Not A Regressor - Chapter 144

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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 144
The Land Abandoned by Stars (6)
Kurosaki Sosuke.
Yuji’s eyes burned with a searing, palpable hatred as he spoke that name.
“You want me to kill Kurosaki Sosuke?”
“Yes! I will provide any assistance you need to make it happen!”
Yuji cried out desperately while on his knees.
“I-I was sent to a branch because I’d become useless, but… I spent over a year developing devices to create ‘nourishment’ directly under him! There is much I can tell you!”
Ha-eun furrowed her brow at his pitiful plea.
“How can I trust that you’re not just trying to survive this moment?”
“I’m not asking to survive. You may kill me immediately after hearing the information you need.”
There was no fear in his expression as he calmly spoke of his own death.
Ha-eun sighed, her face troubled.
“Why are you so desperate to kill Kurosaki Sosuke? Is it because he kidnapped you and forced you to work?”
“No.”
Yuji bit his lip as if tears might spill at any moment, then continued.
“I have… a younger sister.”
His remaining hand trembled violently.
“Sosuke kidnapped my sister to prevent me from doing anything reckless, and he made her drink the Seahorse Poison.”
“Seahorse Poison?”
“A poison that causes death if one doesn’t drink water that Sosuke himself creates once a week. He uses this poison on all his subordinates to ensure absolute loyalty and prevent betrayal.”
“…Then you as well?”
Yuji nodded with a hardened expression.
“Yes. I drank it three days ago… so I have four days left before death.”
His voice remained as parched as barren earth as he spoke of his impending death with calm acceptance.
“I don’t care about myself. Whether it’s in four days or today in this place, I’m destined to die by your hands anyway. But…”
His fist clenched as his voice trembled.
“Please… please save my sister! Kurosaki must have the antidote!”
Bang!
He struck the ground violently, his voice breaking into a wail.
“My sister… Yoko is innocent! It’s all my fault! If only I hadn’t submitted that paper to the academic society…!”
“What paper are you talking about?”
Sakaki, who had been listening with a stern face, asked.
“A paper on a method to artificially open the gates that lead to the Star Palace in Japan.”
Artificially opening the Star Palace.
Rebuilding the land abandoned by the stars.
For the Japanese people, who had endured ridicule and contempt from neighboring nations, could there be any words more seductive than these?
“Such… such a method exists?”
“Yes.”
Yuji nodded, his face shrouded in deep darkness.
“It’s possible if we obtain massive quantities of spirit medicine and artificially create a dragon vein. Of course, the academic community’s response was poor, dismissing it as an impractical thesis requiring absurd materials and manpower….”
“So someone actually tried to pull off this ‘impractical’ nonsense.”
“…Yes.”
“Then this ‘nutrient’ you mentioned….”
“It’s a substitute for spirit medicine. Even Seven Stars couldn’t possibly procure several tons of spirit medicine.”
Just as Yuji said.
Spirit medicine produced using luminous stones, no matter how poor the quality, was traded at exorbitant prices.
There was no realistic way to obtain several tons of spirit medicine.
Especially in Japan, a nation bearing the stigma of “the land abandoned by stars” with its national power at rock bottom, there would be no feasible way to procure it.
‘So this device is what they created instead.’
Kwon O-jin’s eyes narrowed as I gazed at the circular tanks installed throughout the basement.
From the circular tanks filled with clear water, there emanated a sensation reminiscent of a fishy, blood-like stench.
“…These insane bastards.”
Ha-eun ground her teeth and roughly kicked one of the circular tanks.
“How could they possibly dissolve entire human beings in these things?!”
Watching her fury erupt, Kwon O-jin offered a bitter smile.
Did she realize that what they were doing wasn’t fundamentally different from what I was doing?
‘Well, I did tell her, so she should know.’
But she probably deluded herself into thinking I was some kind of hero, selectively killing only the wicked and claiming their stigmas as trophies.
‘That’s not what this is.’
If it’s profitable, morality is irrelevant.
After all, the concepts of good and evil are inherently subjective.
I target the Black Star Society purely because the Black Star’s magical power they possess aids in nurturing the Black Heaven.
‘Well, if my sister insists on that delusion…’
Playing the hero.
Didn’t seem like such a bad thing after all.
“So what information can you give us?”
Kwon O-jin asked, stopping Ha-eun, who was venting her fury by kicking at the circular tanks as if to destroy them.
