The Woman with Eight Tails

It had been a full ten years since the Tower of Trials rose across the world and the Awakened first appeared.

The planet was packed with high-rank Hunters and the fans who adored them.

Of course, all of that felt like someone else's story to me.

"Ahh… I never awaken to anything, do I."

I was twenty years old. Aside from the name my parents had given me, Han Yuseong, I was a complete and total broke loser. The reason I was broke wasn't anything special.

About three years back, my parents tanked their business and bolted overseas. They ditched me and ran off together. Still, they must have felt a little guilty about abandoning their kid, because they left me a mountain of debt as a parting gift.

"Those absolute bastards."

I scraped by with part-time jobs and somehow managed to keep up with the interest, but living like this day after day had worn me down to the bone. Maybe I'd win the lottery. Maybe my parents would finally come looking for me. Hell, at the very least, couldn't I just awaken already so I could make it on my own?

"…Guess I should hit the day-labor office tomorrow."

With that worthless thought, I pulled the blanket over myself. Escaping reality with childish daydreams was enough for a few minutes, and no more.

"I'm so tired…"

I forced my eyes shut and tried to sleep so I could get to the labor office early the next morning.

"Ugh… what the hell is that noise."

Mechanical chimes kept blaring one after another inside my room at the crack of dawn. Figuring it was the alarm I'd set on my phone the night before, I flailed a hand to shut it off. My fingertips brushed against something, and the noise cut out, leaving the room in total silence. Must have hit the screen properly and dismissed the alarm.

…So why was I touching my phone in midair?

"Augh… now what."

Something golden was shining in the air, but I did my absolute best to ignore it and buried my face in the pillow. If the first alarm had gone off at five in the morning, I still had about ten more minutes of sleep left. Regretting that I'd forgotten to change the alarm time the night before, I was just about to drift off again when a whisper brushed against my ear.

"Look here."

"…?"

"Wouldst thou happen to know where a well might be? I have searched and searched, yet it remains nowhere to be found."

"Aaaah! Wh-who the hell are you?!"

A voice that was not mine—in my eight-pyeong studio apartment, a voice I had never heard before. Had I left YouTube running before I fell asleep? The presence right beside me made that pretty unlikely, but I still clung to the hope as I lifted my head toward the sound.

"I asked thee where the well is."

What filled my vision was a woman lounging brazenly on my bed, calmly posing the question as if she owned the place. Golden hair, amber eyes, perked fox ears, and a whole bunch of fluffy-looking tails. A beauty so stunning my jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Y-you—how did you get in here?!"

In other words: a complete ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stranger had broken into my home.

"Calm thyself and sit."

"Calm down, my ass! Get out of my house right n—"

"When addressing me, show proper respect."

CRACK!

She furrowed her brow and flicked her hand, and something ugly crunched near my feet. Looking down, I found a patch of floor that had burst apart like it had been hit by a bomb. When I looked back at her, a massive violet flame was blooming from the traditional pipe in her hand.

…Getting hit by that would hurt a lot, wouldn't it?

"Sit."

"Yes, ma'am."

I dropped into the chair at once and politely rested both hands on my knees.

"Good. Art thou prepared to converse now?"

"I have calmed down completely."

"Fortunate. Hadst thou continued to thrash about, I was prepared to burn off an arm or so."

"H-haha…"

"'Tis but a jest. Do not look at me so."

Who the hell jokes about that kind of thing?

"My throat is dry. Might I trouble thee for a cup of water?"

"Yes. Here you are."

The silver lining was that she didn't seem actively hostile. The aura rolling off her said she was ridiculously strong—if she'd wanted me dead, she would have finished the job already. I handed her a cup of water and listened carefully.

"I shall introduce myself. I am Yeonbi, the Heavenly Demonic Golden Fox."

"Ah… right. I see. I'm Han Yuseong."

"A fine name. So then, why did you summon me to this place?"

The woman who called herself Yeonbi swayed her golden tails and tossed out a question that made no sense at all.

"Pardon? Summon you?"

