If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 51

Tap, tap, the flower shoes’ screams as they climbed the dormitory stairs were extremely flippant. The busy footsteps, announcing themselves to the entire dormitory, stopped in front of a closed door. She wiped the sweat from her hands on her skirt. The two feet that had stopped running were now moving in a clumsy rhythm, making a fuss.

It was the moment she placed her hand on the doorknob after dozens of hesitations. The door, opening from the inside, struck Chaehwa squarely on the forehead.

“Ah!”

“My lady?”

Covering her instantly reddened forehead with her hand, Chaehwa stepped to one side. Old Lady Yomyung, who had been coming out with a water bowl, looked at Chaehwa with a surprised face. Embarrassed, Chaehwa cleared her throat and beckoned Old Lady Yomyung with her eyes.

“Come over here for a moment.”

“Ah… yes.”

Old Lady Yomyung seemed worried about the red forehead hit by the door, but Chaehwa was dying of curiosity about something else. She grabbed the slow-walking Old Lady Yomyung’s wrist and pulled her into a corner.

“How is his condition?”

“He has a high fever. He made a contract with a Yogwi in an abyss that was forcibly opened without sleeping herbs.”

“What could be the condition of the contract with the Yogwi? It wouldn’t be something like giving up a piece of his liver, would it?”

“Only the parties involved would know that. It’s normal not to tell others.”

The first promise between a Yogwi and a contractor was not to disclose the conditions and details of their contract to others. If one knew how the contract was made with the Yogwi and what was promised in exchange, curse attacks became easy.

Knowing the contract’s conditions made it possible to trick the Yogwi and render the contractor powerless. Wasn’t it an ironclad rule for a warrior to keep matters with a Yogwi secret and unspoken? Some sensitive warriors were even hesitant to reveal which Yogwi they had contracted with.

“Then… would it be okay for me to go in?”

“This is the men’s dormitory, my lady. He will soon be moved to a room where a patient can rest comfortably. Please wait until then.”

“I’ll just take a quick look and come out. Huh?”

“My lady.”

“Just for a moment, huh? Grandmaaa.”

As weak to Chaehwa’s charms as she was to Yeonrye’s, Old Lady Yomyung soon nodded with a conflicted expression. She set a condition of 10 minutes, but to Chaehwa’s ears, it was as good as permission. After sending Old Lady Yomyung off to replace the water bowl, Chaehwa opened the dormitory door. The room she carefully entered on tiptoe was dark.

The sunlight, blazing like the fifth month of the lunar year, ironically ruined the room’s cozy atmosphere. On the bed to the right of the door, Yirok was asleep, covered up to his neck with a blanket. Chaehwa cautiously moved to his side and bent her upper body, her hands clasped behind her back.

“Yirok.”

Yirok, wearing a black short-sleeved t-shirt as pajamas, was sleeping with a frown. Is he having a bad dream, or perhaps he’s trapped in the abyss and can’t get out? Chaehwa studied his sleeping face with immense care.

Before class started, Shinwoo and Chaho had approached her and made a confession. They said there was an unfortunate incident last night, and it seemed Yirok had opened an abyss without the special incense and made a contract with a Yogwi. The confession from the two, who omitted the details of that damned ‘unfortunate incident,’ had an obvious purpose.

To wrap things up at Chaehwa’s level and prevent it from reaching the ears of her grandmother, the Jiju. On that point, Old Lady Yomyung and Chaehwa had readily agreed. Chaehwa’s grandmother, the Jiju, being of the old generation, believed that the conventional way was right and viewed outsiders without a proper lineage as nothing more than outsiders.

Given such prejudice, if she heard that an outsider had opened an abyss without incense and even made a Yogwi contract, she would surely have unpleasant things to say. What was that saying? Charity begins at home. Even though Shinwoo and Chaho were the ones at fault, it was highly likely that Yirok would be the one to receive the blame. So Chaehwa decided to quietly wrap up the ‘unfortunate incident,’ and Old Lady Yomyung took charge of the cleanup.

Chaehwa raised her hand and traced the area around Yirok’s eyes in the air, a handspan away.

“Life in Nanjubeol must be more tiring than you thought….”

Others might be excused, but Shinwoo shouldn’t have done it. Hadn’t Shinwoo come to live in Nanjubeol since he was five? There was a reason she had intentionally put him in the same room with Shinwoo. She had believed he was a warm-hearted child who would be the least likely to ostracize an outsider.

Yirok’s fever might last for ten days. Entering the abyss without using incense or tools is a reckless attempt. It was time for his body to receive the punishment for forcibly opening the gates of heaven. It was something that even adults who had lived their lives with the warrior’s path as their calling did not attempt. The fact that this mess was caused by the very person she had trusted and relied on was absurd.

“I’m sorry. Yirok, I… you….”

Chaehwa swallowed the rest of her words, even though there was no one to hear them. It was purely her own greed. How could she say that she had dragged him into her own narrow and harsh fence? If a conscious Yirok had heard, he would have let out a bitter laugh.

Chaehwa spent the entire promised 10 minutes watching over Yirok. It was the shortest yet longest, loneliest 10 minutes of Chaehwa’s life.

🌹₊ ⊹

One empty seat. When Teacher Myungil mentioned that Yirok might be out for a few days on sick leave, the Haenangs whispered to the people next to them. Chaho said it was a pain for both of them for getting him involved in the plan, but inwardly he was probably laughing. Laughing at Shinwoo for starting something with a ticking time bomb. Unable to shake off his gloom, Shinwoo wandered around after training, walking three laps around the Nanjubeol mansion before going inside.

