I Became the Emergency Food Supply of the Bear Family - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 1

She had fallen into a world of pure white.
Pristine snow blanketing the roof. Snow drifts piled high. White powder dancing on the wind.
Snow, snow, snow. Nothing but snow.
Even her body was covered in pure white.
A chest cloaked in thick fur. Pale, dense hair enveloping her paws. Soft fur brushing her nose, trembling in the cold wind.
Fur, fur, fur. Nothing but fur.
‘I must have died.’
Yun Na-bom. Female. Fifteen years old.
She had closed her brief life, only to open her eyes as an Arctic rabbit.

***

Though the situation was shocking enough to leave her jaw hanging open, Na-bom took to her new life as a rabbit surprisingly well.
‘Being able to move without someone pushing a wheelchair behind me—it’s really something.’
Hah!
That sensation when she first walked on her two hind legs. Even thinking of it now sent a thrill through her.
What Na-bom especially loved was treading on the snow piled high outside the burrow.
Crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch.
Lost in the addictive sound and texture, she heard a voice that told her exactly where she was.
“The next sacrifice will be from the neighbors, I suppose?”
“Probably. At six years old, Rina’s daughter is the only one who hasn’t undergone Humanization.”
“This terrifies me. Why does it have to be next door? It sickens me.”
This was a world from a novel. To be precise, it was the world of a Beastkin Romance Fantasy titled “The Fox I Tamed.”
At first, Na-bom had thought she’d simply become the pet rabbit of a young couple.
Of course, they kept saying to the rabbit, “My daughter, my daughter,” and when she reacted as if understanding them, they would murmur things like “That’s right, my daughter is so clever. She’ll transform soon.” It had been unsettling.
‘Those people… they were my mother and father.’
I had been reincarnated as one of many pitiful background rabbit characters who didn’t even have a name in that work.
How do I know I’m a nameless extra? Well, let me explain simply.
The stage of “The Fox I Tamed” was the Albero Empire, which had a mythology.
The goddess of spring, the myth of Eoestre.
One day, an incarnation of Eoestre appeared, blessed with overwhelming healing power, curing the people’s illnesses and even the soldiers’ wounds.
The empire, ultimately victorious against the invasions of neighboring nations, became the dominant power on this continent—a kind of founding myth.
Those who devoutly believed in this ancient myth were none other than the Arctic wolf beastkin, the White Wolf Clan.
Rabbits were by nature symbols of resurrection and life. Especially if they were small animals that could survive even in cold regions, they were all the more likely to possess the power of spring.
The White Wolf Clan believed that the next incarnation of Eoestre would be born as an Arctic rabbit.
And to absorb Eoestre’s tremendous power, they devoured Arctic rabbits. Specifically, young female rabbits who had not undergone Humanization.
Arctic rabbits had avoided the White Wolf Clan’s threat all this time because they offered sacrifices.
The Rabbit Clan would offer a eight-year-old female who had failed to undergo Humanization, and Na-bom had ultimately failed to transform.
Sacrifice confirmed.
Na-bom was one of the many rabbits presented as sacrifices within “The Fox I Tamed.”
But her attachment to life was far stronger than anyone could imagine.
Confined in a small wooden cage, Na-bom stared out the window and clenched her small paws.
‘It’s fine. I confirmed everything a week ago without any problems.’
The plan would definitely work.
“Don’t think unnecessary thoughts. Just stay quiet.”
A cold voice spoke from beside her.
“Born a Defective One, the least you can do is repay the debt for keeping you alive. Isn’t that right?”
Na-bom deliberately ignored her mother’s sarcasm.
A rabbit who had never undergone Humanization, an ordinary creature without a soul—those were the implicit conditions of a sacrifice.
An ordinary sacrifice meant everyone would lower their guard. Both rabbits and wolves.
The clan didn’t know, but I was a rabbit who understood human speech. There was even a time when that had been her mother’s hope.
But as expected, I could not undergo Humanization, and my parents had been ostracized by the clan for giving birth to a Defective One.
It was absurd, wasn’t it? If they’d survived by offering sacrifices, shouldn’t they treat the sacrifice with the utmost care?
‘…It’s the same in this life too.’
At the sudden thought, Na-bom’s shoulders sagged.
In her past life, and in this one, after all.
I was only a burden to my family.
But that would all end tomorrow.

