Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

I was watching the harvestman beneath the rock flailing its front legs when Eunbong’s voice broke the silence.

“H-Hrk... Young Master, is that thing really under there?”

When I looked up, Eunbong was striding toward me, gripping her flute—the one she used in sound-based combat. Her hand trembled with fury.

Gungbong was dead—so she was clearly planning to kill the harvestman immediately.

And understandably so. Among the Three Peaks of Five Dragon Brothers—Geombong*, Eunbong, and Gungbong—Eunbong had been closest to Gungbong.

I’d heard they had bonded over using unconventional weapons—bow and sound—since Murim still clung to age-old debates like “the sword is supreme” or “the spear reigns eternal.” Those who used anything outside that spectrum were often viewed as second-rate.

Naturally, those on the fringes found solidarity with one another. That was how Eunbong and Gungbong had grown close.

Which explained why not even Ji-ryong, Elder Brother, or Hwa-eun tried to stop her.

Meanwhile, the harvestman kept waving its legs frantically inside the crevice.

It was clearly trying to say, No. No. That’s not right.

What isn’t right?

Gungbong was dead—yet this creature was adamantly insisting otherwise.

As much as I loved spirit beasts, I couldn’t defend one that had taken a life. If this thing was responsible for Gungbong’s death, then sympathy or not, I couldn’t protect it.

Even if it hadn’t acted out of malice—even if it had simply followed instinct—if someone had died because of it, I had to draw the line.

And it wasn’t just anyone. It was Gungbong—a companion who had been with us through Qinghai, Yizhou, and even when we visited Elder Brother’s home.

Sure, he’d acted bizarre at times, but he’d always brought laughter to our travels and ensured we never lacked food.

I started to turn my eyes away—when suddenly, the creature flopped onto its back and began twitching one leg.

As if... pretending to be dead?

What the—?

Startled, I leaned down to get a better look. The creature quickly flipped back over and resumed waving its second pair of legs—its antennae.

It had faked being dead just now, but it wasn’t random. It was trying to tell me something.

Was it... communicating?

“Not pretending to be dead?”

The words slipped out of my mouth, and to my surprise, the harvestman nodded eagerly.

But it wasn’t satisfied—it repeated the same motion again.

That was when it hit me.

Ah! It’s saying that Gungbong isn’t dead!

As ridiculous as it sounded, the creature seemed to be insisting that Gungbong was still alive.

And just then, a piece of information from my mental bestiary floated into mind.

I remembered reading that some parasites in the insect world can put their hosts into a zombie-like state using venom.

Not spiders, but parasitic wasps like braconids and emerald cockroach wasps were known to do this. The braconid lays eggs in moth or butterfly larvae, while the emerald wasp targets live cockroaches.

So how do they implant eggs in living bodies?

First, they sting the host to paralyze its body. Then they sting the brain to completely disable higher functions.

This results in full-body paralysis—leaving the host in a dormant, near-death state. It breathes minimally, and all vital activity slows, but it doesn’t actually die.

The wasp then drags the ”fresh” host back to its lair and lays its eggs inside it.

And this harvestman? It was the type to control bodies.

If its host still had conscious resistance, body control would be impossible.

So what if it put its host into a suspended state and then took over?

That would make perfect sense.

I snapped out of my thoughts just as I realized I needed to stop Eunbong.

She had walked up beside me and was raising her flute to her lips.

She was going to kill it on the spot using her specialty—sound arts.

“W-Wait! Eunbong!”

I quickly stepped in front of her, blocking her view. She shook her head and burst into sobs.

“Young Master... Gungbong is gone. I know you love spirit beasts, and I’ll never forget how you saved Ji-ryong and me... but... hic...”

And then—SLAP! SLAP!

My sister slapped me on the back.

“Ow! Ow, ow!”

“Ryong! Did your sister teach you to be like this? I told you—no matter how much you love venomous beasts or spirit beasts, you don’t keep the ones that hurt people!”

“No, wait, that’s not what I—”

“YOU—LITTLE—!”

“Ow! Ow! Ow!”

As Sister Seol furiously whacked me, Hwa-eun intervened and gently held her back.

