chapter 08
My humanization training truly shone when summer arrived. I could maintain my human form for a full one shijin!
Thanks to this, our family’s holiday outings became much easier.
Of course, I told relatives that it was simply because the weather was hotter, making it easier for me to stay outside longer.
“Your cheeks are red! Go into the shade.”
“You’ll get a baby face! I know a good pharmacy—should I send some tonic?”
Our family had become familiar to relatives, appearing at every holiday. After Chobok, Jungbok, and Idujeol, some even started waiting for us to visit.
“How will I bear waiting until the next holiday if we part today?”
“Oh my, you seem to have gained a little weight?”
“You brat! Don’t lift the baby like that! You’ll make her dizzy!”
Everyone welcomed me so warmly that I was slightly bewildered, but it felt good.
When else would I receive this much affection, if not as a cute baby?
I felt like a celebrity whose popularity could only be seen at concerts or fan meetings.
However, my cousins’ attention and affection were a little excessive.
“Dad, when can we see Hyeon next?”
“Mom, mom, take the baby to our house!”
The eldest, seven years old, was Hyeon Shion, and the five-year-old second was Hyeon Seon.
The siblings initially charged at me in my puppy form, got scolded, and then wandered around me after I returned to human form.
When the cousin boys acted stubborn, Uncle and Aunt would appear from somewhere, scoop them up one by one, and vanish.
“Hyeon has to return to the annex now.”
“Covered in sweat. Let’s clean up, kids.”
“Wah! Let me go!”
I could hear someone shouting, “She’s our little sister!” from afar.
The siblings, refusing to give up, even threatened to follow me to the annex, but their ambitious plans never materialized.
Baaah. Meeeaaah!
The oppressive heat hit the furry residents as summer progressed from Jungbok toward Malbok.
Meeaaah, meeaaah!
Perhaps it was because my true form was a furry animal.
The locals particularly struggled with the heat. Especially the Hyun family, with black, double-layered fur—they were practically melting.
“Ugh.”
The problem was, I was a black, fluffy puppy.
Being a puppy in this heat was unbearable. Sweat only formed on my paws, and to cool down, I had to stick out my tongue.
Still, it wasn’t enough to feel fully refreshed. Maintaining human form was the best option.
“Our baby. Hot?”
“Uuuh.”
It was the first time I had been so attached to my human baby form. People are so fickle.
Just a couple of months ago, I complained that being a human baby was uncomfortable. Now I struggled to maintain human form even a little longer.
“Just a little longer. Daddy said he brought something nice.”
“Ohh?”
“Yes, something good.”
Mom fanned me while I endured the heat. She looked exhausted too, having to constantly care for me.
Mom, from the perpetually cold Snow Mountains, was a wolf with thick fur even in humanized form. Since early Chobok, Dad had been busy preparing tonic foods for her.
“Phew. No matter how many summers I spend at the foot of the mountain, I never get used to it.”
Mom’s hands finally rested that evening. As she said, Dad had brought something truly nice.
“A large ‘baekpunggi’ will take a while to get, so I brought this for now.”
“Better something small than nothing.”
The good thing Dad brought was… a fan! A white fan!
In this place, an object that creates white wind is called a baekpunggi.
In my puppy form, I forgot all about the heat and circled the fan.
Dad quickly wound the spring, and I internally cheered, sitting squarely in the breeze.
Ahhhh.
The gentle wind felt life-saving.
“One winding lasts a full shijin, so you’ll be fine now.”
“You did well getting it.”
“No, if I’d known it would be this hard for you and Hyeon, I’d have paid more attention. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”
The baekpunggi was an exclusive product from Geumseong Trading and difficult to manufacture. If not pre-ordered, you couldn’t get it by summer.
Both Mom and Dad had been too busy to order in spring.
The one Dad brought today was obtained by a friend of his, the branch manager, who pleaded with the craftsman. It was said that a weak hybrid baby was struggling with the heat, so they bent over backward to deliver it.
“Why didn’t you buy a baekpunggi when preparing for childbirth?” Dad was scolded heavily.
“Neither of us thought of it.”
“Even in the Snow Mountains, the baby room was always heated in summer, and you only had purebred nephews anyway.”
