NTFT | Volume 1.12

Frustration welled up in me as I rummaged through the clothes messily. Meanwhile, an odd noise came from the bedroom.

It sounded like someone was there. I immediately turned and headed to the bedroom to check.

“Uh?”

I wondered how long I had been showering. Maybe about 30 minutes? It didn’t seem like that much time had passed, but the bedroom had changed.

“Is there a cleaning fairy in this house or what?”

Surprisingly, the bed was neatly made, and the remnants and bloodstains from last night were completely cleaned up. There were even fresh clothes and underwear prepared.

“Could it be… that?”

I was stunned by the items neatly arranged on the center of the bed.

“What’s this doing here? It shouldn’t be here… how… why…?”

It was unbelievable. Not only was the room cleaned, but a sanitary pad was prepared? This was utterly ridiculous.

“Could it be… him…? But still, this doesn’t make any sense…”

While I was bewildered, a head suddenly popped around the door.

“It’s not a cleaning fairy but more like a cleaning prince, I guess.”

“You… were you here?”

“This place is bigger than you think. Take your time to explore later. And I’m about to leave now. Some unexpected business came up, so I won’t be home for a while.”

“What? What do you mean? What about me?”

He replied nonchalantly, hands in his trouser pockets, freshly groomed and dressed sharply, his hair styled back as usual.

“Don’t worry. I went through a lot of trouble to kidnap you; you think I wouldn’t take good care of you?”
“I’d expect you to neglect me if you’re not here, isn’t that abandonment?”

Perhaps my choice of words was odd. He suddenly looked puzzled, then returned to his usual expression with a subtle smile.

“You might not know, but there are three maids I’ve specially selected in this house. They will take care of you. So, the thing you need right now… ‘that’ is also there.”

His gaze shifted to the sanitary pad on the bed. I felt a flush of embarrassment surge through me, causing my muscles to tense, and blood trickled down my thigh.

“Damn…”

I muttered a curse under my breath, but he continued unfazed.

“It seems the maids thought you were a woman and prepared it… Well, it’s similar, right? So, just ask the maids for anything you need, and rest easy. Don’t even think about going anywhere.”

He winked and casually walked out. I stood there dazed for a moment, then sat on the bed and fiddled with the sanitary pad provided.

“Is this what they call Stockholm syndrome? Getting comfort from all these things…”

I stopped my muttering, sealed my thoughts, and quietly took the sanitary pad into the bathroom. I felt much fresher and more comfortable after using it, and lay down on the clean bed.

“Did my brain really turn into a flower garden? It’s definitely a kidnapping, yet why does it feel like I’m being pampered? Have I gone mad? Or is it senility from living too long?” I didn’t want to think about these complicated, headache-inducing thoughts anymore.

Ah, when can I eat his liver?

With these thoughts, I snuggled into the fresh sheets and drifted back to sleep.

***

All around the house, colorful and rare fragrant flowers had bloomed, creating a garden that could rival a botanical garden.

It made me wonder if, until now, I had been living a tough and strenuous life because he had been taking care of me with utmost dedication.

It was an unbelievable situation, but I felt extremely comfortable, even more so than when I was broadcasting. I didn’t have to grovel for money by touching myself, and I didn’t need to spread my legs in a vulgar way to get food; warm places were provided for me.

He allowed me to do everything except go out.

“Mi Hong, your breakfast is ready.”

“Uh-huh. Just leave it there, I’ll eat.”

“Yes, enjoy your meal.”

All the maids in his penthouse were women, and they were all very tight-lipped.

They knew I was a man and didn’t find it strange or suspicious that I was using sanitary pads, despite my gender.

They simply figured if I needed something, there must be a need, and they prepared meals on time, and if anything got dirty or needed cleaning, they took care of it without being asked. It was really a luxurious life.

“Today, what kind of liver will it be!”

Humming with excitement, I lifted the cover off the prepared meal. A fragrant and fresh scent tickled my nose. The liver of a yellow stingray was generously laid out on the silver tray.

“Ha, this time it’s the esteemed yellow stingray.”

Ironically, he did give me ‘liver’, but it wasn’t ‘human liver’.

“Fuck, how stupid. Why did I just say liver? Livers can be this diverse and plentiful aside from human…”

This motherfucker promised to get me liver, but he only brought me these hard-to-eat delicacies and kept putting them on the table. I was so dumbfounded that I wanted to flip the table over, but either out of shamelessness or a weakness for food, I stupidly ate the livers he prepared, not the human ones.

But fuck, regrettably, they tasted so good.

Human liver wasn’t a necessity, so I didn’t need to eat it, and for a Gumiho, livers other than human didn’t particularly help. However, honestly, the variety of animal livers he provided unexpectedly became helpful as my condition shifted to a more human state during my period.

Eating the livers he provided improved my strength and vitality, and I quickly recovered and felt more energetic.

“To think about it, it’s ridiculous. Even for a Gumiho like me to recover strength by eating yellow stingray liver. It’s nothing to look at.”

Despite my words, I already dipped the stingray liver into a sauce mixed properly with salt and chili powder and took a big bite.

