Waiting For Your Reincarnation Chapter 138

Having read all of his memories, Yeon-young’s grip tightened, and she frowned, unable to let go of his wrist.

 

At least Jaeho was trying to get back to where the good was. Suddenly, everything he’d said made sense to Yeon-young.

 

He had fought his way back to this place. She was relieved to understand his feelings. She had no reason to doubt and hate Jung Jaeho until the end.

 

“You hit him hard on the back of the head. You’ve been thinking of using him from the beginning.”

 

“Ah. I can’t believe you can read memories with what little energy you have left. You’ve robbed me of a player again. That’s right, he was just a stepping stone for me in the first place. See?”

 

He slipped his hand, the one that hadn’t been grabbed by Yeon-young, into his robe. It held a small, round button.

 

She squinted slightly, trying to figure out what it was. Daeheon held the button in front of Yeon-young’s eyes as if to say, “Take a good look at this.” Then he pressed it firmly once.

 

BANG!

 

A loud vibration rumbled through the floor of the building at the same time as the button was pressed. The door immediately closed and the liquid in the capsule behind his back began to boil.

 

With another audible thud, she felt his body fall toward the floor. The building, like the Branch 1 Center, sank toward the ground.

 

Yeon-young steadied herself and looked at Ryu Won urgently, but Ryu Won’s condition was still strange.

 

He was staring at the ground with helpless eyes, showing no interest in this place at all. It was as if he had lost himself.

 

‘…Is Ryu Won completely brainwashed? How can we get out of it? I need to think quickly.’

 

Quickly assessing Ryu Won’s condition, Yeon-young chewed the inside of her cheek. Right now, he was in no condition to help her. Only she had to judge and make a decision.

 

For a moment, there was silence around them, as if the power had been turned off. The sudden silence made Yeon-young stop thinking and look up.

 

She placed her hand on the surface of the capsule and stared at the ceiling.

 

A muffled voice echoed with hope, and the lab ceiling split in half.

 

Yeon-young frowned as light suddenly flooded into the dark interior.

 

The ceiling had vanished as if it had never existed. Daeheon smiled softly at the clear sky above Tanato.

 

The water inside the capsule began to churn once more, and as Daeheon muttered something to himself, he could feel Jaeho’s aura around his body.

 

Then, Jaeho’s aura slowly seeped into the capsule.

 

The liquid inside the capsule shook violently, bursting through the lid and shooting up into the sky. A huge column of water formed, connecting the lab to the sky.

 

The blue sky sucked up the liquid in the capsule bit by bit, like a fungus feeding on food. The sky darkened as the liquid quickly disappeared from the capsule.

 

And black rain began to fall, drop by drop.

 

“Alas, Master, I’ll see you soon.”

 

He wiped the raindrops from his face, his face filled with joy. Yeon-young could tell by the look on his face. The experiment Daeheon had hoped to accomplish had begun successfully.

 

His skin was very dark where the raindrops had fallen, and he opened his arms wide, welcoming the rain to this place. The raindrops began to fall faster and faster.

 

The building sank a little lower. At the same time, water began to rise beneath her feet, just as she had seen in Jaeho’s memory. Yeon-young looked down at her palms.

 

At this rate, it wouldn’t be able to withstand the heavy rain and the building would be swallowed up by the water. She had to do something before that happened.

 

She strained her eyes and examined his body. After the torrential rain, Jaeho’s body had been consumed by Daeheon and completely transformed into Snarl. His once distinct form was shrouded in a black aura, making it hard to recognize him.

 

In that rain, he becomes a Snarl.

 

“Ha, so that was the hint.”

 

Yeon-young clenched her fists hard. She remembered the paintings that filled one wall of Jaeho’s secret lab. They were all precious clues that Jaeho had left for her.

 

The U-shaped line drawn under the building and the wavy markings beneath it.

 

Recalling the picture in her head, she slowly scanned the interior from left to right.

