The Primal Itch
The beast bared its sharp teeth and slowly closed the distance. It was a battle of wills, a blatant threat. It was telling him to leave the remaining meat and back off quietly.
Not a chance.
It wasn't just his body that had grown over the past two months. Jekyeong had fully adapted to the life of a beast, the life of the wild. He had grown accustomed to the primal instincts of a predator—instincts that had been entirely lost to him during his civilized past life. His instincts were telling him now: there was no need to retreat, no reason to fear. This was prey delivering itself right to his doorstep. Shouldn't he be rejoicing instead?
"Grrr!"
When Jekyeong refused to back down, the beast lunged without hesitation. It seemed eager to finish him off before another competitor showed up. Since staring each other down wouldn't change anything anyway, it was a reasonably smart decision.
Its movements were remarkably swift for its size. However, Jekyeong could see it clearly and react in time. The moment the beast closed the distance, he whipped his entire body around, lashing out with his tail.
"Yip!"
The beast tried to twist away, but it couldn't dodge completely. Jekyeong's tail struck one of its legs, sending the creature tumbling away with a sharp yelp.
Jekyeong didn't miss the opening. He lunged forward like lightning, his gaping maw clamping down hard on the beast's lower body.
"Skreee!"
The beast thrashed violently. It clawed at him and twisted its body, trying to bite back. Ignoring the sharp stings of pain, Jekyeong shook his head violently from side to side. It was a clumsy imitation of the crocodiles he had seen in his past life. What was it called? A death roll? Though it was only a rudimentary imitation lacking the true devastating power of the real thing, his bite force was certainly comparable to a crocodile's. After he shook his head three or four times, the beast's resistance withered away. Jekyeong slammed the half-dead creature onto the ground and tore into its throat.
"Amazing snake! Strong Jekyeong! Jekyeong!" Cheongo fluttered down, making a massive fuss.
"Pick one," Jekyeong muttered, letting out a dry chuckle as his adrenaline began to fade.
A short while later, having finished another hasty meal, Jekyeong frowned at the stinging sensation on and around his face. He hadn't noticed it in the heat of the moment, but now that the excitement had worn off, it was highly irritating.
I have to get used to this. It wasn't his first injury, and it wasn't the first or second time he had made this resolve, yet he still couldn't get used to it. Just when would he finally adapt? Would he even survive long enough to reach that point? With a full stomach, idle thoughts began to spiral, made worse by the lingering pain. Even so, he didn't sink into melancholy like he used to. This, too, was proof that he had grown and become stronger.
Wait, this is... a bit strange.
As Jekyeong closed his eyes and endured the pain, it didn't take long for him to sense that something was off. At first, he thought the stinging was just from his wounds, but as he lay still, the sensation began to spread wider. Then, at some point, the sting turned into an itch. It was definitely not his imagination.
What is this?
Sensing that something was seriously wrong, Jekyeong snapped his eyes open and reared his body up. At his sudden movement, the branch he had chosen as his roost for the night shook with an ominous, splintering crack! But Jekyeong didn't even hear it. The itch was spreading as fast as a wildfire, leaving him unable to think straight. Only now did he truly understand the saying that itching was a form of pain. The stinging that had made him grimace earlier was absolutely nothing compared to this agonizing itch.
"Grrrgh!"
As he thrashed violently, the branch finally gave way under his frantic movements and snapped with a loud crack! Jekyeong, who had been coiled tightly around it, fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Normally, he would have groaned from the impact, but not today. In fact, he welcomed the pain. For the briefest moment, the physical shock of the fall offered him a blessed escape from the horrific itching.
"Aaargh!"
With bloodshot eyes, Jekyeong charged toward a nearby tree. He slammed his head against the rough bark and began to rub his body against it. Scraping himself so hard that his flesh grew hot made the sensation somewhat bearable. Jekyeong did not realize that while he was frantically, desperately trying to endure the itch, his skin had begun to peel away bit by bit.
How much time had passed?
By the time Jekyeong noticed that the tree he was rubbing against had been completely stripped of its bark and looked visibly thinner than before, he finally saw the shards of scales, both large and small, scattered all over the ground.
What is this?
As Jekyeong stared in confusion, Cheongo's frantic chattering reached his ears.
"Snake! Snake! Are you okay? I thought you went crazy! Crazy!"
"...I practically did."
It had been utterly unbearable—dozens of times worse than being bitten by the most vicious mosquitoes, if not more. This was clearly abnormal, but looking at the scales littered across the ground, he had a rough idea of what had just happened.
Did I shed my skin?
What was the term for this? Molting? Shedding? But was it supposed to be like this? So sudden and violent? Jekyeong was a complete layman with absolutely no knowledge of the subject, whether in his past life or this one, but he was certain that such a chaotic process couldn't be normal.
"Snake... no, Jekyeong! Jekyeong! Did you get bigger?"
