By Zephyria 
Side Story: Wubaek
Wubaek wondered if there was something wrong with his eyes. If not, a man’s skin would not look so soft. A man’s lips would not attract another man so strongly.
‘I must be the strange one,’ Wubaek muttered to himself, rubbing his eyes. The other members of salcheondang all trusted and followed the clan head, but none seemed to look at him with such a different gaze. At least, not outwardly.
‘Maybe they’re all thinking the same thing inside. After all, they’d be crushed if they showed it.’
The person who made Wubaek oscillate between the heavenly realm and the underground hundreds of times a day possessed a temperament like the blazing midday sun. If anyone had flirted with him based solely on his pretty appearance, they might no longer be of this world.
“If that is true… it is a story that cannot be ignored.”
Looking around, everyone sitting at the table was listening to the story with sparkling eyes. It seemed Wubaek was the only one daydreaming.
‘Damn, this is tedious.’
Wubaek was lazy, weak to temptation, and loved to play; he had the perfect constitution to live as a libertine. It was ironic that such a man was acting as the vice-leader of a heroic group that had risen to kill a deity.
‘This is all because of you.’
Wubaek rested his chin on his palm and looked at the clan head as if he were interested in what they were doing.
Yeongparang was speaking seriously, with his hand resting on his hip. Wubaek wasn’t listening to a single word. Of course, he liked that low voice, but right now he was busy examining the line from the nape of the neck to the shoulder.
Wubaek was born as the third son of the second concubine in a prominent noble family. Because he had a bit of talent, he was sent to Master Semok at a young age, but he lacked the mental strength to endure such rigorous training. If it hadn’t been for Young-pa, he would have run away from baekun mountain crying within three days.
‘He’s big, but he looks weak.’
The boy he met at ten had a cocky way of speaking and a boastful attitude. Even though he was three years older than Wubaek, he was shorter and smaller. No, actually, he was so pretty that in Wubaek’s eyes, he looked like a slender and pure apricot blossom.
‘What is this little thing?’
Wubaek had said that carelessly and had to pay a heavy price.
It took a month for his body to heal. During that time, as punishment for being beaten nearly to death by Young-pa, he had to perform a vow of silence while carrying a large rock on his head.
On the day Wubaek rose from his sickbed, Young-pa readily accepted his apology, and they reconciled. Wubaek treated him with utmost respect as his senior disciple and never challenged him again in any way. However, that was merely a facade.
Time flowed slowly on baekun mountain. They did everything together. Although they had to undergo grueling training every day, handle all the chores from cleaning to cooking, and deal with a prickly nuisance like Master Semok, Wubaek was happy simply because he was with Young-pa.
No matter how hard the daily routine was, he endured it willingly. This was because he was given time at the end of the day to lie down and gaze at the sleeping face of Young-pa. Occasionally, Young-pa would not let him go even in his dreams, and on such days, he had to pretend to train while secretly doing laundry in the valley.
Wubaek was very shy. On days when Young-pa would playfully grab his shoulder, his heart would flutter so much that he couldn’t fall asleep. Even though he spent every day imagining Young-pa naked in his mind, he couldn’t even lift his head when they washed together in the stream.
As time passed, their bodies transformed into those of young men. Young-pa, who had been slender, grew quite sturdy after he passed the age of fifteen. His shoulders broadened, his chest widened, and a masculine charm began to emanate from his face. Despite this, Wubaek’s desire showed no sign of cooling; instead, it grew steadily. In the eyes of Wubaek, who had grown as imposing as a totem pole, Young-pa still looked as fragile as a single rose of sharon.
Wubaek was a simple man. He expected nothing from Young-pa. Far from wishing for a kiss, he did not even hope to hold his hand. He was satisfied merely by being by his side. Had Young-pa been more powerful, perhaps a mean-spirited greed might have reared its head, but since that was out of the question, Wubaek became a master in the process of suppressing his lust.
Thus, eight years passed.
“I have learned all I can from my master. I shall descend the mountain.”
“M-me too!”
On the day the twenty-one-year-old Young-pa finished his training and descended the mountain, Wubaek followed him as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Baeka, why is Lady Seolji not interested in me? Do I lack charm?”
“Aw, where else could you find a man as decent as you, Senior… That woman is making a mistake.”
Even when Young-pa suffered from an unrequited love, Wubaek remained by his side, while inwardly feeling immensely relieved.
