Episode 002
This time, it was Master Jang of the Yu family.
Master Jang was so fat that his cheeks hung like a bulldog’s. Yet, he seemed oddly happy, humming to himself as he bossed me around.
“Go fetch some water from the back hill. I need it for the ink.”
Despite looking like a pig, Master Jang had the soul of a refined nobleman. Every time he needed ink, he insisted on fresh spring water from the hill. He could have gone himself and lost a little weight, but no—he always made me do it.
I watched him dance around, holding the ink water container, my small body wishing I could just smash it into his squishy cheeks. But… what could I do? This was my reincarnated life.
“Y-yes…” I said weakly and took the container.
I had to report to Aunt Yuk in the kitchen, too, or she’d get angry.
“Master Jang says to go fetch water from the hill,” I told her.
Aunt Yuk, chopping vegetables, exploded with anger.
“Again? Why do you always get noticed? Stop wandering around and do your work! Do you want to starve today?”
Ridiculous. Digging bamboo shoots and fetching water is not hard work! And she was the one who sent me to the well!
I puffed my cheeks in frustration.
“Ugh!”
“Hey!” Aunt Yuk hit my head with her big fist. I immediately got a stiff neck.
“Go, go quickly! Fetch the water, get the fire ready for the bamboo shoots!”
I was frustrated and upset… but I was the weakest in the Yu family. I couldn’t disobey Master Jang, Mistress, or even Aunt Yuk. If I crossed her, I wouldn’t even get food.
“…I’ll go…” I said, putting the container in my basket and trudging toward the back hill.
The hill wasn’t steep, but with the short legs of a five-year-old, climbing up and down was exhausting.
“Huff, huff…” I panted as I went up the dirt path and down through thick weeds.
Finally, I reached the spring. I filled the container with clear water, closed the lid, wrapped it carefully in a silk cloth, and put it in the basket. Mission accomplished.
I kicked off my shoes and dipped my small feet into the cool water. The clear stream tickled my toes, and I looked up at the sky peeking through the branches. The leaves swayed gently, shading my cheeks, calming my sadness.
The breeze comforted my aching shoulders, and the water made me laugh a little.
Even though my second life is hard… it’s still better than being sick.
Earlier, when the man on the rooftop asked why I liked the martial arts novel, I said:
“That’s a really insensitive question, isn’t it?”
He looked embarrassed and shrugged.
“Ah… did I say something wrong?”
I sighed and put my phone down.
“Explaining why you like something is hard. It’s personal.”
“Really?”
I pointed at the Haagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream container he had placed neatly on the flowerbed.
“Why do you like this ice cream?” I asked.
“I’m not… an adult,” he mumbled.
“Shut up. Every time you talk here, you say you don’t need flowers or fruit, just chocolate ice cream.”
“Well… it’s delicious?”
“That’s not a reason! Macadamia is delicious too.”
He looked puzzled.
“True,” he admitted.
I looked at my novel on the phone and said,
“People like things for personal reasons. Usually something in their experience makes it special.”
He nodded slowly.
“Yeah… you’re right.”
There was an awkward silence. He stayed there, thinking over my words. Maybe he was finally listening to a young girl’s thoughts.
I spoke again without thinking:
“But it’s much easier to talk about what you dislike. People usually share similar feelings about negative things.”
He scratched his chin, thinking.
“So… what do you dislike?”
“Being sick,” I said simply.
He stayed quiet. I didn’t need to explain. I hated being sick because it hurt. My illness had been stuck with me since birth, no matter how many medicines I took.
“And hospitals,” I added.
A place full of sick people couldn’t feel good. Everything lost its color—flowers looked fake, TV screens showed lifeless worlds, and even family didn’t feel like family.
I had once been happy—living with my mom and grandmother—but that ended when my illness began. The money ran out, my grandmother’s land was sold, and no medicine could cure me. Even moving to Seoul didn’t help.
Meeting my father’s wife at the promised place made me realize… life could be cruel.
