Chapter 48
At that question, Gayul and Arang both turned to look at Soya at the same time.
“Yeah, so cute! Super duper cute, Soya!”
Arang grabbed Soya’s hand tightly as she said it.
“The fluffy down feathers are cute! The flapping wings are cute! The spiky tail feathers are cute! Oh, and the beak too! The beak is forsythia yellow! So cute!”
“Don’t call someone else’s little sister cute! She’s my little sister!”
Gayul huffed indignantly, pulling Arang away from Soya before warning her sternly.
“Cotton ball. You have to be careful because you’re too cute when you beast transform. So you don’t get kidnapped by a naughty tiger like her.”
But Soya still couldn’t understand what they were saying.
“Um…… Did you really see me properly?”
My beast-transformed self was cute? For real?
Not pathetic and hideous?
“You’re teasing me and playing a joke on me right now, aren’t you? That’s it, right?”
“Uh, huh? Cotton ball, are you…… mad?”
Gayul thought Soya was angry.
Because the corners of her eyes had turned red, and her face and voice had stiffened rigidly.
“N-No, we’re not teasing or joking. So don’t be mad……”
That was when it happened.
Plop. Plip, plop.
Thick teardrops welled up glistening in the corners of Soya’s eyes before spilling down in fat droplets.
Gayul jumped in shock, his body flinching as he asked.
“Eek, cotton ball? A-Are you so mad you’re crying?”
“……No way. It’s all lies.”
“C-Cotton ball……?”
“They said it, those people. That I’m a pathetic baby bird with nothing but worthless white fluff……”
Her voice trembled sweetly as she recited the stinging words the Zhuque Clan people had hurled at her for so long.
“That my beast-transformed form is so hideous they’ll rip off my wings if I ever catch their eye……”
That was why even after regaining her spirit core, Soya hadn’t dared to even think of attempting a beast transformation.
She didn’t want to show the people of Baekho Palace—who had shown her a world so kind and warm—the horrifying version of herself that made them want to tear her wings apart.
She didn’t want to lose her world again, like that day when she had lost everything in an instant.
“What? Who are those people! I’ll scold them for you!”
“M-Me too! In the name of the great Baekho Clan, I’ll give them all a good thrashing!”
“Kiiing…… Krung, krung!”
But these people said her beast-transformed form was cute.
They said even her worthless white fluff, like dandelion seeds, was soft and adorable.
They didn’t shun her as dirty or hideous.
They said they just wanted to take her home because she was small and cute.
It was completely different from anything Soya had ever heard before.
“Really…… I’m not hideous? Truly, I’m cute?”
“Of course! You’re the cutest beastkin I know!”
“Y-Yeah, cotton ball! So don’t cry……”
“Krung! Krung, krung!”
It was confusing, and she still couldn’t quite believe it easily.
But……
[The ones who were wrong weren’t you—it was them.]
That was what Sa-eon-nim had said. That they were the ones who were all wrong.
Her strongest protector in the world, her ‘real family,’ had told her that.
So couldn’t she believe it?
Couldn’t she believe that she was cute, that she wasn’t hideous at all?
‘I want to believe it.’
The wish that had suddenly bloomed filled Soya’s chest with heat.
The words of the people anxiously comforting her tears.
The words of these people getting angry on her behalf about her past.
The words of the people who had taught her such warm feelings.
‘……I want to believe it.’
Overwhelmed.
Emotion surged, and for a moment, tears spun in her eyes.
“Soya……!”
“Cotton ball……!”
“Kiiing……!”
“Sniff, hic, ngh……”
But Soya bit down hard on her lower lip and rubbed fiercely at the corners of her eyes.
She didn’t want to cry anymore because of the wounds those wrong people had given her.
“Everyone, sniff, thank you. I won’t cry anymore now.”
And with that, Soya sniffled, her nose bright red, and beamed a smile.
* * *
That day, Soya spent the happiest day of her life.
Having become the Mountain Lord, Soya donned the Baekho mask and spun round and round in dance with the other children in front of the bonfire.
Whenever Soya showed her clumsy dance moves, everyone mimicked her, shaking their arms and legs along.
Seolyo, in the form of a massive wolf, squeezed in among them and imitated Soya’s dance too, which looked so comical that everyone burst into laughter.
They sat in a cozy huddle, eating delicious roasted food, and made wishes together in front of the dying embers.
She could see why the young beastkin of the Western Land looked forward to the Mountain Lord Festival more than any other event.
After the festival ended, Sa-eon entrusted the White Tiger Sword to Soya.
[I appoint Soya, daughter of the Baek Clan, as the sword keeper of the White Tiger Divine Sword.]
Divine relics left by divine beasts couldn’t be owned by mere humans, so the clan merely kept them safe.
The one who guarded such a relic was called its ‘keeper,’ and Sa-eon, the patriarch, had appointed Soya as the ‘sword keeper’ of the White Tiger Sword.
