Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Inside Dokmul-hyang, Yo-hwa and Cho stayed crouched by the entrance until So-ryong called for them.

They thought he’d call them soon.

But even after killing time—drawing pictures on the ground with dried twigs and tearing at random grass—it took so long that So-ryong’s voice still didn’t come.

Fifteen minutes. Another fifteen. Half an hour. An hour.

The two of them got bored and decided to head home.

—Tsrrt. 『Sister, my legs hurt. Let’s just go home and wait. Dad must be taking a while.』

—Kishishi. 『Yeah, it looks like he’s taking a while. Then... should we?』

—Tst. 『Yes.』

—Kishi. 『Alright then. Let’s go.』

After White Night City moved in, the memory-filled village that had been at its original spot had been relocated into the nearby mountains.

The two of them decided to walk over there.

It was when they’d just passed the entrance of Dokmul-hyang and were crossing the clearing where White Night City had been.

From far away, the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings spotted them and flew in fast, cutting in front of them.

—Buuung. 『Cho, where are you going?』

—Buung. 『It’s Cho. Cho.』

—Buuuuung. 『Cho, where are you going with Yo-hwa?』

They’d been flying around hard gathering honey and pollen, then saw the two of them, flew over, and greeted them.

At the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings’ “we’re happy to see you” scent, Cho released her own “happy to see you” scent and replied.

—Tsrrr. 『Dad told us to wait inside for a bit. But he must be taking a long time. So we’re heading home. I’m going to rest a little once we get there.』

—Buuung. 『Then should we take you there?』

—Tsrrt. 『Take us there?』

—Buuung. Buung. 『Yeah, yeah.』

When Cho said they were headed home, the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings offered to carry them over.

If she weren’t in a human body, Cho would’ve just flown herself, but once she entered Dokmul-hyang, she couldn’t fly on her own.

She had learned from Zihwa Mom how to pull out part of her body from when she was in her original form, but for some reason, she still couldn’t fly.

When Cho looked at Zihwa Mom, if Zihwa Mom pulled out wings, she could fly—so Cho had been thinking it was because Cho didn’t have wings.

—Tsrrt. 『Okay.』

Thinking it worked out perfectly, Cho let them carry her, and the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings flew quickly through the sky, taking the two of them home.

Several Golden-Furred Wasp Kings swarmed in, lifted the two of them up into the air, and before long, the yard of the house came into view.

—Buuuuung. 『Then see you later.』

—Tsrrttseu. 『Thank you for bringing us.』

—Kishit. 『Thanks.』

After arriving home, the two of them greeted the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings who’d brought them, then lay down on a bamboo daybed and stared blankly up at the sky.

Dokmul-hyang’s sky was still clear and blue.

With their heads facing each other, they lay there just like that, blankly staring up at the sky.

Cho, who’d been looking at the distant sky, asked,

—Tsrrt. 『Sister Yo-hwa, you like Dad, right?』

At that question, Yo-hwa startled and sat up.

Of course she liked him, but the sudden question shocked her.

Yo-hwa lay back down and answered, sounding embarrassed.

—Kishit. 『Mm-hm.』

Saying “I like him” out loud like that was more embarrassing than she’d expected.

Yo-hwa’s cheeks flushed.

Lying there, Yo-hwa thought back.

It was when Yo-hwa had caught Father’s eye, been raised by him, and then changed into Mother’s appearance for the first time.

After seeing Yo-hwa, Father had said this.

"Our Yo-hwa looks just like Mom."

And it wasn’t only that time.

Even though Yo-hwa was showing the appearance of the mother Father loved most, Father never once mistook her for Mom.

When Father had been ill and needed to feed on a villager’s yang energy, everyone had been fooled—but not Father.

Father had been grateful to Yo-hwa for showing Mother’s appearance, but he never confused Yo-hwa with the mother who had passed away. He only said Yo-hwa resembled Mother because Yo-hwa was his daughter.

Yo-hwa had wondered why, and when Father realized Yo-hwa could more or less guess what he meant, Father said this.

"Because I truly love our Yo-hwa—not some outer appearance."

No matter what Yo-hwa looked like, he loved the real Yo-hwa inside, and he told her that one day, Yo-hwa should meet someone like that too.

