Not A Regressor - Chapter 319

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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 319
A Faded Promise (11)
“…You’re telling me to become a god? What kind of nonsense is that?”
Ha-eun furrowed her brow and tilted her head in confusion.
“You said the Dragon-race needs a god they can believe in and follow.”
So then.
“You just need to become that god for them.”
“What? This isn’t some career aptitude survey—you can’t just become something because you want to.”
Suddenly becoming a god just like that.
What kind of absurd notion was this?
“You can.”
I continued without wavering in my voice.
“You have the soul of Dragon God Caleos dwelling within you, don’t you?”
“I already told you—even though I absorbed the Dragon God’s soul, I don’t hear any voices or anything like that.”
Even if she’d absorbed the Dragon God’s soul, without any will residing within it, it was nothing more than a pure mass of power.
To put it bluntly, the Dragon God’s soul was nothing more than a tonic for her body—no more, no less.
But.
“The Dragon-race doesn’t know that.”
Only Ha-eun herself knew that the Dragon God’s soul held no will within it.
The Dragon-race couldn’t possibly know whether the Dragon God’s soul dwelling within her possessed a will or not.
“So you’re saying… we should deceive the Dragon-race right now?”
Ha-eun’s mouth fell open at this unexpected approach.
“I’m giving them what they need most.”
“…Is a lie what they need most?”
“No.”
What they needed was.
“Hope.”
That the Dragon God they believed in and followed still lived.
Not melted away in flames and dead, not lost forever with eyes sealed shut.
That in some form, they ‘existed’.
That would be the sole remaining hope for the Dragon-race, now dying beneath the weight of despair.
“…But.”
Ha-eun bit her lip.
I could understand my intention.
But.
Wasn’t that ultimately a betrayal of their trust?
“Truth doesn’t matter, sister.”
Not even once.
Had it ever mattered.
“Only what appears to be the truth matters.”
Kwon O-jin’s voice echoed one last time in her ears.
“….”
Her clenched fist trembled slightly.
As Ha-eun continued her deliberation, the faces of the Dragon-race flashed through her mind.
The Dragon-race, sitting in despair like the dead who had lost their souls.
What they needed—was it the truth that the Dragon God would never return, or the lie that his will still lingered somewhere?
“Really… if I do that, I can save the Dragon-race?”
She didn’t harbor any special affection for the Dragon-race, whom she’d only recently met.
Nor was she some philanthropist who ached at the suffering of all people in the world.
But.
‘I’m the one who absorbed the Dragon God’s soul.’
Intentionally or not.
She had carelessly absorbed the very power that should have awakened the sleeping Dragon God.
It was far too great a thing to receive without cost to claim innocence so boldly.
A cost.
Yes, perhaps this was the price for consuming the Dragon God’s power without any effort of her own.
Just as winning the lottery didn’t exempt one from paying taxes.
She too bore the obligation to save the Dragon-race drowning in despair.
‘No, setting aside all this talk of cost and obligation.’
Every time she saw the Dragon-race so desperate they would make extreme choices, her heart ached.
While she was no philanthropist who grieved for all the world’s sorrows, neither was she so cold-blooded as to callously turn away from suffering laid bare before her eyes.
“Fine. Why not try being a god?”
The existence called a ‘god’.
“You chose well.”
Kwon O-jin smiled faintly and nodded.
“But what exactly do I need to do?”
“I’ll tell you that later.”
The method itself wasn’t particularly complicated.
More important than how to impersonate the ‘Dragon God’ was.
“We need to find an accomplice.”
Kwon O-jin’s eyes gleamed as he glanced back at Kelion, who was busily moving about trying to encourage the despondent Dragon-race.

