Not A Regressor - Chapter 273

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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 273
Greed and Love (5)
“Wh-what…?”
Isabella gazed up at Ha-eun with a sickly pallor draining her face.
Ha-eun’s expression, which ordinarily blazed with cheerful warmth like a roaring flame, had frozen into glacial coldness.
“What did I tell you before? I said I’d follow whatever Kwon O-jin decided, didn’t I?”
And Kwon O-jin’s decision was to put their feelings for each other in order.
Regardless of the reason, I couldn’t ignore a decision he’d made.
“S-so before I lost my memory….”
“I agreed to accept your feelings back then, but after losing my memory, you suddenly changed your story?”
“Y-yes! That’s, that’s right!”
Isabella nodded urgently.
Ha-eun narrowed her eyes, looking down at Isabella.
She didn’t appear to be lying under duress.
“…Something doesn’t add up.”
Ha-eun furrowed her brow, muttering to herself.
The memories Kwon O-jin had lost this time were only fragments from his date with Isabella.
Of course, she couldn’t know exactly how much of his memory had vanished, but it didn’t seem like enough to overturn his fundamental emotions and thoughts.
The circumstances were different, but even when all his memories of being her lover had disappeared, his feelings remained unchanged.
“Come to think of it, you said earlier that you wouldn’t lie anymore going forward, right?”
That statement implied she’d been lying before.
Flinch.
Isabella’s shoulders trembled.
“Th-that was….”
Isabella averted her gaze, cold sweat trickling down her skin.
Ha-eun’s eyes gleamed with sharp intensity.
“What lies did you tell Kwon O-jin?”
“….”
Isabella hung her head like a criminal entering the courtroom.
“I-I’m sorry. Elder Sister.”
“Sorry isn’t the answer—what lies did you tell?”
“It’s….”
Under Ha-eun’s irritated voice, Isabella reluctantly spilled everything that had happened with Kwon O-jin.
As the story unfolded, Ha-eun’s expression shifted moment by moment.
By the time this unexpected confession ended.
“…Good grief, my head’s killing me.”
Ha-eun exhaled deeply and pressed her forehead.
“You pathetic girl.”
She flicked Isabella’s lowered head with her finger.
“Did you really think that con artist would fall for something like that?”
“B-but surely…”
“You knew something was off, yet you chose to trust me anyway. That’s how much faith you have in me.”
“…”
“But you were trying to deceive Kwon O-jin?”
An indefensible truth.
Isabella felt her heart crumble under the weight of guilt, her lips trembling.
“…I’m sorry.”
“You don’t owe me an apology.”
“I owe Elder Sister an apology too.”
I knew full well they were dating, yet I still tried to pull such a shameless scheme.
I owed Ha-eun an apology as well.
“…I’ll apologize to Kwon O-jin tomorrow.”
“After you apologize, what then? Are you planning to return to Italy?”
“…”
Isabella’s face drained of all color.
I could sense it instinctively.
If I returned to Italy like this, there would be no future with Kwon O-jin.
The hope that had sustained my life would vanish entirely.
“I… have to go back.”
My sins were too grave to brazenly remain at Kwon O-jin’s side.
“From now on, I won’t… I won’t appear before Kwon O-jin… *hiccup*…”
Tears streamed down my cheeks like drops of rain.
A sensation of suffocation tightened around my chest.
The thought of never being able to stand beside him again crushed me with devastating despair.
“Is that so?”
Ha-eun, who had been gazing down at the weeping Isabella, suddenly spoke.
“Pardon?”
Who was she talking to?
Isabella, who had been crying with her head bowed, suddenly lifted it.
Ha-eun let out a soft chuckle and pulled out the smartphone she’d been holding.
A smartphone with an active call connection.
Isabella’s eyes widened in shock.
With a murmur of “Surely not,” Isabella watched as Ha-eun pressed the speaker button on the phone.
[That’s going to be a problem.]
