Not A Regressor - Chapter 277

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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 277
Dog and Wolf (2)
“So… many… guests… first time.”
Baek Moo-gang’s eyes sparkled with childlike wonder as his gaze darted about the room.
Kwon O-jin’s group froze in place, unable to speak, their expectations shattered by the sight before them.
Baek Moo-gang of the Heavenly Authority.
A member of the Seven Stars and confidently ranked first among Deneb’s 12 Apostles—who could have predicted he would be a senile old man?
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. I’m Kwon O-jin.”
Without hesitation.
I grasped Baek Moo-gang’s hand—dried mucus and all—without a second thought and smiled warmly at him.
Hehe, Baek Moo-gang giggled foolishly, his laughter innocent as a child’s.
“Call me… Moo-kang.”
“…Moo-kang, sir?”
“Yes. That’s… my real name. Baek Moo-gang was the name Deneb gave me.”
A name given by Deneb himself.
So he had been made to use “Baek Moo-gang” instead of the somewhat rustic name “Moo-kang.”
It was typical of Deneb, who cared greatly about others’ perceptions.
‘So that’s why Deneb was so reluctant to speak of the Heavenly Authority…’
Perhaps it would have been embarrassing to introduce his first apostle with such pride.
“Huh? Why the long face?”
“Oh, it’s nothing at all.”
Watching Baek Moo-gang smile with innocent simplicity, his wrinkled mouth curling upward, I began to understand Deneb’s feelings to some degree.
“By the way, is it really alright to tell a stranger your real name?”
“Huh? …Oh! Right, right! Deneb told me not to say!”
Baek Moo-gang fluttered about nervously, cold sweat beading on his brow.
I spoke to him in a gentle tone, as one might soothe a crying child.
“I will keep Baek Moo-gang’s real name in confidence.”
“Th-thank you.”
Baek Moo-gang’s eyes glistened with what seemed like genuine gratitude.
“O-jin… good person.”
“…”
How long had it been since I’d heard myself called good?
I gazed at Baek Moo-gang with a complex expression.
“O-jin… is this really okay?”
Ha-eun approached cautiously and whispered into my ear.
I shook my head, uncertain.
I had never anticipated Baek Moo-gang would be in such a state.
‘Will I even be able to get proper information like this?’
Still, having come this far, I couldn’t leave empty-handed.
“May I ask you a few questions about the Demon Realm?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. Since you’re a good kid, Kwon O-jin, I’ll tell you.”
Baek Moo-gang turned his body and entered the small cottage.
Kwon O-jin’s group, who had been silently reading the situation, followed him inside at his gesture.
The interior of the cottage was far neater than its outward appearance suggested.
Rather than feeling well-organized, it gave the impression that it simply wasn’t used much in the first place.
“I’ll bring something to drink.”
After they sat and waited briefly, Baek Moo-gang brought out tea.
It was pu-erh tea with wisps of warm steam rising from it.
“My grandmother used to love this tea.”
Baek Moo-gang set down the tea with a faint smile.
Kwon O-jin bowed respectfully and accepted the cup.
*Sip.*
With one sip, the rich, earthy aroma spread through his nostrils.
Kwon O-jin set down his teacup and asked.
“How many years have you been living here in the Demon Realm?”
“Hmm. Four years? Five years? Sorry. I don’t remember well.”
“Is there a particular reason you live in the Demon Realm?”
“Treasure. Looking for it.”
Treasure?
So the reason he lived alone in the Demon Realm while suspending all public activities was because of treasure?
“What kind of treasure?”
“Huh? Treasure is treasure.”
“….”
Baek Moo-gang opened his eyes wide, looking at him as if asking how he didn’t know that.
Kwon O-jin gave up asking further and changed the subject.
“Elder. Do you know about the ‘Kings’ of the Demon Realm?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“How many demonic beasts called ‘Kings’ currently exist in the Demon Realm?”
“Demonic beasts?”
Baek Moo-gang tilted his head.
