RAP Chapter 3

A human who overcame a dragon

 

“Hey, you know. I can just protect you.”

 

At Do-cheol’s triumphant words, Yeouiju replied curtly in an untrusting tone.

 

“So far, you seem like the most dangerous one to me.”

 

At this point, she should have given in, but Yeouiju was not that easy.

 

Should he reveal a weakness or not?

 

He would rather die than let it be known, but to lure this suspicious human, he had to give her at least one card.

 

“You’ve got it completely wrong. You need me.”

 

“No? Not at all. You even said earlier that you would eat me.”

 

“I can’t…….”

 

Yeouiju, unable to understand Do-cheol’s faint mumbling, pressed him further with her momentum.

 

“What if you actually eat me one day? What if you just say ‘screw it’ and keep chanting the incantation until my heart bursts? How can I be sure you’re safe?”

 

Cornered, Do-cheol shouted back at Yeouiju’s attack, full of distrust.

 

“I can’t! I can’t do it!”

 

Yeouiju couldn’t understand why Do-cheol was suddenly yelling like a whining child. His personality was so unbearable. Now, instead of fear, Yeouiju only saw him as pathetic. Avoiding her gaze, Do-cheol sighed and confessed his secret.

 

“Ha… I can’t. I don’t think I can do anything that would harm you.”

 

“Either you can’t do it, or you don’t think you can. Which is it?”

 

“Honestly, earlier, I really did try to just eat you.”

 

At Do-cheol’s words, Yeouiju jumped up in alarm.

 

“See! I knew it!”

 

Unlike the agitated Yeouiju, Do-cheol looked resigned. Slumping his shoulders, he continued speaking.

 

“But I couldn’t. My power doesn’t work on you. I couldn’t even touch you, so how could I eat you?”

 

Seeing how utterly discouraged he was, it didn’t seem like a lie. Still, her suspicions weren’t entirely gone.

 

“You couldn’t touch me?”

 

“Yeah. When you snatched the phone, I tried to grab your wrist and put it straight into my mouth, but my hand bounced off. It was like some kind of protective barrier was wrapped around you.”

 

“Try grabbing me.”

 

With a face still full of caution, Yeouiju cautiously extended her hand.

 

Do-cheol strained himself, trying his hardest to grab Yeouiju’s hand, but just like how two magnets with the same poles repel each other, their hands couldn’t touch.

 

Even when Yeouiju tried to grab him, the result was the same. The moment her hand was about to touch the back of his, Do-cheol was flung backward.

 

“O-okay. I admit this one.”

 

Seeing it with her own eyes, Yeouiju raised both hands in acknowledgment. But there was still one more risk.

 

“What if you just keep chanting that incantation? If you don’t care whether my heart bursts or not, I’ll still die.”

 

Do-cheol ruffled the back of his head in frustration and shouted.

 

“I can’t do that either!”

 

“Why not?”

 

“The Yeouiju feels all of your pain. The more I chanted, the more unstable the Yeouiju’s waves became, like it was about to shatter. That’s why I stopped.”

 

This time, Yeouiju crossed her arms and gave Do-cheol a sharp look.

 

“So you admit it. You were just trying to take the Yeouiju, not caring if my heart burst or not.”

 

Avoiding her gaze, Do-cheol rattled off excuses.

 

“It wasn’t exactly like that. I just tried it once. It’s not like I was actually trying to kill you. Who knows? If I take the Yeouiju and ascend, I might be able to bring you back to life? Anyway, the important thing is that I can’t harm you.”

 

Yeouiju closed her eyes, crossed her arms, and lazily tapped her foot. After some thought, she suddenly opened her eyes wide and stared straight at Do-cheol.

 

“What? What now?”

 

Honestly, Do-cheol felt a little intimidated.

 

He had lived a long time and seen all sorts of strange things. But to think he’d be intimidated by a human who used to be nothing more than a snack to him?

