A/N: For those of you wondering, the second draft of my novel is going well! I'm a third of the way through the story, but I'm not sure how close I am to finishing it because I've been writing so much new material. However, I'm excited to work on it more after the holidays.
Here's a (mostly) light chapter to end the year. Hope you guys have a lovely holiday season, and I'll see you in January :) Merry Christmas!
Lee Rang, wanted for the murders of 22,364 human lives and heretofore condemned to complete and final death:
This letter is an offer of reincarnation in exchange for 2,000 years of services rendered to the gods of the underworld under the direction of Taluipa, younger sister of King Yeomra and manager of the Afterlife Immigration Office.
The aforementioned criminal's list of duties will include, but are not limited to, the capture and execution of persons wanted by this office, the retrieval of stolen artifacts, the protection of this office at all costs, and any other tasks assigned to him by the director of this office.
Failure to comply with the terms of this contract will result in additional years of service being added or, if a pattern of misconduct emerges, complete dissolution of the offer, along with its benefits, nevermore to be disbursed to the aforementioned.
Please sign below and date. Your service contract will begin immediately upon receipt.
Burning a hole in the paper with his humorless glare, Rang frowned at the contract in his hands. It had been so easy to dismiss the shitty deal before, even while knowing how much his brother wanted him to take it. Truthfully, he didn't want two thousand more years in this shitty world just so he could rejoin the world in a less powerful form than he already inhabited. He certainly didn't want to spend those two thousand years answering to Taluipa after spending the last several hundred years answering to the deceased CEO and, before that, wasting several years answering to Su Gyeong. His life had been a series of chokeholds, one after the other. Rather than be controlled by anyone else, he'd choose to jump into the Samdo River and get it over with.
He'd lived a long time for a half-fox.
He was tired.
And, truth be told, he was actually enjoying his life for the first time in, well, his life, and he'd been thinking this might be a nice way to end everything. He'd always assumed he would die alone, or he'd die at the hands of his brother. But dying with Ga Eul—just curling up next to her after she passed away and letting death come for him so that she was the last thing he saw before he shut his eyes forever—was an appealing alternative. It was a fact that his brother would probably be dead by that point, and Soo-oh would be getting up in age as well. It was also a fact that Ga Eul was the happiest thought he could conjure, so she was the last thing he'd want to experience. Life had never been kind to him for long, and he liked the thought of ending on a high note before it took a turn for the worst, as it inevitably would.
But then there was Ga Eul. For as much as she was the solution, she was also the problem.
He'd promised to always be her pet fox. How, then, could he abandon her by choosing permanent death? Even if she wouldn't remember him in her next life, how could he break his promise to her?
Rang wasn't an honorable fox like his brother had been, but if there was any part of the fox's code that he believed in, it was loyalty to one's mate. He never wanted to abandon Ga Eul like he'd been abandoned. He knew how cruel the world could be to those who were alone, and every time he thought of Ga Eul being out in the world without him to protect her from scum like So Yi Jeong, or worse, his blood ran cold.
But more than that, he knew that once he ceased to exist, she would reincarnate without him and get assigned a new soulmate, and the thought of anyone other than him touching her and loving her made his blood boil; it made bile rise in his throat. She was his little human, and no one was allowed! Not in this life! Not in any other!
He'd told her that he'd give her the sliver of goodness that was left in his heart, but really, there wasn't a corner of his heart that was too dark to love her. So he was going to shove the whole cruel, corrupted mess into her trusting human palms.
He didn't know how he would convince her to love him in her next life; he didn't know how he had managed it this time, but if all else failed, he would stalk her again. He would just keep on stalking her until he wore her down. Or he'd wipe her memory after every failed attempt so he could start fresh every day. Or he would make all her other suitors conveniently disappear. He would be a cat if she wanted. Or a fox if she wanted. Or a human if she wanted.
He would use every trick in his arsenal to make her fall in love with him in every life, and she would find out and scold him for it, and he would apologize and win her back. Because she was the silly human who trusted him, and he was the selfish fox who loved her.
But first, before he could do any of that, he had to sign this damn contract. And he really didn't want to. Except when he did. Except when she smiled at him, and he thought he'd do anything to keep her with him. His mate, safe and sound and somewhat imprisoned, in his arms.
