Not A Regressor - Chapter 182

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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 182
Interlude – For a Yesterday Better Than Tomorrow (1)
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
Noise echoing through my ears.
My vision twisted as Lee Shin-hyuk’s memories flooded into my mind.
“Wait, Ha-eun’s younger sibling has gone missing?”
“…Yeah.”
Lee Shin-hyuk nodded, his expression hardened into a rigid mask.
Lee Woo-hyuk’s eyes widened in shock as they fixed on him.
“Then Ha-eun is….”
“In complete panic mode.”
Lee Shin-hyuk exhaled a deep sigh and sat across from Lee Woo-hyuk.
“She hasn’t answered calls since yesterday and has been out searching for her sibling continuously.”
“…Huh.”
Lee Woo-hyuk, his expression one of shock, pressed his forehead with his hand to stifle a hollow laugh.
“But didn’t you say that sibling couldn’t even get out of bed?”
“The moment she recovered enough to walk, she went out immediately.”
Lee Shin-hyuk bit his lip tightly.
The image of her, delighted like a child that her sibling had finally risen from bed, flashed through his mind.
A radiant smile that would never be directed at him, that could never be directed at him.
Every time I saw that bright smile on her face, a corner of my heart ached as if cut by a blade.
“Why did she go out?”
“That’s….”
Lee Shin-hyuk trailed off.
As if unable to speak it aloud, he lowered his head and sealed his lips firmly shut.
At his demeanor, Lee Woo-hyuk’s eyes narrowed.
“But even in this situation, why hasn’t Ha-eun contacted us at all? That’s strange, isn’t it?”
If a sibling had gone missing, wouldn’t common sense dictate asking those around you for help in searching?
Yet even in such circumstances, Ha-eun had not uttered a single word about her sibling.
Not their name, not their appearance, not even their age—she had maintained complete silence.
“What on earth could Ha-eun be thinking….”
“This is just my speculation, but….”
Lee Shin-hyuk, who had been lost in thought with his head bowed, slowly raised it.
“I think… that sibling might have joined the False Star Sect.”
“…What?”
Lee Woo-hyuk’s eyes widened in shock.
At the mention of the “False Star Sect,” a chilling killing intent naturally emanated from his body.
“Then, is Ha-eun staying silent about everything because her sibling joined the False Star Sect?”
Lee Shin-hyuk nodded lightly.
If her sibling were connected to the False Star Sect….
I could understand to some extent why he was so desperately trying to hide his younger sister’s identity.
After all, the False Star Sect was literally the world’s “public enemy” right now.
“What other reason could there be for someone who became paralyzed to suddenly recover enough to walk?”
“Awakening… there’s no other explanation.”
Lee Shin-hyuk nodded in agreement.
The False Star Sect possessed the ability to grant stigmas to ordinary people who hadn’t awakened.
Of course, a terrible price would follow in its wake.
But what would such a price matter to someone lying in bed, paralyzed and unable to move an inch?
“So Ha-eun’s younger sibling was actually part of the False Star Sect.”
Lee Woo-hyuk bit his lip, releasing a deep sigh.
Ha-eun was now a core member of Suhoseong alongside the Lee brothers.
If the fact that her younger sibling was part of the False Star Sect became known, the shockwaves would reverberate far beyond South Korea, shaking the entire world.
“That’s why Ha-eun didn’t say anything about it.”
“It’s still just speculation. Let me investigate further and I’ll tell you more later.”
Lee Shin-hyuk stood up from his seat.
Lee Woo-hyuk called out to him as he turned to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to go help Ha-eun.”
“But….”
“I know.”
Lee Shin-hyuk smiled sadly.
I know that no matter what I do, she will never look back at me.
But.
“I’m going. Contact me if anything urgent comes up.”
Lee Woo-hyuk watched his brother’s retreating figure with bitter eyes.
Click.
After stepping outside through the door, Lee Shin-hyuk briefly ascended to the rooftop of the Valhalla Guild House.
Part of me wanted to rush over to help Ha-eun and search for her younger sibling, but first I needed to untangle the complicated web of thoughts clouding my mind.
“Sigh.”
I usually frequented the guild house rooftop to clear my head and organize my thoughts.
But for some reason, even after climbing up today, my tangled thoughts refused to settle.
“What good is becoming a high-ranking awakener if my sister won’t even glance my way?”
I had climbed to nine stars through grueling training to protect Ha-eun.
But ever since being rejected in my confession, she had kept her distance and barely spoke to me.
A piercing ache gripped my chest.
A heavy sigh escaped between my lips, dissipating like heat shimmer.
“Hm?”
While I was wallowing in self-pity on the rooftop.
I noticed a letter envelope placed neatly in the corner of the rooftop.
“What is this?”
It was positioned far too neatly to be something someone had carelessly dropped.
Besides, among all the Valhalla Guild members, only I used the rooftop, so there was no way anyone could have left it there.
“To Lee Shin-hyuk… wait? Me?”
Upon discovering my own name written on the envelope, my eyes widened considerably.
“What is this?”
I tilted my head in confusion and opened the envelope.
Written on the pristine letter was a single sentence.
-Please take good care of our sister.
It didn’t take long to discern who that sentence referred to, nor who had written it.
“Ah.”
