Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1124: A Comrade Whose Trustworthiness is Uncertain (9)

“...”

“...” Jung Ha-Yan was staring at me with gnashed teeth.

“...”

There was a huge change in her appearance, and it was the first thing that I noticed.

It wasn’t her style.

I wasn’t sure who dressed her, but she was wearing clothes with lots of annoying laces hanging on them, and her head was decorated with strange jewels.

Overall, she resembled a princess, so she looked cute, but her expression was anything but.

Anyone could tell that she wasn’t trying to control her anger, and I saw a slightly creepy look on her face.

She was frowning, and her face was shaking because she was gnashing her teeth.

Obviously, this wasn’t what Jung Ha-Yan looked like. I wasn’t used to her behaving like this because she had been smiling a lot recently, but I understood why she was acting this way.

If I were in her shoes…

‘I would get angry… as well…’

I was sure she was upset because she was suddenly alone.

It was only natural for her to work hard to gather enough mana to cast a detection spell on the entire continent.

In stark contrast to her hard work, I was having a dance party with the female warriors here, so I would be mad if I were Jung Ha-Yan.

If Han Sora—a Jung Ha-Yan expert were here—alarm bells would start ringing inside her head at this sight. I was sure she would feel like an incident similar to the table-flipping incident and the meteor incident was about to happen.

There was also that incident when Jung Ha-Yan crushed guys whose names I had already forgotten; there was also that time when she summoned a demon as well.

‘...’

Jung Ha-Yan looked like she wasn’t going to hold it in.

The sudden festival was soon going to turn into the festival of blood. What was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to greet her like I normally would? Or was it better to hug her tightly and act like I had been missing her?

Would that help her forget this crazy dance party?

Normally, Jung Ha-Yan would never resent me.

She would resent the environment, the situation, or other people.

I could be misunderstanding it, but her gaze looked as if she was resenting me, which was unlike her, and it made me feel uncomfortable.

I was used to receiving hate, but I disliked hate when it was coming from my family.

“Eek…”

To make things worse, she was glaring at the noona with the blindfold. Her invisible mana was about to overflow. I couldn’t think straight due to the many different thoughts in my head, so I decided to just…

“...”

“...”

I couldn’t pretend like I didn’t know her.

I smiled brightly as if nothing was going on and started spinning with her. I needed to show her that the crazy dance party wasn’t a dance of courtship by holding her hand and dancing with her.

I was simply enjoying the festival while smiling innocently.

And that was when Jung Ha-Yan’s frown became strange…

She was angry, but she was happy to see me. She was confused as well. Despite gritting her teeth, her eyes looked like they were smiling, but the emotion that stood out the most was confusion. She was questioning why I couldn't recognize her.

“I-I… O-O-O…”

I immediately stepped away before she could say anything.

“Huh? Uh… uh?”

I heard her confused voice, but I disappeared into the crowd.

“Hey, regarding earlier…”

'Sorry, blindfolded noona, but not now.'

It wasn’t the best option, but I moved to where all the big guys were and blended in with them. I pretended to be enjoying the festival, the music, and being a free spirit, but…

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it.’

I felt uncomfortable, and the people around me made it worse. Instead of countless handshakes, many offered cheap rum, and the guys I would be sharing the tent with were there as well.

“Hey! You were really amazing. Did you learn how to sing?”

“What? No, I didn’t learn… it’s just… Ah, thank you for the compliment,” I answered.

“I want to offer you a drink. Do you drink?” he asked.

“I-I’m not much of a drinker,” I replied.

“It’s a light alcoholic drink, so it should be okay,” he said.

“...”

“Let’s have a drink together,” he suggested.

“Ah… sure,” I answered.

“Cheers!”

‘What are we cheering for?’

It was also work trying to drink a drink that looked like poison just to go along with the mood.

These scummy assholes…

I was sure they were trying to get me drunk so that they could steal from me, as I obviously looked like a rookie, even though I was trying to act like a veteran.

My equipment wasn't cheap-looking as well, which made it worse.

Of course, they couldn't do that because Jung Ha-Yan was here.

Yeah, she was here.

‘Ha-Yan is actually here.’

Although I was nervous, I was happy as well. Actually, I was happier than nervous. I saw as soon as I was starting to miss the others, so, of course, I was glad to see her.

If I could, I would hug her tight, but…

‘It’s not the time for that right now.’

I had many things to explain to her, but the good thing was that she wasn’t following me. I was sure she was confused as well, and she was trying to figure out what happened earlier.

'I’ll just sing for now.'

