The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 38

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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 38

Contrary to Hee-seo’s fears, the ritual ended without incident.
Over the course of several hours, they invited the spirit with Inviting the Spirit, entertained it with Entertaining the Spirit, and then sent it off with Sending Off the Spirit before concluding.
‘I’d gather more wandering spirits if I were busking on the street.’
Hee-seo glanced sideways at Hae-jeong’s face, wondering if a spirit had actually visited the ritual ground.
Unlike herself, who only sensed the spirit’s presence, Hae-jeong had opened her Spiritual Sight and still grew anxious each time she encountered a spirit.
Whether fortunate or unfortunate, Hae-jeong’s expression remained serene. So-myeong, flushed from conducting the elaborate ritual, was explaining something at length to Kim Jong-hyeop’s attendant when she shot a glare at Hee-seo.
Hee-seo, who hadn’t uttered a single word throughout the ritual, gave a light shrug.
So-myeong turned her head away in obvious displeasure, then stomped out of the Hospital Ward with heavy footsteps. At moments like these, she was far more childish than the child spirit that had been assigned to Hae-jeong.
Kim Jong-hyeop’s attendant, who had remained in his place, glanced once more at Je-eon, who was still unconscious, then departed.
Once the ritual, which had stretched on for hours, concluded and people disappeared, silence descended upon the Hospital Ward like a curtain falling.
“……Sigh.”
Hee-seo exhaled a long breath and collapsed at the foot of Je-eon’s bed.
Her mind was already tangled over Je-eon throwing himself out the Window on her behalf, and the arrival of So-myeong had pushed her stress to its peak.
The restlessness gnawed at her even without eating—hunger was nowhere to be found.
‘This isn’t the time for this. I need to drive that spirit out of my body so Mom and Dad can find me. This really isn’t the time to be exhausted like this.’
The beating she’d taken from Kim Jong-hyeop was something to settle after she found her parents. Yet strangely, her mind remained unsettled, making it difficult to focus on anything.
Even when she tried to attempt Spirit Reading, which she’d learned so clumsily from secondhand instruction, the image of Je-eon plummeting through the air kept surfacing behind her eyelids.
Hee-seo tapped her own forehead sharply and stretched herself awkwardly at the foot of the large patient bed.
Though Je-eon lay unconscious in the center of the bed, there was still considerable space remaining. She lay there in a daze, sighing, and closed her eyes. Exhaustion rolled in like dark clouds.

In the darkness, Kim Je-eon threw himself through the Window again and again, endlessly.
Without hesitation, without a trace of fear.
Had she left the Window open before falling asleep? A gentle breeze drifted in and tickled Hee-seo’s cheek. She reached up absently and wondered.
‘Why am I lying down?’
Since Je-eon had been admitted to the hospital, she’d never once lain down to sleep. It wasn’t that there was no attendant’s room available, but somehow the thought of lying down while Je-eon remained here didn’t sit right with her.
Yet why did the mattress beneath her feel so soft?
Hee-seo’s eyes suddenly snapped open. She lifted herself up and gazed toward where the breeze was coming from.
A figure stood at the Window—a Window that had never once been opened until now—gazing down at her. A small, almost involuntary cry escaped her lips.
“……Je-eon.”
Perhaps from the lingering effects of a week-long unconsciousness, the man standing beneath the moonlight had a pallid complexion. Dressed in a Patient Gown, Je-eon stood at the Window and regarded her with quiet eyes.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
Hee-seo asked him urgently.
Are you okay? Are you really okay? Why didn’t you wake up for all those days, why—!
A torrent of questions was about to spill from her lips when Je-eon called her name in a hushed voice.
“Hee-seo.”
“You’re okay…….”
Before Je-eon could finish calling her name, Hee-seo, who had been urging him on, suddenly fell silent. At the same moment, her expression hardened and her eyes turned cold.
Because Kim Je-eon had never called her by her full name like that before.

