"Why are there so many peaks?"

While talking with Hwa-eun, Sister Seol’s voice came from behind.

Turning my head, I saw Sister Seol wrapped around Cho’s body, with the huge moon as her backdrop.

She wore the same dumbfounded expression as us.

She must have been following us and had only now seen the peaks.

"Why is the mountain so huge too?"

Well, not just the peaks—Mount Yeo-san was enormous.

Back in my past life, it felt comparable to Jirisan National Park when I visited during a wildlife exploration trip.

"Unni, we’re kind of overwhelmed too."

There had to be over a hundred peaks, even at a glance.

The three of us stared blankly for a moment at the dark, shadowed peaks.

Because honestly, how were we supposed to find anything up there?

‘Seriously, how can someone who deals in information be this vague?’

I was grumbling in my head about how unreliable the informant Eunbi Ruju had been.

Then Sister Seol’s question broke the brief silence.

"Didn’t Eunbi from the Haomun branch just say there was ice on the mountain peak?"

"Yes, Sister Seol."

"Then if she said just the peak, should we look for the highest one?"

"Maybe?"

"Oh! That could be it."

"But from here, I can’t really tell which is the highest."

Sister Seol’s logic was solid.

Right, someone who handles information wouldn’t just hand over something that vague.

If she said ‘the peak,’ then odds were it was the highest one.

I quickly offered a silent apology to Eunbi Ruju and agreed to follow Sister Seol’s reasoning—we’d search for the tallest peak first.

"Let’s go down a bit and get a better look. If we look at it from eye level, we’ll find it in no time. Yeondu, Cho, head that way just a little."

– Tssrr. 『Got it, Dad.』

– Shaaa. 『Got it, So-ryong.』

I asked Cho and Yeondu to head not back the way we came, but instead to a spot from which we could view the mountain range horizontally and see all the peaks at once.

They flew down nearby and began scanning the area, comparing the peaks.

After a short while of checking them out, we spotted it—a tall peak rising from the darkness in the distance.

We looked around and saw none taller, so it had to be the highest one.

"Is that it?"

"Seems like it."

"Let’s go, So-ryong."

"Yeah."

With a target in sight, we moved immediately.

But as we got closer to the mountain peak, we all ended up staring at each other with puzzled faces again.

The tallest peak turned out to be a jagged rock formation barely big enough for one person to stand on, with grass and trees sprouting from the crevices.

From afar, it hadn’t looked like that at all.

Still, the size of the peak wasn’t the only problem.

"Are we sure this is it?"

"Seems like it."

"But there’s no ice? Did it melt already?"

Right. There wasn’t a trace of ice.

No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t frozen.

"Maybe? But at this kind of spot, I doubt anything bigger than a bird could even land here."

"Hmm."

Hwa-eun had a point—this spot might be a good place for spirit beasts like birds to nest—but she’d overlooked something.

If a bird could reach it, then so could a lizard, spider, or even a winged insect-type spirit creature.

If there were traces left on a place like this, it’d likely be from a spider, a lizard, or a winged bug. Still, something felt off.

Rather than the ice having melted, like Sister Seol suggested...

...it just seemed like there had never been ice here in the first place.

"If there had been ice, the grass should’ve wilted. But the grass is still alive, so maybe this isn’t the right place?"

If ice had formed and melted, the sparse grass and trees growing on the rocks would’ve suffered frost damage.

But when we went up and touched them, the grass and trees felt fresh and vibrant.

They were even sprouting new buds.

Which meant this place had never had ice.

In other words, this wasn’t it.

‘So the vague information was vague after all!’

It really seemed like Eunbi Ruju’s info was nothing but vagueness.

"Ah, is that so?"

"Hmm. Then where is it?"

Sister Seol and Hwa-eun looked around with disappointment, but there wasn’t a single frozen peak in sight.

If we had at least a rough location, we could’ve let Yeondu search—there’d be no problem at all.

But with what we had now, even searching was difficult.

As you know, Yeondu’s a snake that can detect infrared radiation.

The hole beneath a snake’s eye is called a pit hole, and inside it are special cells called Golay cells, which detect infrared heat and convert it into visual information for the snake.

These Golay cells can sense temperature changes as subtle as 0.003 degrees, so if there was any variation in heat, Yeondu would pick it up immediately with her thermal vision.

So, if there really were a cold spot with ice, Yeondu would notice as soon as we got close.

But of course, detection range matters—if you’re too far, the sensitivity of infrared vision drops.

