Sowol Inn - Chapter 2

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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 2
So Wol gazed down at the infant cradled in his arms.
The creature was so impossibly small and soft that he feared even the gentlest pressure might break it.
Yet he couldn’t very well continue holding it covered in filth.
“This is a problem. It needs washing, but…….”
How does one wash an infant? As if bathing a dog or a cat — gently?
But he’d never bathed a dog or a cat in his life.
The closest he’d come to washing anything of comparable size was a radish.
“Ehhhhng……!”
“Yes, yes. Bear with me just a moment.”
So Wol, still deliberating, carefully removed the infant’s diaper, then immediately replaced it.
The acrid stench made his face contort involuntarily.
“Ugh.”
He pinched his nose and set a pot of water over the brazier.
He retrieved clean cloth, as much as he could find.
Selecting the softest piece, he dampened it in lukewarm water and began to wash the infant’s body.
But as he wiped away the filth, something caught his eye.
There were bluish discolorations on the baby’s buttocks.
Alarmed, So Wol carefully rubbed at the marks.
Yet they didn’t fade.
Instead, they darkened, rising to the surface like bruises.
Had someone struck the child?
Where on something this small could there be anywhere to hit?
So Wol tossed the cloth aside and flipped the infant over for a closer inspection.
Dark discolorations—the kind found only on corpses poisoned to death—spread across the lower back and sides.
So Wol’s face went white.
Poison.
Someone had poisoned the infant.
* * *
“Panting, panting……!”
So Wol wiped away the sweat that blurred his vision as he cut across the village.
In the old days, he would have covered the distance in a single bound, but his body, stripped of Inner Power, groaned and creaked with every step.
Yet there was no time to waste.
He didn’t know how much longer the infant’s fragile body could endure.
So Wol’s footprints dotted the pristine white snow as he pressed on.
At last, the physician’s house sign appeared in the distance.
Wringing out his last reserves of strength, he rushed to the gate and began hammering.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As he pounded as if to shatter the door, a gruff voice called from within.
“Who is it, knocking at this hour?”
“Master, please open the door!”
“Mr. Yeon? What is the matter?”
“A terrible emergency! The child has been poisoned!”
So Wol cried out urgently.
Moments later, the sound of a bar being drawn back came, and the gate opened.
Heo, the physician, appeared as though roused from sleep and beckoned him in.
“What child is this? Come inside at once.”
Heo led So Wol in and seated him beside a brazier that radiated gentle warmth.
Then he took the infant and examined it thoroughly.
So Wol held his breath and watched intently.
“What is it?”
“Be quiet.”
“Is it very late? Is it perhaps…….”
“Quiet.”
Heo silenced So Wol and narrowed his brows as he turned the infant over.
Beneath the lamp, the bluish marks on the lower back appeared sharp and vivid.
“Mmm…….”
Heo let out a low murmur and withdrew his hand.
He returned the infant to So Wol and set a pot of water over the brazier.
So Wol couldn’t hold back any longer and asked.
“If we use medicine, could he survive?”
“There’s no need for medicine.”
“What do you mean? Is it already too late?”
Heo retrieved two teacups, shaking his head.
“This isn’t poison—it’s a mark left by Yama’s kick.”
So Wol blinked blankly.
A mark left by Yama’s kick?
He understood each word individually, but put together, they made no sense.
“What did you say?”
“The ancients used to say so. When children dawdle coming into this world, Yama kicks them on the backside and sends them down.”
“What in the world does that mean?”
“It means they’re born this way. All newborns look like this. The marks fade as they grow, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
So Wol, whose mouth had been hanging open, asked again.
“So you’re saying infants are naturally marked blue like that?”
“So they say. You’ve grown old, but you’ve never seen a newborn, have you?”
Heo chuckled and poured tea, setting the cup before So Wol.
“Have a cup before you go. A warm drink is the best thing for a startled heart.”
So Wol stared down at the infant with a dazed expression, and only picked up the cup after the tea had cooled slightly.
The cooled tea had no taste at all.
* * *
On the way back to the Inn.
So Wol walked slowly, cradling the infant.
That the child was unharmed was a tremendous relief, but before he could catch his breath, worry came flooding back.
“This is a problem. What am I to do with this little one?”
So Wol’s expression darkened.
