Not A Regressor - Chapter 61

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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 61
Heavy Rain (3)
“…Thank you.”
Inside the moving car.
Jang Seok-ho bowed deeply.
I could see his shoulders trembling faintly.
“Really, truly, thank you.”
“I heard you the first time.”
Kwon O-jin let out a hollow laugh in response to the repeated gratitude.
This wasn’t something worthy of thanks.
My reason for saving his son was purely to obtain information.
It was nothing more than a transaction conducted with fair compensation.
“Kwon O-jin, was it?”
“Hm? What?”
“Would you accept this?”
Jang Seok-ho pulled a bracelet from his pocket.
It was an orange bracelet made of three knots.
“What is this?”
Kwon O-jin accepted the bracelet Jang Seok-ho offered.
A blue window materialized before my eyes.
[Guardian Amulet of the Three Sages]
-A 5-star sacred relic meticulously crafted by a master artisan. Three times per day, it generates a powerful protective barrier to shield the wearer.
“…!”
My eyes widened.
The respectable 5-star rating was impressive enough, but the effect itself was extraordinarily appealing.
“It’s my masterwork, made before those bastards captured me. The security magic on the relic couldn’t be dispelled, so fortunately they never managed to steal it from me.”
“You’re just going to give this to me?”
“From now on… we’re heading out to rescue my son, aren’t we? I brought it hoping it might help even a little.”
Jang Seok-ho wore a bitter smile.
“I originally made it as a gift for Hyun-woo… but I’d like you to use it.”
“….”
An orange bracelet made of three knots.
Now that I thought about it, his son liked oranges, didn’t he?
“This was meant as a gift for your son?”
“Hyun-woo is such a rascal, you see. I made this because I was worried he might tumble down the stairs or take a fall.”
He created a 5-star sacred relic because his son might fall down the stairs.
It was excessive love.
Perhaps all fathers are like that.
I fastened the bracelet beneath my wire shooter and chuckled softly.
“Don’t expect me to ask for it back later, alright?”
“Haha! I understand.”
The bracelet carried a story heavy enough to burden anyone.
But that was no reason not to use it.
‘I’ve struck gold.’
Beyond the information, I’d gained an unexpected windfall.
Kwon O-jin’s lips curved upward in a smile that reached the heavens.
‘Well, since I’ve received the bonus, I might as well work hard.’
I’d spent my entire life as a con artist living off others’ backs.
But in a situation like this, I had no intention of spitting out the reward and thinking of myself.
I still hadn’t obtained the most crucial information about the Black Star Society.
“By the way, do you know where your son is being held?”
I asked while smoothly turning the steering wheel.
Compared to my first time driving, the car moved far more smoothly now.
At this rate, Vega wouldn’t have to shriek in terror and flee into her necklace.
“I’ve known the location for the past six months.”
“…Really?”
So for the past six months.
Did that mean he’d known where his son was being held but hadn’t made a move, waiting for an opportunity?
‘Is that why the surveillance has been so lax?’
If someone possessed such superhuman patience.
It wasn’t difficult to imagine what kind of life he normally led.
“How many people?”
“At most, five or so would manage it. It’s a place too embarrassing to even call a branch.”
Right.
It was just a place holding a single child.
There was no reason for it to be large.
Honestly, even five seemed excessive.
‘There’s probably more than one.’
Jang Seok-ho wasn’t the only person with a child, parent, lover, or friend held hostage.
If they’d done it once, they could certainly do it again.
They wouldn’t care about the terrible despair those people felt.
No. Rather, wouldn’t they cackle with delight?
Few things were as comfortable to enjoy as another’s suffering.
“So we should just go there right now, then?”
I asked, wondering if there was anything else to prepare.
“It would be best to go now. Time is… not on our side.”
“Not on our side?”
“I slipped away under the pretense of gathering materials needed for sacred relic development. If I’m late, they’ll notice something’s wrong.”
Then time was definitely tight.
“Where do we need to go?”
“There’s an abandoned warehouse in Namyangju. We can head there.”
“Sounds good.”
It wasn’t a particularly long distance.
‘We’ll arrive as evening falls.’
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel as I gazed up at the sky, where thick, dark clouds hung heavy and low.
Not bad weather at all.
For a covert ambush, darkness was far superior to daylight—a fact that hardly needed deliberation.
“Hold on tight.”
“Huh?”
VROOOOM!!
“Whoa!”
I pressed down on the accelerator and tore down the road.
* * *
-SCREEEECH!!
I parked the car a short distance away from the warehouse Jang Seok-ho had mentioned.
“We’ll walk from here.”
I said as I stepped out of the vehicle.
Jang Seok-ho, drenched in cold sweat, followed me out.
“Huff! Huff! Phew… you drive pretty rough.”
“I haven’t been driving long.”
I chuckled softly and continued forward.
It was about a fifteen-minute walk to the warehouse.
I activated Lyra Constellation and scanned the surroundings for anything suspicious.
‘Nothing particularly stands out.’
