Chapter 82: The Gumiho’s Trial (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 82: The Gumiho’s Trial (2)
“Don't play with Hwayo. A yokai will come for you at night if you do.”
“Is that true, Hwayo?”
“Keng?”
“See? Hwayo says so too. Now, let's go.”
A mother fox led her little one, who was trying to play with young Hwayo, back home. Hwayo, not understanding what it meant, just smiled and waved.
The members of the Fox Clan barely gave Hwayo a second glance, passing by her as if she were part of the scenery. But occasionally, someone would approach her.
“Hwayo, could you go out and lure some yokai for us? We need to go hunting.”
“Keng!”
Hwayo, simply happy that they were talking to her and asking for a favor, answered innocently.
As Hwayo was about to leave the fox den, the sound of the wind made her flinch. She had answered without thinking, but now she realized she was a little scared.
She tried to ask if someone could go with her, but the hunting party just smiled and tilted their heads, as if they had no idea what she was talking about.
“What's wrong? Is something the matter?”
“Keng…”
“The sun will set soon. If you delay, more yokai will appear. You need to hurry back before then.”
To Hwayo, who couldn't yet read the hidden intentions behind people's expressions, their smiles seemed nothing but kind. Without a shred of doubt, Hwayo dashed out of the fox den.
Thus, Hwayo was a convenient tool for the fox den.
She could be used to scare children into behaving, and at other times, as bait for yokai.
She couldn't even speak or refuse, making her the most convenient tool in the world.
Hwayo, having served her role as bait, returned that night. By the time she shook off the yokai and came back, the sun had long set. When she returned to the village, the hunting party was already long back.
The village was filled with the smell of meat, as if they were having a feast to celebrate a successful hunt.
“Oh, you're back already.”
“Keng!”
“Yes, you did well. Eat this and get some rest.”
Hwayo had hoped she might get some meat today, but what the man dropped on the ground were a few potatoes riddled with wormholes.
Hwayo blinked, watching the potatoes roll on the ground, and looked up, but the man had already turned his back. He walked back to his own home without a single glance back. Soon after, the sound of cheerful laughter and chatter drifted from the house, light spilling from its windows.
Hwayo, who had been sitting on the ground in a ‘stay’ position…
“Keng.”
…lowered her head and began to pick up and eat the potatoes.
Such days repeated themselves, and Rin, who had been watching Hwayo's life unfold, let out a small sigh.
How annoying.
She thought something special would happen, but it was just the same meaningless scene repeating endlessly. And it wasn't like she could intervene.
Even if she tried to leave White Cloud Valley, she would just find herself back in the fox den when she came to her senses. It was as if she had to resolve something here in this den.
So, what was there to resolve in this small fox den? It wasn't hard to guess. Rin headed underground.
Following the elder's actions, finding the shrine wasn't difficult.
The shrine she arrived at was dust-free. But sitting on the altar was a fox she had never seen before, yet who seemed familiar.
The way she was tossing a golden fox orb around like a toy ball was quite irreverent.
But anyone who knew her wouldn't think it irreverent. After all, she was the owner of the orb.
She resembled Rin, but various parts of her body were larger. Especially her chest. And she had nine tails, four more than Rin.
The being who was called a gumiho, before she was a pink fox, before she was Hwayo, greeted Rin.
“Hello, little one. Did you come here because you want this? Too bad~ it's mine.”
“Is there a need to call me 'little one'? Rin is you.”
“Don't get it twisted. I've never lived a servile life, nor have I ever begged for affection. And I've certainly never been as weak as you.”
“Then why were you sealed? Wasn't it because you were weak?”
“…”
The gumiho fell silent.
Rin flashed a triumphant smile.
“If it were Rin, she wouldn't have been sealed. Loser~”
“Shut up. Before I shatter this orb.”
“So petty.”
That would be a real problem, so Rin stopped her teasing there.
The gumiho denied being the same person as Rin, but Rin denied her denial. After all, there was no way they could converse so easily if they were truly meeting for the first time.
They could talk back and forth comfortably, without any awkwardness. Even with Karami, it hadn't been like this at first. This woman was unmistakably Rin.
Though she didn't like it.
“Rin doesn't want to get old like that.”
“You'll end up like this too if you get involved with ugly things.”
“Ugly things?”
“They exist. The ones who betrayed me and sided with Heaven.”
The gumiho looked at the shrine wall, but Rin could guess her gaze was fixed on something much farther away.
Rin tried to recall what that might be but quickly gave up the thought. The fox orb was what was important to Rin right now.
“Rin is busy. Master is waiting outside.”
The gumiho stared at Rin as if she were a slime stuck to the pavement.
“Why are you looking at me like that? It's creepy.”
“Hah… A gumiho as a slave. I know a lot of time has passed, but does this make any sense? It would be less surprising to hear the heavens and earth had been overturned. Maybe I should just take over your body and kill him…”
The gumiho's mutter made Rin's expression twist viciously.
