Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 73

“If you understood, don’t let me see you again.”

Jang Beomhee was speechless at his appearance, devoid of malice. It was so unfamiliar and chilling to see someone who used to lose his mind like a child at the sight of blood and sweep through the scene, now speaking politely.

Kwon Chaewoo left without lingering, and Jang Beomhee quietly frowned, rotating his tingling arm.

Buzz—His phone vibrated.

An unsaved number. But now a familiar, rather sickening number. Sure enough, when he turned on the screen, it was a text from someone that had been continuous for several days since a one-night stand that felt like a mistake.

You might forget my name, but you won’t be able to forget my body.

Jang Beomhee scratched his contorted brow and looked at where Kwon Chaewoo had disappeared.

Nothing was going right.

“He really doesn’t live up to his name, does he?”

A samgyeopsal restaurant where the sizzling smell of grilling meat wafted up.

“Director Namu, do you know this? Tigers mate a hundred times.”

“What? Cough, cough!”

Water droplets spluttered from Yiyeon’s mouth as she drank.

“But a man with ‘tiger’ clearly in his name, who isn’t even a herbivore, acts so blandly—does that make sense?”

“Uh, well…”

“It doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make sense!”

Joo Dongmi violently shook the glass she was holding, then licked up the overflowing liquor from the back of her hand with her tongue.

Yiyeon looked past Joo Dongmi, whose neck was flushed red and whose tongue was starting to get tangled, to the cluster of empty soju bottles. She slowly retraced the past few weeks, wondering how she had ended up in this situation.

It was three weeks after the landslide when a new tournament theme was announced for <Gamunbi Tree Hospital> and <Mi Hospital>, whose evaluations had been temporarily suspended due to an unexpected accident.

The re-evaluation involved treating a haunted tree called the ‘Divine Tree,’ and—

“Are they crazy, these people! What kind of tree is that!”

Chooja slammed the table and glared fiercely.

“…Are we perhaps overreacting?”

“Don’t talk so carelessly!”

The problem was that countless tree doctors who had tried to treat this tree had frequently encountered unexplainable misfortunes.

From their children failing exams to divorce, psychological damage from investment scams, and physical injuries like traffic accidents and falls. It was a well-known urban legend among tree doctors living in Hwado.

“You absolutely shouldn’t do this. It’s like intentionally sticking your face under falling bad luck!”

Yiyeon caressed her teacup, idly staring at the wood grain of the table.

“They say other hospital guys gathered and felt relieved. I can’t live with this anger!”

Only then did Yiyeon’s face also darken. But no matter how much she pondered, no answer came. She strangely felt like she had only been assigned difficult cases since the landslide, but she pushed aside the useless worries.

Next to the five-hundred-year-old Divine Tree was a small shrine called Seonangdang. To save the guardian deity of the village, which was considered sacred, the residents collected a large sum of money and asked a shaman to perform a ritual, but it showed no significant improvement.

Instead, due to the excessively exaggerated strange rumors, the tree missed its proper treatment period and was now on the verge of dying. Yiyeon thought the Forest Service had done well to bring this troublesome case.

“There’s nothing we can do, we just have to. Have you ever seen me pick and choose trees?”

Chooja’s face clouded for a moment at Yiyeon’s simple reply—

“You can pick and choose people, but you shouldn’t pick and choose trees.”

She immediately snorted with a heh at the supplementary remark.

“Indeed, you did. It was just yesterday you were disgusted by a useless human vegetable. It was just yesterday you made me a liar, saying he was a scoundrel who destroyed human ethics. How can a girl who was like that change her mind so easily?”

Yiyeon flinched and quickly lifted her teacup.

“Yes, you can pick and choose people, but you shouldn’t avoid tree trunks.”

Chooja chuckled mischievously, and Yiyeon tried hard to hide her embarrassed expression by sipping her tea.

“Is our Mr. Kwon late?”

“Ahem…! He has a company dinner today.”

“Oh, so today’s that day.”

And another piece of news was that Kwon Chaewoo had joined the wild animal rescue center as an intern, meaning he was Joo Dongmi’s direct junior.

He was responsible for supporting the rescue and transport of injured animals and spent busy days on field missions and studying for certifications. Because of this, their time together gradually decreased.

Nevertheless, their daily routine of eating three meals a day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—surprisingly remained unchanged. This was because he would consistently rush to see Yiyeon during lunchtime.

Knowing how absurd this was in an organizational setting, she initially gasped and sent him back, but he acted like someone incapable of learning.

So, day after day, day after day…

Eventually, Yiyeon started to dread lunchtime. Whenever she felt tense, the door would invariably open, and she would hear an anxious voice say, “Yiyeon.”

