The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 4

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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 4

A secretary stood watching her among the crowd. When their eyes met, the secretary nodded urgently toward something.
Following the gesture downward, Hee-seo spotted Kim Jong-hyeop staring at her and Kim Je-eon. There was a silent pressure in his gaze.
Mother-in-law troubles on the very first day of marriage—her irritation was starting to simmer. Hee-seo murmured in a flat voice.
“……The time feels impossibly slow waiting until tonight.”
Perhaps it was an answer he hadn’t expected. At her words, Je-eon let out a soft breath and laughed.
It was a light laugh, yet it seemed to brighten the space around him. Still, Hee-seo’s sharply raised eyebrows remained unmoved.
“That’s quite a provocative thing to say with such a dissatisfied expression.”
“That’s just how my face naturally is. French style.”
It was a deflection, though not an unfamiliar observation for Hee-seo.
Tall, with distinct features and sharp eyes, Hee-seo had grown accustomed to people asking whether she was angry or displeased whenever her expression went blank.
Of course, those questions weren’t really about how she felt, and she knew it. People simply wanted to say: smile a bit, don’t ruin the mood. That’s what they meant.
Each time, Hee-seo had responded with halfhearted remarks. Just as she was doing now with Kim Je-eon.
“Is that so? I’m glad to hear it.”
“……Glad about what exactly?”
“That people in France wouldn’t have misunderstood you.”
Hee-seo blinked slowly. She hadn’t expected such an answer to her dismissive comment. Je-eon laughed again at her tightened lips, and his laughter was still like a flower.
Just as Je-eon was about to say something more—
“Director Kim. The chairman is looking for you.”
A man emerged from behind Je-eon, footsteps preceding his words. It was the same man who had stood beside Hee-seo’s secretary throughout the wedding ceremony.
Je-eon hesitated with a reluctant expression before releasing Hee-seo’s arm.
Only then did Hee-seo realize that Je-eon had been holding her this entire time. The skin where he’d touched her felt oddly warm.
“Interrupting newlyweds already—I’ll have to lodge a complaint with the chairman. See you in a bit, Hee-seo.”
With that, Je-eon turned around alongside the man. Hee-seo pulled her gaze from his tall, striking silhouette and looked down at the champagne glass in her hand.
The empty glass bore only the mark of her lips. The brief encounter felt strangely unreal, as if she’d been possessed by a ghost.
Yet in that very moment, a cool fragrance suddenly bloomed against her nose.
Touch.
Like someone dazed, Hee-seo touched her cheek. The man with the bright smile had whispered something to his bride. Her earlobe tingled at the laughter in his voice.
“Don’t drink too much. I have no intention of spending our wedding night with you drunk.”
The fragrance vanished as quickly as it had come. Left alone, Hee-seo drained the glass without hesitation. The sharp alcohol burned through her body.

