Chapter 246: Byeol’s Soul

"Meow..."

After calling out several times, Joo Joowon finally heard a cat’s cry. In the next second, he felt himself falling. No, it was not him who was falling. It was the star beneath his feet that was rising.

The enormous solitary star seemed to have gone through a long period of preparation, and its form finally began to change. Its originally round shape gradually stretched longer. Cat ears, a cat body, a cat tail... In the end, it completely transformed into a cat.

A cat that was somewhat different from the Byeol in Joo Joowon’s memories.

Byeol was still covered in snow white fur, but his temperament seemed somewhat cold and lonely. His mismatched eyes were empty and silent, while black clouds swirled around his feet, making him look like a ferocious beast that brought disaster to others.

Yet Joo Joowon could not feel the slightest sense of rejection toward him. He had never seen a Byeol like this before. In front of him, even when Byeol occasionally acted cold and aloof, he was merely being tsundere. Normally, acting cute and spoiled came naturally to him.

He instinctively reached out his hand and said, "Byeol, come here."

"Meow..." The clouds beneath his feet drew a long "tail" through the air as he rushed toward Joo Joowon without the slightest hesitation and fell directly into his arms.

An icy coldness that pierced straight into his bones followed immediately afterward, giving Joo Joowon the illusion that he was about to be frozen solid.

Byeol raised his head and licked him, then exposed his snow white belly. Joo Joowon instinctively reached out and rubbed it. In the next instant, his vision suddenly went black, and strands of black energy wrapped around him and pulled him inside.

An indescribable tremor rose from the depths of his heart. It was not fear, but rather the feeling of tasting the most delicious delicacy in the world.

By the time Joo Joowon came back to his senses, nothing remained at the scene. Everything that had happened just now seemed like a dream. He was still standing on that star, but his arms were empty, and there was nothing inside them.

A huge sense of confusion rose in his heart. However, it was obvious that he would not gain anything else by remaining there, so he did not hesitate and directly withdrew from the soul space.

Joo Joowon sat cross-legged on the bed. This time, his Mental Power finally returned smoothly, so he was no longer completely in the dark about what had happened after his Mental Power passed through the gap.

It felt as though only an instant had passed, yet at the same time, it also felt as though tens of thousands of years had gone by. When Joo Joowon came back to his senses and looked at Byeol again, he immediately felt something strange.

It was not the sense of control he had toward Hwi, but rather a familiar and intimate feeling as though they were connected by blood, as if Byeol had truly become his own child.

Byeol’s movement of licking his fur paused for a moment. He hesitantly raised his head and looked toward Joo Joowon.

What was going on? Why did he have such a strange impulse in his heart?

This impulse was so strong, so intense that Byeol even had the urge to leave his own body and rush uncontrollably into Joo Joowon’s body.

[ System Notification: Your Pet Companion, Byeol, has loaded a sub-panel. Click here to view details. ]

Joo Joowon was also filled with curiosity. He impatiently opened Byeol’s Pet Companion panel.

...

[ Name: Byeol ]

[ Race ]: Calamity Born

[ Level ]: 3

[ Skills ]: Celestial Fiend, Forsaken Star, Shared Burden

[ Talents ]: Astral Fate, Twin Souls

[ Favorability ]: Sharing Life and Death

[ Status ]: ?

[ Introduction ]: Born with Astral Fate, with the Six Stars opposing his fate. He should have been wounded by the Tribulation Forsaken Star and the Two Fiends, but he unexpectedly encountered another person who also possessed a Solitary Fate. The two should have sunk and risen together, living and dying against each other, yet they unexpectedly became compatible. His Astral Fate changed from independent to auxiliary, leaving him without fate or status. Once he leaves the Main Star, both his life and soul will disappear.

(Note: Because this creature cannot absorb experience points, the experience it obtains cannot normally enter the experience pool and will all be transferred to the Pet Owner.)

...

Joo Joowon froze.

Huh?

He could not help scratching his hair as he tried to calm down and think carefully.

First, my cat is a Celestial Fiend and Forsaken Star.

Second, I seem to be a Celestial Fiend and Forsaken Star too?

Joo Joowon carefully read it over and over again. After confirming that he had not misunderstood anything, he could not help being deeply shocked.

Did the system get something wrong?

Joo Joowon did not know what Byeol had gone through before meeting him, but there was no way he could have forgotten his own experiences. How could he possibly... Uh...

Joo Joowon fell silent. He counted on his fingers. He really did have shallow family ties. When he was in middle school, his parents abandoned him and took his younger brother out to have fun. In the end, the three of them got into a car accident, and he was the only one left.

However, Joo Joowon did not feel particularly sad about it. He had been born in the countryside, in a relatively remote and conservative place. Because he was a son, when his parents separated from his uncles and divided up the family property, they had not received a good share. The family felt that everything had happened because of him. If they had another son instead, they would have long since been free from all these hardships and would not have been unable to hold their heads up in the village.

Then, after his parents died, several of his father’s brothers and sisters, along with his grandmother, all set their sights on his parents’ inheritance. His grandmother was the first to make trouble, saying that he was a jinx who had swept away the good fortune of the entire family, which was why his parents had gotten into a car accident and died despite having been perfectly fine.