As Jang Seok-ho had said, it was hardly a place worthy of being called a branch.
“Hyun-woo. Just wait a little longer. Your father’s coming.”
I heard Jang Seok-ho’s quiet murmur.
As we drew closer to the warehouse, he clenched his fists with an eager expression.
“…You haven’t seen him once in three years?”
The strange, oppressive silence bothered me, so I asked.
“Not once. I’ve only received photos occasionally.”
Jang Seok-ho answered in a subdued voice.
“Do you have those photos now?”
“Right here.”
I accepted the photos Jang Seok-ho offered.
Five photographs in total.
The images were blurry, making precise identification difficult, but they showed his son as I’d seen him in the video.
A child trapped in what appeared to be a basement, smiling awkwardly.
Why would someone send such images to his father?
“….”
A strange unease crept down my spine.
Sticky, profoundly repulsive sensation.
“Is something wrong?”
“…No.”
I shook my head and handed the photograph to Jang Seok-ho.
He held it as though it were some precious treasure.
He tucked the photo of the awkwardly smiling child into his breast pocket.
“Let’s go.”
After walking for about ten more minutes.
The warehouse came into view in the distance.
‘It looks better maintained than I expected.’
I had imagined an abandoned warehouse like those crumbling structures from crime films, but.
This warehouse had a surprisingly intact exterior.
Had Jang Seok-ho not told me, I would have mistaken it for an actively operating facility.
“Huff, huff, huff!”
“Don’t get excited.”
The moment the warehouse came into view, Jang Seok-ho’s breathing grew ragged.
I grabbed the back of his neck as his body tensed, ready to bolt forward.
“I understand what you’re feeling, so stay calm.”
That was a lie.
The vast, unfathomable emotion Jang Seok-ho must be experiencing right now.
There was no way I could truly understand it.
“Damn it! Damn… damn it all.”
Jang Seok-ho bit his lip, uttering rough curses as he recalled the three years that had passed.
His ragged breathing gradually steadied.
“Stay here. I’ll go in alone and come back out.”
If only I could use the Black Veil on Jang Seok-ho as well.
But since I couldn’t, infiltrating alone was the right call.
“B-but.”
“You don’t want to see your son get hurt, do you?”
If my infiltration was discovered.
I couldn’t guarantee the safety of his imprisoned son.
“…I understand.”
Jang Seok-ho clenched his fists until the tendons stood out, nodding in agreement.
I activated the Black Veil and crouched low as I approached the warehouse.
Then.
“Even if you’re hiding, we can see everything, you know?”
“Haha! I can’t believe you actually came!”
“What magnificent paternal love!”
Voices split with malicious glee.
A voice as bold and hearty as a general’s.
A voice pitched so high it seemed ready to tear.
Three voices echoed across the empty field in front of the warehouse.
“…!”
Jang Seok-ho’s eyes widened as he watched the three figures approaching at a leisurely pace.
Shock crystallized in his bulging gaze.
“Y-you… why are you all here?”
“Who are they?”
I asked, dropping the veil of concealment.
The veil was ultimately just a technique to hide one’s presence.
Now that they were visible, there was no point in maintaining it.
“Th-those bastards are Kan’s Owls!! How could they possibly be here…!”
Shudder, shudder, shudder.
He cried out, trembling with fear.
‘Kan’s Owls?’
Were they elite soldiers under Ashad Khan’s command?
“Are they Officials too?”
“N-no, but they’re all formidable awakeners who’ve reached 6-Star! Within the branch, aside from Ashad Khan, there’s no one who can match them….”
6-Star awakeners.
Looking purely at the star rating, they were on equal footing with Yujin, who had been a low-rank Official.
‘Since he said they weren’t Officials, they must be below Yujin.’
Not all 6-Star awakeners possessed equal strength.
Even with identical constellation marks, the proficiency with those marks created vast differences in power.
Such disparities became even more pronounced at higher star levels.
-Whoooosh.
I activated Canis Major and caught the scent of Black Star mana flowing from them.
‘One, or perhaps two levels below Yujin.’
The problem was that there were three of them, not one.
Of course, even accounting for that.
‘It’s worth a try.’
Kwon O-jin loosened his body casually.
The constellation mark of Lyra blazed brilliantly, and azure lightning ignited.
“W-what are you trying to do right now?”
“What else? The infiltration’s blown, so we switch to plan B.”
There was a saying that without witnesses, there was no such thing as assassination.
An unexpected complication had emerged.
But if I killed them all here, the result would be the same.
‘Well, not exactly the same… but close enough.’
Kwon O-jin narrowed his eyes, studying Kan’s Owls.
They had waited outside as if they’d known Jang Seok-ho would come here.
In other words, the watchful gaze cast upon Jang Seok-ho had never once loosened.
Looking at this situation, one could even say he had ‘deliberately’ created gaps in his surveillance.
‘Which means.’
Kwon O-jin closed his eyes tightly.
A viscous sense of revulsion spread down his spine.
It felt like discovering a toilet seat left open with the bowl filled to the brim.
