If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 47

「So what exactly do you think the problem is?」

Yirok’s fingertips grew cold after he sent the text. Once it was sent, he turned over onto his side. Even after coming back from the special lesson, there wasn’t much progress. If there was any progress to speak of, it would be Chaehwa’s advancement in math, now that she understood the concept of squares without difficulty.

But when it came to the abyss, as Chaehwa said, he became the remedial student. He couldn’t be satisfied forever with just entering that pitch-black world, sitting with Chaehwa, listening to music, and texting.

What would happen if Chaehwa’s special lessons were canceled because his condition was treated like an incurable disease? He himself was useless to begin with, but he worried it might have a negative impact on Chaehwa.

He knew that there were more things in the world that couldn’t be achieved through effort than one could count. But he never imagined that the path of a warrior, which had placed his life at a crossroads of despair, would also be one of them. If it was a destiny chosen by the heavens, shouldn’t they also grant him the corresponding strength and luck? The heavens always gave him 1 and expected 10 in return. Even when he struggled to make up the remaining 9, the reward was never satisfying.

Just as he was feeling frustrated, unable to understand the will of the heavens that looked down on him so aloofly, a red light lit up in his message box. Yirok blinked his tired eyes. Soon, his finger descended onto the screen.

「The abyss is a space that reflects your mind. In other words, beings you haven’t allowed can’t enter~ You just have to kick out the being that’s blocking you from entering」

He had heard this before, and he understood it, but it was beyond Yirok’s power to expel the evil spirit. Things that are vaguely understood but not fully grasped have a way of twisting one’s insides. His head ached, and just as he was about to cover his eyes and fall asleep, another text buzzed. Yirok woke himself up and immediately went to his messages.

「But you’re doing great! It’s cuz the teacher is excellentㅎㅎ Don’t worry, don’t worry~ The only thing Yirok the remedial student Haenang needs to worry about is how you’re going to pay me back later」

Words so typical of Chaehwa made it feel as if a stone that had been pressing down on one side of his chest had rolled away. Trusting Chaehwa’s words that he would see results in three days, he blew out today’s candle.

The hand that woke Yirok from his deep sleep came an hour later. It must have been the hour when the midnight bell tolled, as it was pitch black beyond the curtains. Yirok, still half-asleep, sat up and saw two blurry figures, gently biting his tongue. It was his own secret method for quickly shaking off drowsiness.

“Our prince. Sleeping so soundly.”

“Wake up, Yirok. It’s already 11 PM.”

At Chaho and Shinwoo’s words, Yirok slowly lowered his feet from the bed. Unlike Yirok, who was in his pajamas, the two of them were dressed to go out, bundled up in scarves and fur hats. Yirok’s eyes darted around, trying to figure out what was happening, and the first thing he noticed was the existence of his phone. The phone that should have been right next to his pillow had vanished without a trace.

As if noticing Yirok’s searching eyes, Shinwoo shrugged.

“Looking for your phone?”

“What?”

“I hid it.”

Yirok was a step too late in forming a cynical smile. The bewilderment, disappointment, and frustration he had let slip would have been more than obvious. But in the end, he could think more rationally than his enemies. Yirok sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at the two of them, who were bathed in the blue moonlight.

“What a letdown. Since we can’t have a fistfight, you want to play hide-and-seek?”

“Does that mean you don’t need to get it back? Your phone, you treasured it like it was pretty important.”

“What’s your point, you moron. Just say it. Don’t beat around the bush.”

When he bared his teeth, Chaho clapped.

“We figured you wouldn’t hang out with us otherwise. Let’s go play. Right now.”

Anyone could see it was a deliberately staged setup. Moreover, it was difficult to discern their true intentions. At least, for Yirok at that moment. Why were these guys, who had been in a lull for a few days, suddenly staging a rebellion?

Every time his life seemed to calm down, a fierce wave would come crashing in. From Yirok’s perspective, he could even be grateful that they had solved the problem of his inconvenient phone in one fell swoop.

But it would be different for that Young Miss, who made him laugh every morning with short texts, saying she had made a text friend. Yirok, who had been staring at the attackers before him for a moment, responded in a simple tone.

“Alright, let’s do that.”

“Really? You agree? You too?”

Yirok, for whom traps were as familiar as his own room, sat at an angle and raised his hand.

“I agree.”

Idiot. It was surely a word for his truly foolish self.