"Our Yo-hwa should meet a man who loves your real self—not Yo-hwa’s appearance."

Back then, she couldn’t understand what he meant, but only after meeting So-ryong Brother did Yo-hwa understand.

Even while Yo-hwa was showing another woman’s appearance, So-ryong Brother saw straight through to Yo-hwa’s real self—and even if Yo-hwa looked like Hwa-eun, he still liked Yo-hwa as Yo-hwa.

He was the kind of man Father had meant.

So of course she couldn’t help but like him.

As that thought made Yo-hwa’s cheeks redden, Cho said,

—Tsrrt. 『I like Dad too. Dad is really warm. When Cho hugs him like this, it’s warm, so it feels nice.』

Cho was right.

So-ryong Brother was really warm.

Yo-hwa remembered the warm energy she’d felt when Cho lay on Yo-hwa’s fur and rubbed her cheek against it.

Just as she was thinking it felt like the warmth of the sun shining down from that sky—

She heard Brother’s shout.

‘Yo-hwa!’

He was sending his intent only to Yo-hwa, calling her out.

The voice sounded a little urgent, and Yo-hwa stood up and told Cho,

—Kishit. 『Cho, Brother is calling me. Sister will be right back.』

—Tsrrr. 『Only Sister?』

—Kit. 『Yeah.』

—Tsrrt. 『Why did he only call Sister? Okay. Then I’ll go look at Geumdo by the lakeside.』

Just like Zihwa Sister had taught her, Yo-hwa quickly pulled out her spider abdomen and drew threads up into the sky.

Then she lifted her body, buoyant.

She rode the wind lightly and quickly reached the foot of the mountain.

After that, she shot threads from her abdomen to the tops of trees, pulled, and moved forward.

It was the moment she moved quickly and came out through the entrance.

It was the moment she’d gone from a full human body back into a spider body, waiting for her vision and senses to change.

And then a sight Yo-hwa couldn’t believe unfolded in front of her eyes.

Some bitch had Brother tied to a chair and was trying to climb on top of him—then saw Yo-hwa appear and stared up at Yo-hwa, frozen and dumbfounded.

—Ttuduk.

The instant Yo-hwa saw it, it felt like something in her head snapped.

Her vision washed over in gold.

***

I thought she’d show up fast, but maybe she’d gone deep into Dokmul-hyang, because Yo-hwa didn’t appear right away.

Aunt-Master, starving and seeing red, was slowly coming toward me and climbing onto my body.

An extreme crisis where Aunt-Master’s body, half-mounted, was just barely about to touch So-ryong Sword.

Drool was dripping from Aunt-Master’s mouth.

In that extreme crisis, I thought of Senior Sister.

Even if she didn’t think of me as part of her sect, if I brought up Senior Sister—someone she had ties and a bond with—wouldn’t she stop?

"Aunt-Master, c-calm down. R-right. I’m with Senior Sister, and if you do this, Senior Sister will be sad."

"Senior Sister?"

"Senior Sister Cheongcheong."

Aunt-Master, straddling me in an awkward half-crouch, stopped her hips.

Just as I thought, mentioning Senior Sister Cheongcheong got a reaction.

"You’re with that child?"

"Yes."

But it wasn’t the reaction I’d expected.

"Why did you bring that child over here? This place may look safer than the Nine Heavens on the surface, but people without value can’t belong to an association or a sect, and those who can’t get into an association or sect get hunted in secret!

That child’s body is bad, so she can’t raise her realm. Here, she’ll only be low-value!"

Even if she’d split from Master, it seemed her feelings for Senior Sister were still the same—because Aunt-Master was yelling at me.

I told her I could cure Senior Sister Cheongcheong.

"Don’t worry, Aunt-Master. I can cure her. That’s why I brought her."

"Cure her?"

"Yes. Senior Sister was originally a spirit creature that grows by eating the poison of a venom flood dragon, but until now, she hadn’t been able to eat it, so her body ended up like that.

I fed her venom flood dragon poison I had with me and fixed her body to a degree, so if you see her, you’ll understand."

At my words, Aunt-Master—who’d been furious—stared at me with shocked eyes.