Yeondu couldn’t scan the whole of Mount Yeo-san from afar—it was as big as a national park—so we needed to narrow things down first.

Which left us with only one option.

Sister Seol, Hwa-eun, and I spoke at the same time.

"Let’s ask Ji-ryong if he has another idea."

"Let’s ask Ji-ryong if he has another idea."

"Let’s ask Ji-ryong if he has another idea."

‘Almost shouted “Jinx!” just now.’

Then we all grinned at each other.

Of course we thought alike—we were family.

And hey, wasn’t this exactly what Ji-ryong was for?

Our trickster-in-chief, Ji-ryong.

It was about time we collected some interest for all those free meals he’s had lately.

‘Ji-ryong, open that clever little pouch of yours and hand us something useful!’

***

– Knock knock knock!

“Ji-ryong, are you asle—...”

– CRASH! Bang bang!

I had only knocked on the door, but something inside shattered with a loud crash.

“Urgh...”

“A-are you okay? Yongcheon?”

Then came Ji-ryong’s groan... and Eumbong’s voice.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was happening in there.

This was Ji-ryong’s room, and Eumbong had shown up in the middle of the night. That alone said enough.

“So-ryong, sounds like something fun is going on in there~ Kyahaha! What do you think they’re doing~?”

Sister Seol giggled beside me, glued to the doorframe, while Hwa-eun’s face flushed bright red.

I quickly called out in a sorry voice and spread my arms to push Hwa-eun and Sister Seol away from the door.

“Ack—my apologies, Ji-ryong! I had something to ask, but I’ll come back later. Please, finish up your... business.”

It was late, but not quite bedtime yet, so I figured I wouldn’t be intruding. Apparently, though, some kind of... event was already in progress inside.

Just my luck, barging in on a pivotal moment.

I tried to back away in a hurry, but more crashing came from inside, and then—bam! The cabin door burst open.

“S-S, Senior, i-it’s fine! N-nothing happened! Eumbong and I were just talking! Just couldn’t sleep, you know!”

It was completely dark inside, and yet Ji-ryong insisted nothing had happened.

Even though, by the light of Sister Seol’s lantern, we could all clearly see the red smear around his lips.

‘Yeah... and I’m sure they were just talking with their mouths stuck together.’

“Maybe wipe that off your face before saying nothing happened,” Sister Seol said, pointing.

Ji-ryong quickly wiped at his mouth with his sleeve, only to pause as he saw the bright red stain on the fabric.

His whole face turned crimson.

He wiped again and muttered,

“Ahem... well, it’s just been a while...”

“I’m sorry we interrupted a good moment,” I apologized again.

Ji-ryong straightened up quickly, trying to act normal.

“A-ah, no! Not at all. So, what brings you here?”

At the same time, Eumbong stepped out, her lips freshly wiped, her expression composed.

“Y-yes, nothing happened. We were just talking since we couldn’t sleep. Sounds like something important—please, come in. I’ll get tea ready.”

“No, no, it’s fine. We can talk in the morning...”

Truthfully, I wanted to get into it now—but it felt inconsiderate, so I started to retreat again.

But then her voice, a little shaky, came from behind us.

“P-please, come in!”

I pinched Sister Seol’s giggling arm and stepped inside.

As we sat down and Eumbong poured tea, I began to explain.

“Actually, I came to Mount Yeo-san to look for a spirit beast.”

“Right. You said the branch master from Yeongcheon passed through and gave you information.”

“Yes, but the information from the branch master wasn’t very... precise.”

“Oh, so they didn’t give you an exact location?”

“Exactly. Just something like ‘the top of Mount Yeo-san has frozen over,’ and that we should check it out.

At first I thought it’d be easy. A mountain usually has one clear summit, right? But Mount Yeo-san isn’t like that.

Still, thinking it over, if they said ‘the top,’ it probably means the highest peak. But when we got there, it wasn’t a place anything could really live.

So I came to ask if you could help narrow down the location somehow...”

As I finished explaining, Ji-ryong nodded along.

“I thought it was precise too. But if it had been precise, they wouldn’t have given it away for free. They’d have gone up and taken the Neidan themselves.”

“That’s true.”

“Absolutely.”

I flinched a little at the word ‘take the Neidan,’ but he wasn’t wrong.

These are martial artists. If they had the exact location, would they really have handed it to me instead of harvesting it themselves?

Ji-ryong began his real explanation.

“Well, let me tell you what I know about Mount Yeo-san.

It has 171 peaks, 20 valleys, 14 ponds, 16 caves, and 20 ravines.

