Flowers Are Bait

Chapter 57:

Kwon Chae-woo’s face contorted in pain, his one eye twitching, as the sudden headache split his skull like lightning. His hand was trembling as he reached out to grab her. He stopped and placed his hands to his skull, as music added to the pain.

“Can I help you?” The woman he had been reaching for asked.

“Bach.” This was the only thing he could comprehend right now.

“What?” Joo Dong-mi looked at the man, confused by his answer. Kwon Chae-woo looked around to find the source of the music. Joo Dong-mi followed his gaze and saw that he was showing interest in the string music trio playing on the street. Kwon Chae-woo was staring at them with intensity.

Joo Dong-mi was accustomed to seeing wild animals in the street, cornered, and exposing their teeth. However, something about this man disturbed her, with his sharp eyebrows and vacant stare. She shook her head, saddened at the sight.

“Cello Solo No.1 Prelude,” Kwon Chae-woo murmured softly, his words clear compared to his mind. Joo Dong-mi was taken aback.

“Do you like this composition?” she asked.

Kwon Chae-woo remained silent. After losing his memory, the title of the music spilled forth from the void. There were no feelings attached to it, just a name. He broke out in a cold sweat, as his heart begin to beat rapidly. The ensemble of strings, vibrating as if the shrill pitches were going to tear the very fabric of reality, made him feel sick and his breathing tight. He quickly undid his tie and pulled the top button of his collar open.

“Hey, I know this is a cliché, but haven’t I seen you before? For some strange reason, you look familiar.” Joo Dong-mi waited for an answer but was met with the continued blank stare. “Are you okay? You’re sweating.”

Kwon Chae-woo instinctively looked around for So Lee-yeon. He remembered her and, right now, he thought that only seeing her would calm his trembling heart. An image of a cozy garden beyond a wall of glass, that extended from floor to ceiling, entered the chaos. Standing before it, he saw Lee-yeon covering her mouth and staggering as if drunk. The music cut off abruptly. So had every other sound. He clenched his fists in the silence. His mind was beginning to shatter. He turned his back on the woman before him, both on the street and in his mind, and ran.

Joo Dong-mi reached out a hand to stop him, then thought better of it. Calling after him, she said “Next time, tell me your name and maybe I can help you.” She remained in place for a moment as she struggled to remember where she had seen the man before.

* * *

With both hands, Lee-yeon drank water from the fountain in the center of the garden. After rinsing the bile out of her mouth, she contemplated running away again. As if by instinct, she found a large tree that she could hide in and sat down behind it. She tried to calm her erratic breathing, but she couldn’t seem to gain control of it. Lee-yeon pulled the restrictive clothing away from her neck and concentrated on relaxing. It had been a long time since she last hyperventilated.

Her chest ached. Unable to control the rapid breaths, she clutched at the ground with both hands, connecting to the energy of nature. She could still see the man on the crutches, taunting her. He was smiling in joy from his torment.

“Yeah, this is the So Lee-yeon I knew,” he had mocked in glee. “I missed you, Lee-yeon. I really missed this.” He had looked her in the eyes as he slowly and methodically crushed the plants beneath him.

“No matter how many scholars say that plants are sentient, that they have emotions, I find the whole idea amusing. It’s just a patch of grass. I have the power to save it or kill it. Just as I do you.”

Lee-yeon moaned as the image in her mind, once again, Hwang Jo-yoon reached out to touch her.

But before Hwang Jo-yoon could get his hands on her, he fell on the floor with a thud. Kwon Chae-woo stood there looking exasperated. He pulled Hwang Jo-yoon roughly up from the ground.

“K-kwon Chae-woo,” Lee-yeon managed murmur.

“Shh,” said Kwon Chae-woo. “It’s alright. Don’t worry. Just try to breath.”

Kwon Chae-woo ripped out Hwang Jo-yoon’s tie and stuffed it in his mouth while holding him in a choke-hold by his neck. Hwang Jo-yoon pulled at Kwon Chae-woo’s hand desperately as though he wasn’t able to breathe. He appeared red in the face while Kwon Chae-woo’s face only reflected coldness. Lee-yeon looked at the scene blankly and her breath stabilized a little. Kwon Chae-woo pulled the man over to a tree and tied him with his tie skillfully.

“Let go of me, you bastard!”

“Do you want me to tie your neck instead of your hands?” asked Kwon Chae-woo in a low voice so that only Hwang Jo-yoon could hear him. Hwang Jo-yoon froze.

“I think I explained it very clearly to you the last time… we met.”

“Ugh…” He struggled pitifully.

“Don’t you know that the more you do this, the more I get excited to make you suffer?” said Kwon Chae-woo. “Stupid bastards who think they are tough really kill me.”

Kwon Chae-woo’s eyes glittered. Hwang Jo-yoon swallowed. After he was beaten by Kwon Chae-woo, he had gone to get a medical certificate as evidence so that he could put Kwon Chae-woo behind bars. But around dawn, he had gotten a call from Director Jo Kyung-cheon.

“There’s someone here who wants to see you. But exactly how do you know this guy?” Director Jo Kyung-cheon had repeatedly told him to not trigger the guy because he had a hard time with the person.

At the drinking party, Hwang Jo-yoon met a man who seemed to be the same age as him at best. Despite the location, there was not a single bottle of alcohol in sight. A face without the hint of a smile, hair shaved like a soldier…

“You!” he had cried in that bar. It had been the man from next door! The bastard had ignored Hwang Jo-yoon’s call for help when he was dragged away by Kwon Chae-woo! At that moment, a yellow envelope fell at his feet.

“This is the message from the director,” the man had said.

Director? Who’s the director? Hwang Jo-yoon had looked around. He blinked at the incomprehensible situation, and then picked up the envelope. When he checked the contents, he turned pale. The man had noticed his stiff face and gotten up from his seat. “Don’t be foolish.”

“Who the hell are you people?!”

When Hwang Jo-yoon was an undergraduate, he once sold cannabis seedlings that he had secretly grown to teenagers. He was almost put behind bars, but his record was erased with the help of Professor Jo Kyung-cheon. Why the hell is this here…

“Jo Kyung-cheon is smart, but it seems like the same cannot be said about you.” The man told him, “Do I have to teach you the direction that you have to bow? If you had fun with young masterjust go home and wipe your feet, why get the medical certificate?”

“What do you mean, young master―?”

The man pointed at his wrecked face. “The director is watching you, Hwang Jo-yoon.”

Kwon Ki-seok, CEO of Suguk Pharmaceutical. Jo Kyung-cheon had become a professor with the support from the Kwon family. They were still behind the scenes regarding everything, acting as a sponsor.

Is he really just about 40 years old?

Suguk Pharmaceutical, which ranked No. 1 in pharmaceutical company brand reputation, was a company that gained more fame because of its young and handsome CEO. That was no comfort. Hwang Jo-yoon suffered a sense of defeat whenever he saw his bruised face in the mirror. So Director Kwon and ‘young master’ are somehow related? Young master, my ass! He was a thug and a bully. Hwang Jo-yoon gritted his teeth.