The Disciplinary Committee (1)

It had exerted a profound influence on the story.

The moment those words met his eyes, Bihyung's eyes flew wide. What? I'm not seeing things, am I? He rubbed them and checked again, but the notification that had surfaced did not change.

A silent cheer burst out of him. Nice! I already cleared that?

Influencing the story — whether for good or for ill — was an extraordinary feat. It means I produced a result big enough to step off the path laid down for the character. And that, in turn, meant a massive advantage would be folded into his clear rating for the main story.

Of course… the story that was already planned might change because of it. Fretting over that now wouldn't tell him a thing. A half-yokai was something even Bihyung, drowned to the gills in the endgame of the Reader's Chronicle, had never known existed. Naturally there was no story written for this character, and not a single hint of an ending either.

So he focused on what he could take right now.

Usually, when a notice like that pops, every reward you can earn by pushing the story gets better across the board, doesn't it? He meant the rewards aside from the performance bonus. As a rule, the growth potential of NPCs tied to the user rose, and the grade of currency and items you'd pick up from then on climbed with it.

That was why users called influencing the story a hidden inside the hidden. It didn't reach a hidden piece, but even ordinary farming drops took a qualitative leap.

Anyway — what earned me an evaluation like that?

Bihyung opened the notification log.

Reading that far, Bihyung felt something strangely off. What?

Kicked aside? Was that an insult? The way it's phrased, it sounds like I messed up.

But he did not regret his choice in the slightest. And as if to prove the result, the message that followed praised him.

No… I really wasn't thinking anything that grand.

The message ended there.

…No. I'm telling you, I wasn't moving on thoughts that huge. Refuse a fixed heavenly mandate? The will to pioneer his own path? What kind of nonsense is this?

All he had done was find that he couldn't stand by and watch Mina. He had felt for someone in a plight like his own, and thought that if he had ever looked like that, he would have wanted somebody — anybody — to reach out a hand. That feeling was the whole of it.

Still, though… The system had gone and wrapped it up nicely on its own. Asking about it now would only make the picture look strange.

More to the point, when's it going to hand over the performance reward? Having seen a message like that, it seemed worth aiming for EX-grade again this time. The payout ought to be fat again, right? A bloodline selection right, or an art selection right. And the key to the warehouse on top of it. Even getting the same things as last time would be plenty good in its own way.

Just imagining it made his mouth water, so Bihyung checked the system with his heart in his throat —

Oh, for— damn it.

At the message that rose, he put on a face that said of course and swallowed a sigh. And when exactly is it planning to give me this one?

Even so, when he had cleared Act 1, Chapter 1, the reward had come within a few days. If he thought of that, he could wait a little.

What matters more is Mina. He had to use the effect of the Baekgwi Yahaeng quickly and conceal her yokai core. They had kicked up this kind of commotion in the middle of the academy; people would be arriving before long.

Bihyung brought his Baekgwi Yahaeng to bear — and was briefly thrown by the message that surfaced right after.

…Mina's status window? I can see this?

Seeing another person's status window was all but impossible. Even the Exorcist Association, the very body that had distributed power like this, could not grasp every individual's window. The moment an art took root in the body, control belonged wholly to that person alone.

And Mina's window had stepped clean past the ordinary. A still-locked bloodline was visible, and so were her race, her stats, and the proficiency of her techniques.

Is this another ability newly opened in the Baekgwi Yahaeng? Because he had to confirm just how much in the way of assets the other party held? On a whim he tried Eodugi as well, and a status window that had not been there before rose into view.

What an incredible ability. Once someone came under him, he could see exactly how they ought to be developed. Even inside the Reader's Chronicle, no ability had ever shown an effect this exceptional for growth. It was more than enough to startle Bihyung, if only for a moment.

Well. Only that far, though. To use the ability he had to bring them into the Baekgwi, and common sense said that finding anyone to put in after Mina would not be easy. And what actually startled me wasn't so much the window turning on as the potential Mina has.

The Lineage of the Demon Fox alone had received a grade of SSS. The seat directly beneath his own EX. A race that wasn't even among the options back when I first chose a yokai nature. The finest of the natures he had seen then was Dragon, and even that grade had fallen short of SSS.

