The Bird That Drinks Tears (; abbreviated as ) is a series of South Korean fantasy Novel by Lee Yeongdo. A rare example of the genre Korean Fantasy, the stock characters and clichés of normal western fantasy such as elves, magic, dragons and Latin languages are instead replaced by Korean concepts such as dokkaebi, ssirum, and the Arazi language, which is based on Proto-Korean.
Publishing
The novel was first serialized in Hitel, a PC communication forum site, continuing the tradition that all novels by Lee Yeongdo are first serialized in the internet. After the conclusion of the series, the book was published by Golden Bough, a publishing company of South Korea. Due to its length, the story was published in four hardcover volumes.
Book 1: Nhagas Who Extract Their Hearts
Book 2: Rekkons Who Pursue Their Desire
Book 3: Tokebis Who Play Their Fire
Book 4: Humans Who Seek Their King
This work has been sold to a European publisher at about 300 million won (US$235,997) in advance royalty payment for the right to publish it.
Plot
The world is largely divided into northern and southern Kiboren. 1500 years ago, the Nhagas started a 'Great Expansion War' against other races to expand their territories. Conflict between the north people who needed farmland to eat grain and the nhaga who needed forests to hunt was inevitable. The kingdom of Arazi, founded by the legendary Rekkon 'the Hero King', was destroyed after hundreds of years of war against the nhaga. Because they are cold-blooded animals, the Nhaga, who could not live in the northern temperature, planted trees and created forests where they could live, and this forest that covered half the world was named Kiboren. Afterwards, Humans, Rekkons, and Tokebis, excluding Nhagas, lived in the North, where Nhagas could not come up, and Nhagas also lived in Kiboren, which became a maze that Northerners could not enter, and spent hundreds of years disconnected from each other.
700 years later, the severance between northerners and Nhaga became familiar. A message was sent from the 'Hainsha Temple' to the Tokebi 'Henby Surabol', the Rekkon 'Tynahan', and the unknown Human 'Kagan Draca'. According to the old adage, 'Three Handles One', they asked to form a rescue party of three races and enter Kiboren to rescue one Nhaga.
On the other hand, 'Ryn Paye', a boy who lived in 'Hattengraj', the center of Nhaga society, becomes an adult and participates in Heart Extraction Ceremony. It is a ritual that makes Nhaga immortal by extracting his heart and storing it in the Heart Tower, but Ryn, who has memories of his father's death, fears the upcoming extraction. Ryn runs away from the ceremony and witnesses the murder of his friend ‘Harit Makerowe’. He fulfills Harit’s last request and heads north to meet the rescue party.
Main characters
Rescue Party
Kagan Draka () A mysterious human who hunts and eats nhagas. He is chosen as the pathfinder of the Rescue Party that must rescue a nhaga and bring the nhaga to Hainsha Temple. His name consists of two animals that were made extinct by the nhaga; in Keytazay hunter's language, his first name 'Kagan,' means black lion, and his last name 'Draka', means Dragon.
Bihyeong seurabeul () A cheerful tokebi, butler to the lord of Chumunuri (즈믄누리). He can fly around riding the beetle 'Nani' (나늬). He is chosen as the sorcerer of the Rescue Party.
Tynahan () An arrogant rekkon who dreams of climbing on the back of a Skyray. He is chosen as the defeater of the Rescue Party.
Nhaga
Ryun Pey () A young nhaga who is haunted by the murder of his father, which he witnessed when he was eleven years old. He is sent on a mission to leave Kiboren and reach Hainsha Temple, where he must try to save all four races. Because of the death of his father, he fears extracting his heart and ran away from the heart extraction ritual. He later discovers Dragon root, names it 'Ashe-Harital' (아스화리탈), and raises it as a dragon. His name derives from hanja ryun (輪), which means 'wheel'.
Samo Pey () A female nhaga renowned for her dancing and swordsmanship. She is also kind to nhaga males, which is uncommon behavior in nhaga society. As a result, the Paye family is popular among males, and Samo becomes an object of jealousy among other families. She is the elder sister of Ryn Paye. When Ryn is accused of murder, she sets out to assassinate her brother, according to nhaga tradition. She later becomes the King of the northern army and fights against the Nhaga's invasion.
Hwarit Makerowe () A Novitiate and a close friend of Ryn Paye. He was originally on a mission to contact the rescue party in the north.