Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 63

“Kwon, Mr. Kwon Chaewoo…”

Her dazed voice was weak. As her abdomen was pressed against his constantly shaking shoulder bone, her heart churned as if she was about to vomit. Even seeing the scene with her own eyes, she couldn’t believe it.

The stone wall built at the bottom of the slope was insufficient to block the soil pouring from both sides, and the upper part, which had only been covered with cloth, couldn’t support the flowing earth and collapsed with it. The small trees breaking in real time were entangled branch by branch, making their shapes unrecognizable.

“Ms. Yiyeon, listen carefully.”

At that moment, Kwon Chaewoo said, exhaling in short breaths. Carrying two large backpacks and Yiyeon on his back while running seemed to be quite a strain for him, as his panting voice lacked composure.

“If you turn left from here, there’s a small cave.”

Kwon Chaewoo recalled the map he had devoured with his eyes.

In the past, Japan had dug numerous artificial caves in this particularly mountainous area to use Hwaido as a forward base. He quickly searched his mind for the location of the cave stronghold, which was separately marked on the map, and changed direction.

Suddenly, a stone caught under his shoe, making him stumble greatly, but he quickly regained his balance. He wrapped his arms more tightly around Yiyeon’s buttocks and put more strength into his arms, lest he drop her.

“The width is narrow, but Ms. Yiyeon, you’ll be able to get in.”

His pleasant baritone voice kept getting muffled by his rough breathing.

“Go in there, block it with the backpacks, and hold on.”

Yiyeon didn’t understand what he was saying and looked at his profile with shaking eyes.

For some reason, her mouth went dry and her heart plummeted. Something in Kwon Chaewoo’s words subtly grated on her nerves. She contorted her face and clutched his clothes. Even amidst this, the sound of things snapping and breaking didn’t stop.

“…What about Mr. Kwon Chaewoo?”

“…”

The man only let out a sharp, choked breath, not answering. The unwelcome silence brought forth the worst possible hypothesis, and Yiyeon’s vision blurred in disbelief. Her chest churned, and her lips trembled.

“I’m not going alone.”

“Listen to me.”

“No!”

“So Yiyeon!”

His harsh, clawing voice lashed out at her. Her frozen name, three syllables, was sharp like an icicle.

“Snap out of it, do you want to die here?”

His words, bitten out through gritted teeth, were laced with anger. All his usual warmth was gone, leaving only coldness in his tone, and Yiyeon flinched and froze. While her mind understood the situation, her heart spoke the exact opposite.

‘Still, no, I don’t want to, no…’

She pulled hard on the man’s clothes until her knuckles turned white.

The glimpse she caught still showed no change. The debris flow that had erupted in the distance had now gained speed and was rapidly approaching them from behind. As he grabbed her waist as if to let her go, she shrieked hysterically.

“Please don’t! I don’t want to be alone!”

“Don’t mess around!”

Their voices clashed fiercely.

“Who are you, Ms. Yiyeon, to interfere with me, saving my wife?”

“…!”

His gaze, sweeping over her, was sharp. His heavily sunken voice showed not an ounce of room for negotiation.

Yiyeon’s nose stung with a sudden surge of sorrow. More than the collapsing landslide, she felt suffocated, as if being crushed by Kwon Chaewoo’s selfish affection. Her heart pounded as if on the edge of a cliff, and an unbearable groan escaped her lips.

“Please… Please, Mr. Kwon Chaewoo. Don’t do this. You said you’d listen to me… You said you’d only listen to me. You said you’d only do what I told you, what I allowed, so why every time! Why are you like this!”

I was already overwhelmed just accepting you, but why is it so easy for you…!

The forest was surging with the encroaching ground, and Yiyeon pleaded, staring blankly at the scene. Kwon Chaewoo’s feet sank into the mud. Her body, clinging to him, floated up, creating a gap between them. Kwon Chaewoo was slowly pushing her away.

“Hmph, please, don’t let go! I, I don’t like this…!”

Kwon Chaewoo’s face, contorted in pain as well, gradually moved further away. At that moment, time stretched endlessly.

Forgetting both the surging landslide and his resolve, she just clung on desperately. Why are you leaving me alone, a childish resentment suddenly surged. Old emotions buried deep in a well unexpectedly surfaced now.

Don’t leave me alone. Rather, take me with you. I don’t want to be left alone in scary places anymore.

