Sowol Inn - Chapter 17

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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 17
At the unfamiliar voice, the baby blinked his wet eyes.
So Wol called to the child again.
“Riri. Come here.”
He reached out his arms and took the baby into them.
The baby squirmed and burrowed into So Wol’s embrace.
His small hands clutched So Wol’s collar tightly.
The world stopped.
The whirlwind that had been swelling to devour the forest scattered in an instant.
Patter-patter.
Everything suspended in the air came crashing down to earth all at once.
The dust that had blocked the sun cleared away, and light descended upon the darkened clearing.
The forest fell silent in a heartbeat.
So Wol exhaled in relief and gently patted the baby’s back.
“Yeon-seok. What is all this chaos? I was only gone to the market for a moment.”
“Uh…….”
“That’s right. I’m here now.”
The baby sniffled and buried his face in So Wol’s arms.
Huff. Huff.
The ragged breathing gradually settled into a steady rhythm.
So Wol checked the baby’s forehead and the nape of his neck.
Thankfully there was no sign of fever, though his body was limp from exhaustion after crying.
His eyes were swollen pink with streaks of dried tears across his cheeks.
When So Wol wiped the smudged cheeks with his thumb, the baby blinked his large eyes.
The golden gleam that had shone in his irises had faded to black once more.
As the baby quieted, Baek Ya leaned on his sword hilt and unsteadily pushed himself to his feet.
“Is the child all right?”
“He’s just worn out from crying. He’ll be fine.”
Only then did So Wol turn to look at Baek Ya, and his brow furrowed.
Baek Ya’s back was torn to shreds, hanging in tattered strips.
“We’ll need to apply medicine as soon as we get back. What happened?”
“You weren’t here. The baby cried.”
Baek Ya’s weakly spoken answer came with an explanation.
Not long after So Wol had left, the baby had begun to cry.
At first thinking the child might be hungry, Baek Ya had warmed goat milk and offered it.
The baby turned his head sharply and pushed away the cloth.
Flustered, Baek Ya had tried changing the diaper and rocking the cradle.
Yet the baby would not stop crying.
Even holding him and patting his back as So Wol did proved useless.
When Baek Ya held him, the baby only cried louder.
In his distress, the moment Baek Ya set the baby back down in the cradle—
A bowl on the table began to rattle.
One by one the bowls rose into the air, and with each thrash of the baby’s body they shattered against the walls.
The table and chairs flew about, tumbling on their own.
The commotion had frightened Baek Ya badly.
“People can’t see this. The baby could be in danger.”
So that’s why he’d run into the forest with the child in his arms.
He’d even brought his sword in case someone bad came.
After finishing his account, Baek Ya studied So Wol’s expression and asked nervously.
“Did I do wrong?”
So Wol let out a soft laugh and ruffled Baek Ya’s disheveled white hair.
“No. You did well.”
Only then did Baek Ya’s shoulders, which had been hunched, relax.
“Let’s go home.”
“All right.”
As So Wol turned to leave the clearing, he paused.
All around, massive trees lay with their roots exposed, scattered in every direction.
To any eye, it was plainly the mark of a landslide.
So Wol gazed at the sight for a long while, then let his eyes fall back to the bundle in his arms.
The baby, now asleep, had tears not yet dried clinging to the ends of his lower lashes.
That something so small had overturned the forest struck her as absurd, and a hollow laugh escaped her.
As So Wol smoothed the child’s hair, Baek Ya, who had been watching, spoke.
“Brother.”
“Yes?”
“What is Riri?”
So Wol hesitated and looked up.
Baek Ya gazed at him with a puzzled expression.
So Wol’s lips parted, then he glanced away before answering.
“The child’s name.”
“The child has a name?”
“Yes.”
Baek Ya’s face brightened. He peered at the infant, eyes gleaming.
“Riri!”
At his excited call, the child stirred restlessly.
“Hush. Keep your voice down.”
So Wol cautioned him, and Baek Ya, startled, lowered his voice.
“Now the child has a name too.”
“Yes. A name.”
“The child is Riri.”
“Yes, yes.”
“Why Riri?”
At the curiosity in his voice, the corners of So Wol’s mouth softened into a gentle smile.
“Do you remember the day the child first came to us, Baek Ya?”
“I do.”
“There was a lot of snow that night, wasn’t there?”
Baek Ya nodded.
That early winter night when Beop Gong had appeared without warning.
The snow that blanketed the world looked just like pear blossoms in full bloom.
“So that’s why it looked like pear blossoms to you, Brother.”
If he were to give the child a name, he had wanted to use the character for pear tree—Li.
