episode_0041

I finally arrived home safely with Ayoung.

Seeing the now familiar building finally brought tears to my eyes.

‘Those were really, really hard times.’

Since it was quite a distance from where Ayoung was sealed to where I live, I called a taxi.

There I was, in the dead of night, a man and a voluptuous woman with fox ears wearing men’s clothes haphazardly, riding in a taxi.

The taxi driver’s gaze seemed to be looking at something suspicious.

Wouldn’t we look like perverted men and women enjoying an outdoor cosplay session late at night?

‘I didn’t even do anything wrong, but I had to be so aware of my surroundings.’

Ayoung, sensing the atmosphere, even threw in some playful, lewd jokes.

Thanks to that, I had an awkward time all the way home.

I think the look the driver gave me when I paid will haunt my dreams.

“Heung~ Is this the house you live in? It’s pretty ordinary.”

“It’s pretty good for around here, though.”

“A exorcist capable of employing me should be the best man in the region, if not the country.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll try to be.”

A woman as full of confidence as her figure… no, a fox.

Well, considering her abilities and looks, this kind of personality is understandable.

She is truly a femme fatale.

If she were in her prime, she could even seduce a king and manipulate the country if she put her mind to it.

“I’m just saying this in case. Don’t go seducing men for no reason. Things get annoying.”

“I’ve never seduced a man first. Men just fall for me on their own. Look at this face and figure.”

As Ayoung lightly shook her body, her watermelon-sized breasts swayed.

“…Then wouldn’t it be okay to cover your face a bit?”

There’s no hiding that body, but.

If she wore a mask on her face, it might work somehow.

“Or you could transform like a fox. Ah, could it be you can’t because you lack spiritual power?”

“You underestimate my abilities too much. That level of transformation is a basic skill that doesn’t require any spiritual power.”

“…Then you could have transformed when we got in the taxi.”

“Why would I do that?”

Ayoung tilted her head arrogantly.

“Hiding this kind of beauty is a national loss.”

“Ah… yes.”

It seems she has her own stubbornness.

It doesn’t seem like I can persuade her with words.

‘Well, what can I do.’

Urban legends with egos are that much harder to handle.

It’s not like she’s not wearing clothes, and I can’t force her not to transform.

I need to get her cooperation for various things in the future.

I didn’t want to lower her favorability for no reason.

Whatever happens, she’s my slave… no, my familiar for the next two years.

‘Come to think of it, what should I tell Chaeyoung?’

Suddenly, a yokai is living with us at home.

I’m a little worried about how a girl in her prime will react.

“You have a lot to think about. Let’s go inside for now.”

“Heh heh! I’ll take the best room.”

Ayoung and I entered the building.

Suddenly, Ayoung’s steps came to a halt.

“What’s wrong? Why are you suddenly doing that?”

“M-monster….”

Suddenly, cold sweat flowed down her face, and her shoulders trembled.

As if she had witnessed something terrifying.

“Hey. Are you okay?”

“Hic!”

Only then did she come to her senses when I spoke to her.

But that didn’t change the fact that she was still frightened and flustered.

“W-what is it? How can such pure spiritual power exist in this era? It’s almost at the level of a nauseating god!”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“How can you live in a place with such a monster!”

“It’s just a normal house.”

I tilted my head and looked around the house.

No matter where I looked, it was the place I lived.

I’ve never seen anything here that would scare Ayoung.

It’s a very safe house where I can live with peace of mind.

‘I’ve never even seen a ghost here.’

At most, a strange urban legend came to visit in the past.

I don’t know what she’s feeling that makes her tremble so much.

“You, you really live here? Alone?”

“I live with my younger sister.”

“Younger sister? Younger sister…”

Ayoung, muttering with a pale face, nodded as if she had made up her mind.

Poof!

Suddenly, there was a sound of smoke, and she turned into a small fox.

A fox small enough to hold in one hand was quite cute.

“What. Didn’t you say you didn’t want to transform into a fox?”

“J-just guide me first.”

I went home, not knowing what was going on.

“…Oppa, you’re back?”

Chaeyoung was sitting at the kitchen table in her usual home clothes.

“Oh, you were awake? I thought you’d be asleep since it’s early morning.”

“Of course, Oppa suddenly left.”

Chaeyoung puffed out her cheeks with a sulky face.

“Where did you go at this hour? I was worried.”

“Sorry. I had something urgent to do. That’s why I left a message, right?”

Actually, today was the day Chaeyoung was supposed to come home late.

I didn’t know when she would be back, so I just left a message saying I was leaving.

“…I wish you had waited until I got back.”

“I didn’t want to bother you since you had work until late, so I went alone.”

From the beginning, I was planning to go to that mountain alone.

I had to use Instant Death to break the seal.

“Heeng~ I could have postponed that training for Oppa anytime.”

“Oh my. Thank you. My little sister is so kind.”

“Ugh! If you think you can appease me with just this… euhehehehe…!”

Chaeyoung smiled foolishly as I stroked her head.

They say siblings usually can’t stand each other.

Maybe because we lost our parents and grew up together, Chaeyoung is especially fond of me.

“Hmm! Hmm! Well, I’ll forgive you just this once.”

