Spiritual Beast (1)
The reason Lee Ha-neul could use the club was simple. She could wield it because she wrapped her body in a mysterious power called ki. What connection that power had to the ki used by goblins and force masters was impossible to know right now. The one person—or yokai—who might have detailed answers would be Sangun, or maybe Mangtae Grandfather. For some reason I couldn't quite explain, I really didn't want to ask Sangun. I had this strong gut feeling that if he learned I was a 'Spiritual Beast,' it would cause nothing but trouble.
Anyway, now that I could maintain my three-tailed state indefinitely, I decided I'd ask Mangtae Grandfather if the chance came up. Whatever happened, one thing was certain: with Lee Ha-neul now able to use the club, the Jirisan Yokai Extermination Office's fighting strength had definitely increased. Yeah. I simply handed the goblin club over to her without making a big deal out of it.
"Are you sure it's really okay for me to take this?"
"Yep. It's not like I can do anything with it anyway."
If I brought it into the Hidden World, Sangun would just destroy it. And since I couldn't handle the mysterious power called ki the way Lee Ha-neul could, giving it to her to strengthen the office was clearly the smarter choice.
That said, even though she could use the club now, it didn't mean she could spam its power like those formless shadows. Each activation apparently consumed a massive amount of ki.
"The stronger the command, the more ki it seems to drain."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. For example, if I cast a command that forces someone to obey..."
Bark!
The moment the club's effect activated, fox yelps started pouring out of my mouth.
"Yip! Yip yip! Yip yip! Yip!"
"Huff... huff... This is exhausting... My ki is completely drained..."
"Yip, yip... Hey, what the hell are you doing? Stop it... yip, yip!"
"I don't know how to stop it?"
"What kind of... yip. Irresponsible answer is that... yip."
And so I barked at the top of my lungs for a full five minutes, the sound echoing across the mountain.
Miho told the chief she was returning to the Hidden World. The chief asked if she could come back to the office in five days. Fortunately, Miho gladly agreed to the request.
After seeing her off, the chief fell into deep thought. Lately he'd been spending a lot of time thinking alone. The Jirisan Yokai Extermination Office had lost its ability to sustain itself. No, it wasn't just this office. Every single yokai extermination office in South Korea had lost its self-sufficiency. The cause was obvious: the sudden appearance of powerful yokai in recent days.
After the complete annihilation of the Jangsan office, the government had come up with countermeasures. From the perspective of an office chief actually running one, those measures were so ridiculous they made him want to laugh. They were just going to increase the size of the offices and double the salaries to recruit more personnel. But against Rank 2 or Rank 1 yokai, whether you had a hundred or a thousand combatants made zero difference. The government had to know that numbers weren't the issue, which meant these measures were nothing but performative gestures meant to calm immediate panic. The real countermeasures would start now.
In one week, the government would hold an 'Emergency Countermeasures Meeting on Recent Yokai Trends.' Naturally, every yokai extermination office chief—including him—would attend, along with force masters and Taoist masters. Lee Ha-neul and the current center of attention, the Taoist master Hojun, would be there too.
The chief began organizing the report he would present at the meeting. Every single line in that report was a bombshell statement capable of shaking the very foundations of humanity. He had no idea whether Miho would accept it, but the chief had made up his mind.
I will reveal Miho's existence to the people.
Before returning to the Hidden World, I said my goodbyes to the civil servants at the yokai extermination office. In my three-tailed form, of course. The female employees who came to see me off spoke with worried expressions.
"Miho, are you sure you can find your way home okay?"
"...Yes."
"What if you trip and fall? Want big sis to walk you all the way home?"
"..."
It was obvious babying. I wasn't actually a ten-year-old girl. For crying out loud, I was a two-year-old fox yokai. Unlike the friendly female employees, the male ones wore sullen expressions. The reason was simple—they wanted to see my seven tails. As if I'd show them. I could clearly picture them drooling with those lecherous looks. Absolutely not.
In the end, unable to hold back his desires, the 7th-grade civil servant Kim Myung-ho—who happened to be both a member and the president of the Miho Fan Club at the Jirisan Yokai Extermination Office—actually got down on his knees and begged.
"Lady Miho, before you go, could you please show us your seven tails just once..."
"No."
"Aaaaaaargh!"
Did he think I was refusing just for my own convenience? Pulling out seven tails would cause problems for them too. Until I could completely control my fox instincts, I had no intention of showing seven tails in front of human men.
