Chapter 79
Chapter 79
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 79
Having scarfed down some late-night snacks and roughly sorted out my relationship with Tamamo,
there was no longer any reason or need to stay cooped up in my room poring over ancient tomes for info on her.
Seung-woo stepped out of the family head's quarters.
"F-Family Head? What are you doing here? I thought the seniors said you were at Chilseong Academy?"
"Really? Where?"
"Hey, don't look! Didn't you hear about the guy who got slapped and fired just for glancing at one of the seniors who quit two years ago?"
"Wasn't there breaking news yesterday morning that you'd been spotted in Jongno? Wait, when exactly did you even enter the family head's quarters?"
The expansive carpet laid throughout the mansion.
Seung-woo strode across it with confident steps, while the servants in the midst of their morning cleaning plastered themselves against the walls, bowing their waists and heads low to avoid looking at him as much as possible.
A single wrong glance could drag them into unnecessary trouble.
The servants were mentally exhausted, truly.
The pay for working in this mansion was ridiculously good, but having to watch their every move like this was utterly frustrating.
Still, the veterans couldn't bring themselves to give up salaries on par with corporate executives just for doing cleaning work, so they kept their heads bowed in silence.
But the rookies, still brimming with youthful vigor, had only heard rumors about how the family head had been demotedor more accurately, exiledto Chilseong Academy at the start of the year.
One firsthand experience might have been different.
But rumors heard a hundred times over weren't enough to stifle the rookies' rampant curiosity.
They inevitably lifted their heads while keeping their backs rigidly bowed.
"Whoa... he's insanely hot."
"Hey, what good is being hot if his personality's trash?"
"With a face like that, even trash personality might be okay? I actually prefer bad boys."
"His skin's so pale. Wow, he looks just like a glowing statue..."
The rookie servants who peeked split into two camps.
One group blushed like schoolgirls at Seung-woo's looks; the other was briefly entranced but quickly felt the unfairness of the gods and tried desperately to tear him down by badmouthing his personalitymen, exclusively.
So it might as well have been divided by gender.
"I'm a guy, but why's my heart pounding like this...?"
"Isn't that arrhythmia?"
"Mine's pounding too, so probably not arrhythmia."
"Since when was arrhythmia contagious? I'm drawn to the family head too."
"Whoa, with looks like that, honestly..."
The latter group brushed it off, but the former unnerved him a bit.
It was nice that the female servants found him attractive, but hearing the male ones whispering among themselves felt kinda creepy.
Especially that last one.
He swore he heard something like "totally doable."
A sudden doubt crept in, but he absolutely didn't want to hear it confirmed.
Contractor, you seem pretty popular.
'Popularity's neither good nor bad, but being popular with guys too isn't exactly great.'
Hehe, don't think like that. It's all because you're so beautiful, so carry yourself with pride instead. Back when I had a body, I enchanted men and women alike without distinction.
A demonic allure that captivated without regard for gender.
Not a power he particularly wanted.
Tamamo, on the other hand, seemed delighted by Seung-woo's display, looking thoroughly satisfied.
In her eyes, the servants looked like minnows she could hook anytime with a line.
And Seung-woo's charm didn't stop at reeling in the servants.
It even hooked someone he had zero interest in catching.
"Oh my..."
To think he'd run into that old geezer here.
He'd heard the man worked guild business even on weekends.
Never imagined crossing paths like this.
If this was fate, then so be it.
"Looks like fate decreed we'd meet after all, 5th Elder."
The man who'd been passing by reacted to Seung-woo's words.
Even a puppet family head like himbeing addressed so directlyignoring the greeting would make one a brainless fool, elder or not.
The more obsessed with formality an old fogey was, the stricter they got about it.
"...It does seem that way, Family Head."
"Haha, no need for 'Family Head' from you, 5th Elder. Socially speaking, I'm just a team leader under you now, so speak casually."
5th Elder.
A middle-aged man whose innate dignity, presence, and pressure couldn't be hidden even in pristine white training robes. Seung-woo flashed a bright smile at him.
The old guy's over sixty, but he looks young and dignified for his age.
But what's his real personality like?
Time to test it out.