My pupils trembled as I held the letter.
I desperately suppressed the corners of my mouth that threatened to rise involuntarily, clenching my fists tightly.
“Yes, I will protect your sister with all my might.”
To her ‘brother’—someone whose face, age, and even name I didn’t know.
I made my vow in a voice filled with unwavering resolve.
With that image of me steeling my determination as the final moment—
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
The world twisted with that familiar noise.
Instead of the rooftop of the Valhalla Guild House, I saw the harbor shrouded in pale smoke, reeking of burnt char.
“….”
Kwon O-jin stared blankly down at the half-melted corpse of the Living Armor, his lips pressed firmly shut.
‘What the hell.’
My bitten lip. My clenched fist trembled violently.
‘What the fuck was that just now, what was that?’
It wasn’t difficult to grasp what had happened.
The first version of me—paralyzed from the waist down, receiving Ha-eun’s care.
He must have thought about it.
He must have agonized over it.
How to protect her.
How to save her.
‘And that conclusion was…’
To disappear from her side?
To place Lee Shin-hyuk beside Ha-eun in my stead?
“Don’t you dare.”
Crackle!
Blue lightning coursed across my clenched fist.
A blue flame wavered in the depths of my sunken eyes.
“Don’t you fucking dare, you bastard!”
I screamed at my past self.
No—at my future self.
Even though I knew better than anyone who she needed most by her side.
All I’d managed to think of was abandoning everything and running away?
‘What a fool.’
Rage burned through my mind, searing and hot.
The sheer stupidity of it—so utterly senseless that I questioned whether this was truly me—made my blood boil with contempt.
I knew how desperate the situation had become for my future self.
Paralyzed from the waist down, living out each day in miserable dependence on the care of the woman I’d sworn to protect.
I would have despaired.
I would have been crushed by despair.
I could never forgive myself for becoming a stain of ink upon her brilliantly shining life.
But.
Even so.
“You can’t just give up.”
A sensation of my insides twisting.
My legs buckled, and my body swayed unsteadily.
“O-Kwon O-jin? What’s wrong?”
Ha-eun approached and grasped my arm.
.
I felt the warmth of her touch and took in the sight of her face.
An inexplicable emotion surged up—an irresistible impulse.
“Kwon O-jin… Mmph?!”
I roughly pulled her waist toward me and pressed my lips against hers.
Her eyes widened in shock like a startled rabbit as she tried to stumble backward, but I pulled her firmly against me.
“Mmph… Mm.”
I slipped my tongue between her slightly parted lips.
Ha-eun, who had been rigid with tension, carefully sucked on the tongue that had invaded her mouth.
I held her close in my arms, unwilling to let her go, and continued the kiss with renewed intensity.
“Pah! W-what, what, what is this?!”
Ha-eun finally broke free from my embrace, her cheeks flushed crimson as she asked breathlessly.
She rubbed her thighs together as if desperate, her hands fidgeting nervously with embarrassment.
.
As if washing away the unpleasant memories that had flooded my mind, I took in every precious gesture of hers.
A fierce blue flame flickered and blazed in my eyes.
“I will be different from him.”
Toward my future self.
Toward the version of me who failed to protect her and abandoned everything to flee.
I spoke as if making a vow.
“Different how… Mmph!”
I pulled her waist close once more.
This time.
As if declaring he would never let her go.
“Oh, Kwon O-jin, you really…!”
Ha-eun’s cheeks flushed crimson as an apple, and she pinched Kwon O-jin’s side.
Her heart raced at the sight of him kissing her with such greedy fervor, as though he were starving for her.
But surely there was a time and place for such things.
“N-not here. S-save that for home.”
Ha-eun spoke in a hushed, faltering voice and lowered her head deeply.
Part of her wanted nothing more than to rush home with Kwon O-jin right now and continue what they’d started.
“Sigh. First, we need to report to the Cheonhye Guild.”
There was a mountain of things to report regarding the Living Armor and the Toad Faction.
Moreover, there had been casualties during the operation, so the reporting procedures would inevitably become complicated.
Common sense dictated returning to the Cheonhye Guild as soon as possible.
“No. Isabella will handle that.”
Kwon O-jin shook his head as if it were unnecessary.
Such behavior was far removed from his usual meticulous and calculating demeanor.
Ha-eun stared at him in astonishment.
“I told you to do that kind of thing at home.”
Kwon O-jin seized her wrist roughly.
“Let’s go home.”
“Kyaaah! W-wait, Kwon O-jin!”
Ha-eun cried out as Kwon O-jin’s powerful arm dragged her along forcefully.
She glanced around in bewilderment before hurrying after him with quick steps.
Kwon O-jin pulled her arm as he walked toward the motorcycle she had ridden here.
‘You couldn’t protect her, but I did.’
Toward the future version of himself.
I poured out a silent cry that no one could hear.
‘You couldn’t save her, but I did.’
I gently touched the elixir bottle nestled in my embrace.
It was I, not Lee Shin-hyuk, who restored Ha-eun’s eyes and legs.
‘You gave up.’
My blue eyes turned toward the black sky shrouded in darkness.
“But I won’t give up, you bastard.”
For a past better than the future.
For a yesterday better than tomorrow.
I tightened my grip on Ha-eun’s arm.

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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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