The Regressed EX-Class Martial God Decided to Become a Thousand-Star Hunter - Chapter 20

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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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Episode 20
20.
‘Well then.’
Now it was time for his true purpose.
Ju Do-gyeom withdrew the Blessing Potion and Abundance’s Grace from his Inventory.
Five billion won in a single sip.
Without hesitation, he drained it.
『A blessing has been granted.』
『For this one instance, Ungraded Item acquisition will be doubled.』
After confirming the message, Ju Do-gyeom took his place beneath the apple tree.
At the end of a branch.
A single golden apple hung there, ripe and gleaming.
He reached out and plucked it.
Click.
The moment the fruit separated from the branch with a soft sound.
Whoosh!
The apple blazed with light.
The light split in two, each piece settling into his palm with different weights.
One apple had become two.
『You have obtained Adam’s Apple (2).』
‘Excellent.’
One for the chairman’s daughter.
One for Eve’s gift.
Calculation complete.
The reward far exceeded the cost of five billion won.
To speak bluntly, the informational value of just one apple right now surpasses tens of billions.
He’d earned that staggering sum for a single sip—where could one find a better bargain?
‘Is this the thrill that makes a merchant work?’
With that frivolous thought, Ju Do-gyeom carefully stored both apples in his Inventory.
Tribulations he never anticipated.
Titles he never expected.
Even a Leaf of Tree of Life he hadn’t seen coming.
For a Dungeon run that was supposed to net him merely one Adam’s Apple, his pockets had grown remarkably full.
‘And this overwhelming conquest strategy.’
It had become quite the profitable approach.
Ju Do-gyeom took one last look across the verdant meadows of the Garden of Eden, then opened his mouth.
“I will return to Earth.”
『Acknowledged.』
『User Ju Do-gyeom, returning to Earth.』
* * *
At the same moment.
Lee Young-sik, chairman of the Taesung Group, stood in silence, gazing down at the sickbed.
Upon it lay his sleeping daughter, her face gaunt.
Lee Seo-ah.
From childhood, she had been remarkably bright and kind.
After his wife passed, she became his only blood relative, making her all the more precious.
He could still see her clearly—running toward him with a smile, calling “Dad!”
Yet that child had now lain motionless for two years, like a puppet.
His fist clenched without his realizing it.
Across the back of that hand, age had settled.
“Ju Do-gyeom….”
The name escaped him in a low murmur.
That man who claimed to know the location of a cure.
Of course he’d had him investigated.
The results had been disappointing.
He was not a figure who had made a name for himself in the Hunter Industry.
No—he hadn’t even been a Hunter for a few months.
Until just recently, he’d been an ordinary young man doing loading and unloading work at a Logistics Center.
That was the Ju Do-gyeom in the file.
It was a background that inspired no confidence.
But.
‘Those eyes—what were they?’
The documents and the man before him didn’t match.
Those jet-black pupils hadn’t wavered even when asked to stake his life.
Lee Young-sik was a man who had climbed from the third son’s position to chairman through one skill alone: reading people.
Those eyes were speaking to him now.
This was no ordinary young man’s gaze.
Yet separate from that, one truth remained: his expectations weren’t high.
Not because he distrusted Ju Do-gyeom, but because of what experience had taught him.
Frankly, veteran Hunters who’d been grinding through dungeons for over a decade had already failed at this.
As though reading his thoughts.
Kang Tae-woo, the secretary standing beside him, spoke quietly.
“We’re continuing to recruit new Hunters. Even if this attempt fails, we’ll have everything prepared to move forward immediately afterward.”
The words used the term “fails,” but the meaning was clear.
He, too, harbored no expectations for Ju Do-gyeom.
It was a statement already resigned to failure.
Lee Young-sik nodded and replied.
“……I suppose so.”
Next time.
It was always next time.
The backlog had already been piling up for two years, but he couldn’t stop.
That was when it happened.
Buzz—
A vibration sounded from Kang Tae-woo’s pocket.
His eyebrows twitched sharply as he excused himself and took the call.
A voice tinged with unmistakable anger came through.
“Ju Do-gyeom’s come back?”
Lee Young-sik’s head snapped around.
