Chapter 277
Chapter 277
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 277
Chapter Title: You're a Flower, Aren't You? (2)
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Wrapping both arms around the woman's neck.
I leaned back at the waist, shifting my weight forward to put pressure on her.
To anyone watching, it would look like we were a couple.
"Heehee... Hey, I'm kinda heavy, you know."
Bead lightly gripped my arms and forced a laugh.
A successor to the Spiritwood King and a Flower.
It wouldn't be strange if they devoured each other, but Bead's approach to cozying up to me felt like that of a friendly classmate.
In the corridor, we walked stuck together like that. Like friends messing around, she picked every annoying prank from behind my back.
"Your hair's pretty soft."
"I do take good care of it... But when are you gonna let go?"
Pure black bob cut without a hint of other colors. Around her neck was a choker like Lee Se-young's.
At the center of the black choker hung something adorned with precious metal. Up close, it looked like fruit from a Puppy Tree.
She wore the standard participant uniform.
Seeing her this close up, it was clear why she was the most popular girl at the academy.
"What kind of Wood Person are you anyway?"
"You don't know?"
Her contrived personality aside, her ripe beauty could easily capture men's hearts on the cheap.
When you first enter college and meet the female students, there's always that one sophomore or freshman who oddly combines the innocent look of a high school girl with the allure of a mature woman—a heavenly beauty.
The perfect bloom of womanhood. That described Bead's looks exactly.
No flaws anywhere, front or back. Her beauty was so captivating it explained why she'd been planted in the academy.
'Flower.'
I'd fought her once during midterms, but that probably wasn't her real strength.
She'd seemed to just play around, firing her gun and bouncing away.
So it wouldn't be surprising if she was hiding something powerful enough to overturn the preliminaries—or even if she was stronger than me.
But I couldn't act openly.
In a way, Bead, the national tree that betrayed us, and I were all deep in enemy territory.
We'd arrived at the meeting spot before I knew it.
I unwrapped my arms from around her neck. Bead placed a hand on her throat and let out a sigh of relief.
We entered the pre-booked room and sat down. Soon after, Bead came in.
I pulled out the tea set from nearby and poured her a cup.
"A meeting, huh? They even match you with someone you know sometimes. Oh, thanks."
She took the tea I offered and set it in front of her.
I poured myself some too but didn't drink.
This was private space now. No need for beating around the bush.
I'd already heard through Star that she was a Flower.
I removed my mask, set it on the table, and faced Bead.
"Hey."
"Yeah? What?"
"Isn't it about time to drop the act?"
Her black pupils remained calmly settled even with me right in front of her.
"Heeheehee. Drop what act?"
Her usual dopey laugh. I hardened my expression and shrugged, telling her to cut the jokes.
"Flower."
I said the name outright.
"You're a Flower, right?"
Bead's face stiffened in an instant.
Her round eyes narrowed to half-moons. The light in her pupils dimmed to gray as they half-closed, no longer catching the light.
"What a joke."
A dry voice escaped her lips. It sounded a bit cracked too.
It was a warning of sorts. A question of whether I could handle it. I gave my tacit answer.
"Bullshit."
"...Looks like you do have backup."
Her outwardly bubbly gestures and expressions grew subdued.
The scattered air settled neatly. Her hands, aimed at her lap, rose to the table and began tapping—tap tap—with her nails.
It had all happened in mere seconds.
'She admits it pretty straightforwardly.'
Did she have some dirty scheme?
Or did she figure it didn't matter if I found out.
She'd been subtly dropping hints that she was suspicious from the start.
If she'd really been hiding it on purpose, her attitude toward me would've been more thorough.
The trigger for noticing was the status window, but even ignoring that, Bead's behavior had plenty of red flags.
"You dropped too many hints."
"...Oh. Did I? I thought I was acting pretty well. Heehee."
Bead gave an awkward smile, lifting the corners of her mouth. Her beauty didn't falter even then.
She fiddled with her manicured nails and glanced at me.
"Well, whatever. I had to let you know eventually."
She snapped her head around to look at me.
"So?"
Now what? Her provocative smile seemed to ask.
Her boldness made me laugh instead.
"What, you gonna devour me or something? Like the teachers or those other women?"
"Smooth talker."
Her clumsy provocation didn't land.
I clapped once, and her eyes narrowed.
"I pick and choose who I devour. Flowers are a pass."
"..."
"But is that really all you have to say?"
"Need more?"
"Plenty."
Why had Bead infiltrated the academy and been watching me all this time?
Assuming her goal was me, the possibilities weren't hard to guess.
Considering all the Flowers I'd clashed with so far, Sun's words, and Se-young's advice, the answer was clear.
"You must have a role to play. Why else sneak into the academy?"
"..."
"Kill me or lure me in as a Flower."
Everything was out in the open now.
Her talk of devouring had subtly revealed she knew I was the Spiritwood King. And I knew she was a Flower.
The crux of this conversation was shifting to each other's goals.
Bead laughed in disbelief.
"Well... You get it."
She reached out and stroked the wall.
-Crack!
💥 SYSTEM MALFUNCTION 💥 Mana Surge Detected
Lights flickering wildly
Mana rippled through the surroundings in that instant.
I narrowed my eyes at the brief disturbance, and the overhead lights flickered wildly.
Nice trick. She'd sabotaged the surrounding machines to obscure the cause.
"I broke the system. Even if it raises suspicion, it'll hit you too, not just me."
"Bold move."
"If you tell everyone I'm a Flower, you won't get off scot-free either. The moment the system's down, you're a suspect too."
