Not A Regressor - Chapter 22

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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 22
Unleash the Hound (3)
“….”
No.
What in the world is this insane situation?
‘Find Lee Shin-hyuk?’
How am I supposed to find a man who’s already dead?
“…O-jin?”
Han Jun-man tilted his head, regarding me with a puzzled expression.
“Is something the matter?”
“Ha ha, no. It’s nothing at all.”
I shook my head with an awkward smile.
‘Damn it.’
The sensation of being struck across the back of the head with a hammer.
‘So the Guild Master of Valhalla Guild is….’
I had a rough idea of who it was.
‘Lee Woo-hyuk.’
Lee Shin-hyuk’s younger brother—the object of his deeply rooted inferiority complex.
‘So that’s how it happened.’
In the world before Lee Shin-hyuk regressed, by now he would be waking up in a hospital room, making pathetic excuses like a bread errand boy who failed to buy bread on time.
‘But.’
Lee Shin-hyuk died, and the future changed.
Into a future where Lee Woo-hyuk placed an enormous bounty to find his missing older brother.
“What will you do? Should I contact them to accept the commission from Valhalla Guild?”
“Wait a moment.”
I leaned back against the sofa and gathered my thoughts.
Lee Shin-hyuk and Lee Woo-hyuk.
A pathetic, unremarkable older brother and a younger brother so talented he was mentioned as a candidate for Seven Stars.
A twisted fate and future.
And.
‘…wait, this…’
Black Star Society.
“Ha.”
A short, hollow laugh escaped me.
A sensation like lightning striking through my mind.
A sharp thrill rippled down my spine.
‘Yes, there was a way like that.’
Ssshhk.
As my prolonged contemplation ended, a bright smile spread across my lips.
‘I can use this.’
This mad, spiraling situation.
Bit by bit, but unmistakably, the future was beginning to shift.
I felt certain I could reshape it to my liking.
“No.”
I pushed the documents on the table back toward Team Lead Han.
Shaking my head firmly, I continued.
“I won’t be taking this request.”
“You won’t be taking it?”
Team Lead Han’s eyes widened in surprise—clearly not the answer he’d anticipated.
Fair enough.
He probably never imagined I’d turn down such a lucrative opportunity, with two billion won attached to a simple missing person search.
“I don’t have the skills to find people.”
“Hmm.”
“Is there some problem?”
“No, it’s not that, but…”
Team Lead Han scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression.
“The truth is, Valhalla Guild has quite a deep relationship with the Association. I was hoping this would be an opportunity for you to build some connections with them as well.”
He wanted to showcase to the allied guild that the Association had an apostle of Polaris.
Given the Association’s declining influence day by day, it was certainly a reasonable thought.
“Haha, there will be other opportunities.”
That’s right.
There would be other chances to build a relationship with Valhalla Guild.
And very soon at that.
“Then I’ll note that you’re declining this request.”
“Yes.”
I nodded and stood up.
“I’ll be going then.”
“Yes. We’ll conduct our own separate investigation into the Black Star Society.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
Though I held little hope for it.
I’d move first, before the Association could even act.
“Oh, that’s right.”
I turned back toward Team Lead Han.
“Could I possibly get Valhalla Guild’s contact information?”
“Contact information?”
“Yes. Since they have connections with the Association, I’ve become interested.”
I smiled.
Continuing smoothly,
“Even if it’s just a name, I’m part of the same Association. If the opportunity arises, it’s only proper to maintain good relations with allied guilds.”
“Hahaha! Of course.”
Han Jun-man, the team leader from the same Association, nodded with a satisfied expression and wrote down the contact information for Valhalla Guild on a piece of paper.
“Here is the contact information for Valhalla Guild. Ah, Valhalla Guild is an organization that doesn’t publicly disclose information, so please don’t share this contact with anyone else.”
“Yes, I understand.”
I pocketed the paper with the contact information and stepped out of the office.
I hummed a cheerful tune as I walked with a light spring in my step.
“So shall I start fishing right away?”
The bait is a vigorous twenty-seven-year-old young man named Kwon O-jin.
* * *
In front of the Mokdong New Gate.
Awakened Users searching for parties to conquer the newly formed Gate were visible everywhere.
“Man, look at all these people swarming around.”
