A Tale Of A Scribe Who Retires To The Countryside [EN]: Chapter 378

378. Children of Heaven

The next day, Noh Gun headed to the southern city with Governor Hwang at dawn. Son Bin and his group remained in the village, where Seo-rin and the children were playing, seemingly unaware of the village chief’s unease.

Son Bin, Sa Soo-yeon, and Dang Wol-ah sat under the shade of a tree near the village entrance, watching them. The weather was quite hot, and the occasional breeze offered a welcome respite. It was a heat they had never experienced in Seojang.

“The children look so happy,” Sa Soo-yeon said, observing the playing children. Each one had a bright expression. It was hard to believe they were considered untouchables, with such radiant smiles.

“Indeed. Besides, we must be quite fascinating to them,” Son Bin replied.

The children’s positive reaction was partly due to Seo-rin’s friendly nature, but also because it was rare for strangers to visit this village.

Son Bin and his group were clearly different-looking outsiders, so it was no wonder the curious children were wide-eyed.

Just then, Dang Wol-ah, who had been quiet, spoke softly, “Over there.”

When Son Bin and Sa Soo-yeon turned their heads, they saw a few small children squatting down, looking timid.

The object of their interest wasn’t just Seo-rin. The children, gathered at a slight distance, blinked as they looked at Son Bin, Sa Soo-yeon, and Dang Wol-ah.

Son Bin smiled and raised his hand. Most of the children just stared blankly, but one child gathered the courage to raise their hand slightly.

“Ah, right.”

Suddenly, Son Bin reached into his pocket and took out a few dried dates. These small fruits were among the few items Governor Hwang had purchased in this village.

These dates, which didn’t grow in the Central Plains, were similar to regular dates but much sweeter. They were very common in the western country of Persia [modern-day Iran], but still considered a luxury in this village.

Rattle.

The children’s eyes sparkled as Son Bin took out the dates. Even Dang Wol-ah and Sa Soo-yeon stared.

“Would you like some?”

“Oh, no, thank you,” Sa Soo-yeon quickly declined, shaking her head. She could guess why Son Bin had taken out the dates.

“Wol-ah Sojeo…” [Wol-ah, you too?]

“I have some too,” Dang Wol-ah also declined. Son Bin turned to look at the children.

“Want some?”

The words might not have been understood, but the intention was clear. The children swallowed hard.

Swish.

Son Bin got up and walked over to the children. They flinched but didn’t run away. Getting closer, Son Bin bent his knees to lower himself and held out the dates.

“Here.”

The children blinked and looked at each other. But soon, one child cautiously reached out and took a date.

Son Bin smiled and nodded. Encouraged by this, the other children reached out and took dates as well. Then, fearing they might be snatched away, they quickly put them in their mouths.

“Good kids.”

They could have been greedy, but they only took one each. The sight of the children munching away was so adorable that Son Bin couldn’t help but reach out.

Before he knew it, he was already patting the children’s heads.

‘Oops.’

Just as Son Bin was about to take his hand away, he saw the children’s smiling faces. The innocent children showed no resistance to Son Bin patting their heads.

That was probably because the children in this village freely hugged their families, patted each other’s heads, and played together without hesitation.

The idea of ‘not touching’ was something the children didn’t yet know, a part of the world outside the village. It was the absurd world of adults, which they would be better off never knowing.

Rustle.

Sensing someone approaching, Son Bin turned his head. Sa Soo-yeon and Dang Wol-ah were already beside him.

“Want some of this too?” Sa Soo-yeon said, offering her dates. Dang Wol-ah’s small hand also held just enough dates for the children.

The children blinked and then smiled brightly. From then on, the children began to approach Son Bin, Sa Soo-yeon, and Dang Wol-ah without hesitation.

“Parsha.”

A small, dark-skinned girl said shyly. Son Bin knew that was the child’s name.

“Ah, Parsha?”

The girl shook her head at Son Bin’s words.

