Waiting For Your Reincarnation Chapter 96

Yeon-young started at the basement and worked her way up, checking each floor for exits.

 

The center’s emergency exits were not staircases, but teleports.

 

In an emergency, the teleportation device could be activated to warp out of the center and into the field of Iris’s pillars, where she had heard there was another air defense.

 

Checking the emergency exit on the sixth floor, Yeon-young nodded slightly. So far, the teleportation device has worked without a hitch.

 

“Last one.”

 

Stepping onto the elevator, Yeon-young pressed the button for the seventh floor.

 

Leaning her head against the wall and closing her eyes, she recalled the voice she’d heard in her memory lane yesterday.

 

Iris. It was Iris, the voice said, with an unmistakable hint of bitterness.

 

She wondered why her name had popped up in her memory.

 

“Iris…”

 

Yeon-young said her name out loud. She wondered what she had to do with Tanato’s founder.

 

‘Who in her memory had called out Iris’s name so desperately and why?’

 

Her mind quickly spun.

 

The elevator beeped cheerfully and stopped at the seventh floor. The seventh floor was the chairman’s office, and it was quieter than any other floor now that Saeri was gone.

 

Yeon-young stood in front of the seventh floor emergency exit door with a quick step and slowly turned the handle to open it.

 

“Has Jung Jaeho fixed this yet?”

 

As soon as she looked inside, Yeon-young’s brow furrowed.

 

Not again. Only the seventh floor emergency exit was connected to a strange cave.

 

She wasn’t surprised, as she had encountered this sight before, but a sigh escaped her.

 

Yeon-young turned on the surface of her bracelet and left a message.

 

[Emergency exit on the 7th floor, please fix].

 

She stuck her head inside the emergency exit and looked around.

 

This was the same cave Jaeho had taken her to visit.

 

‘Why would Jaeho leave a cave like this, and why would he need it for anything?’

 

The mad scientist’s mind was a mystery.

 

With a small click of her tongue, Yeon-young grabbed the handle and tried to close the door. 

 

She’d left the comms, so that would be a problem that would be solved soon enough.

 

But then, through the crack in the door, a black, sticky-looking light appeared and disappeared.

 

When she spotted it, she froze with her hand on the doorknob.

 

She opened the door and stepped into the cave, one hand resting on the belt around her waist as she slowly moved forward.

 

The door she’d left open slammed shut, and darkness fell. There was no black light to be found.

 

“Am I looking in the wrong place?”

 

She gently let go of the tension and relaxed her shoulders.

 

After looking around a bit more, Yeon-young turned to go outside.

 

And there, standing a few feet away from her, was the deformed Snarl. Yeon-young sucked in a surprised breath and quickly aimed her gun.

 

She felt her heart squeeze like someone was sucking on a rag.

 

The Snarl was too far along in its Snarlization to be reversed by Sly’s powder.

 

Yeon-young strained her eyes to locate the Snarl’s core. The snarl core was in the center of its body.

 

“The color is off.”

 

Just as she was about to release the safety and fire the gun, the color of the core caught her eye.

 

A faint glow of fresh chartreuse glowed behind a dark cloud. It was a familiar color, like she’d seen it before.

 

Lowering her gun slightly, Yeon-young looked closely at Snarl’s face.

 

“…Ms. Diane?”

 

“Shhh.”

 

“Why…. What happened to you?”

 

She lowered the gun she was holding further.

 

The Snarl was definitely a face she recognized, the same Diane from the emergency team who had greeted her with a smile a few days ago.

 

She couldn’t speak, couldn’t lower or raise her gun. Diane, now Snarl, walked slowly toward Yeon-young.

 

Parts of her body were dripping like sticky oil.

 

“Don’t move.”

 

Yeon-young called out to Diane, her voice trembling, but Diane didn’t seem to hear her.

 

Her index finger moved closer to the trigger.

 

A slight pull of the trigger and Diane would be gone.

 

Yeon-young closed her eyes tightly and agonized. In that brief moment, Diane continued to move, never stopping.

 

Finally, Yeon-young calmed down and pulled the trigger.

 

Diane paused a certain distance away, her lips twitching as she said something.

 

Yeon-young squinted slightly and focused on the shape of her mouth.

 

“Run…, go…”

 

“What?”

 

“Run…”

 

“Ms. Diane, are you okay? Are you still conscious?”

