Book 28 Chapter 7

Mothers

—Hyeonyeo (玄女) Ascends

Moo-hwa sat motionless on a rosewood chair with a broken armrest, staring only at the ceiling. She couldn't recall when she had been brought here.

Then, fragmented memories began to surface, one by one.

As she writhed in grief, the qi of death flowed from her, withering the green forest. Despite the darkness and the downpour, the forest only burned black. In the heart of that forest, drenched in rain, she was sinking into an endless abyss of darkness, coldness, and despair.

How much time had passed?

She felt something touch her shoulder. Turning, she saw a single, burning flame flickering before her eyes. When she blinked, it transformed into the red hair of a weeping woman. She watched as this woman with red hair wailed, shaking her shoulder before embracing her. The woman seemed unfazed by Moo-hwa's killing intent, which had been burning the vegetation black, and held her tightly with her arms, trembling. No, she wasn't trembling; her body was vibrating as she shouted something with all her might.

Moo-hwa subconsciously gazed at the woman's lips.

"Un… ni… can… you… hear… unnie…"

As she blankly repeated the disjointed lip movements, it turned into a wail and came closer.

"…Unnie…! Eldest unnie…! Can you hear me! Please… please…!"

*Swoooooosh!*

Suddenly, the sound of maddening rain mixed with the woman's cries, filling her eardrums as if to burst them. A cold chill made her body tremble, and the rough, sodden fabric of her clothes mixed with mud, unpleasantly invading her.

"Second… sister…"

As her lips, parched even in the rain, moved, the red-haired woman embracing her and crying out gasped and shouted.

"Now… can you hear me now!"

A woman clad in a red far deeper and more fiery than Gyeolhyohong, her second sister Danhye, who was usually so full of vitality, passion, and laughter, was weeping sorrowfully towards her, tears streaming endlessly.

"Alone…! If you fall into the abyss alone, what are we to do, Eldest unnie! I… I am scared…! I can barely endure losing that child…! If I lose Eldest unnie too…! We… we who are left… how are we to live embracing that pain, Eldest unnie!"

Was it the sudden chill that pierced her body, or the grief-stricken cry of her second sister?

She, Moo-hwa, trembled as if convulsing.

"Stop… let me… go… Don't say such terrible things… I have not lost that child, I have not lost him…! I am not a mother who has been left behind…! I have not let him… I have not let him go…!"

Without knowing what she was saying, she vomited her grief, like a gush of blood. Even though she knew she had already lost her child, that she had already become a mother left behind, she shouted with all her might that it wasn't so.

But Danhye, as if never intending to let her go, held her tightly and wailed at the top of her lungs.

"Yes, yes! We will not let him go either! That child was born into the world from Eldest unnie's body…! But he is a child we raised together with our own hands…!! Even if we had to tear off our flesh to feed him, he was a son we would not begrudge!! The mother of that child… is not just Eldest unnie alone! So… if you're going, let's go together…! Please… don't just ask me to let go, Eldest unnie!"

At that fervent cry, Moo-hwa's vision blurred, and she felt something like heated iron rising from her twisted lungs.

At that moment, something like pouring rain seized her left hand. A surge of coolness flowed through her hand, gradually calming her qi and blood, which had been burning in the fire of grief and were about to explode.

She looked at her left hand.

Then, an elegant woman with deep, clear, water-colored hair was holding her hand and looking at her with dark, yet clear, eyes. On the face of her third sister Saran, only boundless stillness and vastness were etched, making it impossible to distinguish whether the tears flowing down her cheeks were tears or rainwater.

Saran continuously transmitted refreshing energy to Moo-hwa and spoke in a calm voice.

"Calm the heart fire that burns your heart and focus your mind. You must not waste your qi carelessly. Shouldn't you think about the future?"

Although her voice was a whisper, it clearly penetrated Moo-hwa's ears, distinct from the roaring rain and Danhye's sobs. Moo-hwa, regaining her senses from the voice that felt like it was washing her mind, felt her vision blur again with a transparent veil of water.

"The future… the future… Third sister Saran… Speak. Yes, what do you think awaits me in the future? Bitterness? Lament? Or perhaps an unending nightmare? I cannot think! I cannot bear to look towards the future!"