🌹₊ ⊹

In ‘Yeon and Mangul,’ the Chukjangji owned by the Nanjubeol family, various Yogwi came and went, and some even made their nests there with permission. Deep within the restricted area, there was also a place where evil Yogwi were sealed.

Chukjangji also served as a small village where warriors lived together. Therefore, the Nanjubeol family thoroughly filtered out evil Yogwi. As for other Yogwi that ordinary people shouldn’t encounter, they were confined to and managed within the restricted area of Chukjangji.

The destination for Shinwoo, Chaho, and Yirok, who had snuck out of the mansion after midnight, happened to be in that restricted area. The three of them, having exited through a doggy door in the mansion, put on thick overcoats and crossed the back mountain.

The pace of the two who knew the path well quickened as they passed Crow’s Ridge. Yirok, walking at a distance, felt uneasy about the picture they made, as if they were going to bury someone in the middle of the night.

This was all because of that Young Miss who called him ‘Yirok’ day in and day out, idling away the time with him from sunrise to sunset. Should he not follow and just kick them hard in the back? While Yirok was contemplating various things, the feet of the other two, who had reached the destination, were gradually slowing down.

“It’s down here.”

A downhill path was visible below the skinny trees on the back mountain. At the bottom of the not-so-steep hill was a pond with dark-colored water. It wasn’t large enough to be called a lake, but it was a place where if you took a wrong step, someone could die without anyone knowing. Yirok looked down and gave a bitter smile.

“A contest to see who can hold their breath the longest in the water?”

“No. Playing ball.”

Just then, a soccer-ball-sized, luminous ball emerged from Shinwoo’s jumper. Shinwoo smiled brightly and pointed at the pond with the hand holding the ball.

“A Yogwi lives in there. It’s not a very bad one, but it’s a bit of a nuisance. Since there are three of us, we’ll each stand at the north, east, and west points, surround the pond, and pass the ball.”

“And?”

“And if someone misses the ball, or drops the ball into the pond… they become ‘it.’ From then on, it’s a game where ‘it’ chases and catches the other two. Easy, right?”

The rules weren’t difficult, but insisting on playing that game near a pond felt very suspicious. As expected, Shinwoo’s calm explanation continued.

“But ‘it’ also has a handicap. The Yogwi from the pond likes this game too. It will chase ‘it.’ So it’s a game where you lose if ‘it’ gets caught by the Yogwi, or if ‘it’ can’t catch the other two before they reach the mansion. Of course, if ‘it’ catches one of the runners before then, ‘it’ wins.”

They would have set it up so he couldn’t win anyway. That was why Yirok, even after hearing the explanation, didn’t go down and instead had a staring contest with Shinwoo. Chaho, who was heading down first, spoke in an agitated voice as if for Yirok to hear.

“Don’t be a chicken. You don’t think we’d actually kill you, do you?”

Seeing as the matter of life and death was being brought up, it seemed their intention was to kill him one way or another today. Regardless of his inner feelings, Yirok asked Shinwoo in a slow tone.

“If I win. Is getting my phone back all I get?”

“Of course not. There’s also granting the winner’s wish.”

“A wish? Do you know what my wish is? I suppose if I ask you to kill someone, you’ll kill them, and if I ask you to die, you’ll die.”

“At the very least, we’d have to say something that’s possible for each other. But don’t worry, Yirok. Your wish is something we can grant.”

Shinwoo, with a grin, also turned and slid down to the pond. He thought it was some kind of initiation done in a fit of anger. But they had set up this childish game because they had a common goal. A shadow fell over Yirok’s face as he watched the two of them take their positions around the round pond.

Should I go back? Is it really right to risk my life over this low-class provocation? But if she didn’t get a morning text, Chaehwa would cry her eyes out for a while and then eventually become dejected. The truth was, aside from the white socks that were his parents’ inheritance, the only thing he liked was that text he received every morning.

In the end, deciding it was too early to give up, Yirok slid down the mountain path. In the small pond hidden in the back mountain, the untimely smell of fish was overpowering. In the eerie atmosphere that had gone as far as it could, Chaho raised his left hand high.

“Can I kick first?”

“Where do you want to stand, Yirok? You decide.”

North, East, West. Fed up with Shinwoo, who had even prepared a compass, Yirok pointed to a random spot. Yirok chose north, Chaho and Shinwoo split between west and east, and thus, the curtain rose on a moonlit ball game with no audience.