 

Diane recognized Yeon-young and blurted out the words to run.

 

Yeon-young’s eyes widened, and she dropped the gun and moved closer to Diane.

 

Her eyes returned to their clear chartreuse color for a moment. Her pupils filled with Yeon-young’s face.

 

Diane let out a pained groan and used both hands to shove her back as hard as she could.

 

The unexpected reaction caused Yeon-young to pull back a little further. Her skin stung where it touched her.

 

She chewed the inside of her cheek and looked at her arms. It was only a graze, so she wasn’t too badly injured.

 

She turned her head to look at Diane. She was frozen, her hands in the air.

 

“Shhh-”

 

“Ms. Diane, your hands are…”

 

Diane’s hands were back to their normal color, as if they had never been black.

 

Yeon-young stared at her, dumbfounded.

 

She couldn’t take her eyes off her hands, even though part of her mind was controlled by the Snarl.

 

Yeon-young thought back to what had happened in the caverns of District 5. The Snarl that had attacked her then had also reverted to its original form.

 

Once might have been a coincidence, but not twice.

 

It was clear that Yeon-young had the clue to turn the deformed Snarl back to its original form.

 

“Hmph.”

 

“Ms. Diane!”

 

It was then that Yeon-young moved closer to Diain to experiment.

 

Diane leaned forward, clutching her stomach with both hands.

 

Yeon-young could see it. Something had penetrated Diane’s core, and it had shattered her core.

 

Someone had attacked her.

 

Before she could do anything more, Diane’s body was reduced to ash.

 

At the horrific sight, Yeon-young clenched her fists.

 

Maybe this was a case that could be saved. Wiping her burning forehead, she searched for Diane’s attacker.

 

“Sometimes mutants fail like this.”

 

In the distance, she could see a human figure, walking very slowly toward her.

 

It was as if he already knew all about this situation. An uneasiness surged in her chest.

 

The sound of heavy shoes echoed in her ears.

 

With each step closer, she felt her breath catch in her throat as if someone was strangling her.

 

With a bad feeling, she picked up the gun she’d dropped and poised to strike again.

 

“How did you get in here?”

 

“You’re the one who got in here.”

 

“In case you’ve forgotten, this is the 1st Division Center building.”

 

“Ms. Yeon-young Kim, how are you? I’m sorry you ran away that day.”

 

“Lee Daeheon.”

 

Lee Dae-heon, the man the spirits of the five branches are chasing after.

 

He stood in front of Yeon-young.

 

Bang! 

 

Yeon-young fired a shot at Daeheon’s leg and pressed the emergency call button on her bracelet.

 

Her teammates would see the signal and arrive soon.

 

“Maybe you shouldn’t be greeting me so strongly.”

 

“You’re the one who made Ms. Diane to that.”

 

“Of course.”

 

Daeheon shrugged, his face relaxed.

 

He’d obviously been shot in the leg, but he looked unharmed as he stepped closer.

 

Yeon-young fired another shot at his foot. His foot deflected the shot like it was armored.

 

“Shit.”

 

“You were hesitant earlier, and now you’re attacking me, which is annoying.”

 

“Are you going to stop here with what you’re doing?”

 

“Of course not.”

 

“So you shot her.”

 

“Don’t set me up like that. You’re not my target today.”

 

Yeon-young swallowed dryly. She had to stall, at least until her teammates got here.

 

Damn Center. Damn Jung Jaeho.

 

How could the security be so bad that an enemy could walk into the middle of the center and not be recognized?

 

How the hell had he gotten in here?

 

“Don’t provoke me, I’m not in the mood.”

 

“Am I supposed to be in this yard to see how you feel?”

 

“You know what they say in Yeon-young’s place? You’re stuck with the axe you trust. That’s exactly how I feel right now.”

 

“…….”

 

“How do I get this axe blade out of my hand? I have to get Yeon-young Kim now.”

 

“I told you to stay away from me.”

 

“My advice to you, Yeon-young, is to doubt everything. Don’t believe everything like an idiot.”

 

“…….”

 

“No, believe it, because that’s how you’re going to break down, Ms. Yeon-young, and I want you to break down more than anyone else.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“So it hurts the man behind you.”

 

Daeheon threw something at Yeon-young. She instinctively turned her head to avoid the object.

 

A round metal ball clattered to the floor, and soon smoke filled the cave.

 

Daeheon’s figure faded and disappeared.