Not A Regressor - Chapter 174

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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 174
Summons (3)
“It’s been a while, Kwon O-jin.”
Isabella entered the room and settled gracefully beside Kwon O-jin as if it were the most natural thing in the world, her eyes crinkling with a warm smile.
I had found Jegal So-young’s eye smile quite captivating, but Isabella’s was so devastatingly charming that it instantly erased any memory of what Jegal So-young’s face looked like.
“I missed you.”
Isabella flashed an innocent smile, her laughter soft and genuine.
“How did you end up joining Shou Xing?”
“When I heard you were here, I contacted Tamrang Star directly myself!”
What?
She had followed me here?
Kwon O-jin stared at Isabella with an expression of bewilderment.
Whether or not Isabella sensed his confusion, she tilted her head toward him with eyes gleaming like a puppy wagging its tail in hopes of praise.
Was she asking me to pet her?
Unable to resist the silent pressure emanating from Isabella, I found my hand moving of its own accord to rest upon her beautiful platinum hair.
Silken strands flowed between my fingers like wool, impossibly soft.
“Mmm…”
Isabella closed her eyes languidly, savoring the touch and scent of my hand as she released a drowsy murmur.
“I must admit, I was surprised when Isabella first contacted me. I never imagined you had connections with the Saint of Rome.”
“Well… it just happened that way.”
I tried to brush past the explanation of our relationship with vague words.
“Kwon O-jin is my savior.”
“Your savior?”
Isabella nodded and smiled brightly.
“Yes. When I was suffering from assassination threats by the Black Star Society, it was Kwon O-jin who helped me.”
“Ah, so you share such a history.”
Cheon Sang-gil’s eyes gleamed with interest as he looked between me and Isabella.
“Then there’s no need to worry about teamwork.”
He nodded with a satisfied smile.
“I would have liked to hold a welcome ceremony for you all to get better acquainted, but circumstances don’t permit it. Let me proceed directly to explaining the operation.”
Cheon Sang-gil withdrew a map from his pocket and unfolded it across the table.
It was a detailed map of the Yonghyun-dong area, now a ghost district.
“What I need from you is to track down and eliminate the demonic beasts currently appearing in the Yonghyun-dong area.”
“So we only need to capture the demonic beasts?”
“For now, yes. But if possible, I’d also like you to investigate any connections between the Toad Faction and the demonic beasts.”
A connection between the Toad Faction and demonic beasts.
“Understood.”
I nodded and examined the regions marked on the map where demonic beast sightings had been confirmed.
The search area was quite vast for six people to cover.
“The range is quite extensive. I think it would be best to divide into pairs of two for tracking.”
“Heh, why bother? We can just scatter and kill it on sight whenever we find it.”
Choi Yu-mi scoffed at Kwon O-jin’s suggestion to divide into teams, her gaze fixed on him.
“Or perhaps…”
A bitter smirk played at the corners of her lips.
“You’re afraid to wander alone?”
“….”
Such a childish provocation it was almost laughable.
Kwon O-jin let out a soft chuckle and opened his mouth.
“It’s more a matter of party balance. Jegal So-young alone bears the stigma of Sagittarius, specialized in ranged combat, and we have one awakener with the stigma of Aquarius—a pure support class—and another with the stigma of Gemini. You want us to scatter and search separately?”
“That’s….”
So fixated on provoking Kwon O-jin that she’d neglected even basic party composition, Choi Yu-mi trailed off with a flustered expression.
“If you’re going to pick a fight, I’d appreciate it if you’d think first.”
“What, what did you say?”
Choi Yu-mi’s teeth ground together audibly.
Boom!
She shoved away from the table and reached for the sword at her hip.
“You little bastard, now you’ve done it!”
As she began to draw her blade with a crude curse—
“Kyaa!”
Clang!
Startled by Choi Yu-mi’s sudden movement as she rose from the table—
Isabella, who had been sipping the tea Cheon Sang-gil had brought, accidentally dropped her cup.
The hot green tea inside spilled directly onto Choi Yu-mi as she stood.
“Damn it.”
Choi Yu-mi grimaced, looking down at the green tea soaking her socks.
She who had been about to draw her sword shot Isabella a irritable glare for this untimely blunder.
“I’m so sorry! Are you hurt?”
Isabella rushed toward Choi Yu-mi, her expression frantic as she bowed repeatedly in apology.
Her body trembled like a frightened lamb.
Choi Yu-mi recalled the sight of Kwon O-jin and Isabella pressed close together just moments before, and let out a derisive snort.
‘Both of them are cut from the same cloth….’
She was preparing to unleash a barrage of curses at Isabella right before Kwon O-jin when—
Isabella, her expression meek and apologetic, leaned close to Choi Yu-mi’s ear and whispered in a voice only she could hear.
“Stop flirting with Kwon O-jin and keep your head down, you bitch.”
“…What?”
Choi Yu-mi’s eyes widened in shock.
What had she just heard?
So sudden, so impossible to believe coming from the lips of someone who looked as meek as a lamb—such vulgar language left Choi Yu-mi’s thoughts momentarily frozen.
“What, you little…?”
But that was only for a moment.
As the shock faded, what remained was a fury that erupted like a volcano.
When Choi Yu-mi’s face twisted into a savage snarl, her eyes fixed on Isabella.
“…!!”
A sensation as if invisible hands were strangling her throat.
Like a frog confronted by The Snake, her body went rigid, every muscle locked tight.
Thump-thump.
My heart hammered wildly against my ribs.
Breath rising to my throat, drowning out all reason.
