Waiting For Your Reincarnation Chapter 115

Yeon-Young looked around the unlit interior, which, contrary to her fears, was not on a security track.

 

She stood in front of the librarian’s desk and watched Tanato’s light shine through the transparent window, then walked slowly between the desks toward the source of the light.

 

“I wonder where the Chairman went? I’ll have to get there, at least, to read more of her memories.”

 

Before he knew it, he was in the center of the library. But there was nothing unusual about the center of the library.

 

Yeon-Young tapped her index and middle fingers on the surface of the bookshelves. Instead of walking blindly, she needed to check her memory again.

 

“In my memory, the lights were off and I was walking between the bookshelves…, and behind the white light, there was a staircase… Stairs?”

 

Yeon-young turned and looked at the stairs at the edge of the library. She turned and headed back to the librarian’s desk.

 

Saeri was definitely climbing the stairs in her memory, so the hidden room was at least not on the first floor. She quickly made her way to the stairs.

 

“Not the third floor.”

 

The third floor of the library had a mirror that could lead down to the underworld. According to Ryu Won, it was the most secure part of the library because of the mirror. It was also the hardest place to sneak around, so it wasn’t the third floor.

 

That left…

 

With a confident stride, Yeon-young climbed the stairs and reached the second floor. Now came the hard part.

 

The second floor was similar to the first floor. Looking between the desks, Yeon-young realized that the endless rows of books meant she had to find another way.

 

“I must have pulled a thick book… How do I find it here?”

 

Yeon-young rubbed her lower lip with her index finger. Her mind raced, trying to figure out how to find their traces. How to find traces of spirits. She blinked her eyes slowly.

 

Then she remembered Jaeho’s emerald aura on his black robe, the trace that had convinced her he was a spy.

 

Objects are imprinted with a spirit’s unique aura.

 

If Saeri and the Slys had arrived in large numbers on the second floor, their traces would surely have been left behind. It had been a long time, so it was hard to be sure, but it was worth a shot.

 

“I don’t know about Saeri, but maybe I can find the Slys traces.”

 

Yeon-young felt the energy gathering under her bracelet and spreading through her body. As the energy penetrated deeper into her body, she could see the traces of several spirits in her vision.

 

There were fewer auras than she’d expected, perhaps because not many spirits came and went from the library.

 

She turned her head slowly, searching for the aura of the Slys. She walked from bookcase to bookcase, scanning every inch from ceiling to floor.

 

At that moment, a familiar, clear light appeared, like a path. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She moved along the path of light until it ended in front of a bookcase.

 

She paused as her index finger flicked through the pages, and she could feel the Sly’s aura on the thick, navy blue pages.

 

Yeon-young pulled the book toward her, just as Saeri had done, and the bookcase split in half, revealing a hidden compartment. Cool air brushed past her cheeks.

 

Yeon-young’s mouth dropped open at the sight before her.

 

“It was a temple…”

 

A secret room hidden in the library.

 

The place where Saeri and the Slys took refuge.

 

Behind the bookshelves was the temple that Yeon-young had been searching for.

 

She swallowed dryly, trying to push away her nervousness. She was sure she would find something important here, but she hadn’t expected it to be the location of the shrine.

 

She pushed back the cold air that lingered on the tip of her nose and stepped inside the bookcase. As soon as she took two steps into the shrine, the bookcase slid shut behind her.

 

She looked up and surveyed the ruined landscape. It was even sparser than the security track footage had made it look. The materials that made up the temple were more corroded than she’d expected, and it looked like it could crumble at any moment.

 

“I can teleport out, right?”

 

Yeon-young fiddled with her bracelet, preparing for the danger that could come at any moment. 

 

Ryu Won had gotten her out of the security track before, but he couldn’t do that now.

 

It occurred to her that that was strange.

 

“Was that part of the library’s hidden memories?”

 

As Yeon-young walked deeper into the temple, she thought back to her first visit to the library with Ryu Won. He had said that the temple was definitely not on the security track screen.

 

So why had the temple appeared before her eyes?

 

She couldn’t think of any explanation except that Ryu Won had read the library’s aura without her realizing it. Yeon-young sighed softly.

 

It was so close, and she knew nothing.

 

As she approached the center, she could see an altar, and behind it, a statue of a goddess of great size.

 

It was the statue she’d seen when she’d read the soul book about Iris’s origins.

 

“Chairman.”

 

The words came out of her mouth. The face was unfamiliar, yet familiar.

 

Here was the real Saeri, the one she had been hiding.

 

The true master of Tanato, the god.

 

And the one who had punished Yeon-young.

 

That was Saeri.

 

Yeon-young’s heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest again. She clenched her fists slightly.

 

All of Saeri’s seemingly wait-and-see attitude finally made sense. She really was the only one who knew everything.

 

“Then, what was my fault?”

 

Yeon-young scratched her forehead, barely holding on to her blurry vision. Naturally, questions nagged at her tail.

 

‘Why did Iris have to be punished by the gods?’

 

Did it have something to do with her inability to remember anything about this world?

 

She frowned slightly, mesmerized by the statue of the goddess, and only now realized that there was something on the altar.

 

On the altar was a rectangular wooden box. It was filled with the warmth of spring. Just touching it brought a faint smile to her lips.

 

Yeon-young touched the box lightly, and it lost its shape like crumbling sand. Soon, only a single, cracked core remained on the altar. The core was riddled with holes like missing teeth.

 

The silhouette of a person appeared on top of the core. Even without looking, Yeon-young knew who the owner of this core was.

 

It was Ahn Ji Hua, the spirit of the hardness of the earth. She was asleep in the temple.

 

She cupped her hands together and placed her palms over the core, and the memory of Ji Hua seeped into her.

 

“I thought you were going to be crushed by the power.”

 

She heard Saeri’s voice and saw the image of an altar. She laid Ji Hua down on the altar. Then she absentmindedly brushed the dirt from her hair with her hand.

 

Ji Hua blinked helplessly.

 

“Gul?”

 

Yeon-young echoed Saeri’s words. Perhaps it was a continuation of Ji Hua’s memory from her earlier reading. She must have rescued Ji Hua safely from the collapsing cave and brought her to the temple.

 

“I will seal you here.”

 

“…….”

 

“The seal will keep the core from collapsing. It won’t be long before the seal is broken, and I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

 

“I’ll wait. Take care.”

 

Ji Hua nodded her head weakly. Confirming her intentions, Saeri raised her hand. Ji Hua’s body turned transparent, as if blending into the air, and then disappeared completely. At the same time she disappeared, she seemed to hear a muffled voice calling out to Tanato.

 

Saeri had absorbed some of Ji Hua’s core. She walked out of the temple, feeling the energy seep into her palm. The memory ended there.

 

Yeon-young carefully lifted the core with both hands. Hovering in midair, the human aura dispersed again.

 

Saeri’s disappearance didn’t wake Ji Hua, but the memory made her certain of one thing.

 

Ji Hua hadn’t been destroyed, and if she could return the core, she might be able to live.

 

Yeon-young stared at Ji Hua’s core.

 

“Should I find a way to recover this core?”

 

To restore the core, she would have to find the missing parts and put them back in place. Since Saeri had borrowed Ji Hua’s power, perhaps some of it was in Saeri’s possession.

 

She felt like she was finally putting the missing pieces back together. Yeon-young stared in the direction she’d come in.

 

“I should get out of here and go back to the chairman. To where Mr. Ryu Won is.”

 

With that conclusion, she grabbed the core with her left hand and opened the teleport.