The Calculated Move
"Master. What happened?"
"Uh... that is..."
"Ahehehe..."
—*splash! splash!*
"Goddammit, how much did you do?"
"...I'll explain everything. Just listen."
The children's reactions were one and all cold. It was questionable why they'd come in right now.
Yeryung-im had fainted dead away where she lay.
"I told you to wait outside. Why did you come in now?"
"After you all left yesterday, a powerful energy from the earth surged up and swallowed this house whole. I could only watch helplessly from outside, but just now when it subsided, I came in."
"Right. Master was worried, and you waited outside all night. When he collapsed like that out of nowhere, it was alarming."
"But how were you snacking on rice cakes inside?"
"Ah-o..."
"...I'm sorry. And thank you."
"Tch."
They all looked thoroughly put out. It was concerning that they'd been standing in the cold all night.
"But this was a process that truly needed to happen."
"You'll need to explain convincingly enough for us to accept."
"Got it."
I had my reasons. The absorption of earth energy had to happen, and I'd simply used Yeryung-im as the medium.
"Let me show you first."
As they say, a hundred words are worth less than one look. The most certain thing was to show them right before their eyes.
—*Wuuung...
My body resonated with the surroundings. The air trembled slightly, and I began pulling the energies I felt inside myself out one by one.
"Master... what is that?!"
The first thing that burst forth was wood energy — the energy of trees.
It was the energy born from the first time I'd been with Cheonghwa.
—*Whoosh!*
"Hwanhyeon, when did you learn to handle something like that?"
"Since after I slept with you."
The second thing I expelled was fire energy.
It was the energy I'd gained after fully devouring Yuyeon.
—*Scrape! Scrape!*
The sound of metal being shaved away. Metal energy — the energy of gold and metal.
"...Familiar energy."
"That's because it came from you, Seolhye."
Finally, I pulled out water energy and earth energy in succession. Five energies in total now swirled around me.
"What is the reason for showing us this?"
"Yeah. This is what they call the Five Elements energy."
"I know. It originates from the five auspicious things that unravel the world."
Cheonghwa, as expected, had eyes that knew more than most.
"I don't think I've ever heard of it, though."
"Baek Seolhye, you'd forget it by tomorrow even if I told you now."
"Yuyeon. I'm not that much of an airhead. What do you take me for?"
"You forget whether you washed your hair after conditioning and then go squeeze out more shampoo."
"Guh...! How did you know?!"
Oh, Seolhye...
"The Western Seventh Mansion that you wield also communicates with the world through these energies as a medium. How could you not know?"
"...No, I did remember. I was afraid you might think of me as the forgetful blockhead, so I tried experimenting on you all. I'm quite disappointed to find you thought of me that way."
"..."
"Master. Don't look at me with that expression."
I felt sorry for her. When would our Seolhye ever escape the memory span of a goldfish?
"Anyway, as I mentioned briefly earlier, these energies all came from you all. They're the energies governed by each Divine Beast."
"I've never given you my energy, though."
"I already told you. After sleeping with Yuyeon, you gained the ability to wield fire energy."
"...You mean sex is the condition?"
"Yeah."
Contrary to her appearance, Yuyeon was smarter than Seolhye.
"Why are you looking at me the way you look at Seolhye?"
"...No. Nothing."
"Master, what does that have to do with the act we just witnessed? Did Heavenly Fox Teacher govern earth energy, perhaps...?"
"Ah, I'll explain that too."
The energies I'd received from the four of them were all extremely distinctive, and overusing them would throw off the balance and be fatal to the body. To mediate this, I needed to obtain earth energy, which governs harmony. That earth energy slumbered beneath the Divine Sandalwood Tree, so coming here and absorbing it was necessary.
"...Roughly something like that."
"I understand. So that's why Heavenly Fox Teacher said she had to come here."
"That's the idea. Honestly, I don't fully understand either. All I know is this much."
I laid out what I knew in my own words. This much should clear up any misunderstandings.
"Hey. So you could've absorbed it without doing that. You could've just done it yourself."
"...Huh?"
"That's also a valid point. Why did you need to go through Heavenly Fox Teacher to absorb it?"
"..."
Now that I thought about it, after I came to my senses, I could've just absorbed the surrounding energies myself and settled them.
"...No. Yeryung-im gathered all the surrounding energies and—"
Could it be...
"It was this, you crazy fox woman! She gobbled up all the ambient energy and was determined to transfer it through sex!"
"Indeed. If you concentrate the naturally emitted energies in an instant, it becomes extremely difficult for others to absorb them."
"...I have no idea what you're talking about. Someone, explain?"
"Shut up, blockhead."
"...What? Blockhead?"
Seolhye couldn't even understand this much.
