Not A Regressor - Chapter 252

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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 252
Cheon Joo-ryong (4)
“Tada! It’s finished!”
A week later.
Ha-eun and Kwon O-jin, who had gathered after receiving a call from Kim Si-hu, received a sleek silver case with an elegant design.
Ha-eun swallowed nervously and carefully opened the case.
Inside lay a pair of black leather gloves with a simple design.
Near the knuckles of the gloves, crimson sacred stones the size of fingernails were embedded like studs.
-Whoooosh!
As Ha-eun, wearing the gloves, gently channeled her mana, the crimson sacred stones embedded in them began to resonate with each other, vibrating and heating up intensely.
“Wow.”
An exclamation escaped naturally.
The heat was noticeably stronger than when I created flames with my bare hands.
“So these are the sacred relics obtained by selling Ojin’s body….”
“That phrasing is incredibly unpleasant.”
Kwon O-jin, standing behind her and watching, frowned.
Kim Si-hu grinned with satisfaction as he watched Ha-eun’s amazed reaction.
“Considering your characteristics, I crafted this sacred relic to amplify only the ‘Yang’ essence from the sacred stigma’s mana! If someone else used it, the effect would drop significantly, but for an awakener with the Dragon’s Blessing like you, there’s no better sacred relic than this!”
“You made this in just a week?”
“The crafting itself isn’t that difficult for this type of sacred relic. Sacred relics with mana amplification effects are expensive simply because the sacred stones required are absurdly costly.”
Regardless, the fact that Kim Si-hu could create a sacred relic of this caliber in such a short span of a week spoke to his genius-level craftsmanship.
“Thank you. I’ll use it well.”
“Unlike your brother, don’t break it out of boredom. Once this breaks, repairs alone will cost at least tens of billions.”
“I’ll keep it in a display case and won’t even touch it!”
Then what was the point of spending 30 billion to create a sacred relic?
“Then if you need anything else next time, come find me! Or even if you don’t, feel free to visit!”
“Hehe. I’ll buy you something delicious next time, sister.”
“Okay!”
Ha-eun affectionately ruffled Kim Si-hu’s hair.
Kim Si-hu beamed with joy.
“Then I’m heading out~!”
With that, Kwon O-jin and Ha-eun left the lab and headed straight home.
A week had already passed waiting for the sacred relic to be completed, so there was no time to waste any further.
-Thump thump thump thump!
A helicopter prepared by the Colgrand Family was already waiting at the helipad built on the apartment rooftop.
“Did you receive the sacred relic?”
Isabella, dressed in practical clothing rather than her usual one-piece dresses, approached Kwon O-jin and Ha-eun.
“Yeah. I tested it once and the performance is incredible.”
Ha-eun smiled and held up the black leather gloves she wore on her hand.
“That’s fortunate. Oh, by the way, please each take one of these.”
Isabella held out a palm-sized pouch toward Ha-eun and Kwon O-jin.
Inside the pouch lay several overlapping talismans inscribed with intricate patterns.
“Are these sacred relics effective against curses?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Over the past week, I hadn’t merely twiddled my thumbs waiting for Ha-eun’s equipment to be completed.
Cheon Joo-ryong’s greatest weapon was curses.
To procure sacred relics effective against curses, Isabella had been busily traveling across the globe.
“I’ve also prepared items for Riak and Vega.”
“Hand them over when they arrive later.”
Vega and Riak planned to summon them once they reached the vicinity of Lae, minimizing the constraints of Divine Law.
Kwon O-jin gazed at Isabella as he tucked the pouch into his pocket.
“Thank you for indulging such an unreasonable request.”
Ha-eun’s equipment, and talismans effective against curses on top of that.
Though unspoken, an astronomical sum had undoubtedly been spent.
No matter how vast the Colgrand Family’s wealth, hundreds of billions couldn’t be casually expended.
“Hehe. I could spend far more than this for your sake, Kwon O-jin.”
Isabella smiled radiantly, as if it were nothing.
Wealthy, gracious, an excellent cook, and devoted to boot.
