Not A Regressor - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 103
The Swindler’s Path to Victory (5)
Squelch.
Like summer ice cream melting away.
Skin sagged and drooped, becoming formless.
Flesh and muscle intertwined, reshaping the face in the blink of an eye.
Then.
The face that had been shifting by the second settled into the visage of a young man.
Hair with a slight curl to it.
Eyes that held both gentleness and a certain decadent quality.
A man like a poisoned apple.
“…Kwon, O-jin?”
“It hasn’t been that long, though I suppose it’s been longer than just a moment.”
Blue eyes gleamed eerily in the darkness, fixed upon Cheon Woo-sung.
“Anyway. Have you been well, kid?”
“Who are you calling a kid?”
“You, of course. Who else is here?”
Heh.
Kwon O-jin let out a short chuckle and stepped toward Cheon Woo-sung.
Thud, thud.
The sound of footsteps echoed through the passage shrouded in thick darkness.
“I’m hardly at an age to be called a kid.”
Cheon Woo-sung bit his lip hard and pushed himself to his feet.
Blood continued to flow from his flank, where Black Lion had slashed him.
But it wasn’t enough to prevent him from fighting.
“Simply having lived years doesn’t make one an adult.”
Kwon O-jin drew a metal rod from his waist.
Click!
As he infused it with mana, the rod—once the size of a flashlight—transformed into the shape of a spear.
“Is all of this… your doing?”
“Who knows?”
He twirled the grasped spear and lifted the corners of his mouth into a smile.
….
Cheon Woo-sung’s eyes gleamed with cold intensity.
“Do you truly believe you’ll escape unscathed after touching the Black Star Society?”
“I won’t escape unscathed.”
That’s why.
“I’ll crush them all.”
So they never dare to act again.
Thoroughly.
“…Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped Cheon Woo-sung’s lips.
Crush the entire Black Star Society?
A mere 5-star Awakened User doing it alone?
“How fortunate to be chosen by Polaris—your arrogance reaches the heavens.”
Cheon Woo-sung’s gaze turned sharp, fixed upon Kwon O-jin.
“You understand nothing about the Black Star Society.”
“You don’t?”
“What?”
“I said you don’t know a damn thing, you bastard.”
“….”
A brilliant azure light flickered within Kwon O-jin’s eyes.
“Vega Star’s awakening….”
“Not that.”
He chuckled, his shoulders trembling with mirth.
“Who I am, how I’ve lived, what I possess, and what I can do.”
I don’t know much about the Black Star Society yet.
There’s far more I don’t know.
But.
The same applies to them.
“You don’t know, do you?”
“….”
Gazing at the silent Cheon Woo-sung, Kwon O-jin smiled quietly.
“You asked if I could touch the Black Star Society and walk away unscathed.”
Then.
“Do you think you can touch me and walk away unscathed?”
Crackle!!
Azure lightning blazed forth, illuminating the darkness.
“…Ha.”
Cheon Woo-sung regarded Kwon O-jin with contemptuous eyes.
“A mere 5-star Awakened User….”
His gaze ignited with visceral hatred.
Not directed at Kwon O-jin alone.
Hatred toward all Awakened Users.
“Where does such insolence come from!!”
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!!
Like an owl spreading its wings wide.
Massive black wings unfurled from Cheon Woo-sung’s back.
-Boom!!
With a violent explosion, black feathers cascaded toward Kwon O-jin.
“I suppose there’s only one way to find out whether you’re being arrogant or not.”
Kwon O-jin’s lips curled into a smirk as I raised the spear.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!
I spun the spear at tremendous speed, extending both arms forward.
A barrier of azure lightning materialized before me.
-CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!!!
The deafening ring of metal echoed through the air.
“It’s futile!!!”
Cheon Woo-sung crossed both arms savagely.
-BOOM!!!
The cascade of black feathers that had been falling suddenly detonated in unison.
The same technique Ashad Khan had used.
“Ugh!”
Skid, skid, skid.
My body was driven backward.
The palm gripping the spear split open from the violent impact.
“Is that all you’ve got?!”
Cheon Woo-sung extended his hand to the side.
The black feathers coalesced and transformed into the shape of a blade.
A grotesquely elongated sword with an edge exceeding two meters in length.
“So that’s the extent of your arrogance?!”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Black wings fluttered as Cheon Woo-sung’s body lifted slightly into the air.
Suspended in midair, he brought the blade down with savage ferocity.
