The Legend of the Fox Yokai of Jirisan

“Haah, haah, haah…”
I panted heavily.
Forcibly retracting my tails was no easy feat.
Watching me struggle and pant, Old Monk Bangta wore a concerned expression as he spoke:
“Miho, can’t you retract just one more tail…?”
“…”
Ah.
He wasn’t concerned at all.
“Huhuhuh, if you retract just one more tail, I can start a far more engrossing tale of the past.”

The lunatic old monk obsessed with children began persuading me to retract one more tail amidst all this.
I was already at my limit with three tails, and he wanted me to retract another?
And with three tails, I already appeared as a ten-year-old child, so retracting another would make me look too young to even call a child, wouldn’t it?

“…Just start the damn story, Monk.”
“Huhuhuh, how could I not oblige our lovely Miho’s request?”

With the appearance of the Taejasinggi, the world underwent upheaval.
The yokai following the Taejasinggi and the evil spirits defying it.
The ascension-seeking yokai and those not seeking ascension.
The Taoist mystics wielding spells and the mysterious dokkaebi race.
At a glance, the world seemed even more chaotic than before, but it was not so.
Perhaps Duuksin authored the Taejasinggi to preserve balance.
Unlike the past when yokai indiscriminately slaughtered humans, many factions emerged, restoring a sense of balance.

Of course, the ascension-seeking yokai were undoubtedly the world’s dominant force.
Their power was so formidable that none could dare oppose them, allowing one to say the world belonged to them.
Yet for some reason, the ascension-seeking yokai became hostile towards each other.
Was there only one seat for ascension?
The vast majority of yokai ineligible for ascension could not know for sure – they could only speculate.

And so time flowed on.
Before long, the ascension-seeking yokai were on the cusp of ascension.
Whether they would ascend or not became the primary concern of all living in that era.
What would happen if they ‘ascended’?
Would they transcend their mortal bodies and join the ranks of deities?
Unable to foresee the future, all eyes were fixated on the cusp-of-ascension yokai.

However,
There was an existence that obstructed their ascension.
The dark side of the demigod Duuksin (頭抑神),
The evil god Eodukin awoke from the darkness.
The world’s demise.

“Aren’t you exaggerating?”
“…”
The world’s demise? What nonsense.
I’m standing perfectly fine in this inner realm of Jirisan, so that’s a bit of an overstatement, no?
“And you’re alive and well too, with all your limbs attached.”
“Huhuhuh… You mustn’t carelessly judge events you did not experience yourself, Miho… Eodukin was the world’s demise.”
“What’s the reason? Did he massacre yokai and humans or something? If so, it would have been recorded.”

Since embodying a fox yokai,
I haven’t directly searched the internet in the human world, but
If this Eodukin was truly such an absolute evil god, there’s no way Depot, the fount of knowledge in this inner realm of Jirisan, would be unaware of him.
Yet Depot has never mentioned Eodukin to me.
In other words,
This existence called Eodukin is unrecorded in history.

My doubts were valid, and Old Monk Bangta nodded in acknowledgment.
“As you say, Miho… The dark side of the demigod Duuksin, Eodukin did not kill humans or massacre ordinary yokai. He did not cloak the earth in darkness, nor did he destroy nature.”
“Then why…”
“Instinct.”

Ddul-ddul-ddul-ddul.
Old Monk Bangta’s body began trembling.
Eventually, he continued speaking with an expression I had never seen from him before:

“Instinctively, I could tell. That being was the world’s demise, an existence that could not be defied, an existence that would eventually engulf the world in darkness.”
“…Did you see it directly?”
“No, I did not see it directly. But when it forced its way out of the darkness, I, and likely every yokai… no, perhaps every living being could feel its existence. Because…”

Looking around, Old Monk Bangta eventually gazed at the shadows of trees cast by the moonlight and continued:
“Every shadow in this world was within its domain.”

“…”
“Invisible yet perceptible, desiring to reject it yet unable to reject it. About an hour after it manifested its presence, I sensed the great yokai with immense yogi disappearing one by one.”
“…By ‘great yokai,’ you mean the ascension-seeking ones, right?”
“Yes. Their yogi was so immense that it could be felt anywhere on the continent, but after Eodukin revealed itself…”

Did Eodukin devour the ascension-seeking yokai?
I fell into contemplation for a moment.
Old Monk Bangta didn’t seem to be lying.
He was even trembling just from the thought of this ‘Eodukin’ being, his fear was that palpable.