‘Didn’t I destroy the world in my past life?’
I let out a wry chuckle at the overwhelming kindness Isabella kept showering upon me.
“Once I capture Cheon Joo-ryong, I’ll hand over all the essence stones and the corpse to the Colgrand Family.”
A monster of Cheon Joo-ryong’s caliber would easily yield over a billion won in profit once both the essence stones and corpse were disposed of.
Of course, even combined, it wouldn’t amount to half of what Isabella had spent.
Still, I couldn’t simply receive without giving in return.
“Mmm. I’d rather go on a date with you, Kwon O-jin.”
Isabella flashed an alluring smile, her pale pink tongue darting out to lick her lips.
Her expression resembled that of someone gazing upon a delectable feast.
“That’s… well…”
I swallowed hard and averted my gaze from hers.
“Don’t flirt with her right in front of your girlfriend.”
Ha-eun, smoking a cigarette with a sullen expression, turned her steps toward the helicopter.
“Let’s get going.”
“Yeah.”
“Yes, Elder Sister.”
Kwon O-jin, Ha-eun, and Isabella boarded the helicopter.
“Well then.”
Ha-eun stubbed out her cigarette in a portable ashtray and thrust her fist powerfully toward the north.
“Let’s go!”
To the Northland!
* * *
“Drop me off around here.”
The helicopter descended toward Pyongyang.
The city bore the unmistakable mark of Cheon Joo-ryong and Barbatos.
“Ugh… No matter how many times I see this, I can’t get used to it.”
Ha-eun stepped out of the helicopter and gazed at the desolate expanse of the ruined city, clicking her tongue.
Pyongyang, once the capital of North Korea, had been annihilated six years ago by Cheon Joo-ryong and the horde of monsters under his command. Now it stood as a ghost city devoid of all life.
Had it not been for the sacrifices of Ha-eun and countless other Awakeners back then, Seoul would likely have met the same fate.
“Vega.”
Upon arriving at our destination, I channeled mana into the pendant hanging around my neck and called out to Vega.
The silver pendant gleamed with light as Vega and Riak materialized before me.
[Is this where that beast Cheon Joo-ryong’s lair is located?]
“Yes.”
“Growl. I don’t catch any scent though… where exactly is this lair?”
Riak sniffed the air and surveyed the surroundings.
The streets were filled only with dilapidated buildings riddled with holes—nowhere a dragon could conceal its massive form.
“Beneath here.”
I pointed to the cracked concrete floor, fractured as if bombarded by artillery.
“Underground… the subway?”
“Exactly.”
According to Lee Shin-hyuk’s memories, Cheon Joo-ryong’s lair was located deep beneath Pyongyang in the underground railway system.
“The Pyongyang Underground Railway was constructed to a depth of 100 meters, designed to serve as a civil defense shelter during wartime.”
It was spacious enough to conceal a creature of enormous size, and its construction as a bunker made it exceptionally sturdy.
It would be difficult to find a more ideal location for a lair.
“It’s a good spot for a lair, but how did Valhalla Guild miss it if it’s this obvious?”
It seemed unlikely that Valhalla Guild, which had been searching for the lair’s location to subjugate Cheon Joo-ryong, would have overlooked the subway system.
Given the nature of dragon-type monsters, which typically preferred building their nests in caves or steep gorges, the underground railway should have been their first suspect.
“They may have considered the subway, but pinpointing the exact station would have been difficult.”
I narrowed my eyes as I continued.
“Cheon Joo-ryong’s lair is located in a station that doesn’t exist on any official line.”
In the past, North Korea’s prolonged dictatorship had resulted in stations that ordinary citizens could never access.
Cheon Joo-ryong had claimed a station that existed only in secret—one whose very name had been erased from all records.
It would have been extraordinarily difficult for Valhalla Guild members, who hadn’t worked for the National Intelligence Service, to discover a station that didn’t even appear on official maps.
‘Even Lee Shin-hyuk had to personally traverse countless railway lines before finally locating it.’
Cheon Joo-ryong’s lair was situated in a place that couldn’t be accessed through conventional means.