“The reason monsters overflow on the mortal realm is that the gods do not conduct themselves properly. Isn’t that right, Baeka?”
“Of course. Everything you say is right, Senior.”
“Instead of just talking, we must join forces and kill those bastards. Shall we form a group? How about the name Salcheondang?”
“That name is bold and wonderful.”
When Young-pa founded Salcheondang and declared his intention to capture and kill the four directional gods, Wubaek naturally took the position of vice-clan head simply because he was there.
“You… you truly cannot abandon those wicked intentions. To dare to exorcise a god—I will not allow it. If you must go, you shall pass only after breaking me!”
“It is not a matter of whether you allow it or not. Stop being presumptuous and move aside.”
When Young-pa fought with Master Semok and eventually killed him, Wubaek silently gathered his master’s body and buried it in the backyard of their residence on Baekun Mountain.
“Yeogo, Yeogo! How am I to live without you…!”
Even when Young-pa wailed loudly before the remains of a companion who was like a brother to him, Wubaek quietly kept his place by his side.
It was Wubaek’s role to lay him in bed when he fainted, to nurse him through the night, to force-feed him porridge when he stopped eating and grew gaunt, and to empty his chamber pot.
The world called Wubaek the shadow of Yeongparang. Since he never married and showed no interest in women, rumors spread that he was incapable of acting as a man. Wubaek did not care. His life was filled with one person; simply being with him was meaning enough.
Even when Young-pa dove into dangerous affairs, Wubaek did not stop him. He merely followed and stayed by his side. He knew Young-pa pined for a woman with two children, but he did not even know how to be jealous. Even now, as Young-pa began to obsess excessively over Yeogo’s revenge, Wubaek had no intention of making it an issue. Wubaek’s life was that simple.
“Baeka, are you listening?”
Wubaek looked up. That man was looking at him with his arms crossed. The slight wrinkle between his brows looked cute today. Though his cheeks had grown hollow from recent mental anguish, he still looked dazzlingly radiant.
“Of course, Clan Head.”
“What did I say?”
“You know.”
As Wubaek gave a beaming smile, Young-pa sighed as if it were absurd.
Despite having spent so much time together, Wubaek often lost his focus whenever he was by Young-pa’s side, so it was common for him to fail to grasp what was being said. Fortunately, rather than suspecting that Wubaek had been deeply infatuated with him for over a decade, Young-pa seemed to think he was simply lacking in some way.
“This is important, so listen carefully. According to rumors heard by our members, it seems the Azure Dragon knows how to revive the dead.”
“Is that so? Then we should go to that fellow immediately, grab him by the collar, and tell him to bring back Brother Yeogo.”
As Wubaek spoke with a grin, a faint smile touched Young-pa’s lips. It was the first smile he had shown since the death of his friend.
“There are stories that he appeared on Asadal Mountain recently.”
“The north, then. When do we depart, Clan Head?”
“As soon as you are ready.”
“I am always ready.”
“Then, right now.”
As Young-pa’s eyes sparkled, Wubaek felt a hot emotion spread through his chest. It was a sensation he never grew accustomed to, even after a thousand or ten thousand times. Young-pa turned away to begin speaking with another member, but Wubaek could not take his eyes off him.
‘I love you.’
With reddened eyes, Wubaek gazed at Young-pa just as he had on a certain day when they first met at age ten. His feelings had not changed in the slightest since that day.
Even if you are a degenerate who brutally killed our master.
Even if you are a man with whom I can never share a baeknyeongayak.
Even if you are a purely devoted person who knows only one woman.
‘It does not matter. My heart belongs to you.’
Wubaek murmured inwardly, letting Yeongparang’s voice drift past him.
Two: Recovering the Treasure Pearl
Long ago, the heavenly gift of four gods created by the four divine beasts each possessed the divine power of the heavenly realm, the upper air, the mortal realm, and the underground. These were gifts for humans, but when the humans became arrogant, the four spirits destroyed their kingdoms and reclaimed the four divine artifacts.
The divine artifact of the upper air is a bronze mirror called the Changjingyeong. It was said that those who looked into it gained truth and insight. The Vermilion Bird showed the Changjingyeong to those who sought them, and the sages who realized the truth spread wisdom throughout the world. This mirror was taken by a group of humans who dared to deceive and exorcise the Vermilion Bird.
