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⚠️Warning from Author ⚠️
This book contains elements of the dark fantasy genre that include relationships with non-human entities and may cause discomfort. There are also elements of abuse, sexual assault and degradation. Please remain mindful of this as you read it.
🚨 Note from Translator 🚨
As a precaution, I'll add a trigger warning (like the above with the siren emoji) at the start of each relevant chapter!
It was a chaotic era where monsters roamed freely across the land.
At the northernmost tip of the empire, far from the capital, lay the barren lands of Hwangju, nestled beneath the Bohyeon Mountain Ranges, where a drought had persisted for several years.
Hwangju County had been ruled for generations by the Yoon family, but after years without rain, the crops failed and the cursed venomous snakes ravaged the land. As a result, livestock was killed almost daily, leading to a rapid decline in the family's fortunes.
In desperation, the lord at the time, a man named Yoon Duseok, sought a renowned shaman from afar and brought her to his home.
A young woman, with dark charcoal smeared around her eyes and bright red rouge thickly applied around her mouth as if she had eaten a rat, inspected various parts of Hwangju County and declared, "The Land Deity has been driven out, and a Gangcheori has taken root here, bringing calamity upon it."
When asked what she meant, she explained the Land Deity was a guardian spirit of the land, and a Gangcheori was a creature that failed to ascend as a dragon and had transformed into a monster out of resentment.
“This is no ordinary evil monster. The land is infested with the venom of snakes mixed with resentment, intertwined throughout the land, and it is only a matter of time before a great disaster strikes….”
“What on earth should we do, Chief Shaman? Please save us.”
At the mention of the monster, not only the Yoon family but also the villagers came to beg her to save them, clinging to the shaman’s skirt.
The shaman then said, "First, let us go to the source," and led the people towards the castle.
The place they arrived at was a small lake with beautiful scenery, but it was densely overgrown with trees, blocking the sunlight and creating a gloomy atmosphere, making it a place no one dared to visit.
As the Yoon family followed the shaman into the courtyard, they were utterly shocked to find venomous snakes, usually rarely seen within the castle walls despite being common outside, gathered in droves by the lakeside.
Strangely enough, wherever the shaman stepped, the snakes that had been clustered together in black masses scattered and fled.
Yoon Duseok hurriedly instructed his subordinates to capture the snakes, but the shaman intervened, instructing him to clear away a large rock in the middle of the lake and dig beneath it.
As instructed, they drained all the water and dug into the ground, only to find a huge, black snake coiled up in the pit, larger than the body of a grown man.
"Ah, it’s the Gangcheori!"
As the people screamed in terror and scattered in all directions, the shaman abruptly reached into the now-dry pit. Miraculously, her slender wrist pulled out the body of the snake as large as a house.
‘It appears our mighty shaman is indeed about to vanquish the wicked monster,’ Yoon Duseok mused, experiencing a moment of relief. At that instant, the snake’s head was drawn from the pit, but surprisingly, it was lifeless.
Beneath it lay twelve eggs, each the size of a fist. Seeing this, the shaman, sighed with relief.
"It is truly fortunate. The mother Gangcheori has died from exhaustion after laying her eggs.”
"Is that so? Then what should we do with these?"
"Normally, we would smash it and burn it with fire... But tell me, do you have any desire to mount the dragon and command the emperor?"
"What do you mean by that?"
Yoon Duseok asked, puzzled by the strange suggestion regarding the creature’s eggs. The shaman then unfolded her fan and pointed to a certain spot.
"Look over there."
As Yoon Duseok turned his gaze that way, he saw a beam of sunlight filtering through the overgrown branches that had not been pruned in a long time, casting a straight line onto the surface of the lake.
This created a small rainbow, and strangely enough, it appeared to be right above the pit filled with the creature’s eggs.
"Since ancient times, it has been said that when a rainbow appears over the fractured and barren land, it is an omen that a dragon will ascend.”
She then explained that among the twelve eggs, at least one would surely have the destiny to become a powerful dragon, and advised him not to kill them but to take care of them from the moment they hatch.
Yoon Duseok was momentarily pleased at the mention of a dragon but immediately felt troubled at the thought of bringing the creature’s eggs into his home. The shaman then looked at him with a stern face and clicked her tongue.
“I can clearly see the state of your household. The ancestral spirits of the Yoon family are right beside you, lamenting and pleading for help for their descendants! Just a few generations ago, Hwangju County was the most prosperous in the north..."
“But... what if we carelessly bring such a creature into our home, causing great misfortune instead?”
“Ah, how can this young gentleman be so timid? Even His Majesty, the Great Founder, Emperor Taejo, captured the divine beast, Haetae, that descended from the heavens and laid the foundation for this country. Furthermore, whether this creature will truly become a dragon or merely remain a Gangcheori like its mother is something that will only be revealed after a thousand years.”
"But how can you suggest bringing such eggs into our home?"
“Who said to bring them all in? Just one, the strongest among them, will suffice. It's unsettling to keep a Gangcheol’s offspring alive, not knowing if it will become a dragon or another snake, but I have a plan. Trust me and wait for three months."
Yoon Duseok, swayed by her persuasion, reluctantly agreed to wait for three months.
The shaman immediately burned the corpse of the mother Gangcheol and scattered its ashes over the pit containing the eggs.
