A Stranger's Call
The baby blinked its damp eyes at the unfamiliar voice.
Sowol called once more.
“Riri. Come here.”
Then he reached out and took the baby into his arms.
The baby squirmed and burrowed into his chest.
The moment a tiny hand clutched tight at Sowol's collar—
the world stopped.
The whirlwind that had swollen as if to swallow the forest whole scattered in an instant.
Clatter-clatter.
Everything that had been suspended in midair came crashing down to the ground all at once.
The dust that had blotted out the sun cleared away, and light settled over the dark clearing.
The forest fell silent in a heartbeat.
Letting out a breath of relief, Sowol gently patted the baby's back.
“Goodness. What on earth happened while I was out at the market, hm?”
“Waaah……”
“There, there. I'm here.”
Sniffling, the baby buried its head against Sowol's chest.
Heave. Heave.
The ragged breathing slowly evened out.
Sowol pressed his palm to the baby's forehead and the nape of its neck. Fortunately, there was no sign of a fever, but the child was limp with exhaustion, worn out from all the crying. Tear streaks mottled its puffy, reddened eyes.
When Sowol wiped the stained cheeks with his thumb, the baby's large eyes blinked. The golden glow that had shone in them had already faded back to black.
Once the baby quieted, Baekya gripped his sword hilt and staggered to his feet.
“Hyung-nim. Baby okay?”
“Just worn out from crying. He's fine.”
Only then did Sowol turn to look at Baekya—and his brow furrowed.
Baekya's back was shredded to ribbons, his clothes hanging in tatters.
“I'll have to put salve on you the moment we're home. What in the world happened?”
“Hyung-nim gone. Baby cried.”
The story Baekya told, answering wearily, went like this.
Not long after Sowol left, the baby had started to wail. At first Baekya thought it must be hungry, so he warmed some goat's milk and held it out—but the baby whipped its head away and shoved the wet cloth aside.
Flustered, Baekya changed the diaper, rocked the cradle, everything he could think of. Still the baby would not stop crying. Even when he held the child and patted its back the way Sowol did, it was no use. In Baekya's arms, the baby only cried louder.
Then, the moment the fretful Baekya set the baby back down in its cradle—
the dishes on the table began to rattle.
One by one they rose into the air, and every time the baby thrashed about, they slammed into the walls and shattered. The table and chairs went flying too, rolling and tumbling on their own.
The commotion scared Baekya half to death.
“Can't let people see. Baby in danger.”
So he scooped up the baby and ran for the forest.
He brought his sword along too, in case bad people came.
When the story was done, Baekya stole a glance at Sowol's face.
“Did Baekya do wrong?”
Sowol chuckled and stroked the tangled white hair.
“No. You did well.”
Only then did Baekya's hunched shoulders straighten.
“Let's go home.”
“Okay.”
Sowol was just about to leave the clearing when he stopped short.
Ancient trees lay strewn in every direction, their roots torn bare from the earth. Anyone could see it: this was the path a landslide had swept through.
Sowol gazed at the scene for a long while, then lowered his eyes to his own chest.
Clinging to the lashes of the baby, who had fallen asleep at some point, were tears that had not yet dried.
The thought that this tiny thing had turned the whole forest upside down felt so absurd that a helpless laugh slipped out of him. As Sowol smoothed the baby's hair, Baekya, who had been watching, spoke up.
“Hyung-nim.”
“What is it.”
“What's a Riri?”
Sowol paused mid-step and looked up. Baekya was gazing at him with a puzzled expression.
Sowol's lips twitched for a moment before he looked away and answered.
“The baby's name.”
“Baby has a name now?”
“That's right.”
Baekya's face lit up. Eyes sparkling, he peered down at the baby.
“Riri!”
The baby stirred at the excited shout.
“Shh. Call her quietly.”
Baekya flinched at the reprimand and lowered his voice.
“Now baby has a name too.”
“Yes. She has a name.”
“Baby is Riri.”
“Yes, yes.”
“Why is she Riri?”
At the voice brimming with curiosity, the corners of Sowol's mouth curved gently.
“Baekya. Do you remember the day the baby first came?”
“Mm.”
“It was snowing hard, wasn't it?”
Baekya nodded.
It was an early winter night, the night Beopgong had come without warning. The snow blanketing the whole world had looked just like pear blossoms in full bloom.
“That's how it looked to your eyes, Baekya.”
So if he ever gave the baby a name, he had wanted to give her the character for pear tree—ri (梨). But naming her was not his place, he had told himself, and set the thought aside again and again.