“If you do that, you won't get away unscathed either.”
“Right now, I'm just a spirit form, so it would only be self-harm. You'd be the only one who gets hurt.”
Even after hearing the truth, Rin's expression didn't soften. Her face was resolute, as if she wouldn't hesitate to harm herself if it came to it.
In contrast, the gumiho twisted her lips into a smirk at Rin's threat. As if getting revenge for earlier, she savored Rin's emotions like a predator feeding on feelings.
“Heave-ho.”
Having had her fun, the gumiho hopped down from the altar and held the fox orb out to Rin.
Rin didn't like her, but since she was offering it, she reached out to take it. But the gumiho suddenly tossed the orb behind her.
“Ah!”
Rin let out a cry of dismay as the orb vanished from her fingertips. Just as the orb was about to hit the floor, it landed softly on one of the gumiho's tails.
She moved her tail gracefully, playing with the orb as if to show off.
“You…!”
“You're so expressive, you know? Your face is the same, but you seem like a completely different person.”
The gumiho giggled, looking at Rin's pouting face. Then she held out the orb again.
Was she playing another trick? Rin glanced suspiciously between the orb and the gumiho before carefully accepting it.
Huh. She gave it to me more easily than I thought.
The moment she had that thought, the fox orb erupted with the same sunlight as before. At the same time, the space around them began to distort.
“What's happening?”
“You're returning to where you were.”
“What was the trial?”
“To please me. And you, I kind of like you.”
The trial was to please the gumiho? What kind of absurd test was that? Thanks to that, she passed easily, but for some reason, Rin felt annoyed.
The gumiho just grinned gleefully, as if even that pleased her.
“Let's go back now. So I can finally see the face of this master you're so eager to meet.”
Light filled her vision, and then the space distorted completely.
*
Fwaaa!
The light that had been illuminating the dark shrine exploded in a burst, clinging to Rin's entire body.
It looked like she was covered in a full-body latex suit. Then the light cracked and shattered, pieces falling away with a pang! as if she were molting.
The light faded.
Rin blinked slowly a few times, coming to her senses. The musty smell once again assaulted her sensitive beastkin nose, a sign that she had returned to the real shrine.
“It seems to be over.”
Behind her were Karami and the elder, looking exactly as they had when she picked up the orb. She felt as though a great deal of time had passed, but it seemed the illusion had no effect on reality.
“I think so.”
“Congratulations. You are finally a six-tailed fox.”
At his words, Rin checked her tails and saw there were now six. Not only that, but as her tails increased, her body had grown as well.
More than just her height, the distinctive curves of her female form had become pronounced enough to be visible even through her clothes. She was one step closer to the form of the gumiho she had just seen.
Rin checked her chest.
Hers were bigger than this.
Will I become like that when I become a gumiho?
It wasn't a bad thing.
For a gumiho who bewitches people, it was only an advantage.
If it meant gaining a powerful weapon to seduce her master, she welcomed it.
“The fox orb is gone.”
Rin checked her hand. The fox orb she had been holding was gone. But Rin knew.
“It's with Rin.”
The orb had been absorbed into Rin's own fox orb. A different energy, not her own spiritual power, now swirled in her core.
An energy like the warm sun. And a shallow shadow in a place the sunlight couldn't reach. She had obtained a fragment of the gumiho's power.
—Hmph. This is the master? He doesn't seem very reliable.
Rin flinched at the voice that suddenly echoed in her head. Ssssk— The gumiho's spirit form flowed out of Rin and coiled around Karami like a snake.
—His face isn't bad, and is this the energy of the World Tree? Hmm, it's interesting, but that's about it. Everything else is pathetic. At this rate, he can't even take care of his own body.
“Y-You… why…?”
Rin jumped in surprise.
“Why are you here? Weren't you gone?”
—You took my power, didn't you? Did you think you'd get it for free? As payment, I'm borrowing your body to see the world a bit.
“You never said anything about that!”
—That's why you're supposed to check all the fine print when making a contract, little one. If you don't like it, spit my power back out.
She wanted to do just that, but it had already mixed with her own spiritual power. It had become inseparable.
The gumiho knew that full well, which was why she said it.
“What is going on?”
“What do you mean? The gumiho appeared!”
“The gumiho has been here all along.”
The elder said this while looking not at the gumiho, but at Rin. His reaction showed he could neither see nor sense the gumiho's presence.
—You can see me because you received my power. Other people can't.
“I can see you.”
—Huh?
The gumiho let out a bewildered sound and looked at Karami. Her gaze met his perfectly, proving that he could indeed see her.
—Why can you see me?
“Because I am Rin's master. I know everything about her.”
—…I see. You can see me because you're connected to her shackles.
I take back what I said about him being pathetic.
He's no ordinary man.
But it would have been better for him if he were.
I will make him realize just how foolish it was to enslave a gumiho.