Not A Regressor - Chapter 344

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 344
Black Sky (8)
“Come now, lighten up. Today will be the last chance we have to talk like this.”
The Heavenly Demon approached the rigid Kwon O-jin and snapped his fingers lightly.
Snap.
A chair materialized from the void.
Kwon O-jin stared down at the chair conjured from nothingness and muttered.
“…The Subconscious Space.”
“Correct. Though this time, I’ve invited you into my subconscious, not yours.”
The Heavenly Demon settled into the chair and crossed his legs leisurely.
Kwon O-jin fixed him with a sharp glare.
“What do you mean this is the last chance we’ll talk?”
“Exactly what I said.”
The Heavenly Demon snapped his fingers, conjuring coffee, and took a leisurely sip.
“It’s all over now.”
The Heavenly Demon exhaled a sigh, his expression somehow relieved.
Eyes heavy with exhaustion turned toward Kwon O-jin.
“It was long… far too long.”
Memories of the past surfaced.
Memories of a world long destroyed—memories Kwon O-jin could never possess.
The Heavenly Demon laughed softly, his face covered by his palm.
It was a laugh that felt hollow somehow.
“You…”
Kwon O-jin’s expression twisted violently.
“Was your purpose to erase Vega?”
If it was all over now, it meant his purpose had been achieved.
In the current situation, there was nothing else his purpose could be besides Vega’s erasure.
“To be precise, my purpose was to summon Vega to this very place.”
“You spent decades pretending to be sealed just for that?”
“There’s no easier way to deceive someone than through patience.”
It was a truth he understood well.
No matter how naturally talented a liar was, hastily fabricated lies were always full of holes.
A perfect lie inevitably demanded a long wait.
But.
“…You absolute madman!”
Enduring all those endless years for this single moment was not something a sane person would do.
Kwon O-jin seized the Heavenly Demon by the collar as he sat leisurely in his chair.
“What did Vega do to you that you’d go this far!”
“I made a promise.”
A promise?
“Send me back to the past, and in return, I ask that you devour the Lyra Constellation’s star.”
“…What the hell are you talking about?”
He was asking me to devour the Lyra Constellation’s star instead of sending the Heavenly Demon back to the past?
Asking me to “devour” it was essentially no different from asking me to kill her.
My head burned hot at words so far removed from common sense.
“Your promise is that I send you back in exchange for killing yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Stop spouting nonsense, you bastard!”
I lifted my hand, which had seized his collar.
So effortlessly.
The Heavenly Demon was dragged upward like a puppet with its strings cut.
The Heavenly Demon, gripped by the collar, looked down at me with eyes full of exhaustion.
“When my Heukcheon touched yours, you felt that it was different from the Heukcheon you possess, didn’t you?”
“…That was…”
I felt it.
An unstable, precarious energy.
“You would have. The Heukcheon I possess is currently ‘overflowing.'”
“…What do you mean by overflowing?”
“Hmm. To put it simply, it might be easier to understand if I said it’s on the verge of going berserk?”
The Heavenly Demon smiled bitterly and snapped his fingers.
A small cup and a water bottle materialized.
He grabbed the bottle and poured water into the cup with a splash.
Water overflowed from the small cup and wet the floor.
“That’s the state I’m in.”
“…You can’t withstand the power of Heukcheon?”
“Unlike you, my ‘vessel’ was small to begin with.”
The Heavenly Demon smiled with self-mockery.
I furrowed my brow and placed my hand over my left chest.
There should be no fundamental difference between the Heukcheon I possess and the Heukcheon the Heavenly Demon possesses.
Because we were both the same ‘Kwon O-jin.’
Yet a difference had formed between us.
“…The Fate-Reversing Star?”
“You knew.”
I had a memory of hearing this from Cassia.
That the Fate-Reversing Star was necessary to complete Heukcheon.
“Isn’t it strange? That such power to reverse fate dwells in that fool.”
The Heavenly Demon burst into a chuckling laugh and shrugged his shoulders.
“…Why.”
I stared at the Heavenly Demon, unable to comprehend.
“Why didn’t you absorb the Fate-Reversing Star? You went back further in time than Lee Shin-hyuk.”
“I’ve already completed my vessel, so absorbing the Fate-Reversing Star would be pointless.”
Ah.
So that’s it.
“You made me absorb the Fate-Reversing Star instead.”
In place of myself, already too late.
To complete Heukcheon.
“Thanks to that, your Heukcheon, unlike mine, could remain stable without overflowing.”
“…What happens if Heukcheon goes berserk?”
“With only the desire to devour stars remaining, it will destroy the world. Just like before.”
…Before?
“Haven’t you heard from Vega? The Constellations have already been destroyed by Heukcheon once.”
“Ah.”
I had indeed heard of it.
That in the past, the Constellations were once destroyed by Heukcheon.
And that the Constellations, including Vega, were born after that.
“….”
Kwon O-jin clenched his jaw and glared at the Heavenly Demon.
Right.
I understood that if the Heavenly Demon’s Heukcheon went berserk like this, everyone would perish together.
“So, what does that have to do with killing Vega… Oh.”
In that instant.
A bolt of electric shock raced down my spine.
The Heavenly Demon’s Heukcheon was already overflowing from its vessel.
What would happen if a waterfall called the ‘Lyra Constellation’ were poured into it?
Could it be.
That the ‘vessel’ itself would shatter?
“So that’s….”
Why hadn’t I noticed something so obvious?
Why hadn’t I grasped something so simple?
Kwon O-jin let out a hollow laugh and wiped his face with his hand.
