The Legend of the Fox Yokai of Jirisan

After Miho and Lee Ha-neul left the interrogation room,
The Grade 4 Senior Administrative Officer Lee Han-ul, left alone in the room, rubbed his bald head in contemplation.

[This is my last question. No, not a question, but a request.]
[Would it be okay for me to stay here for a few days?]

The director trembled as he recalled Miho’s words to him.
She called it a request, but
It was practically a threat.
She was presumed to be at minimum a Grade 2 great yokai.
With just a casual gesture from her, this entire Jirisan Yokai Extermination Office could be obliterated, so he never had the option to refuse her from the start.

Director Lee Han-ul had no choice but to accept her presence to protect the Jirisan Yokai Extermination Office.
Even if her existence proved helpful for yokai research.
Even if she was amicable towards humans.
She was ultimately a yokai, not a human.
Allowing a ‘yokai’ into the ‘Yokai Extermination Office’ was an insane decision, which explained why Lee Han-ul compulsively rubbed his bare scalp.

If the higher authorities learned of this outrageous fact that he had admitted a yokai into the office,
Lee Han-ul felt he would face far graver consequences than mere disciplinary action.

‘…Still, it’s not entirely negative, so I’m not sure if I should consider this fortunate or not.’

He still had many questions for her and much to research, and with her assistance, yokai extermination would become considerably easier.
Lee Han-ul made up his mind.
Since it had come to this,
He would take full advantage of her presence.

…Of course, to do so, he would have to accommodate her whims as much as possible.
What if he served her unsatisfactory food?
She had declared
That she would burn down this entire Yokai Extermination Office.
No matter what, Lee Han-ul vowed to protect this Yokai Extermination Office.

Lee Han-ul issued orders to a subordinate observing the situation from outside the transparent glass wall:
“Hey, Jong-chul.”
[Yes, Director.]
“…Look up some reputable Korean restaurants. Ones with excellent stews and sizzling dishes. And also find a fried chicken place. But only ones that use drumsticks!”
[Un…derstood.]

The full tour of the Yokai Extermination Office was postponed until tomorrow.
It was already late, and the weekly office staff would be getting off work soon, so it didn’t seem like the ideal time to gather proper information.

I observed the busy office workers.
They seemed to be working overtime to prepare accommodations for me.
A pang of guilt arose, which quickly dissipated upon seeing their perverted grins as they occasionally glanced my way.

Why were they behaving that way?

As I waited on the sofa set up in the lounge area, Lee Ha-neul eventually approached me with a cup of coffee.
“Perhaps you’d also like this…”
“Coffee!”
“…You drink it too, huh. Here you go.”

I picked up the iced Americano emanating a chilly aura.
Just look at that murky liquid color.
It looked absolutely delicious…!
In a different way from the Coke, it looked deliciously enticing.

There was no need for further deliberation.
I immediately opened wide and
Slurped the murky liquid through the plastic straw.
The bitter and rich coffee stimulated my tongue.
The pleasant roasted aroma tickled my nose.
Jjooooooooooooh.
I chugged down the entire iced Americano in one go.

“Kahh!”
“Y, you drank it all at once…?”
“…”
“…?”

Wordlessly, I gazed at the iced coffee Ha-neul was holding.
Implying that he should give it to me as well.
However, Ha-neul was a greedy girl possessive of her belongings.
Showing no intention of sharing, she too began gulping down her iced coffee hastily, just like me.
Repaying kindness with enmity… tsk tsk, what a treacherous woman.

So then,
Why had she been gaping at me ever since earlier?
Annoyed by her restless fidgeting, I spoke up first:
“Do you have something to say to me?”

“Eh, that, well… That is, umm…”
After agonizing for a while, Ha-neul finally bowed deeply and apologized to me.
“I’m sorry!”
“…?”
“I really wanted to apologize to you. I’m sorry for attacking you first due to my own misunderstanding, and I’m truly grateful you spared my life. I mean it sincerely.”

“Ah…”
Now that I thought about it,
When we first met, this person had charged at me like a rabid dog, intent on killing me.
Her completely changed demeanor had made me forget that initial hostility.

“In fact, I’ve been searching for a yokai like you, Miho, for a long time now.”
“A yokai like me? A fox yokai?”
“No.”
Ha-neul’s following words left me slightly taken aback.
“A yokai with a mind.”

“…”
“For a long time, I firmly believed that yokai lacked minds. But you, Miho… you are undoubtedly a yokai with a mind. One with a warm heart that values humans, no less…”

“Well, yeah.”
I had never once considered myself a warm-hearted yokai.
As I’ve said repeatedly, I’m not a psychopath who could blatantly ignore people dying before my eyes.
It just so happened that people collapsed right in front of me by chance.
And I possessed the power to save them.
That was all there was to it.