Moreover, every night, he would act mischievous, leading to days where Yiyeon’s waist felt like it was breaking.

One day, it was common for him to not let go of Yiyeon all night, penetrating her, and then go to work without sleeping a wink.

Something was wrong. They had become a seemingly well-matched dual-income couple, but something was wrong…!

Just then, Joo Dongmi called.

“Director, can you please attend the company dinner just this once?”

“…Yes?”

“Because of Mr. Kwon Chaewoo, who acts like a superior, we haven’t had a single welcome party yet. We need an official excuse for everyone to relax and feast. That guy is a psycho—no, a variant—who doesn’t even listen to the team leader’s scolding. So, please, Director, be our poor excuse…! I beg you!”

Yiyeon checked her watch and stood up.

“Chooja, I’ll be back.”

With the intention of supporting her husband’s smooth social life and her own well-being.

She readily accepted Joo Dongmi’s offer.

“He really doesn’t live up to his name, does he?”

A samgyeopsal restaurant where the sizzling smell of grilling meat wafted up.

“It doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make sense!”

Several pairs of eyes turned their way. Each gaze, a mix of curiosity and dismay, fixed on Yiyeon, Kwon Chaewoo, and then back to Yiyeon. The staff’s interest was surprisingly transparent.

As Yiyeon unconsciously stiffened her shoulders, Kwon Chaewoo, who had just set down his chopsticks, raised his eyes. At his fierce gaze, the seniors quickly feigned ignorance, like tiny creatures disappearing under a bed.

Yiyeon secretly sighed. It was clear what kind of reputation this man had. She felt as if his ill-mannered upbringing was all her fault.

Meanwhile, Joo Dongmi, with half-glazed eyes, was still pouring out her grievances.

“I’ve never seen a man so reserved with a voluptuous woman right in front of him! How can he be like that, with ‘tiger’ in his name! Isn’t this just neglecting his fate? A tiger should act like a tiger!”

Kwon Chaewoo didn’t bother to hide his grimace at his senior’s drunken rambling, and instead, he kept bringing grilled meat to Yiyeon’s plate.

She had clearly attended for her husband’s smooth social life, but this felt more like a date than a wife’s support. Yiyeon awkwardly put down her chopsticks.

“Chaewoo, shouldn’t you go talk to your seniors and share a drink with them?”

Yiyeon carefully encouraged him. Kwon Chaewoo then narrowed his eyes.

“Have you ever shared drinks with others, Yiyeon?”

He had been in a bad mood ever since he received her call saying, “I’m on my way there.” The joy of meeting her in an unfamiliar place was fleeting. He didn’t want to keep Yiyeon in such a crowded and smoky place for long.

“It already bothers me to death that my wife is a spectacle, but that statement is even worse.”

Just then, Kwon Chaewoo interlocked his fingers under the table.

“Mix what?”

His gaze subtly deepened, and his voice turned cold. Her thighs suddenly throbbed. Yiyeon was startled and tried to pull her hand away, reacting before her mind could process it.

“Director, do you know this?”

Joo Dongmi cupped her hands under her chin and stared intently at the two. Her loosely dilated pupils moved vaguely, as if searching for something beyond this place. Her appearance was somewhat frightening, but her slurred tongue finally uttered something astonishing.

“That, that, I thought I’d seen it somewhere, but do you know where I saw it?”

“…!”

Her heart dropped and rolled at his casually thrown remark.

…You’ve seen Kwon Chaewoo before?

The noisy sounds of the samgyeopsal restaurant faded into the distance, and only the chaotic thumping of her pulse filled the blind spot. Even swallowing dryly felt like a long time had passed.

“I was racking my brain, and it recently came to me.”

Joo Dongmi occasionally put strength into her eyes and gestured weakly towards Kwon Chaewoo.

“During high school vacation, I went on a family trip to Europe. There was a young kid I saw in Vienna, Austria, and he looked very similar. If he grew up without changing, he would have grown up exactly like this. Of course, it’s unlikely to be the same person.”

She let out a scoffing laugh.

“That kid was amazing, but this guy climbed a mountain with a deer on his back today. But they really resemble each other a lot. Even though their ages and professions are so different.”

“…A young kid?”

Yiyeon asked, puzzled. Her fingertips instantly grew cold, but perhaps due to Kwon Chaewoo’s grip, they quickly warmed up. Instead, moisture formed between their tightly clasped palms.

“Of course, he wasn’t an ordinary kid. From his face to the sounds he made, he was so intense that you couldn’t forget him once you heard him.”

Joo Dongmi said, shrugging lightly.

“He was a cellist.”