The Regressor Plays the Game Too Well - Chapter 154

—————

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

—————

Episode 154
Chapter 154
Returning home, Jin-woo collapsed onto his bed without a word, without a thought.
He lay there on the creaking mattress, staring up at the ceiling.
Still, nothing came to mind.
Just.
“….”
He was trying to make sense of it all.
Someone likes me?
How is that even possible?
If that were true, how did I end up single until thirty-six?
The moment that thought crossed his mind, the past came flooding back.
He’d spent his entire life gaming—when would he have had the chance to meet women?
There was no way.
As the saying goes, the thirsty man digs the well—but Jin-woo wasn’t truly thirsty in that sense.
Then, an odd thought struck him.
Why was he agonizing over what his own sister Min-ah had said?
“Huh?”
Now that he thought about it, that was a fair point.
Could a woman really understand another woman’s heart?
Maybe she could.
But was there any guarantee she was right?
No, there wasn’t.
Jin-woo reasoned it out by turning the logic on himself.
Did he understand other men’s thoughts well?
He grasped some things, sure, but not everything.
In other words.
‘Min-ah could be wrong about this.’
He’d worried that paying attention would only make him self-conscious.
He’d better not dwell on it.
He’d dismiss the whole thing—surely she didn’t actually like him.
He shook his head once, changed clothes, and went straight to wash up.
After a cold shower, his mind felt a bit clearer.
Right, let’s ride this momentum and tackle something else.
Once he focused on work, his concentration would take over, and these other thoughts would fade.
With that in mind, Jin-woo decided to tackle his backlog of tasks.
Monopolizing gains by leveraging all the regression information he possessed.
He was nearly at the finish line with that endeavor.
There were only a few remaining opportunities to extract value.
And then, in that moment.
‘Now that I think about it, Isis won’t take much longer to complete.’
The Divine Blade Storm’s Isis was nearing completion.
Though I suppose I could call it the final stretch.
Still, you never know.
‘There might be something I’ve forgotten.’
I searched through various websites, thinking that reading something that might jog my memory could help me remember more details.
I should have done this sooner.
Look at me—the moment I find something to focus on, my mind wanders elsewhere.
Ah, I almost started thinking about Ji-a again.
I need to be careful.
If I keep this up and become self-conscious when we meet tomorrow, it’ll be unbearably awkward.
‘Until she says it directly, I don’t know anything.’
My cowardice was laid bare, though I remained oblivious to it.
Well, it couldn’t be helped.
After thirty-six years of being a hopeless romantic, I had no choice but to be a coward in matters like this.
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have even thought such things.
Should I say I’ve improved somewhat?
In any case.
For now, I decided to focus on other matters rather than romance.
I examined various situations.
Predictably, the most talked-about topic was none other than the Guild patch.
Of course it was.
‘The patch is just finishing up.’
It had to be the hottest issue.
I checked it out immediately, curious as well.
As expected, posts about the Kaiser Allied Guild dominated.
From the officially announced guild lists.
To how they were behaving in the Pantheon.
There were many other stories as well.
But I examined those first.
There were plenty of trivial details.
The most common topic was Hunting Grounds occupation.
In the regions officially announced by the Kaiser Alliance, the complaints were far more intense.
‘It looks like they’re planning to strike there first.’
But there was one strange thing.
In the regions where the Han-sung Guild operated, such complaints were relatively sparse.
When I looked into it further.
I found many posts stating that Han Yu-na, the guild master of the Han-sung Guild, had taken measures.
Han Yu-na truly deserves the praise.
In contrast, Kaiser’s passive response made his intentions crystal clear.
‘They’re trying to drag me into the Han-sung Guild.’
So they’d strike when they felt confident.
They’d judged it was too early to fight me yet.
Should I perhaps strike now instead?
I thought, but then shook my head.
There was no reason to reveal my hand when I already knew theirs so well.
I could wait until they confidently showed their cards.
There was no rush to act then.
With that thought, I smirked and decided to leave them be for now, turning my attention to other issues.
Kaiser had been the most vocal about the guild patch, certainly.
But there were other guilds as well.
However, nothing particularly noteworthy had occurred.
‘They’re all just Kaiser’s little copies.’
Nothing particularly interesting or severe was happening.
Well, the patch had only been applied a day ago.
If something serious had already happened, the administrators would have taken action by now.
I was simply looking for something entertaining or memorable.
After carefully reviewing everything, I found it.
A single strange post.
[Seriously, I saw a weird race in the Deron Kingdom?]
【Usop】
『Why won’t anyone believe me?
The day before yesterday, I was passing through a village when I saw this race with horns and dark skin looking around curiously inside the village.
I thought something was off, so I tried to approach them.
Then they pulled out this blood-red spear from thin air and disappeared back into it.
What the hell is this?』
【Comments】
Hahaha, you’re having such detailed and vivid dreams.
Haha, come on, take it easy.
-Why’d you write it like you discovered a new race?
lol
Hahahaha
└But honestly, it’s surprisingly detailed. Don’t you think this deserves a like?
└Jeong Seong-chu approved hahaha
-You bastards! I’m telling the truth!
A post with not many views.
And not many comments either.
But when I saw it, my eyes widened.
A blood-red spear appearing from thin air?
And if that user’s description of their appearance was accurate?