***

Kim Je-eon gazed quietly at the Tea Cup before him and thought he wanted to drink.
Then his hand reached out. It grasped the cup’s handle without difficulty. As he drew the cup close, the fragrant scent of tea became perceptible.
‘……How long has it been?’
The deeply steeped tea water conveyed its flavor through aroma alone.
Je-eon drank without hesitation, and as the still-warm liquid slid down his throat, a sharp, almost painful sensation became clear.
As his brow furrowed, Kim Jong-hyeop, seated across from him, spoke.
“Is something still uncomfortable? Je-seon.”
“…….”
Je-seon, called by that name, lifted his gaze to his grandfather. The man had aged noticeably since the last time he’d seen him through his own eyes—a reminder of time’s passage.
Je-seon set down the Tea Cup and examined the hands resting on his knees. Beneath the loosely unbuttoned cuff, what came into view was the body of a grown man, fully developed.
‘Had my hands always been this large?’
As time passes, the old grow older and the young grow up. Then what happens to the sick?
Je-seon suddenly grew curious and opened his mouth.
“Has my body completely died, Grandfather?”
“Dead, you say? Yet here you stand, healthy and whole.”
“I’m not talking about Je-eon’s body, which I now occupy. I mean my original body—the sickly one I was born with as Kim Je-seon.”
It wasn’t the first time, yet the sensation felt strange nonetheless. Je-seon recalled his original appearance—the form that had appeared in Hee-seo’s dream.
If he’d lived, perhaps he would have grown like that. Or perhaps…
“……”
“Is he dead?”
Kim Jong-hyeop pressed his lips firmly shut, studying him. Suspicion flickered in his gaze, and Je-eon let out a soft laugh.
“Why do I look so unfamiliar to you? Surely you don’t mistake me for Je-eon?”
Perhaps because he had read his grandfather’s heart so precisely—the old man’s wrinkled eyes twitched.
Then Je-eon replied in a casual, almost irreverent tone, as if to reassure him. It was the opposite of the respectful, formal manner he’d always maintained before Kim Jong-hyeop.
“Don’t worry. Just as you wished, Je-eon has fallen asleep and I have taken this body.”
At Je-eon’s declaration, Kim Jong-hyeop’s vigilance seemed to ease. He pressed further, interrogating Je-seon.
“What in heaven’s name has been happening all this time? At first, you clearly had control of that body! When did you lose it to that wretch?”
“Lose it? Your word choice is odd, Grandfather. This body was always Je-eon’s from the start. I understand you’d prefer to deny it, but you should speak plainly. You and I tried to seize Je-eon’s body and failed.”
If someone had overheard their conversation, they would have been appalled. Yet Kim Jong-hyeop replied without a trace of guilt, his voice grinding low.
“The whole reason we kept that illegitimate bastard alive in the first place was for this. He was born sinful, but if he could be of use to you, wouldn’t that repay the debt somewhat?”
“Whenever you talk like this, I feel sorry for Je-eon. He didn’t choose to be born into this family. Even if not a drop of blood binds us, it’s ruthless of you.”
Je-seon, now inhabiting Je-eon’s body, let out a bitter laugh. Kim Jong-hyeop paid it no mind and pressed further.
“Je-seon. You’ve fully taken control of that body, haven’t you? Haven’t you? Tell your grandfather now, come on.”
“Why? Are you afraid Je-eon might appear again?”
“Afraid? I……!”
“The way you’re growing so anxious, it seems my body really is dead. What a shame.”
Bitter residue from the tea water lingered on his tongue. Je-seon clicked his tongue irritably. He couldn’t tell whether the twisted irritation came from the tea or from the inescapable fact that he could never live a normal life like others.
Pathetic wretches who couldn’t even brew tea properly. The thought flickered through his mind that they all deserved to be ground to dust.
“You didn’t just carelessly cremate it, did you? Without even a proper funeral?”
“That’s not what matters now, Kim Je-seon! Get your mind straight. Don’t let that illegitimate bastard take this body from you again!”
“Yes. I’ll see to it myself.”
“See to it yourself? What could you possibly—how would you—”
“Either way, I have to fight Je-eon inside this body. What could you do to help? That shabby, crippled old shaman? I swear, I wanted to bash my head in just listening to her, but I held back.”
“What……? That shaman didn’t wake you?”
“Still so naive, our dear grandfather. With such innocence, how have you survived this harsh world at all?”

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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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