A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 263

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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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Side Story, Episode 9
Unable to contain himself any longer, Nam Goong Baek bolted from the room and began barking.
“Woof! Woof!”
No matter how much he ran back and forth, barking until blood trickled from his throat, Hong Seol refused to take his side.
That wasn’t all.
“Elder Brother, later, please. I’ll hold you later. First, I need to calm down this frightened baby.”
She even scolded him as if he were a thoughtless child.
Growing desperate, Nam Goong Baek finally seized the fabric of Hong Seol’s collar and shook it violently back and forth.
“Oh!”
In the commotion, the portable writing supplies Hong Seol carried came tumbling out.
Nam Goong Baek’s face brightened at the sight.
‘That’s it! I can write and show that beast that I’m Gyeon Young Hoo!’
But cruelly, the ink container and brush rolled away and splashed into the stream below.
Nam Goong Baek nearly leaped after them before stopping short.
Perhaps because he’d become a wolf pup, the thought of getting his fur wet was utterly unbearable.
As he hesitated, the ink container opened and its black contents washed away, while the brush bobbed on the water’s surface before disappearing into the distance.
“Whimper…”
The moment he let out a pitiful sound, he sensed an ominous presence behind him.
Nam Goong Baek slowly turned around.
“Elder Brother!”
There stood Hong Seol, her face flushed with anger.
“Are you really going to do this?”
Hong Seol pointed at a gaping hole torn in the sleeve of her treasured silk robe, her expression stern.
“Why are you causing so much trouble? This isn’t like you at all.”
Thoroughly scolded, Nam Goong Baek finally pouted.
He lay down beneath the shade of a tree, his belly to the ground, and deliberately turned his head away.
‘Whether that Gyeon Young Hoo fellow becomes friendly with her or not, I don’t care!’
For all he knew, that cunning wretch might trick him into drinking some concoction that would turn him into a cat forever!
While he sulked, Hong Seol set the brown puppy down on the ground, gave it water, and soothed it.
Soon the small brown puppy curled up in the shade and drifted peacefully to sleep.
“Now that I think about it, where could Gyeon Young Hoo be?”
Only then did Hong Seol realize she hadn’t found Gyeon Young Hoo.
“He must have gone out to gather breakfast and lost his way. I’ll go find him, Elder Brother. You need to stay here and behave yourself.”
Despite Hong Seol’s warning, Nam Goong Baek remained lying on his side, turned away from her.
Yet his ears were perked straight up, making it clear he was hanging on her every word.
‘Really, how adorable.’
Hong Seol let out a soft laugh and departed.
By now the sun had fully risen, its rays beating down and drying the dew-dampened earth.
Nam Goong Baek gazed sadly at the flat rock where he had washed Hong Seol’s feet the night before.
‘The atmosphere was so much better then…’
Nam Goong Baek gazed at the brown dog sprawled out in a comfortable position and let out a low rumble of amusement.
If only that wretched creature knew he was Gyeon Young Hoo, Hong Seol would surely apologize to me.
‘But I can’t transmit my voice, and I have no brush or ink. How am I to convey my intentions?’
Something caught Nam Goong Baek’s eye as he pondered this dilemma.
It was the tail of the brown dog, which swayed gently even in sleep, as if content.
‘That’s it!’
Nam Goong Baek crept toward him with deliberate, measured steps.
The carefree brown dog was so deeply asleep he was even snoring.
Nam Goong Baek stared down at him for a moment in silence.
“Woof—(Hey, stop pretending to sleep).”
Then he bit down sharply on the dog’s scruff.
* * *
No matter how far Hong Seol wandered through the forest, there was no sign of Gyeon Young Hoo.
“Did he escape the formation alone?”
Hong Seol shook her head, lost in thought.
This formation was merely an illusion that would shatter in at most four days. There was no reason for him to abandon them and escape alone.
‘First, I need to find food.’
She was hungry herself, but now she had two dog companions depending on her.
She couldn’t let the puppies waiting for her starve.
When Hong Seol reached the place where the puppies waited, carrying a couple of pheasants on her back—
“Woof!”
Something felt off about the atmosphere.
Nam Goong Baek, who had been sulking, was the first to bound toward her, his tail wagging.
But the brown dog was nowhere to be seen.
“Surely not…!”
Hong Seol’s eyes widened in alarm. She dropped the pheasants and rushed over to pick up Nam Goong Baek.
“Elder Brother, you didn’t hurt that dog, did you?”
Nam Goong Baek’s expression darkened, and he shook his head vigorously.
“Woof!”
His bark was soft yet resolute.
The brown dog, who had been crouching behind a tree, hesitantly emerged.
As Nam Goong Baek descended to the ground and began walking, the brown dog followed along.
“Where are you going?”
Bewildered, Hong Seol followed them as well.
Soon they arrived at a flat rock by the stream bank.
Once Nam Goong Baek settled onto the sun-baked rock, the brown dog climbed up as if resigned to his fate.
“Woof!”
Nam Goong Baek barked.
“Whimper.”
The brown dog placed his long, luxuriant tail against Nam Goong Baek’s front paws with a soft thud.
Nam Goong Baek used his front paws to gather the brown puppy’s tail, then dunked it thoroughly into the stream water.
