A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 2

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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 2
‘Ugh!’
Hong Seol drew a sharp breath, desperately suppressing the urge to flee on the spot.
‘If my memory serves, that old man definitely asked why I needed the inner core.’
Tense with anxiety, Hong Seol swallowed hard and waited for him to speak.
Soon, Nam Goong Ho approached and asked in an authoritative voice.
“Why do you need this creature’s inner core?”
“Mother!”
Startled, Hong Seol instinctively bolted behind a tree and hid. Her hands trembled against the bark.
‘I’ve returned—before my death! What do I do now?’
This time, at least I could avoid the mistake of falling from the cliff.
‘But I have nowhere to return to now….’
Hong Seol’s only home.
The mother there had wished for my death.
Hong Seol’s small nose flushed crimson in an instant.
It had all been for nothing.
Climbing to the peak of Dae Chuk Mountain with bleeding hands and feet, steeling myself against fear to beg that enormous serpent for its inner core—
Hong Seol gazed toward Nam Goong Ho with eyes brimming with tears.
Meanwhile, Nam Goong Ho was speaking to the serpent.
“Dang Yi Mu, what in the world are you doing with this child?”
– Long time no see, Nam Goong Ho.
The Sword King Nam Goong Ho.
The supreme elder of the Nam Goong Family, and even now, long after passing the position of family head to another, still called the “foremost of Nam Goong”—a martial master of unparalleled renown.
His realm was known to be among the top ten in the martial world, at the level of Transformation—a figure most ordinary people would never lay eyes upon.
Yet Dang Yi Mu greeted him as casually as one might regard a pebble on the roadside.
– What brings you here?
“I came hoping to share a drink with you after all this time.”
At those words, Dang Yi Mu murmured softly.
– Ah, now that you mention it, today is already the anniversary of Lady Wi’s passing.
A perceptive old friend indeed. Nam Goong Ho redirected the conversation to mask his bittersweet feelings.
“But who is that child?”
At the question, the pale, enormous serpent made a rumbling sound like laughter.
– A child I’ve never seen before. Rather adorable the way that tiny thing trembles so.
“Nonsense. You’ve been frightening the child unnecessarily, unbecoming of an adult.”
– Heh, it seems that little one fears you far more than me, Nam Goong Ho.
At that, Nam Goong Ho turned to look at Hong Seol. The grimy child was trembling violently from head to toe.
Anyone would have felt pity at such a sight.
Yet Nam Goong Ho’s expression remained as stern and unyielding as stone.
He stared intently at the child’s quivering shoulders before asking again.
“Speak. Who told you to bring me this serpent’s inner core?”
“Hic!”
Startled, I hiccupped instead of answering.
Dang Yi Mu seized the moment to interject.
– If an old mutt interrogates you with such a fierce expression, even I couldn’t muster a response.
Nam Goong Ho, who hadn’t even heard that remark, pressed me further.
“Don’t worry—I mean you no harm. Just tell me: who ordered you to bring the inner elixir?”
Hesitantly, I opened my mouth.
“M-my… my mother told me to…”
“What?”
At those words, Nam Goong Ho’s expression darkened terribly.
Dang Yi Mu, who usually mocked everything, clamped his mouth shut as well. He was just as furious as Nam Goong Ho.
‘Oh no… did I say something wrong?’
Sensing the hostile atmosphere, I stammered out more words.
“I-I’m sorry. She said if I just brought the inner elixir, I could call her… mother…”
The two men fell silent at the trembling in my voice.
After a long pause, Dang Yi Mu composed himself and sent a telepathic message to Nam Goong Ho.
– A heartless mother indeed! She sent the child here expecting death.
“Hmm.”
Nam Goong Ho, deep lines etched around his mouth, asked me a question.
“Where is your home?”
I mustn’t tell them!
Frightened, I clamped my mouth shut and shook my head vigorously.
I didn’t want them to discover that I was a cat demi-human.
I had my reasons for this.
‘His face looks terrifying, but… this grandfather of the Nam Goong Family must be a good person.’
Hadn’t he removed his robe to cover my small, dying body and gently closed my eyes with his warm hands?
‘Perhaps… he might take in someone like me who has nowhere to go?’
I kept my eyes lowered, wiggling my frost-numbed fingers.
I didn’t mind spending winter without a single brazier. I could endure a place where kind words and laughter were impossible.
As long as I had shelter from the night dew starting today.
Even if that place was the Nam Goong Family, infested with dog demi-humans, I didn’t care.
‘I’ve heard the Nam Goong Family is incomparably wealthier than Myo Ga Jang.’
Countless people lived in their sprawling estate, both in the inner and outer quarters.
Surely they would need many hands for menial labor.
‘I don’t have much to offer, but if I become a servant and wash robes for them daily, they might give me a small corner room.’
Of course, for that to happen, I had to keep my identity as a cat demi-human completely hidden.
No matter how generous the grandfather was, he wouldn’t want a cat servant in a household teeming with dog demi-humans.
Just as I bowed my head deeply—
“I asked where your home is!”
“Hic!”
Nam Goong Ho, who had been pressing her with questions, suddenly fell silent.
Frightened as she was, Hong Seol couldn’t hide the cat ears that had involuntarily perked up on her head.
Clumsy at shapeshifting, Hong Seol shook her head desperately, unaware of her slip.
‘So this child is a cat-human.’
The quick-witted Dang Yi Mu and Nam Goong Ho exchanged meaningful glances above Hong Seol’s head.
– There’s only one cat-human clan family in this region, isn’t there? She must be from Myo Ga Jang.
Myo Ga Jang.
The name referred to the family clan of the cat tribe bearing the Myo surname.
Though not as dominant as the Nam Goong Family that held sway over An Hui Province, it was still a martial house of considerable standing in these parts.
