The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 152

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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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Seo-yu unconsciously reached out her hand in delight, then pulled it back.

‘Right, you wouldn’t recognize me.’

To others, she appeared to be Su-jeong, not Seo-yu.

Moreover, with her face now covered by the black hat, there was no way anyone could recognize who she was.

Sure enough.

Tap tap, tap tap tap!

Blackie quickly turned around and scampered away.

Seo-yu watched with wistful eyes as the squirrel nimbly climbed up the pillar.

‘Huh?’

Blackie leaped down onto the string of dried persimmons hanging from the eaves.

The bundled dried persimmons swayed left and right.

“B-Blackie? Are you okay? Come here! I’ll catch you!”

Seo-yu was startled and reached out her hands in worry, but Blackie just continued moving around precariously between the swaying strings.

Eventually, Blackie took a big bite out of one of the most well-ripened dried persimmons.

‘Could it have been hungry?’

Worry crossed Seo-yu’s face as she suddenly remembered Blackie starving last winter.

Since their reunion at the Medical Academy, she had been carefully providing food whenever she spotted it, but strangely, she hadn’t encountered it even once since the new semester began.

Perhaps it had returned to the Great Antlered Deer Family estate out of homesickness and was starving again.

Just then, Blackie leaped down onto Seo-yu’s hand.

“Whoa!”

Seo-yu was flustered but managed to catch Blackie safely.

Just as she was about to let out a sigh of relief, Blackie placed the piece of dried persimmon it had brought down onto Seo-yu’s palm.

Seo-yu blinked.

“…You’re giving this to me?”

As if to confirm it wasn’t a mistake, Blackie stepped back from the dried persimmon.

That gesture reminded her exactly of that moonlit night when it had brought her a tree branch laden with berries to give to her.

Seo-yu carefully made eye contact with Blackie in her hand and asked.

“Blackie, do you perhaps know who I am?”

“Squeak!”

A short cry that sounded like an answer came in response to her hopeful question.

Though it was impossible for such a small animal that couldn’t even understand words to do such a thing, Seo-yu felt a strange certainty from those black eyes looking up at her.

“You really are amazing, Blackie.”

Seo-yu couldn’t contain her overwhelming emotions and exclaimed in admiration.

The fact that there was a being who could recognize her even in a different appearance made Seo-yu so happy and grateful that she couldn’t help but rub her cheek against Blackie’s fur.

Somehow Blackie seemed to stiffen, but it didn’t avoid her.

It was then that a good idea occurred to her.

“Um, Blackie. Could I perhaps ask you for just one favor?”

“Squeak!”

At her cautious question, Blackie straightened up as if it had been waiting for exactly that.

Seo-yu carefully extended her hands holding Blackie beyond the pillar, allowing it to see Li-han standing in the distance, then spoke.

“The person you see over there is our elder brother….”

* * *

Meanwhile, Su-jeong was struggling to endure her boredom.

‘How long do I have to keep standing? My legs are killing me.’

Though she wore a sorrowful expression on the outside, inside she was seething.

‘What the hell is Elder Brother Su-gyu doing? He should take care of sending me home first.’

She was already twisted up from pretending to be Seo-yu and acting coy, and there were so many mourners on top of that.

She was irritated by the procession that showed no signs of ending.

But since the Golden Dragon Family was standing right beside her, she couldn’t show it.

Clack, clack.

Just then, a clear sound of something hitting roof tiles came from somewhere.

Li-han was the first to react.

With his keen senses as a warrior, he turned his gaze toward where the sound came from, up on the wall.

There sat a small black furry creature.

‘A squirrel?’

Li-han’s eyes narrowed.

He could have dismissed it as just a common mountain animal, but he suddenly remembered a story Seo-yu had told him.

‘Elder Brother, I have a really cute and smart friend I met in the Western Region. It’s a squirrel friend with fur as black as the night sky, so I named it Blackie. And I met that friend again at the Medical Academy!’

The black squirrel that Seo-yu had bragged about with sparkling eyes when she returned home during the last vacation.

Black-furred squirrels were uncommon, and if it came close to Seo-yu and caught her attention, it must surely be that friend.

Li-han felt secretly pleased. It seemed like it could give strength to Seo-yu, who must be having a hard time returning to a place with no good memories.

“Seo-yu, look over there.”

Li-han personally raised his hand and pointed to the roof.

“It looks like your friend has come. Is that right?”

“What? A friend?”

Su-jeong looked up at where he was pointing with a face that showed she had no idea what he meant.

What appeared in her eyes was just some animal.

“Ah….”

Typical of someone who would be Nok Seo-yu’s elder brother.

Su-jeong was deflated, but forced herself to raise the corners of her mouth to humor Li-han, who was making a fuss over some animal.

“Oh my, it’s a squirrel. It’s cute because it’s black.”

“….”

Li-han’s expression hardened at the utterly dry response.

Surely Seo-yu had cherished that squirrel greatly. How much must she have loved it to even brag about it to her family?

Yet here she was reacting indifferently, as if looking at an animal she’d never seen before, like looking at bothersome junk.

‘Strange.’

An inexplicable unpleasant feeling pressed down on Li-han’s chest.

The younger brother before his eyes was definitely Seo-yu, yet he had the strange sensation of looking at an empty shell with no substance inside.

It was when Li-han looked up at the roof again in confusion.

Tap, tap tap.

The black squirrel tapped the roof tiles with its front paws, making sounds. It was a clear signal as if telling him to look at it.

Li-han’s gaze met the squirrel’s black eyes.

As soon as it made eye contact with Li-han, the creature quickly turned its body around. Then it glanced back and wagged its tail.

