Chapter 1

“It’s really ending like this…”

A sad voice echoed inside the hiding place.

Yooha held the person who spoke in her arms and looked around with shaking eyes.

There was thick smoke, trees broken and burned, and even the ground was damaged by magic.

Yeongonsan, once beautiful and high, was now completely destroyed.

“Mountain God, please wake up. Please…”

Yooha looked down at the Mountain God in her arms and begged.

Her three older brothers and the sacred beasts were already dead.
Now, only Yooha and the Mountain God, Lee Baek, were left.

Lee Baek slowly opened his eyes.

His long black hair was messy, and his face was covered with wounds as he looked up at Yooha.

“I… don’t have much time left…”

His voice was weak, like it could stop at any moment.

“No, it’s not too late. If we heal you now… If we gather the mountain’s energy…”

Yooha quickly tried to give him spiritual energy.

But her power was too weak. She couldn’t heal him at all.

Lee Baek gave a small smile and held Yooha’s hand on his chest.

“Stop… If there’s any energy left, use it to save yourself…”

Yooha shook her head.

Even though she was just his adopted daughter and they weren’t that close, he was still her father.

She couldn’t just watch him die.

“…Haha.”

Lee Baek looked at her face and let out a tired laugh.

“Yes, I know how stubborn you are…”

He slowly opened and closed his eyes, trying hard to stay awake to see her.

“There’s something I want to hear… since you care about me.”

“What is it? Tell me what to say and I’ll do it.”

“…Will you call me ‘Father’?”

Yooha’s eyes widened. The hand giving energy to him froze.

“Since I adopted you… not once did you ever call me father.”

Yooha bit her lip.

Lee Baek had taken in lost children and treated them as his own.
Yooha was one of them. But she never once called him “father.”

‘At first, I was scared of him. Then it felt awkward.’

‘Later, I just stopped thinking about it.’

They weren’t even on bad terms. But now she regretted never calling him that.

“…Father. Father…”

Yooha’s voice trembled as she finally said the word.

Lee Baek smiled faintly and slowly closed his eyes.

“Good. Now I’m happy…”

Then he said:

“I’m sorry… You were my daughter, but I couldn’t protect you…”

“No, Father. Please don’t say that…”

Yooha’s eyes filled with tears. She knew the end was near.

She kept trying to give him spiritual energy, but he could no longer take it in.

Lee Baek’s hand dropped to the ground.

His body became still and light — his spirit had left.

“Ah… Father…”

Yooha cried loudly and buried her face in his chest.

Her father was gone, just like her brothers and the sacred beasts.

She couldn’t believe this was happening.

‘Why? Why did this have to happen to Yeongonsan?’

All her family had done was try to stop the emperor from bringing back the evil dragon.

‘We did the right thing… So why are we being punished like this?’

Yooha clenched her teeth to stop from crying out loud.
She could feel the emperor’s soldiers getting closer.

‘If I stay here, they’ll find this place. I won’t even be able to protect Father’s body.’

She lifted her tear-covered face.

She carefully laid Lee Baek’s body in the deepest part of the hideout, then left.

After going far away from the hideout, she made a loud noise on purpose.

“She’s over there!”

The emperor’s soldiers rushed toward her.

Yooha was quickly surrounded by soldiers in armor.

“Was there a girl like this on Yeongonsan?”

“Be careful! She could be a spirit beast that hasn’t been caught yet!”

“She looks human, but… whoa.”

The soldiers were confused, but then they saw blue energy gathering around Yooha and got scared.

‘I’ll take down as many as I can.’

With that thought, Yooha prepared for one last fight.

“What’s this girl?”

A low, creepy voice was heard, and the soldiers moved aside.

A man walked out from between them.

Yooha’s eyes went wide with shock when she saw who it was.

The people who ruined Yeongonsan like this were the Emperor and his close ally, the Flame Master (Yeomsa).

“She’s the youngest daughter of the Mountain God Lee Baek. She never left Yeongonsan, so no one knows her face,” said the Flame Master after quickly looking Yooha over.

“Really? But even if she’s his daughter, isn’t she just a child he picked up and raised?”

“Yes. And unlike the other adopted children, she’s too weak to even fight properly.”

The Flame Master looked at Yooha with a cruel smile.

“That’s why we didn’t even bother putting her name on the list of targets.”

The Emperor looked curious and a bit amused.

“She survived just because she’s powerless? That’s interesting,” he said, stroking his chin.

As his hand moved, a faint patch of scales appeared and then disappeared on his skin.

‘Dragon Transformation…!’

Yooha noticed it right away and tensed up.

It meant the Emperor had taken the power of the Fallen Dragon.

“Hmm, you’re not bad looking,” he said, stepping boldly right in front of her.

“I’ll ask only once. Will you live for me?”

The Emperor’s eyes were full of amusement as he looked down at Yooha.

“Kneel and kiss the top of my foot. If you bow like a loyal subject, I’ll let you live.”

Yooha bit her lip hard.

Not because she was thinking about accepting.

She was just too angry to speak.

‘He killed the Mountain God… and my brothers so cruelly, and now he dares say this?’

Yooha’s blue energy swirled around her, reacting to her emotions.

“…Never.”

Yooha finally spoke.

“I will never bow to you.”

Her voice was filled with burning rage.

“Even if I die and become a wandering spirit, I’ll get my revenge!”

The Emperor raised an eyebrow as if he were surprised.

“Oh? You’ve got spirit…”

“She talks too much. I’ll take care of her now,” said the Flame Master, lifting his sword.

“Wait, Yeomsa. Let her be for now.”

The Emperor stopped him.

“I want to enjoy one last bit of fun.”

The Emperor stepped even closer to Yooha. Before she could react, he grabbed her chin and held her still.

Yooha struggled, but as a fifteen-year-old girl, she was no match for a grown man’s strength.

“Let’s make a bet.”

The Emperor grinned, scales appearing again on his face.

“I’ll give you this.”

He raised his hand.

A small whirl of energy spun above it, and then a glowing red orb appeared.

“This is a rare item I found long ago. They say it holds the power of a Fire Dragon.”

He continued, “If you eat it, you might become a monster, a wild spirit, or even a ghost. Let’s see if that’s true.”

Realizing his intention, Yooha struggled even harder to escape.

But the Emperor forced her mouth open and shoved the orb inside.

“Mmgh! Kuhk!”

The moment she swallowed it, Yooha felt like her whole body was burning alive.

“Turn into whatever… and come find me.”

The Emperor watched her fall to the ground, groaning in pain.

“If you can hurt me even a little, then you win.”

“Ahh… ngh…”

Yooha’s strength began to fade.

Her blue energy was wiped away by the power of the red orb, and her body began to dry out and weaken.

“Hmph. I guess legends are just legends,” the Emperor muttered, sounding bored.

Soon, Yooha stopped moving.

“Looks like she’s dead. Let’s go. This isn’t fun anymore.”

The Emperor’s voice rang in her ears, but Yooha couldn’t lift her head.

‘So unfair…’

She couldn’t open her eyes. She couldn’t move a finger.

‘I’m so angry. So full of hate.’

A single tear rolled down from her closed eyes.

But she couldn’t do anything anymore.

The 3,000-year-old history of Yeongonsan had ended.

It was supposed to end.

But then… a red glow suddenly flickered from inside Yooha’s body.