The rain was still falling.
But along with the thunder and lightning, its intensity had gradually lessened, and now, in the distant sky, something shimmered—seven distinct lights flickering within the clouds.
What is that? A rainbow?
At first, I thought it might be a rainbow.
But then I remembered—it was nighttime.
Rainbows couldn’t exist at night.
Rainbows were caused by sunlight refracting through droplets of water in the air. They needed sunlight to appear.
And right now, there was none.
Which meant there was no way it could be a rainbow.
Besides, it didn’t even look like a rainbow.
The seven lights were simply flashing and glowing in the clouds like a neon sign from a karaoke room—just like the one I remembered during that Baekgoyo tribe incident.
Is there something inside the clouds giving off light?
I pondered what it could be while continuing forward, when beside me, Gun Hye-rin spoke up.
“A... a celestial being?”
I tilted my head and asked,
"A celestial being?"
“Y-Yeah. Isn’t it said that when seven lights shimmer in the sky, it means a celestial being or a fairy has appeared?
It’s in tons of legends, isn’t it?
It must be a celestial immortal. Or maybe a beautiful fairy?”
Well, this was a world with ghosts and spirit beasts.
So if a celestial being or fairy appeared, it wouldn’t be that strange.
I wasn’t sure if anyone had actually become a celestial immortal in this world, but most martial artists did train in pursuit of such a state, didn’t they?
So if one appeared in person, it wouldn’t be unbelievable.
“Ah, I see.”
I nodded indifferently.
Ahead, I saw Hwanji and Hwana.
They were looking up, heads raised toward the sky.
I walked over and asked,
"Did you call me to see that?"
—Shuu. 『Yes, Master So-ryong.』
—Shii. 『That’s right. The sky was sparkling, so we wanted you to see it.』
As I thought—they’d called me just to show me the strange sky.
Adorable.
They saw something interesting and wanted to share it with me.
I nodded, then checked over their bodies.
"You’re not cold, are you? Nothing hurts? You startled me, calling out like that."
—Shuaa. 『Of course not, Master So-ryong.』
—Shii. 『Thank you for worrying about us, Master So-ryong.』
Honestly, I was startled when they called me so urgently.
I thought something had gone wrong.
But hearing their calm answers, I was relieved.
Beside me, Gun Hye-rin was still staring blankly at the sky in a daze.
"Alright, let’s go back and sleep. Hopefully the rain stops by tomorrow."
Gun Hye-rin turned to me with a look of disbelief.
“Master, it’s a celestial being. A fairy, you know!? And you just want to go back to sleep!?”
I nodded calmly.
I was a bit curious, sure, but not curious enough to fly up through the rain to take a better look.
A celestial being is just a person.
Same goes for a fairy.
Celestial beings are just old men.
Fairies are just pretty women.
The rain had let up a little, but not enough to justify standing around getting soaked just to gawk at an old man.
Even a pretty woman wouldn’t change that.
If it’s a woman I’m interested in, Hwa-eun is more than enough.
Even a fairy probably has body hair, right?
So I just nodded again.
"I mean, if it’s a celestial being, it’s just an old man. If it’s a fairy, she’s just a young, pretty woman. And you’re saying we should go all the way up there in the rain just to take a look?
It’d be much smarter to head back, warm up by the fire, and get a good night’s sleep.
We might need to move out as soon as the skies clear, and if we waste our precious energy on something useless like that, when it really matters—"
I was giving Gun Hye-rin a full lecture as we headed back toward the temple.
I could hear her footsteps following close behind.
Then, very quietly, I heard her mutter,
"But if it really is a celestial being or fairy... or if not, maybe it’s a dragon ascending, with this typhoon raging..."
My footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
"What did you just say?"
“N-Nothing!”
I spun around sharply, and Gun Hye-rin flinched.
She must’ve thought I was about to scold her.
I stepped in closer and pressed,
"Now, now. I definitely heard something. Go on, tell me what you just said."
She shrank back and replied in a small voice,
“W-Was it the part about celestial beings and fairies?”
“No. After that.”
“Something like... maybe a dragon is ascending because of the typhoon?”
"That’s it."
“W-Why?”
She looked confused—why would that matter?
I grinned.
“Dragons have scales, right?”
“Th-That’s what they say...”
“Well then, this Spicy Fabre can’t just sit still.”
“Spicy Fa-breее?”
“Don’t worry about that part. Anyway, you’re sure it might be a dragon ascending?”
“According to the legends, when a typhoon rages at sea, a dragon ascends wrapped in seven colors of light... That’s the story, right?”
"Sounds credible."
People around here talked about dragons a lot.
Even Mandok Shingun and Hwa-eun had mentioned them.
At first, I didn’t believe in them.
A dragon? That’s a mythical beast of legend, right?
It just didn’t make sense.
A dragon was said to have a lion’s face, a deer’s antlers, a rabbit’s eyes, an ox’s ears, a snake’s body, carp scales, and hawk talons—how could such a thing exist?
But after meeting so many spirit beasts, I’d started to think—maybe dragons could exist.
And now, I might’ve spotted signs of one?
A dragon had scales.
It was the epitome of a reptilian spirit beast.
I didn’t know if I could catch one, but I definitely had enough reason to go take a look.
I quickly called out in my mind to Cho and Yeondu.
『“Cho, Yeondu!”』
But then, voices answered right next to me.
—Tzzrr. 『Yes, Dad.』
—Kishishi. 『Brother, we’re all right here.』
—Shaaa. 『Yes, Master So-ryong.』
When I turned my head, I saw that everyone had gathered beneath the trees to avoid the rain and was now looking up at the sky.