Chaeyoung, with a slightly flushed face, cleared her throat.

Then her gaze turned to the fox at my feet, that is, Ayoung.

“By the way, what is that?”

“Ah, let me introduce you. This is Ayoung, a fox yokai who has become my familiar.”

“Wow! You even got a familiar? Congratulations!”

Chaeyoung approached Ayoung, who was still in fox form.

“Is this fox a familiar? It’s so cute, just like Oppa!”

Chaeyoung caressed Ayoung’s cheeks.

Surprisingly, Ayoung stayed still and let her touch her.

“How did you even think of raising such an adorable familiar?”

“Well… I was just lucky.”

“I’m jealous~ I don’t have any talent for spirits, so I can’t even handle a will-o’-the-wisp.”

Chaeyoung continued to stroke Ayoung’s ears and body as if she was amazed.

Ayoung trembled slightly, but let her touch her.

“Does it not talk? I heard that some familiars make noises.”

“…Kyee, kyeeng! Kyeeng!”

“Kyaaaaaaa! It’s so cute!”

Chaeyoung continued to pat the fox’s body.

Watching them, I thought she would keep doing that, and I felt a little sorry for Ayoung, so I took her away.

“Stop touching her. She just got here, she’ll get scared.”

“Ah, that’s right! Sorry. You’re not supposed to touch another exorcist’s familiar carelessly, right?”

Was there such a custom?

Familiars move with spiritual power as a medium.

It wouldn’t be good if they were exposed to another exorcist’s spiritual power.

“Then I’ll go to my room first.”

“Okay! I should go to sleep soon too. Dream of me, Oppa~”

Chaeyoung and I returned to our respective rooms.

Ayoung, only after entering my room, seemed relieved and landed on the floor with a bounce.

“Hoo. I thought I was going to die.”

“Why were you acting so docile? You told me you would never transform.”

She looked like a frightened puppy.

Considering her original personality, she even made fox noises that I couldn’t imagine.

“…I’m not brave enough to mess with a swordsman chosen by the heavens.”

After saying something I didn’t understand, Ayoung jumped onto the bed and curled up.

She was in a state where she didn’t want to talk anymore because she was scared.

“I guess I’ll have to stay in fox form at home.”

“I’m okay with that.”

Ayoung asked in a depressed voice.

“Could it be that there are many talented exorcists in this world?”

“The Cheonjihae I work for is a place where geniuses gather. Especially our team has many top-notch exorcists.”

“Hiek!”

Ayoung trembled as if she was frightened.

“Oooo! I didn’t think it would be like this. I think I got caught up in the wrong thing.”

“Don’t worry. They’re all nice people.”

She’s my familiar who will be my strength.

I was sure everyone would be kind to her.

…Surely they will.

****

Cheonjihae.

I introduced my familiar to my team members after coming to work.

“This is Ayoung, a fox yokai who is my familiar. Please take care of her.”

The kids looked surprised when I suddenly brought a fox, and looked at Ayoung.

“Is this your familiar?”

“A fox yokai…?”

The three women surrounded the fox and looked at it with curious eyes.

Ayoung glanced around and shook her ears with her paws.

She didn’t seem as scared as she was yesterday.

Still, she didn’t seem to want to undo the transformation, just in case.

“She seems quite strong, unlike what I expected. Although her power itself is still weak.”

“Yeah. I can feel some deep spiritual power.”

Yuyeonhwa and Yueunhye, who have good senses, especially seemed to feel something.

Rather than seeing Ayoung as cute, they definitely regarded her as a yokai.

‘Well, she lost her power. Originally, she was a great yokai.’

However, she can’t exert that much power right now.

It’s because my spiritual power as a shaman is ridiculously lacking.

“She’s a very strong yokai, but she’s cute. Is this her true form?”

“Ah, she does have a separate original form…”

Unexpectedly, the original state of a fox yokai is a human with fox ears and a tail.

The fox form she is in now can be seen as a kind of mimicry.

As I trailed off, Cheok Jiyeon tilted her head.

“Shouldn’t we see her true form? A yokai’s skills change depending on their appearance, and we need to know her exact level.”

…That’s true too.

It was a pretty reasonable statement, so I nodded.

“Ayoung-ah. Can you turn back to your original form?”

“Umm… it’s annoying. Oh well.”

Poof!

With smoke, Ayoung undid the transformation.

The fox’s appearance disappeared, and Ayoung, who had become human, revealed herself.

Completely naked, without a single thread of clothing.

‘…So you become naked when you undo the transformation.’

When I think about it, it was natural since she wasn’t wearing clothes in fox form.

It’s not like the clothes she wasn’t wearing would suddenly appear.

“So, what do you think. Are you satisfied?”

Ayoung, who revealed her naked body, tossed her hair without a thought.

As a natural consequence, her figure was completely revealed.

Was it because a beautiful woman suddenly appeared naked?

I felt like the temperature between the women was dropping rapidly.

“…It was a female.”

“I see.”

“And she’s big.”

The three women’s cold gazes poured down on me.

With eyes that looked at something between garbage and waste.

“No, I didn’t do it on purpose…”

Why am I even making excuses?

I started to feel a little wronged.