Meanwhile, the unconscious Geon-joo was wandering through a dark, watery expanse.

‘How did such a thing crawl into our home…?’

‘Chase it out! Burn it!’

‘That is a snake that brings death.’

‘The Mountain God is enraged because of that snake!’

Unfamiliar voices became a watery mist, clouding his vision and muffling his ears. Sharp contempt pierced the dull ringing, and Geon-joo thrashed, clutching at his throat as bubbles escaped his lips. He struggled to open his eyes, but they wouldn’t obey. As he writhed in agony, a gentle touch enveloped him.

So, you have come to face everything after all.

“……?”

Do you not remember? a sudden voice asked. When Geon-joo reflexively nodded, a faint laugh followed, and the presence wrapping around him covered his eyes. It was warm. Warmer than a human body. He wanted to see what it was, and out of curiosity, he grabbed at the object covering his vision. But before he could pull it away to look, the voice spoke first.

Then go and see.

Splash!

Geon-joo plunged deeper into the water. His body changed. His vision narrowed, his hands and feet vanished, and his entire being became one long torso, from head to tail. He plummeted until he hit the bottom.

BOOOOOM!

He opened his eyes to the sound of an explosion. What he felt was the stinging heat of a savage fire, parched earth, and a sharp pain that prickled his entire body.

Hiss.

The snake let out a pained sound and surveyed its surroundings. Enraged people were gathered in small groups, murmuring amongst themselves. As it stared, its eyes met with one of them. The man’s eyes, which had been darting around as if searching for something, widened and filled with madness.

“It’s here!”

“The snake is here!”

The men, holding torches and weapons, shouted as they spotted the snake. Alarmed by the ominous feeling, the snake fled, the mob of people close on its heels. A torrent of curses followed from behind.

Hiiisssss!

The snake fled desperately, analyzing their curses one by one. From what it could gather, they believed it had brought ruin upon their village. In that moment, memories from its entire life flashed through its mind.

It was just a snake. A snake that was blacker than others, with a more menacing gaze.

Born into the world, it had simply lived, yet its appearance alone earned it the stigma of being an ill omen. When any misfortune struck, it became the reason, the target of contempt. After this happened several times, the snake, which had done nothing, naturally became a target of attack. The villagers hated it, loathed it, and wanted it dead. Because of this, when it had gone down from the mountain, driven by hunger, it had nearly been skinned alive.

After that horrifying experience, it had vowed never to go down to the village again. But the hunger was too great. And that had led to this disaster.

Realizing the people chasing it meant to kill it, the snake fled with even more desperation, seeking refuge in the mountains. The people followed. The snake was quite fast, but not fast enough to outrun a mob of several dozen.

Even when it used its agile, small body to deliberately choose the most difficult and complex paths, the people would soon catch up. Eventually, the snake tired first, its tongue lolling out. Just as it felt a surge of indignation at the thought of dying like this, a voice called out.

“This way!”

Someone called to the snake, their voice small but firm. The snake lifted its head and looked toward the sound. A small boy was standing there, waving frantically.

“Come this way!”

The boy shouted, his voice laced with urgency. The snake hesitated. The boy could be luring it into a trap. As it wavered, a look of despair crossed the boy’s face.

Thump, thump, thump!

The sound of the approaching footsteps grew closer.

“Please!”

The boy called out again, as if begging it to trust him. Suddenly, the snake thought the boy’s face looked familiar. It rummaged through its memories and easily found him.

He was the boy who had helped it when it first came down to the village and was being persecuted. And after that, he was the foolish boy who would often give it food and pet it whenever he found it.

The memory solidified its resolve. The snake no longer hesitated. If it was going to die one way or another, it was better to die at the hands of the boy who had shown it at least a sliver of kindness than at the hands of those vicious humans.

Having resolved itself to the end, the snake approached. The boy’s face lit up, and he embraced it.

Is he going to offer me to them now?

The snake grimly predicted its future. But the boy’s actions took a completely opposite turn. Holding the snake tightly so as not to lose it, the boy suddenly started running. Up the mountain, toward a path that was nothing but dangerous.

Hah, hah.

The sound of ragged breathing came from above. Only then did the snake realize the boy was running to save it.

Why?

The reptile’s question would not have been understood by the human. Nevertheless, when their eyes met, the boy gave it a pure smile. When they had put some distance between them, he set the snake down.

“Run straight this way. You’ll find an old cabin. People don’t go there because they say it’s bad luck. You’ll be safe there for a few days.”

The boy advised, panting heavily. The snake flicked its tongue, and the boy, taking that as an answer, started running back the way they came.

“It’s the snake! The snake went toward the lake!” he shouted as he ran. The snake, knowing the location of the lake, flicked its tongue. The lake was a great distance from the cabin the boy had directed it to. The human was providing false information.

Why?

The snake watched the boy’s retreating back for a long time—the boy who had always smiled at it, shared his warmth by stroking its head with his small hands, and even lent it his clothes on a cold day—before heading toward the cabin. It was winter, and the snake was cold. It was too hungry to sleep. How many nights had it spent with its eyes wide open? As the snake lay coiled, enduring, the cabin door creaked open with a thud! The startled snake lifted its head to see a rough-looking man dragging the boy it had seen before into the cabin by his hair.

The man, his eyes glaring, scanned the surroundings and soon spotted the snake. A dry laugh escaped him.

