The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 8

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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 8

“No matter how much the chairman pushed us into it, we hadn’t even met face-to-face before the ceremony. But what on earth was that just now?”
Ding-dong. The elevator stopped with a crisp mechanical chime. As the doors slid open smoothly, the executives standing in the hallway bowed in unison.
Je-eon whispered something too low for them to hear.
“Shall we set aside commentary on marital affairs and focus on the meeting, Director?”
The moment he finished speaking, Je-eon crossed the hallway.
His long strides came effortlessly, his presence brilliant and composed—an aura that made him difficult to approach even as he smiled. This was Kim Je-eon, unchanged.
The crown prince of GM Group, the apex of the empire’s hierarchy—Kim Je-eon was the de facto heir to the chairmanship.
Only after Je-eon took the principal seat did the gray-haired executives lower themselves in turn.
Seo Hyun-ah sat across from Je-eon, not beside him. If Je-eon’s role was crown prince, then Hyun-ah was the sole empress’s eye, capable of standing against him.
‘He’s a man who trusts no one….’
Kim Jong-hyup harbored profound distrust of people. Though he had created the Strategy Innovation Division for his grandson Je-eon, he had simultaneously positioned Hyun-ah in the Management Oversight Division to check him. Hyun-ah was the blade and the eye trained upon Je-eon.
‘How am I supposed to report what I saw to him?’
Even while preparing Je-eon’s wedding, Jong-hyup had called Hyun-ah in secret. The chairman, wielding absolute power, had ordered her to observe them as Je-eon’s spouse’s closest confidante.
‘It’s simply….’
The person Kim Jong-hyup distrusted most, surprisingly, was Je-eon himself. He doubted his grandson even as he kept him nearest to his throne.
Hyun-ah’s incomprehension only deepened as Jong-hyup’s suspicions grew more fantastical with each passing day.
“…Director? Did you say something?”
Lost in thought, Hyun-ah had failed to concentrate on the meeting. She looked at Je-eon, feigning composure while her gaze—one that condemned without words—carried an unspoken weight.
“The Trident Project is proceeding without issue. The task force will submit a detailed report to the chairman separately.”
In other words: it’s something to report to the chairman, so we’ll handle it ourselves. Such brief reports were a privilege only Hyun-ah and her Management Oversight Division could exercise in the executive meeting.
Whenever her terse briefing—which seemed to dismiss Je-eon’s authority—concluded, silence typically blanketed the room. Today was different.
In the past, this moment would have passed with light laughter. But now, as Je-eon toyed with his coffee cup, he suddenly asked as if something had just occurred to him.
“And the Dubai Center—what’s the expected completion date, Director Seo?”
It was an unexpected question. Je-eon rarely involved himself in Hyun-ah’s work. The project carried a budget of several trillion won, but Hyun-ah was the overall supervisor, and everyone knew Jong-hyup stood behind her.
Caught off guard, Hyun-ah hesitated before answering.
“We expect it to be finished next month.”
“Is that so? Will the chairman be attending the completion ceremony?”
“…That hasn’t been coordinated yet.”
“Hmm.”
Hyun-ah and her staff watched Je-eon carefully for any sign of his mood.
This was the first executive meeting since Je-eon’s wedding. Nobody could say why he was acting so uncharacteristically. The only certain thing was that the catalyst for this shift could be traced to one source alone: his marriage. And that suspicion proved apt.
“As you all know, I regrettably haven’t been able to take a honeymoon—I’ve been caught up in demanding work.”
The room stirred.
Je-eon rarely spoke of private matters and had never once missed work for personal reasons. His mention of a honeymoon felt wholly foreign.
Yet the man himself continued with an unruffled expression.
“I’ll attend the Dubai completion ceremony with my wife. Since it’s a project our group has staked its fortunes on, I should go and review it in person. I hope you won’t think it improper. Next month’s meeting will be held by video conference from Dubai instead.”
A different silence fell over the conference room. Je-eon rose and walked out at an easy pace, unilaterally concluding the meeting.
Bang. The moment the door shut behind him, the executives began murmuring among themselves.
A sigh rose all the way to Hyun-ah’s throat. She pressed her forehead against the rising migraine.
‘How am I supposed to tell the chairman about this…?’
Je-eon was definitely changing. The source of that change was unmistakable. But explaining how he was transforming felt impossible.
Hyun-ah sighed again.

