Free Web NovelEven though she already knew everything that would happen, even though she had imagined it hundreds—no, thousands—of times in her head, seeing °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the perfectly realized scene unfold before her eyes made it impossible to stay calm.
“Ah... it’s so good....”
Her toes curled unconsciously inside her shoes.
“...I’m really glad we changed it.”
Writer A recalled the earlier draft of 〈The Great Garland〉. Up until the script reading, Huijae had been written as someone who could speak a little Joseon language.
“I don’t know... another way to say it.”
“You should say ‘Joseon person.’”
“Jo-seon... person.”
Inside businessman Hanamura’s house, all kinds of people must have come and gone. Among them, a few who were especially close would have been fellow collaborators.
They would have used Joseon speech from time to time. Conversations that would’ve been uncomfortable if Japanese servants overheard were likely spoken in Joseon language.
But at the audition, Han Yeoreum—still a rookie with a thin filmography—had offered an interpretation that made Ahn Junmyeong hesitate.
It felt like she had grabbed him and shaken him by the collar.
‘When I first heard that Gong Mujin had revised his script, I thought I wouldn’t be like that.’
Writer A tried to stubbornly hold onto his pride, recalling Director Gong of 〈Faster Than the Law 〉. A writer was supposed to have conviction, after all.
“It’s an excuse. A reason to speak.”
But between the symbolism of pear blossoms and the dialogue carefully shaped to frame it as precious first love, there was no resisting.
Han Yeoreum understood Huijae’s long-standing loneliness from the very bottom of it.
“I’m really glad we changed it.”
The moment the script reading began, Ahn Junmyeong had no choice but to change his mind.
He wanted everyone who watched 〈The Great Garland〉 to remember Huijae as admirable and endearing.
That stubborn determination to learn a strange, difficult language she couldn’t understand at all.
The fierce will of a girl who wanted to exist with everything she had.
She was a single flower blooming in Joseon.
A new daisy.
“Do you have fireworks here too? Back on the mainland, we always had them in summer.”
The Huijae that Han Yeoreum understood—and Ahn Junmyeong completed—didn’t ask about flowers first.
This was an excuse.
A subtle confession from a girl too shy to say outright that she wanted to see the outside world with Taeseok.
“Huh... what’d you say? What’s that?”
“Up in the sky. Bang—! Bang—!”
“...You mean bombs?”
The boy tilted his head, not understanding at once. He might not know the word for bomb, but it was obvious he hadn’t understood her.
Huijae shook her head quickly.
“Pretty. Sparkling. Bright.”
“...Don’t know anything like that. Never seen it.”
What reason would there be for such luxury in Joseon? Taeseok felt awkward for no reason.
Whenever he talked with the girl, he sometimes felt the gap in their lives.
“But I didn’t get to attend either!”
“Why not?”
“No one took me.”
Huijae circled back again. She had never gone either. Her lips parted slightly, wanting him to say, Then let’s go together someday.
But Taeseok didn’t say what she hoped for. He just nodded mildly.
“And I saw something beautiful in Joseon.”
Growing impatient, Huijae changed the subject at once.
“Where?”
“On trees. When I looked outside from the car. It was so, so beautiful I was shocked. But....”
If there were no fireworks in Joseon, she at least wanted to see that pretty flower she had glimpsed on her first day here.
“I don’t know. I don’t know that. If you teach me, I’ll be happy.”
Her heart grew urgent. She mixed Joseon words and Japanese in a rush.
Soon the harbor bell would ring. The boy would leave.
“You want me to tell you the flower’s name?”
But this dull, clueless boy kept misunderstanding. Frustrated, Huijae pouted.
“...Yes. Very white, and very pretty. No, pretty.”
“Must be apple blossoms.”
“...Really?”
What if it wasn’t that flower? They could go look at this flower and that flower together and figure it out side by side.
Huijae asked with a sulky expression.
Taeseok was just as confused. He had found an answer to her question right away—why was she reacting like this?
“How would I know? If you ask me about something I haven’t seen, what can I do? It’s just a flower. You weren’t asking because you didn’t know the word, right?”