The divine artifact of the mortal realm is a precious sword forged from the fang of the White Tiger, called the Tiger Tooth Severing Sword. It was said that it would not break regardless of what weapon it clashed with, nor would it rust as ages passed. While a wind of blood blew over the position of the White Tiger, the Tiger Tooth Severing Sword vanished from the world. The Divine Spirit of Red Evil Mountain hid it, later presenting it to Po Ui, the fierce tiger who pacified the mortal realm.
The divine artifact of the underground is a mysterious bell called the Annihilation Command. It was said that carrying it not only erased one’s presence but left no footprints behind. Chilno, a slave of the Black Tortoise, stole this bell while inciting a rebellion by bringing in a Sea Dragon who harbored a grudge against the master. The Black Tortoise recovered the Annihilation Command after suppressing the rebellion and executing Chilno.
The divine artifact of the heavenly realm is a transparent ring called the Somyeonghwan. It was known only to possess the power of life; no one knew its secrets. It was said that when the human king, Yeon-hwa, unified the factions engaged in civil war, the Azure Dragon lent him the divine artifact. After Yeon-hwa’s death, the whereabouts of the ring became obscure.
Thus, the heavenly gift of four gods each possessed its own story and extraordinary power. According to legend, whoever gathered all four would be granted the abilities of the divine realm, and thus, countless beings in the world coveted them.
The last faction to lay hands on the divine artifacts of the four directional gods was a group of humans training on Baekun Mountain during a time of continuous killing and chaos on the mortal realm. After the four symbols grew angry and brought their leader to his knees, no one dared to covet the heavenly gift of four gods again.
Salvation
The serpents were excited by the news that the atrocious human prisoner had been recaptured. Rumors had spread widely that he had devastated one snake cave, burned thousands of serpents living within it, and even killed Dae Mang.
—As expected, Lord Ji Seo-gu does not forgive.
—I hope he uses this opportunity to show that lunatic the terror of the underground.
The Black Tortoise did not miss the chance to set an example for his subordinates. He stripped Young-pa naked, placed him in the center of the widest cave, and bound his limbs. He then exhibited him for a month so that anyone who wished could come and see.
Hearing the news, serpents from all over flocked in. There was an endless procession of large and yellow anacondas from the east, and nungsas from the west. Seven-spotted snakes with strong venom, supple silk snakes, rattlesnakes, corn snakes, blood-eyed snakes, hwasas, sea snakes from afar, and all sorts of silk and striped snakes. Hundreds arrived in lines every day.
Those favored by the Black Tortoise were granted the privilege of biting or whipping the human. Since the Black Tortoise permitted them to do whatever they wished as long as they did not kill the prisoner, they harmed the human with full malice. Strangling, biting, and beating were commonplace. They inflicted burns, hung him upside down, sucked his blood, severed limbs, crushed joints, and poisoned him.
The prisoner resisted with screams, but eventually, he endured the pain with hollow eyes. Watching the body that barely clung to life, the spectators burned with hatred toward the cunning species known as humans. Simultaneously, they learned firsthand what happened to those who rebelled against the Black Tortoise.
After a month, Ji Seo-gu recovered Young-pa’s body, which was little more than a corpse, and took him to a quiet cave.
“You’re in a state I can’t even bear to look at. Why did you go out of your way to invite such disaster?”
A low laugh sounded satisfied.
“Still, I am the only one in the whole world who looks after you. Isn’t that right?”
Young-pa, who had lost consciousness, slowly revived as he felt vitality flowing into his body. Ji Seo-gu reattached what had fallen and restored what had lost function. Unless a life had completely departed, there was no defect he could not fix. After fainting and waking dozens of times, Young-pa received limbs that were as good as new and smooth skin.
Though his body returned to health, his eyes lost their focus. The aftermath of broken hope was severe. Young-pa felt as if he had been asleep for a long time, dreaming hollow dreams. It was blurry who he was and what had happened in the past.
“How does it feel to return home?”
“I am… so happy… I don’t know… what to do.”
Young-pa forced his mouth open and answered haphazardly. He did not want to provoke Ji Seo-gu and be tortured again.
“It is good to see you’ve become obedient. I hope you’ve realized that no matter how you rebel, you are within my palm.”
Ji Seo-gu, who had shown no reaction even when Young-pa was being strangled and his flesh torn, laughed with pleasure upon seeing the fighting spirit fade from his eyes.
