Prologue

Arang. A being that alternates between a golden dragon and a beautiful human figure. I am the god who protects the Geumgang River and an immortal with an indelible past.

Humans yearn for me, but what remains after watching the lives and deaths of countless humans is emptiness and loneliness. An indelible sense of guilt.

Thousands of years later, the day that seems to be insensitive is still clearly imprinted as if it were part of my body and cannot be erased. Like a snare of sin that cannot escape, it condemns and hurts me.

Trapped in a prison of guilt, loneliness, and solitude, I become another lonely person and wander around the lives of humans today.

People laughing.

There was once a time when I enjoyed harmless freedom like them. Now it becomes part of the black and distant past and disappears like dust.

When I trudge past the smiling people on a road without a destination,

‘Kkak!!’

The scream of a woman piercing the lungs has been delivered to my heart, and today I go toward that desperation.