Yellow Dragon Palace, just before midnight.
Kim Shinrok accompanied me on the way to the Yellow Dragon Palace.
Kim Shinrok wasn’t interested in the place where the Dragon Palace and the divine world connect, but he came with me because he couldn’t send me to the Yellow Dragon Palace alone.
‘Hwangryong is here, but from knowing the situation, it makes sense.’
Even Jeokho said that Kim Shinrok should accompany me.
It’s not that the tigers distrust Hwangryong, it's just they don’t trust the shamans that have been around him for a long time.
‘I’ve got my hands set for the shamans, but I’m running out of time. I don’t know how much Hwangryong will implement and pull my plan off. It’s safer to always think about the worst.’
Some palace shamans naturally tried to follow when we entered the palace, but Hwangryong waved his hand.
“I intend to guide the guests myself. You can stand back.”
At Hwangryong’s words, the palace shamans stopped walking.
They seemed to be looking at us three from beyond the cloth on their face.
“Understood. Please call if you need me.”
The shaman bowed her head and withdrew.
It was a flawless action, but it bothered me.
‘I thought she’d persist at least twice. She backed down too gently.’
Kim Shinro also observed the shaman for a while as if he also took notice of this.
Hwangryong raised his head high and looked at the ceiling when the shaman was out of sight.
“What’s wrong?”
“We’re getting closer to that fiery feeling.”
After revealing the shamans’ betrayal to Hwangryong, he began to occasionally look at the ceiling like this.
Each time, he would warn that something ominous was approaching the Dragon Palace.
‘It’s almost time for the shamans to move. They’ll take action on the Lunar New Year.’
Won’t the shamans try to stop the third test?
I’ve been preparing for off-duty service since we came to the palace, but it might be better to stay up and wait today.
Worst case scenario is that something would happen right this moment.
“Do you know why the shaman test is held on Lunar New Year?”
Hwangryong spoke in a soft voice as if he was trying to relax himself.
I thought a little about Hwangryong’s question and answered.
“It must have something to do with letting the Dragon King be an audience to the test.”
“Exactly. The first and second tests were done quickly, but the third test could have some delays.”
“Is that why we came here at midnight?”
“Yes. It’s easy having a conversation with a smart child.”
The reason why the shaman test is held on the Lunar New Year is closely related to the place where we were.
The tests change from time to time, but a meeting between the candidates and the Dragon King is always included.
The third test for this succession ceremony is “poetry.”
It is to unravel the appreciation of meeting the Dragon King with poetry presented to him personally.
‘It’s easier to connect the Dragon Palace to the divine world on Lunar New Year.’
So, close to midnight when the Lunar New Year was just around the corner, Hwangryong guided us here.
Instead of the wide corridor that is usually taken inside the Yellow Dragon Palace, Hwangryong headed to a narrow road that we’ve never seen before.
Hwangryong spoke in a rather playful tone.
“Alright, come here. I will guide you to a place you did not find the last time you came here to explore with that candidate.”
“…You knew?”
“How can I not know when such a precious guest came to my palace?”
Yoon Yeorang’s expedition included the Yellow Dragon Palace.
She took the youngest palace shaman and Unryong urgently when Hwangryong left the palace.
I thought Hwangryong didn’t notice because he didn’t say anything about it.
It seems like he just pretended not to know.
‘It would be a relief that his dragon senses are returning thanks to my move.’
We talked about various things as we walked through the long and narrow corridor.
Hwangryong talked to Kim Shinrok as well.
“You two are together often. Did you judge that it’s dangerous to walk around the Dragon Palace alone?”
Jeokho’s range of movement was limited, and the dragons had a lot of work to do.
Yong Jegun was with us sometimes, but he had a lot of things he wanted to do so he often went around alone.
That’s why Kim Shinrok and I were together a lot of times.
I was originally awkward with Kim Shinrok since we don’t really spend much time with just us two, but it’s even more awkward because of the training just before we came to the Dragon Palace.
Kim Shinrok apologized after hearing Hwangryong’s words.
“I’m sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for?”
“We’ve taken steps to treat the Dragon Palace as a dangerous place. We have no intention of undermining it.”
Kim Shinrok bowed his head, and Hwangryong gently tapped his shoulder to make him stand upright.
Hwangryong gave a friendly smile.
“Yong Jegun’s friend is very sincere. If Yong Jegun were here to see you take a joke so seriously, he would make fun of you.”
“…”
Kim Shinrok seemed to have a lot to say, but he chose not to.
Hwangryong gave good advice, but it’s a little too late for that.
Yong Jegun has been making fun of Kim Shinrok for thousands of years already.
Since then, Hwangryong hasn’t talked or joked about anything that would make Kim Shinrok apologetic.
I occasionally joined the conversation but did not actively intervene.
‘Kim Shinrok should talk to adults who care about him.’
I wanted Kim Shinrok to take this opportunity to talk a lot with Hwangryong.
The Dragon Clan is fond of him for being Yong Jegun’s friend.