***

In shamanism, Exorcism proceeds through soothing the spirit. The common rituals and talismans people use are ultimately acts of releasing the resentment they carry and achieving Transcendence.
But Hee-seo was not a shaman. She had once sought Spirit Descent, though it proved impossible. She could not receive a guardian spirit, and her Spirit Eye would not open.
She could occasionally see Living Spirits who had briefly left their bodies, sense strange things, and drive them away—but that was all. She could never see the Deceased.
In the shamanic community, Hee-seo was the only one who couldn’t see the Deceased. Because of this, she was still called a “half-baked shaman.”
And yet, Hee-seo had gained notoriety in another way.
One who drives out spirits without receiving Spirit Descent. A woman more vicious than any malevolent ghost—and more effective at expelling them.
People called her an “Exorcist.”
Hee-seo dug deep into her bag. Soon the hidden talisman revealed itself—the Break Shadow Talisman that Hae-jeong had given her.
The Break Shadow Talisman was one of those rare talismans that summoned the hidden form of a spirit, difficult even for most shamans to inscribe.
‘No need to drag this out. Once I know its name, we end it in one stroke.’
Kim Jong-hyeop said a spirit had taken Possession of his grandson’s body. The problem was that the spirit mimicked the grandson so perfectly that no one suspected the Possession. He claimed there was no suspicious party, no obvious grudge.
“Usually just a lie they all tell…….”
Deep resentment from death keeps humans from leaving this world, and the Deceased who linger become spirits.
While not an absolute rule, most of the spirits Hee-seo had encountered were beings unable to leave this world because of accumulated resentment. Naturally, those responsible for creating such spirits rarely spoke truthfully about it.
Hee-seo didn’t expect Kim Jong-hyeop to tell her everything.
‘But what you said about my parents—that has to be true, sir.’
She had searched for her parents over more than ten years. Then suddenly Kim Jong-hyeop appeared and promised to help her find them.
With just that one condition, Hee-seo could not refuse whatever he proposed.
Even if it meant assuming a false identity and playing a false bride.
Hee-seo would drive out the spirit possessing Kim Je-eon’s body, and Kim Jong-hyeop would help Hee-seo find her parents. It was a simple transaction. And Hee-seo intended to expel that spirit by any means necessary.
“It’ll work, won’t it?”
Hee-seo stared at the yellowed paper inscribed with indecipherable characters, studying it in the mirror’s reflection.
The Break Shadow Talisman was one she used often, but its method of use was extremely delicate.
‘If my Spirit Eye had opened, I wouldn’t have to resort to this.’
The Break Shadow Talisman tasted bitter every time she used it. Of course it did—she had to hold the talisman between her teeth and taste the possessed person’s blood to discern their true nature.
But the target was Kim Je-eon. According to Kim Jong-hyeop, he was a dangerous spirit who had concealed his possession with cunning precision. There was no way she could recklessly throw a punch and demand his blood.
“At least there’s a legitimate alternative.”
If she couldn’t obtain blood, she could extract something else instead. Hee-seo placed the talisman between her teeth and lay back on the bed.
The bridal suite’s bed was so soft that her entire body seemed to dissolve into it the moment she lay down. Yet the unfamiliar evening gown still cinched her waist, even as she reclined.
Perhaps it was the result of waking early to achieve the perfect bride. Despite the uncomfortable attire, exhaustion washed over her the instant her body touched the mattress.
Staring up at the ceiling—impossibly high compared to any ordinary home—Hee-seo found herself thinking.
‘A wedding ceremony isn’t something just anyone goes through.’
High heels that squeezed her feet, thick makeup, and hair ornaments so heavy she might as well have been wearing a wig.
Experiencing the role of “bride” for the first time in her life, Hee-seo had grown weary of it after just one evening. The fact that everything was false had become, strangely, a source of comfort.
False blessings and false smiles, false cheers and false vows. And a wedding ceremony of false protagonists.
How absurd it all was. Closing her eyes, Hee-seo recalled the man who had kissed her. The man who embodied the perfect groom that every woman might imagine—flawless in every conceivable way.
‘Let’s finish this in one go.’
An partner lacking nothing—beauty and intellect, character and status. The man who had walked the aisle holding Hee-seo’s hand was destined to become the next chairman of GM Group.
Yet he, too, was the same as her. False.
The faint sound of running water ceased. A relief—her mouth was growing uncomfortably dry.
The bathroom door opened, releasing a faint scent of water. For someone as sensitive to stimuli as Hee-seo, the sharp fragrance of body wash was among the unpleasant things. The man’s presence drew closer, and mercifully, she could detect only the faint water scent from him.
“It would be troublesome if you fell asleep already.”
One side of the bed dipped. Despite how astronomically expensive the mattress surely was, his movements transmitted through it clearly. It seemed the kind of marketing copy about unshakable comfort was, after all, a fake. Hee-seo tried to ease her tension with a stray thought.
But regrettably, her effort crumbled at a single touch.
“This is the first time we’ve been alone together since we met. Doesn’t that matter?”
Tap, tap-tap.
She felt his hand near her ribs. Not content with that, a droplet from him brushed her cheek. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel his gaze fixed upon her.

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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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