A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 105
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 105
* * *
“Ahhh!”
Hong Seol’s scream echoed through the Bamboo Forest.
Collapsed before Hong Seol was Dang Cheon Gang, reduced to tatters.
Dang Yi Woon’s eyes widened. He rushed to Dang Cheon Gang and cradled his neck.
“Elder Brother Cheon Gang! How did you come to this state…?”
“A… a monster exists… Ugh!”
He had spoken only a single sentence.
Blood surged from within Dang Cheon Gang’s body. There was no doubt he had suffered severe internal injuries.
The front of Dang Yi Woon’s robe, which held him, was instantly stained crimson.
Yet he paid no mind to such garments. Dang Yi Woon’s concern lay elsewhere.
“Elder Brother! You must not lose consciousness! What became of Ji Gang and In Gang!”
“Ji Gang and… In Gang… were dragged away… by that creature.”
“What did you say!”
Dang Yi Woon’s face drained of all color.
“I… poisoned dart… embedded in that creature’s shoulder…”
Pointing in one direction with his finger, he then lost consciousness entirely.
Dang Yi Woon clenched his teeth and searched through Dang Cheon Gang’s belongings. Within he found trauma salve and vitality pills, a water pouch, and a small stick-shaped firecracker.
Dang Yi Woon picked up a vitality pill and placed it into Dang Cheon Gang’s mouth.
Then he tilted the leather pouch filled with water toward Dang Cheon Gang’s lips.
“Mmm…”
Dang Cheon Gang barely managed to swallow the vitality pill with a gulp.
Gradually, color returned to his lips.
After positioning Dang Cheon Gang securely against the base of a tree, Dang Yi Woon seized the firecracker.
Boom!
With a light sound, emerald smoke pierced through the dense bamboo grove and soared high into the sky.
He had sent a signal to the adults waiting at the entrance of the Bamboo Forest Circular Path.
Nam Goong Baek observed all of these actions with his arms crossed.
“What will you do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your rival has fallen. Will you go retrieve the Stronghold Master, or…?”
“Of course we must rescue the twins!”
It was Hong Seol who cut in with her words.
Her small fists clenched tight, her eyes blazing with righteousness, honor, and familial devotion.
Witnessing this, Nam Goong Baek released a small sigh.
“Well, I suppose that’s inevitable.”
It seemed I would have to follow this little wildcat for the rest of my life.
She was always so eager to throw herself into danger.
Dang Yi Woon, too, appeared to have steeled his resolve.
“We may not have been on the best of terms, but they are still members of the Dang Sect. I cannot simply turn away from them.”
Having spoken thus, Dang Yi Woon bowed deeply toward Hong Seol and Nam Goong Baek.
“However, I must confess my own strength is insufficient. I humbly ask that Elder Brother and Seol lend me your power.”
Before he could finish, Hong Seol cried out.
“Of course!”
“Sigh… I suppose there’s no helping it.”
Those were Nam Goong Baek’s words. He glanced at the fallen Dang Cheon Gang before speaking.
“If we wait here, the adults will likely arrive. But you have no intention of waiting for that, do you?”
Dang Yi Woon nodded solemnly, his expression grave.
Though he had posed the question, Nam Goong Baek already knew the answer.
If Dang Cheon Gang had called the kidnapper a “monster,” then whoever had taken the twins was no ordinary person.
Every moment counted—the sooner they caught up, the greater the children’s chances of survival.
Nam Goong Baek, who had been leaning against the bamboo, grunted and pushed himself upright.
“Very well. I’m curious to see the face of whoever dares to cause such a commotion in the Sa Cheon Dang Family’s courtyard without fear.”
* * *
Finding the place where the “monster” had taken the twins proved not difficult.
They simply had to retrace the path Dang Cheon Gang had taken.
Judging by the desperation evident in his trail, he had endured the mechanical traps without surrendering, determined to find Hong Seol and her companions.
The mechanical trap mechanisms were scattered everywhere along their route.
Seeing the cloth fragments hanging torn in various places and the arrows embedded in the ground, Hong Seol felt a chill run down her spine.
‘When we return, I must prepare something special for Il Jjik Yi and Yi Jjik Yi.’
I found myself newly grateful to the Young Rats who had guided our path.
At the same time, worry gnawed at me.
‘Will the twins be safe?’
Even if they were fortunate enough to escape the monster’s grasp, fleeing blindly would surely lead them straight into the mechanical traps.
‘I must find the twins quickly!’
