Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

When I suddenly dropped down with a thud, the wives surrounding me widened their eyes and shouted in alarm.

”So-ryong? What’s wrong?”

”Husband? Did something go wrong with your body?”

”Master!”

I’d only just broken through, so when I started acting like something was off, it looked like they were worried a serious problem had happened during the breakthrough.

They rushed over, hauled me up, and carefully guided me onto the bamboo pavilion.

Hands kept coming, meticulously checking me all over—taking my pulse at the wrist and such.

Normally, I would’ve smiled and enjoyed those soft, pleasant touches.

But right now, I couldn’t properly feel even my wives’ warmth. With a blank, hollow expression, I muttered in defeat,

”No, I-it’s not like something’s wrong with my body...”

”Then what is it?”

”Then why are you acting like this?”

The moment Sister Seol used the group chat, everything was destined to be exposed anyway.

There was no point trying to hide it.

I decided to confess fast.

Besides, this wasn’t the kind of problem you could hide in the first place.

”It’s just... I registered S-Sister Seol too.”

The instant those words left my mouth, time seemed to freeze. Everyone there went rigid.

Like someone had stopped the world, a heavy silence dragged on far too long.

The only thing that proved time was still moving was Sister Seol’s shaking eyes, swaying anxiously from side to side.

After a stretch of silence, Hwa-eun’s trembling voice finally broke it.

”Pardon?”

”You registered Sister Seol too?”

”What? Y-you registered Sister Seol?”

A beat late—no, way late—sharp gazes all snapped toward Sister Seol at once.

The looks were practically interrogations, demanding what reason she could possibly have to ask me to register her.

They clearly believed I was innocent because I’d trusted there was a way to stop the Heavenheart Abyss Poison-Grove Sanctuary from making feelings deepen—and there was no way I’d register her first on my own. So they must’ve assumed Sister Seol had thrown a tantrum without knowing.

Wasn’t Sister Seol the type to throw tantrums?

Honestly, my wives turned into So-ryong Studies PhDs at times like this.

Sister Seol stammered out her answer.

”N-no. I-I mean, Senior Sister is, in a way, a sister from the sect too, right? And I’m So-ryong’s sister too. If you registered Senior Sister, then you should register me too... A-and since you registered all the other kids, I thought it was o-okay...

A-and it looks like there really was a method...”

So it wasn’t like she’d demanded it completely without thinking.

She had, at least, a little bit of thought behind it.

Since I’d been registering the other kids left and right, she’d assumed there was some method.

But I’d had careful calculations and reasons for registering the other kids.

The Twenty-Four Poison Branch kids I registered to the Heavenheart Abyss Poison-Grove Sanctuary this time were, for the most part, either much younger, already had a partner, or were cases where the possibility of them liking me romantically was low to begin with.

Even if the Heavenheart Abyss Poison-Grove Sanctuary made some feelings bloom, most of them had conditions that made it difficult to reach true romantic affection—if I had to put it accurately.

First of all, [N O V E L I G H T] Panda Ant Rimrim, White Snow Shell Baekbaek and Bakwon Ram, Silver Fish Yeon-yeon, Black-Clawed Red Earwig Hongdan, and Twin-Blossom Orchid Mantis Sandan were all much younger.

Even their human-transformed appearances looked plainly young, didn’t they?

Sure, one or two were adults mixed in too, but even those felt like young friends who’d only just become adults.

Same with Cho, Bin, and Hyang.

If they were young, it felt like they didn’t get affected as heavily.

Maybe because they were young, they liked me a bit too much—but calling that romantic affection would be a stretch, wouldn’t it?

‘Kids, w-we’re f-father and daughters, okay?’

‘But Dad’s a male too, right?’

Yeah, that kind of thing wasn’t going to happen.

And then Yeoncheon, Changcheon and Yeolbi, and Geumdo were males.

Baekbaek, the Azure Steel Immortal Ant queen, and Yeonji were married women.

Males were obviously excluded, and just looking at Yeondu and Orange showed that if someone already had a partner, it was clearly fine.

That left Soto, Golden General Suran, and Red Cloud Black Millipede Ranghyang, but those were introverted types and had never shown me much in the way of feelings.

So I’d thought I’d raise my realm further and find a method before they made any moves.

What was urgent right now was climbing upward.

Wasn’t it urgent to confirm whether my master was alive or dead?

Sister Seol spoke like she wasn’t at fault, but through the Heavenheart Abyss Poison-Grove Sanctuary, I could feel the vibe of, ‘Honestly, this worked out great.’

It seemed she thought she could now openly show her feelings for me without hiding them—and have the perfect excuse and justification that it was purely because of the Heavenheart Abyss Poison-Grove Sanctuary’s energy.

Didn’t she even say my realm was high and my energy was strong?

A perfect excuse, completed.

At Sister Seol’s answer, Hwa-eun pressed a hand to her forehead and said,

”I get why Sister Seol would naturally feel that way... Haa. Why did things turn out like this...”

From the side, Senior Sister—who’d been watching the mood—spoke.

”For something to happen in that short span... It’s my fault for not telling you right away. There’s nothing to be done. We have to hurry up to the Eight Heavens and find traces of Father or Aunt. If it’s them, they’ll have a method.”

Yeah. Senior Sister was right.

Somehow, we had to get upward fast and find a way to avoid this absurd situation.

Senior Sister and Sister Seol were a problem, sure, but wasn’t Gungbong mixed in too?

We had to solve it somehow.

If we messed up, I could end up with three additional wives.

Just then, Gungbong—who’d been listening—asked,

”Then So-ryong—no, So-ryong-nim, what if we can’t find them?”

‘No, seriously, this person—!’

