Waiting For Your Reincarnation

Wheelchair-bound, I am pushed deeper into the emergency room. Ryu Won, who pushed my wheelchair from behind, smiled with satisfaction.

 

I leaned back, half giving up.

 

The emergency room was similar to the ones I had seen in hospitals in my life. The only difference was the beds. There were supposed to be beds in every emergency room, but instead, pods had taken their place.

 

Daeheon led them to the innermost pod.

 “There’s Sly in the general examination room. He was injured by Snarl, so she’ll have to wait a little longer.” “Does that happen often?” “It’s not uncommon these days. The problem is that Snarl’s wounds heal very slowly.” 

Snarl. A soul filled with evil.

 

I thought back to when I first met Snarl in the forest. The way he devoured the forest as quickly as the trees caught fire.

 

A terrifying presence that could do great harm to someone for nothing but evil.

 

Something I never wanted to encounter again.

 

With a few simple movements, Daeheon opened the lid of the capsule machine.

 

A puff of white smoke escaped for a moment before dissipating, and the inside of the machine was more than half filled with a clear liquid.

 “Water?” “Ah, Senior Jaeho’s inventions are mainly related to water, and I really admire his ability.” “Beautiful streams of water combined with electrical circuits. The fairytale results they produce. I feel a thrill from my toes when I look at them.” 

It was arrogant to assume a person was normal just because they looked mild, and sometimes contemplation was off the mark.

 

Daeheon cleared his throat and praised Jaeho, who was obviously his junior and really appreciated his skills.

 

I caught a glimpse of Daeheon’s sunny madness. 

 

He gave Ryu Won a look that asked if it was okay to enter the room. 

 

Noticing the strange air currents between them, Daeheon’s eyes narrowed like a puppy’s and he waved his hand.

 “Rest assured, the machines here have nothing to do with Mr. Jung’s personal experiments. Everything has been tested and put away.” 

It was a relief, if not entirely believable.

 

Daeheon grabbed my hand and tried to support me, but Ryu Won, who was watching, intervened. 

 

Daeheon pulled away obediently.

 

Ryu Won picked me up with gentle hands, as if he were handling a child. 

 

It seemed that I didn’t have the option to stand on my own feet and walk into the machine.

 

He was so serious about helping me that I kept my mouth shut and stayed still.

 

I slowly entered the water from my toes. It was definitely liquid from the outside, but when I entered the machine, it didn’t feel like liquid at all.

 

It felt more like perfectly kneaded dough.

 

As I stepped further into the machine, the liquid seeped into my nose and mouth. I moved my mouth until bubbles came out, signaling how to breathe.

 “Yeon-young, we can breathe while you’re underwater, you just have to let the water take over your whole body. The water can’t hurt us unless it’s in your power.” 

I really am dead.

 

It was a little funny to realize this in the emergency room of the afterlife. I inhaled and exhaled deeply and blinked.

 

Through the blurry vision, I could see Ryu Won looking at her, and then again, and again.

 

His face didn’t twist, the corners of his mouth didn’t turn down, but he looked sad. If the door of this machine closed, would he burst into tears?

 

I wondered what the hell he cared about.

 

The liquid moved with small vibrations, as if I were lying in a massage chair. With the sound of hinges snapping into place, the machine’s door closed.

 

***

 “Did I fall asleep?” 

The last thing I remembered was my vision going black and my eyes closing. When I regained consciousness, I was lying in a modern-looking room, not an emergency room.

 “Are you awake? You slept through the day. Oh, this is the stabilization room.” “I slept?” 

Ryu Won sat cross-legged in a chair next to the bed. It didn’t take me long to realize how long he’d been watching me.

 

There wasn’t much furniture in the room. A bed, a small table and a chair. That was it. Just looking at it made me sleepy.

 

There was a knock at the door and Daeheon entered the room. Daeheon had an ethereal face with a hint of gauntness.

 “Ms. Yeon-young, are you okay?” 

At Daeheon’s question, I suddenly felt very light. I hadn’t been particularly sore from the fainting spell, but I was quite exhausted from the teleportation.

 

Due to the fatigue, my body felt a little heavy, like I was carrying a lead ball, but that feeling was gone.

 “I feel very light, which is good. “I did an examination, and there’s nothing particularly wrong with you, so I injected you with the Spirit Soul Nutrient, but…” 

Daeheon looked serious and I swallowed dryly at his expression. Ryu Won didn’t turn his head either, but he listened intently.

 “I don’t know why, but there are many parts of your soul that we can’t access, so I’m not sure if we judged it correctly. I think we should consult with you and turn it on when we upgrade the machine…” “Does that mean something is wrong?” 

Ryu Won’s eyes, who had listened to the story in silence, turned fierce. Daeheon shook his head negatively.

 “As far as we can tell, there’s nothing wrong. We found out a lot, so you can consider your body in good shape. However, you should still be careful until we upgrade the machine. There are always variables.” 

Is it okay or not?

 

After hearing Daeheon’s vague explanation, my mind was racing. I decided to take comfort in the fact that I wasn’t in bad shape right now.

 

Daeheon turned over the paper he was looking at. He seemed to have said everything he needed to say.

 “Anyway, congratulations on the job and get some rest.” 

He left his sea. When he left, there was a moment of silence in the room.

 

Ryu Won, who was looking at something with a heavy face, called out to me in a low voice. He pointed to a broken pink thread bracelet on the table.

 “Ah, my bracelet.” 

I checked my right wrist for the familiar bracelet, but there was nothing there. It must have been broken by some kind of impact.

 

He tapped his right knee with his index finger. Then he slowly straightened his crossed knee and spoke.

 “It fell on the floor of the bar, and I thought it might be important, so I picked it up.” “Thanks for looking after it, I didn’t even realize it was gone.” “I think it’s broken, but do you want to keep it or do you want me to throw it away for you?” 

I paused at his words and reached for the thread bracelet out of habit. On second thought, there was no reason to take it back. It was her ex-boyfriend who gave it to her in the first place.

 

I didn’t keep it because I was still in love with him, because if I was, I would have kept it on.

 

I just wanted to believe in the superstition that it would bring me luck, so I wore it to see what luck it would bring me.

 

Luck is bullshit. The effect of the thread bracelet was like an ex-boyfriend.

 “Mr. Ryu Won, I’m sorry, but can you throw it away for me?” “Isn’t it precious?” “Well… not anymore.” “Really? I see.” 

That was a surprisingly docile response from a person who usually asked a lot of questions.

 

The threaded bracelet on the table floated into the air and landed in the trash can under the bed.

 

It was a relief to realize that it was broken and to throw it away.

 

Ryu Won stood up, turned around and searched the pockets of his uniform coat. For a while he heard a rustling sound.

 

He stopped moving as if he had found the object. Ryu Won took the water pistol out of his pocket and turned back to me.

 

In his hand he held a purple case made of fine velvet. He waved it in front of me. I didn’t know what to make of it.

 

Ryu Won knelt on one knee and slowly, as if in awe, lifted the lid of the case to show its contents.

 

It was a stylish bracelet, neither thick nor thin, with a transparent, sparkling pastel pink gemstone in the center of a rose gold chain.

 

It was fortunate that it was a bracelet and not a ring, but the situation could easily be misinterpreted.

 

I asked Ryu Won in a worried voice,

“Should I take the bracelet?” 

He shook the case a few times as if to say,

“Hurry up and take the bracelet.”

 “What is this?” 

Why do bad predictions never seem to come true?

 

Ryu Won’s smile was as bright as the sun shining on the ocean.

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