‘Is it telling me to follow?’

It was excessively intelligent behavior for a beast.

Li-han’s instincts whispered to him. That he should follow that thing. That there would be some answer there.

Li-han steeled his resolve and took a step back from Su-jeong.

“Elder Brother?”

Su-jeong called to him with a puzzled look. Li-han calmly made an excuse.

“I think I dropped my handkerchief on the way to the Medicine Hall. I’ll go find it.”

“A handkerchief? You could just buy a new one.”

The Seo-yu who would normally have said ‘Elder Brother, then let’s go together quickly!’ slightly furrowed her brow.

Li-han suppressed a hollow laugh and spoke gently.

“It’s a gift you gave me, Seo-yu. I don’t want to lose it.”

“Ah… yes, then it can’t be helped.”

When Su-jeong backed down, Li-han turned around without hesitation.

He quickly walked toward the deserted back courtyard, chasing after the black squirrel running across the rooftops.

Unlike the bustling sarangchae, the back courtyard was wrapped in silence.

The commotion of the mourners grew distant, and instead only the sound of cool wind brushed past his ears.

Li-han stopped walking. Someone was standing where the squirrel that had been leading the way had stopped.

A suspicious figure wearing a shabby apron that physicians might wear, with a black hat pulled low to cover their face.

The squirrel scurried over and naturally settled on that person’s shoulder.

Li-han’s brow furrowed.

“By any chance, were you the one who called me?”

When he asked without hiding his wariness, the figure slowly nodded.

Then they raised a trembling hand and slowly lifted the brim of the black hat that had been pulled low.

The moment the face hidden in shadow was revealed, Li-han’s eyes turned coldly frigid.

‘Nok Su-jeong?’

Standing there was Nok Su-jeong, the main culprit who had tormented and abused Seo-yu.

Li-han clenched his fists tightly, suppressing the rising displeasure.

‘Why is a criminal who should be locked up in prison here?’

Then he remembered whose funeral was being held today. And the fact that Nok Su-jeong was his daughter.

Even so, to dare come find him on her own feet and call him out. It was shameless beyond measure.

It was the moment Li-han was about to turn around immediately.

“Elder Brother!”

Li-han doubted his own ears.

“…What did you just say?”

Li-han’s voice dropped low. It was like the growling of a wild beast.

How dare anyone call him elder brother.

If she was now trying to act like Seo-yu’s family and approach him familiarly, she had misjudged the situation.

He had no intention of ever getting close to Su-jeong.

“Don’t play foolish tricks.”

Just as he was about to turn around again, considering her not even worth dealing with.

“Young Master Li-han, it’s me. Seo-yu.”

That urgently heard voice caught Li-han’s ankle.

It wasn’t simply because the voice was similar. The aura contained in that desperate cry, that resonance wasn’t unfamiliar.

Li-han turned his head again as if enchanted and looked at her.

The face revealed under the black hat was certainly that of the detestable Nok Su-jeong.

However, the moment their eyes met, a thrill ran down Li-han’s spine.

‘This feeling is…’

Su-jeong, no, Seo-yu continued speaking haltingly.

“You, you might not believe it, but I’m really Seo-yu.”

Would Li-han listen to her words seriously?

She thought that if he was family to her beloved, he would surely believe her, but even so, since it was such an absurd situation, she felt afraid even to speak about it.

Seo-yu composed her voice that kept wanting to sob and explained calmly.

“Earlier, I followed Young Master Su-gyu out to the Sarangchae Garden and encountered Miss Su-jeong. At that time, she fed me something strange… When I came to my senses, our bodies had been switched.”

That’s impossible.

Li-han couldn’t easily accept this situation.

How could he believe it when Nok Su-jeong suddenly appeared claiming to be Seo-yu?

However, Li-han couldn’t ignore the pitiful gaze looking at him.

‘That gaze isn’t unfamiliar either.’

Because back when he was still being harsh to Seo-yu, she would sometimes look at Li-han with such eyes.

Moreover, he felt a sensation that he couldn’t feel from the ‘Seo-yu’ who had been standing in the funeral hall earlier.

The comfortable and warm aura he felt whenever he was by Seo-yu’s side was, absurdly, flowing from the enemy before his eyes.

And there was even that black squirrel sitting on Nok Su-jeong’s shoulder.

The entire situation made no sense rationally, but his instincts kept pointing to a different answer.

Li-han’s pupils shook. He unknowingly took a step closer to her.

“…Are you really Seo-yu?”

“Yes, Young Master Li-han. It’s really me.”

“How could such a thing…!”

Li-han sighed but immediately embraced Seo-yu.

“You must have been so frightened, Seo-yu. How worried you must have been.”

“I’m, I’m fine. You recognized me, Young Master.”

Only then did Seo-yu, feeling relieved, lean into Li-han’s embrace.

After the brief hug ended, Li-han asked carefully.

“Can you tell me in detail what happened? You said she fed you something?”

“Yes. Then Miss Su-jeong’s shadow suddenly attacked me. My shadow went to Miss Su-jeong. I think it might be some kind of sorcery…”

Seo-yu had been hesitating because she couldn’t rashly bring up the topic of spirits.

“If it’s sorcery related to shadows, there’s a high possibility it’s a spirit.”

Surprisingly, Li-han was the first to speak up. Seo-yu’s eyes widened as she hurriedly asked back.

“Elder Brother, do you know about spirits?”

“Yeah. I’ve spent a lot of time at the Dragon Palace since I was young, you know. Aunt used to tell me stories about how an Ancient Spirit once visited the Dragon Palace long ago.”

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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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