Senior Sister was standing right there, and that’s what you say out loud?

Not finding my master meant they might be dead and turned into someone’s residual energy, so watch your mouth and be careful—

I was just about to snap when Mirang, who’d been listening closely, tossed out a calm but razor-sharp line.

”Then do we have to take all three of them as wives?”

At that, I wondered if I’d done something wrong to Mirang lately.

I asked her seriously.

”Mirang, have I done something wrong to you lately? Tell me honestly. It’s fine.”

***

Since it was better than nothing, we had Senior Sister teach Sister Seol and Gungbong the incantation formula for guarding the heart from the Heavenheart Abyss Poison-Grove Sanctuary energy she was practicing.

She explained that even if it was hard to truly guard the heart, it should at least delay things.

”First, it would be good for everyone to learn the Frozen Heart Knot.”

”Frozen Heart Knot?”

”It’s an incantation formula that guards the heart. Even if you can’t protect it completely, you should be able to slow it down.”

”Ooh. That’s a good idea.”

We’d originally been planning to hold a feast, but what was a feast now?

In a solemn atmosphere, martial instruction began.

”Learn this first. Even if you can’t block it perfectly, it should delay the timing.”

Standing straight before them, Senior Sister spoke firmly, like a strict instructor.

She glanced at me and quietly sent me a look filled with deep apology.

Gungbong was purely an unexpected accident, so you couldn’t really blame Senior Sister for that—but for herself and the other two, her fault was pretty big.

At Senior Sister’s serious words, Gungbong innocently tilted their head and asked with pure curiosity,

”Timing? Timing for what?”

She’d just explained it clearly, but Gungbong asked again.

Senior Sister hesitated, then explained again—an explanation I didn’t want to hear.

”...For your heart to be conquered.”

‘Why does that wording sound like—’

If someone heard her, they’d misunderstand and think I was out there doing something truly awful.

But Gungbong spoke nonchalantly, totally unfazed—almost as if it were only natural.

”I don’t really mind... If I have to get married anyway, I’m fine with it, So-ryong-nim... You’re already proven to be a good man by three women and one spirit creature, right?”

I yelped, jolting in shock.

”W-what are you talking about?!”

Gungbong explained, as if it were obvious.

”I mean, I have to get married too, but the only man here is So-ryong-nim. I guess you can get married to a spirit creature too, but I’ve never even thought about that... because I’m not you.

So I’m saying it’s fine. And I like you, So-ryong-nim. You’ve been the kindest man to me so far. If I have to marry someone, I think you’re the best.”

Does Gungbong’s brain turn on when Soto is stuck to them or something?

Their logic was weird, so why did the words come out so structured?

While I was thinking that, my wives pressed hands to their foreheads and said,

”Just learn it.”

”Just learn it, Gungbong.”

”Y-yes...”

At my wives’ icy words, Gungbong puffed their cheeks out.

And I swear, even after both of them learned it, neither of them would actually use that incantation formula.

Gungbong didn’t have much thinking going on in general, so even through the Heavenheart Abyss Poison-Grove Sanctuary, almost no complicated feelings were coming through.

But I had a strong premonition they’d refuse to do it purely because it was annoying and bothersome—and Sister Seol’s vivid, secret inner thoughts were already coming through loud and clear: she’d learn it, but she’d never use it.

I wasn’t a baseball player. I was a living-things-loving YouTuber—yet it felt like I’d have to swing a bat day and night from now on, and terror wrapped around me.

‘If I just swing a bat until my life ends...’

I was going to live for a thousand more years, so this was seriously bad.

***

Shocking incidents kept happening back-to-back, but work was work.

My realm had risen, so I had to put White Night City inside.

First, we sent the people who didn’t want to travel with us to Hwangwoo’s territory.

Of course, we did it after making some contract or agreement that he wouldn’t touch them carelessly.

And then the long-awaited day we put White Night City in.

We’d cleared things out inside Dokmul-hyang first.

The place we were going to insert White Night City was where my mental image lay—

the center of Dokmul-hyang—so we’d moved our homes to a quiet area.

Because if things overlapped, they could get damaged.

At first, I’d planned to bulldoze everything.

Senior Sister had said that if we put White Night City inside, we could all live in the Blood Market Tower main base.

But my wives chose relocation instead, saying this place was full of memories.

『”So-ryong, we’re done preparing on this side.”』

Even on the day of, I heard reports from my wives, who’d been busy moving buildings around.

Then Senior Sister’s voice followed.

『”Junior Brother, we’re done preparing on this side too.”』

Looks like preparations inside White Night City were finished as well.

『”Then we’ll begin immediately.”』

Just in case, we’d put the people inside Dokmul-hyang in advance.

Because it might be too much to put them in together with the city.

All that remained was White Night City.

I placed my hand on the barrier of White Night City in front of me.

And the moment I thought about putting it in, maybe because my realm was just that monstrous, everything got sucked into Dokmul-hyang in one shot.

The towering Blood Market Tower main base, the walls surrounding the city, the river running through the inside—everything got swallowed in an instant.

At my previous realm, I couldn’t do this, so I’d even considered putting it in piece by piece, but this neatly solved that concern.

When I contemplated Dokmul-hyang from within, the image rose in my head: Blood Market Tower settled above where my shrine was, and White Night City took its place around it.

As soon as the city settled in, the people who’d been waiting inside began streaming into the city in a rush.

The moment a whole city was born inside Dokmul-hyang within my mental image—

I stood on the spot that had become an empty lot where White Night City used to be, and looked at the pillar of light far away.

”Then we need to head straight to the Eight Heavens now.”

Because it was time to go to a place called the Eight Heavens.

I launched my body toward that pillar of light that would let me head to the Eight Heavens.