Apparently, when Gun Hye-rin and I had run out, the others followed behind.
Seeing that the timing was perfect, I shouted to Cho and Yeondu.
"Guys, let’s go! Let’s find out what that is!"
Tzzrrrt! 『Got it!』
Tzzrt. 『Dad, I’m coming too!』
Cho coiled around me.
Yeondu wrapped herself around Gun Hye-rin and leapt.
Then Hyang hopped on, followed by Hongdan, Baekhwa, and Heukhwa quietly clinging to me.
—Kisha. 『Let’s go quickly, Master So-ryong.』
—Shaki. 『Ahem. We’re curious too, you know.』
I hadn’t asked them to come, but apparently the two of them were just as interested in what this “dragon” might be.
When I looked to the sky, Sister Jeokwol, along with Moji and Soji, was already airborne.
I told Hwanji, Hwana, and Yohwa to wait behind, and then we soared into the sky.
"Wait here for just a bit."
—Kissit. 『Yes, Brother.』
The thunder had stopped—it was the perfect time to go dragon-watching.
It was still drizzling, but that was something I could dry later with the Trance Flame technique.
If there was a dragon up there, this much discomfort was worth enduring.
As we approached the source of the light, Yeondu raised her antennae and pointed.
—Tzzrrr. 『Dad, is the dragon over there?』
"Yeah. Auntie Gun Hye-rin said it’s over there."
—Shaaa. 『A dragon... I wonder what kind of spirit beast it is.』
—Tzzrt. 『Right. But Dad, what’s a dragon?』
It seemed no one had ever explained it to her, so I looked at Yeondu and said,
"It probably looks a bit like you."
—Shaaaa. 『Like me!?』
"Yeah. Dragons are kind of like snakes. There are differences, but still."
—Tzzrrrt. 『I’m really curious what it looks like.』
All of us—including Gun Hye-rin—headed toward the light with eager expressions.
Up ahead, a gaping hole in the clouds came into view.
"Was it really a typhoon?"
The open sky far ahead must’ve been the eye of the storm.
It seemed the typhoon’s eye had moved closer, causing the rain to ease for a while.
We were heading toward the clouds near the typhoon’s eye.
But just as we neared the light—
Suddenly, the glowing began to dim... and then vanished completely.
"...What?"
"Wh-where did it go?"
We immediately flew into the clouds where the light had been, but all we met was thick mist.
Only the dark clouds greeted us.
—Tzzrrrt. 『Where did it go?』
"What the hell? Where’d it vanish to?"
—Shia. 『Where’s the dragon, Master So-ryong?』
We combed through the storm clouds, but the light had disappeared.
We all stared at each other blankly like dogs that chased a chicken only to end up staring at the roof.
We’d come all this way, full of excitement, but now the light was gone without a trace.
Unwilling to give up, we split into groups—Sister Jeokwol, Moji, Soji, Yeondu, and Cho all scouted in different directions—but we couldn’t find the source of the light.
Dejected, we had no choice but to descend.
And as we neared the ground again, the light reappeared.
The seven-colored glow was flickering once more in the spot we’d lost track of.
"It’s glowing again!"
—Tzzrt! 『Dad, it’s flashing again!』
Just as we were about to land, we all shot back up into the sky.
Even faster than before.
But as we approached, the light vanished once again.
And as we drifted away, the seven-colored glow shimmered to life again.
"What... is going on?"
We spread out, hoping to trap it from a distance—but as soon as we got close, the light vanished like a ghost again.
—Tzzrrr. 『It disappeared again...』
—Shia. 『Where did it go this time?』
Just like it was mocking us—every time we got near, it disappeared.
After a long and frustrating search, we gave up and returned to the ground.
And sure enough—just like before—the glow lit up again from inside the clouds.
Our goal had been to find a dragon.
But dragon or not, whatever it was was clearly toying with us, and everyone was starting to get annoyed.
Sister Jeokwol floated over and perched on my shoulder.
—Chii!
—Tzzrt. 『Dad, Sister Jeokwol says we should sneak up on it.』
"But... it’s still raining. Is that okay?"
Sister Jeokwol was suggesting she use her stealth abilities to help us approach.
But the problem was—the rain.
Her camouflage weakened drastically when raindrops landed on her scales.
I looked up with concern.
But at that moment, perhaps because we were nearing the center of the typhoon’s eye, the rain abruptly stopped.
“Master, the rain’s stopped!”
“Ooh! Nice... I {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} mean—perfect!”
The seven-colored glow in the clouds had shifted slightly ahead of us.
If we launched from this side, staying hidden, we could probably get close unnoticed.
“Alright, everyone gather up! This time, we approach under full cover!”
—Tzzrt. 『Got it, Dad!』
—Chiiii!
Determined to finally see the dragon, we huddled together tightly.
Sister Jeokwol activated her stealth field and cloaked us as we slowly advanced toward the light.
This time, we crept as close as the height where the light usually disappeared.
But now—it didn’t vanish.
We moved at a snail’s pace.
This time, we changed tactics—approaching from above and circling downward.
As one layer of cloud peeled away, the source of the light came into view.
There it was.
A glowing lifeform, surrounded by seven shimmering colors, floating in the misty darkness.
『“Huh? Th-that’s...?”』
At my stunned exclamation, Yeondu looked confused.
—Shaaa. 『Master So-ryong, it doesn’t look anything like me...?』
Of course it didn’t.
Because it wasn’t a dragon.
What the hell are you doing flying?
In fact, it wasn’t even a creature that should be capable of flight.