Dang Yi Woon and Nam Goong Baek clearly harbored the same concern.
Despite the exhaustion that must have accumulated from a day of tension, not one of them suggested resting.
Instead, they gritted their teeth and increased their pace.
For Hong Seol, unable to channel her inner power, it was torturous.
‘But I won’t lose when it comes to perseverance!’
With the same determination I had once possessed when trying to bring peacock feathers to Nam Goong Ui Gyeol, I continued running.
At last, they arrived at a small clearing.
Bamboo stalks lay broken in various places, and there were signs of a struggle.
‘Is this the place?’
Hong Seol surveyed the surroundings.
Sniff, sniff.
Suddenly, Dang Yi Woon inhaled deeply, scenting the air.
He glanced about, then pointed in one direction.
“This way!”
“How did you know?”
Hong Seol asked as she ran beside him.
“When struck by a poison fang, it mixes with blood and releases a distinctive odor. Since it’s a paralytic toxin, they couldn’t have gone far.”
To expel the poison, one would need to circulate their qi, which meant they’d likely been pinned down at least in their legs.
And indeed, that assumption proved correct.
Before long, Hong Seol’s group discovered another clearing.
It appeared to have originally been a resting place. The ground was entirely paved with fine stones, and stone lanterns were arranged in a circle around it.
On one side stood an elegantly designed pavilion.
“Look, look over there!”
Hong Seol whispered urgently.
Twin figures lay bound tightly atop the pavilion.
Whether their vital points had been sealed or they’d simply lost consciousness, they lay motionless.
Only the faint rise and fall of their chests confirmed they still drew breath.
“Ji Gang, In Gang!”
Nam Goong Baek seized Dang Yi Woon’s arm just as he lunged forward.
“What?”
Nam Goong Baek gestured with his chin toward a man in the shadows of the clearing.
The man sat with eyes closed, circulating his qi in meditation.
Despite his disheveled hair, his frame was unmistakably lean and muscular.
Judging by the steadiness of his breathing, he’d been practicing for quite some time.
“Haaah.”
The moment the man completed a final deep breath and snapped open his elongated eyes.
The children’s bodies shrank like prey before a predator.
His eyes gleamed yellow, his pupils slit vertically like a beast’s.
“G-Ghost Soul Demon!”
Dang Yi Woon gasped out the name upon recognizing those distinctive features.
Clang!
At the mention of Ghost Soul Demon, Nam Goong Baek immediately drew his blade.
“Hehehehe, the Infinite Sword Dance. A child of the Nam Goong Family.”
Despite Nam Goong Baek’s flawless stance, Ghost Soul Demon showed no sign of tension.
He merely glanced sideways at Hong Seol.
“Hehehehe, the bait turned out quite good today.”
He spoke in an oddly vacant tone, yet his words carried clear intent.
All the while, his gaze remained fixed on Hong Seol.
“Thanks to it, another morsel walked right into my grasp. I won’t have to worry about provisions for the next ten days.”
A chill ran down Hong Seol’s spine at those words.
‘Does he mean… he’s going to devour me?’
Hong Seol clenched her fists, tension coiling through her body.
The moment she felt Ghost Soul Demon’s vertical pupils gleaming toward her.
“Dodge!”
Nam Goong Baek yanked Hong Seol toward himself with a sharp pull.
Thwack!
A short blade flew through the air and lodged itself mere inches from Hong Seol’s feet, quivering violently from the force of its throw.
‘If Elder Brother hadn’t pulled me back, that blade would have pierced my throat.’
“Heh heh, the little one from Nam Goong Family has some skill, doesn’t he?”
Despite the sharpness of his technique, the man’s tone still carried an unmistakable dullness.
“But can you dodge my next move?”
Ghost Soul Demon drew the blade and closed the distance with lightning speed.
Clang!
The metallic ring of clashing blades erupted through the Bamboo Forest with crystalline clarity.
“Your opponent is me!”
Nam Goong Baek positioned himself squarely between Hong Seol and the threat.
“Elder Brother!”
Dang Yi Woon likewise drew hidden projectiles from between his fingers, engaging Ghost Soul Demon directly.
His hands trembled visibly—whether from tension or fear, I could not say.
Ghost Soul Demon’s lips curled into a sneer upon noticing this.
“Heh heh, child of the Dang Family, the foundation of projectile work is precision. How can you strike your opponent’s vital points while shaking like that?”
As he spoke, Ghost Soul Demon lunged toward Hong Seol once more.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————