Chapter 69
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Independent Path
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My consciousness is hazy.
Just moments ago, I was sparring with that yokai named Liliet.
What in the world is this sudden situation?
‘It’s dark.’
Even through my foggy mind, I could clearly sense the surrounding darkness.
Or rather, it wasn’t sensing—it was naturally registering.
‘Where is this?’
In the pitch-black surroundings, everything was silent.
Mi-na immediately tried to gather her energy, but her body shuddered.
‘I can’t move.’
Her dantian felt like it had turned to stone.
The rigid mass wouldn’t budge an inch.
‘…It’s not just the energy.’
The yokai nature she possessed.
The blood of the demon fox was also dormant.
What on earth had happened?
As she pondered this deeply,
Woooong—.
Suddenly, the space trembled faintly.
A path emerged within it.
But there were countless such paths.
Like the branches of an ancient tree, their number seemed to stretch into the hundreds, vast and sprawling.
Mi-na approached the entrance of one such path.
The moment she did,
Woooong—.
The faint energy trembled once more, rippling through the space,
and before long, her surroundings were filled with white mist.
Within that mist, she saw one person.
‘…Me?’
It was Mi-na herself.
Though there were slight differences:
her attire wasn’t the same as now, her fighting style differed, and even the basic shape of her face was a bit off.
Unlike herself, this version exuded a more mature aura that even Mi-na found alluring.
Seductive and decadent.
Unlike Mi-na, who wore a special bra to bind her large chest during battle to avoid hindrance,
this misty self wore clothes that boldly exposed her cleavage, captivating the surroundings.
When that self turned around,
Mi-na realized.
‘Nine tails. A nine-tailed fox.’
Was this a series of messages from her ancestors?
The thought crossed her mind, but she shook her head.
How could a long-extinct being send messages?
‘Then, my future?’
No. She’d never heard of anyone who could see the future.
There were tales of superhumans called prophets in distant foreign lands, but even their existence was unconfirmed.
‘It’s unlikely I’ve suddenly gained the ability to see the future.’
So, the calm conclusion was one.
‘It’s showing possibilities, not the future.’
A form synthesized from her bloodline, experiences, and growth directions.
‘And those countless paths are the choices I can make?’
Mi-na experimentally approached another path.
Mist rose again, revealing a three-dimensional image of herself.
She had blonde hair like now.
But the difference was,
‘Yang energy is the main force. Yin energy only supports it. It can’t output beyond that.’
Still, she wielded tremendous power.
The misty self possessed strength that mocked high-ranking exorcists.
‘What about the others?’
She wandered further,
and realized her countless possibilities ultimately branched from ‘two frameworks.’
‘Paths focusing on yin or on yang.’
For instance, the yin-focused path couldn’t hide its tails.
Nine tails swayed, as if advancing further as a yokai.
Conversely, the yang-focused path never revealed tails.
Instead, it applied yin energy to spells, clashing with yang for even greater power.
‘I get it. It wants me to choose.’
Human.
Or yokai.
The fork laid before her urged her to pick one of the two.
The mist thickened gradually.
Mi-na swallowed hard, staring at it.
“I…”
Deep contemplation enveloped her.
“Mm.”
Mi-na’s sparring came to a halt midway.
Fierce attacks.
They had even pierced Liliet’s renowned defense, if only slightly.
Yet, instead of following up, she stared blankly into empty space, full of openings.
Liliet smiled at her.
“She’s entered the crossroads.”
Crossroads.
“Looks like it.”
Bihyeong glanced at the message floating before his eyes.
[A Crossroads Appears!]
After suddenly performing an astonishing feat that startled even him, two constitutions were acknowledged, leading him into this crossroads.
But Bihyeong had no idea what this crossroads entailed.
At that moment, countless messages chimed in rapid succession before his eyes.
[Subordinate, ‘Mi-na Hwang,’ stands before the Legacy ‘White-faced Golden-furred Nine-tailed Fox.’]
[Subordinate, ‘Mi-na Hwang,’ stands before the Legacy ‘Fox Society Hierarchy.’]
[Subordinate, ‘Mi-na Hwang,’ stands before the Legacy…]
A barrage of notifications surged like arrows.
All of them were legacies Mi-na could obtain—the very crossroads she faced.
Looking at them, one thought struck Bihyeong.
‘It’s like a job change.’
Upon reaching a certain level, it shows job options and their effects—just like that.
Of course, there were no actual job changes.
Skills had to be learned through genuine effort; picking an option wouldn’t grant them instantly.
However,
‘With “legacy” attached, it’ll accelerate her growth.’
At the very least, embodying the contents of those legacies would be immensely helpful.
It meant gaining insights or experiences from various superior techniques.
But.
‘She’s hesitating.’
In Bihyeong’s eyes, Mi-na seemed to waver between the crossroads.
