The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 98

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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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Yi-eon hurriedly hid behind a tree next to the West Hall entrance. His heart was beating rapidly.

 

‘Seo-yu is coming this way.’

 

He thought she had already gone home, but it seemed she was running late today. However, Seo-yu’s expression didn’t look good.

 

‘I wonder what happened?’

 

Seo-yu, carrying books in her small arms, looked somehow exhausted. Her trudging steps seemed to have no strength at all, making Yi-eon very worried.

 

Thud!

 

It was then that one of the books Seo-yu was carrying fell to the ground.

 

“Ah!”

 

Seo-yu quickly bent down to pick up the book, but the other books she was holding in her arms came tumbling down as well.

 

“Aah!”

 

Seo-yu looked at the books scattered on the ground with a tearful expression. Yi-eon clenched his fists at the sight.

 

‘I want to help Seo-yu too.’

 

But if he suddenly appeared, she would be startled.

 

After much deliberation, Yi-eon took a step forward and carefully approached while deliberately making footstep sounds so Seo-yu wouldn’t be surprised.

 

Then he sat down across from Seo-yu, who was crouched on the ground picking up books, and picked up one of the fallen books.

 

“Oh, thank y…”

 

Seo-yu, who had just raised her gaze, tilted her head curiously.

 

“Huh?”

 

Seo-yu’s eyes lingered on Yi-eon. As he was fully reflected in her honey-colored pupils, Yi-eon didn’t know what to do and averted his gaze.

 

“Dolphin…?”

 

At that moment, Seo-yu’s eyes widened.

 

“The dolphin I met in the sea! You’re the dolphin, aren’t you?”

 

Before her eyes was a child who looked exactly like the dolphin boy who had saved her at Cheongmyeong Valley.

 

‘She remembers me?’

 

Yi-eon’s pupils shook. When Yi-eon met Seo-yu in the Dragon Palace coastal waters, he had been transformed into a dolphin.

 

It was a common animal in the deep sea, and since Seo-yu was losing consciousness, he never dreamed she would recognize him.

 

“No, no… I’m…”

 

The flustered Yi-eon tried to shake his head, but Seo-yu was already certain.

 

“I never expected to meet you again here! Do you attend the Medical Academy?”

 

Seo-yu was so delighted that she firmly grasped Yi-eon’s hands. She was so happy that her voice naturally grew louder.

 

‘So it wasn’t a fantasy after all!’

 

At first, everyone thought Seo-yu had seen a hallucination, but when she kept insisting, they came to believe her.

 

However, as time passed, Seo-yu gradually became less confident.

 

When her family found Seo-yu, they said there was no one around, and most of all, what she heard from Eun-ho bothered her.

 

‘You mean a completely black dolphin?’

 

‘Yes! It was really pitch black.’

 

‘Well… there are plenty of whales with white bellies or around the eyes, or near the mouth, but I don’t believe there are any dolphins that are completely black all over.’

 

If Eun-ho, who was born in the sea, didn’t know about it, had she really seen it correctly?

 

Even the whale had transformed into other animals. Hadn’t everyone said that such a thing was impossible, no matter what special abilities beast-people possessed?

 

After pondering this countless times and reaching the point of thinking ‘Maybe the air bubble was just my imagination too,’ the Boy had appeared.

 

‘Looking at him again, he’s really so pretty!’

 

His night sky-like hair and ink-black eyes contrasted with his fair, smooth skin, and his distinct features beneath beautifully extended long eyelashes were remarkably lovely.

 

It was exactly the same as the face in her memory that had been so beautiful she could hardly forget it.

 

Seo-yu looked at the Boy with delight and joy, smiling brightly. Then the Boy’s pale face gradually turned red before his head dropped down.

 

“Um, my hand…”

 

“Ah! I’m sorry.”

 

As she apologized and let go of his hand, the Boy who had lowered his head began picking up the books that were still scattered on the ground one by one.

 

Seo-yu quickly gathered her own books as well while offering her belated greeting.

 

“Dolphin-nim, you brought me the air bubble back then, didn’t you? I really wanted to tell you how grateful I am.”

 

The Boy hesitated for a moment, then answered quietly with downcast eyes.

 

“…I’m glad you’re safe.”

 

Seo-yu blinked at hearing proper words from him for the first time.

 

‘His voice sounds just like it’s coming from a cave.’

 

Unlike his delicate face like a girl’s, the Boy’s voice was quite deep.

 

It was much deeper than Li-gon’s voice, who hadn’t reached puberty yet, and even deeper than Li-han’s voice, which had dropped dramatically since last winter.

