#130. Heavenly Silkworm 4
“Oh, no. Hyang-ah, just spit it out. Thud thud. Quickly.”
I was surprised and asked where the bug in my mouth came from, but this is an action that is out of order.
As a father, I was worried that Hyang-i might get bitten by a bug and get hurt, so I told her to spit it out. Hyang-i spat out the bug that was in her mouth.
-Bam.
Then, the bug that had been spitting on Hyang-i and struggling while flipped over raised itself and revealed its full form.
The bug was about the size of an egg, with a translucent white body, antennae, and short legs.
It was magnified tens or hundreds of times in size, but it was definitely a bug I knew.
‘Are these termites!?’
It was clearly a termite, although it was a bit chubby and quite large.
What Hyang-i had asked about from somewhere was termites, which are called white ants in Chinese.
‘No, there are no trees here. Where on earth did they come from?’
It was when Hyang-i blinked in surprise at the fact that what she had caught were termites.
I heard Hyang-i’s thoughts in my mind, wondering if she had forgotten what I asked her earlier.
“Dad, there are a lot of them over there! Hyang-i saw them!”
‘Cough!’
Even though I was surprised at where Hyang-i had brought the termites from, I couldn’t help but pause because of Hyang-i’s crazy cuteness.
A daughter’s heart attack that squeezes her father’s heart.
Because there’s no father who can stay sane.
There are times when the three of them fight and one of them leaves the house, which drives the father crazy, but this kind of crazy cuteness is another fun part of raising a daughter.
‘No, what is this crazy cuteness in this situation···.’
He asked again, flinching at Hyang-i’s cute heart.
“Oh, so where is it?”
I thought our fragrance had a friendly personality, but it feels like work is tough.
As if not wanting to miss my question, Hyang-i rushed at the termite I had spat out and knocked it unconscious, then crawled under the red peak.
Then he headed towards the base of the rock, near the base of the rock where the peak begins, and he looked at me and shouted.
-Tsrrrr!
“Dad! Over here! Over here!”
Let’s quickly run and squat down where Hyang-i is pointing, in a hidden space under a rock that looks like a low roof.
A hole appeared in a cleverly hidden crevice in the rock, and just as Hyang-i had said, several termites were poking their heads out.
‘Ugh!’
That sight sent shivers down my spine from head to toe!
I stared blankly at the numerous towering rock peaks rising up around me.
Then, the more than a hundred red rock peaks began to look different than before.
Now I could clearly see what those peaks were.
These red peaks were not just any peaks.
The numerous red rock peaks that rise up in this basin are not just any peaks, but they all look like termite nests.
And I got a rough idea of what kind of guys these guys were.
Termites are commonly known to live in trees, but not all termites live in trees.
‘Wow, these guys are like cathedral termites!’
Scientific name: Nasutitermes triodiae.
Name: Cathedral Termite.
It was clear that the creatures in front of me were similar to the cathedral termites, or cathedral termites.
Cathedral termites are native to the desert regions of Australia, and there’s a reason they’re called cathedral termites.
Because they are building houses that are like peaks, like the Sagrada Familia, a famous European cathedral designed by the architect Gaudi.
There’s a reason why they build such tall houses, and that’s because that type of structure is optimal for heat and air circulation.
The termite’s cathedral-like home appears to be a roughly piled-up mound, but it is a very scientific building.
Cathedral ants live in hot areas, so when it’s hot, they suck in cool air through their intake mechanisms spread across the ground and expel the hot air through tall chimneys.
And when night falls and the temperature drops, the hole at the top is blocked to minimize heat loss.
‘A cathedral termite that is 6 millimeters in size builds a nest that is over 6 meters long, so the one that Hyang-i caught earlier looked to be about 6 centimeters long···.’
The anthill was as large as a peak, indicating that the ants had built a large nest as they had grown larger.
“Little Dragon, there’s nothing much over there, but did you find anything?”
“Did you find anything, Yong-ah? They’re all similar peaks.”
When I realized that these red rock pillars were actually giant termite nests, Eun-hwa and Seol-niu came toward me and asked, feeling that I had figured something out.
“Did you find something?”
Then, the question of Shintu, who jumped down from the peak, was heard.
“I found it, but···.”
“You found it?”
“Yes, over there···.”
Instead of answering, I pointed to Hyang-i, who was pulling out termites from the hole in her teeth and throwing them behind her like she was pulling out her father’s white hair.
