Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

No matter how many times Zihwa warned me to be careful, the road through the cloud passage was endlessly boring. Before I knew it, my head was nodding, and I was surrendering to the temptation of sleep.

It was only natural.

This cloud passage felt like driving a car through an endless gray tunnel.

The only scenery sliding by outside the window was ashen clouds; a monochrome sea with not a single other color filled my entire field of vision.

The clouds were clearly moving fast, but because the background was so monotonous, it even gave the illusion that we were standing still.

I must have dozed off and woken up dozens—no, hundreds—of times like that.

Then, suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot straight at my forehead, and my drowsiness vanished in an instant.

“Yaaawn. I’m so bored. Isn’t there anything fun?”

I muttered in a listless voice.

In this empty, meaningless space, what fun could there possibly be? I just couldn’t stand keeping my mouth shut and tossed the words out for no reason.

But the moment those words left my lips, Hwa-eun’s desperately urgent voice rang inside my head.

『“My lord! Something terrible has happened!”

“What, what is it, what’s wrong?”』

I flinched in shock at Hwa-eun’s panicked voice.

A chill ran down my spine. For something to be serious enough that Hwa-eun called it a “big problem,” it could not be anything light.

“My damned mouth!”

Cursing myself inside, I anxiously waited for Hwa-eun’s next words.

Right now, if there was a “big problem,” I wondered if something had gone wrong with Dokmul-hyang.

If something happened to Dokmul-hyang, that wasn’t just a mere problem—it would be a calamity on the level of a natural disaster.

Dokmul-hyang was, right now, like a giant ark or spaceship flying through the sky, carrying our entire family.

If something went wrong inside it, that would be a matter of life and death.

『“My lord, don’t be startled and listen.”

“Yes, yes.”』

I was already startled just knowing that something had happened, yet she was trying to calm me down.

I wasn’t calmed at all, but as I pretended to be, I finally heard something that was at least a little reassuring.

『“Hyang caused a bit of an accident.”

“Hyang did?”

“Yes.”』

She was saying Hyang had caused an accident.

If nothing had happened to Dokmul-hyang and it was just that Hyang had caused some trouble, then it wasn’t that big a deal.

’Whew. Thank goodness.’

The kind of trouble Hyang could cause inside Dokmul-hyang wasn’t much.

At worst, not listening to her mother, fighting with her younger siblings, or talking back to her older sister—wasn’t it just something on that level?

From Hwa-eun’s perspective as the one in charge of discipline, it was a big issue, but for me, it was comparatively something I could feel at ease about.

Kids grow up like that, after all.

I thought about which kind of trouble Hyang was most likely to have caused; the most probable was her talking back.

Lately the kids’ heads had been getting big, so it seemed quite possible that they might have tried to pick a fight with Cho or something.

Their roots were centipede, after all, so they might get into rank squabbles.

『“Did she talk back to Cho or ignore something you said?”』

I mentioned the scale of trouble Hyang could plausibly cause.

It wasn’t as if lightning had pierced my ears, but for a moment the sound inside my head disappeared.

『“Hyang brought ···.”

“What?”

“I said Hyang brought ···.”

“Brought what?”』

Even after she repeated herself, I didn’t understand and tilted my head.

Then Zihwa’s gentle voice came.

『“He means your ‘older sister,’ the female.”』

“Whaaat!?”

Zihwa’s one sharp line drove itself into my brain.

’A f-female! No, Sister Seol?’

Only then did I understand what Hwa-eun had been saying.

Sister Seol.

Our blood was not connected, but Sister Seol was the one who had cherished me more dearly than my own younger sibling, and Hyang had secretly brought her.

『“H-how!?”

“She secretly put Sister Seol into her mind-space and brought her along. We only found out just now. She had been secretly stealing food or disappearing alone, so the other kids tailed her, and they found her hiding Sister Seol on Geumdo’s back.”』

At Hwa-eun’s explanation, the scene from right before departure from the lower world came to mind.

Hyang crawling out in front of Sister Seol’s quarters.

I had just assumed she’d gone to say one last goodbye, but that wasn’t it.

The brat had deliberately loaded Sister Seol herself on board.

Once Hyang was registered in my mind-space, she had the authority to let others in.

So if it was too painful to part, she could have received some small memento, some item Sister Seol had used. Instead, she had stolen the person herself.

