If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 93

Anything that grew up in a sunny place tended to have a good personality. There was no need to worry about meals, the sleeping place was cozy, and natural predators were wiped out. Underneath a shabby roof that looked ready to collapse at any moment under the weight of the snow, Chaehwa quickly fell fast asleep.

After filling her empty stomach with a few pieces of beef jerky and arranging a bed with a blanket, it wasn’t long before the sound of snoring was heard. While Chaehwa was asleep, Yirok, who was searching the inside of the mountain cabin, obtained a shovel and an old axe.

The person who built the cabin seemed to be a skilled hunter. Here and there, something rotten that looked like animal hides was hidden.

Sitting down to inspect the axe to gather firewood, Yirok suddenly cast his gaze toward the quiet Chaehwa. Wrapped in a blanket as she slept, Chaehwa’s lips were slightly parted. She was even kicking occasionally, perhaps having an intense dream. The young lady, who had trembled and closed her eyes tightly when they kissed, was now sleeping with her legs stretched out.

He might have to take sole responsibility for Chaehwa’s overall livelihood for the time being, but Yirok didn’t find it difficult at all. He just had to chop wood, and he just had to go get food.

He could just catch a wild animal living in the mountains and share it with Chaehwa. He didn’t think the pursuing party would arrive at the cabin within a few days. Even though they were soldiers, they would know their own lives were precious. They wouldn’t want to climb a mountain in a raging blizzard just to catch one runaway woman.

It was incredible luck for the two of them to find the cabin. If they held out for a few days, Chaehwa would find a crack in the atoll. For him, it was the only few days where he could have Chaehwa all to himself without worrying about anyone else’s gaze.

Carefully setting down the axe, he moved his feet over to Chaehwa’s side as she slept soundly. He let out a laugh thanks to Chaehwa, who was biting on a strand of her curly hair as if dinner hadn’t been enough to satisfy her.

With that single kiss, he had come to know the sweetness of Chaehwa’s lips. He was at a point where he was jealous even of the hair brushing against her lips. Mocking his own disgusting thoughts, Yirok lowered his head.

“It’s nice and quiet since you’re asleep.”

He buried his lips against Chaehwa’s exposed, smooth forehead. As if she knew Yirok was kissing her even while she slept, the corners of her mouth twitched. Yirok kept his lips pressed against her forehead for a long time, as if offering a prayer he had never made in his life.

If nothing else, he wanted Chaehwa to live happily. First love, first kiss… those pleasant words were tied to Chaehwa’s name.

Hoping she would accept his shameless self just a little bit more, Yirok ended the slow, prayer-like kiss.

🌹₊ ⊹

Caressing his red wrist, which still bore the marks of being tied up with rope, he came to a halt. In the world inside the atoll, Shinwoo was a person named ‘Kim Dong-hak’. His lover’s name was Park Hyun, and he had been preparing to exile abroad with her, an independence activist.

It was a headache that the meeting place happened to be in the middle of a mountain with a severe blizzard, but using the information possessed by the character he had immersed into, Shinwoo managed to reach halfway up the mountain with great difficulty.

In the pockets of Kim Dong-hak, who was an adult, there were many luxury items such as a pocket watch, cigarettes, and a pistol. Hiding the metal lighter, which would be the most useful, deep in his pocket, Shinwoo quickened his pace.

He knew he had fallen into his own trap, bringing in the atoll hunter and getting undone by Janghui. Although the whereabouts of Jangsi and Yeonrye, who entered his memory together due to the atoll, were unknown, he could guess Chaehwa’s case.

Since a trap had been dug so meticulously like this, it was definitely targeting Chaehwa. When he thought of his own mistake, he just wanted to be buried in the snow and die. It was common knowledge that the time flowing inside the atoll and the time flowing outside were different.

Thinking of the landowner who would suffer for days, or maybe months, looking for the young lady, his feet felt cold and heavy. Shinwoo, who was only on his second day since entering the world of the atoll, felt anxious. Seeing that the story progressed around his lover, Park Hyun, she was definitely the young lady Chaehwa.

After all, the luxury goods he had on his person were also meant to have been bought for him by his lover. Shinwoo, who had pulled his fur hat down low to avoid the blizzard, raised his chin at a sound that suddenly reached his ears.

Clang, clang. It sounded like an axe splitting wood. The cabin where he was supposed to meet his lover, Park Hyun, was nearby. In Shinwoo’s chest, anxiety and hope held hands side by side. His steps toward the direction of the sound quickened. The young lady might have realized that he was the very culprit who brought in the atoll hunter and caused this situation. Anyway, he believed that as long as they met, she would find a way out for them. If he begged for forgiveness, the kind young lady would accept him. Revenge was the very last thing on his mind.