 

The haphazardly dug burrows beneath the land of Tanato and the black rainwater that filled them. A picture that had forever eluded her interpretation, but now, when the situation called for it, she could figure out the meaning as easily as if she had substituted a formula.

 

Daeheon planned to dig burrows beneath Tanato and fill them with the water from his experiment, turning everyone into snarls.

 

Every time a raindrop fell on her cheek, it felt like someone had pinched her. The water rose to her ankles, catching her stride.

 

The downpour scattered across Tanato’s world. The phantoms who had set out to find Jaeho would have been turned into snarls in this rain.

 

It was only a matter of time before the underground shelters would collapse, and the realization made Yeon-young impatient.

 

“Ryu Won…”

 

Yeon-young repeated his name without realizing it. She repeated it over and over in her mind as if it were a talisman.

 

But the low, sweet voice didn’t come back. She turned her head to see where he was. She hadn’t missed a beat.

 

Ryu Won, caught in the downpour, had lost his form and turned into a complete snarl. Only Yeon-young was able to remain intact in the rain.

 

She felt completely alone in this hellish world once again.

 

“Can you imagine how… this sucks.”

 

She looked up at the sky, fighting the urge to run to Ryu Won right now, but stopping this downpour was more important than running to him.

 

Yeon-young looked at the two auras emanating from Jaeho’s body.

 

She’d hesitated when she’d first seen him here, but now she was certain of one thing: the core she needed to target first was Daeheon’s at his ankle.

 

Yeon-young’s ebony eyes held a steadfast determination. She walked briskly toward Jaeho’s body.

 

As she closed the distance, she could see the black aura within his body surging wildly.

 

Jaeho’s expression, hidden by the murky aura, gradually revealed itself. The corners of his mouth curled upward in a smooth line, and he silently mused.

 

“Goodbye, Kim Yeon-young.”

 

“What?”

 

It was then. A skin-crushingly cold wind cut through Yeon-young’s body. She clenched her fists, strained her legs, and tried to move her toes, but it was no use. The malicious wind grabbed her with all its might.

 

‘It can’t be. It can’t be…’

 

She felt as if she were trapped in ice. She wanted to deny it, even though she knew who had used it and who it was directed at.

 

Yeon-young bit her lower lip tightly and squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened her eyes, Jaeho’s aura was obscured by Ryu Won’s. All she could see was Ryu Won as Snarl.

 

Yeon-young wanted to reach out to him, but she couldn’t move a muscle. The slightest movement caused his thorn-like wind to dig into her skin.

 

The light pink core, turning transparent, felt like it could snap in half at any moment.

 

“Ryu Won.”

 

“…….”

 

“Han Ryu Won, you have to wake up.”

 

Yeon-young spoke his name with desperation. She could see the invisible white aura that had been engulfed by the snarl energy stirring ever so slightly.

 

Ryu Won remained speechless, but he seemed confused. At her voice, Ryu Won’s attack was temporarily halted, but the water was quickly rising. Yeon-young felt fear as the water rose up to her chest.

 

She couldn’t stay bound by Ryu Won’s power and be buried under the water with him.

 

“Release your power, so we can both live.”

 

Her voice was tinged with mournfulness, and Ryu Won stared down at her in silence. Then, as casually as he had always done, he extended his left arm toward her.

 

His uncharacteristically warm hand stroked Yeon-young’s forehead before moving down to cupping her cheek. Feeling the softness of her flesh, the fingers moved down a little further and pressed firmly against her warm lips.

 

It was a familiar touch, one that Ryu Won had used to calm her.

 

Yeon-young pursed her lips, her eyes trembling. Ryu Won’s name was in her throat, and she couldn’t get it out anymore.

 

Ryu Won removed his hand from her lips and clasped her hands together, the sequence imprinted on his body.

 

As she let out a slow breath of relief, his hand slithered up the back of her hand like a snake and squeezed her wrist where the core was.

 

“Ryu Won?”

 

As if the question was a trigger, Ryu Won squeezed her wrist harder. With a cracking sound, Yeon-young’s core shattered.