…On the forums they said a dragon starts out as an imugi, a serpent not yet a dragon. If that was true, then of course? Anyway. Even setting that aside, this is no joke.

Two bloodlines tied to talent alone, and both of them SS or higher. Converted into Rank, that was about the 8th Rank. Aptitude that could punch through the ceiling without breaking a sweat.

…Put another way, if I register those as assets, I can share them too, can't I?

He swallowed. The dry click of it came on its own.

Bihyung immediately told Mina what he had learned and got her consent — he would need to enter her bloodlines as assets; was that all right?

"Yeah. It's fine."

He registered her bloodline as an asset at once.

At once he bestowed on her yokai core the special property of his own Not a Drop Leaks, and felt her yokai power vanish without a trace.

Her presence… I'll have to find some other way for that. She still had little yokai power, so it ought to be hideable for now. And I don't sense anyone nearby yet.

Then, first, they needed an alibi for what had happened…

"What do we do about that?"

The two-tailed fox's corpse, sprawled on the floor. He was already at a loss for how to dispose of the thing. The signs of a fight nearby I can pass off as a clash with an anomaly… but the bloodstains strewn everywhere, those I won't be able to hide.

He was still worrying over it when Mina rose and looked down at her own hand.

"It's okay, Bihyung. I'll take care of that."

"Huh?"

"I just know, somehow. It came out of my blood in the first place… Yeah. Seems like I can take it back."

Mina slowly reached toward the two-tailed fox's corpse. At the motion of her hand, the body sprawled on the floor and the bloodstains around it scattered like dust, then began to be drawn into her.

A soft rustle.

The red of the corpse, the fresh blood of the stains — all of it became golden powder and seeped into Mina's flesh. For an instant, both her golden eyes and her golden hair seemed to blaze with a brilliant light.

And then, clear in Bihyung's eyes, the shape of her presence revealed itself.

…Tails. She grew tails. Two of them.

The very ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tails the two-tailed fox had borne. Together with them, fox ears sprouted vivid upon her soul.

A notification chimed at the same moment.

The only bloodline that had been locked had just awakened.

At the same time, a stat that had not existed before took its place on her status window.

Bihyung's mouth fell open at the sight.

This is… a talent monster? Some people have to clear the main story just to open a single bloodline. Somebody else clicks an ancestor's corpse and it unlocks on its own. Who set this difficulty? Is this even right?

…Whew. If we weren't in the same party, I might have keeled over from sheer envy.

Still, she was one of his now. Congratulating her on the growth was the least he could do. He had just made up his mind and started up from his seat toward her when —

"…Ah."

A sweet breath slipped out, and the eyes Mina turned on him shone with a bewitching light. Somehow… she even looked a little seductive.

"…Mina? If something's gone wrong again, tell me quickly, all right? I need time to make a plan……"

He was saying it in a rush when she answered.

"Hm? What?"

Her eyes had gone back to the way they usually were. …Had he simply misread it?

Or was that, just now, an effect of Beauty to Topple Kingdoms? Thinking on it, a gumiho had from ancient times been a yokai that bewitches people and eats their livers. Seen that way, the change she had just shown was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entirely plausible.

"…It's nothing."

"You're no fun."

Mina let out a soft puff of laughter and came trotting up beside him. "It feels strange. Yokai power? That hasn't gone up, but something's changing inside my body."

She herself could not yet guess what the change meant.

"Once I've got a handle on all of it, I'll tell you."

"You don't really have to…"

"Come on. We're one family now, aren't we?"

As she said it, that same bewitching air rose again from her whole body. Even the playful way she linked her arm through his was… something.

Bihyung had gone stiff as a statue when —

"……!"

Sensing something, he immediately sent Eodugi back between the shadows.

"Lord?"

At Eodugi's question, Bihyung gave a low warning.

"They're coming."

"…And what, precisely, is coming, my lord?!"

"…The Guardian Corps."

They guarded the academy. Each of them was still only early Middle Rank, and yet, once they brought the Arrest Art to bear, they had the skill to detain even someone at the very threshold of High Rank. Their charge inside the academy was to investigate when an incident broke out, and to set the weight of the discipline.

Yes. From this moment on, the Disciplinary Committee would convene.