Not A Regressor - Chapter 267

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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 267
Interlude – Ninth Memory (1)
A serpentine tongue flicked out, long and sinuous.
Cassia inhaled deeply through narrowed eyes, her senses keen.
The unfamiliar scent of a woman clung heavily to Kwon O-jin’s body.
“It’s not Isabella’s scent….”
A chilling murderous intent gleamed in her emerald eyes as they fixed upon Kwon O-jin.
Before the serpent, Kwon O-jin’s body went rigid as a frog’s.
Cassia’s long tongue traced the nape of his neck as her eyes narrowed to slits.
“Whose scent is this?”
“That’s….”
Cold sweat trickled down my forehead.
A chill spread down my spine, bone-deep and unsettling.
‘Why are these sisters both like this?’
Isabella occasionally cast glances so eerie they could freeze the blood, but Cassia’s gaze carried a far more sinister threat.
“Hmm. Well, never mind. Just from what you said to me, I can tell exactly what kind of man you are, Kwon O-jin.”
Cassia shot him a fierce glare, then turned her head sharply away, her arms crossed.
She looked thoroughly sullen.
Kwon O-jin sighed, his expression awkward.
“So what’s this thing you said you’d give me?”
I hastily changed the subject.
Cassia clearly disliked the abrupt topic shift, her sharp eyes piercing through me, but she soon clicked her tongue lightly and reached toward the shadows.
From within her shadow, a cracked black jewel rose into view.
“This is….”
“A sacred relic the Heavenly Demon used when he dominated my consciousness.”
“Why give it to me?”
“Because it contains the power of Heukcheon within it. The same as what you possess.”
“….”
Two instances of Heukcheon.
I still couldn’t fathom how such an extraordinary power could exist in duplicate.
What the Heavenly Demon possessed was undoubtedly the same Heukcheon as mine.
“I thought you might be able to uncover why two instances of Heukcheon can exist.”
“So you’re giving this to me?”
“Yes.”
Whether this shattered jewel alone would reveal the answer remained uncertain.
“Thank you.”
There was no reason to refuse it.
“Oh, and one more thing….”
Cassia handed me the black jewel and gently bit her lip.
“Soon, the ‘Kings’ of the Demon Realm will make their move.”
“A king?”
“Yes.”
Cassia nodded in affirmation.
“You’re aware that the Named ones have been moving more actively lately, aren’t you?”
I was aware of it.
And that the Heavenly Demon existed behind it all.
“Most of the monsters commonly called ‘Named’ these days were once subordinates under the king in the Demon Realm. They’re intelligent, cunning, and organized.”
“You’re saying they’re no different from humans?”
“Yes. Because ‘civilization’ exists in the Demon Realm as well.”
Now that I thought about it, when I was riding Poppy out of the Demon Realm, I had discovered a massive castle and city.
“If the kings of the Demon Realm begin to move… we might face another catastrophe like ten years ago.”
“….”
Ten years ago, the day the first Gate connecting to the Demon Realm opened.
Dozens of nations crumbled, and hundreds of millions of people were slaughtered—the worst disaster in human history.
Was the Heavenly Demon planning to create that horrific hell on Earth once more?
‘After the Black Star Society, now the kings of the Demon Realm.’
A deep sigh escaped from my lips.
“Well then, I should be going.”
Cassia lifted the hem of her dress slightly and bowed with elegant grace.
“Take care of yourself until I return, Kwon O-jin. Or rather… Heavenly Demon.”
Cassia approached me with a radiant smile.
She rose on her tiptoes and gently pressed a kiss to my cheek.
“….”
The soft sensation transmitted across my cheek.
Watching Cassia’s beaming smile, I could finally understand why the king of the Toad Constellation had risked his life masquerading as the Heavenly Demon just to claim her.
Ssshhhhh.
With a sound like a serpent slithering across the ground, Cassia’s form vanished into the shadows.
As if nothing had happened, a bitter silence descended upon the Hospital Rooftop.
“Phew.”
I leaned against the railing and gazed down at the night view sprawling below.
Lights twinkling like stars adorning the night sky.
For a moment, I found myself lost in that brilliant luminescence, and inexplicably, my emotions became tangled and complex.
“Damn it.”
What was the Heavenly Demon’s true identity?
What was his real purpose?
The deeper I went, the more I felt myself sinking into a labyrinth.
I took a deep breath and straightened up from the railing.
As the cool night breeze brushed across my head, my turbulent thoughts seemed to settle somewhat.
“…I wonder what clues I might uncover if I investigate this.”
I lifted the black jewel that Cassia had given me.
Though the surface was cracked like a spider’s web, the power contained within had not entirely dissipated.
‘A different Heukcheon from what I possess… another one.’
Kwon O-jin opened his eyes narrowly, holding the jewel that glimmered with a soft black light in his hand.
Indeed, what difference existed between the Heukcheon that the Heavenly Demon possessed and the one I held?
‘According to Cassia’s words, the Heukcheon is only completed by killing and absorbing the Fate-Reversing Star.’
Then.
Did that mean the Heukcheon I possessed was already a higher power than the one the Heavenly Demon held?
“Well, I’ll find out once I absorb it.”
Even if I were to take the jewel imbued with Heukcheon’s power to the Association or Seven Stars for investigation, it seemed unlikely I would obtain any decisive clues.
After all, even Cassia, who had been most closely connected to the Heavenly Demon, did not properly understand his true nature.
‘Rather than clumsily entrusting it to investigation, absorption would be better.’