 

It was humiliating and irritating, but he had to admit it. That look in her eyes—it had enough presence to make even a dragon god cower.

 

“Then that’s settled. There’s no need to take the Yeouiju.”

 

At Yeouiju’s calm words, Do-cheol jumped up.

 

“What? Why?! Why does it end like that?”

 

“You said you can’t harm me anyway. It looks like the Yeouiju is protecting me. So I can just keep living like this without any problem.”

 

This was bad. She was sharper than he expected.

 

At a loss for words, Do-cheol could only stare blankly at Yeouiju.

 

“Well, I’ll be going now. Go find another Yeouiju or something. If cartoons are right, there should be seven of them.”

 

It was an undeniable defeat for Do-cheol.  

 

Yeouiju’s departing figure, leaving without a single glance back, somehow looked refreshing.  

 

Unlike Yeouiju, who walked away cleanly, Do-cheol turned back with a lingering sense of frustration and vanished in an instant. Lightning struck where he had stood, and a loud thunderclap echoed.  

 

“Agh! Damn those Three Gods.”  

 

Returning to his home, Do-cheol punched the air and shouted.  

 

Why did they have to put the Yeouiju inside a human woman, causing all this trouble? He wanted to find those so-called gods and beat them to a pulp.  

 

“Why isn’t my power working? Why the hell not?!”  

 

It was enough to drive him mad. He had thought that once he found it, everything would be simple, but the situation was proving to be far more difficult than he had imagined, filling him with fury.  

 

As his anger flared, smoke began to seep from Do-cheol’s mouth. If he lost his temper any further, he would undoubtedly set his entire house on fire.  

 

“Enough already.”  

 

Just as flames were about to erupt from his mouth, someone appeared and pressed him down by the shoulder, forcing him to sit.  

 

Without even looking, Do-cheol knocked the hand off his shoulder and spoke, as if he already knew who it was.  

 

“What? How did you get here?”  

 

“I sensed a sudden surge of intense heat, so I came to check. What’s going on?”  

 

“Did you skip work today? The great king’s water barrel for the people?”  

 

“Even on my day off, I came all the way here for the people, didn’t I?”  

 

The man responded to Do-cheol’s sarcasm with ease and sat across from him.  

 

“It’s been a while,my sweet Fifth Brother.”  

 

“You’re just too busy with your grand affairs.”  

 

It was Do-cheol’s second eldest brother, Lee-moon.  

 

At one time, he had been placed in a palace hall to protect the people from fire and disaster. But when the palace was abandoned and no one lived there anymore, he came down to earth to find a new occupation.  

 

The job he chose was as a firefighter—perfectly suited for him.  

 

Because of the never-ending fires, Lee-moon had been unable to rest and had not seen Do-cheol in nearly three years.  

 

On his rare day off, he had been enjoying a moment of leisure when he noticed the spark of disaster and abandoned his break to visit Do-cheol’s home.  

 

Pressing his temple with one hand, Lee-moon scolded Do-cheol.  

 

“What the hell is wrong with you? You know how hard it is to put out your fire.”  

 

Barely regaining his composure, Do-cheol muttered,  

 

“I found the Yeouiju.”  

 

The divine decree had been impartially given to all nine brothers, so naturally, Lee-moon also knew about the Yeouiju. However, he had never been interested in it or the notion of ascension, so he had never bothered to search for it.  

 

Unaware that the Yeouiju was inside a human’s heart, Lee-moon replied nonchalantly,  

 

“And? That’s good news. Just grab it and ascend.”  

 

Do-cheol, barely holding back his anger, snapped again at his brother’s indifferent tone.  

 

“I can’t! I can’t take it out!”  

 

“What do you mean?”  

 

Do-cheol began explaining everything to Lee-moon—from his encounter with Yeouiju to the reason for his frustration.  

 

After listening for a while, Lee-moon clapped his hands together and burst out laughing.  

