The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 57

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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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Chapter 57

A dull thud shook the bedroom door violently. The sound of distress was achingly familiar.
Kim Jong-hyeop’s eyes snapped open. He kicked free of the bedding and sat up, then reached into the first drawer of his nightstand, plunging his hand deep inside. His fingers brushed cold metal almost at once.
The intruder at the door held their ground for a moment, but the door gave way.
Jong-hyeop straightened his spine and faced the midnight invader. Then his expression crumpled like paper.
“Grandfather. It’s been a while. I hope you’ve been well?”
“……You.”
The disheveled figure standing before him was Hee-seo. The fake bride he’d personally selected and placed beside his grandson. The half-trained shaman.
Kim Jong-hyeop quietly closed the drawer before she could notice. The nightstand sat slightly lower than the bed, so mercifully she wouldn’t be able to see inside from where she stood.
Hee-seo swept her tangled hair back. Most of the staff who remained in Kim Jong-hyeop’s Estate through the night were older, and she’d had no intention of using force—but when the security guard came at her with a Three-Section Staff, she’d had no choice.
After so long without throwing punches, the adrenaline wouldn’t fade quickly.
“Your security is rather lax for a private residence, Grandfather. I’d suggest bolstering your staff.”
“Strange advice from someone who broke in the dead of night.”
“Drop the stereotypes, sir. Someone who breaks in is precisely the one equipped to offer such counsel.”
Her unflappable composure made Kim Jong-hyeop swallow his rising anger. There was no point showing emotion toward someone young enough to be his granddaughter.
Kim Jong-hyeop gestured sharply toward the security guard, who limped in behind her, signaling him to leave.
Once he was gone, only Kim Jong-hyeop’s secretary remained, hovering uncertainly near the doorway.
“What business could possibly warrant this intrusion at such an hour? Breaking in on people like this is extraordinarily rude.”
Despite the reproach, Hee-seo sat down on the sofa without a care. She rubbed her arm where the Three-Section Staff had struck it, the muscle throbbing beneath her fingers, and exhaled deeply—a long, measured breath. Once she’d emptied her lungs entirely, she lifted her head and met his gaze.
“So-myeong the Celestial Maiden—she’s here, isn’t she?”
A question posed when the answer was already known. At Hee-seo’s insolent tone, Kim Jong-hyeop let out a hollow laugh. He’d thought rage unnecessary, but found the effort of tolerating such impertinence more grating than expected.
“So-myeong the Celestial Maiden? Who’s that?”
“I always thought you and Kim Je-eon didn’t resemble each other much. But your repulsive qualities are remarkably similar.”
The moment she mentioned Kim Je-eon, Kim Jong-hyeop’s entire demeanor shifted. He fixed her with a savage stare, as though he might seize the cane beside his bed and strike her down on the spot.
“You dare speak of my grandson in my presence? You have no right.”
“Our contract still has time remaining, Grandfather. You gave me six months—that was you, wasn’t it?”
“That was before you conspired with that thing to throw my grandson from a building. Or am I mistaken?”
“Conspiracy? Is that what So-myeong the Celestial Maiden said? That is her favorite accusation, isn’t it—I’ll grant you that. But hearing it from you, sir, is rather novel. Conspiracy with that spirit inhabiting your grandson’s body? So I pushed him to leap from a building? You truly believe that?”
Hee-seo found herself laughing despite everything. She knew it was no time for it, yet laughter escaped her like air from a punctured lung.
“Conspiracy” was So-myeong’s favorite word when condemning Hee-seo.
Depending on So-myeong’s moods, Hee-seo had been suspected of conspiring with everything imaginable.
Mostly when rituals failed or produced no results, angering the clients. At those moments, Hee-seo had to become the ungrateful shaman who envied So-myeong, leaked her secrets, and schemed behind her back.
After Hee-seo left, So-myeong’s rage had turned toward Hae-jeong instead.
“In any case, it hardly matters whom you believe. The real question is: So-myeong the Celestial Maiden—is she truly staying here?”
“You mean the shaman who drove out that malicious spirit from my grandson’s body in your stead? Yes. If that woman is whom you’re asking about, then yes—she remains here.”
