Not A Regressor - Chapter 112

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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 112
Hunting the Owls (3)
—Click.
I opened the door to the interrogation room, protected by various sacred relics.
‘I knew there was a facility like this in the Association Underground, but this is my first time actually visiting.’
Kwon O-jin whistled softly as he surveyed the drab interior.
“I’ve come to interrogate the criminals.”
“Yes, sir! Identity verification complete, Special Investigator!”
When I showed my credentials to the Association member guarding the interrogation room, they saluted with perfect posture.
“Don’t let anyone inside.”
“Understood!”
Creak.
I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.
“Ugh! Uuugh!”
“Ugh! Uuuuugh!!”
Nine Owls were restrained and held captive within the interrogation room.
Cheon Woo-sung’s direct subordinates.
They were classified as elite powerhouses within the Owl Faction, but they couldn’t withstand the combined assault of the Valhalla Guild and the Association’s Special Investigators.
‘After all, Cheon Woo-sung fled the moment combat began.’
In terms of warfare, it was as though the commander had abandoned his troops—their complete suppression was inevitable.
“Twelve died during the engagement, and only nine survived, apparently.”
I let out a soft chuckle as I reviewed the documents Han Manager had provided.
‘Nine is more than enough.’
It was certain that these individuals possessed information about the Black Star Society’s headquarters.
After all, the intelligence about 3,000 Black Star Society members at the headquarters had come from their mouths in the first place.
‘The location is something they can’t speak of due to a curse seal, even if they wanted to.’
I had already devised a method to break the curse seal.
‘A newly acquired ability.’
I opened my status window and displayed the list of Black Heaven’s characteristics.
【Black Heaven (黑天)】
1. Status: Four-Star Awakening
2. Characteristics
① Star Mark Absorption: Absorbs the magical power of star marks and stores it within Black Heaven.
② Black Veil: Conceals all auras, including that of Black Heaven. This can be adjusted at the user’s discretion.
③ Transmission: Reads the records contained within star marks. Affected by Black Heaven’s awakening stage.
④ Myriad Streams Return to Source: The proficiency of the primary star mark influences other star marks.
⑤ Transformation: Uses the magical power of star marks to freely alter one’s physical form.
⑥ Dominion: Exerts control over awakened users who possess subordinate star marks.
The characteristics, which had initially numbered only three, had somehow doubled.
When I lightly tapped the characteristic labeled ‘Dominion,’ a detailed explanation appeared along with a warning message.
[The higher the Star rating of the target you wish to dominate, the greater their resistance to domination.]
[The more targets you attempt to dominate, the weaker the domination effect becomes.]
[The domination effect grows stronger depending on the psychological state of the target.]
A newly acquired ability: Domination.
‘After all, the Seal is just a form of domination in disguise.’
If that were the case.
There was no way I couldn’t break the Seal if I could use the same domination ability myself.
‘The domination effect grows stronger depending on the psychological state, they said.’
Then I needed to pressure my opponent into a state where rational thought became difficult.
“Mmph! Mmmph!!”
I brought one of the bound Owls and removed the gag from their mouth.
“Hah!”
A man with a menacing expression exhaled rough, ragged breaths.
“Now, I have a few questions for you.”
“I already told you everything I know! What more do you want, damn it?!”
Even in captivity, the man strained his neck and shouted defiantly.
“I can’t tell you the headquarters’ location even if I wanted to!!”
“Hmm. Is that so?”
Drag.
I pulled a chair over and sat before the man, drawing a short blade from the holster at my thigh.
“What, what is this?”
Flinch.
The man’s shoulders trembled.
“Ha, are you trying to threaten me with that? Go ahead and try if you dare!”
He flashed a cocky smile, his laughter dripping with bravado.
“You know what happens if it comes out that a government agency used violence during interrogation, don’t you?”
“Of course. I know well.”
Despite wielding considerable state authority, the Association was ultimately a government-run public institution.
If word leaked out that torture or violence had been used during the interrogation of a captured criminal, it would naturally become a problem.
“Heh heh. Then put that blade away right now—”
Squelch!!
Without hesitation, I drove the blade into the back of his hand.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!”
A scream tore from his throat.
Writhing in agony, the chair he was bound to rattled and shook.
“You, you bastards!! Do you think you’ll walk away unscathed after this?!”
“Why? Are you going to report us?”
Twist, twist.
I twisted the blade embedded in the back of his hand this way and that.
“Aaahhh!! This, this is a human rights violation!!”
“Human rights violations?”
“That’s right! I demand a fair trial! Get me a lawyer immediately!”
Surprising as it was.
Even a terrorist who had unleashed a demonic beast in the heart of the city and massacred hundreds of civilians officially possessed something called human rights.
The right to undergo trial through proper procedure and to retain legal counsel.
Of course.
‘Officially’.
“Spouting nonsense about human rights.”
Wrench!
I twisted the dagger with far greater force.
“Ahhhhgh!! Kack!!”
“When have you people ever cared about human rights in your lives? And now you’re whining about it?”
“P-please! Stop! Stoooop!!”
“The people you killed had human rights too, didn’t they? Right?”
I tilted my head and brought my face closer.
“H-hiccup!”
“If you trampled on someone else’s life, shouldn’t you be prepared to have your own trampled as well?”
“Ugghhhhh!”
The man bit his lip as he stared down at his hand, blood streaming freely from it.
“Th-this torture during interrogation… I’ll file a complaint… with the Association…”
It seemed.
