Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 64

If she hesitated in fear, this narrow cave would no longer be safe.

Even now, the earth and sand were relentlessly pushing through the gaps in the entrance. Yiyeon’s face hardened as the muddy water, which had risen past her waist, now sloshed at her collarbone.

Debris from the ground floated on the heavy, sluggish earth and sand. The sticky mud was unpleasant, but Yiyeon took a deep breath and made a resolution.

She had to get out of here.

Even if she got hurt, she wanted to get closer to him.

As she moved the backpack, dense water surged up to her chin.

“Hmph!”

Yiyeon took a deep breath and plunged her head deep under the debris flow that poured in with strong water pressure. Small pebbles hit her face stingingly, like salt being rubbed in. Sticky earth and sand clung to her eyelids, mouth, and nostrils, and she barely managed to pull herself out, clutching only one backpack.

“Haaah…!”

As soon as she stood up, she opened her mouth and desperately gasped for air. Clumps of mud fell into her mouth with a dry taste, and her eyes and face stung. She couldn’t close her mouth or open it wider, so she just spat it out and immediately lifted her shirt to wipe her face roughly.

However, her appearance, as if she had fallen into thick mud and then emerged, was beyond repair. She had only carefully wiped around her eyes, so her hair, face, neck, and upper body were completely black, like a camouflaged soldier.

Soon, Yiyeon’s face turned pale as she looked around.

“…”

She had expected it, but indeed, the entire forest was overflowing with gloomy, sticky debris flow. Broken trees, leaves, and moss floated around, making it messy.

Moving was difficult due to the waist-deep mud, so Yiyeon opened her backpack and took out a climbing rope. She then hooked a key chain onto an unbroken tree branch and connected herself to the rope. Only after securing this minimal lifeline did she begin to move forward.

“Mr. Kwon Chaewoo!”

Yiyeon looked around and shouted at the top of her lungs. But only emptiness returned; everything that had been cleanly swept away concealed Kwon Chaewoo.

He was nowhere to be seen. Where had he been swept away to, or had he been injured and sunk to the bottom? Yiyeon couldn’t make a hasty judgment and just kept moving forward.

“Kwon Chaewoo—!”

Cutting through the clotted mud was as difficult as dragging several thick tires. Her slender body was constantly pushed back and swayed, but it was nothing compared to the bleakness she was feeling now.

“Kwon Chaewoo!”

Crack! Dry lightning struck. The already gloomy weather suddenly brought dark clouds, and her mouth went dry.

At that moment, a drone hovering in the sky caught her eye, and Yiyeon waved her arms widely.

“Over here—! Here!”

With a landslide of this magnitude, officials would already be moving quickly. The rescue team would arrive soon. But wasting this time was agonizing, thinking about the missing Kwon Chaewoo. Her eyes swelled with tears, wanting to find him as quickly as possible.

“Hmph…, ugh…”

The smell of rotten earth stung her nose, and her feet slipped on moss-covered rocks, making her fall into the swamp and climb out multiple times. Heavy, dirty debris clung to her arms like bandages. Where in this mess could Kwon Chaewoo possibly be?

Her lips trembled, pouting as if she would burst into tears at any moment. But Yiyeon squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed her rock-like emotions. The painful saliva stung her delicate mucous membranes like needles as it went down, but she didn’t want to cry yet.

After taking a deep breath for a moment, the moment she raised her head again.

A figure lying face down like laundry on a tree trunk split in two caught Yiyeon’s eye.

“…!”

Her throat tightened. She wanted to run to him quickly, but strangely, her joints felt weak. Her suddenly swelling tears couldn’t bear their weight and fell. A sound like scraping the ground finally burst out.

“Kwon… Kwon Chaewoo… Kwon Chaewoo!”

His appearance was no different from Yiyeon’s. He was like a hawk covered in sticky grease, his original face completely unrecognizable. Yiyeon barely managed to drag her trembling knees, wanting to collapse, and ran to him.

First, she untied her rope and wrapped it around Kwon Chaewoo’s waist, then carefully turned him over. The moment she saw his tightly closed eyelids, Yiyeon felt her heart, which had been adrift, suddenly plummet.