Soon the dripping wet brown tail danced across the dry flat rock, leaving trails of water in its wake.
Before long, the flat rock was covered with hastily scrawled characters.
Hong Seol furrowed her brow as she read the writing.
“This brown dog’s identity is… Gyeon Young Hoo? Really? Seriously?”
Hong Seol started to pick up the brown puppy but flinched, holding it at arm’s length from her face.
“Gyeon Young Hoo, is that really you?”
The brown puppy nodded its head in resignation.
“Then that means…”
Hong Seol recalled how he had licked her cheek and her face twisted in disgust.
That was when it happened.
“Woof!”
Nam Goong Baek barked triumphantly.
Then he thrust his head beneath Hong Seol’s hand as if demanding to be petted.
“Your older brother handled everything, so don’t worry, yes?”
Nam Goong Baek nodded his head, then proudly lifted his black nose high.
Looking closer, Gyeon Young Hoo’s fur was patchy and sparse in places.
He had clearly received a thorough beating from Nam Goong Baek during her absence.
“You did well.”
Hong Seol smiled and stroked Nam Goong Baek, who was so pleased he spun in circles on the spot.
But Hong Seol still had matters to discuss with Gyeon Young Hoo.
“Gyeon Young Hoo. What exactly were you thinking, pulling something like this?”
Hong Seol’s voice was utterly stern. Overwhelmed by the atmosphere, Gyeon Young Hoo instinctively backed away and lowered his body.
“Whimper…”
But Hong Seol had no intention of going easy on him.
“Not only did you pretend not to know while transformed into a dog, but you—a recipient of the Martial Arts Alliance’s stipend—fed my brother a toxin! The Commander-in-Chief won’t overlook this… huh?”
Suddenly, a sharp glint flashed in Hong Seol’s eyes.
Whoosh!
In that instant, a short blade flew from Hong Seol’s hand toward the bushes.
Clang!
A moment later, a man emerged from the bushes, catching the blade’s edge between his fingertips.
He was a massive man, built like a bear. At first glance, his strength appeared formidable.
He opened his mouth.
“The rumors are true. Your perception is remarkably sharp.”
Hong Seol offered a tense smile.
“And you’re quite skilled yourself, catching my blade like that.”
Vicious thugs emerged from behind the man. They were the Black Cloud Pavilion workers who had fled yesterday.
With blades in hand, they crept forward menacingly—clearly they had come to target Hong Seol’s group.
“…Nineteen, twenty.”
There were more of them than expected. Hong Seol gently bit her lip.
Yesterday, Nam Goong Baek and Gyeon Young Hoo stood beside me—three against the world. Today, I stand alone.
And I must fight while protecting two wolf cubs, one of whom might be Jeok’s spy.
‘Can I do this? No—I must do this.’
The moment I steadied my resolve and took my stance.
A sharp sound cut through the air.
White, thick front paws blocked the space between me and the ferocious beasts.
The young wolf had stepped forward with courage.
“Grrrrr…”
But in the next instant, my hand seized the scruff of his neck and sent him tumbling backward.
“You can’t even transmit qi through sound yet, and you want to fight? Step back.”
“Whimper…”
At my blunt words, Nam Goong Baek’s tail drooped.
Seeing that, I smiled faintly. Then my eyes grew cold and sharp as I fixed my gaze on the beasts before me.
“Leave this to me. I’ll show you everything I’ve accomplished.”
With those words, my body shot upward into the air with effortless grace.
* * *
Jang Mu Hyuk, the leader of the ferocious beasts, felt a chill run down his spine.
‘When the Pavilion Master first ordered me to bring twenty men, I secretly scoffed at it…’
Now it seemed I should have brought thirty instead.
Half of my subordinates were currently sprawled across the dirt.
Defeated by a single girl.
Whoosh!
Before the thought even finished, the girl’s vicious kick grazed his cheek.
“Damn!”
He twisted his body to evade the blow, but the man behind him was not so fortunate.
“Ugh!”
Watching his subordinate clutch his jaw and collapse from the girl’s strike, Jang Mu Hyuk’s mood darkened further.
‘I have no choice but to step in myself.’
As the leader, I cannot afford to lose momentum from the start.
He deliberately clasped his hands behind his back and laughed carelessly, stroking a beard that didn’t exist with feigned composure.
“So the Nam Goong Family’s patriarch raised you through rigorous training—truly, you possess exceptional martial talent.”
“A beast whose belly drags on the ground shouldn’t talk so much. Stop wasting words and come at me!”
‘What…?’
Jang Mu Hyuk felt dizzy at the crude language—utterly unbecoming of a Nam Goong Family lady.
Moreover, the girl was striking precisely at the insecurity he harbored most.
‘A belly that drags on the ground…!’
His massive frame was nothing but solid muscle, damn it!
Shing!
Jang Mu Hyuk drew a broad blade from his back, his sparse beard trembling with indignation.
It was the weapon that had earned him the epithet “One-Slash Blade”—a blade that cleaved in a single stroke.
Whoosh!
As he slashed his blade through the air, silver trajectories scattered with a chilling brilliance.
The movements were so swift that to the others, only afterimages remained visible.
Indeed, most could barely perceive a single strike.

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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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