If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 32

The power of the name Chaehwa was great. As the doubt vanished from Yirok’s face, Secretary Yoon gladly took the lead. Yirok corrected the direction of the pig’s head dish before following Secretary Yoon.

The ritual site was on the mountainside, so there was no risk of outsiders wandering in, and at Chaehwa’s request, short-distance travelers within the villa were being controlled. Only Chairman Baek, who had been thoroughly duped by the Maengmusa, was said to be watching the situation via CCTV, but there would be nothing for an ordinary person’s eyes to see anyway.

“My lady. I have brought him.”

“Welcome.”

Secretary Yoon guided Yirok to a bedroom on the second floor of the villa. It seemed Chaehwa, the one performing the ritual, was resting to conserve her energy. Lying on the bed with her arms spread wide, Chaehwa gazed at the visiting Yirok. The busy Secretary Yoon said, “Please rest comfortably,” and closed the door without a backward glance.

“Why did you call me.”

Yirok pulled over a suitable chair and sat down insolently. Chaehwa, now sitting on the bed and massaging her stockinged feet, smiled with delight.

“I called because I thought you’d be nervous. But you’re the same as ever. I worried for nothing. Look at you, so full of life.”

“Is… that all?”

“It’s kind of cold outside, isn’t it? Drink this.”

Chaehwa got off the bed and poured a suspicious liquid from a thermos. Yirok, recognizing it as green tea from the scent, said.

“I don’t like green tea.”

“You have the palate of a complete child. Just try one sip.”

Yirok shook his head again to refuse, but Chaehwa blew softly into the paper cup. Her plump, cute lips were blowing air onto the green tea. Yirok had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling.

“There. It’s all cooled down. Drink up.”

He wanted to argue that he disliked the bitter taste, not that it was hot. But not wanting to drag out the conversation, Yirok accepted the paper cup of green tea. Seeing Yirok give in, Chaehwa sat on the bed with a pleased expression.

“This is your first ritual, isn’t it, Yirok?”

“It is.”

He took a sip of the special green tea that had Chaehwa’s breath in it. The bitter taste was less than he remembered, and the sweet aroma was stronger. The memory of getting a good scolding after secretly drinking his mother’s expensive green tea had made him avoid it.

“It’s good, isn’t it.”

“You didn’t call me just to give me special treatment… you must have something to ask of me.”

Yirok put down the bluish paper cup and quietly gazed at Chaehwa. Seeing her today, he realized he had misunderstood her. He had judged Chaehwa solely based on the time spent at the Nanjubeol estate and his observations of her then. She was an immature, phone-addicted, sweet-loving, eccentric young lady, but when dealing with a client, she was as confident as a grown adult.

Watching Chaehwa not losing to Chairman Baek, Yirok felt a strange emotion. It was like seeing a child he had worriedly sent out to the waterside suddenly all grown up.

Therefore, it was better for me to worry about my own life, which was like a hole in the floor. My own life, where the sun never shines.

“That’s right. I called you to give you special treatment.”

The days when he put up a wall against the reckless young lady seemed distant. He found himself unable to resist Chaehwa’s smiling face, welcoming it instead.

Speaking of special treatment, Chaehwa picked up a brush dipped in golden paint. Yirok, knowing what it was, raised a hand to try and stop her.

“I’ll do it. Put it down.”

“It’s more effective if I do it. Trust me.”

“I don’t want to….”

“I’ll draw it well. Trust me. You said it’s your first time, so I’m worried. Something could happen during the ritual, couldn’t it?”

Look at this. He couldn’t look straight into the eyes of Chaehwa, who was cajoling him, insisting she do it. In the past, he would have lived with the words “get lost” on his lips. But now, wasn’t he afraid of the situation where he would end up saying harsh words, even harsher words? It felt like if he did, the closed-off Chaehwa would never speak to him again.

“That’s a yes, then? Stay still.”

The moment Chaehwa declared his forced consent and held his chin, the game was over. What was it about her hand, softer than a flower, that made the limbs of a grown man act up like this? His hand hesitated before gripping the armrest of the chair tightly. He tried to say something, but felt only nonsense would come out, so he bit his lip.

“Lift your chin like this.”

The character Chaehwa’s golden brush would write was the character for heaven (天). In order to see and hear a Yogwi outside of Chukjangji, one had to borrow the grace of the heavens. An innate musa’s power, embodied in a character and inscribed on the body, was called a ‘Gaegeum Mark’. It meant the key that opens the gates of heaven. Thus, anyone without a Gaegeum Mark who participated in the ritual was bound to bring great misfortune.

