“What the hell!? Why is everything the sa!?”
At first, I thought I'd failed to enter the ntal world.
It was because I had woken up beneath a massive Bodhi tree.
Not just anywhere—inside the sealed temple.
The very place I had entered to access my ntal world.
The mont I opened my eyes, everything around was exactly the sa—except Hwa-eun, Sister Seol, and the kids were missing.
“Ah—no, wait. It is different? Damn, that startled .”
Realizing I was alone, I pushed aside the branches of the Bodhi tree that had been blocking my view. That’s when I finally noticed the difference.
The temple was no longer dilapidated.
The half-collapsed stone wall closest to the tree was now perfectly intact. Turning my head, I noticed the thick vines that once engulfed the area were gone too.
The stone floor showed no signs of erosion, no stray weeds poking through the cracks.
It felt like the stone had only been laid recently or was extrely well maintained.
The temple buildings still held the grandeur they must have had before being destroyed.
Was this perhaps how the temple looked in the past?
ntal landscapes often reflect the places soone has spent the most ti or are tied to their identity... and yet I ended up here.
Curious and amazed, like a country bumpkin visiting Seoul for the first ti, I wandered through the glorious, restored version of the temple.
“Did Hwanji and Hwana live in this temple for a long ti? Whoa, so that building used to be that massive?”
Drawn in by the grandeur, I naturally headed toward the pond—where the broken statue once stood.
It was the place where I first t Hwanji and Hwana.
The scent of naless flowers blooming on either side of the path tickled my nose, and the majestic air of the temple instilled a strange peace in my heart.
If the temple had felt like a ruined relic before—as if hiding so ancient treasure—then now it exuded a reverent, sacred energy.
Step. Step.
Passing through the temple's paths, I arrived at the arched stone gate leading to the pond.
I stepped inside.
And instantly, everything grew brighter—as though my vision itself had been enhanced.
Clear, translucent water filled the pond, and crimson lotus blossoms blanketed almost its entire surface.
Even outside the ntal world, there had been a few lotus flowers in the pond.
But they ca in various shades, the water was dark and murky, and the place hadn’t been well kept—it never struck as beautiful.
Yet now, the sheer radiance of the pond seized my attention.
The once headless deity statue now stood tall, gazing down over the blooming pond in full splendor.
This perfect sculpture had four arms, two legs, and a serpent-like belt coiled around its waist.
In reality, the statue only had two arms—guess it used to have four.
Here, two more sprouted behind its shoulders.
“Oh, so that’s how it was supposed to look. Maybe the other two arms broke off and fell into the pond in real life?”
I stared at the towering Shiva-like statue, srized, and before I knew it, I was standing right in front of it.
Snapping out of it, I looked around—but no sign of Hwanji or Hwana.
“I thought they’d be here... this isn’t it?”
I assud they’d be in the place we all slept. But the two were nowhere to be found.
Just as I was about to turn and look elsewhere—
Snrk. Snicker.
I heard a chuckle behind .
“Keekeek.”
I turned around.
And there she was.
A woman who definitely hadn’t been there a mont ago now stood in front of the deity.
She wore a sari—traditional Indian attire—dyed in white and red.
Her sharp eyes and faintly curled lips gave her the look most would call fox-like.
But to us reptile maniacs, a furry fox doesn’t quite stir anything.
So, if I were to describe her in my terms—yeah, she looked more serpentine.
She had a sinuous beauty, like a snake, with a smile curled across her lips.
“Hwanji? Hwana?”
I called both nas at once, not knowing who she was.
But a thought struck .
‘Why is there only one?’
Hwanji and Hwana were a two-headed serpent.
I’d assud they’d resemble the Hindu god Shiva with their duality... yet here stood a single woman.
No second head, no sign of another person.
If there’s only one head... then where’s the other personality—no, the other Sage-Serpent Self (Sagek)?
Wait... don’t tell ? Like Cheong-yu Sojeo, are they two personas in one body?
Just as I was thinking that—
Chaaa-ring.
A bell chid.
Then from behind the woman—who had her hands pressed in prayer—two more arms rose up.
As her palms unfolded, more won appeared in a line behind her, mimicking the Thousand-Ard Goddess dance.
