—Creeeak.

I pushed the door open and peeked my head out toward the pavilion. It wasn’t raining, yet the place was oddly quiet.

Usually, on a bright day like this, the bees should’ve been busily coming and going, gathering nectar.

But there wasn’t a single one buzzing in or out. All I could hear was the soft fluttering of the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings’ wings through the open window.

Were they all just quietly resting?

No—that wasn’t it. They were clearly watching the Queen’s mood.

“Is this what Father-in-law meant? Ugh... how did things get so tangled? I told you, they’re companions, not pets.”

Sighing inwardly, thinking how they really felt like a wife more than anything, I stepped into the inner garden where the pond lay.

Then I quickly began walking toward the main pavilion.

—Step. Step.

Because I had to meet Ranghu.

Father-in-law had written a letter recently, and apparently didn’t mention Ranghu at all, which—he said—had left Ranghu deeply sulking.

I didn’t even write the damn letter.

It was Hwa-eun who sent several letters to reassure the elders, and though she asked after many people in them, not once did she mention Ranghu’s name. So now Ranghu was upset? Apparently so.

When I asked how a centipede even understood what a letter was, Father-in-law had just stared off into the distance, not saying a word.

“Feels like he screwed up and I’m the one paying for it.”

As I was heading toward the pavilion, silently blaming Father-in-law for this mess—

—SPLASH.

A sudden splash made me turn my head.

From the pond, the Ho-ye twins had spotted me and were now swimming eagerly in my direction.

Their yellow-striped bodies glided through the water in graceful waves.

Back when I left to search for the Ji-yeong Snake, I could only sneak in a few head pats under the watchful eyes of the others. But now they were swimming to me, clearly proud of themselves?

These little ones used to be terrified of people. But perhaps, after being apart for a while, they missed me.

“Seom! Byeok!”

Seom, the female, and Byeok, the male.

Calling their names, I hurried toward the pond. They popped their heads out at the edge.

—Waaeee!

—Wae!

As if to say "Why are you so late?", they let out their little cries and even crawled out of the pond toward me.

I was cautiously avoiding getting shocked when suddenly both of them plopped their heads onto my crouched legs.

Almost like they were asking to be petted.

Their unexpected display of affection left me stunned.

“What the... why are they acting so friendly all of a sudden?”

I thought about their reaction and came up with a hypothesis.

“Maybe because they’re now living among people, and I was the only familiar face... they got anxious when I disappeared.”

Ho-ye beasts are known to be timid.

Thrown into a crowded environment, and with me gone—probably saying “I’ll be back soon” and then vanishing for days—they must’ve grown nervous, just waiting for me to return.

Honestly, I was a little worried that leaving before fully bonding with them might have ruined everything.

With animals, if you don’t complete the bonding process, there’s a good chance you’ll have to start from scratch.

If you haven’t etched yourself clearly in their memory as a “trusted person,” you’re just another stranger next time.

Animals take time to warm up, but once they do, they never forget.

So I figured I’d have to start rebuilding from zero—but it turns out, the absence actually worked in my favor.

These two were probably smarter than normal animals, which explained the difference in behavior.

In this state, they definitely wouldn’t zap me.

With joy, I reached out and patted their heads.

Honestly, I’d been itching to do this every day before I left.

“Aww, you cute little things. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. The trip took longer than I thought. Been keeping well?”

—Wae.

“Did everyone treat you okay? No trouble getting by?”

—Wae, wae-aaaee.

I couldn’t make out the exact words, but their tone made it clear they were a little resentful about my long absence.

As I kept apologizing and stroking their heads, a sound suddenly rang out from the pavilion.

—BZZZZZZ!

The irritated hum of wings, unmistakably annoyed.

At that moment, I realized I’d made a big mistake.

“Crap—I was supposed to go see Ranghu first! But the Ho-yes came charging at me out of nowhere... damn, this is bad.”

I’d come here specifically to soothe Ranghu’s wounded pride, but ended up petting the Ho-yes and completely forgot about him.

That buzzing clearly meant: “You were supposed to come to me, and instead you went to THEM?”

I felt guilty, but I had to prioritize Ranghu.

