The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 62

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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 62

The Suppression Ritual was a last resort, performed only when someone afflicted with Divine Illness refused to walk the path of a shaman. But back then, Hee-seo had been nothing more than an infant who’d never suffered from Divine Illness at all. The Suppression Ritual could have harmed her instead.
Now that he thought about it… Go Yeom recalled So-myeong, the only woman who had helped Wol-cheon during those days of the Descending Ritual.
At the time, he’d believed she was simply assisting Wol-cheon, but looking back now, she had envied everything he did not possess.
“Your mother performed the Suppression Ritual on me?”
“That’s right. But the more you used the Ho-seo’s power, the less effective it would have become. You probably never noticed, but you gradually began seeing things that an ordinary person wouldn’t see. And you…”
Go Yeom’s gaze pierced through to the skin beneath Hee-seo’s sleeve.
Though Hee-seo had never explained how she drove away spirits, his eyes already knew of the scars etched densely across her arm.
“Since you’ve been spilling the Ho-seo’s blood everywhere, every lesser spirit would’ve been driven away. But spirits alone? The Ancestral Spirits who came because of the Descending Ritual would’ve all departed as well. Tsk, tsk—so So-myeong knew her own Spiritual Power fell short of Wol-cheon’s, yet she still performed the Shamanic Spirit Descent Ritual on you? How petty people can be. No wonder the spirits she’d invited all left her.”
After nearly twenty years away, it was almost unbelievable how precisely Go Yeom grasped the entire situation.
Hee-seo couldn’t hide her shock and ran her fingers along her own arm.
If his words were true, had her Spiritual Vision never opened because of her mother’s Suppression Ritual? If so…
“The snake I saw might really be an Evil Spirit.”
That crimson serpent, reeking of poison, rivaling a Proto-Dragon in its malevolence.
Hee-seo breathed slowly, her eyes closing and opening as though bracing against fear. Then Go Yeom’s gaze flickered past her shoulder toward the window.
“That must be karma tangled in the family line. The lesser spirit possessing that man, Kim Je-eon, is probably connected to the snake.”
“But the energy I felt from that snake and the energy from Kim Je-eon are completely different.”
“And you don’t look anything like a tiger, do you? Though, I suppose tiger energy does seem to spring from you most of the time.”
Don’t tell me you’ve been sneaking cereal or something like that behind your uncle’s back? That won’t do. Go Yeom fixed her with a serious expression, his tone accusing.
Thanks to Go Yeom’s still-playful demeanor, she could face the truth she’d lived her whole life not knowing, and face it calmly.
Suddenly, Hee-seo recalled her mother, performing the Suppression Ritual on that newborn, suffering.
Had Mother truly not wanted to raise her only daughter as a shaman?
Swallowing a question she could never answer, Hee-seo fixed Go Yeom with a hard stare.
“Stop saying strange things and get back to the point. So is Hae-jeong in there? Can you find her?”
This was why she’d brought Go Yeom all the way to the summit of the Hillside overlooking Kim Je-eon’s Estate. To sense even the faintest trace of Hae-jeong’s energy.
But Go Yeom’s answer made her hopes crumble—he shook his head slowly.
“I can’t see anything.”
“What? What do you mean? Uncle, did your Spiritual Sight fail? Is it because you’ve been going to church too much?”
“I have been rather dedicated to church, I’ll grant you that. Soon they’ll boot me out of the Youth Group anyway for my age.”
“No, that’s not the point right now. What do you mean you can’t see anything?”
“I’m serious. Really, I can’t see a thing. It’s like… peering into a dark cave.”
“A cave?”
Go Yeom shrugged, then gestured animatedly to elaborate.
“You know, the kind where bears and wild creatures hide. Like looking into something like that.”
In that moment, A-seon’s words suddenly surfaced in Hee-seo’s mind.
“If it’s a cave where wild creatures live… does that include a snake cave?”

—The Snake Cave! That’s the Snake Cave, Hee-seo! You must never go there, absolutely not! You mustn’t!!!

