Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 76

No sooner had the words left her lips than Kwon Chaewoo abruptly pulled Yiyeon into his arms.

Suddenly, a slithering sound, like a snake crawling, echoed, and a shiver ran down her spine, though no wind blew.

Yiyeon’s view was obstructed by the man’s broad embrace. Helplessly, she lowered her head, and the hem of a red hanbok skirt caught the edge of her vision.

“How did that dreadful thing cling to you?”

A deep, yet unfamiliar voice wound its way into Yiyeon’s ear. It was a flat tone with almost no inflection, but to Yiyeon, it sounded precisely like a click of the tongue.

“It looks like the willow branch will soon break too. It will hurt a lot.”

“…!”

A pair of alien eyes pierced through the man who blocked her, fixing on her. All she could see was Kwon Chaewoo’s white T-shirt, yet the shaman’s face seemed vividly clear. Her features, whose age was impossible to discern, vaguely surfaced.

Willow branch…

Yiyeon chewed on the words, then bit her tongue. Just a few words from a stranger, who might even be a swindler. It was of such little value, yet she couldn’t understand why it felt as if there was no turning back.

“Ms. Yiyeon.”

Just then, the man, noticing her subtly changed breathing, bent his head. Yiyeon gripped the hem of Kwon Chaewoo’s clothes, desperately swallowing the emotions that had begun to waver.

Slithering, the skirt hem gracefully receded. Yiyeon stared blankly at the shaman’s retreating back, devoid of lingering attachment.

It felt as though she had been slapped out of nowhere. It was just as the shaman had said. More painful than angry. Yiyeon momentarily buried her nose in Kwon Chaewoo’s embrace, searching for a place to breathe.

He didn’t persist with questions, merely gently stroked the back of her head.

“Shall we go home?”

“…Yes, yes. Let’s go home.”

Trees always offered clear answers, but anything intertwined with Kwon Chaewoo became a jumble. What weighed on her heart was a heavier sense of guilt. It was herself, keeping silent and deceiving him. Yiyeon needlessly wiped her forehead, hiding her trembling hands behind her back.

It felt like the time had come to stop hiding and running away. If the root cause wasn’t removed, the relationship would eventually die. Everyone, all the trees, seemed to be pushing her forward, saying just that.

She wanted to be understood. She wanted to be accepted. Yiyeon used that intense desire as a stepping stone, taking a step forward with legs she had only used to avoid reality.

“Chaewoo, I… I have something to tell you after the evaluation is over.”

“What is it?”

“…Just, an old story.”

Her breath hitched and her vision blurred as she spoke. Nevertheless, it was time to clear up the snowballing lies. It was the most terrifying moment, but it was a mountain she had to cross someday.

“When I first met you two years ago, Chaewoo, there’s something I didn’t tell you.”

For a willow branch to break meant to part with one’s beloved.

Midnight, under a sky of dark clouds.

Yiyeon sat in her office, lit only by a desk lamp, drafting a treatment plan. The light from the computer monitor illuminated her deeply focused face. The quiet room was filled with the unrestrained clatter of her keyboard.

Just as she turned her head to find a book—

“…You startled me!”

Her upper body jolted violently, and the chair wheels rolled backward. Yiyeon jumped as if she had seen a ghost, and Kwon Chaewoo, leaning against the doorframe, let his lips droop heavily. His tall frame was somehow bent, and his exposed neckline looked pathetic.

“…Oh, how long have you been there?”

“A while.”

“Then why didn’t you call me?”

“I was waiting, out of stubbornness, to see when you’d notice me.”

“Oh…”

“But you’re quick-witted, Ms. Yiyeon. A little longer, and I would have had to put something in my mouth.”

Yiyeon hastily tidied her books, flustered by the man’s noticeably deepening gaze. When his eyes looked like that, nothing good ever came of it. She spoke as if pushing away his signal.

“I told you to go to sleep first, why did you come out?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

Yiyeon instinctively glanced at the desk clock. Two in the morning. She widened her eyes and chided him.

“Even so, you should try to sleep, you have work tomorrow!”

“What’s the fun in lying in bed alone?”

He rubbed his forehead against the doorframe, as if pouting, then abruptly looked at Yiyeon. His body was whining, but there was a vast difference in the gaze that pierced through his disheveled bangs. Yiyeon unconsciously gripped the armrest of her chair.

“I, I just meant you should get some sleep…”

“I don’t even want to do that without you, Ms. Yiyeon. Am I bothering you?”

“…”

When she missed her timing to answer his question for just a moment, Kwon Chaewoo sighed and closed his eyes. He ran a hand over his tired face and lingered at the threshold. Though he didn’t speak, a hint of disappointment seemed to show, and Yiyeon quickly stood up.

However, he had already shuffled away, and Yiyeon was left frozen, her arm outstretched. Even after awkwardly sitting back down, Kwon Chaewoo’s last expression bothered her, making it impossible to concentrate.

