The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 31

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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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31화

Or perhaps this wasn’t an event at all—maybe eliminating me was the priority. Hui Seo swallowed the words she’d been about to say.
“That can’t be it. I came because I wanted to be alone with you, and I guess I felt pretty lonely after being out all night yesterday?”
Long, slender fingers brushed softly across Hui Seo’s cheek. Even compared to her own hands—thickened and hardened at the knuckles from exertion—his were nearly twice as large, yet smooth as silk.
“Yes. I waited all night.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was preparing until late for today’s dedication ceremony. The people were struggling too, so I couldn’t wrap things up quickly.”
“The people were struggling?”
“Well, it’s a hot country, isn’t it? They tire easily. Tired people sometimes make mistakes or act in ways they wouldn’t normally.”
There was something suspicious in that remark. Hui Seo suddenly recalled the driver who had driven Je Eon’s car.
Had he too been exhausted by the heat? A local, indoors, while driving?
‘Suspicious bastard.’
Wearing a shell of beauty that approached perfect purity, leaving no trace behind. That was the behavior of the creature occupying Kim Je Eon’s body.
While Hui Seo stared at Je Eon expressionless, Jo Manager called to her from outside the door. It seemed she was indeed preparing to change clothes, as Je Eon had said.
“Miss Hui Seo, just a moment.”
“What. Did you want me to put on clothes or something?”
But as Hui Seo turned to leave, Je Eon gently wrapped her wrist in his hand. Though she had the strength to shake free, she stopped.
Je Eon paused, as if choosing his words carefully, his pale pink lips parting slightly. What he said next was unexpected.
“Don’t worry.”
“…What?”
“Don’t worry about anything. There won’t be any of what you’re imagining.”
“What are you talking about right now? Are you making excuses because of that insect? Don’t you think it’s already too late?”
Ha. Hui Seo let out a hollow laugh without meaning to. Yet Je Eon, unlike last time, didn’t look wounded.
Instead, as if he’d expected it, he lifted her hand and brought his lips gently to her knuckles—a tenderness like soothing an increasingly troubled wife.
As Hui Seo looked down at his prominent bridge and intense eyes, her cheeks quivered.
“I won’t hurt you. So don’t fear me.”
Je Eon’s whisper tickled the back of her hand.
………
He shouldn’t have said that.
Hui Seo knew her own pride better than anyone. Whatever people might call her—a fake shaman, a charlatan—there was at least a pride in her that could not be trampled by him.
“You.”
She yanked hard on Je Eon’s necktie with the wrist she’d been holding. The tie went taut in an instant. Confusion flickered in Je Eon’s eyes before his body leaned in.
“I mean you. You, whose name I don’t even know.”
Surprise flashed briefly across Je Eon’s face at the sudden movement. But he came toward Hui Seo without resistance.
Only after pulling him close enough for their breath to mingle did Hui Seo stop. Her gaze, burning with heat, pierced through him.
“You’re clearly laboring under a grave misunderstanding. You’ve seized a body that belongs to someone else, and something like you could never hurt me. Never. So don’t you dare let such words cross your lips again.”
It was at that moment—at the instant Hui Seo spoke with such finality—that she saw something stir in the depths of Je Eon’s dark eyes like ripples on water.
It looked like rage, or like rapture. Perhaps like the moment a sleeping soul awakened. As if she’d glimpsed something she had no right to see, heat flooded down her spine.
Her hand gripping the necktie trembled so slightly she barely noticed it herself.
“I… I could never hurt you?”
Je Eon murmured as though entranced by something.
“That’s right. I’ll never crumble before the likes of you.”
Yet Hui Seo didn’t back away. Instead, she straightened her spine and held his gaze.
The breath she felt from his skin trembled. Or perhaps it was her own breath. Somewhere in that moment, an eternity of silence settled heavy between them.
“Miss, Miss. You must change your clothes.”
Mercifully, the silence was broken by Jo Manager. Hui Seo released Je Eon’s necktie without hesitation and turned away. Je Eon did not reach for her wrist again.
The sound of Hui Seo’s footsteps faded as she nearly ran down the corridor.
“Ha…ha ha.”
And alone, Je Eon raised both hands to cover his face. He had to press his palms against his skin to contain the laughter that flooded him like a tempest, to hide his face, burning crimson.
“Ha ha ha……”
Yet still the laughter leaked through his lips, through his fingers, through his very soul. It was laughter Je Eon himself couldn’t explain.
It was anguished laughter like weeping, and rapture. Je Eon bit his lip, trembling as he laughed.
And Je Eon’s laughter continued for a long time.

***

The Trident Project was one of GM Group’s new ventures. It was a project to establish GM Group’s medical and research centers in major cities counted among the world’s leading metropolitan areas.
Of all the cities in the project, Dubai came first.
GM Group launched the Trident Project by erecting a building so tall that you could see the entire city of Dubai from it.
The Trident-Dubai Building was what they’d created by investing an astronomical sum that ordinary people couldn’t even imagine.
Hui Seo pressed her face against the transparent elevator glass, peering down below. Since it had been built adjacent to the sea, even as evening fell the view remained crystalline and unobstructed. The glittering low-rise buildings below looked like stars scattered across the earth.
“A building made of money.”
Je Eon leaned in close at her brief observation, whispering to her.
“Hard to argue with that. If the Trident had been a four-pronged spear instead of a three-pronged one, our chairman’s back might’ve bent under the weight.”
Since Han Do Yoon and the secretaries were sharing the elevator with them, Hui Seo offered no response.
Ding. With a soft mechanical chime, the floor vibrated faintly and the elevator came to a halt. The attendants stepped out first, and Je Eon escorted her from the cab.
The completion ceremony was to be held in the ballroom on the sixty-sixth floor, the building’s top level. As they entered, a stage set before the floor-to-ceiling glass immediately came into view. Beyond the stage, the night sea sprawled outward, small yachts firing fireworks in succession.
It felt unreal, like watching a scene from a film. Hui Seo twisted her hand free from his grip.
Je Eon glanced at her for a moment, then quickly composed his expression as people began approaching.
…….
…….
People who looked like locals exchanged greetings with Je Eon and gave Hui Seo a brief nod. Most of them seemed more interested in her than in him.
Hui Seo wore a silver dress with navy accents, coordinating with Je Eon’s navy suit.
More than her carefully arranged hair and makeup, it was Hui Seo’s own enigmatic presence that rendered her mysterious. Instead of gaudy ornaments, diamonds hung along the plunging neckline in a way that suited her remarkably well.
But their gazes didn’t linger. Je Eon stepped forward, positioning himself before her.
‘Just have to get through today.’
People had begun to gather around Je Eon. Hui Seo seized the opportunity and slipped away.
The restroom was an excellent excuse and a refuge. The toilet was clean enough to wash in, the plush sofa, the floor-to-ceiling mirror—it all felt like a hotel suite.
“Damn it, my feet are killing me.”
Hui Seo collapsed onto the sofa, kicked off her shoes, and began massaging her bare feet.
She’d chosen the lowest heel from the shoes Jo Manager had brought, yet her soles were already burning. Her toenails and toes, which had been compressed the whole time, bore red marks.
After hiding in the palatial restroom for some time, Hui Seo returned to the ballroom only after receiving word from Jo Manager.
The ballroom now held far more people than before. Behind the stage where the night sea had been visible, a curtain and screen had descended, displaying the text “TRIDENT – DUBAI GRAND OPENING.”
Though the space wasn’t small, with people gathered toward the stage the interior felt somewhat chaotic. Hui Seo gently pressed her temples at the sudden onset of a headache.

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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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