By Zephyria 
Side Story: Seolji
“Didn’t he go to subjugate the monster in the village over the mountain?”
“You’re so slow with the news. He returned last night.”
“Really? I didn’t know. Is he hurt anywhere?”
“I saw him at the market this morning, and he seemed fine. What a relief.”
Could one person absorb so much attention? The entire village was busy talking about him.
The men envied him with a subtle jealousy, and the women dreamed of when he might marry, their hearts fluttering with anticipation. The elderly spoke with fervor, as did the children, leaving the streets bustling with noise.
“Ahem.”
Seolji looked up at the sound of a cough that broke her reverie. Her father was gazing at her with a peculiar look in his eyes.
She realized belatedly that she had been weaving. Distracted by the chatter of the people outside the window, she had simply been operating the loom on autopilot.
Seolji reached out again and pulled the weft. The thread, recently combed, was stiff and resilient.
“I imagine you are interested in him as well.”
“I am?”
“Indeed. He is exceptionally capable, righteous, intelligent, and moreover, strikingly handsome.”
Seolji gave a thin smile. She knew well that her father was merely testing her.
The man was an orphan, and in the past, he had been a slave to the sericulture house across the way. Even if he had lived like the son of that house, a servant was still a servant. Even if he had entered the mountains, trained, and returned with extraordinary skills, his birth did not change. Her father had always found that point distasteful and had never spoken a kind word about it.
“Like everyone else, I feel grateful. If it weren’t for Yeongparang, our village would have surely been slaughtered.”
“Hmph,” her father cleared his throat again.
When the monsters of the underground ran rampant, Bipung had been laid waste. The villagers built walls to resist and memorized secret passwords. They carried hoes and pitchforks whenever they stepped outside. Even then, they could not stop the deaths. Seolji’s mother and two older brothers had also perished at the hands of the monsters.
The village only finally became safe after Yeongparang returned from baekun mountain. He faced the monsters without any weapon, carrying only a white folding fan, and any serpent before him became as powerless as an earthworm. Not only Bipung, but the monsters of the entire Hanbat region, and further still in Nonmoe and Gominaru, vanished. As if that weren’t enough, Yeongparang often helped people in much more distant regions.
The sight of Yeongparang tracing the characters written on his fan with his finger to conjure a swirling wind was so magnificent that any maiden who saw it was bound to fall helplessly in love. Even though Seolji was not yet interested in romance, she had no choice but to admit that he was as dashing as a figure from legend.
“You must know that he has feelings for you, right?”
Seolji’s cheeks flushed red. She took her hands off the loom. It seemed weaving was out of the question for today.
Yeongparang always hung around with his crowd, chatting noisily, but whenever he passed Seolji, he would fall silent with a foolish expression on his face. If he happened to pass her on the road, he would greet her loudly in front of the whole village: “Lady Seolji, hello!” He had never done such a thing for any other maiden.
A few years ago, Seolji had suddenly craved apricots and had tried to find some, but eventually gave up when she couldn’t. Somehow, Yeongparang found out, traveled to another town, picked a great many apricots, and left them in front of her house.
‘Lady Seolji, today might be the last time I see your face like this.’
‘Pardon? What does that mean?’
‘I cannot tell you the detailed circumstances… but I believe a great battle will take place in the village tomorrow. Will you promise me that you will lock all the bolts and absolutely, no matter what, not step outside your house?’
‘That is not difficult, but… a great battle? Please be careful.’
‘Yes…’
‘Yeongparang, you promise me too. That you will return safely.’
‘Yes. For your sake as well… I will surely return alive.’
On the day Yeongparang had visited and urgently pleaded with her not to go out, Seolji remembered the bright smile the man had left as his last vivid memory, as if she had seen it only yesterday.
The following day, the village suffered a massive assault by monsters, and Yeongparang’s group wiped them out all at once. Yeongparang kept his promise to Seolji and returned alive. From that point on, he began to receive the respect of the villagers.
“Now that you have reached a marriageable age, it weighs on my mind.”
