The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer - Chapter 53

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 53
Lee Myung-woo, the head of Strategic Planning at Shinseong Group, maintained his residence in the heart of Hannam-dong.
Since it stood only about three hundred meters from Chairman Lee Gang-hyun’s Subeok Garden, he’d made the walk back on foot rather than bothering with a car.
As he strolled through the cool night breeze, something stirred in him, and for the first time in over a decade, he sent a message to his younger brother.
Ding!
Before long, a reply arrived.
A subtle flutter of anticipation bloomed in Lee Myung-woo’s chest.
And when he read the brief response from his typically taciturn brother, that flutter grew a little stronger.
‘Hmph.’
The corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly.
When Lee Myung-woo arrived at his residence, his wife was waiting for him.
“You’re home.”
Ju Yeon-hee took his suit jacket from him.
‘Work I could easily delegate, yet she tends to it herself, year after year. Curious.’
As he handed her his jacket as usual, Lee Myung-woo found his thoughts lingering there.
Now that he looked closely, her face was hollow with exhaustion.
‘Of course—it’s only been five days since her father passed. She wept quietly throughout the entire funeral; she must be drained.’
For the first time in their marriage, Lee Myung-woo felt something like pity for his wife.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Ju Yeon-hee tilted her face up to meet his angular gaze.
Lee Myung-woo gently took her hand.
It was something he rarely did, and Ju Yeon-hee flinched at the unexpected gesture.
He felt it.
‘Now that I think about it, she’s always been fearful. Her father’s presence was so overwhelming that I never properly registered how anxious she truly is.’
For once, Lee Myung-woo wanted to have a real conversation with his wife.
“Have them bring some refreshments. Let’s have a warm cup of tea together.”
“At this hour?”
“If you’re tired, we can do it another time.”
“No, I’d like that.”
Ju Yeon-hee smiled softly.
Chapter 7
Shortly after, while Lee Myung-woo showered, the servants brought warm chrysanthemum tea and small delicacies.
These morsels were mostly fried kelp strips topped with nuts and wrapped in seasoned seaweed—curated to his particular taste.
As his wife sipped the chrysanthemum tea, Lee Myung-woo asked about the funeral arrangements.
“I only stayed through the departure; I couldn’t be there for what came after. Did everything wrap up smoothly?”
“Yes, we finished everything properly. By the way, nothing unusual happened at Subeok Garden today, did it?”
Even in her grief, Ju Yeon-hee’s thoughts remained fixed on her husband’s wellbeing.
“Nothing of note. And Han Eol seems to be getting things organized smoothly enough.”
As he spoke, Lee Myung-woo studied his wife’s expression with careful discretion.
On the first day of the funeral, he’d made his announcement like a bombshell, revealing Han Eol’s existence to her without warning.
‘I really was mad back then.’
Looking back, Lee Myung-woo recognized it as something he should never have done to her.
He parted his normally tight lips and offered an apology.
“I’m truly sorry. I shouldn’t have informed you so unilaterally about Han Eol, and worst of all, I sprung it on you when you were already at your most vulnerable and distressed. That’s all on me.”
Words alone didn’t suffice. He gripped his knees with both hands and bowed deeply before his wife.
The gesture startled Ju Yeon-hee completely.
Lee Myung-woo was what one might call a difficult man—always prioritizing work, wielding authority in all matters, showing little consideration for the women in his life.
And yet Ju Yeon-hee harbored a genuine fondness for him.
No—she loved him.
‘How could I come to cherish such a flawed man? Perhaps in a past life I was terribly unkind to him. Maybe I’m repaying that debt in this one.’
Her thoughts had spiraled to such extremes.
But what could she do? She loved him far too much.
She had vowed that even if her husband never looked her way again in all their years together, she would remain steadfast, her gaze fixed on him alone.
And now that husband, who she’d resigned herself never to see turn toward her, was doing exactly that.
More than that—he was apologizing to her.
“Why are you acting so strange all of a sudden? People say when someone does something out of character, it means they’re seriously ill. Are you all right? You’re not sick, are you?”
Ju Yeon-hee deflected with these words, feeling suddenly shy.
Yet tears streamed freely down her cheeks.
Watching her, Lee Myung-woo felt a fine crack form in his otherwise solid heart.
About an hour later.
“Actually, I’ve been looking forward to it a bit.”
