Not A Regressor - Chapter 336

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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 336
Interlude – An Encounter (2)
I am you.
My breath catches at the final words echoing through the darkness.
“…Heavenly Demon.”
Kwon O-jin stares with trembling eyes at the young man reflected in what seems like a mirror—a figure bearing his exact appearance.
Though perhaps “reflected in a mirror” isn’t quite the right way to describe it.
While the features are nearly identical, the aura emanating from him is entirely different.
Eyes heavy with profound exhaustion.
If humanity itself were worn down to its absolute limit, perhaps it would take on such a form.
I feel a sense of alienation, as though facing a doll wearing human shape rather than a human being.
“I don’t particularly care for that name.”
Heavenly Demon—what an embarrassing epithet.
The young man chuckles softly, shaking his head.
“But calling you Kwon O-jin feels a bit off too, doesn’t it?”
“True, we do need some way to distinguish ourselves.”
The Heavenly Demon nods and settles into a seat as naturally as if an invisible chair existed in the empty space.
“Why don’t you sit? This conversation seems like it’ll take a while.”
The Heavenly Demon tilts his head, gesturing with his chin to the opposite side.
Kwon O-jin suppresses his confusion and shrugs with the most composed expression he can muster.
“Shouldn’t you conjure us some tea then?”
“This is your Subconscious Space. If you need something, you can create it yourself.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Really?”
The Heavenly Demon nods and flicks his hand lightly.
A table materializes in the darkness, accompanied by steaming teacups wisping with fragrant vapor.
Kwon O-jin’s eyes narrow.
‘So he can interfere with my subconscious as well.’
Watching the Heavenly Demon casually manifest objects within his own subconscious, I click my tongue inwardly.
The Heavenly Demon takes a sip of tea from the cup on the table and chuckles.
“I used that method often myself.”
“…What method?”
“Probing the other person by spouting meaningless words.”
The teacup on the table vanishes with a soft sound.
“You can create things too, can’t you?”
“…Ha.”
Kwon O-jin lets out a hollow laugh and sits across from the Heavenly Demon.
With a light flick of his hand, the vanished teacup materializes once more.
The Heavenly Demon smiles knowingly.
The Heavenly Demon smiled knowingly.
*Tsk.*
So shallow tricks wouldn’t work on him.
If that was the case, there was no point in beating around the bush—I had to ask directly.
“How did you get into my Subconscious Space?”
“I set things up with Deimos beforehand.”
“So that when I absorb his corpse, I could intervene in Black Heaven?”
“Exactly.”
Then.
From the moment decades ago when Deimos received power from the Heavenly Demon, he had anticipated that I would kill and absorb him.
“I believed you could reach this far. Or should I say ‘I’ here?”
The Heavenly Demon let out a soft chuckle and leaned back against the chair.
I asked in a low, measured voice.
“So you did the same thing to the Draconian Kingdom as well?”
“The Draconian Kingdom?”
The Heavenly Demon furrowed his brow and pressed his palm to his forehead.
“Ah, yes. A promise… a promise I had to keep… Wait, who was that promise with?”
“…?”
Watching the Heavenly Demon mutter something with a confused expression, I narrowed my eyes.
That look.
I had seen it before.
Or more precisely, I had experienced it myself.
“Don’t tell me… you’ve lost your memories.”
“….”
The Heavenly Demon pressed his lips firmly shut.
He offered a bitter smile and gave a small nod.
“There were simply too many things that couldn’t be done without sacrificing something.”
“Just how many memories did you…”
“Ah, there’s no need to worry about that.”
The Heavenly Demon shook his head softly.
“The most important thing is, I didn’t forget it.”
The most important thing to him.
The most precious thing to me.
Those two would not be different.
“So then, why did you invade my consciousness to such lengths?”
“I simply wanted to have a conversation.”
“A conversation?”
“Yes, I was curious what I would become in this altered future.”
The Heavenly Demon shrugged and looked at me.
“After speaking with you directly, I’m reassured.”
“Reassured, you say?”
What do you mean I can rest easy?
“Even if the future changed, in the end, you were still me.”
Even if the past transformed.
Even if the present was overturned.
Even if the future twisted.
You were.
Me.
“Well, I see things a bit differently, you know.”
Kwon O-jin fixed the Heavenly Demon with a sharp gaze and continued.
“I’m different from you.”
More precisely, I had to be different.
As long as I lived the same life as you, the future would never change.
“So what, if you and I are the same, are you planning to steal my body and take Ha-eun for yourself?”
When I realized the Heavenly Demon’s true identity.
I’d spent a moment considering what his purpose might be.
The first thought that came to mind was whether he intended to seize my body and claim Ha-eun for himself.
From the Heavenly Demon’s perspective, my current form would be exactly the future he desperately desired.
“Huh? Pfft! Hahahaha!”
What was so amusing about that?
The Heavenly Demon clutched his belly, bursting into giggles.
“I have no such intention, so you needn’t worry.”
“Then what is your purpose?”
If it was to ensure Ha-eun’s happiness.
Then all problems would be solved if the entity known as the ‘Heavenly Demon’ simply ceased to exist.
“Who knows?”
The Heavenly Demon shrugged, as if unwilling to explain.
“Well, you’ll find out naturally soon enough anyway.”
