Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Inside the cave, a storm of madness raged—not just between individuals, but across species.

The thick scent of coriander, a pheromone released by the parasites, filled the air. But instead of that stifling, pungent aroma, all I could smell was the faint sweetness of something else.

Unlike the chaos behind us, here, there was only the quiet embrace of a man and a woman.

Or rather, Hwa-eun was the one clinging to me.

She had latched onto me the moment the horrifying screams and the writhing mass of parasites started their grim ritual.

So this is why people say to take a date to a horror movie.

For the first time, I truly understood the wisdom of the ancients—why they encouraged couples to go watch scary movies together.

A part of me wished this moment would last a little longer.

But unfortunately, my wish was not granted.

The sickening sounds behind us—the writhing, the grotesque slapping, the gasping—abruptly stopped.

Too soon.

Why are they so fast!?

We needed to relight the torches.

Right now, the remaining male parasites were still trapped in a haze of pheromones, their hunger for mating overriding their instincts to feed.

But once the pheromones dispersed completely, they would snap out of it—and look for a new food source.

If we delayed any longer, that food source would be us.

“Hwa-eun, we need to light the torches. If we’re late, they’ll come after us.”

“Uh... O-okay, So-ryong.”

She hesitated as I reluctantly pulled away from our embrace.

But instead of her usual flustered reaction, she only loosened her grip slowly, her fingers lingering on my sleeve.

Even in the dim light, her voice was thick with warmth, like honey dripping from a spoon.

Even though it all started because of the parasites, it seemed my little speech about not forgiving those who dared to covet my woman had worked wonders.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee... Damn, So-ryong, well done.

With a smirk of self-praise, I quickly stepped away and reignited the torch at my feet.

As soon as the flames flared back to life, the parasites that had been creeping toward us scurried back into the darkness.

Close.

If we had waited even a moment longer, we would’ve been in real trouble.

Suppressing a shudder at the thought, I turned to Hwa-eun.

“I’m going to grab the others.”

“Alright.”

I was referring to the two female parasites I had stored in the gloves earlier.

Driving the remaining males back with the torch, I retrieved the creatures and made my way toward the fallen warriors of the Five Poison Sect.

Step. Step.

As I approached the wreckage left behind by the storm of mating frenzy, the carnage came into view.

The three warriors of the Five Poison Sect lay lifeless, their bodies mangled and torn apart—soaked in a thick, white fluid.

Like fruit salad drowned in mayonnaise.

Except the mayonnaise wasn’t mayonnaise.

Even I flinched at the sight.

Yeah... I think I’m never eating fruit salad again.

Just as I was grimacing, Hwa-eun gasped in horror beside me.

“W-what is this!?”

I hadn’t explained exactly what I meant when I said I’d punished them with what they loved most.

Now, faced with the grotesque aftermath, she could only stare in bewilderment.

I hesitated.

Should I... should I tell her?

That the thick, white substance covering their bodies wasn’t just some strange secretion from the parasites, but their actual reproductive fluid?

Before I could decide, Hwa-eun seemed to gather herself, pulling out a poison needle and crouching beside one of the bodies.

“Could this be another type of parasite venom? But... how did you make them attack only these three? It must have something to do with how you threw those parasites earlier... So-ryong, you’re really incredible.”

As expected of a daughter of the Tang Clan—she was already considering collecting a sample.

I panicked and quickly grabbed her wrist.

“T-that’s not poison.”

“...It’s not?” She frowned. “Then what is it?”

I swallowed.

“Well, um... It’s... the parasites’ s-seed.”

“Seed...?”

For a moment, she simply blinked at me.

Then, realization struck.

Her entire face turned crimson as she leaped away, arms flailing.

”Wh-what—!? But how—!? Why—!? What the hell happened here!?”

She was malfunctioning.

Like a broken wind-up doll, she kept stammering, unable to process what she was seeing.

I sighed.

If I didn’t explain soon, she might actually suffer permanent brain damage from the sheer horror of it all.

So, in a gentle voice, I began to explain.

About how bedbugs reproduced.

How male bedbugs didn’t differentiate between male or female.

How they didn’t even recognize different species.

How, when overwhelmed by female pheromones, they would stab their hooked, barbed genitals into anything.

And how, instead of fighting these men, I had simply let nature take its course.

When I finished, Hwa-eun’s face was burning so brightly I was afraid she might actually burst into flames.

“S-so... t-that’s what happened?”

She still couldn’t meet my eyes.

She mumbled in an embarrassed voice:

“Th-thank you, So-ryong...”

Her voice was so quiet, so soft, so utterly adorable—it was the perfect moment.

A decision needed to be made.

The mood was right.

The setting was dark.

It was like a movie theater.

And in movies, what did the male lead do at moments like this?

They kissed.

First kisses always happened in movie theaters.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

And sure, the cave was... well, filled with some unsavory scenery.

But if we just closed our eyes, we wouldn’t see it.

This was it.

The perfect chance.

I smiled.

“There’s no need to thank me. I only did what I had to do.”

Then, I leaned in slightly, lowering my voice.

“Because you’re mine.”

Hwa-eun gasped softly, her breath hitching.

Her lips parted slightly—

—BOOM!

Right at that moment, a deafening explosion came from the cave entrance.

I clenched my teeth.

Fucking timing...

I had been this close.

This. Close.

Hwa-eun snapped out of her daze, eyes widening.

“Oh! It must be Cho!”

I sighed and rubbed my temple.

“...And Lady Seol.”

It had to be them.

As much as I wanted to curse the heavens for ruining my moment, this was what we had been waiting for.

Hwa-eun and I exchanged glances—

Then, activating our light footwork, we rushed toward the entrance.

