Chapter 65
A look of genuine admiration lit up his face.
“Your family’s acupoint technique is incredible. I don’t feel the cold at all.”
“It won’t last long, so hurry up!”
Splash, splash.
Before he knew it, Yang Do-jin was swimming, the pond water up to his neck.
Watching him, Deng Soso spoke up.
“Oh, right. Hongseol, you should turn back into a cat again. It’ll be cold when Sorang comes out…”
“Ah!”
Realizing what she meant, Hongseol flipped through the air in a quick somersault.
When Sorang comes out, I’ll hold him tight. My fur is warm.
Moments like this made her grateful she was a cat.
By now, Yang Do-jin had nearly reached the middle of the pond.
Hongseol and Deng Soso watched nervously from a distance.
“Meow!”
“Just a little more!”
The moment Yang Do-jin barely managed to touch the body of the child dangling there—
A sinister voice echoed low through the cavern.
“Heh heh. Looks like some little rats have scurried in.”
“Kyaaak!”
Almost as soon as Deng Soso screamed, more than a dozen men revealed themselves.
All of them were dressed head to toe in black, and somewhere on their arms or legs each bore a tattoo shaped like a black feather.
“Damn it! I didn’t hear a single footstep!”
Yang Do-jin’s anguished shout rang out.
Because the acupoint technique had dulled his senses, even his ears hadn’t detected the approach of the Black Vulture Gang.
Frightened, Hongseol and Deng Soso took a few steps back.
With the pond at their backs, there was nowhere left to run.
Knowing this, the men didn’t hurry.
“You ratlets barely the size of beans dare lay hands on the precious medicinal ingredients we’ve already prepared.”
Do-jin was right!
Hearing that, Hongseol felt dizzy, as if struck by lightning.
So they really did… kidnap children to make medicine!
No matter how evil the Black Vulture Gang was, she’d never imagined they’d go that far.
Every hair on her body stood on end.
“Don’t move!”
One of the men in black advanced toward them.
Deng Soso quickly raised one hand and stepped in front of Hongseol.
“Stay back!”
“…!”
Startled, Hongseol heard Deng Soso whisper quietly while glaring at the men.
“You can’t turn into a human in front of them.”
“Meooow…”
Hongseol, about to protest that she could fight too, hesitated.
This might actually be our chance to counterattack.
If she took advantage of their carelessness—of not knowing she was human!
She fixed her gaze on the men in black.
Unaware of her thoughts, one man with a black feather tattoo on his arm grinned unpleasantly.
“If you kneel obediently, I’ll make you medicinal ingredients last, as a special favor.”
“That’ll never happen!”
Like a child of a martial family who knew that fighting was all about momentum, Deng Soso shouted fiercely.
She clenched her teeth and pushed away the man’s reaching hand, even attempting a counterstrike with an acupoint technique.
“Oh? Not bad at all!”
But the difference in inner strength between an adult and a child was unavoidable.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
Tap. Tap.
As if playing around, he easily drove Deng Soso back.
What do we do…! Is there anything I can do?
At that moment, something caught Hongseol’s eye.
What’s that?
A small burrow by the edge of the pond.
Inside were scattered shards of broken jars and what looked like mysterious medicinal residue.
Someone must have stayed there.
Among them, one peculiar object drew her attention.
A long rope hanging down in front of the burrow.
And what’s attached to it… a fire igniter?
She’d seen the Azure Sky Unit carry one on long missions.
It was said that you could light a fire simply by opening the bamboo tube and blowing into it.
And it was incredibly expensive.
Why would something like that be in a place like this?
The mismatch made Hongseol tilt her head.
Then a memory surfaced.
Something Lord Namgung On had once said.
“Training in martial arts with your father is good, but if you ever want to learn formations or mechanical arrays, come to me.”
Those intriguing words had made Hongseol’s ears perk up.
“Mechanical arrays? You mean traps and poison arrows shooting out and things like that?”
“Exactly. They’re usually set up to stop intruders. The Namgung Clan has many of them, so you must always be careful when wandering alone.”
“Wow… then how do you recognize them?”
At Hongseol’s ant-like voice of protest under Namgung On’s narrowed, suspicious gaze—
“I’m not saying I’ll wander alone or anything…”
She’d already once followed Lord Namgung On late at night.