He checked his watch.
Only half a day had passed since Ju Do-gyeom left the estate.
* * *
Ju Do-gyeom stepped into the reception room before Lee Seo-ah’s door, settling naturally onto the sofa.
Seeing him, Lee Young-sik spoke with barely restrained anger.
“I’d say it’s too early to give up. Don’t tell me you’ve gotten cold feet?”
He wouldn’t have taken him for that sort.
Lee Young-sik trailed off, studying Ju Do-gyeom’s face.
Still, no particular emotion registered.
No tremor in his pupils.
Then why?
What possible reason could there be for him to return so quickly?
‘Could it be……?’
Just as an utterly absurd thought crossed his mind.
Ju Do-gyeom opened his mouth.
“I’ve obtained a cure.”
“……That can’t be right.”
Lee Young-sik found himself muttering aloud.
He’d entertained the thought, but it remained equally impossible to believe.
Ju Do-gyeom added no lengthy explanation.
Instead, he simply retrieved Adam’s Apple from his Inventory and placed it on the reception table.
A hard swallow.
Under the light, the apple’s soft golden sheen caught Lee Young-sik’s eye, and he swallowed hard before speaking.
“……Explain yourself.”
“It’s called Adam’s Apple. Simply by consuming it, anyone can become an Awakener.”
“……!!”
Lee Young-sik’s eyes widened.
Anyone can become an Awakener.
In this age, it’s a common phrase.
Awakening progresses the moment one enters a Dungeon.
But the very Mana Disease patients who need to enter a Dungeon cannot complete that progression.
Because they cannot move of their own will.
But if I simply feed her the golden apple before my eyes, that problem will be solved?
I want to believe it.
I want to believe that all of it is truly real.
But my head won’t nod in agreement.
And for good reason.
How many people have said things like Ju Do-gyeom before now?
Talismans, Holy Water, Spirit Medicine.
They said they’d solve everything if I just used them.
But nothing worked.
The talisman even left a curse carved into my daughter instead.
How much did it take out of me to dispel that?
It’s also what sparked Lee Young-sik’s anger at Hunters trying to deceive him.
And now, an apple?
‘Adam’s Apple, he says…….’
This isn’t something to dwell on.
Lee Young-sik looked at Kang Tae-woo.
“Verify it.”
After Kang Tae-woo, bowing his head, left with Adam’s Apple in hand.
Lee Young-sik’s gaze turned back to Ju Do-gyeom.
“You were doing delivery work until recently, weren’t you?”
“That’s correct.”
“And you’ve been an Awakener for less than a year.”
“Yes.”
“Are you naturally fearless?”
…….
For the first time, Ju Do-gyeom’s words caught.
Not for lack of something to say, but as if he were thinking.
After a moment, Ju Do-gyeom spoke.
“It’s less that I was born that way—more that I’ve become this way.”
Thinking about it, Ju Do-gyeom at this point in time had actually been the fearful sort.
Which is why, even in difficult circumstances, he never dared to attempt Hunter work.
‘Even five years later, it felt like an unavoidable choice.’
Looking back now, he could see how much he’d changed.
Lee Young-sik interpreted Ju Do-gyeom’s frame of mind differently.
‘He said both his parents passed away. No siblings.’
Abandoned alone in the world with no brothers or sisters.
It’s not strange for a person to change.
Lee Young-sik released a deep breath and spoke.
“Whew…… All right then, what do you want? As a favor, don’t go on about sympathy or justice or any of that. I don’t have the patience to sit through such talk right now.”
“That’s fine. I came because I actually want something.”
“Good. Fame? Money? Or…….”
“Money. You could also say goods.”
He answered without hesitation.
It borders on rude, but ironically it makes a person seem all the more straightforward.
Lee Young-sik, regarding him with calm eyes, opened his mouth once more.
“I’m hoping right now that you’re not a blowhard. Sincerely.”
“Is that so?”
“Because I’d prefer not to have to kill you.”
“That’s fortunate.”
Ju Do-gyeom, who maintained an unflinching composure even before the prospect of death, continued.
“Not that it will come to that.”
His voice brimmed with confidence.
Just then.
