Seongji, Sumin, and Seju; the members of the Love Triangle
Sung Sumin is the team director of Hello Studio, a game development company. She's short, blunt, and has a string of casual affairs. Baek Seju is Hello Studio's president, who also happens to be Sumin's ex-girlfriend. Although the two aren't dating, they sometimes get together for casual sex.
Enter Ju Sungji, the newest addition to Sumin's team. She draws Sumin's interest, and Sumin wonders if she can manage to bed the newbie for kicks. This results in a Love Triangle in which Sumin falls in love with Sungji, but with Seju still pursuing Sumin. The webtoon has lots of drama and NSFW sex scenes.
What Does the Fox Say was created by Team Gaji and was originally found on the Lezhin website
. It has been deleted from there since then. It was later published in English on TappyToon, but is also no longer available on their site.
Not to be mistaken with the song by Ylvis.
What Does The Fox Say contains examples of the following tropes:
- After Action Patch Up: Happens to Sungji after she runs and falls down the stairs, scraping her knees in her excitement to see Sumin, who dropped by Sungji's house to see her.
- Age-Gap Romance: The ten-year gap between Sumin and Sungji, with Sumin being the older of the two.
- Amicable Exes: Zigzagged with Sumin and Seju. They're both executives in the same company, can maintain professionalism around their employees, and hook-up every now and then. However, Sumin refuses to get back with Seju and still holds a grudge over how she was treated by her during the events that led to their break-up.
- Animal Motifs: Sungji associates Sumin with a fox.
- Bedroom Adultery Scene:
- Seju sleeps with a man after she and Sumin had a fight, leading to their eventual break-up when Sumin catches them in bed the next morning.
- After Sumin realizes she's still in love with Seju, she decides to cut ties with her starting with her resignation from Seju's company. Seeing Seju distressed by the revelation, Sumin, feeling guilty, lets Seju to sleep with her, if only for the last time. They're caught in the act by Sungji.
- Berserk Button: Sumin hates when people poke fun at her height or treat her like she's younger than she actually is.
- Bodyguard Crush: In the epilogue, Won was hired to work as Seju's caretaker. In the time they spend together, she eventually falls for Seju. Realising Won's sincerity to be true, Seju lets herself fall in love and eventually finds happiness with her.
- Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Happens twice with Sumin and Sungji.
- Can't Hold Her Liquor: Sumin gets pretty wasted after only a few drinks, much to her chagrin and to other people's amusement.
- Opposite this is Sungji with her high tolerance to alcohol. Averted only once after she chugs down more than a bottle of wine within a short period of time.
- The Teetotaler. Seju stopped drinking for a time after the incident that led to her break-up with Sumin.
- Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: When Sumin and Sungji finally get together, Sumin actively avoids the topic of sex and actively makes sure she doesn't touch Sungji in suggestive ways and places. In fact, Sungji has to take the initiative by touching Sumin suggestively, but even then, Sumin backs out. It doesn't take until Sungji actually has to sit Sumin down and tell her to her face that she's fine with sex and is perfectly happy to engage in it.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Seju, most notably during her college years that Sumin couldn't hang out with her friends as much.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Both Sumin and Seju.
- Sumin loses her parents to a tragic accident, was not given the support she needed by her then-girlfriend, Seju, and was assaulted brutally by Seju's older brother right after suffering Seju's infidelity. The assault gets Seju a broken arm and a large scar that covers from her shoulder to her upper arm. She gets a tattoo to conceal it.
- Before Seju was old enough to remember, her mother seemingly hung herself despite suspicion of foul play. Though due to the lack of evidence, it was ultimately ruled as suicide. Seju was raised in a controlling environment and had very little freedom, and was ostracised and mistreated by most of her siblings (save for one) because she was the daughte of her father's mistress. Though her father loved both her and her mother, he made no move to stop the maltreatment Seju was subjected to, and only spoiled her to compensate for her siblings' wrongdoings. Unfortunately, this special treatment served only to fuel and worsen her siblings' antagonism towards her.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Seju in her epilogue story with Won. She is initially prickly and cold towards Won, but as she gets to know Won more, her walls start to slowly come down.
- Destructive Romance: Between Seju and Sumin after they break up.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Seju pretends to drown in the pool as a prank, unaware of Won's past trauma. She apologises for it later on after seeing how Won reacted.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Earlier in the series, Sumin does this to Sungji.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Sungji.
- Gayngst: Surprisingly averted. The lesbians in the comic are comfortable with their sexuality. Sungji, who has never even been remotely attracted to anyone, also reacts with pleasant surprise and a general "Oh, it makes sense why I never crushed on guys" attitude upon realizing that she is in love with Sumin.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Averted with Sungji, who turns out to be a Lethal Chef, and Seju, who has never had to prepare a single meal throughout the entire course of the series. On the other hand, Sumin and Won, who aren't typically as feminine as their respective love interests, are capable home cooks.
- Ferris Wheel Date Moment: Sumin and Sungji end their date at the Amusement Park with this.
- When Sumin was still in high school, she and her friends went out on a trip to the amusement park. The day ends with her sharing a car with Sunhwa, Sumin's once close friend who also had unrequited feelings for her.
- First Love: This is Sumin for Sungji, which Sungji believes to be a case of Love at First Sight. And Sumin for Seju, and vice versa.