“Parsha.”

“Ah, okay. Parsha.”

The girl shook her head again. Then, in a slightly clearer voice, she said,

“Parsha.”

Now Son Bin understood the problem. Like a well-behaved child, Son Bin said clearly,

“Parsha.”

Only then did the little girl smile brightly. Son Bin gestured to himself and said,

“Son Bin.”

“Sseongbin?” [Mispronounced version of Son Bin]

As expected, a strange pronunciation came back. Son Bin smiled and said,

“Son Bin.”

“Sseongbin.”

Not much had changed. Son Bin changed his approach.

“Bin.”

“Bin.”

This pronunciation was accurate. Son Bin nodded. Only then did the child smile brightly.

“Parsha, how do you write it?” Son Bin asked, imitating writing on the ground with his fingers. Parsha naturally didn’t understand.

“Parsha. How do you write it?”

Continuing to gesture as if writing something on the ground, Parsha realized what Son Bin was saying. After gesturing to wait a moment, Parsha quickly ran off somewhere, probably to find an adult who knew how to write.

Taptaptap.

Having run diligently, Parsha was holding one side of her clothes tightly in both hands.

“Parsha!”

Parsha proudly showed the letters written on her clothes. The Devanagari script [an ancient Indian script], written in red dye on the yellow cloth, was already starting to smudge.

Son Bin traced the letters on the ground. It was such a unique script that he could only say he was drawing it. Parsha also watched intently and drew her name on the ground.

“This letter is Parsha.”

Parsha’s eyes sparkled as if she was seeing her name for the first time. In fact, it was the first time she had seen it. The children in this village didn’t learn to write.

“Bin!”

The written letter wasn’t just Parsha’s name. The strange letter that Son Bin saw was probably Son Bin’s name.

Son Bin took out a book and a fine brush from his pocket. Then, he copied the letters as closely as possible. Parsha watched Son Bin’s actions with fascination.

“Parsha, Bin,” Son Bin said, showing what he had written. Parsha clapped her hands in delight.

Encountering one’s name for the first time is a magical and amazing experience for anyone. It was perhaps only natural that the other children next to her ran to ask for their names.

The most popular person with the children was undoubtedly Seo-rin. But Sa Soo-yeon was also quite popular with the girls.

“Wow, so pretty.”

“So fair-skinned.”

The girls murmured, staring at Sa Soo-yeon’s face as if mesmerized. Occasionally, they cautiously touched Sa Soo-yeon’s hand and compared it to their own dark skin.

Sa Soo-yeon’s beauty and fair skin were the biggest hits with the girls. Governor Hwang’s words that ‘the villagers think Sa Soo-yeon is a goddess’ were not false.

Thanks to this, Sa Soo-yeon was always surrounded by girls. Moreover, Sa Soo-yeon would comb the children’s hair and braid it beautifully, making her incredibly popular.

“What do you call this?” Son Bin continued to ask the children for names and words, not forgetting to write them down. Thanks to this, the children recognized Son Bin as ‘the uncle who asks a lot of questions’.

Most of the children soon lost interest in Son Bin, but young Parsha stayed by Son Bin’s side, becoming both a student and a fellow learner.

Parsha had an excellent memory and accurately memorized the letters she learned with Son Bin. As a result, Parsha was learning to understand Central Plains language [Mandarin Chinese] faster than Son Bin was learning Devanagari.

Rarely, there were also children next to Dang Wol-ah. Some sat next to her, staring intently as if to pierce through her veil, while others showed interest in Dang Wol-ah’s flowing clothes.

But because Dang Wol-ah was so quiet and still, even the children who were having a staring contest or fiddling with her clothes would eventually end up doing their own thing next to Dang Wol-ah, creating a unique scene.

One might wonder if they needed to be next to Dang Wol-ah to do that, but the children still didn’t leave. Dang Wol-ah also didn’t care what the children did next to her.

