Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 138

Yiyeon trudged out of the office, holding an empty lunchbox. Fearing she might catch someone’s eye, like at the last party, she circled the building and turned towards the promenade.

Glancing sideways at the outdoor garden, which easily spanned over 20,000 pyeong, the auctioneer’s voice, introducing artworks and ceramics, occasionally drifted through the microphone.

Kwon Giseok seemed to be in the front row, but Yiyeon had no particular interest in this event from the start. “Today I have some time left, so I should play with Gyubaek,” she thought, and was walking along the promenade with such thoughts.

“Oh… are you alright?”

An elderly lady, leaning on a tree and gasping for breath, caught Yiyeon’s eye.

Startled, she looked around, but not a single servant who could help was in sight. Yiyeon hesitated for a moment, then approached her.

“Excuse me…”

The elderly lady let out a deep sigh, “Hoo—,” and straightened her back. Her attire was luxurious, and her aura was like frost. Yiyeon quickly assessed the lady’s condition, but the other party subtly frowned, looking displeased.

Yiyeon also quietly tried to pass by the elderly lady, putting aside her unnecessary meddling, but she couldn’t go more than a few steps before scratching the back of her head and turning back. In her opinion, this was a matter related to a tree.

“Excuse me, what you’re leaning on right now is a lacquer tree.”

The elderly lady, holding a white handkerchief to her mouth, looked over.

“It seems you’ve developed an allergy.”

The elderly lady’s rigid expression broke, and she blinked. The red rash on her forearms and neck was unusual. One might not know if they hadn’t encountered a lacquer tree before.

“I’ll guide you to the infirmary. I think you need to apply an antihistamine or some medicine first.”

“…No, I’ll go to my personal physician.”

Her voice came out muffled by her breathing, as if her throat was swelling.

“It seems best to go back early today. Cough…!”

“Do you know the way back?”

Compared to the attendees of the sex party, the ladies were dignified, and the event had just begun.

So, this much would be fine, as long as they didn’t go deep into the garden. Yiyeon supported the elderly lady’s arm and took a step.

“This is Marc Chagall’s ‘Portrait.’ It was officially valued at 3,000 rubles in Russia, but after being smuggled into the West, it was traded for 550,000 dollars, and now we are presenting it again.”

The closer they got to the garden, the more vibrant it felt. The warm sunlight and elegant laughter intertwined like an expensive tablecloth.

Yiyeon stopped at the point where the asphalt and grass were sharply divided. She exchanged greetings with the elderly lady at an appropriate distance, not crossing the line, and watched her retreating figure for a moment. Only after confirming that her companion anxiously rose from her seat could she finally tear her gaze away.

And it was then, as she exchanged eye contact with the servers, servants, and familiar gardeners on the asphalt side and turned to leave.

“—Kyaaaah!”

Her legs suddenly froze at someone’s piercing scream. The moment Yiyeon’s heart dropped to her feet and she turned back with trembling eyes, time flowed slowly.

There, a foreign-looking lady was bleeding with a bullet wound through her forehead. The lady collapsed forward before she could even close her eyes.

“…!”

It was a terrifying silence that froze everyone.

But before they could even grasp the situation, a second, then a third bullet flew in relentlessly.

From somewhere, dadadada—! As bullets sprayed, tables overturned, glass bottles shattered, and the smuggled goods on the platform were torn to shreds, like a beehive.

“What on earth is this…!”

“Hwaaak!”

The ladies in the garden turned pale and fled in a hurry, and bodyguards from inside the building rushed out. Dogs barked loudly, and someone screamed.

Yiyeon, whose face had completely drained of color, also began to step back little by little. Everything that stood upright was being shattered.

Just then, the coldly hardened Kwon Giseok pressed one ear and moved his lips.

—Three minutes until the gate closes. Get out of there quickly.

Hearing Kwon Yijoon’s voice, full of laughter, the sniper finally took his hand off the trigger.

As per Kwon Yijoon’s command, he fired a volley of bullets as if destroying the garden, half-demolishing the semi-circular platform.

As he was checking the 1.5 km distance through the scope, his eyes briefly met Kwon Giseok’s, who was scanning the surroundings.

“…!”

Kwon Giseok seemed to be roughly pinpointing the sniper’s location based on the direction the bullets had come from.

The man, cold sweat running down his spine, quickly disassembled his gun and left the spot.

At that moment, Kwon Chaewoo, who was protecting the sniper under the pretext of guarding the surroundings, put his hand to his ear.

In the critical situation where the Pakistani ambassador’s wife was dead and the garden was in ruins, Kwon Giseok was giving instructions in a somewhat breathless voice.

—Kill.

The subject was unclear. The moment Kwon Chaewoo frowned and put the approaching sniper into the car.

—Shoot any estate staff on sight.

“…!”

—As of this moment, the Kwon family will also be designated as victims of the shooting.

A shooting incident that occurred within the Kwon family.

However, there was only one casualty.

It was a method Kwon Giseok chose in an instant to avoid suspicion. Even with an unannounced attack on the Kwon family, Kwon Giseok quickly prepared a retreat.

Fearing that Pakistan would escalate the issue, he decided to give up the bone as well, since he had already given up the flesh.

—Kill enough to more than cover the ambassador’s wife’s life.

“…!”

The chilling command pierced his ears again. But as the hunting dogs remained silent, waiting for Kwon Chaewoo’s order, Kwon Giseok immediately gave instructions in another language.