No matter how attractive the demon’s proposal was, he shouldn’t have trusted it. Strangely, whenever Yirok was involved, his judgment became clouded. The psychological pressure that he had to be better than Yirok was the culprit behind this situation. He thought that if he opened his heart to Chaehwa, an answer would come out.

As he stepped into the path leading to the cabin, the snow subsided as if by coincidence. Seeing the smoke rising into the sky, Shinwoo stopped, his boots sinking deep into the snowfield. He was just preparing to meet Chaehwa while brushing off the snow accumulated on his shoulders. Hearing a laughter he couldn’t possibly mistake, Shinwoo’s eyes sharpened.

“Young lady!”

He pulled his buried feet out and ran at full speed across the snowfield. In the midst of the mountains where even the white snow looked romantic, Shinwoo finally met his lost lover. It was a woman crouching in front of the cabin, draped in a dark green blanket. A smile never left her lips, as if she were watching an entertaining play. How many seconds had passed while he blankly stared at her face, which was like a white full moon?

He should have noticed sooner upon seeing the firewood piled up in front of the young lady. He should have been suspicious from the very start when he heard the clang, clang of wood being chopped. Yirok, wearing clothes presumed to be a military uniform, was setting the firewood down in front of the young lady. The young lady’s smile, which he wouldn’t exchange even if given the heavens, came from him. Catching sight of the two of them together, Shinwoo’s face turned ash-gray in an instant.

“Weren’t you a woodcutter in your past life? A woodcutter? We could stay here for about ten months.”

“I don’t know about that… If we stay for ten months, you and I will probably be found as skeletons.”

“It’s just a figure of speech. I’m saying you’re as good as a woodcutter. How can a man have so little romance…”

“You’re the only woman who would look for romance in a situation like this.”

Though they bickered as if they were on bad terms, the look in their eyes was that of lovers. Having gathered enough, Yirok scooped up the firewood split by the axe. Opening the cabin door, he reached his hand out to Chaehwa.

“Let’s go inside.”

“Just a little more sunshine.”

Before he knew it, Shinwoo had become a pitiful interloper, hiding behind a tree. He had found the young lady. He needed to beg for forgiveness and find an escape route.

The young lady was refusing Yirok’s hand with a playful smile, saying she didn’t want to go inside. Yirok, who was about to sigh and close the cabin door, got caught up in her playfulness and let out a smile. The sight of the two of them, whose loving gazes and smiles seemed so natural, threw Shinwoo into a storm of anxiety.

“It’s cold. If you catch a cold, there’s no medicine to give you.”

“We can get out of here before I catch a cold. It feels like someone else will come soon, too…”

Once the young lady threw a tantrum, not even that tiger-like, strict landowner could stop her. Intruding into a scene as familiar as Shinwoo’s daily life, Yirok lowered his knees and sat in front of the young lady. And at the scene that followed, a low groan escaped Shinwoo’s mouth.

Closing his eyes, Yirok stole the young lady’s lips with a proficiency that showed it wasn’t his first or second time doing it. Holding the firewood like a baby wrapped in a swaddling cloth, he brought only his face close to Chaehwa. Young Lady Chaehwa, who should have been furious, stayed still with her cheeks flushed red. It felt as though the frivolous sound made by their lips could be heard all the way behind the tree. Parting his lips as if it were as natural as snow falling in winter, Yirok said,

“Breaking the atoll with just this much is out of the question… We’ll have to do more, right?”

He was playing with the young lady with words like a swindler. The thought of saving his lover, Park Hyun, and his fiancée, Chaehwa, infused strength into his fists. He could pull out the pistol tucked in his back pocket at any moment.

“I can just make an effort. You stop, Yirok. How many times are we going to kiss… I’m going to charge you later.”

“Go ahead.”

At the mention of charging a high price for her lips, Yirok smiled brightly without a care. It wasn’t long before the two of them, exuding the scent of newlyweds, held hands. Chaehwa gave in after a few kisses and went into the cabin. Shinwoo, who had moved his hand to his back pocket, was screaming silently.

I want to kill him. I will kill him.

Yet, looking at Chaehwa’s brightly smiling face until the moment the cabin door closed, he couldn’t bring himself to draw the pistol. What came out was not a bullet, but his hot tears. Shinwoo gritted his teeth and leaned his head against the tree.

He hated Yirok. He hated him so much he wanted to kill him. Getting undone by the atoll hunter, being deceived by Janghui—when it came down to it, everything stemmed from Yirok. The robber-like Yirok was stealing his light. Yirok was the shadow and the dark cloud that had appeared in his life.

[Now then, shouldn’t you do what you need to do?]

The moment his gaze was captured by the cabin full of laughter, an unknown voice brushed past his ears. Submerged in the shadow, Shinwoo silently looked up at the sky where the sound had come from.