The Conference (4)

[Last night, a unprecedented incident occurred in Namsan, Seoul where a yokai appeared…]

[In response, the government has declared a national emergency…]

[Meanwhile, Yokai Extermination Office Director Baek Nam-hun stated he will provide an official statement after the yokai countermeasures conference in 3 days…]

[Despite suffering serious injuries like bodily harm, there were no fatalities among the injured…]

[All injured reported witnessing a woman with fox ears…]

[Some have speculated that this fox-eared woman could be the rumored ‘mysterious assistant’…]

[Testimonies from the injured also matched the appearance of the ‘Seoul Downtown Fox Cosplayer’ seen in online communities…]

The day after the incident.

Chomp.

Chomp.

Chomp chomp.

I was chewing on dog treats while watching the TV news.

What a mess.

Well, of course it would be a mess when a yokai appeared in downtown Seoul, leaving over 50 dead and over 300 dismembered.

The only consolation was that none of the dismembered victims died, thanks to me exhausting all my spirit energy to heal them.

It would have been ideal if I could have fully regenerated their severed limbs, but I lacked the spirit energy.

Unlike the Busan incident, the urgency of the situation forced me to openly reveal myself to the public this time.

I was photographed and filmed so much that footage of me crawling on all fours frequently appeared as supplementary visuals on the news.

Oh… I’ve become famous overnight, it seems.

“Haah… You should have at least walked on two legs, Miho…”

“How could I walk on two when I had fully unleashed my instincts?”

“You were in human disguise, weren’t you? I could understand if you were in fox form, but why did you insist on crawling on all fours despite appearing human?”

“Well, foxes are quadrupedal animals.”

“…”

Why did he ask something so obvious?

I gave Lee Ha-neul, who was next to me, an odd look.

Ha-neul and I were resting at a hotel room – me to recover my spirit energy, and him to recuperate his ki.

If we stay bedridden all day, we should recover to some extent, which means we can go sightseeing in Seoul again tomorrow.

“Why don’t we go to Myeong-dong this time?”

“What?”

“Ah, is Myeong-dong a bit much? Then let’s go to Gangnam. I’d like to watch that damn yokai movie.”

“Go out where?!”

Smack!

After yelling at me, Ha-neul proceeded to nag while pointing at the TV:

“Miho, can’t you see? Your face has been exposed everywhere! You’re not going anywhere until the conference starts. Stay put in this hotel like a dead rat!”

“That’s a bit…”

“It’s an order.”

“Mmph…”

This was the first time I felt like defying Ha-neul’s orders.

Hey, have you never raised a dog before?

Dogs need to go on walks periodically, at least once a day.

Otherwise, they go mad from stress and poop all over the floor, you know?

I’m the same way.

I’ve just realized today that being cooped up indoors like this is driving me crazy.

I pleaded to Ha-neul about my anguish:

“I’m not joking. I really feel like I’m going insane.”

“No way.”

“I’ll pee on that bed.”

“No… No way.”

“I’ll scratch the walls with my claws. I’ll chew up the bed.”

“Ah, I said no way!”

“Okay. Got it.”

Did he think I was just bluffing?

I swear to the heavens, there wasn’t a shred of falsehood in what I just said.

Soon after, I undid my human disguise and reverted to my fox form.

“Grrrrrr…”

I bared my fangs at Ha-neul once, then proceeded to chew up the pillow first.

“Grrrrr…”

“What are you doing?!”

“Woof, woof, woof, woof!”

Even the finest hotels have limits to their soundproofing.

I’ll bark.

Until the rooms next door, behind, above and below all complain about the noise.

I’ll bark like a dog.

“Woof, woof! Woof! Woof! Grrrrr…”

Scratchscratchscratchscratch.

Next, it was time to scratch the walls.

I began vigorously clawing and shredding the wallpaper with my cute claws.

“Stop it, stop it, I said stop!”

What’s this?

He still won’t give in?

Alright then.

I didn’t want to resort to this method, but…

Drawing a map on the bed…

“L, let’s go out!”

“Yip!”

Negotiation complete.

With the negotiation settled, I transformed back into human form.

Hehehe.

As I smiled contentedly, Ha-neul next to me began trembling all over.

What’s wrong with him?

“In the old days…”

“…?”

“They said a stick was the cure for disobedient dogs.”

“Y, yip?”

“Present your buttocks.”

“…”

Smack!

“Yeowl!”

Smack!

“Yeowl!”

Smack, smack smack, smack.

Thus, I was spanked by Ha-neul for damaging hotel property.

---

The next day, I ended up going to the movies with Ha-neul to watch a yokai film.

