The Fox Yokai of Jirisan (1)

If I told someone I woke up as a fox, how many people would actually believe me? Probably none, except maybe the insane ones. Literally. I went to sleep and woke up as a fox—in the middle of some nameless forest far removed from civilization.

The question why kept circling through my head, but that wasn't what mattered right now. A living creature's most basic drive—survival instinct—was forcing my body to move.

In the Korean ecosystem, foxes are surprisingly classified as predators. Unlike other countries, the peninsula has so few apex predators that even a small fox sits near the top of the food chain. That doesn't mean they have no natural enemies, but running into one here is rarer than winning the lottery. In other words, surviving as a fox on the Korean peninsula isn't all that difficult.

On the peninsula, at least.

I looked around with my new, uncomfortably low perspective.

Fuck.

I cursed inwardly. I wasn't exactly a botanist, but I was certain this wasn't Korea. In fact, I doubted this vegetation existed anywhere on Earth. After all, a massive tree with a human face that could blot out the sky was standing right in front of me. What part of that belonged to our planet?

The damn thing was talking, whistling, and singing. This wasn't the Earth I knew. Which meant foxes here weren't at the top of the food chain.

I spun away from the singing tree and bolted into the forest. Prey. That was the role this unknown woodland had assigned me.

How does a fox cry? I bet most people have no idea. I certainly didn't. Their sound is so unfamiliar that a song called "What Does the Fox Say?" became a massive hit.

Today, for the first time in my life, I heard it.

"Kying, kying."

That's the answer. Foxes cry kying, kying. I had no idea.

I couldn't speak human words. In most novels, even if the protagonist reincarnates as a non-human, they can usually talk. But not me. All that came out of my mouth was pathetic fox whining.

Status window!

"Kying, kying."

Status window!

"Kying, kying."

Fuck! Status wiiiiindow!

"Kying."

This was bad. I'd assumed that waking up in an Eastern fantasy forest meant I'd at least get a status window. Instead, I couldn't even speak. It looked like I was stuck playing this otherworld life on super hardcore difficulty, unlike those typical protagonists.

The one silver lining was that my mind hadn't been turned into a fox's. I wasn't any stupider ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than before. If I kept my wits about me, maybe I could use humanity's overwhelming intellect to survive this dangerous yokai forest.

"Kying..."

Yeah, right. If a one-eyed flaming bear yokai jumped out in front of me right now, I'd be torn apart alive before I could resist. What good was knowledge then?

"Hek, hek, hek, hek..."

My brain had been working overtime, and now I was desperately thirsty. The way my tongue automatically lolled out at the thought of water reminded me once again of the nightmare that I'd reincarnated as a fox.

...First things first. Find water. While I was at it, I could check what I looked like.

Locating a puddle wasn't hard. I crouched down on all fours and began lapping at the water frantically. What a pathetic sight. Reincarnating as a fox was bad enough, but one with zero special abilities? Come on.

But then...

The reflection in the moonlit puddle didn't look like an ordinary fox at all.

Once my thirst was quenched, I finally took a proper look at myself. I had three tails.

...A three-tailed fox?

I wasn't a normal fox after all!

The creature staring back at me from the water was a mythical being—an imaginary species with multiple tails. The moment I realized that, I instinctively understood how to use fox magic.

Of course. Even if you fall into hell, you're not necessarily doomed to die right away.

I channeled the demonic energy stored in my tails and activated the spell. With a soft poof, white clouds billowed around me. When they cleared, I had transformed into the form of a ten-year-old child.

"I... I did iiiiiit!"

Human speech at last. I jumped around the puddle like an actual ten-year-old, cheering at the top of my lungs. I'd been terrified I'd have to live as a fox forever. Being able to turn human felt like salvation.

"Thank god... Thank god, thank god, thank god!"

I was so happy to have a human voice again that I kept muttering to myself. But something felt off. Even for a child, my voice was way too delicate. And my hair reached all the way down my back.

With a sinking feeling, I peered into the puddle again.