Ju Yeon-hee chirped this to her husband as he lay in bed.
“Looking forward to what?”
Lee Myung-woo cracked open his eyes slightly.
Beneath the face mask, Ju Yeon-hee smiled softly to herself.
“Han Eol.”
“What? You’re looking forward to Han Eol?”
Surprised, Lee Myung-woo propped himself up.
Ju Yeon-hee turned to him and nodded firmly, twice.
“Yes. You probably don’t remember, but there was a difficult request I once made of you—not long after I learned I couldn’t have children…….”
“You asked me carefully whether I’d ever considered adoption.”
“Oh! So you do remember.”
Ju Yeon-hee clapped her hands together.
“I refused outright.”
At Lee Myung-woo’s words, Ju Yeon-hee laughed quietly.
“I know—I didn’t really expect you to say yes. The Chairman is so obsessed with blood relations, adoption was ridiculous. I suppose I was just rambling because I wanted a child so badly.”
She was right.
Lee Myung-woo was not an ordinary man. He might become the future heir to Shinseong Group—in the days of the Joseon dynasty, he would have been a powerful crown prince candidate.
And such a man would adopt?
That would mean Shinseong Group’s direct line could pass to another bloodline. There was no way Chairman Lee Gang-hyun would tolerate such a thing.
Ju Yeon-hee smiled brightly.
“So I let go of the dream entirely, and now at last I’m going to have a son. That’s why I’m looking forward to it.”
“Is it true?”
Lee Myung-woo looked at his wife with wonder.
Ju Yeon-hee gave his chest a little push.
“It’s true, I’m telling you. Unlike some people, I’m not good at lying or deceiving my spouse for eighteen years. I genuinely look forward to the moment I meet Han Eol. So don’t feel so sorry toward me.”
“You…….”
Lee Myung-woo didn’t know what to say. So he simply covered her pale hand with his thick palm.
Ju Yeon-hee didn’t pull away; instead, she opened her heart.
“And when you think about it, I carry some blame too.”
“What blame could you possibly have?”
“Han Eol might have grown up happy with his birth parents. But I was greedy for you, and when I saw your father suffer over my feelings, I couldn’t bear it—so you broke off your engagement, and Han Eol had an unhappy childhood because of it. Maybe the original sin lies with me.”
As she spoke, tears welled up in Ju Yeon-hee’s eyes.
Lee Myung-woo silently wiped away her tears with his broad palm.
Chapter 8
Today was the day Han Eol moved to his quarters in Hannam-dong.
Yet Han Eol’s expression was not bright.
‘This feels off.’
Han Eol pushed out his lower lip.
Since returning from Chiang Mai, he’d been staying in a five-star hotel suite near Myeongdong.
The HR Team had arranged the temporary lodging for him there.
‘First time in my life sleeping in a luxury hotel suite, and now—ugh. The good days are over. All of them.’
Han Eol found Lee Myung-woo unsettling.
He hadn’t even met Ju Yeon-hee yet, but she—the man’s wife—was even more daunting.
‘It’s not like I have a poker face, so how am I supposed to live calling a complete stranger Father and Mother? Well, maybe Lee Myung-woo can be written off, but that lady—she’s definitely going to hate me.’
What woman would love a child born of another? So Han Eol’s thinking was hardly unreasonable.
‘Not that I’m just another woman’s child—I’m also another man’s seed. Ugh.’
Han Eol still believed he wasn’t part of Shinseong Group’s direct line.
His conviction rested on the R Pendant.
‘That pendant definitely isn’t mine.’
But there was one thing Han Eol couldn’t understand: why the blood relation test results came back as a biological match.
Both tests showed a match probability approaching one hundred percent.
Lee Myung-woo and Han Eol.
Lee Gang-hyun and Han Eol.
Both tests confirmed blood relations.
‘This is absolutely absurd.’
Inside the sedan heading to Hannam-dong, Han Eol scratched his head frantically.
“So you’re Han Eol.”
Ju Yeon-hee carefully descended the marble staircase and stood before him.
Ju Yeon-hee was tall, so her eyes were level with his.
As she studied him from every angle, Han Eol suddenly felt an urge to slip away from the moment.
But that wasn’t something he could say aloud.
Han Eol hesitated for a moment, then bowed politely.
“Ah, hello?”
His discomfort made him stumble over the words.
