Not A Regressor - Chapter 35

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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 35
Paradise (2)
“Ugh.”
Cold air seeped through the window gaps.
Song Ha-eun, lying in bed beneath her blanket, shivered violently.
‘It’s freezing to death.’
It was a blessing that I possessed a superhuman body—otherwise, the temperature would have been cold enough to claim my life.
‘The boiler… I shouldn’t turn it on.’
Kwon O-jin had said it was fine to turn it on if it got too cold, but whenever I received the utility bill, watching him drool with regret made it difficult to use it carelessly.
“Sigh. I’ll just have to endure it with the electric heating pad.”
After living like this for several years, I’d grown somewhat accustomed to it.
Click.
I fumbled to reach the switch on the electric heating pad and turned it on.
“Haa.”
With a short sigh, I searched for my smartphone.
Though I couldn’t see the screen, I’d grown accustomed enough to handling my phone in this state that I had no difficulty pulling up a video with the latest news compiled.
[Due to the Seoul Station incident that occurred yesterday at around 4 PM, attention has been focused on Kwon O-jin, an Awakened User affiliated with the Association.]
[Netizens who saw the article bestowed upon Awakened User Kwon O-jin the title of “Thunder Wolf,” offering abundant praise for the birth of a new hero.]
The news was filled entirely with talk of Kwon O-jin.
“Wow… I suspected it might happen, but it actually did.”
Ever since he first told me he’d become an Apostle of Polaris, I’d anticipated something like this would eventually occur, yet hearing his name through the news felt strangely unfamiliar.
‘If he’s become this famous… he’ll gather money quickly.’
A bitter smile formed at the corners of Song Ha-eun’s lips.
I had an intuitive sense that the time for us to part ways was drawing near.
“…Well then.”
This time, I searched for and played a different video.
[The complete list of sacred relics to be auctioned at the December Yongsan Auction House in two days has been finalized.]
[Notable sacred relics include the 7-star sacred relic “Sword of Dawn” and “Twilight’s Knot,” and the 6-star sacred relic “Dragon Eye” is also making its appearance again after 1 year and 3 months. Beyond that…]
Beep.
I turned off the video.
“Dragon Eye…”
I spoke the name in a voice that trembled faintly.
Crunch.
Tendons stood out in my clenched fist.
Then.
[You’re just waking up?]
“Kyaaaaaaah!!”
A voice from right beside me.
Ha-eun screamed and jolted upright.
“W-what is it?”
[Why are you so startled?]
“Oh, didn’t you go out with O-jin?”
About an hour ago, O-jin left saying he had business at the Association.
I naturally assumed he’d gone with Vega.
[He left the pendant behind.]
It seemed like business that didn’t require bringing Vega along.
“…Oh, really?”
An awkward silence settled over the room.
This was the first time I’d ever spoken alone with Vega like this.
“But doesn’t a Constellation face some kind of legal restrictions if they manifest on Earth like this?”
[A few hours a day is permissible.]
“I see.”
[I have something I wish to ask you while we have this chance.]
“Something you want to ask?”
Ha-eun tilted her head curiously.
[My child seems quite obsessed with money.]
“Ah… well, yes.”
[Do you know the reason why?]
“….”
Ha-eun’s lips pressed shut tightly.
A bitter smile played at the corners of her mouth.
The reason O-jin desperately accumulated money.
Of course I knew.
How could I not know?
I’d heard it directly from his own lips, after all.
“To go to Paradise.”
She spoke as if swallowing something bitter.
[Paradise?]
Vega blinked at the abstract term.
“Ah, Paradise is just what people call it. The official name is Ganghwa Special Autonomous Zone.”
[Hmm. Even hearing that, I’m not entirely sure what you mean.]
“Well… let me explain.”
Ha-eun continued her explanation methodically.
Ganghwa Special Autonomous Zone.
A place colloquially known as ‘Paradise’.
One of the few ‘safe zones’ in this mad world teeming with monsters.
There were no Gates there, no monsters.
Even the most vicious criminals and illegal organizations couldn’t set foot in that place.
