Freedom (2)

Ho-jun was confused.

Normally, this was Ho-jun’s perception of Miho:

A lewd, bodacious vixen.

In other words, a beast.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Although Ho-jun was a strapping young man who couldn’t claim to be completely unaffected by Miho’s appearance, to put it mildly.

He was someone who firmly maintained boundaries.

Thanks to his rather colorful dating history with women, he didn’t drool over Miho’s outward appearance like other men.

In that sense, Ho-jun viewed Miho not as a woman, but more akin to a pet beast.

She was only two years old, after all.

But now, the childlike Miho squirming before him defied any perception of her as a mere beast.

“Did you hear me? I said my legs hurt! Give me a piggyback ride, piggyback!”

“A, ah, y, yes, I heard you.”

Ho-jun was confused.

Why was he pandering to this mere fox?

The cause was undoubtedly Miho’s appearance.

Toddle toddle.

Pitter patter pitter patter.

While Miho’s gait along the rugged mountain path seemed precarious, it was adorably endearing – enough to melt away all worries.

“Ah!”

Oh no.

Miho had tripped over a tree branch and was about to fall.

Before Miho could faceplant into the dirt, Ho-jun instinctively unleashed ritual arts he didn’t even know he had to catch her upright.

“See, you wouldn’t have fallen if you gave me that piggyback ride. But I guess your ritual prowess is reliable at least.”

“…Hop on.”

“You’re really giving me a ride? Yay!”

Damn it.

Surely this vixen with her unnecessarily voluptuous rear and bosoms was an ill-omened wench, yet why was she so cute?

---

With Miho perched on his shoulders, I asked Ho-jun:

“Haven’t you awakened to any new powers, Ho-jun?”

“Nothing like that. If I had, I would have used it against that damned goblin.”

“…I suppose you’re right.”

Yi Haneul had mentioned awakening to a new power by emulating my combat style.

If my freedom could influence others, perhaps not just Yi Haneul, but Ho-jun too could awaken this ‘power of freedom’.

“Don’t you want to try training by emulating my fighting style?”

“Absolutely not. Like I’d ever imitate your lewd vixen antics…”

“Huh? Why did you trail off there?”

“…It’s nothing.”

This guy really was weak to cute things, huh.

I should tease Ho-jun in two-tailed form from now on.

In any case, he was prideful and egotistical to a fault.

That arrogant Ho-jun would never train by emulating my style?

What a joke.

Well, Ho-jun was already plenty strong even without any ‘power of freedom’, so forcibly inculcating that ideology wasn’t necessary.

---

It wasn’t that Ho-jun was particularly weak to cuteness per se.

Just that Miho’s two-tailed form possessed a level of adorableness anyone would find appealing.

“The higher vantage point from being taller than Lord Yi Haneul really opens up the view.”

“…Don’t squirm, or you’ll fall.”

“Wow… Is this really the same shameless wastrel Ho-jun I knew? Why have you become so kind?”

“Kuh… Th, that’s my line! Damn it, why are you suddenly taking on such a form… Why must I indulge the requests of a vixen like you?”

“It’s not like I threatened you at knifepoint to get you to comply with my wishes.”

That was true.

Miho had made no threats.

Piggyback rides.

Chocolate deliveries.

Soda deliveries.

Even dog treat deliveries.

Ho-jun had silently acquiesced to all of Miho’s requests – things the usual Ho-jun would have flatly rejected.

After spending a few hours perched on Ho-jun’s shoulders that way, the exhausted Yi Haneul woke from a nap to witness their cozy scene, letting out a shrill shriek.

From Yi Haneul’s perspective, Ho-jun had essentially stolen Miho away from her.

If it were the old, bashful Miho, she might have been quite flustered and told them to cut it out already.

But the current Miho in her ‘enjoyer’ mode was different.

“Only those who defeat me in battle may covet this body.”

…A rather ambiguous statement.

Seeming to finally regain his senses after Miho’s remark, Ho-jun promptly flung Miho off his shoulders towards Yi Haneul.

