Sowol Inn - Chapter 5

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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 5
Han cried out and stumbled backward.
The chopsticks hung suspended in the air.
Trembling, he squeezed his eyes shut.
‘I must have imagined it.’
He was half-asleep—that was all. Chopsticks couldn’t possibly float in thin air.
Han steadied himself and slowly lifted his trembling eyelids.
The chopsticks were still hanging in the air.
Worse, they were moving now—up and down, as if to mock him.
The color drained from Han’s face.
“A gh—a ghost. A ghost!”
He bolted from the inn without another thought.
* * *
So-wol surveyed the empty common room and scratched her cheek.
“Why aren’t any customers coming?”
On a normal day, she would have sold at least seven or eight bowls of thin noodles by now, but not a single guest had arrived. Not one.
At this rate, she’d have to throw out all the broth again.
It was the first time business had failed so completely without a heavy snowfall.
It had been four days since customers stopped coming to the inn.
So-wol had kept telling herself that tomorrow they would come, surely tomorrow—but now the dread was settling in.
This atmosphere took her back ten years, to when she’d first opened the inn.
That was when the villagers had feared her appearance and wouldn’t venture anywhere near the place.
“Something feels off.”
She couldn’t shake the thought of that merchant who’d fled in the middle of the night days ago.
So-wol rose from her seat. She had decided to go into the village.
Just then, a familiar figure opened the inn door and stepped inside.
“So-wol, are you here?”
It was Jang-wi from next door.
“Jang-wi, come in. Good to see you.”
So-wol welcomed him warmly. At least someone had come—her anxiety eased.
“Have you eaten? Shall I prepare you a bowl of thin noodles?”
“No, no—I ate earlier. I’m fine.”
“Then let me pour you some tea. Sit over there.”
Jang-wi nodded and took a seat at the table.
He watched quietly as So-wol brought the tea, then opened and closed his mouth several times, studying her face as he hesitated.
It was unlike him to be so uncertain.
“So-wol, have you heard the rumors going around the village?”
“Rumors? What rumors?”
At her response, Jang-wi scratched the back of his head.
“You really don’t know anything, do you?”
“No—what’s happened?”
“There’s a story spreading all over that your inn is haunted by a ghost.”
“A ghost? That’s just—” So-wol caught herself. “That’s nonsense.”
“That merchant who stayed here a few days ago—remember him?”
“Yes, I do. He said his throat was dry, so I went to fetch him some leaf tea, and when I came back he was screaming and ran off.”
“That’s the one.”
“What about him?”
“He’s been spreading word at the marketplace that he saw a ghost in your inn. He claims the chopsticks were flying through the air.”
So-wol let out a bitter laugh.
“Chopsticks flying? The man must have weak nerves.”
“That’s what I thought too.”
Jang-wi chuckled. So-wol laughed along, but her expression remained strained.
A cold sweat trickled down her spine.
Who could have known that the baby could make the chopsticks float while she stepped away for a moment?
“Do the villagers all believe it?”
“The people who know you well figure Han must have seen things wrong. But the marketplace folk—they all seem convinced.”
“Goodness.”
As So-wol swallowed an awkward laugh, Jang-wi spoke gently, as if to comfort her.
“Rumors fade quickly. I came to tell you since you seemed unaware.”
“Thank you.”
“There’s no need for that between us.”
Jang-wi waved his hand, then cast a glance toward the cradle, asking at length whether the baby was sleeping well at night, if it wouldn’t be good to build up the brazier more given the cold weather, and other such concerns.
When he ran out of things to say, he rose to his feet.
“In any case, don’t worry yourself about it. I should be going now.”
“Take care on your way.”
“Still, I can’t just leave it at that. Let me speak to the Village Chief about it.”
“Don’t trouble yourself. Let it be.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything unfavorable.”
With that, Jang-wi left the Inn.
So-wol smiled and saw him off, but only briefly.
The moment the Inn door closed, So-wol leaned against the frame and pressed her fingers to her temple.
How was she supposed to manage this?
No suitable solution came to mind.
She could deny it as mere rumor.
If the merchant insisted he’d seen things in a half-awake daze, that would be the end of it.
The problem was that the tiny creature in that cradle had genuinely made chopsticks float.
Without any real countermeasure, if she took on more guests, it might not be chopsticks flying about but ladles.
Or heaven forbid, a customer’s entire bowl might lift into the air.
So-wol glanced at the cradle and muttered.
“Yonseok. What am I supposed to do about you?”
The baby, oblivious to So-wol’s distress, grinned happily.
“You’re impossible. Just stay calm.”
She said as much to the baby whose hands kept fidgeting, then pulled on her outer coat.
Sitting idle and worrying wouldn’t bring customers back.
She thought it better to sweep the courtyard.
As So-wol prepared to leave, Baek-ya appeared at the upstairs railing, leaning over to look down.
“You heading out?”
