Fabre in Sacheon's Tang-Chapter 172: Division (2)

Even though the Golden-Furred Bee King’s house seemed unusually noisy, I decided to deal with Hwayang first.

I carried him back to my quarters and set him down in the corner.

Since the Golden-Furred Bee King was extremely sensitive to intrusions, I needed to leave Hwayang behind before visiting.

Besides, I had to give him a stern warning.

With his bottomless appetite, if I didn’t put a stop to this now, he’d probably sneak into the kitchen at every meal to steal fire.

“Hwayang, you can’t just go to the kitchen and steal fire, okay? If you do that, other people won’t be able to eat. And eating toad flames every day isn’t good for your health.”

- Bii!

The moment I scolded him, his big, round eyes widened in disbelief, as if to say, What nonsense are you talking about?

I sighed, exasperated at how alert he was only when it came to food.

“I’m not saying this because I don’t want to feed you. I’m saying it because I care. If you keep eating too much, you might get sick. If this keeps up, I’ll only feed you every two days.”

- Biiiii!? Biiiii...

His whole body flinched in horror at first.

Then, at the mention of having meals every other day, he drooped in utter despair.

I felt a little bad, but I had no choice.

Even though Hwayang was a spiritual beast, his feeding habits were still based on amphibian biology.

Toads and frogs don’t eat every day.

Amphibians generally only eat once every two days because of their unique digestive system.

Unlike mammals, amphibians don’t have teeth, so they rely entirely on their stomach and intestines to digest food.

Even a normal meal takes a full day to digest.

If they eat something large, digestion takes even longer.

If Hwayang kept eating every meal, it was only a matter of time before something went wrong.

Sure, as a spiritual beast, he might be fine, but logically speaking—

Fire was one of the hardest food sources to find in nature.

For a fire-eating spiritual beast to sustain itself, it would normally have to wait for natural wildfires or volcanic activity.

Considering where I had found him, he was definitely not from a volcanic region.

That meant his natural feeding cycle was far less frequent.

So, I had to set some rules.

“Just bear with it a little, okay?”

“...”

Instead of answering, he closed his eyes and pretended not to hear me.

I chuckled and let it slide, then turned my attention to waking up the others before heading to the Golden-Furred Bee King’s house.

If I was leaving, I needed to make sure they were all awake first.

“Alright, Bini, time to get up. Hyang, you too.”

- Tsrrr...

Bini, still half-asleep, crawled sluggishly toward me and pressed his head against my leg.

He was still too drowsy to function properly.

“You lazy thing. Come on, wake up already.”

I reached out and gently pulled up his antennae, raising them above his head.

But the moment I let go—

They drooped back down like a puppy’s floppy ears.

Even though I had tried to be strict, his adorable appearance completely defeated me.

‘Aaaahhh! Too cute!’

Unable to resist, I rubbed my cheek against his forehead.

Even as I scolded him, I was fully indulging in his cuteness.

“This little brat. Still won’t wake up? Huh?”

- Tsutsu...

Bini weakly resisted, clearly annoyed, but I ignored him and kept rubbing his head.

I was in the middle of this adorable struggle when—

“So-ryong, you’re here. ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) Did you scold Hwayang properly?”

I looked up to see Hwa-eun standing at the entrance to my quarters.

Since she mentioned Hwayang, she must have already heard about why breakfast was delayed.

“Oh, I was just finishing that up.”

“My mother was quite flustered since we have guests.”

Right, the guests—

It was just the Three Dragons Peak brothers, so it wasn’t a huge problem.

But for my mother-in-law, who ran the kitchen, it must have been a big deal.

As soon as Hwa-eun’s eyes landed on Hwayang, who was hiding in the corner, he buried his head even deeper.

For a normally airheaded creature, he sure had good instincts.

Hands on her hips, Hwa-eun marched over with a stern expression.

“Hwayang!”

The moment she called his name, his round, plump backside gave a guilty flinch.

I sighed.

I had to rescue him.

As cute as his trembling butt was, I had heard Hwa-eun’s scolding before, and it was enough to make your ears bleed.

Every household needed at least one strict parent, but there also needed to be a soft one—

Otherwise, the kids wouldn’t be able to breathe.

“I already gave him a proper warning. He understands now.”

“No, I need to make this clear once and for all. Hwayang, look at me—”

Even with my intervention, Hwa-eun wasn’t backing down.

To distract her, I quickly changed the topic.

“Hwa-eun, I’m hungry. When’s breakfast going to be ready?”

“Hm? Oh, you’re hungry? Well, Mother said it’ll take about half a shichen more.”

“Half a shichen, huh? Guess I’ll have to wait.”

Her stern expression immediately softened at my complaint.

I had successfully diverted her attention.

Now was my chance.

“In that case, can you look after the kids for a bit? I’m heading to the Golden-Furred Bee King’s house—something seems off over there.”

“The Golden-Furred Bee King?”

Hwa-eun tilted her head in curiosity before nodding.

“Alright, I’ll take care of them. Go ahead. Kids, say goodbye to Dad!”

The moment she switched from scolding mode to newlywed mode, she quickly gathered up the children.

She placed Moji and Soji on her shoulders, carried Yeondu and Hyang on the other side, and tucked Bing, Seol, and Dong into her skirt folds.

Even Bini, still groggy, was in her arms.

She smiled as she saw me off.

“Take care, So-ryong.”

- Tsrrr.

- Kukku. Kuu. Kkyut.

“Yeah, I’ll be back soon.”