Before, he'd never understood why his brother had paid such a heavy price for Ji Ah to be reincarnated. What was one human life to an ancient god? How could it matter?
But now, staring helplessly at the only thing that would allow him to stay with Ga Eul in all her lives, he realized he might actually live his whole terrible life all over again if he knew that at the end of it he would meet her.
Shit.
He was going to sign this contract, wasn't he? Already, he could feel his traitorous left hand reaching for a pen. All for one little human.
Pathetic, he scolded himself, but the accusation had no bite. How could he weigh the emptiness of his previous existence, however long it had been, against the depth of joy and belonging he now felt?
He could not.
He could not even blame this turn of events on the human half of his heart, for he knew the strength of a fox's first love. He'd witnessed it with his brother, and now he was experiencing it firsthand.
Speaking of his first love, Rang heard the bathroom door open and shut as Ga Eul exited. He quickly folded the contract inside of Ga Eul's old list of requests, then stashed both papers in a locked wooden box he kept hidden beneath his bed. By the time Ga Eul entered the room, he was stretched out in his jeans and scrolling lazily through his phone.
"Are you ready?" she asked, bounding up to the bed in black jean shorts hemmed with white lace and a collared white blouse with black and yellow flowers. A carefree grin lit her face, and with the addition of her black headband, she looked quite youthful in her anticipation of the day ahead. And why wouldn't she? Unlike Rang, she had nothing to concern her except her terrible humanness.
Still, Rang's mood brightened instantly upon seeing her happiness, but he scowled on principle.
"Ready for what? The heat? The crowds?"
"It'll be fun, I promise!" She plopped down next to him. "And we can stay indoors the rest of the week."
He squinted at her, but she leaned into his space, placing her hands on the bed and pinning him in place.
"We can cut all the lines," she promised him, her eyes full of mischief. "You can make fun of all the humans."
"Can I make fun of this human?"
"Hmmmm..." Ga Eul pursed her soft, pink-stained lips and tilted her head. She was close enough to kiss. "Only if you want to be in very serious trouble." She pecked him on the cheek.
That wasn't a 'no,' he decided as she flounced away in her shorts.
"We're moving. Okay. This is it. We're moving," Shin-joo mumbled as the rollercoaster began its journey.
"Remind me again why I'm sitting next to you." Rang winced. He took back any thoughts he'd had of enjoying his life.
"The girls and the kids wanted to sit together," Shin-joo noted defensively. "It wasn't my idea."
Rang heaved a sigh.
"Okay, we're going up. We're going up...Wow...That is a long way down. M-mister Lee Rang." Shin-joo clutched at Rang's arm, and Rang yanked it away.
"What's wrong with you?!"
"Uh...I don't think…" Shin-joo peered uncertainly over the edge of their cart, then turned to Rang with a terrified gaze. He reached for Rang's arm again, and Rang tried to pull it away, but there was nowhere to go. He was trapped there, nearly two hundred feet in the air with Shin-joo super-glued to him. If it had been Ga Eul, he wouldn't have minded, but Shin-joo…
Rang growled.
Why did things like this keep happening to him? He hated this double-dating concept.
They were at the peak of the first, and highest, hill, with Soo-oh and Min-Jae in the front, Ga Eul and Yu Ri behind the boys, and Rang and Shin-joo behind Ga Eul and Yu Ri. Ahead of them, Ga Eul and Yu Ri were raising their hands in anticipation of the drop. Ahead of the girls, Soo-oh and Min-jae were saying things like 'Whoa, cool!' and pointing at what they could see from the hill. Meanwhile, beside him, Shin-joo was coiled around his arm like he might break it off.
"Are you okay?" Ga Eul shot Shin-joo a worried glance.
"I'm going to die, aren't I?" Shin-joo uttered faintly.
"Um…" Ga Eul started to say something, but just then the coaster took off, and they plummeted towards the ground.
"Hyung, save me!" Shin-joo cried as they fell. Increasingly agitated, he shoved into Rang's space.
"Hey! Get off me!" Rang tried to pry Shin-joo off, but it was no use. The coaster jerked them around a corner and began its second ascent at an accelerated pace. It wasted no time before hurtling them back to the ground.