A-seon’s face had gone ashen as she cried out. Only then did Hee-seo realize what she’d meant by the Snake Cave.
“A snake cave? Yes. Yes, that’s it. That’s exactly it! It’s connected to that snake you saw! That’s it!”
“Sigh…”
A low exhale escaped her. Even through her foggy mind, a weight settled in her chest—guilt toward A-seon for the warning she’d given, and worry for Hae-jeong.
“Grandmother warned me just recently. Not to go to the Snake Cave.”
And she thought of someone in that snake cave.
‘It’s not because of an Evil Spirit that things are twisted.’
She still didn’t know the name of the lesser spirit possessing Kim Je-eon’s body, but one thing she was certain of: he would not harm Kim Je-eon.
Whatever the reason he’d come to inhabit Kim Je-eon’s form, hadn’t he been carrying out Kim Je-eon’s role more faithfully than anyone else?
As though waiting for the true owner to return, merely holding that place for a time.
“Your mother is right. If that bloodline truly harbors an Evil Spirit, especially a serpent deity, you could be gravely injured.”
“But you said I have the Ho-seo. How is that not enough?”
Before Go Yeom could answer, Hee-seo had already pressed him. He scratched his cheek with an uncomfortable expression. The girl who’d known nothing of the Ho-seo until moments ago was already quick to exploit its existence.
‘Like mother, like daughter,’ he thought.
Go Yeom recalled a face he missed, then answered flatly.
“A few drops of your blood would be a threat to a lesser spirit. But if that spirit is as powerful as you say—as strong as a Proto-Dragon—could I even hurt it by hanging you upside down and draining you dry?”
“That’s something you’d have to find out.”
“Well now. Listen carefully, little one—did you hear what your uncle said? Any evil spirit bold enough to chase you all the way up the mountain is no minor threat. So you need to do as your uncle says and keep as far as possible from that house…….”
“That won’t work.”
“Huh?”
Hee-seo’s tone was utterly resolute.
She’d heard everything Go Yeom had to say. There was no point wasting more time here.
Her objective was set. Now it was time to act. If she’d discovered something inside her own body, then all that remained was to put it to use.
“Ho-seo. Hae-jeong—I’ll find her myself. I know I haven’t loved her the way you have. I haven’t even had the time to. But she’s still my blood relative, so you’re just going to abandon her?”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
Go Yeom raised his voice in dismay, but Hee-seo didn’t so much as glance his way.
Go Yeom was not a bad man. But he saw himself as helping Hee-seo, not taking ownership of the task itself. That distinction would limit what he could do.
“You’re free to walk away anytime. Just help me find Hae-jeong.”
“Fine, I’ll help. I said I’d help, didn’t I?”
“Yes. So we should go now.”
The van lurched violently, barreling down the gravel slope. Go Yeom fumbled frantically for his seatbelt.
She gripped the steering wheel without a trace of fear, her voice dropping low.
“We’re going into the Snake Cave.”

***

“What brings you here all of a sudden?”
Seo Hyun-a greeted the unexpected visitor with a bewildered expression.
Kim Je-eon, standing askew in the doorway, glanced at her briefly before his eyes flicked to the space behind her.
“Is Choi not home?”
“He said he’d be late today. Come in. You should’ve called first.”
Seo Hyun-a smoothed her hair, then led him into the living room. Kim Je-eon followed her inside slowly.
Despite being cousins, this was the first time he’d visited her home.
“Your place is quite neat.”
“Neat? We only just moved. There’s still a mountain of things to organize.”
“You moved? Why? I thought when you married Choi, the chairman gave you a house.”
Hyun-a looked around the living room with a sheepish expression. Kim Je-eon settled onto the sofa she offered, tilting his head slightly.
“It’s……. Well. Things were just…… complicated there, you know? So he suggested I move out for a while, and I thought it was a good idea.”
At his casual question, Seo Hyun-a hesitated briefly before her words grew evasive.
It seemed she’d moved at someone’s suggestion. Considering what she’d experienced in the previous house, it was a situation he could easily understand.
Kim Je-eon studied Hyun-a’s gaunt face, which had grown noticeably thinner in recent days.
“Has the move kept you so busy? You look exhausted.”
“Does it show? I suppose it does. Moving turned out to be more work than I expected.”
“You shouldn’t have to struggle with that. Choi is there, isn’t he?”

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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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