“A Demon King User?”
Had a Demon King User really appeared?
Jin-woo grew quite excited and was about to leave a comment when he shook his head.
If I showed interest in a comment right now?
It could lead to unexpected complications.
Instead, I casually searched for the username to see where I’d encountered it before, reviewing their previous posts.
Sure enough, posts appeared quickly, and I could pinpoint their location somewhere in the Deron Kingdom.
I’d grasped their general whereabouts, at least.
Could they really be a Demon King User?
It was possible they weren’t, but the details in that post felt remarkably consistent with reality.
‘The timing seems a bit early, doesn’t it?’
As I pondered this, something suddenly came to mind.
The first Demon King User.
The timing was faster than back then.
‘They were wielding a Demon Spear too, weren’t they?’
Jin-woo chuckled at the thought.
A Demon Spear, huh.
There’s already a Holy Spear and a Demon Sword in circulation.
And now’s the time to obtain a Divine Sword too.
If I could acquire a Demon Spear as well?
This might become far more entertaining than I anticipated.
The fact that they were wandering around the village like this meant they’d only recently become a Demon King User.
And the fact that they were disappearing from that location?
‘They must have established their Link there.’
Unless they possessed the First Title like me—Owner of the Demon Sword—they could only move their Link once a week.
Considering that, the probability they were still linked to this location was high.
They might have the First Title of Owner of the Demon Spear.
I obtained Brewnack and earned the First Title of Owner of the Holy Spear.
The odds were high they’d done the same.
‘I hope they haven’t moved their Link yet.’
Jin-woo decided to depart immediately.
Tomorrow was the day I’d promised to hunt with Yu Ji-a.
I needed to organize my thoughts before then anyway.
Chuckling at the prospect of this amusing development, I moved to access the capsule.
Still, they hadn’t done anything yet.
Wasn’t it overkill to try to kill them?
Nonsense.
‘A Demon King User can’t advance their class without notoriety.’
In other words?
They were a criminal from the start.
It was only proper to kill a Demon King like a Demon King should be killed.
Two birds with one stone.
If I could obtain the Demon Spear on top of that, even better.
With that thought, I grinned wickedly and immediately logged into the capsule.
I had discovered something far more entertaining than I expected.
* * *
Meanwhile, as Jin-woo was logging into the game like that.
Yu Ji-a let out a small sigh as she too was hunting diligently in the game.
Telling herself not to be self-conscious when meeting Jin-woo.
It had been like this ever since Young-jin and Hye-jung’s encounter.
They hadn’t even gone on a real date, and she hadn’t even thought of it that way.
Yet it appeared that way.
More than anything.
It felt strange that she alone seemed to care about it.
‘He just told me not to joke around.’
Unlike her, he hadn’t panicked greatly.
He had only checked whether she was upset or not.
A composure that seemed genuinely calm, not just pretended.
She felt relieved that he hadn’t intentionally made her care about him.
Yet for some reason, her mood felt strange.
Did she want him to care about her?
Her own heart was so turbulent that it was difficult to understand.
Yu Ji-a shook her head vigorously.
‘We’re supposed to meet tomorrow, so if I keep worrying about this, I’ll waste the opportunity!’
Thinking that way, Yu Ji-a pretended as best she could.
Taking deep breaths in and out, she steadied herself.
Meanwhile, in the Pantheon, Lin had the Yellow Dragon beside her offering reassurance.
Nuzzling against the worried Lin as if to say everything was fine.
The Yellow Dragon seemed to speak.
“Ahahaha, thanks. Let’s hunt with renewed vigor.”
Right, now was the time to level up faster.
With that thought, Lin prepared for hunting quickly alongside the Yellow Dragon.
They hunted in rapid succession, traveling through various regions.
Starting with cities in the Deron Kingdom where few people ventured.
They roamed about focusing on areas where experience could be gained quickly.
Then.
When they arrived at a village.
The Yellow Dragon showed a strange reaction.
【Grrrrr.】
The Yellow Dragon’s fierce, low growl.
It was the first time Lin had seen Yellow Dragon act this way, so she looked at him with a puzzled expression.
Was something wrong?
“What’s the matter?”
Following the direction Yellow Dragon was growling toward, Lin’s gaze shifted to an alley.
A dim, narrow alley stretched before them.
Was something happening there?
With that thought, Lin pointed toward the alley and asked Yellow Dragon.
“What’s over there?”
【Grrrrrrr.】
Yellow Dragon nodded in agreement at Lin’s words.
Curious about what was happening, Lin decided to follow Yellow Dragon into that alley.
It wasn’t far away.
Besides, this was the first time Yellow Dragon had ever reacted this way.
Just as Lin was about to head in that direction.
Someone behind her spoke softly.
“Yellow Dragon?”
“…?!”
Yellow Dragon was definitely in an invisible state.
Other players shouldn’t have been able to see him.
There was someone who could recognize him?
Startled by this realization, Lin spun around.
Standing there was a face Lin recognized well.
And just as Lin had identified him, he recognized her in return.
“I knew it.”
A familiar voice.
It was Jin-woo.
By coincidence, this was the Calteron Territory of the Deron Kingdom—the city where Jin-woo had come to capture the Demon King user.
And then.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!”
At the piercing scream of a woman, Jin-woo and Luna reacted first, followed by Yellow Dragon.
When Lin also jumped in surprise and turned her head.
Jin-woo spoke.
“Something seems to be happening over there. Should we check it out?”
He said it with an expression that suggested both difficulty and genuine intrigue at what might be unfolding.

—————

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

—————