The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 143

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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As they say, strike while the iron is hot, so Seo-yu told her friends about Tae-heum’s invitation after afternoon classes ended.

“Elder Qilin is the grandfather who brought Bi-neung to the Medical Academy, right?”

“Mae-hwa knew about it too!”

“Yeah. You wouldn’t know since you had a different class, Seo-yu. I spent my entire break time listening to this story from Bi-neung.”

“I… wasn’t… jealous… or anything…”

“See? That’s how the whole break flew by. I said ‘So what?’ at that time.”

“Seo-yu, for reference, I said ‘Wow, really?'”

“Uh… mm…”

When Dan-eum chimed in with additional testimony, Bi-neung’s eyebrows twitched slowly. Her expression said ‘I can’t help it.’

Of course, Mae-hwa and Dan-eum weren’t trying to blame Bi-neung either. It was just a joke between themselves.

“Anyway, I don’t mind. There are no classes that day anyway.”

“Seo-yu, you don’t even need to ask me about this kind of thing. It’s not like we’re being given work – if someone invites us to have fun, we definitely go.”

“Are Ryeong-ah and Wi Un okay with it too?”

“Yes. It sounds fun.”

“Of course!”

When all her friends agreed, Seo-yu’s expression brightened.

It was after that when Seo-yu, who had hesitated for a moment, brought up another topic.

“And guys, if it’s okay with you…”

And so the next day.

Six friends gathered at the entrance to the mountain path leading to the hut.

Seo-yu, who had arrived early with Bi-neung and was waiting for the children, widened her eyes when she saw her friends each carrying luggage.

“Guys, when did you prepare all that!”

Just yesterday, before visiting the hut, Seo-yu had made one suggestion to her friends.

‘If it’s okay with you, how about we bring gifts for Grandfather? Since it’s tomorrow, even a simple letter would be good!’

‘Oh, that sounds good.’

‘Let’s do it!’

It was meant to express gratitude to Tae-heum for inviting them, but since there wasn’t much time to prepare separately, she hadn’t expected much.

But seeing them loaded with luggage, she couldn’t help but be surprised.

“If we’re talking about gifts, this much is necessary.”

“Your gift isn’t small either, Seo-yu?”

Mae-hwa gestured with her chin toward the bundle in Seo-yu’s hands. Seo-yu quickly showed her bundle to the children.

“These are medicine pills I made at home. Master and I tried making something new… I brought them hoping Grandfather might take a look! What did you bring, Mae-hwa?”

“Wool yarn.”

Mae-hwa also opened the lid of her basket to show them. Inside was a bundle of soft gray wool yarn.

“Winter comes quickly after autumn passes. I thought he might need some warm fabric.”

“Ah, I should have molted too.”

“How about trying to shed some scales instead?”

“Gasp, how can you say something so cruel!”

Dan-eum startled and pretended to cover his mouth, but when Mae-hwa’s glare grew fierce, he laughed and naturally changed the subject.

“Come on, everyone look at the gift I prepared too.”

What came out of Dan-eum’s belongings was a sparkling pebble. Wi Un asked in surprise.

“Wow, is that a jewel?”

“It’s called fluorite, a precious mineral. You’d have trouble finding this anywhere else. It gives off a gentle glow when it catches the light.”

“You didn’t steal it, did you.”

“Hey now, Mae-hwa, what do you take me for. When you dig in the ground, all sorts of things come up. Of course, this one my brother dug up, but…”

Dan-eum trailed off and shrugged his shoulders.

“Anyway, I worked together with him. It’s joint ownership.”

“So that’s how you earn things.”

Mae-hwa clicked her tongue and shifted her gaze to the other children.

Ryeong-ah shyly held up the wrapping cloth in her hands. A sweet aroma wafted gently from inside the wrapping cloth.

“I brought carrot rice cake. It’s something our household has made and eaten a lot since long ago.”

“That sounds delicious!”

“I tried some before, and Ryeong-ah’s carrot rice cake is really tasty.”

When Seo-yu exclaimed in admiration, Wi Un added a comment. Ryeong-ah smiled happily and introduced Wi Un’s gift.

“Wi Un’s gift is pretty too. It’s a bookmark, right?”

“Yeah. It’s made from oak tree, and I thought you might read a lot of books, so I wanted to give it to you.”

“This should be enough that he won’t chase us away. Let’s go now.”