“I heard you went out and seduced two gods. I can overlook the Vermilion Bird, but the Azure Dragon…!”
Young-pa’s vacant gaze turned fierce.
“Seeing as everyone tries to mess with you once, it seems you do have some charm. Who knows, perhaps they’ll change their minds after being dealt with harshly a few times, just like you.”
“I… do not… know… what you mean.”
“If you hadn’t offered the divine artifact to the Azure Dragon, I would have forgiven your brief eccentricity.”
Ji Seo-gu suddenly moved his shadow and strangled Young-pa’s neck.
“Ugh, ack!”
“Cunning brat. Causing trouble the moment I take my eyes off you?”
In an instant, the cave was filled with suffocating killing intent. Young-pa wanted to fall back asleep rather than endure the pain of his neck being crushed. He scraped together the last of his mental strength and glared upward.
“Just… kill… me.”
“Do you think I don’t want to?”
The shadow gripping Young-pa’s neck trembled violently.
“In my heart, I’ve killed you over a thousand times. I envisioned and looked forward to the most perfect moment to kill you. The moment you beg me for your life, promising to do anything, that is when I will sever your tedious life!”
Seized by rage, the Black Tortoise shook Young-pa’s body in the air, only flinging him to the ground just before his breath stopped. Young-pa lay sprawled helplessly, struggling to breathe even the thin air.
“Now, because of the mess you’ve made, I can’t even kill you as I please.”
“Aaaagh!”
It felt as if his veins were burning. It felt as if his body were on fire. At the same time, he felt something tearing and falling away.
“Immortality is no longer yours; you shall age and die insignificantly like an insect.”
The pain subsided shortly. Black energy flowed out from Young-pa’s eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, merging into one upon the Black Tortoise’s palm.
“This is the result of your own ingratitude and foolishness.”
“Immortality… I never… wanted it… you piece of… shit.”
Young-pa was slapped the moment he talked back.
“My wicked human, this is only the beginning. You shall pay the price for daring to rebel against me slowly from now on.”
A chilling smile spread across the profile of the man emerging from the shadow. Ji Seo-gu moved his fingertips and cast a new spell.
“Remember, Young-pa. You are mine in life and in death. Even after you die, I shall personally eat and drink your flesh, bones, and blood, so you shall live forever within me.”
Young-pa’s eyelids grew heavy.
≋ ≋ ≋
Young-pa, who had fallen into a deep sleep, woke up at the bottom of a different cave. Like any other cave, it was pitch black, and the only light was a single lamp hanging on the wall.
‘Dammit, my head feels like it’s splitting.’
As he raised his hand to touch his forehead, the chains wrapped around his wrist clinked. He was lying alone in a wide open space, his limbs bound by chains. In the center was a massive iron waterwheel, so large that its entirety could not be seen at a single glance.
“They wouldn’t be telling me to push this, would they?”
The power source for a waterwheel would typically be a river or a waterfall, but there wasn’t a single drop of water around. Not just water—there was nothing there. There wasn’t even an exit; the only place to attempt an escape was the ceiling, whose end was invisible. And that was only if he could fly.
Young-pa jumped with all his might, only to collapse back to the ground. Because of the chains, he could not use his special ability at all. No matter how many times he tried, it was the same.
Just then, two guards appeared. They were in human form and carried long whips. Young-pa stood still and glared at them, only to be severely whipped.
“I get it. I get it!”
They ignored Young-pa’s words and lashed his back and shoulders. No matter what he said or did, it was useless. The whipping only stopped when he gripped the handle of the waterwheel.
Young-pa had to turn the monstrous piece of iron using only brute strength; it was not lightly heavy, and he had to put his entire weight into it to barely make it turn. His teeth clenched instinctively, and his bare soles dug into the uneven cave floor. He had to perform this task, which made him sweat like rain in just a quarter-hour, all day long. Whenever the waterwheel stopped, a barrage of whips followed, so no amount of laziness was permitted.
Time flowed slowly. When he looked up, he saw only the black void and the yellow, glinting eyes of the guards. If not for the sound of water dripping in the distance, he wouldn’t have even felt the passage of time.
‘Does water dripping mean the mortal realm is close?’
Even if it was merely underground water, he wanted to cling to a vain hope. Even if he had to live like this for the rest of his life, he felt he couldn’t endure it without at least dreaming.
