Becoming an Adopted Son of the Beast Palace
Becoming an adopted son. The very idea brought something from my previous life flickering vaguely to the surface of my mind.
The ceremony itself had been simple enough—offering a single bow before the ancestral tablets in the shrine and sharing a cup of wine. The only catch was that the wine each of us drank had been mixed with a drop of the other’s blood. That detail kept snagging on half-remembered scenes from my past life, never quite coming into focus.
“Here. Drink.”
“Yes, Father.”
The cup of crimson wine was held out to me. I took it carefully and tipped the contents into my mouth.
—Gulp.
For the first time since reincarnating I tasted the sharp bite of alcohol, threaded through with a metallic tang. The moment the bloody flavor spread across my tongue, the half-formed memory snapped into clarity.
Right! This is exactly like a scene from some gangster movie.
It was the same vibe as those underworld initiation rites I’d only ever watched on screen. Then again, those ceremonies made people family, and this one did too. Same grain, different wood. I could live with that.
We finished exchanging cups, and just like that the surprisingly modest adoption into the Southern Savage Beast Palace was complete. Or, looking at it the other way around, I had been successfully re-homed to the Beast Palace.
“From this day forward you are a man of the Southern Savage Beast Palace and my son. Hahaha! We don’t use family names here, so you’re no longer Wi So-ryong—just So-ryong. Dragon’s a kind of beast anyway, so it’s fine. Little Dragon… I like the sound of that. Grow into a great dragon that can swallow the sea.”
“Ghk—yes, Father.”
A hand big enough to cover my entire head thumped my back while he delivered the blessing. I managed an awkward smile. Then my new older sister, Seolpyo, cupped my cheek and spoke.
“So-ryong, you can call me Seolpyo Noona or just Seol Noona, alright? Let’s get along. Aigoo, you’re so cute.”
“Y-yes, S-Seol Noona. I’ll be in your care.”
When we were still strangers she had looked like a fierce, sun-browned cat of a woman overflowing with health. The moment we became family she flipped into the softest dog-cat hybrid imaginable. Watching the two of them beam at me, I could only smile awkwardly again.
I adopted countless animals in my past life, but this is the first time I’ve ever been the one getting adopted. The feeling is… weird.
First adoption across both lives. I had always been the one welcoming new kids into the family; receiving that welcome myself left me thoroughly out of my depth. Had the children I took in felt something like this?
Still… not a bad feeling.
Their satisfied faces made the whole thing feel strange, yet pleasant at the same time. I already knew why the Beast Palace people looked so happy. From their perspective I was clearly an S-rank specimen.
Yeah, I’m definitely S-rank. No question.
I’d recently eaten the Golden-Haired Bee King’s royal jelly, so my coloration was excellent. I was still a juvenile, which meant there was fun in raising me. Specimens like me didn’t exactly grow on trees.
After the brief adoption and welcome, a modest feast was held for the Tang family guests. Only when the night had grown quite late did the banquet finally wind down.
“This is your room, So-ryong. Like it?”
“Yes, it’s very… lavish.”
The quarters they led me to after the feast were far more opulent than the usual restrained Tang style. A soft bed layered with leopard skins, wolf-pelt rugs—everything looked plush and inviting. A penthouse suite dropped right into the middle of the jungle, basically. That was my private residence in the Beast Palace.
“You’ll mostly stay with the Tang family, but you still need a place of your own when you visit.”
“Thank you, Seol Noona.”
“Oh my, family doesn’t say thank you.”
“Ah… is that so.”
I was still too new to the whole “family” concept to feel anything but awkward, and I was smiling stiffly when she spoke again.
“And wait here a little. I’ll get ready and bring her over.”
“Get ready? Bring who?”
What is she preparing? Who is she bringing?
Seol Noona vanished without further explanation. I had just changed into comfortable clothes and was about to climb into bed when she reappeared, towing Hwa-eun into the room.
Hwa-eun wore something thin that looked like sleepwear; her face was flushed scarlet. Seol Noona, by contrast, seemed thoroughly entertained.
“Why are both of you here?”
