Under the warm sunlight of a bright spring day.
Kang Hana was enjoying a picnic by the lakeside, lying on a spread-out mat.
“Wow…”
She couldn’t help but gasp in admiration.
The lake before her, stretching endlessly in a dazzling array of colors, was breathtakingly beautiful.
Even though she was seeing this lake for the first time, it felt strangely comforting—like coming home.
A smile naturally formed on Kang Hana’s lips, born from the happiness welling up inside her.
“This is too beautiful to keep to myself.”
She turned to her side.
Right next to her was the most lovable presence of all, lying quietly.
IF-017.
No, ‘Lug’.
Or maybe she had heard ‘Lug’ before, but somehow, ‘Lug’ suited it much better.
A little cutie, through and through.
“Lug, let’s go take a closer look!”
Kang Hana reached out to pick up Lug and headed toward the lake.
But something was off.
No matter how much she stretched out her hands, she couldn’t reach Lug.
Even though Lug was right next to her, it was as if an invisible wall was blocking her.
The moment she started to panic, Lug slowly rose to its feet and began walking away.
She tried to stand up and follow, but for some reason, her feet felt unbearably slow.
“H-Huh?”
When she reached out again—
Lug was already gone.
A desperate cry escaped her lips.
“No!”
The moment she realized Lug was no longer there, the once-beautiful lake seemed hollow, like a fish-shaped bun without filling.
Under the same warm spring sunlight, Kang Hana collapsed to her knees in despair.
“I’ve been abandoned by Lug…”
Muttering those words, an unbearable pain tore through her chest.
Tears streamed down her face.
And then—
***
Something approached her, offering comfort.
It was Lug.
It had to be.
“Lug…? Huh—!”
Kang Hana lifted her head in delight—only to be utterly shocked.
A tiny flame, clinging to her finger.
It was definitely Lug.
A palm-sized, flame-like Lug.
A fire spirit, nibbling at her fingertip with tiny bites!
Kang Hana’s eyes went wide as she looked around.
She wasn’t seeing just one fire Lug.
There were dozens—no, hundreds—bounding around her feet, playfully jumping, then twirling around her body like flickering fireflies.
The scene was straight out of a fairy tale.
“Wow…!”
She gently stroked the little flame Lug.
The one nibbling her finger met her gaze, giggled mischievously, and then—
Swoosh.
It vanished, as if melting into thin air.
But Kang Hana knew.
The little flame that had been playing with her hand was now inside her heart.
One by one, the playful fire Lug—after having their fill of fun—began settling inside her chest.
Thump…
Thump…
“Hehe…”
An overwhelming warmth.
An overwhelming cuteness.
Even as sweat trickled down from the heat, Kang Hana foolishly grinned, basking in the cozy sensation.
—Step.
Step.
That was when it happened.
A surge of immense heat washed over her.
And within that heat—
A calm voice spoke.
“This is the first time these little ones have been so well-behaved.”
Shielding her eyes from the blinding light, Kang Hana turned to look.
It was like looking at the sun itself.
“Ahh, so hot…!”
Even with almost a hundred fire Lug dancing around her, the presence before her was on an entirely different scale.
A woman, surrounded by an uncountable number of fire Lug’s.
Kang Hana couldn’t help but be amazed.
Unlike the playful fire Lug around her, every single one of the Lug near the woman was staring solely at her.
The woman looked at Kang Hana with a gaze full of admiration.
“The city is where the great ancient being resides. You shall be the priestess of this new era.”
She wore garments from an era thousands of years past, yet her eyes held the wisdom and intelligence of an age beyond her own.
She was a complete stranger—yet somehow, she felt familiar.
The woman spoke once more.
“Young priestess, please take good care of our Lug.”
“Huh?”
Before Kang Hana could even respond—
Flames swirled around the woman, and in an instant, she vanished.
***
Left standing on barren ground, Kang Hana asked the empty air.
“…Who are you?”
At that moment—
A warm, soft sensation brushed against her cheek.
Under the warm sunlight of the lakeside, Kang Hana slowly came to her senses.
“Uhh…?”
As she turned her head, she saw the flame-like Lug grinning mischievously.
Watching as the little flame giggled and dashed away, Kang Hana absentmindedly touched her burning cheek.