With no light, there was no way to know how time passed. The guards gave him water and rotting porridge roughly every three or four days. Young-pa drank all the water and overturned the porridge as it was.
After laboring for an agonizingly long time, he was allowed to lie down and close his eyes for a moment. After being woken by whips, he had to repeat the same task. This seemed to be the remainder of Young-pa’s life, designed by the Black Tortoise’s vengefulness.
For a few days, Young-pa remained cowed. However, once he adapted to the routine, he became cheerful again. He spoke to the guards or cursed them, and sometimes threw the porridge bowl to hit them in the head.
The strange thing was their attitude; they only approached with whips when the waterwheel stopped, and they did not react to any insults. Since there was a precedent of Young-pa escaping by using a head guard, it seemed they had brought in people who could not be seduced or deceived.
“You… pieces of shit! I’ll turn you into snake wine!”
That day, too, Young-pa was turning the waterwheel as slowly as possible, leaning on the handle with his arms crossed. He had certainly slept a dream-like nap lying on the cave floor, but he couldn’t tell if it had been two days ago, three days ago, or perhaps a week ago.
“Hey, you long-haired one. When I get my freedom, I’ll kill you first.”
There were two guards. The long-haired one was sitting atop the waterwheel, and the short-haired one was sitting on the ground with his arms crossed.
“You’re next, so you’ll have to wait.”
Young-pa lost his footing and fell, causing the waterwheel to stop. Immediately, the two guards rushed over as if they had been waiting and whipped his back.
“Wait, you bastards. Ugh, I did that… on purpose… ack!”
They delivered the prescribed punishment and returned to their positions with expressionless faces. Young-pa wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve and stood up. In that moment, he saw a faint blue light flash before his eyes.
“Huh?”
Young-pa rubbed his eyes vigorously, wondering if his sight had failed him. But before he could confirm what was before him, the guards raised their whips again.
Even as he curled up and endured the flogging, Young-pa felt no pain, his mind consumed by what he had just seen. His heart hammered in his chest, and his blood surged. He had likely seen a hallucination, but if not…
As the guards retreated, Young-pa snapped his head up. However, there was nothing on the dark wall.
‘It was a phantom.’
Young-pa let out a hollow laugh at his own delusion.
After all, who would come all this way to see him? And in the clumsy form of an azure snake, no less.
Of all the things to hallucinate, a blue snake. Even in his imagination, the snake had been so exquisitely beautiful that it reminded him of someone.
‘I must have seen a ghost because I want to kill that bastard so badly.’
Young-pa grit his teeth and turned the iron waterwheel.
During the time they spent together, he had known that Biryoo was not human. He thought he might be a Divine Spirit of some mountain or river, or perhaps an ancient Bonghwang, tiger, or fox. He would have accepted it even if Biryoo were a dragon, but to think he was the master of the heavens.
‘How ridiculous I must have seemed.’
Moments when he had tried to compete in strength with Biryoo, the times he had teased him, and the moments he had revealed the depths of his heart and his tears flashed through his mind in succession. The final scene was the moment they walked side by side, bathed in a rain of falling flowers from the sky.
Young-pa’s fist tightened around the handle of the iron waterwheel.
‘Still, landing a blow on that guy was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.’
The moment Young-pa had seen the brilliant ring, he realized it was no ordinary treasure, unlike the other junk he had pilfered from Black Tortoise’s Treasury. Just in case, he had ordered Lee Shim to disguise a pebble as a ring of the same shape and hide it on Mount Geumo. To think that was the Divine Artifact of the Azure Dragon—he had lived long enough to see everything.
Young-pa chuckled. It was all a lost cause now. Once his lifespan ended and he rotted away, what did it matter where a ring ended up? Imagining Biryoo’s frustrated face made him feel quite pleased.
“You seem to be in a joyful mood.”
“Aagh!”
At the sound of a voice close by, Young-pa leaped up with a scream. The guards showed no reaction, as if they were truly deaf.
‘Now I’m even hearing things.’
As he pushed the iron waterwheel to calm his racing heart, a cool sensation crept up his ankle and inside his trousers. This time, there was no room to dismiss it as a delusion. The snake coiled around Young-pa’s calf, brushed past his thigh and buttocks, and climbed up to his waist.
“You should pretend nothing is happening; do I really have to tell you this much?”
Young-pa pushed the iron waterwheel with trembling hands. With his head bowed low, he felt the snake coil around his armpit and climb up to his shoulder.
