If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 5

The rooster crowing to announce the morning clucked and cried until its feed trough was full. He woke up at 5 AM, imagining himself running over and wringing the chicken’s neck. Someday, when he was free from Sarira’s grasp, he would take his brother and go to a mountain valley. He would build a two-story house in a place with no chickens, no women, and no musa.

“Wow. The spread looks great today, doesn’t it?”

“Well, I did put in a little extra effort since we have a new person today.”

Shinwoo, who had overslept, grabbed both his coat and Yirok and dragged him to breakfast. Yirok had assumed it would just be a few people eating together, but there were a good dozen people sitting at the table. There were people on the opposite side, and on the opposite side of them as well. Dozens of people, their eyes sparkling, were focused on the newcomer, Yirok.

The staff and haenang of Nanjubeol were in suit-like attire reminiscent of a uniform. Only Yirok, like an ugly duckling, was wedged in his seat wearing a worn-out shirt and cotton pants. On top of that, with one of his cheeks swollen, he drew attention in all the wrong ways. Yirok, who never had much of an appetite in the morning anyway, just poked at his white rice with his chopsticks. The slightest lift of his head would cause him to meet the eyes of the men and women who were whispering with their heads together. When he looked down, he saw that the side dishes were lined up so densely they seemed to surround his rice bowl. A flounder topped with soy sauce, well-seasoned bellflower root, and fist-sized braised short ribs were just the basics.

“To become a jeongmusa, the first thing you must do is cultivate your mind. Gluttony is also forbidden.”

Staring at the shiny white grains of rice, he recalled the words the old butler woman from the Bansi clan had so earnestly impressed upon him. Although Bansi was a maengmusa clan, they had trained him as a jeongmusa from the beginning with the intention of raising him as a spy. Claiming that maengmusa ate a meat-heavy diet while jeongmusa forbade gluttony, hadn’t she given only him plain white rice with soy sauce every day? And yet, here at the Nanjubeol household, the very head of the jeongmusa, they served a spread as greasy as any nobleman’s feast.

His tongue, accustomed to cheap soy sauce, was the only pitiful thing.

“The boy’s all brawn and no bite. He barely eats.”

As if whispering among themselves wasn’t enough, someone struck up a conversation. The one leading the boisterous atmosphere was said to be the head cook. Yirok, who was just picking at plain rice, didn’t react much. The number of gazes watching him from across the tables steadily increased.

“Who eats this much in the morning?”

“I know, right? The head cook went way overboard.”

The Nanjubeol family members exchanged glances that were like a secret code among themselves. The leftmost table was for the kitchen staff, the middle for the influential elders of the house, and the one near the entrance was for those taking haenang lessons. The closer you were to the cold outside, the lower your rank, making you an easy target for teasing. What more needed to be said about a greenhorn who hadn’t even gone through his hazing yet?

“Have some more of this. She made it specially since you came.”

Shinwoo placed a piece of flounder meat on Yirok’s plain rice and crinkled his nose. He seemed to be quite popular among the haenang, as both men and women were dying to talk to him. Even now, there were those so moved by Shinwoo’s kindness that they were giving him a round of applause with their eyes.

With an expressionless face, Yirok lowered his gaze and ate only the part of the rice the fish hadn’t touched. If one side acted defiant, it was only logical for the other side to at least ignore them. Being kind, as if hearing a dog bark somewhere in the distance, was actually a way of looking down on the other person.

“Hey. We’re going to class after breakfast. Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?”

Just then, a girl who had been watching the mood of the room chimed in.

“Yeah, do it. We want to hear, too.”

“We’re all one family who’ll be living together soon. Don’t be so shy.”

They all chimed in, driving the atmosphere like it was a talent show at a retreat. At the head cook’s voice, which set the stage with a booming “Attention!”, everyone put down their chopsticks. Pressure came from all sides, as if demanding he say a single word. It was so quiet you could hear the sound of a snowflake landing on the ground. Yirok, who had been counting grains of rice with his chopsticks, slowly lifted his head.

Gazes showing different kinds of expectation and interest hovered over his breakfast table. It was truly a breakfast table of people who knew nothing of hunger, nothing of envy, nothing of grudges.

“Did you put honey on your lips? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Ah, wait. Did he forget his own name, by any chance?”

“Hey. Should I say it for you? Huh?”

A snow shower was layering itself against the south-facing glass window. The three kitchen staff members were joking and fooling around, saying the sun would set while they were just staring at his lips. Yirok, tearing his gaze from the window, licked the inside of his cheek, which was still sore.

“Alright… everyone, put down your spoons! Wait, wait, wait!”

Having lost his appetite, Yirok put down his chopsticks. The rough clatter against the table sounded quite loud.

🌹₊ ⊹

Yirok had become a well-known figure through word of mouth as rumors spread that an Outsider was coming to ‘Lotus and Bud.’ The news of Yirok breathed new life into the Chukjangji, where the number of chicks hatched from eggs was the latest news. Lady Chaehwa, who couldn’t get enough of anything from the outside world, even marked her calendar and waited for the day the new person would arrive. It felt as though change was finally coming to the Chukjangji, where time pooled and stagnated.