-CLANG! CLANG!
I raised the spear to block the sword strike.
Boom!
The impact felt like being struck by a truck weighing dozens of tons.
The tunnel floor beneath my feet caved inward as my body sank into the earth up to my knees.
“Mere! Mere! Mere!!”
Boom! Boom! Crash!
Suspended in the air, Cheon Woo-sung gripped the blade with both hands and brought it down repeatedly in succession.
His stance resembled wielding a hammer rather than a sword.
“Ugh!”
A stream of blood trickled from my lips.
The tremendous force transmitted through my arms had ravaged my insides.
“Hnn!”
I drew a sharp breath and concentrated the lightning into both legs.
‘Explosive Thunder!’
BOOM!!!
My legs, buried in the ground up to my knees, wrenched free and snapped backward, creating distance between us.
-Crash!
Cheon Woo-sung’s blade pierced through the floor and sank deep into the earth.
“Phew.”
Kwon O-jin, now at a distance, observed Cheon Woo-sung with narrowed eyes.
‘To possess such power despite those wounds…’
Indeed.
Cheon Woo-sung, known as the King’s Proxy, demonstrated the prowess I had anticipated.
‘But he’s not a 9-Star.’
Had Cheon Woo-sung been the trans-human monstrosity called a high-tier Awakened User, he would never have sustained such wounds from Lee Woo-hyuk in the first place.
‘Upper-tier among 8-Stars… or perhaps the very pinnacle.’
In terms of pure ability, he was likely comparable to Lee Woo-hyuk, or perhaps slightly beneath him.
‘Perfect.’
My battle with Park Geon-woo had ended so disappointingly that I found myself starving for a true clash with a formidable opponent.
“Exceed.”
Crackle, crackle, crackle!!
Azure lightning erupted in a violent burst.
“Ah, so you do have hidden techniques up your sleeve?”
Cheon Woo-sung smiled coldly as he raised his blade.
“Let’s see just how impressive—”
He brought it down.
“—these hidden tricks of yours truly are!!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!
Black feathers coalesced and shot forth in the wake of the blade’s swing.
It resembled the discharge of a sword aura.
-Clang! Clang!
Kwon O-jin pushed backward and spread both arms wide.
The wire shooter blazed as wires unfurled like a net, blocking the passage.
-Crash!
The black feathers, stopped by the wires, fell to the ground.
“You think mere wire strands can stop me?!”
Cheon Woo-sung scoffed.
He spread his wings wide and soared upward, then brought his blade down against the tangled net of wires.
Slice!
Just as the blade severed halfway through the intricately woven wires—
‘Thunder Flame.’
Whoosh!
Azure flames born of lightning raced along the wires and coiled around Cheon Woo-sung’s blade.
“Grraaahhh!”
Cheon Woo-sung’s expression twisted as the lightning that flowed through his blade seared his body.
My hand gripping the sword trembled violently.
“Damn it!”
I hastily dropped the blade and unfurled my wings, retreating backward.
-Tap-tap-tap!
Kwon O-jin, spear in hand, charged along the tunnel wall in pursuit.
Boom!
He kicked off the ground with brutal force, driving the spear down toward Cheon Woo-sung’s neck.
-Crash!!!
It was a clean strike, executed with textbook precision.
But the spear aimed at his neck was suddenly intercepted by black wings that erupted from the side.
The spear bounced back.
‘Thunder Spear.’
Kwon O-jin didn’t resist the recoil traveling through his palm—instead, he surrendered to its momentum.
With the spear planted firmly in the ground, he spun through the air and swept his left leg backward.
His target: the long sword wound carved across Cheon Woo-sung’s flank.
I unleash a full-power kick at that exact spot!
-Thud!
“Ugh!”
A pained groan escaped Cheon Woo-sung’s lips as the unprotected area took the full brunt of the strike.
-Crash! Skid!
He tumbles backward ungracefully, rolling across the floor.
“Grrr…”
As he clutches his wounded flank and desperately tries to rise—
‘Thunder Spear, Explosion Spear.’
I wrench the spear from the ground and thrust it forward with all my might.
The intertwined energies of Thunder and Explosion Spear spread in a fan formation, targeting the fallen Cheon Woo-sung.
-Kaboom!
A deafening roar shakes the tunnel.
“Ahhhhh!!”
Cheon Woo-sung tumbles across the floor, blood spraying from his body.
