Waiting For Your Reincarnation

Yeon-Young stretched and moved her body with the flexibility of a cat. She was now in the Iris Forest.

 

In the Iris Forest, the souls of the reincarnated ones waited in groups for their turn.

 

In the morning, it was reported that Yuri Zhang, the leader of the support team, had collapsed from overwork. It happened to be the day of Sly’s reincarnation, so Yeon-Young and Ryu Won visited his place.

 

When they arrived, they worked non-stop, and there was no end in sight to the number of souls to be reborn.

 

It was clear that not only the special team, but every department was suffering from a lack of manpower.

 “How did you manage to reincarnate everyone by this time, when the support team was only a handful of people?” “Well, they don’t sleep when they’re dead, so somehow it works.” 

The support team laughed and joked, but Yeon-young felt a shiver run down her spine. She’d better reincarnate before she buried her soul here.

 “Ms. Yeon-young, if you’re really tired, why don’t you take a break? You’ve already helped us a lot, and we’re almost done with the reincarnation process.” “I’ve been working at a factory every vacation since I was a kid, I can handle it.” 

I put my gloves back on, just in case, and picked up the marked disc. The support team didn’t refuse Yeon-young’s help twice.

 

After looking at the disc twice, she asked a question as if she’d remembered something.

 “Oh, right, you said there was another Snarl attack in the center yesterday?” “How did you know that?” “Well, that’s where this whole floor came from. Was it okay?” “Oh, what… It was fine, the special teams were mostly in the center.” “Ah~ You must have been fine.” 

His reaction reminded Yeon-young of the importance of the special teams’ presence in the middle.

 

Thinking back to yesterday, Yeon-young felt unnecessarily upset. It wasn’t about Snarl, but it was about Ryu Won.

 

Yeon-young glanced over to where Ryu Won was lying in the field with his eyes closed.

 

The support team had refused his help several times, as if Ryu Won’s mere presence made them uncomfortable. With nothing to force him to do, he rested in a corner of the field.

 

He looked as relaxed as a tiger lying in the field, enjoying nature.

 

“Just… I think it’s better if you stay out of the Snarl-related mission.”

 

After Ryu Won’s comment, she felt like there was an invisible line between them.

 

She doesn’t know what he meant by that, but it was quite shocking for Yeon-young.

 

It wasn’t that it didn’t make sense.

 

She was still an immature soul who couldn’t use her powers properly.

 

It was just the timing.

 

She thought she had been quite helpful in catching Snarl that day, but now she wondered if she had been a hindrance.

 

Yeon-young was told that it would be better if she stepped away from Snarl-related work, but she didn’t respond.

 

Snarl hasn’t shown up since, so they haven’t had another chance to talk.

 

Still, Ryu Won endured the awkwardness and accompanied Yeon-young on all of her tasks.

 

When she felt exhausted from the constant movement, she lifted her head and stretched.

 

A cool breeze ruffled her hair, and at the same time, Ryu Won approached with two slices.

 

The two Slys clung to each other like mockingbirds, unable to separate.

 “Ming.” “Ming.” 

The two Slys looked disgusted, as if being caught by Ryu Won had hurt their pride. Yeon-young watched them from a distance and scratched her head.

 “We’ve met before, haven’t we?” “Ming?” “You were the fruit vendor for me, right?” 

The sly one kicked out of Ryu Won’s arms and fell into Yeon-young’s arms. She took off her gloves and lifted the Sly in the air.

 

Looking at it again, it was clear that it was one of the Slys she had encountered when she first fell into this forest.

 “You’ve finally been reborn. Where are your friends?” 

The Sly ran across the field with all his might, trying to bring her up to speed on his friends. She couldn’t hear everything, but she got the gist.

 “So some of your friends are reincarnated and some are not?” 

It wasn’t a bad guess, and they were even more excited than before. The Slys rubbed against each other, then hugged each other again.

