Chapter 63
At the bottom of the door was a feeding slot, a square opening just over a span wide for an adult’s hand.
‘If I transform into a cat...!’
She could fit through that slot.
And if she turned back into a human to lift the latch!
‘I’ll be able to lead the children here to safety.’
If she could get the children out and hurry toward the city, she would be able to find adults who could help them.
‘I might even be able to ask Grandfather Namgung Ho to save So-rang!’
However...
Hong-seol bit her lip.
‘Then every child here will know that I am a Beastkin cat.’
She had intended to keep that fact a secret, known only to the direct line of the Namgung Clan.
Especially since Deng Soso was from a martial family in Hefei.
It wouldn’t take long for news of her to reach the Myo Clan.
‘What should I do...?’
Just as Hong-seol, lost in thought, clenched her fists, the youngest boy among them huddled into her arms.
“Sister, I’m scared.”
“H-here, come here!”
Hong-seol pulled the smaller child into her small embrace, just as Bing Yu-hwa had done for her.
The boy’s body was trembling like a leaf.
“A-am I going to be the one dragged away next time?”
Hong-seol could say nothing to that.
It was true that the slow-moving younger children were the easiest targets for the Black Eagle Gang member’s steel claws.
No matter how much they relied on each other, there was no one who would willingly be taken away in another’s stead.
“M-Mom, I want to see my mom!”
The boy finally began to weep, tears streaming down his face.
Hong-seol’s heart wavered at the sight.
‘I was like that, too...’
Before she met her end on Mount Daechok, the face she had wanted to see most was none other than her mother’s.
Hong-seol made up her mind.
‘Yes, at the very least, let’s give this child a chance to see his mother again.’
Even if her identity as a cat Beastkin was revealed, she decided she would deal with that later.
With her resolve hardened, Hong-seol gestured for the children to gather around.
Only Yang Do-jin, frustrated by his own weakness, remained sitting alone, leaning against the wall.
“Listen, we’re going to escape from here.”
Perhaps because it was the first time anyone had said such a thing, the children all drew close, their eyes shining.
“How?”
“I’m going to open the door.”
“But how could you...”
Deng Soso’s gaze rested on Hong-seol’s frame. She meant that even if Hong-seol was a bit small, she wasn’t significantly different in size from herself, so how could she possibly get out to open the door?
“No, I can do it.”
At Hong-seol’s strangely confident tone, a glimmer of hope appeared on the children’s faces one by one.
“But you have to promise me one thing.”
The children, their eyes wide, crowded around Hong-seol.
“What is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You must keep your eyes closed until I open the door.”
“Is that all?”
Hong-seol nodded at the words of the boy who had been crying just moments before.
“I promise!”
The boy held out his pinky finger and nodded back.
“Me too, me too!”
“I promise with my life!”
Having received their pledges, Hong-seol turned to Deng Soso and Yang Do-jin.
“I need a different promise from you two, since you’re the oldest here. We have to lead the children and escape together.”
Deng Soso’s eyes brightened with curiosity as she asked.
“What’s that promise?”
“That you will never speak of my true identity.”
“What is your identity, anyway?”
“...I’ll tell you once you promise.”
“Oh, right. I promise, I promise!”
“I promise as well.”
Only then did Hong-seol whisper the plan to the two of them.
“What, you’re a cat Beastkin?!”
Deng Soso nearly fell over backward.
She scooted closer and whispered in a tiny voice.
“...Are you the child the Myo Clan said they lost?”
“Ah... yes.”
“Where are you now? Don’t tell me you’re living on your own?”
“No... I’ll tell you later.”
“You have to tell me, okay?”
Only after linking pinkies was Hong-seol finally freed from Deng Soso’s pestering.
Hong-seol spoke with maturity to the children huddled around her.
“The escape will be in the middle of the night. So everyone, get some good sleep.”
“Yes, Captain!”
“Understood!”
As if they hadn’t been trembling just a moment ago, the children began to lie down one by one.
They trusted Hong-seol, who seemed so reliable.
* * *
Hong-seol, however, couldn’t sleep a wink due to her nerves.
As soon as Hong-seol, who had been lying with her eyes closed, stirred and sat up, she met the gaze of the beggar boy who had been keeping watch.
