The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 79

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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 79

Seo Hyun-a looked up at the old man with eyes reddened by tears and laughed.
“……We all have to die for it to end, don’t we? This Curse. Ha, haha……. We can never escape it. None of us……. As long as this family’s blood runs through our veins, not a single one of us…….”
Tears mixed with blood streamed down Seo Hyun-a’s cheeks. She watched the Walking Cane being swung toward her, and with resignation, closed her eyes.
She braced herself for the impact that should have followed, but the moment unfolded differently than she expected.
“Grandfather. Do we really need to do this here? It’ll be a mess to clean up.”
“……Je-eon? Brother?”
A familiar voice. Seo Hyun-a’s eyes widened as though witnessing something impossible. Kim Je-eon, who had vanished since finding her, appeared without a sound and stood holding Kim Jong-hyup’s Walking Cane.
When exactly had he been here?
Seo Hyun-a stared at Je-eon with a dazed expression. Je-eon turned his gaze to meet hers. The moment their eyes locked, she understood. This was not the Kim Je-eon she remembered.
“So you’re saying we should keep that idiot alive, spouting Curse nonsense like that? How dare he speak such filth before me! How dare he, that worthless thing!”
“Don’t be angry. Your vigor is impressive, really. I’d say you’re more likely to go first than she is.”
Unlike Kim Jong-hyup, who remained furious, Je-eon’s demeanor was cynical.
He deftly snatched the Walking Cane from Kim Jong-hyup’s hand. Then, handling the old man as if he were a child, he gently pushed him back onto the sofa and began massaging his shoulders from behind. There was not a trace of sincerity in how he treated Kim Jong-hyup.
“If you get worked up over nothing, everything she says starts sounding true. Anyone can see she’s deranged—why are you so angry, Grandfather? That’s unlike you.”
“Brother……?”
Seo Hyun-a needed to confirm whether the person she was looking at was truly Kim Je-eon.
His clothes, his tone, his gaze, his every movement—all of it was completely different from the Kim Je-eon she knew.
Kim Je-eon let out a soft laugh when he saw Seo Hyun-a’s deathly pale face. Then he crouched down before her, bringing their eyes to the same level.
“Hyun-a. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“What…… Brother, why. Why are you like this? Brother.”
The words “it’s been a while” alone struck her as wrong, but what truly terrified Seo Hyun-a was what came next.
Without caring that his hands would get dirty, he gently wiped the blood from her forehead. It was an action the usually fastidious Kim Je-eon could never have imagined doing.
When Seo Hyun-a scrambled backward in fear, as if confronted by a ghost, Je-eon clicked his tongue.
“She’s completely lost it. I’d say sending her to a psychiatric hospital wouldn’t even be surprising. Don’t you think so, Grandfather?”
“Brother……. Why are you doing this to me? No, it’s not like that. Please, believe me. Choi Jin-wook really tried to kill me. He said if I don’t die, that woman—the one who was married to you—she’ll die! I’m telling the truth!”
“That’s exactly why it doesn’t make sense, Hyun-a.”
Je-eon smiled mockingly, then raised his hand in an exaggerated theatrical gesture, pointing toward one side of the room.
As Seo Hyun-a turned her head, fear flooding her eyes, she saw an unbelievable figure sitting quietly there.
A woman sat on Kim Jong-hyup’s sofa, holding a Tea Cup. It was Hee-seo.
“Tell me, Seo Hyun-a. Who does that woman look like to you?”
Je-eon wrapped his arm firmly around Seo Hyun-a’s shoulder and whispered into her ear.
The woman drinking tea wore an expression of perfect serenity, unlike his own. Faced with such a calm Hee-seo, Seo Hyun-a stammered in terror.
“So, what I mean is…… Choi Jin-wook was supposed to perform some kind of ritual with a Mudang, and use me and my baby to k, kill that woman. I heard them talking about it!”
“Right, so if what you say is true, one of you and that woman was supposed to die according to Jin-wook’s plan? But is my vision failing me? They both look perfectly fine to me. Ah.”
Je-eon sighed dramatically as he spoke, like an actor in a performance. Then he gently shook Seo Hyun-a, whom he held in his arms, and clicked his tongue with a look of pity.
