The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 7

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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 7

Hee-seo dismissed the room attendant and gathered her hair into a tight knot. She’d resisted resorting to this method, but as Kim Jong-hyup had warned, the spirit possessing Kim Je-eon’s body was acutely perceptive.
“The fact that it married him knowing from the start that I was a fake tells me this is no ordinary malevolent spirit.”
When exactly had her cover been blown? What could have possessed a spirit to marry her so readily when it knew she was an exorcist sent to drive it out?
Questions without easy answers churned through Hee-seo’s mind in growing tangles.
“Regardless, I have to drive it out. First, I need to learn its name.”
Hee-seo moved briskly toward the Bathroom. The traces of recent occupation lingered unchanged. The scent that had emanated from Kim Je-eon—whether from body wash or the humidity-laden air—felt oddly familiar to her.
A spirit concerned with cleanliness. Curious.
Not a single strand of hair lay on the floor, and the evidence of rinsed-away soap and water was unmistakable. Even the sleeping clothes left out for washing had been folded neatly. Hee-seo found what she was looking for without difficulty buried among them.
Eureka. The instant Hee-seo scooped it up in one hand and bolted from the room—
“……!”
“……Hee-seo.”
Eureka it was. Hee-seo had barely taken a few steps before colliding face-to-face with the very owner of the undergarment clenched in her grip.
“I thought you weren’t going into the office today?”
“I came back because I forgot something.”
He was dressed in formal business attire that looked remarkably sharp. Hee-seo found herself appraising him from head to toe without meaning to, the undergarment still bunched in her hand.
Even this early in the morning, he was absurdly handsome. The words tumbled out before she could stop them.
“You could have called.”
Meaning: half your employees would sprint barefoot if you snapped your fingers.
“Now that I see what you’re holding, I’ve forgotten what I came looking for.”
An underlying meaning hung beneath the pleasantry—an indictment of a thief.
“Did you forget you were trying to put this back on?”
“Hardly. I doubt you’d want your husband of two days walking around in an indecent state of dress.”
Marriage. Decency. Husband. None of these words had any bearing on Hee-seo. She let out a hollow laugh at the insolent spirit wearing Kim Je-eon’s face.
“A possessed person going without underwear isn’t exactly shocking. It should be his original owner who feels sorry, not me. I don’t care.”
She’d been dealing with possessed individuals long enough. She’d seen things both bearable and unbearable. A single piece of undergarment was beneath her notice.
But this was Kim Je-eon. Or more precisely—the spirit, the ghost, the unnamed entity now occupying Kim Je-eon’s body.
“You should care.”
“What?”
Then Kim Je-eon stepped closer. So close that if he’d lowered his head, his face would have brushed against hers. Hee-seo’s expression tightened involuntarily.
He smiled at that pinched frown. A smile that revealed nothing.
“At least while I’m your husband.”
His hand moved toward her. Her body reacted first. She was already pivoting backward defensively when, in that fraction of a second, his fingers closed around her wrist. Reflexively, her other fist clenched with full force.
“Don’t touch my body without permission. Next time I won’t hold back.”
The only reason Hee-seo hadn’t swung her fist was singular: Kim Je-eon had used no force.
He’d simply wrapped his fingers around her wrist with gentleness, retrieved his undergarment, and then backed away as though he’d never approached at all.
“I apologize for touching you without consent. But I’m not eager to hand over my own undergarments so easily either.”
Though she had no wish to understand the spirit’s position, she had to admit that if the roles were reversed, she’d never let a thief off so lightly. The logic was sound. Hee-seo replied flatly.
“Then will you sell it to me?”
Je-eon’s expression, which had remained pleasantly composed, faltered slightly. Then came a soft, muffled laugh before he turned the question back on her.
“I didn’t know you collected your husband’s underwear, Hee-seo.”
“Started today. So sell it to me.”
“Hmm…….”
Kim Je-eon gazed down at the undergarment in his hand, as if lost in thought. If the object hadn’t been dark-colored briefs, the scene might have resembled a frame from cinema—elegant, composed, unforgettable.
