The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 36

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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 36

Crack!
A fist came flying out of nowhere and struck Hee-seo across the face. The bystanders gasped more sharply than the one who’d taken the blow, turning away and averting their eyes.
Despite the shock rippling through the room, the punches didn’t stop with one.
“Sir.”
Hee-seo caught the wrist barreling toward her a second time with ease. When she looked up, her eyes met a gaze burning with such fury it nearly scorched her.
The naked killing intent in those eyes—as though he’d tear her apart on the spot—made Hee-seo hesitate. She released his wrist, and immediately a sharp blow landed on her opposite cheek.
…….
Hee-seo swept back her disheveled hair and straightened herself. The violence was written plainly across her face. Her lip, which had barely begun to heal, split open again, and blood trickled down.
With an impassive expression, she wiped the blood from her mouth.
“I set only one condition. Not to harm that boy. Not a single wound on him. And yet I made that request so clearly…….”
Kim Jong-hyup’s eyes blazed with icy fury as he glared at Hee-seo. The look in them was pure murder—if he could, he’d kill her where she stood.
“Let me be clear now.”
He straightened his disheveled clothes from throwing the punches as he spoke.
“If anything—anything at all—happens to that boy.”
Kim Jong-hyup pulled a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and wiped his hands, as though the touch of her had soiled them.
“Your shaman mother and father won’t see another day alive. You have my word on that.”
Having delivered his warning unilaterally, Kim Jong-hyup left the hospital room. His attendants followed in his wake, their footfalls deliberately muffled.
Jo Sung-gyu, who’d been standing like a shadow at the edge of the room, disappeared as well under the pretense of seeing them out. In their wake, silence settled over the Hospital Room like a weight.
“……Didn’t think an old man like that could hit so hard.”
Only after everyone had gone did Hee-seo lower herself onto the sofa as though her strings had been cut.
Her face throbbed where the fists had landed, and the room spun faintly around her. She lay back on the sofa and stared up at the white ceiling.
‘What is all this, Hee-seo…….’
She turned her gaze to the man lying on the hospital bed.
It was Kim Je-eon, pale and motionless on the mattress.
The one possessed—who’d jumped from the window with Han Do-yun in her place.
Just as she’d suspected, two people had died during the building’s construction. Their deaths hadn’t been handled properly, and their bodies hadn’t yet been returned to Korea, which meant there was plenty of room for resentment to take root. The possessed had every reason to linger.
When Kim Je-eon and the other Korean workers were coming and going from the building, the first spirit had seized Manager Jo first, and just as he was about to harm Han Do-yun, the second spirit had inhabited Han Do-yun instead.
Up until now, there was only one answer she couldn’t find.
“So why?”
Hee-seo jolted upright, frustrated. No matter how much she racked her brain, no matter how many theories she spun, there was one thing she simply couldn’t understand.
“Why did you do that?”
Why had Kim Je-eon seized Han Do-yun and fallen with him, in her stead?
It was a question she’d turned over hundreds, thousands of times as she arranged for the unconscious Je-eon to be flown back to Korea. And because she had no answer to it, she’d had no choice but to accept Kim Jong-hyup’s blows without resistance.
Je-eon must have known the pool below the window—the one that would become the Aquatic Rehabilitation Center. But even so, that wasn’t enough reason for him to throw himself in front of her.
“Sigh……. And why won’t he wake up?”
Han Do-yun, who’d fallen into the pool with him, had already regained consciousness and undergone an exorcism at Hee-seo’s hands. It had happened while Han Do-yun remained unaware, the possession having been shallow enough to cleanse.
But Je-eon, who’d fallen at the same moment, hadn’t regained consciousness since that day. She didn’t intend to defend Kim Jong-hyup, but two slaps was a fairly restrained way of channeling his rage toward his beloved grandson.
“……Thinking it’s because of me while telling myself to wait and see how things unfold. Your precious grandson, and yet you won’t say a word about the possession itself. God, I feel like my head’s going to split.”
Unable to bear the stress, Hee-seo ran her fingers through her hair. In this strange relationship between grandfather and grandson with hardly a resemblance between them, they shared at least this one stubborn trait.
She sighed deeply as she looked at the handsome face that showed no sign of waking.

