Chapter 70

That year, he had been twelve years old.

In March, when the spring was still struggling to burst free from winter's embrace, he had followed his family on a walk up a mountain to visit a temple.

He had been too young to be interested in worshipping Buddhas, but his grandfather had insisted on his company. In order to stave off boredom, he had taken the kitten he had been raising at that time.

At the temple, when his grandpa and the other elders of his father's generation went to offer incense, he had reluctantly followed them with the cat in his arms, walking up the stairs step by step.

All of a sudden, the kitten in his arms, which had initially been docile, somehow got stimulated by something and broke away from his arms, jumping away from him.

"Hey, Ball!" He hurriedly chased after it, only to see the kitten rushing into the flowers nearby and vanishing without a trace.

He anxiously searched around the temple and even asked the monks for help, but the kitten was nowhere to be