After the Blue Light Fox (1)
The blue light fox left behind a quantity of demonic energy far beyond anything I could handle. The euphoric rush I had never once felt in my life made my entire body shiver. Only then did I finally understand why that fox had arrogantly called herself “this lady.” Anyone carrying this much overwhelming power had no choice but to become conceited.
…
It left a bad taste in my mouth. There was enough demonic energy here to last me a lifetime without ever needing to touch a human man, yet I had never wanted to steal it from her. Of course I was a fox with a strong attachment to life. I wanted to survive by any means necessary; that was exactly why I had ventured out of the dangerous hidden world of Jirisan in the first place. But I refused to live by taking another creature’s life.
With only three tails manifested I couldn’t contain it all, so I was half-forced to keep six tails out.
After that I went straight to the people whose livers had been devoured and treated them. Healing their wounds was easy. I simply burned their spilled, ruined bodies with fox fire. Flesh regenerated and blood stopped flowing. The healing power of fox fire at six tails was nothing short of phenomenal.
They were strangers to me. Worse, they were people who should have been my enemies. The reason I willingly spent my precious demonic energy to save them was simple: if I left them like this, they would die. Even if I called emergency services, they wouldn’t last until the ambulance arrived. I am not a psychopath. When you have the power to save lives and choose to do nothing, that is not how a person behaves.
Yes. A person saving another person is as natural as casting a net to catch fish.
After treating the men whose livers had been eaten, I moved on to the Force Arts user. Her condition was critical. Holes riddled her body and her neck had been bitten half off. It was a miracle she was still breathing. The mysterious power of Force Arts must have kept her alive.
Naturally I healed her with fox fire too. Her injuries were far worse than the others’, so I had to spend a significant amount of demonic energy—roughly a year of lifespan—but I didn’t regret it. I was saving a life, after all. Besides, the blue light fox had left me with far more demonic energy than I could ever need.
“Mmm…”
Ah. She was beginning to regain consciousness.
“Why am I still… Ah, you are…”
“Don’t speak. The treatment isn’t finished yet.”
“You… you saved me…?”
“…”
“Why…? You’re a yokai…”
“…It’s almost done, so keep your mouth shut.”
No. I am not a yokai. I am a person. Even if my outward appearance is that of a monster, I am the same as you.
I wanted to pour out my true feelings to this woman whose name I didn’t even know, but reality is cruel. No matter what lay in my heart, as long as I looked like a six-tailed fox yokai I was her enemy.
The treatment was nearly complete. She would need rest for a while, but her life was no longer in danger.
“There are more people collapsed over there. They look like government workers. Please take care of them.”
“They’re all alive? How…? You saved them too?”
“…”
I turned away from her and started moving. She forced her trembling body upright and called after me.
“W-wait! There’s something I really need to tell you—”
“I’m leaving.”
“Ah… then at least your name! Tell me your name…!”
The nameless woman was surprisingly persistent. For whatever reason she was intensely curious about me and had even asked for my name. …Honestly. She might be the first person in the world to ask a yokai for its name. What a strange person.
Still, it didn’t feel unpleasant, so I turned my head, smiled at her, and spoke.
“Miho.”
“Ah… uh, m-my name is…!”
Having given her my name, I turned away for real and hurried down the mountain. If I lingered any longer I had the strong feeling she would grab me and force a conversation.
Of course it was a shame. It had been nearly two years since I last spoke with a human, and I had enjoyed it. But nothing good ever comes from a human and a yokai talking. Besides, after an incident this big, the government wouldn’t stay quiet. Officials or reporters would soon swarm Jirisan.
…Still. I should have asked for her name too.
The shout echoed down from the mountain peak.
Lee Ha-neul. A good name. I memorized it.
A week had passed since the blue light fox yokai incident.
The “Jirisan Blue Light Fox Yokai Incident” was impossible to cover up, so it dominated the front pages of every newspaper.
The First Fox Yokai to Appear in 500 Years Since Observations Began
The Fox Yokai We Thought Was Stage 4 Was Actually Stage 3?
58 Casualties, 0 Deaths… The Miracle of Jirisan
Lee Ha-neul, the Force Arts User Who Defeated the Blue Light Yoho—Who Is She?
Lee Ha-neul, Once the Greatest Prospect of Her Generation, Draws Attention Once Again…
The Jirisan National Park Yokai Hunter Office, at the center of the incident, had been swamped with work. Like any government agency, they had been thrown straight back into their daily duties without time to recover. It was proof of just how powerful the healing effect of fox fire had been.
Fortunately the civil servants weren’t suffering from trauma. The joy of having survived a situation where death had seemed certain was stronger than any lingering fear. They cleaned up the site, cut down every tree tainted by demonic energy, planted new ones, and strengthened their forces so such a catastrophe would never happen again.
Lee Han-ul, the Grade 4 Senior Secretary who directed the entire operation from extermination to cleanup, found himself in a rather awkward position. It wasn’t because of the aftereffects of having his liver eaten. Like the others, the relief of still being alive had kept trauma at bay. It wasn’t because of a scolding from higher-ups, either. Despite ignoring the civil servant manual and nearly causing a total wipeout, he had instead received a ministerial commendation for subjugating a Stage 3 fox yokai.
The real reason Director Lee Han-ul was in trouble was the Yokai Hunter Office staff, who had begun enthusiastically indulging in “white fox” fandom.
“What the hell, Myeong-ho! Wasn’t this a limited edition of only fifty pieces? How on earth did you get one?”
“Hehehe… I won the lottery. Look at the quality. Pretty amazing, right?”
“The synchro rate is insane. White hair, traditional white robe—it’s practically identical! Though the fox ears on the head are a little disappointing.”
“It’s not a custom order, so we have to be satisfied with this. Still, this Tomoe character looks the most like the person who saved us.”
“And it has nine tails?”
“Ah… that’s the most disappointing part. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find a single six-tailed figure. At this rate we might have to pool our money and fund one ourselves.”
On that day of despair and the day their lives were saved, the staff of the Jirisan Yokai Hunter Office had witnessed two fox spirits. One was the blue light fox yokai that deserved to be torn apart. The other… was a beautiful young woman with white hair and six tails who had saved their lives. Deeply moved, they had begun obsessing over “white fox” merchandise.
Of course every single one of them, including Director Lee Han-ul, knew she was still just a yokai. Yet when giving interviews to reporters or writing reports, none of them mentioned the being who had saved their lives. Lee Han-ul had done the same. Even as the director of the office that anchored Jirisan, he could not bring himself to report the kind-hearted creature who had saved them.
Lee Han-ul let out another sigh. He didn’t regret protecting the white fox yokai, so that was fine. But watching his staff grow more and more obsessed with white fox merchandise, he couldn’t help sighing.
White fox here, white fox there. White fox posters. White fox T-shirts. White fox figures, white fox phone cases… The entire Jirisan Yokai Hunter Office had been plastered wall-to-wall with white fox memorabilia.
If the higher-ups ever saw this bizarre scene, he instinctively knew a simple reprimand would not be the end of it.