If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 58

I heard that winter rain gets jealous of the spring to come next year, so it rains more as the year-end approaches. But perhaps the heavens didn’t have the heart to inflict further shame upon Yirok, for today, today’s sun rose. Yirok hung the white blanket on the line and forcefully smoothed out the wrinkles with his hands. Washing his body until it was raw right after waking up had been useless; starting with the pillowcase, he had laundered the blanket by stomping on it with his feet.

Since it was foolishness he had started due to his own mistake, Yirok didn’t feel tired. He hung the blanket on the line to dry well and took a step back. The white blankets swaying in the winter wind looked like white flags. Feeling like they were consoling him for having lost to such a dream, Yirok wanted to slap his own cheek.

“Why are you suddenly doing laundry, Yirok?”

Yirok, who hadn’t even noticed the cold and wasn’t wearing a coat, only felt a chill at the sound of the voice. Shinwoo, armed with a red scarf, was standing there holding a pile of books. It was strange that Shinwoo was wandering around outside at a time when he should be in class, but Yirok gave a simple reply and started to walk away.

“For mental discipline.”

Indeed, the mental blow since early morning had been no joke, so Yirok just wanted to go inside and rest. He also had to clear away the breakfast tray, which he hadn’t eaten yet, before Yeonrye came. But someone blocked his path to the door. It was the foot of Shinwoo, whose face was pale as if he hadn’t slept well last night.

“Want me to step on it for you?”

“Take this.”

As if that was his only purpose, Shinwoo pushed the pile of books he was holding into Yirok’s arms. Yirok, half-forced to take them, looked at the books and then raised his gaze back to him. Shinwoo didn’t hesitate to add an explanation.

“I heard you’re returning to the Baekyeong Family at the end of the year. I’ve been meaning to give you these for a while. I thought I might not get another chance.”

Yirok, recognizing that these were books from Shinwoo’s bookshelf, couldn’t hide his look of confusion. It sounded as if he were leaving for good. Yirok properly adjusted the books in his arms and looked at Shinwoo.

“It would have been easier for me to get them if you’d just left them in your room.”

“Because I’m planning not to share a room with you anymore. Chaho will be moving into that room.”

“Just stay.”

“…Why?”

“A quiet madman is better than a loud one.”

Yirok spoke his mind and opened his door. He stacked the books near the entrance and went into the bathroom to turn on the water. Just as he was lathering soap on his hands, he heard footsteps entering the room. Yirok turned off the water and looked with a blank expression at Shinwoo, who had entered as if setting up camp right inside the room.

“But Chaho says he doesn’t want to share a room with you either. Me neither. So we were thinking of deciding it with a game.”

“Ah… are you planning to drown me in the sea this time? Should I prepare a swimsuit?”

“Yirok.”

“I’m saying I wouldn’t even do origami with you guys. I don’t care who I share a room with. Get lost, so I can eat my breakfast in peace.”

Yirok knew very well why he was in such a foul mood. When the year-end came, he would have to hold the hand of that wretched Juhee from the Baekyeong Family and go stay at the Bansi household. That is, until the Nanjubeol family called for him again at the start of the new year. The terrible fact that Shinwoo had reminded him of made his hand motions rough as he dried them.

But Shinwoo didn’t leave and stood leaning against the door, showing a faint, sneering smile.

“Then how about this. On the last day of the twelfth lunar month… that would be around January 29th next year. There will be a Narye ceremony, and we’ll decide whether you or I will be the young lady’s partner.”

Yirok’s wet hands dropped limply. Drip, drip, drip. Through the sound of the falling water droplets, Shinwoo’s sweet voice could be heard.

“I’ve really grown to hate you, Yirok. I can give you books, I can share a room, I can give you everything I have. But not the young lady.”

There was no major change in the expression of the silent Yirok. Only that his dripping hand closed, as if forming a fist. Shinwoo knocked on the bathroom door as if for effect, then stepped back.

“The loser moves out of the room. The winner gets to stand next to the young lady at the Narye ceremony. Sounds good, right?”

Yirok put all his strength into the corners of his mouth. The word ‘no’ wouldn’t come out. The voice that did come out was that of an angered person.

“Does Chaehwa know?”

“…Know what?”

“That you’re so hot for her you can’t stand it.”

When a crack finally appeared in Shinwoo’s perfect smile, Yirok could also feel a sense of satisfaction.