“Ack!”

“Wh, what are you doing to our Miho?!”

“You handle her, Lord Yi Haneul.”

Ho-jun thought remaining close to that two-tailed Miho was dangerous.

---

Another yokai had emerged.

This latest one was estimated to possess yoki exceeding Level 2 in strength.

Since I hadn’t fully recovered yet, Ho-jun and Yi Haneul headed to the scene alone.

I had considered staying confined in the other world until recovering, but with those villain buffoons Mangtae and Nohng waiting for me, I figured killing time at the Jirisan Yokai Extermination Office was preferable.

…Those two yokai’s cartoonish antics were vexing enough to deplete one’s vitality on their own.

In two-tailed form, I could not use spirit energy.

An obvious fact – spirit energy manifested from seven tails onward.

Training yoki would be meaningless too, as I had no intention of fighting goblins in two-tailed state.

In other words, I had nothing to do.

It would take about four days to revert to eight tails, yet goofing off quickly became tedious after just a day or two.

I could somewhat understand why Lord Beast had so obsessively sought ‘fun’.

With that in mind, I wondered what kind of training I could pursue in two-tailed form, since this state would likely persist for a while.

Once my spirit energy recharged enough to manifest eight tails again, I would resume training with Ho-jun.

But that training would inevitably deplete my spirit energy, reverting me back to two tails.

I couldn’t meaninglessly waste time every instance I reverted to two tails.

The ‘power of freedom’ I had accidentally used seemed completely unrelated to spirit energy.

In other words, I could easily train that power even in my two-tailed, spirit energy-less state.

Swish.

Swish swish.

Swish swish swish.

Yet I still made no progress, only eliciting laughter from the female office workers who came to gawk at me flailing my arms aimlessly in the courtyard.

No advancement at all.

I had no one to ask for guidance either, since this was a power only I could wield in all heaven and earth.

“…”

Yes.

This was the sole lead I had.

I called it the ‘power of freedom’.

No one had kindly explained this enigmatic power to me – I simply felt it was the ‘power of freedom’ instinctively.

The reason I arrived at this conclusion was the emotion I had felt while using that power:

Anger towards the goblin.

Pain.

Sorrow.

Suffering.

I had transcended all those emotions, feeling an indescribable sense of freedom.

In other words, no amount of artificial training could ever replicate that genuine emotion.

One perplexing point was the power Yi Haneul had awakened to.

It seemed Yi Haneul too had been influenced by me to awaken the ‘power of freedom’, yet unlike me, she could wield it freely.

How ironic.

The feeling of an original creator stripped of their copyright.

Naturally, I had asked Yi Haneul countless times how she had artificially manifested that power, but her answer was always the same:

‘It just naturally came out.’

‘Naturally’.

That word ‘natural’ suddenly felt so profound.

Did I need to study philosophy or something?

Suddenly, an ominous thought crossed my mind.

No, not ominous – more a sense of grievance.

Lord Beast was a fox yokai who embodied ‘the heart of independence unmatched in all heaven and earth’ – the belief that she alone was noble in this world.

She had monopolized all power, reigning as its sovereign.

However, unlike Lord Beast, I had no intention of monopolizing power for myself, let alone reigning as a sovereign.

Rather, I had taken it upon myself to become humanity’s pet.

With that in mind, was it possible I had unconsciously shared my ‘power of freedom’ with those around me?

A power originally mine alone to wield had become harder to manifest because I had distributed it to others.

Of course, sharing power with others was undoubtedly a good thing.

But why could the very person who shared that power no longer use it freely?

…Yi Haneul was understandable, at least.

But Ho-jun was already plenty strong without any ‘power of freedom’, so I shouldn’t have shared it with him.

---

The next day, Ho-jun and Yi Haneul returned after exterminating the yokai.

And Ho-jun immediately served me a massive humble pie:

“I can use it now.”

“…Huh?”

“That power of freedom, or whatever nonsense – I can use it now.”

Return my power to me, you thief.