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Chaptername">Side Story 1—The Wolf and The Fox
Chaptername">Side Story 1—The Wolf and The Fox
Side Story 1—The Wolf and The Fox
Back before the “Wolf King” Zephyrwolf and “Demon Fox” Slyfox made a name for themselves…
It was a major city—at least the monitors were projecting such images. A group of people sat before their keyboards and mouses as they looked at the projected image.
“Ready?”
“Quick, that guy’s coming.”
“Come on… This is getting annoying,” a man said as he rubbed his toes before lighting up a cigarette, filling the room with enough smoke to engulf them all.
“Boss, I see him!” The energetic shout was heard through the smoke.
“Kill! Kill him!”
A player was casually strolling out of the city gate when assailants rushed out from every ambushing spot possible—bushes, shadows, walls, behind him… Over thirty players focused their attacks and verbal curses on the innocent player, killing him within seconds.
A player walked forth from the ambushers, his voice reaching the innocent player through the dense smoke in his room and past the monitor. “Blame your stupid name for everything.”
The cigarette had done its part. The man squashed the remaining cigarette to stub it out.
The innocent player would never have imagined that the reason for his death was his username, Ka Ming, but that was only the first of many deaths to come. Only death awaited him whenever he walked out of the city. Even if he managed to slip out, he’d end up dead within an hour or two when others spotted him.
“Ka Ming” deleted his account after dying several dozen times.
“Ka Ming” was the name of the man who stole Zephyrwolf’s first love.
Zephyrwolf was no good fellow, never had been either. He grew up in an orphanage without knowing who his father and mother were. Most of his time was spent on games, and apart from that, his life was of no particular importance.
Still, there was a single rule that he had always abided by—he’d never join a gang or take part in their illegal activities. The horrible “crimes” he committed were only in games. In the actual world, he wasn’t your role-model citizen, but neither did he do anything harmful of any sort. “Cyber gangster” would be a good description for him.
There was no shortage of such people in the ruthless and lawless world of gaming. Birds of a feather flock together, and soon Zephyrwolf found a group of companions who committed the same stupid yet annoying deeds gathered around him.
Slyfox was his most trusted companion among the bunch. He had even once been his playmate in the orphanage, though they seldom got in touch with one another after they left the place as grown-ups. They only came to know one another through an online game two years later. Through an offline meeting, they were reunited after they realised they had once been playmates in the orphanage, and days of going through fire and water in a thrilling journey followed—in the world of gaming, of course.
Both of them had unremarkable jobs in the actual world that were enough to feed themselves. Whatever was left of their salaries after settling daily necessities were dumped into the games they played. Bonding with others, forming a family, having children, none of those things passed their minds, nor did they dare to imagine them. They were not blessed with enough luck for such fortunate things to occur in their lives.
The duo had committed various shocking “crimes” in the gaming world and made themselves well-known, albeit notorious in nature.
One day, Slyfox came to Zephyrwolf merrily and said, “Hey, got something to tell ya. Don’t be mad when you hear it though.”
“What nonsense are you up to?” Zephyrwolf rolled his eyes.
Slyfox grinned and made a supposedly handsome pose as he said, “I got an online wifey.”
Zephyrwolf sized up his grinning companion and asked, “Got some talent you fella! Where’d you kidnap her from?”
“Cheh, only you’d need to kidnap someone to get a wifey! You know what, I’ve seen her in person, an absolute beaut she is I swear. Called her over for the dungeon tonight also.”
Everyone gathered outside the dungeon at night. Since Slyfox had a decent reputation in their guild, Howl of the Tempest Wolves, everyone saw him as a vice guild master and treated him with respect. Tonight, he was accompanied by a player with the ID “Girl Still Here”.
What a strange name…
“Hello everyone,” Girl Still Here went through the formalities with a simple greeting.
Zephyrwolf replied with a “Hi” and initiated the dungeon. Everyone else followed him. As Girl Still Here was a cleric and the dungeon wasn’t too difficult, Zephyrwolf didn’t ask for other healers.
