If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 61

A soup made with organic vegetables, rice mixed with various grains, and a meat side dish seasoned with spices—as long as these three were present, victory was a foregone conclusion. Chaehwa, who had woken up to her 5 a.m. alarm, hovered in the kitchen with sleepy eyes, offering her unsolicited advice.

“Ahem. Isn’t the soup too hot?”

“Young Mistress. Please go over there.”

“Come on, Yirok is a picky eater, he won’t eat much of that. Can’t you tell from how he always eats white bread?”

“I know, I know. Young Mistress, please go wait outside. I don’t know why you’re being like this today.”

“It’s because it’s an important day, an important day.”

“You’re getting in the way, so please go outside. Hey, Jinsung. Take the Young Mistress out of here.”

“No, no, no…!”

Chaehwa insisted on adding spinach to the side dishes that would go on the table, but was dragged out by the kitchen staff. Thrown into the kitchen courtyard at dawn, Chaehwa was a sight to behold, wearing only a large jumper over her white nightgown. Jinsung, the youngest of the kitchen staff, shook his head repeatedly at the disgraceful behavior of the young mistress he served. If they knew the truth about Nanjubeol, the families who claimed to be the young mistress’s fans would surely declare their withdrawal as quickly as striking while the iron is hot.

“Today is an important day for Yirok.”

“You mean that game played with a ball, right?”

“Yes. You know everything, don’t you?”

“Shinwoo Haenang is also working hard every night. He goes out to exercise in the morning, too.”

“Shinwoo is?”

Whenever she went to the basketball court, Shinwoo was nowhere to be seen, so she had thought he was confident he would win. To find out the truth behind the rumor that Shinwoo was practicing, Chaehwa placed two fingers on her chest. She would delve into the energy of the Nanjubeol estate and find where Shinwoo might be.

A few minutes later, Chaehwa walked to the place her senses guided her to and reached the back hill. The sound of a bouncing basketball struck Chaehwa’s forehead with the realization of what she had suspected.

Shinwoo was excitedly playing basketball, having hung a crude basket on a tree. Chaehwa clutched her jumper, enduring the wind blowing from the back mountain. Though shorter than Yirok, Shinwoo was also well over 180 centimeters tall. Looking at his head, which was not much lower than the height of the basket, Chaehwa felt a strange chill in her chest.

Just then, Shinwoo caught the ball, sensed a presence, and turned around. Shinwoo’s expressionless face became like a flower garden in full bloom. Without a hint of surprise, he quickly came down the hill path and stood before her.

“Young Mistress. It’s cold. You shouldn’t come out for a walk this far.”

“…Are you practicing for the match later?”

“Yes.”

What on earth was this solitary room that it made even Shinwoo so passionate about basketball? Unable to understand the circumstances, Chaehwa crossed her arms and muttered to herself.

“I thought Yirok was the only one practicing so hard….”

“You said you watched Yirok practice.”

“Yeah.”

There was no reason to lie, but her conscience pricked her. In the past, she would have come to watch Shinwoo practice without a second thought. But Shinwoo smiled as if he had no pride.

“I’m going to win, Young Mistress.”

“…Yirok won’t be a pushover either.”

The words that slipped out without thinking had the nuance of siding with Yirok. It was her first time seeing Shinwoo practice today, but she had seen Yirok’s effort and sweat for the past few days. While she hoped Yirok, for whom she had developed a love-hate affection, would win, Chaehwa felt apologetic for some reason. It must have been because Shinwoo’s eyes darkened when he noticed her favoritism. The wind, reading the chilly atmosphere, swept between the two of them. It was Shinwoo who came to his senses before Chaehwa. He playfully held the basketball as if he were about to throw it into the basket.

“Don’t discriminate between me and Yirok, Young Mistress.”

“…I’ve never discriminated. Why have you been like this since last time?”

“I’m sorry for being a person of Chukjangji, for not being an outsider. But please cheer for me today. Equally.”

As if to say he would be on his way, Shinwoo bowed his head in greeting. Turning back, Shinwoo bounced the ball, then leaped up and shot the ball into the basket. The crisp sound of the basketball passing through the net made Chaehwa recall a very old memory.

Was it a very fine spring day? On a day when the front yard flowers were in luscious bloom, Shinwoo had arrived as the first Haenang for Chaehwa. At the news that a child of her age was coming, she had waited, fidgeting with her hands and feet.

“Hello, Young Mistress.”

The five-year-old boy, who greeted her politely with his small hands clasped together, was more mature than anyone. A boy in whom one could feel the upbringing of the prestigious Hwaeul family in every step. He was her first friend, and her first Haenang, so it was only natural to treat him differently from the other Haenang.

“Shinwoo!”

“Yes, Young Mistress.”

“Look at this. Do you want to do this with me?”

There was a game that was much more fun to play with two people. She had come running, breathless, holding what would now be considered an outdated car game, but Shinwoo looked around cautiously and refused.

“I’m not very good at these things.”

“But just once? Huh? Just once.”

“Then I will watch you play, Young Mistress.”

The game console, which had enjoyed Chaehwa’s favor that day, was left dejectedly in a corner of the room. Afterward, she had continuously tried to tempt him into deviance, but the boy was extremely wary of objects from the outside world. She later found out that Shinwoo was trying not to cross a certain line, being mindful of both the Hwaeul family and the Nanjubeol family.

They were both birds trapped inside a fence. Chaehwa herself tried to fly away time and again, but Shinwoo had no thought of leaving his comfortable nest.

Chaehwa turned her back and walked away from the sound of the basketball. Shinwoo would probably call her ‘Young Mistress’ for his entire life. Come to think of it, the excitement of that day when she waited for Shinwoo had crumbled at that single title, ‘Young Mistress’.

