The Sacred Runes (That Are Definitely Not Hangul)

The origin of art lies in recording greatness. Think about it. Why did humans draw bison on cave walls and carve deer into stone? It was out of reverence. It was the pitiful instinct of insignificant bugs who wanted to somehow capture beings far larger, stronger, and more magnificent than themselves. That is the true origin of art.

"Grrrr…"

In the distant future, how would later generations of insignificant creatures remember this magnificent era? Obviously like this: In the beginning, the fearsome and mighty Chaos Dragon, Lord Yumitas, descended upon the world and ruled it with terror.

"Nice. This is a very good flow."

It had been several days since I settled down with the Shaman Tribe. The creatures had completely erased that hideous Outer God symbol that used to sit in the middle of the plaza. Since they were originally a tribe specialized in rituals and ceremonies, their skill at switching faiths was truly top-notch. The Outer God totems and ominous patterns that had been shoved into a corner of the plaza were now nowhere to be seen.

"O Divine Dragon, this is a sacred artifact crafted with the tribe's entire heart and soul. Please… look upon it with generosity."

"Enough. Just lead the way."

"Yes! I shall obey your command!"

The green-haired shaman bowed her head respectfully.

An artistic work depicting the form of this grand self, the mighty dragon.

"Kakat. Let me take a look."

To be honest, I was excited. Think about it. The terrifying and cruel majesty of a dragon, preserved through art. Even a thousand years from now, lesser beings would tremble just by looking at the painting. An eternal, undying dignity.

"Heheung~ Heung~ Heung~"

Still in the form of a young girl, I hummed a little tune and followed the shaman. My steps naturally became lighter. What would it look like? Wings spread wide? Or a dynamic pose breathing out a blast? I really hoped they at least got the horns right.

"This is it."

The shaman pointed at one section of the plaza wall. I lifted my head, my face brimming with anticipation.

And then.

"What the hell is this supposed to be if it's a dragon?!"

The mural depicted some unidentifiable creature. A round, plump, chubby body. Four stubby little legs. A mouth hanging open like an idiot. Dull, vacant eyes. And why in the world had they painted it so faithfully in pink?

"This… this is just a lizard!"

A lizard that had overeaten and become obese, at that.

"Where are the wings? Where did my wings go?! And what is this fat belly?! The horns! Why are the horns not two proper ones but some weird lumps sticking out?!"

"L-lizard, you say?!"

The green-haired girl jumped in shock.

"This is the Divine Dragon of Abundance and Mercy! The round belly symbolizes the earth's bounty that embraces all things, while the short legs represent humble compassion that looks down even to the lowest places…"

"Compassion my ass! It's just an iguana that ate too much and got sick!"

"Ooooh… an iguana that ate too much."

She clasped her hands together as if she'd gained some profound enlightenment.

"It means the noble agony of willingly swallowing all the evils of the world and enduring even that pain!"

"Gyaaaaak!"

I looked at the statue placed beside it. The statue was just as ridiculous. It looked like a child had roughly kneaded some clay.

"What the hell is that?"

"It is impossible for mere human hands to fully capture the true form of the Divine Dragon. Therefore, we deliberately blurred and simplified the shape to imply its infinite greatness."

This girl was clearly just making things up on the spot. This wouldn't do. At this rate, a thousand years from now I'd be remembered as the 'Fat Lizard God of Abundance and Mercy.' That would be even more humiliating than being called a pushover dragon.

"Make it again! More terrifying! Bigger! More majestic! So horrifying that people's hearts stop the moment they see it!"

"The Divine Dragon is angry!"

"It is because our faith was lacking!"

"He desires greater praise! Break the rocks at once!"

The tribespeople panicked and rushed toward the stone wall with pickaxes and chisels.

Bang! Bang! Clang!

I stood with my hands on my hips, watching their work with the sharp eyes of a dragon.

More time passed. To get straight to the result… it got even worse.

"It is complete! This time we have truly captured the full majesty of the Divine Dragon!"

"……."

"You told us to make it scarier, so we added lots of teeth."

It was a fat lizard covered in teeth.

"You told us to make it bigger, so we enlarged the body."

It was a fat lizard that had simply doubled in size.

"You told us to make it more majestic, so we made the eyes fierce and large."

It was a fat lizard with eyes the size of water droplets.

"It's just a lizard with a thyroid problem…"

"Pardon? Thyroid…?"

"Never mind. Let's just stop talking."

I was at a loss for words.

"As expected, there are limits to what lesser beings can create with their hands?"

As I turned my gaze away in resignation, a small statue in the corner of the plaza caught my eye.

"…Huh?"

I walked over as if drawn by some force. It was a statue of a girl. Every single flowing strand of hair was delicately carved, and the pair of modestly protruding horns drew a perfect curve. The slightly puffed cheeks as if pouting, the arrogantly upturned corners of the mouth, and even the adorably short limbs.

In other words, it was me in girl form. The level of detail was so exquisite, cute, and lovable that it could easily pass for a limited-edition figure.

"Why is only this one so well made?"

These were the same people who could only make lizards a moment ago! What was the difference?

"Ah, that is…"

The green-haired shaman hesitated before answering.

"W-well, it is impossible for us to fully capture the greatness of your true form with our narrow vision, but this small and lovable… ahem! This merciful appearance is engraved so deeply in our hearts!"

So they could make it cute but not scary?

"In other words, you could do it but deliberately made it a lizard!"

"We are truly sorry!"

"……."

This tribe was seriously messed up in some fundamental way.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The root of the problem suddenly came to me. Think about it. Why did these creatures keep drawing me as a lizard and arbitrarily labeling me the 'God of Abundance' or 'Avatar of Mercy'? It was because they had no standard. There was no means to clearly define who this grand self was, how terrifying I was, or how I reigned over them.

