Ha-neul's Hidden World Outing - (1)
If it had been the old Lee Ha-neul from the past—if it had been Lee Ha-neul from just a few months ago—the moment she realized the adorable squirrel in front of her was a yokai, she might have driven her Force Arts straight into it without hesitation. Of course, she had always believed that yokai with human hearts could exist. For a Force Arts practitioner whose job was to kill yokai, she possessed a rather unusual way of thinking. Still, a yokai was a yokai. As a human being, the instinctive revulsion she felt toward them was something even she couldn't overcome.
However, having already made a serious mistake with the fox yokai Miho, Lee Ha-neul didn't immediately attack the squirrel yokai. In fact, she could roughly guess this squirrel yokai's identity. That was because Miho had once told her about the squirrel yokai who lived in the Hidden World.
Squeak, squeak, squeaksqueaksqueak!
Since this was the first time a human had ever intruded upon the Hidden World, the yokai Depo naturally regarded Lee Ha-neul with caution. Despite his cute appearance, Depo was quite a powerful yokai. All the yokai living in the Hidden World were strong to begin with. The reason so many powerful yokai gathered specifically in the Hidden World was, of course, due to Sangun's intentions.
"Squeak, squeak!"
The moment Depo released his demonic energy and tried to summon lightning, he stood up on his short, stubby hind legs in a threatening pose. The sheer lethal cuteness of it made an involuntary giggle slip from Lee Ha-neul's lips. But no matter how adorable he looked, Depo's threat was very real, so she quickly waved her hands and spoke up.
"W-wait, time out! I'm not an enemy!"
"You're clearly a human, squeaaak! And you've got that disgusting club too—anyone would see you as an enemy! Squeak, squeak, squeaksqueaksqueak!"
"Miho!"
Lee Ha-neul uttered the magic word, and...
"...Squeak?"
Depo tilted his head once, then withdrew his demonic energy and spoke.
"...Flat human woman. Squeak. You know Miho?"
"Flat human woman?! It's Miho who's the abnormal one. Someone like me is totally average!"
"Ah, I remember now! Squeak! The flat human woman Miho mentioned—Lee Ha-neul!"
"I said average!"
Sangun informed me that a Force Arts practitioner had entered the Hidden World. The moment I heard the news, I nearly jumped out of my skin.
"That damn crazy yokai... Does he have a brain or not! Where—where is Lee Ha-neul right now?"
Worry not, child. The Force Arts practitioner named Lee Ha-neul is safe.
"She might be safe right now, but if she runs into other yokai, she'll definitely..."
She has already met Depo.
"Ughhhh..."
This was bad. The absolute worst-case scenario I could imagine was unfolding. The two beings I cherished most in this world were about to try to kill each other. I was an extremely unusual case. The relationship between humans and yokai was one where they could only kill or be killed—a relationship born from instinctive hatred.
Could there possibly be a worse situation than this?
"...Where is she?"
At your nest. However, there seems to be no need to rush.
"Shut it!"
My eyes had rolled back in my head the moment I learned that Depo and Lee Ha-neul had met. Forgetting my fear, I snapped at Sangun before hurriedly leaving.
"Squeak, so anyway, when I told her what Miho did... she wagged her tail and thanked me!"
"Puhahahahaha! So the fox yokai who was leaving a will asking to be buried in a sunny spot started wagging her tail the second she heard she might actually live? That's so Miho."
"Right! Turns out Miho didn't want to die either. I knew it, Mangtae Grandfather knew it, everyone knew it—everyone except Miho herself! Miho the blockhead, the idiot, the moron!"
"Yeah. Miho does have her dumb moments. Sometimes she's incredibly sharp, but other times you can't help but call her a total airhead..."
What the hell was this situation?
The moment I arrived at my nest, I had expected Lee Ha-neul and Depo to be tearing each other apart. I didn't know Depo's exact fighting strength, but I knew he was no weak yokai. After all, he was a two-hundred-year-old squirrel yokai. There was no way something that had lived for so long could be frail.
When I first revealed my six tails, Depo had freaked out about how strong my demonic energy was, so he probably wasn't on the same level as my six-tailed self. He was most likely equal to or stronger than my five-tailed form. Of course, he seemed to grow incomparably stronger on stormy days, but that was conditional.
Anyway, in terms of raw power, Depo and Lee Ha-neul were evenly matched. It would have been a bloody battle where predicting the winner was impossible. So I had assumed both of them would be beaten half to death by the time I arrived.
But there was no half-to-death beating to be seen. What I witnessed was the two of them enthusiastically badmouthing me.
"And then Miho told me, 'Depo, sir, for bestowing such grace upon this lowly fox yokai... I am truly grateful!'"