I started by humming as I did earlier, and my clear and sweet voice reverberated throughout the intersection.

The guys who offered me drinks, the drunk ones who were screaming, and the people who were enjoying the dance party while spinning around became quiet as they listened to my voice.

I sounded kind of drunk, and the tempo was still fast as well.

I maintained the same atmosphere as before and sang a song that suited the festival.

“Everyone will remember the white mage who was blessed with magic.”

“...”

“I will be with the beautiful, noble, and pure child of magic forever.”

“...”

“I will forever remember the scenery we saw together and everything we shared.”

“...”

“I will remember the wings of blue magic and the smile of the white mage…”

“...”

The only difference from before was that I looked kind of sad right now. I was enjoying the festival; I was dancing and singing while smiling, but for some reason, I couldn’t stop having sad thoughts.

The unknown longing caused tears to well up in my large eyes.

‘Why…’

Despite enjoying the festival and the music, why was I still sad?

I had no idea, but for some reason, whenever I sang this song, I would always feel sad.

After finishing the song, I joined the people and tried to wash away this sadness with them.

“I’m feeling kind of… dizzy,” I said.

“You must’ve had too much to drink. How about you turn in for the day?” they suggested.

“It’s fine. I’m really… enjoying this place right now,” I answered.

Spending time and laughing with people was helping me… forget the loneliness that was in the corner of my heart. This night was too long for me to overcome the sense of loss.

Since I arrived here, I had always been feeling a sense of loneliness and loss. Even though the people enjoying the festival were strangers to me, I was somehow overcoming my sadness with them.

'That part of my lore was added five minutes ago…'

“You can’t even stand up straight,” someone said.

“I’m fine, though…” I argued.

“Yeah, right…” they scoffed.

“Hey! Let’s move him to the tent,” someone suggested.

“Hey, Misters. Give him to me. I’ll… support him,” the woman with the blindfold chimed in.

‘You stay out of this, noona. I’m doing this to save you, so please stay out of it.’

“No, I don’t want to leave just yet. I want to have one more drink,” I said.

“You sound like you went through a lot of things… Did something happen?” they asked.

“Did something happen… No, it’s nothing like that. Even if something did happen… it’s nothing serious. Everyone here is struggling…” I answered.

“Tsk. If you really want to have another drink, let’s drink inside… It’s starting to get cold…” they suggested.

‘These fools…’

“I don’t know what happened… but think of me as a life mentor…”

“...”

“It’s fate that we met like this. It might not be that helpful, but I’m a really good listener,” they said.

“Think you can walk?” another asked.

“I can—”

“You obviously can’t walk on your own,” someone interrupted me.

Despite looking like criminals, these fools were kinder than I thought.

They didn’t have that greedy gaze, and it seemed like they were genuinely worried about me.

They looked like bandits, so I just judged them based on their looks. However, they were more like gentle, warm-hearted middle-aged men. It was funny that vagrants were comforting a player with a bright future, but perhaps they just didn’t want me to end up like them.

“But are you a bard? Maybe changing jobs—”

“Bard, my ass. Can’t you tell just by looking at him? He's a recently summoned player. His equipment is pretty clean…” one of them argued.

“Hey… you can hear me, right? Did…anyone come with you? You don’t look like you came alone…” someone asked.

“There must be a reason why he came here. I don’t think that’s any of our business. Stop talking nonsense… and let’s take care of him. We need to repay him for the outstanding performance he put on,” another said.

‘These bandits… are nicer than I thought…’

I felt like I had been too distrustful of people lately. Since I had met quite a few scums so far, I had forgotten that the world was a kind place. Of course, I had no time to film a heartwarming drama with these middle-aged men.

One of the men was shaking, and his hands, which were supporting me, were getting sweaty. His face turned pale, and he seemed to be having a hard time breathing.

He was obviously sweating due to the energy Jung Ha-Yan was emitting, and this was the typical reaction that prey would exhibit upon encountering a predator that was on a completely different level from them.

Jung Ha-Yan came back to her senses and started looking for me again. She looked anxious, but it was clear that she had made up her mind. She was praying, hoping that she was wrong.

“O-O-Oppa?” Jung Ha-Yan said.

“...”

“O-O-Oppa… is that you?” Jung Ha-Yan asked.

“Huh?” I said.

“It’s… you, right?” Jung Ha-Yan asked again.

“Who… are… you? I asked.

“...”

“Do you know me?” I asked.

Ha-Yan’s face turned pale.

“Do you really… know me?” I asked.