"You can really cure her?"

At my answer, guilt spread over Aunt-Master’s eyes.

"Yes, Aunt-Master."

She stroked my hair and said,

"You really... you really thought of us... of me... as your aunt-master...

I’m sorry. But I’ve been suffering from hunger for over a hundred years, so I can’t stop. And on top of that, I couldn’t break through realms, so my body is dying..."

Aunt-Master’s hand was trembling.

She had little life left, and after splitting from Master, she’d suffered hunger for over a hundred years.

Maybe it was because she was a spirit creature, but if she were human, there was no way she’d be able to keep her sanity.

But still—wasn’t this a problem?

"I also have wives—"

"After it’s over, I’ll apologize to your wives a hundredfold. And I’m a virgin-body of a virgin deity, so if you’re worried because of Master, you don’t need to worry about that."

"No, that isn’t the issue—"

It was the moment Aunt-Master’s body, which had been paused, lightly brushed against So-ryong Sword.

Smoke poured out into my nose.

Yo-hwa was finally coming out.

"So someone was in the Heavenly Hearted Enchanting Poison Dance?"

Aunt-Master didn’t panic. She wrapped the area around the smoke with spider silk.

It felt like she was trying to suppress it right away.

The smoke soon solidified, and Yo-hwa appeared, looking down at Aunt-Master.

At that sight, both Aunt-Master and Yo-hwa froze in place.

"Th-this is!?"

Judging by Aunt-Master’s reaction, she’d sensed exactly what Yo-hwa was.

I was about to tell Yo-hwa to subdue her without injuring her—

And then—

—Puhwak.

Suddenly, gold light burst from Yo-hwa’s eyes.

Radiant golden light poured out from Yo-hwa’s entire body.

At that powerful energy, Aunt-Master’s body flew backward and slammed into the wall.

—Kwagwang!

Aunt-Master crashed into the table I’d shoved aside and some furniture.

She spat up blood and passed out.

"Kuhuk."

—Kishishi. 『H-how dare you!』

Even the spider legs stretching out from Yo-hwa’s back were glittering with gold.

Yo-hwa started toward Aunt-Master, so I calmed her down first.

It didn’t look like she meant to stop here.

"Yo-hwa, calm down. That person is Aunt-Master—Senior Sister Cheongcheong’s aunt. She’s been suffering hunger for over a hundred years, so she lost her mind. If we help her break through her realm and fill her belly, she’ll be fine. Just wrap her in silk and subdue her.

If she gets badly hurt, Senior Sister will be sad."

At my words, Yo-hwa reached her hand toward Aunt-Master.

Then—fwaaaak—a spray of golden thread.

Glittering golden thread wrapped around Aunt-Master and subdued her.

It looked like Aunt-Master’s realm was higher, but since Yo-hwa was the Gold-Faced Spider King, Yo-hwa gave her a proper lesson anyway.

I was just relieved that my chastity crisis had been protected—

When Yo-hwa, who’d subdued Aunt-Master, turned back and suddenly froze.

—Kishit. 『Brother, are you oka—』

Yo-hwa’s gaze was locked onto the proudly-standing So-ryong Sword.

In the awkward situation, I froze too, and Yo-hwa swallowed.

—Gulp.

And suddenly I remembered that earlier, I hadn’t been able to fully satisfy Yo-hwa’s hunger.

"Y-Yo-hwa?"

I called her, but Yo-hwa, with a blank expression, walked toward me.

—Step. Step.

"Yo-hwa? Brother... can you undo this thread for me?"

Yo-hwa crouched down and said,

—Kishishi. 『Brother...』

"R-right, our Yo-hwa, calm down—"

Yo-hwa looked like she’d lost her mind too, so I considered calling Cho out—but how could I show my daughter something like this?

I tried as hard as I could to calm Yo-hwa down, but Yo-hwa, who hadn’t moved at all, her eyes stuck on So-ryong Sword, looked up at me and said,

—Kishi. 『Brother, Yo-hwa will be a bad kid just once.』

It looked like my crisis wasn’t over.

The one who’d been climbing on top of me a moment ago was about to change from Aunt-Master to Yo-hwa.