The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 19

Je Eon killed the yacht’s engine and turned toward her. Hee Seo didn’t trust the loose smile playing at his lips and kept her guard up.
The yacht wasn’t small, but Je Eon closed the distance in just a few strides. Hee Seo carefully shifted her hand to her back pocket, ready to strike back at any moment.
“Of course, I’m not one of those crude men.”
But as if Je Eon had read her thoughts, he smiled with an enigmatic curve and wrapped his arms around her shoulders with surprising gentleness. Then he turned her body so she could see something beyond the river.
Standing behind her, Je Eon pointed to a spot with his hand.
“There.”
“…There, what?”
“Where that crane is. Do you see it?”
At the spot his fingertip indicated, a massive crane stood jutting up among the buildings. Steel structural columns that would form the building’s frame rose beside it, woven together haphazardly as if to pierce the sky.
Beneath the thin blanket, Je Eon gently caressed her shoulders and whispered.
“In three months, that building will be completed.”
“…Did you really bring me all the way out here just to brag about a building?”
In the middle of the night, on a yacht no less?
As if Je Eon had caught the sharp words she didn’t speak, he buried his face in her shoulder and stifled a chuckle. Then, before she knew it, he moved his lips to her ear and whispered low.
“Our deal—you haven’t forgotten, have you? If you figure out who I am within one hundred days, I’ll leave your body of my own accord.”
“How could I forget? Just… step back and say it.”
“I want to add a condition. No matter how I think about it, I’m the only one losing in this arrangement.”
“…Now you want to add conditions?”
Hee Seo’s face scrunched up as she turned to look at him—still oblivious to the fact that she remained nestled in his embrace. The moment she turned, she found his lips right in front of her nose.
Je Eon brushed the corners of her wide eyes with his thumb. His dangerous smile deepened.
“If you don’t discover who I am within one hundred days…”
Je Eon’s deep eyes suddenly gleamed with light. His expression resembled a flower harboring poison, and Hee Seo found herself instinctively moistening her lips. He lowered his head, bringing his mouth close to hers, and whispered low.
“You’ll become my wife forever.”
“What?”
A voice that seemed to enchant someone, the undulating motion of the water, the firm hands of the man holding her, and even his scent—Hee Seo felt as if she were caught in a daze.
Je Eon traced his finger along Hee Seo’s furrowed brow and murmured.
“Until the day I completely vanish, you will remember me and hold me… becoming mine.”
The moment Hee Seo heard his whisper, a chill ran down her spine.
There was power in Je Eon’s voice. It sounded like a spell, or perhaps a prophecy.
‘This is dangerous.’
This situation was dangerous. The sense of crisis she’d felt on the first night stirred her instincts.
Just as Hee Seo was about to push his shoulder away without hesitation, she suddenly widened her eyes, having spotted something behind Je Eon.
“…I can’t let it happen!”
Je Eon reflexively pulled her tight as she tried to lurch away. Following the shock of his sudden action, his gaze too shifted to where Hee Seo was looking.
What captured Hee Seo’s sight was a figure precariously standing on the Han River Bridge.
And in that moment.
Splash!
A great spray of water erupted as the person who had been standing on the bridge plummeted into the water below. It was a fall without hesitation.
Je Eon instinctively tried to cover Hee Seo’s eyes, but the blanket draped around her slipped away loosely. And everything moved as if in slow motion.
Je Eon reached out toward the woman diving into the Han River. But all his fingertips grazed was the texture of her long hair. Without a moment’s hesitation, she plunged beneath the dark, deep waters to save the Suicide Jumper.
In the blink of an eye, Je Eon was left alone on the yacht. A desolate wind swept past his pale cheeks.

Though it wasn’t a season when one should feel cold, the river water seemed chilling to Hee Seo. She knew why.
It was the Aura of the Dead. Those who possessed Spirit Power avoided the Han River for precisely this reason.
‘I need to save this person quickly and get out of the water.’