O-jin weaved through the Awakened Users and strolled around the area in front of the Gate.
One hour, two hours.
With my face fully exposed, I continued circling around the Gate endlessly.
“Yawn.”
I loitered around the Gate for hours, even letting out a prolonged yawn.
The sun that had hung at its zenith sank beyond the mountain, and the sky blazed crimson.
“Why the hell aren’t these bastards showing up?”
O-jin furrowed his brow and voiced his frustration.
‘Do I have to come back tomorrow?’
I thought at least one would take the bait quickly, but contrary to expectations, there was no sign of anyone.
‘I want to finish this before Vega wakes up if possible.’
I sighed and strolled down the street as darkness began to settle in.
Just as I was about to give up and head home.
━A sharp tingle.
A vivid killing intent that pricked my spine.
My senses, heightened by the stigma of the Hunting Hound, precisely caught the direction from which the killing intent emanated.
‘Finally!’
O-jin’s lips curled into a grin as I subtly turned my head toward the source of the killing intent.
Instead of a conspicuous robe, I saw a middle-aged man wearing a black hat pulled low.
‘The bastard must have been running around for a week.’
Judging by the hollow cheeks visible beneath the hat and the dark circles under his eyes, he seemed to have gone through quite an ordeal searching for me.
“Damn, I’ve been waiting for you, you bastard.”
I let out a cackle,
-Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!!!!
and bolted forward at full speed.
“Huh, wh-what?”
The man, who had been making a phone call, urgently chased after me.
“St-stop!!”
The man pursuing me shouted fiercely.
I stretched my hand backward and waved my middle finger.
“Hey, mister~!! Why are you so slow? Did your hair fall out?”
“Ugh!!”
The man’s expression twisted violently.
He was wearing a hat so his head wasn’t visible, but I’d struck a nerve.
“You bastard!!”
Whoosh!
Along with a barrage of curses, several black feathers flew toward me.
‘Is that the ability of the Barn Owl stigma?’
Last time, I killed him with a surprise attack before I could even see the stigma’s ability in action, so this was my first time witnessing it directly.
‘Now that I’ve grasped the stigma’s ability.’
Maybe it was time to stop provoking him.
-Screeeech!
After arriving at the empty field with no one around, I braked sharply and came to a stop.
Spin.
As I turned my body, I thrust the spear forward.
“Hup!”
Clang!!
The man chasing after me hastily crossed his arms to block the spear.
The spear blade bounced off the black feathers sprouting from his forearms.
“Oh, hey. It’s harder than I thought?”
So the spear blade bounced off the feathers.
“You punk…!”
“Why are you staring at me with such intense eyes on our first meeting?”
You’re embarrassing me.
“Your insolence ends here!”
“Really?”
I shrugged and adjusted my grip on the spear.
I activated the Hunting Dog stigma and quickly scanned my surroundings.
I didn’t sense any other Black Star Society members nearby.
“But are you really okay going solo, mister?”
“Hmph, aren’t you alone too?”
The man with his forearms covered in black feathers let out a scornful chuckle and took his stance.
“No? I’m not alone.”
“…What?”
“Now’s the time!! We’re attacking!!!”
I shouted in a ringing voice.
“Tch! Damn it!!”
The man spun around with a startled expression.
What appeared before him as he turned was,
“Huh?”
━An empty field stretched before us.
“What the—?”
“A bluff.”
Crackle, crackle, crackle!!!!
Azure lightning erupted to life.
‘Spear Lightning.’
The electricity coalesced at the spear’s tip, spreading in a fan-shaped arc that swept across the space before him.
“Aaaaaaaagh!!!”
Even the black feathers that shrouded his arm couldn’t withstand the lightning—a horrific scream tore from the man’s throat.
Stagger, stumble.
He reeled backward, his stance crumbling.
“Hah!!”
I thrust the spear through the gap in his raised arms.
“Guh, aaaaah!!”
Refusing to yield so easily, the man quickly recovered his footing and seized the spear blade with his feather-covered hand.
“Where do you get off with such crude tricks…!!”
Azure lightning crackled along the blade’s edge, yet the man paid it no mind and wrenched the spear toward himself.
I twisted the shaft, trying to wrench it free, but the spear remained locked in his iron grip.
‘He’s stronger than me.’
