Waiting For Your Reincarnation Chapter 103

“A spy?”

 

“It’s not a sudden conclusion; I’ve been thinking about it ever since Negro’s leadership was narrowed down to Lee Daeheon.”

 

“Still, if you’re telling me this, you must have some hard evidence.”

 

“That’s right, I think we’ve caught the tail.”

 

Yeon-young pulled her chair closer to the table and sat down, focusing on what Zhaolin was saying.

 

Still clutching the necklace, she collected her thoughts. Her serious demeanor made it impossible for Yeon-young to speak.

 

It was one of the things that had been on the back of her mind.

 

There could be a spy within Branch One, otherwise it was hard for the most secure Branch One to fall like this.

 

“I told you one lie that day when I deployed the force.”

 

“…A lie?”

 

“Yes, that’s what I told you, that I was actually going to push more power to Branch two.”

 

“Oh…, yeah.”

 

Yeon-young rambled on, thinking back to the last cadre meeting.

 

As it turned out, the consensus was to put the main power in Branch One, but ZHaolin had changed her mind at the last minute.

 

She remembered being told that it was the consensus of the other executives.

 

“It was actually a lie. We were pretending that the power had changed by sending Mr. Ryu Won to Branch two.”

 

“Wait, so the power wasn’t shifted to the second branch?”

 

“No, it was more in favor of Branch One. That’s because we were the only ones left except for you, Mr. Ryu Won.”

 

“Ahhh…”

 

“Our mistake was not anticipating that the Snarl army might double in numbers. If we had been more prepared, we could have prevented a lot more damage. I’ll have to analyze this further.”

 

Yeon-young clenched her fists slightly. The lines between her brows gradually deepened.

 

Seeing this, Zhaolin stood up from her seat. Yeon-young lifted her head slightly to stare at her.

 

“How do you think Negro knew this information that only we know, and deployed his forces appropriately to invade?”

 

“…It can’t be a coincidence, can it?”

 

“It’s hard for all the coincidences to stay aligned.”

 

“So, you’re saying there really is a spy among us.”

 

“I thought it was strange, that feeling that only information from Branch One kept leaking out.”

 

“…….”

 

“I always thought it was strange how Negro was able to slip into Branch One so easily, but now I understand.”

 

ZHaolin dried her face roughly.

 

Despite her own definition of the situation, she didn’t want to believe it, and neither did Yeon-young.

 

There is a spy in each of us.

 

This premise alone undermined their trust in each other and loosened their bond.

 

The moment she heard the word spy, Yeon-young thought of Ryu Won’s face.

 

‘Could it be him, could he be the spy of the First Branch and have such items in the room?’

 

A wave of nausea swept over her as she remembered the mask that was stained with Snarl’s energy.

 

“I can’t rule out the possibility that you were involved.”

 

“I understand, I was there.”

 

Her eyes, like blazing flames, searched her, trying to read her mind.

 

Yeon-young ignored the stare and slipped her hands into her coat.

 

A metal key lurked in the pocket.

 

‘Should she give it to Zhaolin?’

 

‘Which choice would be the most correct, the one I wouldn’t regret.’

 

But it wasn’t easy.

 

Her head told her that she should give it to her, but her heart told her that it was impossible.

 

She wanted to believe him, even if all the evidence pointed to Ryu Won as a spy.

 

Zhaolin asked Yeon-young a blunt question.

 

“Are you sure you’re not?”

 

“I really am not.”

 

“Can I trust you?”

 

“You can trust me on the spy part. I’m not a spy.”

 

Yeon-young answered without hesitation, not avoiding Zhaolin’s gaze.

 

She searched Yeon-young with an intensity that seemed to pierce through her eyes.

 

Her question didn’t seem to bother Yeon-young.

 

She was only doing what she was supposed to do in her position.

 

Zhaolin let out a long, deep sigh. It was the first time she had ever shown her tiredness so openly.

 

“Okay, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”

 

“Me? Really?”

 

“Didn’t I say I trust you?”

 

Yeon-young’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer.

 

She hadn’t expected her to actually give her the benefit of the doubt.

 

Zhaolin shoved her hands inside her uniform coat and moved toward the doorway.