His entire form is drenched in blood—save for the black wings sprouting from his back.
“Haa… haa!”
Ragged breathing.
Cheon Woo-sung grinds his teeth, pressing his hand against the wound on his flank.
Had I fought in perfect condition, I wouldn’t have been pushed back so pathetically, but the wound made it difficult to fight properly.
Cheon Woo-sung glared at Kwon O-jin with sharp eyes, still clutching his injury.
“…Hero or whatever you call yourself—in the end, your true nature is just a swindler who knows only how to deceive and exploit others.”
Wobble.
He staggers to his feet.
“What… I already knew it. That all Awakened Users are just like you.”
Arrogant and conceited.
Disrespectful.
“Nothing but garbage who know only how to demean and plunder others.”
Cheon Woo-sung glared at Kwon O-jin with eyes burning with hatred.
“….”
Kwon O-jin kept his mouth firmly shut, simply staring back at Cheon Woo-sung.
“That’s right… you’ll never change. Never.”
Grind.
Cheon Woo-sung gnashed his teeth savagely.
The memory from nine years ago surfaced in his mind.
-Run, Woo-sung! Run away!
Ash and dust scattered through the air.
In that hellscape filled with screams and shrieks, his mother’s desperate gestures beckoning him to escape.
It wasn’t a monster that had brutally killed his mother back then.
-Puhahahaha!! This is~ a scene that would make anyone cry, isn’t it?
-Krkrkr, why? Bitter about it? You should’ve been chosen by a Constellation too.
Those who had awakened to the stars.
The transcendents blessed by a Constellation’s selection turned their weapons not toward monsters, but toward the powerless unawakened.
Rather than protecting the weak, they wielded their transcendent power freely, trampling and demeaning them.
Yes.
That was the true nature of awakened ones.
Their unchanging essence.
“If only people like you didn’t exist… my mother… by now…!”
Transparent tears streamed down Cheon Woo-sung’s cheeks.
Though he had later received the stigma of Vega Star through Cheon Do-yoon’s help.
By then, everything had already been lost.
“Do you understand the despair of one who has nothing left to protect!!”
All that remained was boundless hatred.
Only his hatred toward the awakened ones who had made him this way drove him forward.
“So?”
“…What?”
Kwon O-jin stared at Cheon Woo-sung with eyes sunken deep.
“So what do you want me to do about it?”
“….”
“Why? Should I listen to your sob story and cry crocodile tears saying, oh how tragic, what a pitiful tale…? Is that what you want?”
What did it matter to him whether this man had lost his mother or father to awakened ones?
“Fine. Since we’re already talking, let me ask you something too.”
He continued in a voice turned ice-cold.
“If you hate awakened ones so much, why did you kill unawakened people this time?”
“That’s….”
A sharp intake of breath.
Cheon Woo-sung’s shoulders trembled.
“For… for the greater good…?”
“A noble sacrifice, you say?”
“…”
“I was there when it happened.”
Horrific screams and wails.
Parents clinging to their children, children clinging to their parents, lovers clinging to one another.
People weeping tears of anguish.
“How are you any different from those Awakened who murdered your mother?”
“It’s… it’s different!”
“Then what exactly is the difference?”
Cheon Woo-sung clenched his fists with raw intensity.
“That was… an unavoidable sacrifice.”
If I could only seize control of the Association.
I could construct far more centers than we have now.
I could use public authority to judge every Awakened who dared lay hands on civilians.
I could save more lives.
I could protect more people.
That’s why.
This is.
An unavoidable━.
“Stop your sniveling, you brat.”
Step, step.
Kwon O-jin advanced toward Cheon Woo-sung with measured, deliberate strides.
“What’s with all this flowery talk?”
I glared at Cheon Woo-sung, whose body quivered with fear.
“I’m not blaming you. Revenge against Awakened? Do as you please. Stage a terror attack to bring down the Association President? You’re perfectly capable of it.”
I disregard means and methods in pursuit of my goals.
Cheon Woo-sung and I are no different in that regard.
But.
“Here’s the thing.”
I seized a fistful of Cheon Woo-sung’s hair.
“If you’re going to trample over others regardless,”
I raised my fist.
Crackle!!
Blue lightning blazed forth with savage fury.
“At least don’t dress it up in such hollow convictions.”
Smash!!
My fist, wreathed in blue lightning, struck Cheon Woo-sung’s cheek with brutal force.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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