Sowol Inn - Chapter 11

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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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Chapter 11
A cold, measured voice rang out through the inn.
“Beop Gong will come for him soon.”
So Weol replied calmly, but So Hye was adamant.
“How do you know when that monk will arrive? I’ll take him there and come back. It’s better that way.”
“Settle down, So Hye. If the Clan Master shows up at the Shaolin Temple Gate holding an infant, what will people think?”
“What does it matter?”
“It matters, So Hye. If you take him, the Tang Clan gets tangled up in this affair.”
So Weol shook his head with a click of his tongue, and So Hye beat her chest in exasperation.
“Brother, is now really the time for you to worry about me?”
…….
“You can’t handle this child. He might die young, or even if he grows up safely, the Gangho won’t leave him alone.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll send him away soon.”
“Either way, you’re the one who suffers. You said you wanted to live quietly. If you get tangled up with this child, it’s certain that—!”
“Yes, yes, I know. I’m only keeping him temporarily.”
So Weol dodged the issue.
So Hye started to say something more, then closed her mouth. Instead, she spoke as if pleading with him.
“Brother, think carefully. Do you know how terrifying affection can be once you’ve raised something? Once you start giving love, you can’t let it go.”
When So Weol answered nothing, only laughing, So Hye pressed her brow with a troubled expression.
“I don’t know anymore. How am I supposed to overcome your stubbornness?”
“So Hye. Who are you to say that?”
“Fine. You won’t listen to me anyway, will you?”
So Hye sighed and pressed her fingers to the baby’s forehead.
“It’s a temporary measure, but I’ll perform Acupuncture Point Sealing before I go.”
“Is it safe to seal acupuncture points on an infant?”
“If you do it like you would on an adult, it’ll be disastrous. But it works because I’m doing it.”
Somehow anxious at that assurance, So Weol took a step back.
“Can I trust that?”
“Brother. Do you think I’m still sixteen?”
So Hye retorted, pouting her lips.
The sight was no different from when she was sixteen, so So Weol swallowed a hollow laugh.
“I can’t touch the Baihui Acupoint itself. Instead, I’ll temporarily block the three branches of Meridian Channels that lead to it.”
“If you block them, he won’t be able to use his strength at all?”
“He won’t pull in Natural Spiritual Energy recklessly like now. Even if his power manifests, I’ll cut the amount that flows in at once to half.”
“How long will it last?”
“As the child’s body grows, the sealing will naturally loosen. It should last a few years at most.”
“After that?”
“After that, the monk will handle it. Brother, why do you keep running away? Come here.”
At So Hye’s urging, So Weol reluctantly handed over the baby.
So Hye cradled the infant and pressed her fingers methodically around his neck.
The baby grimaced in discomfort but did not cry out.
His labored breathing gradually became steady.
“There. That should be fine for now.”
Taking the baby back, So Weol quickly pressed his hand to the child’s forehead.
The heat had noticeably subsided.
Reassured, So Weol laid the baby in the cradle.
“Thank you. You said you wanted Wonton Soup? I’ll make it right away.”
“Put lots of wontons in it.”
When So Weol brought the wonton soup, So Hye was hunched over the table, nodding off.
So Weol let out a soft laugh and draped a blanket over her shoulders.
When she nagged, she was every inch the Clan Master, but asleep she looked exactly as she had as a child.
“Thank you, brother.”
So Hye blinked awake and adjusted the blanket over herself.
So Weol set down the bowl of soup and asked.
“How are the children? They’re not listening well, I take it?”
“Don’t even mention it. These days they cause trouble at every opportunity. Yesterday they broke a Poison Jar while fooling around.”
As So Hye grumbled and took a spoonful of soup, the tension in her brow eased.
“Your wonton soup is still the best, brother.”
Then, with a satisfied face, she emptied the bowl completely.
As So Hye set down the empty bowl, something seemed to occur to her, and she asked.
“What’s this talk about a ghost haunting the Inn? What did Baby do?”
“Levitated chopsticks right in front of the guests. The whole village was in an uproar, and Jin Seong Dojang happened to stop by and sorted it out.”
“Jin Seong Dojang? How?”
“While he was here, I asked him to write a charm to ward off ghosts. We put it on the front gate.”
So Hye’s eyes widened.
