The Regressor Plays the Game Too Well - Chapter 184

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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 184
184
The art museum date had gone well, and we’d finished our meal while chatting about this and that.
Now it was time to part ways.
Of course, since we’d come in my car, it fell to me to drive her back.
I pulled up to the Station Near Gia’s House and parked.
We’d enjoyed ourselves and were saying goodbye, yet—
Why did it feel so reluctant?
I was surprised to find myself experiencing such a feeling.
I’d thought I lived without knowing loneliness.
But that wasn’t true.
‘I was just pretending not to know.’
As I chuckled to myself with that thought, Gia beside me looked at me with an equally reluctant expression and smiled as she spoke.
“Today was fun.”
“For me too.”
“Um, well…”
Gia seemed to want to say something but hesitated.
I tilted my head curiously as I watched her.
Gia gathered her courage and spoke.
“…Next time, I’ll be the one to suggest it.”
“Huh?”
What?
I looked at Gia with that thought.
Gia’s cheeks flushed as she spoke.
“Next time, I’ll ask you to meet. Please don’t refuse.”
With that, she hurriedly opened the car door and stepped out.
Remembering that she needed to close it firmly, I heard a soft thud as she shut the door and watched her rush away.
My face flushed as I watched her, and I let out a small cough.
How could I not feel embarrassed hearing something like that?
But I didn’t dislike it.
Quite the opposite.
‘I like it.’
So days like this do come around.
We hadn’t even used the terms “confession” or “dating” yet, but why?
With Gia, it felt like everything would be fine.
With that thought, I smiled and drove off.
* * *
While Jin-woo was absorbed in his date, Lee Yeon was preparing an update with tears of blood streaming from her eyes.
Part of me wondered if I should back out now, but it was already too late.
Why, you ask?
-This is absolutely insane!
-Hahahaha, now this is what I’m talking about!
-Wow! The admins are incredible, and Jin-woo’s channel is crazy!
-Who would’ve thought they’d implement feedback this fast and upload it!
-I can’t wait for this to happen!
-I want war too! War!
-War again! And war once more!
-They’re asking for war!
-Aaahhhhh! Let’s goooooo!
-This is so amazingggggg
Comments flooded the forum at a frenzied pace.
The forum in question was none other than the comment section of Jin-woo’s PanTube channel.
Every single one was nothing but praise.
Of course it was.
He’d announced he would share the content he’d obtained with everyone, so what else would you expect?
Watching this unfold, Lee Yeon threw herself into her work with the desperation of someone swallowing poison.
Since there were substantial sections that needed major overhauls, she declared that today would be dedicated to a full inspection, and fortunately, the users had no complaints whatsoever.
How could they?
A massive plot development was about to unfold—who would complain about that?
They urged her to finish quickly, but there was no sign of dissatisfaction.
As the administrator of Pantheon, Lee Yeon felt a sense of pride, but at the same time, frustration was building up inside her.
“Why does that bastard Jin-woo get all the praise when I’m the one actually doing the work! I want more compliments too!”
The Secretary shook her head as she watched Lee Yeon whine while working.
Well, it was understandable, at least.
She could let it slide.
The workload was genuinely substantial, after all.
All the other developers had also forfeited their vacations and time off, throwing themselves into the work.
The artificial intelligence Ether was no exception.
Everyone resented Jin-woo, certainly.
But they persevered, thinking of how much the users would enjoy it.
If they only knew that Jin-woo was going on a date right now?
No one could predict what Lee Yeon might do.
“First, I need to prevent Count Zapin from attacking immediately, and should I also adjust things with Marquis Kawen and the Emperor?”
Since she was modifying NPCs that had already been created, it was inevitable that the work would take longer.
She just hoped there wouldn’t be any incidents after this.
But that was merely wishful thinking, wasn’t it?
Lee Yeon closed her eyes with that thought.
When thinking like this, she should just focus on the work.
“Phew, the most important thing is deploying users to the Battlefield at the right places and times—should I create it like guild wars as content? I could add awareness to the NPCs, but it’s ambiguous.”
This was the part that bothered her the most.
If I simply assign everything to Count Zapin, it would certainly make things easier for Lee Yeon.
But there was a risk that players could die without accomplishing anything.
So there had to be at least some minimum level requirement.
A minimum of around level 30.