And.
“Once you move in there, I heard you get three hearty meals a day.”
A place where one need not worry about food, clothing, or shelter.
The only location that maintained Korea’s peaceful and comfortable state from before the Gates opened.
“Kwon O-jin is saving money to buy residency rights there.”
The price of residency in Paradise was one hundred billion won.
If one could pay that sum and enter that place, there would be nothing left to worry about.
One could simply spend peaceful days laughing and living without care.
[…Such a place exists?]
Vega’s eyes narrowed in incomprehension.
[I fail to understand. How do they call that place a ‘safe zone’….]
“Because Cheon Sang-gil of Greedy Wolf and his guild members live there.”
Cheon Sang-gil of Greedy Wolf.
The sole Korean member of the Seven Stars.
Ganghwa Special Autonomous Zone was a place directly managed by Cheon Sang-gil and his guild, Cheon Hye.
If one didn’t call that a safe zone, what else could possibly deserve the name?
“Paradise is where wealthy entrepreneurs, celebrities, and Awakened Users all rush to enter.”
[My child is earning money to enter that place?]
“Yes.”
[Hmm.]
Still unable to comprehend.
Vega let out a sigh.
Song Ha-eun spoke with a faint smile.
“…Do you know what his dream was when he was young?”
Her voice fell low and quiet.
Her hollow gaze wandered through the misty forest of memory, shrouded in haze.
The image of the child appeared.
Black hair and eyes cast slightly downward.
A boy curled up, his cheeks covered in bruises, gently touching them.
[What was it?]
“To live in a place where it doesn’t hurt, where it’s not cold, where he’s not hungry.”
[…?]
“Haha! Pretty simple, right?”
Her shoulders trembled as she laughed.
“But….”
She spat out the words.
“That simple happiness felt so far away for us.”
[….]
Vega fell silent.
An emotion.
A deep current of feeling, difficult to gauge, washed over her.
[Was there one who oppressed my child?]
“Yeah. The director of our orphanage.”
Song Ha-eun bit her lip as childhood memories surfaced.
“I got beaten every single day. The other kids got hit sometimes too, but… Kwon O-jin took the brunt of it.”
[Was there a reason?]
“…Yeah.”
Her voice trembled.
“It was… me originally. Not Kwon O-jin—I was the director’s main target.”
[….]
“Hehe! I had quite the personality even as a kid.”
A self-deprecating laugh.
“But… after getting beaten constantly, it became unbearable. So I even thought about strangling the director and getting revenge.”
[You couldn’t ask the other children for help?]
“What help could ten-year-olds give? Besides, that bastard director had good connections—whenever I asked for help, everyone just ignored me.”
[…That must have been difficult.]
“Yeah. It really… really was.”
Ha-eun bit her lip as nightmarish memories surfaced.
“Then one day, I bit the director’s arm really hard, right? I was getting pummeled all day long… pfft! You know what that crazy bastard Kwon O-jin did?”
Vega shook her head.
Though she couldn’t possibly know, Ha-eun continued.
“He suddenly said there was a fire in the kitchen and we had to escape immediately. So the director started screaming and ran outside.”
[What happened then?]
“What happened? The director just got humiliated.”
[…?]
“Hahaha! It was all a lie. There was no fire.”
Ha-eun burst into giggles as if amused by the memory even now.
“That bastard Kwon O-jin deceived the director as naturally as breathing. No matter how much he got beaten, the next day he’d find another ingenious way to mess with him.”
[So… the target shifted from you to Kwon O-jin?]
“…Yeah.”
Song Ha-eun drew her knees up and rested her head on them.
“Honestly… I was relieved. I thought I wouldn’t have to get hit anymore… I was so, so happy.”
Drip.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
Her arms wrapped around her knees trembled faintly.
“I knew he was doing it for me… but… but I was still glad about it…!”
[It was not your fault.]
“….”
A brief silence.
“Yeah. Kwon O-jin said the same thing back then.”
[….]
“Anyway. What he wanted… has been the same since we were kids.”
