A Yokai With a Heart
After Miho and Lee Ha-neul left the interrogation room, Grade 4 Senior Secretary Lee Han-ul remained alone inside. He scratched at his thinning hair with vigor, sinking deep into thought.
The director shuddered as he recalled Miho's words. She called it a request, but it was essentially a threat. She was a great yokai estimated to be at least Second Rank. With one flick of her wrist, the entire Jirisan Yokai Hunter Office could be wiped off the map. From the start, he had no right to refuse her.
Director Lee Han-ul had no choice but to accept her if he wanted to protect this office. Even if her presence could aid yokai research. Even if she seemed friendly toward humans. At the end of the day, she was still a yokai, not human.
It was utterly insane for the Yokai Hunter Office to take in a yokai. That alone explained why Lee Han-ul was frantically scratching at what little hair he had left.
If the higher-ups ever learned of this outrageous act—harboring a yokai within these walls—it wouldn't end with a simple disciplinary hearing. Lee Han-ul was certain of that.
'Still... it's not entirely negative. I can't decide whether to call that fortunate or not.'
There were still so many questions he wanted to ask her. The research potential was overflowing. And with her help, yokai extermination would become far easier. Lee Han-ul made up his mind.
Since things had come to this, he would make full use of her.
…Of course, that meant catering to her every whim.
If he served her bad food? She had declared she would burn the entire office to the ground.
No matter what, Lee Han-ul vowed to protect this Yokai Hunter Office.
He gave an order to the subordinate watching the situation through the transparent glass wall.
"Hey, Jong-cheol."
> Yes, Director.
"...Find me a good Korean restaurant. One that does excellent stews and ttukbaegi bulgogi. And look up a boneless chicken place too. Drumstick meat only!"
> Understood…
The full tour of the Yokai Hunter Office was postponed until tomorrow. It was already late, and the daytime staff were starting to head home. There wouldn't be much useful information to gather right now.
I watched the busy employees hurrying about. They were probably pulling overtime just to prepare a place for me to sleep. A twinge of guilt hit me, but it vanished the moment I caught them sneaking glances my way with those creepy, perverted smiles.
Why are they acting like that?
I stretched out on the sofa prepared in one corner of the break room and waited. Before long, Lee Ha-neul approached me carrying a cup of coffee.
"Do you drink this too…?"
"Coffee!"
"...You do. Here you go."
I grabbed the iced americano that was radiating cold air. Just look at this murky color. It looks so dirty…! In a completely different way from cola.
There was no point hesitating any longer. I opened my mouth wide, clamped down on the straw, and sucked the murky liquid deep into my mouth.
The bitter yet rich coffee stimulated my tongue. A pleasant roasted aroma tickled my nose.
Sluuuuuuuuuuurp.
I downed the entire iced americano in one shot.
"Kyaha!"
"Y-you drank the whole thing in one go…?"
"..."
"...?"
I stared silently at the iced coffee Lee Ha-neul was still holding. The meaning was obvious: hand it over.
But she was a greedy woman, full of possessiveness over her own things. With no intention of sharing, she started gulping down her own drink just as frantically as I had.
Repaying kindness with betrayal… What a petty woman.
So. Why had she been staring at me and mumbling to herself since earlier?
The sight was so frustrating that I spoke up first.
"Do you have something you want to say to me?"
"Ah, um, well… that is… uhhh…"
After agonizing for a long time, Lee Ha-neul finally lowered her head deeply and apologized.
"I'm sorry!"
"...?"
"I really wanted to apologize to you. I'm sorry for misunderstanding the situation and attacking you first. And thank you for saving my life. I mean that sincerely."
"Ah…"
Now that she mentioned it, this woman had charged at me with murderous intent the first time we met. Her attitude had changed so completely that I'd totally forgotten about it.
"The truth is, I've been searching for a yokai like you for a very long time, Miho."
"A yokai like me? You mean a fox yokai?"
"No."
Her next words caught me slightly off guard.
"A yokai with a heart."
"..."
