The Dragon Family’s Beloved Baby Cat - Chapter 15
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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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Chapter 15
“Oh right, I’m giving this as a gift to big brother, so please wrap up some honey rice cakes and red bean rice cakes.”
Just before departing for Dowoon’s room, Moa suddenly turned her head at the door and asked the head chef.
“But hyung doesn’t like sweet things.”
Yeongang said worriedly, furrowing his brow.
Moa turned her head and brought her finger to her lips, making a “shh” sound.
While Yeongang hesitated at the sudden action, the head chef quickly wrapped honey rice cakes in a cloth bundle.
Moa carefully held the small bundle and quickly came out the door, looking at Yeongang.
“I know big brother doesn’t like sweet things too.”
Moa pouted her lips.
They had tea together no less than ten times – how could she not know?
In fact, Moa had gathered all sorts of information to perfectly match Dowoon’s preferences.
“Then why did you get them?”
Yeongang looked genuinely puzzled as he stared at the honey rice cakes Moa was holding preciously.
Moa looked around to make sure no one else was listening, then answered sheepishly.
“Because they’re so delicious.”
“Huh? Even if they’re delicious, hyung might not eat them.”
“No, I’m going to eat them later if I get hungry.”
Moa said with an embarrassed “hehe” laugh.
“What?”
“I might get hungry again while we’re talking. But it would be a bit awkward to only pack mine, so I asked for red bean rice cakes too.”
Moa thought that red bean rice cakes were less sweet, so Dowoon might be able to eat them.
She felt embarrassed eating alone, so she planned to feed Dowoon something too.
Yeongang shook his head and stared at Moa’s plumply bulging belly.
It was amazing how it went from flat to puffed up like a balloon, and it was absurd that she was thinking of putting more in.
“I might use my power again, you know? Then I’ll get hungry.”
Though it was because she had slept for so long, Moa already believed that using her power made her hungry.
“Okay, fine. I get it.”
Since she had used her power to heal Geumoh, Yeongang couldn’t really argue and just nodded.
“I’m really grateful, you know.”
Yeongang grumbled quietly, but there was laughter mixed in his voice.
However, as they got closer to Jin Dowoon’s quarters, his expression gradually darkened.
“Can hyung really… be healed too?”
“Huh?”
“Hyung used to be really kind. But now… I sometimes wonder if he just thinks of me as his brother because I received the Jin surname.”
Yeongang’s voice gradually became dejected.
“Can changes in a person’s emotions be fixed too?”
Yeongang’s face became depressingly gloomy.
“Maybe hyung just lost his affection for me.”
After getting a good night’s sleep, Yeongang was regretting how he had lashed out and vented his anger on those around him for the past three years.
Certainly in the early stages when his insomnia began, Dowoon had been attentively worried about his younger brother.
But gradually his expression worsened, and at some point he completely changed into someone expressionless, like an empty shell.
“I don’t think that’s it?”
Moa, who had been quietly listening, suddenly interjected.
“There was definitely something wrong with Imun too. Like your sleeping disorder, big brother also has some kind of illness.”
Moa had already seen the moment when Dowoon’s illness began and the image of the affectionate brothers by touching Dowoon’s room desk.
Dowoon definitely wasn’t the type of person who would withhold his heart because he hated his sick brother.
Not knowing that Moa had seen moments from the past, Yeongang couldn’t understand how Moa, who hadn’t even spent much time with them, could be so confident.
However, he was definitely comforted by that attitude, so Yeongang quietly nodded.
While chatting as they walked, they had arrived in front of Dowoon’s room before they knew it.
“…Huh?”
Moa suddenly stopped her confident steps.
“What’s wrong?”
Yeongang asked puzzledly.
Moa instinctively hunched her shoulders and shook her head.
“Something’s strange…”
“What is?”
“There’s something inside.”
Moa’s face hardened. She felt a familiar power that she hadn’t sensed when coming and going before.
However, it didn’t feel pleasant, so Moa quietly frowned and gripped Yeongang’s hand tightly.
“Big brother! Dowoon oppa! It’s me, Moa! Can I come in?”
There was no answer.
She couldn’t even sense any presence, so Moa hesitated for a moment before saying “I’m coming in!” and carefully opened the door.
Creak-
As she entered through the opened door, she could see Dowoon sitting at his desk.
Dowoon was working as usual.
“Hyung, are you busy?”
Yeongang spoke to him, but there was no response from Dowoon.
He sat motionless like a working machine, only moving his eyes as he focused solely on his heir duties.
Though Dowoon was emotionless, he didn’t ignore people when they spoke to him.
But now he continued to ignore them, so Yeongang let go of Moa’s hand and approached the desk.
“Hyung?”
Yeongang examined Dowoon’s face more closely.
And he saw Dowoon’s murky eyes, like a truly empty pond.
“Hyung, hyung! What’s wrong!”
When Yeongang felt ominous and was startled, Dowoon’s gaze finally reached his brother.
Rosy cheeks, lively eyes.
Since his brother had become healthy after three years and come to visit on his own feet, a normal older brother should have been surprised, happy, or relieved.
However, there wasn’t even the slightest ripple on Dowoon’s face.
It was a dryness as if it didn’t matter whether what was in front of him was a stone or his brother.
“…Your business.”
After a long while, Dowoon’s lips opened.
His voice was even drier than imagined.
“Ah, well… Moa said she had something to give you.”
