There was a long week ahead of Minho as he made up his mind to take on the quest. And if it later turned out he couldn't be of any help to Yuna, then so be it. But he was going to try first.
'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a step… With great strength comes great responsibilities… When life gives you lemons you make lemonade… Life is like a rollercoaster, you never know when the candy man was going to return with milk…'
Minho was feeling motivated after spamming himself with all the motivational quotes he could recall. He instinctively went to stuff the stacks of cash in his inner breast pocket as he sprang up, when he realized he didn't have his suit jacket anymore, so he stuffed them into his pants pockets and headed out for the door. He had a lot to do.
But just as he reached for the door's knob leading out of the building, the Gumiho appeared behind him and grabbed his arm.
"Where do you think you're going?" She asked coldly.
"Home, of course. You do realize I don't live here?" Minho replied in confusion.
"So you want to leave me here," She said, not letting go of his arm.
"I have to go back to my house. I have a life y'know. You… well, you can come with me if you want…" Minho immediately regretted saying that, as not only was the living condition of his apartment the bare minimum, living together with the fox spirit who could wake up one night with a liver craving wasn't exactly… ideal.
"I can't," she replied curtly.
"Great—I mean, why?" He was thankful for whatever reason.
She paused for a moment as she slowly looked around the place, Minho following her gaze, but he couldn't bring himself to see what she was seeing.
"Your grandmother planted protective charms and talismans around the house and in the compound like landmines that can… harm me… when I touch or step on them," she said like she hated to admit it, avoiding Minho's gaze.
Cute.
No—not cute. This was definitely a manipulation technique to lure him into taking her back with him. Minho quickly shook those thoughts away.
She didn't have a reason to lie and could just follow him back to his house without his consent—Not that he could do anything about it. She was genuinely worried and spooked by the place, though she didn't let it show on her face. This made Minho wonder just how powerful his grandmother might have been during her time.
'If I had let her perform the cleansing ritual on me, would things have been different now? Would she have had to die?'
Minho exhaled in mental exhaustion, and turned around to lean forward, arching his back at her.
"What are you doing?" She asked in confusion.
"What do you mean? Get on," He said, gesturing to his back. "You said there are charms and talismans planted around the compound like landmines? Well those wouldn't harm me, and technically wouldn't harm you either if I carried you out myself, because you wouldn't have to touch any of them. So get on quickly, before I change my mind," Minho calmly explained, gesturing for her to get on his back.
She hesitated for a moment long, before she slowly stepped forward and wrapped her arms over his shoulders.
'Is she shy?' Minho couldn't help but think of the absurdity.
But she had done her part, and it was his turn now.
He carefully guided his hands down to her thighs, and lifted her up onto his back with a burp. He had expected her to be as light as feather, or maybe it was because of his pathetic physique stat, but the Gumiho was a bit heavy—if you could call it that. Just a bit.
His fingers sank into the soft flesh of her thighs as he held her up onto his back, and he could feel the pair of the soft fleshy lumps on her chest pressing against his back.
Her white flowed onto his shoulders and Minho could smell the sweet, delicate scent of her natural hair with the pleasant smell of her body that made him find himself subconsciously inhaling harder than he should.
He leaned forward slightly so her body could rest on his back as he freed one of his hands to twist the door knob open, before they sank back into her thighs as he walked out of the building and across the spacious compound till he safely got her across the gate.
Minho wanted to let her down from his back now that he safely got her across, but the Gumiho didn't seem interested in getting off his back—maybe because they were still in close proximity to the property, so he kept her in his back considering she didn't have shoes and would be standing barefooted with just his jacket on.
Luckily, after a bit of wait, an empty cab drove past and Minho quickly hailed it down and opened the door, carefully letting her down straight into the backseat. Before he hurriedly locked up the property and joined her soon after, giving the driver his home address.
"So, do you have a name?" Minho struck up the conversation with her, as he was tired of referring to her as Gumiho—or fox spirit.
"I don't," she replied shortly, her gaze fixated on the window.
"Ahh," he softly exclaimed in surprise, when he came up with an idea: "Is it okay I give you a name?"
If she didn't have a name, he could just give her a modern name she could go with if she liked the idea.
She turned to look at him with an unreadable expression, and Minho quickly explained himself. "Ah, it's not ideal for me to keep calling you Gumiho, especially in public like it. So a modern name wouldn't sound strange to people and give them the wrong idea."
"What name?" She slowly asked.
"Umm…" Minho thought for a moment, "How about… Seo-Yun?" He asked expectantly.
The Gumiho remained silent as she stared at Minho. And just as he thought she didn't like the idea of the name, her lips slowly parted as she reiterated, "Seo-Yun… Seo-Yun." She whispered to herself as she turned back to face the window.
Minho exhaled the air he hadn't realized he was holding in—as he took that as a yes—and looked forward to meet the eyes of the cab driver staring back at him from the rearview mirror with the kind of gaze that said: 'I know what kind of man you are. I just can't prove it.'