Not A Regressor - Chapter 126

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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 126
The Night That Falls at Noon (2)
“You want to eat out?”
Kwon O-jin’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Have you finally decided to surrender your catastrophically terrible cooking skills?”
“What’s with you?”
“Heh. Just kidding. But why the sudden craving to eat out?”
“Well… um.”
Ha-eun twirled a strand of her hair around her finger, avoiding his gaze.
“There’s no particular reason. I just thought a change of scenery might do me good.”
“Sounds good.”
I’d been worried lately—Ha-eun hadn’t seemed like herself.
If eating out could lift her spirits even a little, I was more than willing to go.
“Are we going in the evening?”
“No, let’s go around lunchtime.”
“Okay. Then I’ll do some training first and come back.”
“I’ll text you, so don’t come home—just head straight to the restaurant.”
“Huh? Why?”
We lived together anyway, so couldn’t we just leave from home together?
“No more talking. Just listen to your sister.”
Ha-eun poked me in the ribs.
“Fine. I got it.”
I nodded and turned to leave.
“See you in a bit, sis.”
“Hehe. I’m treating today, so leave your wallet at home.”
Ha-eun puffed out her chest proudly and placed her hands on her hips with a flourish.
“Then I’ll have to order something expensive.”
“Go ahead, go ahead. I got a nice fat commission from Isabella this time.”
“But that’s my money.”
“What’s the difference between yours and mine? We share everything anyway.”
“I’m actually upset.”
So this is how a husband feels when his wife steals his bonus.
“Kahaha! I’m joking. I’ll treat you with my own money, so don’t worry.”
“I wasn’t really worried.”
I was just playing along, acting aggrieved for the sake of it. Honestly, I didn’t mind much.
At this point, money wasn’t really that important anymore.
“By the way, what about your prosthetic leg?”
“They said it’s all finished, so I was planning to go pick it up from the Association soon.”
“Want me to come with you?”
“No, I’ll go alone.”
Hmm.
Well, the Association isn’t that far away either, so I can just take a taxi and be back in no time.
“I specifically asked them to focus on durability this time, so it shouldn’t break like before.”
“Got it.”
Ha-eun nodded with a slight smile.
Kwon O-jin gazed at her brightened expression and offered a faint smile of his own.
‘That’s a relief.’
After returning from the Dungeon, she’d been downcast for a while, which worried me. But it seemed she’d sorted through her thoughts—her expression had become noticeably brighter in just a day.
‘Now that’s what my sister should look like.’
Confident, upright, and unrestrained—this was the Ha-eun I knew.
I recalled the image of a girl who shone brighter than anyone else, preserved in the faded album of memories from a time I could no longer quite remember.
‘She really hasn’t changed from back then.’
She remained.
Dazzlingly beautiful.
“Then send me a message in a bit.”
“Sure.”
I stepped outside and crossed the pedestrian crossing.
I entered the lobby of the Mixed-use Apartment Complex that Isabella had gifted me.
The interior, renovated so that even high-ranking Awakened Users could train comfortably, was spacious enough to rival a sports field.
“Vega.”
I channeled mana into the pendant around my neck.
[I am here, my lord!]
Boom-pop-bang!
Silver light burst like fireworks from behind me as Vega appeared.
She spun in a full circle with both arms spread wide.
Why is our goddess in such high spirits today?
“Did something good happen?”
[Hehe. Haven’t you been summoning me every day recently? Well… it is for training, but still.]
So that’s why she was in such high spirits.
“Then I’m counting on you today too.”
[Hmm. It is pleasant to see your face daily, but… is there truly nothing besides training?]
Vega pouted her lips.
[While diligence is admirable, sometimes one must also release accumulated fatigue.]
“Actually, I’m planning to keep it short today anyway.”
[Oh? Until what time do you intend to train?]
“Around 1 o’clock?”
[Ooh.]
Vega’s eyes sparkled.
[Then shall we take a stroll through Downtown together today…?]
“Ah, let’s do that next time.”
[Hmm? Do you have something to do?]
“My sister asked me to have lunch with her.”
[I see. So you’re planning to meet just the two of you?]
“Well, yeah, that’s how it should be.”
No matter how oblivious I might be, I couldn’t bring Vega along to a meal that Ha-eun had specifically suggested.
[Hmm.]
Vega narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.
Perched on my shoulder, she began tapping her legs irritably.
[So you’re meeting Ha-eun alone, then.]
She muttered in a small voice.
-Crackle!
[Let’s begin training.]
Her golden eyes gleamed as she floated up into the air.
Crackle!!
A fierce barrage of lightning swept through like a tempest.
“Uh… Vega?”
This is seriously terrifying.
[So I just keep attacking you while you dodge the lasers like usual, until you touch me three times, right?]
“Yeah, well, that’s true, but…”
[Then let’s increase the difficulty today—we’ll do it until you touch me thirty times.]
“Huh?”
What?
Since when is a tenfold increase considered “a bit”?
‘Is this because of the coins?’
Mom, are we moving to Mars?
“Wait, thirty times is way too many…”
[Let’s begin!]
Click!
As Vega flipped the switch, hundreds and thousands of lasers poured down from all directions.
Of course, since I hadn’t activated “Lie” yet, touching the lasers wouldn’t cause any real damage.
[Hyaaaaaaah!]
Crackle!!
