Hwanung married Ungnyeo, the bear who transformed into a woman after enduring the trial of darkness and sacred foods. Their son Dangun Wanggeom founded Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom, making all Koreans descendants of this divine-human union.
Hwanin, the Lord of Heaven, blessed his son Hwanung's desire to descend to earth and benefit humanity. He gave Hwanung the Three Heavenly Treasures and selected Mount Taebaek as the site for his civilizing mission.
Hwanung descended from heaven with three chief ministers — Pungbaek the Earl of Wind, Usa the Master of Rain, and Unsa the Master of Clouds — who governed the forces of nature under his command as he brought civilization to the human world.
Hwanung established Sinsi, the Sacred City, beneath the divine sandalwood tree atop Mount Taebaek, ruling over human affairs with three thousand heavenly followers and his three ministers of wind, rain, and cloud.
Hwanin entrusted the Cheonbuin, three heavenly seals of divine authority, to his son Hwanung before dispatching him to Mount Taebaek to govern the human world.
Hwanung set Horangi and the bear a trial of endurance — twenty-one days in a dark cave sustained only by garlic and mugwort — promising human form to whoever prevailed. Horangi fled, but the bear endured and became the woman Ungnyeo.
⚠ The Samguk Yusa specifies samchil-il (three sets of seven days, i.e., 21 days), though some later retellings extend the trial to 100 days.
Hwanung descended from heaven to the summit of Taebaeksan with three thousand followers, alighting beneath a sacred sindansu tree and founding Sinsi, the City of God, from which he governed the 360 affairs of the human world.
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