Waiting For Your Reincarnation – Chapter 79

Author: Dakku-san

They allowed the two men to enter, except for Yeon-young, saying that they were not a danger to the mob.

Yeon-young stared at Robillo’s blocked entrance in disbelief.

Jaeho, who had been verbally bickering and expressing his displeasure, had suddenly become quieter.

Yeon-young laughed in disbelief.

‘What could her soul look like?’

It would be a spirit’s nightmare to think that she was so intact on the outside, but torn apart on the inside.

“It’s not because I’m missing a piece of my soul, is it?”

“I don’t think so, because you wouldn’t have gotten this far without the fragment in the first place.”

“Then what is it?”

“Well, Robillo spirits have an especially keen sense of sight, so there must be something else going on.”

Ryu Won touched the ring and stared at Yeon-young with snowy eyes, the depths deepening under his gaze.

She felt bad, even though it wasn’t her fault.

He gently stroked the top of Yeon-young’s head. Then he stroked his index finger down her cheek and gently squeezed her chin.

Ryu Won’s hand lifted her head slightly. Yeon-young locked eyes with Ryu Won.

“It’s not your fault, Yeon-young, it’s Jung Jaeho’s fault for losing the soul fragment in the first place.”

Jaeho’s eyebrows rose at his words, but he didn’t argue.

Undeterred, they circled the village once more to make sure. The village was small, so it didn’t take long.

Still, there was no sign of the missing piece. This increased the odds that it was inside the village.

“This is bad.”

Ryu Won, who had been preoccupied with Yeon-young’s words, stood up and walked toward the village.

She tugged gently on the hem of his uniform coat.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to go inside.”

“I don’t fit in with the old spirits, so I’ll stay here.”

Ryu Won glanced at Jaeho, then turned his gaze back to Yeon-young. It was as if he hadn’t even had the option of taking her inside in the first place.

He ran his index finger over her bracelet, checking for an emergency signal, then pulled away.

“You can’t cheat on me while I’m gone.”

“Is that what you want to say in this situation?”

“They say if a man cheats on his wife, there will be frost in May.”

“Isn’t that a woman?”

“You should know.”

Ryu Won quickly disappeared into the village, riding the wind. As he grew farther and farther out of sight, an uneasy feeling stirred.

Jaeho nudged Yeon-young’s sagging shoulder.

“What are you thinking?”

“Just wondering what happened to this village.”

The more she thought about what the spirits had said, the more she realized that the same thing couldn’t happen again.

What if, as the spirits of the Fifth District had said, she was more dangerous than Snarl?

Silent for a moment at her answer, Jaeho sat down on the ground in a haphazard manner.

“Why do you care what they say? It’s obvious they’re lying.”

“How do you know?”

“Because they’re obsessed with the legend of Iris.”

“The legend of Iris?”

“Iris, whose soul was shattered as a punishment from the gods. They believe that an unstable soul means you’ve incurred the wrath of the gods.”

“Aha.”

“They’re old people who talk too much about missing soul fragments. Ignore them.”

They were the first souls of the First Branch, so it was understandable that they believed in the legend.

Despite Jaeho’s encouragement, the nagging feeling clung to her like wet clothes and wouldn’t come off.

Somehow, the piercing red gaze of the spirit’s eyes and Ryu Won’s stony expression seemed to tell her that the words were not false.

Yeon-young rubbed her hand over her heart.

“I wonder if I’m being punished too.”

Boom!

Just then, a loud bang sounded near the center of Robillo Village, where Ryu Won had entered.

At the same time, the nape of Yeon-young’s neck grew cold and an uneasy feeling could be sensed.

It was like pouring petroleum oil all over her body, and it was a steaming, suffocating aura.

“Jung Jaeho, look.”

“Geary, damn it.”

“Just like then.”

Jaeho muttered a string of expletives and ruffled his hair.

Yeon-young could see a black aura rising from the distance, enveloping the entire town of Robillo. It was as if the forest of Iris had been defiled on the day of the festival.

As the town was consumed by the black energy, black holes, large and small, formed in the ground.

Jaeho formed a water droplet and lifted her off the ground. As her body floated, Yeon-young cried out.

“We have to go inside.”

“No.”

“Mr. Ryu Won and the spirits of Robillo Village are probably still inside.”

