NOVPUBPeople are always surprised when they hear about a snake’s lifestyle.
And for good reason—snakes spend most of their day asleep.
No, actually, it's not an exaggeration to say they spend most of their lives asleep.
On average, snakes sleep about 16 hours a day, and some can sleep for over 22 hours. 𝚗ov𝚙𝚞𝚋.c𝚘m
And that’s not all—during the winter, they can hibernate for up to eight months, and in the summer, they enter summer dormancy.
They really spend the vast majority of their time sleeping.
That’s because snakes are cold-blooded animals.
Unlike warm-blooded creatures like mammals and birds, which burn internal energy to maintain body temperature, snakes don’t.
The optimal temperature for a snake to be active is around 25°C, so if there’s a difference from that, it can cause problems for their body—which is why they spend most of their time sleeping.
Cheongyu may have the upper body of a human, but she’s still the queen of snakes.
So of course, Cheongyu prefers dark places and sleeps a lot.
Unlike Yeondu, who barely sleeps at all.
Especially after meeting Cheongyu, Yeondu hardly sleeps anymore.
Sleeping maybe an hour or two once every few days—that’s the extent of the rest Yeondu gets.
It was getting to the point where I was starting to worry.
Because every living being needs sleep.
Maybe it was because Yeondu had received energy from Cheongyu, or because she now held the position of Cheongyu’s Twin of Heaven and Earth—whatever the case, it seemed like that was the reason she didn’t need sleep.
So, I sent out the snakes for a sweep and decided to board the boat to go fetch the still-sleeping Cheongyu while they searched.
After all, we’d found the Ji-yeong Snake, and now we needed to help Cheongyu grow into her mature form.
I considered waiting until she woke up, but how could I possibly hold back in a moment like this?
I immediately called for Yeondu and asked her to take care of Orange.
It was time to give him a little taste of his reward.
A real deep dive.
“Yeondu, this friend here is someone we’re going to live with from now on. His name is Orange. Could you introduce him to the others and to the people around here?”
—Shaaa?
“Yeah. I’d like you to do it.”
‘Me?’
That’s what her look said, so I nodded, and Yeondu turned toward Cho.
Probably because Cho was the top-ranking snake around here, the old-timer of the group.
I smiled and said,
“I mean, he’s a snake too. He’ll probably get along better with this guy than the others, don’t you think?”
I appreciated that Cho was ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) treating Orange politely, but to be honest, I really wanted to see the baby snake.
Newborn snakes are just too cute.
So I explained the reason to Yeondu, then turned to wink at Orange.
I wondered if he’d get what I meant—but that guy wagged his tail like a puppy and gave my brille a gentle lick with his tongue.
Snakes don’t have eyelids.
They can’t close their eyes.
But instead, they have a transparent scale like a lens called a brille that protects their eyes.
It’s kind of like safety goggles for their eyes.
So when a snake licks that—sure, it might be to clean dust off or protect it, but judging by how he wagged his tail, that was totally a wink.
A quick-witted snake is always better than a clueless one.
I grinned and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Alright, let Yeondu introduce you to the others, and meet some of the people too. I’ll go bring someone I think you should meet.”
—Shia!
He replied excitedly, but his eyes were already locked on Yeondu.
Mentally, he was already chasing after her.
“Well then, guess I’ll head to the boat for a bit.”
While Yeondu smoothly approached and led Orange away, I left them behind and boarded the boat.
The first thing that caught my eye was Cheongwol.
Because Moji and Soji were in the middle of cocooning, she hadn’t left the mattress and was holding her place like a rock.
They had said it was fine to move once the cocooning was complete, but she’d apparently decided it was too much trouble.
I approached Cheongwol and placed my hand on her.
Even if she was lazy, we had a new family member—so she ought to at least say hello.
“Cheongwol, a new friend’s here. Want to come take a look?”
Like a boulder, her eyelid slowly rose as she looked at me.
—Grrt? “New friend?”
“Yeah. He’s just like Yeondu and you—a snake—but he’s a different color. I thought you might want to come say hi.”
—Grrr. “Alright. I guess I should check him out.”
She’d acted like she couldn’t be bothered, but now that a new friend had arrived, she showed some interest.
Cheongwol raised her body for the first time in a while.
Then she moved slowly toward the bow of the boat, shifting her weight to lift herself up onto the dock.
Her tail was still holding onto the boat.
Because she’d used so much energy getting up on the dock, she had to slowly ease back to her original posture.
She might look rough in the dreamscape, but this was a careful act of consideration for the people and animals aboard.
After using her own weight to gradually right the boat, Cheongwol headed inward past the dock.
—Grrrrr. “This way, right?”
After seeing her off, I headed into the cabin.
Well, technically it was my cabin—the largest space, originally a hold, now remodeled.
Cheongyu usually preferred to sleep inside this cabin.
—Creak. Creak.
The creaking from the ship’s floor echoed as I carefully opened the door.
Inside, Moji and Soji were undergoing transformation, and Cheongyu was asleep.
—Creeeak.
As I opened the door, the blackout cloth hanging like a curtain kept the cabin dim.
Light spilled in through the open door, and the interior slowly came into view.
In the corner of the ceiling, Moji and Soji had now fully formed their cocoons, gleaming faintly.
On my bed, Cheongyu was coiled tightly, tail wrapped around herself.
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Off to one side, Hwayang, curled up and hugging Hua, and Seol, Bing, and Doong were all tangled together, fast asleep.
Cheongwol’s movements had tilted the boat, but they didn’t even notice—just kept sleeping like little angels.
I approached the bed and placed my hand on Cheongyu’s head, where she lay like she’d collapsed sideways in sleep.
Her body flinched.
