1440 - Chapter 6

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 6
How much longer he would have to live this way, accepting misfortune as an offering-bearer, had become impossible to know, leaving him somewhat adrift. Yet his being adrift changed nothing—there was nothing he could do about it. In this box-like building, something invisible was at work, obscuring his sight.
He could not wield his true power, could not step beyond these walls. From the moment his eyes opened, he had been trapped in this space, unable to communicate with anyone, merely existing within it.
Could that be called living? Would it be more honest to say he had simply endured?
In all the long span of years he had lived through, there had been no time when he felt so utterly powerless. Even the thought that this too would end someday—he could no longer hold to that.
Still, yesterday it had ended partway through, and for that at least he was grateful.
Whether it was from receiving less murderous intent than usual, he had fewer wounds on his body. He crawled forward on his knees to wash away the sores and opened the door a crack.
As always, there before the door stood washing water, a clean towel, and a breakfast tray. Just as he reached out his arm to draw them inside the room—
“This way! Careful now!”
“We’re moving all of these to the second floor, is that right?”
The entrance to the Annex Building opened with unexpected bustle, quite unlike the usual quiet. The man startled at the sound and quickly withdrew his arm.
He thought at first it might be In-eum or Yeon-hyung, but he was relieved to find their voices were not among them. Through the rough, middle-aged men’s voices came a neat, low tone that caught his ear.
“Yes. Once you’ve moved everything to the second floor, I’ll handle the arrangement myself.”
Through the crack in the door, workers laden with furniture and belongings could be seen hurrying toward the second-floor stairs. And following slowly behind them came a set of footsteps.
He recognized those footfalls—they were the same ones he had heard yesterday.
The man’s eyes, fixed on the washing water, slowly lifted. And as he gazed through the gap in the doorway, his gaze met that of the man walking slowly down the hallway.
Fair, delicate skin, with a nose bridge standing prominent and high. From there flowed a sharp philtrum and upper lip that seemed to hold considerable stubbornness. That mouth curved into a slow smile. And deep, round, large eyes curved gracefully upward.
The man sat on the floor, looking up through the door gap at the man within, met his gaze, and smiled. As though offering a greeting, he closed his eyes slowly and opened them again, keeping his lips curved upward. Then he passed by the man as naturally as though nothing had occurred.
6
The man remained sitting numbly in the doorway even after Yeon-su’s figure had vanished. He was startled to see someone smile at him after so long, but what struck him more was how achingly familiar that smile was.
A tender smile lingering in memory from long ago. That smile had not changed with the passing years—it had returned to him unchanged.
***
Yeon-su’s hands clenched into fists. He had nearly embraced him right there in front of all the workers.
The body visible through the crack seemed impossibly small, hunched as it was in that cramped position. The hands that had once been large enough to obscure his own face entirely when he was young—now they were so small, so fragile, so terribly thin……
“Hah…….”
“Pardon? Ah, isn’t this the place?”
At the sigh Yeon-su had let slip without thinking, the worker who had been lowering a bundle onto the ground flinched and froze. Yeon-su hastily waved his hand, offering hasty assurances it was nothing.
These workers were all natives of the region with intimate ties to the Baek Clan. He did not want them to know he was taking an interest in the man downstairs.
Yeon-su turned his face back into a smile and personally moved the heavier loads, lightening the workers’ burden.
The workers felt uncomfortable seeing the young master of the Baek Clan working with his own hands to help them, yet at the same time they felt grateful. It was remarkable that the young master would work alongside hired hands so unpretentiously, without any airs of superiority.
Perhaps for this reason, one eager worker carefully set down a large thangka painting he had carried with great care and began to voice his observations.
“I’ve been helping out at the village headman’s house for more than a dozen years now, but this is the first time I’ve seen a prayer hall set up quite like this.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes indeed. It feels completely orthodox, you know? It has a different feeling from the prayer room in the main residence and the adjacent building—quite nice, really.”
