Surviving as the Terminally Ill Young Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace - Chapter 97

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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 97
“Help Cheong Hye’s Hermitage?”
Je Gal Mun Yu regarded me with surprise.
“Yeah.”
“Hmm… just because you help doesn’t mean the Hermitage will answer your questions.”
He shook his head, recounting how past Student Council Presidents had attempted to persuade him,
and last year the Jijeong Hall Dormitory Supervisor had even come seeking him out,
yet none had managed to extract what they wanted from Cheong Hye.
“It doesn’t seem like it’ll take long anyway, so what.”
Still, when I insisted on staying, Je Gal Mun Yu hesitated for a moment before turning to leave.
“Right then. That works. I have Association business to attend to, so I’ll head down first. If Cheong Hye finishes the Silent Vow Cultivation, let me know.”
“Got it. See you next time!”
I waved coolly at his departing figure.
After all, Je Gal Mun Yu had only come to relay a warning; unlike me, he didn’t need to stay for an answer.
After he descended the mountain, I watched what Cheong Hye was doing and began planting beans in the same manner.
Though farming was new to me, it proved simpler than expected.
From what I could observe, all it took was digging a hole with a stick about the width of one finger joint,
dropping in two or three beans, covering them with soil, and pressing down lightly.
Pat, pat.
As I planted the beans at regular intervals,
Cheong Hye, who had been surreptitiously watching my progress at first, relaxed and continued with his own work.
“My, it’s already evening.”
Before long, absorbed in sowing, the sun had set.
It seemed we could finish in another hour or two,
and since Inbon Hall had no curfew, I could have planted through the night,
but Cheong Hye stopped first.
“…….”
Perhaps because I had helped with the work—
unlike before when he had completely ignored me, he now clasped his fist in salute toward me and bowed slightly.
Then he lit incense, formed a hand seal, and began meditation.
“You’ve worked hard. We should finish with just another hour of planting tomorrow.”
So farming time had ended; now came meditation time.
Since Cheong Hye didn’t continue, I saw no point in finishing alone.
I decided to come back tomorrow and return to the Dormitory for sleep.
“Seol! Why are you so late?”
“I was out on the neighboring mountain for a bit.”
“What? You weren’t hunting alone, were you?”
“As if that could happen.”
I fell asleep while practicing at the Training Grounds in front of the Dormitory with Maeng Ryeong Ji.
* * *
And the next day.
I climbed the Eastern Mountain early in the morning, intending to finish planting the beans.
While no specific time had been set, since Cheong Hye had stopped the moment the sun set, I knew he would start again at sunrise.
As I arrived near the summit, warm morning sunlight was pouring down onto the field.
“What…?”
But something was wrong with the state of the field.
The barley that had been rippling gold just yesterday was now in complete disarray.
Drawing closer, I saw paths carved deep through the barley field,
and the rigid dried stalks—whether bitten by some beast or snapped from the roots—lay scattered in all directions.
The grain was strewn about chaotically, footprints marked the ground everywhere, and wide depressions, as if something had rolled all over the field, lay like gaping holes.
“What in the world….”
The bean field was little better.
Slightly less damaged than the barley,
but the soil I had carefully planted yesterday—and what Cheong Hye had sown days before—was torn up and overturned.
There was no chance a person had done this.
“…Was it a wild boar that tore through here?”
I knocked on the door of the Hermitage.
Since he wasn’t in the field, he must be inside.
Months of farming work—ruined. How devastated must he be!
“…….”
Cheong Hye was inside the Hermitage.
But contrary to my expectations, he showed neither anger nor disappointment.
He simply sat in meditation, calm-faced, with incense burning before him.
It was not the behavior one would expect from someone experiencing such a thing for the first time.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been like this every year, which is why you haven’t had a harvest?”
……
There was no answer, but the serene smile on his face—as if he’d already transcended all worldly concerns—said everything.
No wonder three years of failed harvests had seemed so strange.
“Did you know a wild boar would appear soon again this time? Is that why you’ve been meditating?”
……
“No, then you should have built a fence instead! Dug a pit trap! Or stationed someone to keep watch outside!”
……
I raised my voice in exasperation, but Cheong Hye simply retrieved a hoe without comment.
Then he went out to the field and began re-tilling the ground the boar had ruined.
……Good heavens.
I watched him for a moment from behind, then descended the mountain.
The man was simply mad, wasn’t he?
Clearly, he had no intention of harvesting anything or ending his Silent Vow Cultivation.
If he’d truly wanted to harvest beans and barley, he could have devised some countermeasure.
The fact that he’d been doing this for three years now suggested he wasn’t simply enduring hardship like a pervert—he actively seemed to enjoy it, convinced each time that the beasts had ruined everything again.
Even more striking: while I returned to the Dormitory and slept soundly, he remained in the Hermitage just outside, within arm’s reach.
Had he wanted to, he could easily have caught the boar in the act, as it tore through the barley and rolled about the field in chaos.
I should have anticipated that someone who vows not to speak until the beans and barley are harvested cannot possibly be in their right mind.