—Shoot any staff on sight.

(Understood.)

—Roger that.

It wasn’t the hunting dogs that responded to the command with a sneering sound. A crooked smile appeared on Kwon Chaewoo’s lips. It was the moment Kwon Giseok’s new pawns finally revealed themselves.

Following his second brother’s advice to think two or three steps ahead, Kwon Chaewoo had been secretly waiting for this moment.

Kwon Yijoon’s game was already over. So now Kwon Chaewoo’s goal was to deal with the notorious mercenaries who had entered his front yard all at once.

He sped up, dropped the sniper at the designated location, and then reversed without hesitation.

His heart was strangely agitated. The killing time was too fast, but Yiyeon must have gotten inside safely.

Kwon Chaewoo barely suppressed his anxious heart and sharply turned the steering wheel. He then pulled out an automatic rifle and magazines from under the seat and even changed his in-ear monitor.

And he immediately gave orders to the crouching hunting dogs. His expression was terribly blank.

—Don’t leave a single one alive.

“Hwaaaak! Run…!”

“Ugh, get in the way…! Get, get out of the way!”

Bullets plunged into the chaotic scene, mixed with screams of men, women, and children alike. The green, clean lawn constantly erupted with dirt.

The large garden transformed into a mere slaughterhouse in the blink of an eye.

After the bodyguards escorted the Future Society ladies away, the place had fallen silent for a moment, as if entering a lull, but then bullets rained down once more.

Tang Tang Tang Tang—!

The smell of ammunition, which she had never smelled before, forcefully blocked her nostrils. People ran. They desperately crossed this vast garden, where the only cover was the mansion itself.

Yiyeon, who had been completely frozen, finally managed to regain her senses after being bumped several times by the fleeing people. Her ears were ringing from the incessant gunfire.

“Heugh…!”

It was pandemonium.

“Quickly, get inside the mansion—!” Someone shouted, but no matter how she thought about it, the distance was too far. Her esophagus stung from the breath already caught in her throat.

“Heugh, euh…!”

Just then, the people ahead began to collapse like broken reeds. Their fallen backs were round and soaked in blood.

“Ah. Ah—!”

Her pupils, distorted by shock, hardened. Yiyeon couldn’t bring herself to complete the run across this horrifying garden where everyone fleeing was being shot dead. A shrill sob escaped her lips.

Then, something like a mirror flashed in the air. Without time to think, Yiyeon instinctively ducked and covered her head. She crawled into the already terribly shattered table.

Her whole body pulsed as if her heart would burst and kill her at any moment. As she swallowed the desperate taste of blood beyond her throat, someone was walking, stepping on the reddened grass. Yiyeon immediately stopped her ragged breathing.

Clack, a cold, loaded gun barrel was about to cover her like a shadow.

“—So Yiyeon!”

Screech— A tearing brake sound slammed into someone and came to a halt.

“Run here!”

At the familiar voice, Yiyeon’s head snapped up. The tears that had gathered fell in drops.

“Ugh… ugh…”

“It’s okay. It’s okay, so come here!”

Contrary to his words meant to reassure her, Kwon Chaewoo, his face contorted, reached out from the car window.

But her legs wouldn’t move. As she gritted her teeth and straightened her trembling knees, he, who had just thrown two smoke grenades to the opposite side, sprang out like an arrow.

Meanwhile, bullets poured down relentlessly, shattering the car windows and shredding the seats. Fortunately, the quickly rising smoke obscured their vision.

“Damn it, I can’t keep you in this house anymore, so just know that wherever I send you, that’s where you’ll be.”

The moment Kwon Chaewoo scooped Yiyeon up, embracing her, he stumbled, unable to steady himself. An ominous vibration spread from his chest where they touched.

‘…Huh?’

Yiyeon, startled, looked up at him, but Kwon Chaewoo remained expressionless.

“Report.”

—Eight out of ten targets eliminated.

“Two locations.”

—One in sector B-1 at 9 o’clock, one towards the main building at 1 o’clock.

“You handle B-1, then withdraw immediately. Everyone waits at your safe houses.”

Just then, a servant, already terrified and out of his mind, suddenly got into the driver’s seat and started the car. Kwon Chaewoo cursed loudly, but the car, moving precariously in a zigzag, never stopped.

However, that was only for a moment. Under a concentrated hail of bullets, the tires eventually gave out, and the entire front windshield shattered. The merciless gunfire showed no sign of stopping until blood leaked from the door cracks.

“Duck your head.”

Kwon Chaewoo lowered Yiyeon back into the table and turned his back. His blood-soaked hand gently pushed Yiyeon’s head down.

“Never again will I let a scratch appear on your body, Yiyeon.”

His large frame completely covered Yiyeon. Clack, he took a stance and loaded his gun.

Kwon Chaewoo, having finally pinpointed the remaining snipers’ positions, put the scope to one eye and pulled the trigger.

“I’m sorry.”

…Blood? Yiyeon’s thoughts stopped as she saw his white dress shirt, drenched crimson. When? How…! Before she could even ask, bullets rained down on Kwon Chaewoo like lightning again.

“For letting you get hurt back then.”

His low voice scattered like a mirage.

Tang Tang Tang Tang—!

Whether he was shooting or being hit, Kwon Chaewoo’s body constantly jolted from the recoil.

How much time passed like that?

The gunfire stopped as if by a lie. And in the silence, reeking of blood, the drenched Kwon Chaewoo slowly collapsed.