Chapter 94: Caught Red-Handed (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 94: Caught Red-Handed (2)
If I had to describe Rin's expression right now, it was the exact same look a kid has when their mom catches them secretly using the computer at night. The kind of situation where you try to hit the power strip's off switch with your toe, only for your foot to slip.
I was always the one getting caught.
So I was curious.
What on earth did it feel like to catch someone in the act?
Would the day ever come when I’d be in my mom’s shoes?
Finally, that day had come for me. And now I knew for sure what it felt like. I could sum it up in four simple words.
Wow… Look at this one.
“Rin, didn’t I just ask what you’re doing?”
“Uh, huh? This can’t be happening…”
Too flustered to even think about answering, Rin rambled incoherently. Her pupils dilated as if she’d remembered something, and then she scowled.
“That old hag…!”
As Rin’s furious voice reached my ears, a sigh escaped me.
“Haaah, that’s enough.”
An absolute command as her master, one I hadn’t used in a while. Chains extended from me, traveling to the shackles bound to Rin’s soul. Her movements froze.
“Get off.”
Rin sheepishly climbed off me.
“Until I permit it again, I forbid you from using any of your powers.”
After blocking her from trying any funny business, I assessed the situation.
Rin, doing something suspicious while I was asleep.
Me, sleeping without feeling a thing.
The fatigue that hadn’t gone away for the past few days.
It was simple.
“Rin, did you take my essence?”
“M-Master! It’s just…!”
I just narrowed my eyes and stared at her coldly without a word. Rin, who had been about to make a desperate excuse, confessed on her own.
“Yes…”
There was no need to ask when she’d started. It was obvious—Rin had been acting strange and I’d been feeling tired ever since the day we caught the Fallen Monk.
“Why did you do it?”
“The gumiho said that the essence of someone with a deeply intertwined fate is delicious… I tried it once out of curiosity, but I couldn’t stop…”
So the gumiho had tempted her.
There was a reason I hadn’t seen it recently. It wasn’t the type to just disappear, so I’d wondered what was up. It had been stoking her desires from within.
“Why did you hide it?”
“Because I was afraid you’d hate me if you found out…”
“You knew, and you did it anyway?”
“……”
I took out Yuhwa’s orb, which I had kept in my pocket. It was shattered into pieces, as if it had fulfilled its purpose. Yuhwa had read the situation and helped me.
It was strange. Others might not know what was happening, but Yuhwa could have just told me directly. Yet she deliberately chose such a troublesome method.
The reason? It was obvious.
“Rin, you threatened the Celestial Fox, didn’t you?”
Rin, knowing Yuhwa’s Heavenly Eye could see through everything, must have blackmailed her somehow. Otherwise, there would have been no reason for her to give me something like an orb.
Rin’s head drooped.
Her silence was her answer.
“Ha.” An incredulous laugh escaped me.
An uncontrollable sense of betrayal washed over me.
It felt like a tower I had painstakingly built was collapsing in an instant.
I’d cherished and raised her, only for her to use magic to put her master to sleep, absorb his essence in the meantime, and on top of all that, lie about it so brazenly.
This isn’t the time to be thinking about her liberation, is it?
One wrong move and I could’ve been sucked dry and died, right? How could I trust her and move forward like this? I had no idea when she’d pull another stunt.
Of course, I was just saying that. I had no intention of abandoning Rin now. I couldn’t, anyway. But I couldn’t just let this slide, either.
To deal with this, I needed to separate the gumiho from Rin. Because if the gumiho tempted her again, she might fall for it.
I had to help the gumiho achieve Enlightenment anyway…
Given the circumstances, now seemed like the right time. I felt bad for Rin, but this was WWE.
I took a long breath. Rin’s shoulders flinched, as if she were anxious about what was to come.
“I’ll be honest. I can’t trust you anymore, Rin.”
“Master…”
“A slave who harms her master. There’s nothing even to discuss. Let’s end this. I don’t see why I should have my life threatened by my own slave.”
Understanding my words, Rin’s face turned deathly pale, as if drained of all blood. She didn’t even seem to be breathing, as if she’d forgotten how.
Then, I delivered the final blow.
“I’m going to the Celestial Pavilion to speak with the Celestial Fox. I’ll ask her to seal you in White Cloud Valley again.”
*
“I’m going to the Celestial Pavilion to speak with the Celestial Fox. I’ll ask her to seal Rin in White Cloud Valley again.”
Having delivered that notice, Karami got off the bed. He got dressed in the middle of the night and prepared to leave, his expression dry and emotionless.
Even as Karami brushed past her, Rin could only stare blankly, her eyes wide. That single sentence had thrown her mind into utter chaos.
Sealed…?
White Cloud Valley?
In that dark valley?
Being sealed didn’t mean living for hundreds of years eating nothing but potatoes. It meant losing everything, just like the gumiho attached to her soul.
Her body.
Her mind.
All of it would be lost until an almost infinite amount of time passed and the seal was broken. Even if the seal broke and a one-tailed fox emerged, there was no guarantee it would be Rin.