There must have been earth energy overflowing here. The Primordial Gate existed beneath the Divine Sandalwood Tree, and small amounts seeped up to the surface, which would have accumulated in this place.
But if someone had absorbed it all and concentrated it, the only way to obtain earth energy here was to take it from that person.
"Could it be... Yeryung-im was after it..."
"If it was a simple one-time sexual act, it wouldn't be a major issue."
"Right? Her judgment might have been a bit clouded..."
"But if there was an intentional attempt to influence the aftermath of the act, it would be worth suspicion."
"..."
Words I'd overheard in the middle of the night come back to me.
"I'll give you a hole made just for Master from now on! Stop it!!"
"Being near you makes me go into heat randomly..."
"I want to be your partner."
"Ugh."
The things that happened at night probably shouldn't be brought up. Today's events should be wrapped up as a simple mishap, and I should avoid any further damage to Yeryung-im's pride.
"The fact is that Master is getting better. That's enough for me."
"Enough? How is that enough! That old virgin fox woman might have been trying to pounce on our Hwanhyeon!"
"Calm down. Yuyeon, it wasn't what you're thinking."
First, I needed to defend Yeryung-im. It was an incident caused by momentary clouded judgment, not an intentional seduction.
"Yeryung-im isn't that kind of person..."
"Mm... Hwanhyeon-ah..."
"...Im?"
Yeryung-im woke up at an awkward moment. She hadn't fully finished yet, so I'd been waiting for her to collapse a bit more...
"Mmm... you said to call you by your name..."
"No, Im. Come to your senses. Right now, while you're—"
—*Gulp!*
"I said I'd give you my body as a partner..."
"..."
"You know I love you a lot, right...?"
"...Yeah. So please come to your senses..."
"Mm. If you scratch my back, I'll open my eyes..."
—*Crunch!*
"I can't watch any more of this."
"...?!"
"There was a reason the Sacred Halls warned against you. You really are a depraved fox demon who stole the blood of the noble lineage and ran."
"...Cheonghwa. Were you the one who'd been watching me this whole time?"
"That insane woman... did she seduce and strip our Hwanhyeon?"
"Th-That's..."
"Oh! You're awake! How's your body? What about your lower abdomen? The first time I did it, my legs were a bit shaky and my lower belly trembled like crazy."
Seolhye still didn't understand the situation.
"Seolhye, let me explain simply. That heat-crazed woman intentionally channeled energy into her own body so she could receive Master's seed and induced sex."
"...What?"
"We've been repeating the same thing several times now. Are you starting to get it?"
"I knew! Stop treating me like an idiot!"
The gazes directed at Yeryung-im were even fiercer than when they'd all rushed in moments ago.
"...I'm disappointed. I didn't think you'd be that kind of person."
"No. Let me explain everything. Listen to me..."
Even as Yeryung-im pleaded like that, Cheonghwa and Yuyeon's expressions didn't change.
And now even Seolhye, who was beginning to understand the situation, had joined them.
"Go ahead and say it once."
"..."
Yuyeon pushed forward as usual, dropping the formal speech entirely. Normally, the old lady would have snapped "Use formal speech!" but she just kept her head down.
"It was all an act for treatment. There was no other intention."
"What about saying 'partner'?"
"Ugh... that was... just to hype myself up..."
"What about saying to call you by your name?"
"..."
Her mouth was gradually closing shut. She'd been hit with these difficult questions the moment she came to her senses, and her expression was truly bewildered.
"So. You schemed to have Hwanhyeon, didn't you?"
"...What are you even talking about?"
"You could've just gotten him to absorb it himself after clearing his head. That's all you had to do, right?"
It wasn't. I trusted Yeryung-im. I had a nagging thought on the side, but I believed she wasn't the kind of person who'd scheme with base intentions.
"..."
"Im?"
"..."
"...Is this really true?"
"...I'm sorry. Forget what happened at night."
Ugh.
Why is this the truth?
"Yeah. I did something terrible."
"So you're confessing now. How does it feel to have raped your Master?"
"Hold on, Cheonghwa. I didn't hate it, exactly..."
"Hwanhyeon, you were shockingly raped by someone you only knew as a guardian. It must have been shocking. It's okay. I'm here."
"No! I enjoyed it too—"
"Seolhye. Can you hug Hwanhyeon?"
—*Squeeeze!*
"Hmph! Hnngh!"
Seolhye shoved her chest forward and wrapped her arms around the back of my head. Because of that, I couldn't speak.
Meanwhile, the cornered woman spoke in a small, creeping voice.
"...But what am I supposed to do about how good you smell..."
...So that was why she'd inhaled deeply at the very beginning and smelled my scent.
I'm sorry for not being able to protect you...