Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 71

Fifteen years ago, the neighborhood where Yiyeon and Chooja lived was turned upside down.

Men in black suits, whose identities were unknown, stormed into the shabby residential area, ransacking it without mercy. Kicking over kimchi pots and washbasins with their polished shoes, the group scoured the remote mountain village as if searching for lice.

The usually quiet village had to endure several days of inexplicable commotion, and at that time, Yiyeon was alone, guarding the house. It was the place where her uncle and Chooja had both left at once, her uncle having been hospitalized after a long struggle.

That day, too, was eerily silent.

If not for the sound of something scratching wood from somewhere.

“…P-please. Please help me. Please open the door…!”

Yiyeon, who had been idly doing her homework on the old wooden floor, froze. A woman who couldn’t boldly pound on the main gate, but merely scratched it carefully with her fingernails. Her nerves were on edge from the chilling sound.

“S-someone is chasing me. Please, please hide me! Save me!”

Yiyeon dropped the pencil she was holding and scooted back.

“I’m sorry, but just for a moment, really just for a moment…, hic… Please…!”

The outburst of tears instantly slurred her already clear pronunciation.

Yiyeon recalled the unsettling atmosphere of the neighborhood these past few days and wondered if the woman was the one the outsiders were looking for. The scolding of the elderly neighbors, who had grumbled, cursed, and spat, also flashed through her mind.

However, seeing the trembling woman, she saw her own reflection, as if she had to flee.

Her hesitation was not long. The girl picked up her slippers and stood up. And with a clank—the door opened.

“Hoo… Hic, ah…!”

Her eyes met those of the woman, who was swallowing her sobs, her hand tightly covering her mouth. She contorted her face even more as she saw the young girl’s school uniform, which seemed to have descended like a lifeline. Uncontrollable sobs escaped her.

Her eyes were red and swollen, her hair disheveled, and her clothes were tangled with crumbled leaves and her hands were dirty, as if she had been wandering through the mountains. Yiyeon quickly pulled the woman in, glancing around the dark surroundings.

After that, the woman stayed for a short while and then left. Later, a large sum of money arrived as a reward, startling Yiyeon, but as she grew into an adult and moved to the city to begin a bustling college life, the incident faded into the back of her mind.

“Indeed…”

Yiyeon murmured softly, gazing steadily at the ancestral table.

“She’s probably living well, isn’t she?”

Did that woman, who had fled breathlessly like a deer, safely meet her young son, whom she had longed for so much?

“She’s surely doing well with her son.”

“Chaewoo.”

Yiyeon, who was languidly sprawled on the sofa after the ancestral rites, looked at Kwon Chaewoo, who had gone out to the yard and returned. A yellowish-brown envelope was in his hand.

“What’s that?”

When he silently showed her the front of the envelope, Yiyeon nodded, saying, “Ah—.” It was the logo of the jacket Joo Dongmi always wore.

She naturally took the envelope and pulled out the contents, finding a brief catalog explaining the center and a self-introduction form. Joo Dongmi had also sent a yellow Post-it note with a brightly drawn crying face.

Just then, Kwon Chaewoo sat next to Yiyeon and leaned his face close. His trembling breath tickled her fine hairs, but Yiyeon felt her heart drop to her feet. So many blank spaces to fill weighed her down like bricks. Sure enough, Kwon Chaewoo casually said after a quick glance at the form:

“As expected, I don’t know much besides my name and birthday. Yiyeon, please fill in the rest.”

“…You said you got a new ID card, Chaewoo?”

“Yes.”

“C-can you show it to me?”

Yiyeon pretended to be busy, tidying the table. Soon, the man brought his ID and handed it to her without suspicion. Yiyeon, hiding her trembling fingertips, immediately fixed her gaze on his ID photo, which she had never seen before.

When was this photo taken? In it was a Kwon Chaewoo whom Yiyeon didn’t know. The gentle gaze that more than covered his fierce eyes was not there. Only a cold face, revealing his inherent sharp eyes, stared at her.

“…”

She swallowed dryly, yet couldn’t tear her eyes away from that heartless face.

‘And his birthday is…’

Yiyeon’s gaze shifted to the resident registration number, and she suddenly bit hard on the inside of her lip.

Kwon Chaewoo’s birthday was the same day she had witnessed the live burial in the mountains and had been captured by Kwon Giseok.

The day everything began. Chillingly, that date was printed as Kwon Chaewoo’s birthday.

She suddenly felt a cold sweat break out and painfully pressed the corner of the ID card. Was this Kwon Giseok’s subtle warning, or his mockery?

“Yiyeon, what’s my educational background?”

