Sowol Inn - Chapter 7

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 7
So Wol’s steps faltered as he turned to look at Jin Seong.
“How did you know? Has he been talking about it?”
“Beop Gong trusts very few people. And even fewer when it comes to matters involving the Murim Alliance.”
……
“If he visited Sacheon, I thought he would naturally have seen you.”
At Jin Seong’s words, So Wol scratched his cheek awkwardly.
He couldn’t tell whether being called someone Beop Gong trusted was a compliment or an insult.
Thinking of that mad monk’s way of viewing people, it seemed closer to the latter.
So Wol decided not to dwell on it further.
What mattered more was why Jin Seong had come all the way out to this backwater.
Since the boy had already pieced together that the child was here, So Wol needed to find out what else he knew.
“So, how much have you heard?”
“Only that a ghost has possessed the Inn.”
A ghost has possessed the Inn.
So Wol turned the words over in his mind.
Whether Jin Seong had heard only that much, or was only telling him that much.
Either way, the statement could be read.
“That’s nonsense, of course.”
“I agree.”
Jin Seong nodded readily, then asked again.
“But why would such a rumor spread?”
“Well… Baek Ya played some pranks, and the villagers mistook them for the work of a ghost.”
Had Baek Ya heard, he would have protested indignantly, but So Wol decided to shelve his conscience for now.
After all, saying Baek Ya had played pranks was far more plausible than saying a newborn with an opened Baihui Acupoint was using Void Absorption.
Besides, Baek Ya would have fled far away the moment Jin Seong stepped into the Inn.
Jin Seong said nothing, his fingers tracing the rim of the teacup.
He’d noticed So Wol’s explanation was flimsy, but didn’t press further.
So Wol let out an awkward cough and changed the subject.
“Say, can you write talismans?”
“I cannot.”
“No need to be so categorical about it. Can’t even fake them?”
“I can manage a passable imitation.”
“Then that’ll do. Write me a few talismans before you go. I’ll put them on the gate. If people see talismans written by a Daoist, they’ll feel better about things.”
“Very well.”
So Wol nodded and poured hot water into a fresh cup.
The teacup sat on the table, steam rising in thin wisps.
“Thank you.”
Jin Seong lifted the cup, savoring the aroma, then blinked—as if surprised.
“Jade Leaf Spring, isn’t it?”
“Why are you startled to find good tea?”
“I never thought you’d actually offer it, senior.”
“Don’t like it, give it back.”
“Not at all. It’s excellent.”
Jin Seong replied coolly, took a sip, and set the cup down.
His gaze drifted back to the cradle.
“Do you know why Beop Gong spirited the child away?”
“How would I know what goes on in that madman’s head?”
“Not long ago, a prisoner gave birth to a child in the Murim Alliance’s Noegok prison.”
“You mean this one?”
“Yes. The Alliance fell into turmoil over what to do with the child. Some argued he should be disposed of before he became a liability—since he carries the blood of the Demonic Sect—while others wanted to keep him alive and assess his usefulness.”
“I see.”
So Wol’s brow furrowed.
He didn’t care how the Alliance fanatics bickered among themselves, but the word “disposal” rankled him.
He’d thought the Orthodox Faction was different, yet the way they weighed human worth seemed no better than the Demonic Sect’s.
“Beop Gong watched their bickering in silence, then left without a word.”
“That monk stayed quiet? Now that is suspicious.”
“And seven days later, the child had vanished.”
“Well, of course.”
So Wol snorted. The man was not one to sit idle.
“It was clear that the one who took the child was a master called Beop Gong. When the Inspection Unit pressed him about the child’s whereabouts, he simply repeated that the boy was in a safe place and to wait until the time came.”
So Wol’s expression twisted as he listened in silence.
“Until the time comes? No, this crazy bastard. He told me to look after him for just a month, and now he’s asking me to raise a newborn indefinitely?”
“You seem to be raising him well, though.”
“Is that the point right now?”
Just then, a small whimper escaped from the cradle.
“Wah-wah…….”
So Wol rose at once and checked the cradle.
“It’s not a hunger cry. What’s wrong? What’s bothering you?”
