Monster Crisis | Ateez

Chapter 1

Beaming down its warm rays onto the ground, the sun dried up the dew that had been gathered up overnight on the green leaves and the various assortments of flowers. Squirrels could be seen coming out of their homes from the tree and started to scurry around to scavenge for food, leaping nimbly from one tree to another. There was a rabbit who cautiously peaked out of its den, twitching its nose to smell for any dangerous predators. Although, a rustle from the bushes frightened the rabbit and it immediately vanished back in its hole. What caused the movement of those bushes was simply just a deer grazing on the luscious green leaves, getting its nutritional intake before travelling for another long day.

In a small patch of green grass nearby, a pure snow-white baby fox was seen sleeping soundly with its body curled up comfortably and its nose buried in its fluffy tail. The sunrays reflected off its soft white fur, creating a magical glow around the fox. On a closer look, the fox's eyes had a vibrant red outline along its top eyelids. At one end of the eyes, the line slightly curved up a bit towards its ears while on the other end, the line reached down a centimeter towards its nose. In the middle of its forehead, there was a small red circle that was the size of a cherry.

The fox's ears twitched when a bird started to sing its morning songs which were soon followed by others that happily chirped along. Despite the noise that disrupted the peaceful silence, the fox laid on the ground, unmoving. It almost seemed like the fox didn't want to be awoken from its slumber.

Then, a fox with nine tails that was as large as a deer walked up to the little fox. On its face, it also had the same red patterns that the little fox did. Its clear crystal blue eyes glistened as it softly gazed at the sleeping figure of the small fox. Lowering its head down, it gently used its snout to nudge against the side of the smaller one's head. When there were no movements, it nudged the little fox again before a female voice was heard, calling softly, "Yeosang, it's time to get up."

Finally, the little fox, Yeosang, stirred a bit; however, he ended up only burying his head deeper into his fluffy tail and mumbled something inaudible. It was clear that he did not want to wake up.

Lying down beside Yeosang, the nine-tailed fox then proceeded to lick the top of his head, trying to coax him awake. It didn't take long until Yeosang let out a small whimper before slowly squinting open his crystal blue eyes that were just like the large fox. As he blinked a couple of times to adjust his eyes to the bright light shining down from the sun, there was a dazed-look in his eyes that had come from a long night of deep slumber.

"Get ready soon. I'm going to go and make something for us to eat, okay?" the nine-tailed fox asked, nuzzling Yeosang's ear to make sure he was listening.

Nodding his head, Yeosang sleepily mumbled back, "Okay."

Hearing this, the nine-tailed fox gave one last affectionate lick on his head before getting up and walking away.

For a few minutes, Yeosang just laid there and stared in a daze at nothing in particular. As his mind slowly started to turn, he lifted his head and let out a small yawn. Resting his head on his furry tail, he glanced around to find something to watch.

A small patch of Bluebell flowers caught his eye. Around them, he saw bees busily buzzing in the air as they went from flower to flower, collecting the tiny specks of golden pollen on their legs. There were also a variety of butterflies with different colours and patterns that fluttered back and forth in the air, almost like they were dancing.

After watching them for another few minutes, Yeosang shut his eyes and enjoyed the warmth of the rays that gradually spread through his whole body. Feeling fuzzy with comfort, Yeosang listened to the birds chirping and was about to be lulled back to sleep until he heard the nine-tailed fox's voice calling, "Yeosang! Time to eat!"