“Should we head down beneath the station then?”
“No.”
I shook my head quietly.
“There’s no reason to fight on his home turf.”
Cheon Joo-ryong was a beast that wielded a thousand curses, true to his name.
Undoubtedly, his lair would be saturated with an enormous concentration of curses.
Even looking back at Lee Shin-hyuk’s memories, I could see how much he had struggled to penetrate Cheon Joo-ryong’s Rare.
“Luring the enemy to a battlefield favorable to oneself… Indeed, that’s quite a good idea for a youngster.”
[But how are you planning to draw Cheon Joo-ryong out?]
Vega fluttered through the air and perched on top of Kwon O-jin’s head as she asked.
It wasn’t easy to draw out someone who was hiding deep underground, deep enough to serve as an air raid shelter.
“That’s…”
“Oh! I’ve got it!”
Before Kwon O-jin could answer, Ha-eun clapped her hands and grinned widely.
“Can’t we just set it on fire and be done with it?”
To draw out enemy forces entrenched within a fortress, there was nothing quite like fire tactics.
“That won’t be enough.”
“It won’t be enough?”
“Fire naturally rises upward rather than descending.”
It wouldn’t be suitable for forcing someone positioned deep underground to crawl out.
“Then if I go down there myself and set the fire…”
“The moment you descend into the underground station, Cheon Joo-ryong will detect you immediately.”
He wasn’t a demonic beast moving on nothing but primal instinct.
As befitted a demonic beast with a ‘name,’ Cheon Joo-ryong possessed intelligence equal to or surpassing that of humans.
If he had created a Rare underground, he would naturally have taken precautions of that caliber.
“Then what do we do?”
“If fire won’t work, then water will.”
“Water?”
Ha-eun tilted her head in confusion.
“There are sewers running beneath this area in addition to the underground railway.”
Lee Shin-hyuk had thoroughly investigated all of Pyongyang to locate Cheon Joo-ryong’s Rare.
And those memories had been transmitted completely into Kwon O-jin’s mind through ‘déjà vu.’
Now Kwon O-jin knew not only the structure of the Pyongyang Underground Railway but also exactly where and how the sewers flowed.
“If we rupture the sewers and let water flow through the entire underground railway, he’ll have no choice but to crawl out.”
“…Is that even possible?”
Ha-eun narrowed her eyes as she asked.
Certainly, the plan to rupture the sewers and submerge the Rare in water was a plan that made no common sense.
“Hmm. I’m a bit skeptical myself.”
Isabella also frowned and shook her head.
“Even if we rupture the sewers, we won’t be able to submerge the entire station in water.”
At best, water would only rise to ankle level.
To flood the entire underground railway, it would be impossible unless it rained hard enough to cause a river to overflow.
“Huh? I never said anything about submerging the station in water.”
“Pardon?”
“I said we only need to ‘flow’ water toward the Rare.”
“Then… wouldn’t there be no reason for him to come out?”
Isabella tilted her head in confusion.
The water wasn’t pouring in enough to submerge the Lair, so there was no reason for Cheon Joo-ryong to leap out of it.
While water reaching up to a human’s ankles might be inconvenient, considering the dragon’s massive size, that amount of water was merely equivalent to accidentally spilling some on the floor.
“No, he’ll come out.”
Kwon O-jin spoke with absolute certainty, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
If Cheon Joo-ryong possessed the same ‘intellect’ as humans.
He would have no choice but to flee the Lair.
“When do you think this sewage treatment facility broke down?”
“Pardon?”
“Cheon Joo-ryong destroyed this city… roughly six years ago, if I recall.”
What was pooling in the sewers now wasn’t mere ‘water’.
“It’s water mixed with six years’ worth of accumulated filth.”
“….”
Ha-eun and Isabella’s expressions hardened visibly.
“So basically….”
Ha-eun pressed her forehead with an expression of disbelief.
“We’re about to dump six years of sewage onto that bastard’s Lair?”
The rice cakes the priestess gave me… no, that’s not it.

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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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