Termites that were unconscious and not moving, perhaps because they were injected with poison little by little.
Hyang-i’s feelings of working hard to be praised were conveyed.
“What, what is this!?”
“What is this, Ryong-ah? Hyang-ah, what are you doing? What keeps coming out?”
“Hyang-ah, what is that?”
Three people looking surprised at the large termite.
Shinto’s disciple Yeongnyeon also joined in and opened his eyes wide at the sight of the ant.
“What the heck is this?”
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“So this is···.”
‘No, but what is your name?’
Secondly, I had to tell you the name of the thing I found, but there is no such thing as a cathedral or a cathedral in this central plain.
I was wondering what on earth to say about this, and then a really good idea occurred to me.
‘Oh, right!’
“Father, it is called Buddha Tower White Ant!”
Come to think of it, the only tall building similar to that in this central plains is the Buddhist pagoda built at the temple.
I think it was a really great translation.
Just like the Cathedral Termite, it feels really great that the name even has religious meaning?
A perfect translation that truly reflects the local situation.
“A white pagoda?”
“Are you a Buddhist monk?”
Red peaks to people’s questions.
So, I knocked on the door of the Buddhist temple and said.
-Knock knock.
“I thought this was the Red Rock Peak, but it wasn’t. This is all the White House of the Buddha. This entire large peak is the White House.”
“yes!?”
“This, this big peak is Baekui’s house!?”
“This big peak? All of them? Really?”
People flinch and move away from the peak, thinking that it is a giant termite nest.
He nodded and said.
“Yes, this large peak was actually the home of the Buddha Pagoda.”
“Then these guys···”
It was after I explained to everyone the identity of the red pillars spreading around us.
Suddenly, Hyang-i’s sharp cry is heard.
-Tsururut!
As Hyang-i looked towards the sharp sound of the squirrel, a large creature with its head sticking out between the termites that were being pulled out like their father’s squirrel from the termite hole.
Several large-headed termites blocked the entrance to the burrow with their heads and began a confrontation with the scent.
“Hey, Hyang-ah, that won’t do! Back off!”
-Tsurut?
Hyang-i, startled by my voice, flinched and stepped back, expressing her surprise at my sudden shout.
I tried hard to be praised, but he seemed to think I was scolding him.
He quickly lifted Hyang-i onto his shoulder and said.
“No, I’m not saying that to bother you, but that’s dangerous so you have to be careful.”
The ones just sticking their heads out of the termite burrow entrance are termite soldier ants.
Perhaps the soldier ants had come out in droves because the worker ants kept disappearing, and I began to hear the sound of their jaws clicking.
-Tak! Tak!
The jaws of termite soldier ants are so strong that they can inflict fatal injuries on other ants of the same species, so you must be very careful.
That’s why I shouted at Hyang-i so urgently.
If you rush in to fight a soldier ant and get bitten, you could get seriously hurt.
It seemed like it wouldn’t be easily hurt because it was a spirit, but it was something that couldn’t be let down its guard. After all, if it was trying to block the strong thread of the heavenly sleep and the strong jaws of those soldier ants, then Hyang-i couldn’t let her guard down either.
To make sure that Hyang-i wouldn’t feel bad, I decided to tickle his chin and head and give him plenty of praise.
“Our incense did a good job. Because our incense found it.”
“Oh, so that’s what Hyang-i found? Our Hyang-i did a good job. Hyang-i is really smart, isn’t she?”
After praising Hwa-eun and Hyang-i so quickly, Shin-tu pointed to the soldier ants sticking their heads out of the burrow and the termites lying in front of them and said,
“So, are these the guys that are threatening Cheonjam? Then what about their food?
His question, which had stopped with the appearance of the soldier ants, seemed to have been this: now that he had found the ones threatening Cheonjam, where was the food?
Because I said that if I find the guy who threatens Cheonjam, his prey will be nearby.
“Um… I guess I’ll have to check that now.”
“You say I need to check it? What do you mean?”
There is a ninety-nine percent chance that Cheonjam is related to the termites.
This is because there are many creatures that live in symbiosis or parasitism with termites and ants.
In response to Shinto’s question, he took out the wooden box that he had robbed, or rather, given to him.
And he said with a smile.
“With this.”
***
After restoring the fireworks, he first led the people to the highest peak, the very center of the peak.
In order to find out what Cheonjam eats, I need to hatch one of Cheonjam’s eggs, and I thought it would be best to do so at the oldest peak here.
