Not A Regressor - Chapter 83

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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 83
The Saint of Rome (4)
“Uh…”
I stared at her with my mouth hanging open, unable to close it.
It wasn’t that I had been captivated by her beautiful appearance.
‘How is this possible?’
The reason I froze was the encounter itself with her.
It was far too coincidental to be called mere chance.
“Um…”
“Ah, my apologies. I’m Kwon O-jin.”
I grasped her hand, which had awkwardly stopped mid-gesture.
“Kwon O-jin…?”
Upon hearing my name, she fell into thought for a moment before suddenly clapping her hands together.
“Noe-rang! Are you perhaps Noe-rang?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m called.”
Even Isabella, an Italian, knew of me.
The title of Apostle of Polaris certainly did draw attention.
“Wow…! I thought I smelled something wonderful!”
“Pardon?”
A scent?
“Oh, oh no! I’m so sorry! Please forget what I just said!”
Isabella’s face flushed as she frantically shook her head.
Seeing her react so intensely only made me more curious.
‘A good scent?’
Did that mean she had tracked me down by following my scent?
‘What am I, a hunting dog?’
I let out a hollow laugh and gazed at her.
“I don’t recall wearing any cologne.”
“I, I asked you to forget about it!”
Isabella fluttered about nervously and squeezed her eyes shut.
As she shook her head, her lustrous golden hair swayed, resembling a fluffy lamb.
“Ahem! I was doing volunteer work in this area helping the Gypsies. You seemed lost, so I came to help. I wasn’t following a scent!”
She was definitely following a scent.
‘Though I have no idea what scent could be appealing.’
In any case, I began to suspect that my encounter with her was not mere coincidence.
‘Now that I think about it, Isabella does volunteer work treating vagrants.’
A sprawling Gypsy Settlement would certainly be an ideal gathering place for the homeless.
‘And while doing volunteer work, she caught my scent and followed it.’
Well.
While I still thought this was an absurd coincidence, it was far more convincing than simply crossing paths on the street.
‘Anyway.’
Since the opportunity had fallen into my lap, I couldn’t afford to let it slip away.
“Yes, since this is my first time here, I got lost. Would you happen to be able to help me?”
“Of course!”
Isabella nodded with a radiant smile.
“So where are you trying to go?”
“Well… it’s become rather troublesome.”
I scratched my head with a befuddled expression.
“I originally received the location on a note, but I ended up forgetting it.”
“Ah, I see.”
A lie.
Since the location came through a link, there was no way I could lose it unless I lost my smartphone itself.
‘I need to create as much time together as possible.’
If only to manipulate her to my liking in the future.
Building rapport was important.
“Roughly… it was around here. I can’t quite remember.”
I opened the map and tapped on a random location.
“Then let’s head that way!”
Isabella gestured for me to follow.
I nodded and followed after her.
“Thank you so much for helping me.”
“Hehe. It’s nothing. I actually wanted to talk with you, Kwon O-jin.”
“With me?”
“Yes! You’re the Apostle of Polaris who appeared for the first time in the world. And….”
Isabella laughed softly.
“I saw you catch Hydra on the broadcast. You fought on purpose to save the people who couldn’t escape because the entrance was blocked, didn’t you?”
Ah. So she had been watching the broadcast back then.
Well, with hundreds of thousands of live viewers alone, it wasn’t strange that foreigners were among them.
“I wasn’t fighting alone, so…”
I shrugged modestly without reason.
“Still.”
Isabella gazed at me with bright, sparkling eyes.
‘This might be easier to get close to than I thought.’
Who would have thought that broadcast would help me in this way.
“I’ve heard much about you as well, Isabella.”
“About me?”
“Yes. The Saint of Rome is famous even in South Korea.”
“Oh my. A s-saint? That’s not it at all.”
Isabella’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
“But seeing how you help lost people like this, it seems fitting.”
“Oh, come now. Please don’t say such things.”
I exchanged light conversation with Isabella as we walked toward the location marked on the map.
Well, it was only natural, after all.
We never did find the destination.
After wandering the surrounding area for roughly thirty more minutes.
“I feel terrible for putting you through so much trouble because of me.”
“Hehe. Not at all. By the way, is the person you’re supposed to meet not answering their phone?”
“It seems their phone is turned off.”
“Oh dear….”
I shrugged at Isabella, who gazed at me with a worried expression.
“Well, there’s nothing to be done about it. I’ll just head back to my lodging and sleep, then try to contact them tomorrow.”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
“Still, I feel bad for troubling you like this. Would you like to grab a meal together?”
I suggested dinner naturally.
After all, I’d marked the wrong location and wandered in circles specifically to find an excuse to share a meal with her.
‘I made the right call not bringing my sister.’
If Ha-eun had known about this, she would have been furious.
“Oh, there’s no need to worry. I did this because I wanted to, you know?”
“Still, I feel so apologetic for sending you off like this.”
“Hmm. If you insist… oh, how about that?”