"Aha, so Miho uses polite speech with you?"
"Squeaksqueak, of course! You could say Miho is my subordinate..."
So that's why Sangun had told me not to worry.
I let out a sigh of relief. But still—I had to do what I had to do.
"...Hey."
Using my spiritual power, I grabbed Depo's tail and began spinning him like a propeller in midair.
"S-squeak! Squeeeeeeeeeeak!"
"Say it again. Whose subordinate am I?"
"W-when did you get here?! I couldn't sense your energy because you're a spiritual beast—how unfair!"
"I said say it again, you tiny rat bastard!"
"I-I'm sorry! H-help, flat lady!"
Zap. I glared at Lee Ha-neul. She immediately looked away, whistling like a guilty thief caught red-handed.
I had been worried sick, my heart nearly dropping to the floor, yet the moment I arrived I found them doing a comedy routine at my expense. Of course I was pissed.
Only after spinning the squirrel propeller for a good long while did I finally let Depo go.
"Squeeeeeeeeeeak..."
That should have been enough reflection. I healed the dizzy Depo, and he immediately scampered over as if nothing had happened, burrowing straight into my chest before speaking.
"Miho, introductions! This is Lee Ha-neul. She's a Force Arts practitioner!"
"...I already know that."
"Ahahaha..."
After formally introducing Lee Ha-neul to Depo and Depo to Lee Ha-neul, I fell into thought for a moment. From the way Sangun had spoken, it didn't sound like Lee Ha-neul's entry into the Hidden World was a mistake. It had been intentional. With that in mind, I decided to take Lee Ha-neul to see Sangun.
Lee Ha-neul's eyes widened in shock as she asked me, "M-Miho, did you just say Sangun?"
"Yes. Sangun. The tiger spiritual beast Sangun."
"So Sangun was a real tiger! I thought he only existed in legends!"
As expected, even Lee Ha-neul—who was Baek Nam-hoon's disciple—had heard the name Sangun before. Of course, she didn't know the details. She probably only knew that a tiger named Sangun had stood by the side of the first Force Arts practitioner, the King of Yuldo.
For a second, Baek Nam-hoon's warning not to reveal Sangun's existence to others rang in my head, but the moment Lee Ha-neul entered the Hidden World, that warning lost all meaning.
On the path to Sangun, I desperately hoped we wouldn't encounter any other yokai in the Hidden World. They all had good hearts, so if it was Sangun's will, they would probably accept Lee Ha-neul's presence. Still, she was a human, not a yokai. Humans were beings yokai simply could not view with goodwill no matter how hard they tried.
However, contrary to my expectations, Lee Ha-neul turned out to be surprisingly good at communicating with the yokai of the Hidden World.
The suddenly appearing Mangtae Grandfather looked her up and down as usual, clicked his tongue, and started criticizing me—saying my body was too vulgar—before striking up a conversation with Lee Ha-neul.
"Heh heh heh, for an old woman you have quite the discerning eye. Indeed, as you say, the seven-tailed Miho is utterly vulgar, but the three-tailed Miho is so beautiful that nothing in creation could compare."
"I'm not old at all. I'm only in my mid-twenties..."
"To me, that's plenty old. However, unlike that vulgar fox girl, you still possess the body of a young maiden, so I can tolerate you to some extent."
"That's really unpleasant to hear. Still, I completely agree that three-tailed Miho is way, waaaay, at least a hundred times cuter than she is now."
"..."
The conversation between these two lolicon enthusiasts who loved my three-tailed form was rather dizzying. Mangtae Grandfather normally wouldn't even acknowledge anyone who wasn't a child, yet for some reason—though he still wore a reluctant expression—he was actually chatting with Lee Ha-neul. Was it because of her childish figure? Or because they shared the same tastes? I had no idea.
"I like seven-tailed Miho better! She's so fluffy and squishy!"
On the other hand, Depo—who preferred my seven-tailed form—kept wriggling around inside my chest. I had no clue whose side I was supposed to take here.
Irritated by them appraising my body right in front of me, I decided to mess with them. I pulled in two tails and transformed into my five-tailed state.
"It's... ambiguous."
"How ambiguous."
"So ambiguous!"
Yeah. I was very satisfied with their unanimous "ambiguous" reactions. That should put an end to any more debates about my body.
After that, we encountered several more yokai in the Hidden World. Each time, I convinced them with the magic words: "It's Sangun's will."
"..."
As we drew closer to Sangun, I started breaking into a cold sweat from the growing tension.
"What's wrong, Miho?"
"It's nothing... Just..."
Now that I thought about it...
"I think I'm fucked."
I had told him to shut up and stormed out on him, after all.