Miho (3)

About 500 years ago,

The war between humans and yokai reached catastrophic levels.

The yokai who attained enlightenment through the Taiist Godly Texts indiscriminately massacred humans after being granted ascension qualifications.

Humans with evil tendencies,

Humans with good tendencies,

Humans did not just stand by as yokai slaughtered humans either.

Led by the martial artist Gildong and

the Taoist Uchi,

Humans sought to exterminate all existing yokai in the world.

Yokai that felt delight in devouring humans,

Yokai that relatively hid their presence and only hunted humans when absolutely necessary,

This helix of killing each other seemed destined to continue eternally, but

The ‘dark night’ caused by Duergsini’s other side, Duergsini,

Brought the eternal war between humans and yokai to an end.

---

It was purely by chance that Duergsini was able to find his true self that he had lost.

After making a second deal with Duergsini,

Gija… no, Duergsini lost his self and free will, eternally slumbering within Duergsini’s inner self.

Duergsini was an exceedingly meticulous being, and

would not hesitate at any act if it meant turning the cycle.

Duergsini created his other side Duergsini solely to turn the cycle.

The multi-tailed fox yokai was an existence Duergsini could not predict,

Being unpredictable meant variables could arise,

And variables arising meant circumstances could change, making it difficult to turn the cycle.

Duergsini created his other side Duergsini while accounting for even the worst case scenario.

If Duergsini died for reasons unknown to him, Duergsini from his inner self would awaken and act to fulfill the grand purpose of turning the cycle.

For Duergsini too was a goblin,

An existence of order,

And Duergsini himself.

According to the original plan,

Duergsini should not have revealed himself to the world until Duergsini’s safety was threatened,

For it was impossible from the start,

Violating the laws of the Wheel.

500 years ago,

To achieve victory in a great war to come in the future, Duergsini compiled the Taiist Godly Texts and

Distributed them to the yokai,

Granting them fake ascensions to use as sacrifices for the multi-tailed fox yokai.

The more sacrifices, the better.

As far as Duergsini predicted,

Around ten or so yokai achieving ‘fake ascension’ would be a sufficient number of sacrifices for the multi-tailed fox yokai to appear in the distant future.

However,

For reasons unknown, a variable occurred, and

Overnight,

No, in just a single meal’s time, most of the yokai granted ascension qualifications vanished from the world.

Gildong and Uchi were not the variables.

Gildong and Uchi’s power,

And their actions, had already been predicted by Duergsini, and his predictions were precisely accurate.

Lord Beast too was not a variable.

The appearance of the Guardian Beast Lord Beast

Was also a result Duergsini had predicted.

Duergsini,

A demigod far transcending mortal understanding,

No existence could defy Duergsini’s predictions, except the multi-tailed fox yokai.

And yet, a variable still occurred.

His predictions were not wrong, so why did a variable occur?

Ironically,

Duergsini’s variable was his own self,

Duergsini.

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“No matter how much of a demigod,”

“One cannot predict their own fate.”

“This is the law of the Wheel,”

“The shackle of the cycle.”

“By chance, I regained my self”

“From within Duergsini’s inner self.”

“The moment I regained my self, I realized”

“What Duergsini intended to do,”

“And what I must do,”

“And I immediately usurped Duergsini’s body,”

“Erasing from the world”

“The yokai who had achieved ascension,”

“The yokai about to achieve ascension,”

“And the yokai granted ascension qualifications.”

“This”

“Was the end of the dark night”

“I brought about.”

“…”

Grandfather Mangtae once told me a story,

About 500 years ago,

An incident where the existence called ‘Duergsini’ appeared and massacred the great yokai.

After this incident, goblins vanished from the world.

Gija continued:

“However, I did not have time.”

“There was a clear limit to arbitrarily usurping Duergsini’s body,”

“I could not erase all the yokai granted ascension qualifications.”

“Still,”

“I likely killed”

“Over 90% of them.”

“…So that’s why the world was still livable until now.”

If not for Gija,

Duergsini would have summoned even more yokai granted ascension qualifications to the human world.

From Gija’s words, it seems the number of yokai granted ascension qualifications was not just one or two…

but nearly a hundred.

If that many yokai had been unleashed in the human world,

I would have naturally awakened to my ninth tail.

Without needing to risk revealing his true form directly, Duergsini

could have turned the cycle.