But Vega’s attacks were a different story.
As the Constellation of Lyra Constellation, she possessed a remarkable ability to manipulate lightning with precision.
In other words.
She could control the electricity so that while it wouldn’t leave wounds, it would hurt like hell.
“Aaaahhhhh!!”
I ran desperately, my feet drenched in sweat, dodging the wildly moving lasers and blue lightning.
* * *
“Phew.”
After finishing my shower in the Training Grounds’ facilities, I stepped out and dried my wet hair with a towel while turning on my smartphone.
I dried my wet hair with a towel while turning on my smartphone.
“Hmm?”
There were no messages in my KakaoTalk notifications.
‘What’s going on?’
I naturally assumed the meeting location would have come through the chat.
-Kwon O-jin: Where are you, noona?
I sent a message to Ha-eun, but no reply came back.
Calling didn’t help either.
No matter how many times I called, all I got was the mechanical voice announcing a missed call.
‘Is she sleeping?’
I tilted my head in confusion and headed home for now.
Click.
I opened the front door and stepped inside, but I felt no signs of life in the apartment.
“….”
An uneasy feeling crept up my spine.
I checked the last message she’d sent me.
-noona: Going to pick up a leg~ ♬ ε⌯(ง ˙ω˙)ว
-Kwon O-jin: Take a taxi.
-noona: K already called a cab.
10:39 PM.
Aside from the message that came about two hours ago, there were no other messages.
I immediately clicked on my contacts and called Han Manager.
-Ah, it’s been a while, Kwon O-jin. I hear you’ve been focusing on training lately—how are the results coming along?
“Manager, did noona come by there?”
I cut off Han Manager’s words and asked directly.
-Yes. She came by about two hours ago.
“When did she leave?”
-She just picked up a prosthetic leg and left right away… Is something wrong?
Click.
I hung up without answering.
“Damn it.”
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
An ominous premonition spread like ink dropped onto white paper.
‘I need to go to the Association.’
The last place her whereabouts were confirmed was the Association.
I walked toward the balcony window. I had no time to leisurely take the Elevator down.
Crack!
I forcefully yanked open the window, which was designed to open only halfway to prevent people from passing through.
-Whoooosh!!!
I fired the wire shooter toward the opposite apartment.
A wire stretched between the two buildings.
“Hnngh!”
I kicked off the ground roughly and jumped toward the opposite apartment.
My body, tracing a parabolic arc, surged upward along the wire.
‘Faster…!’
Kwon O-jin headed toward the Association with an anxious expression, his lips clenched.
Whoosh! Whoooosh!
The time it took to reach the Association was merely three minutes.
“Phew.”
I stood before the Association’s entrance and drew in a deep breath.
‘The Constellation Mark of Canis Major.’
Uuuuung!
Light burst from my left chest as my senses amplified to an extreme degree.
“Ugh!”
Countless scents burrowed into my nostrils.
I suppressed the throbbing pain in my head and searched for Ha-eun’s scent.
‘…It’s not here.’
Two hours had already passed since she left the Association.
There was no way her scent would linger when she hadn’t stayed long in one place.
‘No.’
I could find it.
High-tier Awakened Users of Canis Major could supposedly track the scent of someone who had passed by hours ago.
While I wasn’t a high-tier Awakened User, it wasn’t impossible.
‘Then.’
I clenched my teeth.
Closing my eyes tightly, I concentrated all my senses into my nose.
“Ssshhh.”
Innumerable scents burrowed into my nostrils.
“Cough… hack!”
Throb, throb.
My head pounded as if it would burst.
My brain couldn’t process the overwhelming flood of information pouring in all at once.
“Grraaaah!”
Blood gushed from my nose.
Not just my nose.
My eyes reddened with bloodshot veins as tears of blood streamed down my cheeks.
Blood flowing from my ears dampened the nape of my neck.
‘Still, not enough.’
Even within the incomprehensible torrent of information.
There was no trace of Ha-eun.
‘More, more, more!’
Crackle!
Blue lightning erupted and spread widely across the surroundings.
A technique using only faint static electricity—something Vega had demonstrated once before.
—Ding!
[The Constellation Mark of Lyra Constellation and the Constellation Mark of Canis Major are connecting!]
[You have acquired the Composite Skill《Vega Star’s Hound Lv Max》!]
It flooded in.
Immeasurable, incomprehensible.
━A distant tsunami of information.
“Haah, haah!”
The acrid smell of smoke from the forge. The stench of discarded cigarette butts on the roadside. The aroma of half-finished coffee.
The scent of ginkgo leaves from street trees, the smell of a dead pigeon struck by a car, the shampoo fragrance of a passing woman, the reek of sewage flowing through the gutter, the sweetness of an ice cream cone clutched in a child’s hand, the breath of a man rushing past in haste, the stench of decomposing insects rotting beneath the sun, the smell of laundry drying on apartment balconies, the odor of paper bound in file folders, the sharp scent of ballpoint pen ink drying out, the stink of filth clogging the pipes, the smell of gum stuck to concrete, the dust accumulated inside air conditioning units.
And, and, and.
Always present beside me.
Infinitely familiar, infinitely precious—her scent.
“Found, her.”
Blue flames ignited in Kwon O-jin’s eyes.
Boom!!
With a deafening roar like an artillery shell exploding, his body shot forward.

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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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