I’m an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me - Chapter 141

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 141

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Hwayeong?”

 

A woman in shabby, simple clothes came out with a welcoming smile. Her face was flushed with heat, as if she had been boiling something.

 

Hwayeong put her index finger to her lips, signaling for quiet.

 

“You don’t have to bring me things every time… I feel so sorry.”

 

The woman smiled awkwardly upon seeing the bojagi that Hwayeong was carrying. Hwayeong frowned and asked sharply. Her deliberately whispered voice trembled at the end.

 

“What did your mother-in-law make you do again? What did she make you do to make your face so red?”

 

“Ah… I was boiling some medicinal herbs. She seems to have caught a cold.”

 

“That damn old woman! She’s several times stronger than you. Her hands are so rough when she grabs your hair every day, yet she pretends to be sick?”

 

“Don’t be like that. How heartbroken she must be. Her precious only son that she raised so well… died like that.”

 

Bitterness seeped through the woman’s smile. Hwayeong bit her lips.

 

“Listen to me carefully.”

 

Hwayeong grasped the woman’s hands with the hand still holding the bojagi. The delicate hands of a gisaeng and the rough hands of a widow intertwined.

 

“Run away.”

 

Hwayeong’s voice suddenly carried the weight of desperation.

 

“So Yeong, run away. You can’t stay in Cheonmaekji any longer.”

 

The woman called So Yeong shook her head briefly.

 

“Where would I go, Hwayeong?”

 

“Anywhere! Wherever it is, it’s better than here. A hundred times, a thousand times better. You think there’s nowhere for you to rest your body?”

 

“Then what about Mother…”

 

At those words, Hwayeong roughly shook off the hands she had been gripping. Then she irritably pulled out the silver butterfly hairpin from her hair. After pulling it out, she forcibly pressed it into So Yeong’s hand.

 

“Don’t say such things! Go, please! Go!”

 

“…You’re here too.”

 

So Yeong smiled foolishly.

 

“You and Mother are both here, so how can I leave. Where would I go…”

 

“Idiot. Are you really an idiot? I have those young children…”

 

“I’m the same, Hwayeong.”

 

Just as Hwayeong cared for the young gisaeng girls like family, So Yeong was also caring for her widowed mother-in-law like family.

 

The gazes of the two people, similar yet different, met pitifully.

 

“If we endure, things will get better. For you and for me.”

 

“…Even when you were poor, you managed not to be sold to a gisaeng house and I watched you get married. I never thought you’d live like such an idiot.”

 

Tears welled up in Hwayeong’s eyes. She couldn’t even raise her voice for fear that So Yeong’s mother-in-law might hear.

 

A flower that could speak human words must not make loud noises.

 

“Being dragged around by your hair by your mother-in-law, accused of killing your husband, getting beaten…! Being made to do all sorts of menial work…! Is this really the life you want to live in Cheonmaekji? Huh?”

 

So Yeong smiled kindly even at the harsh words.

 

Bang!

 

Just then, the door opened noisily and So Yeong’s mother-in-law appeared.

 

“You! Where are you, huh? What’s this? You! You wench!”

 

“Mother…!”

 

So Yeong’s face turned pale.

 

“Go quickly, Hwayeong. Quickly!”

 

The hand pushing Hwayeong’s back was urgent. So Yeong, who even pressed the bojagi that Hwayeong had brought back into her hands, hurriedly ran to her mother-in-law.

 

“So you’ve been feeding me food that dirty thing brought all this time? Wicked thing, shameless thing!”

 

“No, Mother. I just greeted her in passing, that’s all…!”

 

“You must think I’m a complete fool! A woman who killed her husband would be just like that!”

 

So Yeong, whose hair was grabbed by her mother-in-law, made eye contact with Hwayeong. Go quickly. She saw So Yeong off with a face that said just that.

 

How could the lives of two girls who had been poor be so miserable even as women? Hwayeong’s steps back to the gisaeng house, leaving behind the sounds of So Yeong being beaten, were pitiful.

 

A single butterfly hairpin rolling around as if buried in the dirt road looked particularly lonely.

 

“Hehe…”

 

As she trudged toward the gisaeng house, a woman with disheveled hair came limping from far away. She was clutching two bundles of old clothes in her arms.

 

People around whispered quietly.

 

Some had pitying expressions, while others frowned.

 

“Our Janghwa, our Hongryeon… shall we go flower viewing with Mother? Hmm?”

 

It was the stepmother of the sisters Janghwa and Hongryeon, who had committed suicide.

 

“Let’s go to the waterside and splash around, and put flower rings and flower bracelets on our hands. Let’s have fun, okay?”

 

The voice speaking tenderly as if to young children eventually began to tremble. She stared intently at Hwayeong, then ran straight toward her.

 

“Janghwa! Hongryeon! Janghwa! Hongryeon!”

 

She was not in her right mind as she hurriedly poured out words.

 

“Where did my children go? Hmm? Did you see my children? Where did my daughters go? Hmm? You saw them, right? You saw them? You saw them, right? Hmm?”

 

Tears streamed down the stepmother’s eyes as she grabbed Hwayeong with dirty hands and screamed.

 

“Let go of me!”

 

Hwayeong shook her off with a disgusted expression.

 

“My babies! My babies, does it hurt? Yes, it’s okay, Mommy’s here. Don’t cry. There, there.”

 

The stepmother instantly fell flat on the ground and hugged the bundle of old clothes rolling around like her children.

 

Hwayeong threw the bojagi she was holding into the woman’s arms as if tossing it.

 

The end came undone and the food inside bounced and fell out.

 

“At least eat your meals while searching for the children! You’re so skinny.”

