The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 177

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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 177

Soya was dead.

I had killed her.

At that intense shock, Seolyeo’s mind momentarily awakened.

Before him lay dead Soya.

‘I… I killed Soya… I…’

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Seolyeo’s heart beat violently.

‘No. This is a dream.’

As Seolyeo denied it, attacks from the White Tiger Family members poured down on him.

Seolyeo’s body began to flee on its own.

‘Right. This can’t be reality.’

He didn’t want to run away, he had to go back to Soya, but his legs kept kicking off the ground and running on their own.

‘I’m someone who protects Soya, there’s no way I could have killed Soya…!’

Seolyeo’s desperate wail shook the entire mountain.

Before long, Seolyeo was captured by the White Tiger Family members.

“…You, Soya.”

Ga Hyeon muttered while looking at Seolyeo with an expressionless face.

“Restrain him.”

He gritted his teeth and commanded.

It was the moment when the White Tiger Family members all rushed toward Seolyeo at once.

Rumble, crash—!

Suddenly, with the sound of heaven and earth shaking, Seolyeo was once again swallowed by a rift, just like when he first came to this place.

Seolyeo, who fell into another timeline, immediately spotted Soya.

‘Soya…! She was alive…!’

However, his words couldn’t continue.

Because Soya was pointing a sword at him.

“Your Highness! Please be careful!”

Behind her, people dressed in palace servant clothes shouted with terror-stricken faces.

As Seolyeo blinked his eyes with a puzzled expression, the scent of blood brushed his nose.

When he looked down with a creeping ominous premonition, a blood-covered person was crushed beneath him.

He could tell instinctively.

He had done this.

Seolyeo tried to quickly step back, but this time too, his body wouldn’t move.

That unpleasant sensation he had felt earlier was dominating his body.

In the end, Seolyeo inevitably had his body stolen by ‘that thing’ to harm Soya, and repeatedly fell into different timelines.

How many times had that terrible slaughter been repeated?

‘I… how many times have I killed Soya?’

His stomach churned.

He felt like he might vomit.

It was horrible.

But what was even more horrible was…

‘I hate this… Please stop now…’

Even while feeling this situation was terrible, his body was steadily cutting off her breath.

He wanted to escape from this horrible cycle, but he couldn’t.

‘I don’t want to kill anymore… I don’t want to harm Soya…’

Drip, drop.

His fallen tears formed a shallow puddle.

—Over here!

A voice came from across the puddle.

Startled.

Had that vicious thing that killed Soya come again?

It was when Seolyeo was hesitantly stepping back, even though he knew he couldn’t avoid it.

—Release your power! If you don’t want to be trapped in the curtain of time and lose your way forever, hurry!

‘Wait. This… this isn’t that energy.’

As Seolyeo gulped and looked, the water in the puddle rose up in the shape of a translucent snake.

“My power…?”

—That’s right. The power of Hyeonmu passed down to you from your father!

“F-father? I don’t have such a person…”

—Don’t deny yourself.

“…”

Seolyeo bit his lower lip tightly.

His body trembled violently.

“I… I’m absolutely not the bloodline of that man who killed Soya…”

At this moment, a certain doubt arose in Seolyeo’s mind.

‘Is that really not true?’

In the end, hadn’t he also killed Soya just like that man?

A strong wavering arose in Seolyeo’s heart as he denied being that man’s bloodline, and the tightly sealed power of water was released.

It was the authority over water passed down only to the head of the Black Tortoise Clan.

Swoosh—

Water that swelled in an instant engulfed Seolyeo’s body.

In the sensation of floating in water, Seolyeo realized more clearly.

This water was his power.

No, not just this water that engulfed him, but all water in the world flowed under his authority.

Splash—

With the sound of cold water, Seolyeo’s body was pulled out of the water.

“Gasp, huff…”

Seolyeo breathed desperately.

—Hey! Are you okay?

The Black Snake circled around him and asked.

Looking around with a dazed expression, Seolyeo realized this was the Baekhogung Rear Garden.

He had finally escaped from that terrible cycle of bondage.

“What I just saw…”

—Those are times covered by the curtain of time. Times that are now forgotten by everyone, vanished times.

“Vanished… times? Then, then all of that really happened?”

Tears welled up in Seolyeo’s large eyes as he trembled in disbelief.

Plop. Drop.

Soon thick teardrops fell down.

“I killed Soya… I…”

His body moved on its own, beyond his will.

He remembered the sensation of the moment he killed Soya.

He remembered Soya’s face looking at him with terror.

Her body growing cold and stiff, and his own gaze looking at her coldly.

—You didn’t kill her. It was Evil’s doing.

“The thing that controlled me to kill Soya… was Evil?”

Seolyeo knew the name Evil too.

What had dwelled in his biological father’s Spirit Core was also Evil, and what had fled avoiding Soya was also Evil.

“But Evil fled far away. So Soya is now safe…”

—No. Evil is here.

“This place… in the White Tiger Palace?”

―To be precise, inside your body.

“….”

At those words, Seolyeo’s body stiffened rigidly.

The moment she realized it, she could feel the evil that had been swallowed inside her body.