And to be sealed by the hands of none other than the master she loved… For Rin, that was a despair worse than death.
The moment she realized that.
“M-Master, wait!!”
Rin scrambled off the bed, nearly tripping. She fell to her knees before Karami and desperately clung to his pant leg, tears welling up in her eyes.
“I-I’m sorry, Master! I’ll never do it again!”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not falling for any more empty words. It’s obvious that without a direct command, you’d just put me to sleep and do as you please again.”
“I’ll never do it! Okay? So please, don’t seal Rin away!”
“Hah…” Karami said, coldly swatting her hand away.
“Once broken, trust can’t be mended.”
“Master…”
To the devastated Rin, Karami added another comment, as if talking to himself.
“If I’d known it would come to this, I never would have brought you with me in the first place. A pink fox is a pink fox, after all…”
“………Huh?”
As Rin let out a short sound of confusion, the strength left her hands. Her grip on Karami’s pants loosened, and her hands fell away limply.
When the whole world had avoided and condemned her for being a pink fox, Karami was the only one who had taken her side. For him to toss out such words was like a dagger to the heart for Rin.
Her mind went beyond numb into a distant haze, and her head felt so empty she couldn’t think at all.
Karami’s expression as he looked down at Rin was endlessly cold. So cold it was frightening to meet his gaze.
The fear of a future where he abandoned her swelled to monstrous proportions. Rin hugged her arms and trembled violently.
“Why… why, why, why, why? Rin… Rin just… I only did it because I like you, Master, so why…?”
Rin mumbled, her voice barely audible, her lips moving soundlessly. From within her cracking, shattering mind, a magically sweet voice flowed in.
—Let’s run away. We just have to run. Then you can escape this fear.
I can escape…?
The gumiho’s sugar-coated words, which she would have ignored before. But to the Rin of now, it was the only way out of this situation.
—Take my hand.
The gumiho’s arm reached out from the abyss. The moment Rin reached out and grabbed it.
Snap!
The gumiho yanked her hand.
Rin’s consciousness plummeted into the abyss.
The gumiho’s consciousness rose to the surface, taking her place.
Fwoooosh!
Seven tails spread out like a peacock’s fan as ‘her’ head tilted back as far as it could go.
As if she were reaching the peak of ecstasy. Her body shivered.
After this bizarre movement, her neck slowly returned to its normal position.
Click.
It settled back into place. Her mind still seemed hazy as she blinked, moved her hands and feet, and then stretched languidly.
“Mmm~ this is the feeling. It’s so much better to have a body.”
A spirit form was free to move, but you couldn’t feel anything. You couldn’t even feel the simple satisfaction of a good stretch.
Having reacquainted herself with the sensations of a body, she met Karami’s eyes from her seated position. The corners of her mouth curled into a smirk.
“Hello there. What should I call you? Master? Ah, no, that’s too cringey, I can’t do it.”
She had Rin’s face and Rin’s voice, but her aura was completely different. It wasn’t Rin. It was the gumiho, who had been waiting for a chance to awaken within her body.
“You’re the one who incited Rin, aren’t you?”
“Incited? I just gave her a little information. All the choices were her own. Threatening the Celestial Fox was unexpected, though. The kid’s got potential.”
The gumiho nodded, pleased.
“But you’re not as surprised as I thought you’d be.”
“Because it’s a classic trope.”
The gumiho dwelling in Rin’s body watches for an opportunity to take it over. When Rin’s mental strength weakens or she’s consumed by her power, the gumiho’s personality manifests.
In other words, the gumiho’s appearance was proof that Rin had been pushed to her mental limit.
Were my words a bit too harsh?
But it couldn’t be helped. To drive the gumiho out of Rin, I had to ‘liberate’ her. I needed to pressure Rin to make the gumiho’s personality emerge.
Well, what’s done is done. She could reflect on her actions from the inside, and when she came back out, I’d have to do something nice for her.
While Karami was thinking this, the gumiho dusted herself off and rose gracefully to her feet. Rin had been sobbing her heart out, so her eyes were red, but now the gumiho was grinning, creating a strange sight.
The gumiho tried to wield her spiritual power.
“Hmm, my power isn’t working.”
“Because I blocked it. I’ll only release it when necessary. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to go ahead and achieve Enlightenment.”
“Forget it. I finally got a body after all this time. This might be fun, so I’ll play along for a while.”
The gumiho waved her hand breezily and started to leave the room.
“Where are you going?”
“Next door. The kid sleeps there sometimes. Let’s just say I have something to check on my own for a bit?”
“What nonsense is that? You’re sleeping next to me.”
“Huh…?”
The gumiho, who had been looking nonchalant, blinked at him as if to ask what he was talking about. Karami tilted his head, feigning ignorance.
“You have to cover me with your tails.”
“Why would I…!”
“I don’t care if you were a great gumiho or a yokai king. You’re my slave. You have to do as you’re told. Now, let’s get to sleep. Your master is cold.”
Karami gave her a bright, taunting eye-smile.
You walked right into it, you bitch.
If you don’t like it, you can leave.