Of course, the underwear in his grip nudged the scene’s genre decidedly toward the erotic.
“This particular pair I don’t care much for, so I won’t take payment to sell it.”
“…….”
As if there were degrees of affection for undergarments. While Hee-seo was turning this over—
“But the ones I’m wearing now, I’ll sell those to you.”
“What?”
“Take them. You can pay me later.”
A sharp click. Hee-seo’s eyes snapped downward at the unfamiliar sound. It came from Kim Je-eon’s belt buckle. This was unmistakably a provocation directed at her.
‘This is really…….’
Heat bloomed across Hee-seo’s hollow cheeks.
Being made a fool of was unpleasant, but infinitely worse was being toyed with by a malevolent spirit.
And unfortunately for Hee-seo, her composure had always crumbled far too easily in the face of such things.
“Don’t regret saying that.”
Large hands—too large for a woman—seized Kim Je-eon’s waist. Hee-seo didn’t hesitate. She grabbed his belt and yanked.
The buckle clattered to the floor with a dull thud. Her lips, which had been curved in that perpetual arch, parted into something between a sigh and a laugh.
“You told me to take it.”
The expressionless woman whispered it beneath his jaw. Long, steady fingers worked the buckle free, and in the next instant, the zipper was sliding down.
“Oppa, why is this taking so long? I need to finish the meeting prep before the Chairman arrives……!”
“…….”
“……Oh.”
“……Hyun-a. Even so, you could knock first, couldn’t you?”
Damn it.
The door swung open with a clatter. A silence hung in the air. When Hee-seo turned her head, her sharp gaze met the eyes of the woman standing in the doorway—a woman whose flustered expression seemed oddly familiar.
‘Where have I seen her before? Ah, right. The wedding. Kim Je-eon’s cousin. She works at the same company. But why does she look at me like I’m some kind of molester? Irritating.’
Hee-seo’s eyes narrowed further. At that moment, Kim Je-eon gently stroked her hand. Only then did Hee-seo realize she’d been one motion away from removing his pants entirely.
‘This is ridiculous.’
Hee-seo fell silent. She backed away slowly, moving like a machine with a faulty gear, each motion stiff and creaking. She could feel cold sweat trickling down her spine.
To Hee-seo, frozen in place, Kim Je-eon whispered with an air of embarrassment.
“We’ll finish what we were doing tomorrow. Hee-seo. I need to head to work early today. So I’ll be going.”
Kim Je-eon collected the belt from the floor, straightened his clothes, and smiled softly. Unfortunately for him, Hee-seo was still too frozen to savor it.
He walked toward his cousin standing rigid in the doorway, then paused and turned back. He approached Hee-seo and……. Brief. Dry warmth touched her cheek, then was gone.
“Don’t do anything alone with my underwear. Understood?”
The whisper was far too loud. Thud. The door closed.
Beyond the closed door, the sound of Kim Je-eon’s laughter continued.

***

“What was that earlier?”
“What?”
“What I just saw.”
In the pristine elevator mirror—not a speck of dust to be seen—their reflections stared back at him.
Kim Je-eon chuckled lightly and adjusted his necktie. Straightening an already-straight tie was one of his perfectionist habits.
“Even if you are cousins, it’s still a newlywed’s bedroom. Shouldn’t it be considered rude to enter without knocking? Especially toward your new sister-in-law.”
The remark sounded like a reprimand, but there was no weight behind it. Kim Je-eon kept laughing, a hollow, vacant sound that spilled out of him. He was always prone to smiling, but this careless, distracted laughter was unfamiliar.
“What exactly are you thinking?”
That’s why Seo Hyun-a crossed a line today that was unlike her. Even though it had nothing to do with her, something about Kim Je-eon’s behavior felt distinctly strange.
Kim Je-eon. To her, this cousin of hers had only one real flaw: an almost obsessive need for propriety.
Beneath his habitually gentle exterior lay a man who drew firm boundaries with others. Despite the countless women who pursued him for his looks and background, he’d never been caught in a scandal—all because of that rigid fastidiousness.
And yet here he was, acting that way with the woman he’d married purely for business. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she would have dismissed it as nonsense.

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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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