If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 34

The second Yogwi, the moonkeeper of the old town, made its appearance from a staircase that formed in the black sky. The staircase, seemingly made by pressing broken moonlight together, was complete. A blood-stained hand popping out of a stone tomb, now a dramatic entrance down a staircase. Although Yogwis were inherently terrifying, the reality was different from what one prepared for.

Moreover, the second Yogwi that appeared at Chaehwa’s call was not alone. Marching down the moonlit staircase in neat rows, they looked for all the world like eggs.

Smooth, round eggs. They had sesame seed-like eyes, noses, and mouths, and in their hands, they held glittering butterfly nets.

Just as a laugh was about to escape at the parade of eggs marching in line, Chaehwa gracefully gathered her white skirt, stood up, and raised her left hand.

Did it hear Chaehwa’s call, though her hand was empty? A corner of the black curtain tore open, and a beautiful full moon revealed its face. The moon was so bright it was hard to look at directly. A sliver of its flesh was momentarily stretched out, reaching Chaehwa’s hand.

The sliver of moon, which looked like a stretched-out yellow rice cake, transformed into a blade, becoming Chaehwa’s Wolhyeonggeom. Drawing the sword, Chaehwa stepped in front of the large full moon and looked at the client. An order fell upon the moonkeepers who had trotted up behind Chaehwa.

“Take care of the lowly spirits coming from the blind ghost.”

As if performing a joyful dance, the moonkeepers ran off, holding their butterfly nets. The moonkeepers, running in a group, surrounded the Haenangs like a fence. Chaehwa raised her blade and shone the moonlight in the direction of the client.

The light, expressed as a thin line, struck the client’s two eyes. The client, asleep under the influence of medicine, seemed to have no connection to the Yogwi. The moonlight being shot into her eyes felt unjust. But Chaehwa, holding the Wolhyeonggeom, did not back down and commanded Chaho.

“Beat the sogo, Chaho.”

“Yes.”

Dung, dung, dung, dung….

The sound, smaller and faster than the janggu, could make even a clumsy dancer find the rhythm. Baek Uiyeon’s eyelids, pale as a corpse on an operating table, twitched. Chaehwa tilted the sword further, increasing the amount of moonlight. With the accelerating beat of the sogo, the moonlight enveloping the entire face, and the sight of Baek Uiyeon beginning to shake her head beyond just twitching, the Haenangs’ palms grew sweaty. They could tell something was coming by the stench of a sewer.

Flash. Baek Uiyeon, waking with a seizure as if electrocuted, showed the whites of her eyes. Her gaze was fixed on Chaehwa, who was sending the moonlight of condemnation.

“Who… please call my father.”

A full moon in a blackened land where not a single blade of grass was illuminated, a woman in white robes, a sword. It was a sight that would have driven a sane person mad and more. But Baek Uiyeon’s eyes were not those of a mad person. They were the eyes of someone who wanted to tear her apart alive, grinding her teeth at the moonlight shining on her.

“Father…! Father!”

The phenomena conjured by the Yogwis would not be captured on the CCTV Chairman Baek was watching anyway. It would only show Baek Uiyeon having a fit by herself. In the void of the ritual, where no one would come to help no matter how much she called. With bloodshot eyes, she glared hatefully at Chaehwa. Baek Uiyeon’s eyes, having been tormented by the Yogwi for two years, were no longer human.

“Fath-, Father…!”

Her mouth, which had been desperately crying for her father, opened wide, top and bottom without distinction. Like a snake opening its maw as wide as possible to swallow an egg. Her neck bent backward, and the blind ghost, tired of the moonlight, revealed its true form. What came up from the woman’s throat was the head of a turtle.

The turtle’s head, which started out the size of a cactus, grew larger as it completely emerged from the woman’s mouth. The wrinkled eyes of the old turtle opened. The eyes, which had been surveying the surroundings as if sightseeing, found the moonlight and Chaehwa and were filled with murderous intent.

[Who are you to wake this elder from his slumber? Eh?]

Do not waver. Do not be afraid. If you feel you might lose, it’s better not to look at all. These were the first things they learned upon entering the path of a musa. The Haenangs steeled their hearts by looking at their partners, whose names and faces they knew. Yirok was not much different. Thanks to Jangsi, who was trembling while holding the janggu, he did not lose touch with reality.

[How dare you riffraff… ah, aah, ah….]

The blind ghost stretched out its limp head and lay on its side. Leaning against Baek Uiyeon’s face, it too opened its mouth. A strangled groan, and black things descended along the blind ghost’s tongue. Black insects with legs crawled out onto the ground with a hissing sound.

