Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

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Chapter 5: The Great Escape

“I won’t come back until I’m bigger and prettier than Chao!” Those were Bin Ah’s last thoughts left to me.

She probably felt like I loved Chao more than her just because she’s getting prettier.

[Bin Ah! Bin Ah! There are so many bad landers outside! Hurry back! It’s dangerous out there! Dad didn’t mean it!?]

I sent my heart out a few more times, but there was still no response from Bin Ah.

Our relationship had been chilly, but I never expected she’d pull off a sudden runaway.

In shock from her escape, I helped the staggering Hua Eun to a chair.

“Calm down and sit for a moment, Hua Eun.”

Then I asked her exactly when Bin Ah had disappeared.

If she hadn’t gone far, we could quickly fetch her back.

“When exactly did she disappear, Hua Eun?”

“She was definitely with me until bedtime. But then I felt something weird and opened my eyes, and she was gone. I called for her, but no answer… The door was slightly open, and something felt off. So, I asked the guards outside, and they told me she crawled out of her room towards So-ryong’s place.”

“To So-ryong’s place?”

I asked the other kids if they had seen Bin Ah come by.

-Did you see her?

-Skitter, skitter.

-Shaa!

Seol-i, my gecko, and Bin, my spider, along with Chao and Hyang, the snakes, were all nocturnal creatures. They had always been awake when I was asleep, so I asked if any of them had spotted Bin Ah, but they all shook their heads.

If Bin Ah had come by, they would have seen her, but it looked like she hadn’t reached my place.

I questioned Hua Eun again.

“When did you go to sleep?”

After thinking a bit, Hua Eun raised her fingers and answered, “The time of the pig (亥).”

“The time of the pig…”

If Hua Eun fell asleep at the hour of the pig, it was roughly between 9 PM and 11 PM.

Considering now it’s just after the hour of the tiger (寅), about 3 AM.

That means Bin Ah has been missing for at least four to six hours.

With her short legs, the little centipede would’ve wandered quite far.

After shedding her skin, her speed has increased, so we couldn’t tell how far she had gone.

“By now, she must be far away.”

“Should we wake the clan guards!?”

One of the kids suggested to wake everyone up with that panicky mom feeling. But it had already been over four hours since she left.

And it was the middle of the night.

Waking everyone just to find a runaway pet seemed a bit unfair at this hour.

So, it was decided that only Hua Eun and I would search for her.

“It’s already late. Let’s search together. She seems to have gone far, and waking everyone now would be pointless.”

We checked the direction she had disappeared, planning to use our flying friends to search more swiftly when the sun rose.

After all, we had the Golden Hair Bee King to assist us.

Regular bees usually collect within about 3 kilometers.

But the gigantic Golden Hair Bee Kings could search areas far larger, potentially even up to 12 kilometers, spreading their search many times that.

“Have you seen Bin Ah?”

“Bin? Who’s that?”

Thus, the first place I checked was the guards stationed at the gates and paths.

Since Bin Ah was a critter that loved to roam, she was more likely to use paths and gates rather than damp, cramped spots.

So, it was logical to first confirm her whereabouts with the warriors guarding Tang Clan’s paths.

“Oh, you mean my centipede?”

Upon hearing the name, the guards blinked in confusion.

As I explained I was looking for one of my centipedes, one guard pointed towards the mountain peak.

“Oh, I saw one crawling towards the path that leads up there.”

“The mountain, you say?”

I tilted my head at the mention of the mountain when I heard Hua Eun’s scolding.

“Why didn’t you stop it!? And why didn’t you inform us!?”

“Ah? W-well, it’s because the venomous creatures raised by So-ryong can all understand human words and I thought she would just wander a bit and come back… My apologies, Miss.”

“Calm down, Hua Eun. The guards couldn’t know if she had run away or just went for a stroll.”

Hua Eun seemed more anxious about Bin Ah’s disappearance than I was.

Having heard she headed towards the mountain, I dashed back to my place and twanged a string at the window.

-Twang.

If someone had been moving at night, they would know where to go, and our pets were here with us.

That would be Yo-hwa.

Yo-hwa had spread her web all over Tang Clan’s dojo floor, so there was a high chance she’d know if someone moved about at night.

-Bam!

As soon as I triggered the string, Yo-hwa quickly flew in front of us, as if wondering why she had been called.

-Khiss?

“Yo-hwa, they say Bin Ah has gone missing. Do you know where she went?”

-Khiss!

“Oh! So you do know something, huh, Hua Eun?”

“Where, Yo-hwa?”

Responding to our questions, Yo-hwa grabbed me and set off quickly.

She must have known exactly where Bin Ah had gone.

“Let’s go, So-ryong.”

Following Chao and Yo-hwa, we arrived in front of the Four Harmonies Courtyard where Young Young stayed, right at the foot of the mountain.

-Khiss!

She pointed towards the mountain with her little leg.

It seemed that this was where Yo-hwa had last confirmed Bin Ah’s location.

The web she had laid down must have only extended to here.

“Looks like she went up towards the mountain from here.”

Together with Chao and Yo-hwa, we climbed up to the mountain peak, but all we found near the summit was a single dead owl frothing at the mouth.

Looking at the melted bite marks, it felt like it had to be Bin Ah’s doing.

“Seems she has definitely been here…”

As I poked the owl’s remains with a stick and turned back to Hua Eun, her face was buried in my shoulder, her voice low and sorrowful.

“What should we do, So-ryong?”

