If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 50

An unseasonable winter rain began to fall, adding to the gloomy atmosphere. Chaho had intended to bring a lantern, but the rain made even that useless.

They didn’t know what kind of trouble they might run into wandering around the back mountain after midnight. Even though there weren’t many truly evil Yogwi in Chukjangji, it was fundamentally not good for humans and Yogwi to be in the same space for long. Shinwoo, who was blocking the rain with his outer coat, shook his head and slowed his pace.

“Chaho. Let’s call the adults.”

“No.”

“Something must have happened. What if something happens to Yirok if we call them any later?”

“Ah, shit…”

Chaho, who had simply intended to play a prank, roughly ran his hands through his hair as the situation escalated. He made the excuse that he had only wanted to see a soaking wet, crying Yirok. But with Yirok not showing up even after they had combed the back mountain for an hour, the two of them were scared stiff.

Two guys who knew the rules well had coaxed a newcomer outsider into playing ball at the water earthworm’s pond. It was something that would have earned them dirty looks even if they had done it during the day, yet they had taken him out in the middle of the night after midnight and made him disappear. The water earthworm wasn’t an evil Yogwi, but a Yogwi was a Yogwi nonetheless. For warriors who must always be wary of the night to put a new Haenang in peril…

Chaho, who had hurled a bucketful of curses at the empty air, soon agreed to inform the adults. Although the back mountain was deep and remote, it was normal to find a trace of someone after wandering around for an hour. After all, they had even gone to the water earthworm’s pond, braving the fact that their clothes would get wet.

But all they found there was Yirok’s discarded outer coat; they couldn’t find any other trace, which made Chaho and Shinwoo break out in a cold sweat.

“Let’s go back for now.”

“Ah, damn it, really.”

They had to turn back before it reached a point where they could do nothing. Shinwoo’s face, which had been so bold when they were climbing the mountain, had turned into that of someone who hadn’t eaten a bowl of porridge. It was the price for a decision that had been swayed by emotion rather than reason.

Ever since they learned to walk, they had never gone against the will of the adults. In a warrior society where the prevailing assessment was that they were males who couldn’t carry on the family line, they had to work ten times harder at everything just to survive.

But now, it seemed they were about to tear down the tower they had painstakingly built because of childish jealousy. Shinwoo, deeply disappointed in himself, didn’t avoid the falling rain. The raindrops, which grew thicker as if to rub salt in the wound, obscured their vision. When they reached about halfway down the muddy mountain, Chaho spoke.

“You go first. I’ll look around here some more.”

“You’ll be in danger too. At this time of night, you never know what might show up.”

“I’ll handle it. First…”

Just as Shinwoo was verbally wrangling with the utterly uncooperative Chaho, thunder cracked in the sky. To make matters worse, a huge thunderclap momentarily lit up the sky. Seeing no sign of the rain letting up, Shinwoo and Chaho simultaneously covered their heads with their hands.

The downpour accompanied by thunder was as thick as pencil lead, feeling almost like they were being beaten. Just as the words “let’s go back” were about to leave the mouth of Shinwoo, who had swallowed a mouthful of rainwater.

The rain, which had been falling like divine punishment, landed concentratedly on the two’s shoulders. Pat-pat-pat, the raindrops making the sound soon took the shape of human hands. Shinwoo and Chaho, with their shoulders grabbed, were frozen, unable to bring themselves to turn around.

“Caught you.”

There are cases where a person dies and becomes something that is neither Yogwi nor ghost. But the hands on their shoulders belonged to a living person. An ominous thought arose, but Shinwoo forced his head to turn. And what he faced was ‘it’, Yirok.

Soaked like a water ghost, Yirok smiled with only one corner of his mouth raised. It was hard to tell which was stronger: the relief of having found Yirok, or the dismay of having lost the bet.

The two of them were so surprised by Yirok, who appeared as if he had dropped from the sky, that they were at a loss for words. It was Chaho who managed to frown and swat away Yirok’s hand from his own shoulder.

“That under his eye… it’s a Gaegum mark.”

Only then did Shinwoo also back away as if falling over and look at Yirok. Under the left eye of Yirok, whose hair was combed by the rain, a Gaegum mark was glowing. Chaho and Shinwoo wore the same expression. The impossible rain falling, the rain letting up as soon as Yirok appeared—no matter how you looked at it, this was the work of the water earthworm.

Come to think of it, Yirok’s eyes were unfocused. Calling a Yogwi by entering the abyss without burning incense required enormous stamina, so the situation and his condition matched perfectly.

