Seol and Bing 3
No room for argument.
To my excuse, the little guy answered with an affectionate shriek plus a headbutt.
Even I had to admit that wrapping this whole mess up with a single word like “misunderstanding” was pushing it. From a lizard’s point of view, I must have looked like an absolute bastard. Explaining myself properly would take a fair amount of time, but few people would grant that luxury in a situation like this—and the other party was a lizard, after all.
-Kyaaaa!
With a shriek, a blue meteor came streaking straight for my head. It reminded me of the blue Halley’s Comet I’d seen as a child. The figure rushing toward me grew larger and larger until my entire field of vision flooded with blue—
“So-ryong! Look out!”
Big Sister’s shout rang out at the same moment her hand shoved me hard to the side.
-Shiiing.
A hair’s breadth. The meteor that grazed my sideburns barely missed me. Clutching the lizard against my chest, I tumbled across the ground after Big Sister’s push, and a tremendous crash erupted from the spot where I had just been standing.
-Kwang!
-Rustle rustle.
Small stone chips pattered down onto my face. When I whipped my startled gaze toward the source of the flying debris, the little guy that had flung itself at me was wedged into the side of a boulder. It shook its head vigorously and climbed back to its feet. The rock was cracked clean through; if that impact had landed on my skull, the ending would have been melon-smashing territory. A chill raced down my spine as cold sweat soaked my entire body.
While I stood frozen in shock for that brief moment, the little guy recovered its wits and began coiling its body tight. It looked ready to leap again.
“W-wait! I-it’s really not like that! Let’s just talk first—”
I shouted urgently for it to calm down, but the little guy showed absolutely no intention of stopping. Its short hind legs, coiled like a spring, were on the verge of exploding outward again.
-Gukgu…
A tiny, adorable sound rose from my chest. Looking down in surprise, I saw the one nestled in my arms make that cute noise once more.
-Guuk…
At that, the fierce little guy that had been coiled to spring at me loosened its short legs. It answered in a cute, endearing voice completely different from the sharp cries it had been making until now.
-Guguk?
The sound was similar to the charming little noises geckos from my past life would occasionally make. They used it both to call females and to signal anger, and those same soft calls went back and forth between the two for a while, almost like a conversation.
-Gukguguk…
-Gukgugu!
After what felt distinctly like the two of them talking things over, the eyes of the one in my arms slowly closed again. Its wariness had clearly dropped. Just as it lowered its guard and was about to take a step toward me—
Family Head Paeng and the Poisonous Creature Squad came rushing up from behind us in a panic, their urgent voices tumbling over one another.
“Are you all right!? That tiny thing is filthy vicious and quick. To think it would slip right between our legs.”
“Are you unharmed, Young Master So-ryong?”
The moment Family Head Paeng and the warriors who had lost the little guy came hurrying near the rock, it started hissing like a cat again. It especially seemed to find Family Head Paeng repulsive.
-Kyahaak!
Its reaction was sharp and hypersensitive. I quickly asked everyone except Big Sister and me to step back. Things had seemed on the verge of settling, and one wrong move would send us right back to square one.
“We’re fine, so please move back a little. The little one is anxious. I’ll try talking with it for a moment.”
“Will you be all right? But talk? Does that thing even understand words?”
“Yes, Family Head Paeng. I don’t think it will attack us again, and it probably understands speech to some degree.”
I then spoke toward the little guy that was watching us with uneasy eyes.
“I’ll lay this friend of yours back down over there for you. Just wait a moment. I’m not trying to do anything bad, so relax.”
At my words, Family Head Paeng led the warriors farther back. The little guy seemed to ponder what I had said for a second, then jumped down from the rock and sidled slightly aside. It kept watching me with uneasy eyes, but it definitely seemed to understand what I meant.
“Young lady, could you cut some of that withered grass over there for me?”
“And leave So-ryong alone?”
She meant she was uneasy leaving just me and the lizards. I answered while looking at the little guy still watching our side.
“It knows I helped its friend. So it probably won’t attack. Right?”
-Kyahak!
It snapped a sharp warning and whipped its head away at my question. Keeping a careful eye on it, I approached the rock and swept away the broken stone chips. Soft moss or something similar had originally lined the space beneath the boulder, but only fragments remained now. I soon laid out the dry grass Big Sister brought to make a softer bed, then gently set the one from my arms on top of it.
