Chapter 42
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: The Parrot Poison Bird's Tail Feather
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The fox reached Kim Nari’s feet.
Up close, its friend's face was wet with tears.
-D-don't cry.
The fox nudged Kim Nari’s leg with its snout.
As if that were a signal, Kim Nari collapsed.
-Don't cry. I'll be the one… I'll be the one to cry. So. You don't cry. Okay?
I want you to smile. I want you to smile and pet me. Like before, just like before. How can I convey this feeling?
Let’s hold her with my fluffy fur. The fox burrowed into Kim Nari’s embrace. It rested its chin on her small shoulder.
Ah, this scent. This warmth. This small frame I know so well.
The fox had intended to comfort Kim Nari, but it couldn't say a word.
It rubbed its face against its friend's neck and closed its eyes. Tears that had been welling up fell, drop by drop.
We met. We finally met.
-I'm sorry. I am. I am. I won't bite you anymore. I'm sorry. Did it hurt? Did it hurt a lot?
Kim Nari shook her head. The sobs she had been holding back burst forth.
The fox wrapped its fluffy tail around Kim Nari. Kim Nari hugged the fox back.
“Me too. I missed you too.”
Kim Nari said. Sniffling, she poured out the words she had wanted to say.
“I missed you so much. As long as you didn't bite me because you hated me, it's okay. That's all that matters.”
How could I ever hate you? My friend, who I’ve been with since the moment I opened my eyes.
-Let’s go to the yard. The other friends are there too. They all… they didn't hit you because they hate you. They never did. They all want to see you, they miss you.
Kim Nari smiled. And cried. Could there be any happier words? Holding the fox in her arms, Kim Nari ran toward the log cabin.
“This is nice. This is so nice. I love today so much.”
Her tears wouldn't stop. But her mouth was smiling brightly.
The scent of grass, the smell of earth, the faces of her friends.
I’m confident that no one is happier than me right now. Kim Nari smiled, engraving this moment in her heart.
* * *
On a hill overlooking the log cabin.
Leaning against a tree, Cheon Doun watched Kim Nari and the fox.
The fox, having reached the yard, let out a long cry. Hearing the sound, the chimeras poked their heads out one by one from the crevices of the yellow ore.
A moment of silence. They stood still, looking at each other, and then ran toward one another.
Kim Nari, who had sunk to the ground, hugged and soothed the small chimeras one by one.
Watching from a distance, Cheon Doun smiled. Wasn't this a scene straight out of a fairy tale?
“Why are you out here instead of going inside?”
Yu Beom’s voice came from the tree Cheon Doun was leaning against.
“An adult shouldn't intrude on the kids' touching reunion. What are you two doing up here, anyway?”
Cheon Doun asked, looking up at the tree.
On the massive tree, the Yu siblings were draped over two thick branches on either side, like laundry hung out to dry.
“We were sleeping.”
“Sleeping? In a tree?”
“Yeah. This tree is our favorite bed these days.”
Yu Beom said, patting the thick branch with his palm.
Avians, indeed. Do they even sleep in trees? Instead of asking what he meant, Cheon Doun simply accepted it.
‘They disappeared every night. I wondered where they were sleeping.’
That mystery was solved.
“When the sun comes up, tell Nam Giseok to show off his skills. The chimeras have probably been living on nothing but frozen meat. They deserve a hot meal.”
Cheon Doun nodded. It was reassuring to have a first-rate chef in their group.
“Speaking of which, we need to name the Parrot Poison Bird. You two should come up with a few names and give me some options.”
“Us?”
“Yeah. Everyone on our side has a naming sense that's gone down the river. Myself included.”
“We’ve never named anything like that before… Well, we'll give it a shot.”
Yu Beom nodded. Yu Jia, who was listening beside him, looked around with a puzzled expression.
“But where did you put the bird? I haven't seen it at all today.”
“What do you mean, you haven't seen it? I sent it back first. It didn't arrive?”
“It didn't. The Gate opened, the chimeras came through, and then you came. That was it.”
Cheon Doun’s expression hardened slightly.
He had sent the Parrot Poison Bird through the Gate after rescuing the chimeras. Chronologically, the bird should have arrived home before he did.
Racking his memory, Cheon Doun clicked his tongue softly.
“I made a mistake.”
“Why?”
“When I sent the bird through the Gate, I forgot to set the coordinates.”
When rescuing the chimeras, he had first put his own hand through the Gate to set the coordinates.
But when he sent the Parrot Poison Bird through, he had just let it pass without that step.
As a result, the Parrot Poison Bird had been transported to its homeland, the place it was thinking of at that moment.
“I’ll have to go get it.”
“Won’t that be difficult? It's an avian. The place it randomly thought of could be anywhere.”
“That’s fine. No matter where it landed, the last place it would have headed is obvious.”
The northern sea. The place where Cheon Doun had first caught the bird.
“Parrot Poison Birds are monsters that live in flocks of dozens. Its homing instinct would have led it back to its original flock.”
“Really? If you know the location, finding it should be easy. But can't you just catch another one? Is there a reason you're set on that particular bird?”
“A reason… I suppose so. When I first saw it, that one stood out.”
Cheon Doun recalled the moment he caught the bird. The Parrot Poison Birds had been flying in a flock high above.
There was one reason he had chosen that specific bird.
“It was being attacked by its own kind.”
Though he was far away, Cheon Doun could see why.
“It has a deformed tail feather. Even if it returns to the flock, it will just be ostracized. The Parrot Poison Bird is a species that stakes its life on the preservation of its tail feathers.”
