Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 95

Piiiii— A sharp ringing in her ears clawed at her mind.

“—you?”

Her vision, where light and color swayed in a clump. A blurry silhouette came into focus through it.

“Rescued person, are you feeling better now?”

An unfamiliar voice suddenly pressed a switch in her body. Startled, Yiyeon abruptly sat up, her chest heaving violently as if breathing air for the first time. Her dilated pupils scanned the white tent and took in the paramedic in front of her. It seemed to be an emergency treatment room located at the foot of the mountain.

“You’ll get dizzy if you suddenly sit up. Please lie down.”

The paramedic, unfazed, gently pushed Yiyeon back down by the shoulder. He was attaching gauze to Yiyeon’s chin and pouring saline onto her hot hand. He quickly used up one bottle and opened another.

“Your guardian was by your side the whole time. They’ll be here soon.”

“…”

Her last memory was being pushed forward by a blast wave and falling. Her chin must have hit a rock when she fell, as pain had been surging ever since she regained consciousness. She had no idea how she had escaped the scene in such a state.

Just then, the tent opened, and familiar shoes, a jersey, and a pale face entered one after another.

“Ms. Yiyeon, are you okay?”

His voice, wrapped in concern, completely cleared away the faint haziness that remained. Yiyeon flinched and scooted backward on the bed, as if trying to escape.

Because of this, the paramedic, who had been pouring saline solution, lost his grip on her hand. Yiyeon secretly clenched the white sheet tightly. Her heart began to beat erratically.

“What, how did you get here…”

“Ah, Ms. Yiyeon, don’t you remember?”

“Huh? What…”

The closer he came, the more visibly Yiyeon’s body stiffened. But Kwon Chaewoo, with a brazen yet gentle gaze, took the seat next to her.

He naturally took the saline solution from the paramedic and held Yiyeon’s hand. Her shoulder twitched.

“I went down first, didn’t I, leaving you behind?”

A strange mockery could be felt in his calm gaze. Yiyeon wanted to pull her hand away from Kwon Chaewoo’s grip, but it wasn’t easy. Instead, he was pressing his fingernail into Yiyeon’s blistered hand, exerting unspoken pressure. Yet, his expression was as innocent as a shy young man.

“I felt a bad energy from the sounds and smells.”

“…”

Kwon Chaewoo was particularly sensitive. Yes, she knew that.

“Fortunately, I saw firefighters working below and came up. So I immediately calculated. If I had been even a little late, it would have spread into a large forest fire.”

Yiyeon helplessly opened and closed her mouth.

“I’m so relieved you’re safe, Ms. Yiyeon.”

Listening to the man’s words, there seemed to be no problem at all. He was just a citizen who took the lead and worked hard to protect the golden hour.

“Your wife, she almost had a huge accident…! If she had been even a little late in the middle of that fire, you know. They say not even an ant passed through that area. If it weren’t for her husband, she might have suffered severe burns. But other than fainting from the explosion’s shock, she’s perfectly fine. How incredibly fortunate that is.”

The paramedic exaggerated, as if to support Kwon Chaewoo’s innocence. Then, the anxiety, which had been as black as concentrate, gradually diluted into something insignificant.

Her confusion thinned, and her sharp premonitions and instincts dulled along with it. No, she let them dull.

“…Kwon Chaewoo, are you not hurt anywhere?”

“Of course not.”

“That’s a relief.”

Yiyeon barely managed to lift the corners of her mouth. But the fatigue, like a mist, on her face was impossible to hide.

Just then, Kwon Chaewoo leaned on one arm and tilted his head towards her. Yiyeon, without even realizing it, held her breath.

His breath, blowing close, the large shadow cast over her forehead. They were dark and cold enough to freeze her. Soon, Kwon Chaewoo whispered as if telling a secret.

“This evaluation, Ms. Yiyeon, you won.”

“…”

“A tree doctor got hurt alone in a dangerous place, how admirable and pitiful is that?”

“…!”

“There won’t even be time to dwell on last night’s commotion.”

A cold breath brushed her ear, and her fine hairs stood on end.

“Yiyeon-ah, what is this—!”

Just then, a booming voice tore open the tent, and a pale Chooja rushed in. She only sat down heavily on the emergency bed after confirming that Yiyeon’s arms and legs were still intact.

“…Chooja.”

Yiyeon, who had been curled up as if cornered, tightly hugged Chooja.

“Hey, why is she doing this…!”

Chooja was flustered by the unfamiliar situation, and Yiyeon silently buried her face in her shoulder.

She bit her lower lip and suppressed something that threatened to burst out like a sob, over and over again. Something difficult to face and terrifying was right in front of her. Yiyeon hid her face even deeper.