A familiar voice emanated from the speaker.
It was the voice Isabella most wanted to hear and simultaneously dreaded hearing most.
“K-Kwon O-jin?!”
[I thought something seemed off, and so that’s what happened.]
Kwon O-jin’s bitter laugh came through the phone.
Isabella, her face drained pale, grabbed Ha-eun’s shoulder.
“W-wait, Elder Sister. You don’t mean… from the very beginning…?”
“Kwon O-jin said he was worried about you, so he asked me to look into it.”
Ha-eun shrugged her shoulders and clicked her tongue disapprovingly.
“Yeah, well… I kind of saw this coming eventually.”
Right after returning from the Demon Realm.
From the moment Isabella had become completely catatonic, believing Kwon O-jin was dead, I’d vaguely anticipated something like this would happen.
“This is all your fault, you wretch.”
Ha-eun narrowed her eyes and glared at her smartphone.
“Ah, ah…”
Isabella fidgeted nervously, at a loss for words.
Could it be that Kwon O-jin had been listening to her entire conversation with Ha-eun?
If so, didn’t that mean all her lies had been exposed?
“I… I… d-die…”
“Die?”
“I have no choice but to die now.”
Isabella squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her sharp nails against her throat.
“Hey, wait just a minute!”
Ha-eun urgently grabbed Isabella’s hand.
The ox-like strength nearly knocked her over in an instant, but fortunately she managed to stop Isabella’s hand before her nails could dig into her neck.
“What are you talking about dying for?!”
“…Didn’t you say it before, Elder Sister?”
A low, trembling voice mixed with tears that fell in droplets.
“That if Kwon O-jin died, you would die with him.”
“…”
“I feel the same way.”
Kwon O-jin wasn’t actually dead.
But if I couldn’t be by his side, it was as good as being dead.
“I’m sorry. I overstepped my bounds, not knowing my place.”
“…”
Ha-eun kept her lips firmly sealed as she shot a sharp glare at Isabella.
Irritation surged up at the sight of Isabella crying so pathetically.
“Why are you acting like this? You were never like this before.”
The Isabella she knew would have put on airs of sophistication in a situation like this, displaying the shameless demeanor of a con artist.
But what was she like now?
Not a con artist at all—more like a leech writhing in muddy water.
A sickening revulsion welled up at the sight of Isabella, so pathetically wilted.
Ha-eun glared at Isabella with fierce eyes and continued speaking.
“Why did you tell such a pointless lie in the first place?”
If you wanted to be by Kwon O-jin’s side, there was no reason to insist on being the ‘first’.
Isabella bit her lip and lowered her head.
“…because I was scared.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“I was scared… that’s why.”
I knew the truth all along.
No matter what I did, I could never take Ha-eun’s place.
Because I understood that fact better than anyone, I was terrified.
Afraid, so afraid I thought I might lose my mind.
Kwon O-jin had lost his memories of being Ha-eun’s lover, yet he reconnected with her as if it were nothing.
Between them existed a bond that transcended memory and nostalgia.
But what about me?
What about someone who was merely “second”?
Did I have anything with Kwon O-jin that could be called a memory?
Did I have a bond that transcended memory?
“I’m sorry… sob. I’m sorry.”
If Kwon O-jin used that technique again, the one where his entire body transformed into black clouds.
If he forgot about me once more.
Could I really return to our original relationship as effortlessly as Ha-eun did?
“I also… I wanted to become like you, Elder Sister. Like you…”
That’s why I yearned to be first.
Even knowing I didn’t deserve such a place.
Even knowing it wasn’t a position I could obtain through hollow lies.
I was greedy.
“I was wrong…”
“….”
Ha-eun watched the sobbing Isabella in silence, wiping away her own tears.
Sigh.
A deep breath escaped her.
“Hey, Kwon O-jin.”
Ha-eun turned her head toward the foyer.
“You’re there, aren’t you?”
“…Yes?”
Click.
