Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 79

“That ghost story, it was true, I tell you!”

The director of Mi Hospital said, stretching his neck from side to side.

Yiyeon was meticulously noting the progress of the surgery, walking along the wide circumference of the divine tree, with the director persistently following behind her.

“Ms. So, did anything bad happen at your home?”

“…No.”

“That’s strange, does the divine tree pick and choose people?”

The man lightly frowned, looking up at the now unsightly divine tree.

“I even had my car totaled, you know. I’d driven that road thousands of times, who would’ve known a rock would suddenly roll down? I even crossed the center line to avoid it. My 30 years of accident-free driving almost got a red mark.”

“…”

“It’s a huge relief that it was me who got hurt, imagine if someone else had.”

He shuddered, as if not wanting to even think about it. Just then, Yiyeon stopped walking and faced him.

“Director, it’s okay. I don’t think that you ran away because you didn’t want to do the surgery.”

“What?”

“So you don’t have to make excuses to me.”

The director’s face stiffened for a moment, as if he had been hit where it hurt. As he scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat, Yiyeon continued.

“Since it’s come to this, I will definitely win the Hwa-i-dom.”

“…Huh?”

“Isn’t that right? A tree doctor who survived even a ghost story.”

Yiyeon successfully passed the second evaluation, piercing through the still-raining complaints of the residents.

After the unique grandeur of the divine tree vanished overnight, villagers would click their tongues or deliberately turn their heads whenever they passed by. Only Yiyeon consistently visited, meticulously recording and observing the tree’s healing process.

She let the director of Mi Hospital’s rambling go in one ear and out the other, as she attached an IV drip to the tree. Since there wasn’t just one or two rotten cavities, its recovery was unusually slow.

Yiyeon wiped the flowing sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. Her hair tie must have been loose, as stray hairs kept escaping, and she casually pushed them back, but then a tender touch suddenly came to mind.

“…”

The sensation of fingertips brushing her cheek along with the stray hairs, then rubbing past her earlobe. At such times, her ears would tingle, but her neck would grow warm.

With the feeling as vivid as if it had happened yesterday, Yiyeon briefly lowered her head, taking a long breath in and out.

“Chooja, it’s done.”

Finally, she straightened her bent back. Chooja habitually checked Yiyeon’s complexion and silently stood up with her.

As the expressionless Yiyeon picked up her bag and walked ahead, Chooja made an exaggerated gesture towards the director of Mi Hospital, as if telling him to zip his mouth. Frightened by her sharp gaze, the man flinched and stepped back.

It was a day after the long rainy season ended, and a month after Kwon Chaewoo had fallen asleep.

“There’s no way to know exactly when he will wake up from his sleep at this moment.”

Since that day, when she had frantically contacted his doctor in a state of panic—

He had fallen into a long sleep again, as if returning to the beginning. As before, medical staff would visit to wash him, check him, and administer appropriate injections, and Yiyeon would just stare blankly at the scene.

Sometimes his body was cold, sometimes warm. Even with such trivial things, Yiyeon’s emotions would swing wildly dozens of times a day.

“Chaewoo, when do you plan to wake up?”

Today, too, she squeezed her body next to Kwon Chaewoo, who was like a log.

If she didn’t sleep with him, he might wander even more. Yiyeon still hadn’t escaped that illusion. She didn’t want to admit that the string that had forcibly bound them had been cut, that she couldn’t be his necessity.

“Sleeping Beauty wouldn’t sleep this long either.”

Yiyeon gazed endlessly at his unresponsive profile.

“Can you hear me? If you can, come out of there quickly.”

“…”

“What are you doing in there alone, you who only dream of nightmares…”

The season was passing through midsummer, but whenever she lay next to Kwon Chaewoo, she felt a chill deep in her bones. Sometimes, she would jolt awake, checking his breathing, wondering if she was holding onto a dead person.

Other times, she missed the moving Kwon Chaewoo so much that she waited all night for him to go to the bathroom several times.

That’s how a full month passed.

A man who was clearly alive but wouldn’t make eye contact or respond in any way. Kwon Chaewoo, who had entrusted his mind to the sleep demon and sunk deeply.

Just because he no longer interfered with Yiyeon, her ordinary routine of eating, working, and coming home began to creak. She looked forward to tomorrow, yet didn’t. Both morning and night were torments for her.

“But I’ll wait.”

