BBS (45)

Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost

 
⟨Chapter 45⟩
 

“In the old times, when people kept hesitating and couldn’t decide in the end, they would leave to the battlefield. And the two ladies, who loved nangdo-nim, heard false rumors and jumped into the pond. You won’t let such a thing happen again, will You?”

“Yes.”

The nangdo nodded at Baek Ran’s words.

“Two pretty like flowers ladies. Extravagant and cheerful Honghwa, and quiet and gentle Cheonghwa. Being loved by two beauties was too undeserving of me. As they happened to be sisters, my position was even more complicated. I couldn’t give any answer, and went to war. And there I clearly realized. The lady I love is…”

He stretched out his hand and accepted the flowers offered by the bride.

“Cheonghwa.”

“What do You mean?”

The ghost was startled.

“No! Hwarang-nim! That’s Honghwa! Cheonghwa is here!”

The bride looked at her with a dubious face.

“What are you talking about? I’m Cheonghwa.”

Yu Dan and the yokai were shocked.

“Then there are two Cheonghwas?”

At Do-ssi’s question, the bride shook her head.

“No. That one is Honghwa.”

“What?”

The ghost was startled again.

“What kind of unbecoming lie is that? I’m Cheonghwa! Cheonghwa, who hwarang-nim loves!”

“Pitiful Honghwa…”

The bride made a regretful face.

“You could never accept that I’m the only one the hwarang-nim loves. You followed us reincarnation after reincarnation. No matter how much you interfered, the hwarang-nim chose me every time. And you couldn’t endure and ended up crazy. You became an evil spirit. You shouted that you would curse me so I wouldn’t be able to reincarnate as a human. And you shouted that you would steal Him and drag Him to hell to make Him eternally yours.”

He heard that story somewhere.

The ghost said that was the plan the bride made. But if the bride’s words were true, it might have been the plan she came up by herself in truth.

“But you couldn’t overcome the karma you already accumulated and was ruined. Your curse couldn’t be realized. In the end, you weren’t reborn again, and I was able to meet and unite with the hwarang-nim without any disturbances.”

“No! That’s a lie! I’m Cheonghwa!”

The ghost yelled and pounced at the bride.

But she was immediately blocked by the sharp weapons held by spirits.

Yu Dan looked around. Baek Ran took out a spear at some point.

The noise of hell was heard. The numerous demons of the Road to Hell were preparing to lunge at her, the moment the fox yokai gives a command.

Baek Ran looked down at the ghost, who collapsed on the ground.

The blue wisteria flowers on her clothes at some point turned into red, dripping with blood, flowers.

“Just as I expected. That delicate and meek appearance was fake. This is Your real appearance. The evil spirit, who repeatedly reincarnated and interrupted those two. That was You.”

The fox’s golden eyes were filled with faint compassion.

“But because You Yourself had no idea about this…”

“No!”

Honghwa cried out.

“I’m Cheonghwa! That bitch is Honghwa! I’m Cheonghwa! The only one the hwarang-nim ever loved Cheonghwa!”

“Oh boy…”

Chaeseol couldn’t close her mouth.

“That’s how it is, huh? Because you loved the hwarang too much, and you were too envious of Cheonhwa, who was loved by him, in the end you ended up deceiving yourself, huh?”

“Yes. Because there are evil spirits that have no idea they are evil spirits. Even though they commit evil deeds, they completely believe themselves to be justified. Because it’s difficult for anyone to look at themselves objectively.”

“Then the entire story was not about the bride, but about that ghost, eh?”

Heuk-yo clicked her tongue. Baek Ran nodded.

“That’s correct. She ended up denying reality and falling deep into a fake role. Because she probably wanted some comfort, even if was like this.”

Yu Dan looked at Honghwa gradually losing her strength.

“Since when did you start to be suspicious?”

“I didn’t believe it from the beginning. But that said, I wasn’t particularly suspicious. As I could only know for certain if I looked into the cause and effect.”