Fortunately, the Suicide Jumper had fallen in a spot where the current wasn’t strong. Because she’d seen the exact point of impact, it was easy to determine where to swim. Hee Seo swam upstream rapidly.
As long as Je Eon didn’t move the yacht to mess with her, she’d be able to save the Suicide Jumper in time. And true to her expectations, it wasn’t long before she found the figure.
The Suicide Jumper was limp, apparently unconscious from the impact of the fall. She grasped the body and swam urgently toward the surface.
With a gasp, she expelled the breath she’d been holding and wrapped her arm around the Suicide Jumper’s neck. A glance showed a young face—appearing to be a high school student.
‘Why would such a young person…’
Though she felt pity for the ashen face, she couldn’t afford to waste time. Holding the child while battling the current was growing harder. Hee Seo glanced around and, thankfully, Je Eon’s yacht was still in place.
Hee Seo waved her hand and raised her voice.
“Here! Come here!”
Since she’d pulled the child out not long after they’d jumped into the water, the chances of survival were high—but if their head had struck something, the situation would be different. She needed to get them to a hospital immediately to assess their condition.
Yet despite Hee Seo’s cries, Je Eon, standing on the yacht, merely stared at her without moving.
‘……Foolish, really. There’s no way he’d help me.’
Perhaps it was the words she’d heard just before throwing herself into the water. Without quite realizing it, Hee Seo had believed Je Eon would come to her aid. It was about saving a life, after all—regardless of what he thought of her, it should have been the natural thing to do.
‘A ghost helping save someone? That’s impossible. Hee Seo, what on earth were you thinking to entertain such a foolish idea?’
You will be my wife forever. Je Eon’s voice still rang clear in her ears, but instead of waiting for him, Hee Seo gritted her teeth and swam toward the yacht. As she cursed her own stupidity and kicked harder, the child’s weight notwithstanding, she picked up considerable speed.
As Hee Seo drew closer to the yacht, Je Eon’s expression became increasingly distinct.
His face was cold as a frozen corpse. He looked both angry and startled.
But either way, Hee Seo had no desire to concern herself with him.
“Haa, haa. Hey, Je Eon!”
Yet hoisting the limp, waterlogged child onto the yacht was a task beyond her strength alone. The child was like a soaked sponge, and Hee Seo herself had exhausted every ounce of her stamina from dawn until midnight.
“Hey, are you really just going to stand there? Grab the kid, would you! You want to accumulate karma watching someone die and end up in hell?!”
At Hee Seo’s rebuke, Je Eon finally moved toward her. His face remained expressionless, making him look almost like a stranger.
Yet the way he pulled the child up with hands sheathed in leather gloves—as though handling something filthy—made it abundantly clear what he was.
‘Even now he’s fussing over cleanliness. A ghost, for heaven’s sake. Really…….’
Hee Seo huffed and forced back her anger. Getting the child to a hospital depended entirely on this creature before her, so losing her temper further was ill-advised.
Je Eon tossed the child onto the yacht’s floor like a piece of cargo, then reached out his hand toward her. As Hee Seo looked at his wet gloves and was about to grasp his hand—
“Uh, uh, eek……!”
An incomprehensible force seized her ankle from beneath the water with brutal strength. Startled, she thrashed and clung to the yacht. Je Eon’s hand shot out and grasped hers in an instant.
Just as his expressionless face registered bewilderment and he tried to snatch her clothing—
“Hee Seo!”
“Let go, I—! Ugh, no—!”
But ‘it’ held her fast and dragged her beneath the surface. It was irresistible, like being swept away by a colossal tidal wave. Scratching her fingernails across Je Eon’s leather gloves, Hee Seo vanished into the black water below.
It happened in an instant. The child draped across Je Eon’s back coughed and spat out water, but Je Eon remained frozen, staring into the water.
The water that had swallowed Hee Seo flowed on in silence, leaving no trace.
‘Just now…….’
I was holding her hand just a moment ago.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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