He still hadn’t developed the resolve to be trampled.
“Is that so?”
Well.
People don’t change easily with just a few words.
“I need a lawyer… right now…”
“Our friend here really values procedure, doesn’t he?”
In that case.
“Then I should follow proper procedure too.”
I withdrew the dagger that had been piercing the back of his hand.
“Ugh!”
“You know what, friend?”
Wisp, wisp. I wiped the blood from the dagger and placed it in the man’s hand.
“A Special Investigator has the right to respond immediately if attacked during interrogation.”
“…What do you mean…”
“Haven’t you seen it in movies? A criminal hiding a weapon secretly causes a scene in the interrogation room?”
“Th-there’s no hidden weapon!”
“No hidden weapon? Then what’s this?”
I pointed at the dagger in the man’s hand.
“There’s a weapon right here.”
“Don’t spout nonsense, you bastard! This is what you gave me…!”
“Whether it’s nonsense or not isn’t for you to decide.”
I forcibly grabbed the wrist of the man holding the dagger.
“W-what?”
The man twisted his body desperately to wrench his hand free, but there was no way he could overcome me in raw strength.
-Thunk.
The blade embedded itself in my temple.
I slowly lowered my hand, dragging it down to the tip of my chin.
This wasn’t just a shallow cut to the skin.
A deep wound so severe that bone gleamed through the split flesh.
Blood streamed down my cheek, drenching my body.
“Y-you crazy bastard!”
This wasn’t the kind of wound meant to deceive someone.
A wound so fatal that if the blade had gone even a few millimeters deeper, it could have cost him his life.
With a wound of this severity.
There was no need to wonder where suspicion would fall.
“How’s that? Don’t you think this is more than enough to establish self-defense?”
I smiled broadly, drenched in blood.
The man’s face drained of all color.
“Well then.”
I took the dagger from the man’s hand once more.
“Let’s start again.”
Thunk!!!
“Aaaahhhhh!!”
I slashed the man’s body with the blade.
“N-no! Stop! Stoooop!!”
He shrieked in anguish and despair.
Psychologically cornered completely.
The man’s eyes trembled pitifully, consumed by the emotion of ‘fear’.
My eyes gleamed as I observed his reaction.
‘Now.’
I seized the man’s head with my hand.
Black smoke leaked from my palm, burrowing into his mind.
[The target’s ‘Star’ is high. It resists domination.]
As expected.
As Cheon Woo-sung’s direct subordinate, he didn’t yield to domination easily.
But.
[The target’s psychological state is extremely unstable. Resistance to domination decreases.]
[Domination has been successfully achieved!]
Just as I thought.
All the fear I’d instilled, even if I’d overdone it, had been worth the effort.
“Hah….”
The moment my dominion took hold, the man’s eyes glazed over.
“Now then, think you can answer my questions?”
“A-anything… you… wish to know….”
His words came in stutters.
The man who’d been thrashing about with veins bulging from his neck now nodded obediently, docile as a lamb.
“First, where is the Black Star Society’s headquarters located?”
“S-Seoul… Y-Yongsan… sir.”
“What?”
Are you kidding me?
Yongsan? That’s practically right under my nose.
“How in the world have you been hiding there?”
Yongsan was literally in the heart of Seoul.
With all of South Korea hunting the Black Star Society, there’s no way over three thousand members could remain undetected.
“There’s… a Gate. A concealed one.”
“Ah.”
I see.
So the Black Star Society’s headquarters was hidden inside a Gate located in Yongsan.
‘That would explain how they’ve stayed hidden.’
Small Gates could be as tiny as a doorway.
If you concealed a Gate and built a base inside it, staying hidden wasn’t difficult at all.
“In Yongsan, there’s a seven-story building called the Chang-hyun Building.”
I’d never heard of it before.
“If you manipulate the elevator buttons in a specific sequence, you’ll arrive at the eighth floor.”
“What the hell? Is this some kind of Konami code?”
This wasn’t a hidden stage in a video game—what kind of setup was this?
‘So that’s why no one could find it.’
The saying goes that the darkest place is beneath the lamp.
Honestly, I’d never imagined the entrance to the Black Star Society’s headquarters would be sitting brazenly in the middle of Seoul.
‘I thought they’d be holed up in some mountain valley or underground tunnel.’
Who would’ve thought the headquarters was hidden inside a concealed Gate?
“Well, fine.”
At least I knew where the headquarters was now.
What I needed to find out next was—
“Where is Cheon Do-yoon?”
“He… has been out of contact for several weeks now.”
“Out of contact?”
“Yes… He said he had important matters to attend to and would be away for a few months.”
So that’s why there’d been no sign of Cheon Do-yoon’s movements.
“Hmm… So Cheon Do-yoon left alone?”
“No, sir. He left with the Night Hunters.”
“Night Hunters?”
What in the world is that?
“They are Senior Special Investigators and above—direct subordinates under Cheon Do-yoon’s command.”
“Like you all?”
“Yes, sir. However, we are considerably weaker compared to them.”
I see.
So that’s how it is.
‘Then that means all the core combat forces have essentially withdrawn?’
Of course, I couldn’t be certain based on a single testimony alone.
I’d need to dominate the remaining eight as well and cross-verify their accounts.
‘But if what he says is true…’
Kwon O-jin’s eyes gleamed.
“This might be… an opportunity to crush the Owl Faction in one fell swoop?”
Of course.
The shattered corpses of the Owls would prove quite useful in filling my belly.

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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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