In a world where gods and humans coexist, there is a land called Rawon (羅園). The gods here survive by feeding on the reverence of humans, and in return use that power to protect them. Humans, meanwhile, live their lives under the gods’ grace, bound together in a “cycle of reverence and blessing.”
Yusa, the river god of Cheongyugang, has refused human reverence for nearly a century after losing his beloved human disciple, Tan’eo. Whenever he comes close to losing his divinity and fading into a lesser creature, he barely prolongs his fragile existence by borrowing divine power through “hapshin,” a union with the mountain god Gaho, who secretly harbors feelings for him.
Meanwhile, Dajin, the son of a great general whose entire clan was slaughtered by an evil god, longs to become an “Inje” — a human emperor chosen by the gods — for the sole purpose of revenge. Confident in his exceptional martial skill, he asks to become Gaho’s disciple, but Gaho sees through the vengeance consuming his heart and rejects him. Driven into despair by the belief that the gods abandoned both his parents and himself, Dajin ultimately throws himself into the Cheongyu River.
Wishing that no more humans connected to him would die, Yusa saves Dajin by passing on the last of his remaining divinity through a kiss, exhausting his own strength in the process. When Dajin awakens, he dismisses Yusa’s actions as mere whimsy and lashes out in anger. Demanding that Yusa take the divine power back, he impulsively kisses him in return.
In that fleeting moment of contact, the two share each other’s wounds and true feelings, unintentionally forming a master-disciple contract. Through “hapshin,” the act of exchanging divine power, Yusa gains the vitality needed to survive, while Dajin obtains the strength he needs for revenge.
A god unable to escape the scars of the past, and a human willing to risk his life for vengeance. As Rawon’s greatest competition, the Jeseonje (帝選祭), approaches for the first time
