Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 27

Chapter 27

“So-ryong, this is Hamsuhwa (含笑花). It’s a flower that grows commonly in places like Sichuan and Yunnan,” my sister told me.

After a short walk through the jungle, we came upon a small hill where a patch of Hamsuhwa was blooming freely.
The plant was a shrub about a person’s height, covered in six-petaled flowers that bloomed in shades of yellow, purple, and white, spreading across the slope.

“So this is Hamsuhwa? Let me check…”

I picked one of the flowers and brought it to my nose to see if the scent matched what I remembered.
A sweet, rich fragrance filled my senses—it was unmistakably familiar.
‘In my past life, I had one of these almost daily. If I look around here, I should be able to find it…’

I nodded slowly as the memory clicked into place. The scent was exactly the same.

“It’s very similar.”

“Right? It’s not identical, but it’s close, isn’t it? Members of the Tang Clan train to recognize the difference between scents and poisons. Once they smell something, they never forget.
There’s a saying in the martial world that you can trust the nose of the Tang Clan,” she explained.

“They train for that?”

“Yes. They must memorize more than four thousand two hundred scents.”

“Four thousand two hundred?!” I was shocked. I wasn’t a perfumer, and the idea of remembering that many smells seemed impossible. I was already worried about getting through basic memory training—now this felt overwhelming.

‘Honestly, facing someone like Tak Wonyang with my sister’s elegance might be possible, but this… this is too much.’

Just as I was sinking into thoughts of how difficult this was, a voice called up from the base of the hill.

“So-ryong! Miss!”

“Over here!”

“This way, Deputy Commander.”

The Deputy Commander used his light-body technique to leap up the hill and approach us.
We had been searching for Hamsuhwa, while he was assigned to find the Bacha fruit. It seemed he had succeeded and hurried back.

“Miss, just over there, I found several Bacha trees, exactly as you described. Here—the fruit is ripe and yellow.”

The Deputy Commander held out a cluster of yellow, ripe fruit. But what he offered wasn’t what I’d imagined—it was something I knew well.

He called it the Bacha fruit, but what he was handing me was a banana.

‘Wait, this is a banana! That’s right! Bacha is part of the banana family! So this is the one!’

The Bacha fruit he’d picked wasn’t like the bananas I was used to. It looked more like a small, wild monkey banana. When I broke it open, I found a large seed inside.

‘It’s a wild banana?’

I took a small bite, and a strong astringent taste spread between the flesh and the fibrous skin. I wasn’t planning to eat it, so I spat it out and focused on the smell.

I inhaled the scent of the Bacha fruit and recognized the familiar aroma.
It had the distinct, pleasant smell of bananas.

“So-ryong, is this the one you were looking for?” my sister asked, her eyes hopeful as she watched my reaction.

She seemed almost excited, as if waiting for a mess to be cleaned up, so I gave a slow nod.

“Yes, these two will be enough.”

“Really! Then let’s hurry and tell the Deputy Commander!”

“Of course, Miss.”

After returning to camp on the Deputy Commander’s back, I gathered the Tang Clan warriors and gave my instructions.

“Please collect Bacha fruit and Hamsuhwa flowers.”

“Bacha fruit and Hamsuhwa flowers?” the Deputy Commander asked, looking confused.

“Yes. I’ve been told that Mokri isn’t far from here. Bring a jar and gather them inside.”

“But why? The flowers I understand, but the Bacha fruit is full of seeds and terribly astringent.”

The Deputy Commander looked puzzled, probably thinking I was asking for a special treat, like a soldier requesting his favorite meal. I hadn’t explained myself until now, so I glanced at the warriors before pointing toward where the black-hearted traitors were hiding.

“Over there—the ones hiding. Don’t you want to wipe them out?”

“Wipe them out?” he asked, surprised.

“Yes. Completely.”

As expected, the idea of eliminating their enemies lit a fire in the warriors’ eyes.

But the Deputy Commander, being from a White Path family, couldn’t simply condone indiscriminate killing.

“We’ve heard rumors. Some of them kidnap women and sell them, or force them into courtesan work. There are even whispers of bad drug dealings. Honestly, I would love to wipe them all out, but we follow the White Path.
I appreciate the suggestion, So-ryong, but we cannot do anything dishonorable. I cannot allow it.”

His response took me by surprise. I shook my head and clarified.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t mean for us to kill them directly. I only thought we could scare them a little and drive them away. There’s no need for concern.”

“Huh? You want to chase them off just by scaring them? How?”

“Well… how should I put it? Perhaps we could arrange for the Golden-Fur Bees to have an ‘accidental’ encounter with them?”

“‘Accidental’ encounter?”

“‘Accidental encounter.’ I like the sound of that.”

My sister nodded in agreement, while the Deputy Commander and the warriors exchanged confused glances, unsure what we were planning.

***

“So-ryong, I’ve spread it as you ordered!”

“My task is also complete!”

The Deputy Commander and the other light-body technique experts held up empty jars proudly, showing they had carried out the mission perfectly.
They seemed to be eagerly awaiting what came next—despair and screams.

“You spread it mostly beyond their camp, right?”

“Of course. We used a whole jar beyond their camp.”

“What about you, Deputy Commander?”