Cheon Doun recalled that time.
The atmosphere had been so hostile that if he hadn't intervened and caught the bird, it would have been pecked to death by its own kind.
Cheon Doun’s intrusion had scattered the other birds, and the Parrot Poison Bird he had mounted had repeatedly slammed its body against a cliff to try and throw him off.
“Its tail was deformed? I don't really remember that.”
“It had been ramming itself into the cliff, so its feathers were plucked out all over. You probably wouldn't have noticed the missing tail feathers.”
Cheon Doun looked north.
“If I don't bring it back, it will die. It's in danger if its homing instinct led it back to its original flock.”
He drew upon the mana he usually kept contained.
A straight line to the north. He began his search, spreading his mana centered on the sea.
The siblings were dumbfounded by the vast amount of mana. How could he search with mana from this far away from the northern sea?
‘He’s actually doing it.’
What a beast. The two of them shook their heads.
“Found it.”
He had a lock on it. But Cheon Doun’s expression was not bright.
“It’s in danger. It's being attacked.”
As expected, the bird was being mobbed by its own kind. At his words, the siblings unfurled the wings on their backs.
“Go on ahead. We’ll follow. If it's injured, it'll be faster for us, fellow avians, to check its condition.”
This was a bird they had a connection with. They had no intention of letting it die.
Cheon Doun nodded and leaped into the air.
* * *
The Parrot Poison Bird that Cheon Doun had captured.
Though humans called it a bird of terror, within its flock, it was always ignored.
The reason was its lack of tail feathers.
It hadn't always been this way. As a fledgling, it had been bitten by a predator, severely injuring its tail.
The wound healed, but feathers no longer grew from the bitten area.
Its own kind would peck and tear at its pathetic tail, mocking it. Even so, leaving the flock was unimaginable.
The Parrot Poison Bird was a species that lived in colonies. It only felt secure when it belonged somewhere.
That innate disposition kept it there, even as it was bitten and scratched by its own kind.
Without tail feathers, it was an outcast, and it knew instinctively that it would one day be eaten by its flock.
It knew, yet it returned. It couldn't overcome the instinct to flock together, and the result was disastrous.
-Screeeech!
Dozens of its own kind attacked it. Unluckily, it had returned on a day the flock had failed in their hunt.
The moment the starving birds saw it, their eyes gleamed as they charged.
Before the hunt, they took turns pecking at its tail, as if in mockery.
-Screeeech!
Stop. It hurts. It hurts. Please don't bite me. The bird flapped its wings with all its might.
It was useless. With shorter tail feathers than the others, its flying ability was inferior, and it couldn't shake off its pursuers.
Bitten hard on the wing, the bird could no longer hold on and plummeted.
Thud. A heavy sound echoed as a cloud of dust rose. The bird gasped for breath and looked up at the sky.
It could see its kin descending, talons extended.
It always knew a day like this would come.
More than the fear of death, a wave of sorrow washed over it. It had never been accepted by the flock. The sadness brought tears to its eyes.
-Screee…
I want tail feathers too. I had them when I was young. Can't they grow back?
A wish made all the more desperate because it knew it could not be fulfilled.
The bird closed its eyes.
The moment it resigned itself to death, something landed in front of it with a deafening roar.
“You came a long way. Your energy was so faint it took me a while to find you.”
-Screee…?
At the familiar voice, the bird opened its eyes.
A young man was gripping the neck of one of its attackers. The bird was stunned as he threw the struggling creature aside like a sack of luggage.
Over his shoulder, a dozen more birds dived at once.
Cheon Doun swung his arm lightly. White threads shot out in all directions.
In an instant, the poison birds' tail feathers were severed.
Losing their feathers mid-flight, dozens of the poison birds lost their balance and fell from the sky.
The bird watched the scene with a dazed expression.
“You’re badly hurt.”
The bird looked at Cheon Doun.
The one who had caught it. The one who had brazenly ridden on its back.
“You’re losing too much blood.”
The bird didn't understand Cheon Doun's words.
But it understood that there was no hostility in the eyes looking at it. It knew he had come to get it.
In that moment, it realized one thing.
-Screee…
Ah, when I was with that flock, no one ever bit my tail. No one ever made fun of my tail.
A place that accepted me, though we were different species. A place that acknowledged me. The home I had dreamed of my entire life.
The realization came too late. The bird closed its eyes. It was cold. The sensation in its body was gradually dulling.
It knew it was dying, but it felt good.
For a short while, it had a flock of its own. That sense of belonging gave the bird satisfaction, even in its dying moments.
“Don’t worry. You’re not going to die.”
Cheon Doun said. The bird struggled to open its eyes.
“I’ll save you.”
The bird doesn't understand the words Cheon Doun is saying.
“Come to think of it, we got a lot of new family members today. It should be a satisfying number for you, since you live in a group.”
It didn't know what he was talking about. But strangely, it felt a sense of relief.
Cheon Doun stroked the bird's head.
“I’ll make your tail feathers grow back, too. It should be possible. I have the best alchemist who bought ten years' worth of talent.”
What on earth is he saying? It still didn't understand. But it didn't matter. If it were to be reborn, it would want to join this one’s flock.
“Once you get your tail, you work hard.”
Cheon Doun grinned. The bird stared at his face.
The bird doesn't know how to distinguish human expressions. But it thought that gaze held a good meaning.
"Consider today's life-saving fee an advance on your wages."
Ah, such warm eyes. With that final thought, the bird lost consciousness.