I Don’t Want This Reincarnation

As I approached Edward without hesitation, he looked up at me with a languid smile.

“It’s nice that we can communicate well.”

“……”

I forcibly turned my gaze away from Kwon Jeong-han, who was exhaling harshly as he collapsed. The blood pools gradually spreading on the floor of the drawing room and blood running down Edward’s thin neck were gradually suffocating my breath.

“…give me the dagger.”

I held out my sweaty, cold hand to Edward.

“As you said, I came close. So—“

“Oh my, aren’t you too greedy? What can I trust in this situation to give you a dagger?”

Edward laughed out loud, and suddenly grabbed my wrist. My body, which had been so tense, flinched automatically.

“Come on, don’t do anything useless.”

Edward’s eyes moved sharply. The security guard in front of the drawing room, who secretly took out his cell phone, and Chloe, who was hiding one of her hands behind her back, stopped moving at those words.

“At the most, I try not to let Talented Han Yi-gyeol go against my will, but it all seems meaningless.”

Edward, who muttered in a voice of genuine regret, pointed his finger at Kwon Jeong-han, who was barely holding on without fainting.

“I wonder how long it will take for this poor bodyguard to die.”

“Stop it.”

I frowned and said firmly. I had to keep his eye on me somehow.

Trying to ignore the ominous beating of my heart, I forcibly raised the corners of my lips. Edward raised an eyebrow at my smile.

“Stop worrying about other people, do you have anything to do? You probably didn’t do this all the way here to bring me.”

Edward, who blinked slowly at my words, paused for a while then burst into laughter, ‘haha’.

“This is very, very unexpected…”

Edward, who muttered in an exhilarating voice enough to feel a sense of excitement, embraced me with a languid gesture.

“What…”

“That’s right, Talented Han Yi-gyeol. Without wasting any more time, shall we go?”

Edward pulled out a small marble that was in his hand. A marble that sparkled with a strange light of dark blue colour. Just looking at it gave me chill goosebumps all over my body.

The moment the heavy marble left Edward’s hand and collided with the floor, it turned into a sticky liquid and spread widely to the floor where Edward was standing.

“Yi-gyeol-ssi!”

Min Ah-rin, who was looking at me with her pale face, quickly moved, her face distorted, but the black light gushing out of the liquid quickly engulfed Edward and my body.

“Min Ah-rin-ssi, Kwon Jeong-han-ssi…”

The last word ‘please’ was engulfed in darkness and couldn’t come out of my mouth.

* * *

“Ugh…”

At the same time as my eyes were distorted, my stomach was upset with severe stinging. As I covered my mouth and vomited, Edward, who stood holding me in his arms and supporting me, patted my back two or three times disgustingly.

“Huu, put it away…”

“It seems like you haven’t experienced a lot of space movement items.”

Space movement (공간 이동). Those words reminded me of the hotel incident that moved all the participants inside the gate.

“Maybe Gulupdo Island gate…”

“Now you know?”

The darkness that filled the surroundings slowly shattered and a bright light came in. There was a white marble floor and a huge, ornate chandelier.

In the centre of the hall filled with pure white light that hurt my eyes, a man in a suit that fit his body perfectly was standing looking at me.

“……”

A sleek mask with a black crescent-shaped mouth glistened in the light. A cold sweat ran down my cheeks from the gaze beyond the mask that stared at me without saying a word.

“Are you scared? Your heart sounds very…”

Edward giggled as he put his ear to my chest in his arms. Even with those teasing words, I couldn’t take my eyes off the man with anxiety. As stiff and vigilant as a prey facing a predator, I found the man slowly raising his arm.

Tak!

The clean gloved thumb and middle finger collided, and a cheerful sound rang. Then Edward collapsed like a doll with a broken string.

“Edward!”

I quickly grabbed Edward’s body as he was falling backwards and checked his condition. Edward, with his eyes closed as if he was sleeping, seemed to have no problem except for a wound on his neck.

“You’re more scared than I thought, Talented Han Yi-gyeol.”

A soft, low voice emanated from the inside of the mask. Swallowing dry saliva, I slowly glanced at the man in front of me. There was nothing in sight except for his ebony black hair and tall stature.

‘He’s a talented person with mental ability who used Edward.’

He continued to stand without coming close from a certain distance as if observing how I would behave. After slowly blinking my eyes once, I put the name I had been thinking about for a while.

“Are you Samael?”

“Oh.”

At my words, the man touched the area around the mask’s mouth with a slightly startled voice.

“You’re quick to notice.”

“……”

“The more I look, the more I expect.”

The man, Samael, approached me with light steps. The sound of squeaking shoes echoed across the marble floor.