The fox sighed.

“If she knew the truth, she wouldn’t agree to my suggestion. Because if we held a three-way meeting, she would be obviously unmasked straight away.”

“In the end she dug her own grave, eh? How much did she believe herself to be Cheonghwa to be like this? What kind of love is this…?”

Do-ssi also sighed.

The man, who watched the scene from the side together with Cheonghwa, let go of the bride’s hand for a moment and came over. He stood in front of the lying down and crying ghost.

“Honghwa.”

“Hwarang-nim!”

At the voice of the man she loved, Honghwa sharply raised her soaked in tears face.

“Why can’t it be me!? I too… I too truly love You! Why can’t it be me?!”

“It can’t be helped.”

The hwarang looked down at her, as if in pity.

“I can’t help it. There is only Cheonghwa in my heart.”

“Then can’t You just let me stay by Your side? I’m fine even if you don’t look at me! Can’t I just look even if just as a shadow?”

Honghwa clung to him, begging.

“I’m sorry. Doing so would be much too cruel. Honghwa, let go of your attachments and find a new life. We will always pray for you.”

The hwarang turned around.

She absentmindedly stared at his back, and then collapsed again. She vomited blood and wept, as if she couldn’t stand up again.

“Hwarang-nim!”

Everyone looked at her vacantly.

Just like the dokkaebi said, what kind of love was that?

Yu Dan tried to think about it for a moment.

He found no sense. Just one thing was certain.

“If it was me, I would hate looking up at the person, who dislikes me.”

“Well said.”

For some reason Heuk-yo agreed and then stepped out. She walked up to Honghwa and tapped her with her foot.

“Stand up. What’s so good about a man who doesn’t like you?”

“Yeah. There are many other men in the world.”

Chaeu pacified her softly. Chaeseol crossed her arms.

“It’s useless. She won’t hear a word right now.”

“That won’t do.”

Baek Ran spoke.

“Didn’t you promise? It’s time to leave now. Your body was ruined because of the evil deeds You committed throughout the repeated reincarnations anyhow. As the man You loved so much said, forget about him now. Start anew. As You’re already suffering, I won’t ask any longer about the sins of Your past.”

“…”

“I don’t know how and when You will receive Your judgment. What would happen if you met the hatae again? At that time You avoided an attack because You were with me, but if You were alone, you would be helplessly ripped to shreds. Before something like that happens, it would be better to wash away Your karma and send You to a good place.”

“Yeah, miss. Gratefully accept the goodwill Cheonho-nim offers you. You will be reborn and meet a new man.”

Do-ssi persuaded her from the side.

The weeping Honghwa raised her head. She had an indescribably painful expression.

“His last expression…”

She mumbled weakly.

“It was a sad face. I hate it. I want to see Him smile. It’s okay even if He wasn’t smiling towards me, I just want to see Him happy. Then I think I will be able to leave truly without any regrets.”

“…”

“That’s my last wish. Please.”

Honghwa knelt down on the ground again and begged.

The fox yokai fell into thoughts.
 

***
 

Did they rent the whole hotel’s side building for the marriage? It was beyond his imagination.

In the instant they entered, he thought they entered some kind of European castle. Enormous stairs, which princesses in dresses would climb down in the movies. On both sides tables covered with a white cloth and chairs lined up endlessly. He heard an endless chatter of what the price of the enormous chandelier on the ceiling was, how much the flower decorations cost, and how much was for the banquet dishes.

Do-ssi couldn’t close his mouth.

“It looks like they’re extremely rich. If I knew that, I would accept that money envelope at that time!”

He had no idea what to do with the belated regrets.

Chaeu was at their side, holding a camera and taking pictures of everything. As it was an enormous film camera, that was on the shop exhibition, it was such an antique it was amazing it was still operating.

Yu Dan burst out laughing at that scene and asked.

“Did you came here to play?”

