The wind over Mount Goseong carried the scent of ash, blood… and curiosity.
Sunmok sat beneath the Mirror Tree, its crystal-like bark reflecting fragments of himself back at him. But those fragments showed more than his face — they whispered truths from a lineage he still didn't understand. His tail flicked once, thoughtfully.
Rika sat on a higher branch, munching on a wild fruit.
"You've been quiet," she said after a while. "You normally talk to yourself like a crazy old monkey."
He chuckled lowly. "I'm listening today."
"To the birds?"
"To everything. The trees… the rocks… the flame."
Rika snorted. "You sound like a monk."
"I'm the Monkey King. Close enough."
Suddenly, the wind changed direction — not randomly, but as if something intelligent turned it. The leaves all pointed east.
Sunmok's ears twitched.
Rika leapt down beside him. "You felt that?"
"Yeah," he said, rising. "Something crossed into my mountain."
On the eastern slope of Mount Goseong, a stranger moved through the mist.
She wore no sect robe. Her clothes were light, travel-worn, and dyed in muted sky-blue. A cloak swirled behind her like flowing mist. Her hair, white as snow, was tied in a high ponytail, and her eyes… her eyes shimmered with slitted golden pupils, though she walked on human legs.
A girl. A dragon in disguise.
A spy, just as Sunmok had seen in a vision.
But this one… this one had her own orders.
"Do not confront. Do not challenge. Observe the monkey. Understand the flame."
Her name was Soryn, and she had never disobeyed the Dragon Council.
Until now.
She stepped through the mist — and found a monkey sitting cross-legged on a boulder, gazing directly at her.
Sunmok tilted his head, smiling.
"Well, you don't smell like the others."
Soryn blinked. "The others?"
"Humans," he said. "You smell like thunder and jade."
Soryn smiled back, cool and measured. "You have a good nose."
"And you're not hiding very well."
She paused… then bowed slightly. "Soryn, traveler from the South Sea."
"Sunmok," he replied. "Mountain King, Professional Tree Climber, Amateur Philosopher, Occasional Nuisance."
Soryn's lips curled into the faintest smile.
She hadn't expected humor. Or kindness.
Not from the creature the dragons whispered about — a Royal Monkey, born of a cursed bloodline.
A monkey who shouldn't exist…
She sat across from him, eyes locked. "What is it you're listening to, Monkey King?"
Sunmok stared into the wind.
"The silence before a storm."
And indeed, it came.
From the mountain's base, a roar echoed — not from beast, but from men. Humans in full spiritual armor, dozens of them, climbing with weapons drawn.
Sect hunters.
And they were after the White Flame.
Rika dropped from a tree, landing beside Sunmok with a growl. "More of them. Same symbol as the jade-sword girl."
Soryn's eyes narrowed. "The Jade Veil Sect."
Sunmok didn't move. "They're too early. I'm not ready."
Rika smirked. "You were ready when you beat that golden snake spirit."
He stood.
His tail coiled around his waist like a sash. His hair moved with the wind as White Flame energy flickered softly behind him. The circle had returned — the large glowing disc at his back with six smaller orbs pulsing like stars on its edge.
"Guess I'll have to teach them a lesson," he muttered.
Rika unsheathed her spirit claws.
Soryn stepped forward. "I'll fight too."
Sunmok glanced at her. "You sure? You were sent to spy, weren't you?"
She didn't deny it.
"I was," she said quietly. "But I see no monster here. Only a king defending his mountain."
Sunmok grinned.
"You're alright, thunder girl."
The battle broke out just before dusk.
Human cultivators surged up the slopes, glowing swords and elemental spells crashing into the stone. Trees caught fire. The mountain trembled.
But they hadn't expected three monsters waiting for them.
Rika moved like a blur, her claws raking through enchanted armor like paper. She howled, snarled, vanished into the trees, and struck from the shadows.
Soryn — no longer hiding — breathed dragon flame. Her cloak burned away, revealing scales down her arms and the faint outline of wings across her back. Her spear spun like lightning, crackling through the air.
But Sunmok…
Sunmok walked calmly through the battlefield, bare feet touching ash and broken stone.
He raised a hand — and a single white flame petal floated out from his palm.
fwoom—
The petal landed on a blade. That blade… vanished. Melted into nothing.
Panic spread.
Sunmok's voice rang clear across the chaos.
"Those who harm my mountain—"
"—will leave behind only ash."
It was his first time saying it. His quote. But the wind carried it far.
Even the dragons at sea heard it.
And they trembled.
After the battle, the mountain quieted.
The attackers had fled — or been reduced to memory.
Soryn leaned against a tree, wounded but smiling faintly.
"You're more than legend," she said.
Sunmok sat nearby, tending to a peach blossom that had been scorched during the fight.
"I'm just a monkey who got lucky," he said softly.
"No. You're a king who remembers what it means to protect."
He looked at her.
And for the first time… he didn't feel alone.