If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 88

Love does not approach noisily. One day, you realize that the place your eyes follow and the place your heart desires are the exact same direction, and that is how you come to know love. For Jangsi, the door to her first love had opened softly like that.

When Yirok took a winter vacation and left Nanjubeol, she experienced the phenomenon of the sky turning drab. Asking to have her bangs cut short was also entirely because of Yirok.

She liked his eyes that turned cold whenever he looked at her, and she liked his habit of biting his lips when he was flustered. She liked how he was consistent to others and to her alike.

Hearing that the young lady was taking Yirok to the department store, she decided to go out for an outing for the first time in four years. Uncharacteristically, she came out with braided hair and even wore a flower hairpin she received as a birthday gift the year before last.

While traveling by car, Yirok pressed himself against the window and didn’t even give her a glance, but a flutter of the heart is a flutter of the heart. During class time, he was stuck by the young lady’s side as her partner; during meal times, it wasn’t possible due to the eyes of others; and the men’s dormitory was a forbidden zone for women. If they were shopping, wouldn’t there be a chance to exchange words?

Yirok had told her not to approach, but wanting to receive even that cold rebuke was the heart of someone with an unrequited love. Furthermore, though it might be an awful thing to say, Yirok’s frowning face was cute. To the point that every single day, she only looked forward to the day they took group photos. Since she could officially possess a photo with Yirok’s face stamped on it.

“Ha…”

Sighs from Jangsi, who was wandering around peeking at the department store as if wearing clothes that didn’t fit, were sprinkled in every corner of the store. The young lady disliked pairing up to pick out clothes, and Yirok seemed to have vanished into thin air. Having come to the second-floor shop looking for Yirok, who had disappeared while she looked away for a brief moment, Jangsi set down a blouse.

No matter how much the young lady was paying, it was awkward to blindly accept new clothes. The department store she had come to, hoping there might be a chance to start a conversation with Yirok, was merely desolate. The mannequins without eyes, noses, or mouths looked like ghosts. It was just when she was about to move her feet because the third floor, where the young lady went up, looked relatively bustling and lively.

“Shin, Shinwoo…”

It was an unusual thing for Shinwoo, who was best friends with Chaho, to get into the car alone. In the face of the coincidence of encountering each other one-on-one while leaving so many floors behind, Shinwoo was expressionless. Even if he was a model student who lived like a devotee to the young lady, he shouldn’t be a cold child. Looking at the ceiling light that timely began to flicker, Jangsi brought up an awkward conversation.

“Do you want to go to the third floor together? Where the young lady is…”

“It’s true.”

“Huh?”

“The thing about you not remembering when Janghui comes out.”

At the two syllables of the name ‘Janghui’, the lamp flashed distractingly. Not only was the lamp above Jangsi’s head broken, but the lights across the entire second floor arbitrarily turned on and off, making her field of vision dazzling.

“…What did you talk about? With Jangsi.”

“The story that you would come here. That if Kim Yirok was said to be coming to the department store, you would come too.”

If so, it meant it was intentional that Shinwoo had said in front of her, ‘I heard Yirok and the young lady are going to the department store’. Suddenly, Shinwoo covered one side of his eyes with his hand and bowed his head. At the gesture of his body shaking as if feeling pain, Jangsi was tied by her feet, unable to go anywhere. It was then that Yeonrye, who was looking at items on the same floor, noticed the anomaly.

“My goodness! Shinwoo haenang!”

Whether she had been roaming the second floor like patrolling upon reporting the lamp issue, Yeonrye’s face turned pale. Seeing a person not in the plan, Shinwoo stiffened his shoulders.

“Don’t come!”

Shinwoo clutched his stomach with a flustered look. Then Yeonrye, holding several handkerchiefs, instead rushed over in utter consternation. From Shinwoo’s body, which had collapsed to the floor, a stomach-turning smell wafted out. It was a pink smoke that could be confirmed with the naked eye. Jangsi momentarily covered her nose and mouth, but it looked difficult to stop spiderweb-like cracks from forming on the floor of the second floor.

“Aaaah!”

Yeonrye, who was running while glancing at the flickering lights that cut out briefly, soon had no place to step. The cracks on the floor, which had been lengthening little by little, split beneath Yeonrye’s feet. As if he had no presence of mind, Shinwoo stretched out his hand in a prostrate state. Hearing Yeonrye’s scream as she plummeted through the split gap, Jangsi fell to her knees.

“Why… so suddenly!”

At the time when a panicked Jangsi was tearing at her hair, her vision inverted. In addition to her body regaining stability, every time the lamp flickered, her fine hairs stood up as if possessed. As her black pupils dilated to fill her eyeballs, Jangsi became able to make another person’s voice.

[As expected, Shinwoo is smart. You’ve met all the conditions just like you said.]

“You…!”

The prelude to revenge opened, and Shinwoo, clutching his stomach, spilled a strand of pink blood. It was a beautiful sight. When even Chaehwa and Yirok, who came down after hearing the commotion on the second floor, made an appearance, Janghui grabbed Shinwoo’s wrist with a satisfied expression.

“Janghui, you…”

At the call from Chaehwa, who was gentle as befitting the young lady of Nanjubeol, Janghui could not hide her sneer.

[See you in the world below, young lady.]

It meant one more role not in the plan was included, but there would be no hindrance to the work. Was it not worthwhile to have counted the days waiting for the day of revenge against Nanjubeol’s Chaehwa? The sin of daring to confine her in the body of a lowly person would not be repaid even in death. Dragging the making-a-fuss Shinwoo, Janghui threw her body into the black cavity.