Through the ruins of my shattered mind, instinct screamed. It wailed. It shrieked.
Run. Run. Run.
Now.
This instant.
“Ha… ha… ha!”
Choi Yu-mi clutched at her chest, trying to calm her heart as it threatened to burst from her ribs.
Shiver-shiver-shiver.
Cold sweat trickling down her spine.
‘What… what is this?’
Had I ever felt fear of this magnitude in my entire life?
Even fighting hundreds, thousands of monsters, even countless life-or-death battles against awakened ones.
Never had I been this terrified.
“A-are you alright, Yu-mi?”
Isabella approached with a worried expression.
Choi Yu-mi flinched and stumbled backward, retreating step by step.
For reasons she couldn’t explain.
She could smell blood emanating from Isabella as she drew closer.
A thick, coppery stench that twisted at the tip of her nose.
Without thinking, Choi Yu-mi gagged and doubled over like a caterpillar.
“Ugh, ack. Huurp!”
She managed to clamp her hand over her mouth and barely suppress the retching.
But she couldn’t stop the slight dampness spreading between her legs.
“H-hiccup!”
Choi Yu-mi gasped in horror, her body convulsing with involuntary hiccups.
No matter how fierce her temperament, she was still a woman.
There was no way she could maintain her composure after losing control in front of everyone.
“Yu-mi? Are you okay?”
“Yu-mi?”
The only small mercy was that it wasn’t visible enough for others to notice.
“I-I need the bathroom, now!!”
Crash!
Choi Yu-mi wrenched the sliding door open with brutal force and bolted from the room.
“Why is she suddenly acting like that?”
Isabella watched Choi Yu-mi’s retreating figure, bewildered by her sudden departure.
She shifted her weight anxiously, her expression clouded with concern.
“Oh, did I perhaps do something wrong…?”
“That’s not it at all.”
Cheon Sang-gil shook his head slowly.
“Choi Yu-mi is a high-rank awakener of the Phoenix House. A little spilled tea won’t hurt her.”
“Then why…?”
“Even this old man can’t fathom it.”
Choi Yu-mi’s behavior defied all logic and reason.
“Hmm. I suppose I’ll have to take back what I said about good teamwork.”
Cheon Sang-gil exhaled deeply, his gaze sweeping across the chaos that had consumed the room.
“This is all my fault for gathering you all so hastily. Choi Yu-mi is still unfamiliar with the group, so I hope you’ll all bear with her.”
“Well… as long as she doesn’t interfere with the operation, it’s fine.”
Kwon O-jin said this while casting a sidelong glance toward Isabella.
‘What on earth did she do?’
Something had seemed to whisper past his ear.
It had happened in a mere instant, and he hadn’t caught the words clearly enough to understand what was said.
“I apologize for the commotion, Kwon O-jin.”
Isabella settled back into the seat beside him, placing her hand lightly over his.
It was undoubtedly Isabella who had reduced Choi Yu-mi to that state.
Yet as she offered him an innocent, guileless smile, Kwon O-jin felt his throat tighten with a dry swallow.
‘Damn.’
She had rendered a high-rank awakener—one who surpassed the 9th star, though not quite at the level of the Zodiac Twelve Palaces—incontinent in mere seconds.
He couldn’t even begin to fathom the true extent of Isabella’s power.
‘The fact that Cheon Sang-gil didn’t notice suggests she’s likely at the level of Tamrang Star or higher.’
In plain terms, if Isabella decided to throw a tantrum right here and now, everyone in this room could have their necks snapped without a second thought.
It was like sitting next to a nuclear launch button.
One wrong move, one careless word that might provoke her.
And the Toad Faction, Shou Xing, everything—they’d all become nothing more than stars scattered across the night sky.
‘I need to make sure she doesn’t realize I’ve caught on.’
Kwon O-jin shook his head and opened his mouth.
“It’s not Isabella’s fault, so don’t worry. Judging by how she was picking a fight with me earlier, she probably just wasn’t in good form today.”
“I suppose so?”
Yes, yes.
Our queen… no, Isabella did nothing wrong.
It’s all that Choi Yu-mi or whatever her name is who’s at fault.
‘Right. As long as we get through this smoothly, we’re fine!!’
Kwon O-jin clenched his fists tightly.
Isabella was displaying an obsession with him that could only be called fanatical, so as long as he played along, there was no risk of an explosion.
“Then shall we start dividing into teams?”
Kwon O-jin asked in a bright voice, as if to shift the atmosphere.
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“I think it would be best for this old man to search by dividing into teams as well.”
Lee Woo-hyuk and Cheon Sang-gil nodded in agreement.
Good.
I had secured the support of those around me for now.
“I think it would be best to form teams here with one supporter and one vanguard to maintain balance.”
After laying this groundwork that couldn’t be logically refuted.
“Since Isabella and I already know each other, we could be on the same team….”
“Hmm. How about that?”
Jegal So-young raised her hand with a languid expression.
She sat down beside Kwon O-jin with a seductive smile, as if enticing him.
Kwon O-jin found himself sandwiched between Isabella and Jegal So-young.
Jegal So-young glanced at Isabella while gently linking her arm through his.
The rich scent of rose perfume tickled his nostrils.
“I’d like to be on the same team as you, Kwon O-jin.”
“….”
In that instant.
Isabella’s eyes gleamed with a chilling light.
‘Damn it, back off! Please, just back off!!’
Kwon O-jin screamed inwardly in desperation.
The red light was flickering once more on the button of the nuclear bomb he had barely managed to power down.

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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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