“Ahaha. Young master-nim, it’s um. Isn’t it like a study to understand all human culture?”

“It’s not a human culture. You can’t say that the upper one percentage of the social strata are humans. They’re gods. When the bride and groom enter, we have to kneel down.”

Chaeseol mumbled, while sipping juice.

The waiter in a bowtie served bread and butter. Everyone stopped talking and grabbed the bread.

“Oh, this table is perfect. Is this seat here empty?”

The cameraman approached them and asked pointing at the empty seat.

“It is.”

“Yes, it is.”

Everyone answered in unison.

The ghost tightly tied with the red restraining rope was sitting there.

It couldn’t be helped. Wasn’t it kind of a compromise? Yu Dan glanced at Honghwa and said it again.

“We brought you here because it’s your last wish, but after seeing the wedding, we’re really leaving. Don’t even think of any nonsense.”

“I can’t do that. I don’t even have energy for it.”

Honghwa replied.

Not that she was lying, she really looked like she didn’t have any energy. When they first met, she was sniffing, then she was running crazy, and now she once again slumped completely.

At that moment a commotion burst out on the stairs.

The orchestra changed the music. Rather than a parade music, it was a romantic violin concerto, and as the door at the top of the stairs opened, the bride appeared. On the bride’s head, with her hair pulled into an elegant bun, was a silver crown, and she was wearing a pure white dress revealing her shoulders. As she descended, holding her father’s hand, the groom, who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, lost his soul.

Honghwa’s shoulders visibly trembled. Even though she pretended not to, she couldn’t hold back her emotions. She bit her lips and glared at the bride.

“Don’t do that.”

With Yu Dan’s comment, she turned her gaze away and looked at the groom, this time with a gaze filled with love.

It truly was a blessed marriage. The parents of the both families were very pleased, and kept bursting into laughter. While the friends were also as happy as if it was their own wedding, they sent applause and cheers for the bride and groom as they circled around them.

And then, at that moment…

Suddenly the bride and the groom’s clothes turned into black mourning clothes.

“Uh?”

Yu Dan abruptly stood up. Do-ssi and the twins’ complexions also changed, as if they saw it.

“See that! I told You if this wedding was held, they would die!”

Honghwa screamed.

At last he realized.

Among the numerous friends who circled around the bride and groom, there were dark shadows mixed in.

“I told You! The evil spirits gather around that bitch!”

It was as Honghwa said. They looked like guests at a glance, but there were people, whose faces couldn’t be seen, hiding everywhere. As the cheers, applause and wishes of happiness grew louder, their darkness grew much thicker.

Kiek-kiek-kiek….

Above their heads, laughter was heard. Yu Dan looked up and freaked out.

The splendid ceiling painted with the dancing angles. On the chandelier in the middle of it. There were numerous ghosts on the enormous ironwork that said to be worth over hundreds of millions of won.

“No!”

It was too late.

The enormous chandelier fell down. The bride was just underneath it. Everyone screamed.

“The bride! The bride!”

Honghwa was also startled.

In the long, even though it had to be short, moment, her eyes flashed with brilliance. For certain, it shined with happiness….

Bang!

The chandelier crashed against the floor and broke into pieces.

If the wedding is held, they will die[1]… Was it about the bride’s death?

The ceremony hall turned into chaos in an instant.

“Suyeon-ah!”

The groom ran up, crying and quickly lifted the chandelier with an enormous strength.

At that moment, the bride stood up, unscathed.

“Ah, I’m fine.”

At the clearly audible voice, everyone’s eyes shook.

The bride stood up as if nothing had happened. She was clearly in the center of the incident, but she appeared uninjured.

“Really. I’m safe. It narrowly flew past me. The dress is just a bit torn and…”

“Ah, your arm!”

Someone shouted. The bride looked at her arm. The right one was okay, but the left one was full of broken fragments.

“The left arm is just a bit hurt. But besides that, everything is fine.”

“Goodness! Oh, God!”

