Fabre in Sacheondangga Episode 186
Motherly love 3
Once back in town, I checked the scent again in a bright place.
Are you hurt anywhere?
The tongs of the black and red goby were sharper than expected, so he checked to see if Hyang-i’s shell or legs were damaged.
The scent is much stronger than that of a normal civet. Compared to a normal civet, it is about the size of an egg or a rock, but it was still able to break off its weak legs.
Although the fragrance is a spirit, it is still low-grade.
Because the opponent is twenty-four years old.
Unless it is a life-threatening injury, a broken leg or something like that will be restored during the next molt.
“Hyang-ah, Dad, you were so surprised! You almost got in big trouble! Why did you go there!”
Still in shock, Hyang-i scolded him and examined him carefully, and a word came out of Hyang-i.
-Tch···. 『But···.』
Hyang-i’s one word that came out as an excuse, ‘But···.’
Those words were followed by fierce criticism from the older sister and younger sister who had been watching.
-Tsrrrrrr! 『What? But?』
-Tsk tsk! 『But isn’t it?』
Soon after, Hyang-i’s antennae drooped as if she was being told that she was not reflecting on her actions or that she needed to be scolded.
Normally, she would be more shameless or indifferent, but since her life was on the line, she must have felt the sting herself, and surprisingly, she accepted her sister’s nagging quietly.
“I heard from my aunt that you were almost in trouble!? Hyang-ah?”
However, Hwa-eun, who heard the story from her sister Seol, ran over and asked, and the little guy, Hyang, who wasn’t even a caterpillar, rolled up like a caterpillar and hid his head inside his shell.
Is it the feeling of covering your ears to the scolding of your entire family and saying, ‘I don’t know!’?
At the sight of such a scent, Hwa-eun’s eyes widened and even Cho and Bin’s antennae rose.
My mom, older sister, and younger sister were all nagging me, so I closed the door.
I had a feeling that the nagging would go on for a long time, so I decided to quickly step forward and calm everyone down.
I was a bit surprised, but it was praiseworthy and something to celebrate because I found Hwajung thanks to the scent.
“Okay, everyone calm down. No one is hurt and Hyang-i is probably reflecting on her actions, so let’s stop here.”
“Little Dragon is too soft. You have to scold him firmly at times like this. He’ll be in big trouble later on…”
“Thanks to the fragrance, I feel like I’ve found my way to Hwajeong.”
Hwa-eun’s eyes widen at the words, “I found my flower.”
As expected, it seemed that Seol had not heard this story yet.
It was clear that he had come running in a panic when the story began and he heard that Hyang-i almost died.
“You found it?”
“Yes, that’s what happened when Hyang-i was looking for it. There was a large flowerpot embedded in the wall behind where Heukgyeomhonggu was sitting.
“I think that’s probably why Hwayang rushed at me last time.”
Hwa-eun’s gaze turned towards Hyang-i in my explanation.
Immediately afterwards, a sigh and some soft words came out of Hwa-eun’s mouth.
“Whew… That’s definitely something to be praised for. But, Hyang, you shouldn’t do anything dangerous next time. Mom and Dad were surprised, right?”
Then, a tentacle slightly rises from the coil of the dried insect-like scent.
I picked up the incense that was drying on the floor.
And he showed the incense to Hwa-eun and said.
“And there is something to celebrate.”
“Is there something to celebrate?”
“Look at the tips of the antennae and the tips of the legs.”
“Antennae and legs? Oh, what is this!? It’s definitely Bin···.”
Hwa-eun looks at me with her eyes wide open.
It seemed like he had a similar look to Bin’s time.
“Yes, perhaps if Hyang-i absorbs Hwa-jeong’s energy, she will be able to transform into a higher spirit like Cho-na and Bin-i.”
If you imagine it roughly, it’s probably a fire?
My heart swelled with excitement at the sight of the firefly spitting like the legendary dragon.
If it’s fire, it has four attributes that originally appear in fantasy-like places.
Isn’t it one of the fundamental properties among fire, water, wind, and earth?
I was a little disappointed because Hwayang felt like a special attack that burned internal energy rather than a fire attribute, but she’s a fire attribute daughter.
This is the unfilial daughter.
‘She is a filial daughter. She is a filial daughter, after all.’
“That’s great! Now our Hyang-i can sleep too?”
Hwa-eun was, as expected, delighted by my words.
