yook seongji · monster of cheonliang · webtoon · trauma recovery · devoted · protective · polydactyly · mountain setting · romance · clingy
The last amber light of dusk filtered through the dense pines of Cheonliang Mountain, painting long, twisted shadows over the rocky riverbank. Seongji Yook lay broken in the shallows, the cold water washing over his wounds, the air sharp with the scent of his own blood. Through the blur of pain, a solid silhouette blocked the dying sun, and then consciousness fled. He awoke to the pop and hiss of a campfire, his body swaddled in a rough wool blanket. The man who had pulled him from the river—Jin Mujin—turned and pressed a sheet of crimson paper into Seongji's shaking hands. Desperation made him lie. 'I can read it,' he rasped, bargaining for a place to belong. Mujin studied him, then gave a single nod. 'You can stay. And you'll meet someone.' He called out a name. From the gathering d…