The Tiger Folklore of Jangsan (萇山) in Busan (2)

The director did not grant my request.

It was not a betrayal on the director’s part, nor was it because he was as stingy as the hairs on my head that he declined my request.

There was a major obstacle in going to Busan.

First,

My appearance.

While I could assume a human form through my ‘Fox Transformation’, I could not conceal these conspicuous fox tail and ears.

Needless to say, humans are not beings with fox tails and ears.

An appearance that would draw aggro anywhere, so it was understandable that the director rejected my request.

…But couldn’t I just pass it off as cosplay?

I may not know much about this world’s culture, but at least in the Korea I lived in, fox-tailed gumiho (nine-tailed fox) subculture characters were ubiquitous.

There was even a gumiho character on Grade 7 Kim Myeong-ho’s desk, so it didn’t seem too different in this world either.

Even setting appearance aside,

The real issue was my yogi.

“Lady Miho, I don’t know if you’re aware, but… your yogi is so formidable that humans will likely be able to track you easily no matter where you go. In fact, the moment you emerged from the inner realm, a yogi detection alarm went off at the Yokai Extermination Office.”

“Is it that serious?”

I had tried suppressing my yogi as much as I could, yet the yogi detection alarm still went off.

This could be,

Quite problematic.

“Yes, it’s that serious. If you cannot suppress your yogi… Lady Miho, you will be unable to leave the Jiri Mountain area. I feel very sorry about this.”

“…I understand.”

I get it.

From the director’s perspective, simply allowing a yokai like me was already an immense risk he had to accept.

Letting me, unable to properly control my yogi, out of Jiri Mountain would be suicidal dereliction of duty.

The conclusion was:

I had to find a way to control my yogi, no matter what.

Since being possessed by the fox spirit, I had never properly trained even once.

The reason was simple:

I never felt the need to train.

For the past two years, I had been too busy hibernating to even consider training.

After absorbing yogi from the blue-furred fox, the sheer amount I possessed was so vast that I was confident I could protect myself from ordinary threats without needing to train.

However, the situation was a bit different now.

To leave the Jiri Mountain area as soon as possible, I had to find a way to control my yogi, no matter what.

I couldn’t afford to slack off.

Who knew if that Jangsan tiger would be discovered and exterminated by humans tomorrow?

For that reason, I ventured back into the inner realm and went around asking the yokai acquaintances I knew one by one about how to suppress yogi.

Without exception, they all responded to me:

‘Why would you need to suppress your yogi?’

…It was an aspect I had overlooked.

Their mindsets were fundamentally different from mine to begin with.

For the yokai living in the inner realm, they had no need to suppress their yogi since they had no intention of venturing outside dangerously.

Since they had no need, they didn’t know how to suppress yogi either.

Seeing that I couldn’t get help from the inner realm,

I ended up asking the humans for assistance instead.

I could be certain that ‘suppressing yogi’ was possible.

Why?

Because that tiger that appeared in Jangsan must have suppressed its yogi.

The training method went something like this:

While I trained to suppress my yogi, Grade 7 civil servant Kim Myeong-ho would detect my yogi in real-time.

He would then radio that real-time yogi data to Ha-neul,

“I never expected to meet Miho again this quickly!”

Who would relay it to me.

The reason it had to be Ha-neul was that she was the only human capable of withstanding my yogi.

I began attempting to suppress my yogi while ignoring the rambling Ha-neul.

However, suppressing yogi was not as easy as it sounded.

At one point, I inadvertently released all the yogi in my body, nearly causing Ha-neul to faint from the dense miasma.

While trying to control my yogi, I somehow ended up in my three-tailed state, causing Ha-neul’s eyes to roll back as she rushed over and furiously stroked my head.

Three hours into starting my yogi training,

I began to grow weary.

…It seemed there was no solution no matter how I looked at it. Would I have to simply give up, remain trapped in Jiri Mountain, and wait indefinitely until a yokai granted ascension qualification appeared?

Seeing my deflated state, Ha-neul gently stroked my head and tails before speaking:

“Miho, um… I don’t know if this will help, but let me tell you how I trained in martial force.”

Grasping at straws,

I listened intently to her words.

“Martial force is a part of my body.”

“…Pardon?”

Perplexed by her nonsensical statement, I asked her to elaborate.

“Fundamentally speaking, that’s obviously wrong, but at least that’s how I view it. Handling one’s own body is as natural an act as breathing, so when using martial force, I use self-suggestion: ‘This is an act of moving my body.’ Along those lines, if you think of your yogi as part of your body too and handle it that way… maybe the results will be different.”

Think of it as part of my body.

Inspired by Ha-neul’s words, I eventually relaxed my body fully and closed my eyes.