“……You certainly don’t have a discerning eye for people, Grandfather.”
If Kim Jong-hyeop’s words were true, So-myeong should be in this Estate—yet not a hair of her had shown itself as all this commotion erupted. Typical of her, really.
With her answer secured, Hee-seo rose without hesitation. She and Kim Jong-hyeop had much to discuss, but finding Hae-jeong’s whereabouts was the immediate priority.
‘Something was seriously wrong.’
Though her Spiritual Sight hadn’t fully awakened, Hee-seo was unlike ordinary people. She could sense spirit energy and confront malevolent things.
Before her eyes, Hae-jeong had appeared, then vanished. Something had happened to Hae-jeong—of that much she was certain.
“Where are you going?”
“Is she on this floor? Or in the Annex? Actually, you needn’t answer. My apologies for waking you. Please, go back to sleep. When morning breaks, I’ll return with your grandson.”
Unlike Kim Je-eon’s Estate—a single sprawling structure—Kim Jong-hyeop’s property was divided between the Main Building where he primarily stayed and the Annex. If So-myeong had been installed here, the Annex was the most likely location.
Hee-seo turned to leave without another word—when, Whoosh! A sharp sound cut through the air behind her.
“Insolent child!”
Kim Jong-hyeop, unable to contain his fury any longer, hurled a ceramic piece at her. When she spun around, the trajectory suggested it would miss her entirely. But had it continued unimpeded, it would have struck Kim Jong-hyeop’s secretary perfectly as she hovered near the doorway.
Hee-seo had no time to hesitate. She pulled the secretary toward her, pivoting to shield her.
Crash!
Sharp fragments scattered, scraping across Hee-seo’s shoulder and thigh, smaller shards embedding themselves in her skin.
“Ugh!”
“Mom!”
Startled by the crash, the secretary shrieked and cowered. Though Hee-seo’s body had shielded her from the fragments, the thunderous shattering had terrified her nonetheless.
Hee-seo grimaced against the sharp pain as she released the secretary from her arms.
“The floor is covered in fragments. Go find someone to help clean it up.”
“Y-yes, yes…….”
Kim Jong-hyeop was uncertain what fresh outburst he might inflict. The Secretary fled her post pale and trembling, her composure shattered.
Once she had disappeared, Hee-seo exhaled slowly and traced her bleeding shoulder with her fingertips.
“Grandfather, surely you’re aware this counts as domestic violence? It takes more than fists to wound someone, after all.”
“Uneducated wretch! A shaman of such contemptible standing, and you dare enter a fake marriage with my grandson—do you truly believe you’ve become someone of consequence? Do you actually think yourself my grandson’s wife?”
“Then perhaps you should have chosen more carefully before arranging even a fake marriage.”
Hee-seo examined her blood-stained hand and replied with perfect indifference. The words spilling from Kim Jong-hyeop’s mouth had long since ceased to touch her; she heard them as one hears the drone of familiar noise, utterly unmoved.
“And you seem to keep forgetting—I’m still your grandson’s wife.”
“What? How dare you—do you even understand what you’re saying?”
“Yes. I know exactly what I’m saying, exactly what I’m doing. I know what consequences will follow. Since we’re on the subject, there’s something we need to settle between us.”
The endorphin rush from seeing her own blood had begun to fade, leaving her mind clearer. Hee-seo brushed fragments of ceramic from her skin with indifference to the sharp pain and continued.
“That thing you wanted so desperately—even So-myeong couldn’t accomplish it, could she? Removing ‘it’ from Kim Je-eon’s body. You need to witness it yourself to believe? Shall I have that precious grandson of yours brought here right now?”
Watching the old man’s face contort in an instant, Hee-seo felt as though she herself had become a ruthless extortionist.
In truth, from Kim Jong-hyeop’s perspective, she might well be the villain. She held his most beloved grandson in her grasp, wielding him like a weapon.
But it mattered little to Hee-seo what he thought of her.
“Whether you shower So-myeong with money or do whatever else you wish—that’s your concern. But that thing you’re so desperate to expel? It’s still in his body. You knew that already, didn’t you?”
Unlike Hee-seo’s insolent demeanor, Kim Jong-hyeop betrayed no surprise—as if he too was already aware of Je-eon’s condition.
He must have learned through Seo Hyun-a.

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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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