 

Brushing off her soiled clothes with her hands, she bit her lips inward. She knew this wasn’t how the woman used to be.

 

The stepmother of Janghwa and Hongryeon, who used to smile kindly even to lowly gisaengs…

 

“What’s all this, hmm. There’s pumpkin pancakes that Janghwa likes, and mung bean rice cakes that our Hongryeon likes.”

 

The stepmother who unwrapped the bojagi on the dirty ground became lovingly gentle again as if speaking to the sisters.

 

While tightly hugging the bundle of old clothes to her chest.

 

“Yes, let’s take this and go on our outing. My babies…”

 

The stepmother smiled brightly as she roughly ate the dirty food with one hand.

 

“You always give the delicious things to Mother first, oh my pretty babies… My babies with such kind and admirable hearts…”

 

She too was not human, crying while laughing, stuffing the dirty food into her cheeks until they burst.

 

Hwayeong, who had been watching the stepmother tenderly rubbing the bundle of old clothes against her cheek, quickened her pace and muttered.

 

“Here and there, they’re all just beast bastards…”

 

The young girls welcomed Hwayeong as she returned to the giru with a self-deprecating laugh.

 

“Sister! Where did you go!”

 

“Sister Hwayeong!”

 

The children who ran over like chicks each tried to talk to Hwayeong.

 

“Sister! Why did you take out your hairpin? It suits you so well.”

 

“Your jeogori got dirty! Please take it off. I’ll wash it for you!”

 

“Geumji, you just want to secretly try on Sister Hwayeong’s outfit again, don’t you?”

 

“N-no! You’re the one! Didn’t you secretly try on Sister Hwayeong’s ring twice?”

 

Sadness settled in Hwayeong’s eyes as she looked at the bickering girls.

 

My little ones that I must protect…

 

Are we who have taken root in Cheonmaekji destined to become flowers that sway in the wind and break at someone’s hand?

 

Creak…

 

With a pitiful door sound, the giru’s door closed.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Seoryeong sat blankly in front of Jeongan’s grave where soil was piled high. Her small, white hands were completely covered in dirt.

 

“…”

 

In the deep mountains where wild grass grew thick, Jeongan returned to nothingness. Seoryeong sat by the grave and let out a small sneer. Then she spoke to Jeongan who lay sleeping in that grave.

 

“You… weren’t you even curious about my name?”

 

Jeongan and Seoryeong were nothing to each other. Not blood relatives, not master and disciple, not friends. That’s why Seoryeong couldn’t let her guard down even more.

 

Seoryeong was a child with plenty of use. With the divine ability trapped within her body, she could do anything.

 

Even a hundred talismans written by a thousand shrine maidens offering their souls couldn’t match a single talisman carelessly written by Seoryeong.

 

Though her divine ability was suppressed by the binding accessory fitted on her arm, if she put her mind to it, she could freely peek into others’ past and future.

 

Seoryeong was a shrine maiden who had nothing to fear in this world.

 

“Leaving without even saying goodbye, you must feel so comfortable.”

 

She had considered Jeongan, who appeared to her after being used by others since childhood, to be just one of them.

 

That monk pretending to be without greed would surely use her at least once.

 

When that happened, she would kill him without hesitation. The child who had been grinding her teeth like this thought she should be fooled at least once, and throughout the long time that made her heart soften, Jeongan was simply Jeongan to Seoryeong.

 

Not a mother, not a relative, not a teacher, not a friend.

 

“Since you don’t need to carry around someone like me.”

 

Simply Jeongan.

 

Why had he carried her around for such a long time? Seoryeong fingered the binding accessory bracelet that Jeongan had made for her himself.

 

Seoryeong’s hand slowed as she touched each bead of the bracelet with the character for spirit crudely carved into it.

 

Her throat bobbed pitifully as she swallowed the hot emotions welling up inside her.

 

The clear sound of a cloud board came through. The sound of wind chimes could be heard as well. At the same time, the waists of the wild grass bent in one direction. There was a sense that someone was coming from far away.

 

A cool breeze blew as if caressing Seoryeong’s cheek. The fine hairs on the nape of Seoryeong’s neck fluttered in the gentle wind.

 

“…Jeongan?”

 

Seoryeong forgot that she had been speaking harsh words just moments before and hurriedly headed in that direction. On Jeongan’s grave lay a pair of beautiful flower shoes.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Myeongdo walked steadily along the rough mountain path. At some point, he noticed the scenery had become strange. The tree branches, wild grass, and even wildflowers were all turning their heads in one direction.

 

Like signposts.

 

A world that seemed to be telling him to head that way surrounded Myeongdo.

 

“….”

 

Myeongdo took out a handkerchief from his chest, just as he had on that day when he met the Buddhist nun half a month ago. One of the nun’s talismans that he had kept together came out with it.

 

Rustle-.

 

Myeongdo tied the handkerchief to a high tree branch while holding the talisman in his hand. For the path back.

 

Before he knew it, the sun began to gradually disappear from the far edge of the sky.

 

 

 

“After half a month, take steps toward the east. If you head to where the sun is closest, you will meet one who will guide everything according to the natural order.”

 

 

 

Myeongdo tightened his grip on the nun’s talisman. Just as he was about to put the talisman back in his chest, the sun cast itself over the ground where Myeongdo stood.

 

Like a final struggle, the hot sunlight shone down on Myeongdo.

 

Having reached the highest point in the mountain, Myeongdo was now closest to the sun at this moment.

 

Whoosh-. The wind blew and the sound of leaves bumping against each other could be heard.

 

Thud, thud thud thud… The sound of something writhing came from beneath Myeongdo’s feet. It was then that he hastily stepped backward.

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