In my past life, my time in Buk Hae, and my brief experience in this world, I’d never encountered a human quite like this one—I’d been too careless.
“Ah, well. At least knowing how to plant beans will be useful someday!”
If he’d been willing to tell me about Yeom Ho, he would have written it down long ago.
I decided to cleanly abandon any hope of extracting information from Cheong Hye.
After all, he wasn’t the only lead, was he—unlike the Tae Cheong Temple.
It was a pity I’d wasted yesterday’s effort helping him.
But perhaps one day I’ll be stranded on an island, forced to cultivate beans to survive—in that case, this experience will come in handy.
Let’s think positively about it!
“There might be books about the Cheong Hae Region in the Library Pavilion.”
Muttering to myself, I returned to the Academy.
Since there was still considerable time before classes, I decided to stop by the Library Pavilion.
The Library Pavilion held books of every conceivable kind, but I suspected it wouldn’t have materials detailing the various lakes of Kunlun Mountain.
Such information wouldn’t be in ordinary bookshops in Luoyang either—perhaps it would be better to request the information from the Association rather than ask for a special order?
Or should I just go to the Cheong Hae Region as originally planned and ask around……
I was lost in thought as I walked toward the Library Pavilion.
And there, just as I arrived, I ran directly into Je Gal Mun Yu, who was borrowing a book.
“Seol? Did you finish planting all the beans yesterday?”
Je Gal Mun Yu greeted me warmly, but I let out a sigh.
“I planted most of them, but it looks like I won’t have a harvest this year either.”
“Hm? Why?”
“I planted hard yesterday, and this morning when I went back up the mountain, I found the wild boar had completely destroyed the field. But Cheong Hye’s master isn’t even trying to come up with a solution—he’s just standing by and watching. He seems about to re-till the ground now, but honestly, once the crops start to ripen and give off that smell, the boar will just steal it all.”
“What? So that’s why you haven’t had a harvest for three years?”
Je Gal Mun Yu’s eyes widened.
He too had never considered that the lack of harvests might be due to such a reason.
“Can you believe it? At the very least, he should go out and drive it away. Did he really not notice a boar the size of a house rolling around in the vegetable patch right outside his door?”
Since he was the only person with whom I could share my exasperation about Cheong Hye, I beat my chest and vented.
“……Wait. You’re not exaggerating—the boar really was that big?”
But instead of sympathizing with my frustration, Je Gal Mun Yu’s interest lay elsewhere.
In a different detail.
“Maybe? I didn’t see it directly, but the footprints were large. It might not be a boar, though.”
Maeng Ryeong Ji had brought wild boars from the Academy’s back mountain several times before, and the tracks looked similar enough that I’d assumed it was a boar.
But I wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about the footprints and habits of Central Plains animals.
“There were traces of deep gouges running lengthwise, so I thought the boar had charged and torn through the ground with its snout. The footprints themselves showed two large hooves side by side, with two smaller marks behind them. The size was roughly…… about the size of my palm. Smaller than a bear’s print, but……wouldn’t it be too large for a boar?”
Could it be a different animal with similar tracks?
As I described the traces and gauged the size, Je Gal Mun Yu nodded with a notably intrigued expression.
“From the circumstances, it sounds like that’s the right creature.”
“That creature?”
“Ah, there’s a wild boar on the Academy’s bounty list.”
Ordinarily, a full-grown wild boar’s footprint is only about half the size of a palm.
But based on what you’re telling me, this one seems to be nearly twice as large, which would match.
And the fact that it appeared on the adjacent mountain makes it all quite plausible.
“It was probably one of ours originally. Beasts affected by the Spiritual Energy rising from the Deep Yellow Abyss rarely wander beyond the Academy grounds, but one of them turned south last autumn and went all the way out to the farmlands, where it ravaged the fields.”
I blinked several times.
Spiritual Energy rising from the Deep Yellow Abyss?
So that’s why they built the Dormitory on the mountain that serves as its roof?
And affected animals grow larger?
“So it’s a Spirit Beast wild boar?”
“Not one of any great significance…… but I suppose if you catch it, it should have a small Inner Core.”
“If there’s a bounty posted, that means Merit Points are attached to it, right?”
“That’s right. I can’t remember how many points, though. If you’re interested, look it up in the Merit Record Hall.”
Goodness me.
A Spirit Beast wild boar with an Inner Core!
And if Merit Points are attached on top of that, everything changes.
The beans I worked so hard to plant yesterday evening had already been torn up, which was irritating enough.
But if we’re being honest about the root cause, it wasn’t Cheong Hye’s fault—it was the boar’s.
In that case, I’d need to track it down, claim the Inner Core, and earn the Merit Points.
And then, once I’ve dealt with the boar and replanted the beans and barley, Cheong Hye can finish the harvest too.
“Thank you for telling me!”
I hurried straight to the Merit Record Hall.
Surviving as the Ill-Fated Young Lady of Buk Hae Ice Palace (Serialized)
Author │ Musked Deer
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyeong
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
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ⓒ Musked Deer 2026
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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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