"For the longest time, I believed without a doubt that yokai had no hearts. But you, Miho… you're clearly a yokai with a heart. A warm one that knows how to treasure people…"
"Yeah, well."
I'd never once thought of myself as a warm-hearted yokai. As I'd said many times before, I'm not a psychopath who could watch people die right in front of me and simply ignore it. People just happened to collapse in front of me, and I happened to have the power to save them. That was all.
Once the conversation started flowing, Lee Ha-neul began bombarding me with questions.
"When we first met, you had three tails and looked like an incredibly cute little kid… Why do you look so mature now?"
"I absorbed that blue fox yokai and my yokai energy increased."
"Ehh… You can absorb other yokai's energy?"
"Only from the same species. By the way, I'm the only fox yokai left in this world now."
"Uh… that sounds like incredibly important information… Is it okay for me to tell the director about this?"
"Do whatever you want."
I answered her honestly. Unlike the director, her questions came from pure curiosity rather than an attempt to extract information. Besides, having a real conversation with a human after two years was enjoyable for me too. I had no reason to avoid it.
She asked if she could stroke my head. I said no. If she could touch my tail. I said no. Where I learned human knowledge. I didn't answer. Whether other yokai had hearts too. I said yes.
After all, Depo—er, not Ramjwi Thunder, Depo—was a yokai with a heart who could speak human language. I didn't go into detail about that.
Most yokai with hearts stayed secluded within the Hidden World, living in peace. Of course they wanted to avoid friction with humans, but the main reason was that the Hidden World was simply too good an environment for yokai. There was no reason for them to risk danger by venturing outside.
In fact, the only one who ever complained about life in the Hidden World was me, a former human.
Of course, there were occasionally heartless yokai who wandered into the Hidden World or were born there naturally. Without exception, those yokai picked fights with the heartful ones… like mudfish that dirtied clear waters.
Driving out such uninvited guests was the job of Sangun, the ruler of the Hidden World.
For reasons unknown, Sangun had gathered the heartful yokai and created the Hidden World here in Jirisan. Was it to protect humans? Or to protect yokai from humans? No one knew Sangun's true purpose.
Not Depo, the information broker of Jirisan. Not Janghwa Hyeonyo, who had stood in place singing for hundreds of years. Not even Mangtae Grandfather, who had survived since the barbaric era hundreds of years ago.
After all, how could mere yokai possibly fathom the mind of an absolute being?
"Ah, looks like it's ready! Let's go, Miho. I'll show you around."
My thoughts had wandered for too long. I silently followed behind Lee Ha-neul.
What a good morning. An insanely good morning.
"Grrrr, grrrrrrr."
I'd woken up early and was rumbling contentedly, swishing my tails back and forth. The happiness of sleeping in a proper bed after two years was beyond words.
Why on earth wouldn't they embrace such convenient human inventions? Once I obtained information about the Crown Prince's Divine Artifact and returned to the Hidden World, I would strongly suggest to Sangun that we import some beds.
Today I would take a full look around the Yokai Hunter Office and make plans for how to gather information.
Of course, even the most beautiful mountain is best appreciated after a meal. Time to fill my stomach first.
I spoke toward the CCTV camera installed on the ceiling of the makeshift room they'd prepared for me.
"Breakfast please. Honey toast. Iced americano. Brunch!"
But even after waiting five minutes, there was no response.
…Could they not hear me?
No way. They'd installed a CCTV to monitor me openly, so they must have planted a real-time listening device somewhere too.
After thinking for a moment, I focused power into my tail and began releasing my yokai energy.
A thousand tiny foxfires bloomed from my energy and scattered in every direction, scanning every object in the room.
It didn't even take a few seconds to locate the listening device.
…Huh. It was attached to the clock hands.
Some employee was probably watching the CCTV feed in real time. I wondered if they'd go insane from the constant ticking.
Anyway, I picked up the clock and shouted directly at the hands.
"Give me breakfast! I'm hungry!"
Crash!
The clock shattered, unable to withstand the yokai energy infused in my voice.
Uh. Um. This isn't my fault.
It's your fault for serving breakfast so late.