“Well… the young lady is so dense, she probably doesn’t know.”

“That’s a relief. Thanks to that, I feel like eating breakfast now.”

Yirok smirked and flicked the water from his hands. But Shinwoo, who hadn’t left yet, was preparing a formidable counterattack.

“But I bet she doesn’t know about yours either. It’s a relief for both of us, isn’t it.”

Shinwoo proposed a basketball game a week later, saying there would be no tricks this time, and then left. At the sound of the door closing, Yirok looked at the mirror.

He couldn’t understand what Shinwoo had said. He didn’t harbor any other feelings for Chaehwa. He was simply unable to be harsh with Chaehwa out of guilt, and nothing more.

It had to be that way.

🌹₊ ⊹

—Hello?

Yirok, who had come outside after his lunch tray was cleared, asked Yeonrye for a basketball and got one. A laundered blanket, a basketball, he felt as if he’d been dropped into a spinning wheel, oblivious to how the world was turning. The petty desire to see Shinwoo cry in frustration had caused this mess.

Tossing the basketball that had come into his hands, Yirok went down to the Gwimok area. The Haenangs were out for training, and it was time for Chaehwa to come to him with her lecture notes. Chaehwa answered the second call Yirok had ever made to her so very casually.

“It’s me.”

—I know. There’s no one else. No one else to call me but you.

Standing under the warm afternoon sun, he tried desperately not to recall last night’s dream. He continued, praying for his voice to be calm.

“Don’t come today.”

—Why? I’m on my way though? I was about to leave right after washing up?

“If a person tells you not to come…”

His voice, mixed with fake annoyance, lost its strength. He didn’t want to send insincere words to Chaehwa. Yirok held the basketball in one arm and bowed his head.

“Come tomorrow. Right after class.”

—Then should I go tonight?

As if the winter wind was faltering, his body had been hot all morning. The unceasing heat choked his voice. Chaehwa’s laughter came through from the other side.

—Alright. See you tonight.

Click.

At the sound of the call ending, Yirok lowered his phone and put it in his pocket. From the basketball to the phone, the math book—his back was bent from the delayed learning caused by following Chaehwa, who lived at the center of a fun-filled world.

Yirok held the basketball in one hand and approached the stone wall. He had hesitated to come to the Gwimok Rest Area until now, using the excuse of being sick. To be precise, he had hesitated to read Sarira’s letter.

When he moved the stone, a red envelope appeared. On the red envelope, which he picked up with a hand that had shed its hesitation, was a note from someone. Yirok had no doubt it was the same person who had left a note last time.

Don’t be late next time

Yirok took out Sarira’s letter from the red envelope and quickly read it.

Yirok! This year is ending as wretchedly as ever. To think you managed to get that lock of Chaehwa’s hair I asked for. I think the D-day for you and your brother’s freedom is not far off. Let’s have a grand party when you return at the end of the year.

From Sarira, who misses you.

Yirok read Sarira’s letter a couple more times, then reread the note left by the unidentified insider. Don’t be late next time, it said. There was an insider who had read Sarira’s letter before Yirok and had already obtained and delivered Chaehwa’s hair.

Yirok frowned and put Sarira’s letter and the envelope back in their original place. Then, he took out a pen and paper he had brought just in case and wrote a short message.

Who are you?

While he was staying in the guest room and recuperating, someone had handled the task in his place. Already, Chaehwa’s pen and Chaehwa’s lock of hair were in Sarira’s possession.

In a tense situation where the insider’s identity was a mystery, the thing occupying most of the still-immature Yirok’s mind was the basketball game. Yirok was once again disgusted with his contradictory, selfish self.

After putting his note inside and closing the stone wall, Yirok looked at the insider’s handwriting again and again, memorizing it. So that he could recognize it at a glance anywhere.

The handwriting was neat, without any particular characteristics. Yirok folded the note in half and put it in his pocket.

The basketball, bounced carelessly on the ground, came up and stuck to his palm. The biggest threat to Chaehwa was Sarira, and the biggest traitor was Yirok himself.

Therefore, Yirok’s worries, coming from someone up to his neck in his own problems, would be like tattered rags to Chaehwa.

Finding the insider had to be the top priority.

Yirok bounced the basketball, recalling the faces of the people in the Nanjubeol mansion one by one.

Until the day he received a reply from the insider, he planned to clear his head with basketball.