The bride’s mother sunk to her knees and made the sign of a cross.

“I’m so glad! So glad!”

The groom hugged the bride with a scared to death face. The guests at last swept the hands over their chests.

“The Heavens helped!”

“Ambulance! Did anyone call the ambulance?”

“Don’t step here! Step aside!”

In the middle of the mindless mess.

Yu Dan, Do-ssi and the twins slowly approached the broken chandelier.

Under the iron frame laid Honghwa. Because the fragments of the ghosts’ ill will were stuck in her whole body, she looked horrible.

“Why, why…”

Yu Dan asked Honghwa.

“Don’t you hate that woman?”

Honghwa nodded with difficulty.

“Right. I ha-hate… I thought I would be happy… if she died… If only Cheonghwa wasn’t here… I… on His side right now…”

She turned her head and looked at the groom.

“But… Because…”

She squeezed the last remaining strength to just speak.

“Because He would be sad…”

I’m glad, I’m really glad. The groom just kept saying that, while he tightly hugged the bride. He was smiling brightly with tearful eyes.

Following him, Honghwa also smiled.

That was the last one. Her horribly-looking soul slowly turned transparent and then at last, she completely disappeared.
 
 

The fox yokai sat in the yard and looked at the pond.

The silhouette of the old tree was reflected upside down on its surface. Sometimes, when the wind blew, its branches would touch the water and create quiet ripples. The fox’s brown hair also swayed slightly.

“There is nothing like that…”

He opened his mouth after a while.

“Just because someone found this store and received help, nothing like ‘and then they lived happily ever after’ ever happens. I don’t know what will happen afterward. It’s best if they survive, but don’t they sometimes die in horrible incidents before even a month passes? There were quite a few such cases.”

Everyone listened without a word.

“If a light shines too bright, the shadows grew equally dark. A blessed relationship, which even after repeated reincarnations, wasn’t cut off, and was reunited again? An eternal love, the match made in Heaven? If such a fake-like story becomes a reality, how would it look like? Someone would be as jealous of them as dazzling the groom and the bride were. The extravagant and grand marriage ceremony held with a happy heart. Darkness would be dragged to it.”

“Ghosts are envious. Something precious was snatched away from them.”

He mumbled from memory the words he heard before. Baek Ran nodded.

The silence followed again.

Heuk-yo abruptly stood up.

She glossed over the table set up in the yard. The made from paper chimajeogori[2], flowers, and dolls of horses and women and men were laid down neatly.

“Foolish girl. I planned to dress you in pretty clothes, sit you down on a splendid horse, give you a servant to hold the rains and a maid to serve you, and send you to a good place.”

She spit and went inside.

Baek Ran quietly looked at the garden again and then stood up. He raised his finger and then wrote one letter on the soft ground in front of the pond.

The letter was ‘戀’.

“Yeon, to long for someone dear. The words filling the heart, unable to be conveyed as if obstructed by a rope[3]… That character was said to be based on such meaning.”

Baek Ran covered that character with soil, making a tomb.

“That heart to wrap up and embrace the woman she hated so much with her whole body — I also don’t understand it. But I think I know just one thing.”

“That she was happy to die like that, right?”

Yu Dan took out an item from his pocket. A small flower decoration that fell off of the groom’s chest.

He placed a lonely red flower on the small owner-less grave.
 

*~*~*
 

[1] If the wedding is held, they will die — this sentence doesn’t use any pronouns, so the sentence subject in Korean was left ambiguous.

[2] chimajeogori — hanbok with a skirt.

[3] The words filling the heart, unable to be conveyed as if obstructed by a rope — Baek Ran describes the character 戀. 心 for a heart, and 絲 (ropes/strings) and 言 (to speak) for ‘to be unable to speak’.
 

Translator’s note: Ah, I forgot how this story ends and was surprised once again. And, that marks the end of the story ‘Wisteria Flowers Ladies’.
 

 

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