“Have you come all this way to kill me, Azure Dragon?”
His low voice cracked. Young-pa thought he had spoken with displeasure, but the words that actually came out were laced with welcome and anticipation.
“You have a vivid imagination. Your mischief is not a crime that can be paid for simply with death.”
A low, deep voice. The voice of the man he once found enchanting tickled his ear.
Young-pa wanted to fathom why the Azure Dragon had come, what he wanted, and what would happen next, but his mind wouldn’t function. However, his heart felt as if it would burst with the hope that he could escape with the dragon’s help.
In a state of desperation, he spoke rapidly.
“If you have come for the divine artifact, it is inside my stomach. If you get me out of here, I shall retrieve it for you immediately.”
“Inside your stomach, is it?”
The Azure Dragon’s cold voice was full of suspicion.
“You are playing tricks again, you scoundrel.”
“It is the truth, without a single lie.”
“There is no time. We shall bargain later.”
Young-pa swallowed hard after confirming that the two guards had noticed nothing.
“It was not easy to come this far, but it was not that difficult either,” the Azure Dragon whispered lowly.
“In other words, if I were Black Tortoise, I would not have kept a prisoner in such a lax place.”
“Does that mean…?”
“If my guess is correct, he wants you to escape.”
Young-pa’s heart, which had swollen with hope, now beat with an unpleasant rhythm.
It made sense. If Black Tortoise had imprisoned Young-pa in a subterranean depth so deep that one could not even breathe, a being of the heavenly realm would not have reached him. That meant Ji Seo-gu had intentionally placed Young-pa in a location that was easy to find.
“That does not mean it is easy, however.”
“If it is a trap, he must have set some kind of device.”
“Since he swore upon his life, he will not be able to kill you. But it may be painful.”
Young-pa took a deep breath and spoke through gritted teeth.
“My body has suffered for three hundred years; I want nothing but freedom. Please save me.”
The moment he finished speaking, the snake in Young-pa’s embrace soared. Two beams of light, sharp as blades, erupted from its body.
The light, seen for the first time in ages, was so bright that Young-pa squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, the shackles that had bound his limbs were gone, and the guards lay collapsed.
“I intended to do so regardless of your answer.”
The beautiful snake looked at him, its azure scales shimmering.
Young-pa slowly rubbed his freed wrists. His body had been worn down by grueling labor. Even standing still felt so foreign that he wondered if it were a dream.
Just then, the corpses of the guards twitched and melted into black energy. In their place lay two straw dolls clumped with dark liquid. Young-pa, who had already noted that they neither ate nor slept, was not surprised.
“Now Black Tortoise knows you have been released. There is no time to dawdle.”
As if the defeat of the guards had been a signal, a rupturing sound echoed from the ceiling and the ground shook.
“Do you have a plan?”
“I will make it look as if you escaped on your own.”
Young-pa stared at the ceiling, where stone dust was falling, with a look of utter disbelief.
“Do you think that makes any sense? How could I get out of here without help?”
“It is enough to leave no evidence.”
As soon as the Azure Dragon spoke, hundreds of water droplets floated around them. They formed a brilliant band and wrapped around Young-pa’s waist. As the azure snake leaped up and coiled on his shoulder, his body floated, and his toes left the ground.
“If you spill water on the floor like this, the evidence… Aaaaaagh!”
Young-pa ascended, tearing through the pitch-black void. Enveloped in a mysterious power, he soared through the darkness. The musty air ruffled his hair and fluttered his clothes.
All he could see was the glowing smoke and water droplets surrounding him. Thrilled by the thought of escaping the wretched underground, Young-pa spread his arms wide and spun in the air.
“Haha, ahahaha!”
As his laughter echoed loudly through the gloomy cave, the azure snake muttered, “What a fearless human.”
“Have you already forgotten that I am full of deficiencies?”
The Azure Dragon ignored the comment and wrapped its tail once around Young-pa’s neck.
The narrow passage was collapsing rapidly. Stone dust fell upon his forehead, followed by countless falling boulders.
“Ugh!”
Young-pa, who had been entranced, belatedly summoned a violent whirlwind to push the rocks away just before they hit him.
“Stay alert. I have personally come to this den; it would be a waste of effort if your head were crushed.”
“Can’t you just protect me?”
“What is so lovely about you that I should do so?”
