My mother and I took the children and climbed the mountain behind the village where my father’s grave was.
Uncle’s family was also with us.
The children walked along the mountain road in a pleasant atmosphere as if they were on a picnic, but the faces of my mother and I distorted little by little as we went closer.
My mother’s breath became rough while walking on a slightly rough mountain road.
“Mom, are you okay?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Sister, if you’re having a hard time, shall we take a break in the shade over there?”
“It’s okay, Brother.”
Speranza and the children looked at my mother anxiously.
“Grandma, are you tired?”
– Pow wo wooo?
“You should rest if you are tired, popi!”
My mother smiled calmly and stroked the children without saying a word.
To make it easier for her to climb, I took my mother’s hand and stepped forward as if I was leading her.
Before I knew it, the view of the village behind my back became small.
After a pretty hard hike, everyone was able to reach the destination safely.
My father’s grave, where I came after a long time, looked very neat.
I could quickly realize that someone was taking care of it regularly.
It wasn’t that hard to find ‘that someone’ who helped.
“Thank you very much, Uncle.”
Uncle smirked after making a blank look for a while.
“What do you mean thank you… …I just visited whenever I had free time. That’s all.”
Uncle replied lightly as if it was nothing.
But I knew how difficult it was.
Moreover, considering that we have been almost out of touch in recent years, it was hard to raise my face because of shame.
“Why are you showing off, father? You’ve always left the management here to me!”
“Hey, punk! I might have been busy that day.”
“Every time you left it to me and the nephews, you went down and drank with the uncles in the town hall.”
“Hmm, hmm!”
Uncle looked awkwardly away.
This allowed the rest of us to laugh quietly.
“Thank you, Brother Junho.”
“It’s fine. If you were in the same situation as me, you would have done the same.”
“Thank you.”
“If you’re grateful, think about the business I said earlier.”
“Hahaha!”
I laughed moderately at Brother Junho’s half-joking and half-serious business story.
My mother and aunt began to take out what they had prepared in advance.
When they took out the fruits and glasses, a simple ritual table was quickly set up in front of my father’s grave.
“Papa.”
“Huh?”
“Is grandpa here?”
“…Yes.”
Speranza looked at my father’s grave with transparent eyes.
Is it because she has already experienced the death of her biological parents, somehow, Speranza’s attitude felt mature.
Uncle handed me a glass as he opened the cork of the bottle.
“Sihyeon, pour your father a cup of wine first.”
I filled the cup with the help of Uncle and placed it in front of the tomb, and bowed my head.
Unlike the first time when I had no thoughts, when I bowed down the second time, I felt very sad.
‘Dad. I’m here. I’m sorry I came so late.’
I expressed my apologies to my father in my heart.
Of course, the answer didn’t come back, but somehow I felt a little relieved.
Subsequently, Uncle and Brother Junho also started to pour a drink and bowed.
Uncle said in a low voice, sprinkling the wine from the glass little by little.
“Hey Friend, you must be happy to see your wife and Son after a long time. I know you’re not the one who’s wrong, even if you have any resentment against me or the villagers, let it all go and rest in peace.”
After saying that, Uncle took Aunt and Brother Junho, and moved away.
It seemed to be his consideration that we could spend time as a family.
Naturally, only me, my mother, and the children were left in front of my father’s grave.
Mother approached quietly and slowly began to rub the tomb.
Once again, sad feelings flocked like a tidal wave to cover my whole body.
I wonder if the kids felt the same way.
They all clung to me with tears in their eyes.
“Papa…”
“Hick… …Grandma looks so sad, popi!”
Po woooooo
“It’s OK, it’s OK…”
I caressed the children and said it was OK.
My mother, who had been petting the tomb for a while, rose again.
My mother’s eyes turned red without realizing it.
“Guys. Do you want to say hello to grandpa?”
Speranza nodded to my question and walked timidly to my father’s grave.
She imitated my mother’s action and bowed in a sloppy manner.
Gyuri and Akum also went next to her and bowed.
Gyuri stumbled every time she bowed because she didn’t use her wings, and Akum lifted his two front feet and buried his face in between, creating a fairly similar shape.
Although they were all sloppy, it was very commendable and cute to see them bowing seriously in their own way.
I lavished praise on the children who finished the bow.
The children smiled brightly when they heard that grandpa would have been happy.
After spending a while near my father’s grave, I prepared to go down the mountain with Uncle’s family.
“Sihy, take care of Aunty and the kids. It’s slippery when you go down.”
“Okay, Brother.”
Contrary to Brother Junho’s worries, the children came down the mountain path very comfortably.
