Flowers Are Bait Chapter 2:

The scooter veered slightly off course as it traveled forward. Lee-yeon quickly corrected it and blurted out in haste.

"Manager, hold on!"

"I heard it loud and clear. That was definitely a noise!"

"You must be mistaken. It's just an empty space—how could anything make a sound in there?"

"No way, I'm positive I caught something."

Though Lee-yeon tried to stay composed, she accelerated the scooter. The serene, typically peaceful views of Hwaido blurred by in a rush.

"Sorry, but I've already summoned the locksmith."

"No!" she cried out. At last, her composed facade shattered. She desperately searched for a persuasive excuse to stop her manager, yet the woman spoke first.

"Enough with the fibs!" the manager snapped. "Quit claiming you sealed the room due to sprouting water veins. I'm fed up with tales of you drying chilies and soybeans inside!"

"It's—"

"What, are you some kind of Bluebeard? Why block me from that door every time? I wouldn't care if you'd stashed a whole harem of guys in there!"

Lee-yeon's jaw dropped in shock. Gye Choo-ja, who had just hit sixty, served as an arborist aiding Lee-yeon in tree care. She also oversaw hospital operations. Spruce Tree Hospital belonged to So Lee-yeon, now thirty-two years old. Being unmarried, she was unlikely to harbor a harem in that room.

Manager Gye persistently yearned to unlock the second-floor room whenever Lee-yeon departed for Wangjin. Today marked her chance. It made sense that Gye Choo-ja felt intrigued and frustrated by the secrets kept from her, thought Lee-yeon. It had been two years since the second-floor room became shrouded in secrecy and enigma. A strange plant lurked within, one that absolutely could not be found by anyone else, under any circumstances.

* * *

The elegant script reading 'Spruce Tree Hospital' adorned a wooden sign that swung wildly, nearly falling as Lee-yeon dashed inside. The rundown building bore an ivory stain. Yet the upper story sported a modern gray hue, clashing strangely with the floors below.

She hurried past the ground level, which doubled as both office and living quarters. Rushing up the staircase, she shouted, "Manager!"

"Darn it!" Gye Choo-ja muttered. The locksmith had arrived, poised to snap the lock. Lee-yeon arrived breathless, standing frozen.

"I'm truly exhausted by this nonsense."

"As I said before," Lee-yeon gasped, "another owner claims this place too, so even I can't enter. That's why it's stayed vacant." It was partly truth, partly fabrication.

"Is that so? You can't go in yourself?" Gye Choo-ja asked, crossing her arms. "Then explain how you managed to dry chilies and soybeans there."

"Well... er..."

"Just let me take one whiff of the air in this so-called 'empty' space."

"It could be musty—no one's aired it out." Lee-yeon tried to convince her.

"Oh? You don't believe in me, huh? Even if treasures like gold or diamonds were hidden inside, I'd never touch them."

thought Lee-yeon. She offered Gye Choo-ja an uneasy smile and motioned toward the stairs. "Curiosity can be deadly, Manager."

"Liar! Why can't you be that blunt with your patients?"

"But honestly..."

Gye Choo-ja had initially seen the tree specialist as laid-back, but dealing with her mostly arrogant male clients in their forties—from civil engineers and architects to agricultural experts—had done nothing to ease her suspicions.

"Director, I won't back down until the mystery's solved," Gye Choo-ja stated firmly, heading back down. Lee-yeon sank to the floor. She shut her eyes, overwhelmed by weariness.

***

Machines encircled the bed, beeping steadily and linked to the man resting upon it. They alone sustained his life.

His age was impossible to gauge. Eyes shut, head tilted faintly leftward, he appeared merely asleep like anyone else. Over the last two years, his robust frame had withered bit by bit. Flesh on his limbs had wasted away. Still, those broad, sharp shoulders remained unchanged from the evening Lee-yeon first spotted him amid the peaks.

Lee-yeon settled beside the patient, letting out a heavy sigh. Two years post-incident, progress remained absent. She rubbed her face to dispel exhaustion. Though a physician, her expertise lay in trees, not people. This fellow—in his vegetative condition—was human, not flora.

That fateful night replayed vividly in Lee-yeon's thoughts, like a film on loop.

As she brandished her power saw in defense, the man hadn't budged that evening. Blood marred the blade's edge, yet he stood firm unmoving.

Lee-yeon recalled believing her end had come. In a final twist, she faced her assailant. Their gazes locked, and he halted. She watched his jaw grind in apparent agony. Then, ponderously, his massive form crumpled to the earth with a heavy thump.

A bloodied stone nearby revealed someone had clubbed him from behind. The culprit was the individual who would've been entombed had Lee-yeon not intervened. Covered in grime and gore, he loomed over the fallen form, swaying. Struggling to keep his eyes open, he toppled and tumbled down the slope.

Now, in this chamber of whirring devices and eerie quiet, Lee-yeon shivered recalling her near-death escape. Gazing at the figure on the bed, she murmured,

"Kwon Chae-woo," the name still felt foreign as she uttered it. "Please stay asleep," she added softly. Massaging her temples, she drew a long breath. Since fleeing her family, all she craved was tranquility. For Lee-yeon, a mundane, uneventful existence was the luxury she desired most.

"Please stay asleep," she breathed.

Exhaustion prompted Lee-yeon to cradle her face in her palms. Just then, the man's finger twitched ever so slightly.