 

“The Three Gods really thought this through. They’re saying that those unworthy of ascension shouldn’t even think about it.”  

 

“I know, I know I’m unworthy. But then why did they give the decree to all nine of us? Just to get our hopes up?”  

 

“Who knows? Maybe you are worthy?”  

 

“Then what the hell does that worthiness even mean? I can’t even touch it—how am I supposed to extract it?”  

 

Standing up, Lee-moon patted Do-cheol’s shoulder a couple of times in consolation.  

 

“You’ll figure it out.”  

 

“When will I finally escape this wretched land?”  

 

“Why do you hate this land so much?”  

 

“And why do you love it so much? You don’t even care about ascension.”  

 

As if Do-cheol’s question truly baffled him, Lee-moon closed his eyes and let out a small chuckle.  

 

“You just haven’t found it yet. There are plenty of reasons to love this land.”  

 

Watching him, Do-cheol shook his head. He had lived on this land for 1,500 years, but he still couldn’t understand those words.  

 

“Anyway, try to keep your temper in check. I’m going to go rest now.”  

 

“Then go soak in a river or something.”  

 

Do-cheol truly intended to submerge himself in a river for a month to cool his rage.  

 

“But listen, wouldn’t that human be in danger?”  

 

It seemed Lee-moon’s disaster radar had switched on.  

 

“What danger? The Yeouiju will protect her.”  

 

Lee-moon shook his head at Do-cheol’s naive words and countered,  

 

“No. You and I might need the Yeouiju itself, but…”  

 

“You aren’t even interested in ascending.”  

 

“We’re not. But for yokai and vengeful spirits that can’t ascend in the first place, wouldn’t it be fine if the Yeouiju shattered? Even if they eat just a fragment of it, the power they’d gain would be immense.”  

 

Do-cheol, who had been so fixated on ascending that he had overlooked this fact, shot up to his feet.  

 

“If you want to obtain the Yeouiju, it seems like protecting it should come first.”  

 

Before Lee-moon could even finish speaking, Do-cheol had already disappeared in an instant.  

 

“He doesn’t even say goodbye. Seriously, he has not a shred of manners.”  

 

***

 

Arriving in front of Yeouiju’s house, Do-cheol let out a scoff at the sight before him.  

 

“You’re really trying hard, huh.”  

 

Did this neighborhood not have a guardian deity or what?  

 

A swarm of vengeful spirits had gathered, and only the Kitchen God was desperately trying to fend them off.  

 

Even at a glance, the visibly exhausted Kitchen God looked like he was on the verge of vanishing.  

 

Lee-moon had been right. If things were left as they were, his Yeouiju might very well be snatched away by these wretched spirits.  

 

“Tch.”  

 

Clicking his tongue, Do-cheol took a deep breath and let out a loud shout. The passing humans seemed unaware, continuing to walk along peacefully.  

 

But the vengeful spirits were not so lucky. Half of them were obliterated on the spot by Do-cheol’s voice alone. Lifting one eyebrow at the remaining spirits, Do-cheol rolled his wrist and gave a warning.  

 

“If you’re still here by the count of three, you’re going to see something scarier than Yeom-ra.”  

 

[T/N : In Korean mythology and Buddhism, Yeom-ra (염라) is the Korean name for Yama, the god of hell and judge of the dead, who is believed to rule the underworld and determine the fate of souls based on their actions in life.]

 

The chilling threat sent another half of the remaining spirits fleeing in terror. Even after all that, there were still some left. Cracking his neck from side to side, Do-cheol looked at the few bold ones who remained and flexed his fingers, making his knuckles pop.  

 

Sensing the danger, the vengeful spirits began trembling. Unfortunately for them, Do-cheol had no intention of sparing those who ignored his warning twice.  

 

Swish. Swish. Swish.  

 

With just three swift movements, Do-cheol grabbed the remaining spirits in one hand and raised a clenched fist with the other.  

 

“Here you go, something scarier than Yeom-ra.”