If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 90

The pollen spreading in all directions on a spring day was detrimental to revenge. It was rare for a revenge vowed in the cold winter, when tears freeze, to survive until spring. Living with it buried in one’s chest upon realizing it was a tree one could not look up to, or living while forgetting it by becoming a madman—any guy who would single-mindedly whet the blade of revenge had died out around Sarira. Except for one fellow.

“Could it be that Yirok has harbored a mind of betrayal?”

It wasn’t that she was trying to shoot an arrow to harm Chaehwa; it was simply a operation to play a trick on the young lady of Nanjubeol so she couldn’t enjoy the spring day. Fortunately, since a training haenang who possessed an impure mind was by her side, the operation went smoothly. Because a man with a broken unrequited love was easy prey.

As soon as she knew Chaehwa had bitten the bait, she set up the board and was in the middle of monitoring the world of the vision grass through an old wooden mirror. But to think that pretty man, who shouldn’t have joined, was carrying the young lady around on his back. The housekeeper grandmother, who had stayed up for several nights as an assistant, was looking into the mirror with a fierce gaze.

Even at the report that Yirok seemed to have entered the vision grass world, Sarira had no interest. From what she heard, it seemed the relationship between Chaehwa and Yirok in Nanjubeol was not entirely bad. The information that Juhee of the Baekyeong family had subtly slipped in was also mixed with a personal opinion full of arbitrary interpretation, suggesting there was room to entwine them as man and woman.

The housekeeper grandmother, who had watched Yirok since his adolescent years, snorted, but Sarira saw that there was a possibility. If you gathered a fine young man and woman in one house, how could spring not come?

“It seems we should execute Yirok. If he harbors another mind like that as time goes on…”

“Leave him be.”

It was the same for Sarira having made a contract with a vision grass user. The training haenang promised to give the vision grass user a one-time freedom instead of obtaining an effective medicine as told. Regardless of the warrior’s intention, the vision grass user would come out when it wanted to come out. He was a haenang whose situational judgment was poor enough to readily accept it without even knowing how dangerous a contract that was.

It meant that if they were engulfed in the poisonous mist called by Janghui, he would feed the young lady the medicine given by the vision grass user to save her, and let the eyesore Yirok fall into critical condition. Falling for that kind of flimsy scheme and completing the ghost contract was the fault of the training haenang. It was shameless of him to beg for sympathy.

“Yirok was a child whose charm lay in reluctantly following me with eyes harboring venom…”

“How dare he not even know Master Sarira’s grace. How about finishing off both of them this time?”

The housekeeper grandmother, who talked about grace after separating Yirok and his parents with the river of death, was ludicrous. The conscience of those infatuated with the blind warriors was generally at a similar level to the housekeeper grandmother’s. Sarira slowly raised the arm of a corpse she used as a shamanic tool and closed her eyes.

“I told you to leave them be.”

“Yes?”

“Rather, isn’t it fun? And Yirok has good reason to resent me. Is Chaehwa somewhat pretty? Aren’t both of them youth, youth?”

As if it was funny even to herself, Sarira’s laughter burst out and covered the entire roof of the detached house. Watching the purple tongue flickering like a snake, the housekeeper grandmother trembled her hand holding the mirror.

On the day he returns, I shall give him a whipping until his calves disappear.

Like a curse, words were handed down over the head of Yirok, who was crossing the river with the young lady on his back.

🌹₊ ⊹

To decorate a world of vision grass, there absolutely had to be a medium to connect reality and dream, and there had to be at least two or more people to lead the spell. In the black market of the blind warriors, a corpse dwelling with a grudge used to be sold at the price of a house. According to Grandmother Yomyeong, who had browsed the black market during peaceful times, a paper like a receipt is tied to the sole of a corpse’s foot. It was said to be common to write down the name, age, and content of the grudge there and sell it together.

Probably, in order to attack her, Sarira had torn off a bit of flesh from a well-kept corpse and fed it to the vision grass user. Because if it was a grudge and a corpse, the ghost would want to eat it even if it had to offer its heart.

“We’re here.”

Yirok’s voice broke the monotonous silence. Although she had woken up a long time ago, Chaehwa did not detach her cheek that was glued to Yirok’s broad back. Thanks to Yirok’s hurrying stride, they were reaching the end of the river. The mist rolled in thickly, so the sky hung on a ambiguous boundary between day and night. Chaehwa’s shoes, which had been dangling near Yirok’s thighs, moved to both sides as if loosening her body.

“I’m not talking to you to tell you to get down, so just listen. It’s a path leading to a mountain… would the destination be beyond the mountain, or halfway up? Do you have anything that comes to mind?”

“Huh?”

As they crossed the frozen river, the path ahead divided into a path going to a village beyond the mountain and a path climbing the mountain. Chaehwa’s sigh grew deep as she peeked her head out from where it was buried in the overcoat.

“I don’t think it’s the path to the village. There would be soldiers there too. I feel like I’m supposed to meet someone in the mountain… My memory is strangely blurry. I only have a feeling.”

“A person to meet in the mountain… Something like a comrade.”