Because once Hyang had been registered in my mind-space, she had the authority to admit someone.

’Seriously···.’

The moment I understood everything, my mind went blank.

What would my adoptive father do now?

Who was supposed to inherit the line of Beast Palace?

To preserve the bloodline, Beast Palace had to take in a son-in-law, but now that even my sister had disappeared, the future of that house had gone completely dark.

It wasn’t my birth family, but Beast Palace was no different from the home of my heart.

Maybe because that place’s future had suddenly turned bleak, my mind felt like a sheer cliff dropping away beneath me.

『“So-ryong?”』

At Hwa-eun’s call, I came back to my senses.

I quickly shouted into the group chat.

『“Cho! Cho!”

-Scrrr. (Yes, Dad. I’m sorry. I didn’t know Hyang was going to cause trouble.)』

Cho apologized, saying she hadn’t stopped her younger sister’s escapade in advance.

I shook my head, saying it was fine.

They say even ten people can’t stop one thief; I hadn’t noticed even with my own eyes on her, so how could Cho have possibly noticed?

『“No. How could you have stopped that? I think Dad needs to go into the mind-space for a bit. Can you come out and hold on to Dad for me?”

-Scrrt. (Got it!)』

It seemed I really had to go into the mind-space and check things myself, so I asked Cho to come out and hold on to me.

Since Cho had lightning resistance, I thought she could grab me and endure here in this place.

After a moment, white smoke flowed out from my nose, and Cho emerged and grabbed hold of my body.

Cho’s countless legs clamped tightly around me from my head to my arms and legs.

Very gently, but firmly enough that I absolutely wouldn’t slip free.

-Scrrr. 『All set, Dad!』

“Okay. Dad’s going to go in for a bit and come back out, so I’m counting on you.”

-Scrrt! 『Yes, go and come back. Cho will stand guard!』

I closed my eyes and quickly shifted into my mind-space.

Thinking that I really needed to give that brat Hyang a scolding.

This was truly one enormous accident.

***

When I arrived in my mind-space and stepped out of the temple, the area in front of the bamboo houses built before the temple was in an uproar.

The wives’ voices were ringing sharply.

“Hyang, what on earth were you thinking?”

“No, Hyang, how could you secretly bring Sister Seol?”

-Scrrt. 『I mean, I wanted to see Auntie. I didn’t want to say goodbye···.』

-Scrrr. 『Big Sister Hyang, you’re in big trouble now. Dad said he’s coming.』

-Scrt. 『Bini, you look suspiciously happy, you know?』

“Hyang, you’re getting scolded right now. Why are you glaring at your sister?”

The voices scolding Hyang and Bini’s teasing voice were all mixed together into a great commotion.

Well, it made sense. Because of Dad’s woman troubles, I had ended up with four wives, so in our house even the smallest matter meant the nagging was fourfold.

’This is a little unfair to her.’

I did feel a bit sorry, but that wasn’t the issue right now.

I had to scold this Hyang brat.

She’d brought Sister Seol and cut off Beast Palace’s line of succession.

I did feel bad as a dad, but today Hyang still needed to be scolded, so I raised my voice and ran into the largest building used as a dining hall.

“Hyang, you—”

However, at that moment, Sister Seol, who had been quietly sitting beside Hyang, suddenly sprang to her feet and shouted at all of them.

“Stop it! Stop it! Why are you picking on the child like that!”

“Uh?”

“Big Sister?”

Sister Seol snapped and shouted loudly.

“She only secretly brought me here for her aunt’s sake. Is that really something to get scolded over like this? And you—would you all have preferred it if you and I had parted forever?

Right, what, am I such a nuisance that you’re wondering why I even followed along? I—I was the only one who didn’t want to part. Fine. Hhhk.

I hate saying goodbye as much as dying···. Huaaah.”

In other words, the reason we were scolding Hyang was because she had brought Sister Seol, so was she supposed to not have come at all?

She understood why we were doing this, but she seemed hurt.

At the sight of Sister Seol bursting into tears, all the wives were flustered.

“Sister Seol, th-that’s not what we meant.”

“Right. That’s not what we, ah, meant to say, is it? Th-there, there.”

“What does it matter, it’s already done. We can’t go back, can we. Are you going to send me back or something? Should I just jump off!? Hhhk.”