Cheongyu slowly raised her head in the dark, her human-like face still groggy as she looked at me.
“Cheongyu, we found the Ji-yeong Snake. Let’s go.”
—Shia?
“We found the one who’ll help you become an adult.”
I said we’d found the Ji-yeong Snake, but since that was the creature’s name, not a person’s, Cheongyu probably had a different impression of what the Heavenly Twin meant.
When I told her we had to go outside, she leaned against me.
—Shia-ya.
Was she saying she didn’t want to go out because she was sleepy and wanted me to carry her?
That was impossible—Cheongyu was heavier than she looked.
So instead, I took her hand and gently pulled her along.
“We’ve got a big snake friend here. You really should go see. Come on, let’s go.”
—Shiai.
In the end, Cheongyu rubbed her groggy eyes and followed after me.
As we stepped onto the deck from the corridor, the bright light made both of us squint.
I glanced to the side—Cheongyu was shielding her eyes with her hand too.
—Shia.
Because Cheongwol had lowered the boat earlier, our snake badge had slipped off.
So I jumped down first, reattached the snake badge, and made it possible for Cheongyu to disembark safely.
Then, in front of the building the pirates had put up, I heard laughter just as I was about to knock on the door.
“Hehe. Other creatures are hard to even touch unless you use the hand social technique, but this one’s so gentle, isn’t he?”
“Rather than gentle, I’d say... polite?”
“Were snake scales always this cold?”
Turns out Orange was way more social than I expected—he was the center of attention and soaking up everyone’s affection.
—Ska. Ska-ya.
“He really is gorgeous.”
“That deep red color is so beautiful.”
Sure, the men liked him, but especially those obsessed with crimson, obsidian-red, and royal red couldn’t get enough of him.
In the Central Plains, red was considered a lucky and beautiful color, so his scales, gleaming like a precious gem, must’ve looked stunning to them.
‘He’s really soaking it up, huh.’
Unlike the other creatures, who didn’t outright reject people but rarely allowed anyone to touch them unless it was me, Orange didn’t seem to mind anyone’s hands.
That alone earned him a lot of points.
Some of the Crimson Trio, whose dream had always been to pet Cho or Bini first, looked like they were getting all their wishes granted by petting Orange now.
Then that divinely descended creature turned to look in our direction.
And he suddenly collapsed forward.
_S-Ska...
—Shia.
Cheongyu, suddenly wearing a dazed expression, muttered stiffly.
And right away, Orange pushed past the crowd and ran straight to her.
Just like with Yeondu, he approached Cheongyu and bowed his head.
Whether it was instinct or something etched into the depths of his soul, it was clear that Ji-yeong Snake—Orange—was responding to something profound in Cheongyu.
—Shia-ya...
Then Cheongyu reached out and placed her hand on Orange’s head.
Suddenly, a white mist-like cloud—unmu—began to pour from her mouth.
Just like when she first met Yeondu, that same kind of ethereal mist spilled out, flowing over Orange and gradually taking shape.
And slowly, the mist began to flow into Orange’s nose.
It was the moment the mist completely disappeared.
Orange’s horns suddenly flashed.
His orange-colored horns burst into radiant light, and then his eyes too began to shine brightly.
I’d thought Cheongyu would immediately become an adult as soon as we found the Ji-yeong Snake—but apparently, it was Orange—Ji-yeong Snake himself—who had to mature first.
—Skaya!
Orange let out a roar, raising his head toward the sky.
The light from his horns blasted upward like searchlights, illuminating the evening sky in brilliant hues.
‘Ooooh!’
What a truly divine moment.
It was evolution—true evolution—befitting a spiritual beast.
It felt like watching the birth of heaven and earth itself.
His body didn’t seem to grow noticeably larger, but I couldn’t help wondering what kind of change had occurred.
While I was inspecting him curiously, a sudden change began to happen near his head.
—Bbududeudeuk.
A strange sound, like something snapping, and his horns began to throb and sprout.
Like bamboo shoots after the rain—they shot up in sharp, pointed growth.
Yeondu had only reached maturity, but maybe because Orange was male, his horns were sprouting powerfully.
What should I even call them?
Yeah—just like the springbok, an African animal, his horns stretched upward long and sharp.
‘Gyaaaah! That’s insane!’
Glowing brightly as they grew, his orange horns were stunning—
I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
That must’ve been the final form of the Ji-yeong Snake.
“His horns are growing!”
“They’re different from a deer’s antlers, aren’t they?”
“Incredible... just incredible.”
I wasn’t the only one awestruck.
Gasps of admiration spilled from everyone watching this extraordinary sight.
Well, it was amazing—watching horns sprout from a snake’s head in bursts of light.
After a while, the glow from the horns began to fade, and the dazed look in Orange’s eyes cleared, replaced with a sharp, vivid sparkle.
—Ska?
As if fully awake again, he reached up with his tail to touch the top of his own head.
And then, I heard Yeondu’s cry from one side.
—Sha, Shaya?
I turned my head—
unlike before, when she was just calm and neutral, this time her face clearly showed emotion.
‘Ah! I get it now!’
That expression made it all click.
In the wild, a male’s horns are a symbol of pride, used to attract females.
Yeondu had gone red in the face at the sight of those horns.
I’d worried for a moment—what if they didn’t match, what if they didn’t connect?
But it looked like there was no need for concern.
And then—
Yeondu slithered forward, brushing against Orange’s newly grown horns.
When the three of them—Golden Crown Bodhisattva, Bi-cheon Shin-sa, and Ji-yeong Snake—finally gathered in one spot,
Cheongyu’s golden horn flashed, and her scales began to turn transparent.
It was unmistakably the signal of her final molt—the last stage of growth.
