The Color Yellow
My very first New Year's morning as a Joseon court maid dawned cold and bright.
Naturally, the day began with sebae, the formal New Year's bows.
"Hui-bin-jaga, may you receive boundless blessings and good fortune in the New Year."
"Why, thank you. Bong-bong, you have turned four years old now. Mind your elders, stay healthy, and be a good child this year as well."
As she offered her New Year's blessings, Jang Hui-bin wore noticeably lighter cosmetics than usual. Seeing her face radiant as a pale pink peach blossom instantly lifted my spirits.
'By the way... where's my New Year's pocket money?'
Meeting my wide, sparkling eyes, Jang Hui-bin chuckled softly and handed me an embroidered silk pouch. The moment my fingers closed around it, my heart sank. It wasn't copper coins clinking inside, but dang-gwa—hard sugar confections.
'Tsk. Give me cold, hard cash, please...'
Then again, in an era where even senior court maids received their stipends in grain and bolts of cloth, there was no reason anyone would hand cash to a toddler.
Once the formal bows were over, we were treated to a special holiday feast: rice cake soup.
'Pheasant meat in tteokguk? This is my first time trying it, but it's ridiculously delicious.'
While I happily patted my round belly and sipped sweet sikhye, Chwiseondang buzzed into motion. The maids, who ordinarily wore identical uniforms with their hair pinned in the braided twin buns of palace maidservants, changed into everyday hanbok and twisted their hair into elegant, coiled chjjok-meori knots.
'Since it's the New Year holiday, they're all heading home.'
Excited smiles lit their faces as they streamed out of Chwiseondang, hefty bundles resting in their arms. Inside were bolts of fine cotton and sacks of white rice bestowed by Jang Hui-bin as holiday gifts. Palace welfare wasn't half bad, all things considered.
"Seol-hyang hamanim, why aren't you going home?"
"I already visited my family last month. Someone has to stay behind and look after Chwiseondang, you know."
"Ah, I see..."
I stole a glance at Seol-hyang's profile.
'Court Lady Han, I'll take the holiday duty this New Year.'
'You, Seol-hyang? You usually despise working on holidays. What brought this on?'
'Well... Bong-bong would be left all alone. It's been weighing on my mind.'
A few days ago, I had accidentally eavesdropped on their conversation. To be perfectly honest, having the entire compound to myself had sounded like paradise, but even so, I couldn't help feeling genuinely touched by Seol-hyang's warmth.
"Hwang Bong-bong. What's with that long face? Are you sulking because you can't go home?"
"No way! I'm not sad even a tiny bit!"
Of course I wasn't. Truth be told, I had no idea where my original family home was supposed to be anyway.
"Then let's spend the next two days stuffing ourselves silly and sleeping in! Most of the head court ladies are away anyway."
"I wuv dat!"
"That's the spirit! From this moment on, the place is ours!"
"Yay!"
I hopped up and down like an overjoyed toddler, matching her infectious enthusiasm. Naturally, I harbored an entirely different objective for this holiday.
'During this break, Chwiseondang belongs to yours truly!'
Once the court maids had departed, Chwiseondang sank into dead silence. Utterly drained from days of holiday preparations, Seol-hyang had already collapsed into a deep afternoon slumber, snoring softly under the quilt.
Making sure she was fast asleep, I crept quietly out the door.
In truth, I had been counting down the days for this moment. Today was a rare day when not just Chwiseondang, but most palace servants across the royal grounds were away on leave.
'There's no way I'm letting a golden opportunity like this slip through my fingers.'
I intended to comb through every corner I hadn't had the chance to inspect, unearth any overlooked clues, and methodically map out my future survival strategy.
Just as I was crossing the courtyard, mentally reviewing my packed itinerary, a woman's silhouette materialized at the entrance of Chwiseondang.
'Who's that?'
Before I could even make out her face, an inexplicable chill seized my chest. Sure enough, my gut instinct was spot-on.
"There you are. The clever little child maid."
...Good grief. Why did it have to be her, on today of all days?
"H-Hello..." I quickly bowed my head, desperate to mask my dismay.
"Go inform Hui-bin-jaga at once. Tell her Suk-jeong begs for an audience."
"...Yes, Madam."
When I cautiously raised my eyes, they met Suk-jeong's hollow, unblinking gaze. Her stare bore into me with intense ferocity, yet her pupils were utterly vacant. At the sight of her parched, cracked lips, the horrifying memory of her tearing down that poster and ravenously chewing it to pulp flashed before me, and I involuntarily swallowed hard.
"Wait, hold on."
Suk-jeong halted me just as I turned toward Jang Hui-bin's bedchamber. She lowered the silk bundle in her arms onto the flagstones. Whatever she had packed inside, the parcel bulged thick and heavy.
"Child. I believe I promised to bring you something last time."
...She had, in fact.
'Little girl. Next time I come, I'll buy you a pretty bridal doll.'
That was what she had whispered during our first encounter, while trying to thrust a cursed doll into my hands.
"I cannot quite recall what it was, so here—take this instead."
Rummaging clumsily through the folds of the bundle, Suk-jeong withdrew an object and held it out.
"Take it."
"..."
Honestly, I couldn't even muster empty words of courtesy. What Suk-jeong thrust toward me was a stick of traditional taffy, so pulverized and shattered that it was practically dust.
'Does this woman take me for a beggar?'
Or was this her twisted way of telling me to screw off?
"Be grateful. A child of your station would rarely have the privilege to taste such a treat."
"...Yeth, Madam."
Refusing to waste another breath on her, I gave a perfunctory nod and prepared to turn away. That was when something caught between the loosened folds of the silk wrapping seized my gaze. They were far from ordinary household goods.
'Those... aren't those shamanic implements?'
