123
Chapter 123
In the past, while I was managing the Tomb alone with Jjokkomi.
I once heard a story about our father from Jjokkomi.
Our father was the Leader of a Flame Bear group.
And she definitely mentioned that he had numerous wives.
Because it wasn't particularly important information, I had forgotten about it, but the story from that day slowly began to surface in my mind.
***
One day.
Jjokkomi had a question.
Why didn't she have a father?
If she did have a father, where was he?
Could he possibly be dead?
Driven by curiosity, she asked Mother Bear.
However, Mother Bear was reluctant to talk about their father.
She always avoided answering.
Jjokkomi did not give up.
Morning, noon, and night.
She persistently interrogated her about their father every day without getting tired.
In the end, Mother Bear shook her head, let out a sigh, gathered Jjokkomi and Urami, and reluctantly told them the story.
She didn't talk much about their father.
She explained why she left the group.
She told them the reason why she left their father's side.
The reason was simple.
Because their father no longer looked at her.
In other words, she left the group because his interest and affection had cooled.
The two of them had truly loved each other.
Mother Bear was his first wife.
She was the first female that their father won over after becoming the Leader of the group.
Their father had made a promise.
Unlike past Leaders, and unlike Leaders of other groups, he swore to look only at Mother Bear for the rest of his life.
That promise was not kept.
It was because Mother Bear could not conceive any cubs for over ten years.
After enduring for so long, their father eventually began to turn his eyes to other females.
He only had relations with Mother Bear occasionally out of obligation.
Of course, even that was only because of Mother Bear's desperate pleas.
Time gradually passed.
When their father became distracted by his many wives and his affection and interest in Mother Bear completely faded, she cried silently before leaving the group with lonely steps late at night, avoiding everyone's eyes.
*
After she left the group.
It was when she had continued moving and settled in a cave within a mountain range.
Mother Bear's belly gradually began to swell.
Mother Bear belatedly realized that she had successfully become pregnant.
And she rejoiced upon learning that her body was not incapable of pregnancy.
It was certain that she was carrying her husband's cubs.
After all, he was the only male she had ever mated with in her entire life.
Even though she was pregnant, she could not return to the group.
The path she had walked thus far.
In other words, the journey back was too dangerous.
It wasn't a distance she could travel while pregnant either.
After much deliberation.
Mother Bear decided to return to their father's side after safely giving birth to the child.
*
Mother Bear gave birth to a total of three children.
Among them, the youngest was a Mutant.
At first, she wondered if it was dead, but it was just a Mutant incapable of movement.
Flame Bears kill Mutants when they are born.
It is an instinct of the species, as well as a long-standing rule passed down through generations.
In the past, there had been frequent instances where Mutant Flame Bears led the species to ruin.
However, Mother Bear was different.
Even if it was a Mutant, she intended to embrace it as her child.
But a Mutant that wasn't even a living creature was an exception.
She simply could not accept this thing as her child.
She couldn't even feel any maternal love for it.
Even so, she didn't kill it.
She merely left it carefully neglected in the corner of the cave.
*
Although she safely delivered her cubs, Mother Bear did not leave the cave.
The reason she didn't return to the group.
She felt somewhat bitter toward her husband for not looking for her, but more than that, she wanted to return only after raising the children to be so perfect and exceptional that they would captivate him.
*
Urami and Jjokkomi.
The Firstborn and the Second Child fought.
The cause was the Third Child, the Mutant.
Mother Bear stopped them and forced them to reconcile.
Then, as she usually did, she briefly glanced sideways at the Third Child for about a second.
The Third Child's arm was torn off.
Other than that, it was still fine.
It couldn't move, but she could tell that it at least wasn't dead.
Despite not being fed all this time, it stubbornly clung to life.
The Third Child was different from ordinary living creatures.
An entity that couldn't be treated as a living thing, but wasn't inanimate either.
It could survive without eating food.
Mother Bear had realized this long ago.
For reference.
If the Third Child had shown any signs of starving to death, she had intended to secretly feed it at dawn.
She didn't acknowledge it as her child, but she still didn't want it to die.
If she had wanted it dead in the first place, she would have torn it to shreds.
Or she would have thrown it outside the cave.
It was the same now.
Even though that child caused discord between the Firstborn and the Second Child, she still had no intention of killing it.
However, she judged that she could no longer keep it in this cave.
To prevent the relationship between the Firstborn and the Second Child from deteriorating further, she finally decided to abandon the Third Child.
It was a decision made after much deliberation.
*
There was a place where Mother Bear usually hunted.
Whenever the Firstborn and the Second Child were taking a short break here, there was a place Mother Bear always visited.
It was none other than the place where she had abandoned the Third Child.
However, she never revealed herself to the Third Child.
She would hide in the bushes, briefly check on the Third Child, and then quickly return.
For this reason, she purposely chose hunting grounds near the place where she abandoned the Third Child.
Sometimes, she even intimidated and drove away monsters that tried to enter the bushes.
What was the reason for doing this for a child she had already abandoned?
