Chronicles of the Silver Dragon — Episode 1
Prologue
A boy of about five years old looked at the young man.
“Will you not become me?”
When the young man smiled bitterly and asked the boy, the child asked in return.
“If I become you, will I have a mother too?”
To that question, the man replied.
“You will have one… A mother who is very kind and will love you.”
“Then I will become you.”
The child who did as the young man wished became the Silver Dragon.
Chapter 1. Just What Is That Boy’s Identity?
“Haaaaaahm~”
A peculiar boy with silvery hair and eyes walked along, yawning lazily.
The boy’s name was Eun Je-hwa, eighteen years old, an ordinary(?) boy living in a small village near Cheonsan Inyeong.
No, perhaps not so ordinary….
Kraaaaang!
When a huge tiger suddenly lunged at him, Je-hwa frowned and casually blew on his fist.
“Ha~”
He lightly dodged the tiger’s sharp claws, then drove his fist straight into the tiger’s forehead.
Crack! Crunch!
With the sound of something splitting, the tiger died on the spot without even a whimper.
“He caught that thing?”
“That Je-hwa fellow… He gets more incredible by the day….”
The villagers looked baffled as they watched Je-hwa drag the huge tiger into the village by its tail.
They had known he would catch one someday, but never dreamed it would be today.
“Auntie! Here, a tiger!”
Arriving at the butcher shop dragging the tiger, Je-hwa smiled brightly and handed the tiger over to a middle-aged woman.
“Y-you brat! I knew you could pull it off, but today of all days! Anyway, you really are something.”
“Hehehe, give me money.”
Seeing the middle-aged woman’s astonished expression, Je-hwa grinned and held out his hand.
It had been thirteen years since Je-hwa appeared in the village.
One day, when a five-year-old child with strangely colored hair and eyes settled in the village, the villagers began whispering and keeping their guard up against the child.
The ignorant country folk simply kept their distance, calling the child with odd-colored hair the child of a snow woman, and so the child was always alone.
Then, when the child was thirteen, a pack of wolves descended on the village, and the child beat them all to death alone.
That child was Je-hwa.
The villagers quickly began showing him goodwill, and now he had become an indispensable existence in the village.
“I got plenty of money for the first time in a while; what should I do?”
Twirling his money pouch with a happy expression, Je-hwa suddenly tilted his head at a sound reaching his ears.
Clang!
Je-hwa frowned at the sound of metal clashing against metal. He tried to ignore it, but the clamor didn’t easily die down.
In the end, he headed toward the source of the sound with an annoyed expression.
***
Clang! Chaaang~
A girl in her late teens looked around with dark eyes.
Dokgo Ryeong, the only daughter of Murim Alliance Lord Dokgo Je, was called Mibong in the orthodox murim thanks to her beautiful appearance.
But where she stood now was none other than a battlefield where blade clashed against blade and flesh was torn away.
The surroundings were noisy with the sounds of weapons clashing, and occasionally the gruesome sound of splitting flesh could be heard.
Having been included for the first time in the delegation that had been exchanging visits with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult for ten years, she felt as if struck by a bolt from the blue.
If she had known this would happen, she wouldn’t have separated from the group pretending to sightsee. She greatly regretted it.
It was then.
“Miss! Behind you!”
A Murim Alliance warrior guarding Dokgo Ryeong called out urgently to her as she rolled her eyes about with an anxious expression.
Dokgo Ryeong jumped in surprise and turned around, then spotting a blade flying at her, she shut her eyes tight in terror.
Clang-!
But it lasted only a moment; contrary to her expectations, she felt no pain.
As a sharp metallic sound rang out, Dokgo Ryeong cautiously opened her eyes.
Clang! Thud!
“Kuaack!”
Along with the gruesome sound of flesh splitting, the warrior in blood robes who had swung his sword at Dokgo Ryeong screamed and tumbled down.
“Ryeong-ah, are you okay?”
A girl in her late teens asked her with a worried expression, and at the sight, Dokgo Ryeong let out a sigh of relief and nodded.
“I’m okay, Ran-ah.”
It was the bold murim heroine Seonu Ran, the granddaughter of Sword King Seonu Gwang, who had inherited his martial arts and proudly bore the title of Mubong among the Three Peaks. As befitting the Sword King’s granddaughter, her martial prowess was tremendous—so much so that among her peers, even boys would have trouble defeating her.
She let out a sigh of relief at Dokgo Ryeong’s words and turned her head toward the fighting.
“Damn, what the hell are these things?”
Seonu Ran observed the blood-robed figures who had ambushed them, radiating thick killing intent.
Mysterious beings wearing blood robes and using strange martial arts.
There was only one group in the murim who would do such a thing.
“The Blood Cult….”
Seonu Ran growled lowly and muttered.
In the murim, blood robes were considered unclean and rarely worn, and combined with their strange martial arts, the only group that came to mind was the Blood Cult.