***

A week had passed, and Je-eon still hadn’t woken. By now, the medical staff’s mood had grown far more grave.
Je-eon was in a specialized medical facility operated by the GM Group. It was the GM Medical Center, said to overcome even cancer, yet even they couldn’t determine the cause of his loss of consciousness.
Je-eon, festooned with every piece of medical apparatus available, had left that morning and only returned to the Hospital Room as evening fell.
Hee-seo folded the book she’d been reading and rose to her feet.
“Has there been any progress?”
“Today’s test results should come through by dawn, ma’am. The Executive Director will be under the care of our medical staff, so wouldn’t it be best if you returned home for the evening?”
Je-eon’s attending physician spoke to her in a carefully neutral tone.
He too was one of those suffering under Kim Jong-hyup’s hand. In the past few days, perhaps feeling some kinship with Hee-seo, his words had been gruff but carried an undercurrent of goodwill.
“It’s all right. Home isn’t exactly restful anyway.”
“I understand.”
The physician had witnessed firsthand the moment Kim Jong-hyup had punched Hee-seo. Did he see her as a daughter-in-law being abused by her father-in-law?
‘Well, to outsiders, it’s not an unfair assessment.’
Kim Jong-hyup hadn’t set foot in the hospital room even once since that day. Judging by what the attending physician and medical staff said, it seemed he was receiving reports from somewhere in the center instead.
Since she had no desire to run into him either, Hee-seo kept vigil in the room. She dimly sensed that others saw her as a pitiful widow-to-be, but she let it pass.
And it seemed Kim Jong-hyup had come looking for the attending physician again today. He glanced at the watch on his wrist for a moment, then greeted Hee-seo.
“If there’s anything you need at any time, please let me know, miss. As soon as the executive’s test results come back, I’ll report directly to the chairman and you. Then I’ll be on my way.”
Did he really need to tell me?
Hee-seo considered it briefly, then dismissed the thought. If Je-eon didn’t wake up at all, it would be as much of a problem for her as for anyone.
Hee-seo followed the attending physician to the front of the hospital room. Then, seeing the person through the open doorway, she froze as though rooted to the spot.
“……Aunt.”
“Chairman, what brings you to the hospital room?”
“The hospital director came down, so I thought I’d stop by. You ran tests all day today? When can I hear the results?”
Kim Jong-hyup pressed the attending physician the moment they faced each other. Hee-seo seemed invisible to him. She, too, couldn’t hide her bewilderment—not because of Kim Jong-hyup, but because of the woman standing behind him.
The middle-aged woman, dressed neatly in traditional Korean clothing with her hair pinned up in a single knot, was So Myung Seon-nyeo.
And she stood like a shadow behind Kim Jong-hyup, deliberately ignoring Hee-seo. She must have heard Hee-seo call out “Aunt,” and yet.
‘……Why is that woman here.’
“The test results should come back early tomorrow morning, and I’ll report them to you right away, Chairman.”
“You’d better. At my age, it becomes far too easy to misconstrue and resent someone without good reason. It’s been over a week now. That healthy, perfectly fine body refusing to come to his senses for no reason at all. At this point, you might find me questioning your competence, so you’d best have a proper explanation ready for me at dawn.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
The attending physician’s face darkened as he bowed his head deeply. It was the same for Hee-seo.
Kim Jong-hyup, as though he’d only just noticed Hee-seo standing there stiffly, acknowledged her presence.
“You’re still here? Why aren’t you home resting?”
“……This feels more comfortable.”
“I suppose it does. That body over there isn’t carrying just one life, so perhaps it eases your mind to stand watch beside it.”
Kim Jong-hyup’s implied threat was one Hee-seo couldn’t escape either.
The old man blocked the hospital room entrance with his cane, prodding Hee-seo and the attending physician to move aside.
The attending physician quickly dodged out of the way, but Hee-seo stood her ground even as the cane struck her. In that moment, her eyes met those of So Myung Seon-nyeo, who had been standing silently behind Kim Jong-hyup.
“Tsk.”
Kim Jong-hyup clicked his tongue at Hee-seo for not stepping aside despite being struck by the cane, then entered the hospital room. The attending physician hurried after him, and Hee-seo was forced out into the corridor.
In the corridor, silence hung between Hee-seo and So Myung Seon-nyeo as they faced each other.
“You look well, Hee-seo. That call got cut off so suddenly—I was quite worried about you.”
“Yes. A face bruised, torn, and bleeding—the kind of face my aunt would love to see.”
So Myung Seon-nyeo spoke first, and Hee-seo answered coolly in turn.

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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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