“Are you planning to make him your son-in-law?”
“No! I didn’t mean it like that!”
Seolji chuckled, finding her father’s flustered appearance amusing. Her father let out a deep sigh and continued.
“Actually, last night, while you were asleep, he visited.”
“What? Yeongparang did?”
“Yes. I was having a drink alone when he boldly barged in and… hmph, offered to pour the drink for me.”
Her father rolled his eyes upward. He looked somewhat bewildered and embarrassed, but not displeased.
Seolji instinctively felt that her father had already been won over by the man. Just as he had charmed the owner of the sericulture house and captured the hearts of the villagers, he had conquered her father.
“Talking to him, he was a decent man, more than I expected.”
“And so?”
“As you said, he is the benefactor who saved us…”
Her father paused for a long time before speaking.
“He said he wished to marry you, so I told him I agreed.”
Startled, Seolji covered her mouth with her palm. She stood up so abruptly that the loom fell over. The thread she had painstakingly starched unraveled, but Seolji did not care.
“I thought you were interested in him too, are you not?”
“I… I don’t know. I need time to think.”
“He said he would formally ask for your hand in marriage today, so think it over carefully until then.”
“How can you tell me this only now!”
Seolji kicked the loom and stormed out of the room. She heard her father let out a sigh of “Oh dear” behind her.
‘Marriage?’
Seolji shook her head. She knew she would have to do it someday, but she wasn’t ready to live as someone’s wife yet.
Yeongparang was a man who was magnificent by any standard, and Seolji respected and liked him just as the other villagers did. However, marrying him was another matter entirely.
‘Besides, I… I…’
Seolji closed her eyes tight and ran outside. She heard her maid calling “My lady, my lady!” from behind, but she did not look back.
Seolji ran frantically. She passed houses with thatched roofs and the open lot where wrestling matches were often held.
‘I… not that person, but someone else…’
Her breath reached the tip of her throat, and her pace gradually slowed. Seolji let out a sigh that felt as if the ground were sinking. Before she knew it, she had reached the entrance of the village.
By the well, there were a few people carrying water yokes, and Seolji’s friends, Wolnae and Danya.
“Seolji, what’s wrong with you? Your face is all red.”
“You’re out of breath, girl.”
Seolji regained her senses after gulping down the water Wolnae poured into a gourd.
“Did something happen?”
“No, no… it’s nothing.”
As Seolji kept her mouth shut, they shrugged and returned to their conversation.
The topic was, naturally, the return of Yeongparang from Ogeunnae. As Seolji listened to them discuss what he had been wearing when he returned late yesterday evening and which men he had been with, she suddenly interrupted.
“Did Yeogo return too?”
“Who?”
When Wolnae tilted her head in confusion, Danya nudged her shoulder.
“You know, that dim-witted servant boy who always sticks to Yeongparang’s side.”
“Ah… who cares whether he returned or not.”
‘Dim-witted servant boy!’ Seolji clenched her fists secretly, hidden from her friends.
Yeogo was Yeongparang’s childhood friend. He was neither an orphan nor a slave, but he hung out with Yeongparang without hesitation, yet he never became tainted by the other’s brashness. One was a loud and mischievous neighborhood leader, while the other was a gentle and taciturn boy; Seolji found it hard to understand how the two had become close.
‘He’s been kind since he was little.’
Thinking of Yeogo, Seolji smiled unconsciously. Whether a benevolent nature was innate or not, he had walked around smiling like a fool since his snot-nosed days. At the time, she thought he seemed lacking, but why did the image of him caring for stray dogs remain in her memory for so long?
Even after losing both parents to a monster at the age of ten, Yeogo did not lose his characteristic smile. He had come to work as a servant in Seolji’s house, saved his wages, and wandered through various workplaces before eventually helping Yeongparang by his side.