The foyer door opened, and Kwon O-jin in hospital garb stepped inside.
Isabella trembled as if seized by convulsions, backing away hesitantly.
“O-Kwon O-jin?!”
“….”
Without a word, Kwon O-jin approached Isabella and gently reached out to wipe the tears from her eyes.
Ha-eun clicked her tongue and turned away.
“Handle the rest yourself.”
“…Handle it myself?”
“Didn’t I tell you? I’ll follow whatever you decide.”
“….”
I kept my lips pressed firmly together, my thoughts churning, before finally speaking.
“I’m sorry, Elder Sister.”
A deep sigh escaped me.
“I really am a piece of garbage, aren’t I?”
“You’re only realizing that now?”
Ha-eun let out a hollow laugh and kicked my shin hard.
“What would you do if I brought some other guy and said I was going to play both sides?”
“I’d beat the crap out of him and tell him to get lost from your side.”
“You’re so damn selfish.”
“I told you. I’m garbage.”
I’d given up on overthinking this.
What did I care about the aftereffects of my past?
“Instead, not that I’m making excuses or anything.”
I slowly pulled myself up.
With one hand I held Isabella, and with the other I grasped Ha-eun’s hand.
“I’ll make you both happy.”
Even if I have to trample the entire world and burn it to ashes.
“…Oh, Kwon O-jin?”
“Damn it.”
Ha-eun frowned and spat out a crude curse.
Yet despite the harsh language, she didn’t let go of my hand that she was holding.
“Since I’m cutting you some slack, you better listen to what I say from now on, got it?”
“I’ve got sins to atone for, so I should do whatever you ask.”
“Dance Zero Two in a maid outfit.”
“I’m sorry, Isabella. I don’t think I can accept your feelings.”
“Ah….”
Isabella’s pupils contracted.
Her shoulders trembled with an expression full of despair.
“Hey, hey. The kid’s going to cry again at this rate.”
Ha-eun let out a soft chuckle and patted Isabella’s shoulder lightly.
“…Elder Sister?”
“I’d probably be pretty annoyed if some random woman came along and tried to take the seat next to me.”
She gently stroked Isabella’s hair as she sat down, a faint smile on her face.
“But, well, I don’t really hate you. It kind of feels like I’ve gained a younger sister.”
Sometimes her bold actions made me want to grab the back of my neck in frustration, but fundamentally, Isabella had a straightforward and kind personality.
It was like having a capable younger sister.
As a rival in love, she was the worst possible opponent, but as a friend or colleague, it was hard to find anyone better.
“So, so you’re saying you’re… accepting me, Elder Sister?”
Isabella’s once-hollow eyes now blazed with the radiance of a vast galaxy.
Ha-eun shrugged and turned her head toward Kwon O-jin.
“You slipped out of the hospital room without a word, didn’t you?”
“Ah, yeah.”
There hadn’t been time for explanations or anything like that.
“By now, they’ve probably gone crazy looking for you.”
With a VIP Hospital Room patient vanishing without a trace, the entire hospital must have been thrown into chaos.
“Wait. I should call right away….”
“Never mind. I’ll go handle the discharge paperwork.”
Besides, lingering in a VIP Hospital Room wouldn’t help the aftereffects of the Abyss fade any faster.
Ha-eun glanced down at Isabella and continued.
“Finish your conversation with her in the meantime.”
“…Thanks, Elder Sister.”
“Forget it. This is all my fault for not raising you to choose men better.”
Ha-eun exhaled deeply and turned to leave.
“Oh, wait a second.”
As she headed for the door, something occurred to her, and she rummaged through the room’s drawer.
What she pulled out was a small paper box, slightly smaller than the palm of her hand.
“If you’re going to do it, use these.”
Ha-eun tossed the paper box to Kwon O-jin.
“….”
“….”
The moment Kwon O-jin and Isabella saw the number “0.01” printed on the paper box, their expressions froze solid.

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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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