“They’re not demonic beasts. Demonic beasts are the ones in that forest.”
He gestured toward the Forest of Mahae that Kwon O-jin’s group had escaped from over the past week.
“Here and Earth are the same.”
It was something he had also heard from Allen.
“Here, beastfolk, dragonkin, and demonkin live. And each has one king.”
“Then there are three kingdoms?”
“Hmm… it’s a bit different.”
Baek Moo-gang shook his head while sipping his tea.
“There are three kingdoms, but actually they all belong to the demonkin.”
“…What do you mean by that.”
“The number of Demon-kin is small. But they are strong. They carry the blood of the Heavenly Demon.”
The Heavenly Demon.
Kwon O-jin’s eyes narrowed.
“So you’re saying that while there are three kingdoms, the Demon-kin are the true rulers?”
“Yes. It was different in the past. But there was a great war more than a hundred years ago.”
Crack!
With a sudden noise, the cottage floor shattered.
All eyes turned toward the source of the sound.
“Ah… I-I’m sorry. I mistepped.”
Riak avoided their gaze with an embarrassed expression.
Though to call it a mere misstep seemed absurd—the wooden floor that had been perfectly intact was now devastated.
“It’s fine. I don’t use this place often anyway.”
Baek Moo-gang shook his head as if it were nothing.
“No, it’s our fault. We’ll repair it before we leave.”
“Hehe. As expected of you, Kwon O-jin—such a good person.”
“Then to continue my question, the nearest kingdom from here is the Kan Kingdom, correct?”
“Yes. It’s a nation of beastfolk.”
Just as Riak had told me.
“I wish to approach the king of that place.”
“There’s no king there.”
“Pardon?”
But hadn’t he just said that each kingdom had a king?
Wondering if senility was setting in, I regarded Baek Moo-gang with a slight frown.
“Instead, there’s a regent. A wolf of the Black-maned Tribe named Horus.”
“A regent? Then the king is…?”
“The beastfolk king must inherit the name ‘Kan.'”
Baek Moo-gang continued his explanation with an innocent smile, like a child recounting a fairy tale.
“The previous ‘Kan’ went missing during the war, and since then, no beastfolk has inherited the name Kan. So the throne has been vacant ever since.”
The throne vacant.
I furrowed my brow and pressed my hand to my forehead.
“But because the throne has been vacant for so long, everyone calls Horus the king.”
“I see.”
Then it hardly mattered.
Whether king or regent, what mattered was whether there was any connection to the Heavenly Demon.
“Then, is there a way to approach this beastfolk named Horus?”
“I don’t know about that.”
Baek Moo-gang shook his head side to side.
I swallowed a groan and pressed my hand to my forehead.
At this point, there was no choice but to infiltrate the kingdom directly and investigate.
‘This won’t be easy.’
While I could conceal my presence using the shadows, Ha-eun and Isabella would be far more difficult to hide.
“All we need are ears and a tail.”
“Pardon?”
Baek Moo-gang tapped the top of his head and rear end with his fingers.
Kwon O-jin stared at Baek Moo-gang with a startled expression.
“That’s all we need?”
“Yeah. Beastkin, almost never meet humans. So don’t know well.”
Fair enough.
Only a handful of Awakened settled in the Demon Realm, so it made sense that Baek Moo-gang wouldn’t know much about humans.
“So we just need fake ears and a tail?”
Isabella, who had been listening quietly, asked.
“Yeah. I have a few. Want to borrow some?”
“Oh, yes. Could you show me for a moment?”
“Wait.”
Baek Moo-gang rose to his feet and shuffled toward the closet with his characteristic clumsy gait.
He rummaged through the clutter and returned with his arms full of fake ears and tails.
They were fluffy costume-grade prosthetic ears and tails, the kind typically used for cosplay.
“There’s quite a variety.”
“Beastkin, many types.”
Isabella examined the ears and tails with evident interest.
She picked out a pair of drooping brown ears resembling a puppy’s and placed them on her head.
