Sowol Inn - Chapter 23

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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 23
7. Lili’s Abum
So Wol wiped the sweat from his brow and lifted the cauldron lid.
A plume of hot steam rose up, and the scalding heat swept across his face.
He stirred the roiling broth with the ladle, round and round.
“Whew. I’m dying of heat.”
So Wol replaced the cauldron lid and left the kitchen without hesitation.
It was a day when standing near the fire was pure torment.
As he stepped into the Great Hall, Baek Ya approached him as if waiting and began fanning him.
“Baek Ya, you’re hot too.”
“Lili can’t be hot.”
Only for Lili, who was strapped to So Wol’s back.
So Wol glanced at Baek Ya, then undid the baby sling and laid Lili down in the cradle.
Even in this sweltering heat, Lili slept peacefully, oblivious to the world.
By the time the pear tree leaves in the courtyard deepened, summer had arrived at the Gaekjan.
So Wol’s days grew correspondingly longer.
Customers who were scarce during the midday heat now thronged in all at once as evening brought relief.
The moment the weather cooled, empty tables filled with patrons one after another.
“Innkeeper, two bowls of thin noodles, please!”
“Yes, yes. Coming right away.”
So Wol set down two steaming bowls of thin noodles in front of the customer.
As the customer reached for his chopsticks, he looked at So Wol and spoke.
“Lili’s Abum, bring me some rice wine too.”
“……Who are you talking to?”
So Wol’s eyes merely blinked, and the customer’s expression turned puzzled.
“Who else would I mean but Lili’s Abum?”
Only then did So Wol realize the customer had been calling to him, and his expression became peculiar.
“Am I Lili’s Abum?”
“Aren’t you?”
“……Well, I suppose not exactly.”
So Wol’s lips twitched, and he let out a hollow laugh.
He awkwardly scratched his cheek and turned away.
Abum, of all things.
It wasn’t a title that naturally suited him, yet he had no inclination to correct it.
Once Beopgong took Lili away, the name would fade away on its own anyway.
So Wol dismissed the matter lightly and went to fetch the rice wine.
* * *
The next morning.
As So Wol drew water from the well to wash diapers, he clicked his tongue at the empty wooden bucket descending into the darkness.
The well water had noticeably diminished, likely from the prolonged heat.
“The laundry will be difficult…….”
There was no choice. He’d have to go down to the village washing place.
So Wol strapped Lili to his back, stuffed diapers and clothes into a basket, and headed toward the washing place.
Several village women were already at work there.
Splash.
Tap. Tap.
The sound of cloth being wrung in water and washing bats striking cloth could be heard from some distance away.
As So Wol drew near, one of the women lifted her head.
“Oh my, if it isn’t Lili’s Abum. Lili’s come too.”
“Did you come to do laundry as well, Lili’s Abum?”
“Your well must be running dry too, I reckon.”
“…….”
So Wol wet his lips.
He’d thought only that customer yesterday used the name, but it seemed the title had spread quite a bit through the village.
Meanwhile, the women’s gazes had already fixed on Lili on his back.
“Let us see Lili’s face, would you?”
“What a pretty little thing.”
“Lili’s Abum has been raising him so well—look how plump he’s gotten.”
“Oh my!”
Strange faces crowded around, but Lili neither fussed nor cried.
Rather, So Wol’s face brightened and he clapped his hands.
“He’s docile enough, isn’t he? Lili’s father, give Lili here. I’ll hold him while you do the washing.”
A woman opened her arms and made the offer. So Wol shook his head.
“He’s terribly shy with strangers.”
“Don’t you trust me? Good heavens, I’ve raised several children of my own. Just let me have him.”
After some hesitation, So Wol untied the baby sling, and the woman deftly lifted Lili into her arms.
Lili blinked in the unfamiliar embrace, but the moment his eyes met So Wol’s, he nestled his head against the woman’s chest.
It seemed all he needed was to keep So Wol in sight.
“Our little Lili, how prettily he’s made.”
“Ah!”
“Does he answer too? Ha ha.”
So Wol crouched by the water’s edge, listening to the woman coo at Lili.
As he dipped his clothes into the stream, a woman rinsing laundry nearby spoke up.
“That age is always the most chaotic. Does he sleep well? My youngest had his nights and days all topsy-turvy at that stage—drove us mad.”
“He sleeps fairly well at night.”
“Is he crawling yet?”