***

The next morning, before dawn.
In the Neutral Territory between the two clans’ domains, a wolf and a rabbit met in human form.
“We offer this sacrifice.”
Her mother knelt in the snow and set down the wooden cage that held Na-bom, then bowed her head.
“May the young life’s blood protect us, we humbly beseech you.”
There was not a tremor in her mother’s voice as she spoke the ritual words.
She rose and bowed once more to the wolves, then turned on her heel. Footsteps—her mother’s and the villagers’—grew distant.
Though Na-bom had resolved not to look back, her head turned of its own accord.
‘…’
As she’d expected, her mother never looked back. Not for a single moment.
Then one of the wolf beastkin lifted the cage.
She flinched, her body shrinking instinctively, trembling. Those golden yellow eyes peering between the bars made her heart plummet.
‘No, it’s okay.’
“The Fox I Tamed” had been one of Na-bom’s favorite Beastkin Romance Fantasies. She already knew the wolves wouldn’t eat her here.
But she was still terrified. This must be pure instinct.
“Is the rabbit alright?”
“Yes, sir, Captain. All is well!”
“Let’s move out.”
The wolves began to move.
They passed through the Neutral Territory and entered the White Wolf Territory.
Soon a place all too familiar came into view. Her heart began to race, but for a different reason now.
‘Mother.’
The sacrifice had been delivered safely, and the wolves returned to their domain. The White Wolf Clan bore no responsibility for what happened in their own territory.
‘I’ve repaid the debt.’
The moment the trailing wolf stepped across the boundary line she knew so well, at the very edge.
Crack!
The ground began to shake, then suddenly collapsed beneath them.
“Aaaahhh!”
“What—what is this!”
It was a trap she had spent two years carefully constructing since discovering her reincarnation.
The White Wolf Clan, rulers of the Arctic, rarely set foot in their own territory, and even then, neither beastkin nor beast ventured there. Besides, this was a path the White Wolves themselves used only once or twice when collecting the sacrifice rabbit.
She had dug a massive pit across this path, layered straw thickly over it, and covered it well with snow.
In her experiments, it took about five minutes of Na-bom’s small paws hopping before the ground gave way. In other words, it would collapse easily enough when they entered, but not when trying to escape!
“Ah!”
Snow falling from above made the wolf drop the cage. Na-bom didn’t miss her moment.
She kicked the lock mechanism hard with her paw, shattering the wooden cage, the door flying open.
She’d managed this by carefully gnawing away at the bars near the lock with her front teeth, maintaining the facade of an ordinary, oblivious rabbit.
“Stay still—aghhh!”
Hyah!
She trampled the face of the man reaching for her, grinding her paw into his eyes.
“The rabbit is escaping!”
“Grab her, you idiots!”
Arms reached out from all directions to snatch her. Using her small frame, Na-bom leaped from arm to shoulder to head, scrambling free.
Deciding the situation was too dangerous, the beastkin began to transform into wolves. Their bodies blazed white before contorting and shrinking.
‘Faster, faster!’
There was no time. The moment they all became wolves, she was finished.
Na-bom jumped nimbly, treading on a head that had already begun to blur into wolf form, barely solid anymore.
The instant her front paws landed outside the pit.
-Damned rabbit bastard!
A vicious snarl accompanied a sharp pain in her hind leg.
Yelp!
The pain was blinding, but gritting her teeth, she grabbed a clump of straw jutting up and hauled herself forward with all her strength.
She thrashed her legs frantically and escaped the trap. She’d made it out, but—
‘My leg won’t move.’
She collapsed on the ground. Blood dripped steadily from her right hind leg.
‘…My leg.’
Tears quickly blurred her dark eyes.
Even for a rabbit, she’d been perfectly mobile.
She shook her head vigorously.
‘I’m not hurt. Not at all, I promise I’m not.’
She hypnotized herself however she could, putting weight on her front paws. Her hind legs trembled violently.
Snow was falling heavily now, accumulating quickly on her furry body. The weight was suffocating.
‘I have no strength left…’
During the week locked in the cage, she hadn’t eaten proper hay. Trembling on shaking legs, barely crawling, Na-bom couldn’t bear the weight of the snow collecting on her fur.
Thump.
She collapsed limply to the ground.
Mocking laughter echoed—hehehehe.
-Put her back in the cage.
The wolf holding the cage hesitated at the Captain’s command, oddly uncertain.
-Captain. Um, hehehehe, you see…
He extended his long tongue, licking his fangs, drool dripping as he spoke.
-This rabbit. Should we just eat her? She barely has any meat on her, but why does she look so tasty?
-Don’t talk nonsense. Put her in the cage, now. If we don’t deliver her by tomorrow, we’ll…-
The Captain wolf, who had been sternly reprimanding him in a low growl, suddenly froze.
‘…?’
At the strange sensation that the surroundings had suddenly darkened, Na-bom slowly lifted her head.
The dimness was no illusion.
A genuine shadow was cast across her from above.
-Shit. When did—!
-This goddamn—
The wolves snarled and cursed.
What appeared suddenly was a beast more fearsome than any wolf.
An enormous predator cloaked entirely in rich brown fur.
Fire Bear.
Fire Bear stood silent before Na-bom, gazing quietly into the small rabbit’s eyes.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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