Kim Pak handed the old lady her groceries at her door. The door was only cracked as far as it needed to be for her to get the delivery. She used her thin small framed body to block the small opening that was necessarily created for her to get the bagged food.
The old woman was short, coming up to the middle of Kim's chest, maybe standing five feet tall. Her hard life was written proudly in the wrinkles that she wore on her face. The wrinkles at the corner of her eyes were zigzagged, showing both frown and laugh lines. Kim could see it was a hard life, but one that she made happy.
He could smell the kimchi cooking in her apartment, wafting into the hallway to mingle with the other traditional spices and seasonings throughout the hall. Taking the paper sack of groceries from Kim, she smiled at him, but without letting the smile touch her eyes.
She shuffled back in her slippered feet, closing the door on Kim as she went. There wouldn't be a tip from here, there never was. Generally speaking the older the person, the more miserly they were with their money, Kim hadn't been expecting anything from her.
Stuffing his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans, Kim headed out of the building and back to his bicycle, he had chained out on the street. The night was warm, but not overly humid - which he was thankful for, and headed back to the grocery store that his family-owned.
Delivering for the store had been his father's idea. Most of the customers lived within walking distance of the store, so making his eighteen-year-old son run deliveries for minimum wage sounded perfect. After all, if the store couldn't keep pace with big-box retailers and online stores that would bring things to your door, their time was limited.
Back at the store, Kim was happy to see that there were no more deliveries scheduled for tonight. He stocked the shelves, swept the floors, and finished the evening without complaint.
Clocking out at ten pm and leaving his father to finish up, Kim began thinking about all the work he needed to get done this weekend. He was a senior in high school and needed to get his college applications in the mail on Monday for early admissions.
It wasn't a matter of if he was going to go to college but which college he would attend. If asked, his friends would say that Kim was pleasant, but not personally outgoing. He worked hard and did not accept anything less than perfection. His social life was pretty much nonexistent.
Kim did not smoke, drink, and would never even consider touching drugs. While he had a license, Kim preferred not to drive a car, and his friends didn't mind after they rode with him once.
Kim let himself out of the back of the store and unlocked his bicycle. After hopping onto the seat and affixing the helmet, he began his slow ride to the street. He was pondering a statement his mother always said about helmets, 'What do you call someone who does not wear a helmet? An organ donor.' His mother always seemed to have a dark and foreboding sense of humor.
Suddenly he found himself and his bike falling over. Pavement tore at his clothes and the skin of his hands, biting and splitting his skin at the knees. He was surprised and stunned. Feeling the ebb of pain go from a scream to a whimper he also felt a little humiliation as well.
Kim wanted to stand up and scream at whoever had knocked him off his bike. Kim's vision swam slightly, but his focus quickly zeroed in on a small set of white shoes. A black ankle-length dress cut the top of the shoes off at an odd angle. Looking up, Kim saw the most beautiful face that he had ever seen. Her eyes caught the light, which seemed to cast them in a golden glow that was indescribable. She was staring down at him with a sly grin, she was inhumanly beautiful.
The strange girl giggled and quickly dashed across the street. She stopped to look at him from the entrance of the alley across the street. She inclined her head slightly as an invitation to follow. Her slight grin was the promise of an unknown excellent adventure.
Then she was gone. She disappeared into the alleyway, the darkness swallowing her up. Kim scrambled upright, and half walked and half jogged his bike across the street and into the alley.
The stench of the dumpsters forced a gag in the back of his throat. Feeling the bile rise, he bit it off in his throat, feeling it burn just a little before he swallowed it back down. He stopped himself from vomiting, though, so the potential of a kiss was still in his future.
Kim pushed his bike slowly through the alley, his feet first sticking to then slipping on the pavement, which was covered in so many different types of filth he preferred not to know what he was stepping on and in.
The sound of a shifting plastic garbage bag behind him caught his attention. The bag fell from the top of a dumpster, and something glass smashed when the bag dropped, sending a piercing achy sound bouncing off the walls of the alley. The sound produced an angry screech from a cat at the end of the dark path.
Out of the darkness of the dumpsters, shadow trotted a small skinny dog. Kim looked closely, it wasn't quite like any dog that he had seen before. It was tall and thin, in the dim light, its red hair glimmered, ending in black, like a slick outline defining its body.
Its face was longer and more angular than an average dog's face. White highlights are shown on its face and helped define its pointed ears. It's long, bushy red tail was ringed with white, tipped in black.
Kim realized that he was staring at a fox in the middle of the city. It must have been as surprised to see him as he was to see it. The fox took half a step forward, dipping its head slightly, its eyes catching the streetlight that came from overhead. Its eyes flared in a golden hue that he immediately recognized.
The thick tail of the fox seemed to split like that of a peacock, then split again. The tails waged, waved, and trembled each at their own pace. Nine tails in all. Kim counted each and every one knowing that what he was looking at was impossible. It was just an old wives' tale, right?
Then the fox lunged at Kim, and his scream, like the breaking of the bottle, roused the angry screech of an alley cat down the way.
The body of eighteen-year-old Kim Pak was discovered in an alley off of Central Ave early Thursday morning. Police suspect wild animal responsible for dismemberment, no persons are suspected of the crime.
- New York Times Aug 2016
What happened to Kim Pack in August of 2016? Caught alone and unawares in a New York alleyway could happen to anyone, but an attack from a wild animal in the middle of the city just seems implausible.
Just as implausible as a fox with nine tails. Yet that's what it was. The legend of the Kumiho has roots in Chinese and Japanese folklore. In these roots of the Huli Jing from Chinese mythology and the Kitsune from Japan, these creatures are mischievous fox spirits that are tricksters. In all the lore, they are described as a nine-tailed fox, with the ability to shapeshift.
In Korean tradition, a fox that lives for a thousand years will become a Kumiho. The lore that I could find does not limit the different forms and shapes that the Kumiho can take; however, all of the records and stories state that a favorite shape to take is one of a beautiful young human woman. This could have been a way to shame feminine sexuality, comparing their 'femine wiles' to the legend of the Kumiho.
Unlike their Chinese and Japanese trickster cousins, the Korean Kumiho is always considered an evil, malevolent spirit. Required to consume the hearts or livers of human victims to remain vital and healthy, these are deadly creatures that were used to keep young children from wandering too far from home.
And the old were scared of the Kumiho as well. For it is said that the Kumiho carries a 'yeowoo guseul' (a fox marble) in its mouth, which is believed to hold knowledge. With this marble, a Kumiho can steal knowledge, experience, and memories from humans as they sleep. In ancient times when someone's mind began failing them, they were said to be the victim of the Kumiho's kiss.
If the human were clever though and stole and swallowed the Kumiho's yeowoo guseul, they would be granted the wisdom and knowledge contained in the marble.
For the discerning Kumiho, there are ways to ascend further and forsake the monster completely. While some of them seem fairly straight forward, like don't eat anyone for 1,000 days, and a Kumiho and become human. There is little information on the hunger the Kumiho has for the livers and hearts of humans, so determining the difficulty of not eating human hearts and livers is a matter of debate.
For more information on the Kumiho, feel free to check out the websites below, and as always, stay spooky.
picture credit - https://www.weasyl.com/~corruptedfox/submissions/1724267/kumiho
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