It was clear that the remaining warriors of the Centipede Division were locked in battle with Lady Seol and Cho, just as the division leader had warned before his demise.

As I sprinted toward the cave entrance, I casually tossed the gloves made from Yo-hwa’s silk into one of the open breeding pits.

Inside those gloves were the last two female parasites.

By leaving them there, the remaining male parasites would instinctively gather inside the pit. Once they were all in one place, we could either poison them or set the entire chamber ablaze—ensuring complete extermination.

Paralytic poison wasn’t something we were lacking, thanks to Yo-hwa and Yeon-du. And keeping these Five Poison Sect-engineered parasites as biological weapons? Too risky.

For a brief moment, I considered saving a few of them—perhaps to teach certain people a lesson in the future, like the ones who kept leering at Hwa-eun. But I quickly dismissed the thought.

Just as I reached the cave entrance, Cho’s furious roar echoed outside.

A split second later, Lady Seol’s commanding voice followed.

“Cho! Smash them!”

—THWACK! CRACK!

“Ghhkk...!”

“Keep your distance and fight strategically!”

The sharpness of Lady Seol’s voice was unmistakable.

As I dashed out of the cave and into the open, my eyes instinctively squinted at the sudden brightness.

After adjusting to the light, I finally saw them—

Lady Seol and Cho, locked in fierce combat, surrounded by twenty or so warriors from the Five Poison Sect.

Over ten of their men were already down, sprawled motionless across the ground. Meanwhile, Cho had several ropes dangling off its massive body—signs that the enemy had tried to restrain it.

“Tsk.”

They should’ve known better than to tie up a creature like Cho.

“Hwa-eun! Let’s go!”

With a flick of her wrist, Hwa-eun unleashed a rain of throwing needles toward the enemy’s backs, opening a path for us.

I followed closely behind, daggers in hand, and together we rushed to Lady Seol’s side.

“Lady Seol, are you alright?”

“So-ryong! Hwa-eun! You two are safe!?”

“We’re fine. What about you?”

“We’re handling it. We were just about to wrap things up.”

Lady Seol barely spared us a glance as she gave her next command.

“Cho! Charge in and tear that one apart!”

At her words, Cho lunged at a nearby warrior, clamping its powerful jaws around him and slamming him into the ground.

—CRUNCH!

The warrior didn’t even have time to scream.

With that single strike, the enemy formation crumbled.

The instant one of their own was isolated, Lady Seol rushed in and tore his throat out with her bare hands.

“Aghhh—!”

“Tell the Lord of the Underworld that the White Panther of Beast Palace sent you!”

Another warrior tried to throw a hidden weapon at her, but I shouted in warning.

“Cho, block it!”

Cho leapt in front of Lady Seol, shielding her from the attack.

The synchronization between them was flawless.

It almost made me jealous.

How the hell is my daughter working so well with Lady Seol? Where’s my father-daughter synergy?

And what happened to the so-called trump card the Centipede Division leader claimed to have against Cho?

Bullshit.

Clearly, he was bluffing.

Observing Lady Seol’s tactics, I finally understood why she and Cho were dominating this fight.

Lady Seol had trained alongside wild beasts from a young age.

If this were a mech battle, she would be the technician piloting a standard unit all her life.

And now, someone had handed her an SSS-tier war machine.

It wasn’t even fair.

Cho’s overwhelming strength, combined with Lady Seol’s masterful coordination, was unstoppable.

She used techniques I had never even considered—

Ordering Cho to bite and throw warriors into groups, or fly up and drop them from above.

Instead of just rampaging, Cho was fighting smart.

With each precise command, another warrior fell.

As the battle turned completely in our favor, Hwa-eun stepped forward and delivered the final blow—not with a weapon, but with her words.

“The Centipede Division leader is dead! If you think you’ll walk away alive, you’re mistaken!”

The enemy froze.

“D-Division leader... is dead!?”

—CRACK!

“Ugh...!”

Several of them hesitated just long enough for us to strike them down.

The remaining warriors, realizing their leader was truly gone, exchanged glances—

Then, as if by silent agreement, they scattered in all directions.

“Run! Inform the main branch!”

And with that, the battle was over.

***

Lady Seol and Cho managed to take down a few more, but we couldn’t eliminate all of them.

Some of the Five Poison Sect members managed to escape.

Back at our stronghold, I wasted no time writing a report. Through Yi Tae, I had it sent to the Murim Alliance as fast as possible.

The Five Poison Sect’s headquarters were in another country, so they wouldn’t be able to regroup ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) here anytime soon. But we needed the Alliance’s help to secure the area.

The parasites would die off naturally, but it was critical that the Murim Alliance understood just how dangerous the Five Poison Sect had become.

Their actions were far more sinister than we had initially assumed.

After waiting about half a month for the ship’s repairs to finish, a team from the Murim Alliance finally arrived.

Among them were some familiar faces.

“So-ryong!”

“Young brother! You’re alive!”

“Wait... Ji-ryong? And you guys?”

Standing before me were Ji-ryong, Jegal Yongcheon, Kwon-ryong, Sword Dragon, Sound Phoenix, and Bow Phoenix.

It felt like a reunion.

After a round of greetings, Ji-ryong leaned in and whispered.

“So-ryong, tell me... do you still have any of that Jepmungo for sale?”

Jepmungo?

What kind of name is that?

Then, realization struck.

They were asking about lip balm.

Even though it had a perfectly good name—Yeonji—somehow it had ended up with this ridiculous title.

I sighed.

“...You ran out already?”

Judging by the way Sound Phoenix averted her eyes, it was clear that she and Ji-ryong had completely misunderstood its intended use.

I’d have to teach them how to apply it to their lips—not eat it.