She grabbed his forearm, but it was immediately knocked away by his strong grip. She reached out again, but it was sharply, cruelly pushed away. As she repeatedly fumbled and inadvertently scratched his forearm, Kwon Chaewoo threw the backpack he was carrying in front of him, along with her.

“Ugh…!”

More than her backside hitting the ground, the ensuing kicks brought tears to her eyes. He furiously kicked the backpacks, pushing Yiyeon into a small, dog-hole-like cave. A flicker of pain was clearly visible in Kwon Chaewoo’s cold eyes. He shoved her in, as if rolling her, and then stood the two backpacks upright, blocking the entrance to the cave stronghold.

“Hold on tight and endure.”

“W-wait, wait, Mr. Kwon Chaewoo—!”

“I haven’t had my fill yet.”

“…!”

“We haven’t seen the end yet.”

His unwavering, resolute gaze, with eyes burning intensely, pierced her like a knife. It was not the farewell of someone saying goodbye for the last time. He revealed his face, which had become as rough as the urgent situation demanded.

“So if you die in a place like this, know that I’ll kill you again with my own hands.”

The threatening eye contact felt like scattered nerve bundles interlocking. The waves of the two people, which had been separate, intertwined like vines.

But that moment, which felt like an eternity, was over in the blink of an eye, and then, as if on cue, a wave of earth and sand surged beside the man.

Thud, crunch, crunch, thud, whoosh—

The continuous sounds enveloped everything. The massive landslide swallowed him in an instant. Then, all the ties connecting her to him were forcibly severed, and a bone-breaking pain overwhelmed her.

“Kwon Chaewoo—!”

Her cracking scream hit the narrow cave walls and echoed.

Through the gaps in the entrance, which the two backpacks couldn’t fully cover, dense debris flow relentlessly pushed in. She gripped the backpacks until her fingernails nearly came off, as if they might be swept away with it. She endured, pushing back and defending against the endlessly pouring earth and sand.

Whoosh—

Whoosh—

Every time the backpacks shook, her wrists ached and her arms trembled. She held on tenaciously until her bones throbbed, but it was impossible to block the entire entrance. Muddy water splashed onto her face, and her clothes were instantly soiled.

“Hmph…!”

She couldn’t understand anything. Everything just happened too fast, too suddenly.

In an instant, Kwon Chaewoo disappeared.

How much time had passed that felt like an eternity?

Eventually, the sound that seemed to engulf the world suddenly ceased, and the surging debris flow also stopped.

She was sitting, and the mud had risen to her waist. Her skin hurt where her wet clothes rubbed against it, and her lips were pale blue, perhaps from the cold of the cave seeping into her body.

She had managed to squeeze her body into the small, dog-hole-like space and avoided being swept away, but getting out seemed even more remote. Sweat trickled down her spine.

“Mr. Kwon Chaewoo…”

Leaning her back against the rough stone wall, a tearful sigh finally escaped her.

Her stiffened hands intermittently convulsed. Yiyeon tightly clasped her trembling hands and buried her face.

“Are, are you out there? Chaewoo… Are you there?”

From her hoarse throat, only the sound of air escaped. Outside the cave, it was as quiet as night, and Yiyeon suppressed the surging emotions.

“Ugh…”

Fist-sized stones pressing into her back and buttocks hurt. A cold, damp wind flowed in through the gaps in the entrance.

Then, at the edge of her dim vision, she saw a backpack, so covered in mud it was unrecognizable.

And the moment she saw the tablet PC stuffed into the front pocket, she hastily pulled it out, desperately rubbed it clean, and turned on the power button.

The Wi-Fi symbol was gone, but instead, the screen was filled with photos of the trees she had worked on.

She flipped through them with an emotionless gaze, then paused, her finger hovering in the air.

“…Hmph.”

An unidentifiable groan escaped her lips.

The photos had, at some point, stopped being of trees and instead captured Yiyeon’s back, face, and smiles as she treated them.

Her expression with eyebrows lowered in concern, her face intensely furrowed in seriousness, her lips gently curved upwards, her face bursting into laughter, showing her teeth brightly.

All those fleeting moments that would usually just pass by.

It seemed someone’s devoted eyes found her vibrant, unfamiliar face too precious to let go.

“…”

The stuffy, stale air, lacking ventilation, choked her breath.

‘If I die here, he’ll kill me again?’

What kind of thing is this snapping dog saying…!

When she squeezed her trembling eyelids shut and opened them again, her eyes were glistening.

I have to find him.

In this chaotic forest, I have to find you again.