Naturally, I wore a hat and carried a bag to conceal my tail as much as possible.

“Oh, that woman…”

“Isn’t that her?”

“The woman from the news, right?”

It seemed my face had already been exposed everywhere, as I immediately drew attention.

Ha-neul whispered to me with a dumbfounded look:

“See, I told you not to go out…”

“What’s the problem? They don’t seem to be afraid of me.”

Unlike a yokai’s yogi, a spirit’s lingqi carried an aura of mystique that instilled basic goodwill in people meeting me for the first time.

“That’s not the issue…”

“Then what is?”

“Your face is exposed, that’s what! Can’t you see people taking your pictures?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll be holed up in Jirisan anyway once the conference ends.”

“Sheesh… I don’t know anymore. Let’s just watch the movie and head back.”

“Okay. Buy me a coke.”

Coke is a magical potion.

It pairs well with chicken.

It pairs well with pizza.

Heck, it even pairs well with dog food.

Crunch crunch.

Instead of popcorn, I had filled the popcorn tub with dog food and munched on it while watching the movie.

After the movie ended, I told Ha-neul:

“That was so boring.”

“Eh, really? I found it quite entertaining.”

“The research was terrible. No sense of realism at all.”

Just like the drama I had watched before, the depiction of yokai was atrocious.

Seriously, a yokai and a human getting married, passionately consummating their love, and giving birth to a half-breed ending?

I could probably make a more realistic movie than that if I directed it.

Unlike me who was disappointed by the movie, Ha-neul seemed inspired as he commented:

“Why, it was so romantic – the love story between a yokai and a human! How beautiful.”

“Beautiful, my ass. The premise of the human falling for the yokai at first sight was already nonsensical. Some of us start swinging fists the moment we meet humans. I even punched a cute little kid for no reason.”

“You’re taking shots at me, aren’t you.”

“No, I’m not.”

“…”

---

At the director’s office, Yokai Extermination Office Director Baek Nam-hun was having tea with Jiri Mountain Yokai Extermination Office Director Lee Han-ul and Taoist Society Spell Master Ho Joon.

It wasn’t a casual conversation, but rather a serious discussion.

Baek Nam-hun opened his mouth while massaging his forehead:

“A goblin… Haah, a goblin. The moment I saw it, I had a gut feeling it wasn’t a yokai, but I never imagined it was actually a goblin. Then does that mean the wand Ha-neul was carrying was…”

“Yes, a goblin’s wand. More precisely, the goblin’s wand that the yokai possessed.”

Han-ul and Ho Joon then proceeded to explain everything to Baek Nam-hun:

About Miho.

About Miho’s relationship with the Jiri Mountain Yokai Extermination Office.

The fact that the formless shadow had taken on the goblin’s form.

Baek Nam-hun did not hold them accountable.

And for good reason – the ‘Miho’ spirit he had met in person was clearly not an enemy of humanity, having protected people and exterminated the goblin even as her body was being torn apart.

His goal was to protect the masses from ‘threats’, so he could not consider her a threat.

That would clearly be a misjudgment.

While he understood the situation, some doubts still remained unresolved:

“The appearance of a spirit, the emergence of a formidable yokai, the revival of a goblin… This doesn’t seem to be a coincidence.”

“Miho also said it didn’t seem to be a coincidence.”

Muttering to himself about why such an incident had to occur during his tenure as director, Baek Nam-hun thought that ultimately, he would need to hold a conference with this Miho spirit to resolve the remaining questions.

He had not summoned Han-ul and Ho Joon to interrogate them, but rather to inquire about Miho from those who were acquainted with her, to facilitate smooth communication.

What was her personality like?

What did she dislike or like?

What were her strengths?

Han-ul answered first:

“Her personality… well, to put it simply, she’s like a dog.”

To which Ho Joon nodded in agreement.

“You mean she’s sharp-tongued. She didn’t seem that way, but… I see, I’ll have to be careful not to provoke her during our conversation…”

“No, I don’t mean it figuratively. She’s literally like a dog – a dog loyal to humans.”

“…”

Ho Joon then added:

“She doesn’t seem to dislike anything in particular. Ah, she does get annoyed whenever her figure is mentioned. We should be fine as long as we keep our eyes on her face instead of her chest while talking.”

“…Master Ho Joon.”

“Ahem… My apologies. As for what she likes, she enjoys being petted, dog food, dog treats – basically everything dogs like.”

Dumbfounded by their answers, Baek Nam-hun asked in return:

“Then… isn’t she just a dog?”

“Yes, she is a dog.”

“Didn’t I say she’s like a dog?”

“…”