To Moo-hwa, who was weeping sorrowfully, Saran sent more clear energy and said,

"Third sister Saran will also ask. Have all of you been blinded by grief and already forgotten? Before falling into despair, have you forgotten what must be done, the gift we must give that child one last time, and are you merely turning away?"

Danhye and Moo-hwa, who had been sobbing, opened their bloodshot eyes and looked at Saran at her words.

"The last gift… Wise Saran, tell us! What can we give that child?"

To Moo-hwa's confused question, Saran replied in an infinitely deep and calm voice.

"It is an incense burner made from the head of the beast who harmed that child, and incense to burn his body into a thousand pieces."

* * *

The woman in black, Moo-hwa, quietly surveyed the inside of the Hyunwol Hall.

The dawn light, filtering through a small window in the roof of the pavilion, was already casting a pale blue hue over the empty Xuanwol Hall.

The sun was about to rise again today.

She suddenly felt like laughing. She could no longer shed tears before burning the 'incense' for her son. She felt as if she had to laugh to expel something overflowing from within.

But when had laughter become so difficult?

Eventually, Moo-hwa could not bring herself to smile, even as the stone floor of the Xuanwol Hall gleamed a hazy white under the morning sun.

Giving up on her futile effort, she steadied her mind and closed her eyes tightly.

Had her sorrow been washed away in the waterfall-like rain of last night?

When she opened her eyes again, her dark, deep pupils were now burning with a profound, mysterious light.

Finally, she picked up the Dragon-headed Staff placed beside her and rose from her seat. Then, with heavy steps, she walked out of the Xuanwol Hall.

Outside the pavilion, her two younger sisters and eight children were already armed and ready, their travel preparations complete. They were all dressed in black mourning attire, signifying a tragic event. As if vowing not to let 'him' go yet, not a single person wore white mourning clothes.

Among the two women at the front, the one with fiery red hair spoke with formal reverence.

"This is Danhye, the second wife of the Shinma Family, standing with the third wife Saran, leading eight children, awaiting the command of the Family Mother."

In Danhye's eyes, rage and resolve clashed, burning like flames.

Moo-hwa didn't even need to give separate orders. These were her sisters who had endured decades of hardship together, serving the same man. Without needing words, they had prepared everything.

Due to the nature of Moo-shinma Gal Jung-hyuk, whose movements were mysterious and elusive, without concern for the family's affairs, it was a place where women held more overwhelming influence than men, where even Heukcheonmengju Gal Jung-cheon could not assert himself, a place gathered with remarkable women.

Therefore, they were not accustomed to waiting. Their role was to take initiative rather than wait. After glancing at the household members gathered in the backyard, Moo-hwa's tightly closed lips opened.

"Blood will be washed with blood. No matter who the opponent is, even if it is the leader of the Jeongcheon Alliance or the Jade Emperor himself, this blood debt must be repaid. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Family Mother!"

Everyone bowed in unison and answered with solemn voices.

"Are the children of the Shinma Family all prepared?"

"Yes! All eight are ready and awaiting your command."

The woman at the very front of the eight, clad in black mourning attire and with a white tiger fur draped over her shoulders, replied. She was Gal Hyoin, the eldest of the Shinma Pal-seon-ja. She was more famously known as the Tiger Seonnyeo than by her given name.

Moo-hwa nodded her head heavily once and then spoke.

"This daughter will personally deliver heavenly punishment to the fiend Na Baek-cheon. As for the rest, we will think again after tearing that fiend to shreds and burning him. From today, all of you, stop your tears. No small sob will be tolerated. Those who have not avenged themselves have no right to shed tears, so until the task is complete, everyone must not let their makeup falter! The women of the Shinma Family should not show their enemies makeup stained with tears!"

Several women, whose eyes had welled up with tears, hurriedly wiped their eyes with their sleeves. Then, they all meticulously adjusted their appearance.

"The path we walk from now on will never end, until the day of revenge! Do you understand?"

"Yes, Family Mother!"

The women bowed in unison. Their eyes, after fixing their makeup and adjusting their attire, flashed with a chilling light. Their pupils shone with a sharp fighting spirit like daggers.

The woman in black nodded her head heavily and declared,

"We march."

The mistress of the Shinma Family herself had begun to move. To personally repay the blood debt of her son.

This was a major event that would shake the entire Heukdo.