“Since you don’t seem to be fine, I’ll cancel it. Well, that Mudang. Some-myung, was it? She’s not a complete charlatan, at least. If Choi Sang-mu decides to treat you as a madwoman and divorces you, we won’t be able to stop him either. Wouldn’t you agree, Grandfather?”
“Tsk! There’s no point talking anymore—it just gives me a headache. Call someone to take her away! We still have unfinished business to discuss.”
“Grandfather, please. Please, just listen to me once. Grandfather!”
Kim Jong-hyup turned away coldly and sat back down on the sofa. All trace of affection for Seo Hyun-a had vanished from him.
Seo Hyun-a’s voice cracked as her face grew ashen, as though she might collapse at any moment.
“Grandfather!”
“Quiet. Who’s going to listen, Hyun-a? This is embarrassing to watch. I’ll take care of it and be right back. Don’t get too carried away while I’m gone, you two. And don’t forget our little deal—no stabbing me in the back, understood?”
Je-eon winked at Hee-seo. Then, without hesitation, he covered Seo Hyun-a’s mouth and hoisted the struggling woman up with ease.
As her feet left the ground, Seo Hyun-a thrashed desperately, but she could not break free from Je-eon’s grip. He carried his cousin like a sack of goods and disappeared through the back door.
Click. The moment the door closed, a heavy silence settled over the room.
Kim Jong-hyup made no effort to hide his displeasure, while Hee-seo alone gazed at the spot where Seo Hyun-a had been standing with an expressionless face.
“I’ve always known you keep many secrets from me, but you certainly have a gift for surprising me in every way.”
Hee-seo set the Tea Cup down on her lap and spoke in a calm, measured tone.
Even after watching the familiar woman being dragged away before her eyes, Hee-seo’s demeanor remained composed. At such shamelessness, Kim Jong-hyup’s twisted feelings surfaced, and he answered with a sneer.
“You’re the one who has a talent for surprising me. Aren’t you? You made a scene and stormed out of here, but then came back in holding Je-eon’s hand? I knew you had courage, but your audacity is something else. I’ll give you that.”
“I appreciate the compliment, but please be more precise with your words. I’ve been quite confused lately.”
Hee-seo lifted her head and met Kim Jong-hyup’s gaze. At the sight of those penetrating eyes, his expression hardened further.
“The person I came in holding hands with was not Kim Je-eon.”
Silence hung in the air with Hee-seo’s words. She caressed the Tea Cup gently as she continued.
“It’s Je-seon—his older brother—who’s inhabiting that body now. I understand now why you tried so hard to hide this from me until the very end.”
“…….”
The old man’s cheek twitched, then went slack. But Kim Jong-hyup quickly smoothed his face back into blankness.
What Kim Je-eon and Hee-seo had come to tell him was something he’d never anticipated. Yet separate from that shock, events were turning in Kim Jong-hyup’s favor.
‘She’ll come to regret setting foot in this place again.’
The fact that Hee-seo, whom he’d thought had fled, had returned of her own accord saved him considerable trouble. Kim Jong-hyup swallowed the irritation rising in his throat and began to reframe the situation in a more positive light.
“That’s right. Your words ring true. But how did you come to know this? Kim Je-eon—did you let slip your identity to that man? Did you?”
A cunning fox, this one. Hee-seo’s eyebrow arched sharply at his unruffled manner of pressing her, then settled back into place.
There was no need to answer, but his suspicion was half correct and half wrong.
‘What does it matter if my identity’s exposed? He knew from the start I came to cast him out of his own body, and he married me anyway.’
Je-eon had married Hee-seo despite knowing she was the one capable of driving him from his original form.
It occurred to Hee-seo then that the marriage she’d always dismissed as counterfeit might carry an entirely different meaning for him.
Perhaps for him it was…….
“No, sir. That man still doesn’t know. I only just heard it from Je-seon.”
Hee-seo spoke the lie to Kim Jong-hyup with perfect composure.

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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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