“How do I look, Kwon O-jin? Do they suit me?”
Isabella turned to face me with a playful smile in her eyes.
Though I’d never shown interest in such things before, seeing Isabella wearing the puppy ears made my cheeks burn inexplicably.
“Ahem. Y-yes, they suit you.”
“Oh, how wonderful.”
Isabella approached me with a sultry smile.
She leaned in close and whispered softly near my ear.
“Woof.”
Insane.
My jaw dropped and my eyes went wide.
Apparently pleased by my reaction, Isabella burst into delighted laughter.
“These two are flirting in broad daylight.”
Ha-eun narrowed her eyes and glared at Kwon O-jin and Isabella.
“You should try a pair too, Elder Sister.”
“No thanks. I’m not interested in that sort of thing.”
“Come on, you’ll have to wear them anyway when we go to the kingdom. I think cat ears would suit you perfectly.”
Isabella rummaged through the collection and placed a pair of black cat ears on Ha-eun’s head.
“This is so embarrassing…”
Even as she said this, Ha-eun glanced furtively in my direction.
Her flushed cheeks felt endearingly lovely to me.
Kwon O-jin let out a soft chuckle and shifted his gaze toward the ear models.
“So I can just pick any of these and wear them?”
“Black is good.”
“Black?”
“Yes.”
Baek Moo-gang nodded and continued speaking.
“Right now in the Kan Kingdom, the Black-maned Tribe is the strongest.”
The Black-maned Tribe, then.
‘Come to think of it, didn’t Riak say he was from the Silver-maned Wolf Tribe?’
Kwon O-jin picked up the silver ear model.
Click.
Baek Moo-gang grabbed his hand holding the silver ear model.
Baek Moo-gang shook his head with a stern expression.
“Silver, no good.”
“Is there a particular reason?”
“Silver-maned Tribe, weak.”
So even among the beast-folk, there existed hierarchies based on fur color.
My gaze turned toward Riak.
Riak silently stared at the silver ear model in my hand.
“…I’ll go with black.”
Kwon O-jin picked up the black ear model.
“Even with ears and tail, be careful of scent. Might not know human smell well, but if close, get caught.”
“Yes, I understand.”
There was no need to worry about that aspect.
It would be difficult for Isabella and Ha-eun, but I had the Black Veil that could completely erase my presence.
‘Still, thinking about moving around together, I should prepare something to mask the scent as much as possible.’
That part could be handled by getting Riak’s help to create it.
Ha-eun, who had been fidgeting with the cat ears on her head, turned to Baek Moo-gang and asked.
“But if just ears and a tail are enough, doesn’t that mean beast-folk look almost identical to humans in appearance?”
Baek Moo-gang nodded in affirmation.
“Then….”
Ha-eun’s gaze turned toward Riak.
Riak, being of the same beast-folk race, primarily maintained a wolf form and even when changing his appearance during combat, he would only transform into a werewolf form that looked completely different from humans.
“Sigh.”
Riak let out a final exhale.
“Fundamentally, beast-folk spend most of their time in this form.”
Crack.
With an eerie sound of bones shifting, Riak’s body began to transform.
Riak, no longer in werewolf form, had changed into a human shape.
Soon, Riak transformed into the form of a man in his prime—a sturdy jawline that spoke of steadfast resolve, bronzed skin, and well-defined musculature.
“Huh…?”
Ha-eun stared at Riak with eyes widened to the size of lanterns.
Riak, now wearing a human form, furrowed his brow sharply.
“What?”
“No, I… what?”
Ha-eun let out a nervous cough and hastily averted her gaze.
“Just… cover yourself up, will you.”
“Ugh!”
Riak spun around urgently.
“I-I merely made a mistake returning to human form after so long!”
He cried out in flustered tones, quickly shifting his body back into the form of a wolf.
In that moment, Ha-eun approached Kwon O-jin’s side and tapped his thigh repeatedly.
Ha-eun grinned mischievously and gave him a thumbs up.
“So you won?”
Won what, exactly?

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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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