A few rings later, someone’s voice soon came through.
[Hello.....?]
“Ah.... hello.”
I’d actually made the call, but I hadn’t thought about how to start the conversation.
“You’re the acquaintance of Gang Baekho Hyung-nim—no, Mayor Gang Baekho, correct?”
For now, confirming whether the person on the other end was the one I was looking for was the priority.
[Yes.... I am, but...]
“You’re the one making the animation, right?”
I asked repeatedly to be certain.
[Ah! Are you the female voice actress?]
The other party seemed to have caught on to why I had called.
An unexpected stroke of luck. This would make things proceed much more easily.
“Yes, that’s right. I can do not just two or more, but at least several dozen different voices!”
[That’s quite some confidence.]
Confidence? I’d been about to say I could produce hundreds, no, thousands of distinct sounds, only to tone it down to several dozen!
[May I ask how long you’ve been working in this field?]
Is this what they mean by asking about work experience? These days it’s hard to get a job without it, but unfortunately, I’m an experienced newcomer, so to speak.
“If I had to say, since the early Joseon Dynasty.”
[Pardon.....?]
Oops! I’d gotten too excited and blurted out my actual career.
“Ahaha, I mean, that is to say...... period dramas! I’ve been active as a period drama voice actress for a very long time.”
Cold sweat ran down my back as I let out an awkward laugh, dripping like water falling from a drowned ghost climbing onto land.
[I see. You surprised me for a moment.]
It seemed I’d somehow managed to salvage the situation through improvisation.
[We need to record today; could you come to this building around one o’clock?]
“Today?”
[Is today difficult.....?]
“No. I mean, isn’t there an interview or something?”
Even becoming a convenience-store slave required an interview; there was no way a profession like voice acting wouldn’t have one......
[We’re not in a position to be picky, so there’s no interview. Besides, if you’re close to Mr. Gang Baekho, we can trust you with the work.]
Is this what humans call connections? I’ll have to treat Hyung-nim Baekho with even more respect from now on!
“I’ll head out right now!”
[Understood. We’ll have everything ready so you can start as soon as you arrive.]
I immediately pulled on a hoodie over my T-shirt as outerwear.
It was an outfit that might feel a bit chilly to a human, but it didn’t matter to me anyway.
With just this hoodie and a pair of sweatpants, I am invincible!
After transferring several times between subway and bus lines tangled like a maze, I arrived just as the *beep—transfer* sound that played every time I tapped my card had grown annoying enough to irritate me.
Seeing that it matched the address sent via message, it seemed I’d found the place properly.
**Studio Kkori**
So read the sign on the two-story building.
The moment I stepped inside, what I saw were posters plastered all over the walls.
There were so many posters that I wondered if they’d used them instead of wallpaper.
Every single one of them was an animation poster.
“How did you get here?”
Someone spoke to me as I was looking around the posters.
It was a man holding a paper cup of coffee in one hand.
He’d been pulling all-nighters for so many days that the dark circles under his eyes were deep enough for a dokkebi to hide in.
Yet the man’s eyes were shining strangely. Perhaps like a general who had met an honorable death on the battlefield?
“......I came because you needed a voice actress?”
“A voice actress? You’re.... the one coming today......”
The man looked me up and down.
“Let’s go see the director for now.”
“Yes.”
I followed the man, walking briskly.
The studio interior consisted of several rooms, and he took me to the innermost one.
“Director!”
The man burst through the door like the constables accompanying a secret royal inspector crashing into a magistrate’s quarters.
“What? Did something happen?”
The man who’d had his legs propped up on the nameplate reading **Director: Choe Junho** on his desk hurriedly straightened his posture.
“No matter how rushed we are! How could you bring a minor in as a voice actress!”
.....A minor? Surely he doesn’t mean me?
“A minor? What do you mean.....?”
“Look!”
The man signaled for me, standing outside the room, to come in.
“If this isn’t a minor, what is? At best, she looks like a high schooler.”
The director looked quite flustered upon seeing me.
“This can’t be right..... They said you were an acquaintance of Mr. Gang Baekho....”
In the end, it was this body causing problems again. When the grim reaper told me to choose a body, I shouldn’t have blindly believed that a cute, young girl’s body would be convenient......