“There. Done.”
The moment I set it down and stepped back a little, the little guy quickly slipped into the rock crevice. It began licking the face of the motionless one. Whether they were a pair or siblings I couldn’t tell, but the sight was genuinely touching. Watching the two of them, I carefully spoke up.
“I’ve peeled off the shed skin that wouldn’t come free and removed what was covering the eyes. Lick its eyes well for a while so the remaining inflammation doesn’t spread. You understand, right?”
-Guguguk!
Now it answered in a somewhat obedient voice as if it understood, diligently licking the eyelids. Looking at the two of them and turning the matter over in my mind, I continued. I had hesitated over whether to say it, but I felt I had no choice. Removing the eye inflammation and peeling the shed skin was only part of the treatment.
I wasn’t a veterinarian, so I couldn’t claim detailed medical knowledge, but eye inflammation caused by stuck shed skin usually healed naturally well enough if it hadn’t yet hardened into something stone-like. My confidence that it would recover came from the know-how I’d gained raising all kinds of lizards—beasts possessed strong natural healing, and I had seen them pull through even worse conditions.
The real problem, though, was that the tail was rotting. Left alone, the decay would climb upward until the little one eventually died. In the end, a tail amputation would be necessary.
I spoke to the one I had named Bing, who was still licking its companion.
“The eyes will probably get better…”
-Guruk.
It made another cute sound, almost as if thanking me for the words. Unfortunately, I had to deliver bad news next.
“But there’s something worse. The tail has rotted far too much.”
The instant I finished, Bing’s eyes flew wide open. It hurriedly checked the other one’s tail and began licking it with frantic care after finishing with the eyes. But this was not a problem that would improve from a bit of spit for disinfection.
“Already half the tail has rotted. Licking like that isn’t going to fix it.”
It howled toward me as if shouting.
-Kyahaak!
Its yellow eyes seemed to waver as though with tears. If it had been a person, it would have been yelling, “How do you know that!? How can you know without even trying!?”
-Guk. Gukgu.
It began making soft crying sounds toward the prone one, almost as if continuing a conversation. It looked thoroughly crestfallen, but my words weren’t finished yet. I carefully went on.
“But the tail can be fixed too.”
-Kahak!
The moment I finished speaking, its face clearly said, “You little bastard, why didn’t you say that first? You scared a lizard for nothing.” Even in my past life lizards had been popular for their cute expressions, and this one’s face was remarkably rich and human-like. At my claim that it could be fixed, Bing slid aside as if telling me to get on with it, making space. It seemed to be granting permission for treatment. I had no choice but to speak with an apologetic look.
“But it seems like we’ll have to cut the tail…”
-Guk?
At the words “cut the tail,” it blinked its round eyes. The vertical slit pupils in those yellow eyes disappeared and reappeared over and over.
“I said it seems like we have to cut the tail.”
When it still didn’t seem to understand properly, I made a scissor-cutting motion with my fingers. Only then did the blinking stop.
-Kyahaak!
It flung itself straight at my face.
The light pouring from the ceiling was gradually losing its vitality, as if the sun were setting.
“Ow ow ow… Ungrateful little thing.”
Scratches from its claws marked my face, and tooth marks stood out on my nose. When I made a great show of dying from the pain, Big Sister spoke with a distressed expression.
“So-ryong, try this. I’ll apply golden sore medicine, but if we’re not careful it might leave a scar.”
She took something like tiger balm from her robes and began applying it. Beside us, Family Head Paeng of the Paeng family started snickering without the slightest sense of the mood.
“Kehehe. You’ll look a bit more manly now. You were a bit girly before. Since you got an honorable wound from fighting. Well, it wasn’t from fighting a person. Kehehet.”
He was teasing that the scar would make me more manly, then hastily gazed off toward the distant mountains under Big Sister’s chilly stare. After shooting a glare in Family Head Paeng’s direction, I looked back toward the lizards—unable to keep the smile from rising to my lips.