"Ahhhhhh!" Shin-joo screamed in Rang's ear as the coaster dropped. "I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!"
"You're damn right! I'm gonna kill you when the ride stops!" Rang shoved him. He didn't know where Shin-joo wanted to go. He couldn't very well sit in Rang's lap, not that Rang would have let him.
"Hyung! Please! Save me!" Shin-joo shouted as the coaster barreled towards a series of twists and turns. The first turn pressed Shin-joo tighter against him, and Rang, no stranger to living on the edge, was nonetheless disturbed to find himself being pushed ever-so-slightly out of his seat.
Rang jabbed Shin-joo in the ribs as the coaster straightened out.
"Hold on to the bar, not me, you idiot!"
"Help me, hyung! Help me!"
"I hope you fall from this thing!"
"Mister Lee Yeon, save us!"
"I'm gonna kill you!"
"Aaaaahhhhh! Hyuuuuung!" he cried as they were catapulted into the air and flung around a wide curve. The ride batted them back and forth—making them weightless, then slamming them down again—and the wind whooshed around them, whipping their faces.
Normally, Rang loved thrill rides—the more intense, the better—but when the ride finally came to a halt at the drop-off point, he could not have been more relieved. He scowled at Shin-joo, who still held his arm in a death-grip.
Ahead of them, the kids were giggling and chanting, "Let's go again! Let's go again!"
Yu Ri and Ga Eul twisted around, eyeing Shin-joo with concern.
"Are you okay?!" Ga Eul exclaimed.
"What happened?!" Yu Ri asked.
"Oh…" Shin-joo released Rang. "I was just...making sure Mister Lee Rang didn't go flying out of the ride. I know how important he is to you, yeobo." He patted Rang's arm, but Rang made a neck-slicing motion, and he quickly cut it out.
Rang scoffed. Like everyone couldn't hear Shin-joo crying like a baby.
"This was the guy you wanted to make a family with?" he demanded of Yu Ri. "Seriously?"
"Hey!" Shin-joo protested.
"What type of fox is scared of heights?! I'm not going on any more rides with you."
"I'm not afraid of heights! I'm afraid of death! Sudden and violent death!"
"I'll give you a sudden and violent death. Come here!" Rang lunged for him, but the lap bars opened, and Shin-joo scrambled out of the ride and ran for the exit.
"You didn't have to give him such a hard time, you know," Ga Eul remarked a few minutes later in the gift shop. She was modeling a light blue sun hat in front of a mirror. "Yu Ri said that was his first roller coaster," she informed him.
"He was pushing me out of my seat. Would you rather me fall out of the ride?"
"Does it matter? Don't you always land on your feet?"
"Shouldn't you be more concerned about me than you are about Shin-joo?" Scowling, Rang leaned against a shelf of souvenir shirts and crossed his arms.
"Your words, not mine." Ga Eul shrugged and placed the hat on top of its stack. "At Lotte World Tower, remember?"
Rang sighed. At least, there was air conditioning in the gift shop. He'd planned on enjoying the wind on the ride, but that had been a bust.
As Ga Eul continued trying on hats, he surveyed the medium-sized shop, which featured an assortment of snacks, clothes, stuffed animals, and souvenirs such as keychains, magnets, and water bottles. Yu Ri had taken Shin-joo and the kids to get ice cream, and Ga Eul had volunteered to stay with Rang, as though he and Shin-joo were two squabbling children that needed to be separated.
He suspected he was in Ga Eul's adult version of time out; he'd even been told to 'cool down.'
Pfft.
Casting about for something that would make the day tolerable again, he smiled as his surroundings brought on an idea. A while ago, Ga Eul had offered to do things he enjoyed. He wondered how far she would take that offer. It would be interesting to find out.
Sauntering up behind her, he pitched his voice low and teasing.
"Ga Eul?"
"What?" Ga Eul adjusted her hair under a bright pink ball cap.
"Have you ever stolen anything?"
Her hands froze; so did her face.
"W-what?"
"You know." Rang removed her cap and put it to the side. "Take something." He smoothed the tangles out of her hair, then leaned over her shoulder, his gaze pinned to her wide brown eyes in the mirror. "Without paying for it," he whispered, causing her pupils to dilate. Sometimes, he didn't know if he was making her nervous or arousing her, as there was often no distinction.
