Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

• Swoosh!

With a soft swoosh, something red was sucked into Hyang’s mouth in the blink of an eye.

The stone that had been in its mouth disappeared with that sound.

“My, my stone! My token!”

“Hyang! Spit it out! Spit it out right now!”

Seeing this, I immediately lunged forward, trying to pry open Hyang’s mouth, but the little creature only mumbled as it swallowed, refusing to spit out the stone.

“Hyang! Can't you spit it out!?”

• Gulp.

Then, a very clean sound followed as something went down its throat.

Despite Hyang's mumbling, even with me holding its mouth open, the stone was swallowed.

“No, no... My, my token... The stone Yangrang gave me...”

Seon-hwa stared blankly at the disappearance of the engagement gift.

It was supposed to be a very meaningful gift, but now Hyang had swallowed it.

However, there was no need to worry.

Although I didn't know what the stone was exactly, Hyang wouldn’t be able to digest it. It would surely spit it out in the end.

Even if it had swallowed a stone, amphibians like frogs or toads could spit out their stomach contents because they could regurgitate their stomachs whole.

This phenomenon, called "amphibian stomach washing," meant that after a short wait, Hyang would likely spit it out.

“Don’t worry, Seon-hwa. I don’t know why it’s doing this, but it’ll spit it out soon. It can’t digest a stone.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes. It should spit it out soon. It knows it’s not its food.”

Everyone watched Hyang intently, tense.

Suddenly, Hyang’s body began to wriggle.

Just like a cat coughing up a hairball, Hyang squirmed, and after a while, spat out its stomach whole.

Then, there was a sound of something hitting the stone floor.

• Thud. Clink.

“It’s out!”

“It’s out!”

“...Huh!?”

• Squeak... Squeak?

• Squeak...