“So the little brat was lying?”

“Aaargh!”

The boy shrieked as his head was yanked back. His face was covered in bruises.

Hiiiisss!

Without thinking, the snake lunged forward and bit the man.

“Fuck! This goddamn snake!”

The man cursed and, in a fit of rage, stomped on the snake. Thump! Thump! As he brought his heel down again and again, the boy, horrified, tried to block him.

“Don’t, don’t do it! This snake isn’t a bad omen!”

“What do you know? Didn’t you hear the village chief? He said your father died because of that snake!”

“No!”

The boy shrieked, veins popping on his neck. It was then that the man’s eyes turned murderous. He beat the boy, and the snake tried to bring the man down. The three of them became a tangled mess, but the outcome was as good as decided from the start.

The boy was weak, and the snake was weak. The terrifyingly muscular man was a formidable foe. The two of them were no match, and in the end, it was the boy and the snake who were thrown to the floor.

“If you like the snake so much, you can be its companion in the afterlife.”

Ptooi! The man spat, muttered something about bad luck, and after glancing around the cabin, tossed his torch inside before leaving.

“No!”

The boy, realizing what the man had done, screamed. It took only an instant for the old cabin to catch fire.

“Sob…”

The boy burst into tears, and the snake forced its exhausted body to move.

Hiss, hiss!

The snake stared at the fire, which had not yet reached the door, and licked the boy’s leg. The boy, who had been brutally beaten, had his leg bent at an unnatural angle.

But if he could just walk that far, the boy would live. The snake let out a sharp hiss, urging him on. The boy wiped his tears and hugged the snake.

“I can’t walk.”

Hiss, hiss.

“I really can’t walk… And even if I get out of here, that man will come to kill me again. He really hates me. That’s why I wanted to help you. I don’t know why I’m hated either, but I thought you might be the same. And I know how sad that feels.”

The boy whispered softly and closed his eyes. The snake felt the boy’s heartbeat against its skin and went limp. Both of them were too exhausted to do anything more.

And so, the flames came. The fire, which had started from the torch, had grown large enough to consume the entire cabin. The boy, who had retreated to the farthest corner, trembled in fear.

“Did you know? They say burning to death is incredibly painful.”

At the boy’s trembling words, the snake struggled to move its tired body. With every inch it tried to move, excruciating pain shot through it. It coiled itself around the boy’s neck. It squeezed, and because he was so young, it wasn’t long before the boy’s heartbeat against its skin disappeared.

The snake looked at the boy, who was no longer breathing, flicked its tongue, and stared at the approaching flames. The fire consumed the boy, who had fallen into an eternal sleep, and then it consumed the snake.

What the boy had said was true. Burning was agonizing.

Hiiisssss.

In a world that had turned completely red, the snake cried out in pain. As it slowly felt itself dying, its body going limp, a great light approached it. The light, which had pierced through the flames, had a human form, though its face was not visible. The snake, which was intelligent enough to understand human speech, instinctively knew that this light was the god that humans said guided the dead.

Gasping its last breaths in agony, the snake glared at the god with eyes full of resentment.

It was so unfair. Why did it have to suffer this pain?

Why did that boy have to die so foolishly? Why did they have to die without even knowing their sin?

‘Just because I was born a lowly creature, does my life have to be this miserable and wretched?’ the snake asked with its eyes. The light embraced the dead snake. The world turned completely white, and only the snake and the light remained. It was then that the snake knew it was dead. Its body was transparent. This must have been what humans called a soul.

Ah…

The realization that it was truly dead brought a surge of anger. As if sensing the boiling rage in the snake’s eyes, the light spoke.

You live a painful life because you committed a sin in your past life.

The words were utterly absurd.

‘I do not know what my past life was. But I know that it is as distant from my present self as a snake is from a tiger. Why must I, born as a snake, bear the burden of a sin I cannot even remember? Whatever sin I committed, whatever life I lived, does that justify the pain of this life? I feel wronged. And I am in pain. I am suffering. I am sad. If life is suffering, why do you make us exist only to give us pain?’

At some point, the snake had started to sob.

‘Everyone calls me an ill omen. If the sin of my past life makes me ominous and unlovable, why must I be born to endure this life?’

The light watched the snake cry, tears streaming down, and stroked its head with a large hand.

It is because the current laws are a very old balance. If that displeases you so, if it weighs so heavily on you, would you try to change it?

‘…What?’

The words were hard to understand at once. The snake forgot its tears and its eyes widened. The light gave a benevolent smile. Its gentle touch slowly filled the void of affection the snake had yearned for its entire life.

This old and terrible cycle of balance, would you try to change it? the light proposed once more. The snake, without thinking, nodded. If it could change it, it wanted to. To change one’s destiny with one’s own hands must be the dream of all living things.

Confirming the unwavering look in the snake’s eyes, the light stroked its scale-covered forehead.

Then I shall give you a chance. Know that nothing in this world is more important than a life that has been born. Know your own preciousness. For you are the first defiance of heaven that I have bestowed.

The light whispered softly, and a warm, white radiance enveloped the hand that was stroking the snake.

Child with the fate of a snake, one day, corruption will seek to drag you down. When the heavens fall, you shall defy them.

The words pierced the snake’s heart.

Change everything that displeased you.

And so, the snake fell from the light’s embrace, plummeting toward the temple.