Five-color divination flags that only an exorcist would wield, a small wooden figurine carved in the likeness of a child spirit, and various bizarre accoutrements whose purposes I couldn't begin to fathom.
"Now hurry. Summon the court lady, or report directly to Hui-bin-jaga."
"Ah, yeth."
Quickening my steps, I bit my lower lip.
'The warning I left that day was completely useless.'
A bitter realization washed over me. Suk-jeong was not the sort of woman to abandon her madness after a single warning. If anything, she had returned fully armed—a bona fide villainess through and through.
She was the very first hurdle I had to tear down.
"What is the meaning of all this?"
Jang Hui-bin's expression stiffened the moment she saw the ritual implements Suk-jeong laid out before her.
"These are sacred tools obtained from a renowned and powerful shaman. With these five-color flags, we shall divine Hui-bin-jaga's fortunes and perils for the coming year."
Hui-bin looked down at the vibrant silk flags arranged before her knees. Red, yellow, blue, white, and black. Their hues were blindingly vivid.
"Shamanic implements within the palace quarters... That seems rather..."
"Jaga, what cause have you to hesitate? This shaman is named Orye. She is a woman who offers fervent prayers day and night for Your Ladyship, declaring that two Queens cannot exist beneath the heavens."
"Two Queens cannot exist beneath the heavens?"
"Indeed. Her divine efficacy is beyond reckoning. Please, draw a flag."
'Be sure to have her draw three times, and remember the colors. The child spirit will surely reveal the answer.'
Recalling her conversation with Shaman Orye, Suk-jeong thrust the bundle of flagpoles forward.
"You need only draw three times, Jaga. It will surely herald great fortune, so do not fear."
"Well, if you insist..."
Hui-bin reached out and smoothly pulled a flagpole free.
"It is yellow. What does yellow signify?"
"It is great fortune! Primarily, it represents the divine protection of the ancestors and the heavens above."
A faint sigh of relief softened Hui-bin's features.
"Please draw once more."
"Let us see... Oh, yellow again."
"How marvelous! Now, one final time..."
"...Yellow once more!"
Hui-bin's eyes rounded in utter astonishment.
"Jaga! This is truly miraculous! In all my life, I have never heard of the same color emerging three consecutive times. This is undeniably the will of heaven!"
"You said yellow signifies ancestral and divine protection. If so..."
Could this omen foretell a heavenly mandate? A flicker of long-dormant ambition rekindled in Hui-bin's eyes.
"I shall seek out Orye immediately to decipher the full depth of this reading."
"Do so. My own curiosity is piqued. Three yellows in a row..." Her expression relaxed considerably, and Hui-bin offered, "Why don't you draw one as well, Suk-jeong?"
"Oh, shall I?"
"Yes. Since these flags possess such uncanny power, divine your own fortune for the year."
"Very well, Jaga. I shall do so."
Like the fanatical devotee she was, Suk-jeong gripped a flagpole with trembling, sweat-slicked fingers and pulled.
"...Yellow."
She pulled a second.
"...Yellow!"
The yellow flag emerged yet again. Swallowing hard, Suk-jeong drew the final pole.
"Black...!"
All blood drained from Suk-jeong's face in an instant. In divination, black portended ruin—the deadliest omen of all.
"Suk-jeong? Are you all right?"
"...Jaga. May I step outside to take the air for a moment?"
"Go ahead."
Rising unsteadily, Suk-jeong practically fled the bedchamber. Her hands trembled violently as she gripped the corridor railing.
Three times for Hui-bin. Twice for herself. A total of five yellows. This was undeniably the divine voice of the spirits, an omen that could never be dismissed as mere coincidence.
'Yet why did black appear at the very end...?'
Worse still, her mind raced back to the eerie poster she had encountered on the western wall of Chwiseondang just days before. So much yellow, followed by absolute black... What terrifying fate was unfolding?
Right at that moment—
"Gasp...!"
Over in a corner of the inner courtyard, crouched low near the dirt, was the little child maid, scratching at the ground with a dry twig. Startled, Suk-jeong gasped in shock.
"You frightened me half to death!"
"Huh?"
At Suk-jeong's furious hiss, Bong-bong looked up, blinking innocently. "I've been right here pwacticing my letters all along..."
"Make some noise, then! Announce your presence!" Suk-jeong snapped shrilly, only to freeze mid-breath.
"You must beware of the child."
"If you underestimate the child, immense disaster shall befall you."
"The child..."
Until now, Suk-jeong had assumed Shaman Orye, who served the Child Spirit, had merely meant that she must venerate her god faithfully.
'A child... also simply means a child!'
A sudden, icy shiver crept up the nape of her neck, racking her frame with violent goosebumps. Pulled by an uncanny, irresistible dread, Suk-jeong took slow, hesitant steps toward Bong-bong.
"What... what are you writing?"
"I was pwacticing writing my name."
"Your name?"
Echoing the question numbly, Suk-jeong dropped her gaze to the soil. Gouged crudely into the pale yellow dirt was a single large character.
"...Yellow?"
Suk-jeong's face turned ashen.
"Y-Yellow? Why on earth did you write that? Speak!"
"Yellow...? But it's just my name..."
"How could your name be Yellow? Your name is..."
Only then did the child maid's full name hit Suk-jeong like a thunderbolt. The child's given name was Bong-bong, and her surname was...
"Hwang..."
"Yeth. I'm from the Hwang clan."
"Hwang...!"
A strangled screech ripped from Suk-jeong's throat.
"...?"
Watching Suk-jeong stumble backward, clutching her chest as she fled in sheer panic, Bong-bong casually stuck a pinky into her ear and gave it a twist. With a subtle, barely perceptible smirk tugging at the corner of her lips, Bong-bong dragged her tiny foot across the dirt, methodically wiping away the scribbled character for yellow.