"Huh?"
Bigger? Wondering if that was true, Jekyeong reared his body up. As he carefully inspected himself... he really did seem to have grown a bit. No, his size wasn't the only thing that had changed.
My body is overflowing with power.
Despite the frantic fit he had just thrown, energy was surging through him. It wasn't just a feeling of being refreshed; his physical strength itself felt fundamentally enhanced.
What is going on?
Intoxicated by this newfound strength and confidence, he slithered over and wrapped himself around a tree. He squeezed with all his might, and the massive trunk—which had a circumference of at least eight to nine meters—began to groan and splinter. Could it be...?
"Hngh!"
After straining himself to the limit, he realized the truth.
Ah, not quite.
Though he was quickly brought back to reality, there was no denying that he had grown much stronger. His physical size had definitely increased as well.
Is this a natural part of the growth process?
When he recalled his parents, who looked capable of crushing skyscrapers rather than mere trees, he doubted that simply eating and sleeping would ever be enough to reach that scale. Perhaps it required these explosive, abnormal growth spurts to eventually reach such colossal, monstrous proportions.
Well, whatever. It's a good thing.
He had gotten bigger and stronger, so there was no reason to complain. While growing too large could eventually present its own set of problems, he was still a long way from that point. For now, he welcomed this rapid development.
"Amazing Jekyeong! Jekyeong!"
Cheongo marveled, staring at the deeply indented tree trunk. Then, with sparkling eyes, the bird began to chatter excitedly, asking how he had done it and declaring that it wanted to do it too. Having nothing useful to say, Jekyeong simply told the bird that it couldn't because it was a bird. At that, the simple-minded creature instantly deflated, its previous excitement vanishing without a trace.
"Why so disappointed? You have wings and can fly through the sky. That's something I can never do."
Cheongo had always envied Jekyeong's large build and immense strength, often growing sullen when comparing itself to him. Whenever that happened, Jekyeong would boost its spirits like this, and the bird would quickly cheer up. But this time, it didn't work.
"What's the point of flying? I always have to run away. If only I were big and strong like you, then that wicked frog wouldn't have..."
"Wicked frog?"
Mid-complaint, Cheongo suddenly shut its beak. It hesitated for a moment before letting out a deep, heavy sigh.
"It's a wicked, horrible creature! I found it first, but it stole it from me! It even tried to eat me!"
Cheongo huffed and puffed as it spoke, unable to contain its rage. It had clearly suffered a great injustice, likely because of whatever had been stolen from it.
"What did it steal?"
"A lotus! A really good lotus! It has the Seonin's aura! I found it first, but the frog stole it! Stole it!"
At the mention of the "Seonin's aura," Jekyeong's gaze sharpened.
"Tell me more."
The pile of scales on the ground and his sudden growth spurt were instantly forgotten. Without Jekyeong even realizing it, an emotion far deeper than mere curiosity flickered within his slit-pupil yellow eyes.
Driven by the trust they had built over time and its burning hatred for the "wicked frog," Cheongo began to pour out secrets it had never shared before.
Everything had started with that "Seonin." No one knew who he was or where he had come from. The beasts who had gained Spiritual Intelligence because of him all revered him, calling him the "Seonin." Thus, when he passed away, all the beasts had wept bitterly.
But grief is never eternal—especially when immense, tangible benefits present themselves right before one's eyes.
"The moment the Seonin drew his last breath, the world changed." That was how Cheongo described it.
Gales howled, and all kinds of strange, powerful auras erupted and spread across the land. The sky darkened, grass and trees shot up rapidly, and streams of water, both large and small, formed and vanished in an instant. Swept up in the midst of this cataclysmic transformation, the beasts eventually came to their senses only to realize that the entire region had turned into a mountain range.
"Are you saying... this area wasn't originally a mountain?"
Jekyeong found it hard to believe. He thought he had opened his mind to this world's absurdities as much as possible, but this story completely shattered his logic and common sense once again. A single man dies, and mountains appear out of nowhere?
"Yeah. Well... no. There were mountains here and there before. But they were small. After the Seonin died, the mountains grew bigger and merged together! Merged!"
It meant that low, rolling hills had expanded into the vast mountain range that existed today. While slightly more plausible than mountains appearing out of thin air, it was still incredibly difficult to comprehend.
Was he truly an immortal?
Until now, Jekyeong had only believed about half of what Cheongo said. He doubted the bird was making things up entirely, but he assumed there was a fair share of exaggeration involved. The title of "Seonin" was the same. He had figured the man was certainly formidable, but probably just some remarkably powerful superhuman...
While Jekyeong was lost in confusion, Cheongo continued its tale.
Not long after the Seonin died, a wicked wolf swallowed the Seonin's corpse in a single gulp. Instantly, the wolf's entire body exploded, scattering blood and flesh in every direction.