Though it was currently unconscious and sleeping within her, it felt as if that terrible thing would awaken at any moment, take control of her body, and harm Soya.

“N-no. I don’t want this.”

Seolyeo bit down hard on her pale lower lip and muttered.

In the time she had witnessed, the evil had unfailingly harmed Soya.

In whatever way, no matter how much time it took, it had harmed Soya.

Harmed her, and ultimately killed her.

She couldn’t repeat that terrible thing again.

Having thought that far, Seolyeo grabbed the Black Snake and pleaded.

“Please. I have to protect Soya. Tell me how.”

Desperate determination settled in Seolyeo’s eyes, which had been sniffling just moments before.

The Black Snake, who had been staring quietly at those eyes, slowly opened its mouth.

―…There is one method.

And at the words that followed, Seolyeo’s body stiffened in shock.

That night.

Seolyeo, who had trudged back to her room, crouched in the middle of the room and cried pitifully for a long time.

Then, as the moon gradually set and dawn broke, she rose again with a resolute face as if she had decided something.

* * *

Early morning.

When Soya woke up rubbing her eyes from the sunlight pouring through the window.

―Baby Bird!

―Baby Bird!

―Are you awake?!

The three Divine Beasts rushed to Soya all at once.

“Huh, Divine Beasts?”

Soya, who didn’t know about last night’s events, tilted her head.

Soya burst into giggles at the sight of the Divine Beasts sticking close to her and not leaving her side.

When she lowered her nose to the flower blossom in the flower vase, the fragrant flower scent spread throughout her lungs.

Soya, who was in a good mood, hummed a tune as she got up.

It felt like something good would happen today.

“Oh right, I should thank Gaya Elder Brother.”

Soya went to find Gaya.

“Flowers?”

However, Gaya himself looked completely clueless.

‘Huh? Then who brought those flowers?’

It was when Soya was tilting her head in confusion.

“More importantly, Somsom. About that gift you received from that Jeok family guy yesterday.”

“Ah, the bow that Sanyu Elder Brother sent?”

“Yeah, that. Should this elder brother teach you?”

Soya was somewhat tempted by Gaya’s coaxing.

But not today.

Because today was the day to climb Horim Mountain together with Arang and Seolyeo.

“Later, Elder Brother. Today is a very important day. It’s a day we promised five years ago.”

“Our Soya, I wondered why you woke up early. So today is that day.”

Ga Hyeon, who happened to be passing by, smiled softly and acted like he knew.

“Hyeoni Elder Brother too. If someone heard you, they’d think I usually wake up late.”

“What kind of day is it? Tell me too, Somsom.”

“We all wrote letters five years ago. We promised to find and read them when we turned fourteen.”

Soya, Arang, Seolyeo, Gayul, and Su Ri. The five children of the White Tiger Palace had written letters to each other five years ago and hidden them in a secret hideout on Horim Mountain.

Though Gayul, who couldn’t overcome his curiosity, and Su Ri, who followed him, had already found and read them before even turning fourteen.

Her heart fluttered with excitement at the thought that she could finally find and read the letters today.

What kinds of things had everyone written?

Soon, Soya had finished her preparations.

Arang, who had burst into Soya’s room a moment ago, urged her to hurry up and go.

“But I don’t see Seolyeo?”

Yeonjeong, who was adjusting Soya’s clothes, tilted her head and said.

Normally, Seolyeo would have arrived half an hour early and been waiting for her appointment time with Soya, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“That’s strange. Seolyeo must be running a bit late.”

Having finished her preparations, Soya set out to find Seolyeo with a puzzled heart.

“Excuse me, Su Ri. Have you seen Seolyeo by any chance?”

She grabbed every person she saw passing by and asked, but no one had seen Seolyeo.

“That Seolyeo, did he forget our promise? Let’s just go ahead without him, Soya.”

Arang said bluntly.

But somehow, Soya strangely felt like that wouldn’t be right.

“Wait a moment. Just wait, Arang.”

Soya ran around everywhere in the White Tiger Palace looking for Seolyeo.

“Seolyeo! Seolyeo, where are you!”

But no matter how much she searched, Seolyeo was nowhere to be seen.

Arang, who had been grumbling at first, gradually became serious and began searching for Seolyeo together.

Saeon, who happened to be walking down the corridor talking with Jeok Yeong, spotted Soya running around here and there.

“Cotton Ball. Didn’t you say you were climbing Horim Mountain early this morning? Why haven’t you left yet….”

Pause.

The smile faded from Saeon’s face as he realized something was seriously wrong.

“What’s wrong, Cotton Ball. What happened.”

“Ah, Father….”

Soya buried her head in Saeon’s embrace and made a tearful sound.

“I can’t find Seolyeo.”

Soya’s small shoulders trembled.

“What…?”

“Seolyeo….”

Soya, whose eyes had turned red, lifted her head and said in a sorrowful voice.

“Seolyeo has disappeared.”

In the end, tears burst forth.

The summer of her fourteenth year, when she cried like a child in her father’s arms.

Along with the disappeared Seolyeo, Soya’s childhood departed.

It was the end of childhood, accompanied by painful growth pains.

【Baby Cotton Ball of the White Tiger Family】 Part 1, End.

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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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