“Just going to sweep the front gate. Watch the baby.”
“Got it.”
Baek-ya answered obediently and went to sit beside the cradle.
Reassured, So-wol turned toward the door.
As she opened it, a sharp winter wind scraped against her cheeks.
So-wol cinched her collar and picked up the broom she’d left in the corner.
The courtyard was scattered with dust and twigs that had drifted in on the wind overnight.
She swept lightly across the yard and made her way toward the gate.
When she opened it, a barrage of stares poured down on her.
Children huddled together near the Zelkova Tree were peering toward the Inn.
“What are you doing there?”
“Ahhhhh! It’s a ghost!”
“It’s the ghost man! Run away!”
The children shrieked and scattered in all directions.
……
So-wol’s face fell, and she clicked her tongue.
First a monster, and now a ghost—the rumors were piling up.
But the real concern wasn’t whether So-wol was called a ghost or not.
The rice bin was showing the bottom.
* * *
So-wol opened the ledger.
Click, clack.
In the quiet Inn, the sound of the abacus beads snapping echoed.
After staring at the abacus for a long while, So-wol finally pressed hard between her brows.
There was nothing left to calculate.
This month, too, was a deficit.
There was no need to probe the cause of the deficit.
So-wol slowly turned her head.
Her eyes landed on the tiny creature fidgeting in the cradle.
“Something so small turns out to be costly.”
With a sigh, So-wol retrieved the gold ingot from deep within the chest.
It was true she disliked touching money that Beop-gong had left behind.
Still, when it came to feeding the child, she had no intention of being stubborn.
The problem was that there was nowhere in this backwater village to exchange a Gold Ingot.
The merchants of Goam Village weren’t in a position to accept a single Gold Ingot outright.
The nearest Money Exchange where one could change currency was in Hyeon-seong, fifty li away.
“You should’ve brought Silver Ingots or Silver Coins instead. Why cart around something so unwieldy?”
Muttering, So-wol placed the Gold Ingot back into the wooden chest.
She stroked her chin, thinking.
How could she cover the deficit?
Perhaps raid a Mountain Stronghold?
But she shook her head at once.
In the old days, she wouldn’t have needed half a day to upend a single Stronghold.
But now she needed Baek-ya’s help.
“……I can’t ask the child to do something dishonorable.”
So-wol clicked her tongue.
She’d considered other options, but nothing practical emerged.
All that remained was to sell another bowl of Thin Noodles.
The problem was…….
‘Word’s spread all over town that my Inn is haunted by a Spirit.’
There were no customers to buy the noodles.
“Sigh…….”
So-wol released a long breath and closed the Ledger.
Then she approached the Cradle and met the baby’s eyes.
“Little one. Listen well to what I’m telling you. From now on, you absolutely, absolutely cannot make anything float.”
“…….”
“Because of you, strange rumors have spread. At this rate, I’m going to starve. Stay quiet and behave. Do you understand?”
The baby smiled instead of answering.
At the same moment, the baby’s eyes shone with a golden light.
Whoosh.
The Abacus on the table lifted into the air.
“No, I said no!”
So-wol cried out in distress and snatched the Abacus, setting it back on the wooden chest, when a familiar voice called from outside the door.
“Brother! Are you awake?”
It was Jang-wi.
But there was more than one set of footsteps. A dignified cough followed.
“Friend, might I come in for a moment?”
It was the Village Chief’s voice.
So-wol reflexively glanced toward the Cradle.
The baby’s bright eyes were fixed on the door.
“Wait a moment, please!”
In haste, So-wol lifted the Cradle up.
But the two men did not wait for her.
Creak.
“……Brother, what are you doing?”
Jang-wi, opening the door, blinked.
So-wol swayed the Cradle back and forth as if nothing were amiss.
“The child’s getting fussy.”
“Ah……. I see.”
Behind him, the Village Chief in his thick quilted coat entered with a solemn expression.
So-wol set the Cradle down as though all were ordinary.
“What brings you here?”
“Friend, I’ve been thinking of a way for us to clear up this misunderstanding.”
“What way is that?”
The Village Chief spoke gravely.
“Tonight, we’ll stay here at the Inn.”
“……Tonight, you mean?”
“If we spend a night here and see nothing at all, wouldn’t that be proof there’s no Spirit?”
So-wol calmly considered how to refuse.
But refusal would be as good as admitting she was hiding something.
So-wol’s mind raced quickly.
If she brought out a late-night meal and moved the Cradle upstairs while the two men were eating, separating the child from sight, it ought to work.
“……Very well. Let us do so.”
“That’s wise thinking!”
The Village Chief was running a satisfied hand down his beard when a baby’s babble erupted from the cradle.
“Ah…….”
Thud.
Tap.
A bead on the abacus sitting on the wooden bench bounced of its own accord.
“……Did anyone else hear that just now?”
The Village Chief turned his head, looking about.
So-wol’s face had gone deathly pale.

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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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