Chapter 29 – First Kiss (1)

Just because the bees poured into the hollow of the ancient tree didn’t mean the task was finished.

It wasn’t something to feel at ease about simply leaving as it was.

Now was the true beginning.

So then, what was to be done now?

Those bees had flown all the way here over the course of several days after feasting on a large amount of nectar from mid-level venomous plants. Normally, bees don’t have great stamina, and it’s common for them to die if they go a single day without nectar.

No matter how strong they were as mid-level venomous creatures, it was clear they were hungry and exhausted.

When I observed the ones standing guard at the entrance, their bellies were visibly thin.

Moreover, the way their abdomens rapidly expanded and contracted confirmed their fatigue.

As the saying goes, “Love for food breeds affection, and a meal opens hearts.”

If I were to offer them food in their current state of hunger?

Their wariness toward humans would lessen, and they’d likely come to recognize me as their master.

No, even if not as their master, having their vigilance reduced would suffice.

‘This is all part of Maewoon Fabre’s master plan. When they’re flying in a frenzy, famished, and seeking refuge, I provide them a place to rest and sustenance.’

Without delay, I rushed to my father-in-law to explain what I needed.

“Father-in-law, there’s something I urgently need. Could we get it?”

“Something you need?”

“Yes, for feeding – I need to give food to the tired bees. So honey… ah, what do they call it here? That sweet thing like honey, made by extracting juice from this big plant…”

Since I wasn’t sure what sugar was called here or if it even existed, I racked my brain to explain. Just then, grandfather who was listening nearby interjected with a question.

“Are you referring to Baekdang or Sahdang?” (TL: Baekdang = White sugar and Sahdang = Brown sugar)

‘Baekdang? Sahdang? Baekdang must be white sugar, but what’s sahdang?’

“What are baekdang and sahdang?”

“Baekdang refers to something as white as snow, and sahdang refers to something red like sand.”

“Ah, so baekdang and sahdang. I need baekdang.”

Baekdang meant white sugar, and sahdang was likely brown sugar.

People might assume that brown sugar, being richer in minerals, would be better for the bees, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Molasses or brown sugar contains a lot of dextrin, an undigested carbohydrate. If bees consume it, it can cause diarrhea, which would be fatal for bees that already have poor stamina.

If a bee begins to have diarrhea, it may die from exhaustion. Thus, feeding them baekdang, white sugar, is a must.

Honey would be even better, but honey is scarce and expensive, so it wasn’t an option.

“Open the Tang Family’s warehouse and bring out all the baekdang!”

“Yes, Family Head! ”

The martial artists rushed toward the warehouse, while I prepared the necessary buckets and water, waiting for the sugar to arrive.

As I found myself with a moment of spare time, a thought popped into my mind: Nunim.

The image of Nunim collapsing earlier surfaced in my head.

“Ah! Where is Young Miss Hwa-eun?”

When I asked about Nunim’s whereabouts, my father-in-law made an incredulous expression and spoke with a hint of disappointment.

“You only just thought of her now? I had your mother-in-law take her to lie down. Why on earth did she become so exhausted? No, wait, it must be because she performed qinggong all the way from Mokli with those bees trailing behind her. Am I right?”

I slightly nodded while watching father-in-law’s expression.

“Yes, she only slept for about two shichen at night… and spent the rest running….” (TL: two shichen = 4 hours)

“Hah…”

A single word that seemed to say I was quite something.

Grandfather, who was standing beside us, suddenly asked as if just remembering something.

“By the way, where are the Poison Blood Squad Commander, the Vice Commander, and the warriors? They definitely went along with you. Don’t tell me they all fell victim to the Golden-Furred King Bee!?”

His tone rose with every word.

It felt like he was imagining the possibility that everyone had been defeated by the Golden-Furred King Bee.

‘Ah, crap….’

At least I had remembered Nunim, but the rest of them had completely slipped my mind until now. Feeling guilty, I scratched my head and answered.

“Um, they’re probably collapsed by the roadside somewhere…. Should we go and pick them up, maybe…?”

“Hah…”

“Hahah.”

The baffled laughter of the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons grandfather and my father-in-law.

Soon, my father-in-law gave orders to the warriors to retrieve the stragglers who had fallen behind.

“Poison Mist Squad! Immediately search the path back to Mokli and find the warriors of the Poison Blood Squad who were left behind!”

“Yes! Family Head! Poison Mist Squad Commander Pan Wei-su receives your command! Let’s go!”

“””Yes! Commander!”””

A group of warriors sprinted down the mountain path, while shortly afterward, buckets, water, and bags of sugar began arriving.

I explained to the warriors who brought the supplies how to prepare the feeding solution.

“Mix two du of water with sixteen gwan of white sugar.” (TL: 22 L water & 60 kg sugar )

“Understood! Young Master Soryong! Everyone, did you hear that!?”

