_RelleLebby_
A kiss under a moonlit pagoda. A bargain older than the river. A fox who is starving for the right reasons.
When Nia Caldwell, a Black American exchange student with a jasmine sachet and a spine of quiet steel, lands in Seoul, she only wants to pass her folklore class and eat her way through every market stall in the city. Instead, she meets Lee Seong-jin-an impossibly composed grad TA whose eyes feel like moonlight on still water. He never eats in public. He always knows when she's being watched. And in the spaces between stories, Nia starts to hear a fox cry.
Seoul becomes a living folktale: lantern-lit festivals, temple bells at midnight, mountain shrines that remember your name, and a patron in a gray suit who smiles like a knife. Tied to an ancient debt, Seong-jin is a gumiho who's teaching himself to starve-choosing tenderness over hunger, choosing her. But breaking a contract forged on riverbanks will cost a heart of joy freely given... and hunters never stop hunting.
As danger tightens-stalking footsteps by the bell pavilion, mirrors that whisper, and tests set at a temple gate-Nia and Seong-jin build their own rituals: red beans, honey on the tongue, rice shared slow. Their romance burns warm and intimate, on the border but never explicit, all breath and promise and lingering hands. Together they'll have to outwit a smiling predator, guard a young stream spirit, and decide whether love can rewrite a legend without devouring them both.
• Modern Korean fantasy with thriller heat and romantic slow-burn
• Black female lead x Korean gumiho male, both exchange students
• Lush city vibes: Bukchon, Namsan snows, Jeju sunrises, Cheonggyecheon lanterns
• Found family, fierce boundaries, and joy as magic
• Sensual, mature moments without explicit content
Jasmine on the air. Nine tails in the shadows. Under Seoul's jasmine skies, love doesn't just survive the story-it changes the ending.
©️ Relle H