“Jin Seong Dojang wrote you a charm? But he doesn’t know how to do that sort of thing.”
“Right. He said he didn’t. It’s a sham charm, just for show.”
“Even a sham charm? Good heavens, he’s not the kind of person Geom Seon would have do such a thing…”
“That fellow’s grown quite playful. These days he sits right on top of my head and teases me about it.”
So Weol grumbled.
So Hye gazed at her brother’s complainful face, then smiled gently.
“Haha, Jin Seong Dojang seems to have made you more comfortable, hasn’t he?”
As they chatted quietly, the window slowly grew pale with dawn.
So Hye rose to her feet.
“My goodness, the time. I should go now.”
“Bring the children next time. It’s been ages since I’ve seen Ryeong I and Jin I.”
“I will. I’ll come during the day next time.”
“Come at night if you like. Sleep’s abandoned me in my old age.”
“Brother. That’s no way for you to talk about yourself.”
So Hye chided him gently, then stepped forward and pulled him into an embrace.
“I’m leaving now. If anything happens, contact me right away. Don’t try to handle it alone.”
“I will. Go carefully.”
“Yes.”
Even after stepping outside the gate, So Hye looked back several times.
When So Weol waved her on, she smiled and finally disappeared into the dawn mist.
So Weol remained at the gate until the hem of her green robe was no longer visible.
After closing the gate and turning back, he heard a small cry from deeper within the Inn.
“Ah.”
Baby had woken and was flailing his tiny arms.
“There, there. Awake now, are you? Hungry? Let’s feed you some milk.”
So Weol naturally scooped the baby up and headed toward the kitchen, patting the small back.
He poured goat milk into a small pot and lit the fire; the warmth that soon spread drove back the chill of dawn.
While the milk heated, So Weol looked down at the baby in his arms.
As though he’d never been ill at all, Baby was grasping at So Weol’s collar.
So Weol swallowed a sigh.
So Hye was right.
This was no child So Weol could manage.
If he truly wanted a quiet life, the right thing would be to return the boy to Beop Gong as soon as possible.
But that day was not today.
“…Still, the child has to eat.”
Muttering to himself, So Weol dipped the warmed milk into a clean cloth and brought it to Baby’s lips.
4. A New Member of the Inn
In the ten-odd years he’d run the Inn, So Weol had never solicited customers.
There had been no need.
He made enough living off the villagers who came regularly.
But circumstances had changed.
Five days without a single guest.
Though the ghost rumors had died down, guests showed no sign of returning.
Now the rice container sat empty, its bottom plainly visible.
……
So Weol stared at the hollow rice container and scratched his cheek.
If he kept opening the door only when he felt like it and shutting it for days whenever he grew bored, he’d end up begging.
And so So Weol made a firm decision.
He would take on more guests.
From early morning, So Weol polished the Inn’s signboard until it gleamed.
He hung the red lanterns high and swept the courtyard clean.
Before long, a man passed in front of the Inn.
So Weol summoned his most winning smile and called out.
“Have you eaten? If not, why not stay for a bowl of noodles?”
The man did not answer.
“Aagh! The innkeeper—he’s possessed by a ghost!”
Instead, the moment his eyes met So Weol’s, he bolted.
It seemed that merely pasting up a talisman wasn’t going to solve this problem.
So Weol muttered awkwardly.
“Well, now even I’m being treated like a specter.”
He tried soliciting customers a few more times, but the result was always the same.
No one would venture near the inn.
“……This business is truly not easy.”
After lingering in front of the entrance all morning, So Weol set down his broom and stepped inside the inn.
The baby, who had just woken from an afternoon nap, was whimpering in its cradle.
“Waaah, waaaaaah……!”
“I know, I know. Come here.”
As So Weol picked up the whimpering baby, he let out a sigh.
Just one month.
In that short span, he felt he had sweated more blood than in the fifty years that came before.
The real problem was that the one responsible for all this hadn’t shown his face once.
“Beop Gong, when exactly are you coming…….”
So Weol grumbled in frustration.
Just then, a carrier pigeon flew in through the window.
It was the letter he had been waiting for.
As he hastily unfolded it, a familiar hand greeted his eyes.
So Weol’s face twisted as he read the letter.
[Sorry, but I’ll come pick him up next summer.]
……This mad monk.
In So Weol’s grip, the letter crumpled and trembled.

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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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