Yuji, who had been kneeling on the floor, slowly rose to his feet.
“Please come this way.”
With those words, he entered the Control Room.
Inside the room, filled with massive and intricate machinery reminiscent of a boiler room, twelve monitors glowed with light.
“This is Kurosaki Sosuke, the king of the Seahorse Faction.”
A photograph of a man appeared on one of the screens.
A middle-aged man with elongated, serpentine eyes and prominent cheekbones.
A goat-like beard on his philtrum completed his contemptible visage.
“Kurosaki Sosuke….”
It was the first moment Kurosaki Sosuke, who had remained veiled and hidden from view until now, revealed his face.
Sakaki, staring intently at the photograph, clenched his fists, barely suppressing the rage welling up inside him.
Thick tendons bulged across the back of his massive hand.
“Boss. Isn’t that the person? The one who used to be a member of parliament… back in the day.”
“Hmm? Now that you mention it…”
Sakaki’s eyes widened as recognition flickered across his face.
Yuji nodded.
“Yes, that’s correct. Kurosaki Sosuke has a history of being active as a far-right politician.”
“So that’s why he’s so obsessed with establishing a Star Palace on Japanese soil.”
Sakaki regarded Sosuke’s photograph with a look of contempt.
Fools intoxicated by faded past glory.
For them, the derisive epithet of “the land abandoned by stars” must have been an unbearable shame.
“Sigh. What a pathetic display he’s put on.”
Sakaki exhaled deeply and shook his head.
“So where is the bastard hiding now?”
“I’m not certain of that. He constantly moves his whereabouts around.”
“So all we have on him is a single photograph?”
A mere photograph alone offered no viable means to capture Kurosaki Sosuke.
Yuji calmly shook his head and continued.
“While I don’t know where he is, I do know how to draw him out.”
“Draw him out?”
“As I mentioned, Sosuke has been constructing facilities called ‘Digestive Facilities’ throughout the city to open a Star Palace in Japan, kidnapping Awakeners in the process.”
Yuji’s explanation continued.
“I don’t have precise details on the progress, but… he likely hasn’t yet obtained sufficient ‘nourishment’ to open the Star Palace. If the Digestive Facilities he’s installed were destroyed while he’s still in that state…”
“He’d have no choice but to reveal himself, is that it?”
“Yes.”
“But how do you plan to locate the Digestive Facilities?”
Finding just a single branch had taken months.
With other organizations and Guilds too terrified of the Black Star Society to offer any assistance, destroying enough Digestive Facilities to thwart Sosuke’s plan seemed nearly impossible.
“I know the locations of the Digestive Facilities.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I developed this machinery in the first place, so I secretly embedded codes into each machine to track their locations.”
“…It seems you’ve been waiting for this moment all along.”
“That’s correct.”
Yuji nodded, his eyes blazing with fierce intensity.
He clenched the stump of his severed left arm, releasing the compressed fury quietly within.
“Ever since that demon captured me… I’ve been waiting for this day.”
“I see.”
Sakaki swallowed hard, feeling the raw, palpable anger that seemed to sear the very skin.
“These are the locations of the Digestive Facilities. Since such massive machinery cannot be relocated in a short time, if you move immediately, you should be able to find and destroy the Digestive Facilities before they can hide them.”
The map Yuji presented had the Digestive Facility locations marked in meticulous detail.
Five locations were marked on the map.
Two of them matched exactly with the locations of the Seahorse Faction branches that Cheon Do-yoon had mentioned.
“…Very well.”
Yuji handed the map to Sakaki, then offered a thin smile as if he had fulfilled his purpose, his shoulders trembling slightly.
“Now, as promised, please kill me.”
“….”
“….”
A suffocating silence descended.
Yuji extended his neck toward Sakaki, a self-deprecating smile playing at his lips.
“There’s no need to hesitate. No matter how much I was coerced… I’m the one who created these abominable machines.”
Yuji’s clenched fists trembled as he wept.
“Every time I witnessed the Awakeners trapped here die… I couldn’t help but think. Those people must have had families they wanted to protect, just like me.”
With his head bowed, tears streamed down his face.
“I… am worthless trash who doesn’t deserve to live. Please. Kill me.”
“…Do you have no regrets about this choice?”
“No. Ah, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask at the end….”
He looked up at Sakaki with a self-mocking smile.
