The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 78

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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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78

Kim Je-eon had always treated Hee-seo like a flour doll that would crumble at the slightest pressure, but this moment was different.
Her wrist was gripped with such force she couldn’t easily shake free—strange in a way she’d never known from him. Yet unlike Hee-seo, who sensed the shift, Kim Je-eon seemed unaware he was holding her so tightly.
He gazed at her with an expression so desperate it seemed he might break into tears at any second. When his pleading failed to soften her resolve, he lowered his broad frame and pressed his lips to her wrist.
It was the gesture of a young animal terrified of losing its master.
“I understand what you’re trying to say. It won’t be easy for me, but I’ll try. I won’t act on my own whims anymore. So please…….”
His voice slowed, and she felt the faint tremor of tears. When that damp quaver reached her ears, Hee-seo finally understood.
It wasn’t anger that gripped her.
She was afraid.
“Don’t leave me behind.”
Kim Je-eon, who had endured and survived alone all this time, crumbles and shakes at a single word from her. It was a strange joy. But it couldn’t erase the fear that lay buried deep within.
‘Hypocrite.’
Hee-seo condemned herself. She had promised him an ending, yet she rages at the sight of him showing no attachment to life.
How forced, how false her indignation was.
Guilt and self-loathing wove together, filling her layer by layer.
“Hee-seo…….”
Kim Je-eon called her name with aching urgency. At that call alone, she understood that she could leave him a wound deeper than death itself.
She swallowed her guilt with effort, and the heavy breath that escaped made him flinch like a wounded animal.
“Don’t show me weakness.”
Why did humans grow so cruel when they already knew they would regret it?
Perhaps regret itself was nothing but humanity’s petty self-defense.
The man before her loved her with a docile devotion. But did she love him the same way?
To that question, Hee-seo could find no easy answer. Instead, all she could do was meet his lips with her own.
The lips mingled with anxiety and affection burned hot, and without hesitation, Hee-seo unfastened his belt.
As she pulled his body close—as if fire itself were racing toward her—she hoped her guilt might wash away, if only in measure.

***

The woman hurried forward, turning back again and again as though pursued by something. With each desperate step, she stumbled and fell, then picked herself up only to stumble again.
Each time she fell, she barely managed to grip the wall and haul herself upright, a sight fragile and precarious. After a long while, she reached her destination and, uncharacteristically urgent, pushed the door open.
The woman slipped inside like a fugitive and leaned against the wall, gasping for breath that came up to her chin.
“Ha—ha—ha—Grandfather…….”
At the woman’s desperate call, the elderly man who had been leaning deep into the sofa turned his head. His usual warm gaze had turned glacial, but the woman did not notice.
“Grandfather—please—save me. Grandfather…….”
The woman staggered toward the old man and collapsed again. She had reached her limit simply by getting here.
She dragged her heavy body forward on her hands and knees toward him. Throughout it all, the old man neither lifted her up nor extended a hand.
“Grandfather, please save me. Please—Choi Jin-uk is trying to kill me. Please, save my life.”
With a visibly sickly face, Seo Hyun-a crawled to the old man’s feet and burst into tears. The healthy figure from just a month ago had vanished without a trace.
Kim Jong-hyup gently stroked Seo Hyun-a’s hair as she drew near, and asked her in return. But for all the gentleness of his touch, there was no warmth in the old man’s voice.
“Hyun-a. Coming here in the middle of the night without so much as a call is discourteous. Surely you’re old enough to know basic propriety. So, what does the executive director claim to be doing to you?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry—I tried to call. But he hid my phone, my cell phone somewhere and I couldn’t find it. Grandfather, I’m so scared. Please, please stop him.”
Seo Hyun-a, who had been speaking through sobs, gasped out her words in terror. As tears wet the hem of his trousers, Kim Jong-hyup’s brow furrowed with irritation.
“What in the world are you saying? The executive director stole your phone and is trying to kill you?”
“Yes, yes. I heard him on the phone. Talking to someone—he was definitely on the phone. He said he’d use me to kill that woman, the one who married your grandson. He said if that woman lives, I die. And—and he’s involving our child—our baby!”
Seo Hyun-a’s scattered words suddenly erupted into a convulsion of screams. As she tore at her own hair, shrieking hysterically, the sight was so grotesque it seemed as though she were haunted by a ghost.
“How—how can someone use their own child like that? Grandfather, grandfather. Do something about Choi Jin-uk. That man isn’t human! Ah, ah……!”
Unable to contain her rage, Seo Hyun-a beat the floor and wailed. On her skeletal wrist, a five-colored bracelet was still fastened.
Yet even as Kim Jong-hyup faced his granddaughter’s despair, the man he had cherished for so long, his face held nothing but irritation.
“I had already heard from the executive director that your health wasn’t good, but it seems to have deteriorated considerably. And now your mind is muddled as well……. Tch. Perhaps a stay at a proper sanatorium would be a good solution. I’ll look into a suitable place for you.”
At Kim Jong-hyup’s disbelieving response, Seo Hyun-a’s eyes widened. Tears that had welled up immediately spilled over.
She shook her head violently, denying reality like a madwoman. Then she clung to the hem of Kim Jong-hyup’s trousers more desperately than before.
“What—what—what are you saying, Grandfather? Choi Jin-uk is trying to kill me. Grandfather, did you hear me? He’s using me, using my child and me to kill that woman—Hee-seo!”
“Talk sense. What’s the point of mentioning a child who’s been dead in the womb for years now? Get a hold of yourself. Foolish girl!”
Finally raising his voice, Kim Jong-hyup thrust Seo Hyun-a away. With a loud crash, her frail body crumpled to the floor. Hurled like a sack of goods, Seo Hyun-a groaned in pain and wept.
“You shouldn’t say that, Grandfather—my child!! If it wasn’t for this family—if it wasn’t for that damned Curse, my child wouldn’t have died!”
In that instant, the old man’s face, which had shown only irritation, transformed completely. Kim Jong-hyup rose abruptly and struck Seo Hyun-a’s cheek hard with his hand.
Bang! The sound of his palm striking her cheek was drowned out by something worse—her head cracking against the marble floor. Seo Hyun-a crumpled, unable to open her eyes, whimpering.
“How dare you speak such cursed words! Did your dead mother and father teach you to be this disrespectful? Ungrateful wretch!”
“Haa… ugh… uuugh.”
Even as his granddaughter—once as precious to him as Kim Je-eon—writhed in agony, Kim Jong-hyup could not contain his rage. He stalked back and forth, screaming.
“A Curse? A Curse in this house? There is no such thing. A Curse can never exist in our family! Do you hear me? Do you understand? Do you?!”
Not satisfied with shouting alone, Kim Jong-hyup bore down on Seo Hyun-a where she lay on the floor, demanding an answer.
But the granddaughter who had always pleaded at his feet suddenly seized her bleeding forehead and laughed like a madwoman. It would have been better to hear her weep.
“Ha-ha…… Grandfather, if there’s no Curse in our family, then why did Mother and Father die? Why did Aunt Su-yeon? Why are only we left alive? Why does it all only end when everyone dies? Why?!”
Huddled on the marble floor, Seo Hyun-a shrieked and questioned him. Her raw voice carried all the sorrow she had suppressed through the years.
“My grandmother, my mother, my father, Aunt Su-yeon—everyone around you died. Even the child in my womb……. They all died because of you, didn’t they?! You are the Curse of this family. You!”
At Seo Hyun-a’s piercing cry, Kim Jong-hyup fell silent. The old man’s eyes burned with a sinister light.
He slowly gripped the Walking Cane he always carried.

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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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