“Hehehehe! I can’t believe you actually brought the brain here!”
“Master Ashad Khan will be absolutely delighted!”
“After all, you’re the one who ruined his grand plan!”
They chattered on incessantly.
Perhaps because they were bird-like creatures.
They certainly had a lot to say.
‘As I thought. The relationship between me and Valhalla Guild has been exposed.’
I set aside the question of how for now.
I had no luxury to ponder leisurely.
“W-wait, did you not hear what I just said?! Those guys are 6-Star Awakeners!!”
Jang Seok-ho grabbed my shoulder and shouted urgently.
“I heard you, man.”
“Then why….”
“Should I just surrender quietly?”
“Th-that is.”
Jang Seok-ho clamped his mouth shut firmly.
“You’re… supposedly a 4-Star, from what I heard.”
“You know well.”
“Th-then!”
Was he trying to say it was absurd to face three 6-Star Awakeners?
He wasn’t wrong.
In normal circumstances.
The gap between 4-Star and 6-Star was hopeless.
‘In normal circumstances, that is.’
A faint smirk crossed my lips.
I twisted the corner of my mouth and gripped the silver spear at my back in my hand.
“Hehehehe! Quite the bold one, aren’t you?”
An unpleasantly grating voice laughed.
“Did obtaining the stigma of Polaris make you lose count?”
The three owls raised their weapons with mocking expressions.
From left to right: sword, axe, chain sickle.
Despite their boastful words, they surrounded me quite cautiously.
With sharp eyes, they observed my movements and gauged the timing for their opening.
‘Even against a 4-Star, they won’t let their guard down, huh.’
It doesn’t matter.
I had no intention of relying on carelessness from the start.
“Tcha!”
The owl wielding the axe lunged forward in an instant.
Whoooosh!!
Black feathers coiled around the axe blade and shot forward.
-Ting ting ting ting!
A translucent shield materialized before my eyes.
One of the three knots glowing orange lost its light.
Clang!
I angled my spear shaft diagonally to deflect the axe as it came down in succession.
“Tch! Damn it! This bastard’s got a defensive relic!”
Perhaps because the attack was blocked so easily.
The owl’s expression twisted.
But only for a moment.
“Then try blocking this as well!!”
A chain sickle from the right and a sword from the left cut in sharply.
“Hah.”
I drew a light breath.
‘Spear Thunder.’
Triple strike.
-Crackle crackle crackle crackle!!!!
Three streaks of lightning spread outward in a fan-shaped arc.
“Aaaahhh!!”
“Kugh!! Damn, damn it!”
The two of them screamed as the lightning coursed through their weapons.
“Screech!”
The owl with the axe twisted his expression and created distance.
I extended my spear to target him.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Black feathers covered the axe blade.
Using the broad axe head as a shield, he blocked my spear.
Clang clang!
The spear point couldn’t pierce the black feathers and rang out metallically.
“Hahaha!! You’ve got some skill, but the difference in power is unavoidable, it seems!”
The owl wielding the axe burst into hearty laughter.
Just as he said.
The spear point wrapped in lightning was being pushed back, blocked by the black feathers.
“Is that so?”
Kwon O-jin pushed the spear forward and brought his palm to the end of the shaft.
“What about this?”
[Activating《Explosive Thunder (爆雷) Lv3》.]
Crackle-crackle-crack!!!
Like striking a nail with a hammer.
The explosion of lightning that burst from my palm drove the spear shaft backward.
Crack.
The axe blade bent slightly.
“Wh-what?”
The owl wielding the axe’s expression twisted with bewilderment.
[Activating《Explosive Thunder (爆雷) Lv3》.]
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crack!!
Once more.
The explosion of azure lightning drove the spear forward.
The spear blade bit deep into the axe blade.
[Activating《Explosive Thunder (爆雷) Lv3》.]
Screech.
The axe blade began to fracture.
“W-wait!”
The owl wielding the axe cried out desperately.
Of course.
There was no reason to listen.
“I still have one more left.”
Kwon O-jin grinned wickedly and pressed his palm against the end of the spear shaft.
‘Explosive Thunder.’
Five consecutive strikes.
-Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle-crack!!!!
An explosion of lightning incomparable to moments before hammered down upon the spear shaft.
The axe blade shattered into fragments as the spear point pierced through the owl’s skull.
Splurt!
Brain matter, eyeballs, and blood spilled forth in a grotesque mixture.
-Ding!
[《Azure Thunder (蒼雷) Lv3》 has advanced to《Azure Thunder (蒼雷) Lv4》!]
[《Explosive Thunder (爆雷) Lv3》 has advanced to《Explosive Thunder (爆雷) Lv4》!]
I dismissed the blue message window that appeared before my eyes.
“One down.”
Baring my teeth savagely, I leveled my spear at the remaining two.
“….”
“….”
Silence descended like a curtain.
“Wh-what in the world is….”
Jang Seok-ho stared down at the corpse of Kan’s Owls, his mouth hanging open in shock. The battle had lasted less than a minute before they fell.

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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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