Sowol Inn - Chapter 3

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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 3
* * *
“Waaaaaah!”
“Why are you crying again……! What is it, huh? What do you want?”
So Weol stared into empty space, his eyes glazed over.
Four days and nights of incessant wailing—Baek Ya had abandoned him long ago.
A month would pass quickly, they’d said?
Who in their right mind had thought that?
“Waaaaah! Waaaaaaaah!”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I don’t even know what I did wrong, but please—just one hour’s sleep. No, half an hour, that’s all I’m asking…….”
So Weol patted the baby’s back, pacing in circles around the room with desperation written across his face.
After what felt like an eternity, the baby’s shrieks finally began to subside. The infant’s strength was spent.
So Weol held his breath, looking down at the child.
Soft, rhythmic breathing—the baby’s breath came steady and even.
Shortly after, the baby’s eyelids closed.
Joy bloomed across So Weol’s face.
Finally asleep!
Then.
“Innkeeper! Are you open for business or not!”
A bellow from downstairs jolted the baby awake, and the crying resumed.
“Waaaaaah!”
What in the hell——
So Weol’s teeth ground together.
He set the wailing baby down in the basket and rubbed his face hard.
Calm down. You can put the baby back to sleep.
Don’t lose your temper. Just take a deep breath…….
“Why aren’t you answering! I’m asking if you’re open! You don’t want to make money!”
Fine. He’d kill that bastard first.
So Weol descended the stairs with long, furious strides, his eyes bloodshot.
“You’re the one who was screaming?”
The man called out to didn’t answer at first.
The killing intent radiating from So Weol made it hard to breathe.
He retreated backward, stammering helplessly.
“M-Master? I thought no one was home……. Hack, cough!”
So Weol seized the man’s collar and hoisted him into the air with one hand.
The man’s feet left the ground, and he squeezed his eyes shut.
‘I’m done for……!’
But the pain he’d braced for never came.
Instead, he heard the sound of old wooden stairs creaking.
Creak. Creak.
Only then did the man realize he was being dragged up to the upper floor of the Guest Inn.
Crash!
The man was hurled to the floor and coughed violently as he rolled across the boards.
“Cough, cough!”
A harsh voice fell from above as the man gasped for breath.
“Put the baby to sleep.”
“……What?”
“Put the baby to sleep.”
The man carefully lifted his head.
The baby in the basket was wailing at full volume.
* * *
The man came back downstairs about a quarter hour later.
So Weol, slouching awkwardly in a chair, asked him a question.
“Did you get it to sleep?”
“Yes, Master. It fell sound asleep.”
The man answered respectfully, gingerly touching his own neck.
The sensation of So Weol’s grip on his collar felt vivid and fresh, as if it had just happened.
“How did you manage it?”
“I just held it, sir.”
“……Just held it?”
“Yes. I was simply holding him.”
So Weol stared at the man, incredulous.
That “simply” had cost him four days and nights without sleep.
Yet the moment this fellow got the child into his arms, he fell asleep at once?
At the savage glint in So Weol’s eyes, the man shrank back.
“Would it be all right if I took my leave now?”
“……Go.”
So Weol waved a hand, and the man bolted down the stairs.
Feeling oddly wronged, So Weol glared down the empty stairwell, then hauled his heavy body back up to the second floor.
The baby was sleeping soundly.
“……Even in sleep, the little wretch looks innocent.”
He grumbled and slumped against the wall.
His body felt like lead.
Just as he was about to close his eyes for a moment, he heard movement downstairs.
Creak. Creak.
Footsteps sounded on the staircase, drawing closer.
So Weol forced his heavy eyelids open.
He rose and opened the door to find Jang Wi from next door.
“So Weol, aren’t you running the inn? It’s been days since I saw the Red Lantern……Wait, is that a baby?”
So Weol, whose eyes were bloodshot and swollen, spoke weakly.
“Jang, help me out, will you…….”
* * *
Jang Wi brought back his wife Wang Yeom one day later.
“My goodness, were you taking care of this newborn all by yourself, sir?”
Wang Yeom, alarmed, rolled up her sleeves and gathered the neighborhood women.
“Good heavens, look at the state of this place!”
The women who had been called began cleaning the Guest Inn, shaking their heads.
As So Weol stood awkwardly, Wang Yeom gave him a shove.
“By the looks of you, you haven’t slept a wink. Don’t worry about the child—go get some rest.”
“……Thank you.”