‘Usually, when a child runs away, they’d come back after a bit of hardship…’

If it were a human run away, the moment they felt hungry or missed home, they’d sneak back inside, but this was a spirit creature.

I couldn’t gauge how Bin Ah was feeling better than anybody.

[Bin Ah!]

Thus, I continued to send my heart out towards the unresponsive Bin Ah.

*

At the top of Tang Clan Mountain, where the Four Heavenly Houses lay.

At the pinnacle of that mountain, on the highest rock, one formidable centipede was crawling ever so slowly up.

In the moonlight, this centipede was no ordinary one; it was much larger, as thick as a human’s arm, with a yellow body adorned with green spots.

Yes, it was Bin Ah, the runaway from the Tang Clan.

As Bin Ah crawled slowly to the peak, she gazed down towards the valley.

In her sight, she spotted a distant glow—

As her parents’ presence came into view, Bin Ah’s feelers drooped without her noticing.

Though she had not traveled far, she already began to miss her parents’ warm embrace and their voices.

Having never been apart from Dad since her birth made her feel this longing even more.

Unintentionally, a soft sigh escaped her lips.

-Skitter…

“Ah, my little Bin Ah is so pretty.”

But the moment her father’s voice echoed in her mind, disappointment swelled in her heart, taking over the yearning.

-Skit!

She hadn’t yet resolved her disappointment with her father.

To gather her thoughts, Bin Ah tried recalling all the things she felt upset about with Dad.

She made a promise to herself that she wouldn’t return until she was bigger and prettier than Chao, but now that she had left home for such a short time, her resolve was already wavering.

She recalled only addressing Chao as ‘sister.’

How Dad kept praising Chao after she ate the Flying Heavenly Snake’s Inner Dan, saying how only she grew prettier.

How he bragged about her being able to summon beasts.

Even when the bad dudes came, it was Chao he called for.

Flying in the sky together, he would always declare Chao was the best.

On the other hand, all Dad did with Bin Ah was lie.

Even Bin Ah had sensed Dad’s will towards her; she assumed that meant he must have felt the same way toward her.

Of course, she knew she couldn’t summon countless bats like Chao at the start.

The size difference was too significant.

So, she first began with just one little bat and then moved on to a foolish man.

Ultimately, emboldened by Dad’s ever-growing lies, Bin Ah found herself acting thoughtlessly even at dangerous moments, trying to use her power to win Dad’s praise by knocking out the woman charging at him…

Whenever she thought of that, her feelers shook with a mix of disappointment.

If she had messed up, Dad could have been hurt.

These events might not have even happened if, during that dispute over the Inner Dan, Dad had just kept her and Hyang from fighting.

If only Dad’s praise could have been hers alone.

And with the added irritation of Chao handing over her discarded shell…

Each thought about her disappointments rattled around in Bin Ah’s mind, making her previously droopy feelers perk up.

-Skitter!

Regaining her resolve, Bin Ah launched herself off the rocks below, recalling happy memories of the places she’d gone with Dad.

Her adventure wouldn’t be easy.

She’d have to deal with a mundane owl that came flying toward her like a meal and a battling hedgehog that thought she was a snack.

Well, they were no match for Bin Ah, of course.

Eventually, after a few battles, Bin Ah would rely on her memories of the night to finally locate her destination.

-Skitter skitter!

Perched above a black hole, Bin Ah glared down threateningly.

Just then, a few snakes burst out from the thicket, fleeing in terror from the boughs above.

And in the depths of that dark hole, she recognized a gathering of black essence, writhing in the darkness that resembled the snakes that bit her Dad before.

Ah, this was the Rat Cave, a place she had visited twice with her father.

The reason Bin Ah returned here was that the memory recalled was annoying but somehow similar to the surge that she felt when eating Chao’s shell.

That sense of elevation felt reminiscent of when she’d leaped here to teach those snakes a lesson.

She still had memories of being scolded by Mom and Dad when her shell turned a deep shade of black.

So, sending her thoughts to the hidden power within the cave resonated with her memories.

As she gazed quietly at the hole below, Bin Ah steeled her resolve, preparing to launch herself.

In her heart, a whisper from her father reached out.

[Bin Ah, where are you? Dad was wrong. Mom is worried, so please come back.]

It seemed he had realized she was missing now.

As the anxious tone of Dad and the mention of Mom’s worry hit, Bin Ah shivered but knew that nothing would change if she simply returned.

Chao would definitely continue to outshine her, and Dad would clearly favor Chao more.

Even though Dad had promised to retrieve the Inner Dan, it didn’t seem like it could be easily obtained.

Thus, towards Dad’s voice, Bin Ah yelled, “I won’t come back until I’m bigger and prettier than Chao!”

-Skitter!

And she hurled herself into the deep, dark hole.

Hoping desperately that this pit would transform her into something bigger and prettier, just as she wished.

-Splat.

The instant Bin Ah’s tips touched the bottom of the pit, a powerful surge of energy engulfed her.

As she envisioned something incredible flooding her being, an immense force coursed through her.

The feelers cautiously perked up.

Countless essences began swarming into her from every corner.

Joy overwhelmed Bin Ah’s heart as her body gradually darkened, and her consciousness began to fade.

In the recess of her slipping awareness, Bin Ah wished that when she woke again, she would possess a gigantic and beautiful body that her father would cherish above all else.

Because she cherished Dad the most.

Thus, she longed to be his favorite above all.