- Flowers of Romance: Sumin gets Sungji a large bouquet on their first Valentine's together.
- Food as Bribe: Seju takes Sungji out for lunch at a high-end restaurant.
- Fool for Love
- Heart Is Where the Home Is: Dawoon breaks up with her French girlfriend when she returns to Korea in favor of pinning for Sungji. Dawoon and Sungji temporarily date sometime after.
- Helicopter Parents: Seju's father is this, who goes lengths to do what he thinks is best for Seju, even going as far as to do it behind her back with little to no regard for her feelings.
- Hopeless Suitor: Dawoon, a close friend of Sungji, has her girlfriend in France break up with her when she comes back to Korea. When Sungji breaks up with Sumin the first time, Dawoon convinces Sungji to date her. It ends shortly after it's made clear that Sungji is still very much in love with Sumin.
- Ice Queen: Sumin, whose cool exterior is a result of her past. As it turns out, she's Not So Stoic once you get her to open up. She is even adored and respected by her subordinates.
- Lady and Knight: Seju and Won.
- Leonine Contract: Suspected to be the case with Won. After she got into a fight that ended with the other party being badly injured, Seju's father helped her sort it out. Used as leverage later on after Won expresses her reluctance on taking on the job as Seju's caretaker.
- Perhaps to some extent with Sumin after Seju's father helps her with her parents' sudden deaths. Also used as leverage to convince her to overlook Seju's brother's assault on her.
- Lost Wedding Ring, except it's not a wedding ring:
- Sungji accidentally leaves hers in Seju's apartment after she takes Seju home when the woman was too ill to even stay upright.
- When Sumin and Seju were still dating, Sumin misplaces hers somewhere in her apartment, which upsets Seju.
- Love Epiphany: In the sense that Sumin realizes that she still has feelings for her ex, Seju, while into her new relationship with Sungji. This becomes a hurdle and a recurring issue with her current relationship.
- Love Hurts
- Love Makes You Evil: For Seju, though not so much as outright evil as just... bad. Both her father and youngest brother are worse off, however.
- During one of Sumin's more serious past affairs, unknown to Sumin, her then lover was cheating on her fiancé with her. Seju meddles by making it so that Sumin gets physically hurt when the fiancé learns of the infidelity (implied to have been Seju's doing) despite there being other options that could've led to a less violent outcome.
- Love Will Lead You Back: Seju endures Sumin's many affairs in the hopes of getting back together after Sumin's had her fill of revenge.
- Old Flame: Sumin and Seju, who were also High-School Sweethearts.
- Older Than They Look: Sumin is often mistaken for being much younger than she actually is. She even gets mistaken for a teenager at one time.
- One Head Taller: Most characters are either this or at least half a head taller than Sumin, much to her annoyance.
- Naïve Newcomer: Sungji possesses little to no knowledge about romantic relationships, having never been in one until Sumin. Though despite her general inexperience, Sungji has proven to be perceptive and level-headed.
- Never Be Hurt Again: Sumin seems to operate by this philosophy when it comes to romantic relationships because of what happened between her and Seju, and her subsequent relationships that were short-lived and often ended poorly. In fact, she initially pursues Sungji for the sole purpose of seeing if she can seduce the rookie. However, when she starts to feel romantic attraction, she goes into denial, treating her feelings like a nuisance out of fear of being hurt like Seju did to her.
- Really Gets Around: Before Sungji, Sumin used to sleep around mostly to torment Seju.
- Returning the Wedding Ring: During one of her dates with Sumin, Sungji breaks away from their hand-holding and disappears, but not before leaving her ring in Sumin's hand, marking their second break-up.
- Second Love: Sungji for Sumin, and Won for Seju.
- Secret Relationship: Sungji and Sumin keep their relationship a secret from their coworkers at Sumin's behest. This doesn't really work out as some of them have either known for a while or at least suspected the two of being together.
- Sex with the Ex: Sumin and Seju.
- Sleeping with the Boss: Sumin being Sungji's superior, and Seju being Sumin's and later on, Won's.
- Later averted with Seju and Won after Seju fires her. She reasons that she would prefer not to date her employees.
- The Beautiful Elite. This being Seju, who is both attractive and wealthy, as well as Sumin. Though nowhere near as wealthy as Seju, Sumin's late father's status as the country's then minister allowed her to attend social events where she and Seju first met.
- The Missus and the Ex. Sungji and Seju, respectively.
- The Stoic: On Sungji's first day on the job, her colleagues found her to be unapproachable and intimidating that they had a considerably hard time giving her work even when she asks for it. They quickly warm up to her after they find out that she's not as cold as she appears to be.
- Unequal Pairing: Aside from the boss-employee standpoint, this also applies to the age difference between Sungji and Sumin, as well as the difference in wealth and influence between Seju and Sumin, and between Seju and Won later on.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Sungji has no clue that the reason she feels happy and nervous around Sumin is because she is attracted to her. In fact, it takes a lot of questioning others and research (i.e. watching romance films) for her to fully grasp it.
- Workaholic: Sungji tends to be this that she even skips meals. She buries herself with work when she feels distressed.
- Sumin's subordinates tout her as this. She is sometimes the last one to leave the office and she doesn't use up all her vacation days.
- You Must Be Cold: Sungji lends Seju her coat, even going as far as to drape her coat over Seju's shoulders herself.
