The Price of Survival

One month had passed since my audience with Sangun. Unfortunately, I still hadn't figured out how to absorb yogi. I swallowed my pride and went to ask the old tiger one more time, but all he said was, "Begone." What a stingy damn tiger. Still, it wasn't like I'd spent the entire month just lazing around.

The technique that channeled yogi through my tails, Fox Arts, turned out to be far more versatile than I'd expected.

It was so impressive that I actually felt embarrassed for having despaired over being reincarnated as an ordinary fox. But there was one tiny little problem.

Using Fox Arts required an enormous amount of yogi.

Since I still hadn't learned how to absorb it, every time I used the technique I was basically shaving away my own lifespan. On top of that, the power of Fox Arts scaled with the number of tails I manifested.

With three tails out, Fox Arts — Foxfire could barely heal a single blister. With four tails, it could handle small scrapes pretty decently. I hadn't tested anything beyond that. Since yogi was essentially my life force, I wasn't about to go around deliberately injuring myself just to test healing effects.

Right now, I was far from overflowing with yogi. I'd never absorbed any since becoming a fox spirit, so having a lot of it would actually be weird. If I just sat around doing nothing but breathing, I figured I could probably last about five years.

Naturally, the more I used Fox Arts, the shorter my lifespan became.

In other words, whether I liked it or not, I had to figure out how to absorb yogi as soon as possible if I didn't want to die.

This was so frustrating.

As a modern person who'd lived in the 21st century, I was used to looking up anything I didn't know on the internet. Sadly, yokai society was a primitive world with zero scientific development. Shouldn't a proper leader adopt at least some cultural reverence for advanced civilization? In that sense, Sangun had already failed as a leader. He kept spouting cryptic nonsense about how I had to choose whether to become a seonho or an akho.

If I could, I'd love to sneak out of the Hidden World and steal a smartphone from one of the hikers on Jirisan. But leaving in my current state would basically be suicide. According to the squirrel yokai Depo, there were humans called "Taoist masters" or "Force Arts users" who specialized in hunting yokai. Even the strongest yokai were advised to avoid fighting them at all costs.

If I stayed here, I'd never figure out how to absorb yogi and would eventually die when my lifespan ran out. But if I went outside, I'd either get killed by yokai hunters or shot by the Jirisan park rangers I'd met before.

…I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to do.

While I was sitting alone on a tree branch, clutching my head in frustration—

"Miho! Miho, Miho, Miho, Miho!"

Well, speak ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the devil. It wasn't the tiger, but Depo the squirrel thunder who showed up. Did this guy have nothing better to do? He came to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see me once a day, chattered nonstop, then left.

"Miho! Miho! Miho!"

"Ugh, what?! My head hurts, stop squeaking so loud!"

I was already on edge from worrying about my yogi, so I snapped at the poor squirrel.

He was probably here to talk more nonsense anyway.

"I found it! I found a way for you to absorb yogi, Miho!"

"…Huh?"

For real? My eyes widened as I asked, "How did you find out?"

"I asked Lord Sangun!"

"…He wouldn't tell me when I asked."

"Miho, are you on Lord Sangun's bad side or something?"

"How should I know? So what did he say?"

"Lord Sangun said that thousands of years ago, he once saw a fox yokai with many tails on Huashan in China! Her name was Dalki or something. Anyway, Miho! In that spirit, why don't we go have an audience with Lord Sangun togeth—"

I cut Depo off, jumped down from the tree, grabbed the little squirrel yokai by the scruff of his neck, and lifted him up.

"What about Dalki? Keep talking, hurry!"

"M-Mihoooo, let me goooo! My fur's stretching!"

"Talk!"

"Uwaaaaah, I'm getting dizzy, Miho…!"

"I said talk!"

"Th-the fox yokai called Dalki… ugh… was a nine-tailed fox with nine tails… She absorbed yogi by ripping out and eating the livers of human men…! N-now let me go!"

"…What?"

The absurdity of Depo's words made me let go without thinking. He hit the ground with a pathetic squeak, but I was too busy trying to organize the chaos in my head.

Right. The story of multi-tailed fox yokai eating human men's livers was famous enough that even I knew it. Why hadn't I thought of that?

Eating a human man's liver meant I had to kill humans.

Me. Someone who had been human until recently.

There was no way I could do something like that…

To save my own life, I'd have to take hundreds or thousands of lives? I couldn't do that.

Clinging to one last straw, I asked Depo again.

"…Is there any other way?"

"Ugh… I don't know! Lord Sangun said you have to figure it out yourself."

Another way. Another way. Another way.

…Ah. It wasn't like I had no idea at all.

The legends about fox yokai were so famous that I'd seen them to the point of nausea. Depending on the version, multi-tailed foxes usually gained yogi through one of two methods.

Either they ate human livers like that ancient Chinese nine-tailed fox Dalki.

Or.

They drained human vitality.

…Why was I only thinking of such obvious information now?

No. That wasn't it. It wasn't that I couldn't think of it. I just hadn't wanted to.

Before I was a yokai, I had been human. Before I was female, I had been male. There was no way someone like me could reach the insane conclusion of "draining the vitality of human men."

Only now did I understand what Sangun had meant by seonho and akho.

When I organized the information, it came down to this: to gain yogi—in other words, to survive—I would either have to kill hundreds or thousands ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of human men… or sleep with them.

My body began to tremble as it struggled to accept the reality of my situation. Without realizing it, I had used Fox Arts — Transformation and taken on human form. My blue eyes glowed with rage, and my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hair stood on end like it was full of static electricity.

"Fuuuuuuuuck!"

I roared at the sky. My furious howl, mixed with the cry of an enraged fox, echoed through the forest.

"Hiiiiiiik… M-Miho…? Miho, calm doooown!"

Calm down? I'd just learned that to avoid dying I had to either kill humans or fuck them, and he wanted me to calm down?

With a sharp sound, another tail sprouted from the force of my anger. Four tails became five. Five became six, radiating menacing yogi in all directions.

My body naturally began transforming from a young girl into an adult woman. As if evolving to more easily drain men's vitality, my chest also swelled dramatically. The sudden weight was unmistakable, but in my blind rage, such trivial details didn't matter at all.

As soon as the sixth tail appeared, an overwhelming amount of yogi began pouring out in every direction.

"W-why is your yogi so strong…! Scary! Scary! Scary! Scary! M-Miho, I'll come back laterrrrr!"

I had to kill men or drain their vitality just to survive. Being reincarnated as a fox yokai sucked. Being reincarnated as a female sucked. And now this endless parade of shitty situations kept piling on.

Fuck yogi. I'd rather just die when my lifespan ran out than do any of that.

…

…

Only after I'd spent a long time radiating yogi did I realize how stupid I'd been.

Once I came to my senses, I quickly pulled my tails back in and roughly calculated how much yogi I had left. I'd originally had enough to last a comfortable five years. But because I'd lost my mind in extreme anger and released it all at once, I'd used up more than half of what remained.

At this rate, I'd probably run dry and die in about two years.

W-well, maybe it's for the best! I'd just sped up the inevitable end a little.

"…"

That's what I told myself, but… I was a fox with an absurdly strong will to live.

I didn't want to die. No matter how ugly it got, I wanted to survive.

Eventually, I realized what I had to do right now.

Sleep. Sleeping slowed yogi consumption, so if I wanted to last as long as possible, sleeping was my only option.

And so I fell asleep.

Two years passed.