Startled by their sudden entrance, I asked. What came out of Seol Noona’s mouth next was almost too absurd to believe.
“We’re family now, so after we chat we’re sleeping together!”
“You mean the three of us?!”
“Yep. I’ve always slept alone, so I really wanted to try this once I got a little brother. Is that not okay?”
I recoiled and repeated the question; she only looked at me as if wondering what the problem was. I understood why Noona was here, but my eyes asked Hwa-eun why she had been dragged along. Hwa-eun answered with her neck flaming red all the way to the collar.
“I-in the Beast Palace, b-betrothed couples are supposed to… s-sleep together…”
Wait, they have a wonderful custom like that—no, hold on…
From the hasty explanation it seemed Hwa-eun and I were meant to share a bed, and Seol Noona had simply decided to join. In other words, if I refused Noona’s suggestion, Hwa-eun and I would be left alone together.
[J-just say yes. I think it’ll be better than the two of us alone…]
A trembling telepathic voice reached my ear. When I looked at Hwa-eun she was shooting me desperate “please allow it” eyes. The idea of being left alone with me was apparently too mortifying.
I asked Seol Noona carefully,
“Does that mean I have to sleep in the middle?”
“Of course!”
I had a feeling sleep was not going to come easily tonight.
Seol Noona turned out to have an endless supply of questions.
At breakfast the next morning I was stuffing dumplings into my mouth with hollow eyes when she spoke.
“So-ryong, I’ll tell you the thing you’ve been most curious about after we eat, so follow me the moment you’re done. Got it?”
“The thing I’ve been curious about?”
“Your five bugs.”
“Ah.”
After the meal she was going to examine why Cho and I could communicate telepathically. I nodded, finished eating, and let her haul me down the cliffs behind the Beast Palace.
My adoptive father was already waiting; he had finished breakfast with us and come ahead. He seated me and said he wanted to examine my internal energy method first.
“We confirmed that a fragment of our Beast Palace’s Beast Heart Technique is mixed into your Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Art, so Elder Mandok Singun has given permission for me to inspect your martial arts. Would you circulate a full grand circulation for me?”
“Yes, sir.”
Because the greatest secret of the Southern Savage Beast Palace was hidden inside the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Art, he wanted to see exactly how much of it had been incorporated. I sat as instructed and began the grand circulation. Father placed a hand on my back and traced the flow of my internal energy.
When the circulation finished he nodded.
“They hid it this carefully, so of course no one noticed at the time. It’s an imitation of the Beast Heart Technique, but at this level it falls far short of the real thing. No need to trouble Elder Mandok Singun over it.”
He looked relieved. Curious what made the technique so special, I asked carefully,
“What exactly is the Beast Heart Technique that it warrants such caution?”
Seol Noona stepped in to explain.
“Big sister will tell you. The Beast Heart Technique is an internal energy method only direct bloodline members of the Southern Savage Beast Palace may learn. It’s said to be a method that lets you grow together with beasts.”
The phrase “grow together with beasts” hooked me instantly. I pressed,
“Grow together with beasts?”
“Mm. The Beast Heart Technique has a unique function. It lets you feel a beast’s heart and give it commands. You could call it an internal energy method that allows you to become one with a beast and fight as a single entity.
‘Growing together’ just means how completely you can become one with the beast and fight alongside it. Something like that.”
So ‘growing together’ is basically a measure of how well you can handle beasts?
“You can feel their hearts and give them commands?”
I could already give Cho orders, yet I still couldn’t feel her heart. I tilted my head. Seol Noona smiled.
“Just wait a second.”
—Thud-thud-thud-thud.
At her word I waited. From far away a dust cloud rose; ten wolves came racing toward us. The moment they reached the cliff edge they bared their fangs at me.
—Grrrrr.
Seol Noona barked at once,
“Hey! So-ryong is my little brother now, so no more growling!”
—Whine…
At her scolding the wolves instantly flattened their ears, tucked their tails, and rubbed up against her as if apologizing.
“Fierce Wolf Chain Formation!”
A moment later she ordered an attack. The ten wolves launched themselves at Father in a coordinated assault.
—Awoooo!