“Woah! Heals! I need heali—” The member was dead before he could finish his sentence.
“I’m sorry… Sorry…” the cleric kept apologising, and Slyfox calmed her down saying it was fine.
Zephyrwolf didn’t take it to heart. Noobs—everyone had been one at some point, not to mention she was his brother’s woman.
However, a month went by, and Slyfox didn’t go online for three days straight. Zephyrwolf smoked on his cigarette and plucked up his phone to call Slyfox with his other hand.
“Hey man, what’re you up to?”
“You’ve called just in time. Got five hundred bucks? An emergency.”
Zephyrwolf scratched his neck and rambled a few swears, but he still transferred the money over. He had a bit of savings even though he did spend most of his salary every month, and he knew the same went for Slyfox.
Another two months went by. Slyfox rarely went online and instead kept calling Zephyrwolf for money every few days. Zephyrwolf never asked why; he knew everyone had their hard times, and he never expected to receive the money back once he had lent it out. It wasn’t because he was rich. Rather, that was one of his principles: “Don’t expect your brothers to return the money they’ve borrowed. Don’t lend them money in the first place if you want it back.”
Zephyrwolf stood up from his seat. His “brothers” didn’t bother asking as they already knew about his strange habit and only yapped, “Boss, come back quickly. The world boss is about to respawn.”
Zephyrwolf waved his arm and strolled out of the cyber cafe with a pair of flip flops. He crossed the street, ordered a dozen lunch boxes from the restaurant, then walked lazily down the street. His footsteps were neither quick nor slow, but they seemed familiar. In fact, he had gone back and forth the same route well over a hundred times.
His destination was a dark alley where even the sun rarely spared its grace. This was where shadows exist in the mortal world. As soon as Zephyrwolf entered the alley, dark shadows dashed towards him out of nowhere.
“Oi, no rush. I’m here now, aren’t I?”
Zephyrwolf took out the lunch boxes, opened them up, and lay them on the ground. Every time he placed one down, a swarm of shadows flooded over to devour it.
Those shadows were stray dogs—the kings of all strays in the Tenth Eastern City. Even stray animal organisations dared not to venture into the alley because there were simply too many stray animals for them to handle; things turned out dangerous more often than not whenever someone entered the strays’ territory. As for using weapons… The organisation workers weren’t dedicated enough to their jobs to even bother.
Yet Zephyrwolf entered the alley without hesitation. He felt that the stray dogs were very much like himself, born and raised in a poor environment and survived instinctually. Every day, he’d buy a dozen lunch boxes over and feed them, and it gradually became part of his daily routine. The stray dogs were also very well-behaved, eating just enough to fill their bellies then leaving the rest for their companions. They didn’t follow Zephyrwolf nor pester him for more food either.
Not that Zephyrwolf was rich or anything, just that this was the Tenth City, a much more survivable place compared to the First or Second City. Nine out of ten jobs here were blue-collar jobs, making it a suitable place for people like Zephyrwolf who were barely literate. As long as he was willing to take on labour-heavy jobs, the Tenth City wouldn’t keep him starving.
“Excuse me…”
The voice made Zephyrwolf jump up. He turned around to find a person sitting at the corner. Although the alley was eerily dark, the person’s eyes were crystal bright.
“These lunch boxes, can I have one?”
This desolate alley was the habitat of over a hundred stray dogs which no one dared to enter. No matter how buff a man was, he wouldn’t survive over several moments when assaulted by the dogs. This mysterious person was the only other human being Zephyrwolf had ever seen in this alley.
“Sure,” Zephyrwolf replied once he regained his composure.
He tossed the person a lunch box. Upon receiving it, the person thanked him and dug in, bringing unfriendly stares from the stray dogs. They thought the person had seized their food and started growling. The person locked his calm eyes on the grumpy dogs, and magically, the dogs whimpered and went back to their meals.
