The Dragon Family’s Beloved Baby Cat - Chapter 9

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

Chapter 9

With her eyelids and the bridge of her nose all dyed bright red.

Moa was shedding transparent tears drop by drop.

Seeing Moa like that, Yeongang’s heart tightened without him even realizing it.

He unconsciously moved a little closer to the window.

Jin Dowoon, who would normally have sensed his presence first, seemed so surprised by Moa’s spirit that he failed to notice Yeongang’s approach.

“Why is everyone sick? But big brother is the biggest problem. He doesn’t even know he’s sick…”

Moa rubbed her eyes with her steamed bun-like hands to wipe away her tears.

However, her sorrowful feelings wouldn’t subside, so no matter how much she wiped, the tears kept overflowing.

‘He said hyung-nim is sick…?’

Jin Dowoon felt surprised, but seemed unable to truly empathize with Moa’s emotions, wearing a subtly expressionless face.

So incredibly strong, just like the image of his older brother that Yeongang knew.

Yeongang couldn’t fully grasp the meaning of his brother being sick.

Nevertheless, he felt his heart beating anxiously.

“I will definitely… make everyone better. Geumoh too, second brother too, and big brother too!”

And he froze at Moa’s words that followed like a declaration.

‘She’ll make Geumoh and me… better?’

He hadn’t misheard after all.

Yeongang’s eyes wavered.

‘Why would you, who has no relation to us at all?’

He was confused.

A little kid that father had suddenly brought home one day.

Someone who shared no blood relation or anything else with him.

She had even almost gotten hurt during their first meeting due to Geumoh’s rampage…

Why was she trying so hard to do something that no one had asked for or wanted?

‘…What kind of feeling is this?’

Hearing Moa’s pure concern, Yeongang’s face was colored with warmth for the first time in three years.

***

A few minutes earlier.

The moment she entered the room, faced Jin Dowoon, and finally harbored hope that she might be able to change something.

“You’re wasting everyone’s time and being a nuisance. Nothing will change even if you interfere.”

Jin Dowoon’s cold words reached her ears.

He had simply called her to make her give up completely.

‘Am I… getting in everyone’s way?’

Those words deeply tore at Moa’s heart.

She had only wanted to help everyone.

She would need to gain Jin Dowoon’s approval too to be able to stay in this house.

Tears welled up in Moa’s eyes. The moment her uncontainable emotions flowed down with her tears—

Moa’s body lost control and transformed into her beast-human state.

Fortunately, she hadn’t transformed completely, only her tail had lost control and slipped out from under her skirt, so Jin Dowoon didn’t notice.

‘I’m sad…’

Moa shed tears drop by drop, unaware that her tail had emerged.

Under her skirt, her tail drooped and trembled.

With her vision sharpened from becoming a beast-human, she could see her paper airplane placed on one side of the desk.

“If you’re going to hate me, then why this—”

With a miserable expression, Moa reached for the desk that seemed to be frequently used, intending to take it back.

At that moment.

The image of Jin Dowoon affectionately patting Yeongang’s head.

But soon, Jongssam’s announcement about their mother’s illness and…

The moment hope disappeared from Jin Dowoon as he went to find his younger brother who had lost his nights.

Finally, light and warmth vanished from his face. As if shattered into pieces.

“Ah…”

Having seen the vision, Moa realized that Jin Dowoon was indeed sick somewhere.

That his emotionless attitude wasn’t because he was mean, but because he was hurting.

Even the people around him clearly weren’t properly aware of it.

‘No one knows that big brother is sick.’

Unlike how Sehui had told her all about Yeongang’s illness, there was no one to tell her about Jin Dowoon’s condition.

‘How pitiful.’

Moa covered her mouth with both hands, trying not to shed tears.

“Calm down.”

Jin Dowoon eventually offered her a cushion, seeing Moa’s highly agitated state.

Fortunately, her miserable emotions changed to sympathy for Jin Dowoon, and her tail disappeared as well.

When Moa sat down sniffling, he called Jongssam to arrange the refreshments she had brought.

Like someone who had often comforted a crying younger sibling, his actions seemed somehow familiar.

Though there was no emotional comfort, it seemed to show a trace of past tenderness.

“Drink some tea, calm down, and then leave.”

“As I thought…”

Moa was convinced.

Somewhere in Jin Dowoon’s heart, in a very deep place, tenderness was simply buried.

If that weren’t the case, he could have just thrown her out.

Moa asked in a dejected voice.

“…Why aren’t you asking anything? Even though I said you were sick?”

“My condition is the same as always. I’m maintaining an efficient physical state.”

“…Big brother, you are sick.”

Moa, who pouted her lips as if sulking, remained silent until Jin Dowoon poured longjing tea for her and drank from his own cup after pouring it.

Jin Dowoon’s eyebrows gradually furrowed at Moa’s silence.

“Big brother just doesn’t know, but you could be sick.”

“Me, the heir of the great Jinryong Clan?”