They rotated like a windmill, two charging at once, then four striking from four directions. Even to a beginner like me the formation looked sharp enough to leave most experts in pieces. Yet not a single wolf so much as brushed the hem of Father’s robe. After several exchanges Seol Noona called,
“Enough.”
The wolves that had been hounding Father panted heavily, then crowded around Seol Noona and rubbed their cheeks against her, begging for praise.
—Whine…
“Good job. See that, So-ryong? Just like this.”
“Amazing! All ten at once?”
She handled ten wolves as if they were her own limbs. At my praise her expression turned proud.
“If you master the Beast Heart Technique you can command five hundred or even a thousand at once. But if you get greedy beyond your realm, the hearts of too many beasts flood in and you can fall into qi deviation and go mad, so you have to be extremely careful.”
I could barely manage one, and she was casually talking about five hundred or a thousand. I looked at her with pure respect and asked,
“H-how do I feel the children’s hearts? And how do I give commands to my other kids as well?”
Father and Seol Noona both smiled and answered together.
“When I examined the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Art, I could tell the act of accepting poison places a burden on the body. That’s why your realm seems to be limited by innate talent—five poisons, ten poisons, and so on. But the Beast Heart Technique was never designed to accept poison.”
“Then what does it accept?”
The idea that I could hold mental conversations with my venomous companions separate from poison made my eyes light up. The answer I received was a bit of a shock.
“Originally, it accepts blood and the like.”
“Blood?!”
They talked as if they cherished animals above all else, yet they wanted me to take in blood? I flinched; both of them only smiled.
“Just a single drop of blood. Bodily fluids like saliva work too. That’s how you accepted the poison and became able to command your five bugs.”
“Oh! I see!”
Taking in a bit of saliva or blood would register new kids. It wouldn’t hurt as much as poison, and using bodily fluids instead of venom meant it wouldn’t interfere with filling the Ten Poisons slots. Perfect.
I would still have to walk the Five Poisons path separately for the poison arts themselves, but the news that I could register all three of Cho’s group as a single stack made me light up with joy.
Cho ×3 stack—broken as hell.
“Please teach me the Beast Heart Technique!”
“Of course! You’re my son—naturally I’ll pass it on. Sit. I’ll transmit the proper Beast Heart Technique to you.”
“Thank you! Father! Thank you, Noona!”
The words “Father” and “Noona” tumbled out of me like a burst of dialect, still awkward on my tongue. Immediately the incomplete fragment of the Beast Heart Technique hidden inside my Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Art began to be corrected. I felt several additional meridians in my head open, and then Cho’s heart—wrapped around my waist—came flooding in.
This is—!
Cho’s heart was nothing but boundless love and affection for her dad. Right now she was wondering whether she ought to bite the big uncle who had put his hand on Dad’s head.
Ghk! Cho-ya!
Once the incomplete Beast Heart Technique nestled inside the Five Poisons Returning to Origin Divine Art had become whole, Father spoke again.
“Hand all the five bugs over to me for a moment and lie down.”
“They might bite…”
“Don’t worry. If they try I’ll wrap myself in protective gang qi. And you can simply tell them not to bite, can’t you?”
He wanted me to give him the five bugs and lie down. He was a master of handling animals, so it should be fine, yet I had never handed the children to anyone except Seol Noona and myself. I silently ordered Cho to keep her little siblings from biting Grandfather, then passed them over.
“Kids, go stay with Grandfather for a bit.”
“Like this?”
I had barely stretched out on the ground when he said,
“Now open your mouth and keep it open.”
“My mouth?”
Darkness covered my face. Father looked down at me, holding the five bugs above my head.
“Alright, spit one drop of saliva—not poison—into your master’s mouth. So-ryong, circulate the Beast Heart Technique and feel the energy mixed into the saliva as it enters your body.”
So the reason he had told me to lie down was so the five bugs could drip their spit into my mouth. I shot upright in alarm.
“F-Father, wait a second.”
“What is it?”
“Is it just me, or is this weird?”
“?”
Both of them only tilted their heads. Apparently Father and Seol Noona saw nothing strange about the situation at all.