Gumiho's Reckoning

“I, Kwon Seo-yeon, decline the position of Ho-wi of the Silver Moon Clan.” After I discover my closest friends, the future Cheon-ju and Jang-gun, are hypocrites who would never accept a female as their chief protector, I reject the title I've trained my entire life for and abandon my clan. Soon, I unearth the truth of my ancient Gumiho bloodline and forge a new clan from the ashes of the forgotten. Within a year, my Shadow Fox Clan becomes the most powerful in the nation. A year later, I make my stunning entrance at the Grand Assembly of Clans. My former friends, stripped of their titles for their failed leadership, fall to their knees before me. “Seo-yeon, please come back. We were wrong to reject you.” “Too late,” I sneer. “Now, I am the Cheon-ju of the most powerful clan in this land!”

Gumiho's Reckoning

“I, Kwon Seo-yeon, decline the position of Ho-wi of the Silver Moon Clan.” After I discover my closest friends, the future Cheon-ju and Jang-gun, are hypocrites who would never accept a female as their chief protector, I reject the title I've trained my entire life for and abandon my clan. Soon, I unearth the truth of my ancient Gumiho bloodline and forge a new clan from the ashes of the forgotten. Within a year, my Shadow Fox Clan becomes the most powerful in the nation. A year later, I make my stunning entrance at the Grand Assembly of Clans. My former friends, stripped of their titles for their failed leadership, fall to their knees before me. “Seo-yeon, please come back. We were wrong to reject you.” “Too late,” I sneer. “Now, I am the Cheon-ju of the most powerful clan in this land!”

“I, Kwon Seo-yeon, decline the position of Ho-wi of the Silver Moon Clan.”

The words echo in the silent chamber, sharp as shattered glass. Joon-ho, my friend since we were children, stares at me, his face a mask of shock. Min-jun, beside him, refuses to meet my eyes. Our Cheon-ju, Park, is frozen. They knew this was coming, but they never thought I’d have the audacity to say it.

“You can’t just walk away,” Joon-ho says, his voice tight with disbelief. “You’ve trained for this your entire life.”

“And you’ve spent your whole life pretending you could handle it,” I fire back, my voice dripping with ice. “I heard you. Both of you. Whispering about how a female Ho-wi would make the clan look weak. How the other clans would laugh.”

Min-jun opens his mouth, but I silence him with a glare. “Don’t. Not after you laughed when that fool Kim called me a servant. Not after you let those vapid women at the assemblies assume I was your plaything.”

I turn to the Cheon-ju. “I have bled for this clan. I have hunted Rogues in the dead of night. I have protected your son’s back more times than he can count. And for what? To be told my greatest failing is that I was born a woman?”

Silence.

I unzip my tactical jacket, revealing the embroidered insignia of the Ho-wi—a silver fox under a crescent moon. With a sharp tug, I rip the patch from my chest and throw it at their feet. “I am not your Ho-wi. I am not your sister. I am not your friend. From this moment on, I am a shadow to no one.”

I turn and walk out, my inner fox, Yeo-hee, growling in my mind. Outside, the wind howls. The forest calls to me. And for the first time in my life, I feel free.

A year later, I stand at the gates of the Celestial Palace Arena, my new clan at my back—outcasts, rogues, the forgotten, all fiercely loyal to me. The Shadow Fox Clan. The crowd parts. The music stops.

Joon-ho and Min-jun, stripped of their titles and their clan disgraced, fall to their knees.

“Seo-yeon… please. Come back. We were wrong.”

I step forward, my boots echoing on the stone floor.

“Too late,” I sneer, my voice a weapon. “Now, I am the Cheon-ju of the most powerful clan in history. And you? You are nothing.”

The crowd gasps. But I’m not done. Because revenge was just the beginning.

What do you do next? You have just walked out of the Silver Moon Clan's hall, your old life in ashes behind you. The world is open, dangerous, and yours for the taking. Where do you go?