The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 29

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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 29

So it was exactly as she expected. By now it was a worn routine, stale from repetition.
Unlike when she was younger and powerless, as an adult the only person who could ever manipulate Hee-seo was Hae-jeong, who had grown up alongside her. Hee-seo swallowed her rising anger and set her phone on the pillow above her head.
‘So that’s why my sleep’s been so restless.’
Damn it. Hee-seo bit out the curse and steadied her breathing. If she provoked So-myeong any further, that woman truly wouldn’t care about her dignity—she might actually drag Hae-jeong onto the ritual dais.
“Once I enter Korea, I’ll…….”
Hee-seo had been trying to speak with forced composure when she hesitated. Beyond the transparent hotel glass, something dark as a storm cloud gathered in the sky.
Hee-seo narrowed her eyes and stepped closer to the glass.
“……What is that?”
[Hee-seo, are you listening to me? Lee Hee-seo!]
“……!”
So-myeong’s voice kept calling her name through the phone. Yet Hee-seo couldn’t answer. That dark mass she’d taken for storm clouds was drawing steadily closer.
And in an instant, it hurled itself at her.
“Ugh, ahck!”
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-tap, tap-tap!
Tap-tap-tap, tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!
Hee-seo reflexively shielded her face and hunched down quickly. Through the thick glass came the loud cacophony of wings and bodies colliding.
What poured toward her was no storm cloud. When she forced her eyes open, countless insects clung densely to the glass.
They continued fluttering their wings despite their guts rupturing and legs snapping against the glass. Only those whose skulls were completely crushed or whose two pairs of wings were wholly shattered fell to the ground below.
It was something beyond imagining in its grotesqueness.
Tap-tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-tap, thud-tap-tap-tap-tap!
“Haah, haah…….”
Breathing deliberately, Hee-seo braced herself against the bed, lowered her stance, and walked toward the door. At that moment, the swarm moved strangely—following her.
The instant she saw this, Hee-seo understood.
‘This isn’t just an ordinary swarm of insects.’
The bathtub flowing with blood, the rotting food, and now the insect swarm.
All of it was malice—the work of something evil. Just as Hee-seo clenched her teeth and moved swiftly toward the door, Kim Je-eon’s voice broke through.
“Hee-seo? Hee-seo!”
Then the bedroom door opened. For a moment, Hee-seo’s gaze and Kim Je-eon’s met through the gap.
Kim Je-eon seemed startled by her appearance and behavior—but only for a moment. The instant he noticed the swarm, now so densely gathered that no sunlight showed through, his expression hardened visibly.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Kim Je-eon moved toward her in quick strides.
“Hee-seo, come here!”
“Don’t touch me!”
Kim Je-eon reached to pull her close by the shoulders, but Hee-seo shoved him hard and stepped back. Even as she saw the bewilderment on his face, she recoiled as if the swarm itself were touching her skin.
“……Hee-seo?”
“I said don’t touch me!”
She pushed him away, and as Kim Je-eon stumbled backward helplessly, their positions reversed in an instant.
“Haah, haah. You……. What exactly are you doing?”
“What do you mean, Hee-seo? Wait a moment.”
“What do I mean? You really thought I’d just sit there and take it? If your plan was to scare me with something like this, maybe you should get your head on straight?!”
“I think there’s some misunderstanding here. Just calm down for a moment and let’s leave. We should go to my room—or actually, we should change hotels. Just listen to me for a moment.”
Hee-seo raised her voice from the doorway. Kim Je-eon stared at her with an expression of complete bewilderment.
How repulsive. At his false display, Hee-seo pointed toward the window.
“Kim Je-eon, you’re going to pretend you don’t see that?”
Tap, tap……. Tap-tap-tap, tap.
The swarm, which had been following Hee-seo’s every movement, now drifted through the air away from the glass.
It seemed almost as though they were reacting to Kim Je-eon’s presence. Only those caked with corpses or still alive clung to the glass, beating their wings uselessly.
“……What is…….”
Kim Je-eon stared at the window, his expression hardened. Kim Je-eon, who had always seemed at ease in any circumstance, appeared unsettled by the scene unfolding before him—and at the sight of his discomposure, Hee-seo’s own sanity began to return.
She gripped the edges of her disheveled robe and looked at him directly.
“Kim Je-eon. Or whatever your real name is.”
“……Hee-seo. Please, let me explain. Right now there’s been a misunderstanding between us. If we could just talk——”
“You’ve completely misjudged who I am. I get it—you brought me all the way here to dispose of me somehow.”
Yes. So this was a trap all along. All this panic he’s showing—it’s just an act.
Everything made sense now. With a firmness unlike herself, Hee-seo cut him off.
“If you’re going to get rid of me, do it properly. Stop playing these pathetic games.”
At her cold assertion, the expression drained from Kim Je-eon’s face. His emotionless gaze fixed on Hee-seo—a stare so intensely dark it bordered on dangerous.

