Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1523. Chance Encounter, Fateful Meeting (1) [Illustration]

I saw him standing there, staring blankly in my direction. At a glance, he looked completely broken. It seemed he had entered a state beyond recovery, but this was my goal. I hadn’t torn him to pieces, but it was still a form of revenge in its own way. Instead of his body, I had torn apart his soul.

Of course, my belief had always been that, even crawling through a field of filth, it’d still be better to be alive, but given the circumstances, I was certain this was just the right kind of revenge. For the rest of his life—no, considering his lifespan, for what would feel like eternity, he would have to live drowning in doubt about himself and regret.

With just a few words, I gave him a highly cost-effective gift.

‘That’s right, damn it. If that is how he wants to live, then he should live like that. What else can I do?’

I knew it was an unreasonable demand and something that made no sense, and I had also acknowledged that it would be unfair to dump all the blame and responsibility on him just because he had refused it, but what could I do?

It was always easier to judge a situation subjectively rather than objectively, and strictly speaking, it wasn’t as if Mikael had no responsibility at all.

In fact, his share was greater than anyone else's. From conspiring with Lucifer, sneaking into the continent, to making that ridiculous contract with Kim Hyun-Sung, there wasn’t a single thing he hadn’t ruined.

‘Damn it, he should be grateful that I didn’t force him to sacrifice himself. At least he’s still alive.’

I glanced at him through the Telescope. Unable to endure the disgust toward himself, he collapsed and retched. I saw it clearly. His usual expression was nowhere to be found. Watching him sob uncontrollably made me feel a bit satisfied, but at the same time, the thought that this bastard was suffering even more lodged itself in my mind.

“...”

‘No, damn it. As I said, it’s better to completely erase him from my memory.’

That was the most fitting revenge for him. Besides, right now...

‘I don’t even have the luxury to worry about this bastard.’

I had spent too much time on a discarded piece and had leaked information that was too important. It wasn’t like I didn’t have a Plan B, but the situation was inevitably becoming more of a headache than I had expected. While I was struggling with him, Kim Hyun-Sung was already regaining his senses and trying to get back on his feet.

I thought it would be nice if he stayed in despair a little longer, but now, he looked like he had no time to grieve and switched to busy bee mode. With those eyes of his, he would realize that there was no more time to hesitate.

The end of this continent was nigh. From the north, the sky—no, the world itself was collapsing. Through the Telescope, I saw anomalies occurring all across the continent.

At the edge of the Republic, within the Union of Kingdoms, and in the Federation. I could see those strange phenomena. In the places where humanity was still managing to resist, these phenomena weren’t visible yet, but it felt like things were collapsing as if they were a part of a domino.

He couldn’t possibly know anything about the timing, but instinctively, he understood that he had to move now.

‘He should’ve just stayed pathetic a little longer. Damn it.’

Even so...

— Aaaagh! Aaaaaaaagh!

— Save... me...

— Run... run!!!

— Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

— ...

— Get up...

— Pastel...

— Get... up...

— Pastel! Pastel!!

— Hurry and get up... Run... Paint... Lindel... go to Lindel.

— Palette!! Rusvillaaa!!! Pastel... Pastel!!!

At the World Tree Front, golden rain began falling on everyone. The final scene of the World Tree Front that I had seen from backstage with Kim Hyun-Sung was unfolding right before my eyes.

I didn’t want to deliberately confirm Pastel’s end again, or rather, casting my gaze on the World Tree Front was meaningless, so I turned my head away.

I knew that it wasn't just the World Tree Front.

— Oh God. Victory! Please! Victory!

— How much longer must we keep advancing?!

— Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

— Don’t fall back! Don’t fall back!

— Val... Valhalla!

The soldiers forced themselves to grip their weapons and advance, despite being drenched in their own blood and being utterly exhausted that they could barely move.

Their end was near. Of course, the pigeons were no less injured, but watching the soldiers who were still shouting for victory, it felt as though they already knew that they would meet their end here.

I could even hear some people cursing God, but...

— Answer us with your voice! Oh God!

‘I can’t answer.’

I was not in a position to respond to their voices. If I had a little more room to spare, I'd look for a way to help those soldiers even a little, but I had already invested more than enough.

I had issued tons of continent-wide quests and even summoned the flying ark to this place. I tried to conserve my resources, but they were pushed to the brink of complete exhaustion. It was to the point that I no longer had enough to maintain the Telescope.

My mana had always been pitiful, but now, it was completely dry, and even the potions I brought as reserves were almost gone. What remained was the dagger I had always been carrying at my side and clothes that could hardly even be called armor.

I had even taken care of the bodyguard whose name I couldn’t remember, so it was hard to say, even as a joke, that the situation was good. Once again, I realized that wandering alone in search of First Life Ki-Young was by no means an easy task.

‘Should I join up with Kim Hyun-Sung?’

“...”

“...”

‘Damn it, I might actually end up going back. Damn it, if the two of us had met from the beginning, none of this would have happened.’

No, even if that nameless bastard hadn’t been by his side, there was no guarantee that things would have worked out well.

Kim Hyun-Sung was refusing to meet me, so he could try something sneaky like running away. Right now, the most important thing for him was to face First Life Ki-Young.

In fact, calling it important wasn’t enough. It would be more accurate to say that it was essential. Of course, part of it could be because he wanted to atone for what he had done or apologize to him...

‘But he probably doesn’t even know it himself...’