 

Suddenly, the surroundings slowly darkened, and the Slys began to look more like lights than clumps.

 “Huh?” 

It was like being in a dark room with thousands of candles lit.

 

A very thin thread emerged from Slidle’s body.

 

As if fascinated by something, Yeon-young slowly approached and pulled the thread from Sly’s left side.

 

The thread was elastic, like a fishing line. When she pulled on it, it didn’t break, but instead pulled her towards the thread.

 “Huh?” 

The dark background faded to white, and the Iris Forest disappeared from view completely.

 

Instead, she saw a middle-aged man sweating in the sun, selling sweets. Yeon-young watched him closely.

 

She didn’t know his name and had never seen him before, but he looked vaguely familiar. As she thought about it, she soon realized why.

 

It was the face of the man she had seen when she first fell in the forest.

 

The man’s movements were skillful, like a craftsman moving a box of fruit.

 

When Yeon-young opened her eyes, she saw Ryu Won who was frowning.

 “Ha-ha-ha.” “Yeon-young?” 

She must have fallen down again for a moment. When she stood up, the other support team had also stopped their reincarnation work and were watching her.

 

Yeon-young burst out laughing. The memory of Sly came back to her.

 

Once she started laughing, she couldn’t stop easily. Ryu Won held her breath.

 

Her long hair fluttered in the warm sun, and her eyes were so wide that he could barely see her pupils.

 

It was the first infectious smile he had seen since coming here.

 “You must have been a fruit vendor in a previous life.” 

Sly spun around in place, bouncing as if he had been hit. She laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes and couldn’t sit up, so she lay down in the field.

 

Soon the support team was back in place and Ryu Won lay down on her left side.

 “So, he only gave out good fruit.” “What did you see?” “Sly’s memories.” 

After practicing her abilities and confronting Snarl, she felt that her ability to read ghost memories had improved.

 

The difference was that abilities had their own color, making them easy to distinguish, but Slys were not so easy to distinguish.

 

The only thing that distinguished today’s Sly were the threads that protruded from the light.

 

The memories didn’t come in waves like before, but there was still no sense that they were under Yeon-young’s control.

 

She’ll just have to remember the feeling of the tug on the string, she thought.

 

The support team pressed the glass sphere against the pillar and it became transparent.

 

Maybe it was the atmosphere of the Iris Forest, but especially standing in front of the pillar, she felt like she could just let everything go.

 

She felt at peace, as if she were standing in front of a statue of a god or a Buddha in a temple.

 “I wonder why I was denied reincarnation.” 

She had become so accustomed to the world of Tanato that she no longer felt resentment for not being reincarnated, but she was curious.

 

What conditions would have to be met for the pillar to recognize her as someone who could be reincarnated?

 

Yeon-young looked at Ryu Won and felt the spring breeze around her.

 “Mr. Ryu Won, what did you mean by what you said yesterday?” “What?” “You said that you don’t want me to get involved in anything related to Snarl in the future. Are you saying that I am not good enough to join you?” 

Yeon-young decided to attack directly.

 

Ryu Won jumped up as if he hadn’t expected her to bring it up first.

 

A shadow fell over Ryu Won who was still lying in the field. His face was pressed close to hers, his back to the sky.

 

His long lashes moved slowly upward, revealing glassy eyes.

 

They held nothing but longing.

 “It’s dangerous.” “I will improve my skills.” “You’d better not do anything dangerous.” “What?” “If you get hurt or something goes wrong in front of me again… I don’t know what I’ll do.” “My hand, Yeon-young, you hold it, don’t keep trying to let go.” 

He grabbed Yeon-young’s head with both hands and pressed their foreheads together.

 

The hot sensation made her breath catch in her throat. Ryu Won’s lips twitched, but he pulled away again.

 “You don’t realize how unstable you still are.” 

Ryu Won touched her forehead with his hand and stood up. The tangled threads became even more tangled.

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