MB Ch 5 part 1

The time in the underworld marched on, heavy and slow. Whether it was the underworld or the world of the living, time was equally ruthless.

Bari slowly stroked the windowsill. One month had passed since they had held their wedding. Her menstruation had come three days ago. According to what Mujang told her, it meant that she was not pregnant. Even though they put so much effort into getting her pregnant, it was all for naught.

Bari wasn’t sure if she should be sad or happy.

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These days, that was exactly how she felt.

Right now, she was living in a time where she did not know if she should be sad or happy.

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After the infinitely taciturn god of death had become her husband, he… had become quite kind. He treated her so well that she often wondered if he was truly the same man who had been her hopeless master.

Ever since he returned and made her some thistle rice, he began to do other household chores with her. The tasks she’d done when she was a servant were now done together. He found firewood and brought it back, ground the rice and cooked it, cleaned the herbs, and made side dishes. Seeing his large frame do such trivial housework chores was alarming. Actually, he was a lot more skilled at doing it than Bari herself.

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“How is this difficult?”

Mujang gave her an arrogant look. He told her this was a lot easier than going out into the battlefield. A battlefield? When she asked him this, he became lost in thought. After a long while, he told her that he had been tasked with protecting the heavens in the past. Protecting the heavens… Who in the heavens needed protection?

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“Every country is the same.”

He told her stories about the mythical creatures of old that would threaten the heavenly realm. The creatures that existed before Pangu¹ had separated the heavens and the earth with his axe. Within the deep darkness, the monsters that would come out of the chasm of chaos.

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Bari listened to his stories with rapt attention, her hands clenched in sweat. He spoke about how he’d battled these creatures, how he’d ultimately caught Ivan, the most ferocious beast that had caused mass destruction in the heavens. 

“Amazing!”

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Bari clapped like a child. He was truly amazing. He had managed to kill that giant monster after having lost most of his men.

“So what kind of reward did you receive?”

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When he heard Bari’s question, Mujang merely shrugged.

Compared to before, they were now spending a lot more time together. They ate together and slept together, and she felt like they had grown a bit closer. However, things were different in bed.

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Mujang treated her kindly during the day, but when it was nighttime, he was strangely cold. He was also like this when they had intercourse. The act itself… was no different from mating.

They did not do it face-to-face, and they did not speak. He merely rubbed her chest or her nether region before thrusting himself inside. And he only moved as much as he needed to before ejaculating. After he climaxed, he cleanly broke away from her and returned to his bedchamber. Almost as if he were denying the fact that they just had sex. As if he didn’t even like her.

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Bari’s finger tensed on the windowsill.

What did it matter?

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She would bear a child and obtain the yaksu, so there was no need for him to like her. Ultimately, this marriage had been her requirement for having a child. It was an impossible relationship otherwise. She was happy that he was kind to her during the daytime at all.

She still saw no trace of Ran. She anxiously searched for him all over the place, but it was no use. Every time she drew closer to the red trees of the Magenta Forest, the evil spirits appeared. The red spirits were attached to each tree in the forest, and they’d open their reddened eyes and stare at her.

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Even if it was all a hallucination, she did not want to leave the house. This tile-roofed house that shined brighter than ever before. A withered leaf could not be found on any of the flowers here. It was all perfect. They were not real. They were fake. Even if it was bathed in a beautiful light and built to perfection, it held no fragrance. It was all an illusion that would crumble away as soon as it was plucked out.

Bari let out a sigh and shook her head.

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She should be content with what she has. Compared to how it was before, her situation now was a lot better. And if she played her part well, she’d even be able to obtain the yaksu. Compared to how she had begged and pleaded before, she was now living in luxury.

She walked through the corridor and went to where Mujang was.

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He now stayed home for her, and he could often be found sitting in his favorite chair, reading a book. Unlike before, his hair was kept clean, and his smooth locks were glossy. Half of it was pulled up into a topknot with a hairpin. The gray silk clothes that Bari had made him seemed to suit him very well.

He must have felt her presence, but he did not raise his head. Even though he knew she was there, he was ignoring her. Ever since she had started her menstruation three days ago, he stayed holed up in his room.

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“I’m bored.”

Bari spoke in a slightly whining voice.

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“What?”

“I said I’m bored.”

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What a nice problem to have. Mujang gave her an incredulous look and turned his head away. He turned his focus back to the book he was holding.

“What are you reading?”

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She startled him. Bari had drawn near without his notice and was now standing right next to him.

“Go play outside.”

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“There’s nothing to play with.”

Bari pouted once more. The garden was pretty, and the brook running through it was also beautiful, but the awe only lasted a moment. Seeing the same thing all day was quite terrible.

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“Then go clean or something.”

“It’s too clean, so there’s nothing to clean.”

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“Then go take a nap.”

“I slept so much that my hips are starting to hurt.”

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Then what was he supposed to do about it? He looked at her with annoyed eyes and lifted his head.

“Is that fun?”

