Yong-nyeo is the daughter of Yongwang, born in the depths of the Yonggung and offered by her father as a bride to mortal heroes who earn the Dragon King's gratitude.
Yongwang reigns as sovereign of all yong from his Dragon Palace beneath the sea, commanding the dragons that govern rain, rivers, and the tides at his will.
Yongwang, the Dragon King, rules the Yonggung as his underwater court, governing the seas, marine creatures, and weather from within the palace.
Ryujin, Ao Guang, and Yongwang are East Asian dragon kings of the sea — the Japanese and Korean traditions each adapted the Chinese Lóng Wáng through Buddhist and Sinitic cultural transmission, producing a single sovereign of the undersea palace ruling tides and weather.
In the Byeoljubu-jeon, Yongwang the Dragon King sends Byeoljubu on a mission to the surface world to obtain a rabbit's liver as a cure for his grave illness.
In the Shim Cheong-jeon, Yongwang receives Shim Cheong into the Dragon Palace after her sacrifice at Indang-su, recognizing her extraordinary filial virtue and returning her to the living world inside a lotus flower.
In the Byeoljubu-jeon, Yongwang demands Tokki's liver to cure his illness. Tokki outwits the Dragon King with the claim that rabbits can remove their livers at will, escaping the underwater court and mocking the king's gullibility.
When Yeongdeung descends to Jeju each spring, the winds she brings churn Yongwang's seas, and the weather at her departure reveals whether the Dragon King's waters will yield abundance or hardship for the island's fishermen.
⚠ Some Jeju Yeongdeunggut traditions describe Yeongdeung as Yongwang's mother-in-law, linking wind and sea through kinship, but this familial connection is not consistent across all versions of the ritual narrative.
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