Ji Ah shot him a wary look.

"I can be careful. I can be anything. Literally."

"I'm serious," Ji Ah warned but slowly handed his upset niece over to him, showing him how to hold her so that her neck was appropriately supported in the crook of his arm. Rang felt like he was holding an elongated bowling ball or a small whole chicken. A screaming one.

At the same time, he suddenly felt very aware of how fragile his niece's life was. One careless movement could do her in. He cradled her to himself and tried to rock her soothingly, the way he'd seen Ji Ah doing. It didn't help matters much, but he was comforted by the fact that Ha Eun's tears had nothing to do with him. His niece would probably be crying no matter who was holding her, such was the fury in her lungs.

"Jokattal," Rang informed the baby as he looked down into her eyes, "I'm your father's younger brother Lee Rang. Is that any way to greet me?" He tsked. "You should call me Samchon."

'But, maybe later, you should call me Jageunabeoji,' Rang mentally added. It was, perhaps, a foolish wish to make, but all of a sudden, Rang found he liked thinking of being married to Ga Eul, especially with all this domesticity surrounding him. If his brother got to marry his soulmate, then Rang should get to marry his too. He didn't want to think too hard about the probability of that actually happening.

Meanwhile, Ha Eun wailed in response to Rang's words or his presence—or both—the sound deafening to his sensitive fox ears.

"Hey. You know, humans aren't cute when they cry," he scolded.

Except for Ga Eul, of course, because she was always cute, even when she cried. Because, as he'd mentioned earlier, Ga Eul was far superior to every other human out there.

"You don't get extra consideration because you're small and helpless," Rang persisted when the baby didn't let up.

"Here. Let me—"

"No, no. You said I could hold her," Rang pouted as he pulled away from Ji Ah, who was trying to take her daughter back.

"Maybe I should try feeding her again." Ji Ah suggested.

Feeding her again? Rang rolled his eyes as he turned towards the bedroom window that overlooked a small garden, away from Yeon and Ji Ah. He had a perfectly simple solution to this problem. One that would surely put him in their good graces so that he could come visit again. His niece was growing on him more and more with each second, but he would like her much better if she were quiet, as most assuredly Yeon and Ji Ah would as well. Why did babies cry at such a high decibel?

Training his one fox eye onto his niece's tiny, upturned ones, he used his mental abilities to soothe her to sleep, first slowly, then all at once. Ha Eun's tears stopped flowing. She fell silent. Her eyes closed. Then all that was left was the warm weight of her in his arms and the soft pulse of her breathing. There. That was better.

"What did you do?" Ji Ah's confused voice came from behind him.

"Nothing," Rang said innocently, still rocking Ha Eun in his arms. He turned, and, unfortunately, he couldn't keep the amusement out of his face upon seeing Ji Ah's perplexed expression.

"One second she was crying, and now she's perfectly still. You did something."

Rang sighed.

"Fine. I put to her sleep. Don't you two wish you could do that?"

Ji Ah narrowed her eyes.

"You mean you forced her to go to sleep."

"Put to sleep? Forced to sleep? What's the difference?" Rang chuckled. "It's not like the baby has a say in any of it."

"You can't play mind games with an infant!" Ji Ah protested, though she didn't look entirely upset. Rang knew if she were truly angry with what he'd done she'd have him nailed to a wall. As it was, he believed part of her was simply relieved that the child had stopped crying.

"I thought you were going to say I shouldn't play mind games with anyone," Rang answered flippantly. "But if it's just infants you have a problem with, then—"

"What's she's saying is," Yeon explained tiredly, "she doesn't want you messing with the brain of our child." Despite this statement, he, too, looked somewhat grateful.

"Why not? Ha Eun won't remember it," Rang insisted. "Besides, it's easier to do on babies. Their brains are more malleable."

"That's because their brains are literally still forming," Ji Ah countered, but as he was still being allowed to hold the baby, Rang could only suppose she was acting out the moral outrage she felt was appropriate for the situation. So far, no one had mentioned him waking the baby back up.

"Relax. She'll wake up in a few hours," Rang said, setting Ha Eun gently down in her crib.

"Great. Now she won't sleep through the night again," Yeon commented.

"Hey. You're the one who decided to have one of those." Rang pointed to his niece. "I'm just giving you a quiet afternoon. So go to sleep or take a shower or get a haircut. Both of you." And with that, Rang walked out, first out of the room and then out of the front door, ignoring the half-hearted protests that followed him.

But oh, he would be back. His visit had been more entertaining than he'd thought it would be, and wouldn't it be fun to play some harmless pranks on someone who couldn't tattle on him?

Also, when Ha Eun had gone to sleep, he'd liked how peaceful she'd appeared, resting in his arms. Such a small, helpless being, trusting him.