"Oh, right. The team I run has decentralized command authority, personnel orders, and most powers, so no need to speak down to me anyway. This is my house, my mansion, after all."
"Ah... yes."
"With that in mind, 5th Elder."
Seung-woo beamed with the most innocent expression as he glared at the 5th Elder.
Hahaha, come on.
"I'm walking here. Why aren't you stepping aside?"
He wasn't even asking for a bow like the servants.
Just one thingthat was all Seung-woo wanted.
"Even if I'm a puppet CEOno, puppet Family Headwhen we meet in the family, you should step aside. Surely a man of your age isn't saying you'll ignore family etiquette and traditions?"
At the guild, Seung-woo had no choice but to yield.
That place was beyond his reach, a complete extraterritorial zone.
But in this house, even if insincere, he had to keep up appearances toward the Family Head. Act like a proper citizen in society, a family member at homethat was the elder's duty.
...Whatever, if he didn't like it.
I'm planning to replace you someday anyway.
* * *
He wanted to pick more fights, but he couldn't push further.
This was the line for actions he could take.
Cross it, and scenario or whatever be damned the 5th Elder might genuinely take his head.
"Haha, why the sour face? Obviously just kidding. Kidding."
"...Ah, yes, of course."
"Yeah, see you at the guild later."
"...Yes, until then."
I left the 5th Elder behind and headed elsewhere.
A grinding crunchlike teeth shatteringechoed from behind.
Well, probably not real teeth.
Given the 5th Elder's age, dentures were more likely. Oh well.
Since I'd become team leader at Nine-Tail Guild, he could have new dentures as a housewarming gift.
Ah, COD, of course.
As I waved over my shoulder at him while entertaining those thoughts,
Tamamo, who'd stayed silent during my exchange, spoke in a voice like appraising fine art.
Eight-Tailed Fox, huh. Not bad talent. Hey, Contractor, can you gauge how strong someone like that is in this era?
'Depends on the metric, but he's a guild master running an S-rank guild and a high ranker, so top 100 worldwide, at least.'
...Really?
Tamamo rocketed up, planting both hands on my shoulders in disbelief at my answer.
Ow, shoulders hurt.
Someone who's achieved eight tails, undergone eight evolutions and regenerations, and that's only top 100? Is this land some demon-infested lair? What the hell happened in the thousand years I slept?
Why's she so worked up?
Is Eight-Tailed Fox that impressive?
To me, a mere Three-Tailed Fox, it was an unattainably distant realm, leaving me blank.
'Calm down. It's just a figure of speechhe's top-tier among high rankers. Pure combat power? Top 10-ish.'
Even accounting for eight tails, that's still low. When I reached eight, I had no rivals; by nine, the world was mine.
Tamamo reminiscing about the distant past before her death.
Her words weren't the hazy nostalgia of an old-timer reliving memories.
They were grounded in facts, brimming with certainty.
Apparently, in her era, becoming a Nine-Tailed Fox was enough to rule the world.
Unfortunately, eras progressed relentlessly.
Magic and shamanism followed suit.
Mysteries had long been systematized, advanced, and popularized alongside technological breakthroughs and structural analysis.
No more could a fox with nine tails alone keep the world underfoot.
Nine-Tailed Fox might have symbolized absolute power in Tamamo's time.
But right nowand in the novel's hellish future it was the bare minimum for survival.
In the hell a few years from now, anything less than nine tails made survival uncertain.
Civilian deaths would become mere numbers games, a foregone conclusion.
That's why I had to become a Nine-Tailed Fox ASAP.
In a world where even nine tails offered no guarantees, a mere Three-Tailed Fox like me would have dwindling options.
I needed to reach the pinnacle as fast as possible and eliminate threats that could shake hell's foundations. I wasn't even aiming for the Heavenly Fox realm of our family's progenitor and entirety.
The odds of reaching it approached zero anyway.
If I had to, it would mean the world had spiraled into worse than the novel's ending.
Nine-Tailed Fox.
I just wanted to hit nine tails quickly.
Then I could keep my life intactand save others' too.
Even if this world was fiction, human lives wouldn't lose their value or be trampled.
I hoped this world could become one where no more sacrifices or injuries occurred.
Greedy, I knew.
But I prayed its end would differ from the world I'd guarded.