“Shinwoo, your strengths are being kind and gentle, so make sure to cultivate that. That’s how the elders of the Nanjubeol family will dote on you.”

Why did those words, which he had heard to death since he was a child, suddenly feel so repulsive now? A recent realization was that he was not a kind child at all. Perhaps a cunning child who knew he couldn’t survive without pretending to be one.

With two overbearing older sisters above him and one brilliant younger sister below, Shinwoo was treated like an outsider from the day he was born. A child who would soon leave, a child who would become a Haenang or a son-in-law for another family. His parents’ love always had its limits, and his siblings’ affection was never sincere.

Even though he was born with similar abilities, he was treated worse than his two-year-younger sibling. The way to become a good boy is simple. You don’t say what you want to say, and you volunteer for the things you don’t want to do. Then, praise and affection would return to Shinwoo, as if scattered like feed.

“Hello? Shinwoo?”

As soon as he turned five, he was mercilessly kicked out of his family to prepare to become a Haenang. The best they could do for him was to send him to the Nanjubeol family. In Nanjubeol, where he was sent with a suitcase clutched in his tiny hands, Shinwoo met Chaehwa.

“You can talk casually to me and play around. Let’s be friends, Shinwoo.”

“…I cannot do that, my lady.”

“Why, why, why, why, why.”

The Chaehwa that Shinwoo observed was honest with her emotions, kind, and full of love. She gladly accepted the flawed, apple-like Shinwoo and treated him preciously.

“Shinwoo,” she would call, and the position of ‘childhood friend’ was given to him. As the years hardened, the frame of the relationship between a young lady and a Haenang became difficult to break. Still, Shinwoo, who was grateful enough just to be treated as a friend, was content to be the young lady’s Haenang. That was, until an outsider who didn’t need permission to speak casually appeared.

What Shinwoo saw upon entering the dormitory was Yirok’s flowerpot on the first floor. It must have been a gift from the young lady. Yirok started his day by coming down every morning to water that pot. Every time he saw that sprouting pot, his insides would twist.

Now that Yirok is sick and can’t take care of it, isn’t this the perfect chance to get rid of it? As he stood in front of the pot while it was photosynthesizing, he heard cheerful footsteps. He was caught red-handed by Chaehwa, who was coming down the stairs with a watering can.

“My lady.”

“What are you doing there?”

Chaehwa, who used to greet him with a smiling face, was now cold and distant. It wasn’t Yirok’s fault, but he wanted to blame Yirok. Because the place where Yirok was, was originally his. He was just being a little petty. Pushed aside, pushed aside, he didn’t want to lose even the spot he had barely managed to secure to Yirok.

“I asked what you were doing, here.”

Chaehwa, who had run to the pot in an instant, stood between him and the pot as if Shinwoo were a villain. He didn’t want to be a good boy anymore. Living as a good boy, he had only smiled even when his things were taken away. His parents’ love, his siblings’ acknowledgment, even the family name attached to his own name slipped through his delicate grasp. But if there was one thing among them he didn’t want to lose most, it was Chaehwa.

“What do you think I would do to that pot?”

Chaehwa flinched at Shinwoo’s bitter smile but didn’t back down. Shinwoo found even the sight of the watering can she brought to water the pot unbearable.

“My lady. You know me. I would not do anything to harm you.”

“Yes. I know. You wouldn’t do it to me.”

“I’m sorry about Yirok, too. As a senior Haenang, I should have done a better job of stopping Chaho.”

“Shinwoo, are you saying… this happened because of Chaho’s unilateral decision?”

“Yes.”

Yirok wasn’t the type to wake up and prattle on about this and that, and Chaho had a straightforward side, enough to take the blame and keep his mouth shut. Having finished his calculation, Shinwoo smiled gently. Despite this, Chaehwa’s expression was still tightly held by suspicion.

“I don’t think so. If you had liked Yirok, you wouldn’t have just abandoned him in the mountains like that.”

“I didn’t abandon him. We were playing together to get closer, how was I supposed to know he would make a contract with a Yogwi?”

“You knew.”

“My lady, please believe me.”

“That’s why you took Yirok out in the middle of the night.”

“Why.”

You do well ten times, but if you mess up once, you’re treated like a scumbag. Surprised by Shinwoo cutting her off, Chaehwa flinched and took a step back.

“Did you not tell me to text you on my phone?”

“…You didn’t like things like that. You said you were conscious of grandmother’s eyes.”

Shinwoo couldn’t hold back a sudden burst of laughter. He hated the young lady who only knew one thing and not the other, and he hated his own heart for having a one-sided love for the hateful young lady for 10 years. If he hadn’t loved the young lady like Chaho did, he would have been happy. Shinwoo held a wry smile and closed the distance with Chaehwa.

“My lady. Why would I be conscious of grandmother’s eyes? You don’t know that?”

“You’re strange. Why are you suddenly acting like a stranger?”

“Because I’m hurt.”

As those words he had held back for so long came out of his mouth, Chaehwa’s eyes wavered. In that brief moment, he felt a mix of triumph and fear in equal measure. But Shinwoo had no intention of hiding it anymore. If he were to lose Chaehwa, he would stop being a good boy. Shinwoo bowed his head, finishing their mutually burdensome morning greeting.

Chaehwa only saw him off with her eyes as he passed by without a word; she didn’t stop him. That, too, hurt.

Shinwoo knew that day that he could never go back to being the ‘good boy’ he once was.