With Mae-hwa’s words, the children climbed the mountain. Chattering away as they went up the mountain path, they soon reached the mountain hut.

Tae-heum, who had come out in front of the mountain hut to wait, waved his hand.

“Oh, you all came!”

“Hello!”

“Thank you for inviting us!”

As they greeted him in turn, Bi-neung held out something with slow movements.

“This… thing…”

“Hm? Isn’t this a bamboo tube? It’s made of bamboo.”

Bi-neung nodded her head and slumped down on the wooden floor with a tired face. Seo-yu giggled and spoke for her.

“We all prepared gifts together. Please accept them, Grandfather.”

“Gifts, you say?”

“Yes! I brought medicine pills.”

“It’s wool yarn. It’s warm even just covering yourself with it.”

“I made a bookmark.”

Each of the children held out the gifts they had prepared. Tae-heum was deeply moved each time he received a gift from each child.

“Oh my, you could have just come, but what am I to this old man…”

“I mentioned it yesterday because there wasn’t much time, but thankfully my friends prepared so much! I hope it will be helpful to you, Grandfather.”

Seo-yu was very excited by that reaction.

Gazing quietly at her bright, beaming smile, Tae-heum realized that it was Seo-yu who had suggested bringing gifts for him.

“Thank you, thank you.”

Trying hard to ignore the feeling of moisture around his eyes, he guided the children to the wooden platform placed in the courtyard.

“Come, come, it must have been hot and tiring climbing all the way up here. Put down your heavy luggage and sit down first. I’ll bring out something to eat.”

Tae-heum brought out various refreshments including cool omija tea, rice cakes filled with sweet red bean paste, honey-preserved chestnuts, and more.

“Wow!”

“Thank you for the food!”

The children gathered together in a circle and began happily eating the snacks. Seo-yu also sat among her friends and picked up a chestnut.

‘There are chestnuts this big too!’

The large chestnut was so sweet and savory that it naturally lifted her spirits with its delicious taste.

Watching Seo-yu like this, Tae-heum casually asked.

“Seo-yu, how does that chestnut taste?”

“It’s delishush!”

Seo-yu, who had been earnestly chewing the chestnut, answered with her cheeks puffed up like a squirrel. Tae-heum quickly poured her fresh tea.

“You’ll get indigestion, child. You can eat slowly and then answer.”

“Thank you!”

Gulp, gulp.

Seo-yu swallowed the delicious omija tea and chestnut together and smiled brightly.

“It’s really delicious! It’s incredibly big, and it’s sweet too. I’ve never seen such a big chestnut before.”

“Right? That’s because it’s a king chestnut.”

“A king chestnut?”

“That’s right. Usually, chestnut burrs contain two or three chestnuts inside, don’t they? But king chestnuts have just one chestnut inside a large chestnut burr.”

“Wow, so that’s why it’s this big!”

“Exactly. Since it ate up all the nutrients that would have been shared among several, it’s much firmer and tastier than the small, tender ones.”

Seo-yu looked at the chestnut with curious eyes.

The regular chestnuts she knew were small, about the size of a curved index finger, so she had wondered how this chestnut alone could be as big as a child’s fist, and now she knew the secret.

“Being one doesn’t necessarily mean being lacking compared to many.”

Seo-yu, who had been purely amazed, looked up at the following words. Somehow, Tae-heum’s words touched her heart.

“And that’s not all. Look at the sun floating up there.”

Seo-yu and the children’s gazes simultaneously turned toward the sun hanging in the blue sky. Dazzlingly bright light was pouring down.

“What if there were two or three suns in the sky? The world would have been very chaotic with them competing to shine brighter than each other.”

Tae-heum’s warm gaze lingered briefly on Seo-yu’s forehead, where her invisible horn was located.

“But because there is only one, it can shine so completely and most brightly upon the world.”

“….”

“So being one isn’t about being lacking. Rather, it means the power is gathered tightly together without being scattered. It’s very precious and special.”

Those words seemed to gently caress the depths of Seo-yu’s heart.

Seo-yu unconsciously raised her hand and lightly touched her forehead.

It was the horn that she had once wanted to hide because it was different from others, that she believed she had to hide.

But after hearing Grandfather’s words, she somehow felt as if this horn was shining brightly like the sun.

‘I’m not lacking.’