I’d seen sothing like it once on YouTube.
Then, in the middle of the dance, the woman moved her head robotically to the side—and a second face popped out.
“HUH!?”
I stared, wide-eyed, in shock.
Both faces now smiled at and asked in perfect sync:
“Surprised?”
“Surprised?”
And just like that, the woman took a step to her left—revealing another woman standing beside her, identical in every way.
Twin copies of the sa woman, smiling at .
‘Ah... so they do show up as twins.’
Of course—they’re conjoined twins.
Dicephalic parapagus twins occur when identical twins fail to completely separate during embryonic developnt.
“Uh, yeah. You got good.”
“Hehe, knew it. Mission complete!”
“Totally worth it.”
It seed they’d rehearsed the whole Thousand-Ard Goddess routine just to startle .
The two high-fived each other, clearly pleased.
Unlike in reality—where they were often bickering—they looked incredibly close here.
As I walked up to them, I asked:
“You two seem to be getting along really well here?”
The twins looked at each other and smiled.
“Well, it’s because we have separate bodies here.”
“There’s no reason to fight when we’re not stuck together.”
“Sigh... I just want to live like this forever.”
“So this is what entering soone’s ntal world ans. We get to borrow So-ryong’s form and have human bodies. If we knew it felt this good, you should’ve done it sooner!”
They looked genuinely thrilled to have split into two.
Honestly, I’d been worried they might start fighting even here. Glad I was wrong.
To be honest, these two have always listened to well, but I never really felt like they were particularly loyal or affectionate.
It often seed more like they were only cooperating because Cheong-yu Sojeo told them to.
Last ti, when I tried to lie on their massive serpent body, they clearly acted annoyed.
But now, even though I hadn’t completed their full contract, their loyalty seed to have gone up.
Normally, that kind of increase only cos after final registration.
Maybe it’s because they’re really enjoying this ntal world—both of them even ca up and linked arms with .
“I did want to do it sooner, but life’s not that simple. Everything happens in its ti...”
They were clearly teasing about taking so long to bring them here, so I went off on a little philosophical tangent.
I an, everything in life has its proper order, right? Even cold water has an upper and lower layer.
Even goat poop lines up in rows.
“...Huh?”
“What does that an?”
“Ah—it’s just one of those things, you know.”
Feeling awkward, I quickly changed the subject—rembering how I once begged Yo-hwa.
“Anyway, you two really know how to use your hands, huh? Yeondu and Orange can’t use theirs at all.”
Their dexterity stood out—totally different from Yeondu and Orange—so I asked out of genuine curiosity.
The twins answered with expressions that said obviously.
“Well, that’s because they’re still kids. Just recently reached adulthood, you could say? But we’ve lived for hundreds of years—we’ve even experienced dream-walking into human dreams before. This is kind of like that.”
“Exactly. It’s similar to dream-walking. Feels like we’re borrowing fragnts from So-ryong’s mories.”
“Oh? You two can do dream-walking too?”
Dream-walking—as in, like the way Cheon Pan O-Gong’s mother showed up in my dream back then?
When they said it so casually, like it was no big deal, my curiosity peaked. They both nodded.
“Of course we can.”
“Obviously, So-ryong.”
Tsk. As expected of their size. The bigger they are, the more they can do, huh?
Not that ability is solely tied to size, but still—bigger is better, right?
Thinking I’d just learned sothing very useful, I grinned.
“Oh, then drop by in my dreams soti.”
“Shall we?”
“Sure!”
“Got it, So-ryong!”
The best part of dream-walking was that I could see them in their human form even at night—and they could switch back into spirit beast form at will.
Just imagining that made genuinely excited.
“Anyway, let’s wrap this up and finish your registration.”
Not that a ton of ti had passed in the ntal world, but still—must’ve been a full day by now.
Just as I suggested we complete the process and leave—
The two clinging to my arms looked at with wide, startled eyes.
“We’re leaving already?”
“It’s the first ti we’ve ever been apart like this.”
Apparently, being in separate bodies was such a treat that the re idea of leaving made them look genuinely devastated.
“Sorry, but if we stay too long in here, several days could pass outside.”
“So-ryong, can we just stay a little longer?”