Nam Goong Ho had also heard the rumor that there was an unwanted eldest daughter in Myo Ga Jang.
A girl unable to cultivate inner energy, treated as a burden by her own family.
As the rumor came to mind, Nam Goong Ho’s jaw tightened.
‘To think a mother would drive her own child into such peril.’
This was the sort of cruelty one might expect from the wicked sects—no, from the demonic cults themselves.
Nam Goong Ho gazed down at Hong Seol, still trembling uncontrollably, lost in thought.
‘What am I to do with this little one?’
If left as things were, the young cat-human would freeze to death before the night was through.
Even if I took responsibility and returned the child to Myo Ga Jang myself, it would solve nothing. There was no guarantee her mother wouldn’t attempt something like this again.
A long silence fell between them.
Sensing the tension of the adults, Hong Seol cast her gaze downward, her frost-bitten hands clasped tightly against her chest.
“I… I have no home to return to anymore…”
Thud.
Even as she spoke, her voice trembled with sorrow. Hot tears fell in drops, wetting the back of her small hands.
Beneath the worn sleeves, Hong Seol’s hands were cracked and bleeding from the bitter cold.
Seeing this, Nam Goong Ho let out a sorrowful sound.
“Mm.”
Was it because today was the anniversary of his wife’s death?
In his contemplative silence, the words Lady Wi had spoken in life kept echoing through his mind.
“Should you ever encounter young and pitiful creatures, I beg you—be a little kinder to them, for my sake.”
To be kind to the young and pitiful, she had said.
‘Perhaps this child is a bond my lady has woven for me.’
Nam Goong Ho steeled his resolve and asked:
“Little one, what is your name?”
Unlike when he had asked about her home, this time an answer came at once.
“I’m… Hong Seol.”
Hong—the character for crimson—and Seol, the character for snow.
A name that suited her delicate features perfectly. Even in her distress, she had been clever enough to omit her family name, lest her clan be discovered.
“Very well, Hong Seol. It seems your mother has no wish for your return. So then, would you not come with me instead?”
– Now hold on, Nam Goong Ho!
Startled by his words, Dang Yi Mu slapped the surface of the Lake with his tail, creating sharp splashing sounds.
– You’re saying you’ll take a cat-human to the Nam Goong Family, a clan of fierce beasts?!
Despite the barrage of transmitted voices, Nam Goong Ho remained unmoved, his gaze fixed solely on the child.
Whatever the stubborn elders said mattered little to him. If the child wished it, the Nam Goong Family would grant her a new life, regardless of her mysterious origins.
But Hong Seol stood frozen in place, offering no response whatsoever.
“What on earth…?”
Nam Goong Ho, observing Hong Seol with careful concern, faltered.
The child’s small frame was swaying unsteadily.
Hong Seol felt equally alarmed.
‘Why is my body doing this?’
Swaying, I struggled to steady my frail form. But it refused to obey.
Something was terribly wrong with my body.
Beads of sweat formed on my brow as a scorching heat consumed me, yet the next moment, my teeth chattered violently from bitter cold.
Soon, even my hands and feet ceased to respond to my will.
Then my vision began to fade, turning a sickly yellow.
‘So… dizzy…’
I endured for only a moment longer.
Thump.
The instant my small body gave way and collapsed.
“Child!”
Nam Goong Ho moved with explosive speed.
Just before I struck the ground, strong arms caught my falling form.
Witnessing this, Dang Yi Mu slapped his tail against the lake’s surface in fury.
– Hey, you madman! This child collapsed from the shock of your words, didn’t she?
“…Hmm.”
The response came slowly—uncharacteristically hesitant for the usually direct Nam Goong Ho.
Only then did Dang Yi Mu sense something amiss.
– Nam Goong Ho, what is the matter?
Nam Goong Ho was examining Hong Seol’s meridians as she lay unconscious. Something about the child’s small body felt distinctly wrong.
“This child’s meridian pathways… they’re far from normal.”
What he discovered in Hong Seol’s body was a disaster.
Throughout her entire frame, the meridian pathways that should have flowed unbroken were severed in countless places.
Like a mountain path ravaged by a tempest—some sections blocked as if by massive boulders, others murky and turbid as mud.
– But you said this child cannot cultivate inner energy. Isn’t it natural that her meridians are damaged?
“No, it’s not that simple. I need to examine her more carefully.”
Nam Goong Ho drew upon his inner power. A faint azure radiance shimmered across his muscular frame like heat haze.
Carefully gathering his energy, Nam Goong Ho channeled it into Hong Seol’s body and closed his eyes, seeking to comprehend the child’s condition with meticulous precision.
And he started in shock.
‘How can I sense both distinct yin and yang energies simultaneously?’
When yin and yang meet, they naturally harmonize and settle into equilibrium.
But the energies within Hong Seol’s body were different.
Two energies that could not coexist simultaneously clashed within her small frame, sweeping through her body like a tempest.
As a result, Hong Seol’s body was utterly devastated—there was not a single intact place upon her.
If that were the case, there could be only one answer.
After pondering for a long while, Nam Goong Ho finally opened his trembling lips.
“This child has Yin-Yang Severed Meridians.”
At those words, Dang Yi Mu’s already pallid complexion turned even more ashen.
– Then it would not be strange if she died this very moment!
“Indeed. However, if we could only cure the severed meridian condition, this child could master the Yin-Yang Divine Art.”
The Yin-Yang Divine Art.
Simply put, it was a martial technique that allowed one body to wield both ice and fire arts simultaneously.
Those who trained in only ice or fire arts were abundant throughout the martial world, but none had ever mastered the Yin-Yang Divine Art. It was a technique that could only be learned by those born with the proper constitution.

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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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