He couldn’t bring himself to return the infant to Beop Gong with any confidence the child would survive.
And yet there was no one else to hand the responsibility to.
It fell to So Wol, then. That was the conclusion he reached.
There was no choice. He would simply have to face it as it came.
The moment he made that decision, the small form in his arms stirred.
He lowered his head and saw the infant’s eyes half-open.
Whether the child’s gaze was focused or not, it seemed to be looking at his face.
“What are you staring at?”
Instead of answering, the infant’s lips worked silently.
So Wol smiled without meaning to.
The child’s entire body was wrinkled and wizened, yet it moved as though it were a person too—and he found that endlessly remarkable.
Yet his steps became more careful.
He avoided the stones at his feet and tightened his arms so the infant wouldn’t be jostled.
By the time they reached the Inn, the child in his embrace had fallen asleep.
So Wol gazed at the sleeping face for a moment, then opened the Inn door.
Baek Ya, the white-haired boy who had been hiding in the corner of the Inn, poked his head out.
“Did the bad monk leave?”
So Wol let out a soft laugh.
“Yes. He’s gone.”
Only then did Baek Ya’s hunched shoulders relax.
Baek Ya had lived with So Wol for more than a decade.
Though he’d seen Beop Gong only once or twice in all that time, Baek Ya still feared him.
Having halted his own growth deliberately, he looked like a boy of sixteen on the surface, but inside he remained far younger.
As Baek Ya approached with a relieved expression, his eyes grew wide at the sight of the infant nestled in So Wol’s arms.
“Did you have a baby, brother?”
“Of course not. The bad monk left it with me.”
“Can I touch the baby?”
“Not right now. When it wakes up.”
So Wol set the sleeping infant gently into the basket.
Baek Ya’s eyes grew bright as he peered into the basket.
He wore an expression of pure delight.
So Wol watched him.
Could Baek Ya care for the infant in his place?
“Brother, let’s give the baby some sweets too.”
“Baek Ya, don’t give the baby candy. It can’t chew without teeth.”
“What about rice cake?”
“Rice cake too. The baby needs nothing but milk.”
So Wol gave up at once.
If he left the infant in Baek Ya’s care, it wouldn’t survive four days.
He exhaled slowly, his mind churning again.
When the baby woke, he’d need to feed it something—but where was he supposed to find milk?
Then he remembered: there should be some goat’s milk left in the kitchen.
“Baek Ya, watch the baby carefully. Call me if it wakes.”
“All right.”
So Wol handed the basket to Baek Ya and headed for the kitchen.
In one corner of the kitchen, about half a jar of goat’s milk remained.
So Wol drew it out and brought it to his nose—thankfully, no sour smell.
He set a small pot on the brazier and poured in the goat’s milk.
While it warmed, he retrieved a clean cloth.
Just then, the baby woke and began to cry.
“Wahhhhh!”
“Brother, the baby’s crying!”
Baek Ya called out urgently, startled.
So Wol carried the pot into the main hall where guests took their meals.
The baby was wailing with both fists clenched tight.
“Are you hungry? Here, eat.”
He quickly soaked the cloth in the goat’s milk and let the baby suckle—it drank eagerly, lips working steadily.
Watching this, So Wol found himself staring at the infant for a long time.
After drinking its fill, the baby yawned.
So Wol removed the cloth and lifted the baby into his arms.
According to Heo, one had to burp the baby after feeding it.
He began to gently pat the infant’s back.
Pat. Pat.
But the baby showed no response.
So Wol furrowed his brow.
Should he pat harder?
He increased the pressure slightly.
Pat. Pat.
Still nothing.
Perhaps a bit more force—
“Blech!”
—apparently not.
The baby’s regurgitated goat’s milk ran down So Wol’s shoulder.
He swallowed a hollow laugh.
Baek Ya, who had been hovering anxiously, quickly produced a clean cloth.
So Wol carefully wiped the baby’s mouth first.
Then, as he gently stroked its back, the infant’s lips stilled and its eyes slowly closed.
Baek Ya, watching the sleeping baby intently, asked a question.
“Does the baby fall asleep right after eating?”
“I’m no expert either, but I suppose so.”
So Wol relaxed at the thought.
In that case, all he needed to do was feed it well and let it sleep well.
A month would pass in no time.
So Wol believed this, with the innocence of a fool.

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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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