* * *
“So that’s what you’re saying….”
A voice, low and heavy, reverberated through the shabby dwelling.
The elderly Dragon-race with white whiskers etched across his face twisted the wrinkles around his eyes, fixing Kwon O-jin with a piercing gaze.
“You’re asking me to deceive my own kin?”
“Yes.”
Kwon O-jin nodded without hesitation.
Ha-eun, seated beside him, opened her mouth uncertainly.
“That’s… not exactly deceiving them.”
“If that’s not deception, what is?”
Kelion made no effort to conceal his displeasure.
To save the Dragon-race, they were asking him to pretend the Dragon God—already dead—was still alive.
As one of the Dragon-race who had desperately awaited the Dragon God’s awakening, it was a proposal he could not accept.
“I cannot accept such a proposal….”
“Then you intend to leave things as they are?”
Kwon O-jin’s eyes, deep and hollow, met Kelion’s gaze.
“Just today, three of the Dragon-race made extreme choices. Yesterday and the day before, two more took their own lives.”
“That is….”
“Do you think this ends here?”
Despair is poison.
It will continue to consume them relentlessly.
“The number of Dragon-race making extreme choices will only grow.”
“The Dragon-race are not so weak.”
“How many more must die to prove that strength?”
An endless chain of despair.
Must we simply watch and hope they can overcome it?
“We are…!”
“I saw a child crying as I passed by today.”
“…A child?”
“The child’s mother died at the hands of a demon beast during the lure operation.”
I had minimized casualties as much as possible.
But not everyone had survived.
“Before her death, the mother told the child: even if I don’t return, the Dragon God will protect you.”
“….”
“What becomes of that child, who has lost both a parent to protect them and a god to believe in?”
“That is….”
“Must they overcome their sorrow and rise alone? With nothing left?”
Cold eyes turned toward Kelion.
Kelion’s wrinkled lips trembled as his fists clenched.
“A false god cannot protect that child.”
“But I can offer hope.”
“What meaning does hope have if it cannot be realized!”
Thud!
Kelion slammed the table roughly and rose from his seat.
“Why do you think the Dragon-race has endured these past hundred years?”
“…We have.”
“Because of the hope that the Dragon God would open his eyes again, was it not?”
With the hope that the sleeping Dragon God would awaken once more.
With the belief that the awakened Dragon God would save them.
They were able to endure that long century.
“What meaning does hope have if it cannot be realized, you ask?”
I looked up at Kelion and let out a soft chuckle.
“Wasn’t it the Dragon-race themselves who proved that even such hope has meaning?”
“….”
Kelion’s expression hardened visibly.
With a rigid face, he sat back down and lowered his head.
“So… according to you, can the Dragon-race truly be saved?”
“No, they cannot be saved.”
No matter how perfectly Ha-eun impersonates the Dragon God.
The fundamental fact that the Dragon God is dead will not change.
It was impossible for her to perfectly fill the void left by the Dragon God.
But.
“What the Dragon-race needs now is not salvation. It is a small stepping stone to rise upon.”
And the hope that the Dragon God’s will still exists somewhere, not vanished.
That would become an excellent stepping stone for them to rise on their own.
“How much longer do you intend to wait for someone else to save you?”
“….”
“Now is the time for the Dragon-race to stand on their own.”
A resolute determination kindled in Kelion’s eyes.
“…What must I do?”
At his response, I offered a faint smile.
“The method itself is simple. If my sister impersonates the Dragon God, you need only respond in kind.”
“Respond?”
“Yes. A sort of shill, if you will.”
In a con targeting the masses, nothing was more crucial than a shill.
Emotions were contagious by nature.
If someone responded to Ha-eun’s words, even the absurd lie that “the Dragon God did not die but instead dwells within the body of a human woman and lives on” could become believable.
‘And if that shill were the elder of the Dragon-race who has led them all this time.’
The effect would be all the more powerful.
“If you also share Caleos’s manner of speech, his habits, and memories the Dragon-race can relate to, it will become far easier.”
“I understand.”
Kelion nodded heavily.
“Then… I’ll tell you everything I know about the Dragon God.”
Kelion’s story continued for hours.
How the Dragon God had cared for the Dragon-race, treating them not as slaves but as children, and how he had smiled with compassion even at his warning to flee before the final battle, before marching toward the battlefield.
The sorrowful tale flowed on without end.
“This should be sufficient.”
I had gathered more than enough information about the Dragon God’s personality, manner of speech, and the deeds he had accomplished.
“Then please gather the Dragon-race at the Grand Banquet Hall tomorrow.”
For reference, the Grand Banquet Hall was the massive circular structure where the Dragon-race had been held captive in groups.
Apparently, the Dragon-race gathered at the Grand Banquet Hall every year to hold a festival to awaken the Dragon God.
“…I thought it would be a place with no further use.”
Kelion nodded with a bitter smile.
“Let’s go, sister.”
Ha-eun also had a few things to prepare.
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
Ha-eun, who had barely participated in the conversation, rose with an awkward smile.
“So… it’ll work out. Don’t worry too much, grandfather.”
Concerned by Kelion’s dark expression, Ha-eun offered a small word of encouragement.
Kelion nodded with a faint smile.
“I will trust in the Dragon Maiden.”
“Okay! See you tomorrow!”
Ha-eun waved her hand with a determined expression.
Leaving Kelion’s House, Ha-eun followed behind me with a complicated look on her face.
“O-jin, that…”
“Hmm?”
“That child you mentioned earlier—where did you see them?”
A child left alone after losing their mother.
The heavy responsibility of becoming the “hope” for that child to live by weighed down on her shoulders.
“Nowhere.”
“What? Nowhere?”
“I’ve never seen such a child.”
“….”
I moved forward, leaving Ha-eun frozen in bewilderment behind me.
Turning my head to speak to her standing motionless, I said:
“Didn’t I tell you?”
The truth doesn’t matter.
Only what appears to be the truth matters.

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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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