Zephyrwolf sized the person up and down. He thought he was already a messy person, but it turned out he was fairly tidy—when compared to the person in the alley that is. Nothing but the word “beggar” came to mind whenever he looked at the person.
After the strange person wolfed down the lunch box, he smiled at Zephyrwolf and said, “Thank you, kind-hearted human.”
Zephyrwolf shrugged. He didn’t really see the lunch box as a favour anyways. “See you,” he said. In like never.
The strange person was way too peculiar, and he felt a vague sense of pressure just from being near the person.
“Wait.” The person stood up with a sincere smile. “A favour is a favour, I must repay it one way or another. Do you believe in divination?”
“I don’t believe in fate.”
The person laughed heartily, revealing snow-white teeth that starkly contrasted his filthy appearance. “Not a believer in fate, are you?”
“What’s so funny about that?”
“Young man, you have a unique talent. You just don’t know it yourself.”
Zerphyrwolf frowned. Is this some sort of scam?
“Let me disclose just a little. You will come across a man in the future, a man whom you’ll follow for the rest of your life.”
“I’m not gay.”
“Ohoho.” the strange person chortled as if he was looking at an intriguing item. “No, not that. Or should I put it this way, you will turn a new page in life once you meet him. Before that, do all the preposterous things you want to, for you won’t have the chance for that afterwards.”
“Insane,” Zephyrwolf muttered and left. He didn’t want to waste time speaking to such an absurd person. Dammit, I wasted a lunch box.
“Be careful, I wouldn’t suggest leaving the alley now. Or else you’ll lose a good friend.”
“Fucking hell, are you done…” Zephyrwolf turned around to yell at the person. All he saw were the round, cute eyes of the stray dogs staring at him. “What… A ghost?”
Startled, Zephyrwolf immediately ran out of the alley. He feared no thug or gangster, but supernatural stuff? That was a big fat no from him.
As soon as he left the alley, his sights were glued to the opposite of the road. A man was trying to humour a lady, but his efforts were unrewarded as she turned her back towards him and showed a look of disgust.
Zephyrwolf was familiar with that disgusted look. The lady, he knew her.
The man, he knew him even better—he was his brother Slyfox.
The lady was exactly the one who cried her eyes out while saying she had to leave Zephyrwolf for the Fifth City with her cousin Ka Ming.
Her name was Ying. Zephyrwolf had always wondered why she had such a strange name, but he never really called her Ying anyways. He nicknamed her “Melon” because of her bountiful bust; they had spent many heated nights together after all.
Wait. Suddenly, he realised something. Ying’s still here. Girl. Still. Here.
Zephyrwolf wasn’t the only one who lent Slyfox money. Slyfox had asked almost everyone in the guild for money.
What they were saying he couldn’t hear across the road, but seeing how Slyfox was trying to please Ying to no avail, he could roughly guess. Ying only showed a delighted look when Slyfox took out his wallet and stuffed money into her hand. With that, she kissed Slyfox and the two left merrily with their arms intertwined.
I’ve seen this before. I was the one holding her hand, after all. Zephyrwolf contemplated.
When Ying had told him she had to leave, he shed tears and gave her a small sum of money so those from the Fifty City wouldn’t look down on her for being a Tenth City resident.
Everything finally made sense.
“Hello?”
“Ying, it’s me.”
“Darling…”
“You don’t know who I am, do you? I’m Zeph.”
“How did you find me?”
“Let’s meet up. A lot of idiots in the game, right?”
“What do you want?”
“Seven tonight, the usual place. Don’t even think of logging into the game again if you don’t.”
Zephyrwolf stood alone in the park. While the breeze was chilly, he was still in his usual flimsy clothes.
After a while, an endearing lady walked over and asked, “What do you want?”
“Come back to me.”
“You pauper, why’d I?”
“I’m different now.”
“How so?”
