Tale of The Nine Tailed: The Gumiho's Lover

01

What if Lee Rang actually never reincarnated?
What if the fortune teller did not took his soul as an exchange with Lee Yeon's and just made him disappear for a moment that day?

***

Lee Rang wanders around the city of Seoul for the nth time today. He literally feels so empty these days that he wished to just die at the moment. Even those stupid errands given by his so-called-superior could not give the same thrill he always felt during those days he and Yuri meddle with the humans lives.
He shook off his thoughts away and continued to walk aimlessly. Suddenly, he sense a familiar scent not too far away from him.

Sooho?

"Stop picking up on me!" Sooho cried out to the bigger boy, which Rang assumed as a bully.

  "You're supposed to not tell me what to do, mushroom head!" The bully pushed Sooho until he fell on the ground.

He continued to pick up on him whereas the smaller just bear with it.

  "You are so weak and dumb. You don't even have a complete family like mine. You should just go away!"
And, that's it.

The bully felt his body to be somewhat lifted until he could not feel his feet touching the ground anymore.

  "W-what is this?! Oi mushroom head, do something!!"
Sooho could also not believe his own eyes. The bigger kid before him is floating without anything making him do so.

Meanwhile, Rang tried to control his anger towards that bully so that he wouldn't expose himself being around.

Well yep, he is invisible right now.

And that's all because of the deal he made with the damn fortune teller. Or more likely the one Lee Rang had been forced to.

FLASHBACK

  "Why did you do that?"

"I just simply changed my mind."

  "And why did that ever cross your mind?"

"I was thinking that I could make better use of your precious soul as well as body, rather than just letting you die and reincarnate like you expected."

  "That's just crazy! I rather be dead than do things that you wanted!"

All of a sudden, the fortune teller lets his evil laugh out loud and then looked at Rang with his serious face on.

"Are you sure about that?"

  "I. Will. Never. Grant. Your. Wish."

Rang stated persistently while looking like he is about to attack the other in any second.

"Ohoo, even if it concerns your beloved brother?"

He somehow gets intimidated everytime when problems regarding Lee Yeon arise, just like this one.

  "You prickly bastard! Don't ever think about involving him in this mess!"

The fortune teller only laughed at Rang's remark which causes his emotion to stir more, agitating him.

"Look, I will let your brother reincarnate well and safely if only you agree to deal with me. Very easy."

  "You won't have a chance to do that! I will just kill you right here, now!"

Rang went to his direction at the highest speed and tried to attack the fortune teller with his sharp, claw-like weapon. Aiming for his weak spot as he can find it easily. However, his moves are forcefully stopped just when he is about to stab him. Without him knowing, the strong aura of the place they are in right now gives full authority to the fortune teller which can easily hold or block Rang's strength against him.

"Well, well... I'm afraid you couldn't. This is a small world I've made myself. If you're trying to use your power to attack me, it will only backfires."

  "Shut the fuck up, let me go you cowardly loser!"

The fortune teller smirked evilly before moving his hand in just a swift, and as if on cue the sharp weapon Lee Rang used earlier stabbed his stomach instead. It could not have been worser if it's not for the poison which he felt rushing into his body, gradually making him weaker.

It was so unbearable that it caused him to growl in pain. He even started to cough blood.

"I've warned you, didn't I?" He laughed before continued talking.

"-anyway, I will just say it here once and for all. I am going to make you do errands for me regarding the missing objects in the real world."

Rang furrowed his brows together as he is confused.

"Don't give me that look, you need to make up for your past misdeeds by doing this work. Well honestly, I'm doing exactly what Taluipa did to your brother but in different context. They focused on the soul whereas I want you to collect valuable things for me."

Lee Rang scoffed shortly before spitting blood to the ground, indicating his disagreement.

"But most importantly, you need to hide and keep this as a secret from your close ones as well as Lee Yeon, only IF he ever reincarnates. Well, that's solely up to you."

Those words echoed inside his mind as he fell unconscious right after that.

-END OF FLASHBACK-

And that explains how he gets back to the world without going through the process of dying and reincarnation.

He is not invisible all the time though. It was only for a moment when he sense someone he is familiar with being close to where he stand. Just like now.

Lee Rang shake the bully which he hold by his collar to scare him a little. Well, maybe just until he peed his pants. He finally lets him go after he got satisfied with the kid's horrored look due to the weird occurance he experienced.

The bully flee from that place while screaming and left Sooho all alone who is still sitting on the ground.

Rang looked at him in pity as he could not just appear in front of him or even scold him like he used to. His heart clenches as he watch Sooho stand by himself and clean the dirt from his pants before walking away sadly from that place.

I should've trained you to become stronger before I left.

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Author's note: Finally, I uploaded the 01 part. Please be reminded that English is not my first language, so excuse my terrible grammar 🙏🏻

[Critics are fully accepted to improve the quality of this story.]