I Don’t Want This Reincarnation

“And, this is off topic…” Lee Joo-ha did not leave after saying her piece. She looked around, lowering her voice as she said, “But Tae-heon said that you aren’t the type of person to sell information to the Requiem Master.”

“…pardon?”

What was she saying?

I frowned at the sudden remark. Me, selling information? To Cheon Sa-yeon?

“To be honest, I used to doubt you. I thought you gave Tae-heon the SS-class coat to use him, so when I heard that Master Cheon Sa-yeon threatened Tae-heon with the SS-class coat, I was very angry.”

“……”

It was difficult to properly understand what Lee Joo-ha was saying. A sense of coldness fell upon my heart.

“That’s what I thought of you… But Tae-heon told me what happened back there. He doesn’t think you’re the kind of person who would do such a cowardly thing. So I’ll trust you once. If the coat’s owner says so, and I keep doubting you, what am I supposed to do? And it’s true that I owe you my life.”

As if she had finally released her tightly concealed thoughts, Lee Joo-ha smiled satisfactorily and held out her hand.

“Anyway, let’s bury our past grievances for now. I’ll also set aside my suspicions and get to know you properly.”

“…I appreciate that you told me this.”

Hiding my confusion, I forcibly pulled up the corners of my mouth and shook her hand.

“I’m sorry for interrupting your rest. I’ll get going now. Make sure you get your injuries treated.”

Lee Joo-ha turned her back, looking relieved. I stared as Lee Joo-ha left, and closed my eyes tightly.

‘Cheon Sa-yeon… threatened him? Ha Tae-heon?’

With the SS-class coat that I got for Ha Tae-heon?

Furious anger engulfed my chest and all sorts of negative emotions ran through my head. I lowered my head and covered my eyes with my cold hand. Something hot was gurgling and rising out of my throat.

‘So…’

So that’s why Ha Tae-heon looked at me like that. The day I visited Roheon Guild for mercenary work, I remembered Ha Tae-heon’s particularly cold attitude, which had confused me.

“Ha, fuck…” I swore with a disappointed smile on my face. I bit my lips until it hurt.

I already knew it, that Cheon Sa-yeon was such a bastard. My grudge toward him, rarely abating, became overwhelming.

I certainly knew that if it benefitted him, he’d use everything around him without an ounce of guilt, like a piece of garbage.

I knew…

“Han Yi-gyeol?”

I slowly lowered my hand and looked up. I saw Cheon Sa-yeon standing there, looking at me with his suit jacket on his arm. When I saw that face, all of a sudden, everything felt so ridiculous.

“What’s wrong? If it started hurting more…”

“Not another step.”

I stopped him as he came closer. Cheon Sa-yeon narrowed his eyes at my cold gaze. A tense atmosphere, thicker than ever before, fell upon us.

Cheon Sa-yeon, slowly looking around, said in a displeased tone, “It seems while I was gone…”

“……”

“Someone has been here.”

I opened my mouth, but I didn’t spit out a response. What was the use of having a conversation? After all, we were only using each other, Cheon Sa-yeon and I.

‘It’s stupid of me to feel betrayed by that bastard.’

However, despite my thoughts, my complicated feelings kept dragging me back down, endlessly. I felt pathetic for feeling this way.

“Tell me, Han Yi-gyeol.”

“……”

“Is there a problem?”

Instead of answering, I shook my head. I didn’t want to share any words with Cheon Sa-yeon. When I closed my mouth and avoided his gaze, Cheon Sa-yeon dropped his smile like he took off a mask.

“Ugh…!”

He strode over and grabbed my wrist. His skin was quite cold.

“Your fever is rising again.”

“Let go.”

“Why are you like this all of a sudden?”

“Ugh… that—that hurts!”

A strong pain swept over my wrist. As I clenched my teeth and twisted my body away, Cheon Sa-yeon slightly loosened his grip.

Regretfully, he said, “It won’t hurt if you’re honest.”

I smiled, as my face twisted in pain. Who was the one saying bullshit right now? You annoying son of bitch.

“It has nothing to do with you, so don’t worry about it.”

Yeah. This was just between me and Ha Tae-heon. It didn’t involve someone like you.

Cheon Sa-yeon’s eyebrows twitched, a look of displeasure on his face. Just as he was about to say something, an unfamiliar voice intervened between us.

“Han Yi-gyeol-ssi?”

It was the healer who gave me first aid earlier. She bowed her head slightly and greeted Cheon Sa-yeon, pointing to the back.

“They’re saying that the portal’s installation is complete. We’ll start with the injured people first. We have an ambulance on standby so we can go to the hospital as soon as we reach Incheon.”

“…let’s go right away.”

Cheon Sa-yeon, who answered on my behalf, released my wrist and supported my shoulders so that I could stand up. He had a very different attitude than when he grabbed my wrist.

Even though I wanted to get rid of his hands, I gave up and accepted his help because I didn’t know how to tell him off.

Supported by Cheon Sa-yeon, I walked over to where the portal was installed. A white, round light was shining brightly on the floor and, in front of it, Choi Mi-jin stood.

“Ability User Han Yi-gyeol.”

Choi Mi-jin, with dark bags under her eyes, approached me. Even though she looked tired, she had a smile on her lips.