She then instructed Yoon Duseok to place the large rock back over the pit. Once it was in place, she affixed a talisman to it and confidently declared that after three months, only one creature with twelve spots would remain in the pit.
The Yoon family members were half-skeptical but treated the shaman with the utmost respect for the next three months.
Three months later, in the spring of the following year, they dug up the area where the egg had been buried and indeed found only one large, black snake remaining in the pit.
It appeared to have devoured all its siblings as its body was plump and adorned with twelve white spots. However, upon closer inspection, they were not white spots but scales that protruded upwards, reflecting light in such a way that they appeared white.
"Th-the Chief Shaman’s words were true!"
As the Yoon family marvelled in awe, the shaman stepped forward to capture the snake. Her actions were both fierce and bizarre.
First, she tossed camphor leaves into the pit and chanted an incomprehensible incantation, causing the snake, which had been hissing with its head raised, to suddenly roll its eyes back and twist its body in agony.
Afterwards, she ordered the servants to stab it with wooden spears and pull it out. Although it was still a hatchling, it was nonetheless a monster, with a size comparable to that of a fully-grown python.
As everyone shuddered in horror, the shaman handed Yoon Duseok a pair of iron pliers wrapped in a talisman.
"That creature will not move now. So just do as I instruct."
As he wondered what she intended for him to do with the iron tongs, she ordered him to pluck out the ‘reverse scales’ that were scattered across the snake’s body.
Though frightened and hesitant to act, Yoon Duseok was nudged forward by the shaman and had no choice but to reluctantly approach the snake. Yet truly, the snake remained completely still, just like an egg.
Urged to hurry up and pluck them out, Yoon Duseok grimaced and hesitantly asked.
“Must I really something do this myself? Can’t I just have my subordinates do it?"
"Then, if it’s about saving your family, the head of the household must take the lead. Who else could do it? What would happen if something went wrong?"
With no choice, Yoon Duseok began to pluck out the reverse scales from the snake's body with the iron pliers.
Each time a scale was plucked, a line of blood spurted from the black scales, and the young snake writhed in pain.
As the snake could not move, the Yoon family, initially horrified, gradually found amusement in its comical struggles.
Finally, as the snake began to foam at the mouth and collapse, the shaman smiled broadly and instructed them to stop.
"You are fortunate. This is not just a mere snake's offspring; it is an Imugi."
"Did you say it is an Imugi?”
"That is correct. This is the leash to control this creature."
She then presented something that appeared to be pieces of blood-stained scales. The shaman personally gathered the fragments that Yoon Duseok had carelessly tossed onto the ground, totalling eleven pieces, each about the size of a thumbnail.
When Yoon Duseok questioned why there were only eleven instead of twelve, the shaman smiled and replied, "It is called a leash. If you remove all of them, even if it is an Imugi, it will die."
How could such reverse scales be used to control the creature? The explanation was as follows.
Even in the world of mythical creatures, there was a natural order. A creature that violated this order and survived through violence would inevitably face retribution.
However, this young Gangcheori committed the heinous act of devouring its siblings immediately after hatching, thereby incurring a terrible sin. Although born as an Imugi with the potential for great power, it would remain bound by its past actions until it accumulated enough virtue to shed its burden.
"I will keep one, so the rest should be carefully shared among the Yoon family. Do not let one person keep them all, and do not lose them. If you protect this well for three years, you will attain the greatest power in this nation."
The shaman handed over ten scales to Yoon Duseok, excluding one.
Having placed his complete trust in the shaman, Yoon Duseok took her words seriously and secretly gathered ten male relatives and divided the scales among them. To ensure they would not lose them, they mixed the scales into liquor and swallowed them all at once.
With the wicked Gangcheol and its offsprings vanquished, the ominous clouds over Hwangju cleared, and the snakes retreated. As if by miracle, the drought ended, leading to a bountiful harvest that year.
Soon after, the monster's offspring they had brought into their home — or rather, the leashed Imugi — began to turn all their troubles into good fortune. The family's declining fortunes not only stabilised but prospered day by day.
Three years. Just as the shaman had predicted, it took exactly three years — no more, no less — for the Yoon family to become the most powerful household in the nation.
How could they ever repay such a blessing?
It was only natural that Yoon Duseok constructed a grand shrine within the county, even more magnificent than the palace where the head of the family resided. When the shaman was about to leave, he clung to her feet, pleading for her to stay and honouring her with the title of Grand Shaman of the household, treating her with the utmost respect and devotion.
Translator's Corner:
In Korean mythology, a Gangcheori is a serpent-like creature associated with rivers and lakes. It is regarded as a guardian of water bodies, believed to bring either blessings or misfortune, depending on how humans treat it. In this context, the Chief Shaman portrays the Gangcheori in a negative light.
Conversely, an Imugi is a serpentine creature considered an immature form of a dragon. According to legend, an Imugi can become a full-fledged dragon by capturing a Yeouiju (여의주), a magical orb, from the sky. Another tale suggests that if an Imugi survives for a thousand years, it can transform into a true dragon, symbolising great power and wisdom. The Imugi is often associated with ambition, transformation, and the desire for ascension.
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I picked this novel up because I was interested in the author's (Gwon Gyeoeu) works (she worked on Death Is The Only Ending For The Villainess). This story is much darker with the dark fantasy romance elements so hopefully the plot is good >_<
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