Sowol Inn - Chapter 4

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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 4
At the same moment, a bundle of bronze coins clattered to the floor.
Clang!
Sowol’s gaze fixed on Baekya.
“Baekya, don’t play tricks.”
In defiance, the bundle of coins rose again into the air.
“Baekya.”
As Sowol’s voice turned stern, Baekya’s expression grew aggrieved and he shook his head.
“Baekya didn’t do it.”
“If not you, then who’s playing such pranks?”
“Not Baekya. Baby.”
“Baby?”
“Baby did it.”
Baekya pointed toward the cradle.
The baby sat sucking its fingers, its face the very picture of innocence.
Sowol’s brow furrowed.
Empty-Hand Grappling was no parlor trick.
It was an art only masters of the highest realm could achieve.
How could a baby possibly command such a technique?
Just as Sowol was about to object, the inn door swung open.
“Master Wang, are you in?”
Startled, Sowol reflexively snatched the bundle of coins from the air.
The coins clinked against one another in his palm.
Sowol turned awkwardly toward the door. Wang Yeom stood there, a small basket in his hands.
“What brings you?”
“Nothing much—I thought the baby might need more clothes, so I brought several sets. They belonged to Dan-u, but they should be useful.”
“Thank you. I’m always indebted to you.”
“Indebted? Nonsense. Parents help each other out.”
Wang Yeom stepped inside the inn without fanfare.
Sowol quickly twisted his body to shield the table.
Scattered across the table lay several loose coins, in addition to the bundle he’d caught.
If the baby lifted more coins into the air and Wang Yeom witnessed it, the situation would become impossible to explain.
“Is the baby asleep? Have you changed the diaper?”
“Just changed it.”
“My, the little one’s holding your hand so tightly. Does it know whose hand it is?”
Wang Yeom smiled and approached the cradle.
The moment Wang Yeom looked down at the cradle and reached out to stroke the baby’s head, one of the coins on the table trembled.
Sowol’s face went pale.
Fortunately, Wang Yeom seemed not to notice. He continued speaking as he gently touched the baby’s cheek.
“Our Dan-u was this size once too, and now he’s already running around the yard. Two years pass like a blink of an eye.”
Meanwhile, Sowol nudged Baekya with his foot and jerked his chin toward the table.
Coins, coins!
Sowol’s mouth opened and closed silently, but Baekya stood there blankly, his large eyes only blinking.
He didn’t understand why Sowol was gesturing. Sowol tried again with his mouth.
Coins!
Only then did Baekya notice the coins on the table wavering as if about to lift, and he hurried toward it.
“The baby is well-behaved, certainly. Doesn’t even cry when seeing strangers.”
“…….”
“How much milk is left? It’s been a while since you bought it, hasn’t it?”
“…….”
“Master, are you listening?”
The moment Wang Yeom turned around sharply.
Baekya caught the hovering coin.
Wang Yeom looked back and forth between Sowol, who was twisting his body awkwardly, and Baekya, who stood in an ungainly posture. His eyes narrowed.
“Master, is something wrong?”
“Wrong? No, I’m fine.”
As Sowol spoke, a bead of sweat dripped from his jaw.
“Your complexion is quite pale. If something ails you, go see the physician. At your age, overexertion invites serious ailments.”
“I shall. Don’t worry yourself.”
Sowol forced a smile and waved his hand. The bundle of coins in his grip jangled softly.
Wang Yeom asked again.
“Are you truly certain?”
“I’m certain.”
Wang Yeom’s expression grew peculiar.
He seemed to suspect that this man’s mind had grown muddled from the grueling work of child-rearing.
“Baekya, keep a close eye on him from beside him. A man and a newborn alone—that’s no recipe for maintaining one’s sanity.”
“All right.”
Perhaps he’d already concluded that Sowol had lost his.
Wang Yeom said nothing further and set the basket down beside the cradle.
“I’ll leave this here. I must be going.”
“My thanks. Travel safely.”
Wang Yeom nodded and turned to leave.
Click.
The door closed behind him.
Only then did Sowol exhale a long breath. He felt as though ten years had been stolen from his life.
Baekya mimicked him, letting out a soft sigh of relief.
Sowol wiped the sweat from his brow and spoke.
“Baekya. You cannot tell anyone what you saw today.”
“Why not?”
“The child will be in danger.”
“In danger?”
“Yes. Bad people will try to take the baby away.”
At Sowol’s words, Baekya’s face twisted in anger.
“I hate bad people.”
“Then keep your mouth sealed tight. Now, come here—let’s see if the baby has Inner Energy, shall we?”
Baekya obediently approached the cradle and grasped the baby’s wrist.
“There isn’t any.”
“And the Dantian?”
“None of that either.”
……
Sowol’s face went blank.
