Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 83

Returning home, he paused, frowning at the familiar scent permeating everywhere. His body, having been helplessly tamed, seemed to have a habit of relaxing and stiffening below at a specific scent. Kwon Chaewoo bit back a curse at the sudden physical change. Had his memory-lost self been such an idiot?

“…….”

The smell clinging to his nasal and oral mucous membranes instantly robbed him of moisture. So Yiyeon’s scent, which the idiotic Kwon Chaewoo was always in heat for. He rummaged through the entire house, opening windows and ventilating.

“Damn it, what a shitty smell.”

It felt as if someone else’s memories had entered his head overnight. But it was no more than flipping through someone else’s bookshelf, or unenthusiastically scanning a black-and-white film. Kwon Chaewoo maintained his composure from beginning to end.

Then, the sound of small footsteps pattered, and the front door swung open.

“Dung beetles eat cow dung or horse dung. Adult beetles roll the dung into round balls like dumplings and roll them into burrows they’ve dug in advance— Ah.”

The voice stopped. Gyubaek opened his mouth, seeing the man standing tall in the middle of the living room. There was only one thing that big in this treehouse. It was the moment Gyubaek scurried towards the welcome male.

“Hing…?”

Strangely, his legs faltered. His eyes widened as if he had witnessed his cherished insect being crushed under the foot of a drunken grandfather. The child suddenly stepped back, changed direction, and hid behind the sofa. Soon, Gyubaek gasped for breath and screamed.

“Fake, that male is fake…!”

Kwon Chaewoo’s head slowly turned towards the insignificant thing.

He looked at the child’s face, peeking out clumsily. It was utterly comical how the child quickly covered his face when their eyes met.

Ah, that kid.

He quickly flipped through the records that came to mind about this absurd little one. So, he’d been treated as a freeloading male by that kid all this time.

“You—”

“No male. My male is gone.”

Gyubaek repeatedly flared his nostrils and covered and uncovered his eyes. As Kwon Chaewoo strode closer, the child shrieked, “Ahhh—!” and circled the living room like a fleeing rabbit.

Thick veins popped out on the man’s jaw. He glanced out the window once, then at the clock, looking annoyed. If So Yiyeon returned to this state, it would be a headache.

Kwon Chaewoo immediately grabbed Gyubaek by force and sat him on the sofa. Kneeling down, he firmly held the child’s arms and met his eye level. He had never dealt with anything this small before. Kwon Chaewoo clicked his tongue briefly.

“Kid.”

“Director is pitiful. Big trouble. Male mantises fight with females to avoid being eaten. They approach carefully and strategically. The male is having other thoughts. Director is being deceived.”

“What?”

The child compulsively avoided eye contact, muttering incomprehensible words.

“A-and spiders bite females, inject venom, or tie them up tightly with webs to mate. This is the wild. But I, Lee Gyubaek, cannot intervene in a glass box. A doctor must be like that. Peter Jonathan’s book, preface, third line.”

Gyubaek, with a pale face, aimlessly scanned the square house. The man quietly watched the small body, whose pupils were dilated and whose breathing was heavy, then finally released his arms.

“You don’t call an insect that’s shed its skin fake.”

“That’s a pervert.”

“…….”

“There’s incomplete metamorphosis and complete metamorphosis.”

“…….”

“Director needs to know that the male has undergone complete metamorphosis.”

Kwon Chaewoo’s face slowly twisted into a frown. He simply couldn’t get through to him. Finally, the man spread his arms wide, as if trapping Gyubaek in his embrace. He didn’t bother to hide the intimidating aura he had briefly suppressed, fearing he might scare the child.

“Look closely, is it really not the male you knew?”

“My male is old, lazy, and sickly. But the complete metamorphosis’s eyes are—”

“Eyes are?”

“Sly.”

“…….”

“Just like my uncle who plays Hwatu when he’s digging through Grandpa’s emergency bankbook.”

“…….”

“He’s trying to stab me in the back.”

Kwon Chaewoo snapped his head back, suddenly putting force into the arm resting on the sofa.

“Little monkey, you’re smart. They say you can’t read the context, but you grasp the essence correctly.”

He held Gyubaek’s bristly head like a ball, forcing eye contact.

“So, what should you do in this situation?”

Gyubaek squeezed his eyes shut with all his might, wrinkling his face.

“Director needs to run away!”

“No, no.”

A vein popped out on his forehead, but he suppressed his temper.

“Shut up and adapt to the new environment.”

Kwon Chaewoo said, pinching and releasing the child’s small lips like tongs.

“Wake up, and relax. You can’t save Director.”