“Then at least fly straight. My shoulder keeps hitting the wall; are you doing this on purpose?”
As needle-like stone fragments and heavy boulders fell more densely, the Azure Dragon used thunderbolts to pulverize the rocks into powder. Even then, the passage grew narrower, tearing his clothes and scraping his skin against the rocks.
“I see the ceiling. Are we almost there?”
“There are numerous tricks set in this cave.”
The moment those words were spoken, the ceiling and ground flipped, and their bodies were thrown in the opposite direction. The boulders that had been falling toward the ground now flew toward them.
Just before a massive boulder crushed them, the Azure Dragon made a sharp turn to the right and smashed through the wall. Young-pa instinctively closed his eyes, but a large water droplet enveloped him, shielding him from the impact.
Through his shimmering vision, he saw exploding jets of water. With a violent rupturing sound, water poured through the split wall. The waterfall smashed through the stone wall and plummeted with terrifying momentum. Cold water surged through Young-pa’s clothes, soaking his skin.
“Are you sure Black Tortoise wanted me to escape? It felt like he wanted to crush me and then drown me.”
“It is merely a guess.”
The passage they entered was a sea of water. The snake into which the Azure Dragon had disguised himself moved as freely as a fish in water. He leaped over the surface like a streak of smoke and dove deep to swim. Young-pa was dragged along frantically, held by the dragon.
“Hold your breath from now on.”
The Azure Dragon soared, piercing through the ceiling.
The next space was thick with black mist. It was a good thing he had blocked his airways in advance, for the air there was so foul that it stung his eyes and made his skin itch.
‘First stones, then water, and now poison. How many times did he try to kill me?’
Young-pa’s thoughts were quickly scattered. This was because the walls were rapidly folding in half due to sorcery. The Azure Dragon pulled Young-pa out just before he was crushed between the walls.
As he pierced through the rock beneath their feet and descended, they fell into a large circular room. The moment they landed, hundreds of stone snakes carved into the walls came to life and gaped their mouths open. The Azure Dragon summoned a torrent of water resembling a waterfall to sweep them away and leaped into another passage.
The flying speed was too fast and the directions changed so abruptly that Young-pa could not tell up from down. The cave was already a labyrinth, and due to the spatial secret arts Black Tortoise had placed everywhere, he couldn’t tell where the ceiling ended and the floor began.
‘Frustratingly, I would not have been able to escape with my power alone.’
The Azure Dragon’s special ability to roam the underground as if it were his own home while disguised as a snake was so great that Young-pa couldn’t even bring himself to be jealous.
‘He wants you to escape.’
There was no way Black Tortoise had designed such a complex maze solely with Young-pa in mind. It was a device meant to be solved by someone far more skilled.
‘I am merely bait; this might be a trap to lure in Ji Seo-gu’s rival.’
There were only three people in the world who could be considered Ji Seo-gu’s rivals. One of them hated Young-pa intensely, and another was quite favorable toward him, but they didn’t share a bond deep enough to come rescue him from the underground.
“The mortal realm is just ahead. I trust you are prepared,” asked the final rival who had walked into Black Tortoise’s trap. He was in the form of a blue snake, clinging to the half-collapsed ceiling of the cave. The pile of stone snakes he had smashed lay like mountains around them.
Young-pa nodded. The azure snake dropped down and crawled inside Young-pa’s jacket. A blue wave enveloped Young-pa, and the ground beneath him gave way. Young-pa plummeted at a terrifying speed.
His eyes snapped shut due to the deafening roar and the shock that shook his body. As the cave walls tore away like overlapping leaves, Young-pa descended—no, ascended—without daring to open his eyes.
A familiar scent wafted through the air. The scent of the mortal realm. The smell of damp earth, living wild grass, and crisp air grew stronger. Simultaneously, Young-pa felt an ominous energy. Something wicked and gloomy was chasing them rapidly from behind.
Boom!
Bursting through the hard rock, Young-pa was hit by a deluge of water. It was a dark night on the surface, and a heavy downpour was falling from the sky. It was the perfect weather to escape without being spotted by subterranean creatures.
“Haha, hahahaha!”
Young-pa rolled on the ground before pushing himself up. He looked up toward the black sky and laughed loudly, letting the downpour lash his forehead and cheeks.
“Watch your back.”
At the Azure Dragon’s warning, Young-pa looked back at the pit they had emerged from. A shadow, darker than the darkness covering the world, surged out from there. The pitch-black mass swelled instantly and lunged at Young-pa.
