A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 141

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 141
Hong Seol tilted her head innocently.
“But why do they create a dance instead of holding a direct martial competition?”
Dang Bo Young wrinkled the bridge of his nose.
“Why else? Whenever they gather, they fight so much that we had to change it.”
They’re all too hot-blooded, you see.
According to Dang Bo Young, the Murim Five Family Banquet was supposedly a gathering where people fought like relatives quarreling on holidays.
“When fights break out at the banquet, there’s no need for a formal martial competition. Breaking three tables is nothing.”
This year was relatively peaceful, apparently because the Nam Goong Family Estate didn’t participate due to a tragedy three years prior.
Dang Bo Young laughed, saying that if the fiery Sword King Nam Goong Ho had attended, something would have definitely happened.
“Anyway, that’s not the important part. Do you know why Yi Woon asked you to perform the Dragon Phoenix Dance together?”
At his condescending tone, Hong Seol puffed out her cheeks.
“I do.”
“Then tell me. Let’s see if you get it right.”
“He wanted to spend time together, just the two of us. That’s what he told me.”
“What!”
Dang Bo Young’s eyes widened.
“Yi Woon is more straightforward than I thought…?”
“Is that so?”
Hong Seol tilted her head.
Dang Bo Young, with his arms crossed, did the math in his head.
“In five years, Yi Woon will be sixteen. It’s a bit early, but he’ll be old enough to have his coming-of-age ceremony.”
A coming-of-age ceremony meant becoming an adult.
“That means he could marry.”
“I see.”
Seeing Hong Seol nod innocently, Dang Bo Young thumped his chest in frustration.
“You really don’t know anything, do you?”
“Pardon?”
“One reason the Murim Five Family Banquet is held is to match young men and women! And apparently, one-third of the couples who have prepared the Dragon Phoenix Dance together have ended up married.”
“Oh, I see.”
“‘Oh, I see’? What kind of reaction is that?”
At Dang Bo Young’s words, Hong Seol stuck her tongue out slightly and shrugged.
“Hehe, but I’m still young…”
“Still, you can think about it, can’t you!”
Dang Bo Young leaned toward Hong Seol and whispered suggestively.
“Since we’re on the subject, let me ask. Who would you like to marry?”
Surely not that beggar boy staying in the Guest Hall?
As he said this, Dang Bo Young frowned slightly.
“I’ve never thought about it before…”
“Then think about it now.”
In that moment, Dang Bo Young witnessed it.
Hong Seol’s lips softened into a gentle curve, and her eyes grew distant, as though swimming through a dream.
‘Look at her? She said she’d never given it thought.’
She’d fallen for it.
The instant Dang Bo Young’s face broke into a triumphant smile, Hong Seol cried out.
“I want to marry Yi Woon!”
“….”
For a moment, Dang Bo Young was left speechless.
‘Sigh. Yi Woon, my brother…. He’s going to have a difficult time ahead.’
Dang Bo Young’s chest filled with sympathy for Yi Woon.
“In any case, it would be best not to mention anywhere that Yi Woon requested the Dragon Phoenix Dance.”
Dang Bo Young offered sincere counsel to the naive Hong Seol.
“There are many girls in Chengdu who fancy Yi Woon. One of them might just slip poison into your meal at the Inn, you know?”
“R-really?”
“I’m joking, just joking.”
Though it hardly seemed like a joke.
I’ll need to keep the antidote pill the Snake Grandfather gave me close to my heart for a while.
The moment Hong Seol clenched her fists in determination.
Dang Bo Young drew closer. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“So, what did you tell Yi Woon when he requested the Dragon Phoenix Dance?”
“W-well, that is….”
Hong Seol’s cheeks flushed crimson as she averted her gaze awkwardly.
* * *
Drip, drip.
Dark stains marked the floor of the Training Ground adjoining the Guest Hall of the Sa Cheon Dang Family.
“Huff.”
Sweat droplets traced down Nam Goong Baek’s delicate silver hair as he steadied his breathing.
Nam Goong Baek straightened his posture and adjusted his grip on his sword, his gaze fixed firmly ahead.
‘Keep the eyes steady, one foot forward.’
Just as he was about to step toward an imaginary point.
The blue Changcheon energy circulating through his body scattered and dissipated.
Something had caught on his heightened senses.
“Ha, an uninvited guest has arrived.”
This person had been the one most disturbing Nam Goong Baek’s mind these past few days.
Creak.
The Training Ground door opened, revealing a familiar face.
“You were here, Brother.”
“What is it?”
At the appearance of the young master in green robes, Nam Goong Baek’s expression turned cold.
“I have something to tell you, Brother.”