At that moment, the scent that had been coiled in my hand got startled and hid inside my sleeve.
He said he absolutely did not want to grow up and that he would stay by his father’s side for the rest of his life.
-Tsrrrr! “I don’t like it! I don’t like it!”
‘Huh!?’
I have a feeling that this scent will have a hard time evolving.
It seems like our scent is a case of Peter Pan syndrome.
***
I returned to the lava cave after two weeks.
I spoke to Heukgyeomhonggu in the darkness of the cave.
I’ve been stopping by to check on him for the past two weeks, but this was the first time I’d spoken to him since Hyang-i almost got hurt.
“Hello, I came by to check which way the entrance is over there. I wanted to check in advance which way the entrance is. The back is blocked, right? I wanted to make sure it’s safe because that’s where your kids will be going later. Is it okay if I go through?”
There was no other reason why I spoke to him, contrary to my original plan.
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
The original plan was to search the passage after the guy died, but I thought now was the right time since the cubs were still attached to their mother’s body.
Because after the mother dies, the chicks may get startled and scatter.
It was also because I felt that the time when my mother would die was not far off.
Newborn earwigs, like baby civets, shed their skin once or twice, and once they finish shedding their skin and their body turns brown, they begin to feed in earnest.
That’s when the mother gives her body to her young.
But it seemed like that second molt wasn’t far off.
The chicks’ yellow bodies appeared slightly excited.
“···.”
Heukgyeomhonggu looked towards the direction we had come from at the sound of footsteps, then bowed down again at my words.
Perhaps that would be an answer that says it’s okay to pass.
As I gave a signal to the people who followed me by hand, my brother, Ji-ryong, Geom-ryong, and Kwon-ryong decided to check the passageway and jumped past me and disappeared into the hole on the other side.
I decided to sit on a nearby rock and watch the black and red goo until my brothers returned.
“By the way, the kids have grown up a lot. Can we wait here until the people come back?”
The guy’s antenna moved slightly as he sat down without even listening to the answer.
But there was no other reaction.
Well, I guess I can’t move right now.
This was because the earwig larvae, which had already molted once, were densely attached to the mother’s body.
The little creatures moving around in the field of vision brightened by the Myoaam Night Light.
I was looking at the guys with a happy expression on my face, not even realizing how much time had passed.
Suddenly, one of the cubs attached to the guy’s body started to tremble, then its back burst open and yellow stuff spurted out like popcorn.
‘It’s a shedding!’
I hurried because I thought the shells of the chicks looked slightly floating, and sure enough.
The second molt was beginning.
-Thump. Thump. Drumroll.
The sound of the chicks’ shells opening in the quiet cave.
The chicks shed their old bodies and took on new ones, just as yellow flowers bloomed on their mother’s back.
Now that the chicks’ bodies have dried up, it is time to say goodbye to their mother, Black and Red Gu.
That was when.
I heard footsteps from the direction where my brothers had disappeared, and then I saw my brothers who had gone out to search returning.
And the first to arrive was Brother Gyuseong, who reported on the findings of his reconnaissance.
[Dragon, the cave is located on a low cliff near the volcano. It’s hard to see because it’s blocked by trees.]
[What else?]
[I took a good look around as you said, and there was a small stream flowing and the forest was thick with leaves.]
People often mistake earwigs for carnivorous insects, but earwigs are omnivorous. They are so good at eating that they will even eat the byproducts of rotting leaves.
If the environment outside the cave is like that, then there are plenty of places to hide and the environment for finding food is not bad.
When I nodded, my brothers, who had seen the chicks molting, asked with surprised expressions.
[Is that the shedding that Ryong-i was talking about?]
[How amazing.]
[It looks like a big yellow flower.]
[Let’s step back for now. There shouldn’t be any irritating things while shedding.]
[Okay.]
[Okay.]
I thought that I should step back and stop making a fuss, so I told my brothers to step back and we started moving towards the village together.
-Trut.
A sound coming from Heukgyeomhonggu.
When I turned my head, the guy was wagging his front paws in the darkness.
It felt like something was calling me towards it.
I tilted my head and asked, and the answer came right away.
“Come? Don’t go?”
-Trut.
It was an important moment for the chicks to molt, so I sat down in the same spot as before, wondering why they were telling me not to go.
[Brothers, you go back first. It seems like the guy has something to say.]
[Is that okay?]