Purebred puppies could walk before turning one, so if it got hot, they could go to a river or well themselves. Playing in water was much cooler than a fan, so everyone splashed around in rivers during summer.
“Look, our baby’s paws are the same color as the fan.”
“Wah!”
The three of us sat clustered in front of the small fan, enjoying the breeze.
It was wonderful.
But the more I listened to Mom and Dad, the stranger it seemed.
Yes, it’s a spring-wound fan rather than electric, but it existed. That was fine.
But the store’s name was Geumseong Trading?
Moreover, all the peculiar gadgets they sold were white.
As someone from the blue planet called Korea, I couldn’t help but be suspicious.
Clearly, it was just like LG white electronics!
It was obvious that there were other reincarnators in this world.
I had other reasons for suspicion too. Sometimes, things appeared that didn’t seem to belong in this Eastern-inspired world.
For example, the abacus.
Dad carried a special abacus capable of complex calculations, branded with a bitten apple.
Fortunately, it was a different world, or someone might’ve sued for trademark infringement.
I’d love to meet the people who made it, but Geumseong Trading has existed for over a hundred years. Its founder had already passed, and the abacus maker was gone too.
Anyway, thanks to the reincarnator seniors, I almost died from the heat but survived. Thank you, seniors!
Under the grace of the baekpunggi, summer passed, and Malbok came.
By Malbok, relatives were too exhausted to gather, instead eating tonic food for the holiday.
Our family replenished our energy: Mom and Dad had samgyetang, and I, teething, ate finely minced beef porridge.
“You’ve got a letter.”
“To me?”
Dad, on vacation for Malbok, brought a stack of letters. Most were for him, a few for Mom, but one caught their attention.
It bore a falcon seal.
Expensive, fastest mail—usually only sent in emergencies.
“Hm.”
“What is it about?” Dad asked Mom.
Even in this heat, he could lean close to her. Amazing. Mom didn’t push him away.
I was left to enjoy the fan alone.
Tat-tat-tat.
As I soaked in the cool breeze, Mom’s voice reached me.
“They’re coming—Grandma and Grandpa.”
“Your parents? When?”
“Tomorrow.”
“……Huh?”
Dad blinked. I turned to Mom.
She calmly repeated, as if the letter’s content wouldn’t change.
“They said they’ll arrive tomorrow.”
Mom’s hometown was in the northern Snow Mountains, where even in autumn, snow could isolate the village. This meant now was the only time to meet their daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter.
“If they run here in their beast forms, it’ll take about a week.”
“But it only took five days to descend the mountain last time?”
“Yes. Round trip, two weeks. They’ll stay here a few days, so three weeks is safe. With Ipchu approaching, they couldn’t postpone visiting the in-laws.”
I thought Mom’s hometown was very far. But it was the terrain that made travel difficult; on a map, the distance was fairly close. From the mountain foot to the Hyun family main house was only two days.
The letters arrived a day late for a reason. Grandpa and Grandma sent letters first and departed, but a courier had an accident while descending. Luckily, the courier was rescued, so they sent a second letter by the fastest mail.
Dad’s eyes widened at the unexpected news.
“Ah, good.”
Reading the details, Dad sighed in relief and casually wrapped his arm around Mom’s waist.
“The lost person wasn’t badly hurt.”
“He slipped off a cliff but only broke one leg. Lucky person.”
“But not as lucky as me. I met you when I was lost.”
Mom rolled her eyes at Dad’s smooth talk but let it slide as he gently fanned her.
“Hyeon.”
Yes. I crawled from the fan to Mom.
Seven-month-old baby, hooray! Now I could crawl well. Slower than as a puppy, but still.
“Ucha, our baby.”
Mom praised me, lifted me, and placed me on her lap. Dad’s fanning shifted to her.
The wind ruffled my somewhat grown hair.
“Tomorrow, our baby will meet Mom’s parents.”
“Yay, aaah!”
“They live in the Snow Mountains, so call them Mountain Grandma and Mountain Grandpa.”
Mom’s face and voice were bright. Though sudden, she was clearly happy to reunite with family she hadn’t seen in a long time.
“They’re really good people.”
It seemed so. Only I and Dad had ever made Mom smile like this, so I looked forward to tomorrow.
What kind of people would they be?