Knock, knock.
After knocking on the reception room door, Kang Tae-woo stepped inside.
On the wide dish he held in his right hand sat a small glass pitcher containing what appeared to be a golden liquid made from Adam’s Apple ground into juice, alongside a syringe-shaped dispenser.
Kang Tae-woo spoke.
“The verification found no particular abnormalities. According to the system message…….”
His gaze turned briefly to Ju Do-gyeom.
“The details match what Hunter Ju Do-gyeom stated.”
“I see.”
Though the story was astonishing, Lee Young-sik nodded calmly.
A system that does not lie.
Yet this was an age where humans could layer deception atop even that truth.
Lee Young-sik rose from his seat and approached Kang Tae-woo.
“I’ll do it myself.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lee Young-sik took the plate from the executive secretary’s hands.
He glanced once toward his daughter’s room at the far end of the reception hall, then turned his gaze and fixed it squarely on Ju Do-gyeom.
Lee Young-sik spoke.
“Will you come with me?”
“May I be permitted to?”
“You need to see it with your own eyes to truly accept the result.”
His eyes and voice were still saturated with doubt.
Ju Do-gyeom rose from his chair.
“Let’s go.”
Lee Young-sik nodded silently and led the way.
Ju Do-gyeom followed, with Kang Tae-woo bringing up the rear.
Though he said nothing, a faint killing intent seeped from him.
The clear resolve that if anything went wrong, his hand would move instantly.
Ju Do-gyeom thought to himself.
‘Kang Tae-woo, secretary to the Taesung Group.’
He would die in the Seoul Invasion War in years to come, but until then he would build considerable renown as a hunter.
If they fought now, could he win?
As various scenarios played through his mind, a smile unwittingly crossed his lips.
Kang Tae-woo’s expression, watching him, grew even more rigid.
His killing intent thickened as well.
Ju Do-gyeom paid it no mind.
To a regressor like him, this level of killing intent was merely adorable.
‘If anything, it sharpens my senses. Not bad.’
His smile only deepened.
* * *
Inside Lee Seo-ah’s room.
Lee Young-sik, holding the Adam’s Apple juice, approached directly to his daughter’s bedside, drew a chair near, and sat.
Then, with great care, he parted his daughter’s withered lips and inserted a feeding tube, letting the juice flow slowly in.
Sleeping Lee Seo-ah’s throat moved with instinctive reflex.
Once, twice… five times.
After more than ten infusions in total, all of the Adam’s Apple had entered Lee Seo-ah.
The dark room, lit by a single lamp, fell silent.
Lee Seo-ah showed no other response, no discernible change.
That quiet stillness stretched past thirty seconds, past sixty.
Another hundred seconds nearly passed before it happened.
Kang Tae-woo, having held back as long as he could bear, finally spoke.
“Ju Do-gyeom…”
The words were barely finished when—
Burst!
A brilliant golden light erupted from sleeping Lee Seo-ah’s body.
All three of them could only hold their breath as that radiance filled the room.
The light swirled about her entire form for a moment, enveloping her completely.
Then, slowly and gently, it began to fade.
More precisely, it was drawn inward, sinking into Lee Seo-ah’s body and vanishing.
Lee Young-sik watched, forgetting even to breathe, then quickly examined his daughter’s face.
It was plain to see.
She was different.
Color—a flush of red—had begun to bloom across skin that had been deathly pale.
Her withered lips now glistened with moisture.
And.
Those long, full lashes.
Quivered.
For two years, despite everything, there had been not the slightest response.
Lee Young-sik’s emotions surged as he stared at him, his voice breaking with intensity.
“Seo-ah……!”
It happened immediately after.
Lee Seo-ah’s eyelids, which had been shut, slowly lifted open.
Behind her dark pupils, still hazed as if by a thin mist, his own reflection came into focus.
‘Ah……!’
He was about to speak again, his chest swelling with emotion, when it happened.
“Ah……Dad?”
His daughter, Lee Seo-ah, called out to him.
Lee Young-sik’s mouth fell silent.
Instead, tears streamed down his face.
Cold Blood.
The man who had earned that name was shedding tears for the first time in decades.

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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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