“Ever heard of Hing Shing Factory? It’s mine.”josei
Ying was rather doubtful of it. “Are you so broke that you’ve gone crazy? Do you think I’ve got no idea about your background?”
Zephyrwolf took out his phone, handed it to her, and said, “This is Hing Shing Factory’s number. Call and ask them if they know Young Master Zeph, then you’ll know.”
After pondering for a few moments, Ying ended up making the call.
“Young Master Zeph? Who are you? Are you even qualified to speak of our young master’s name…”
Being a swindler for so many years, Ying naturally wasn’t so careless. She called the number three times, each with a different voice, but the answer she received was still the same.
“When did you become a young master?” Ying’s voice suddenly became coy, a tone Zephyrwolf had heard many times as well. She had swindled him with this voice over and over again after all.
“It’s mine in the first place, I just didn’t like it a lot and wanted to start my own thing. My geezer’s dead now, so I’ll have to take over the family business.”
“How wonderful.” Ying snuggled against his chest and rubbed him with her pair of melons. “Actually… I miss you at times too…”
Zephyrwolf wanted to push her away and puke, but he endured it and said, “Let’s go somewhere else.”
Ying looked at her with a shy yet craving stare. “Do whatever you want with me…”
Back at Zephyrwolf’s home, Ying threw herself onto Zephyrwolf and kissed him eagerly. Never did she imagine that the dork she had swindled before was a young master.
This dumbass must’ve never seen another woman. Before he inherits everything, I must…
However, she was oblivious to the other man who was witnessing everything in the corner of the room.
Zephyrwolf suddenly pushed Ying away. Startled, she invited him coquettishly, “Darling… So you still like it rough… Do it…”
“Slyfox, now you know.”
Slyfox’s eyes turned lifeless for a moment, but fury soon took over. “What is the meaning of this!”
Ying finally knew what this was all about. She clung to Zephyrwolf and said to Slyfox, “He’s the man I truly love…”
Zephyrwolf pushed her to the ground and said, “Cut the crap. I—”
“ZEPHYRWOLF! I AM ASKING YOU! WHAT IS THIS MEANING OF THIS!” Slyfox bellowed, his voice shaking the apartment.
“To show you who she truly is.”
“Do you really think I didn’t know all this?” Slyfox wailed. “Do you really think I have no idea that she has been scamming those in our guild behind my back? Really? Even so, I still love her! Getting fooled… To go to any lengths for your loved one is a matter of course!”
“However! I cannot accept the fact that the woman I love is with my best friend…” Slyfox said and left.
Ying also left.
All alone, Zephyrwolf called Hing Sing Factory. “Thanks, man.”
“Oh Zeph, don’t mention it! Right, don’t forget that you’ve promised to take on a month’s shift.”
Zephyrwolf hung the phone. Today, he lost a brother and severed a past love, but was rewarded with nothing but emptiness.
Slyfox was an idiot; it was absurd to put all the blame on Zephyrwolf. He just had to do it. He had to hate Zephyrwolf for putting an end to his first love despite knowing Zephyrwolf was trying to help him. If not, he’d be at a total loss of what to do in life.
Deep down, Slyfox and Zephyrwolf both valued relationships greatly. They invested their all into relationships that they believed were worthy of their efforts, regardless of whether their efforts were reciprocated, and that had turned Slyfox into a demon. Only by putting the blame on Zephyrwolf could he make himself feel better.
Zephyrwolf also knew what Slyfox was thinking, so he didn’t explain anything or try to reconcile. They knew one another well, too well for the reconciliation to happen.
From that day onwards, wherever Howl of the Tempest Wolves appeared, the arch-nemesis Slyfox would always be present, persisting even till now in Real World.
Here's the side story as promised! Sheds a bit of light on the rivalry between Zephyrwolf and Slyfox, a simple yet complicated relationship if you ask me.
Anyways, hope you all enjoyed it! Keep the likes coming and we'll be having another side story :)
-SaltyTank, 2nd April 2022
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