On the day Yirok was scheduled to arrive, Shinwoo lit an expensive candle. It was a dormitory rule not to turn on the electric lights after 10 PM. But the roommate didn’t arrive until an hour so late you could hear a pin drop.

“Oh, he’s here.”

Yirok, carrying a gym bag, arrived just as Shinwoo was opening the third volume of a book series. At the sound of the doorknob turning, Shinwoo put on the face of a good-natured roommate. Winning someone over at their first meeting was a piece of cake for him.

He and the boy his age who opened the door and entered stared at each other for a moment. The prejudices the household members had about Outsiders included being fashion-sensitive and being able to use modern objects with ease. But Yirok, who had kicked the door shut as if it were a soccer ball, didn’t meet a single one of those conditions.

“Hello.”

He delivered the greeting he’d originally planned to say a beat too late. The boy, standing by the door and looking around the room, was surprising in every way. His towering height that seemed to reach the ceiling, his calm and refined atmosphere, his pretty features, his cotton pants that showed his ankles, and even the sports bag slung over his shoulder.

Just as the thought that he hadn’t seen him open his mouth to speak entered his mind, Yirok flopped down on the bed. Deciding he had to try at least three times, Shinwoo approached with the candle and managed to get only two things. A swollen cheek that looked like it had been hit, and a confession of his sexual preference written with lies.

The next morning, Yirok continued his unusual behavior. He was already up and ready before the alarm went off, waiting for Shinwoo to wake up. His attire was the same worn-out shirt and cotton pants he had brought with him yesterday.

“When did you wake up?”

While the awakened Shinwoo tried to tame his bedhead, Yirok put on a pair of black socks. Only then did the 6 AM alarm he had set the day before go off.

“Ha…”

It seemed he had waited for Shinwoo to wake up because he didn’t know his way around the mansion. Until Shinwoo, who had rushed off to the bathroom, washed his face and returned, Yirok maintained a single expression.

“Sorry. I overslept.”

Yirok didn’t even bat an eye at the apology or the smile. He just sat there for the entire duration of Shinwoo’s preparations, as if he were talking to a wall. In a word, he seemed to have a screw loose.

“Alright! Let’s give him a round of applause!”

“Applause! Applause!”

The kitchen staff, who loved to be the center of attention, set the stage to mess with Yirok. A chilly air brushed past Yirok’s gaze, which had been constant since he’d picked up his spoon. From Shinwoo’s perspective, it wasn’t a good sign. The other haenang kids, who just thought the newcomer was very shy, also clapped their hands. Only Shinwoo, trying to stop Yirok from opening his mouth, waved his arms to intervene.

“Stop it, stop it.”

But Shinwoo’s voice was drowned out and ignored by the momentum of the crowd. Yirok, who had put down his utensils, wiped his face with one hand. Shinwoo could bet everything on the fact that this was a preparatory motion before spouting profanities. Just as applause and cheers mingled and Yirok’s lips parted—

“Ah! There you are!”

Screeech. Wisps of cold snow entered through the opened sliding door. The small white things lay on the heated floor and became water droplets. Yirok’s upper body, which had been leaning against the sliding door, naturally fell out of the doorway. A major accident had occurred. Yirok’s head, as he fell backward, was enveloped in the folds of a peach-colored silk skirt.

Chaehwa’s smile, as she stood holding the door, was whiter than the snow. Yirok, realizing what he was leaning on, shot up and turned around in a single second. Coming face to face with Chaehwa, who looked as if she had been rolling in a snowfield, Yirok’s gaze also trembled.

“Yirok. Breakfast is delicious, right? Have two bowls. No, no. Have three bowls. You can eat more.”

Even at the smile that drew everyone’s admiration, Yirok’s expression was not very bright. He stared straight ahead with a blank face, as if he had forgotten that snowflakes were swirling behind his back. At his back, which showed no intention of replying, Chaehwa chattered on with whatever came to mind.

“Sorry to interrupt while you’re eating. Make yourselves comfortable, feel comfortable.”

Having said all she had prepared, Chaehwa closed the sliding door with both hands. The only pitiful thing was the snow that had landed in the wrong place and melted. The enthusiasm of the kitchen staff, which had cooled with Chaehwa’s appearance, reached a rare unanimous consensus.

So that’s the guy Lady Chaehwa is fixated on this time.

Chaehwa’s shoulders had indeed been bouncing with excitement on the day word got out that an Outsider was coming. The young lady, who had a fiery temper from birth, would get sick if she didn’t see things through to the end once she started something. The staff, who had been serving her for more than just a few years, couldn’t possibly fail to recognize the look in their young lady’s eyes.

“Eat up, Yirok.”

“Yeah, the young lady even introduced you as Yirok before she left.”

Thanks to the kitchen staff changing the subject, Yirok’s introduction time passed by ambiguously. Shinwoo’s gaze, which had detached from the door, moved to his roommate, whose path was destined to be a thorny one. Yirok, his expression gone, was just keeping his seat, eating only plain rice.

Chaehwa was, in essence, Nanjubeol. In a world where the young lady’s sneeze became law, could the defiant Yirok survive? A skeptical feeling lingered in Shinwoo’s smile, which had vanished with a flick.

It was a smile for his roommate, who would be waving a white flag of surrender in less than ten days.