Chapter 7: Combing the tail

For a moment, about the wolf tribe.
The north is a difficult place to live.
It’s cold, harsh, and there’s little to eat.
It could be called the worst place for people to live.
To survive in such a place, the wolf beastkin have always lived by helping and being helped by one another.
That’s why wolf beastkin consider being ‘of the same tribe’ more important than actual blood ties, and this custom is expressed by giving everyone in the wolf tribe the same surname.
My name is Lang Seol-ah.
My sister is Lang Seolyeon.
The child living next door also has the surname Lang.
Though in reality, we usually just say the two-syllable given name without the surname…
The reason I’m rambling on and on about this is because my sister was about to spank my butt right now.
“U-uh, Sister. I tried my best to clean up…”
“Hush.”
“Hmph.”
As both blood relatives and members of the same tribe, I think it’s only natural for an older sister to listen to her younger sister.
Of course, it should be.
But my sister didn’t seem to have any intention of listening to me.
“Seol-ah, what did I say you have to do to become a cool wol…f?”
“Not to cause trouble…”
My sister said, strangely stretching out the pronunciation of ‘wolf’.
Although the middle part was a bit strange, I knew what this sentence meant.
It was what she always said whenever she was about to scold me.
“I want you to become a cool wol…f, Seol-ah. You want that too, right?”
“Yes…”
“Then I’ll ask you, Seol-ah.”
My sister knelt down to meet my eyes.
Then, she stroked my head and said.
“You decide how many spanks you’ll get on your butt.”
My sister smiles at me.
That sight strangely reassures me.
Wagging my tail, I cautiously continued.
“Zero spanks!”
“…”
“O-one spank…”
Soon, a cry of ‘Waaah’ echoed through the hallway.

