5. The End of the Story
6. A young beggar girl was thrown into the Indangsoo Sea as a sacrifice to the Dragon God.
7. Though the ship sank, the waters soon calmed.
Memuatkan…Memuatkan…
1. Many springs have come and gone since then,
2. and through all of those years the villagers continued to honor the maiden's memory,
3. spreading
Memuatkan…Memuatkan…
1. spreading her tale far and wide.
2. Shim Chong,
3. devoted daughter of Arcadia.
4. Heaven-sent in both beauty and virtue.
5. Graceful as a swallow,
6. elegant as a moon fairy,
1. "Nobody's ever seen the Dragon God, what makes you so special?"
2. "Hmph..."
3. "They do say being the only survivor of a shipwreck changes a man."
4. "You've been ranting and raving about seeing gods ever since..."
5. "Hey, wasn't that old drug peddler on that ship?"
6. "Oh, I think so."
7. "I'm thinking... when the ship sank, some of his opium found itself mixing with the sea water..."
8. "Aha! He was"
1. "hallucinating from drinking it!"
2. "N-No, I'm telling you..."
3. "I remember it clear as day!"
1. "The Dragon God is a Dragon Goddess!"
2. "So there was no use sending a bride anyway..."
3. "Ha, a likely story! So lonely that you're starting to hallucinate goddesses in storms!"
4. "We need to hurry up and find you a wife!"
5. "Th-That's..."
1. "Then that vile Ditchdok stole everything I owned and ran off!"
2. "How heartless!"
3. "Can never trust a woman, can you? I'm sure she was a real looker though, eh?"
4. "Ha, as if!"
5. "If she had to target a blind man she must be ugly as sin!"
6. "Haha,"
1. "good point!"
2. "What about the chancellor's wife? Where'd she go?"
3. "Madame Jang?"
4. "That one sailor who survived"
5. "said she jumped in after Chong. But why would she do that?"
6. "I suppose"
1. "we'll never know..."
2. "Nobody's seen any of that lot since their house burned down."
3. "Why would an old lady jump in with Chong?"
4. "No, not his first wife, that new young one he had..."
5. "Ah, whatever! They're all the same!"
1. "spared her life."
2. "Before long she'll return to the land and come find me!"
3. "Haha, the poor guy's going senile!"
4. "I mean it! I saw it in a dream!"
1. "I saw her riding ashore on a lotus and marrying into a noble family."
2. "Oh, thank you, my lord!"
1. "Mister Shim!"
2. "Enough stories, it's time to eat!"
3. "Mother cooked you some..."
1. "You..."
2. "Wow! Would you look at that!"
3. "Jewelry!"
4. "Oh?"
1. "Really!?"
1. "Yup."
2. "And that Mother Ditchdok ran off with all of his things."
3. "He always was good at making up his own little realities..."
4. "But it's not like she's around to defend herself either."
5. "I went by her house and it's completely abandoned."
1. "We just need to keep our ears open and we'll find her soon enough."
2. "Since we're done here, shall we head back a little early?"
3. "...Is something up?"
4. "No..."
1. "Hey, do you remember last time we were here...?"
2. "Strange, I could have sworn"
3. "I saw that rider come this way..."
1. "We should leave before we run into anybody else."
2. "I told you to wear your hat so nobody recognizes us!"
3. "I know, but—"
4. "Good idea."
5. "Even if they recognize you, I'm sure everybody has already forgotten all about"
6. "some faraway bride who went missing."
1. "Oh?"
2. "I made it back to land and married a noble lady."
3. "Ahaha! I guess you did!"
4. "Do you remember when I first asked your name in this alleyway?"
5. "Hehe, yes."
1. "The crowd stopped me from hearing it..."
2. "But even had you told me,"
3. "I never expected to actually use it."
4. I simply wanted a name to remember you by,
5. because I knew we could be torn apart at any moment.
6. "Being able to spend every day with you like this,"
1. "and call your name whenever I like,"
2. "was beyond my wildest dreams."
3. "But it's real."
4. "And there are so many more things that I want to do together with you."
5. "Me too..."
1. Our story will be passed down from one mouth to another,
2. blurred and erased,
3. scattered and distorted,
4. expanded and abridged,
1. until at some point we won't even recognize it ourselves.
2. Yet somewhere in the margins, in the pauses between each stroke of the brush,
1. Together.
1. Translation by STEVEN EDWARDS
2. Thank you for reading.
4. Seri Written by
5. Biwan Illustrated by
6. Yama & Piro Color Assistance by
7. Fin.