She pointed to a kebab stand on the street.
I’d heard she came from quite a wealthy family.
So she eats street food too.
“Sounds good.”
I nodded readily, bought two kebabs, and sat down on a nearby bench.
“Hehe. Being like this, it feels like we’re on a date.”
Was it because she was Italian?
Her remark was quite forward.
‘I almost got flustered.’
I nodded lightly while deliberately recalling Ha-eun’s image in my mind.
“Well… this isn’t really a date-worthy place.”
She smiled wryly while gazing at the Gypsy Settlement.
The buildings looked as though they might collapse at any moment, and the clothes of the people passing by were shabby beyond measure.
‘It’s like the neighborhood I used to live in.’
The only difference was that this place was several times larger in scale.
Wherever you go in the world, the lives of the poor and powerless are always miserable.
“Oh! Isabella is with a man!”
“Really? She is!”
Children passing by pointed at us and shouted.
Whether they knew her or not, they called her “sister” and flashed friendly smiles.
“That’s… that’s not it!”
Isabella hurriedly pushed herself up.
“Hahaha!!”
“Ooh la la~ she’s with a man~!”
Ooh la la, was it?
How many years had it been since I’d heard that phrase?
“You kids!!”
“Hahaha!!”
The children scattered and fled.
“I’m… I’m sorry, Kwon O-jin.”
“It’s fine.”
“Sigh. I should have gone inside the restaurant to eat instead.”
She sighed and chewed on the kebab in her hand.
“You seem quite popular with the children?”
“I volunteer around here often.”
She treated the injured for free, if I recalled correctly.
“That’s very kind of you.”
“….”
In that moment.
Her expression darkened.
“…It’s not like that.”
She clenched her pants and lowered her head.
“I’m not… kind at all.”
If that wasn’t kindness, what on earth was?
“…Is this your first time in Italy?”
“Yes.”
“In Italy, Gypsies are… discriminated against from birth.”
“Is that so?”
Perhaps the same position as Black people decades ago.
“Well, it’s not like those who discriminate are necessarily bad people. The truth is, the crime rate among Gypsies really is quite high.”
She gazed at the dilapidated Gypsy Settlement with a distant look in her eyes.
“I’m… the same way. I pretend otherwise on the surface, but deep down in my heart, I end up thinking they’re ‘different.'”
“Is that a bad thing?”
I couldn’t say discrimination was good.
But that didn’t mean it was a problem that could be completely eliminated.
Because of different races, different ideologies, different genders.
As long as we’re human, discrimination and conflict can never disappear.
We can only strive to reduce it.
In that sense, she was someone who was making sufficient effort.
“Heh. You can’t call that bad alone. But….”
I continued speaking in a voice that had grown heavy and subdued.
“The truth is… whenever I help those people, I can’t help but think it.”
I bit my lip hard.
“━’Thank goodness.’ Thank goodness I wasn’t born a Gypsy, that I possess a powerful stigma, that I have exceptional talent.”
I continued in a voice that sounded like self-reproach, stifled and restrained.
“The real reason I help those people is… because I want to feel those shameful emotions.”
And so.
That’s why I called myself “not a good person.”
“Hehe. Saying unnecessary things to someone you’ve just met….”
“Is that wrong?”
“Pardon?”
“If you help others to feel superior, is that wrong?”
What a tightly wound young lady you are.
“That is….”
“Good deeds done in expectation of reward are still good deeds. Whether that reward is material or psychological.”
“But!”
“People praise good deeds done without expecting anything in return as ‘true virtue.’ Do you know why that is?”
It’s a simple reason.
“Because they’re easier to exploit.”
“….”
“The more pure-hearted saints there are who expect nothing in return, the more advantageous it is for oneself.”
If you lose.
Then I gain that much more.
“Which helps those people more in the end—helping them because you want to feel superior, or refusing to help them because you dislike feeling that way?”
“…That would be…”
“Judging only by results is foolish. But judging only by intentions is even more foolish.”
“….”
Isabella’s eyes widened.
After a brief silence,
“…You’re quite a unique person, Kwon O-jin.”
A smile as bright as sunlight bloomed across her lips.
“I’m not unique.”
Simply.
I had merely articulated convincingly what she most wanted to hear.
“Hehe. No, you really are unique enough.”
Isabella rose from her seat and brushed off her backside with a pat.
“I should be going now—I have other matters to attend to. Oh, and this is my business card.”
She handed it over with a gentle smile.
“Could we talk again sometime?”
“Of course.”
I had initially planned to ask for her contact information, but she offered it first.
“Then I’ll see you again next time, Kwon O-jin.”
She gazed at me intently and murmured “Sembra delizioso” in a soft voice.
‘What was that?’
Perhaps because her voice had been too quiet.
I couldn’t quite catch what she said.
‘Well, regardless.’
I waved at her retreating figure and rose to my feet.
“Then.”
Time to go meet Paolo Lancioni, who must be waiting for me with bated breath.

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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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