Having gained confidence, Seo-yu carefully spoke up as the conversation was ending.

“Um, everyone. I have something I really want to tell you all. May I?”

“What is it?”

“Of course! You can tell us anything.”

Curious gazes focused on Seo-yu.

Seo-yu began to speak slowly, word by word, with her heart pounding nervously.

“Some of you already know this, but… the truth is, I’m not a Golden Dragon, I’m a deer. I absolutely didn’t keep quiet to deceive you all.”

Ryeong-ah and Wi Un exchanged glances as if to say ‘Ah, so that’s what this is about’ and spoke in turn.

“Un and I already knew.”

“Right. We heard about it before. It’s not like you told only us in secret, we just happened to find out.”

“Me… too.”

Bi-neung also slowly added her words.

Now only Mae-hwa and Dan-eum remained.

Seo-yu felt unnecessarily nervous and clamped her mouth shut.

‘They might think I deceived them because I wanted to look like someone from the Four Spirit Families.’

It was a perfectly possible misunderstanding, and if that were the case, she would have to apologize.

However, Mae-hwa and Dan-eum’s reactions were unusual.

“Hmm.”

“Oh, a deer.”

Dan-eum simply nodded his head, and Mae-hwa slurped down the rest of her tea.

She wondered if they might be angry at being deceived, but both had very peaceful expressions.

Seeing Seo-yu’s puzzled look, Dan-eum scratched his cheek.

“But Seo-yu, I’m really sorry, but I’ve never actually thought of you as a dragon.”

“I hate to agree with him, but me too.”

Mae-hwa also nodded briefly.

“Of course, sometimes I got a really… how should I put it? Sacred feeling? Something like that.”

“What kind of god is Seo-yu?”

“Anyway, that’s just how it felt.”

“I… I see.”

Surprised by their remarkably calm reaction, Seo-yu glanced around before continuing.

“Um, there’s one more thing I want to tell you…”

Now everyone just looked at Seo-yu without saying anything.

Seeing her friends’ eyes that contained not even a trace of negative energy, Seo-yu felt her tension completely melt away.

‘Ah, these children wouldn’t care how many horns I have.’

With this instinctive realization, a bright smile bloomed on Seo-yu’s face.

Pop!

Seo-yu came down from the wooden platform and used Beast Transformation.

A small deer with white, soft horns looked at the children with a gentle face.

“Kyuu— (This is me, everyone.)”

Mae-hwa, the mountain goat beastkin who had been observing Seo-yu most intently, tilted her head.

“You must have lived in the fields. Your claws aren’t sharp at all?”

Mae-hwa also came down to the ground and used Beast Transformation. Transformed into a white mountain goat, Mae-hwa stood side by side with Seo-yu to compare their claws.

“When it comes to sharp claws, you can’t leave out Lady Li Dan-eum here.”

Dan-eum also transformed into a pangolin, not to be outdone, showing off his long claws.

Wi Un, who had been rolling his eyes, performed Beast Transformation on the wooden platform.

“I don’t have claws, but my spines are pretty sharp…”

“Cl, aws… I have… them…”

Poof, poof!

Following Wi Un, when even Bi-neung transformed, Ryeong-ah, who had been awkwardly staying on the wooden platform, also changed into a small baby rabbit.

Soon, the area in front of the mountain hut was filled with animal friends.

Despite their vastly different appearances, the friends mingled joyfully without a care.

‘Our granddaughter has grown up so well.’

Watching the pure and innocent children, Tae-heum secretly wiped away tears.

She must have grown up through hardships, yet Seo-yu had lived maintaining such a healthy and kind heart, which made him proud and touched.

In his eyes, Seo-yu’s small and gentle horn looked exactly like that of the Primordial Qilin, who lived in harmony with all things without harming anyone, making him feel even more so.

‘Moreover, that horn…’

It was a horn that possessed abundant power, just not yet awakened.

Born as a qilin and having studied the qilin body more than anyone else, Tae-heum could recognize this fact.

It was only surprising why it hadn’t awakened yet.

‘This isn’t something to rush.’

It was regrettable that she had to endure a difficult childhood, but that was already irreversible.

Now the child was healthy and living her given life joyfully, so he wanted to watch over that for a long time.

Truly, that was enough.

Tae-heum watched Seo-yu playing excitedly with her friends under the bright sunlight with a smiling face for a long while.

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