There’s Small Heaven Pond and Great Heaven Pond, both well-known, and places like Five Elders Peak, Triple Fold Spring, and Dragon’s Head Cliff are known for their scenic beauty.”

“One hundred seventy-one...”

“That’s... a lot.”

I thought it had a lot of peaks, but 171!?

If we had tried to search them one by one, we’d have had to check every single one. I’d thought of that earlier but now I was really glad we hadn’t done it.

Then came the next piece of information.

“Also, it’s a place where clouds and fog frequently rise from the middle slopes. So visibility is often terrible. That makes searching even harder.”

“I see...”

We hadn’t seen any fog when we arrived, so we didn’t know. But apparently it rolls in nearly every day.

Which meant it really wasn’t going to be easy to find anything here.

Too many peaks—and some days you can’t even see them.

Still, with the size and the constant fog, it felt like a great place for a spirit beast to live.

A perfect place to stay hidden.

The ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) anticipation rose even more as Ji-ryong asked,

“So, the information said the top of Mount Yeo-san was frozen, right?”

“Yes, Ji-ryong.”

“Well, since the information came from the mountain, there are only two likely sources. Either an herb gatherer or a tourist. No one else would go to the trouble of climbing that far.

And based on how vague the information was—no peak name or coordinates—it most likely came from a tourist unfamiliar with the mountain.”

“Ohhh.”

As expected, our trickster Ji-ryong.

He pulled out all that from a single sentence.

So satisfying.

“Tomorrow, let’s visit a village where herb gatherers live and ask if anyone’s seen a frozen peak.”

“Wait, didn’t you say it was tourists who saw the frozen peak? Why talk to herb gatherers?”

“Those tourists are probably long gone. But if they saw it, then herb gatherers surely did too. And herb gatherers know the terrain and place names better, so we need to talk to them.”

Damn. Solid conclusion.

I was already thinking it was a great idea to come to him as I turned to Hwa-eun and Sister Seol.

You repay kindness when it's given to you, don’t you?

“Ooooh, got it! Thanks, Ji-ryong! Now go ahead and... finish what you were doing. Let’s go, Sister, Hwa-eun.”

“Yeah. Have a good time.”

“Eumbong... mm... enjoy yourself.”

“I-I told you it’s not like that...!”

As we backed out, I told them to carry on without interruption, and Sister Seol gave Eumbong a teasing wave.

Hwa-eun clenched her fist and offered a quiet “fighting.”

– Thump.

Just as we stepped out, we heard a thud.

Everyone turned around.

Eumbong had collapsed face-down onto the table, flailing her feet.

But hey, embarrassment only lasts a moment.

Joy? That lasts forever.

***

“Oh, the frozen peak? That’s been going around?”

“Oh! You know it?”

“Of course.”

As soon as morning came, just like Ji-ryong said, fog began spilling down the mountain slopes.

In the thick mist, we reached the first village.

We caught an herb gatherer just stepping out after washing his face—and jackpot. First guy we asked had seen it.

He seemed to know what we were talking about.

“Would you mind telling us where it is?”

The man nodded casually.

“Sure. It’s Flying Dragon Peak.”

“Oooh! Flying Dragon Peak! Here, please accept this.”

“Whoa, why are you giving me two silver coins!?”

“Out of gratitude. That’s all. Let’s go, Hwa-eun!”

“Yes, So-ryong.”

I was about to take off running when the man called after me.

“Sir, I think there’s been a misunderstanding.

It’s not the peak that’s frozen. It’s the mouth of the dragon-shaped boulder—there’s a cave there. That’s what’s frozen. Just so you know.”

Ahh, nothing like money to unlock more details and extra politeness.

I turned back quickly and asked,

“A cave, you say!?”

“Yes. Of the 17 caves on Mount Yeo-san, the seven highest ones began freezing one by one—almost like the ice was moving.

Right now, it’s the mouth of the dragon rock on Flying Dragon Peak that’s frozen. It started melting a few days ago, but I doubt it’s completely thawed yet.”

“Thank you!”

I was about to bolt again—but then came the final question.

“Do you know where Flying Dragon Peak is?”

“Ah... right. Ahem.”

‘I got too excited and forgot to ask.’

I quickly got detailed directions from the man and ran back to the boat.

Now that the sun had risen, the fog was thick again—perfect conditions for a proper search with the kids.

‘Flying Dragon... that means reptile, right?’

My head filled with all kinds of possibilities.

Maybe there really was a flying dragon inside.