A newborn with neither Inner Energy nor a Dantian, yet wielding Empty-Hand Grappling?
What kind of madness was this?
As Sowol blinked in confusion, Baekya rubbed the crown of her head and spoke.
“The baby—here. It’s open.”
“Open?”
“Wide open.”
“……You mean the Baihui Acupoint is open?”
Baekya nodded.
Sowol pressed his throbbing forehead.
The words Beopgong had spoken echoed in his mind.
‘The old master instructed me to take the child in.’
‘The moment I hand him over, they’ll move to exploit him. You can’t trust those Segang types.’
“Damn it all……. So that’s why he dumped this on me.”
He’d been puzzled by why the former abbot of Shaolin had taken interest in a child of Demonic Cult blood.
Now it made sense.
Most martial artists accumulated Inner Energy in the vessel of their Dantian, then wielded their skills through that power.
But those with the Baihui Acupoint open were different.
Without Inner Energy stored within their bodies, they could draw upon the Natural Energy of heaven and earth as though it were their own strength.
Countless martial masters in Gangho had devoted their entire lives to reaching such a realm.
Yet this child had been born with that gate already open—no one in Gangho would overlook such a thing.
“You’re in a real predicament, aren’t you?”
Sowol muttered the words with a note of pity, then let out a long sigh.
He didn’t know why the baby’s Baihui Acupoint lay open, or what abilities the child possessed.
But one thing was certain: there was nothing good to be had from Gangho knowing any of it.
Sowol knew well that for a child without a clan, without a sect, without any adult to protect him, being marked as exceptional was little better than a curse.
He himself had learned that lesson.
Yet this was a problem for Beopgong to solve, not for Sowol to worry over.
Sowol retrieved brush and ink and hastily scrawled a message to Beopgong, demanding he come at once to collect the baby.
He also made sure to include a few choice remarks about crushing that damned fool’s skull—a gesture of affection, of sorts.
Yet even after sending Jeongseo-gu away, Sowol’s mind remained unsettled.
How was he to hide this child before Beopgong arrived?
This was an Inn. The doors stood perpetually open, and guests came and went at all hours.
Few travelers found their way to a mountain Inn, true enough, but it was hardly the place to keep a secret.
Yet he couldn’t tuck the baby away in some far corner of a room either.
The moment footsteps grew distant, the child would cry out.
Sowol swallowed a sigh and crouched beside the cradle.
His thoughts churned.
* * *
In the days that followed, Sowol found himself watching carefully for any sign of when the baby might use Empty-Hand Grappling.
He desperately wanted to prevent the child from levitating objects in front of the guests.
But the baby remained quiet.
There were no more incidents of objects floating through the air, and the child caused no real trouble.
It simply ate, slept, and cried. Then ate, and slept again.
It behaved like any ordinary newborn.
“Baby, make it float!”
Baekya had tried coaxing as well, but the child only stared at her blankly.
Watching this, Sowol gradually began to relax.
Perhaps he had been overly cautious.
Perhaps the child possessed no strange power at all—perhaps circumstances had simply aligned in that moment, and the object had risen by mere chance.
Sowol chose to believe as much.
Until that night, when a guest woke before the others.
2. The Haunted Inn
In the depths of night, when all slept.
A merchant named Han, lodging in the far room of the Inn’s upper floor, suddenly opened his eyes. His throat was parched.
He fumbled about his pillow, searching for a water vessel.
But the bowl his fingers found was empty.
Weighing whether to lie back down, he slowly hauled himself upright.
If he descended to the lower floor, he might coax a bowl of herbal tea from someone.
Creak.
As he opened the door, cold air rolled up from the darkened corridor’s end.
Han rubbed his forearms, trying to shake off the unease, and made his way toward the stairs.
Creak. Creak.
With each step down, the wooden planks sang out an eerie note.
On the lower floor, a small lantern burned in the main room.
The Inn’s proprietor, who had been nodding off before the cradle, lifted his head.
“What brings you down?”
Han found himself shrinking slightly. There was something about this Inn keeper—an air of quiet dominion.
“My throat’s parched. Might I trouble you for a bowl of herbal tea?”
“I’ll fetch it at once.”
The proprietor disappeared into the kitchen.
As Han waited, he glanced into the cradle.
The baby was gazing up at him with bright, alert eyes.
“What a lovely little thing you are.”
A smile crossed Han’s lips unbidden.
He too had a daughter waiting for him back in his hometown.
“Peekaboo.”
At his coaxing, the child broke into a grin and wiggled its fingers.
For just an instant, those black pupils seemed to gleam with gold.
In that moment, a desolate wind whispered past Han’s ear.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
Han froze. Something was behind him.
Slowly, he turned his head—and a scream tore from his mouth.
“Aaaahhhhh!”

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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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