Yang Do-jin said quietly.
“The night is deep. Given the lack of movement, it must be the Hour of the Ox (1:00 AM – 3:00 AM).”
His hearing was truly remarkable.
Hong-seol gently shook Deng Soso, who was curled up asleep beside her.
“Soso, wake up.”
“Ugh...”
Deng Soso groaned, then managed to scramble to her feet.
After the three of them spent a moment waking the whimpering children, the eyes of all the children turned toward Hong-seol.
‘How is she going to open the door?’
Dozens of eyes sparkled toward Hong-seol, as if asking that very question.
Feeling the weight of their attention, Hong-seol blushed.
“Um... since you promised, could you please not stare so intently?”
“Everyone, face the wall and close your eyes! Now!”
At Deng Soso’s command, the children turned toward the wall one by one and squeezed their eyes shut.
The moment Hong-seol steeled her heart and performed a somersault in the air.
The eight-year-old girl vanished, and a handful of a pink kitten appeared in her place.
“Wow.”
Deng Soso’s jaw dropped as she whispered in awe.
Yang Do-jin didn’t show it, but his pupils dilated, suggesting he was quite surprised as well.
Deng Soso even looked as if she were bewitched, reaching out to pick Hong-seol up.
Hong-seol waved her front paw in distress.
‘No!’
“Oops. We’re in the middle of an escape, aren’t we?”
Coming to her senses, Deng Soso let Hong-seol be.
With her resolve firm, Hong-seol scurried toward the iron door.
Creak.
As Deng Soso opened the lid of the feeding slot, Hong-seol poked her tiny head out and scanned the surroundings.
“It’s clear.”
The beggar boy, Yang Do-jin, said to the back of Hong-seol’s furry head.
“I confirmed with my ears that there’s no one nearby.”
He was right.
The long corridor visible outside was completely empty.
Hop!
Hong-seol quickly scrambled through the feeding slot.
“Success!”
She heard the muffled cheers of Deng Soso and Yang Do-jin from inside.
After performing another somersault outside, Hong-seol returned to her original form as a small girl.
“Heave-ho.”
The latch was hung higher than Hong-seol’s height, but by standing on her tiptoes, she managed to reach it.
Clack.
“Ah!”
Hong-seol flinched, her shoulders tensing at the sound of the latch falling. But in the end, nothing happened.
“Alright, come out quickly!”
As she opened the iron door, the children poured out in a rush.
“Wow, the door really opened!”
“We’re really escaping!”
Deng Soso, having carefully checked that no children were left behind, asked Hong-seol.
“Where do we go now?”
“Do-jin will guide us.”
Yang Do-jin carefully pressed his ear to the ground before gesturing quietly for them to follow him.
“This way.”
The children walked cautiously in a single file, following Yang Do-jin.
Deng Soso took the middle, and Hong-seol stayed at the very back to ensure none of the younger children fell behind.
They were only pretending to be adults here; in reality, Yang Do-jin, Deng Soso, and Hong-seol were all children who should have been protected.
They were simply suppressing their fear, acting mature out of a sense of responsibility to protect the younger ones.
The earthen pit where they had been held was like a maze.
‘There was a reason they didn’t post guards in front of the iron door.’
If not for the sharp-eared Yang Do-jin, they would have been hopelessly lost inside even after escaping.
Though they tripped over tree roots a few times, they fortunately managed to reach the entrance without anyone getting hurt.
The children, breathing in the fresh air for the first time in a while, took deep breaths.
“Phew!”
“We’re alive!”
They were on the hillside of an unnamed mountain.
Thanks to the full moon, they could see a town in the distance where torches were lit here and there.
Recognizing a few large pavilions, Deng Soso muttered.
“That must be Hefei.”
Yang Do-jin nodded at Deng Soso’s words.
He said in a low voice.
“If you head straight down, you'll be able to enter the city of Hefei soon.”
“Great!”
Unlike Deng Soso, who nodded immediately, Hong-seol tilted her head.
‘Why is he speaking as if he isn’t coming with us?’
Unlike the children who were looking down at the city of Hefei with joy, Hong-seol could not take her eyes off Yang Do-jin.
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