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‘That’? Mujang looked down at the book in his hand. It was a book on historical military tactics. Rather than reading it for fun, he was more so reading it because he was curious and wanted to know.

“Just like you, I’m only reading it to pass the time.”

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Because time was an overly abundant problem.

“If I learn to read, I can read that book, too, right?”

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No way… Mujang looked at her in shock.

“You don’t know how to read?”

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Bari’s face turned red.

“That’s… I never learned… And it looked very difficult…”

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How could she be so ignorant? Mujang’s face immediately frowned. If she did not know how to read, she wouldn’t be able to understand the systematically deeper points of knowledge. Then she’d be easily tricked by others and get hurt like a fool.

Now that he thought about it, Bari had arrived at his house at quite a young age. There was no one around to teach her, so there was no way she could have learned to read.

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“Then why don’t we begin by teaching you how to read.”

“Whaaat?”

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Bari’s face brightened in an instant. She had wanted to read something for the longest time, but she didn’t know where to start. All of his books had characters that were as small as millet seeds, and the most she could see was that the words were black, and the pages were white.

She could write simple words, but her vision-impaired grandmother and grandfather could not teach her more than this.

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“Sounds good to me!”

Bari’s large eyes sparkled.

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“Teach me right now, please.”

“Right now is a bit…”

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“Right now! What should I bring first? Paper? An ink brush? That thing you have to grind?”

“That’s an inkstone.”

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“Yes!”

He didn’t tell her to bring anything, but she had already flown out of the room. Seeing her like this, Mujang burst into laughter. This was good. He had been bored anyway.

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Bari wasn’t pregnant. When she told him that her menstruation had come, he felt a strange sense of relief. Then his brow furrowed. It was best for Bari to get pregnant as soon as possible. Once they had a child…

This deal would also end.

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He would not have to embrace her again.

He would not have to fall into such an intense infatuation again.

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This past month was no different from torture for him. Instead of living this joke, he’d rather go out to war and capture those mystical creatures again. Every time he thrust into her, he counted inside his head as if he were cultivating his self-control. All the things he felt, the intense shiver that ran down his spine as he tasted his first woman… He did not want to surrender to it.

In order to escape the piercing guilt that continued to plague him, he did his best to treat her kindly. However, it could not become anything more than this. Would it be better to just tell her everything now and let her go? Wasn’t that the right thing to do?

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To do it when she could still make a decision. Wouldn’t it be best to return to the way things were before?

“I brought them!”

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Bari returned, erasing all the dizzying thoughts from his mind. In her arms, she carried the paper, ink brush, and inkstone she had mentioned before.

“To begin, we should pour some water onto the inkstone and…”

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Like an obedient student, Bari added water to the inkstone and began to grind. Black water began to form. After dipping the brush in the ink, she held it above the paper.

“Try moving the brush to the side slowly.”

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Despite his instruction, Bari did not move and remained still. Mujang wondered what was wrong and gazed at her. It looked like her eyes were damp.

“What’s wrong?”

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“N-Nothing.”

Bari quickly shook her head and lowered her hand. The black brush abruptly swept across the white rice paper.

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It was because she was reminded of her grandfather. When she was young, Bari wanted to learn how to read and write like the other children. The way these fun shapes held different meanings was fascinating to her. However, her grandfather was a poor peasant farmer, and they did not have the resources. Having Bari attend the village school was near impossible. Additionally, if Bari was in school, there wouldn’t be anyone to farm the land.

“Your old grandpa will teach you how to read one of these days.”

Bari secretly glanced at the village school, but her grandfather noticed. He secretly made a promise to her.

“I’ll also buy you a good brush, paper, and inkstone.”

“Ah, that’s okay, Grandpa.”

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Bari knew how expensive those items were, so she knew it wouldn’t be possible. A sheet of paper cost nearly the same as a whole chicken. If she had to choose between a sheet of paper and a chicken, she’d most definitely choose the chicken.

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“I… don’t need things like that. I can write on the ground or on a leaf. I can even carve things on bamboo. Why would I use a piece of paper?!”

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Bari smiled brightly as she answered him.

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“But please make sure to teach me how to read and write one day! I really want to read books. I think it’s unfair that only the boys are taught how to read and write!”

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It really was unfair. They weren’t anything special.

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Bari made another stroke as she thought. It was her first time holding an ink brush, so her lines were uneven and ugly. Geez! Why didn’t it look the way she wanted?

“Don’t you think it’s because you’re holding the brush wrong?”

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A hand suddenly came forward from behind Bari and covered her own. Bari’s body tensed in surprise. As he fixed her grip, his body was covering her as if he were embracing her. He taught her when to add force and when to pull away.

His scent filled her nose. She was naturally reminded of being embraced in his arms, and her heart began to race.

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Why am I like this? I must have lost my mind!

Bari forced her thudding heart to calm down. It was now time to learn how to write. Not time to make a baby!

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“What are you daydreaming about?”

“Ah!”

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