Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Parthenogenesis, also known as asexual reproduction or agamogenesis, refers to the process in which an embryo develops and matures without fertilization by sperm.

In other words, the genetic material of the female alone divides to create a fertilized egg. This meant that the queen bee of the Golden-Furred Wasp King, the worker bees, and the new queen all shared the exact same genetic makeup.

Put another way, the society of the Golden-Furred Wasp King was essentially a massive colony of clones—an entire community of genetically identical, monozygotic twins. Their relationships were simultaneously those of mother and daughter, sisters, and, in a sense, themselves.

A society of hundreds of identical female wasps—it was almost surreal.

For a brief moment, I was caught off guard by the sight of the identical queen bees, but I quickly collected myself and asked the queens of the Golden-Furred Wasp King:

"You can reproduce without males?"

Bzzzz.

Bzzzz.

In perfect synchronization, the two wasps hovering in the air nodded at the exact same moment.

I hadn’t noticed until now, but when I took a closer look inside the hive, I realized that all the worker bees were essentially miniature versions of the queen. They were just slightly smaller and lacked fully developed abdomens since they didn’t lay eggs.

‘A society with no males at all… That’s fascinating.’

While it was an unusual reproductive structure, parthenogenesis itself wasn’t all that rare.

In the natural world, many creatures reproduce this way. Termites, for instance—one of the species I had worked with—are well-known for it. Parthenogenesis is also common in fish like crucian carp, certain lizards, scorpions, some cartilaginous fish, and even ants.

However, I had never seen a species that completely lacked males.

After all, societies with a single gene pool were inherently vulnerable to genetic diseases or outbreaks. That’s why even the creatures that were capable of parthenogenesis typically only resorted to it in times of emergency, when rapid population expansion was necessary. Otherwise, they reproduced through conventional sexual reproduction.

From an evolutionary standpoint, diverse gene inheritance increased the chances of species differentiation over generations.

‘Why rely on parthenogenesis?’

I didn’t understand why the Golden-Furred Wasp King had opted for such a reproductive strategy, which made them genetically vulnerable. However, considering that even lower-ranked individuals of the species were intelligent enough to understand human speech, they clearly couldn’t be classified as mere ordinary creatures.

Whenever I encountered something in this world that didn’t make biological or genetic sense, there was one universal explanation that always seemed to work:

‘Because it’s a spirit beast, that’s why.’

Yeah. If something didn’t make sense, just slap the term “spirit beast” on it, and suddenly, it all made sense.

Having settled that thought, I moved on to the next issue and asked the queen bees of the Golden-Furred Wasp King:

"Alright, now that I’ve greeted the new queen, I’ll find you a new home. You’re not planning on moving somewhere else, right? Also, which one of you is the old queen?"

At my question, the two queens suddenly quivered as if laughing before they began darting around each other mid-air, weaving in and out at dizzying speed, like a street game of three-card monte.

After a brief, chaotic display, the two queens came to a sudden stop and stared at me expectantly.

It felt like they wanted me to guess which one was the original queen.

"You want me to figure it out?"