 

“Actually, I’m just determining that you’re the least likely to be a spy, based on probability.”

 

“Ah…, sure.”

 

“For the time being, I’m going to investigate you and Jung Jae-ho as suspects, just so you know.”

 

“I understand.”

 

“I hope you won’t betray my trust.”

 

At Zhaolin’s prickly words, Yeon-young squeezed the key in her hand hard.

 

The key must be in her coat, but she could feel the stench of it on the tip of her nose.

 

Not to betray Zhaolin’s faith. Yeon-young carefully removed the key from her coat.

 

As she reached for the doorknob and stepped outside, she stopped in her tracks and turned around.

 

Her gaze locked with hers out of thin air.

 

“How are you feeling?”

 

“My body’s recovered, but my consciousness hasn’t woken up yet.”

 

“You ran out of the Second Branch like a madman and you’re still in that state?”

 

“Consciousness is Ryu Won’s domain, and the emergency team said there’s nothing they can do about it.”

 

At the thought of Ryu Won, Yeon-Young’s face shaded.

 

Every time she thought of him, she felt like she was standing alone in a storm.

 

Whenever she closed her eyes, she kept seeing the last image of Ryu Won giving his life away without regret.

 

Yeon-young didn’t know what it was about her that made him give up everything for her.

 

Zhaolin checked inside her pants pocket and walked back over to Yeon-young, handing her a dark gray card key.

 

“What is this?”

 

“It’s an all-purpose card key for the chairman.”

 

“Oh…, why are you giving this to me?”

 

“We should get on with what we’re doing, shouldn’t we? Let’s start by going after Jaeho Jung’s ass.”

 

“What can we do with this?”

 

“We can get anywhere inside the center.”

 

Yeon-young checked the card in her hand back and forth curiously.

 

Then she slipped it back into her uniform coat so she wouldn’t lose it.

 

“Use it to visit Mr. Jung’s lab.”

 

“The lab?”

 

“Yes. Maybe he didn’t disappear, he just went somewhere.”

 

She had a point.

 

He’d changed a bit since he’d grown up and regained some of his memories, but Jaeho had always been a man who did what he pleased.

 

Unless this time, he’d simply moved on because he didn’t want to fight the Snarl.

 

Yeon-young nodded slightly, as if she understood.

 

“Go there and see if you can find any trace of Jung Jaeho, and if not, get me some material on Snarl.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“For now, go to…”

 

“What?”

 

“Don’t go too far. I’d hate to lose any more power here.”

 

With those words, Zhaolin walked out of the conference room first.

 

Yeon-young stared after her, dumbfounded. She quickly regained her composure and headed for Jaeho’s lab.

 

 

***

 

 

Yeon-young clenched her fists hard, remembering what Ryu Won had once told her. Now was the time to look ahead.

 

She tapped the card she’d gotten from Zhaolin against the door, and Jaeho’s password was neutralized.

 

Yeon-young slipped the card into her pocket and strode into the lab.

 

It felt strange to enter a room without permission.

 

“No one…, is there?”

 

Yeon-young muttered to herself as she entered the silent lab.

 

Her black pearl eyes rolled slowly as she scanned the room.

 

It looked exactly the same as when she had visited with Jaeho.

 

“I can’t find anything here…”

 

Yeon-young walked closer to the desk where the Snarl materials were sitting.

 

The desk was unrecognizable as its owner.

 

She shook her head, because this was why she couldn’t find the materials Zhaolin had mentioned.

 

Just then, she felt something slap her back.

 

Yeon-young turned her head in the direction of the sound. All she could see was the same quiet lab as before.

 

“What was that? Did I hear wrong?”

 

As Yeon-young started to walk away to retrieve her materials, she heard the strange sound again.

 

*Tut-tut*

 

The sound came from the innermost room of the lab.

 

It was the unknown room where Jaeho had come in and out alone to fetch drinks.

 

Yeon-young drew her gun and approached the door with a start.

 

“It’s Snarl’s spirit.”

 

As Yeon-young gripped the doorknob, she could clearly see the black, oozing energy that had been embedded in it.

 

Something related to the Snarl was indeed present in Jaeho’s hidden room.