The words came out bluntly.
He worried she might think he was an idiot who didn’t even know a flower’s name.
Rich people grew certain flowers in porcelain pots—what if she meant something like that?
He had seen them wipe leaves with expensive handkerchiefs. If it was something like that, he wouldn’t know.
He didn’t know about fireworks bursting in the sky. He didn’t know about flowers. What if he looked pathetic in front of her?
Cold sweat ran down his back.
“I know that. Flower... but it’s hard to say. It’s not that I don’t know. I want to know....”
Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.
Huijae’s face fell. She lost strength in her legs and dropped from her tiptoes.
When her pale face disappeared behind the wall, the one who panicked was the boy.
“Should I pick you one later?”
That was all he could offer. A single flower from the roadside.
Even as he said it, it sounded pitiful.
Just as Taeseok’s heart grew hollow—
“Really?”
Pop. The girl’s face bloomed over the wall again, smiling brightly.
“There’s more than one white flower. Apple blossoms, spirea, they’re everywhere. There are dozens. Most of ’em look pretty similar....”
Taeseok rushed out his words, barely breathing.
He was afraid she might disappear again.
All he had said was that he’d bring her a flower—why did she smile like that?
Huijae’s hand suddenly reached over the wall toward him.
Like the day she had told him her name.
Without thinking, Taeseok hooked his pinky around her small finger.
They intertwined them tightly so it wouldn’t slip away, pressing their thumbs together like sealing a promise with a kiss.
“But then, very, very, very later?”
Still holding his hand, Huijae asked when he would bring her that flower.
Taeseok’s head spun.
Holding her soft white hand, he felt as if the scent of flowers surrounded him. His nose tingled.
“There are flowers everywhere right now—why later? Just climb a hill and they’re all over. I can finish work and leave one here for you. If you like flowers that much, at night I could—”
“I want to see.”
Her words made his breath hitch.
Where had she learned to say things like that?
All he could do was clench the hand not holding hers.
She probably meant she wanted to see the flowers.
But his heart pounded like it was being hammered.
It sounded like she was saying she wanted to see him.
“Should I take you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Watching the sunrise in the mountains isn’t bad. And maybe one of those flowers is the one you were talking about. They say you’ve got to look with your own two eyes to find it right.”
Finally, the words she had wanted to hear came from his mouth.
Huijae shook their clasped hands excitedly.
“Tomorrow! Then please take me tomorrow!”
Clang—. Clang—. Clang—.
The harbor bell rang.
It was time for Taeseok to leave.
But their hands clung stubbornly together. Until the bell stopped ringing, they remained like that. freewebnovёl.ƈom
When the sound finally faded, Taeseok slowly loosened his grip.
He sat on his bicycle. As always, Huijae called out her farewell.
“Have a safe trip—.”
He kicked up the stand, placed his foot on the pedal—then turned back. freёwebnovel.com
The pale face peeking over the wall made him speak like it was a vow.
“...See you tomorrow.”
Then he pedaled forward.
Even without turning around, it felt like he could still see her face.
Huijae waved until he disappeared from sight.
—ah fuck this is rotting my teeth it’s so sweet my tongue’s numb
—but how can this turn into doomed love right now... they’re literally in love? it’s insanely beautiful?
—just get married I’ll allow it don’t break up you bastards TT_TT we’re all gonna need therapy at this rate
—I can’t stop this gross grin just give us 24 episodes of them as kids please
ㄴthen the adult story disappears lol
ㄴa world where Taeseok and Huijae don’t end up together is useless to us
A drama runs at 24 frames per second—1,440 images moving every minute.
Viewers of 〈The Great Garland〉 absorbed every single frame into their hearts.
Every second. Not missing one.
Discussion threads across every community refreshed endlessly.
“Alright, then—.”
Director Ja checked his watch.
Thirty minutes left in Episode 3. It was time for first love to fully bloom.
He remembered the Yeon Huijae he had seen at Han Yeoreum’s audition.
Some memories are so vivid they drag you back to that moment.
As if you’re still living inside it.