I didn’t have to worry about the flying Gyuri in the first place, and there was no problem on this steep mountain road for Akum.
Speranza was also very agile, unlike her appearance, so she was very relaxed.
I carefully went down the mountain path, taking care not to let my mother fall.
But suddenly, I felt a strange chilling sensation. It’s familiar, but it was not supposed to be felt here…
It was a demonic beast energy.
Burrrrrrrrr
And at that moment, along with the sound of the wings flapping, a large wasp came in our direction.
The threatening sound surprised everyone except me.
“Sihy! Be careful not to get bitten!”
Uncle and Brother Junho blocked the children and mother as if protecting them and instructed them to get out of here without irritating the wasp as much as possible.
“Sihy? What are you doing?”
Brother Junho, who was left behind, shouted at me, who was standing still.
But I was already focusing on the wasp’s movement.
The energy of a demonic beast could be clearly felt from the wasp moving around now.
I immediately used my ability to communicate.
Mana poured out like a net around me.
Brother Junho also took a step back, flinching as if he felt something strange.
After a while, the wasp flying around fell into my communion net.
I immediately controlled the wasp’s movements with mind control.
The wasp, which was flapping vigorously, suddenly fluttered as if it had lost its strength, and when I reached out my hand, it landed on its own.
“Sihy… you…?!”
Brother Junho opened his mouth wide as if he had seen a magic trick.
I raised my index finger and asked for a moment’s silence.
“Wait, brother,”
He looked at me with a very complicated look in his eyes but closed his mouth without saying anything.
In the meantime, I focused again on the wasp on my palm.
I’m sure it’s a common wasp found on Earth.
Strangely enough, the energy of the demonic beast was overflowing.
The evidence was that I was able to catch it with my ability.
However, no matter how much I looked at it, I had no idea why such a guy was born.
Putting aside my reluctant mind, I blew away the wasp far away with mind control.
Burrrrrrrrrrr
When the wasp disappeared through the trees of the mountain, Brother Junho began to pour out the words he had endured.
“Hey! What was that just now? How did you manipulate the wasp? Is this also the ability of an awakened person?”
“Yes, it’s related to my awakened ability. You can think of it like that.”
“Is it like hypnosis? Can you just control any animal?”
“No… …the explanation is a little complicated.”
“Wow… …I’ve heard that you awakened, but didn’t expect to see you in action.”
Brother Junho didn’t stop admiring my ability for a while.
I laughed awkwardly.
“It’s not such a big deal.”
We started walking along with the group that went ahead first.
I asked Brother Junho about the strange thing I just felt.
“But. I think the wasp we just met is a little weird. Do you know anything, brother?”
“Huh? How did you know?”
Brother Junho was surprised by my question and asked back.
“Is there anything?”
“Haaa… don’t even mention it. That’s why the village is so busy these days.”
“‥?”
He sighed loudly and continued his explanation.
“I don’t know exactly where it is. Deep in the mountains behind the village… a rift formed. From there wasp-like monsters poured out.”
“Hmm. So?”
“Of course, as soon as the rift was identified, awakeners came and removed them. So we thought everything was over. But they didn’t remove all the monsters. Ughh! They should have done their job right….”
Brother Junho vented out a little anger.
“If there are monsters left, shouldn’t it be cleared by the awakeners?”
“It’s gotten a little complicated. I don’t know how they did it, but the monsters started to take over the wasps that were originally here.”
“They took over the wasps?”
“Yeah, maybe because of the monster’s influence, the wasps started to go crazy. There was an elderly man who was attacked near the village and taken to the emergency room, and do you remember Kang’s grandfather who used to do bee-keeping? Now the second son is running the business. The wasps attacked the bees like crazy, and the beekeeping business was ruined.”
From the explanation, the situation seemed quite serious.
I asked a question with a stiff face.
“Didn’t you contact the government agency or anywhere else?”
“Of course we have. The village head and the adults visited the agency themselves, but there was no positive response. They said there was no way to help…”
“Then, did you leave it as it is?”
“If a wasp appears frequently or if a large group of wasps is found near the village, we report it as soon as possible and get rid of them. It’s not a fundamental solution. And… Huh. No.”
“…??”
Brother Junho tried to say something at the end, but he shook his head in a hurry.
As soon as I was about to ask what else was going on, I heard the call of Uncle who had gone down the mountain road first.
“Are you guys okay? You didn’t get bitten by a wasp, did you?”
“We’re fine, father! Let’s hurry up and go.”
Brother Junho hurried me and we walked quickly.
Before following him, I paused and looked at the place where the wasp had disappeared earlier.
I couldn’t get rid of the ominous feeling I felt earlier from the wasp.