He pressed his hand to the baby’s forehead, slipped his fingers inside the swaddling clothes, then made a soft clicking sound with his tongue.
“He’s hot.”
So Wol moved the brazier to the side and loosened the tightly wrapped swaddling clothes.
Only then did the baby’s whimper cease.
Jin Seong regarded So Wol with a curious look.
“You can tell just from the sound of his crying?”
“Spend three days and nights without sleep listening to a baby cry, and you’ll learn whether you like it or not.”
“You’ve had a difficult time of it.”
There was a faint hint of amusement in Jin Seong’s voice as he offered this polite sympathy.
Recognizing the tease, So Wol furrowed his brow.
“Since you’re here anyway, why don’t you take the child with you, young master?”
“That I cannot do.”
“Why not.”
“If I take the child, an official handover record will be created. At that moment, the boy becomes a subject of the Murim Alliance’s administration.”
……
“That’s not what you want, is it?”
So Wol’s frown deepened as he rubbed his face roughly.
Jin Seong was right.
The moment the child’s name appeared in a document, every detail of his life would be recorded on paper.
Who took him, where he stayed, what he ate, what symptoms he showed.
Everything would be documented and reported.
And if word of the opened Baihui Acupoint or his strange abilities ever surfaced, the child would have no chance at an ordinary life.
He might well end up confined forever under the guise of the Alliance’s protection.
Protection and exploitation were separated by the thinnest of lines.
So Wol’s gaze fell on the cradle.
The baby lay there with a cheerful face, his lips smacking softly.
He understood the situation perfectly, yet he couldn’t simply let the boy go…….
When So Wol fell silent, Jin Seong smiled faintly, as if he’d expected this.
“What I saw here today, I will keep to myself.”
“……Can you really do that?”
“I don’t mean I’ll omit the report. But a report can be written in many ways.”
“Word games.”
“You may take it that way.”
So Wol turned his attention away from the cradle and changed the subject.
“Fine, then write me a talisman before you leave. The villagers have been pestering me to death. Do I just need to get out brush, paper, and ink?”
“Cinnabar would be better if you have it. Talisman script looks more convincing when it’s written in red.”
“We don’t have anything like that at the inn.”
“Then I could use my own blood——”
Jin Seong moved to bite his fingertip, but So Wol grabbed his hand in alarm.
“I’ll go buy some. Don’t do anything so gruesome. I have no intention of displaying your blood in my inn.”
“I was joking. I carry something for such occasions.”
……
So Wol retrieved brush, paper, and ink, debating whether to give this Taoist priest a good thrashing.
Regardless, Jin Seong calmly unrolled the paper and ground the cinnabar fine.
His movements were so precise that anyone watching might have thought he was about to write a truly magnificent talisman.
Presently the brush touched the paper.
A red line flowed across the surface without hesitation.
So Wol watched the neat strokes connect with one another, then asked.
“What does it mean?”
“It means nothing at all.”
“……What?”
“As long as it looks convincing.”
“You could make a living as a con artist.”
“I already do. We simply call it a report at the Inspection Unit.”
So Wol laughed, shaking his head.
“Can the head of the Inspection Unit really say such things?”
“It’s precisely because I’m the head that I say them. People believe in form before truth.”
“The world’s gone mad, truly mad. How did that rigid Taoist priest end up so twisted?”
“You might call it enlightenment through experience.”
Jin Seong replied and began drawing a second Talisman as he spoke.
“Do you still have no intention of taking up the sword?”
“The sword? I’m too busy managing the inn.”
“You don’t appear busy at all. There are no guests.”
So Wol’s brow furrowed.
“You’ve gotten more insufferable.”
“You’ve always grown angry when I speak plainly.”
“Hold your tongue.”
So Wol snapped at him irritably.
That Taoist still had a gift for getting under a man’s skin, no matter how many years had passed.
Jin Seong drew the final Talisman with an unmoved expression, then set down his brush.
He arranged the completed Talismans carefully before speaking with deliberation.
“Senior, my authority extends only to obscuring the child’s whereabouts. I cannot erase the record that the child was born in Noegok.”
……
“If the Inspection Unit continues to trace the child’s movements, another inspector may come next time.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————