So, we all approached the largest peak in the center of the basin and looked for the ventilation hole that Hyang-i had been looking for first.
“We need to find a hole like before.”
“all right.”
“i get it.”
-Tsurut!
At my words, everyone dispersed and started looking for a ventilation hole, and soon enough, the hole was found.
“Little Dragon, come here!”
When we ran to Hwa-eun’s voice saying that we had found it, we found a hole that was hidden similarly to before.
I lay down and looked into the hole. Sure enough, termites were sticking their heads out of the hole.
“Then, let’s check it out right away. You said that I just need to infuse my inner energy into it?”
“okay,”
As Shintu had told him, he took out one of the three eggs left in the box and held it up in his hand.
And then he started to infuse his inner energy into a ball the size of a ping pong ball.
Then, the egg of Cheonjam begins to change color.
It seemed as if the inside of the egg had turned blue, and then a white larva burst out of the eggshell.
A unique creature with an osmeterium that continues to grow like a horn on its head.
I was amazed when I saw a living one after seeing only dried ones.
‘Ooooh! So cute!’
The white, plump appearance is truly cuteness itself.
Although the Wukongs are cute, Cheonjam had a natural cuteness that was different from the Wukongs.
Plump joints and a soft feel in the hand.
That unique, wriggling cuteness.
“Little Dragon?”
“Oh, yes!”
I was so immersed in Cheonjam’s cuteness that I lost my mind for a moment, but I quickly came to my senses at Shintu’s call.
And the hatched snail was placed a little way in front of the termite nest.
It looked like it was looking around for a while, then it quickly crawled away, probably after checking for termites.
But strangely enough, the osmetrium of the guy who approached the ant began to change shape.
What I thought were horns had spread out and turned into yellow sprouts.
Then the termites swarmed in and started licking the center of the guy’s yellow leaves.
The ecology of Cheonjam is now becoming more and more understandable through the appearance of these guys.
‘Ah! I guess this is what the Cheonjam guys feel like, the twin-tailed butterfly!?’
I had a feeling that the Cheonjam guys probably had a similar ecology to the twin-tailed butterfly.
The ecology of the twin-tailed butterfly is very unique.
Mated adults of the two-tailed hawk moth lay eggs near the burrows of ants called Matsumura’s tail-wagging ants. When the eggs hatch, the ants pick up the larvae and carry them to their burrows.
The caterpillars of the two-tailed butterfly produce honeydew from a gland on their anus, much like aphids, and ants love it.
That is why they feed food to the butterfly larvae that they moved into the burrows in exchange for nutrients, and they even catch their own young and feed them to them.
As if my guess was right, the termites that had been sucking the water from the leaves of the tree disappeared into the burrow, biting the larvae of the nightshade.
“Little Dragon, the ants have taken Cheonjam!”
“Ah, no, Little Dragon, those guys took Cheonjam!”
Hwa-eun and Shin-tu seemed surprised that the ants had taken Cheon-jam, but there was no need to worry.
This is a situation we had expected, and we have to dig up our land anyway.
Assuming that the Cheonjam has the same ecology as the Twin-tailed Butterfly, this Bultapma was absolutely necessary to raise them, and to do that, you had to dig the ground and catch the queen ant.
‘Last time, the army ants were a bit dangerous and I couldn’t catch them because they were dead, but cathedral termites are perfect because they are helpful for farming and not dangerous, right?’
He asked Shinto with a smile.
“Sir, are you good at digging the ground?”
“Land? No way?”
“Yes, I think I need to dig the ground.”
“No, so you should guard it well before asking! You can’t even figure out what it is that you said you would figure out!”
Shintu grumbles at the thought of having to dig the ground.
He seemed to think that I was going to dig the ground to capture Cheonjam again, so I decided to give him an answer that would make him have no choice but to dig the ground diligently.
“No. I’ve figured out everything I needed to know.”
“You figured it out!?”
Shinto opens his eyes wide in surprise as he answers, “I found out everything I needed to find out.”
He said, pointing his finger at the ground below.
“Yes, of course. But didn’t you say that digging the ground would require a thousand-year-old monk?”
“Well, of course, right?”
“Haven’t you seen? The pagoda demons taking away the first sleep. That means there might be a lot of cocoons hatched by the first sleepers under the ground.”
“What!?”
The round eyes of the god turned towards the red pillar.
Because there might be a treasure buried underground that he so desperately wants.