It didn’t matter.
Strength alone didn’t determine victory.
“For something so crude, you certainly fell for it easily, didn’t you?”
Chuckle.
I laughed and released my grip on the shaft.
“Wha—?”
The sudden release sent his body lurching backward.
-Thud!
I kicked off the ground and launched myself upward.
I brought my clenched fist down hard on the reeling man’s head.
‘Falling Lightning.’
Crackle!!
I drove my fist down with all my strength, as though wielding a hammer against his skull.
“Hack! Cough!”
Thud.
The man crashed backward, his body twisting as he fell.
I quickly seized the spear from the ground and leveled it at his throat.
“Guh!”
With the spear at his neck, the man gnashed his teeth in frustration.
“Don’t think this means you’ve won.”
“I won?”
The resistance had been fiercer than expected, but the victory was mine nonetheless.
“Ha! Did you really think killing one of us would let you escape the Black Star Society’s grasp?”
The man snorted derisively.
“If you thought you could lay a hand on Yujin and walk away unscathed, you’re sorely mistaken!”
Kekeke!
The man suddenly burst into laughter.
“You… can never defeat him.”
“Yeah, I know.”
I couldn’t gauge exactly how powerful an Awakened User Yujin was, but I at least understood he wasn’t someone I could beat in my current state.
But it didn’t matter.
“You’ll all be dead soon anyway.”
“…What confidence are you spouting such nonsense with?”
The man asked with a gaze full of bewilderment.
Smirk.
I shrugged and answered.
“I’m going to unleash the hunting dog.”
“…A hunting dog?”
“Yeah, something like that, you bastard.”
There was no point in rambling on any further—a waste of time.
Time to wrap this up.
-Thrust!!
“Gack! Ugh… kgh.”
As I drove the spear deep into his throat, blood erupted like a fountain.
“Now then, let’s see.”
Kwon O-jin fished through the man’s clothing and pulled out a smartphone.
It had an iris recognition lock, so I pried open the dead man’s eyelids to unlock it.
‘I’d like to absorb the stigma too.’
But someone might come if they heard the commotion, so I needed to clean up here first.
“Hup.”
I hoisted the corpse and slipped out of the Empty Field.
Using the dark veil to completely mask my presence, I found a nearby Mountain and climbed it.
When all traces of human presence had completely vanished from the surroundings.
“Let’s see… yeah, this spot looks good.”
-Click.
I propped the blood-stained spear near a tree and took a photograph.
“This spear’s time has come to an end anyway.”
Since I’d already planned to replace it soon, I felt no regret.
“Ahem! Ah, ah, ah.”
I adjusted my voice by tilting my chin slightly upward.
Mimicking someone else’s voice was something I had considerable confidence in, so it wasn’t difficult to alter my own.
—Brrring.
I dialed the contact number Han Jun-man had given me.
[This is Kim Sun-young from Valhalla Guild.]
A woman’s voice tinged with unmistakable exhaustion.
It was a voice that lingered in my memory.
‘Is this that woman with glasses from back then?’
I recalled the memories inherited from Lee Shin-hyuk.
“Could you connect me with the Guild Master?”
[The Guild Master is currently unable to take calls….]
“We’ve found Lee Shin-hyuk.”
[…Pardon?]
A brief silence.
[W-wait just a moment!!]
A commotion erupted through the line.
And then.
And.
[You found my brother?]
A voice cold and measured.
This was Lee Woo-hyuk’s voice—heard for the first time in reality, not through Lee Shin-hyuk’s inherited memories.
‘Well then.’
Time to unleash the hunting dog.
“To be precise, we’re holding him captive.”
[…What?]
“Hahaha. You don’t understand?”
A vicious, savage hunting dog.
“Lee Shin-hyuk is currently in our custody.”
[Don’t spout such nonsense.]
“Nonsense? Hmm. I suppose I should send you proof photos then.”
[…This photo is…]
“Isn’t that a familiar spear?”
In my stead.
A hunting dog that would tear the enemy’s throat out and kill them.
[━Who are you.]
“Hahaha!! Now you seem to believe me!”
[Who the hell are you!!!!]
The hunting dog’s name is… yes.
Simple and straightforward.
“My name is━ Yujin.”
Call me Lee Woo-hyuk.

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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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