“Yes, I started from the nearest area where the bees weren’t active and spread it gradually toward their camp.”

What they had scattered was a mixture of crushed Bacha fruit and Hamsuhwa flowers, diluted with water to make more volume.

The preparations were done. I signaled my sister, who had been tossing a large stone playfully in the air.

“Hwa-eun, we’re ready!”

“Understood, So-ryong!”

On my signal, my sister caught the stone and hurled it toward the hive of the Golden-Fur Bee King across the clearing.

Siiing!

The stone cut smoothly through the air, its path perfect.
In my past life, if I’d thrown like that as a baseball player, I would’ve gained a million subscribers easily.

Thwack!

The stone left her hand and struck the large tree in the middle of the clearing with a solid crash.
The sound echoed loudly against the cliff.

Thwack… Thwack… Thwack…

Then, the terrifying sound of buzzing returned. It was the sound of the Golden-Fur Bees beating their wings.

Whoooom! Whoooom! Wheeeeng! Wheeeeng!

What followed was a scene I had witnessed before—a golden flood of bees pouring out from the hive’s entrance.
Their golden fur glinted in the sunset as they streamed out like a tidal wave, swarming the air above.

Wheeeeng! Waaaeng!

The bees surged out and immediately began circling the area at a terrifying speed.
Then, they started moving with the wind, heading directly toward the Black Path’s camp.

A cloud of death was moving toward the camp.
The clearing, now empty of bees, fell into an eerie silence.

“Unbelievable!”

“This is incredible!”

My sister threw another stone, but this time, the hive gave no response.
It was clear that aside from a few queens and drones, all the bees had flown toward the Black Path’s camp.
I had given the signal for a full assault, so they had been commanded to attack.

“So-ryong, how did you do this? I had no idea bees would react so aggressively to a flower’s scent. Don’t bees usually love flowers and honey?”

My sister was amazed.

“That’s because I commanded them to launch a full assault,” I replied.

“A full assault!? You commanded them? But we only crushed the flowers and fruit and spread them around!”

Her eyes widened in surprise.
She seemed to find the situation fascinating.

To understand what was happening, you had to know how bees communicate.

“The scent is what commands the full assault,” I explained.

“The scent from the Hamsuhwa and Bacha fruit?”

She was amazed, but the secret behind this was pheromones.
Pheromones are chemical signals animals use to communicate within their species.
They can trigger love, anger, or calmness.
Animals react instantly to these signals, and social insects like bees, ants, and hornets rely on them heavily.

That’s why the bees responded so fiercely—I had given them the scent that triggers an attack.
It’s a pheromone called isoamyl acetate, which is found in the banana family.
Biologists discovered this when studying bee communication—the same substance that triggers aggressive attacks is also the main component of banana scent.

The same compound exists in all banana plants, whether cultivated or wild.
That’s why in bee-prone areas, people are warned not to eat bananas—it can provoke them.

“We can go into details later, but for now, we must harvest the honey before the Golden-Fur Bees return! Deputy Commander, keep watch!”

“Understood, So-ryong.”

“Got it, So-ryong!”

With the sun setting, we had to work quickly before the angry bees returned. I told the Deputy Commander to keep watch and rushed toward the hive entrance.

Inside, I checked carefully.
Again, there was no response.
It was clear no worker bees remained.

“Let’s go inside,” I said.

“I’ll lead!”

The Deputy Commander, gripping a short sword, went first. My sister and I followed, carrying a lantern and a brazier.
We had brought the brazier to fill the air with the pungent smell of mugwort, hoping it would calm any remaining bees.

Inside the hive, I saw honeycomb made of wax.
But there was a problem.
There was no honey.

“Huh? There’s no honey?”

“That can’t be.”

“Just as So-ryong said—there’s no honey.”

The hive was completely empty.
Normally, a bee hive would be full of honey, but there wasn’t a single drop.

I had the Deputy Commander lift me to check higher up, but still, no honey.

“How is this possible?”

The Deputy Commander, who had seen hives before, was just as confused.
But after looking more closely, the reason became clear.
There were no eggs in the hive.
These bees had been preparing to migrate.
Bees don’t migrate when they’re raising young, so the lack of eggs meant they had already decided to leave.
We were likely the cause.
Seeing so many humans nearby must have triggered their instinct to relocate.

Then, I noticed something else.
I looked down at the Deputy Commander and asked:

“How far can you travel using your light-body technique without stopping?”

“Why do you ask? If I take it easy, I can run for about half a day.”

He seemed confused by my question, but before I could explain, we heard the urgent voice of the guard outside.

“So-ryong! They’re coming back! The Golden-Fur Bees are returning!”

Seeing what was approaching, I shouted to the Deputy Commander.

“Let’s go!”

“Yes, So-ryong!”

We rushed back to the clearing, and as the Deputy Commander caught his breath, my sister cried out in panic.

“So-ryong? Why… why did you bring that!?”

Whoom, whoom.

I held the struggling creature in my arms and answered.

“There’s no honey, so I brought one back to make honey for us. Deputy Commander, let’s move! Before they come after us! They won’t follow at night, so we must hurry!”

Our life-or-death escape was about to begin.
The Golden-Fur Bees, and us.
I had “borrowed” the queen bee.