Her mind, which had been on the verge of spiraling into confusion, suddenly felt clear.
The flame Lug’s surrounding that woman earlier had all looked at her with deep reverence.
But why were these ones all just grinning at her?
Somehow, she felt like she had lost in some unspoken competition.
“You… get over here!”
Laughing joyfully, Kang Hana took off after the flames.
But just as she reached out, the flame Lug that had been poking her cheek suddenly dashed into the sky, slipping out of her grasp.
“Judgment!”
“Divine punishment!”
The words the flame Lug chattered in their playful tones seemed somewhat… off.
‘But in the end, they were cute, so it was fine, wasn’t it?’
“Hey, I can’t fly! That’s totally unfair… haha.”
Kang Hana ran along the lakeside under the warm spring sun for a long time.
***
Meanwhile—
“Ugh…”
The lake serpent couldn’t even lift its head.
As the cherished treasure of Loch Ness, it had only known the bright side of the world, living in comfort and ease.
But what had just happened had been too overwhelming.
Even if it had only been trying to deliver the orb!
The ancestor, the very one who had thrown the serpent into this turmoil, remained utterly unbothered.
To the lake serpent, this was simply too frustrating.
‘No, no, Plump Snake, divine flames are pure! You’re just misunderstanding everything!’
“Lies?”
“Lies? How could you say such a thing? Doubting your ancestor is the worst thing a descendant could do!”Â
“Plump Snake is the worst descendant in the world!”
“What?”Â
“Daniel!”Â
“Daniel!” Â
“Ancestor!” Â
“Truth!”
The foolish snake was being deceived by the ancestor.
The lake serpent could feel the intention behind those words—
The ancestor clearly didn’t care at all about what had just happened.
‘Was it the serpent who was in the wrong, then?’
Hesitantly, it moved its fins away from its face, sneaking a glance.
What it saw was its ever-cheerful ancestor, cuddling up to the foolish snake.
“Hehe. That’s better. Plump Snake is so simple—it’s adorable!”
“Meaning… what?”
The ancestor’s pure and playful demeanor was so childlike that, if not for the fully grown wings and the strangely glowing horns, the lake serpent might have assumed they were around the same age.
This was the ancestor.
The ancestor it had spent ages wandering in search of.
“What kind of ancestor is this…?”
The lake serpent felt its cherished illusion shatter into pieces.
Every night before bed, it had listened to its mother’s stories about the ancestor—
A grand and imposing deity of their lineage, awe-inspiring and incredible.
But looking at the ancestor, who was now rubbing their face against the plump snake’s belly, there wasn’t even a speck of dignity to be found.
And yet, they had casually handed over the orb, meaning they were the real ancestor.
“Ancestor!”
“Yes? Want me to pet you more?”
The effortless, natural way the ancestor spoke—
It was definitely the same ancestor from the stories.
“Huh? N-No! That’s not what I meant!”
Once again, the lake serpent found itself utterly baffled by their actions.
Before, someone had always been there to rein them in—
But now, with that person gone, they seemed completely unchecked.
The lake serpent grumbled.
“Ancestor. Aren’t you even curious about who I am or where I came from?”
“Hmm. Well, you showed up just fine, didn’t you?”
“What kind of answer is that?!”
The ancestor’s complete indifference nearly made the lake serpent burst out in frustration again.
But instead, it puffed up its cheeks and sent a determined message.
“Ancestor! I came from Loch Ness to deliver a greeting. My mother told me to pass it on.”
That was more important than emotions right now.
This was why it had come all this way in the first place.
“She wanted me to tell you that we’re all doing well in Loch Ness and to ask if the city is peaceful.”
Finally, the message was delivered.
The lake serpent felt a sense of accomplishment—
‘Why had something so simple taken so long?’
“I see… so you can live well even outside the city.”
The ancestor nodded slowly.
But that was it.
There was no further response.
“That’s it? I went through so much trouble! I searched every lake in the world looking for you, and I even got captured by those two-legged beasts!”
Flapping its fins in exasperation, the lake serpent pouted.
Back in Loch Ness, whenever it did this, everyone would coo over it and comfort it.
But the world outside Loch Ness was much less forgiving.
“Two-legged beasts? You mean humans?”
Instead of comforting it, the ancestor simply corrected it.