And I used self-suggestion.

Yogi is akin to a part of my body.

Like breathing.

Naturally.

Release yogi.

Then reabsorb it.

Exhale, inhale.

Release, reabsorb.

Exhale, inhale.

Release, reabsorb.

…

…

…

“Lady Miho’s yogi is no longer being detected.”

“I did it!”

“You… did it.”

Why did this work?

Indeed, training was a great thing,

And effort did not betray me.

After learning to control my yogi,

I immediately prepared to fly to Busan.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright going alone? Things like taking the train…”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve got it all figured out.”

I had lived as a human far longer than as a yokai.

If nothing else, I was confident in my human cosplay skills.

I expressed my gratitude to the director.

Though he may not have realized it, letting me out of Jiri Mountain from the director’s perspective was akin to a gamble.

If things went wrong…

He could be branded a ‘human traitor who allied with mere yokai’, an immense risk.

Of course, the director of the Yokai Extermination Office was no softhearted person swayed by feelings, nor had he simply trusted and decided this based on me.

He too had realized the recent string of events was suspicious, desperately needing information.

Moreover, the alliance between me and the Jiri Mountain Yokai Extermination Office was unofficial to begin with.

If things went awry, the director would mercilessly cut me off and disavow me without hesitation.

I understand.

If I were in the director’s position, I would have acted the same.

For the director’s sake as well, I resolved to exercise utmost caution in my actions.

Naturally, I would go to Busan alone.

Going with the widely known Ha-neul would be akin to advertising: ‘Here’s an adorable fox yokai roaming the city!’

Lee Han-ul gave me a card I could use freely and a cell phone.

Likely to track my location in real-time, but I gratefully accepted the phone regardless.

Eventually, as I descended the mountain, I immediately searched for information on the ‘Jangsan Tiger Yokai Incident’.

It was such a sensational case that countless search results appeared, but

For grasping incidents, nothing beat a wiki.

[SeedWiki]

<Busan’s Jangsan Tiger Yokai Incident>

Occurrence Date

-> Around 5:15 PM, 20XX/XX/XX

+3 days, 17 hours elapsed since occurrence

(Ongoing)

Location

-> Midway up Jangsan (萇山), Haeundae-gu, Busan Metropolitan City, South Korea

Type

-> Yokai Appearance Incident

Impact

-> Residents evacuated from Jangsan area, complete lockdown of Jangsan area, tiger extermination taskforce formed and investigation begun

Cause

-> Unknown, under investigation

Casualties

Deaths: 152

Missing: 112

Injured: 537

Forces Deployed

53 Jangsan Yokai Extermination Office personnel

3 nationally certified Martial Artists (Park Na-rae, Lee Jung-hyuk, Geum Sung)

2 Taoist Society (度伽會) Spell Masters (Ho Joon, Myeong Jung)

Yokai Grade

-> Unmeasurable

Table of Contents

1. 1. Overview

 

1. 1. Progression

 

1. 1. Timeline

      3-1. Day 1
      

      3-2. Day 2
      

      3-3. Day 3

 

1. 1. Overview

      A municipal-level disaster occurrence of a formidable tiger yokai appearing around 5:15 PM on 20XX/XX/XX in Busan’s Jangsan (萇山) mountain area.
      

      As this is an ongoing incident, this document will only state definitively confirmed information.
      

 

1. 1. Progression

      [1 hour before incident]
      

      The Jangsan Yokai Extermination Office detected an anomaly.
      

      While detecting yogi, they picked up an erratic waveform from a yokai, but even yogi detection experts could not identify what this yokai was.
      

      It was neither an animal-type nor a vengeful spirit-type yokai waveform, an entirely new waveform pattern, they said.
      

[30 minutes before incident]

Under the Jangsan Yokai Extermination Office director’s command, combat personnel were deployed to the unidentified yokai’s waveform source to exterminate this new waveform type.

However, for some reason, when they reached the waveform source, the yokai had vanished without a trace, and its yogi was no longer detectable.

[5 minutes before incident]

Yogi was detected on Haeundae-ro 748 near Jangsan. A disaster alarm sounded, and the Jangsan Yokai Extermination Office designated it an ‘Unmeasurable Yokai’ requesting the dispatch of nationally certified Martial Artists and Taoist Society Spell Masters.

[Incident occurs, 5:15 PM]

The unidentified yokai began rampaging. It devoured any humans it saw, its movements so evasive that CCTVs could not capture its appearance.

According to survivor testimonies, the yokai resembled a tiger with sleek, lush fur.

Jangsan Yokai Extermination Office personnel and the nationally certified Martial Artist Lee Jung-hyuk rushed to the scene, but it was too late – 52 dead, 32 missing, 125 injured…

…

…

…