"Um…" Ga Eul laughed, trembling against his chest. "No, why?"
Rang smiled. He swiped her headband out of her hand and slipped it back on her head.
Arranging her hair over her shoulders, he continued, "I think you should. Right now. You said we could do things I like to do."
You said we could do things I like to do.
Rang's voice, deceptively innocent, slithered around Ga Eul like the coils of a serpent.
Ga Eul knew she had said that.
She also knew that this was a test.
Clearing her throat, she shuffled forward in the tiny space between her body and the hat display. This action accomplished nothing. She could still feel Rang's body heat. He had a firm grip on her shoulders, and a roguish scheme was forming in the quirk of his mouth and the spark of his eyes.
And, ugh, he had dimples. Did anyone else notice that Rang had dimples? Did anyone else think that dimples were too innocent a feature for his nefarious face? They softened all his wicked intentions; everything became palatable if Ga Eul concentrated on the shape of his mouth instead of the words coming out of it.
"I didn't know we were doing that today," she protested, already feeling herself giving in.
"Why not? We can start small and work you up," Rang stated cheerfully.
"Work me up to what?"
"It wouldn't be fun if I told you. Besides, a fox never reveals his schemes." He stepped back and gestured. "Pick anything in the store. But don't get caught."
Ga Eul turned and glanced around them, but no one appeared to be listening. The other customers were either out of earshot or absorbed in their own conversations.
"There are security cameras," she mumbled.
"Then be discreet. And stop looking around like you're guilty. Come on. Do you really think I'll let them arrest you?" Rang quirked an eyebrow.
Well...no. But still. Ga Eul didn't know the first thing about shoplifting.
Although, it couldn't be that hard—not harder than passing her final exams that one semester when she'd almost reconsidered being a teacher.
Besides, stealing one small item from a large corporation didn't seem too bad. It wasn't like she'd be taking candy from children or robbing an elderly individual of their livelihood.
"Okay, I'll try," she conceded.
"That's my little human." Rang grinned. Those damn dimples again.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm not taking anything you would want." Ga Eul shoved past him and traipsed over to a keychain and magnet tower display, attempting to act nonchalant. This sort of thing would have been easier if she'd brought a coat or a sweater; she could have tucked her loot into the folds of her clothes, and no one would be any wiser. Unfortunately, she hadn't even brought her purse into the park, which left her with only her shorts pockets for squirreling things away.
The teenage cashier glanced at her, and she quickly looked elsewhere, picking up a magnet and inspecting it. Her ears burned. Why did she feel like everyone in the store was watching her?
It didn't help that Rang actually was watching her, a short distance away.
"Will you give me some space?" she hissed at him as he closed the gap between them.
"Hurry up," he whispered, drifting casually into the cluster of snack displays.
Once he'd passed, Ga Eul took a deep breath. Steeling herself, she walked back to the hat and clothing displays and pretended to check shirt sizes to give herself time to collect her nerve.
At last, she wandered around a few displays, feigning interest in them, until she found another keychain display further from the cashier's sight line. Wasting no time, she snatched a keychain and pocketed it. A large group of people had swarmed into the gift shop, presumably from a nearby ride—the water one, from the wetness of their clothes—and she used them as a cover to exit quickly.
She found Rang just outside the entrance, toying with his sunglasses. Having forgone his usual black wardrobe, he wore jeans and a short-sleeve navy blue shirt with a pattern of gold square medallions.
"Did you get it?" he asked, donning the glasses.
"Yes. But I'm not showing you." Ga Eul stuck out her tongue. Sweeping away with this declaration, she made a beeline for Yu Ri, who was waving her over at the carousel.
"I got a keychain for you," she informed Yu Ri once she'd reached her, and Yu Ri squealed with delight over the gold keychain with a pink and purple bubble tea pendant.
"It's so cute!" Yu Ri cried, then pouted. "I didn't get anything for you though."
"It's okay. I, um...stole it." A subtle thrill coursed through Ga Eul as she said the words, despite her reservations. She'd broken a law on purpose and had gotten away with it—could she be any more of a badass?
"You what? Why?" Yu Ri's eyes widened in surprise.
