Chapter 755: Dragon Keeper (9)

The morning after the banquet.

The sun doesn’t rise in the Dragon Palace, but with Hwangryong’s consideration, the shining clouds indicate the morning in time for sunrise.

Seeing the clouds rising, the Dragon Palace shamans woke up and gathered individually.

When the oldest of the shamans appeared, the shaman who had been on night watch duty quickly bowed down.

The oldest shaman narrowed her eyebrows at the restless shaman.

“You didn’t see Hwangryong.”

“I’m sorry. His whereabouts became unknown after he headed to the Black Dragon Palace.”

“Hwangryong was missing all night? I don’t think Yoohwang-nim will like this.”

“I’m so sorry!”

The oldest shaman seemed to speak mildly, but the shaman on night duty shook in fear.

She shuddered at the sight of the shaman who stood a few steps away from the crowd as if she were afraid of being ostracized.

The youngest shaman, currently the subject of bullying, felt the strange atmosphere among the shamans and snorted inwardly.

— Why wouldn’t Shaman Yoohwang like that Hwangryong wasn’t seen?

The ostracized shaman was the youngest who had just entered the Dragon Palace.

The youngest was selected as a candidate a few years ago when Shaman Hong suddenly announced that she would quit.

She was eliminated from the simple succession ceremony that occurred back then, but she chose to remain in the Dragon Palace.

It wasn’t because of the desire to devote her life to the Dragon King.

It’s just because she had nowhere to go.

She didn’t hate the Dragon King or Hwangryong either.

‘Are they trying to establish rankings on useless things like that? Phew, I’m only holding it in because my food, clothes, and shelter are guaranteed here. Though they always fight while making the food bad.’

The youngest shaman did not mix well with the dark-hearted shamans.

At first, they took good care of her when she was a newbie, but at some point, their attitudes changed.

It started with a small question.

— Why did you choose to be a shaman in the Dragon Palace?

— Isn’t there a lot more fun to have on land?

The youngest shaman heard the question and thought that the finely grown shamans didn’t know the world.

There is no fun on earth.

Some children don’t know if they will have food to eat, clothes to wear, or a roof to shelter them from the outside.

There was poverty, and even children who did not live poor often had parents who abused them.

The shaman was part of the latter, and after becoming an official player, she only heard threats from her parents, saying that they’d kick her out if she didn’t earn money by attacking otherworlds.

Fearful of targeting otherworlds because she wasn’t born with such a strong talent, she spent her youth in fear that she might one day be kicked out.

For her, the Dragon Palace was like heaven where she didn’t have to fear otherworlds, or worry about food, clothing, shelter, and threats from her parents.

— I like the Dragon Palace. I want to stay here.

— So you want to stay in the Dragon Palace!

The shamans exclaimed with joy at the youngest’s words.

They suddenly surrounded her and spoke with enthusiasm.

— Some of us have lived for over a hundred years. You know that people of royal lineage can live for thousands, right?

— Just like them, we can live forever in our youth.

— It’ll be fun to stay in the Dragon Palace forever.

The youngest shaman turned pale at their words.

A hundred years is a long time, but thousands?!

The youngest shaman didn’t want to live that long.

— I want to be healthy, but I don’t want to live that long. I want to die with my friends when they die.

The youngest shaman was in contact with a few friends through letters she sent with Hwangryong’s help.

The distance has grown, but she didn’t intend to live for thousands of years even after all her friends and acquaintances died.

This answer was against the mood of the shamans, and after that, she was ostracized.

Being ignored did not cause any problems with food, clothes, and shelter, so the youngest shaman didn’t think much about it.

The food that they made strangely lowered her appetite anyway, so she was rather relieved that she could make her own food without being wary.

Although she was often assigned troublesome tasks.

‘Was her name Yoon Yeorang? They’ll assign that candidate to me again.’

There was one particularly strong candidate.

The oldest shaman ordered the youngest shaman to guide her and report on what she did.

It was nothing but monitoring and protecting her from accidents.

If something happens to the candidate, it’s obvious that the youngest shaman will be held responsible.

Even the fair and just Hwangryong would think so.

‘I’m not sure because I’m too occupied chasing that candidate, but I think those guys are up to something.’

The youngest shaman carefully examined the situation behind the yellow cotton yarn.

When the Dragon King’s shamans were at the Yellow Dragon Palace, they would avoid the eyes and ears of the youngest Dragon Palace shaman.

She didn’t really want to join, but it was a shame that she couldn’t talk to Shaman Hong.

It was a short time, but they became acquainted during the succession ceremony.