* * *

After about three days, the children had become completely friendly with Son Bin and his group. Sa Soo-yeon would hold the girls’ hands, smile, and have simple conversations, and Dang Wol-ah would also have short conversations with the children in Devanagari.

Son Bin couldn’t even begin to guess what Sa Soo-yeon or Dang Wol-ah were talking about.

In any case, Son Bin was now the worst at speaking the language among the group. Seo-rin had been communicating with the children in his own way from the start.

“It’s okay if you’re not good at it,” Parsha said, looking up at Son Bin. Son Bin knew that phrase well, having heard it so often.

“Slowly, slowly,” Son Bin replied in Devanagari to Parsha, who was comforting him in Central Plains language.

“Yes, thank you.” Parsha smiled and took Son Bin’s hand. Son Bin stroked Parsha’s hair. Sa Soo-yeon had neatly braided Parsha’s hair, making it look particularly black and shiny.

“Hehehe.” Parsha liked it when Son Bin stroked her hair. The children now ran to Son Bin or Sa Soo-yeon without hesitation and hugged them.

The village chief and the adults, who had been uneasy, now seemed to have adapted and didn’t say much. Perhaps the food that Son Bin gave the village chief every evening played a part.

Son Bin was stroking the cute Parsha’s hair when suddenly, a surprised girl’s voice rang out.

“Eek!”

Turning his head quickly, Son Bin saw Sa Soo-yeon’s bewildered face. She was holding a boy’s wrist, and the children next to him also looked surprised. The surprised voice was from another girl next to her.

“Oppa!” [Older brother] Parsha shouted.

“Soo-yeon Sojeo!” Son Bin, also surprised, quickly approached Sa Soo-yeon and asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, this child…” Sa Soo-yeon couldn’t continue, seemingly flustered. At that moment, the boy who had been caught pulled his wrist away with force.

Normally, a child wouldn’t be able to escape Sa Soo-yeon’s grip with his strength, but Sa Soo-yeon let go.

Taptaptap.

The dark-skinned boy quickly ran away. But after a few steps, he turned around and said to Sa Soo-yeon,

“Fat butt!”

Sa Soo-yeon’s face flushed. The boy stuck his tongue out and ran away.

“What did he say?” Son Bin asked, unable to understand the words.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Sa Soo-yeon said, blushing slightly. She couldn’t say that the boy had tried to touch her butt, and that she had sensed it and reflexively grabbed his wrist.

“Oh, oppa, really…”

Parsha, who had come next to her, pouted her small lips.

“He’s like that because he wants to play with you. He always acts like that to people he likes, you know?”

Son Bin didn’t understand Parsha’s words. But Sa Soo-yeon could roughly understand.

So, that child was Parsha’s brother, and he was a mischievous child who usually played like that. Like a typical troublemaker in any village.

“What is she saying?” Son Bin asked. Sa Soo-yeon hesitated and replied,

“She said it was just a joke.”

“I see,” Son Bin said, relieved. Next to him, Parsha said to Sa Soo-yeon,

“Oppa is a fool. So don’t mind him. He was excitedly bragging yesterday that he learned some martial arts from Seo-rin oppa. He didn’t even sleep and kept practicing, you know?”

Sa Soo-yeon smiled as she listened to Parsha’s words.

The simple breathing technique that Seo-rin had taught the boys was quite popular. Seo-rin’s words, ‘If you work hard, you’ll become as strong as me,’ must have sounded like magic to the children.

Sa Soo-yeon smiled at Parsha. She even thought that she hadn’t reacted maturely enough.

“And unni’s [older sister] butt is really not fat. There are ahjummas [married women] in the village who are this big, you know.”

At Parsha’s words, Sa Soo-yeon blushed slightly and unconsciously looked down at her butt.

But because of that, Son Bin, who was still looking at Sa Soo-yeon with a worried expression, also reflexively looked in the same direction.

“Eek.” This time, Sa Soo-yeon was surprised and covered her butt with both hands. Son Bin quickly turned his head.