‘God, how embarrassing.’
Heat crawled up the back of Han Eol’s neck.
At the sight, Ju Yeon-hee burst out laughing.
“Oh my? You’re quite shy, aren’t you? Haha. You’re very different from him.”
Ju Yeon-hee glanced back at her husband.
“Am I?”
Lee Myung-woo offered a wry smile.
The current Han Eol looked like any timid youth to the naked eye.
The old Lee Myung-woo would have found such a cowed demeanor distasteful.
Lee Myung-woo had always preferred confidence and self-assurance in all things.
‘But behind that meek exterior lies the ferocity of a lion, the coldness of a serpent, the cunning of a fox. And those Supernatural Abilities he inherited from his grandmother, no less. What a piece of work.’
Lee Myung-woo clicked his tongue inwardly.
Meanwhile, Han Eol felt his anxiety ease somewhat.
‘Wait—they’re looking at me favorably? Especially this lady. Why are their spirits, when I look at them, tinged with pastel tones?’
Han Eol had expected Ju Yeon-hee to be hostile toward him.
That’s how it always went in dramas and novels.
Yet somehow, Ju Yeon-hee’s spirit seemed far more benevolent to him than Lee Myung-woo’s.
‘What’s this? Have I been watching too many melodramatic shows on Old Earth and living in a world divorced from reality?’
Come to think of it, Chairman Lee Gang-hyun had also shown nothing but goodwill toward Han Eol.
The Celestial Beings in Highland were the same.
‘This world can’t possibly be this beautiful, can it? Something’s off.’
Han Eol was bewildered, yet a warm feeling bloomed in his chest.
Ju Yeon-hee led Han Eol through various corners of the mansion, showing him around.
The first place she showed him was a spacious room on the third floor.
“This is the room you’ll be using from now on.”
She had furnished it in just a day, and despite the rush, the design struck an impressive balance—blue tones with a youthful, modern sensibility that spoke of careful thought.
The room also connected to a private bathroom, toilet, and walk-in closet, making it comfortable to live in.
Han Eol was pleased with the space.
‘What I really like is that it’s a split-level, so there’s an attic space above.’
Han Eol’s eyes lingered on the upper space connected by a spiral staircase.
Children naturally love attics—there’s something romantic about carving out a secret hideaway of one’s own up there.
Han Eol’s preference for the attic was somewhat different.
‘It means I have one more escape route if things go south. That’s what appeals to me.’
Han Eol had developed a habit of mapping out escape routes before entering any confined space.
That instinct was already at work.
After finishing the tour of the room, Ju Yeon-hee showed Han Eol the kitchen, dining room, and parlor in succession. The final stop was the basement level of the grand mansion.
Lee Myung-woo’s mansion was structured with three stories above ground and four below.
The first basement level—technically underground, though it looked like a ground floor from street level—held a spacious parking garage that could accommodate sixteen cars, along with a screen golf facility.
The second basement level housed a wine bar, wine cellar, and a gallery of fine art and antiquities.
The third basement level was a cultural complex featuring a large screen theater, a music appreciation space, an indoor tennis court, a fitness facility, and a sauna.
Finally, the fourth basement level had the highest ceiling in the entire mansion—this was Lee Myung-woo’s personal training studio.
‘Impressive.’
Han Eol examined each facility with careful attention.
Truth be told, Han Eol had felt little awe even when he saw the beautiful gardens of Subeok Garden.
His heart had measured them against the grand gardens of the Celestial Beings.
But Celestial civilization differed from the human world, lacking such facilities as gymnasiums, tennis courts, indoor golf ranges, theaters, or galleries.
Though Han Eol couldn’t play tennis or golf, and lacked the eye to appreciate fine art, he found himself genuinely curious about this upper-class human culture he was encountering for the first time.
Each time Han Eol’s expression shifted with wonder, Ju Yeon-hee’s face brightened.
‘Haha. He really is quite different from that one. With a personality like this, perhaps we could get along quite well.’
Ju Yeon-hee genuinely hoped it would be so.
The Puppet Master Who Harvests Souls
Author |
Junon
Publisher |
(Corp.) Samyang C&C
Editor-in-Chief |
Editorial Department
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
Address |
7th Floor, Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260703071
Blog |
blog.naver.com/dreambookss
Twitter (X) |
@dreambookss
Submissions |
[email protected]
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————