The Morning Star Baby Wants a Family - Chapter 60

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 60
Hae-na collapsed onto the ground.
I felt the energy dwelling within my body spreading outward through the earth beneath me.
Like roots stretching from an ancient tree….
‘No, that’s not right.’
Hae-na’s head snapped up.
The order was reversed. I was not the tree—this Moonstone Cave was.
Like an ancient tree spreading its roots deep, a formidable energy permeated every corner.
Eons of mystical power had condensed to form this cave.
I was merely a small seedling newly sprouted upon it.
Yet no matter how tiny a leaf, one cannot deny it is part of the tree.
I felt the energy that filled the vast cave. It whispered to me.
[I’ve been waiting for you.]
The voice was both strange and familiar.
Before I could trace whose it was, whispers cascaded from all directions.
We are
I am
You are
Your tears that fell
The pieces you tore away
Memories lost long ago
From the ceiling, from the ground beneath me, from distant places, from near my ears.
From everywhere came voices calling out to the child.
Simultaneously, the light of the Moonstones surrounding Hae-na began to shimmer.
The lights converging upon me slowly merged into one.
The sphere of endlessly accumulating light was radiant.
I watched it without drawing a single breath.
The whispers continued without pause.
Though they came from many places, they were all the same voice.
“What is this….”
A small voice spilled from the child’s lips, interlocking above the countless whispers.
Hae-na’s eyes widened.
The voice that kept reaching my ears was strangely similar to my own.
Then, between the soft whispering voices, a deep man’s voice emerged.
[Stop crying, ───.]
It was a phrase that brushed past only once.
Yet it remained in Hae-na’s mind far more vividly than any other voice heard before.
My heart pounded fiercely. Hae-na’s lips parted.
Who are you?
In that instant, an explosion of light consumed Hae-na.
* * *
The ground trembled faintly beneath their feet.
Seowan, who had been walking in silence, came to an abrupt halt.
A fragment of Moonstone dislodged from the ceiling tumbled down, rolling to a stop just before her feet with a soft thud.
‘Hae-na.’
The thought of the child surfaced unbidden in her mind.
Her younger sister—so small, so young, barely reaching her waist.
It was then that Seowan bit down hard on her lower lip, drawing blood.
“Seowan, there’s no benefit in aggravating your injuries further right now.”
A light voice tinged with amusement reached her ears.
When she glanced to the side, Cheon-eul stood there with a faint smile, tapping his lips thoughtfully.
Seowan exhaled slowly and released the tension from her jaw.
He was right. His words held truth.
At this moment, I could barely lift my right arm.
The impact from the fall had been severe—my right shoulder and back throbbed as though crushed, the pain radiating through my entire frame.
Caught between severe internal bleeding and external trauma, my right shoulder had begun to swell grotesquely. I had managed to apply pressure to it only by tearing strips from my skirt.
Pain was an excellent stimulant for clarity.
Yet now, I found myself struggling to keep my consciousness from slipping away.
What if Hae-na had fallen headfirst?
What if she had been buried beneath the cascading debris?
The horrifying thoughts came reflexively.
Just as my blue eyes began to cloud over, Cheon-eul’s voice cut through the darkness.
“The scent of the air has shifted—faintly, but noticeably. This direction appears correct. Let us proceed with haste.”
With those words, Cheon-eul took the lead, moving forward.
I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and followed in his wake.
The two of us were searching for water pooled somewhere within the Moonstone Cave.
‘There should be a fairly substantial pond. Though it will be enveloped in Moonstone and beyond my ability to manipulate, even the slightest gap could make all the difference.’
It was Cheon-eul who had devised the strategy.
After calming the half-delirious Seowan, he had spoken with measured composure.
We had no knowledge of how vast the cave was, nor where water might accumulate.
But with my spiritual power bound and unable to recklessly disturb the cave itself, this was the only method worth attempting.
As a martial artist, Seowan possessed acute senses, and Cheon-eul, blessed with innate talent, was equally perceptive.
The faintest hint of moisture in the air.
A breeze flowing subtly in a different direction—these were their only guides.
With battered bodies, the two pressed forward, searching desperately for the path.
Perhaps their desperation reached the heavens, for the scent of water grew increasingly pronounced.
‘We’re nearly there.’
Seowan’s expression twisted faintly at the thought.
If my calculations were correct, we were almost upon the water’s edge.
Yet before my eyes lay no pond at all.
Sensing something amiss, Seowan moved to step closer.
Cheon-eul, restraining her, cautiously advanced ahead.
“This is…”
After a few more steps, he came to a halt.
At his troubled groan, Seowan approached him.
In an instant, the space seemed to expand, and with the rush of fresh air came a sharp, briny scent.
As I slowly lowered my gaze, what we had been searching for so desperately came into view.
Water so deep that its floor was invisible. The surface, illuminated by moonstone light, gleamed a brilliant blue.
Yet it was impossibly far away.
The path beneath our feet simply ended.
Below that dizzying cliff lay the pond.
No matter that water lay beneath, this was no height from which one could simply leap.
‘Is there anything that could serve as a rope?’
Seowan surveyed the surroundings with a troubled expression.
Though something should have sprouted here, the moonstone cavern held nothing.
Even if we tore apart both our garments to fashion a rope, reaching this depth seemed impossible.
The only consolation was that Hae-na’s small form was not floating on that surface.
As Seowan clenched her trembling fists, the ground beneath them began to shake.
Rumble—!
At the sudden tremor, Cheon-eul and Seowan crouched low.
A ominous sound crackled beneath their feet.
It felt identical to what I had sensed right after dropping the branch.
In the moment Seowan, her face drained of color, seized Cheon-eul’s hand and stepped back, his shadow vanished.
“Ugh…!”
Simultaneously, a tremendous force yanked me forward.
I fell prone, my other hand desperately gripping the edge of the ground.
“Cheon-eul!”
Seowan called out urgently.
At the cliff’s edge, now collapsed in an instant, only the pale hand Seowan barely held proved Cheon-eul’s presence below.
“Seowan, are you unharmed?”
A faint, trembling voice echoed from beneath the cliff.
Seowan clenched her teeth—who was worrying about whom?
“Just hold on. I’ll pull you up…”
Even as she spoke, Seowan gasped at the terrible pain.
The hand gripping Cheon-eul happened to be her right one.
Supporting the full weight of a grown man, her shoulder felt as though it were being torn to shreds.
Though the pain was blinding, Seowan only tightened her grip further.
“Hold tight. Let go and you fall to your death.”
Seowan spoke, swallowing her agony.
Cheon-eul heard those words from below the cliff.
Blood dripped across the pale, knuckle-prominent hand gripping the cliff face.
Crunch—moonstone crumbled between the white fingers clenched around the cliff edge.
Because the cliff face curved inward, Cheon-eul had nothing to grip but relied entirely on Seowan’s single hand.
Moonstone is a soft stone.
Seowan’s position, sprawled above, was hardly secure either.
Any additional force exerted to pull Cheon-eul upward risked shattering it again.
Remaining motionless this way only drained Seowan’s strength.
Blood trickling from Seowan’s fingertips stained Cheon-eul’s white robe.
Crimson droplets bloomed like camellia flowers.
It did not take long for him to reach his decision.
“Seowan.”
Cheon-eul called her name with tenderness.
His thumb gently brushed the back of her hand.
“Let go.”

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