“I, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s okay.” Next to the stammering Sa Soo-yeon and Son Bin, Parsha said with her small mouth,

“It’s okay, you know? It’s not fat.”

Despite Parsha’s chatter, Sa Soo-yeon and Son Bin couldn’t hide the awkward atmosphere for a while.

The children didn’t leave Son Bin and his group even after the sun had set. In fact, the children wanted to stay, but the adults hadn’t allowed it until now. However, as the village chief’s wariness eased, they began to let them be.

As a result, it was only natural that the children, who didn’t know, would encounter Geomhee, who only appeared at dinner time.

“Wow.”

The children’s first impression of Geomhee was admiration and curiosity. Despite her cold impression, the children gathered around Geomhee.

But none of them dared to approach her. Thanks to this, a strange scene was created where the children gathered in a semicircle around Geomhee.

The sight of the children looking up at Geomhee with their mouths open was almost comical, but Geomhee sat quietly without changing her expression.

‘It’s the same as when we were in Seowon [private Confucian academy].’

Son Bin thought as he watched the scene. Just like it was in Seowon, Son Bin had no doubt that Geomhee would be able to get along with the children in just a few days.

“Here, this.” A dark-skinned girl shyly held out a flower to Sa Soo-yeon, indicating she wanted her to make a flower ring. Sa Soo-yeon received the flower with one hand and naturally turned her other hand behind her.

“Ouch!” The wrist of a boy who was approaching was caught in Sa Soo-yeon’s hand.

“I told you not to do that, right? I don’t like it when you do that,” Sa Soo-yeon said with a sigh. Sa Soo-yeon looked at Gatra, Parsha’s brother, who had been caught, and let go of his hand.

“Tch.” Gatra stepped back with a disappointed expression.

“Why don’t you just say you want to play together?” At Sa Soo-yeon’s words, Gatra pouted.

“I don’t play with girls.” The Devanagari religion had severe gender discrimination. Well, it was a culture that created absolute classes based on skin color and ethnicity, so it was no wonder. Still, Gatra was worse than the other children.

But that was because he was clumsy in dealing with other people, especially those he was interested in. In fact, Gatra didn’t do any harm other than secretly coming and touching Sa Soo-yeon.

“That doesn’t matter, does it? You can just play together.” Although her Devanagari was clumsy, Sa Soo-yeon’s intention was clearly conveyed. But Gatra didn’t even pretend to listen.

“Pfft. Fat butt!” Sa Soo-yeon’s expression changed slightly. Then, Gatra ran away with a triumphant expression, probably thinking he had won today by teasing Sa Soo-yeon.

“But Gatra is nice,” a girl said to Sa Soo-yeon in a chattering tone.

“He’s very good to his younger sister, Parsha. Last time when Parsha was sick, he stayed by her side all night without sleeping. They don’t have parents.”

Sa Soo-yeon felt her heart heavy as she suddenly heard about Gatra’s family situation.

The fact that children without parents were doing well was because of the strong sense of community in this village. But if the difficult situation continued, these children would be the first to suffer.

“I see,” Sa Soo-yeon murmured, looking at Gatra’s retreating figure. She wanted to be good to him, even during her stay in this village, but she wondered why he wouldn’t be honest with her.

Clatter, clatter.

The rough sound of hooves was heard. Sa Soo-yeon turned her head at the unfamiliar sound and saw sturdy men with thick white cloths on their heads riding into the village.

“Where are the foreigners!” The men, dressed in clean and fancy clothes, shouted loudly with sharp eyes.

“The foreigners in this village, come forward immediately!” The large and small swords on their waists shone brightly as they shouted in an imposing manner.

(Author’s words)

Son Bin: (Seriously) They say if you look ahead, you see the chest, and if you look behind, you see the butt, so where should I look?

Noh Gun: Look secretly.

Sa Soo-yeon: (Sighs) At the eyes.