***

[So, did you find anything out?]
Hae-jung asked through the phone. Her tone held no accusation, but there was little to say. As silence stretched, she called to Hui-seo in quick succession.
[Hui-seo? Hello? Are you there?]
“Yeah, Hae-jung.”
[Did you use the Pa-yeong Talisman? Find anything out?]
“Well….”
Hui-seo’s words faltered in a way unlike herself.
The Pa-yeong Talisman was difficult to craft and harder still to use. She knew how hard Hae-jung, whose Spiritual Power was weak, had struggled to make it, and so the words wouldn’t come easily.
[It’s okay, Hui-seo. I’m making another one. Come get it when it’s done, all right? This time I’m offering proper devotions to the Young Deity and the Geulmun Dosin, so I’m crafting it now. It’ll be much more effective than last time.]
Hae-jung answered as if she had foreseen Hui-seo’s silence all along. But at her next words, Hui-seo had to close her mouth again.
What happened to the Golswae-bo powder? Did it work?
“Well, that’s the thing……”
Golswae-bo was a type of plant used in herbal medicine. It was commonly brewed as tea or used as an ingredient in traditional remedies, but shamans had found other uses for it.
[It’s not easy to stir up a spirit’s energy with Golswae-bo powder, is it? If the ghost were clever enough to resist that, it wouldn’t have left any traces for the powder to detect. Besides, even if you live under the same roof, you use separate rooms, don’t you? How was I supposed to get hold of your undergarment? What kind of woman my age goes around collecting another man’s undergarment? If someone found out, what kind of scandal would that be? Ugh…… Is that even something normal? It’s fine. It’s fine. The Golswae-bo powder wasn’t working well anyway. That was just one method among many.]
Faced with Hae-jung’s mature reassurance, Hui-seo struggled to conceal her despair.
She couldn’t bring herself to say that the undergarment had been snatched right from under her nose. The gaze of that unknown woman who had looked at her strangely because of it—that look still lingered in her mind.
The shock ran deep. Despite her nature to rarely give in to discouragement, Hui-seo needed a moment to collect herself.
“Hae-jung. That bastard knew from the start. That I was a fraud.”
[What? What are you talking about?]
“He knew that I approached him with the intention of performing an exorcism.”
[What?!]
Hae-jung’s shriek through the phone made Hui-seo pull the device away from her ear. It was the reaction she’d expected. But Hae-jung didn’t stop at screaming—she kept jumping up and down, her words tumbling out frantically.
[You, you. Come back right now. Tell him you can’t do this! This isn’t an ordinary spirit. What kind of ghost invites the very shaman sent to exorcise it into its own home? Does that make any sense?! Where in this whole world is there a spirit like that?!]
Hae-jung’s shock was understandable. The more Hui-seo’s thoughts cleared, the more suspicious everything became.
Kim Je-eon’s attitude toward her despite knowing her true identity, the people in the Mansion who said nothing about the spirit that had possessed Kim Je-eon. One thought kept circling back, wrapping Hui-seo in a gnawing sense of dread.
‘……What if……’
Dangle an irresistible bait, then seal off all escape routes. It was a hunting trap as old as trapping itself. Perhaps Hui-seo had walked into a snare of her own volition.
[You. Even if you know the spirit’s identity, that doesn’t mean you can exorcise it properly, right? Right? I don’t doubt you—I don’t doubt your abilities, but you……!]
“I’m only half-trained. Spirit Vision never fully opened for me.”
[That’s not what I mean!]
“It’s all right, Hae-jung. I know what you’re worried about.”

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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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