Obviously, he had no idea how the regression could be started or what he had to do to grind himself down and trigger it. Since First Life Ki-Young was the one who caused Kim Hyun-Sung's regression, he believed that it would be natural for him to think that First Life Ki-Young had some kind of answer to his questions.

Time was short, and the choices were limited.

I figured it would be best to move somewhere, anywhere, and quickened my pace.

Right then, the scenery slowly changed before my eyes.

‘What’s going on?’

The moment I took a step, the scenery flipped in an instant. The noises one would normally hear on a battlefield had disappeared. There were also no corpses, no blood, no traces of flesh. The sudden shift in the scenery felt similar to when I used the hexagram, and a chill ran down my spine.

Using the hexagram itself wasn’t the problem, but I was worried that I could have been sent along some ridiculous timeline and returned to the beginner village again.

In a panic, I turned on the Telescope, and fortunately, I could confirm that the timeline hadn’t changed. The collapsed Castle Rock, the crumbling World Tree Front, Kim Hyun-Sung wiping his tears and getting up, and that nameless bastard retching, all of it was still there.

However, I was somehow inside the pigeons’ nest. If I had to describe it, this place was a cage within a cage—an artificial space.

Naturally, I felt like Lucifer had decided to move me here, or perhaps it was the will of the system. I couldn’t tell whose work it was, but one thing was certain—there was a reason I was brought here.

It didn’t feel like it wanted something from me, but rather, my arrival here was inevitable.

Naturally—no, unnaturally, I could instinctively tell what was waiting at the end of this corridor and what existed there. I slowed down my pace as I walked step by step toward it.

‘Did you help me, or are you trying to stir things up?’

“...”

“...”

‘I don’t know what she wants, but it’s not so bad.’

My options were forcibly narrowed down. She didn’t ask anything of me, nor did she propose any kind of deal. Perhaps she simply wanted to see the end of this play. I took another step forward, then stopped. A small, cheap inn that didn’t fit the place at all came into view. It was a bewildering sight.

It was ridiculous that someone would build something like that inside what looked like a pigeon’s nest, but for some reason, it was also a building I felt like I had seen at least once before.

It wasn’t from the second life. Yeah, it was a building I had once seen in Kasugano Yuno’s memories.

It was probably the cheap inn where Park Deok-Gu and First Life Lee Ki-Young stayed. They stayed there the longest. As for whether it was for his mental stability or he felt he couldn’t endure living without indulging in nostalgia, I couldn’t be sure, but he had clearly recreated the inn they had stayed in before.

If nothing else, there was one thing I could say for certain. His sense of aesthetics was completely nonexistent. It felt uncomfortable to step into his sanctuary, but I moved forward anyway. Once the cheap inn was right in front of me...

‘Should I knock?’

Knock knock.

The door opened the moment I knocked. There were no traps. It just seemed like measures had been taken to prevent the inn from being damaged. I entered, feeling a bit nervous, and I saw the reception desk as well as the dining area.

It looked just like any cheap inn. The smell hit me right away. It had the same smell as the inns I used to visit often with Big Boy and the others.

Cheap rum, stew, and the sweat of unwashed men. The most absurd thing was that I could see clerks and people staying in the dining area. Of course, they weren’t real humans. They were already dead and were just things spouting pre-programmed lines.

“Hahahahaha! Cheers! Cheers! To another energetic day!”

“Welcome to our inn. How many guests?”

“Heard any interesting stories lately?”

“There is a pretty good commission, but my party member died last week. Damn it... do you have any information on the scrawny guy who hangs around with that big warrior staying upstairs?”

“He looks like he just finished the tutorial... Surprisingly, that scrawny guy is considered more useful than the big guy.”

“If trained well, he might turn out decent... Should I take him along?”

“Do whatever you want.”

‘This bastard is seriously insane. This is actually terrifying.’

“Hahahahaha! Cheers! Cheers! To another energetic day!”

“Welcome to our inn. How many guests?”

“Heard any interesting stories lately?”

“There is a pretty good commission, but my party member died last week. Damn it... do you have any information on the scrawny guy who hangs around with that big warrior staying upstairs?”

“He looks like he just finished the tutorial... Surprisingly, that scrawny guy is considered more useful than the big guy.”

“If trained well, he might turn out decent... Should I take him along?”

“Do whatever you want.”

‘If this isn’t the work of a lunatic, then what the hell is it?’

“...”

“...”

“Ahhh, they came down. They’re finally coming down. I was wondering what they were doing, holed up in their room and not coming out...”

I wondered for a moment if he had gone as far as recreating Park Deok-Gu and bringing him along, but it didn’t seem like that was the case.

“That body of his is seriously impressive, but I can’t tell if he’s just a coward or if it’s because of trauma... What a shame. Really a shame.”

What caught me off guard was that the ones in the dining hall were acting as if they were actually seeing Park Deok-Gu. I could hear them throwing out all kinds of comments about the non-existent pig.

“Hey, bros. Want to come over and have a drink while we talk? We’re thinking of going to hunt some goblins, but we are short on people...”

Clap!

I heard a clap, and the chattering corpses all looked up at the same time.

“...”

“...”

“How did you manage to find your way here, you idiot?”

I saw First Life Ki-Young standing there, holding an axe in one hand while staring straight at me.

“...”

‘Damn... he actually looks pretty strong.’

“...”

I felt like I had stumbled upon a hidden boss with a backstory.