Painter of the Wind EP 21: Chunsaek Manwon (A Garden Filled with Spring Colors)

Chapter 3

A paintbrush hovered mid-air as Yunbok thoughtfully studied the gisaeng posing in front of it. They were sitting in a gibang on a spring day where Yunbok had been commissioned to paint a local nobleman's favorite gisaeng. As Yunbok absently chewed on the paintbrush, the gisaeng turned and returned Yunbok's stare with less than innocent intentions. She was very much attracted by this young Hwagong's good looks and gentle manner. Batting her lashes coquettishly, she was determined to make a conquest of him where her sister gisaengs had failed before her. Unfortunately, he seemed immune to her charms. Undaunted, the gisaeng leaned forward to whisper a coveted invitation to his ears. To her dismay and annoyance, she found Yunbok's attention had already diverted to the paper laid out between them. The painter was now earnestly sketching an outline, and never spared her another glance.

The session was over.

Later that day, Yunbok was home adding finishing touches to the gisaeng's painting from that morning. Every visit to the local gibang brought on a surge of memories. If painting was yearning, there was a special person who still occupied her heart and mind. After Yunbok left Danwon, she made inquiries about the boatman who had ferried Jeong-hyang. After much searching, she found the same boatman lazing in a tavern not far from the river.

"Beautiful woman? Gisaeng?"

"Yes, that's her. Can you tell me where she went?"

"I remember her, she was beautiful, her eyes..."

"Where did she go?"

"Those eyes, a face like a flower, her figure..."

"Yes, I know. Can you tell me where she went?"

"No. But I can tell she was beautiful, even with her hood on."

Yunbok heaved an exasperated sigh and negotiated with the boatman to ferry her across the river to the same place where he had dropped off Jeong-hyang days earlier. When they arrived after a day's journey, the boatman could offer no more help. Although his besotted gaze had followed Jeong-hyang's willowy form from his boat, he had no idea where she went after that.

Having nowhere else to go, Yunbok settled down in the area. Home was now a thatched hut on the outskirts of the town where she had wandered into six months ago. The provincial town hardly compared to Hanyang, but to Yunbok, it was a sanctuary. The upheaval of her past life in the capital now seemed a lifetime away. Having confronted her past, the headaches and fainting spells ceased only to be replaced by a longing inside her heart.

To Yunbok, it no longer mattered whether she wore a hanbok or tukbok, a gat or a chonmo, or styled her hair in a gache or sangtu. In the early days, Yunbok uncomfortably regarded Seo Yoon as a separate person – an alternative existence stolen by Kim Jo-nyeon and impossible to retrieve from her parents' graves. A ghost of herself yet not quite herself. With time came realization – the orphaned girl was no ghost, but a forgotten child who had grown up to become the person that was Yunbok today. Because Seo Yoon will always remain a fragment of her being, Yunbok no longer sought her lost self. Her confusion eased. Yunbok was at peace with herself.

The past was no longer buried, but it had been laid to rest.