“““Yes!”””

The warriors began making the feeding solution by mixing water and white sugar in the buckets.

In my previous life, this feeding solution was used when bees couldn’t gather nectar during the rainy season or after harvesting the last of the autumn honey to help the bees survive the winter. When bees processed this feeding solution into honey, it became what’s called artificial honey.

Some call it fake honey, but honestly, it can’t really be called fake.

The components are only slightly different, making it nearly indistinguishable.

Even real honey is made by bees mixing the sugars in floral nectar with enzymes in their stomachs and then regurgitating it. When bees consume sugar instead of nectar and mix it with their enzymes, the resulting substance is almost identical in composition.

The only difference is that natural honey does not contain detectable levels of maltose and sucrose, whereas artificial honey shows about 5% of these substances. Additionally, natural honey contains higher levels of free amino acids, vitamins, and minerals.

However, even maltose and sucrose can disappear if the bees store the feeding solution in their stomachs for a longer time. The sugar content almost completely breaks down over time.

“Young Master Soryong, everything is nearly ready. What should we do now?”

The warriors, having finished dissolving the sugar in the water, asked what to do next.

“For now, let’s move everything to the front of the training ground.”

Carrying the feeding solution, I headed to the training ground, which only the direct family members of the household could use. Peeking inside from outside the door, I scanned the area carefully.

Since they were extremely sensitive in the wild, I had to be careful.

As I observed the ancient tree in the training ground, I saw the bees, clearly still exhausted, sluggishly moving about.

‘Let’s see, they still look tired.’

After confirming the condition of the bees, I scooped up half a bucket of the feeding solution and held it to my chest.

As I stepped into the training ground, a low sound reached my ears.

-Woong…

It seemed they were only watching for threats within the training ground due to the walls and fences surrounding it. Though I could hear what sounded like them swarming inside the hive, as if about to spill out, none of them actually came out. Instead, only a few poked their heads out of the hollow tree’s entrance.

“Will you be alright?”

Hearing their reaction, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons grandfather’s concerned voice came from behind me.

I reassured him not to worry and to trust me.

It was clear the bees were too fatigued to move properly.

If this were any other time, they would have already rushed out.

“They seem too weak to move. I’ll go in and check.”

“Alright, I’ll stand guard and intervene if anything happens. Don’t worry, go ahead.”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

If there was danger, Grandfather would surely deal with it by throwing some hidden weapons.

Cautiously, I approached the interior and came up to the dead ancient tree. The bees only had about three of their kind poking their heads out of the entrance but didn’t budge further.

Those ones seemed to be the guard bees.

Speaking in the gentlest tone possible, I addressed them.

“Alright, here’s your food. Eat up.”

Then I carefully placed the bucket of feeding solution in front of the hollow entrance.

Immediately, the antennae of the Golden-Furred King Bees began twitching rapidly.

They still seemed wary, but there’s always one greedy creature wherever you go.

One of them couldn’t resist and tried to crawl out, only to be grabbed by its hind legs and dragged back inside by the others.

Smiling once more, I spoke to them in a friendly voice.

“It’s fine. It’s for you. Go ahead and try it. slurp… Ah, it’s sweet.”

I explained to the bees that there was nothing harmful in it and that it was safe to eat, even going so far as to dip my finger in and taste it myself. But then I realized, this was the first sweet thing I’d eaten since my reincarnation.

Back on Haenam Island, I didn’t even know which wild fruits were edible, so I never touched any. As a result, this feeding solution felt overwhelmingly sweet to me.

Even after arriving at the Tang Family, I hadn’t tasted anything sweet. The sensation brought back memories of when I had my first chocolate pie at the military training camp. No, it was even more like the euphoria of eating jajangmyeon during my first leave.

‘Why is this so sweet? It’s like chocolate heaven!’

The sweetness exploded in my mouth, making me feel as though sparks were lighting up in my eyes.

It felt almost as if my spirit was soaring.

The original purpose, the feeding of the bees, completely vanished from my mind. Before I knew it, I was repeatedly dipping two fingers into the feeding solution and licking the sweet liquid.

-Slurp.

A long proboscis suddenly darted into the bucket.

Startled, I turned my head to see one of the bees’ tongues swiftly darting in and out of the container.

To my surprise, three Golden-Furred King Bees had crept up to me without me noticing. One of them, the particularly greedy one from earlier, had clearly stuck its tongue into the bucket.

Wondering if they were still being cautious, I studied them closely. But in the reflection of their compound eyes, they weren’t looking at me, they were fixated on the bucket of feeding solution.

Thinking they must be very hungry, I pushed the container toward them and said.

“Here, eat up. Ahaha… ha….”