Yiyeon closed her eyes as if making a vow.

“I told you before, I find patients who can’t move or speak relatively easy.”

“…”

“Trees also go into hibernation. Shedding their leaves and sleeping is work for spring. Perhaps you’re not sleeping meaninglessly, Chaewoo. So, when you’re ready, wake up slowly. My patience has grown strong from living at the pace of a tree’s recovery.”

“…”

“We have a lot to talk about, you and I.”

Her eyelashes fluttered. Yet, his fingers remained utterly still, without the slightest movement.

“Director, the male is not seen.”

Gyubaek, who usually followed a fixed sequence of actions like a well-trained child soldier, was unusually restless today, roaming around the house before speaking.

The child who would always sit in his designated spot first, as if stamping a seal, now continuously clenched and unclenched his hands, looking around. The person Gyubaek was looking for was quite obvious.

“…Ah.”

Then, a troubled look crossed Yiyeon’s face, who had been blankly watching the TV turned on for no reason.

“Director, the male has been abandoned.”

“What?”

“Indeed, that is the end of an old monkey. My knowledge is correct.”

As Gyubaek spoke, he glanced at the front yard where Kwon Chaewoo often exercised. Yiyeon offered a bitter smile.

Kwon Chaewoo seemed to have left many things here, knowingly or unknowingly. Chooja, Joo Dongmi, and even Gyubaek. For a whole month, this many people had been asking about his well-being and worrying about him. And she wished even more people would hold onto him.

“He’s not abandoned, Gyubaek.”

Sometimes, she was consumed by the absurd anxiety that if Kwon Chaewoo disappeared like this, she would be the only one to remember him. Yiyeon looked at Gyubaek with a renewed sense of welcome and relief.

“Kwon Chaewoo is sleeping now. He’s sleeping on the second floor.”

“…”

Gyubaek, usually expressionless, suddenly looked flabbergasted.

“Male, crazy.”

“Huh?”

“Female bears give birth while hibernating, but males just sleep. They don’t care for cubs or live with females. This old male is imitating a bear because there’s nothing else to imitate. Shocking. Very shocking.”

Gyubaek excitedly rattled off words.

“Director, you must become a female mantis.”

“Hmm?”

“Female mantises eat the males. Director, you must not spare that male.”

“That male, no, Kwon Chaewoo will wake up soon.”

Then Gyubaek frowned fiercely and shook his head exactly five times.

“No. He will surely sleep again.”

“What?”

Yiyeon let out a small, dry laugh, despite the implied disdain.

“I’ve seen such males more than once or twice. My grandfather only drinks. My uncle is similar. They don’t change. There are definitely males who are rotten from the start. Bears sleep for a long time, but their muscles and bones don’t get damaged. The male has gone down the wrong path.”

Gyubaek, looking anxious, plopped down in his seat and rapidly flipped through a book.

“The male must come to his senses quickly. If he is lazy, his territory will be taken by younger monkeys.”

“Indeed.”

Yiyeon merely stroked the child’s head. Gyubaek, who had initially flinched, leaned his head forward, as if giving permission for more.

Life at Fir Tree Hospital with Chooja and Gyubaek remained unchanged. However, even darker clouds began to gather on her already gloomy face.

‘…Will this happen often?’

Even more in the future? Not just this one time?

She bit her lip and covered one tired eye with her palm. Did she have to feel this sense of being left alone, repeatedly?

Living with a man whose awakening was unknown might be more arduous than she imagined. The man bloomed briefly like a flower, and Yiyeon had to become the enduring season, flowing alone. Her life would become one of sacrificing waiting for that irregular day.

She fidgeted with the wooden carving Kwon Chaewoo had given her until it was worn.

After the divine tree surgery, perhaps due to the unintentionally strong impression she left, inquiries to the hospital increased.

Yiyeon took on every job without discrimination. To overcome the frequent bouts of lethargy, she needed to stay busy, so today Yiyeon was inspecting a tennis court construction site and preparing an estimate.

“Of course, the trees will die if you block all their breathing holes.”

Yiyeon pointed out, poking at the water veins covered in construction dirt with her toe.

“First, we need to create a tree well—Excuse me, just a moment.”

Yiyeon felt her phone vibrate in her pants pocket and immediately excused herself.

However, the moment she saw the name on the screen, her face noticeably stiffened.

It was Kwon Giseok.