The first yokai to greet me when I returned to the Hidden World was, of course, Depo.
"Miho!"
"Hey."
"I missed you, Miho!"
Squeak. Squeak squeak, squeak squeak squeak.
Depo, who had found me like magic the moment he caught my scent, immediately started circling around me while making those high-pitched squeaking noises.
"Miho, your tail increased by one? And I can't feel any yokai energy! What the heck happened outside?"
"Well, a bunch of stuff."
"You smell like Lord Sangun!"
Really? Sniff sniff. Sniff sniff sniff. I started smelling different parts of my body after what Depo said. ...I couldn't really tell. It was probably because I'd evolved into a Spiritual Beast. Anyway.
Depo, who was super excited, climbed up my leg all the way to my shoulder, then plopped himself right on top of my breasts. He started lightly tapping my chest with his tiny paws.
"Your boobs got huge too?"
"...You're imagining it."
"I'm not imagining it! They're seriously, seriously, seriously huge now! They're even softer! I wanna sleep here, Miho."
"What the—what kind of nonsense is that!"
"It's more comfortable than that bed thing you brought. So fluffy. So squishy!"
After saying his piece, Depo wriggled into my clothes, settled into my cleavage, poked just his head out, and declared:
"It's warm!"
"I-it tickles! Get out, you damn squirrel!"
I couldn't exactly grab his tiny head and yank him out roughly, so I was stuck stomping my feet in place. It tickles, you crazy squirrel! ...Though, it was kind of soft and felt pretty nice. Hmm. Maybe carrying him around as a portable hand warmer... no, a chest warmer, wouldn't be so bad after all.
The next yokai to greet me was Mangtae Grandfather. Or rather, he hadn't come to greet me at all.
"Tsk tsk tsk... To think a vulgar fox like you would walk around with those mountain-sized breasts hanging out for the whole world to see... The Hidden World really has gone rotten."
He had clearly come just to blindly criticize my body. That perverted old geezer.
"Gramps, is that really all you have to say after not seeing me for so long?"
Since I actually had something to ask him, I greeted Mangtae Grandfather warmly.
"Even your voice is vulgar. Shut that mouth of yours, you lewd fox! Just because you're a Spiritual Beast doesn't mean you're all that!"
"..."
The response wasn't exactly friendly. With no other choice, I switched to my three-tailed form so I could have a proper conversation with him. It was actually more comfortable to stay in seven-tailed form in the Hidden World. No yokai energy consumption, plus I could practice using my spiritual power at the same time.
"Heh heh heh... Miho, did you enjoy sightseeing in the outside world?"
"Sigh."
The moment I took three-tailed form, the hostile attitude from before vanished like it had never existed. Mangtae Grandfather looked at me with a kind, gentle expression. Argh. Why did this piss me off so much? Feeling petty, I pulled out all seven tails again.
"Begone! You vulgar wench, get lost!"
Back to three tails.
"Miho... Heh heh heh."
Seven tails.
"Get out of my sight!"
Three tails.
"You're so adorable today, Miho... Heh heh heh."
Seven tails.
"Begone!"
His reactions were pretty great.
I decided I'd teased the elderly man enough. Returning to my three-tailed form, I asked Mangtae Grandfather directly.
"Gramps. Do you know what a Spiritual Beast is?"
"I don't know the details, but I do know that Sangun, the ruler of this Hidden World, is a Spiritual Beast. Heh heh heh."
Yeah. I already knew Sangun was a Spiritual Beast. So.
"What about me, gramps?"
"..."
"From what you can see, do I look like a Spiritual Beast or a yokai to you?"
"Right now you seem like a yokai."
"What if I pull out seven tails?"
"Then you're a Spiritual Beast. The energy I feel is similar to Sangun's. Though I still don't like that body of yours one bit."
No matter how mysterious yokai were, was there really a creature like this in the world? Even Dalki, the nine-tailed fox from the past who could supposedly manifest nine tails... had she been a being who could switch back and forth between yokai and Spiritual Beast like me?
I asked the old man for a favor.
"Gramps, tell me what a Spiritual Beast is."
"I don't know."
"I'll get in the sack. Please tell me. I'm begging you."
"Miho, it's not that I don't want to tell you. I genuinely don't know."
"..."
"And why are you asking me this anyway?"
From Mangtae Grandfather's following words, I sensed that I couldn't escape my fate.
"Go ask Sangun, Miho."