And yet the name had lingered on the tip of his tongue all the same.
Sowol rolled the name over his tongue.
“……Riri.”
The sleeping baby gave no response.
But call it a few more times from now on, and one day she would come to know that this name was her own.
At last, the child had a name of her own to turn back to.
6. Riri's Place
Riri slept for two days straight.
Sowol was not surprised. He had expected as much.
Rather than summon a physician, he woke the child at intervals, fed her a few spoonfuls of rice gruel, and put her back down to sleep.
He also wrote a letter to Sohye. It said that Riri's acupoints seemed to have opened, and asked her to stop by whenever she had the time.
It was the first time he had ever sent his younger sister a letter asking her to visit the inn, and Sowol felt a touch sheepish about it.
In the meantime, the village was in an uproar.
Word had it that someone had witnessed the whirlwind Riri had whipped up.
“I'm telling you, a whirlwind came tearing through the forest!”
“Wasn't it a landslide?”
“I went and looked myself. Every last tree was uprooted. No man did that.”
“It was a dragon. A dragon ascended to heaven.”
“Where in the world would you find a dragon these days?”
“There is one, that's why the whirlwind came howling! Innkeeper, am I wrong or am I right?”
“Hard to say.”
Sowol waved off the customer's question with a smile and swallowed a sigh.
If it had been a dragon, that would almost have been a relief. But this—how was he supposed to hush this up?
He found himself yearning for the old days, when a few paper talismans had been enough to smother any rumor.
There was nothing for it. All he could do was pray that nothing else happened until Sohye arrived.
Fortunately, what Sowol feared never came to pass. Not a soul connected the commotion in the forest to the inn. The talk of dragons ascending and spirits raging withered away within days, and only then did Sowol finally breathe a little easier.
The trouble cropped up somewhere he never expected.
The Riri who woke from her long sleep was not the Riri she had been.
The child could not bear to have Sowol out of her sight. The moment he so much as stepped into the kitchen, tears welled up in her eyes; if he went out to the yard for even a moment, she wailed at the top of her lungs. A trip to the privy threw the whole household into chaos.
“Waaaah! Waaaaaah!”
“Riri, come here.”
“……Sniff.”
And yet, the instant she was gathered into Sowol's arms, she went docile as a lamb.
Left with no choice, Sowol ended up carrying Riri around all day long.
“You certainly have a talent for trying every trick in the book.”
Sighing, Sowol shifted Riri in his arms, and she burrowed into his chest like a baby bird seeking its mother.
Just then, the inn door swung open.
“Master Yeon, you in?”
He looked up to find Wang Yeom standing in the doorway. Peeking out from behind her was a familiar little face.
Jang Wi and Wang Yeom's three-year-old son, Danwoo.
“What brings you by?”
“I've got errands at the market. Could you keep an eye on Danwoo while I'm gone?”
“Of course.”
Sowol readily nodded. Wang Yeom set Danwoo down in front of her.
“Danwoo, sweetheart. Mama's going out for a little while, and I'll be right back. You stay and play at Master Yeon's, all right?”
Instead of answering, Danwoo clutched tightly at the hem of her skirt.
“Mama said right back. Now, look—see? There's a baby here.”
“A baby?”
At the word baby, Danwoo's eyes went round.
“That's right. Look over there. See? The man's holding one.”
Wang Yeom pointed at Sowol's arms. As Danwoo stretched his neck to peer up at Sowol, she gave his head a quick pat, then turned to go.
“Then he's in your hands.”
Creak.
The moment the door closed, Danwoo started and looked wildly around. When his mother was nowhere to be seen, his face crumpled with worry.
“Danwoo. Come sit over here, hmm? Shall I get you a bowl of wonton soup?”
Sowol asked gently. Danwoo fidgeted, staring up at him—and then—
“WAAAAAH!”
he burst into tears.
“Danwoo?”
When Sowol reached out to soothe him, Danwoo staggered backward, tripped over his own feet, and landed hard on his bottom.
Thump.
Then, still sitting where he'd fallen, he let loose with everything he had.
“WAAAAH!”
“Come on now, Danwoo, what did I ever do to you……”
“I'scared! WAAAH!”
Startled by the deafening wailing, Riri burst into tears right along with him.
“Waaah! Waaaah!”
“Waaaaaah!”
“And what are you crying for now?”
Sowol looked back and forth between the two children bawling loud enough to shake the world, then sighed and stared into empty space.
“……I'm going out of my mind.”
When the two refused to quiet down no matter what, Sowol pulled out his last resort.