“Tch.”
Nam Goong Baek glared at Dang Yi Woon without even sheathing his sword, irritated by something that had already begun to grate on him.
The aura he radiated was ominous.
But this time, Dang Yi Woon had no intention of backing down either.
Crimson eyes clashed with azure ones, transforming the Training Ground into something resembling a battlefield.
“You have no fear.”
“No, sir. There’s no need for me to be afraid.”
Dang Yi Woon spoke with crystalline clarity.
“Because I’ve come to realize that you’re the coward, older brother.”
“What?”
Watching those ruby-red eyes burn like jade aflame, Nam Goong Baek felt a flicker of unease.
And as expected, words he had never wanted to hear spilled from Dang Yi Woon’s lips.
“I’ve just come from asking Hong Seol to be my opponent in the Dragon Phoenix Dance.”
“…So you truly have lost your mind.”
Without realizing it, Nam Goong Baek’s grip tightened on his sword.
But Dang Yi Woon met that gaze head-on and did not flinch.
“I would never confuse the woman I love. Never.”
Dang Yi Woon’s eyes, spoken with such conviction, grew distant for a moment, as if lost in reverie.
He was surely recalling the conversation he had just shared with Hong Seol.
He wore the expression of a boy in first love—something Nam Goong Baek despised in himself.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a very long time. That if I ever came to love someone, I would speak to them looking directly into their eyes.”
Nam Goong Baek opened his lips, parched as if he had swallowed sand.
“Why tell me this truth when you know I won’t want to hear it?”
“Because you love Hong Seol, sir.”
At those words, Nam Goong Baek’s mind went numb.
“I… love Hong Seol?”
This was the second time he had heard such a thing.
“Yes. So I thought I had to tell you my feelings at least once. Because I want the competition to be fair.”
For a moment, Nam Goong Baek stood paralyzed, as if poisoned.
If he had heard the same words from two entirely different people, he could no longer deny it.
‘Do I… truly love Hong Seol?’
But those words could not bring themselves to leave his lips.
In the end, Nam Goong Baek could not give a direct answer, only echoing Dang Yi Woon’s words like a hollow refrain.
“Competition?”
“For the next five years, I will train martial arts relentlessly. Because I want to become a man worthy of Hong Seol.”
“And?”
Dang Yi Woon smiled brilliantly.
That smile was like sunlight breaking through the clouds over Chengdu.
It was said that Chengdu rarely showed clear skies, but when the clouds parted, the brilliance was incomparable to anywhere else.
With that radiant smile, Dang Yi Woon issued a warning to Nam Goong Baek.
“I would appreciate it if you refrained from making advances toward Hong Seol for the next five years.”
“…This snake has no shortage of nerve!”
With those words, brilliant azure Changcheon energy blazed forth from Nam Goong Baek’s entire body.
No—it was nothing short of roaring blue flames consuming everything in their path.
Whoosh.
From Dang Yi Woon’s form, an equally formidable emerald aura surged outward.
Lacking any sinister quality, instead possessing an almost refreshing clarity, that energy yielded nothing to Nam Goong Baek’s power.
Nam Goong Baek swept his frigid blue gaze across Dang Yi Woon and asked.
“So then, what did Hong Seol answer?”
Dang Yi Woon’s lips twisted.
“You say it’s not the case, yet you seem quite curious?”
Nam Goong Baek replied through gritted teeth.
“Yes. I am curious. Therefore, I shall hear your answer.”
…Even if I must shatter your shins to do so.
“Truly, that child is extraordinary….”
As thoughts of Hong Seol crossed his mind, Dang Yi Woon’s menacing aura dissipated in an instant.
In that moment, his expression held only the innocent smile of a youth.
“Hong Seol said that if I defeat her in five years, she would become my opponent in the Dragon Phoenix Dance.”
“…!”
“So please, honor your promise not to make advances toward Hong Seol during that time.”
With those words, Dang Yi Woon turned sharply and departed.
Thud.
Even as the Training Ground door closed, Nam Goong Baek remained rooted to the spot.
‘Hong Seol, Dang Yi Woon, and the Dragon Phoenix Dance….’
In five years, Hong Seol would be thirteen.
By then, she would undoubtedly have blossomed into a girl stronger and more beautiful than anyone else.
Cheeks flushed like peaches, her voice as crystalline as the azure sky….
As Nam Goong Baek’s thoughts reached this point, he suddenly opened his empty palm. His hand trembled faintly.
‘What is happening to me?’
Bewildered, Nam Goong Baek brought that hand to his chest.
Thump, thump….
Strangely, even his heart raced at a pace he had never experienced before.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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