Perked up on top of my head were soft, snow-white animal ears.

Without thinking, I reached up and touched them. They were incredibly soft and squishy. The sensation was strangely addictive.

...Wait. Animal ears weren't the main issue here.

I studied my face carefully. No matter how I looked at it, this was a girl's face, not a boy's. Panicking, I ran my hands all over my body.

It was gone. Not there. Completely gone.

The one thing a man absolutely had to have was missing.

It seemed I'd reincarnated not as a male fox yokai, but as a female one.

The realization that I'd turned into a female fox overnight sent me into a brief panic, but I decided to shelve that particular crisis for later. There were more urgent problems to deal with.

I glanced around nervously to make sure no one was watching, then quietly spoke the word.

"...Status window."

Nothing happened.

I had a hunch. I focused my energy on the three tails sprouting above my rear. Demonic power began gathering in them.

Just as I suspected. It wasn't a status window, but a status assessment. Six tails maximum... I instinctively knew that summoning all six would put an enormous strain on my body.

My head spun from the sudden flood of information. I needed to find somewhere safe to organize my thoughts. Whether anywhere safe even existed in this place was another question, but standing around doing nothing would get me killed.

I released my transformation and began wandering the forest on four legs again. Someone might ask why I'd bother learning how to turn human only to walk around as a fox. Truthfully, I don't know. This form just felt more comfortable. If I had to compare it to something, being a fox was like wearing pajamas at home, while transforming into a human felt like getting fully dressed up to go outside.

After wandering aimlessly for several hours, I sensed a strange energy ahead.

...Demonic energy?

On the surface everything looked normal, but an incredibly powerful wave of yokai energy was pouring from up ahead. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Almost as if possessed, I walked toward the source.

Suddenly the space around me twisted. The scenery changed like a lie. The face-bearing tree became a regular pine. The writhing ground turned to solid earth. Moonlight became sunlight, and the heavy scent of ink transformed into fresh flower petals.

...What just happened?

My brain couldn't process it. When I looked back the way I'd come, I saw dark, ominous energy still leaking from a small three-meter-wide space. Some kind of portal?

I didn't understand what was going on, but this new area didn't seem as dangerous as the last one, so I followed the path forward.

That tree... wasn't that a pine? Did other worlds have pine trees too? Or maybe—

My question didn't last long. Soon I found a sign written in Hangul.

"Hell yeaaaaah!"

"Kying!"

The moment I saw the sign I cheered. I'd thought I was trapped in some hopeless otherworld, but stepping through that portal had brought me to Jirisan! I could transform into a human, wear a hat to hide my ears and tails, and live a normal life.

I used fox magic to transform again, then started down the mountain to find someone who could help me.

A short while later, thanks to my fox ears, I began picking up human voices in the distance.

"...Boss, this mission is..."

"...as soon as we find it..."

Relieved, I ran toward the sound of the voices. The closer I got, the clearer their conversation became. But the moment I understood what they were saying, a chill ran down my spine and I froze in my tracks.

Because what they were discussing was utterly terrifying.

"Haah... These fucking yokai bastards. If they're yokai, they should stay hidden away in the Hidden World like they're supposed to. Why do they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠keep coming out here?"

"How should I know? Look on the bright side, dumbass. The fact that yokai keep popping out of the Hidden World is what puts food on the table for civil servants like us."

"Fair point. So, sir, do we kill on sight this time too?"

"Obviously. The yokai energy radar says it's likely a fox yokai, so stay sharp. This is the first fox yokai ever discovered in Jirisan."

"Understood, don't worry. I'm ex-Special Forces, remember? The second I see it, I'll put a bullet right through its skull and—"

"Hey, wait. Stop. Load your weapon. It's right in front of us."

Fuck.

I'd been listening in a daze. The sound of a rifle being ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chambered snapped me out of it. I immediately dropped my transformation and ran for my life, tail between my legs.

That was the moment I realized the outside world was far more dangerous than the one I'd left behind.