"Was it not thee who called me here?"

"Me?"

I had just woken up. How was I supposed to have called anybody? I was about to ask what on earth she was talking about when a translucent window floated up in the air right in front of my face.

…What is this?

I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but it was still a status window—the translucent kind only Awakened could see.

"Um, could you wait just a moment?"

"Very well."

I needed to figure out the situation first, so I asked her to hold on and checked the notifications.

You've got to be kidding me.

It was real. I had actually become an Awakened while I was asleep. And in my half-conscious thrashing, I had used a skill and summoned some insane woman into my room.

"Art thou finished?"

"…Yes."

But what was I supposed to tell her? Sorry, I called you by accident in my sleep, so please go home now—yeah, that wasn't happening.

Wait. If I awakened as a Summoner, doesn't that mean I can just dismiss the summon?

Damn it. No good.

"If this summoning was without purpose…"

"D-do you happen to know of the Tower?"

"The Tower?"

"It's a place where monsters pour out as you climb each floor. I summoned you so I could get your help conquering it."

"Ah. So that is what thou callest a Tower. I am familiar with it."

The excuse I'd cooked up on the spot was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠"help with conquering the Tower." Now that I was Awakened and had a status window, I could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enter the Tower anytime, anywhere—so it was a pretty solid cover story.

There was one thing I failed to account for, though.

"Very well. Let us begin at once."

"Pardon? Right now?"

"Is there some reason we ought to dawdle?"

Namely: her personality was way more free-spirited than I expected. I figured we'd at least look up a strategy guide and make some preparations first, but she wanted to go in immediately.

Except I wasn't ready for any of that yet…?

"Um, do you happen to know any strategies for it?"

"I have no need of such things."

"…Yes, ma'am."

I swallowed my tears at her ironclad reply and hit the Tower entry button.

"We actually made it in…"

I looked around. The scenery was nothing like my studio apartment. Crumbling ruins stretched in every direction, and the only thing that stood out at all was a black fortress far in the distance. This was the moment it finally sank in—I was really inside the Tower.

But why was the difficulty showing as ???—was it a bug?

"Hoh… a landscape with a certain charm of its own."

"In what way, exactly?"

"Each soul perceives the world differently. Now then—what is the clear condition?"

I had no idea what she was sensing in a pile of collapsed buildings, but I relayed the clear condition anyway. She was treated as my summon, so it seemed she couldn't read the status window messages herself.

"Hmm… slay a knight, is it. Thou meanest the one at the peak of that fortress?"

"The peak of the fortress?"

"That ironclad lout yonder."

Following ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yeonbi's words, I squinted toward the top of the distant black castle. There might have been a humanoid shape up there… she could see that? It was hard to make out from here, but if it was wearing armor, that had to be the floor's boss monster—the Undead Knight.

"Very well. I shall end this at once. Stand back."

"Huh? What do you me—"

"'Tis a rare sight. Thou wouldst do well to fix it properly in thine eyes."

She ignored my confused questions, clamped the pipe between her lips, and exhaled a violet flame. This was nothing like the little spark I'd seen in my apartment—this was a fierce blaze that looked ready to burn anything and everything. The flames naturally coiled together in midair, swelling into a sphere that grew larger by the second, and the air around us turned blisteringly hot.

"Hey, wait a sec—"

By the time the orb had swollen to the size of a car, I sensed something was very wrong and tried to stop her, but—

"Violet Flame Pellet."

Her clear voice rang out, and the violet fireball shot toward the fortress with the speed of lightning. The moment it struck, a light so blinding it nearly stole my sight swallowed the castle whole.

When the glare faded, only barren wasteland remained where the fortress had stood.

And that—that was how I, less than an hour after awakening, cleared the Tower for the first time.

"Fufu… did you properly witness my majesty?"

Yeonbi preened, her fox ears twitching with smug satisfaction. I looked at the obliterated castle behind her and let out a hollow laugh.

So… that woman was my summon, huh?

"…Hahaha!"

Holy shit. My life just got good.