“Guys, I need to go talk to Ranghu. We’ll chat more later, okay? Sorry for cutting this short—I’ll be back after I see him, alright?”

—Waaee.

—Wae.

Nodding as if they understood, they dove back into the water.

As I turned with a smile, I spotted a familiar antenna briefly poke out of an open upper window of the pavilion—then retreat.

Yup. Ranghu was definitely sulking.

But not completely sulking.

It felt like: “I’m mad... but I still want you to come soothe me.”

Thank goodness it wasn’t a full tantrum.

Based on all my experience raising spirit beasts—and dating Hwa-eun—I could see a path to patch this up.

“This is a job for the Spicy Fabre.”

I opened the pavilion door and stepped inside. A rich, sweet scent hit me.

The five-story pavilion, Dokhwa-ru (Poisonous Flower Pavilion), was filled with the fragrance of honey.

—Click. Clack.

I climbed the stairs to the second floor, where honey was dripping from the ceiling.

The hives must’ve overfilled.

Even in nature, when bees overpack their hives with honey, it can drip like this. That’s probably what happened here.

I scooped up a bit and tasted it—sweetness burst across my tongue.

On the third floor, honey was still falling, forming little pools on the floor.

“I wasn’t here to harvest, so it overflowed, huh?”

If I’d been around, I would’ve collected it regularly and this wouldn’t have happened. I figured I’d ask Ranghu for some later.

When I reached the fourth floor, I found the entire level had been turned into a hive.

Originally, only the fifth floor was supposed to be the hive, and the fourth was just beginning to expand—but it looked like the expansion was now complete.

“The hive’s gotten big.”

I looked around, then spoke to one of the bees on the hive wall.

“Hey, how’ve you been? Can you tell me where Ranghu is? I’m here to see him.”

—BZZZZZ.

But the bee didn’t respond. Just buzzed once and ignored me.

Had Ranghu ordered them not to talk to me?

I had seen his antenna up on the fifth floor earlier, so I figured I should head that way—when suddenly, the bee I spoke to started performing a waggle dance.

“Well, well.”

Bees communicate through pheromones—but also through dances.

There are two main kinds of bee dances: the round dance and the waggle dance.

The round dance is, as the name suggests, a circular motion, used when the food source is less than 100 meters away. The scent and pheromones from the returning bee help others find the flowers.

The waggle dance, though, is used when the food source is farther away. The direction the bee waggles in points toward the location of the flowers, and the duration of the waggle indicates the distance.

For example, a 1-second waggle means the flowers are 1 kilometer away.

It used to be thought this behavior was entirely instinctual, but newer research shows bees can also learn the dance from older generations—just like humans learn language.

I watched the little bee drawing a figure-eight in the air, then gently patted its head.

“Smart little guy.”

Without wasting time, I rushed upstairs.

From the way it was wagging its rear in quick, short bursts, it wasn’t giving me a distance—just showing that Ranghu was directly upstairs, in the direction the middle of the figure-eight pointed.

I sprinted up into what had practically become a maze of hives.

As I moved forward, a few bees subtly shifted their bodies to guide me toward the Queen's location.

“You guys are really working hard, huh?”

I felt a pang of sympathy for them, always tending to such a temperamental queen.

After passing a few chambers, I finally spotted Ranghu, hanging by the window.

He must’ve been there since earlier—watching from the shadows.

I quickly approached and threw my arms around him from behind, holding him tight to keep him from flailing or flying off.

The plan was to trap him in a hug and explain everything before he could throw a fit.

“Ranghu! Have you been well? I missed you!”

—B-bzzz. Bzzz-bzzz.

He flapped his wings wildly in surprise, wriggling in my arms.

I spoke in the calmest voice I could manage.

“Worried I was gone too long, huh? I heard from Father-in-law—he said you were upset the letter didn’t mention you.”

—Bzzz.

The moment I said that, Ranghu stopped struggling.

It was clear now: the letter really had been the root of the issue, just like Father-in-law had said.

I kept going without pausing.

“I didn’t write that letter, you know. Hwa-eun did. She signed it in my name because I was too busy. You think I would ever forget to ask about my Ranghu?”

“So come on, don’t be mad.”

I didn’t know exactly where bees liked to be petted, but I kept gently stroking his head while hugging him with one arm.