“Where is it.”

“What?”

“My phone.”

“That, I…”

Just as Shinwoo was trying to sort things out with words, Yirok suddenly approached him. He thought Yirok would make him kneel as payment for the prank. But Yirok’s hand, of all places, went into the pocket of Shinwoo’s jumper. Urgency was evident in the way his hand frantically searched.

Shinwoo, who had been blankly letting his pocket be searched, came to his senses and shoved Yirok’s shoulder.

“What are you doing.”

“The phone. Where is it.”

“That’s…”

Without even listening to the answer, Yirok began to search the other pocket. Yirok, who started to rummage through all his pockets with his damp, rain-soaked hands, finally got what he wanted. Chaho, who had been watching with his arms crossed, looked like he couldn’t handle it.

Seeing the Gaegum mark, he must have borrowed the Yogwi’s power. That would explain him suddenly dropping out of the sky. What Shinwoo and Chaho couldn’t understand was his choice, which was wrong, very wrong.

Wasn’t it just a bet? To return riding the Yogwi’s rain and care more about a phone than revenge.

The glowing phone screen illuminated Yirok’s bloodshot eyes. For about a minute after that, Yirok touched the phone with a suffocatingly blank expression. Shinwoo and Chaho couldn’t even bring themselves to say they should go back and just waited for his hand movements to stop. Yirok finally put the phone down only after the Gaegum mark under his eye had disappeared.

“Hey…”

They were a step too late in realizing that ‘it’ was not in good condition. Yirok, who had put the turned-off phone in his pocket, swayed forward and backward. At the sign that he was about to lose consciousness and collapse, Chaho took his left side and Shinwoo took his right. Yirok’s body, which they managed to support with difficulty, was a ball of fire. Their gazes met above the head of the unconscious Yirok.

“Why is his body like this.”

“He must have done something forcefully, ignoring the procedures. Looks like he made a contract with the water earthworm or something.”

“What?”

“Let’s move him first.”

If Yirok had walked back to the Nanjubeol mansion on his own two feet and told on them, things would have become difficult, but luckily, he had lost consciousness and collapsed in front of them. A sliver of hope sprouted that if they could just hide him well and take him back, they might be able to cover up the incident.

“For now, let him sleep one night at the dorms. We can call Old Lady Yomyung the next day.”

“…Shit, I don’t know.”

Chaho, whose swearing had increased, joined in and put Yirok’s arm over his shoulder. He also complained that they shouldn’t have let Yirok, with his peculiar constitution, participate in the ball game in the first place. Shinwoo glared at Chaho, who was already evading responsibility from the start, then sighed in self-reproach.

🌹₊ ⊹

Seeing the morning dew form on the window, she could feel the days gradually getting warmer. Realizing that the year was almost over, Chaehwa stretched out refreshingly.

When the winter sun goes, the spring sun comes. Chaehwa, who had turned over today’s page on the calendar, got out of bed and combed her tangled hair. As she resolved not to be late for class today, an unrelated voice played in her head.

“That’s probably why your grades aren’t improving.”

It had been over 10 years since she had shown disinterest in math. Not that any other subject was particularly appealing either. It was something Yirok had muttered to himself about Chaehwa, for whom being late was routine and whose attitude in class was terrible.

“Yeonrye. I’ll just eat a little for breakfast today. I’m going to be the first one in class.”

Yeonrye, who was bringing in the breakfast table to match the time Chaehwa woke up, hesitated. She thought Yeonrye would be happy that she was eating less breakfast to go to class early. Yeonrye put down the table she was carrying with a look as if she were dreaming.

“Last night you were studying all night. Is there some problem? Yes?”

“What’s the problem with a student studying?”

“What kind of student are you, Young Miss? You are the successor of Nanjubeol, the hope of our Jeongmusa, and also…”

“Agh, just stop. You know what they say, even a beautiful flower song is best in the first verse, the first verse only.”

Chaehwa’s plan, who had finished getting ready while bickering with Yeonrye, seemed to be succeeding to some extent. On her way to class after eating a bird-sized breakfast. Although her first-place arrival failed due to Shinwoo’s appearance, Teacher Myungil looked at her as if seeing a student who had turned over a new leaf.

However, Yirok, who was said to wake up at dawn to iron his uniform, had yet to appear. As she was staring at the empty chair in puzzlement, someone spoke to her from the back seat.

“Young Miss.”

Chaehwa, who had been unpacking her bundle of textbooks, whipped around. Chaho and Shinwoo, pale as if they had powdered their faces, stood guard behind her.

“What.”