Another Tale Of A Nine Tailed

Chapter 20 - Just gone

Taluipa looked over her glasses, her face like a mask. She did not say a word and nothing in her expression was giving away what she was thinking when that little group of her most favorite visitors was standing in the hallway of the institute.

"Granny... we have a problem.." Yeon started and she took a deep breath, grabbed some papers from her desk and rolled them together. Taluipa was a tiny woman with an impressive charisma and Yi Jeong took a step back. Woo Bin was already hiding behind his back, carefully peeking over his shoulder, when she walked towards them.
She ignored Ji Ah and Yeon completely and walked straight to Yi Jeong, hitting him with the paper roll and he flinched, though it didn't actually hurt.

"You!" she said loud and accusingly. "Why are you a Gumiho? I never wanted to see your face again! You're not even half human anymore, I prayed you would never wake up but here you are and stop making that innocent face."

"Told you, not a fan..." Yeon whispered and got a slap on the head with the paper roll simply for speaking.

"Ouch! Stop hitting everyone.. And what do you mean Yi Jeong is not half human?"

"I'm sure I am, I only have one fox eye."

"Do you? Well..." now she looked at Woo Bin, her piercing eyes staring right into his soul, "This one seems to have only one brain cell and still.. he passes as human!" she took a deep breath. "You didn't want to be a Gumiho. You are human! Why aren't you happy?" with every word, Woo Bin got a hit on the head.

"Why are all of you keep going on my nerves?" she walked back to her desk and sat down with a dramatic sigh, closed her eyes and started massaging her temples.

"Just say what you want so I can say no and kick you all out."

"So it's true... You already know about Woo Bin..." Yeon said and she nodded. "His date changed last night. There's nothing I can do."

Yi Jeong swallowed down the information of him not being a hybrid anymore for now and stepped forward, showing her the drawing of the woman from the past. "Do you know who she is? Or..what? Is she still alive? We need to find Woo Bin's fox bead.. She might know something.."

Taluipa looked at him, raising and eyebrow. "You're really different from your past you. Being less arrogant suits you. Keep it."

"Please.. I'm trying to save the life of my partner. I have no memory of you or our relation. But please help me save him." Yi Jeong tried to stay calm and friendly, but his jaw was trembling.
The woman in front of him sighed again. "This isn't a very good drawing. But if you leave it here, I'll try to find her. Just keep in mind that there could be people looking just like her but being someone else. Your brother searched for the reincarnation of his love for a very long time because of that."

"Anyway... It helps. Thank you.." Yi Jeong said quietly and stepped back again.

Yeon wanted to say something but got a text message from Shin Ju, with a photo attached.

"Yi Jeong.." he walked over to his brother, showing him the photo. It showed the entrance of an old house with the image of a bird on the shop sign. Yi Jeong nodded. "That's it. That's the place I saw."

"Okay. That's good. You guys go out and call Shin Ju. I.. have to ask Granny something.." Yeon said and since everyone trusted him, it wasn't a big deal. Woo Bin felt uncomfortable anyway. He had died before, so he must have met that woman already, but it felt weird that she remembered him but he didn't know anything about her or their first encounter.

After everyone left the institute, Yeon stepped forward, leaning over the desk and ask in a low voice: "What do you mean, Yi Jeong isn't half human anymore?" his eyes shiny and in disbelief he heard that right.