When Yeogo worked at Seolji’s house, they had become secret friends. When Seolji lost her mother and two brothers and cried secretly in the storehouse, how much comfort it had been that he stayed with her in silence. How delicious the roasted chestnuts had been when they crouched together in the backyard in the dead of winter. How beautiful the common wildflowers, like violets and daylilies, had looked when he handed them to her every season. Others would never dream that Seolji had dried and kept every single one of those flowers without throwing any away.
“Since you keep mentioning Yeogo, Seolji, do you perhaps have feelings for him?”
“No way. For a boy who was her own house servant?”
Because Wolnae and Danya reacted this way, she could not speak her heart. Seolji kept her mouth shut again and waited for the topic to pass.
“He’s coming! He’s coming this way!”
“He’s coming here right now!”
As a commotion broke out from the village entrance, people became restless. Seolji also craned her neck in curiosity, and a group of men was approaching the well.
“Speak of the devil!”
Wolnae shouted, turning around.
“Isn’t he coming to see you? He looked your way last time too.”
Danya grabbed Seolji’s hand with an excited face. Not knowing where to look, Seolji stared at her toes. Her mouth went dry and her cheeks burned.
‘Does he really intend to marry me?’
Seolji imagined the wedding ceremony with the man in her head.
Herself, shyly bowing her head in ceremonial dress, and a handsome groom with a bright smile. Since her father would not spare any expense, it would surely be grand, and the villagers would talk for a long time about how wonderful the ceremony was. Afterward, she would give birth to and raise several beautiful children who resembled their father.
“Seolji, wake up!”
At Danya’s call, Seolji looked up. The man had already approached her.
“Lady Seolji, I have come because there is something I wish to tell you,” Yeongparang said.
However, Seolji was not looking at the man whom every maiden in the village adored. A little behind him, Yeogo stood with his hands neatly folded.
For some reason, his always-smiling face looked miserable. His naturally drooping eyes could not look any sadder. When their gazes met, Yeogo flinched and turned his head away.
Seolji looked at Yeongparang with a bitter feeling. The most handsome man in the village was smiling confidently. The sight of his tied-back hair fluttering in the wind was like a painting.
“I heard you returned yesterday.”
“Yes. I’ve come back after dealing with a lot of serpents in Ogeunnae. Hahaha!”
As he burst into laughter, the surrounding group of men followed suit loudly. Except for one person, they all guffawed as if it were amusing.
‘Why aren’t you laughing?’
Seolji could not stand the sight of Yeogo, who looked as if he might cry at any moment. If the reason he was upset was the same as hers… if that were the case…
“I wonder if you have heard the story from your father?”
Yeongparang, who had been laughing out loud until a moment ago, suddenly spoke. Then, as if embarrassed, a blush crept onto his smooth cheeks.
Flustered, Seolji lowered her head. She answered “Yes” in a voice that barely rose above a whisper.
“Then things will be simple.”
“What do you mean?”
“Will you marry me?”
As Yeongparang reached his hand behind him, a large man Seolji did not know handed him a flower. Yeongparang took it and held it out to Seolji. It was a large, brilliantly blooming rose of sharon.
A beautiful flower that absorbed the gaze of ten thousand people. Seolji thought the rose of sharon resembled Yeongparang perfectly. Would it be strange if someone were more concerned with a common wildflower that one might trip over, rather than a precious rose of sharon?
‘If I marry you, I will surely live a life like a brilliant flower,’ Seolji murmured inwardly.
She realized that she did not want such a life. She wasn’t sure what she did want. However, it was clear that she wanted to get to know someone else, not this man.
A faint smile spread across Seolji’s lips.
“I am sorry, Yeongparang.”
The man’s mouth fell open as if he had been struck. He looked as though he had never dreamed of being rejected.
“There is someone else I hold in my heart.”
She heard the villagers gasp in shock. The whispering grew louder. Amidst everyone’s astonished expressions, only Seolji was smiling faintly.
Seolji looked up. And she looked at the person who had picked violets in spring, daylilies in summer, wild chrysanthemums in autumn, and plum blossoms in winter for her. As their gazes met, the number of people wearing affectionate smiles increased to two.