Plum Month
by Choi Seo-hae · 2026-04-08
Baksaeng and his party traveled sixty li and finally reached the Nakdong River.
The slanting sunlight of late autumn was painting the riverside red.
Thin evening smoke flowed gently over the riverside village like silk.
A crow searching for its home flew towards the high cliffs.
Since there was an inn across the river, I called for the ferry rower.
The moment I got off the ferry at Gyogun,
what caught Maewol's eye was the deep, quietly flowing blue waves.
That water… strangely felt like some kind of signal to her.
Not knowing where it came from or where it was going,
it flowed from the direction where the sun sets beyond the western mountains,
passing through Seryuchon and continuing endlessly.
The surface of the water captured the white clouds in the sky.
As the river breeze stirred her clothes,
in that moment of gazing blankly at the vast nature—
Maewol momentarily forgot all the pains of this world.
She recalled the dragon palace within those deep waves,
and in the sound of the flowing water, it felt as if she heard the clear song of the dragon maiden.
At that moment, Maewol realized.
‘Ah… I understand.
Because of this body, this heart has also been suffering together.’
Her slender shoulders trembled subtly.
On her pale face, a clear resolve emerged instead.
It was when the boat reached the middle of the river.
Maewol quietly turned her body to look at Baksaeng and said.
“Sir, may I recite a poem?”
Her tightly closed lips slightly relaxed.
Baksaeng was so happy that he momentarily couldn't speak.
The people in the boat also looked at each other at the woman's words about reciting a poem.
“Yes, recite it. I will also respond with a poem.”
Baksaeng's gaze turned towards Maewol.
Maewol began to recite the poem clearly in a steady voice.
“Dignity is like frost and snow, and grace is like a mountain.
It is difficult not to go, and it is difficult to go.
Looking back, the water of the Nakdong River is blue,
this body is in a precarious place, but this heart is at peace.”
The last line—
The moment I utter the words, ‘This body is precarious, but this heart is at peace,’
Park Saeng seemed to realize something, gasping in surprise and shouted.
“……!”
He hurriedly reached out to grab Mae-wol's hem.
But—
Mae-wol's body was already,
faster than that hand.
That delicate body, swaying in the cold wind,
fell straight into the blue river—
Splash, and disappeared.
As droplets splashed and bubbles formed,
her figure sank lower and lower.
Everyone in the boat was frozen, unable to speak.
They had faces that did not even understand what had happened.
But—
The only person who knew all of this was Park Saeng.
Park Saeng shouted urgently to the boatman.
“Turn the boat around! Quickly—!”
The boat turned in the middle of the river,
struggling to find Mae-wol along the flowing current.
However—
The sun had already completely set beyond the western hills,
and darkness began to settle over the riverside.
The cold wind blowing over the river
soon sank into deep darkness.
In the end,
the body of Mae-wol was never found.
She...
Did she flow into the sea?
Or did she really go to the Dragon King's palace?
That night, Park Saeng sat
alone by the Nakdong River, where the moonlight gently fell,
repeating the poem left by Mae-wol
while holding onto his heart.
Even now, over a hundred years later,
among those crossing the Nakdong River, there are those with purpose
who quietly recite Mae-wol's poem,
looking back once more at the rushing river.
“Dignity is like frost and snow, and grace is like a mountain.
It is hard not to go, and hard to go.
Looking back, the water of the Nakdong River is blue,
this body is precarious, but this heart is at peace.”