My mother and I took the children and climbed the mountain behind the village where my fathers 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 beca rough while walking on a slightly rough mountain road.
"Mom, are you okay?"
"Uh-huh."
"Sister, if you're having a hard ti, 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 beca small.
After a pretty hard hike, everyone was able to reach the destination safely.
My father's grave, where I ca after a long ti, looked very neat.
I could quickly realize that soone was taking care of it regularly.
It wasn't that hard to find that soone who helped.
Thank you very much, Uncle.
Uncle smirked after making a blank look for a while.
"What do you an thank you I just visited whenever I had free ti. Thats 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 sha.
"Why are you showing off, father? You've always left the managent here to !"
"Hey, punk! I might have been busy that day."
"Every ti you left it to 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.
Its fine. If you were in the sa situation as , you would have done the sa."
"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, sohow, Speranza's attitude felt mature.
Uncle handed 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 ti when I had no thoughts, when I bowed down the second ti, I felt very sad.
Dad. I'm here. I'm sorry I ca so late.
I expressed my apologies to my father in my heart.
Of course, the answer didn't co back, but sohow 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 ti. I know you're not the one whos wrong, even if you have any resentnt against or the villagers, let it all go and rest in peace."
After saying that, Uncle took Aunt and Brother Junho, and moved away.
It seed to be his consideration that we could spend ti as a family.
Naturally, only , 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 sa way.
They all clung to 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 mothers action and bowed in a sloppy manner.
Gyuri and Akum also went next to her and bowed.
Gyuri stumbled every ti 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 comndable and cute to see them bowing seriously in their own way.
I lavished praise on the children who finished the bow.
Guys, you did a good job.
Really?
Really, popi?
Poooo! woo!
"Yes, grandpa would have been happy, too."
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 ca down the mountain path very comfortably.
I didnt 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 mont, along with the sound of the wings flapping, a large wasp ca in our direction.
The threatening sound surprised everyone except .
"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 , who was standing still.
But I was already focusing on the wasp's movent.
The energy of a demonic beast could be clearly felt from the wasp moving around now.
I imdiately used my ability to communicate.
Mana poured out like a net around .
Brother Junho also took a step back, flinching as if he felt sothing strange.
After a while, the wasp flying around fell into my communion net.
I imdiately controlled the wasp's movents 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 mont's silence.
"Wait, brother,"
He looked at with a very complicated look in his eyes but closed his mouth without saying anything.
In the anti, 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 t 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 ntion 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 ford. From there wasp-like monsters poured out."
"Hmm. So?"
"Of course, as soon as the rift was identified, awakeners ca and removed them. So we thought everything was over. But they didnt 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 ergency room, and do you rember 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 seed quite serious.
I asked a question with a stiff face.
"Didnt you contact the governnt 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 fundantal solution. And Huh. No."
"??"
Brother Junho tried to say sothing 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 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.
(To be Continued)
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