The other summoner couldn't react in time when Junwoo flew towards him at immense speeds, breaking the sound barrier. The last thing he saw were claws sharp like knives, and snarled teeth. However, the most frightful thing of all was the lack of humanity in Junwoo's eyes. They'd changed colour to reflect the flames he sprouted.
Then, he was gone. His monsters disappeared in a black smoke, as the enemy summoner fell. Before his body could touch the ground, it was already gone.
Thick, red blood drenched Junwoo's claws and the metallic smell made him want to vomit. He felt dizzy and for a moment there, he'd completely lost control.
Junwoo turned to face what he expected to be a horror scene, but saw nothing. Everything had already disappeared. Despite this world starting to feel more and more real to him, it was still just a game.
Nothing mattered. Except food, he was starting to feel hungry again. He'd forgotten about that. Usually, Kaelsu feeds him, but now he has to summon up the courage to enter civilisation and scavenge.
Instead of a body, loot dropped from the enemy player. It was nothing impressive, and he almost considered leaving it until his stomach let out a painful growl.
"So hungry," he cried to himself as he picked up the cowl and draped it around him. It covered his ears, and most of his hair. It was almost long enough to cover up his entire tail but just barely. He had to be careful with his movements, anything quick and he could expose himself.
He was still close to the other town he wanted to enter, one that didn't batter him with words about being an untamed pet. Before he entered, he lingered for a moment and searched his surroundings with a hopeful look in his bright eyes.
He didn't find what he was looking for, so he grabbed at his cowl to keep it securely in place and powered on in incognito mode.
Junwoo tried to keep his head down and take steady steps though the area. The buildings were small, made of cracked stone bricks, and streets were littered with market stalls. Hundreds of people filled the streets and clearly some sort of event was on. He just needed to find somewhere quiet and not-
He fell to the ground with a resounding bang, his cowl slipped and exposed both his tail and ears.
"Hey, idiot, watch where you're going!" His health bar and nameplate made it painfully obvious this was an NPC. Oh no, was it a scripted event?
A circle of other characters surrounded him while he struggled to get up off the floor, scrambling away with his cowl dragged behind him. He felt something try to pull at his tail, but failed to fully grasp it as he lunged forward to avoid the stranger.
His heart beat rapidly as he tried to dress himself back in his cowl. No commotion was made yet, was he in the clear?
As he scuttled out of the parade of people, he turned the nearest corner and found himself in an alley that led to a dead end - or so it appeared. Threatening stone walls felt like they were closing in on him as they towered over Junwoo. However, right at the end was another NPC, one with an exclamation mark on its head, yearning to give Junwoo a quest or some important information.
This was the first NPC he'd seen that specifically beckoned to him, a pet. The character wore a violet coat and horns protruded through his head. A tattoo painted on his cheek was faded, but looked to have once been some characters that Junwoo couldn't quite make out. The character's hair was metallic silver and styled in an elegant wolf cut, yet grown out: untamed and dishevelled.
He also looked very, very thin.
The aura that radiated from the NPC was rather intimidating. He had an empty blue glare that locked with Junwoo's and each step he took further to him made him too self conscious and too aware of his surroundings. The alley twisted with every movement.
Junwoo stood face to face with the other character, a devilish grin on its face. He raised a hand in a short wave and stuttered, "H-Hello?"
"Junwoo," it said to him, causing a concerned expression to form on Junwoo's face. What did that word mean? It held a familiar ring, and the words resonated through the air. His hands, with a mind of their own, raised up as if he could grasp the words. They felt close. He'd heard the word before, but where?
Junwoo tried to read the NPC's name, but the words were a blur mixed together and unreadable. He swallowed thickly.
"Is that your name?" The amnesiac fox asked.
The character's face turned dark. The grin fell off his face and the unnamed character took a threatening step forward. "Do you remember me?"
He did look vaguely familiar, the same feeling as if looking in a mirror.
BOOM.
Junwoo's head snapped up as thunder crackled, and lightning struck right as clouds started to roll in. Junwoo felt an unsettling, humid warmth flush his cheeks, then turning his attention back to the NPC… but he vanished without a trace.
He'd only looked away for half a second, but even that was too long. "Hey, where did…" he trailed off while scanning the surroundings. The alley was still a dead end, so he tried to turn back and exit the alley and look for another path.
"HEY!" Junwoo jumped as a voice in front of him boomed and he almost collided with another person. "Ya hungry?" The man was large, a player, with black frizzy hair and green eyes. His character had obviously been scaled to max out everything to be as muscular, tall and wide as possible, probably for either humour or intimidation. The latter worked on Junwoo.
"Uhh," Junwoo wasn't sure whether to run or accept as a strange ball of bread with icing on top was thrust into his hands. "T-Thank you," his words mumbled and briefly bowed his head.
His hands entered his pockets to try to pay the man, but was stopped when the frizzy-haired tall man put his hands up and said, "Please, no need to pay. I know a hungry soul when I see one." The man with a nameplate that read Chimichimichooroo pushed Junwoo's arms holding the bread closer to his body and sent the boy on his way.
"Wait," Junwoo planted his heels and faced the man. They had shuffled out of the sketchy alley and were at a crossroads, with two paths being ones that Junwoo had yet to venture. "Did you happen to see anyone here? Purple coat…" the man shook his head as a negative. "Oh, or purple horns, perhaps? Grey hair, blue eyes and had a look like the world was going to end?
He shook his head again, each stroke of movement longer than before. The man pat Junwoo's head, each hit feeling somewhat more and more violent but then laughed. "The only guy I've seen around here is you!"
"Right, okay. Thanks, anyway." Junwoo nodded his head and moved on, taking the path leading straight ahead. He looked back to see the crowd of people, it looked like whatever was going on hadn't yet ended.
Junwoo couldn't help but feel like that whole interaction was off-putting. He crinkled the wrapper it came in and stared at the bread as he toddled onwards further into the quieter part of town. He needed to find that guy he just saw, while it was a weird interaction, he wasn't convinced that was an ordinary NPC.
Suddenly, his nose was wet, then a couple of droplets hit the bread and the wrapper, then heard a pitter patter of drops on the hood of his cowl. The clouds were an ominous black and claps of thunder echoed, unmistakable and powerful. It started to rain.
"Ah, shit, time to find shelter," he mumbled to himself. Surveying the area, nobody was around. At least that he could see. So, he broke off into a sprint. Junwoo's short legs aimed for a part of the town where a building extended as an overhang right above a particularly exhausted looking bench. The wood was rotted and ivy grew across one side.
He was finally all alone.
Junwoo took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief and slumped down on the bench, playing with a bit of bread between his fingertips. The gesture of goodwill from the stranger didn't look too appetising. All he really craved was meat, the thought of sinking his teeth into the tough meat of a buffalo made him salivate.
Oh well, he could eat now and continue his search after. The face of the man continued to sit in his mind. The interaction was etched into his brain and it didn't sit right.
Mouth opened and fangs parted, "aaaaaaa," he vocalised before nibbling the bread. It didn't taste bad.