With a small sigh mixed into his voice, he’d said—
“Recognizing mechanical arrays is simple, Hongseol.”
“Yes?”
“Anything unnatural. You must suspect all of it.”
A rope lowered in front of a small cave, and a fire igniter.
Yes, this has to be one of those mechanical arrays!
If the person who stayed here had set it up, there could only be one reason.
To stop intruders, just in case!
“Meow!”
At Hongseol’s sharp cry, Deng Soso and Yang Do-jin both looked at her.
Hongseol immediately dashed toward the small cave by the pond. From behind, one of the Black Vulture bandits asked,
“Boss! Should we grab it?”
The man fighting Deng Soso snorted.
“Why bother with some kitten. Leave it.”
That was when—
Deng Soso shoved her opponent back with all her strength.
“Whoa!”
As the careless man staggered, Soso leapt after Hongseol.
“Do-jin!”
“I’m coming!”
Do-jin, having untied the rope from Sorang’s body, also shot toward the small cave.
Grabbing the fire igniter with both front paws, Hongseol popped the lid open and blew hard.
Rumble!
A sound like thunder—rocks shattering—echoed through the cavern.
Soon, thick clouds of dust rose into the air.
“Cough, cough!”
“What happened? Are we alive?”
Beside Yang Do-jin, rubbing his reddened eyes full of dust, Deng Soso—bruised here and there—looked around.
The small cat Hongseol and the young Sorang too.
All four of them were inside the small cave together.
The entrance had been sealed by piles of earth and stone due to the mechanical array Hongseol had triggered.
“Meow!”
Hongseol ran on all fours and hugged Sorang tightly. She held him so close that even her tail stuck firmly to his body.
But Sorang’s body was icy cold. Hongseol let out a mournful cry.
“Meow…”
Deng Soso came over and wrapped both Hongseol and Sorang in a tight embrace.
Exhausted, Yang Do-jin also spread his arms and pulled them all in.
Thump, thump, thump…
Thanks to that, the three of them could feel each other’s heartbeats.
Though they hadn’t known each other long, it felt as if they were family.
As time passed, Sorang’s once-blue lips gradually returned to their normal color.
Noticing warmth returning to his body, Hongseol let out a joyful sound.
“Meow!”
Relief spread across Deng Soso’s face as well.
“Hehe… we’re alive, Sorang.”
“Haa… haa.”
Yang Do-jin collapsed backward with a sigh of relief.
Then, as if without regret, he said,
“We’re… going to die here, aren’t we?”
For a while, no one answered.
Do-jin was right.
They had avoided the Black Vulture Gang by hastily using someone else’s mechanical array—
But the result was that all four of them were now trapped inside a pitch-dark burrow.
It was a narrow refuge with no water and no light.
After three days like this, the children would die.
But Hongseol had something she believed in.
The Namgung Clan will definitely come to save me!
That faith was why she’d boldly triggered the array.
If, by some chance, they abandoned her and didn’t come…
Then I don’t think I’d want to live anymore anyway.
Perhaps there was a time when she thought her life held no love.
But now that she’d learned there was sunlight in the world, she could no longer remain in total darkness.
Grandfather… Lord Head… Master of the Medical Hall… Brother Baek, Brother Heuk, Jeok-i, Lord of the Azure Sky Unit, Elder Namgung Muyeong, Maeran…!
Repeating the names of the people she longed for in her heart, Hongseol endured the silence.
“Hey, if we manage to get out of here safely, do you want the three of us to be friends?”
Yang Do-jin, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly spoke.
Deng Soso, secretly sniffling, answered right away.
“A beggar and a young lady from a martial clan being friends—what nonsense! …But yeah, I’d like that.”
“Meow?”
At the wildly different beginning and end of her sentence, Hongseol’s eyes widened like apricot pits.
“It’s a special situation right now. After crossing a life-and-death line like this together, friends makes sense. What about you, Seol-ah?”
“Meow!”
Hongseol nodded vigorously in agreement.
“Alright. When we get out, the three of us are friends.”
Even after that, they stayed quiet for a long while.
Then—thud!—a heavy sound echoed, and suddenly a beam of light seeped in.