Not in pain, not in cold, not in hunger.
“A life where I don’t have to lie to survive.”
That was his wish.
His longing, his yearning.
“O-jin will go to Paradise.”
And.
He would have to part ways with me.
[You said you would go together, did you not?]
“…I can’t go.”
Song Ha-eun shook her head.
[Is it because of money?]
“That’s part of it… but even with money, I won’t pass the test.”
[A test?]
“Yeah. To enter ‘Paradise’, you have to undergo various examinations and pass tests.”
She gazed forlornly into the empty air with ashen eyes that reflected nothing.
“A cripple who can’t even see ahead has no business entering Paradise.”
A laugh tinged with self-mockery.
Vega regarded her with eyes sunken deep in thought.
[Then what becomes of you?]
“Well, I’ll just have to fend for myself.”
[But.]
“Kyahahaha! My, are you actually worried about me, Goddess?”
[….]
“I was still a Seven Stars Awakened User up until five years ago. If I need to survive alone, I can manage somehow.”
Though I’ve lost everything now.
Once, she had been an Awakened User who stood among the ‘strong’.
[…How did such a thing come to pass?]
“This?”
Song Ha-eun gestured to her right leg, hollow and empty below the knee, and to her eyes.
She continued with a faint smile.
“Five or six years ago. Got like this fighting some ridiculously powerful monster.”
Barbatos, the Thousand-Curse Dragon.
A draconic monster that had reached the ninth rank.
Defeated in battle against it, she had been cursed.
A vicious dragon’s curse that stole her sight and sealed her magical power.
“Anyway.”
She settled onto the bed.
Song Ha-eun lay down on the mattress.
The warmly heated electric pad drove away the cold.
“I made a promise with O-jin. Five years ago.”
[What promise are you talking about?]
“To be precise, it wasn’t so much a promise as… a one-sided demand I forced on him.”
Ha-eun smiled bitterly.
Naturally.
The memory from back then surfaced in my mind.
Narrow and dark.
A brief transaction made in a mold-infested room.
-You’re going to buy a residence permit in Paradise?
-Yeah.
-…Then stay with me until then.
-Stay with you?
-You owe me for the past three years, don’t you? I’ve saved you and taken care of you all this time.
-….
-Once you’ve saved up all ten billion. Then you can go wherever you want.
-…Understood.
O-jin’s voice, low and subdued back then, echoed in my memory.
Yes.
On that day, I had cursed him.
The same curse that had stolen my entire life away.
A binding curse under the name ‘Song Ha-eun’.
“Hahaha! Even thinking about it now, what a bold move!”
As if something delighted her.
She clapped her hands and laughed.
“How could an Awakened User ask for such a favor?”
The promise was merely an excuse.
To not be left alone.
In this pitch-black darkness where nothing could be seen━ to keep him locked away with me.
“…I was punished for it.”
I never imagined O-jin would become an Awakened User.
I never even dreamed he would become an Apostle of Polaris.
At least.
At least I thought I could be with him for a few more years.
But he became an Awakened User of Lyra Constellation, and he became so famous that news outlets competed to report on him.
Accumulating ten billion won wouldn’t take long.
━Divine retribution.
Yes.
I was receiving punishment for trying to use him for my own stubbornness.
“Hehe. So━”
Song Ha-eun leaned forward awkwardly, supporting herself with her crutch.
A soft bow.
I bowed respectfully as I spoke.
“Please take good care of my O-jin going forward.”
My voice sank heavy with emotion.
Pleading, beseeching.
I spoke.
[….]
Vega looked down at Song Ha-eun, who stood bent deeply at the waist with her arms crossed.
‘My child’s wish is to part ways with this girl and go to a place called Paradise?’
Her expression betrayed continued incomprehension.
‘Then—why did he wear such an expression at that moment?’
When I first met Song Ha-eun.
The expression Kwon O-jin had worn immediately after hearing her question about my eyes came back to me.
Like someone wandering through an endless desert in search of water.
That expression from then, brimming with desperation and yearning.

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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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