But countless times he had set aside that wish, telling himself that naming the child was not his place.
Yet still the name lingered on his tongue.
So Wol rolled the name across his tongue.
“…Riri.”
The sleeping child gave no response.
But in time, called by that name again and again, one day the child would come to know it as her own.
Now the child too had a name to look back upon.
6. Riri’s Place
Riri slept for two days straight.
So Wol was not surprised. It was as he had expected.
Rather than summon a physician, he woke the child at intervals, fed her a few spoonfuls of rice gruel, and let her sleep again.
He also wrote a letter to So Hye.
It said that Riri’s Acupoint Sealing seemed to have come undone, and asked her to visit the inn when she had time.
It was the first time he had sent word to his sister asking her to visit the inn first, and So Wol felt a little self-conscious about it.
In the meantime, the village fell into an uproar.
There were those who had witnessed the whirlwind that Riri had created.
“I’m telling you, a whirlwind swept through the forest!”
“A landslide, perhaps?”
“I went to look myself, and every tree was uprooted. It was no work of man.”
“It was a dragon. A dragon ascending to heaven.”
“Where in this world does a dragon exist?”
“It must exist, or why would the whirlwind have struck! Innkeeper, am I not right?”
“I couldn’t say.”
So Wol laughed off the guest’s question and swallowed a sigh.
It would have been easier if it were a dragon.
How could he possibly cover this up?
He found himself missing the days when a few talismans could quiet the rumors.
There was no choice. He could only hope that nothing else would happen until So Hye arrived.
Fortunately, So Wol’s fears did not come to pass.
No one connected the commotion in the forest with the inn.
Tales of dragons ascending to heaven and spirit creatures taking their wrath had faded within days.
So Wol finally allowed himself to breathe easy.
But trouble emerged from an unexpected quarter.
Riri, waking from a long sleep, was not the same child as before.
The boy could not bear to watch So Wol disappear from his sight.
Tears pooled in his eyes the moment So Wol stepped into the kitchen, and if he spent even a few moments in the courtyard, he would wail inconsolably.
Even a trip to the outhouse set off a commotion.
“Waaaaah! Waaaaaah!”
“Riri, come here.”
“……Sniff.”
Yet the moment he nestled into So Wol’s arms, he would grow calm.
There was nothing for it—So Wol had to carry Riri all day long.
“What a handful you’ve become.”
So Wol sighed and adjusted his grip on the boy.
Riri burrowed into So Wol’s embrace like a chick seeking shelter in its mother’s wing.
Then the Inn door opened.
“Is Yeon about, sir?”
He looked up to find Wang Yeom standing in the doorway.
Behind her, a familiar child poked his head out tentatively.
It was Danwoo, the three-year-old son of Jang Wi and Wang Yeom.
“What brings you here?”
“I need to go to the market. Would you mind watching Danwoo for a bit?”
“Of course.”
So Wol nodded readily.
Wang Yeom positioned Danwoo in front of her and spoke gently.
“Danwoo, I’ll just run out for a moment. I won’t be long—stay and play with this gentleman, all right?”
Instead of answering, Danwoo gripped the hem of his mother’s skirt tightly.
“It’ll be quick, I promise. Look—there’s a baby here, see?”
“A baby?”
At the word “baby,” Danwoo’s eyes widened.
“That’s right. Look there—the gentleman is holding one.”
Wang Yeom pointed toward So Wol’s arms.
As Danwoo craned his neck to gaze up at So Wol, Wang Yeom stroked the boy’s head once more, then turned to leave.
“I’m grateful for your help.”
Creak.
When the door shut, Danwoo startled and glanced around anxiously.
Finding Wang Yeom gone, his face grew uneasy.
“Danwoo, come sit here. Shall I get you a bowl of wonton soup?”
So Wol spoke gently.
Danwoo hesitated, staring at So Wol for a moment.
“Waaaah!”
Then he burst into tears.
“Danwoo?”
When So Wol extended a hand to comfort him, Danwoo stumbled backward, tripped over his own feet, and fell hard on his bottom.
Thump.
Sitting there on the floor, he opened his mouth and wailed.
“Waaaaaah!”
“Now, Danwoo, I haven’t done anything to you——”
“Scary! Waaaaah!”
Startled by Danwoo’s piercing cry, Riri joined in.
“Waaaaah! Waaaaaah!”
“Waaaaaaah!”
“And what are you crying about now?”
As So Wol watched the two children howl as though the world were ending, he swallowed a sigh and stared into the distance.
“……This is going to drive me mad.”
When the two showed no sign of stopping, So Wol reached for his last resort.

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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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