“I know what that is. It’s the entrance to the Snarl.”

Yeon-young looked at the floor, which was riddled with holes like the entrance to an anthill. This was the entrance to the Snarl.

“What are you worried about? The old man in there is stronger than you. It’s better to evacuate at least one of them.”

At Jaeho’s words, Yeon-young opened her eyes, looking like she’d been hit over the head. He was right.

There was nothing she could do to help Ryu Won now, even if she was worried about him.

Despite the feeling of helplessness that washed over her, Yeon-young nodded her head in agreement. It was time to listen to Jaeho.

Jaeho tried to open the teleportation function Edelous had temporarily implanted in him.

A glint of light appeared above his mint-colored piercing, then disappeared again without a trace.

As she watched, Yeon-young instinctively realized. They’re already trapped in the black energy.

“It’s already blocked.”

“What are they doing inside?”

The town of Robillo was now out of sight. Jaeho grabbed Yeon-young’s right hand.

She shivered as she felt the coldness of a midwinter valley.

At that moment, she remembered Ryu Won’s hand. She thought of the warm hands that held the spring sun.

Unable to hide her nervousness, Jaeho tightened his grip on Yeon-young’s hand.

“Hold on tight, we have to go into town first.”

“We have to go into town? I’m off limits.”

“We’re all going to die, so what does it matter? We’ll find an emergency warp and try again.”

Against Yeon-Young’s protests, Jaeho pushed on toward the village. His vision was so blurry that he couldn’t tell where he was going. Still, Jaeho didn’t hesitate, finding a path and walking in.

The further he walked, the thicker the air became. He could tell from the flow of the air that he was getting closer to the village.

Swoosh—

A strange sound, like leaves brushing against leaves, sounded close by.

Jaeho stopped walking, and silence enveloped them. Jaeho moved his left hand to create a curtain of water and pulled Yeon-young into it.

Yeon-young picked up the gun on her belt and looked around. With a little more focus, she could see the black cores surrounding them in a circle.

They were already in the Snarl’s trap.

“Don’t let go.”

Jaeho whispered in a determined, low voice and raised his hand to the sky.

Droplets of water formed and rained down on the area like rain. His blurry vision sharpened ever so slightly.

Taking advantage of the brief moment he could see the Snarl’s form, Jaeho attacked.

They seemed to have anticipated his move and attacked without hesitation.

Each time Jaeho’s core glowed, the black core disappeared. But like zombies, the Snarls rose again from nowhere, and there was no end in sight.

Tang!

Yeon-young fired a one-handed shot to help Jaeho, but with her stance, she missed.

‘I’m going to lose my hand like this.’

As she continued to shoot at the cores, she realized something was wrong.

They were threatening, but not making any decisive attacks.

She stepped forward a little further and fired, just to be sure.

BANG!

Jaeho, noticing Yeon-young’s movement, pulled her back behind him.

The Snarl horde hadn’t directly harmed Yeon-young, even though she was clearly in the clear.

“Why?”

Boom!

That’s when Yeon-young felt her body snap and go airborne. The mine had gone off.

The pain came with the sensation of her back hitting the ground hard. She had long since lost Jaeho’s hand.

“Ah…, that hurts.”

As Yeon-young managed to sit up through the throbbing pain, she saw countless cores surrounding her.

They seemed to have been waiting for this moment.

“Jaeho.”

Yeon-young called out his name, trying to make sure he was alive. There was no answer.

Blackness flickered up and down in front of her blocked vision. It sneered at Yeon-young, alone.

She calmly squeezed the gun in her hand.

She thought about the number of bullets she had left and compared it to the number of black cores. With her vision obscured, she still had a chance if she could create a gap and escape.

As her concentration began to wane, memories of the Snarls raced through her mind.

Yeon-young frowned and pushed the memories away.

Bang-!

The shot hit the Snarl’s core, but it was still too much to handle.

The Snarl kept reappearing, as if in an ant-hole.

Yeon-young’s hand tightened on the gun.

‘Let’s think… I can’t just wipe them out like this.’

She reached into her belt pocket for more ammunition.

But instead of ammunition, she felt something very soft but hard in her hand.

She carefully pulled it out, and it was a mint-colored eraser.

“Ah!”

The moment she saw the eraser, she remembered its effect. An eraser that erases traces of the soul.