Chapter 138: Soft, Fluffy, Chewy, and Smooth
The memories of Gaetsalgoadal passed in an instant.
Usually, they say the final moments give you time to reflect on your life.
But even that brief moment was not permitted in front of Ma.
There wasn’t even a chance to reminisce about the precious memories with the Snake Queen.
All that remained in his memory were events from just a short while ago.
He met a human.
A human with the surname Namgoong.
*
“Did you ask me to find a spirit creature friendly to humans?”
“Yes.”
A human had entered the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
His appearance was neither shabby nor particularly neat.
He was just an ordinary human, the kind you’d see anywhere.
The internal energy he radiated, no matter how generously measured, couldn’t surpass the Peak Stage.
His eyes were so small that it was hard to tell if they were open or closed, further suggesting he was nothing more than a plain human.
But something felt off.
I couldn’t explain it, but there was something unusual about him.
It was the first time I’d seen his face, yet it felt strangely familiar.
It could just be my imagination.
But there was no harm in having a conversation.
If he was hiding something suspicious, I could always make him into a meal.
Contrary to my expectations, our conversation went smoothly, and in the end, I gained information about spirit creatures friendly to humans.
A spirit creature friendly to humans…
The Bird King let out an eerie smile and answered.
“Isn’t there one right here? This Bird King is friendly to humans.”
The man standing before me bore the surname Namgoong.
I didn’t know much about the central plains, but Gaetsalgoadal’s master had mentioned stories about the outside world a few times.
The Namgoong family name held value.
Gaetsalgoadal’s goal wasn’t just to conquer this jungle.
He planned to claim the Snake Queen, seize the vast mountain range, and eventually move into the wide world of the central plains.
“You’re quite the joker. You’ve got more than a few creatures sticking close to you.”
Use the human standing before me.
That was Gaetsalgoadal’s thought.
Hypnotizing him would be one option, but hypnotizing humans wasn’t easy.
And if there was any backlash from trying to hypnotize a human who was hiding something unknown, it could spell disaster.
A man who showed no fear and dared to negotiate with me…
His actions meant he had some other source of confidence.
“Krrhuhut. You’re a bold human. Well, I’ll look into it, but there aren’t many spirit creatures that are friendly to humans.”
“That’s fine. The important thing is narrowing down the search little by little.”
“Alright. The unicorn… if it’s friendly, I suppose it could be called that. …But it won’t be easy to catch it.”
The unicorn.
Gaetsalgoadal had also tried several times to capture it.
But not only was capturing it impossible, even observing it with his own eyes was out of reach.
“The unicorn, huh. It does pique my interest, but that’s not what I seek.”
“Not what you seek?”
“I’m looking for the one closest to a dragon.”
The Bird King’s eyebrows twitched.
A dragon.
The legendary divine beast that every creature in this jungle revered.
Of course, there were countless creatures here that could be called subdragons.
But they only resembled dragons and could never truly be called one.
“Closest to a dragon? You say that in front of the Bird King?”
Guooo…
The Bird King made no effort to hide his displeasure.
The one closest to a dragon was himself.
Then there was the Snake Queen.
Who dared to surpass him?
“Calm down. I’m not trying to insult you. It’s just the prophecy.”
“Prophecy?”
It was a rather intriguing word.
“Yes. The prophecy says that a mystical and powerful being will be born in this Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.”
A mystical and powerful being.
The Bird King burst into laughter at the mention.
“Kahahaha! Isn’t that talking about me?”
The one closest to a dragon was him.
So naturally, that prophecy was referring to him.
“…That could be, but there’s also the possibility that the prophecy refers to more than one being.”
“Oh-ho. You want to claim the other one, don’t you?”
Gaetsalgoadal’s mind raced.
Another spirit creature that could become a dragon.
If what the man said was true, it was as good as having a rare core within reach.
“You’re telling me to capture it. That’s quite a tall order.”
“You don’t necessarily have to capture it.”
“I can kill it then? But then there’d be no point in capturing it.”
“It’s fine. If it dies, it only means it was never truly worthy. In that case, you really would be the one in the prophecy.”
Gaetsalgoadal flapped his large wings.
It was a plan where he had nothing to lose.
If he truly met a being close to a dragon, he could kill it and devour it whole.
The man with the Namgoong name would surely agree.
That Gaetsalgoadal was the one from the prophecy.
Of course, the man could be spouting nonsense.
Prophecies were always open to interpretation by whoever heard them.
But that was fine.
Even pretending to search would be enough to make use of the man with the Namgoong name.
If nothing came of it, it would only prove that Gaetsalgoadal himself was the one in the prophecy.
A spirit creature friendly to humans.
The one closest to a dragon.
A pure curiosity began to grow within him.
If there truly was a being closest to a dragon, he would know the moment he laid eyes on it.
And if he killed it, it would mean he could reach the dragon’s level.
He accepted the deal with the man.
The price for the deal was information from him, full of stories that even Gaetsalgoadal, who had lived for many years, didn’t know.
Using that information, the Bird King crafted a plan to completely subdue the Snake Queen, all while waiting for the being closest to a dragon.
But there were no significant results.