Pouting, Sister Seol stuck out her lips and shot the words back at them.

I walked up and let out a sigh in front of her.

“Haa. Sister···.”

Only then, as if she’d finally noticed me, Sister Seol, who’d been crying, jolted.

Then a sharp remark flew out.

“What! What! You’ve got something to say too?”

I’d come to scold Hyang, but it seemed calming Sister Seol down had to come first.

I meant Sister Seol.

If I said anything to her as things were, she would definitely sulk badly.

No—she was already sulking, and I couldn’t very well pour oil on that fire.

Now that things had turned out this way and we had no choice but to keep Sister Seol with us, soothing her was the right thing to do.

I put on as kind an expression as I could manage and asked:

“When I came to say goodbye, why wouldn’t you see me even once?”

“Th-that was···.”

Sister Seol faltered.

She had clearly expected me to lecture her, so being asked gently like that seemed to throw her off.

I gave the wives a quick wink and said,

“We almost ended up parting just like that, you know.”

When I mentioned how I’d gone to see her to say goodbye and she’d kept refusing to see me, Sister Seol looked up at me and quickly apologized.

“S-sorry···. Hhhk.”

While the wives came over to pat her shoulder and comfort her, and Sister Seol’s tears finally stopped, I decided it was time to ask about the details.

Since she’d followed after me, we had to ask about the problems that had arisen.

Beast Palace was basically guaranteed to be in serious trouble, but I still had to confirm exactly how things now stood.

“By the way, did you at least tell Father you were coming?”

“N-no.”

“What are we going to do about Father···.”

“I—I was just in the middle of saying I was going to follow you. If I disappear, he’ll figure I went after you. ···Probably?”

Even as she said it, Sister Seol stuck out her tongue guiltily.

So it really was just plain running away from home?

I asked carefully.

“Will it be all right, the matter of inheriting the Beast Palace line?”

“T-that’s fine. The original plan was to get a son from you, but when you said you were going to ascend, Father said he would take in a new adopted son.”

“He did?”

“Yeah. He was worried you’d feel hurt. So he didn’t tell you.”

“Then it doesn’t sound like there’ll be a huge problem with that···.”

From Sister Seol’s explanation, it seemed we could at least relax about the matter of who would carry on the Beast Palace line.

From what she said, he’d already been planning to take in an adopted son.

And at one point when she’d gotten sulky, she had sent the Blood-Eyed Green Grass Shrew over, saying it was something I had gathered so I should take it; I had sent it back out of guilt.

But even then, she kept sending it again and again, so in the end I’d just left it stored inside Dokmul-hyang.

So there were no other special worries.

“Then it doesn’t seem like there’s a huge problem. Anyway, things being what they are, let’s just get along well.”

“As expected of my little brother! Wagh!”

As if she’d never been crying, Sister Seol, all excited, tried to throw her arms around me and ended up eating the floor.

“Hehe. Sister Seol, be careful. You know you can’t touch So-ryong.”

“Right, be careful.”

“Why didn’t you tell me ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) that sooner!”

As the wives helped Sister Seol up, she put on a sulky expression again.

That was the same old Sister Seol as ever.

The mood inside Dokmul-hyang returned to a warm and cheerful atmosphere, and Hyang, watching the timing, spoke up.

“I did a good job bringing Auntie, right!?”

At those words, Hwa-eun and I looked at Hyang at the exact same time and said,

“No! Hyang, you’re going to stand with your hands up today.”

It really was a case of husband singing and wife following.

***

The journey took two whole extra days longer than expected.

Just as Zihwa had said, it took more time than the fall itself.

Sure enough, while I was nodding off miserably, the surroundings slowly turned blue and then changed into clear sky.

Sensing the change in atmosphere, I hurriedly opened my eyes. Down below, I could see a clean Taoist temple.

It looked strangely familiar, and yes, it had the exact same structure as the abandoned Taoist temple on Hainan Island.

The abandoned Taoist temple had appeared before my eyes in perfectly intact condition.

I descended, coming to a stop standing in the center of that Taoist temple, and the moment I landed, a shout rang out.

“He’s here!”

“You’ve come!”

Several people burst out from the surrounding buildings, and one of them shouted:

“Grab him!”

At the same time, flames and blades of wind shot toward me from their hands.