Sowol Inn - Chapter 14

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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 14
Another patron reached out as if to shield So Wol, waving his hand dismissively.
“Ah, there were circumstances, weren’t there? A name can be given in time. After all, the child’s surname is Yeon anyway, isn’t it?”
At that, another guest ventured in cautiously.
“That’s not necessarily how it has to be. Yeon could send the child to another household.”
…….
“Honestly, it might be better for the child to grow up in a wealthy home like Mi Gajang’s than with Yeon raising him.”
“Ahem.”
When someone clicked their tongue low, the guest swallowed his words in a panic.
He tried to change the subject, stealing a glance at So Wol’s expression. So Wol answered flatly.
“For now, I’ll be raising him.”
For now.
He spoke those words, but even So Wol didn’t know how long “for now” would last.
Until Beop Gong appeared?
Until a place came forward to take the child?
The guests wore puzzled expressions at this conditional phrasing but said nothing more.
Instead, the conversation drifted elsewhere.
“By the way, they say the child’s mother was a courtesan from Gangnam, didn’t they?”
“I heard she was a Martial Arts Master.”
“Why does the story keep changing? Innkeeper, which is it?”
One patron pressed for an answer. So Wol replied indifferently.
“Neither.”
“Then what sort of person was the child’s mother?”
“There’s no reason to discuss such things.”
When So Wol drew the line, a look of disappointment flickered across the guests’ faces.
“Tsk, tsk, they say she left early from some dreadful illness. It must be true.”
So Wol swallowed a hollow laugh.
If he explained, the rumors would twist into something else entirely; if he stayed silent, he became a man with a deep, tragic past.
At this point, he almost preferred the rumor that the inn was haunted by a ghost.
Unlike the aggrieved So Wol, the subject of the rumors—the baby—was content.
The infant lay in its cradle, grunting and straining to grab its own toes.
When his short arms couldn’t quite reach his feet no matter how he stretched, the baby looked up at So Wol with a frustrated expression.
“You have it good. Not knowing anything.”
When So Wol poked the baby’s soft cheek with his finger, the child’s mood lifted at once, and he broke into a toothy grin.
Then he flailed both hands, trying to grab So Wol’s finger.
“Ah.”
Perhaps not knowing anything was better after all.
With no parents and no way of knowing when or to whom he’d be sent away, there was nothing good about understanding his own circumstances.
So Wol quietly offered his finger to the baby.
It was all he could give right now.
* * *
While So Wol suffered the rumors, a month had already passed since Mi Gajang’s carriage had visited.
The baby had been at the inn for nearly four months now.
Spring had slowly seeped into the inn where winter winds once blew.
In that time, So Wol had grown quite skilled at caring for the child.
Just by hearing the baby cry, he could tell if the child was hungry, uncomfortable with his diaper, or drowsy.
His hands no longer fumbled when swaddling the infant, and the strength with which he patted the baby’s back after feeding had become just right.
Now he could judge the temperature with just a drop of milk on the back of his hand.
At first, he’d heated it too much, cooled it down, then reheated it again, repeating the cycle countless times.
But it seemed that even these small things could become second nature with practice.
As So Wol suddenly marveled at how naturally his hands had learned these tasks, Baek Ya clung to his side and played with the baby.
“Baby, nose.”
“Goo.”
“Nose.”
“Ah!”
Since So Hye’s visit, the child no longer made objects levitate.
There were no more moments when his eyes took on a golden hue.
So Wol, who had been anxious at first, gradually let his guard down.
But as one problem subsided, another reared its head.
The baby wasn’t nursing.
When So Wol dampened a clean cloth with goat’s milk as usual and offered it to the infant, the baby took only a few sucks before spitting the cloth out with a soft pft.
The milk-soaked cloth tumbled onto his chest.
“What is it? Don’t you like it?”
So Wol brought the cloth to his own lips to test it.
It was neither hot nor cold.
There was no sour smell either.
When he tried to offer the cloth again, the baby whipped his head away and sucked only on his own fingers.
“Come now, little one. You need to eat.”
When So Wol moved the cloth to the other side, the baby turned his head the opposite way.
“Look at you.”
If So Wol approached from the right, the baby turned left.
From the left, he turned right again.
After much coaxing and soothing, So Wol managed at last to get the cloth into the baby’s mouth, but the infant took only a few sucks before pushing it away.
