The Next Life (다음 생에 만날래)

The Key

When I got to the ruins of the old house, I found that I wasn't alone. Already standing on the pavement in front of the charred remains of a building was Jennie.

"Do you sense anything?" she asked, arms crossed, not turning to look at me.

The question gave me a sense of deja vu. When I used to go on investigations with Red Velvet, she... Wendy would always ask me some variation of that question. It felt like an eternity ago. I couldn't shake a feeling of disgust with myself, for feeling that way. It was only a month since Wendy died, and over a week since I saw her for the last time.

"I can't sense things anymore, remember?" Her gaze remained fixed still on the burnt rubble, her only response being a purse of her lips. "But Mago did imply that she was destroyed in the fight."

When she finally turned to me, her gaze was sharp, calculative, intense. "You claim to have had no knowledge of the demon residing within you. Is that the truth?"

"Not until last night when Jisoo told me what happened."

Her gaze held for a while longer before she accepted my answer with a slow nod. "Indeed, it seems the repulsive aura you once had about you has since disappeared." As she continued to aimlessly inspect the burnt remains of the building, she let out a tense sigh. "Much like Delmorin, the wench of a Queen was residing here all along, and we were blind to her presence." Her fist clenched slightly, held in the small of her back. "If I had only–"

"No one could've known–"

"No, Jang Y/N." Her tone was harsh, like some of the rage I knew she held within her had slipped out for a moment, freeing itself from her restraints. She sighed again. "Had I not been blinded by my rage, and instead been more meticulous in my observations... perhaps we would have dealt with the she-devil much sooner."

Against my will, her sudden outburst triggered a memory. The fight between the Mogwai in front of me and the one I was in love with, about a week ago. Being hit by one of Jennie's attacks. The illusion I found myself in. One that seemed tame now, after what I'd gone through with the Queen.

As if reading my mind, Jennie once again spoke up. "Though, I suppose an apology is in order, Jang, for the mishap the other day. I believed Jisoo selfish for blindsiding our goal. In truth, I cannot say I have changed my mind, even now. But as it would turn out, I was no less selfish in my own actions. And despise you as I may have, you are not a person deserving of such hatred."

"Thanks... I guess?" She didn't respond, instead crouching to inspect a charred piece of rubble, her back still to me. "And... you don't need to explain yourself. Anyone would be angry after what happened to you. You had, have every right to feel the way you do."

This earned a soft, bitter chuckle from her. "So you were told of my past, I see." I took a tentative step closer. "What you would not have heard from the others, however, is that my mother appeared before me a mere two years after her demise."

Not knowing how to react to this new information, I chose to let her words ring through.

"She told me... to my face, that she wished for me to let go and move on. And yet, centuries later..." Her fingers absently traced the ground. "Even Jisoo, the strongest of us, had managed to allow herself to move on. With you, no less."

Her words echoed in my head, not knowing if anything I could say would be the right thing to say. With a deep breath, she got back up and turned to face me, closing the distance between us. Though her eyes were cold as ever, there was a crack in that facade, a hint of vulnerability. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but it almost looked like her eyes were wet, just a little.