Rang strolled up behind Ga Eul, and she asked, "Why do you think?"
Her eyes lighting up with understanding, Yu Ri mused, "Wow, Mister Lee Rang is going to turn you into a criminal too. We can make a gang!" Yu Ri looked thrilled by this possibility.
Ga Eul chuckled nervously.
"No, no, this was a one time thing, I swear."
"Was it? You did okay for a first-timer," Rang mentioned. "Most importantly, you didn't get caught."
"She even smiled when she handed it to me," Yu Ri revealed. "I think she liked it."
"With a little work on your technique, you could be stealing priceless antiques." Rang beamed in approval.
"I'm a schoolteacher." Ga Eul shot him a look.
Rang shrugged.
"We won't hold that against you. But I think you should steal one more thing for your initiation. I would like an ice cream from over there." He pointed at a nearby stand. "Shin-joo got ice cream. I want ice cream."
Ga Eul turned towards the vendor he indicated.
"If you want ice cream, I'll buy you ice cream," she offered, not sure that she wanted to steal something else while she was still conflicted about her first theft.
"Where's the fun in that?" Rang complained—an ominous, though not unwelcome, presence at her back. "Come on, little human," he murmured, his breath warm on her neck. "Won't you steal just one more little thing for me?"
Ga Eul turned her head, meeting his mischievous stare. This was a mistake since he looked supremely interested in what she would do—even more interested than he had been inside the store—and having spent so much time being intimate with him, she couldn't separate it from the lustful way he looked at her when he wanted just one more little thing from her in bed.
Will you be a good little human and steal something for me? his smile taunted. Suddenly, it was just the two of them; Yu Ri had receded into the background, along with everyone else in the park.
Heat creeped up her neck.
"There's a name for this, you know," she managed, swallowing. "It's called peer pressure. Every day, I tell my students—"
"Forget it then. Let's go." Rang spun around in that brusque manner he used when things didn't go the way he wanted.
"Wait, wait!" Ga Eul grabbed his bare forearm, and he looked back at her, doubt clouding his eyes. His metal choker glinted in the afternoon sun, drawing attention to the open collar of his blue and gold shirt. Not for the first time did she wonder how he would look with tattoos.
She knew she could say 'no,' of course. He probably expected that from her, even if he was disappointed, but the thing was...she kind of wanted to be a little bit bad for him. Just a tiny bit. Partly because he'd humored her desire for an amusement park date by baking in the heat all day. And partly because she liked how he lit up with genuine delight when she did something unexpected, something outside of her normal persona.
Every day, she told her students not to bow to peer pressure, even from their best friends. Yet here she was, abandoning her morals to impress her boyfriend. There was a name for that, too.
Hypocrite.
"H-how would I even do that?" she asked. "There's a guy manning the stand, and I don't have fox powers. Besides, there's a long line of people—"
"Stop focusing on what's over there," Rang commanded. "You have a whole gang at your disposal. Now what do you do?"
He was eyeing her with interest again, and a shiver of excitement washed over her.
Yu Ri, too, stared at her with curiosity.
"Create a distraction?" she ventured, shifting from side to side.
"Very good." Rang smiled. "Next?"
Basking in his approval, Ga Eul tried her hardest to think like a fox.
"Well...it has to be something that distracts the people in the line and the guy manning the stand."
"And that would be?"
Ga Eul frowned in thought. She batted around a few ideas before finally whispering one in Rang's ear.
He paused, giving her an indecipherable stare, but after a moment, he gripped her shoulders and twisted her around, aiming her towards the ice cream stand.
"Let's try it," he announced.
Several minutes later, Ga Eul found herself nearing the front of the ice cream line, her stomach in knots. Again, she felt like everyone knew what she was up to. She was sweating, and not entirely from the heat.
Her turn arrived. The ice cream vendor asked for her order.
But then, from behind her, the sound of a body collapsing to the ground reached her ears. The vendor looked over.
"Hey, hey, my father's having a heart attack!" Yu Ri yelled, her voice pitched lower than normal. "Somebody help!"
Ga Eul glanced back as the vendor rushed towards the commotion. According to plan, she saw Rang lying on the ground, in the throes of agony, with Yu Ri hunched over him. They'd changed form, of course—Rang was an older gentleman, and Yu Ri was posing as his daughter, her hair shortened for the role.