Yet,
If such a formidable being had manifested,
“Why was it not recorded, why did it disappear without a trace, why are you unharmed, and why was the world unchanged?”

“I don’t know.”
“What?”
“As I said, this monk does not know. About two hours after Eodukin awoke, its presence gradually grew faint before completely vanishing.”
“…Does that make sense?”
“That is why I said I don’t know. There are rumors that the winged Taoist and the king of Yuldo Nation joined forces to exorcise Eodukin… but rumors are just rumors. Nothing has been properly clarified. Huhuhuh.”

Old Monk Bangta stroked his beard as he continued:
“And so Duuksin vanished overnight. It was only natural that the dokkaebi, having lost their lord, went extinct.”

“Depot said it was that Taoist and the king of Yuldo Nation who exterminated the dokkaebi.”
“That too is merely an unfounded rumor, Miho. How could this monk believe it without witnessing it directly? Perhaps they took their own lives to follow their lord, or perhaps they concealed themselves to bide their time for the future.”
“…”
“In any case, the dokkaebi vanished, and the world lost its balance once more.”
“The Taejasinggi… what about the Taejasinggi?”
“On the day Duuksin vanished, the Taejasinggi also disappeared, as if it had never existed.”

In other words, to the yokai, Duuksin was their savior,
And the Taejasinggi was their scripture.
With their savior Duuksin vanishing, it was only natural for the scripture he authored to disappear as well.

“Huhuhuh. From here on is a story you’re likely already familiar with, Miho.”
“Yeah, more or less.”
Though I didn’t witness it directly as Old Monk Bangta said,
The king of Yuldo Nation and the winged Taoist likely started defeating the ascension-seeking great yokai one by one.
Consequently, all the great yokai failed to ascend… that’s probably the gist of it.

I understood the core of the story.
Eodukin,
The king of Yuldo Nation,
The winged Taoist –
They all obstructed the yokai’s ascension with all their might.
Only the demigod Duuksin actively encouraged the yokai’s ascension.
Ascension.
That was the core.
Just what was this ‘ascension’ that caused such an uproar?

Though I grasped the story’s essence, my vexation grew as I could not obtain the book Taejasinggi itself.
Yet thanks to the monk, I now understood what I should do next.
Staying trapped in this inner realm of Jirisan, idly tormenting Depot and the raccoons, would get me nowhere.
I must venture outside.
Search the internet, scour libraries, or
Even barge into that Jirisan Yokai Extermination Office whose lives I saved and threaten them: “Give me information as repayment for saving your lives!”
I need to find information from the human world.
No matter how much of a yokai I am, I am their benefactor who saved their lives.
If they have any conscience, they won’t be hostile towards me.

I made up my mind.
I will go to the Jirisan National Park Yokai Extermination Office.
And if they act hostile…
I’ll give them a taste of Fox Fire before fleeing.
For while Old Monk Bangta was a perverted lunatic obsessed with children, I was no ingrate yokai ignorant of gratitude.

Finally, I bade the monk farewell:
“Monk, thank you sincerely for telling me that story. If there’s anything you need from me, just say the word.”
“Huhuhuh… Then how about retracting one more tail and coming into this monk’s bangta?”
“Get lost.”

I rashly thanked him, it seems.
As a refusal to the monk’s request, I immediately manifested all six of my tails, returning to my adult form.
My height increased.
My baby fat melted away.
My breasts swelled plumply.
…Indeed, an unfamiliar appearance.
Manifesting around five tails was ideal, but I had no choice given my inability to control the surging yogi.

As I entertained such idle thoughts,
The monk addressed me:
“Miho.”
“Yeah yeah, I know! Whether I lust after human males’ life force until I die a wretched death or whatever, you don’t care, right? Don’t worry, I was just about to lea—”
“Miho.”
“…?”
“Be careful. Huhuhuh. The path you’re about to tread is undoubtedly a road to hell.”

Eh…?
Stunned by the monk’s unexpected words.
I, no longer a child,
Felt slightly moved as I said to the monk:
“Monk…”
“Begone!!!!”
“Monk…?”
“If you’ve understood, then scram already! The yin energy emanating from your body is making my head spin! Go devour some human males’ life force or whatever. Shoo, shoo!”
“Ah, screw you.”

Well, so be it, people… no, yokai don’t change overnight.
As I turned away from the monk,
For some reason, I found myself smiling brightly.