“Unnie, that’s enough. So-ryong gets it.”

Then she turned to me.

“So-ryong, I know how much you want to keep that creature... but I think it might be a Seonghon Juma. I’m not sure if you remember, but in the Secret Compendium of Venomous Creatures, the Seonghon Juma was listed as something that traps people in eternal sleep.”

So that’s what it is—Seonghon Juma.

Hwa-eun’s words helped me identify it.

I recalled reading the entry in the Secret Compendium:

Among the Twenty-Four Deadly Spirits, under the celestial stars: “Seong” — Seonghon Juma. A spider-type spirit beast that consumes the soul. Beware, for once the soul is devoured, the victim will fall into an eternal slumber.

At the time, I thought “eternal slumber” meant death. But maybe... maybe it meant exactly what I was seeing here. A death-like state—but not actual death.

To clear up the misunderstanding, I said the one thing that mattered most.

“No, it’s not like that! Gungbong might still be alive!”

If I said anything else first, Sister Seol might slap me again—so I went straight for the key point.

But instead of relief, everyone just gave me pained, bitter looks.

Then—SLAP!

“You idiot! You’re saying that just because you want to keep the creature!”

What exactly does Sister Seol think I am...?

Rubbing my stinging back, I tried to explain.

“N-No, it’s not like that. The creature—it told me Gungbong isn’t dead.”

“Huh? It did?”

“Yes!”

Technically, it didn’t “say” it—but it had made it very clear through body language.

Sister Seol looked toward the rock crevice. The creature was nodding furiously.

“But Gungbong isn’t breathing. He doesn’t even have a pulse!” Hwa-eun protested.

I answered by explaining what I knew about parasitic wasps.

“There are parasitic wasps that lay eggs inside other insects. Before doing so, they paralyze their prey with venom. That venom keeps the victim alive—but in a state that’s like death. Barely breathing, minimal vital activity—but still alive.”

The harvestman beneath the rock practically exploded with enthusiasm.

Its head bobbed so rapidly it looked like a vibrating phone on silent mode.

Beside me, Eunbong wiped her tears and asked,

“I-Is that... really true?”

“We have to check. Elder Brother—can you bring Gungbong over here?”

“Oh—got it!”

At my request, Big Brother swiftly brought Gungbong over and laid him on a flat rock nearby.

Gungbong looked utterly pale—just like a corpse.

I spoke to the creature under the rock.

“Can you wake him up? If what you say is true and he’s still alive?”

The creature’s head nodded rapidly once again.

Worried it might try to escape, I gave it a warning.

“Alright. Then please, wake him up. But if you’re lying just to get away, I won’t stop the others from dealing with you.

However, if Gungbong really is unharmed, I promise we won’t hurt you.”

The creature nodded again, glanced around cautiously, and slowly crawled out.

And that’s when I saw its full appearance.

Looking at its body, a specific kind of harvestman came to mind.

“It looks like it’s based on the Bunny Harvestman?”

The knot on the cord wrapped around Gungbong’s head—which I had thought was a tied string—turned out to be the creature’s horns. Seeing them reminded me of a photo I’d seen in my past life.

Metagryne bicolumnata.

Also known as the Bunny Harvestman, this species lives in Ecuador. It has two sharp projections on its back that resemble rabbit ears—hence the name.

Perhaps that’s why it was assigned to the Star position among the Sun-Moon-Star-Quake classification.

The creature cautiously crept out of the crevice and scanned the area before slowly approaching Gungbong.

Then, it shifted over his head, positioning itself like a decorative knot.

Next, it began inserting its second pair of legs into his scalp.

Harvestmen have the unusual trait of using their second legs like antennae, and this one was sliding them deep into Gungbong’s head.

After a moment—

Once the second legs were fully inside, Gungbong slowly opened his eyes.

“G-Gungbong!”

“Are you awake? Gungbong?”

“Gungbong? Gungbong?!”

People gasped and called out in shock, but Gungbong—having sat up—lowered his head toward me.

“I-I’m sorry. I lied.”

Everyone instinctively backed away, wary again.

Judging from the apology, it wasn’t Gungbong who had regained consciousness—it was still the creature controlling his body.