The other customers crowded around them as the vendor asked if anyone had medical training.
Still, Ga Eul wasn't certain that no one was watching her, but she had to play her part; it was now or never. Reaching inside the ice cream cart, she blindly snatched up the first wrapped treat she felt.
"Hey! You have to pay for that!" someone yelled as she began her retreat. Was it the vendor? A nosy bystander? She didn't know. She was already running, weaving through the crowd at a brisk clip.
Her heart raced; her head pounded. The sun beat down as she frantically tried to lose her pursuer.
She assumed she had a pursuer. Honestly, she wasn't sure, but she didn't want to pause long enough to find out.
This was it. She'd officially lost her sanity. Rang must have melted her brain with his mind-melding.
All this for an ice cream she wouldn't even eat? Ugh.
Ga Eul's nerves weren't cut out for thieving.
Breathless and panicked and rapidly overheating, she didn't stop until she reached their agreed-upon rendezvous point—the giant swing ride where Shin-joo had taken the kids.
At the base of the ride, she bent over and caught her breath. A glance upward showed her that Shin-joo had braved the ride despite his traumatic coaster experience. She waved but didn't think he or the kids noticed her.
A minute later, Rang showed up with Yu Ri flanking him, his ever-willing accomplice.
Ga Eul vaguely remembered wanting to be Rang's partner-in-crime, but she took it back. Yu Ri could have that position as long as she wanted it.
Ga Eul was out.
"Hey, you...get your own next time!" She shoved the stolen ice cream bar at Rang.
"Mint chocolate chip?" He frowned, inspecting the wrapper. "Really?"
"I was in a rush! Don't be picky!"
Rang wanted to complain more about his disappointing ice cream, but he could tell the experience of stealing it had rattled Ga Eul. Maybe it had something to do with her being human—she could, in fact, experience consequences that had no meaning to him. Things like fines and jail time. Humans could punish her because she was human.
It was strange to think that someone so close to him had to worry about such trivial matters. He tried to think back to when he'd had human worries as a child, before he'd begun using his powers to aid his daily existence, but this led to him thinking about the angry villagers and their clubs, so he shoved the thought away.
At least, she'd tried—he loved her for trying—and she'd looked cute with her stolen goods, even when she'd informed him that the 'bandit life' wasn't for her.
Fortunately, Ga Eul relaxed once the kids returned from their ride. She suggested they race each other with go-karts, and Yu Ri enthusiastically agreed, so off they went.
Unfortunately, at the go-kart track, after the girls had chosen each other over their partners again, Shin-joo sat himself in the seat next to Rang.
"Do you have a death wish?! Get your own!" Rang complained.
"Relax. I'm perfectly capable of sitting in a moving car while you drive."
"Are you?" Rang flexed his claws so that only Shin-joo could see them.
"Come on, hyung. You heard the girls. It's a race. Girls versus boys."
"I told you to stop calling me that," Rang muttered. Nonetheless, he sheathed his claws and pulled forward when the operator indicated he could.
Whatever.
He would just focus on kicking Ga Eul and Yu Ri's asses.
"I think it's funny," Shin-joo commented as they waited to be released onto the track.
"What?"
"How you've mellowed out since you've been dating Ga Eul."
"You think I've mellowed out?" Rang spat out the words, twisting his face into a threat.
"I mean, look at you. You're driving a kid's automobile around a human amusement park." Shin-joo twirled his finger.
Rang glared at him.
"The human world is my amusement park."
Shin-joo smiled good-naturedly.
"If you say so, hyung. But, you know, there was a time when you would have thrown me out of this kart and run me over."
"Don't think those days are in the past. Now shut up before I unload your dead weight."
"Uh-oh." Shin-joo looked away. "Someone wants another lecture from the teacher." He snickered.
Rang gripped the steering wheel tighter and fumed. When the light turned green, he slammed on the gas pedal and peeled out onto the track.
"Hey." In the seat next to Ga Eul, Yu Ri gestured behind them. "The race just started, and Mister Lee Rang already looks pissed off."
"He's going to be even more pissed off when we win." Ga Eul gave her friend a conspiratorial smirk.