***

Unfortunately, she’d bolted from the hotel room with nowhere to go.
‘Of course, you idiot. This isn’t Jongno 3-ga—it’s Dubai…….’
Still gripping her damp hair, Hee-seo felt the weight of regret settle over her.
At least she’d had the sense to change clothes. The hotel lobby was far too opulent to wander through in nothing but a shower robe.
Draped across a sofa tucked into the corner of the lobby, Hee-seo tried to sort through the tangle of her thoughts, but all that surfaced was Kim Je-eon’s eyes.
“……Anyway, deceiving people is what you do best. And you knew it, you fool. Stupid Hee-seo.”
Spirits that seized a human body could easily extract information about those around them using the original host’s memories. The stronger the spirit’s aura, the longer possession typically went undetected. Most of the Evil Spirits she’d struggled against operated this way.
“You watched your own family fall for it so easily with your own two eyes, and you still can’t wake up. Are you actually losing your mind?”
Any act performed for the sake of Exorcism exposed the performer to extreme danger, regardless of its form. The threat wasn’t limited to the spirit alone. Families unable to bear the truth of Possession, or allies already deceived by the spirit, could become sources of peril themselves.
The series of events that had left Hee-seo stabbed—when she’d taken Hae-jeong’s place at an improvised ritual—had been born from precisely such circumstances.
“Sigh……. Let’s end this quickly. Quickly. Just get back to Korea safely.”
As she forced herself to voice the thought, the reality of her situation became clear: it wasn’t going to be simple.
She’d need to endure at least four more days before returning to Korea. And she had no way of predicting what Kim Je-eon might do in those four days.
‘I can’t chase after him without even knowing his name, and—damn it.’
Hee-seo was in the midst of raking her fingers through her hair in frustration when a familiar voice called out to her.
“Miss?”
“Oh, Director Jo…….”
“But why are you out here this early? Why have you been here since morning?”
“Good morning, miss.”
Director Jo and Kim Je-eon’s entourage were arriving for work.
A cluster of people in identical formal attire greeted her. Most were faces she recognized. Han Do-yoon, the executive director and Kim Je-eon’s closest associate, merely nodded from among their ranks.
Hee-seo offered a response while concealing her fatigue, but in that moment her gaze locked with Han Do-yoon’s. A chill rippled across his eyes—incongruous with the casual morning greeting.
‘What’s with that look? Unpleasant.’
When had she even met him to warrant such a stare? Hee-seo, sensitive to people’s energy, bristled and returned his gaze with narrowed eyes.
“The vice president will be waiting, so we’ll head up first. Director Jo, please accompany the miss. Well then, miss—I’ll go up ahead.”
But before Hee-seo could examine Han Do-yoon’s expression more carefully, he offered a brief nod and made his way toward the elevator with the others.
Director Jo seemed to hesitate, watching Han Do-yoon for a moment, but then immediately approached Hee-seo’s side. He leaned in close, lowering his voice so no one else could hear.
“Is something wrong? Why have you come out here so early?”
“Oh, no. It’s not that. I just wanted to get some fresh air.”
Ever since Director Jo had witnessed the decaying food and the strange way the Soji had fallen from Hee-seo’s hand, his demeanor toward her had grown extremely deferential. Faced with Hee-seo’s clumsy lie, he glanced around once more before leaning closer to whisper.

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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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