The atmosphere turned tense once more, so I asked,

“What did you lie about? You’re not saying Gungbong is actually dead, right?”

“N-no! Absolutely not! She’s alive. It’s just... the poison needs a few days to fade. What I said earlier, that I could wake her up right away—that part was a lie...

I lied because I knew I wouldn’t be able to explain properly unless I took control of her body again.”

What the creature meant was this: it takes several days for the poison to dissipate enough for Gungbong to awaken naturally. But since it couldn’t communicate that clearly, it had just nodded, pretending it could wake her instantly—and now it was apologizing for the deception.

“How many days?”

“If no new venom is injected, she’ll wake up in three days.”

“She’s really alive, right?”

Eunbong interrupted, asking once more if Gungbong was truly alive.

The creature, still inhabiting Gungbong’s body, answered carefully.

“Of course. I can’t control a dead body—never.”

“May I check the body myself?”

“Yes.”

Hwa-eun stepped forward, examined Gungbong again, and nodded.

“Amazing. Her heart is beating again.”

That meant she was alive.

Unlike earlier, even Hwa-eun could now tell.

For now, the creature didn’t seem malicious—but the others still remained wary.

Perhaps because of the fact ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) that it had taken over a human body?

Still, to truly understand what kind of creature it was, I continued questioning it.

The idea was to help everyone else get a read on its nature as well.

So I started with the most sensitive issue—body possession.

“Why did you take over Gungbong’s body?”

“I-I didn’t want to! If she hadn’t killed the monkey I was using, I wouldn’t have thought about moving into a human.

My body’s weak, so I need a host. But I don’t like humans. Their bodies aren’t strong, and it’s hard to fool the people around them...”

“You mean the monkey Gungbong supposedly missed with her arrow?”

“Yes. That was the body I had taken over... but she suddenly killed it...”

“Then... the fever she got after eating the monkey meat?”

“Yes, that was because of my venom. I was just trying to run away. But there were so many terrifying people around...

So I planned to use the woman’s body to escape quietly, then transfer to another animal later...”

Listening to it, I understood. The creature hadn’t taken Gungbong’s body with malicious intent.

It was weak and needed a host—but Gungbong had unknowingly killed the monkey it was using.

Then, once it arrived at our camp with Gungbong’s body, it saw our entire group—and was so scared it decided to sneak away using Gungbong’s body.

That made sense. If I were it, and I saw all the venomous creatures in our camp, I’d be terrified too.

I asked it again,

“So Gungbong will wake up in three days?”

“Of course. So... can I go now? You promised not to hurt me...”

The creature pleaded to be released, but Ji-ryong shook his head.

“Little Hero So, Gungbong isn’t awake yet. We can’t just let it go. We don’t know if it’s telling the truth.”

“I-I’m not lying!”

It insisted on its honesty, but there was no way to be completely certain until Gungbong actually woke up.

I didn’t think the creature was lying, but I had no choice. I nodded at Ji-ryong’s words.

Until we could confirm Gungbong’s condition, we couldn’t let it go.

No—regardless of that, we couldn’t let it go.

“It joined us freely... but leaving won’t be that easy.”

“As Ji-ryong said, we can’t let you go yet. Gungbong hasn’t awakened. You’ll stay with us until then.”

“O-okay. Then what about this body? If I leave it, she’ll look dead again...”

“Hold on. I’ll check with the group.”

After conferring with the others, I gave it the answer.

“We’re still on the move. If Gungbong can’t move, it’ll be a problem.

And letting her fall into a death-like state again probably isn’t healthy. So... until she wakes up, we’d prefer if you kept her body active.”

When the creature was inside, her body had warmth again, her heart beat again.

If it left, Gungbong would fall back into that near-death state.

And we all knew—being in a comatose state wasn’t good for the human body.

Even in my past life, full-body anesthesia was known to be harmful.

So we decided to let the creature stay with her for now—and it officially became a temporary member of our group.

Well, temporary will probably turn into permanent.

Others had joined us temporarily too—but none of them ever left my side.

So this made one more addition to the Sun-Moon-Star-Quake roster.