So Weol didn’t protest; he collapsed onto the bed.
The moment his back touched the mattress, sleep poured over him.
But soon Baek Ya’s voice pulled him back.
“……Hyung, hyung! Wang’s wife says to come down.”
He’d closed his eyes for what felt like a moment, yet the sky beyond the window was already painted with sunset.
So Weol gathered himself with effort and made his way downstairs.
The Guest Inn was unrecognizable—spotlessly clean.
Everything that had been scattered about was back in its place, and on one side of a table lay freshly laundered Diapers neatly folded.
By the bedframe, a Cradle appeared that he’d never seen before.
Wang Yeom, who had been soothing the baby, turned to look at So Weol.
“Did you sleep well?”
“I’m in your debt.”
“Debt? Nonsense. I fed him twice. The baby’s quite well-behaved.”
At Wang Yeom’s words, So Weol was left speechless.
If four days of crying counted as well-behaved, he couldn’t imagine what a difficult child would be like.
Perhaps noticing his bewilderment, Wang Yeom smiled and spoke.
“He probably cried because the cloth he was using as a Diaper was rough. I brought Dan Woo’s old Diaper for him—use that from now on. Let him sleep in the Cradle.”
Wang Yeom pointed out the Diaper and Cradle, then handed him the baby and asked.
“What’s the baby’s name?”
“He doesn’t have one yet.”
“No name? But surely he needs something to be called. Why don’t you give him one?”
“I’m only minding him temporarily, so……that doesn’t seem right.”
So Weol smiled awkwardly and looked down at the baby.
A name follows a person for life.
It should be the one who would truly raise the child who gave him that name, not So Weol.
“Why do you keep pestering him? Come on, we’re leaving. So Weol, we’ll be going.”
“One can ask, can’t one? Is it so wrong to ask this much?”
Jang Wi’s rebuke made Wang Yeom pout, but she turned away nonetheless.
“Thank you for today. Do look after yourself.”
“If minding the child becomes too much, just call. You can lay him next to Dan Woo and watch them both together.”
So Weol nodded without hesitation.
He needed someone’s help too badly to refuse.
* * *
After that, Wang Yeom continued to visit the Guest Inn, teaching So Weol one small lesson after another about caring for the baby.
So Weol absorbed her instruction dutifully. Truth was, he knew nothing, so her way had to be right.
When seven days and nights had passed, So Weol discovered that the baby had its own particular language of expression.
A wailing “Waaaaah!” meant the child was hungry and fussy.
Frowning and whimpering meant the baby was uncomfortable in its position.
A sharp “Ee-ahh!” meant the child had soiled itself.
When So Weol couldn’t decipher the cries, Baek Ya would solve it.
“Eh-ehhhh……!”
“Elder, the baby’s too warm.”
“Too warm?”
So Weol moved the Brazier far from the Cradle, doubting even as he did it.
The crying stopped as if by magic.
Fascinated, So Weol peered down at the Cradle, and the baby—whose lips had been working soundlessly—suddenly broke into a smile.
“……So it can smile, then.”
So Weol hesitated, then touched the baby’s cheek lightly with his fingertip.
At once, the infant’s tiny hand clamped down on his finger.
So Weol let out a quiet laugh at the sight of that impossibly small grip.
“Look at this.”
It was rare for a child to smile at So Weol’s face.
In fact, it wasn’t just children.
Most people averted their eyes when they saw him.
But this little one was different.
It grasped his scar-riddled fingers without hesitation, nestling into his arms without a trace of wariness.
“……I can’t tell if you simply know nothing of the world, or if you’re fearless.”
So Weol murmured, and drew the Swaddling Cloth closed around the baby.
Only then did the child’s face come clearly into view.
There was something about the eyes—they resembled Number 83.
So Weol swallowed a bitter smile.
“Hmm. You’ve done nothing wrong. It’s that wretch of a monk—leaving you here on a whim—who bears the blame.”
The child had lost its mother at birth and been pushed from place to place until landing here.
For Number 83’s sake, at least, he could keep the baby for a month.
Perhaps the infant sensed his resolve.
The baby grinned and squeezed harder on the finger it held.
In that instant, the baby’s eyes gleamed with gold light.
The Copper Coins on the shelf trembled.
Clink.
The sound of coins striking echoed through the Guest Inn.
So Weol turned toward the metallic ring—and froze.
A cluster of Copper Coins hung suspended in the air.
So Weol’s mouth fell open in shock.
“……Void Grasping?”

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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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