One Haenang, upon seeing the countless antennae of those insects, chose to simply close her eyes. Chaehwa’s eyes narrowed, and she calmly took a step towards the flood of insects pouring out. Someone moves forward, someone approaches. The blind ghost rolled its eyes, observing the movement of the insects it had laid. They were poisonous insects that loved human blood and flesh above all else.

[Eat. You can eat to your heart’s content today, my poor children. You’ve starved until now….]

Hehhhehhe.

Even at the sound of its laughter, Chaehwa’s steps did not hesitate. Chaehwa, walking with the sword in both hands, looked as if she would strike down the blind ghost with a single blow.

[Get it!]

[Get that one!]

The swarms of crawling, antennaed insects were caught by the moonkeepers’ butterfly nets as soon as they came. The small but mighty eggs swung their nets, catching hundreds of insects at a time. The light in the blind ghost’s eyes, which had been waiting for screams with an old smile, grew dim. In the case of Haenang Yeonju, who had tried to hold on steadfastly but whose mind had grown faint at the appearance of the insect swarm, she was so grateful to those eggs she wanted to kiss them.

[Those vermin-like eggs are eating my children? Eh?]

Seeing the insects being caught in the butterfly nets and ground into powder, the blind ghost extended its long neck. Then, yellowed claws emerged and hooked onto Baek Uiyeon’s mouth. As it forcefully pulled its own body out, the blind ghost’s entire form was covered in a sticky mucus.

A huge, long body that had been parasitizing the thin woman’s body was being pulled out. For the Haenangs, the best they could do was not to gag at the coppery smell.

[Come here. I shall embrace you, who are like a flower, and descend upon this terrible world once again.]

A wavering heart becomes nourishment for a Yogwi. It was the moment the blind ghost, sensitive to human presence, turned its head and coveted the nearby Yirok.

“Where are you looking, when you should be looking at me, who is like a flower.”

[Oh, you wench… ugh, ugh!]

While the blind ghost’s gaze was elsewhere, Chaehwa had come within arm’s reach with her Wolhyeonggeom. She shifted the sword she held in both hands to her left. The moon sword drew a circle, leaving a silver afterglow. The moment the large circle became visible, the insects went back into the blind ghost’s mouth, and a scream came out.

[Cold, cold, it’s cold, I said it’s cold…!]

“Hmph….”

Needle-like lights shot out from the circle of moonlight Chaehwa had drawn. Dadak, dadak. Without mistake or error, moonlight needles pierced the blind ghost’s forehead and arms. Chaehwa looked at the spots where the needles had struck and smiled leisurely. The blind ghost’s tail, screaming, finally slipped out of Baek Uiyeon’s mouth. The blind ghost that fell to the ground, pierced with moonlight needles, had the head of a turtle and the body of a snail. It tried to crawl with its arms, but Chaehwa’s sword was specialized for hunting Yogwi.

[Aaaaaaaargh!]

With every moment Chaehwa slashed her sword as if writing calligraphy, the number of needles increased, and those already embedded penetrated to the bone marrow. Chaehwa was only performing a quiet sword dance, yet the blind ghost’s limbs were mangled.

[Stop, let’s stop… let’s stop….]

Before the sixth janggu could even be heard, the blind ghost started to somersault and beg. But Chaehwa walked towards the crawling blind ghost, as if playing with it. The neck of the once-so-confident blind ghost shrank, and its snail-like tail curled up. Catching up to the blind ghost with a leisurely stride, Chaehwa brought the Wolhyeonggeom to its neck. The blind ghost cowered like a mere larva, panting for breath. Chaehwa was proud of herself for not feeling any pity for the weak Yogwi.

“I can make you suffer the same pain, in the same place, for hundreds of years.”

[What you want… I can promise it. I can get it for you.]

When it wasn’t in pain, it was like a doddering old fool, but before even a hint of torture, it was begging like a bed-wetting child. It was like most of the Yogwi Chaehwa had seen. Honest about their desires, and even more honest about their pain.

“I will swear to the heavens. If you utter a single lie from now on….”

[No. I will not utter a lie!]

“You will be begging me to put you in a sealing box yourself.”

Chaehwa playfully sawed at the blind ghost’s neck with the Wolhyeonggeom. Some flesh was cut, and blood flowed freely, but the blind ghost cried and laughed.

The case was over, but the ritual was just beginning. Who was it that said Maengmusas kill people with curses, while Jeongmusas only help to break them?

A Jeongmusa’s attack was stronger and more tenacious than a Maengmusa’s curse.

“Tell me the name. The person who summoned you to this land.”

After all, the direct approach was always the most painful in the world.