And rightly so—the ongoing chime of messages showed how deeply she agonized.
‘She can’t decide which is best.’
As Bihyeong stroked his chin, he noticed something odd about the option names.
‘One side blatantly features nine-tailed fox or fox-related names.’
But the other lacked any such hints.
In fact, didn’t it emphasize ‘human’ instead?
Bihyeong had encountered a similar situation before.
‘Half-yokai must choose one path: human or yokai side.’
His own true calling.
The trigger that freed him from the story’s bounds.
Half-yokai had to decide at some point which side to align with.
Mi-na’s options seemed exactly that.
‘Whichever she picks, I won’t abandon her.’
But.
‘If possible, wouldn’t it be better to choose a superior option?’
She could already handle yin and yang energy to some extent simultaneously.
The move she unleashed on Liliet earlier had startled even Bihyeong.
Of course, he could do it too. Even better.
But that stemmed from his shed skin and innate ability to wield yin-yang energies.
For Mi-na, who hadn’t even shed her skin or reached mid-rank, it was a profoundly distant feat.
‘Thinking about it pisses me off. She’s my Night Parade member— who are you to dictate her path?’
Bihyeong’s brow twitched, and his hand instinctively summoned the Night Parade of One Hundred Yokai’s harmony.
‘What’s needed now… is Perfect Neutrality.’
Coexistence of the two energies, producing synergistic effects.
That alone would alter the paths before her dramatically.
As Bihyeong prepared to lend Perfect Neutrality with that intent,
[Subordinate, ‘Mi-na Hwang’s’ asset list lacks anything to lend ‘Perfect Neutrality.’]
“Huh?”
Doesn’t exist?
‘Just lending one achievement?’
No, it wasn’t a mere achievement.
Strictly speaking, it balanced the yokai-human ratio to prevent collapse—a grand equilibrium.
Still, nothing in Mi-na’s assets to borrow it? Unexpected.
‘Just from memories alone, two SSS and two SS.’
Plus derived story learnings, and currently constitutions like Ogi Formation and Waiting Crescent Star.
And yet, no?
Bihyeong tossed her assets onto the scale indiscriminately.
The scale tipped toward Perfect Neutrality refused to budge.
‘Tch!’
Fine. Let’s see who wins.
With that resolve, he began placing Mi-na’s assets one by one on the scale’s weight,
and bit by bit, ever so slightly, Perfect Neutrality began to lift.
Just before the scale fully balanced, leaving a tiny margin,
Bihyeong saw it.
“...Huh?”
All of Mi-na’s assets were on the scale.
‘…Then what about Mi-na?’
As if answering, a message appeared.
[Subordinate, ‘Mi-na Hwang,’ steps onto the scale herself.]
What!?
It happened before he could react.
[Achievement, ‘Perfect Neutrality,’ is applied!]
The final weight tipped.
“I…”
It was a decision worth agonizing over,
but since it was already set, her answer came swiftly.
“I want to become like Bihyeong.”
No.
“I want to walk by Bihyeong’s side.”
Neither yokai nor human.
A path unbound by any shackles.
Solitary and free from interference,
yet Mi-na sensed it would be long and lonely.
That’s why she wanted to walk it together.
To offer her embrace whenever he felt lonely or overwhelmed.
Thus,
“I reject all of you.”
At those words, countless legacies rebelled.
What makes you think you’re so special?
Does superior talent make everything trivial?
They seemed to rant.
[Legacy, ‘Yellow Dragon of Dragon Fountain River,’ closes its eyes.]
[Legacy, ‘White-faced Golden-furred Nine-tailed Fox,’ turns away.]
[Legacy…]
Countless tales.
The history they wove and accumulated.
The weight of those vast eons crushed Mi-na’s shoulders.
‘Kuh…!’
Her legs trembled, her mind unable to withstand the ancient eras, her brain seeming to burn.
Yet one face surfaced in her thoughts.
Mi-na drew strength from that alone.
‘…Huh?’
Thanks to it?
She perceived the oncoming changes faster than ever.
‘Yokai power… and spiritual power are returning.’
No.
Strictly speaking, they weren’t returning.
Originally, her yokai and human natures.
Both had lost function upon entering this place.
Due to the compulsion of choice.
But now.
As Perfect Neutrality applied to her body, the two natures no longer clashed.
This process distorted every path before her.
Kurururung!
Paths crumbled.
Legacies wailed.
In the space refilled with darkness, amid the silent echoes of histories’ sorrowful cries.
“……”
Mi-na watched a single path gradually form before her.
A precarious path that seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
Yet, strangely, irresistibly alluring.
Mi-na stepped onto that path.
[Pioneering an Independent Path!]
[Legacy, ‘Fox Ancestor Master,’ begins writing the story’s prologue!]
And simultaneously,
her fourth tail brilliantly formed.