That grim reaper had definitely known I wasn’t a spiritual being and couldn’t change bodies freely, yet suggested it just to screw me over.
“I’m not a minor. I may look like this, but I’m a proper adult.”
Fuck, self-loathing surged up from the depths of my heart like backflow.
I’m probably older than their great-grandfathers! I can’t stand the sight of myself having to claim I’m an adult with my own eyes wide open.
“See, you are an adult after all.”
The director nodded as if he understood, eyes closed.
“Director! Are you actually believing her right now?”
However, the man still didn’t seem convinced.
It was rare for someone to believe me as readily as the director had.
To human eyes that couldn’t see through to the essence of a soul, there was no choice but to judge another based solely on physical appearance.
......Wait, how was the director so certain I wasn’t a minor?
Because he’s close with Hyung-nim Baekho? That didn’t make sense either. Perhaps.......
“Hey, you. Get out.”
I pointed at the man and ordered.
“Huh....? What?”
“I said get out!”
When I repeated the command, the man made an unpleasant face and left the room.
*Click.*
Once the man left, I locked the door.
“Um..... voice actress? If you speak to our staff like that.... he might take offense.”
“Was that an order?”
“Pardon...?”
My eyes had already changed into the vertical pupils unique to felines.
“Yeah, something was off from the start. With looks that handsome, you should’ve been an actor, not a director. It never made sense.”
I glared at Director Choe Junho and spoke.
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Director Choe Junho answered with a sly smile, but I wasn’t someone who would miss the faint cold sweat and tension on his face.
“So you’re a little fox, as it turns out.”
“W-what do you mean by that......”
The director desperately avoided my eyes, playing dumb.
“Ha, so a mere fox cub is what called me all the way here? You know the Underworld Bureau would turn a blind eye even if I devoured you right now, don’t you?”
I hadn’t thought I was the only mystical beast among Hyung-nim Baekho’s acquaintances, but I hadn’t expected there to be a fox cub.
“A fox borrowing a tiger’s might. The tiger whose might the fox rides soon tears off and eats the fox’s head.....”
I bared my claws and slowly approached the director.
“W-why are you doing this?”
Looking fearful, the director gradually retreated toward the back wall.
“You still don’t know?”
The director was flattened against the wall.
Then.
“P-please spare me. I didn’t know you were the Jangsanbeom-nim and I just...... I couldn’t tell from your voice alone.”
A white fox with nine luscious tails was begging for forgiveness in the director’s place.
“After the incident of the fox borrowing the tiger’s might, it should be forbidden for a fox to take human form before a tiger. What nerve did you have to stand before me in human guise?”
“T-that’s because I didn’t know the Jangsanbeom-nim would come, so I couldn’t undo it in advance.”
The fox answered, its body trembling in fear.
“Is that so? Then you must die.”
I grabbed the fox by the scruff with my claws and opened my mouth.
“Please spare me. I have employees I must take responsibility for......”
“Employees? Seems you’re thinking of all the livers you’d stockpiled but couldn’t eat, now that death approaches.”
It’s natural to think of things you wanted to do but couldn’t when death is near.
If I granted every such regret, I’d end up living as a herbivore.
“That’s not true! These days I only eat liver from sundae restaurants. They really are my employees. A work I’ve poured my soul into is on the verge of completion, and if I disappear now.......”
I closed my open mouth.
This thing didn’t seem to be lying just to survive, and as Mountain Lords go, I was merciful, so I could let it slide just this once.
“A-are you sparing me?”
“You. Do you have money?”
Using the fox as a wallet for a long time seemed far better than eating it now.
“I don’t have much right now. I’ve prepared about three hundred at my discretion for the voice actress for the animation, but aside from that, the rest of the company funds and my own money have all been invested into this work.”
“Three hundred? That’s three times my monthly salary?”
“It’s not for one voice actress, but compensation for all the voice actors participating in this work. Honestly, even this amount alone is insufficient. Our staff is handling the male roles, but it’s an animation with many female characters.....”
Three hundred. A whole three hundred. If I could gulp this down all by myself.....
I set the fox down on the desk.
“Did you forget who I am? I’m the Jangsanbeom. I’ll finish that measly recording today. Go get ready.”
“Y-yes sir!”
The fox leaped down from the desk, spun around once, transformed into a human, and left the room.