“Is there no one else to cling to but me!”

But even as she said that, Chooja gently patted Yiyeon’s trembling body.

“If it weren’t for Mr. Kwon, it would have been a really big problem.”

“…”

Even at those words, Yiyeon only flinched for a moment, showing no other reaction.

Meanwhile, Kwon Chaewoo’s emotionless eyes followed the woman who refused to even look at him, as if rejecting him. The man’s face, which had been masked by kindness and deceit, was now completely stripped away. He crumpled the saline solution bottle he was holding, and it burst like a milk carton in an instant.

The 2-night, 3-day evaluation schedule was over.

As he had asserted, Yiyeon was the one who passed the third evaluation. Director Park of Solgae grumbled, “Director So, even if you lobby, do it safely with money—!” but she couldn’t bring herself to laugh.

Yiyeon slept soundly with a hazy mind all the way back from Motae Mountain.

After that, she treated him normally, laughed, and ate meals with him. The moments when she habitually forced a smile became more frequent, but it wasn’t particularly difficult.

Kwon Chaewoo also acted like a perfect picture. His subtly coercive actions and words were completely erased overnight, and he returned to his original self.

And so, what began to fill the space between them was a plausible peace.

“—nim! Are you listening to me?”

Suddenly, Joo Dongmi’s voice interrupted, and Yiyeon flinched, looking forward.

A small tea table placed in the front yard of the house.

Under a large shade, Joo Dongmi stirred her iced tea with a straw, and the ice clinked. Yiyeon quickly shook off her thoughts and wrapped both hands around the glass cup. The cool temperature sharpened her mind.

“I’m sorry, I guess it’s because it’s too hot. Keep talking.”

She had been about to check Joo Dongmi’s complexion anyway.

On a leisurely Sunday lunch, while Kwon Chaewoo was out grocery shopping, Joo Dongmi unexpectedly showed up with a dazed expression. Her unique playful vitality, which she usually exuded, was withered like a broken leaf, and the area under her eyes was dark.

“Well… it’s so hard to even bring it up, I’m going crazy…”

Joo Dongmi sighed deeply and clutched her head as if truly distressed.

“My man… he doesn’t seem like my man.”

“…”

Her hands, which had been wiping the water droplets on the surface of the glass cup, abruptly stopped.

“The, the man I torment, no, the man I slept with, no, the man I cherish.”

“You can just say you like him…”

“I can’t stand it when my feelings deepen more than my body.”

Joo Dongmi scratched her arm vigorously, but it was her earlobes that turned red.

Yiyeon was well aware of the story. That she had a man she was seeing, though not officially dating. However, Yiyeon, who often witnessed her clutching her phone, checking it frequently, and fidgeting nervously, could only let her current boastful words go in one ear and out the other.

“Well, hah…”

Suddenly, Joo Dongmi looked around and lowered her voice. It was as if she was afraid someone might hear.

“He was burying a person.”

“…!”

Yiyeon felt her heart drop. It was hard to maintain composure, and she barely swallowed.

“At first, I thought it was a hallucination. No way, I must have seen it wrong. You and I, we’re mountain-climbing women, we know well, don’t we? How easily you see things in the mountains! And Motae Mountain is an accident site, so I wanted to believe that something ominous had clung to me and I had misunderstood for a moment…!”

Joo Dongmi’s desperate, crumpled expression gradually settled as if regaining calm.

“No matter what, I’m not an idiot, am I?”

“…!”

Yiyeon quickly exhaled and lowered her gaze.

“He was really burying a person. My man, the man I had sex with…!”

“…”

“What do I do, Director?”

Yiyeon chugged the iced tea she hadn’t even touched. Something was stuck in her chest, and it wouldn’t go down. Her heart pounded, and she felt dizzy.

“The reason I’m telling you this, Director, is…”

Yiyeon unconsciously bit her lips.

“It’s about Motae Mountain. That man who looked like your family, the one with the loud, quacking voice who looked like Godzilla, remember?”

“Ah, yes. My cousin.”

“Yes, that Godzilla. Because the bastard my man buried was that bastard.”

“…!”

W-what is this now? Yiyeon choked and coughed dryly.

“So I thought you might know something, Director. Maybe it’s a familiar face.”

“…I only know one such person.”

“Really—?!”

Suddenly, Joo Dongmi’s face showed shock. It was a reaction Yiyeon couldn’t understand at all.

“Could that person be my bastard?”

“…What? No, no. What are you talking about? That’s my bastard, no…!”

Yiyeon vehemently denied it, shaking her head and hands, then abruptly shut her mouth.

An awkward silence fell.