“He is.”
“He’ll be walking soon enough. Once they start walking, you turn your back for a moment and they’ve vanished before your eyes.”
“My neighbor’s got that right. My own child disappeared while I was at the outhouse, and I searched for the longest time only to find him in the chicken coop.”
“The chicken coop? Whatever for?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea! When I told him to come out, he grabbed a chicken and wailed and screamed—it was bedlam.”
The women clutched their bellies, laughing uproariously.
So Wol chuckled softly too, striking the laundry with his washing bat.
“Does he eat well?”
“Very well. Lately I’ve been giving him rice gruel with a bit of lean meat and vegetable, and he loves it—the moment he sees a spoon, his mouth falls open.”
“Lili’s father must be skilled at it. Some children are terribly picky, but this little one seems to thrive.”
“Has he got his front teeth yet?”
“Just the bottom ones coming through so far. Because of that, he wants to put everything in his mouth—it’s troublesome. Just yesterday he tried to gnaw on a cloth towel and gave me quite a fright.”
“Ha ha, that’s just the stage he’s at.”
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the group.
“His grip’s grown remarkably strong too. He crawls so fast that if I look away for a moment, he’s already off in the distance.”
“That fast?”
“Don’t even mention it. The other day he practically reached the—”
“The ceiling?”
The women all turned to stare at him.
So Wol collected himself and corrected his words.
“—the support beam beneath the ceiling. I worry what he’ll manage once he starts walking.”
Then one woman laughed and spoke.
“Lili’s father, you must be very fond of Lili.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ever since we started asking, you’ve been answering ten words for every one we speak.”
“—Myself?”
“Ha ha, at first you said just one thing—that he’s growing well. Now you’re telling us how much he eats, where his teeth are coming in, everything.”
The women laughed mischievously.
So Wol gave an embarrassed cough, wrung out the rinsed laundry, and placed it in a basket.
Looking back on it, they were right.
He’d been pouring out things no one had even asked.
As So Wol’s embarrassment grew, the woman holding Lili smiled and extended her arms.
“Lili’s father, take Lili now. He’s been staring at you this whole time.”
“Ah!”
Lili stretched both arms toward So Wol.
“There, there. Come along.”
So Wol took Lili from the woman’s hands, settled the child on his back, and tied the baby sling securely.
Then, tucking the basket of rinsed laundry under his arm, he stood.
“Thank you for your help with the washing. I’ll be on my way now.”
“Do go. Lili’s father, you must be exhausted in this heat.”
“Bring Lili again next time. Take care, Lili.”
“Ah-hoo!”
At Lili’s reply, laughter bloomed across the washing place.
So Wol departed from the washing place with a smile on his face.
The babbling of the stream and the chatter of the women grew steadily fainter.
Lili had dozed off with his cheek pressed against So Wol’s shoulder.
So Wol slowed his pace and crept carefully forward, determined not to wake the child.
The cicada song hung thick in the air as they climbed toward the Gaekjan.
The sound stirred the memory of Beopgong’s letter.
[I’m sorry, but I’ll collect the child next summer.]
That summer had come, yet Beopgong remained utterly silent.
“Damn that wretched monk. Just let him show his face.”
Grumbling, So Wol glanced briefly toward Sungsan.
He could tell himself there must be a reason, but the desire to strike that face kept rising up—unbidden, impossible to suppress.
Still, there was much he would tell Beopgong when he came.
What Lili ate well.
How to soothe him when he fussed over sleep.
What toys he preferred.
That diapers should be made of soft cloth.
These days he put everything in his mouth, so anything dirty needed to stay out of reach.
“This little one needs more attention than I expected, I’ll tell you that much.”
Sungsan was still a long way off.
Before the heat grew worse, it would be wise to sew a few more light garments.
And he’d need to pack plenty of changes for the road.
He’d have to explain what Lili’s name meant.
Even if he gave the child a different name later, he wanted him to be called Lili for now at least.
The boy seemed to recognize his own name already.
Pear—Li, the character for pear.
As So Wol turned that single ideograph over in his mind, the pear tree in the Gaekjan’s courtyard came to him.
He hadn’t shown Lili the pear blossoms properly that spring.
So when autumn came and the pears ripened, he’d pick the sweetest one and let Lili taste it, and—
So Wol stopped walking.
…….
By autumn, Lili would not be at the Gaekjan.

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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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