The unconscious man lay still as if dead, and blood flowed from his torn forehead. She trembled her chin and put her ear to his chest.

“Mr. Kwon, Kwon Chaewoo, can you hear me?”

Even if it was to herself, she couldn’t bear not speaking to him. At the same time, she fumbled her fingers under his chin to check his faint pulse. A groan, whether of relief or resentment, escaped her lips.

“Please, please.”

Yiyeon gently tilted Kwon Chaewoo’s head and personally removed the mud that filled his mouth. Her touch, sweeping his cold mucous membranes, was urgent. Holding his jaw firmly, she inserted two fingers and scraped out the inside of his mouth.

She had never cared about saving people in her life, but at this moment, Yiyeon deeply regretted the fact that she knew nothing but trees.

Nevertheless, she gritted her teeth, determined not to break down until he opened his eyes. Just then, Yiyeon held her breath and looked at him.

“…!”

She was about to open her backpack to find a towel and blanket when suddenly his eyelids began to flutter.

Something passing beneath a frozen lake. Like a child witnessing it, Yiyeon was helplessly captivated. Her heart, pounding up to her temples, was loud.

An eternity seemed to pass, and the moment Kwon Chaewoo finally met her eyes—

“…”

“…”

Seeing his clear, hazel irises, Yiyeon bit her lip, overwhelmed with emotion. She wanted to grab him by the collar, but also felt so grateful and sorry that she couldn’t lift her head. How scared Yiyeon had been by his devoted actions. A lump formed in a corner of her heart. She never wanted to be left alone again.

“…I think I understand now too.”

“…”

“The two trees I tied with wire. Sometimes, even if that path seemed arduous and abnormal, they must have wanted to hold onto warmth, even if it was like that.”

At that moment, Kwon Chaewoo’s face contorted as if in pain. His eyes, not clear but somehow blurry, felt unfamiliar. With his eyelids only half-open, dimly, he felt quite different from usual. Perhaps it was due to the mud clinging to his entire face. He spoke in a husky voice.

“Who are you?”

“…!”

“F***, what the hell is this—”

His short, broken words shook her like thunder.

Kwon Chaewoo cursed, looking at the messed-up mountain. His dry voice, devoid of warmth and affection, was only cold, and his gaze never lingered on Yiyeon.

Even though she was stiff and unable to move from her spine down, she watched the man intently. As if she was trying to find the man she truly wanted to meet, her husband.

Then Kwon Chaewoo, staggering, got up, clutching his shoulder with one arm, and let out a groan.

“…Are, are you hurt? Are you okay?”

But as soon as she laid a hand on his body, her touch was sharply pushed away.

“Don’t touch me.”

“…”

His pupils, still blurry as if he were drugged or wandering in a dream, were sharp.

The man gritted his teeth and roughly reset his dislocated shoulder. Yiyeon’s shoulders hunched in response to his casual treatment, as if this wasn’t the first or second time.

He lowered his head and exhaled in short breaths, swallowing the pain. His prominent jaw didn’t easily subside.

Yiyeon, frozen, even held her breath and quietly watched him, when suddenly her arm was violently grabbed.

“What the hell happened? Who are you, and why am I in this state here?”

“…”

Yiyeon couldn’t say anything to his confused demeanor as he looked around. The feeling of gradually breaking from head to toe was unfamiliar, so Yiyeon just clenched her fists.

A hypothesis she didn’t want to consider took over her mind. More than the debris flow covering the forest, Kwon Chaewoo’s misty eyes shook Yiyeon’s core far more terribly and miserably.

“I asked you.”

“…”

“Who are you?”

Yiyeon, utterly in a panic, flinched and unconsciously hit Kwon Chaewoo on the head. Her hand had moved before she could even think.

Kwon Chaewoo, suddenly hit on the head, stiffened his face coldly and glared at Yiyeon. He let out a fierce, hollow laugh and twisted Yiyeon’s wrist.

“Do you want to die?”

“N-no, no, absolutely not—”

“What are you doing?”