Kwon O-jin summoned the power of Heukcheon while gripping the black jewel in his hand.
Rumble.
Black clouds flowing from his hand enveloped the jewel.
And.
-Ding!
[You have absorbed ‘Fragment of Heukcheon’.]
[All conditions for the ninth blooming of Heukcheon have been fulfilled!]
[The ninth blooming of Heukcheon is beginning!]
“What?”
My eyes widened at the blue message window that appeared before me.
I had thought it would be enough if I could find some trace of the Heavenly Demon, but a ninth blooming suddenly?
Bewilderment surged through me at this unexpected development.
“Ugh!”
Rumble!
Black clouds erupted from my entire body, swirling like a vortex around my surroundings.
Just as Awakened Users undergo tremendous transformation upon reaching Transcendence, perhaps something special occurs with Heukcheon at its ninth blooming.
The volume of black clouds bursting in all directions was far denser and more abundant than during any of the previous eight bloomings.
Rumble! Rumble!
The swirling black clouds were sucked into Kwon O-jin’s body.
[Heukcheon has reached Nine-Star Transformation!]
[A portion of Awakened User Lee Shin-hyuk’s memories will be transmitted!]
The familiar transmission of memories.
Crackle.
My vision distorted as Lee Shin-hyuk’s memories flowed into my mind.
-How’s your body feeling now, hyung?
The first voice I heard was that of Lee Shin-hyuk’s younger brother, Lee Woo-hyuk.
-Ah, yeah. I’m feeling better now.
Lee Shin-hyuk, lying on a hospital bed, rose with an awkward smile.
Lee Woo-hyuk exhaled deeply and opened his mouth.
-From now on, never enter a Gate alone. Understand?
-I got it.
-You can’t just ignore Anthorn because it’s a manageable monster. You know that strange phenomena in Gates have been surging recently, right?
-…Yeah.
Lee Shin-hyuk nodded, swallowing a groan at Lee Woo-hyuk’s continued nagging.
‘Anthorn?’
Kwon O-jin furrowed his brow in confusion.
According to the memories that had flowed in last, Lee Shin-hyuk should have already reached the rank of a high-tier Awakened User at 9-star level.
No matter how dangerous Anthorn was supposed to be, it wasn’t the kind of monster that warranted serious warnings to a high-tier Awakened User.
‘Did time go backward?’
Kwon O-jin checked the electronic clock hanging on the hospital room wall.
November 30th, 2020.
It had been roughly three weeks since Kwon O-jin and Lee Shin-hyuk had entered a 1-star Gate together.
‘So the memories aren’t flowing in according to chronological order?’
Until now, they had shown him future events in sequence from the present moment, but suddenly they’d returned to a time period similar to the beginning.
November 2020 was already a past more than a year and a half ago from Kwon O-jin’s current perspective.
‘Why this memory from that time….’
Kwon O-jin furrowed his eyes and refocused on the flowing memories.
-By the way, what happened with that thing from before? You said a Gate appeared in Mokdong.
-That’s… something strange came up.
-Something strange?
-Yeah.
Lee Woo-hyuk nodded and continued.
-It looks like the sacred relic we found there was switched out by someone else.
-Switched out?
-Yeah. So I investigated by following traces of the original sacred relic, and… there was this weird guy lurking around the Gate.
-Who?
-A guy named Yujin.
Yujin.
Even for Kwon O-jin, it was a name he hadn’t heard in a very long time.
-That guy… what did he say? Ah, ‘False Star Sect’. He said he was a believer of the False Star Sect.
-Is it like some kind of cult?
-I’m not sure. It’s hard to call it just a cult… something feels off about it.
Lee Woo-hyuk opened his eyes narrowly.
-I think I need to investigate more.
-I’ll help too….
-You just focus on getting discharged first.
Lee Woo-hyuk stood up with a light jab, his expression noticeably more relaxed in front of his older brother.
Contrary to his nickname Black Lion, his demeanor was quite loose here.
With Lee Woo-hyuk turning his body and closing the hospital room door behind him as he left.
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
My distorted vision snapped back into focus.
“…What? Is that all?”
Kwon O-jin furrowed his brow, his expression deflating with disappointment.
Not that there was any rule stating only useful memories had to be inherited, but this was the first time he’d received such utterly worthless knowledge through succession.
“Damn it.”
A curse slipped out unbidden.
No matter how many times I retraced the memory, I couldn’t find a single practical application for this jumbled, useless information.
‘Did I expect too much?’
Kwon O-jin clicked his tongue and turned away.
Even if the inherited memory proved useless, at least Heukcheon’s awakening stage had advanced—he tried to console himself with that small consolation.
“…Huh?”
Something.
An intuition beyond words.
An instinct that defied language.
It seized his footsteps.
“Wait, maybe…”
Like discovering a puzzle he thought complete was actually misaligned.
Like realizing the first piece he’d placed was actually from a different puzzle entirely.
Something.
Something.
Something.
Something.
Was wrong.
Distorted.
Twisted and warped.
“This doesn’t make sense…”
That’s right.
It made no sense.
It defied common logic.
It couldn’t be understood rationally.
It didn’t fit.
The pieces wouldn’t lock together.
“Why…?”
Nine memories.
If I counted even those gained through déjà vu, over ten successions of memory had occurred.
Why.
Why, why, why, why, why.
What was the reason.
Not once.
Not a single word.
Not a single letter.
“The name Black Star Society… it doesn’t have to come up, right?”
Since when.
Had Yujin become an apostle of the False Star Sect instead of the Black Star Society?

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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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