However, Kim Shinrok would usually leave or save his words as if he were running away, perhaps wary of inconveniencing the dragon people.
‘The landscape changed.’
A completely different view unfolded as we walked out of the narrow hallway.
It was such a large space that I thought we were outside for a moment.
The ceiling was high, and my gaze could barely reach the end of the wall.
The yellow pillars stretched high above, and blue, black, white, and red shone subtly on some of the pillars’ decorations.
‘This must be the connection to the divine world.’
The narrow corridor must’ve been part of a boundary.
It was physically difficult to think, which means there’s definitely a heavy energy wave around here.
The concentration of the force flowing in the air increased with every step.
“Euh…”
Just a short way down the path, Kim Shinrok stumbled.
Kim Shinrok stopped, exhaling wildly.
“Are you okay?”
“…I’m okay. Please don’t worry about me.”
“You don’t look fine at all. If I don’t worry about you, your father will try to wrap his hands on my neck.”
Kim Shinrok couldn’t walk or breathe properly as if he had been weighed down by something heavy.
I felt a sense of deja vu.
‘It’s the same reaction from the watchman when we met the superior beings.’
I attended a meeting with superior beings with the watchman when I went to the bridle of reincarnation.
Pluto, who stood at the center of the conference hall, asked the watchman to come close to the line.
As the watchman got closer, his breathing became unstable and he couldn’t walk properly.
‘The watchman was overwhelmed by the divinity and pressure from the superior beings. Maybe Kim Shinrok is experiencing the same thing.’
Although not as much as Kim Shinrok, it took Hwangryong some time to get used to the air too.
But I was different.
I felt a heavy force flowing through this space, but I didn’t feel much pressure.
‘Is it because I’m a two-dimensional transformed object?’
It made me question, but now isn’t the time to solve that.
It will be midnight soon.
I suggested something to save time.
“Is it straight ahead? I can go alone.”
“Hmm…”
Hwangryong agonized.
From Hwangryong’s perspective, he would be reluctant to leave Kim Shinrok or me alone.
But he seems to be more worried about Kim Shinrok than me.
Kim Shinrok would recover if he moved away from this space, and I’m suggesting a solution.
Hwangryong offered a compromise.
“I’ll send an Unryong with you. I’ll wait here with Jeho.”
When Hwangryong summoned an Unryong, the little cloud dragon woke up with blinking eyes.
As he instructed Hwangryong to show me the way, Kim Shinrok resisted.
“I’m really okay.”
“Are you going to lie to me? I’ll call Yong Jegun or your father if you keep doing that, Jeho-yah.”
Why is Hwangryong calling Kim Shinrok by that name?
Kim Shinrok resisted a few times, but the mention of Yong Jegun and his father made him quiet down.
Considering Kim Shinrok’s mental health, I thought it would be better to go quickly.
“I’ll be back.”
“Come back safely.”
I headed in with the Unryong who wobbled away, still half-asleep.
The air became heavier as we walked, and the obangsaek decorations became more prominent.
Walking a little further, I saw a door in front of me.
It was a huge double-open door that I saw when we first arrived at the Dragon Palace.
‘Is this door a boundary?’
I was lost in thought.
Considering the power that I felt from it and the situation around me, I thought about what could happen here.
While I pondered and reflected, the clock turned to twelve.
<Skill Destiny activated.>
At midnight, a system notification sound rang as if it had been waiting.
At the same time, the door started to open even though I didn’t touch it.
Kugugugu…
Clouds flowed through the slowly opening door.
They were in three colors.
‘This is…’
I saw a huge dragon through the clouds.
Not just one.
Three blindfolded dragons.
I’ve never seen any of them before.
‘It’s not the Dragon King.’
Looking at the color of the clouds, I could guess who they were.
Baekryong, Jeokryong, and Heukryong were right in front of me.
***
Just before midnight, someone noticed an extraordinary event around the Dragon Palace.
It was Yoon Yeorang, one of the candidates who stayed at the Dragon Palace.
Yoon Yeorang has always slept well since coming to the palace, but she strangely couldn’t fall asleep today.
‘I hope I can see you tomorrow, Dragon King-nim.’
Yoon Yeorang tried to prepare for bed with peaceful thoughts, but she didn’t feel good.
She decided to practice using her light skill instead.
And when midnight came, an ominous feeling came to her.
Yoon Yeorang rushed out.
“Unnies, are you up? Something’s wrong!”
Yoon Yeorang woke the other candidates, and it seemed like the two couldn’t sleep well either.
“Look!”
Yoon Yeorang came out of the door and pointed to the window.
Looking through it, they saw the Dragon Palace changing before their eyes.
The Yellow Dragon Palace turned sulfur in color.
The Blue Dragon Palace turned green.
Black Dragon Palace turned jade.
White Dragon Palace turned purple.
And the Red Dragon Palace where they stayed turned from a deep, dark red to a lighter red.
The five colors that symbolized the dragons changed into the colors of the shamans.
A thought came up in Yoon Yeorang’s mind.
‘It’s like the owner of the Dragon Palace has changed!’
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