Still, the Baek Clan handled the major village rituals in Danggol Village and their arrangements. These workers helped out with large village ceremonies or ancestral rites, not cursing work. This meant they were regularly hired for shamanic work in other regions as well.
For those who mainly assisted the ecstatic shamans with their rituals, the appearance of Yeon-su’s prayer hall would feel more familiar than the Baek Clan’s Hereditary Shaman Ritual Practice.
Yeon-su answered the man who spoke his thoughts so frankly with a smile.
“I’m a student who has received Divine Possession.”
The man blinked in surprise and asked again.
“Pardon? The Baek Clan receives Divine Possession initiations as well?”
“No. I’m rather an unusual case. I’ve been to another region for some time to undergo the Possession Initiation.”
“Ah, but then—”
Another worker nudged the one who had been about to ask more about this “unusual case,” warning him with a look. Only then did the worker recall that Yeon-su was not the legitimate son of the household but a bastard child—worse still, the son of an ecstatic shaman who had been driven out of the village—and he fell silent.
Embarrassment and apology clouded his eyes. Yeon-su smiled and assured him it was all right, then began to arrange the divine offerings to be placed on the altar.
The second floor consisted of two small rooms and a modest bathroom. It was a cramped space where one could barely stretch one’s legs out fully, but it was acceptable. After all, it would only be used for prayer and brief rest.
In fact, it was far better than those days in childhood when he had taken brief naps in the main residence. Back then he had slept curled up tight even in a large room, watchful of his stepmother’s gaze. Multiple cushions laid out on the floor served as his bed.
Thinking of those times, Yeon-su smiled bitterly and surveyed his newly cleaned prayer hall once more.
The prayer hall was not very large, but it was well-appointed with all necessities.
An altar was positioned beneath the wall where a Shamanic Divine Tablet hung. The altar, where a bell and a fifty-panel fan lay, was arranged more simply than those of other shamans.
He lit candles arranged symmetrically on either side, then carefully placed the long sword he had brought upright on the altar. After making a bow and offering a brief prayer, he went downstairs.
Downstairs, a hired hand who managed the Annex Building’s household work was present. The sound of running water came from the kitchen, where meals were being prepared.
Apart from the room where that man stayed, the entire Annex Building had been renovated in modern style. Though the work had been done over seventy years ago, it creaked and showed wear throughout.
Compared to the main residence, where the exterior retained the traditional tile-roofed house form while the interior had been completely modernized, this place was practically a ruin. Yeon-su recalled the spotless walls and appliances of the main house, and the wooden floors maintained so carefully with daily wax treatment that they made no sound.
“Good evening.”
Yeon-su approached the hired hand who was trimming ingredients and offered a greeting.
“Oh, my……. Good evening, Second Young Master.”
The woman who addressed him as “Second Young Master” was one of the hired hands who had been there since his childhood. She had assisted Mi-ju with household management in the main residence, but it seemed she had been assigned to manage the Annex Building.
Yeon-su smiled gently at her and turned off the tap.
“I mentioned it to Mother. There’s no need to concern yourself with the household management here.”
“Pardon? No, surely I can’t let you handle the meals and cleaning yourself……”
At the employee’s words, Yeon-su deliberately rolled up his sleeves and rubbed his arm as if to show it off.
“I’m pretty good at that sort of thing, actually.”
When he flashed a disarming smile, the employee relaxed too and smiled back. He assured her he’d cleaned the second floor entirely himself before coming down, then gently ushered her out of the kitchen.
“I’ll be managing the Annex Building from now on, so there’s no need for you to worry about it.”
“Yes, well… are you quite certain?”
As she asked, the employee’s eyes flickered toward the room where the man was staying. The sliding paper doors that had been slightly ajar earlier were now sealed shut without a gap.
She was asking with her gaze whether that—more than the chores of cooking and cleaning—wasn’t the real problem.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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