If Heukcheon goes berserk, the world is destroyed.
Then.
There was only one answer, wasn’t there?
“You’re doing this to die… is that it?”
The Heavenly Demon smiled gently.
Opening his mouth with a voice as parched as a desert.
“If I die alone, my sister can be happy.”
As if it were nothing.
As if it meant nothing at all.
A relieved smile playing at the corners of his lips.
He spoke of his own death.
“….”
My breath caught in my throat.
For a moment, my legs wavered beneath me, swept away by a torrent of overwhelming emotion.
My stomach churned, nausea rising in waves.
Though we bore the same face on the surface, the Heavenly Demon’s visage felt disturbingly unfamiliar to me.
“What exactly are you….”
How shattered and worn must the fragment called humanity become to speak such words?
“If our positions were reversed, you would have made the same choice.”
The Heavenly Demon let out a chuckling laugh, tapping my shoulder lightly.
“Because you are me.”
Our lives have been different.
But ultimately.
We are both the human named Kwon O-jin.
“…So you’re telling me to let Vega die?”
I roughly brushed the hand from my shoulder and glared at the Heavenly Demon.
Clenching my fists tightly, I continued.
“If anyone’s going to die, I’ll kill you myself. Leave Vega alone.”
“That won’t work.”
The Heavenly Demon shook his head quietly.
“Even if you kill me, Heukcheon will continue to rampage.”
“…Then.”
“To completely annihilate Heukcheon, there is no other way but to absorb Vega Star.”
“Why… why must it be Vega?”
Weren’t there other Polaris constellations that could annihilate Heukcheon?
“Vega Star possesses the ability to control Heukcheon’s power. Haven’t you experienced it yourself? When you used Gaecheon, you must have seen Vega Star.”
“….”
I did remember seeing it.
Vega Star shining brilliantly alone in a sky covered by black clouds.
Using Gaecheon, my consciousness had grown hazy, but I was able to regain my senses by following that starlight.
‘Then was I able to use Gaecheon without aftereffects because of Vega?’
There were some lingering effects.
But unlike the Heavenly Demon, Heukcheon never rampaged.
“Only with Vega Star can Heukcheon be annihilated without rampaging.”
Then.
Vega must sacrifice herself to save the world?
“It’s fine.”
“…What is?”
What do you mean it’s fine?
“If only I die, there’s no need to worry about the Black Star Constellation or the Maidens.”
“What are you…?”
“If my Black Heaven is destroyed, I’ve prepared for us all to die together.”
Prepared for us all to die together?
“You won’t remember, but in your past life, the children of the ‘Constellation’ also tormented my sister greatly. Ah, but since you’ve inherited Lee Shin-hyuk’s memories, you might know?”
“Wait. Then the reason you turned the Constellation into the Black Star was…?”
The Heavenly Demon let out a soft chuckle and nodded.
“I set things up in advance so that when I die, those bastards die with me.”
“…”
Only then did Kwon O-jin finally understand the meaning behind what the Heavenly Demon had said earlier: “It’s all over now.”
When the Heavenly Demon dies, every being who inherited his power will die with him.
No more threats. No more suffering.
Literally, the end.
The ending of the story.
And so Ha-eun and Kwon O-jin lived happily ever after, applause, applause, applause.
“Stop that nonsense.”
Kwon O-jin’s pupils trembled.
A grinding sound escaped his teeth.
He clenched his jaw and struck the Heavenly Demon’s cheek with his fist.
Crack!
The Heavenly Demon flew backward and crashed to the ground.
Kwon O-jin mounted him and swung his fists down like driving a hammer.
“I told you to stop this bullshit, you bastard!”
Was he supposed to just watch Vega get devoured by Black Heaven?
Could the world be saved by Vega’s sacrifice alone?
Ha-eun.
Could she find happiness?
“If Vega dies, Riak dies too! Do you understand?!”
Since a Holy Spirit inherited a portion of a Constellation’s soul, it was only natural that Riak would die the moment the Constellation perished.
“And what? Everyone who received Black Heaven’s power will die together?”
The images of Isabella and Cassia, their ears covered as they cried out in pain, flashed through his mind.
“Then Isabella! Cassia! If you die, they die with you, you insane bastard!”
If all beings affected by Black Heaven were to perish.
Isabella and Cassia, who bore the stigma from the Black Star Constellation, could not escape death either.
“…”
The Heavenly Demon, lying still and taking the blows to his cheek, narrowed his eyes.
His hollow gaze turned toward Kwon O-jin.
“I understand Cassia… but Riak? Isabella?”
He murmured the names Kwon O-jin had just shouted, one by one.
His head tilted in confusion, as if he couldn’t comprehend.
“Who are they?”
“….”
My fist froze mid-strike.
A chilling shudder coursed down my spine.
Cold sweat beaded on my forehead, trickling down my cheek.
“Who… are you?”
“I’ve heard of Riak, but Isabella? Never.”
Of course I hadn’t.
In my past life, she had been far more infamous by the title “The Witch” than by the name Isabella.
“Well, anyway.”
The Heavenly Demon shrugged and continued with casual indifference.
“Why does it matter?”
“Why does it matter….”
“Whether they live or die has nothing to do with you.”
“That’s… complete nonsense.”
The Heavenly Demon rose to his feet, smiling brightly as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Except for you, it doesn’t matter if everyone else dies, right?”
As if it were nothing.
As if it meant nothing at all.
Just as he had spoken of his own death.
He uttered the word “death” with such casual ease.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————