The lake serpent shook its head fiercely.
“No! They’re two-legged beasts! Those bad creatures hurt me and locked me up. I couldn’t even escape because the passage wouldn’t open! I went through all that, so praise me!”
To the lake serpent, those creatures were nothing more than ‘two-legged beasts.’
There was not a single ‘human’ among them.
Lying in the middle of it all, drenched in sweat, was that one—whether it was truly human or just another two-legged beast, Kang Hana wasn’t entirely sure.
But what mattered more was the ancestor, who, despite all the strange things being said, remained distant and indifferent, refusing to take a single step closer.
That alone was enough to make the lake serpent seethe with frustration.
And then—
The ancestor’s expression turned serious.
“They beat you and locked you up? Is that true?”
Though the question was pure, carrying not a trace of hostility toward the lake serpent, an overwhelming pressure seeped into the air, effortlessly dominating the space.
Caught off guard, the lake serpent averted its gaze.
“Uhh…? Maybe not them exactly… probably not…Â But they looked the same. The two-legged beasts with similar-colored bodies.”
“By body color, do you mean their clothing?”
The ancestor’s face, once easygoing and lighthearted, had now hardened, becoming something entirely different.
The lake serpent, trembling without even realizing it, could only nod.
***
A moment ago, the ancestor had seemed so approachable.
But now, their mere presence was terrifying.
Their horns, which once shimmered beautifully, now glowed with a foreboding, eerie light.
So… not all of the ones in black vests were believers, after all.
That means waiting another day is pointless.
The ancestor’s rage was ice-cold.
‘If they were angry on the lake serpent’s behalf, then that was reassuring. But even so, the sheer intensity of it made the lake serpent instinctively cower.’
“Thank you. You’ve helped me make my decision.”
The ancestor’s words carried weight.
The lake serpent could feel it—something was about to happen.
“I see now. Those who did not answer my call… Those who neither ease my burdens nor satisfy my hunger… have lost the right to even look upon me.”
Beyond the ancestor’s eyes, something vast, something immeasurable, stirred.
Something so incomprehensibly massive that the lake serpent couldn’t even begin to describe it.
“The only light capable of illuminating the abyss below will no longer shine upon you. If you do not wish to become food for the lake, you had better leave immediately. This is my final mercy.”
The thought reverberated through the air.
The two-legged beasts still hadn’t realized what was happening.
But the lake serpent, frozen in terror, collapsed backward with a dull thud.
Even as the creature that ruled the deepest reaches of Loch Ness, where no sunlight ever touched, Even as something that called those endless depths its home—
It still found itself utterly overwhelmed.
Because the depths it now glimpsed were far, far deeper than any it had ever known.
“T-Terror…!”Â
“Help…!”
“Waaah…”Â
“Ancestor is so scary…!”
The lake serpent instinctively clung to the foolish snake beside it, the two of them huddling together, trembling violently.
And then—
***
“You are excommunicated. You are no longer my disciples.”
With those final words, the lake serpent hiccupped, its small body shuddering with panicked breaths.
The ancestor, sharp-eyed and imposing, was approaching.
The lake serpent’s hiccups only grew more frantic.
Without thinking, it sent a desperate message.
“S-Sorry…!”Â
“Ancestor, I’m sorry for whining…”Â
“I was wrong…!”
It clenched its eyes shut.
And then—
Instead of a punishment, what it felt was… a warm, gentle touch.
Surprised, the lake serpent slowly opened its eyes.
The ancestor was smiling—though the expression was tinged with amusement, as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
“Hah… You two were obviously an exception. I said it clearly from the start, didn’t I? That message was only for the ones who refused to come when I called.”
The lake serpent felt its fear melt away, vanishing as if it had never been there.
The enormous, terrifying presence from before was long gone.
The ancestor’s eyes had returned to the same pure, carefree gaze as before.
And so—
With a happy little laugh, the lake serpent threw itself into the ancestor’s arms.
“Ancestor…!”
It felt a little bad for its mother, but—
The ancestor’s embrace was even warmer than its mother’s.
Something soft and squishy was caught between them, getting completely flattened.
But since it wasn’t too much of a nuisance, the lake serpent decided to ignore it.
“Kiiim!”Â
“Crushing!”Â
“Crushing!”Â
“Help!”