She worried if she was truly worthy of such a heavy responsibility, but……
‘I’m a baby bird who can do anything now. So I’ll do well on the mission Sa-eon-nim gave me.’
Soya thought determinedly.
And from that day on, another change came over Soya……
“Amazing, Young Lady!”
“Wow, how do you fly so high with those tiny wings?”
The people of Baekho Palace watched Soya’s flights and exclaimed one after another.
Since bird beastkin were rare in the Western Land, everyone marveled at Soya’s flying.
Soya felt shy but didn’t dislike their reactions, so she deliberately showed her beast-transformed form once a day.
And every time Soya flapped her small wings and took to the air, the same admiring voices followed.
Until now, beast transformation had been something utterly terrifying, frightening, and horrific for Soya.
But not anymore.
Thanks to her beast transformation, she had been able to protect her big brother.
Sa-eon-nim had praised her as the bravest, most spirited baby cotton ball in the world.
And the people of Baekho Palace had even said her beast-transformed form was cute and lovable.
Walking on her slender little legs with dainty steps, flapping her tiny wings to fly, pecking at grains with her bright yellow beak.
They said it was all cute, all amazing.
And above all……
‘My spirit core feels more stable too.’
Soya could feel her spirit core settling more stably into her body with each beast transformation.
She even felt a little resentful toward her past self for having been so afraid of it.
“Rwaaang!”
“Kyarrung!”
Likewise, Gayul and Arang, who had beast-transformed into tigers, jumped energetically below but couldn’t reach Soya.
“Rawr! (That’s cheating, cotton ball! How can you fly around by yourself in hide-and-seek!)”
Gayul, who had climbed even up into the trees trying to catch Soya but ultimately failed, huffed in frustration.
“Peep, pyaa! (But big brother Gayul, you ran up into the tree last time too! You knew I couldn’t climb trees, so it was sneaky when you were about to get caught!)”
“Kr, krung…… (Th-That was……)”
At a loss for words, Gayul hung his head and shook a tree branch.
Soya covered her beak with her wing and let out chirping giggles.
Chirp, chirp, chirrup—
It was the same laughter that Yeon-jeong and San-ho had marveled at, saying how even our Young Lady’s laugh was so cute, ringing clear and bright across the autumn sky.
That was when Gahyeon came walking from over there.
Pew!
Spotting him, Soya released her beast transformation and ran over to Gahyeon.
“Big brother Gahyeon! Are you feeling better?”
Gahyeon’s left arm was wrapped thickly in bandages.
It was the wound he had gotten protecting Soya from Chaos that day.
“Yeah, I’m fine. A scratch like this is nothing.”
Gahyeon smiled gently as he answered, but Soya’s eyes, scanning his arm, were filled with worry.
Meanwhile, Seolyo, who had been playing in the garden, tilted its head and watched them intently.
* * *
The Mountain Lord Festival came to an end, and the tigers of the Western Land returned home one by one.
On a night when an unusually quiet darkness settled over the bustling Baekho Palace.
In her dream, Soya met some enormous being.
It was wrapped in red light, its form indiscernible, but Soya could sense it was vast and pure.
—You must be upset, little bird. To have let that old tiger get the jump on you.
It was a voice that carried an incredibly warm, cozy resonance.
“Do you…… know me?”
—Of course. I’ve been with you for a very long time.
“I’m curious who you are.”
—I’m sorry, little bird. I can’t tell you my name until you come find me. So hurry and do so.
The enormous being scattered away with those enigmatic words.
‘What was that dream?’
It was too vivid a memory to dismiss as just an ordinary dream.
‘Been with me for a long time. But I was always alone until I came to Baekho Palace.’
Soya was sitting on the garden soil, pondering the dream from the night before.
“Kiiing, nang……”
At the feeble whimper, Soya looked up in surprise and jumped to her feet.
Seolyo was limping toward her.
“Seolyo!”
Soya rushed over and checked its limping front leg.
It looked like it had been pricked by some thorny bush—the wound was inflamed.
“Oh no……! Seolyo, are you okay? How did you get hurt like this?”
Soya asked in a distressed voice.
“Kiiing……”
Seolyo blinked its large eyes and gazed up at Soya.
Soya’s brows drooped pitifully.
“Oh dear, what do we do. That must have hurt so much.”
“Kiiing, nang……”
Seolyo rubbed its head against Soya.
“You’re so brave not to cry even though it hurt a lot, our Seolyo. Good job.”
Soya was mimicking the tone Yeon-jeong had used when Soya herself had been hurt once, stroking Seolyo’s head.
Fwoosh!
Suddenly, sparks flew from Soya’s fingertips.
“Wha—?”
Startled, Soya jumped up.
Seolyo’s body seemed enveloped in a blindingly white light……
Shhhrk—
The black hide covering Seolyo’s body slowly peeled away.
And in the place where the black outer layer had shed……
“……!”
There stood a handsome boy about Soya’s age, with black hair and ash-gray eyes.
“Seolyo turned into a human……?”
Soya murmured in disbelief, her eyes wide round.