Eventually, Ranghu tilted his head slightly and looked at me.

—Bzzz.

Then he puffed up his abdomen and let out what sounded like a deep sigh. His antennae reached up and touched my head.

That had to be his way of saying he forgave me.

I shifted him to rest on my shoulder. As I did, he gave a soft flutter—almost as if to say “Don’t do that again.”

—Bzzzz.

“Okay, okay. I get it. I won’t disappear on you like that again.”

Honestly, it went smoother than I expected.

After dealing with both dating Hwa-eun and raising all these spirit beasts, a situation like this didn’t faze me anymore.

Well... maybe I had been a little nervous earlier, wondering if I could fix it.

“Pfft, this kind of thing’s child’s play for the great Spicy Fabre.”

Just as I was riding high from patching things up with Ranghu, I heard voices from below—Cho and Cheongyu of the Golden-Crested Wasp Kings.

—Tsssss.

『This is where the sunshine comes in.』

—Shiaa.

『It’s been a while. That spot over there looks nice.』

I glanced down through the open window and saw Cho leading a procession of newcomers into the inner garden.

The new friends we’d made recently were being shown around by the old-timers. They must’ve followed Cho to visit my quarters and now were checking out the back garden.

Since Sunbaek and Baekbaek, who needed cold spaces, hadn’t been brought here yet, and Geumdo (the golden turtle) and Heukjeomi (the water-loving one) also needed special care, only the rest had come to the pavilion.

—Bzzzz.

Ranghu, still perched on my shoulder, buzzed his wings as he looked down at the unfamiliar faces.

He was probably asking who they were.

“Oh, those are the new kids I met during my trip. Come on, Ranghu, let’s go say hi.”

—Bzzzz.

When I mentioned introductions, he nodded—inter-beast greetings were important.

At Ranghu’s buzz, a few worker bees flew over and clung to my body.

As they began flapping their wings in sync, my body lifted off the ground and glided out the window.

Then we started descending slowly toward the group.

—Tsssss!

『Dad!』

Cho’s voice rang out when he spotted me.

“Yup, I’m back, Cho. Don’t forget to say hi to Ranghu, okay?”

—Tsssss.

『Sis! It’s been a while!』

—Bzzzz.

Landing beside Cho at the front of the group, I smiled and turned to introduce each of the newcomers to Ranghu.

“This here is Juhwang, the Ji-yeong Snake and Yeondu’s mate. Next is Sandan, the Double-Blossomed Orchid Mantis. Beside her is Ranghyang, the Red-Cloud Black Millipede. That little round one is Yeolbi, the Hot-Fart Beetle.”

“And the ones not here right now are Geumdo, the Millennium Golden Turtle; Sunbaek and Baekbaek, the White-Shell Pangolins; and Heukjeomi, the Black-Spotted Stingray. You’ll meet them later.”

Buzzing warmly, Ranghu flew ahead to greet the newcomers.

He paused for a moment in front of Ranghyang, but overall, he seemed in a good mood—which meant my effort to win him back hadn’t gone to waste.

And then—

I suddenly felt a slight weight settle on my head, followed by the soft, familiar voice of Jeokwol, the Blood-Blossom Dream Illusion Butterfly.

—Chii.

“Oh right! Jeokwol, I forgot you were here. Sorry! Ranghu, this is Jeokwol, the Blood-Blossom Dream Illusion Butterfly.”

There were so many names to mention that I hadn’t ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ even realized I’d skipped Jeokwol’s introduction.

I shot her an apologetic smile, then gently nudged Ranghu with my voice.

As I introduced her, his antennae shot straight up in shock.

—Bzzzz?

Then his body gave a visible little shudder.

Jeokwol tilted her head curiously from atop mine—but Ranghu suddenly turned and zipped back toward the pavilion.

—SLAM!

The hive’s window slammed shut behind him at almost the exact same time.

So much for things going smoothly.

He was clearly mad.

I’d just said I was “too busy to write letters,” but then showed up with a stunning new spirit beast—Jeokwol. No wonder he felt betrayed.

Apparently, the “busy” reason was really me finding pretty new companions. That... did not sit well with Ranghu.

“Honestly... I have no idea how I’m gonna fix this one.”