Yeongang said in confusion, nudging Moa.
However, Moa was also distracted by something else and couldn’t answer immediately.
-Grrrrrr…
Moa was looking at Imun sitting in one corner of the room.
Divine power that only Moa could recognize was exploding from within Imun’s body.
Unlike his coldly hardened master, Imun seemed overwhelmed somehow. His power was continuously moving violently along with his emotions.
-Grrrr, grr…
Imun’s gaze was fixed on the now-healthy Yeongang.
‘…He seems happy.’
Moa grasped Imun’s emotions. Though no words were exchanged, she could tell immediately.
Dowoon’s heart was broken so he felt nothing even seeing his brother recover.
Love, hope, overwhelming joy.
Imun seemed to share his master’s true feelings and express them in his place.
-Kuuuu…
Imun turned his head toward Moa.
His eyes were very earnest.
‘Thank you.’
‘Can I… can I save both myself and my master?’
Hope.
It was the first crack to appear in Jin Dowoon’s frozen world.
Imun slowly approached Jin Dowoon.
Then it bit the hem of Jin Dowoon’s clothes and forcibly pulled him to his feet.
“Imun. Stop.”
Jin Dowoon commanded coldly.
But Imun didn’t stop. Far from stopping, it actually pushed Jin Dowoon toward Moa.
“…I told you to stop.”
Though Jin Dowoon’s voice carried sharp authority, Imun ignored its master’s command.
The spiritual being that had already glimpsed hope could no longer remain quietly curled up in despair.
‘Imun isn’t listening to hyung…?’
Spiritual beings cannot ignore their master’s commands.
That was the common knowledge Yeongang knew.
However, Imun boldly approached right in front of Moa and pushed Jin Dowoon forward.
Then it bit Moa’s small hand and made it touch Jin Dowoon’s body.
As if pleading, please look at us too.
At that moment—
Moa’s consciousness was sucked somewhere, into Jin Dowoon’s deepest and most painful memory.
The bundle slipped from Moa’s hand.
Darkness, and screams.
When she opened her eyes, the acrid smoke blocking her vision, fallen candles, and flames slithering across the floor like snakes were intense.
“Mother, Mother! Open your eyes!”
Behind the terror-stricken young boy lay a woman, collapsed and bleeding.
And in front of the young boy.
There was an old man with his body grotesquely twisted and hair disheveled.
The old man’s eyes gleamed blood-red, and black mist seeped from his mouth like poison.
“Grandfather! No! It’s me, it’s Jin Dowoon. Please…!”
The young boy cried out desperately, but the old man couldn’t hear anything.
‘No. To stop him, I’d have to… Grandfather…’
Grandfather had suddenly gone mad and was trying to kill Mother.
Witnessing this scene, the young boy thought he had to stop him, even if it meant attacking Grandfather.
But.
—Our eldest grandson. My child.
Remembering Grandfather who had gently stroked his head, he couldn’t bring himself to attack—
‘If I can’t make the decision… No, I can’t! I should forget such feelings and protect Mother instead.’
While having such thoughts, the black mist that burst from the old man’s mouth engulfed the young boy’s body.
Jin Dowoon didn’t dodge.
‘If I can’t cut down Grandfather, then I must stop him even if I break instead.’
At that moment.
Snap—
The taut string of his heart snapped.
The light disappeared from Jin Dowoon’s eyes.
Fear, sadness, love for his mother.
Everything vanished—
Only an empty shell remained.
“Urgh…!”
The real Jin Dowoon writhed as if having a seizure.
As memories he had forcibly sealed were violently exposed by another, Jin Dowoon thrashed in agony as if his brain was being pierced.
Unlike the previous unkind scenes that flashed by quickly, this time she directly touched Jin Dowoon’s memory.
Therefore, even young Moa could understand the entire context.
Including all the despair Jin Dowoon must have felt at that time.
“Imun…! Get away… get away now!”
Jin Dowoon screamed as if coughing up blood.
Simultaneously with that cry, the suppressed energy in Jin Dowoon’s body exploded.
Kuuung—!
“Kyaaah!”
A massive shockwave swept through the room.
Moa’s hands that had been holding Jin Dowoon and Imun were flung away.
Moa and Yeongang were blown away like pieces of paper and thrown outside the door.
“Huff, huff…!”
Moa gasped for breath.
Her lips had turned blue with shock, and her whole body trembled.
“Moa! Are you okay?!”
Yeongang, who had somehow managed to catch Moa and keep her from getting hurt in his arms, checked on Moa first.
Instead of answering, Moa stared blankly at the collapsed Jin Dowoon.
What she had just seen was too horrific.
And in those flames, Jin Dowoon’s choice to ultimately eliminate his emotions when he couldn’t choose between Grandfather and Mother was too pitiful.
Hot tears streamed down Moa’s eyes.
She couldn’t gather her wits to answer Yeongang.
—Main Mission: Resolve ‘Jin Dowoon’s’ defect
·Hidden stages must be resolved for completion
·Rewards:
(Stage 1) Emergency Rescue Kit 2nd Stage Evolution
(Stage 2) Ability Unlock
·Upon failure, Jin Dowoon’s ego will—
‘What’s with the question mark? If I succeed, oppa will be completely healed, right?’
As if to startle the expectant Moa, Samyeongrok’s text paused for a moment before appearing belatedly.
Jin Dowoon’s ego will be permanently destroyed.
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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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