Feeling oddly like a working dad, I headed toward the Golden-Furred Bee King’s house.

The moment I arrived, I saw dozens of Golden-Furred Bee Kings buzzing in and out of their hive.

Something was definitely going on.

‘What’s happening here?’

- Tak.

As I stepped into the training ground, I expected the bees to react to the vibrations.

But they didn’t.

That was strange.

Intrigued, I approached the hive entrance.

One by one, the bees noticed me and flew over, landing on my shoulders before taking off again.

“Hey there. Been a while, huh? Sorry I haven’t visited. So, what’s going on?”

Trying to gauge their mood, I spoke gently as I peered into the hive.

Inside, I saw something new.

The hexagonal chambers had grown massively since my last visit.

‘They’ve really expanded their territory.’

A bigger hive meant more honey storage and a larger colony.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Judging by the number of bees inside, their numbers had grown by at least 50%.

- Buuuung. Buuuung.

Something big was happening.

At that moment—

From among the swarming bees above, a single bee broke away and flew toward me.

This one was larger and more graceful than the others, and it hovered right in front of my nose.

“Oh, have you been well?”

I greeted the Queen Bee instinctively, but the moment I saw her, I noticed something strange—

She looked thinner.

Her usual plump body was noticeably slimmer.

“Wait, what!?”

No, her entire physique hadn’t changed completely.

She hadn’t suddenly turned slender like a wasp or anything.

But by bumblebee standards, she definitely looked leaner.

Had she been on a diet?

“Why do you look so thin?”

Instead of responding, she slowly ascended and flew toward a dense cluster of bees.

Then, she vibrated her wings rapidly.

- Buuuuung!

At her signal, the bees parted like the Red Sea, revealing a huge hive in the middle.

A hive far larger than the average Golden-Furred Bee King nest.

I gasped.

“Wait... is that a royal cell!?”

The words left my mouth instinctively.

A royal cell—a specially constructed, oversized hive meant for raising a new queen.

Seeing that confirmed everything.

‘Wait... does that mean they’re about to swarm!?’

As soon as I connected the thin Queen Bee, the unusual hive activity, and the royal cell, I realized what was happening.

This was definitely a swarm event.

Swarming occurs when:

1. The hive becomes too crowded and there’s no space for egg-laying.

2. The Queen Bee grows old and a successor is needed.

3. The hive gets too large for the Queen’s pheromones to reach every bee.

To solve this, the old Queen lays a new Queen and then leaves the hive with a portion of the worker bees to start a new colony.

Her thinner body meant she had already laid all her eggs and had stopped producing more, getting ready for flight.

Since their hive had grown too large, she was now planning to leave with half the workers.

‘Wait, what!? There were no warning signs!’

Even though I had been away, there hadn’t been any prior signs of swarming.

Before a swarm, certain symptoms usually appear:

- A sudden increase in worker bees.

- The appearance of multiple royal cells.

- Bees gathering in large numbers at the hive entrance.

But neither I nor the warriors who monitored the hive had seen any of that.

Maybe they had missed it because they hadn’t checked deep inside, but even from the outside, some signs should have been noticeable.

‘Damn, no time to think about that now. I need to find them a new home!’

Even though I was shocked, I couldn’t afford to panic.

If the Golden-Furred Bee King was swarming, I had to prepare a new hive for the older Queen to settle in.

If I didn’t, they would just fly off and find a new location on their own.

But if I guided them to a nearby tree, I could expand their colony instead of losing them.

‘Is there another big tree nearby?’

I needed to ask the warriors if there was another suitable old tree in the area.

If there was, I could escort—no, politely guide—the Queen to settle there like last time.

“Just wait here a bit!”

I was about to rush out to find a new location when—

- Buuuuung!

The Queen Bee darted in front of me, blocking my path.

She seemed to be trying to stop me, but I wasn’t sure why.

I quickly tried to explain.

“Wait a second! I’m trying to find a new home for you. If you just fly off, I’ll be sad, you know?”

And then—

- Buuuuung!

A second bee, identical to the Queen, suddenly appeared right beside her.

“...Wait. What!?”

A new Queen Bee had already hatched.

I stared at the ceiling in shock, and only then did I notice—

The royal cell I had seen earlier had a hole in it.

The new Queen Bee had already emerged.

No wonder the hive was so restless.

Everything was already set in motion.

I shook off my surprise and smiled at the new Queen.

“Nice to meet you. I’m So-ryong.”

But instead of responding—

Both Queen Bees trembled slightly, as if laughing.

- Buuung! Buuung!

- Buuung! Buuung!

Something felt off.

I narrowed my eyes.

They looked... too similar.

Too perfectly identical.

That was when it hit me.

‘Wait... something is seriously weird here.’

Most people think insects all look the same, but that’s not true at all.

Every bee has unique features:

- Different fur density and length

- Slight variations in leg shape

- Head and body proportions

Normally, I could easily tell them apart.

But these two?

They were exact copies.

Like someone had just hit Copy-Paste on them.

Then—

Another realization struck me like lightning.

‘Hold on a second...’

Ever since I brought the Golden-Furred Bee King here, I had never once seen a single drone bee.

Drone bees—the male bees responsible for fertilizing the Queen’s eggs—were completely absent from this hive.

Normally, a hive should have at least a few drones.

But in this hive?

I had never seen even one.

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“...Wait a minute.”

That could only mean one thing.

I had assumed I was taking care of a mated Queen Bee.

But no.

This hive...

Was practicing parthenogenesis.

Asexual reproduction.

“...Holy shit.”