She planned to expose me as the Spiritwood King.
Drag me down as a self-inflicted wound somehow.
"Spiritwood King. To the World Trees, you're basically a Flower—or worse."
Probably.
If everything came out, the World Trees might try to eliminate both Flowers and me in these Forest Keeper preliminaries.
Lee Se-young and Star couldn't help if that decree came down on me.
Traitor. I'd become a living calamity in that instant.
The abyss. I'd sink lower than that word.
My built-up reputation and money would shatter.
I wasn't unaware. I'd known from the start.
"So what?"
I remained calm facing Bead.
"That's why I'm asking."
A smile even crept onto my face.
"You gonna take me in or kill me?"
"..."
"If you guys really meant to kill me, you'd have spread it already. Broadcasts, articles—every method. 'He's the Spiritwood King.' The World Trees would've handled me themselves."
If it got out I was the Spiritwood King, the World Trees would kill me.
True, but not entirely.
There were plenty of reasons the Flowers hadn't blown their nose without tissue.
I was worth that much to them.
"Flowers are, on the surface, successors to the Spiritwood King."
Killing me would strip them of even that legitimacy. So they'd have to tread carefully.
"And you haven't told the grunts. Not even that the Spiritwood King's heir exists."
If the whole Flower organization knew I was the Spiritwood King, their underlings would get restless.
Probably only Bead and a few high-ranking execs knew.
All speculation.
But I was certain.
That's how I'd handle it. I'd read their moves perfectly from what I'd seen so far.
"You're debating whether to kill me or not."
Bead stuck out her tongue like her mouth was dry. Had she not expected me to push back this hard?
She exhaled deeply. I licked the rim of my tea cup and looked at her again.
Your move.
I asked with my eyes. Her pupils seemed sunk in deep agony.
I threw out one last line.
"And the World Trees are much the same."
The World Trees knew of my existence too.
But like the World Tree of Time, they had reasons not to antagonize me lightly.
Bead's threat was only half right.
"Both sides will try to use me. Squeeze me dry to the bone."
My existence could be a fatal blow to either.
Best to pull me to their side, but if not, killing me was the answer.
But in here, there was no way to kill me.
Short version: What now?
Jump to the World Trees?
Can you handle that?
With me, the World Trees could crush Flowers even easier.
No matter that I was the Spiritwood King—who'd refuse such a convenient tool with perfect justification?
"You think the World Trees rule the world with such rational thinking?"
"If they didn't, they wouldn't still be gods."
"You'd just be discarded once used."
A boiled hunting dog fate.
"We'll see when the time comes."
Besides, I had plenty of grudges against Flowers. I could rip out their guts and hang them up right now and it wouldn't be enough.
If not for needing to stay rational, I might've lashed out already if this were a dungeon.
Me siding with Flowers?
Impossible, but if it happened, it'd be with guarantees of safety and power.
"Or, is there any guarantee I won't get boiled if I join you?"
"..."
Bead hesitated for a long while.
Sounds of commotion rose around us then, and she sighed, turning her back.
"Haa. Guess we'll talk more later."
She glared at me once and loosened her necktie.
"At my room?"
"No way."
Figured as much.
I'd thought about trying to enslave her, but that seemed unlikely.
She was handpicked among Flowers to handle me, so her mental fortitude was no joke.
The uproar from the system failure.
We exchanged glances and parted after the meeting.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Bananas are delicious.
-Crunch.
Scratching my belly, I took a big bite out of a roughly peeled banana.
One of Sun's recent daily routines.
The food here was great. He'd even scouted talent for the Spiritwood King lately, so he didn't have much left to do.
If he had to pick the happiest moment of his life, it'd hands-down be now.
Even happier than being surrounded by thirty beauties.
'Fuck.'
Of course, meeting Lee Si-heon had killed his sex drive, which sucked.
"Wonder where bro is right now. Probably grabbed some girl and is going at it hard."
In his idle daily life, walking the corridor, he spotted someone far off.
Black hair, familiar face. Bead.
Sun whispered in her ear just as they passed.
"What's a Flower doing here?"
Bead turned her head slightly at that. Sun and Bead met eyes.
"Heehee. With your lifespan so short. Here to brag about your short fuse?"
"Oh, you can see my lifespan? Where is it?"
Sun dramatically tilted his head back, swatting at the air above his head with rotten grin.
"Too short to see, I guess. But fuck, teasing about lifespan is crossing the line."
"Did I say something wrong?"
"Don't you know facts hurt the most?"
"It's 'fact,' not 'picked.' Anyway, don't act like you know me."
"Yeah, yeah. Just said hi 'cause I saw you passing by."
Sun shrugged and bit into his banana again.
As they walked, Bead turned her back to him and asked.
"Hey."
"Yeah."
"That thing from two years ago. Thought about it again?"
Two years ago.
Felt longer.
The place researching Sun's Spiritwood King powers had been secretly funded by Flowers.
Obviously, Flowers wanted those powers.
Not knowing where the Spiritwood King would appear or whose side he'd join.
Come to us after getting the powers, they'd proposed secretly long ago.
Sun chewed his banana thoughtfully for a while.
What had he been thinking back then?
Probably just shrugged it off with this.
"Keep walking your path."
Bead shrugged like she'd expected it and kept walking the corridor.
Sun snorted and yawned.
"Fuck, where's bro? Said we'd eat dinner together."
Sun thought to himself.
He'd need an extra big dinner tonight to feel satisfied.