Mountains have been treated as spiritual places since ancient times, and it was the same for Grenier. 

A mountain towering alone in the wilderness—it was a mystical sight and it was bound to attract people’s attention. It was immediately accepted as a fact that elixirs were formed on the pine trees that lined the rock walls. People visited Grenier like they were possessed. They searched the mountain for elixirs and treasures that didn’t exist. 

For a while, the Mountain King only watched them. On the stony mountain, he could only be angry by their behavior of destroying precious nature and hunting wild beasts for fun. It was because there was nothing he could do. At that time, the Mountain King was an existence closer to a concept. He had no physical form. He was akin to a faint spirit created by the people’s vague belief that there was a divine spirit in the mountain. 

Therefore, the Mountain King felt great joy when he first got his body. He was thrilled to be able to express his anger and colored the fur of a possessed bear with human blood. He slaughtered the intruders in an unstoppable manner because he believed it was his role. 

He fulfilled the wish of a mother bear who lost her cub to an intruder and was kept alive for her gallbladder juice. He released the grudge of a tree that had frozen in death in winter due to intruders peeling its bark. He channeled the wrath of the slash-and-burn farmers who were forced to be the playthings of the in...