“Fuck, it’s annoyingly delicious. It’s like creamy… it suits my taste…! Ha, fuck…! It’s annoying. If only it wasn’t delicious, why does it have to be so fucking tasty?”

Go ahead and laugh. I might be laughing at myself, but the taste was all that mattered. Especially this yellow stingray liver, among other livers, was particularly delicious, providing a generous amount and full of flavor, incomparable even to the liver in blood sausages I used to eat.

“It’s fucking delicious… why the hell is this shit tasty and pissing me off.”

It’s been four days since I was kidnapped, and this is the second day eating yellow stingray liver. Yet it’s too delicious. Why doesn’t it get tiring? Plus, eating this stuff seems to have improved my body condition enough that even my menstrual cramps have disappeared.

“Maybe it’s making me docile because my stomach doesn’t hurt.”

I enjoyed muttering to myself while eating the yellow stingray liver. Maybe it’s a habit from broadcasting. Strangely, I hated the silence when I was alone.

I kept talking to myself as if pressured to fill the silence, and I was good at asking and answering my own silly questions.

It was as if the Gumiho had contracted a professional disease, becoming human-like.

It was both funny and seemed like my desperate effort to blend into human life.

“Ah… my stomach’s full and I feel good, but I’m a bit bored.”

After a good meal, boredom and monotony crept in. The house was spacious and lacked nothing, but there was nothing particularly fun to do.

He seemed to enjoy billiards and golf, but those were sports I had no interest in, and I didn’t feel like playing them. What is there to do for fun?

“Hmm… maybe I should call a maid.”

Ding.

I rang the bell that came with the meal setup. Immediately, a maid opened the door as if she had been waiting.

“Have you finished your meal?”

“Uh. I left some though…”

“Yes.”

“I’m bored. Isn’t there anything fun to do?”

“Something entertaining?”

“Yeah. Anything fun?”

“Well… there is something the owner prepared before he left.”

“Oh, that bastard? What is it?”

“Just a moment, please.”

The maid exited the room and soon returned with a square basket filled with unexpected items.

“What’s all this?”

“The owner specially left you a play gift set.”

“A play gift set?”

“Yes. It includes various toys: rubber bands, Yut sticks, Omok, Janggi pieces, balls, shuttlecocks, and slapping pieces.”

“Ha, this fucker… seriously messed up…?”

How could he think of such a thing? And when is this sentiment from? What does he even think about usually? And who’s supposed to have fun with this?

“Do you really think I’m going to play with this?”

“It might be more fun than you think. If Mi Hong decides to play, he instructed the maids to join in.”

“What? You too?”

“Yes.”

“Ha, really… what’s with this guy?”

“He’s the owner, after all.”

It was impressive. How are these maids trained to be so nonchalant about crazy stuff? I blinked at the maid as she casually bowed her head and then picked something from the basket.

“Can you play ball?”

“Ball? Of course.”

“How about after the meal? I’m quite good at it too.”

“Ah… really? Are you serious…?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

I stabbed the last piece of yellow stingray liver with my fork and popped it into my mouth. Looking at her face, she was definitely serious. I hadn’t known her long, but she had been like an artificial intelligence with little humanity from the start, so she made strange statements with a poker face.

I stared at her face and then put down my fork.

“Alright. Let’s do it. Penalty if you lose?”

“Sounds good. What should the penalty be?”

“A slap on the wrist?”

I showed my hand. Then the maid cracked a rare smile. What the hell? Are we really going to do this?

“Why are you laughing?”

“Nothing. It’s just an unexpected choice of penalty.”

“Huh? Then what else besides a slap on the wrist?”

I really wanted to ask that question. I handed the finished meal to the maid and shook the ball I had taken out.

“Really weird, right? To prepare all this stuff in advance and tell me to play with it. He’s definitely a lunatic, that owner.”

The multicolored balls rattled inside a round, transparent container. It had been a long time since I last saw balls, let alone played with them. Did we even have such balls back then? They’re prettier than before.

“Balls… I think I used to play with them often back then.”

I remembered the guys I used to play with, although now I can barely recall their faces. We played with balls and often enjoyed drinking by the stream on good days.

“…Yeah, those were the days. They were really nice… Why… did they all throw away such precious times and make… that choice.”

I felt oddly emotional. It was just a ball, but it brought back forgotten memories. I rattled the ball, observing it.

“…When you said you were becoming human, I should have persuaded you more.”

He was already human, gone and dead. My old friend and fellow Gumiho had suddenly fallen in love with a human and wished to be with them, eating human liver.

One by one, he stained his hands with blood, slicing open humans to extract their livers, gradually erasing his Gumiho form. And when he had eaten 100 human livers.

At last, he took on not just the disguise of a human but truly became one.

‘Mi Hong, I’ve become human. I… I’ve become human!’

Looking at his excited face, smiling or perhaps crying, I felt a bizarre and alien sensation.

He went straight to the side of the human he loved.

However, unbeknownst to him, one of the livers he had eaten belonged to that human’s family.