Though the baby’s belly was plainly hungry—he sucked on his fingers and fussed—the moment goat’s milk touched his lips, his face contorted.
“Does something hurt?”
So Wol felt the baby’s forehead with concern.
There was no fever.
He slipped his hand under the swaddling cloth and gently probed the little belly.
There were no hard knots, no signs of pain from the child, and the diaper was clean.
So Wol was studying the cloth with a troubled expression when—
“Are you home, Yen?”
So Wol looked up at the familiar voice. It was Wang Yeom, his neighbor.
“Fortunate timing. I had something I wanted to ask you about.”
“You come to me with all your questions?”
Wang Yeom smiled and stepped inside the inn.
So Wol, having no time for propriety, led Wang Yeom straight to the cradle.
“The child refuses his milk entirely. It’s not too hot or spoiled, yet he takes a few sucks and spits it out. I don’t know what to do.”
“When did this start?”
“His appetite’s been dropping for the past few days, but today he won’t even take it into his mouth.”
“Let me have a look.”
Wang Yeom rolled up his sleeves, crouched beside the cradle, and gently pressed the baby’s cheek.
“Open wide for me, little one. Say ‘ah.'”
The baby frowned in displeasure, but when Wang Yeom applied a bit more pressure with his finger, the infant reluctantly opened his mouth.
Wang Yeom peered about inside, then let out a soft laugh.
“Teeth are coming in.”
“Teeth? Already?”
“Look—see how it’s swollen here?”
So Wol bent down to peer into the baby’s mouth.
The gum where Wang Yeom pointed was indeed raised and bulging.
“The tooth is pushing through, so it’s sore and itchy. That’s why nursing becomes uncomfortable for him.”
“Should I stop giving him milk then?”
“Not yet. Offer it little and often instead.”
Wang Yeom added more:
“And from now on, try feeding him a spoonful or two of rice porridge.”
“Rice porridge?”
“Yes. At first, cook the rice very thin, like water, and give him only a spoonful or two. If he shows no sign of trouble, gradually increase the amount.”
Wang Yeom nodded and produced a small bundle from his possession.
“Here, take this as well.”
“What is it?”
“A bib that Dan Woo used to wear. I thought you’d be needing one soon, so I brought it along. Soon he’ll be spilling more than he swallows.”
So Wol accepted the bundle with evident gratitude.
“How kind of you. I’m always taking, never giving. Thank you. I’ll put it to good use.”
“Don’t mention it—I only passed along what others gave to us.”
With a smile, Wang Yeom carefully explained how to tie the bib and how to prepare the rice porridge, then took his leave.
So Wol immediately washed the rice clean, placed it in a mortar, and ground it fine.
He poured plenty of water into a small pot and added the rice flour; pale porridge soon began to simmer gently.
So Wol stirred the rice porridge with a ladle for a long time.
He worked it until every lump dissolved, fearful lest even a single grain lodge in the child’s throat.
When he transferred the fine, smooth porridge into a small bowl, fresh steam rose in delicate wisps.
He blew on it gently to cool it, then took a spoonful to taste.
“Come, try some.”
As he offered the spoon, the infant blinked warily, eyes narrowed.
When So Wol gently touched the spoon’s edge to the child’s lips, the baby cautiously opened its mouth.
Smack-smack.
The infant’s eyes widened as it savored the unfamiliar taste.
After swallowing the rice porridge in one gulp, by the second spoonful the baby itself was opening its mouth eagerly.
“You eat well. Is it delicious?”
“Ah!”
The infant flailed its arms and legs impatiently, urging him on.
A thin line of porridge dribbled down from the baby’s glistening lips.
So Wol wiped the small chin clean with the bib Wang Yeom had provided.
As he was reaching for a third spoonful, he stopped, remembering Wang Yeom’s warning.
“That’s enough for today. Too much at first brings an upset stomach, they say.”
Soothing the disappointed infant, whose lips still worked at the memory of food, So Wol began to pull the empty bowl away—then paused.
Because he saw the child every day, he hadn’t noticed until now: the infant had grown noticeably larger since first arriving at the inn.
A guest’s question suddenly flickered through his mind.
‘What’s the child’s name? You haven’t even given it one yet?’
The body had grown this much, yet the infant still had no name to be called by.
So Wol rolled a name that came to him around in his mouth, then swallowed it back down.
It was only a child he was minding temporarily.
Naming it wasn’t his place.
Having drawn that line, he erased the name that lingered on his tongue from his mind.

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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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