[Because nothing has happened until now.]
[Okay.]
After sending the brothers away like that, I sat down and looked at the guy, but after that, he didn’t say anything.
As time passed, the chicks that had finished shedding their shells began to dry out by hanging on to the guy’s body.
Those guys can fly too, with their wings spread wide.
The pups’ bodies were slowly changing from brown to a red color similar to their mother’s in the darkness.
The pincers on the tail were now clearly visible.
It was at that time that I was just sitting there blankly watching the guys dry off, wondering in the back of my head why they had asked me to stay.
-Clang. Clang.
With a flapping sound, the wings of the chicks suddenly spread out and began to fold one by one.
It took anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for the body to dry out, but perhaps because it was a warm lava cave or because these guys were spirits, it ended quickly.
At that moment, Heukgyeomhonggu picked one of the skinny chicks and placed it in front of his head.
Although they were born from the same womb, this one looks a head larger than the other babies, perhaps because the eggs were more nutritious.
But it was a little strange.
Even though he had shed his hair twice, his appearance was a bit far from being a black and red haired mane.
Usually, after two attempts, it should look exactly like the mother, but it was clearly an earwig, but it felt like a different species.
‘What? The difference between a baby and an adult is that big?’
I was a little confused by the difference in appearance between the mother and her baby.
The baby tried to crawl back to its mother’s body, but the mother held it back with her legs.
The boy began to wriggle at his mother’s feet.
-Squeak. Squeak.
‘what?’
Some incomprehensible behavior.
It was a moment when I wondered why the earwig, which has such excellent maternal instincts, would treat its own young like that.
-Keuk.
At that moment, the mother’s body trembled, and a red bead was vomited next to the baby.
It felt like a flash grenade had exploded in the eyes that had been pulling up the night sky in that light.
‘Ugh.’
When the vision that had briefly disappeared returned.
Something truly amazing was unfolding before my eyes.
The little guy, who had clearly swallowed the beads his mother had vomited out, was beginning to shed his skin again.
-Thud. Thud.
The guy who had just finished shedding his skin flashed red, and then, as expected, his back suddenly burst.
The shell bursts and what emerges from within is a black and red worm that looks exactly like its mother, albeit smaller.
‘Ohhhh! This is similar to the first, second, and third, but different.’
In order to become the lower-level Blue and White Gong, the Bicheon White Gong, or the Mukhyeon Gwi Gong, you need to eat the corresponding energy. However, in order to become the Heukgyeom Honggu from the regular Honggu, you need to eat the internal energy of your mother.
Those who aren’t like that have to compete in nature and suck up enough energy.
It was clear that one would be raised for sure and the rest would be raised in competition with each other in nature.
That was the moment when I was amazed by the guy’s ecology.
The chicks that were attached to the mother’s body were pushed forward, perhaps because of the internal organs, but as soon as the mother’s successor finished shedding completely and took over for the mother, they immediately sunk their teeth into the mother’s body.
-Crack. Crack.
The last supper presented by the mother earwig.
The mother seemed to accept this situation very calmly, but then a scream-like sound burst out from the boy’s mouth as he finished shedding.
-Kkieeet!
And then he ran towards his mother, trying to stop his other brothers from biting her.
The other pups didn’t have it, but maybe that one was the only one with it, like its mother, and not like an animal.
But the mother stops the baby with her own legs.
At that moment, a single cry escaped from my mother’s mouth as she looked towards me.
-Trut.
Only then did I understand what all this was about.
When I told him that I would take care of his puppies because of Hyang-i’s business, it was clear that he agreed to take care of this successor.
-Truth!
A chick turns to me at the sound of its mother’s cry.
The cub shook its head, but the mother was firm.
-True!
And then, as if urging me, she called me again, so I quickly went over and picked up the baby that was pressed against the mother’s leg.
Black and red goo points in the direction of the cave as he nods while holding the baby.
“I see. What you mean?”
This one, who received the mother’s inner strength, is fine, but the other cubs will probably have to eat their mother to absorb whatever little energy she has left in her body.
He told me to take her out so that she wouldn’t be disturbed.
“I will definitely keep my promise.”
As I picked him up and turned around, the baby in my arms began to cry.
-Kkii!
And then the sound of the mother’s body collapsing behind her briefly spread through the cave.
As expected, it was an appearance worthy of the queen of maternal love in the insect world.