Contractor, hey, Contractor. You hearing me?
'Ah, sorry, got lost in thought. High ranker means top 100 of the system's selected few hundred rankers...'
Answer later. Firstwho's that old man? I've asked like ten times.
'Huh? Who? This house is crawling with old geezers. All these elders, foxes to the end, fat with greed even in old age...'
Left side, the old guy trimming flowers in the garden. What's his deal?
Left-side flower bed?
If memory served, that was the 1st Elder's garden.
Following Tamamo's point, I turned to see an old man in a straw hat tending flowers, who looked right at me.
He immediately bowed in greeting, clearly sensing my gaze instantly.
"As expected of the 1st Elder. Sharp senses."
1st Elder? He's an elder too? I figured him for Guard Captain.
"Check those white tails at the end. What branch family sprouts a Seven-Tailed Fox and gets Guard Captain? With that power, elder's a given."
1st Elder, or Grand Elder.
Heavenly Fox Baek Family's top old-timer, gripping the most real power internally.
If the 5th Elder had subjugated Nine-Tail Guild to control external affairs, internal management was the Grand Elder's domain.
"Ah, when did you arrive? I was tending flowers and failed to discern you amid their beauty with these old eyes. 1st Elder Baek Ro greets the Family Head."
"...Pleased to meet you, Grand Elder."
"Heh heh, just 1st Elder or old man will do."
The Grand Elder opened with honeyed words.
Tamamo might've reacted, but her focus was solely on his tails and aura.
Sigh, blinded by tail count, I was slow to spot the real monster.
Seven tails.
Fewer than the 5th Elder's eight, but his aura was unequivocally the strongest in the house.
It had even tricked her initially into thinking another Nine-Tailed Fox had been born here.
The Grand Elder wielded immeasurable power.
His words proved it.
"That said, Family Head, there's a ghost clinging to your back."
"...!!"
...!!
What? He can see Tamamo now?
The 5th Elder, an Eight-Tailed Fox hypersensitive to spiritual matters, hadn't noticed Tamamo fully concealed by shamanism.
Yet he spotted her at a glance.
Neither I nor Tamamo showed it on our faces, but we were shocked inside.
"These old eyes can't make out the ghost's type or features, but I'm worried it's some stray spirit possessing you."
Grand Elder's "stray spirit" remark.
Tamamo's face flushed more with anger than surprise.
Me, a stray spirit? I, who conquered continents under heaven's mandate, dubbed the Nine-Tailed Fox incarnate? Haha... Times have changed.
'Got it, so calm down. What's so upsetting about being called a stray spirit?'
What did you say...?
Whoops, wrong words.
I averted my gaze from her as focus and steely aura sharpened in the Grand Elder's previously cloudy eyes.
Seemed he'd deemed Tamamo's anger-stirred shamanism dangerous. This wasn't good.
The Grand Elder looked ready to act any second.
"I lack exorcism powers, but I can manage something similar. What say you, Family Head?"
"Don't. This stray spirit's my property."
These punks trying to screw over their ancestor double-team.
"If you say so."
My words defused his aura.
He resumed tending the garden and continued.
"That aside, Family Head, I heard an amusing rumor just now."
"What?"
"Servants said you picked a fight with the 5th Elder. Last I heard, you'd joined his guild. Hope you're not getting pranked on."
Rumors spreading already.
Unbelievable, but no time to doubt the Grand Elder's words.
He smileda mix of kindly village grandpa and sly serpent.
"Above all, this old man who wishes family stability is merely curious what mischief you'll stir nextand where."
The Grand Elder's blunt words.
I had nothing to hide.
I boldly declared my next move.
A proclamation to the family's internal steward,
and a dark political ploy to drag the neutral figure between hardliners and moderates onto the board.
"Yotun's Fire Hell."
I'd already told the 5th Elder my next destination.
As Nine-Tail Guild team leader, my first stop was Yotun's Fire Hell.
Korea's top player nation's three unconquered dungeons.
Unlike the comparably tame unconquered 'Efnel's Garden.'
Enter, and you diedor suffered near-death wounds.
A true hell proving even S-rank players and rankers were little more than civilians there.
And I planned to head there half-crippled.