“I… would appreciate it if you could kill me painlessly, in one stroke. Haha, I know well that someone like me doesn’t deserve an easy death… but now that I’m actually facing it, I’m a bit frightened.”
His shoulders quivered visibly.
Yuji closed his eyes as if resigned to death.
“….”
Sakaki gazed down at Yuji with his eyes closed, his lips pressed firmly shut.
An invisible wave of power coalesced around his hand gripping the blade.
Regardless of whatever tragic circumstances surrounded him, this man was one of those who had kidnapped and murdered his family.
He knew better than anyone that forgiveness was absolutely unforgivable.
“Sigh. Koshiro, bring me the Yumehana-shi.”
“Yes! Boss!”
Koshiro dashed outside and returned with a white cord about the thickness of a finger.
The white cord was inscribed with intricate spell formations.
“Bind him.”
Koshiro wrapped the white cord tightly around Yuji’s forehead.
“What is this….”
“Don’t resist the flowing mana. Simply accept it.”
Yuji swallowed hard and nodded.
Soon, a blue light erupted from the white cord wound around his head, and Yuji’s eyes gradually became clouded and vacant.
The Yumehana-shi’s effect activated, forcing him into a hypnotic state.
Confirming that Yuji had fully entered the hypnotic state, Sakaki urgently opened his mouth.
The Yumehana-shi’s effect duration was merely ten seconds.
Once a target was affected, they developed resistance and could not be affected again, so he had to verify the truth in this single opportunity.
“Everything you’ve said so far—there are no lies, correct?”
“Yes. All… truth… is… correct.”
Just as when O-jin had used his dominion ability on the Owls, Yuji stammered his words haltingly as he answered Sakaki’s question.
“Sigh.”
Sakaki exhaled deeply, scratching his short hair roughly.
If only it had been a lie.
Then this suffocating weight wouldn’t be crushing my chest so heavily.
“…Nothing in this world ever comes easy.”
Sakaki gestured to Koshiro, ordering him to remove the Yumehana from Yuji’s forehead.
“…Yoko.”
Just before the Yumehana came undone.
A woman’s name spilled from Yuji’s lips.
The name of his younger sister, who had been captured by the Black Star Society.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Yoko….”
“….”
As the Yumehana came free, Yuji collapsed as if losing consciousness.
Sakaki caught the fallen Yuji without a word.
“Let’s go.”
“What about that boss….”
“We take him for now.”
“…Yes.”
Koshiro bowed his head and accepted Yuji from Sakaki.
“I’ll keep him restrained in the Annex Building.”
Koshiro left the room.
“You’re not going to kill him?”
“…Still deliberating.”
Kwon O-jin watched Sakaki, consumed by deep anguish, and nodded quietly.
“I’ll leave the choice to you, Sakaki.”
“Thanks. Those bastards might try to flee, so I’m thinking of raiding their branch tonight. Is that alright?”
“Of course. We haven’t done much anyway.”
“Ha. Thanks, Kwon O-jin.”
Sakaki laughed weakly and patted Kwon O-jin’s shoulder.
His hand, which would normally strike with force, was completely drained of strength.
After Sakaki left as well.
“…Thinking about Kwon O-jin and that Jang Seok-ho back then… could that younger sister he mentioned already be….”
Ha-eun trailed off, her eyes growing sorrowful.
“We don’t know yet.”
“…I suppose not.”
Grinding teeth.
I glared at the photograph of Kurosaki Sosuke displayed on the monitor.
“I thought the Owls were bastards, but these guys are even worse.”
“Lunatics exist everywhere.”
“This time, let’s just wipe them all out.”
Ha-eun burned with determination, pulling out a cigarette and placing it between her lips.
“Hey, Kwon O-jin, aren’t you going to do that thing? You know, making them do the opposite of what they said?”
“There’s no need to bother this time.”
“Fair enough. We already used that Yumehana thing anyway.”
Ha-eun drew deeply on the lit cigarette.
“Then let’s go smash this godforsaken Digestive Facility to pieces.”
She flicked the finished cigarette butt into a water-filled circular container.
Whoosh!!
Flames erupted, engulfing the Digestive Facility that had claimed the lives of countless Awakeners.
“….”
Kwon O-jin watched in silence as the Digestive Facility was consumed by flames, then slowly turned away.
His face bore an unmistakable expression of bitterness that could not be hidden.

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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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