Young-pa was ready. He summoned a powerful whirlwind to push the shadow down and leaped upward. He narrowly avoided Ji Seo-gu’s reach, but a dreadfully black abyss gaped open beneath his feet.
Caw!
It was then that a black-capped bird, as large as a house, snatched Young-pa up and flew into the sky with him on its back. Young-pa was startled, but seeing that the Azure Dragon in his embrace remained silent, he realized that even the bird was part of the plan.
—Stop right there!
The black shadow rose high like a turbulent wave. However, because the black-capped bird soared sharply, the edge of the shadow merely brushed against Young-pa’s heel.
“What an impolite human. You should greet the one seeing you off,” the Azure Dragon muttered nonchalantly. Young-pa, feeling immensely gratified, pointed toward the ground and laughed loudly.
“Ahahaha, look who it is! Isn’t it my footstool, Ji Seo-gu!”
—You brat! You piece of filth!
The roar shook the darkness. Young-pa laughed at the top of his lungs.
“Hahahahaha! Go on, try to kill me! Try it, you worldwide mongrel snake!”
Black Tortoise’s shadow sank back into the ground. The black mist he breathed out formed the shape of arrows and chased after the black-capped bird’s tail.
“How stupid! Do you really think you can catch me with a bit of mist?”
Young-pa summoned a strong wind to push away Black Tortoise’s mist and laughed, clutching his stomach. While Black Tortoise’s special ability was incomparable to a mere human like Young-pa, it had a clear weakness: it was powerless against an enemy in the air.
Even at that moment, the black-capped bird flew with its beak pointed toward the sky, and the mortal realm grew distant by the second.
“Wait! There’s something I want to try. Tell the bird to go down for a moment.”
“What is it?”
“I want to poop on Ji Seo-gu’s head. Please… it is my wish.”
Since the Azure Dragon ignored the request, the black-capped bird, appearing to be a mere subordinate, had no reason to stop. They ascended high, piercing through the downpour.
By the time they reached the layered clouds, Young-pa was soaking wet. The divine dragon, still in the form of an azure snake, spoke from within Young-pa’s clothes.
“You have worked hard. This is far enough.”
“Yes, Master.”
The black-capped bird was sucked into the thick ink-colored clouds and tilted its wings, dropping Young-pa. As Young-pa’s body floated in the air, a blazing radiance erupted from his chest.
Something sleek began to stretch and move between his arms. Moist scales were felt against his palms. Before he knew it, a body so long it couldn’t be taken in at a single glance was drawing a smooth curve amidst the clouds.
Young-pa blinked at the unbelievable sight. He was clinging to the dragon’s waist. The being who had been in the form of a small snake returned to its true form and curved its body to look at him. In the dark clouds, Young-pa faced the countenance of the eastern azure dragon.
The most noble and dignified divine beast among the four symbols. The king of dragons who governs rain and thunderbolts. One said to be indifferent and selfish toward all things in the world, viewing humans as mere insects.
The master of the heavens had deep indigo eyes and pure white horns. Whiskers that seemed alive fluttered at the corners of its mouth, and a curving silver-white mane extended from its forehead all the way to its tail. The appearance Young-pa had known was gone, but that terribly indifferent gaze remained the same.
‘No wonder he was so strikingly handsome in human form.’
He had heard it said often that the eastern azure dragon was elegant, but facing him in person, he understood why people said so. If White Tiger and Vermilion Bird gave impressions of impenetrable solidity and burning vitality respectively, the Azure Dragon exuded a terrifyingly pure and transcendental aura.
“Augh!”
The Azure Dragon flicked its waist, sending Young-pa floating into the air. After tossing him, the dragon snatched him by the waist with its forepaw. It was as if he were asking how a mere human dared to think of riding on his back.
As he flew rapidly, swirling through the dark clouds, Young-pa let out a scream, flailing his arms and legs.
“Aaaah… Aaaaagh! Az-Azure Dragon!”
The world viewed from the height of the clouds was a sight that chilled the heart, even for someone once known for his courage. It was the first time in his life he had ever ascended this high; the entire world lay beneath his feet.
It must have been around midnight; the dark waning moon had passed over the peak, and not even the stars were visible. The mountain range submerged in the deep night looked as if ink had been poured over it, but it possessed its own kind of poetic beauty.