It hurts.
I rubbed my bottom over my pants.
It felt like it was on fire.
Thinking of this pain as a trial I had to overcome to become a strong and powerful wolf made it a little better, but it still hurt.
My sister was cleaning the messy hallway with me.
Next to her was the mysterious bag she had been holding earlier. As I stared at it, wondering what it was, my sister bumped the bag while cleaning, and it fell over.
Things spilled out with a clatter.
I thought my sister would put the things back right away, but even after a while, the bag remained as it was.
It seemed she was too engrossed in cleaning to have noticed the fallen bag.
At that moment, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind.
I’ll pick up my sister’s things that spilled on the floor!
The so-called ‘Operation Do a Good Deed’.
If I return the neatly packed bag to my sister, she’ll be surprised and look at me.
Then she’ll stroke my head and praise me, saying, “My Seol-ah is amazing!”
And with that as a start, I will be recognized as a grown-up, cool adult wolf.
No longer a young wolf that needs protection, but a cool, strong, and powerful wolf!
Just the thought of it makes my tail fluff up.
My ears perk up.
A silly grin spreads across my face.
There was no reason to hesitate.
I immediately trotted over to my sister.
It was only natural to walk lightly so as not to make a sound.
Even when I got this close, my sister didn’t notice me.
She was just cleaning a high spot, her tail with its usual spiky tufts of fur swishing back and forth.
Smiling slyly, I bent my head towards the fallen bag.
What had spilled from the bag were various books and papers.
The title of one of them was Arctic Fo—
“Seol-ah!!”
“Woah!”
In that instant, my body flew high into the air.
I had been lifted by my sister’s hands.
Startled, I let out a yelp and curled my tail.
My huge tail could cover my entire body.
After a very brief moment, I peeked my head out from inside my tail.
My sister was looking at me with a scary expression.
I remembered the dream I had before.
The dream where my sister looked down at me with an incredibly cold face and scolded me.
I had tried to forget it, shaking my head and telling myself it was just a dream, but seeing that face for real was so scary.
Tears started to well up.
“Hic, sob…”
“S-Seol-ah?”
I was just trying to do something nice.
I was scared.
I felt wronged and scared.
A cool wolf doesn’t cry, but the tears wouldn’t stop.
My sister, startled, hugged me.
“S-Seol-ah. Were you very scared? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that…”
“Waaaaah!”
As my sister’s face returned to normal, tears streamed down my face as if a dam had burst.
My sister hugged me tighter and did her best to console me.
“Sob, hic…”
“I’m s-sorry. I really am.”
“It’s okay… hic.”
It was a long time before I could stop crying.
So much time had passed that the snow piled in the hallway had all melted, making a mess of the floor.
It looked like it would be hard to clean up directly now.
My sister stroked my head, then picked me up and headed somewhere.
This direction… is her room.
On the way to her room.
Once my heart had calmed down, I felt like I was acting so childish.
Crying my eyes out and then being carried in my sister’s arms… isn’t that something a baby would do?
I couldn’t undo the crying, but still, I whipped my tail against my sister’s face with a smack to get her attention.
“Hm? Why?”
“I want to get down.”
“Are you okay now?”
“Yeah.”
My sister puts me down on the floor.
I struggled with my short legs for a moment before finally being able to stand on my own two feet.
My tail wags and wags.
Tail?
“Oh, right! Sister, Mom told me to get groomed by you.”
“Already? How long has it been since the last time…”
My sister remembered that I had slept in a cold den for a whole day and let out a small “ah.”
Then, she rummaged through my super soft tail fur and said.
“Your fur is quite damaged. Then let’s go to my room and I’ll brush it for you right away.”
“Okay!”
Getting my tail brushed feels really good.
This is a sensation that ordinary humans can never know, one that only beastkin can understand, but anyway, it feels really good.
Addictively so.
That’s why I used to ask my sister, mom, and dad to brush it for me every day, until I got bonked on the head and told that brushing it too often would actually damage my tail.
Enough about that embarrassing old story.
As I pitter-pattered down the hallway, I found myself already in her room.
My sister’s scent was ingrained in the logs that made up the walls.
My sister’s room was bigger than mine.
It was a long rectangular shape, with a fireplace in the center of the long wall, and her bed and desk on either side of it.
I immediately trotted over and climbed onto the bed, and my sister followed behind me.
“Brush it well!”
“Yes, yes.”
“You have to brush it like a cool wolf!”
“L-like a wolf. Right.”
At my request, my sister chuckled lightly and slowly brought the comb in her hand to my super big tail.
The soft, pure white hairs were neatly combed, and the tangled fur was loosened.
Swoosh, swoosh…
A pleasant sound, a pleasant sensation.
Swoosh, swoosh…
My whole body melts away.
My sister removed the tangled fur from the comb and gathered it neatly in one place.
Even among wolves, I have a super big tail, and I shed a lot of fur because of it, so I always have to spend a lot of time cleaning up the shed fur like this when I get my tail brushed.
But even this time was a precious moment for me.
In my past life, I never had time to sit leisurely like this.
Listening to the crackling of the fireplace and the swooshing sound of my tail being brushed, I closed my eyes.
A quiet moment.
My small chest rises and falls.
Rhythmically, quietly.
My head kept trying to nod off.
But I don’t want to sleep.
Because if I fall asleep, I won’t be able to feel the sensation of being groomed.
I forced myself to try and open my eyes.
But the gentle hand stroking my tail was too powerful.
“Ooooh, Siiiisteeer.”
“What is it?”
“I’m so sleeeepy…”
“It’s okay to sleep.”
“I don’t wanna sleep.”
I forced my nodding head up and placed my hands on my hips.
In that position, I puffed out my chest and said to my sister.
“Because I’m… a strong and powerful wolf…”
Strong, powerful, wolf.
With each phrase, my sister’s body twitched and trembled.
I couldn’t understand why, but fighting off sleep was more important than knowing the reason right now.
I shook my head from side to side.
“Nnngh…”

“Kyang…”
I open my eyes.
It’s quiet all around.
Lying in bed, I turn my head to look, and it’s dark outside the window.
A thick blanket was covering my body.
Sniffing it, I realized it wasn’t mine; it was imbued with my sister’s scent.
It seemed to be her bed.
The fire in the nearby fireplace was still crackling, and seeing it burn so brightly suggested that someone had just added firewood until a moment ago.
Is my sister still awake?
It seems late at night…
And beyond that, I could see my sister’s desk.
My sister wasn’t there.
But since I could smell her scent, it seemed she had been sitting at her desk and just stepped out for a moment.
I got out of bed in a very cool manner and headed for my sister’s desk.
Under the soft glow of the candlelight, I could see the mysterious books and papers my sister had brought.