The Heavenly Demon leisurely rose to his feet.
“Time’s just about up.”
Unable to remain any longer in another’s subconscious space, the Heavenly Demon’s form gradually transformed into dark clouds that began to scatter.
“Wait, we haven’t finished talking yet.”
He barges in uninvited and offers nothing but vague answers before leaving?
“I’d like to stay longer, but I’m reaching my limit.”
“…You.”
“Oh right, I did prepare a gift for you, so you won’t have time to be bored.”
A gift?
“…What have you done?”
“Isn’t the charm of a gift that you can’t know until you open it yourself?”
The Heavenly Demon chuckled softly and waved his hand.
“Don’t be disappointed. We’ll see each other again soon anyway.”
“What in the—”
Before I could finish speaking.
The Heavenly Demon’s body scattered completely into darkness and vanished.
“Damn it.”
I stared into the impenetrable darkness and exhaled a deep sigh.
An encounter with the Heavenly Demon I hadn’t anticipated at all.
The impression from our first conversation differed slightly from the image I’d held of him.
‘He seemed far more composed than I expected.’
I’d vaguely assumed he’d be a raving lunatic, given that he’d supposedly destroyed the world in my past life, but my prediction had been spectacularly wrong.
“Still, I have no idea what he’s actually thinking.”
I pressed my forehead as if my head ached.
He claimed he wasn’t targeting my body, but.
‘How could I possibly trust that?’
The other party was none other than ‘Kwon O-jin’ himself.
Honestly, I couldn’t believe a single word that came from his mouth.
“My karma catches up with me in a place like this.”
This was exactly like the boy who cried wolf.
Having lived a life of constant lies, I couldn’t distinguish between truth and falsehood anymore.
‘But if I assume it’s true for now.’
What could the Heavenly Demon’s true purpose be?
“….”
Pondering further yielded no easy answers.
If his only goal was Ha-eun’s happiness, there’d be no reason to gather the Demonic Realm Forces and invade Earth.
‘What I’m certain of is that I can’t trust him and sit idle.’
Just because he seemed more composed than I’d thought didn’t mean I should blindly follow his plans.
Even if he appeared sane on the surface, he was ultimately the ‘Heavenly Demon.’
A monster who’d destroyed an entire world, who’d consumed an incalculable number of lives.
“…Not that I’m one to talk.”
I let out a self-deprecating laugh and a short breath.
In any case, as long as I didn’t know the Heavenly Demon’s true purpose, I couldn’t let my guard down.
‘And then there’s this “gift.”‘
Normally, hearing the word “gift” should make my heart race with excitement.
But the moment “the Heavenly Demon’s” became a modifier before it, all I felt was ominous dread.
‘Who knows what scheme he’s concocted.’
Perhaps he’d merely feigned disappearance and was still lurking nearby.
Or maybe he’d rigged something to send Heukcheon into a rampage or forcibly control him.
“Hah.”
I closed my eyes and searched for the “gift” he’d left behind.
Spreading Heukcheon’s energy throughout my body, I checked for subtle changes from the Subconscious Space to my physical form.
‘There is something different.’
That was merely because Kwon O-jin’s tenth awakening had strengthened Heukcheon’s aura—there was no change that felt like the Heavenly Demon’s machinations.
“What in the world…?”
I verified it multiple times, preparing for any unforeseen danger, but the result remained unchanged.
Kwon O-jin tilted his head and slowly opened his eyes that had been shut.
‘Time to get out of here.’
There was nothing more to gain by remaining alone in this empty darkness.
Kwon O-jin concentrated his mind and awakened his consciousness that had been sinking.
The darkness surrounding him scattered, and the landscape came back into view.
Rummmmmble!
As I opened my eyes, I saw black storm clouds engulfing the area.
When I gathered the black storm clouds that covered the Treasure Vault like mist back into my heart.
Craaaaaash!
With a deafening roar, the firmly sealed doors of the Treasure Vault burst open.
Black shadows poured out like a tidal wave through the gaping doors, wrapping around Kwon O-jin’s body.
“Ugh!”
Caught off guard, Kwon O-jin quickly drew upon the stigma’s mana, but the mysterious assailant was one step faster, pinning him down.
“There you are. I thought you’d hide even more thoroughly this time?”
A long, licking tongue.
Brilliant platinum hair and emerald-gleaming eyes.
A slender woman who didn’t seem capable of subduing Kwon O-jin so swiftly raised her arm.
Sliiiiide!
At her pale fingertips, the head of a shadow serpent materialized.
Her emerald eyes glowed with a chilling light.
“Die, Heavenly Demon.”
The shadow serpent’s jaws gaped wide as it lunged forward.
“Wait, wait, waaait!”
Kwon O-jin cried out urgently, shaking his head.
“You’ve got the wrong person, Cassia!”
“…Kwon O-jin?”
Cassia’s eyes widened in confusion.
“Huh, what? That’s strange? I definitely sensed the Heavenly Demon’s presence here….”
Watching her tilt her head in bewilderment, Kwon O-jin finally understood what the “gift” the Heavenly Demon had prepared was.
‘More intact than I expected?’
Nonsense.
The Heavenly Demon was, just as Kwon O-jin had first thought, thoroughly and completely insane.

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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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