“…….”

Then the child’s shoulders slumped, as if disheartened. At the sight, he abruptly released the head he was holding, and Gyubaek scurried away.

His sullen face was strangely irritating, but this emotion wasn’t his either. It was just a memory of a body that had been trained; Kwon Chaewoo decided not to be deceived by illusions.

Because experiencing such things once was enough.

‘But a singing tree…’

Kwon Chaewoo smiled coldly, recalling that phrase mentioned several times in the wiretapping records. Looking back, it was already fifteen years ago.

The feel of the string, which he hadn’t held in a long time, was smooth, and waiting for the hunt was more enjoyable than ever. A dark, minor hum slowly flowed out.

It seems I wasn’t the only one thinking of you.

“It’s really been a long time, hasn’t it?”

Yiyeon stared blankly at Kwon Chaewoo, who wore a strange smile as if nothing had happened.

The past month, when everything had gone dark, was truly the worst rainy season. As humid and gloomy days continued, the house was always dreary, and sometimes she didn’t even want to carry an umbrella.

The absence of warmth she had felt for the first time. Yiyeon wanted to collapse, but she tended to the trees every single day without fail, and somehow managed to eat. Living to protect the one sleeping in the forest. Its name was forest guardian, and it was waiting.

“Ms. Yiyeon, you’ve hardly changed.”

“Kwon Chaewoo…!”

“It’s been quite a long time, but you haven’t changed at all.”

She immediately ran to him and hugged him from the waist. Her watery eyes shimmered as if they would overflow at any moment. The man patted Yiyeon, who burrowed into him like a puppy, as he usually did.

“Why, why didn’t you call right away? Are you not hurting anywhere? Are you not hungry? What about headaches?”

She pressed him quickly, without breathing.

“I was afraid I’d disturb you at work, Ms. Yiyeon.”

“How much, how much I worried and waited!”

The sediment that had accumulated up to her throat finally washed away. With Kwon Chaewoo’s presence filling the house, she finally felt hungry, her heart beat, and vitality returned. She could breathe deeply to the bottom of her lungs, and complaints came out.

“Chaewoo slept for over a month, how much I…”

“I’m sorry.”

“…How much I missed you.”

Tears streamed down without a moment’s notice. Then he seemed to stiffen noticeably.

“Now, now what do I do? I’m no help to Chaewoo at all. Even though I lay next to Chaewoo constantly, every single day, it was no use. Then Chaewoo will have an even harder time, and I’m just a useless burden…”

At that moment, Kwon Chaewoo hugged Yiyeon with all his might. Her nose bridge pressed against his hard chest, and the man rested his chin on the crown of Yiyeon’s head. Their bodies fit together perfectly, like fitting an empty corner. It was a comfort she hadn’t felt in a long time. Soon, a gentle voice settled calmly.

“No, I came too late. I’m sorry for being slow.”

“I, because of me, h-huh, because I treated the divine tree…! Chaewoo, instead of me…!”

“It’s not your fault, Ms. Yiyeon. I had a long dream while I was sleeping.”

“…Huh, a dream? What kind of dream?”

“Well, it was a bit of a funny story—”

Yiyeon only lifted her head to look at Kwon Chaewoo, as if asking what he meant. But it was difficult to see his expression in the unlit living room.

“Actually, the woodcutter didn’t help the deer, so the hunter who kept chasing them had a feast, and in the end, the celestial maiden, missing her lost deer, ended up killing everyone.”

“Ah…”

“In a dream, of course.”

“That’s a relief, but Chaewoo, you had a nightmare again.”

Her scalp tingled, so he seemed to have smiled faintly.

However, Yiyeon failed to notice the cold sneer that had gathered like blood on Kwon Chaewoo’s whites of his eyes and around his mouth.

“That’s why I absolutely need you, Ms. Yiyeon.”

“But…”

“If you don’t believe me, shall I go back to sleep?”

“Absolutely not…!”

She trembled as if having a seizure. A moment of silence fell at her sensitive reaction. Clear fear seeped into her eyes like fog.

That morning, just thinking about it made her shudder. The situation of seeing a man who wouldn’t wake up would never become familiar, no matter how many times it repeated.

“Chaewoo, tomorrow’s the weekend, so let’s stay up all night together.”

“I’ll do whatever you say, Ms. Yiyeon.”

At his willing reply, Yiyeon relaxed, as if relieved.

“By the way, Ms. Yiyeon.”

She hugged Kwon Chaewoo’s waist even tighter instead of answering.

“You met my brother today, didn’t you?”

“…Huh?”

Yiyeon paused, looking up at him.