“Shinwoo!”

Not even knowing that her future husband had become a traitor, the young lady cried out wretchedly. The black swamp beneath the cracked floor was greedy even after swallowing three people. Facing the crack stretching up to the third-floor escalator, Chaehwa’s eyes stopped shaking.

“It swallowed Yeonrye too.”

“Call people. Don’t solve it by yourself.”

Yirok hastily grabbed the shoulder of Chaehwa, who was trying to rush out onto the cracked floor. Chaehwa scanned the surroundings with eyes that had nothing to fear and said,

“There’s a smell. It’s the smell of vision grass.”

The pink powder that had boldly occupied the second floor was the powder of a vision grass user whose specialty was illusions. Her teeth ground at the blind warrior who carried out a disruptive operation so that they couldn’t even shop on a good day. Chaehwa placed her hand on Yirok’s hand, which was exerting force as if he wouldn’t let go. Because the overlapping hands were very hot, the two locked eyes.

“Yirok, don’t you follow. The illusion caused by vision grass definitely has a purpose. Setting aside Shinwoo and Jangsi, Yeonrye cannot come out by her own strength.”

“So. You can come out?”

“Of course. You trust me, right?”

Even in a situation where the floor cracked narrower and narrower and the lamps flashed like thunder at one-second intervals, Chaehwa winked. And taking advantage of that moment when Yirok’s hand strength loosened, she quickly turned her body around. Then, she tumbled her body toward the black gap where even a bone-chilling cold had begun to rise.

Chaehwa, who fell into the bottom like a pitch-black puddle, becomes dot-by-dot smaller. The vision grass, having swallowed the four desired people, subsequently begins to fill the cracked floor as if destroying evidence. Seeing the huge pit in front of him, Yirok thought there was no reason to follow. Chaehwa is the best among the orthodox warriors, and this was probably a trap dug by Sarira. If he entered and interfered, Sarira’s sword would rip his stomach open.

However, Yirok stepped down from the safe escalator and took a step forward. The small young lady, who had not hesitated in the slightest to fall, pushes his back. At that exact moment when the crack rapidly closed the entrance, Yirok dropped his foot. His body, falling into the world of vision grass, was surprisingly light.

It was a feeling of freedom he had forgotten. Like a flying bird, Yirok spread both arms and plummeted into the black world. Because there was something for him that was scarier than Sarira’s wrath. He was not afraid of something like falling.

🌹₊ ⊹

Through the breath forming white, she stared at the sight of thick snowflakes falling. Slowly raising her body, Chaehwa looked around at a background too exquisite to be a world of vision grass. It was atop a lake frozen solid by the heartless winter wind. Wiping away the snow on the white, frozen surface of the lake, she reflected her own appearance.

“I’ve properly been caught.”

The pear blossom skirt was gone, and she was wearing a western-style skirt with a brown coat. Although the ends of her bobbed hair style were exaggeratedly curled, it was a bit early to guess the era by the attire alone.

If she had fallen into such a concrete illusion, it was highly probable that this was inside someone’s memory. Swiftly getting up, Chaehwa took off her gloves one by one and looked for a proper path.

Thump, thump, the lake, which she had checked by stepping on it multiple times, had no risk of breaking. The ability possessed by vision grass does not simply lie in making a person go crazy by plunging them into an illusion. If things went wrong, there was a chance of wandering or dying in the world made by the vision grass without waking up at all. Because there was only one group that would torment her with such dedication, Chaehwa hung a sneer and discarded the removed gloves onto the ground.

She had to break the vision grass technique only after going out to a nearby village and identifying the identity of the figure she was clad in first. However, before she could even safely escape the slippery ice lake, footsteps were heard. The sound approaching in alignment was targeting her, even without her searching hard for it.

<Yoshie!>

Unfamiliar Japanese was heard, and six soldiers wearing military boots called her from the opposite side of the lake. Yoshie. Having secured the name that must surely be the owner of the dream, Chaehwa stood still, raising both arms without a word.

That was because the six gun barrels over there were pointing at her. If she died inside the illusion of the vision grass, things would go awry. Yeonrye, Shinwoo, Jangsi, the humans she had to find were numerous. Even if she couldn’t find them at all, she had to prevent the protagonist of the story from dying first.

<Catch him.>

As the one who appeared to be the captain coldly gave the command, the remaining five moved. The captain was a man whose impression was blurry because his eyes were covered by a tan military cap. Being captured like this and obtaining information about the woman named ‘Yoshie’ wasn’t bad either. It was at that moment when she was looking at the soldiers running expressionlessly. Bang, bang, at the sharp sound of gunfire echoing across the lake, Chaehwa flinched her shoulders.

The flesh of the five soldiers, falling like fallen leaves, dropped onto the lake. Clearly seeing the pupils of the person whose breath was cut short after dancing a pitiful dance turn vacant, Chaehwa slowly raised her head.

White smoke was rising from the gun that killed all five, up to the captain. As soon as the soldier, who stopped aiming and stood up, took off his hat, Chaehwa let out a sigh of relief.

“Kim Yirok…”

Yirok, who was looking at the dead people without a word while wearing a tan military uniform, frowned his eyes. Their gazes, which clashed atop the lake, held a variety of emotions.

“It’s my first time killing a person.”

At the calm confession Yirok made, Chaehwa had no choice but to smile brightly. At any rate, he was truly an eccentric, truly an unlistening guy. Oblivious to the time they were separated for a brief while, Yirok and Chaehwa stood looking deep into each other for a long time.