Not a ‘friend,’ but a ‘Young Mistress,’ and he was a ‘Haenang.’ That was the nest Shinwoo had failed to break.

🌹₊ ⊹

The match to be held today was a well-known rumor, at least among the Haenang. Someone, whether it was Shinwoo or Chaho, had invited every single person for the sake of a fair game. With Haeju, Miyoung, Yeonseo, and even Jangsi, there were four women, and when Chaho and Chaehwa joined, the number of spectators grew to six.

The match was scheduled to start at 3 p.m. Finish the game cleanly and have a delicious dinner. At first glance, it seemed like a decent suggestion, but looking at the eyes of the two main players of today’s game, it seemed they had already skipped dinner.

Moreover, the spectators naturally split into two groups of three. Yeonseo had a favorable impression of Yirok, Jangsi was interested in Yirok, and Chaehwa was on Yirok’s side more than anyone. The three of them became Yirok’s audience, and the remaining three became Shinwoo’s audience. Seemingly displeased by this from the start, Shinwoo looked like a person with only one expression. More robot-like than Yirok, whose default expression was stoic, he drank water and wiped the basketball.

“Shinwoo! You can do it!”

Perhaps the spectators also sensed Shinwoo’s state, as Miyoung shouted at the top of her lungs. Not to be outdone, Chaho waved the light stick he had brought.

“Shinwoo! Win! If you don’t want to share a room with me!”

But just as Chaho’s cheering ended, the sky was growing dark. It was bewildering since they had purposely chosen a time when the sun was out. The only ones uninterested in the cloud-covered sky were Yirok and Shinwoo.

“How about the first person to score 10 points wins, Yirok.”

“Alright.”

“How should we decide who goes first? Should we go with the traditional way? Heads or tails. Which do you prefer.”

“Tails.”

Even as Shinwoo tossed a coin into the air, the six spectators were watching the darkening sky. When someone complained about why the weather was so fickle these days, the sky gave its answer. A dainty snowflake descended and landed on the bridge of Chaehwa’s nose.

The cold air felt as her round eyes widened. As Chaehwa wiped her nose with the back of her hand, it was decided that Shinwoo would go first.

“Alright! Start!”

Chaho, who knew the detailed rules of basketball, stepped up as the referee, and the match between the two men began. Shinwoo, as the one with the first turn, charged forward. He easily jumped over Yirok, who was defending fiercely under the basket, and scored 1 point. But in the next round, the basketball was in Yirok’s hands. He ran far away to avoid the pursuing Shinwoo, going near the line.

“Hey! Take it easy!”

Shinwoo was blocking Yirok so tenaciously as he tried to move while dribbling that his options were dwindling. Shinwoo’s defense in stopping Yirok’s movements was becoming what seemed to be excessive. Yirok, gritting his teeth, stopped and shot the ball.

“Wow!”

The ball, flying in a perfect parabola, went into the basket. Chaehwa, who had been squatting to watch, stood up with her hands raised. Chaho returned with a glum expression and listlessly raised Yirok’s score to ‘3’.

1 to 3.

That was the point when Shinwoo, who had until then moved strictly according to the rules, changed. After a fierce struggle, the dropped basketball ended up in Yirok’s hands. Shinwoo, his eyes wide, pulled at Yirok’s clothes, and a rough physical fight began.

Even to a basketball novice, it was clear the two men had forgotten the rules as they slammed their shoulders into each other harshly. Even when Chaho, the referee, told them to stop, the two men couldn’t hear him.

At the end of the increasingly intense scuffle, the basketball that accidentally came loose was taken by Shinwoo. Shinwoo, who seemed to be dribbling forward, immediately jumped and shot the ball.

The fact that the thrown ball went in for a score was, rather, the beginning of a misfortune. Yirok, who had seemed relatively calm, did not hesitate to engage in a power struggle once the opponent’s score went up.

“Um… doesn’t it look a little like they’re fighting?”

“Young Mistress.”

Anxious gazes gathered on Chaehwa, the perfect person to mediate. It felt like the game was about to devolve into a desperate brawl between the two, rather than the youthful game they had anticipated. The two basketball players were now at the point of grabbing each other by the collar under the basket and pulling each other down. In the midst of it, Yirok tenaciously hung onto the basket and scored one goal.

“I don’t know either.”

Chaho, with a sigh, mechanically calculated the score with eyes that had clearly lost interest. Shinwoo, who had been hanging on the basket with Yirok, fell and tumbled backward. Thump. At the sound, the spectators screamed.

But Shinwoo shot right back up and roughly grabbed the shoulder of Yirok, who was taking the ball, and spun him around. The rules had become meaningless. The spectators were anxiously fidgeting as the game became obsessed with only one thing: scoring a basket by any means necessary.

“Young Mistress.”

“Young Mistress… don’t just watch….”

But Chaehwa remained silent.

She didn’t know how to explain the unpleasant, foreign feeling she was experiencing right then. Was it from the moment the snow landed on her nose? The game gradually blurred before her eyes, and the people grew distant. It felt like watching a basketball game in a hazy, fog-covered lot. She couldn’t even hear the words of the people next to her, who were clapping and talking. In that moment, as if the murmuring mists were speaking to her, a creepy feeling gave her goosebumps, and the back of her hand flinched.

Feeling a sense of urgency, Chaehwa turned her head to check her left. Jangsi, who was focused on the game, turned into a blurry shape, and her shadow rose. The Yogwi that Jangsi possessed, Janghui, hid in the shadow and lowered its forked tongue from beneath its chin.

[Hello.]