Chapter 5: The Snowman in the Bundle

Myeong ran excitedly toward the river of clear water in the southeastern garden. Thanks to the upcoming festival, there were far fewer people around to bother him. Today, he could even splash around by himself while doing the laundry.

Humming a tune he had heard somewhere before, Myeong bounced his shoulders as he ran.

However, his happiness did not last long. When he spotted five immortals gathered together at a pavilion beside the clear stream, Myeong slowly began backing away.

‘Should I give up on splashing around? The laundry can wait until tonight, can’t it?’

“Myeong, where are you going?”

But it was already too late to escape. One of the immortals who had spotted Myeong called out loudly, and everyone’s gaze immediately turned toward him.

“If you came to do the laundry, then do it.”

“You’re not even going to greet us? What an insolent brat.”

“What kind of greeting would we get from an uneducated wretch? Forget it.”

“Hahaha!”

The immortals tossed jokes back and forth at Myeong’s expense. Myeong did not even dare turn around and run, simply standing there quietly while watching their expressions.

Fortunately, the pavilion was far enough away from him that they did not seem likely to harass him directly.

“Myeong!”

At the thunderous shout, Myeong sucked in a sharp breath.

“Yes! Myeong is here!”

He squeezed his eyes shut and shouted loudly. As a flower child, he was required to remain polite toward anyone above him.

“How many years has it been since you were born?”

Unable to understand the meaning behind the question, Myeong bit his lip before finally answering.

“…More than a hundred years. And you still haven’t received a name? My goodness. You really are something. How hopelessly slow.”

Myeong hugged the laundry tightly against his chest and buried his head. He did not want to sniffle weakly in front of the immortals. If he did, they would only become more excited and tease him even more, and what little pride Myeong possessed would be crushed even further.

“So what are you doing during Spring’s festival? You must have been invited, right? Are you going to dance like the other flower children?”

The warm breeze made the immortals’ robes flutter beautifully, but to Myeong, it blew like an icy wind, mercilessly exposing his worn-out hemp clothes.

“No.”

“Surely you weren’t so pathetic that you weren’t even invited? Oh, come on. There’s no way! You’ve lived in the Palace of Spring for a hundred years!”

Their feigned ignorance was irritating because they already knew the answer. The immortals began deliberately taunting Myeong for not being invited.

“…”

“How could a servant of spring not be invited to Spring’s festival?”

“Maybe he was born wrong.”

“Looks like someone really did abandon him in the garden.”

In the end, the immortals succeeded in drawing tears from Myeong’s eyes. Born wrong. Perhaps someone had abandoned him. Perhaps he had not been born from Spring’s love at all, but had instead been formed from some filthy, miscellaneous energy.

Faced with their rude and cruel speculation, Myeong could only sniffle quietly without answering. He had started the morning full of energy, yet somehow he had become powerless again.

“You should repay them for raising you.”

“Seou, why don’t you share some of those summer pearls you brought?”

One of the immortals, who had opened a fan and was gently stirring the air, spoke to his friend.

“Are you crazy? Those precious things? You give him some of those autumn fruits you brought. Those things are everywhere.”

“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to obtain autumn fruit?”

The two began comparing the things they had acquired, soon arguing over which was better and which was inferior.

“Ah, why are you two fighting among yourselves?”

“Both of you broke into empty houses, yet you sure have a lot to say.”

“Empty houses? How can you say something like that!”

It was a blatant accusation, but it was true. Messengers who visited other domains on behalf of Spring would sometimes trade their own possessions for things, or secretly steal treasures.

With no mermaids of summer or spirits of autumn having been born yet, the domains of summer and autumn were practically empty, which must have made stealing their treasures even easier.

“And what about you? Didn’t you merely bring back some gems used by humans?”

“Hmph. Why would I bring back something as worthless as human goods?”

Normally, Myeong was not allowed to leave until the immortals gave him permission, but he cautiously watched them and began slowly backing away. He could do the laundry anytime today, so there was no harm in waiting until after sunset.

“If someone heard you, they’d think you had brought back an ice flower.”

The ice flower, the greatest treasure cherished by the notoriously fierce and vicious God of Winter.

Myeong stopped in his tracks and pricked up his ears. He had heard stories about the ice flower in passing, too. There were many sayings in the Heavenly Realm, but more of them revolved around the ice flower than anything else.

For example, the saying ‘He’d even bring back an ice flower’ meant that someone was willing to do absolutely anything. Meanwhile, ‘Sounds like a flower child looking for an ice flower’ meant meaningless chatter or utter nonsense.

“What’s the winter wolf up to these days?”

The God of Winter had a wolf-like appearance, which was where the nickname came from. Had they been servants of winter, they would surely have foamed at the mouth and demanded to know what kind of disrespectful language that was.

But this was the land of spring, and only servants of spring were gathered here, so no one cared if they badmouthed winter.

“Some say he’s dead, others say he went to the Human Realm. Who cares?”

“I heard he was imprisoned as punishment for eating a hundred of his own subordinates. Is that true?”

“Those beasts really are something…”

“At this rate, aren’t all the seasonal domains going to collapse except ours?”

The conversation soon shifted from winter to the balance between the seasons. While the immortals forgot all about Myeong’s existence, he ran all the way back to the storage room and hid himself inside.

His work would pile up, but if he did not take this opportunity, there might not be another. Fortunately, they had not tormented him for very long today. Inside the storage room, Myeong’s hurried, breathless panting echoed, while outside, birds chirped incessantly.

****

Myeong could only get to the laundry he had put off after finishing every single one of his assigned odd jobs. Using the red sunset as his light, he quickly finished washing the clothes and hung them neatly in the yard in front of his storage room.

There were only a few garments belonging to the flower children and several pieces of cloth used at the northeastern shrine, so the small amount made things easier.

Although the sun had set, he could not rest. There was a mountain of fabric waiting to be ironed. As Myeong heated the brazier to iron the well-dried silk clothes, he accidentally burned his hand on the glowing red charcoal.

Myeong groaned softly for a while, then licked the reddened burn before wrapping it in cloth and tying it securely. His fair hands were covered in scratches and scars from all his hard labor.

“Is the idiot here?”

Suha flung open the door of the storage room and came looking for Myeong as he prepared to iron the clothes.

Suha was a flower child who managed the garden, born from the largest peony that had ever bloomed, and he possessed the strongest power among the flower children around him.

Living off his own sense of superiority, Suha often called Myeong an idiot and ignored him, but Myeong could never even bring himself to tell him to stop and simply endured it every time. He knew that Suha was the best while he himself was the worst, after all…

“Why?”

“Take care of this for me. If I keep it in my room, the other flower children might touch it.”

Suha pulled a bundle wrapped in cloth from his sleeve and held it out to Myeong, asking him to hide it. He looked strangely cautious, as though they were engaging in some secret transaction.

“What is it?”

“If I tell you, would you even understand?”

“…No. Sorry.”

Myeong had only asked out of curiosity, but the cold answer immediately came back. He was the idiot for forgetting how cold Suha’s personality was.

Completely deflated, Myeong carefully stroked the bundle Suha had entrusted to him. It was tightly wrapped in white cloth, making it difficult to guess what was inside. It was about the size of his palm and surprisingly light… What on earth could it be?

There was a faintly cold sensation coming through the cloth.

“Hm-hm. I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll tell you. It’s a snowman.”

“A snowman?”

Suha stared at Myeong for a moment before beginning to untie the string holding the bundle together. Inside the cloth were two lumps of pure white snow, squirming faintly.

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