In other words,

This ‘person’ before me

is the very hero who saved the world.

However, a question arises here:

Duergsini is no fool, so

he could not have made an existence he cannot control a part of himself.

How did this person

regain his self?

Certainly, just earlier,

“You said ‘the heart’…”

“Yes, the heart.”

“I too, slumbering within Duergsini’s inner self, was Duergsini,”

“And shared Duergsini’s purpose:”

“To turn the cycle.”

“Miho,”

“You”

“Were destined to suffer unimaginable pain”

“In Duergsini’s future.”

“Of course,”

“I had lost my self then,”

“So whether you suffered or not”

“Meant nothing to me.”

“…”

“However,”

“The moment I realized”

“You would have to directly kill your loved ones”

“With your own hands,”

“I”

“Regained my self.”

“For”

“I too”

“Had directly killed my loved one with my own hands once,”

“And that dreadful pain”

“Was etched into my heart”

“Beyond my self.”

“Ah…”

So,

The moment he perceived I was in the same fate as himself,

The pain etched into his heart allowed him to regain his self.

“Duergsini”

“Overlooked and”

“Underestimated”

“The human heart.”

“After the dark night,”

“Duergsini erased me completely from the world,”

“Realizing that”

“I was an even more troublesome variable than you.”

“I could not resist Duergsini,”

“And was satisfied with killing over 90% of the great yokai”

“For the sake of you to appear in the distant future.”

“However,”

“As I said, I had a wish:”

“To embrace you”

“One more time.”

“This wish”

“Protected me”

“From Duergsini.”

“While Duergsini erased my existence from his inner self,”

“He could not erase my heart.”

“My appearance before you now too”

“Was a point Duergsini overlooked,”

“A future he could not dare predict.”

“…”

I cannot even fathom how difficult it must have been for this person.

If I had directly killed Yi Haneul,

Ho-jun,

Lord Beast,

and Dapoh with my own hands…

My mind would have collapsed.

This person, Gija…

Overcame despair, endured through those long years,

And ultimately met me again like this.

Though I feel truly sorry for Gija,

I still did not feel any romantic feelings for him, but

Stomp.

Stompstomp.

Hug.

I embraced him.

I’m not sure why,

I just felt I had to embrace him.

“…I don’t know if saying this now has any meaning, but”

“Still,”

“Thank you.”

“For protecting humans,”

“For protecting me.”

“…”

My shoulder became damp with Gija’s tears.

This is troubling.

I have no talent for consoling those who cry.

“B-But we ended up meeting again, so it’s all good, right?”

“Of course, I’m not the Miho you knew,”

“And, ugh… I’m really sorry, but”

“I swore to myself not to suck any man’s life force.”

“So, um… yes.”

“We cannot become lovers,”

“But we still have time left ahead, don’t we?”

“From what I can tell, it seems I must remain in this stifling space eternally,”

“So let’s be close friends.”

I do not know why Gija appeared in this space, but

from my perspective, he is like a savior.

I was agonizing over how I would endure ‘eternity’ alone, so

having a conversation partner like this, I welcome him with open arms.

After crying for a while, Gija solemnly opened his mouth:

“My wish… has been fulfilled.”

“My wish was…”

“To meet you again…”

“To embrace you…”

“You even embraced me first, so…”

“Now I”

“Have no more”

“Lingering attachments”

“To this world…!”

“…Even though I’m not the Miho you knew…”

“Yes.”

“It’s alright.”

“Such things”

“No longer matter…”

“I have come to know”

“That you too are a warm woman,”

“Like the Miho I knew.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore…”

“…Alright, I understand, but why are you speaking like you’re about to die soon?”

“Whether it’s lingering attachments, regrets, or whatever, you’ll be trapped here with me for life anyway, so let’s slowly start exchanging fun stories…”

“No.”

“You will not”

“Meet the same fate as me.”

“…Huh?”

“I made a deal with a demon of my own will,”

“And directly killed you with my own hands,”

“This is my karma, not yours.”

“It is enough for me alone”

“To suffer.”

“I want you”

“To be happy,”

“Without suffering the same pain as me.”

“What do you mean…”

“I will”

“Let you leave”

“This place.”

“This is”

“My”

“Final will,”

“A nameless man’s”

“Last wish.”