With the conversation flowing, Ha-neul bombarded me with questions:
“When we first met, you only had three tails. Plus, you were an incredibly adorable child… Why have you matured like this now?”
“By devouring that blue-furred demonic fox, my yogi increased.”
“Eek… You can absorb other yokai’s yogi too?”
“Only those of the same species. By the way, I’m the sole remaining fox yokai in this world now.”
“Oh… Wow, that seems like extremely important information… Would it be okay for me to share this with the director?”
“Do as you please on that front.”

I answered her honestly, unlike the director.
For her questions stemmed from pure curiosity, not an intent to extract information from me.
Moreover,
Having a conversation with a human after two years
Was an enjoyable experience for me too, so I had no reason to avoid the exchange.

‘May I pat your head?’
‘May I touch your tails?’
I naturally declined.

‘How did you acquire human knowledge?’
I didn’t reveal that.

‘Do other yokai have minds like you?’
I said yes.
Even the likes of Depot the raccoon dog… no, I mean even just Depot alone was a yokai with a mind who could speak human language.
I didn’t elaborate further on this.

Most mind-possessing yokai lived peacefully confined within the inner realm.
While there was certainly an intention to avoid friction and trouble with humans,
The inner realm was simply too ideal an environment for yokai, so from their perspective, there was no need to venture outside and take such risks.

In fact, I was the only human-born yokai who had voiced dissatisfaction with life in the inner realm.
Of course, there were occasional instances of mindless yokai slipping into the inner realm, or yokai naturally birthed within it.
Those yokai, without exception, were the troublemakers who constantly picked fights with… or to put it bluntly, muddied the waters for the mind-possessing yokai of the inner realm.

Driving out such uninvited guests was undoubtedly the role of the Lord of the Mountain, the ruler of the inner realm.
For some reason, the Lord of the Mountain had gathered the mind-possessing yokai and created this inner realm within Jirisan.
Was it to protect humans, or conversely, to shelter the yokai from humans?
What was the Lord of the Mountain’s purpose?

No one knew the Lord’s purpose and intentions.
Not Depot, the fount of knowledge in Jirisan.
Not the Singing Tree Jang Hwa Hwanno, who had stood singing in the same spot for hundreds of years.
Not even Old Monk Bangta, who had clung to life since the barbaric era hundreds of years ago.

From the start,
How could mere yokai possibly fathom the mind of an absolute being?

“Ah, it seems ready! Let’s go, Miho. I’ll show you the way.”
My contemplation had lasted too long.
Wordlessly, I followed behind Ha-neul.

What a wonderful morning.
An absolutely wonderful morning.
“Grrr-rrrr, grrr-rrrr-rrrr.”
Having woken up early, I growled while languidly swaying my tails.
The bliss of sleeping in a bed after two years was indescribable.
Why did the yokai of the inner realm not adopt such convenient human amenities?
After acquiring information about the Taejasinggi and returning to the inner realm, I should actively propose supplying beds to the Lord of the Mountain.

Today, I would thoroughly tour the Yokai Extermination Office before planning how to gather information.
Of course,
An empty sack cannot stand upright, as the proverb goes.
I had to fill my belly first.

Facing the CCTV camera installed on the ceiling of my temporary room, I spoke:
“Bring me breakfast. Honey Toast. Iced Americano. Brunch!”

However, even after waiting five minutes, there was no response.
…Could they not hear me?
That couldn’t be.
Since they had blatantly installed a CCTV camera to monitor me, they must have also set up a real-time audio recorder somewhere.

After brief contemplation, I began channeling yogi into my tails.
[Fox Sorcery]
Fox Fire – Thousand Shards
I generated a thousand tiny Fox Fires and dispersed them in all directions.
In order to locate the audio recorder.

Formed from my yogi, the thousand miniature Fox Fires could detect every single object in this room.
In a matter of seconds, I pinpointed the recorder’s location.
…Heh.
It was attached to the clock’s hands.
Though some oblivious employee was likely monitoring the CCTV feed in real-time,
They must be going insane from the incessant ticking.

In any case, I picked up the clock and shouted directly at the hands:
“Bring me breakfast! I’m hungry!”
Kkwangkkeung!
Unable to withstand the yogi-infused voice, the clock shattered.
Oh.
Um.
Th, this wasn’t my fault.
It’s your fault for serving breakfast so late.