“Who knows. Once I cross over here, I should also thoroughly empty out the things inside my coat. Something that could become a clue…”

Chaehwa’s words, as she rattled on with her fine hands placed on Yirok’s back, stopped abruptly in an instant. It was a pitiful thing for Yirok, who was looking up at the snow-covered mountain, but Chaehwa’s cheeks turned to a pale color. The ice, which had been attached quietly all the way here, was cracking with a r-rip, r-rip sound. A hairline crack holding its breath spread like an ink line, targeting Yirok’s ankles.

Chaehwa, who swallowed a slow spit, did not make a loud sound even in the moment of absolute peril.

“Yirok.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t look down, I… Ah!”

The ice, which maliciously snatched away her words to run after she counted to three, completely collapsed. While letting out a short scream, Chaehwa, who missed Yirok, slammed into the blue and dark river starting from her back. The military overcoat Yirok had put on her so she wouldn’t be cold became a water ghost. She struggled desperately to take off the overcoat that pulled her into the water, which was quiet as a grave in an instant. Her legs churned the water and her hands moved frantically to unbutton the buttons that felt like freezing pebbles. While she gasped for air due to a lack of breath, Chaehwa’s body steadily sank.

The hand that was touching the third button ended its struggle and slid down. Just as even the strength holding her lips pursed was about to loosen, the world inside the water became noisy. The water ghosts that were dragging Chaehwa’s ankles down lost their spirit and sank below.

“Chaehwa.”

Rather than the name her parents gave her, the title of young lady was an environment she was more used to. At that moment, the hand that hugged her waist, which was languid as if taking a nap on wet ground, was powerful. He must have salvaged her body that was drifting inside the water and thrown it onto the land. The wind hovering around her eyes was sinister, and her water-logged body was heavy.

“Chaehwa.”

The hand that was gently patting her cheek came down and settled on her chest. Thump, thump, at the pressure of the touch exerting force, river water goes out and breath comes in. Opening her eyes upon hearing her own coughing sound, Chaehwa was laid in a snowfield.

“Chaehwa, wake up, Chaehwa…”

Yirok, whose terribly wet hair was revealed because he lost his military hat, was moving his arms distractingly. He was in the middle of fighting a battle to save her by mobilizing all his nineteen-year-old knowledge, massaging Chaehwa’s ice-like hands to blow warmth into them, taking off her shoes, and pressing her stomach. Pitiful of Yirok, who didn’t even know his own lips had turned blue, Chaehwa forgot the cold even if only for a brief moment.

“Yirok…”

The eyes of Yirok, who brought a wet overcoat and covered her like a blanket, grew huge. She had never seen such a surprised face. It was then that Yirok’s face rushed in as if he were about to kiss her. Leaning their similarly cold foreheads against each other, Yirok let out a dry breath.

“What kind of young lady can’t swim!”

“I was so startled…”

However, the joy of reunion felt while alive was also brief. At the presence of a person felt from the side of the frozen riverbank, Yirok became busy once again. He picked up the wet and limp Chaehwa in his arms and gathered the overcoat. Without any faltering, he climbed the white mountain path. The bodies of the two trembling from the cold naturally desired an embrace. Hanging onto Yirok’s shoulder, Chaehwa stared toward the back.

The tracking party catching up, or the ice breaking, wouldn’t be a foreseen misfortune. It must be the scene desired by the blind warrior who called the vision grass user. He must be intending to recreate the grudge possessed by the medium in the world of the vision grass.

Sticking tightly so her body wouldn’t freeze in the blowing wind was no longer an embarrassing thing. Wrapping the overcoat he brought around Chaehwa’s body like plastic wrap, Yirok began a difficult mountain climb. Although it was felt that the strength of his stride dropped as they went on, he didn’t add a single word blaming Chaehwa. The mountain and the wind showed a steep path as if making a bet with the lives of the two at stake.

Encountering a narrow and slippery stone path that only wild beasts would frequent, Yirok experienced a crisis several times. As he brought his knees down to avoid falling, a ‘thud’ sound of them slamming into stone was heard. Just as the sharp-eared Chaehwa tried to lower her head, a large hand blocked the back of her head.

“I’ll get down. I’ll walk too if I get down.”

“Your body is like a block of ice…”

“You are too, Yirok. Don’t be like this… I’ll walk too.”

In a situation where they didn’t even know where the destination was, Yirok slowly stood up and repeatedly headed upward. The thought ‘I’m glad I met Yirok’ gradually changed into the thought ‘I shouldn’t have dragged Yirok into this’. He must have sacrificed his knees to avoid tumbling down on the stone path. Imagining his knees where blood would flow copiously, Chaehwa felt a ache through her entire body. The blizzard freezes her body and his knees make a gash in her heart. In a situation where mind and body were exhausted, Chaehwa breathed out a faint breath.

“I have prepared a way to escape. Let’s meet here.”

Just then, a disparate voice settled down inside Chaehwa’s head. Raising her head, which had been buried in Yirok’s shoulder, she earnestly stared into the blizzard. It was just when Yirok held onto a cliff-like rock to advance and raised his toes. A slender light of hope shone in Chaehwa’s pupils.

“Over there, it’s over there.”

At Chaehwa’s words trembling with excitement, Yirok stopped his steps and looked back. A light that was unbelievable to be in a mountain like this was truly wavering. Yirok and Chaehwa locked eyes while holding each other’s embrace.

Foreseen misfortune, foreseen grudge. However, the gazes of the two who had lost their way were drawn to the light as a matter of course.