The solution was simple. A tool for recording. We needed writing.

"You foolish things. It was arrogant in itself to try capturing the greatness of this grand self with mere pictures."

I lifted my chin.

"Therefore, this grand self shall specially bestow upon you primitive worms the most scientific and perfect writing system."

Of course, I didn't have the ability to invent characters myself. But I had memories from my previous life. The greatest and most scientific writing system in human history, created by the Great King Sejong.

Hangul.

"Listen well. These characters were created by imitating the principles of heaven, earth, and humanity—the harmony of the three realms."

I used my claw to draw a single dot (ㆍ), a horizontal line (ㅡ), and a vertical line (ㅣ) on the stone tablet.

"A round heaven. A flat earth. And a person standing tall between them. These three combine to create all sounds."

I carved the vowels one by one: ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ.

"Furthermore, the consonants were modeled after the shape of the mouth, tongue, and throat when producing sounds. This is truly the ultimate phonetic writing system—"

ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ.

I excitedly recited them one after another. Who would've thought that dozing off during Korean class in my past life would come in so handy?

"How about that? No writing system in the world could be as systematic and scientific as this. It's easy to learn, easy to write, and there is no sound it cannot record!"

"Ooooooh…!"

That's when the problem occurred.

The humans, starting with the green-haired shaman, began trembling like aspen trees as they stared at the stone tablet.

"T-this is…!"

"Look! The round shape is heaven! The straight line is earth! The line standing between them is the lord of all creation!"

"The laws of the universe are embedded in every single character!!"

"These are Sacred Rune Characters! The Divine Dragon has sealed the truths of the world and bestowed them upon us!"

"…What?"

Sacred Rune Characters?

"No, wait a second. This isn't runes, it's Hangul…"

"O Great One! How could you possibly grant such sacred characters to insignificant creatures like us?!"

"Listen to me!"

"The divine language containing the principles of heaven and earth! Our tribe shall devote our entire lives to mastering these Sacred Rune Characters!"

My desperate screams were completely drowned out by their frenzied cheers. The insignificant bugs were already lined up in front of the tablet, prostrating themselves and copying each character as if they were sacred relics.

I stared off into the distant mountains for a moment.

Well, whatever.

"Fine. Whether they're runes or whatever, the important thing is that they've learned to write."

I pulled myself together. This was actually a good thing. Now that these creatures knew how to write, I could finally record things clearly.

Exactly how terrifying this grand self was.

And how utterly pathetic their lives as slaves were.

"Good. Now that you know how to write, this grand self shall properly record how you are ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to serve me."

I dragged over a massive stone tablet. Just thinking about it made the corners of my mouth rise. Up until now I'd only spoken, so they probably let half of it go in one ear and out the other. But if I carved it clearly in writing? If I officially declared that they were slaves, they would finally realize their situation. They would tremble in regret, wondering how they had ended up as slaves to such a terrifying dragon.

Scrape— Scrape—

I carved away at the tablet with glee.

"Kakat. This should be easy enough for lesser beings to understand, right?"

I flicked my claws with satisfaction. The slave contract was complete. Every single clause was cruel and one-sided. I set the tablet down in front of the tribe with a heavy thud.

"Take it. This is your slave contract."

Thump.

"How about it? Despairing? Resentful? But there's nothing you can do. Curse your pathetic fate for being born as mere insignificant bugs!"

I crossed my arms and waited for their reaction.

Come on, despair. Weep. Tear at your hair and lament your miserable lives!

The green-haired shaman lifted the tablet with trembling hands. Her lips moved as she read each character one by one.

And then.

"…Ahhh."

Tears began flowing from her eyes again.

Huh?

"The Divine Dragon… has personally bestowed the order of the world upon us!"

Huhhh? Something was going very wrong.

"Brothers and sisters! Behold! The great Divine Dragon has carved in stone the path that humans must follow! This is none other than Dragon's Law, the very foundation of the world!"

"It is the light of order!"

"Follow Dragon's Law!"

"Uphold these sacred commandments!"

The tribespeople all prostrated themselves before the tablet at once. Some carefully wiped it clean, some burned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠incense before it, and others built a pedestal to elevate and enshrine the tablet.

"Why are you happy about this?!"

That's a slave contract, you idiots! It's a document that strips away your freedom and mortgages your entire lives!!

A few days later, as I was looking around the tribe, I witnessed a bizarre sight. All across the plaza, stone tablets similar to the one I had made were lined up in rows.

"…What are all those?"

When I asked, the green-haired shaman answered proudly.

"We have interpreted and re-carved the laws granted by the Divine Dragon to fit the daily life of our tribe."

I approached and examined one of the tablets.

They had taken 'All humans are slaves of This Grand Self' and turned it into a law against murder.

The third clause had become a law against theft.

The nap clause had turned into a day of rest.

The last one was almost exactly the same.

I stared blankly at the rows of stone tablets throughout the village. The one-sided, tyrannical slave contract that I had carved with such flair had somehow become a legal code prohibiting murder, preventing theft, regulating lies, and guaranteeing rest.

"The Divine Dragon's laws are so profound that we have held daily debates to understand their deep meaning."

The green-haired shaman's eyes sparkled brightly.

"Today we debated the clause 'Offer only the very best as tribute.' One side ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠claimed sincerity itself is the value of the offering, while the other argued that quantity itself is sincerity. The tribe split in two over the true intent of this deep law…"

It's literally just 'bring me the tastiest meat.'

"Please grant us your teaching. What is the true meaning of tribute?"

"…Just interpret it however you want."

"Ooooh! The command to realize it on our own…! As expected, the Divine Dragon's teachings are truly endless!"

I wrote a slave contract, and it became a legal code.