Sowol Inn - Chapter 9

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

Episode 9
So Wol faltered, and the man at the far end of the table glanced at him sidelong.
The man’s gaze flickered back and forth between So Wol and the bowl.
When So Wol’s eyes wouldn’t leave the bowl, Jang Wi swept the chopsticks away.
“Friend, grip it like that and you’ll drop the whole thing.”
His reproach carried the same casual tone as always.
So Wol pretended not to hear and asked instead, “More broth?”
“More broth?”
“Yes, thank you. Just a bit more, if you would.”
The man readily thrust his bowl forward.
Taking it, So Wol turned toward the Kitchen.
His hand stirred the ladle slowly, but his mind raced.
Hao Wen had eyes and ears everywhere.
The innkeepers of the lodges.
The porters at the marketplace.
The ferrymen crossing the river.
The hunters who roamed the mountains.
So Wol himself had once borrowed their eyes and ears without number.
So it was hardly strange if a Hao Wen agent slipped in among the guests.
What troubled him was the timing.
Why here, in this remote backwater, and now of all times?
So Wol cast a glance toward the Main Hall.
Hao Wen scraped together even the smallest rumors from the marketplace.
If they’d come only to confirm the rumors of a haunted Inn, there was no great cause for alarm.
But if those hunting for the child spirited away from Meng’s Thunder Prison had extended their reach to Hao Wen itself, that was another matter entirely.
Whatever purpose drove them to find the child, it boded no good.
So Wol’s eyes grew cold.
“Innkeeper! Is the broth ready?”
“Coming!”
So Wol composed his face, ladled the broth generously, and returned to the Main Hall.
The men were still intent on their talk of hides and quarry.
“Your broth, sir.”
“Much obliged.”
The man at the end of the table took the bowl with a smile.
Then, from upstairs, a faint cry seeped down.
The laughter and chatter of the men ceased as every eye turned toward the upper floor.
Baek Ya was coming down, cradling Yon Seok wrapped in swaddling cloth.
“Brother, the baby’s crying.”
As if to prove the point, the child screwed up his face and whimpered.
“Whaa—!”
So Wol swallowed his sigh and took the infant into his arms, whereupon the crying ceased as suddenly as it had begun.
The hawk-nosed man’s eyes widened.
“Wait—innkeeper, you have a child?”
“Not my own. I’m just minding him for a while—”
So Wol’s answer was lost in the flood of voices.
“Your firstborn?”
“The way he’s holding him—that’s definitely a first. Not steady at all.”
“Can we set the cradle here in the Main Hall? The baby’ll wake every time a guest arrives.”
“At that age, they sleep eight hours straight, don’t they?”
“Eight hours at a stretch? Mine doesn’t. Whenever he’s about to sleep, he wakes up and drives you mad.”
“If it’s your first, you’re in for a rough ride. Don’t pick him up every time he cries. Hold him too much and he’ll never sleep flat.”
“What are you saying? At that age, you need to hold him plenty. A little spoiling—what’s the harm? He’ll grow soon enough.”
“The child looks cold. We should add more wood to the brazier.”
“What are you talking about? His face is red. He’s too warm, I think. Loosen the swaddling cloth a bit.”
As the men threw in their unsolicited advice one after another, So Wol stood among them at a loss, his mouth opening and closing.
They jostled him until he laid the child in the cradle, whereupon Jang Wi doubled over, holding his belly and laughing silently.
“Well, well. Everyone here’s raised children by the dozen with their mouths. But I’d wager they all go home and don’t lay eyes on their own kids—just drink their wine and get a beating from their wives.”
The baby, as if in agreement, kicked his limbs and broke into a grin.
“Ooh!”
Through the laughter, the sound of wings came through.
Thwack.
At the same moment, the baby’s laughter cut short.
The infant’s face filled with curiosity as he took in the Main Hall’s every corner.
In his jet-black eyes, a sack shifting in the corner of the Main Hall was reflected.
Deep in the baby’s pupils, a strange golden light rippled.
So Wol’s spine went cold.
He reflexively swept his gaze across the table.
Chopsticks. Wine bottle. Soup bowl.
All the usual things the baby might have disturbed were in their proper places.
Yet the golden light dancing in the infant’s eyes did not fade.
So Wol’s anxious gaze landed on the sack in the corner of the Main Hall.
Slip.