“What is the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult doing! The Blood Cult is running rampant right in their front yard!”
Seonu Ran shouted with an irritated expression.
This was the territory of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the strongest single faction in the murim. Yet even as their guests were being ambushed here, there was no word from the cult.
But there was one thing Seonu Ran didn’t know: while this was indeed the cult’s territory, there was only one small village here, a place the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult didn’t pay any attention to.
So who told you to split from the delegation pretending to sightsee?
Shwick!
Just then, something flew toward the shouting Seonu Ran, and she swung her sword with an extremely contorted expression.
Clang!
Having deflected the hidden weapon aimed at her, Seonu Ran gripped her sword tight and charged at the one who had thrown it, shouting,
“Drop dead!”
It was quite rough speech for a girl, but she herself went around claiming it was her charm, and because of that, Sword King Seonu Gwang had quite the headache.
She chose liveliness over modesty, and martial arts that would protect herself over becoming someone’s bride. She had the talent for it.
Even if she hadn’t run away from home with a single sword at fifteen and returned with the title of Mubong, she would have been truly remarkable.
But her grandfather, Seonu Gwang, didn’t want her to live in the harsh murim.
Having devoted his entire life to the murim, Seonu Gwang knew all too well what an evil place it was. He had no intention of letting his only granddaughter leap into it, but contrary to his intentions, Seonu Ran was already deeply involved in the murim.
At her sharp attack, another blood-robed figure screamed and collapsed to the ground.
Mubong wasn’t Mubong for nothing.
Among the junior martial artists of the orthodox faction, Seonu Ran possessed the greatest strength.
Shaking off the blood flowing down her sword, she looked sharply around. Then, after a moment, she cut down a blood-robed figure charging at her with a contorted, furious expression and leaped into the battlefield.
The ones being pushed back now were the Murim Alliance’s delegation warriors.
At first, the battle had been nearly even, but it gradually turned against the Murim Alliance warriors, and eventually they began falling one by one.
Just as Seonu Ran decided to take down all the opponents, her eyes radiating killing intent as she was about to cut down an enemy,
“Kyaaak!”
Suddenly Dokgo Ryeong’s scream rang out, and Seonu Ran jumped in surprise and turned her head.
There, a blood-robed figure had approached at some point and was trying to attack Dokgo Ryeong with a sharp sword radiating killing intent.
“N-no!”
Seonu Ran let out a shriek, but it was too late. The sword had already been swung and was upon Dokgo Ryeong.
Seonu Ran shut her eyes tight without realizing it.
Just as the thought of losing her best friend engulfed her entire body—
Ppak! Kwadeuk!
“Kuaack!”
Hearing a dull thud and the sound of bones caving in, both Seonu Ran, who had foreseen her friend’s death, and Dokgo Ryeong, who had foreseen her own death, cautiously opened their eyes.
And when they discovered a boy there, their eyes went wide in an instant.
“You’re noisy.”
Je-hwa, who had barged right into the middle of the battle, spoke irritably.
Both Dokgo Ryeong and Seonu Ran looked at the suddenly appeared Je-hwa with blank expressions.
“What are you glaring at?”
At Je-hwa’s words, Dokgo Ryeong flinched and shrank away from him, who had appeared right beside her, while Seonu Ran stepped in front of him and pointed her sword at him.
“Oho? What kind of nonsense is this?”
Seeing Je-hwa scrunch up his pretty face and speak roughly with a threatening expression, Seonu Ran demanded sharply.
“Who are you? Are you with the Blood Cult too?”
To her question, Je-hwa answered fantastically(?).
“What kind of crazy-ass talk is that?”
When he scratched his ear, sparks flew in Seonu Ran’s eyes.
“Kuh! You little—!”
“R-Ran-ah! Now isn’t the time to be fighting this person! Murim Alliance warriors are getting seriously hurt or dying everywhere! A-and this person saved me, right? He’s probably not with the Blood Cult.”
At Dokgo Ryeong’s words, Seonu Ran finally made an ‘ah’ expression, but she didn’t lower her wariness toward Je-hwa.
“What’s the Blood Cult? Is it something you eat? Is it tasty?”
When Je-hwa tilted his head and asked, Dokgo Ryeong and Seonu Ran made baffled expressions.
“You appear to be a murim person….”
“Huh? A murim person? I’m not a murim person.”
“Huh?”
At Je-hwa’s words, Dokgo Ryeong made a blank expression.
“That’s not the point! Why are you causing such a ruckus and fuss?”
At the irritated Je-hwa’s words, Dokgo Ryeong quickly apologized.
“I-I’m sorry. But they suddenly ambushed us….”
“What? Those bastards ambushed you while you were walking along fine and made all this noise?”
“Yes….”
Seeing Dokgo Ryeong speaking with a cautious expression, Je-hwa scowled fiercely.