“Even heirs can get sick. Aren’t heirs human too?”

Even though Moa kept getting frustrated and angry, Jin Dowoon showed no change in expression at all.

Like a robot.

Moa intuitively realized what the problem with Dowoon was.

“What do you think about Yeongang being sick?”

“What should I think about it? I hope he gets better quickly.”

Moa’s face contorted.

In contrast, Jin Dowoon’s expression showed not a single crack when mentioning Yeongang’s insomnia.

‘He really is sick…’

While gathering information about Jin Dowoon, Moa had heard quite a bit about the two brothers.

Even just three years ago, the two brothers had been very close.

Jin Dowoon had reliably cherished his younger brother as an older brother should, and Yeongang had been the beloved darling of the Jinryong Clan who loved his older brother dearly.

After Yeongang became sharp following the onset of his insomnia and closed his heart, Jin Dowoon had also become busy focusing on his role as heir.

But even in the vision just now, the two had seemed very close.

‘But he says he’s not worried at all?’

That was ridiculous.

His gradual change that even his close associates hadn’t noticed was visible to Moa, an outsider.

Despite having cherished each other so much, he was expressing himself as if they were strangers.

From that moment on, Moa could no longer hold back her tears.

Even the savory taste of the jeon she had brought couldn’t restore Moa’s mood.

Even though the child was crying loudly, Jin Dowoon felt no emotional change.

“Imun…?”

However, Jin Dowoon’s expressionless face eventually cracked.

Because his spiritual being, the scaled dragon Imun, who had been in the corner, suddenly flew over to Moa and clung to her.

Jin Dowoon was startled to see it clinging to someone else without his command, as if it had opened its heart to another person.

Imun desperately rubbed its head against Moa as if pleading.

“Why is everyone in pain? But big brother is the biggest problem. He doesn’t even know he’s hurting…”

Imun looked at Moa with sad eyes.

-Krrook…

A thin cry like a scream.

To Moa, it sounded like-

‘Please help my master.’

That’s what it seemed to be saying.

“I will definitely… make everyone better. Geumoh, second brother, and big brother too!”

Of course, the same went for Imun. Imun was also in pain.

Yeongang and Geumoh.

Jin Dowoon and Imun.

Looking at the four of them, Moa could instinctively be certain.

They said spiritual beings and their masters were connected to each other.

So if Geumoh’s healing failed, Yeongang would die.

Therefore, perhaps if she healed Imun, Jin Dowoon might also regain his emotions.

There was no evidence, but she felt a very strong conviction.

“For that to happen, big brother needs to meet with me nine more times and drink tea.”

At Moa’s words, a subtle tension left Jin Dowoon’s face.

“So in the end, you’re saying you want to drink tea with me.”

“That’s…!”

That was true. She needed to drink tea to obtain the tools to heal Geumoh.

But that wasn’t all there was to it.

“…If I become a bother! If I can’t prove myself, I’ll leave this house!”

Moa clenched both fists and shouted. It was her way of burning her bridges.

Moa believed she had to show her desperate determination.

“I’m busy.”

However, she was disappointed to see Jin Dowoon about to refuse so casually.

She couldn’t think of a way to persuade someone who had lost their emotions.

Just as Moa was about to give up completely.

“Brother!”

Suddenly, Yeongang burst in through the window.

Yeongang, who had entered desperately without time for courtesy, burst into the room and shouted loudly.

“You’re the heir! You’re my big brother! So please save me, your younger brother, and yourself as the heir too!”

Jin Dowoon was slightly surprised to realize he had been concentrating enough on his meeting with Moa that he hadn’t noticed his brother’s presence.

And he recalled something that struck him as strange.

‘How long has it been since I… properly talked with Kang?’

At first, he had often visited Yeongang, who had locked his door…

But at some point, his visits had stopped.

The deep despair he had felt when everyone from his mother to his younger brother was suffering.

The sense of duty and fatigue of having to somehow support the family as the heir.

He still had all the memories from when he was young.

However, even now, looking at his once-precious brother’s gaunt face, he felt no worry or emotion whatsoever.

When he had seen him by chance in the Garden recently, he had thought it was because it was so sudden, but…

‘This is… strange.’

Jin Dowoon looked at Yeongang’s face with an unfamiliar feeling, then slowly turned his gaze to look at Moa.

Her face, as white as rice crackers, with her shoulders gently shaking after crying her heart out.

“…Testing it would be reasonably efficient.”

Soon, Moa’s face brightened as she understood his meaning.

And.

-Sub-mission: 10th completion

Moa’s vision briefly sparkled with light.

***

The next day.

Moa, who was about to go meet Dowoon out of habit, stopped at Sehui’s call.

“Miss, the Master is calling for you.”

“Master!”

At the welcome words, Moa smiled brightly. At the same time, she was curious about why he was calling for her separately.

“Ah… he says he has something to ask you.”

Moa’s eyes widened.

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