Though no one had touched it, the knot binding the sack’s mouth was coming undone on its own.
Sliiip.
The second knot followed, collapsing weakly.
“Oh—!”
Just as So Wol moved urgently to rise.
The sack’s opening burst wide.
A yellow beak jutted suddenly from the gap.
Flap-flap-flap!
A pheasant burst from the sack and rocketed skyward.
“What—what is that!”
The bird scythed perilously close over the men’s heads, streaking across the Main Hall.
Crash!
Its thrashing wings slammed into a wine bottle.
Two bottles toppled with a clatter, spilling Yellow Wine across the table.
The golden liquid ran down the table’s edge and streamed onto the floor.
“Ah, my wine!”
One startled man tipped backward in his chair.
Bang!
The commotion seemed to delight the baby, who was grinning with joy.
“Ah! Woo!”
“How was that knot tied that it came loose!”
“How should I know! Just catch it!”
The sack’s owner shot up, shouting.
“Catch it alive—don’t kill it!”
The pheasant landed atop a bench, then unfurled its wings toward So Wol again.
So Wol snatched up the baby from the cradle, clutching him close, and cried out.
“Baek Ya! Catch it!”
“Right.”
Baek Ya, responding, hurled himself forward.
His sleeve grazed the empty air, and his hand snapped the pheasant’s neck clean.
Flap! Flap!
The bird beat its wings in desperation, but Baek Ya remained perfectly still.
Baek Ya turned to So Wol like a child awaiting praise.
So Wol exhaled in relief and nodded.
“Well done. Now return it to its owner.”
“Much obliged. I’ll take it from here.”
The sack’s owner came rushing up and took the pheasant back.
The man shoved the bird into the sack, then wound the cord three times over, tying the knot tight and firm.
He glanced at So Wol uncertainly and scratched his head.
“My apologies, friend. I’ll pay for the broken bottles myself.”
“Think nothing of it. I’ll clean it up. Have a seat.”
So Wol answered with an easy, good-natured smile.
The man bore no real blame—it was not he who’d loosed the pheasant, but the baby.
The culprit had already grown docile, his tiny fingers fiddling with So Wol’s collar.
“Yon Seok. Behave yourself.”
So Wol set the baby down in the cradle with a gentle rebuke, then asked.
“But why did you bring it alive instead of dead?”
“Because of the youngest.”
An awkward smile spread across the man’s face.
“The youngest’s birthday is tomorrow, and he’s utterly helpless when it comes to pheasant—can’t refuse it. I was planning to have it for his birthday meal.”
“How old is the youngest?”
“Seven this year. Small as he is, the moment he sees pheasant, he’ll eat two bowls of rice.”
Another man seized the opening and chimed in.
“My second boy did the same—tore through rabbit legs all by himself.”
“My oldest emptied three bowls of thin noodles.”
“Three bowls? Were you starving him beforehand?”
The men rambled on about their children, their laughter erupting in cheerful tumult.
Though So Wol thought it was nothing worth boasting about, he didn’t mind the commotion.
Except for one.
The man at the far end of the table—the one who had arranged his chopsticks in a cross—did not laugh.
He drifted apart from the conversation, his attention fixed carefully on the loosened knot and the baby.
So Wol rose without a word and shifted his position to block the man’s view.
When their eyes met, the man drank from his cup as though nothing had happened, wetting his lips.
The man was troublesome in every way, but suspicion alone was not enough to act upon.
So Wol withdrew his gaze from the man.
Instead, he surveyed the Main Hall now in disarray.
Shards of broken bottles, overturned bowls, and Yellow Wine spread across the floor.
There was no shortage of things to clean.
Swallowing a sigh, he gestured to Baek Ya.
“Baek Ya. Bring me a cloth.”
“Right.”
While Baek Ya rushed to the Kitchen, So Wol nudged the bottle shards together with his foot.
When Baek Ya returned with a cloth in hand, he did not go straight to So Wol.
He stood before the Cradle, tilting his head.
“Brother, something’s wrong with the baby.”
“What do you mean, wrong?”
“He won’t laugh.”
Startled by those words, So Wol hurried to the Cradle and bent down.
Just moments before, the baby had been kicking his limbs and laughing, but now his eyes were only blinking slowly.
So Wol quickly placed his hand on the baby’s forehead.
It was burning hot.
As So Wol’s brow creased, Jang Wi approached.
“What’s wrong?”
“He feels hot.”

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