Then, knock, knock—a knock sounded. She snapped her head up, and Kwon Chaewoo stood there, dangling two pairs of her baggy pants.

“Ms. Yiyeon, choose.”

“Pardon?”

“I want to help you too, Ms. Yiyeon. Even if it’s just something to wear on the evaluation day—”

He shook the baggy pants, urging her.

“Left, right?”

“…Right.”

For some reason, Yiyeon felt a tickle in her throat and tightened, then relaxed, her vocal cords.

“Right, this one definitely looks more elegant.”

Yiyeon covered her face in embarrassment, but a chuckle escaped her.

After that, Kwon Chaewoo visited often. He’d bring straw hats that looked identical on the surface and explain their pros and cons, or casually bring in sneakers stained with dirt, or compare gauze handkerchiefs. Yiyeon would glance at the doorway even while looking at her monitor. Before she knew it, she was waiting for him to come.

This time, he brought two tumblers, as usual, and asked,

“Which one do you like?”

And Yiyeon, unable to contain a brighter smile than ever before, replied,

“I like you best, Chaewoo.”

The man stood dumbfounded as if he had been struck, and his face instantly turned crimson from his forehead down to his visible collarbone above his shirt.

Yiyeon left home early in the morning, receiving Kwon Chaewoo’s thoughtful send-off and a kiss. Every time her eyes met the things they had chosen together, oblivious to the deepening dawn, a soft laugh escaped her.

Would he even know that it felt exactly like the excitement before a picnic? Though, she had never felt it as a child.

However, her bubbly mood was short-lived, and Yiyeon stood speechless, her face hardening.

“I can’t live like this! Why are you telling me this now?!”

Chooja shook the evaluator’s arm, her eyes wide with fury.

After days and nights spent drafting the treatment plan with Chooja, and dozens of simulated internal and external surgeries, they arrived at the Divine Tree on the day of the evaluation, only for the examiner to say—

“…Director Mi Hospital won’t be attending?”

“Yes.”

“It seems he was in a rockslide accident while driving. We just received word that he’s in a neck brace with a two-week prognosis. However, a default win will not apply. Will Fir Tree Hospital proceed with the evaluation as is?”

The examiner barely shook off Chooja and needlessly tightened his tie all the way to his neck.

“Is that true?”

“Pardon?”

“Did you confirm the facts?”

“Since he first expressed his intention to withdraw, we didn’t bother.”

“…”

But what if, just what if, as she suspected, he had used the excuse of a ghost story to avoid a situation where he had to treat the divine tree…? Yiyeon looked around at the crowd of spectators, gathered like ants, and let out a hollow laugh.

She was receiving the hostile stares of the residents.

As Yiyeon and Chooja were tidying the work site for their preparations, a soju bottle suddenly flew and shattered on the ground.

“…!”

“…!”

The air instantly tensed. Sharp shards of glass, broken into pieces with a piercing sound, glinted dangerously in the sunlight. Yiyeon stopped what she was doing and froze.

“You, you, you crazy people—! If our Divine Tree’s form changes even a little, or if a single expensive leaf gets damaged, just you wait! A heavenly punishment will fall! How dare you, how dare you…!”

The elder she had seen at the shamanic ritual a few days ago was shouting, his nose red. Expensive leaves, this time, his scolding felt truly heartfelt.

According to what Yiyeon had learned over the past few days, it seemed they had even profited from the leaves falling from the divine tree. The idea was that if you caught a leaf before it hit the ground and wrote a wish on it, it would come true.

Now, few people would be fooled by such things, but she heard it was a booming business just twenty or thirty years ago. Perhaps the residents who benefited the most back then were of that elder’s generation.

Moreover, the donations collected to fix this divine tree amounted to a whopping 100 million won, and it was unknown where that money had gone.

At this point, she wouldn’t be surprised if the county office, the shaman, and the tree doctor had amicably divided the money, slowly emptying the elders’ pockets.

“Chooja, are you okay?”

“My head isn’t broken, and I’m not Chooja if I get scared by just a soju bottle.”

“There’s no other way. If not now, this tree will die.”

Yiyeon swallowed dryly, scanning the faces filled with complaints. The camera filming the tournament, the residents ready to stage a protest, the county officials whispering among themselves. They aimed their cold scorecards at Yiyeon like spears. Her fingertips trembled for a moment, but she gripped her pants tightly.

“They will see the divine tree cut down today.”

Finally, before starting the surgery, Yiyeon briefly closed her eyes and offered a prayer to the divine tree.

Please endure. The power to heal your wounds will come from your roots.

‘If something goes wrong… I might have to move.’

Yiyeon couldn’t help but think realistically, now as a responsible head of a household with dependents.

If she wavered, Kwon Chaewoo would waver too. Yiyeon took a deep breath confidently and lifted the ladder with all her might.