 

Seo-yu thought it was really cool and smiled bashfully. Yi-eon’s gaze briefly touched her smiling face before dropping away as if burned by fire.

 

“May I ask Dolphin-nim’s name? My name is Seo-yu. Hwang Seo-yu!”

 

“I’m Gwi…”

 

Yi-eon moved his lips in such a small voice that it couldn’t be heard, then corrected himself.

 

“I’m called Yi-eon.”

 

“Wow, what a pretty name. Then may I call you Yi-eon-nim?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Having received permission, Seo-yu became even more excited and chattered away.

 

“I’m so happy to know there’s someone who came with me from the Eastern Region. It would have been nice if we’d met sooner… Come to think of it, I’ve never seen Yi-eon-nim in the Academic Hall. You’re definitely not a new student, right?”

 

“…”

 

Yi-eon pressed his lips tightly together.

 

He had momentarily forgotten in his happiness at introducing himself to Seo-yu and having this conversation, but he was neither a Medical Academy student nor a dolphin beast-person.

 

‘If I keep talking, I’ll end up lying.’

 

He had already deceived Seo-yu, and he couldn’t continue doing so.

 

Yi-eon handed the neatly gathered books to Seo-yu and tried to leave quickly.

 

But a piece of paper he had temporarily set aside while picking up books suddenly fluttered in a gust of wind and flew toward Seo-yu.

 

“I caught it!”

 

Seo-yu caught the paper with a snap of her small hand and spoke proudly. Naturally, her gaze turned to the writing on the paper.

 

Soon Seo-yu’s head whipped around.

 

“Yi-eon-nim, are you applying to be a West Hall keeper?”

 

“That’s…”

 

He should have answered that it wasn’t like that.

 

However, looking at those large eyes sparkling with anticipation, he couldn’t bring himself to say no.

 

“…Yes. I’m thinking of… applying.”

 

“Wow, I really hope you make it. I come to the West Hall often!”

 

“I’ll do my best.”

 

Unable to say that he already knew, Yi-eon ended up making a promise he shouldn’t have made.

 

* * *

 

On the way back to Cheongjuk Hall, the shadow that usually stretched long and alone was now stretched into two.

 

“Thank you, Yi-eon. For helping me carry these books. They were actually a bit heavy.”

 

Whenever Seo-yu visited the West Hall, she always borrowed several books. This was because she no longer read books late into the night after nearly getting trapped in the West Hall once.

 

In her eagerness to find even one more reference, the number of books kept increasing, but today her hands felt light. It was thanks to Yi-eon offering to escort her back.

 

Yi-eon, holding the books in his arms in place of Seo-yu, spoke quietly.

 

“It seemed dangerous for you to go alone when it’s dark.”

 

The Medical Academy was surrounded by mountains on all sides, so the sun set quickly even during the long summer days.

 

“That’s right! The nights are incredibly dark here. I was surprised at first. Our household is on a mountain, but it’s not this dark. So I was scared that ghosts might appear.”

 

“Ghosts….”

 

There was bitterness in Yi-eon’s low murmur, but Seo-yu didn’t catch it.

 

Then, Seo-yu cupped her hands and whispered to Yi-eon.

 

“Yi-eon, this is a secret. There’s actually a ghost at the Medical Academy.”

 

Yi-eon’s body stiffened with a start. He wondered if Seo-yu had recognized him and was saying this.

 

“But he’s a really good person. When I hadn’t been at the Medical Academy long, I almost got trapped in the West Hall, but Ghost opened the door for me. Isn’t that amazing?”

 

Seeing her giggling face, Yi-eon felt his tension gradually ease.

 

‘I was worried it might have become a bad memory for her.’

 

But since it had actually been helpful, Yi-eon was very pleased and found himself smiling along with Seo-yu without realizing it.

 

* * *

 

“Hmm. It’s not here either.”

 

The next day, Seo-yu closed her book and let her shoulders droop.

 

She had been so diligent in reading that she even looked through herbal medicine texts during the short time before going to class, but information about the four medicinal herbs inhabited by spirits wasn’t recorded anywhere.

 

Seo-yu recalled the conversation she had with the spirits last night.

 

‘Seollin, has anyone met you or the other spirits before?’

 

[There have been! Jeongdam and I exist as multiple plants.]

 

‘Then why doesn’t anyone know about you?’

 

It was very strange that only the spirits were missing from herbal medicine texts that recorded even the rarest medicinal herbs.

 

When she asked this question because she couldn’t understand it at all, Dragon Spirit suddenly interjected.

 

[Because someone hid it.]

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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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