The reason I couldn’t hold that smile even while fussing to Big Sister was simple: although Bing had rushed me, scratched me, and bitten me at the mention of cutting the sick one’s tail, the wounds were nowhere near fatal. This was a creature strong enough to crack rock, so the scratches and bites had clearly been held back. The fact that the centipedes in my arms hadn’t reacted meant it hadn’t even harbored killing intent. So even though it hurt a little, a smile kept tugging at me.
Well… I can pretty much call it half mine now.
As I was entrusting my face to Big Sister’s careful hands applying the medicine—
“Young Master So-ryong?”
“Yes?”
Gu Pae’s voice called me. Answering and turning my head, I saw Gu Pae pointing toward a patch of grass. Wondering what it was about, I looked—and there was a blue jewel peeking its head out from between the blades. Whether it had finished sorting its feelings, Bing slowly crawled toward me and tugged at my pant leg with its mouth. Earlier I had told it to think carefully, because if we didn’t cut the tail soon the body itself could suffer. It seemed a decision had been made.
“All right. I understand.”
I quickly followed it to the rock. The other one was still lying exactly as I had set it down. Approaching, I asked,
“I’m going to cut the tail now. Can you tell me what you eat? After the tail is cut, you’ll need to eat well. But I haven’t seen what you two eat.”
Bing scurried ahead of me, began digging at the ground beside the prone one, then bit something like a freshly sprouted bean and hopped back in front of me.
“What’s this? Does this mean you eat this?”
Big Sister’s voice came from behind. Stroking the heads of Cho, Hyang, and Bin—whom she had taken from me—she spoke.
“May I check it for a moment?”
“Yes, young lady.”
She took the seed Bing had offered and examined it carefully. After a short while she handed the little bean back and said,
“It’s weak, but energy is flowing out little by little. This is definitely a seed of the spiritual herb that was growing here. Perhaps these children, like the centipedes, feed on that energy?”
I had been thinking purely in terms of my past-life standards, but if they could absorb energy or qi directly the way the centipedes did, it made perfect sense. Family Head Paeng, who had followed along, nodded thoughtfully.
“Indeed, I’ve heard such stories myself. Around precious spiritual herbs, spirit beasts that grow by feeding on that energy are said to live.”
When I looked at him with an expression that clearly asked why he was only mentioning this now, Family Head Paeng scratched his head and answered,
“Hehe, I just thought of it, didn’t I?”
Well… it’s already a miracle he doesn’t forget his own daughter’s name.
After living with them for a few days, I had learned that the Paeng family were incredibly free-spirited people. As I was nodding that recalling it now still counted for something, a sudden thought struck me.
“Then—since we dug this up, isn’t that a huge problem!?”
I said it with a panicked face, thinking we had just dug up the lizards’ food and needed to replant it at once. Family Head Paeng simply shook his head.
“That one probably won’t grow any further.”
“What? Why not?”
“They say a spiritual herb never grows again in a place that has been touched by human hands. That little one knew it, which is why it dug the seed up to show you. The seed simply won’t grow past that state.”
Ah… hearing the explanation, our blue lizards were like pitiful squirrels whose autumn acorns had been stolen. The military advisor must have taken the spiritual herb, and they had been barely surviving on the faint energy leaking from the remaining sprouted seeds.
Humans are sorry, kids!
As I was making an apologetic face on behalf of all humanity—
Family Head Paeng’s question came.
“By the way, what was the spiritual herb that grew here called?”
“I remember the military advisor calling it Seolsam.”
“Seolsam… Then it would be yin energy containing cold qi. In that case we need to obtain something that radiates the same energy in place of Seolsam.”
“Oh! Is there such a thing?”
Apparently there was no law saying one had to die; Family Head Paeng explained that a substitute existed. At my question he nodded and answered,
“There is. Ice Jade.”
“Oh, then if we just get that, everything’s cleanly solved!?”
It seemed like a problem that would be neatly resolved the moment we obtained something called Ice Jade. But Family Head Paeng gripped his chin and replied with a serious expression.
“It’s not that simple. Ice Jade is extremely rare and also enormously expensive. Even with money, it is not easy to obtain.”
As expected of a new and rare species—even their food cost a fortune. While I was fretting over what to do, Big Sister’s voice came from beside me.
“I know one person who has Ice Jade.”
As expected of our Big Sister.