“I heard what happened in the gate. On behalf of everyone, I would like to thank you.”

“No. I just did what I had to do.”

When I smiled awkwardly and gave a normal answer, Choi Mi-jin‘s eyes twinkled. What was it?

“Is that what you think?”

“Yes?”

“I’d like to have a word…”

“Let’s stop there.”

Cheon Sa-yeon interrupted in a rare, annoyed voice. Choi Mi-jin, quickly noticing that Cheon Sa-yeon was in a temperamental state, nodded her head and stepped back.

“That’s fine. It’s not a good time now… It’s best to leave first. Are you travelling with him, Master Cheon Sa-yeon?”

“I am.”

“All right. Then, Ability User Han Yi-gyeol, let’s talk later.”

Leaving Choi Mi-jin behind, I stood in the portal with Cheon Sa-yeon. Portals were difficult to install and there was a limit to how many people could be moved, so it was only used when there were injured people like me.

The pure white light grew brighter and brighter, engulfing me and Cheon Sa-yeon. As my vision filled with light, I staggered, growing dizzy. Even still, I could feel him holding me tightly from behind.

* * *

It came as a shock to many people when they heard the news of an unprecedented amount of ability users being transported into a gate through the hotel floor. And when they heard that most of the ability users present were guild masters, domestic and foreign media started rushing about, here and there.

…that said, it had nothing to do with me, an independent ability user.

At that time, I arrived at Incheon and took the waiting ambulance straight to the hospital. After I was examined by a doctor, I was treated by a healer and was able to recover without a single wound.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who accompanied me to the hospital, took me to the guild as soon as the healer was done—now a week has passed and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him*.

‘Of course, he’s probably busy because of what happened.’

Not just Cheon Sa-yeon, but other guild masters were probably similarly busy. We didn’t find the culprit, let alone how we were moved inside the gate, so the commotion would continue for a while.

As I was leisurely lying on the sofa, I felt a heavy weight settle on me. When I opened my eyes, I saw it was Kim Woo-jin who was on my body, and he smiled brightly at me. No, seeing this kind of behaviour—it wasn’t Kim Woo-jin, but his clone.

In order to train his ability, Kim Woo-jin always had one clone out. He didn’t seem to like it very much, but well, he needed practice.

“You’re heavy…”

Despite the complaint, Kim Woo-jin’s clone only smiled and leaned against me. I sighed and patted his back, but then his owner ran over and grabbed his clone’s neck.

“Get up.”

“Don’t wanna!”

At Kim Woo-jin’s cold words, his clone resisted loudly. At the beginning, the clone looked kind of stupid, but Kim Woo-jin’s efforts paid off and his clone became clearer—though, he was still clinging onto me.

“If he’s bothering you, you have to teach him a lesson. Why are you humouring him?” Kim Woo-jin nagged, scrambling to peel off the clone pressed against me. That was a bit unfair.

“What’s wrong? He is your clone.”

“A clone’s a clone, not me.”

What did you mean?

“Are you telling me to distance myself from him and your other clones**?” I asked, genuinely curious, but Kim Woo-jin’s eyes became even sharper.

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Is it…?”

It was strangely awkward logic, but I couldn’t figure out why. As I rolled my eyes about, puzzled, there was a knock at the door.

“Yi-gyeol-ssi~.”

It was Min Ah-rin, who came over to play like she has everyday for the past week—basically stamping in her attendance. Patting the head of the clone who opened the door for her for a job well done, Min Ah-rin approached me.

“You’re lying down today as well.”

“I should rest when I can,” I greeted Min Ah-rin while lying down. She smiled and handed me a box of cookies.

“A colleague bought these cookies after my vacation. Yi-gyeol-ssi likes sweet things, so I figured you’d enjoy them.”

“Thank you.”

Oh, cookies. In gratitude, I politely received the cookie box with both hands. Snacks were the best.

Meanwhile, the clone approached me as I sat down to open the box of cookies.

“Eat it with milk.”

Kim Woo-jin placed a cup of milk on the table. I patted the clone who stuck to me and put a cookie in my mouth. A sweet chocolate flavour spread throughout my mouth.

“Still, I’m glad you seem to feel better today.”

“Me?”

Min Ah-rin, sitting on the sofa opposite of me, placed a cookie in Kim Woo-jin’s hand as he handed her a glass of milk.

She said, “Yes, you’ve been depressed since the hotel incident. You’ve also looked lethargic.”

“Um…”

I tried to hide it as much as possible, but it still showed. That was the reason Min Ah-rin came every day for a week.

Kim Woo-jin also didn’t say anything, but he probably noticed it earlier. He was the kind of guy who was sharper than he looked.

“Just, you know… It’s not really something to be concerned about.”

“That’s good to hear.”

I swallowed back a sigh as I looked at Min Ah-rin and Kim Woo-jin, who were both looking at my face. I couldn’t make up my mind so I was lingering on that one problem, but it only made the people around me worry for nothing.

As I drank the milk, I thought of Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon. Cheon Sa-yeon… I didn’t want to see him yet. Ha Tae-heon, I would try to contact soon. There were a lot of things that needed to be solved here and there, so even if I dragged my feet, it would only make myself uncomfortable.