His low voice jolted Yiyeon. It was the start of the da capo game all over again. Yiyeon pulled at her earlobe and blinked rapidly. For a moment, she was overwhelmed by the urge to confess everything. Would the current Kwon Chaewoo understand all the hidden circumstances related to the lie?

Even if things were complicated, could they untangle them together?

“…”

However, Yiyeon’s face darkened immensely.

Kwon Chaewoo was doing terrible things, and he tried to kill me. She feared those words would destroy this everyday life she had barely regained. Moreover, the sorrow and fear of that time, when he had completely forgotten her and glared at her fiercely, pierced her chest like a knife. Yiyeon closed her eyes and chose to ask again.

‘Just a little. Just a little more like this…’

The more she fell for him, the same worries would relentlessly assault her like alley walls.

Nevertheless, Yiyeon knew she would choose the same thing again. The coward’s evasion thus accumulated karma.

As the silence lengthened, Kwon Chaewoo leaned his head against the back of the sofa and said with a sigh:

“It seems my education is lacking.”

“Oh, that is…”

“Still, tell them I graduated high school.”

Yiyeon briefly parted her lips, looking at the education field, then chose a cleaner sentence.

“You graduated. Um… by GED.”

The man didn’t blink, as if speechless, then abruptly clenched his teeth.

“Still, tell them I wasn’t expelled.”

A glimpse of his face even showed a hint of desperation.

“…Is that, is that so important to you, Chaewoo, that you’d make such a face?”

“Don’t you know I’m desperate to look good to you every moment?”

He closed his eyes and pressed his temples firmly. The veins on the back of his hand stood out, bluish.

“What on earth did you see in a man lacking in education, ability, personality, and family background to go through with marriage registration?”

Yiyeon stared blankly at the man’s eyes, burning like a fireplace, and blurted out without realizing it:

“…Your face?”

Then Kwon Chaewoo let out a gasp and twitched an eyebrow.

“You chose a man who’s deficient in education, ability, personality, and family background, and that’s all you saw?”

“It’s not ‘just’.”

Yiyeon put strength into her eyes.

“Sometimes, it feels like that’s everything.”

Kwon Chaewoo had a peculiar expression, as if he found it absurd yet also worrisome. Nevertheless, he couldn’t stop a gooey smile from escaping.

“I can write down my special skills and hobbies.”

“What are they?”

As she widened her eyes in curiosity, Kwon Chaewoo tilted his head.

“Special skill: beating up anyone who bothers my wife. Hobby: following my wife around. Likes: So Yiyeon. Dislikes: sometimes trees. Good at: being single-minded and getting a hard-on. Bad at: reducing it from ten times to five times out of courtesy—”

“Wait, wait a minute!”

Yiyeon quickly cut off the man’s words, which flowed like a chain. She turned a little pale.

“You’re not actually going to write that, are you?”

“Do my words sound like a lie?”

“…No, that’s the problem! Because they’re not!”

Yiyeon glared at him, her face subtly flushed. At her adorable fierceness, Kwon Chaewoo couldn’t hold back any longer and burst into laughter. He reached out a large hand and grabbed Yiyeon’s puffed-up cheek. He inhaled her deeply through his nose and swallowed her lips.

“Ugh…!”

Even with a brief touch, she felt her body plummet as if falling. He sucked, gently bit her upper lip, and stole each other’s breaths. He lightly rubbed the surface of her lips, rubbing his nose against hers, then became frantic, biting and sucking senselessly.

A suppressed moan escaped from his slightly pressed nose bridge. Her jaw opened and closed multiple times as if drinking nectar. His warm tongue, which had been restlessly playing only inside her teeth, suddenly stiffened and pushed in. The kiss deepened instantly.

At that moment, pop—! The light bulb in the ceiling burst. Startled, Yiyeon glanced at the ceiling, unable to concentrate, and he frowned, pulling his lips away.

“Yiyeon, the face you like is right here, and you have time to look away?”

At Kwon Chaewoo’s menacing expression, Yiyeon pointed to the ceiling as if to make an excuse.

“Th-that’s an LED, why suddenly…”

“Is that important right now?”

He frowned again and forcefully covered her lips. Yiyeon was pushed by his bulldozer-like strength and fell back onto the sofa, and because of that, the cracked light bulb, looking like it would shatter any moment, came clearly into view.

‘It’s precarious…!’

As she couldn’t take her eyes off it more than before, the man finally sighed and raised his hands.

“…Just you wait a little while.”

A moment later, ding-dong—the doorbell rang, and an A/S technician in a navy baseball cap and vest entered.

Jang Beomhee and Kwon Chaewoo’s gazes met in mid-air.