Did she still have lingering feelings?
Did she want to ensure its safety?
Was it to at least check if it was alive or dead, since she had gone through the pain of giving birth to it anyway?
It was impossible to know.
Even Mother Bear herself didn't know why she was doing this.
*
Jjokkomi.
The Second Child cried sorrowfully every night.
It was because the Third Child had suddenly disappeared after she woke up from her sleep.
Feeling pity for her, Mother Bear finally decided to arrange a meeting between the Second Child and the Third Child after a long period of contemplation.
At the usual hunting ground.
When the Firstborn, Urami, was resting and taking a nap leaning against a tree, Mother Bear carefully approached the Second Child, Jjokkomi, pointed in one direction, and spoke in a low voice.
She told her to push through those bushes and keep going straight.
She said that if she walked just a little further, she would be able to meet the child she had missed so much.
After Mother Bear said that.
She firmly pushed a Mana Stone into Jjokkomi's fur.
Telling her to take this Mana Stone and try feeding it to the child.
It wasn't that she gave it to her because she knew the Third Child needed a Mana Stone.
She just suddenly thought recently that maybe the reason the Third Child couldn't move was due to a lack of Mana, so she simply provided the Mana Stone.
Jjokkomi tilted her head, then soon began to push through the bushes and move forward.
Mother Bear did not follow her.
She merely watched her from behind.
When a certain amount of time had passed like that.
To prepare to return to the cave, Mother Bear let out a resounding roar from her spot.
Roaaaar!
It was the sound of calling for Jjokkomi.
To others' ears, it might sound like a cry desperately searching for someone, but it was just a shout telling her to come back quickly.
*
When Mother Bear was taking a nap.
Jjokkomi secretly slipped out of the cave.
She planned to go see the Third Child for the first time in a while.
She had already heard from Mother Bear that the Teddy Bear was her younger sibling.
And in truth, Mother Bear was not taking a nap.
She was simply pretending to sleep in order to let Jjokkomi go.
In front of Jjokkomi, who had secretly slipped out of the cave like that, Urami stealthily appeared.
It was a disaster.
She couldn't afford to get caught by Urami of all people.
If Urami realized that the Third Child was alive, and if he found out she was going to the Third Child right now, he would definitely follow her secretly and harm it again like last time, Jjokkomi thought. So, even though Urami hadn't asked, Jjokkomi rambled on and told him in a clumsy acting tone that she had just come out to take a short walk.
Urami silently glared at Jjokkomi.
Then, he pulled out an object he had been keeping hidden in his fur and quietly placed it right in front of Jjokkomi.
It was the Third Child's arm that he had bitten off in the past.
Grrr, grrrrr.
Take this with you.
Urami already knew as well.
The fact that the Third Child was alive somewhere.
On the day Jjokkomi returned from meeting the Third Child.
He had smelled the scent of the Third Child lingering on Jjokkomi's fur.
Urami still remembered the Third Child's scent.
He had no intention of following Jjokkomi to meet the Third Child.
Because to him, it was no different from having already lost a sibling.
Losing a sibling does not necessarily mean the death of that sibling.
Having their ties severed is also a way of losing a sibling.
Unlike himself, who had lost his younger brother due to an immature Action, he hoped Jjokkomi would maintain her connection with their younger brother to the end, as Urami walked past Jjokkomi and into the cave.
*
The Second Child would sometimes tell Mother Bear stories about the Third Child.
Mother Bear would only listen to those stories in silence.
She pretended not to be interested, but she was actually listening closely.
And every time she heard a story about the Third Child, she felt her heart ache more with each passing day.
Only after time had passed did Mother Bear belatedly realize it.
That she was feeling regret right now.
That she was feeling guilty about abandoning the Third Child.
That she shouldn't have pushed the Third Child away as soon as it was born, and she shouldn't have abandoned it outside the cave.
She regretted the past.
The days of endlessly regretting and blaming herself for her past Action continued.
Then one day.
Mother Bear made a decision.
To go find the Third Child and apologize.
That once today's hunt was over, she would take plenty of prey and beg for forgiveness.
She knew it was an unforgivable mistake.
She also knew there was no way it would accept her apology.
Still, Mother Bear made up her mind to muster her courage and apologize.
And after apologizing to the Third Child.
She decided to take the Firstborn and the Second Child and return to their father.
If possible, she wanted them all to return together.
With the Third Child as well.
However, she couldn't do that.
Because there was no way the Third Child would forgive her, nor would it join her.
Furthermore, even if a miracle occurred and the Third Child forgave her, she couldn't bring a Mutant to the group.
Because it was obvious that a Mutant would be killed by its own kind.
Still, wouldn't there be a way?
If she somehow managed to persuade her husband, the Leader, wouldn't they be able to accept at least one Mutant as a member of the group?
After thinking it over and over, Mother Bear assumed an optimistic scenario where the Third Child miraculously forgave her, and dreamed of a happy future while pondering how she could bring the Third Child to the group.
And on this day.
Mother Bear and Urami died.