“Please, So-ryong.”
“No, if we linger, days will go by. There are people waiting for us out there.”
Even as they pleaded, I flatly refused like a man of stone. So they changed tactics—and broke out the charm.
“You haven’t even explored the temple with us yet, right? Co take a walk with us. You won’t get another chance like this.”
“Yeah! Let’s explore together. We’ll guide you.”
Still clinging to my arms, they coiled their serpent-like charm around their voices, pouting as they begged to stay just a bit longer.
But I, So-ryong, was not so easily swayed.
‘I’m the man once called Iron Bamboo—unyielding, unmoved!’
...But even so, I couldn’t be too cold.
I rembered how that Blood Cult woman had once infiltrated my mind using soul-drawing techniques, and I gently reassured them I’d look into thods to revisit this place.
In fact, Hwa-eun and Sister Seol had already started researching soul-binding techniques together.
“There’s this technique—it’s called Soul-Binding Art, kind of like a spell or martial technique. I think we can use that to enter the ntal world again. I’ll look into how it works. But for now, let’s head out, okay?”
“So-ryong~...”
“So-ryong, pleaaase...”
Now they were wrapped around my legs.
“Ah-ah. Still won’t work.”
When my sweet-talking failed to work, I had to put on a stricter tone.
They exchanged glances beneath —still hanging from my legs—and then looked up at with sly, dangerous grins.
“Oh right... Didn’t soone say So-ryong likes spirit beasts way more than people?”
“Yeah... soone did say that.”
‘Who the hell’s been running their mouth—but not wrong...’
As I wondered who’d let that slip, the twins whispered their offer like a secret.
“So-ryong... if you stay just a little longer, we’ll grant you a wish.”
“A wish? What wish?”
I blinked with curiosity, genuinely unsure what they were talking about.
The two smiled mischievously.
“You said you wanted to lie on our backs. We’ll let you do it.”
“Yup! No more saying it’s annoying. You can lie on us anyti. Promise.”
They’d always been stingy about that—and now they were offering it freely.
As soone with ironclad resolve, I felt... just slightly swayed.
I was about to say no again, rembering how precious ti was—
But then ca the real knockout blow.
“Not just our backs...”
“You can lie on our bellies, too.”
“...Bellies?”
“Yes. Our bellies. The scales there are so fine and smooth. You always complained you couldn’t sleep from the heat—our bellies are cool and soft. You’ll sleep like a baby.”
“This isn’t sothing we offer just anyone. Actually... you’d be the first.”
No one touches the belly of a wild creature.
Whether reptiles, amphibians, insects, or mammals, an animal’s belly is its most vulnerable point—where all the vital organs are.
That’s why, when a dog shows its belly, it’s a sign of absolute submission.
Even Cho, Hyang, and Bini rarely let touch their bellies—аnd now these two wanted to lie down on theirs?
That ant complete trust.
It ant I could sleep nestled into the soft belly of two massive serpents.
Who could say no to that!?
Besides, “Iron Bamboo” just ans rigid and inflexible... maybe being called a reed wouldn’t be so bad.
That would an I’m flexible. And wasn’t that what my parents always told in my past life?
‘You gotta bend with the wind, son.’
So, with a slightly stern face, I gave them my verdict.
“Fine. But we play just a little longer—and then we’re out.”
***
“Uunngh...”
I opened my eyes to the sound of Hwa-eun’s voice.
“So-ryong, are you awake? Why did it take so long this ti? It’s been ten days.”
I always asked how much ti had passed when I woke up, but this ti, she beat to it.
Ten days.
I guess giving in to Hwanji and Hwana’s “just a bit more” pushed things a little too far.
“Ah... maybe because they’re bigger now. Took longer, I guess.”
I couldn’t exactly say “I was busy getting pampered,” so I gave her a vague excuse.
She helped up and brought water.
“Are you feeling okay? Nothing strange with your body?”
“I’m fine, Hwa-eun.”
“Well then, since we’ve stocked up on supplies, if you’re feeling well, we can depart tomorrow.”
“Y-yeah, let’s do that.”
Registration complete.
Now it was ti to find out what secrets Podarlap Palace held.
“Wait for , Podarlap Palace! So-ryong is coming!”
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