At Samael’s reckless approach, I carefully backed away, hiding Edward in my arms as much as possible. I quickly shook my head, swallowing the tension that had risen to the tip of my neck.

Should I use my ability? I don’t know where I am, but would I be able to escape properly? And what if Edward or my mind were controlled? Should I rather talk to him somehow to pass the time?

‘Edward should be able to escape…!’

I quickly lifted my energy. Huung, even though the wind wrapped around me, Samael walked without any other reaction.

All right. Once attack, distract his gaze, and in the meantime figure out how to get out of here…

Piing!

“Gasp!”

The moment I was about to blow a sharp wind at Samael, there was a sound of something being shot and my breath was choked. My neck was tied to a rough and thick rope that came from somewhere and fell helplessly backwards.

Kuung!

Before I could catch Edward, who had lost his mind in shock, his body was dragged to somewhere else. I couldn’t breathe with the bitter pain.

“Gasp, ugh…”

To the place where he was taken, a man in a pure white suit was holding a rope while wearing a black mask. Samael, who had been watching me as I gasped in the ropes tied around my neck, tilted his head slightly and said.

“Don’t be too tight. He’ll die.”

“Yes.”

As soon as those words were finished, the tightening on the rope loosened very slightly. It was then that I noticed the countless people surrounding me. Like the one holding the rope, they were all wearing white suits and black masks.

Even at a glance, the sight of more than 30 people standing there like mannequins doing nothing was terrifyingly bizarre.

When Samael, who passed by the fainted Edward and approached my nose, gestured, and the person holding the rope forced my upper body to stand up. My arms were bent strongly behind my back and my wrists were held firmly.

“Talented Han Yi-gyeol.”

Samael, who sat with his legs folded in line with my gaze, grabbed my chin and lifted it up. I got goosebumps on my stern back at the mask I could see closely.

“It would be better not to do anything useless. I don’t know how my children here will change after being reckless.”

“……”

At those words, Kang Seung-geon’s violent actions, unable to easily control his emotions, flashed through my mind. So, everyone here was being controlled by Samael’s mind and emotions like Kang Seung-geon?

I felt the cool air and looked around calmly. As long as Edward was in this position, I could never rebel against Samael. As he warned, it was better to keep my mouth shut and examine the situation than to act hastily.

“As expected, we can communicate well.”

Samael said in a contented voice as I remained calm with my face caught.

“Don’t be so upset. Isn’t it the same for everyone who wants useful talent? I’d rather have mine here than a boring place like Requiem.”

“…it’s quite aggressive for a scout.”

“It’s my taste. Please understand.”

“I’m sorry, but I like friendly people. I refuse the scout offer.”

“Rejected.”

As Samael murmured softly, a gloomy atmosphere, contrasting with the splendid hall filled with chandelier lights, drifted among the black-masked men.

Did I make a mistake? Swallowing dry saliva, Samael let out a light laugh and playfully tapped my cheek with his long gloved fingers.

“If you’re going to be so frightened, why are you spitting those words out? It’s cute.”

Involuntarily, power entered my forehead at the nasty sound. Samael, who had caught my annoyed gaze, let go of my chin and continued.

“It doesn’t matter. You’ll forget that you even thought about it.”

“……!”

Samael raised his white gloved hand before my eyes. The shape of a hand with his thumb and middle finger facing each other. The finger snap reminded me of Edward, who had fainted after the end of his mental control, and at the same time remembered the explanation I had heard from Kwon Jeong-han.

‘Is that a condition for activating the ability?’

A strong sense of rejection soared to the point of nausea. I hurriedly twisted my body and tried to pull out both wrists that had been caught, but I never dreamed that the opponent had a higher grade than me. Huung, the strength of the blowing wind also grew stronger at a fast pace.

“Oh my.”

Samael, who had been watching me rebel, spoke a word and one of those standing still came up to me and forced my mouth open and pushed in a small, black marble. It came in without hesitation, and the marble went through the throat without stopping it.

“Cough!”

As soon as the marble was swallowed, the movement of energy stopped like a lie. It was a shutter item. Samael tilted his head slightly as he watched me gasping and coughing.

“It’s a big deal because it tastes so much better than I expected. Originally, I was just trying to crush your mind… I need to go easy.”

My stomach turned upside down and nausea rose, but I swallowed it as much as I could, forcing the corners of my mouth up and glaring at Samael.

“Screw you, you fucking bastard.”

“Haha.”

Samael said in a soft voice with a pleasant smile.

“Then I’ll see you next time you wake up, Talented Han Yi-gyeol.”

I closed my eyes tightly at the sound of the middle and thumb snapping.