‘She was a good kid. I hope she doesn’t get corrupted.’

After thoughts of worry about Shaman Hong, the young shaman stopped thinking.

She had her own things to worry about.

She had no luxury of worrying about other people when she was being ostracized and had to be dragged around by Yoon Yeorang.

“Maknae-yah, are you listening? Please guide the candidate properly so she doesn’t mess up the Dragon Palace. Guide her well so she doesn’t do anything out of the blue.”

“Yeees…”

“We have other guests too, so we should be careful not to cause any inconvenience. Let’s say you are in learning age, yes, but you are still a shaman of the Dragon Palace.”

“Yes…”

“Your voice has no dignity. Did you not learn anything?”

The youngest shaman lets the nagging enter one ear and exits the other.

Even if every word was mixed with words that disparaged her, she didn’t care much.

‘If they make any lingering harassment, I’ll collect evidence and tell Hwangryong-nim. If they cross the line, they’ll have it in front of Hwangryong-nim and the guests.’

Although there was a lot of power-tripping in the narrow society of the shamans, the jungle that is the world above water wasn’t an easy place either, and that young shaman has experienced it all.

“You are quite loud early in the morning.”

“Hwangryong-nim!”

Hwangryong walked leisurely with clouds of yellow.

He wore the same clothes as he did during the banquet, indicating that he didn’t stop by his room.

The oldest shaman stood at the front and bowed her head.

“We were worried. You were away all night.”

“Jegun and I had a lot to talk about. Jegun still seems to have a lot to say, so I’ll be away with him often while he’s here.”

Hwangryong was speaking softly, but he somehow looked tired.

His fatigue seemed to proliferate with every word he exchanged with the shamans.

“…This is nothing. I just remembered what Jegun said yesterday.”

“Please don’t overexert yourself.”

Hwangryeong acted a little strange, but everyone seemed to have moved on because of the usually strange Yong Jegun.

This was especially true for the older shamans who knew Yong Jegun for a long time.

Only the youngest shamans took notice of Hwangryong’s strange attitude.

***

A few days after the banquet, at the White Dragon Palace.

Yoon Yeorang is planning to explore the White Dragon Palace today, so I decided to head there.

Jeokho, who found out the destination before leaving the Blue Dragon Palace, was disappointed.

“The White Dragon Palace in the west? I guess I can’t go with them then. The shamans are going to be away today, but the White Dragon Palace is where the palace shamans stay so you have to be careful.”

“Are you going to the White Dragon Palace? Okay, then Shinrok and I will go to the Yellow Dragon Palace.”

“Why do you get to decide where I’m going?”

“You’re not coming?”

They left the Blue Dragon Palace after being seen off by Jeokho.

Yong Jegun and Kim Shinrok bickered for a while, but they eventually headed to the Yellow Dragon Palace while I went to the White Dragon Palace.

I judged that it would be alright to act separately now that we had ourselves familiarized with the palace’s structure.

When I arrived at the gate, Yoon Yeorang, who started her expedition, arrived.”

“Euishin sunbae! Hello!”

Yoon Yeorang is already set on calling me sunbae instead of oppa.

The bright girl is used to greeting other people first.

“Are you stopping by the palace?”

“I wanted to come here and talk to you. It’s been a while since I saw you, but we haven’t even talked properly.”

“Wow, really? Then let’s explore the palace together! I have a lot of questions about Eungwang High.”

Behind the constantly chattering Yoon Yeorang was a tired-looking Unryong and a Dragon Palace shaman.

Unryong’s clouds were drooping after suffering for several days, and the youngest shaman was a little staggered.

‘That youngest shaman took the exam with Shaman Hong. It hasn’t been long since she stayed here.’

It was difficult to distinguish because they were all wearing cotton yarn, but I learned the rough profiles and how to distinguish them.

That youngest shaman doesn’t mix well with the others, and she’s being dragged by Yoon Yeorang these days.

When we entered the palace…

“I see we have guests.”

I came to my senses and saw someone who spoke to us at the door.

Yoohwang.

“I heard there is a very active child among the candidates to succeed me. I wanted to meet you.”

Aren’t the shamans supposed to help prepare for the test at the Yellow Dragon Palace today?

Instead of helping prepare for the test, Yoohwang remained here.

While I was trying to figure out why Yoohwang suddenly changed plans…

“You and I must be thinking the same thing.”

Clouds rose from the floor along with a sweet voice.

“I wanted to talk to this candidate too.”

In the face of an expected encounter, Yoohwang and Hwangryong smiled softly at each other.

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