Those destined to be musa were born with a Gaegeum Mark, but the location of the mark varied from person to person. Before starting a ritual, they would light incense for the Gaegeum Mark, and the celestial character would appear on their body.

However, apprentice Haenangs were unskilled at opening their latent Gaegeum Marks, so a mark had to be drawn on them separately. They drew the ‘heaven’ character on their body with ink mixed with a special powder. By doing so, they could temporarily borrow the ears and lips of the heavens.

“Stay still.”

Usually, the character was written next to the lips or on the neck for symbolic purposes. Chaehwa, who lifted and held his constantly lowering chin, had a rare look of concentration on her face.

“Yirok, you have a nice neckline.”

Pretending not to hear, Yirok fixed his gaze on the sky. At that, Chaehwa mischievously chose the center of Yirok’s neck to write the character. Could the character for ‘heaven’ really take this long to write? The feeling of the brush, with its clear strokes of varying pressure, tickled his Adam’s apple. Yirok, finding it difficult to even swallow, only lowered his gaze little by little. He could see Chaehwa’s cheeks, flushed red from her concentration on wielding the brush.

“If something happens, you know. You can just say, ‘Chaehwa, look here.’ Or you could say, ‘Chaehwa-nim, please look here.’”

“…Do you like ‘Chaehwa-nim’?”

“Huh?”

The brush that had been tickling his neck made a final dot and lifted, freeing Yirok’s chin. As she moved away, the feeling of her fingernail scraping under his chin made him look up at her. Chaehwa, who seemed to have momentarily forgotten the question, looked into his indifferent eyes before letting out a small ‘ah.’

“I… I like ‘Chaehwa,’ better.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, ‘why’?”

“I’m of a lower status than you, a Haenang…. You’re a lady who even has a secretary. We’re in a relationship where I’d be in big trouble if I called you by your first name. Now that I see.”

“That’s strange. Suddenly caring about something like that.”

About 10 minutes after he had arrived, Yirok pushed his chair back. He got up, opened the bathroom door, and looked at his neck in the mirror. The ‘heaven’ character, written in a clearly visible spot, had an elegant charm. The calligraphy, written without any sharp corners, resembled its owner. Just then, Chaehwa’s head popped into the square mirror.

“Have I suddenly become difficult for you?”

There was never a moment when Chaehwa, who playfully pulled his left arm to get his attention, wasn’t difficult. Yirok twisted his body to pull his captured arm free and left the bathroom.

“Huh?”

“I enjoyed the green tea.”

“Huh? I asked if I’m difficult for you.”

“Don’t cling to me.”

“Ah, just tell me. Why do I suddenly seem so precious to you?”

“Don’t cling to me, just listen.”

“You always sigh when you have nothing to say. Huh? Huh?”

He was about to leave, picking up the paper cup of green tea that was still half full. The troublemaker Chaehwa ran up and grabbed his arm again. If he shook her off forcefully, the room was small, and Chaehwa would likely hit the vanity or the corner of the bed. Chaehwa, the one performing the ritual, couldn’t get hurt. With no other choice, he walked with one arm surrendered to her. Chaehwa, telling him to drink the rest of his tea, kept slowing his steps when the door burst open.

“Um….”

Jangsi, her eyes covered by her bangs, stood there holding a flashlight. Yirok and Chaehwa, who were linked arm-in-arm in a way, quickly separated as if they’d been caught doing something wrong. Both of their gazes fell on Jangsi. Jangsi, burdened by the attention, hid behind the door.

“Um, they said the ritual… is about to start.”

“We were just about to go down anyway. But Jangsi, you too….”

Chaehwa pointed to Jangsi’s clean neck, showing signs that she would inscribe the character for her too. The moment Yirok read the direction of Chaehwa’s finger, the inside of his own throat tingled. Before Chaehwa could speak, Yirok walked over and stood between the two women.

“You’re coming later, Chaehwa.”

He said it as a one-sided farewell and grabbed Jangsi’s shoulder, pulling her from the doorway. He gave no chance for Jangsi, who glanced around before being forced to follow, to speak. It was only on the stairs that he said, as if to justify himself.

“Let’s go together. I don’t really know the way.”

“Oh? Ah… okay.”

In reality, he knew he just had to leave the villa and walk down the main path. He had intervened so Jangsi wouldn’t receive the same mark. When he realized Chaehwa wasn’t following, he felt pathetically relieved.

Let’s call it a small greed. I don’t want the good fortune to be divided in half. He wanted the number of marks inscribed by Chaehwa to be just one today. That was all.