"Eeeehhh!" Yu Ri squealed as she peered behind them. "Do you think he'd lose to you on purpose?"
"Lee Rang?"
"Right, stupid question."
"Let me know how close they are."
"He's gaining on you. He's really—"
Ga Eul swerved.
"Nice! You cut him off!" Yu Ri chuckled. "He's even madder. Left! Go left!"
Ga Eul swerved again.
"Right, right! Go right! Go left! Faster, faster!"
Ga Eul jerked the go-kart back and forth at Yu Ri's direction, but she had to slow down as she came to a curve. She tried not to slow down too much, knowing Rang would use any opportunity to shoot past her.
Rounding the curve with Rang and Shin-joo right on their tail, they swiftly entered another curve. Ga Eul tried to block them again, but she wasn't fast enough, and Rang blew past her, smirking over at her as he did so.
Oh, hell no.
She would wipe that stupid smirk off his face.
"Go, go, go! We can still catch them!" Yu Ri shouted.
"Hang on!" They came into a straightaway, and Ga Eul pressed the accelerator down as far as it would go. She kept pace with Rang but wasn't able to pass him. As they came up on another curve, Ga Eul kept her speed as high as she dared. Bit by bit, she gained ground. As she neared Rang, she tried to pass on his left, but he blocked her, and she almost crashed into him with how fast she was going.
"Hey! My wife's back there!" Shin-joo protested as Rang braked, forcing Ga Eul to do the same. Another go-kart passed both of them on Rang's right, but Ga Eul was the only competitor he cared about. He was going to kick her ass.
"You mean the wife who robbed you at gunpoint?" Rang taunted. "Worry about yourself."
"I mean it! If anything happens to her because you—"
"Oh, will you shut up and quit saying nonsense?!"
"This isn't a professional track! We're supposed to leave space!"
Shin-joo lunged and jerked the wheel to the left, and they smashed into the guard rail while Ga Eul and Yu Ri shot past them, cheering as they went. The go-cart skidded to a halt, and Rang whipped his head around, ready to punch Shin-joo in the face.
"What the hell?! You sabotaged us!"
Shin-joo froze, as if only just realizing what he had done.
"A fox...is always loyal to his mate?" he offered in defense.
Ripping his seatbelt off—breaking its flimsy lock—Rang seared Shin-joo with his stare; he was going to roast the veterinarian's carcass, butcher it, and feed it to his enemies.
"Above...all else?" Shin-joo tried, his voice nearly a whisper.
"Run."
"Yay!" Yu Ri squealed, pumping her fists in the air. "We won!"
"I told you. I may not have a real driver's license, but I kick ass at go-karting." Ga Eul high-fived Yu Ri as they pulled up to where they needed to park the go-kart. They got out and gathered Soo-oh and Min-jae, who had pulled in behind them. Oddly, Rang and Shin-joo were missing, and when Ga Eul glanced up at the track, she saw why. Shin-joo was running across the track, weaving and dodging around the go-karts, and Rang was in hot pursuit.
"What are they doing?!" Yu Ri exclaimed.
On the grass, Rang caught up to Shin-joo and tackled him. He wrangled Shin-joo into a headlock, and the latter flailed around like a dying fish. They were still rolling and squirming like quarreling children on a playground when the ride operators reached them, shouting at them to break it up.
Fat chance.
As they watched the scene unfold, Soo-oh and Min-jae giggled and tried to put each other in a headlock until Yu Ri and Ga Eul scolded them.
"But we're just copying Mister Lee Rang!" Soo-oh protested. "He's awesome! When I grow up, I'm going to be just like him!"
"Then do you want to be in trouble like him? Because Mister Lee Rang is going to be in so much trouble when he gets home," Ga Eul informed him.
"What do I always say?" Yu Ri chimed in. "We play…"
"Nice with our friends," Soo-oh finished tiredly, then added, with a cheerful smirk, "and kick the butts of our enemies!"
"Nice!" Yu Ri high-fived him.
Ga Eul snorted. That was such a Yu Ri motto to have. Rang would change it to 'kick the butts of anyone who annoys us.' She watched as he twisted Shin-joo's arm behind his back until the defeated fox yowled.
"Come on." Ga Eul donned her sunglasses and motioned to the exit. "If anyone asks, we don't know them."