At best, he saw a lizard with dragon scales once, but such creatures were as common as pebbles on the ground.
They posed no threat and were weak.
The Bird King sat in his nest, conserving his strength.
He had already received what he was owed, so there was no need to actively search for the being.
Unless it appeared before him, there was no need to care for the time being.
That was Gaetsalgoadal’s thought.
The taese had gone berserk, and he hadn’t managed to kill even a single lizard.
In the final moments, as his life’s flame flickered out, he saw it.
The lizard he had tried to kill was crawling into the arms of a human.
It was a ridiculous sight.
Lizards don’t drink milk.
Yet in that unconscious state, it showed such behavior.
That’s when he realized.
What it truly meant to be a spirit creature close to humans, what it meant to be the one closest to a dragon.
In that fleeting moment, Gaetsalgoadal understood the source of that power.
The truth he had tried so hard to deny.
He was not the dragon.
The dragon was that black lizard.
The filthy lizard that had collapsed between the man’s chest was the one closest to a dragon.
It was absurd, yet there was nothing he could do.
If he had killed it the first moment they met, would the future have been different?
If he hadn’t entrusted it to the Beihj Bird and acted himself, would the outcome have changed?
Even though it walked into his grasp several times, Gaetsalgoadal had missed every opportunity.
The Bird King, full of regret until the end, closed his eyes forever.
I couldn’t open my eyes.
The only thing I could do now was to find the most comfortable place possible.
“…Do you like it that much?”
Soft.
Fluffy.
I found the perfect position.
One hand grabbed the soft part.
The other hand grabbed the fluffy part.
Chewy.
I really liked it.
It felt like slipping under a blanket with an electric heating pad already on during a cold winter.
My mind and body felt at peace.
Even if I moved around wildly, all it did was ripple without causing any discomfort.
“Gehgehgek.”
Occasionally, when I bit into something, it felt like I was chewing something, too.
I liked it. Really liked it.
But there was one drawback.
It was a bit too warm.
It wasn’t bad, but I felt like I needed to step outside for a breath of fresh air at least once.
I staggered out of the cozy space.
Before I could return to that spot, I found another place that was equally charming.
“Uhohoh, I knew you’d like it.”
Sssslip.
This place was amazing, too.
Soft.
Smooth.
The difference from earlier was that it was cooler here.
It was the perfect place to cool down my overheated body.
I bit here and there, rolled around, leaving drool everywhere, and slipped out once again.
Something else was calling me.
It wasn’t that big.
If what I had experienced before was a bed, this would be a pillow.
“Tweet…”
It felt like a luxurious, down-filled pillow.
Fluffy, warming my head.
The flapping breeze from it regulated the temperature just right.
The taste wasn’t bad either.
Not bad at all.
Swish.
I slipped out of the pillow.
There were plenty of beds and pillows waiting for me.
I should try lying on all of them, one by one.
Sssslip.
“Shikshik…”
The smooth feeling that wrapped around my entire body.
It wasn’t a bed, nor a pillow.
Yes.
This was a blanket.
It felt similar to Bed Number 2.
Plus, it was even cooler than that.
It didn’t feel as massive, but the texture didn’t fall behind at all.
And there was even a damp sensation, as if something was gently stroking my body.
Somehow, it felt like my body was recovering.
But there was one fatal flaw—it was a bit hard to breathe.
I decided to hold off for now and moved on to the next.
Tump.
Oh.
I liked this one.
I could call this one a bamboo wife pillow.
It was about the same size as me, and the temperature was appropriately cool.
The smooth texture was quite pleasant as well.
It even had some sort of massage feature, as it gnawed gently at my head…
“Keeeeek…”
I heard a familiar sound.
I opened my eyes slightly, and a triangular face was glaring at me.
“Kekekeck!”
…It was Old Man Kompi.
“Gehgehgek!”
Whoa, that scared me.
Why is the old man here?
He was glaring at me as if he wouldn’t forgive me.
……
Did I just hug that old man?
Then, what about Bed Number 1, Bed Number 2, the pillow, and the blanket?
“Shirrk…”
There was Shikshik, flicking her tongue.
“Tweet!”
And Jjaekjjaeki, flapping her wings.
Both of them looked a bit damp, as if they were covered in someone’s drool.
….
Could it have been me?
Was I the one hugging them all this time?
Then, what about the bed?
“Dear, have you come to your senses now?”
The Snake Queen was smiling slightly.
Her bold attire never failed to amaze me, but by now, I had grown somewhat accustomed to it.
The problem, however, was the woman sitting next to the Snake Queen, with blue eyes.
My master, Baek Yeonyeong.
She looked quite different from her usual appearance.
Her figure was naturally disheveled.
Drool was all over her, and her clothes were in disarray.
44
“To leave your clothes in such a state, I don’t understand your intentions. And why so much drool?”
…Was that me?
“When I tried to fix it, you kept biting at my fingers like ‘gegek.’”
I don’t remember that.
“I’ll have to teach you the basics again.”
This is so unfair.
“Are you prepared, Heeya?”
There’s a saying that when a lizard dies, the elixirs it consumed await it.
I never really believed that story…
“Gehgehgeck!”