At first, they hesitated as if still wary of me, but then the three worker bees pounced.

Immediately, they plunged their heads into the bucket and began guzzling down the sugar water with great enthusiasm.

‘It worked!’

The bees dropped their guard and focused entirely on the feeding solution.

Leaving the bees to their feast, I dashed outside to fetch more feeding solution, carrying buckets filled with it in both hands. I personally transported it each time, worried that the bees might be wary of anyone else approaching. It was tiring, but seeing more and more bees coming out made it impossible to rest.

Three bees turned into ten, ten became thirty, and soon there were a hundred. Eventually, all the bees came out of the hive, creating a spectacular scene as they drank from the feeding solution.

“Good, eat as much as you want and make lots of honey.”

‘Maybe I should sell honey as a side business?’

If this bee-keeping experiment worked out, selling honey didn’t seem like a bad idea.

***

The bees regained their energy quickly after drinking the feeding solution.

The next day, they were found gathering nectar from the countless poisonous flowers spread across Tang Family Mountain.

Since these bees were originally relatively docile honeybees, they didn’t attack people recklessly, even when they encountered humans while collecting nectar. As long as they weren’t directly threatened, they remained peaceful.

Because of this, it became a common sight at the Tang Family to see Golden-Furred King Bees buzzing around Tang Family Mountain.

“We met people from the Emei Sect along the way?”

Separately from the bees, Nunim woke up three days later, but she didn’t seem to remember meeting anyone from the Emei Sect during the journey.

That death-defying sprint had left a harsh impression on her, one too intense for her to recall everything clearly.

“Yes, I believe the monk’s name was Lianshui? Something like that. She seemed to recognize Young Miss Hwa-eun….”

“Monk Lianshui?”

“Yes, when Young Miss asked for water, she gave her water flask. Don’t you remember?”

“….”

Nunim widened her eyes in disbelief, her expression full of doubt.

While I was having this conversation trying to help recover Nunim’s memories, a voice from outside called for me. It was one of the Tang Family warriors.

“Young Master Soryong, you need to come out immediately. Something is strange with the Golden-Furred King Bees.”

“Strange?”

Since Nunim had woken up, I placed the centipedes back into her arms and quickly headed out of her quarters.

I had to see for myself what was so strange.

When I stepped outside, I saw a warrior pointing toward the sky.

When I looked up, I saw a considerable number of Golden-Furred King Bees spinning around in the air, as if searching for something.

“What’s this?”

To figure out the cause of their strange behavior, I quickly made my way toward the training ground where the Golden-Furred King Bees were.

At that moment, I suddenly heard the sound of their wings buzzing behind me.

– Buuuuung.

Hearing the close proximity of their wingbeats, I turned around. Soon enough, one Golden-Furred King Bee flew directly toward me and stopped in front of me.

Then, more wingbeats started joining in.

– Buuung.

– Buuuuung.

‘W-what’s happening?’

In an instant, a dozen or so Golden-Furred King Bees had surrounded me.

Flustered, I raised my hands as if to signal my surrender.

“Guys? It’s okay, it’s me. I’m not a threat.”

But it seemed they had been looking for me, as one by one, they began clinging to my body. Then, without warning, they started to lift me into the air.

“Huh? Huhhh?!”

“Y-Young Master Soryong! Hurry, inform the Grand Elder! Notify the Family Head!”

The last thing I saw before I was carried away was the warriors in utter shock as they rushed toward the residence of the Family Head.

The place I ended up at was the Golden-Furred King Bees’ hive, right in front of the hollow tree’s entrance.

The bees, having dropped me off at the tree’s entrance, nudged me on the back with their heads as if telling me to go inside.

“Alright, alright, I get it. I’ll go in.”

Being pushed along by the bees, I stepped inside the hollow tree. There, I noticed a partially constructed beehive, and hovering in front of me was a bee slightly larger than the others.

– Buuung. Buuuuung.

The large bee examined me while hovering in place.

As it glanced around, the other bees suddenly moved as if responding to some kind of signal. They clung to my arms and legs, almost restraining me. One even latched onto the back of my head.

In the end, I couldn’t move at all. Then, the queen bee crawled onto my chest and slowly began making its way upward.

“E-everyone, calm down. Guys, what is this all about…?”

The queen bee continued climbing, stopping when it was directly in front of my face.

Then, its mouth began inching closer to mine.

“Wha-wait, huh? Huhhh?!”

The queen bee’s large, compound eyes filled my entire field of vision. I could see my flustered expression reflected in its many tiny lenses.

And then, the queen bee’s mouth pressed against mine, sealing it completely.

Next, its long tongue began sliding into my mouth. At the same time, something sour began flowing down my throat, gulp gulp, and into my stomach.

It was my first kiss.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – 에르훗]

[Translator – bjgoofy]