Essentially, it was content designed for players who had expanded into the City.
Unfortunately, making it available to players below that threshold would only complicate matters.
Fortunately, many players had already speculated about this.
In fact, public opinion largely held that including lower-level players would only be a nuisance.
So Lee Yeon could boldly abandon that idea.
But creating channels and arranging battlefields by level was difficult.
Since they were NPCs, dividing them that way wasn’t easy.
Even if divided, there simply weren’t that many NPC soldiers between levels 30 and 50.
Well, it was obvious when you thought about it for even a moment.
These were soldiers from the Imperial Palace or Marquis Kawen, who was called the Sword Master—it would be strange if there were many.
If only this part could be resolved.
But if I temporarily lowered the levels of NPCs to make them fight, that would become complicated in its own way.
While I was racking my brain over this dilemma.
The Secretary, observing Lee Yeon’s troubled state, spoke as if something seemed odd.
“Why not just let players choose a faction?”
“Huh?”
“You could split the users into the existing Empire faction and Count Zapin’s faction, and have them fight each other.”
“Huh?”
“Looking at current public opinion, some users have been spending money on the current nobility, so there’s talk that they’d be anxious if the Empire changes.”
“Ohhhhh!”
The Secretary was right.
If the Empire changed, the nobility would likely change as well.
In that case, some users would definitely suffer losses.
Considering that, I should divide the factions.
More would probably choose Count Zapin over the Empire.
But doing it this way would solve most of the problems.
Lee Yeon smiled mysteriously at this thought and nodded.
This would resolve it.
Have the users fight each other and choose whether to raise their contribution to the new Empire or defend the existing one.
Giving players the choice would actually make things better.
Of course, Jin-woo would be playing among the NPCs on that battlefield instead.
But other users might not be.
Yes, this is what war truly is.
Users are merely mercenaries.
Mercenaries fighting for the NPCs who inhabit this world.
Though they would fight NPCs as well, of course.
This is getting more interesting.
I have a rough idea of how the structure should work.
If I set it up this way and allow participation in the main war later, it should turn out quite well.
More than anything, wouldn’t this put Jin-woo in a difficult position too?
“I can’t make things too difficult for Jin-woo, but I won’t just hand it over either!”
After all, I got played!
So I’ll return the favor!
Let’s see how well he fights with inferior forces!
Lee Yeon chuckled mischievously to herself as she worked on the code.
The Secretary could only shake her head and click her tongue at Lee Yeon’s antics.
* * *
[The official update dropped!]
No! Hahahaha
I didn’t expect this, but it’s incredible?
You can even choose sides, and I love how they divided it by level!
So it’s split between the Revolutionary Army and the Empire, and all users who were progressing the original Quest are on the Revolutionary Army side!
Hahaha, there’s no idiot choosing the Empire’s side, right?
-??????I’m going Empire lol
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Is it ㅂㅅ? No hahahaha Jinu is there and he’s going to the empire?
└That’s not the Revolutionary Army, buddy! Get your head straight! He’s just overwhelming violence incarnate!
Hahahahaha
-But I did pick the Revolutionary Army and I’m still nervous.
└222222222
└3333333333333
-I wonder what Jin-woo’s reaction will be when he sees things have escalated.
Haha, I’m curious though.
[You chose the Empire side?]

-;;;;;;Hwang Kyung-ma-jeol is that strong?
“Cut losses, worth watching though”
That goes beyond that level.
“Lol, you know but you’re still doing this?”
-No, there are so many people underestimating Hwang Kyung-ma-jeol even after seeing Kaiser get destroyed like that?
-Hwang Kyung-ma-jeol is the one who destroyed Kaiser’s Guild alone;;;
└What?????????
└I didn’t know????????
└Yeah, yeah;
└Ah, well that makes sense then
Those who chose the Empire’s side rather than Jin-woo’s faction, which had captured Kaiser, were a minority.
Or at least, that’s how it appeared.
However, there were some users who harbored considerable resentment toward Jin-woo.
Those users did choose the Empire’s side, but—
they didn’t actually believe they would win.
Most of them participated simply because they wanted to land at least one blow.
Yet they were well aware that even that prospect seemed remote.
Honestly, it was understandable.
No matter how famous Jin-woo was or how many good deeds he’d accomplished,
there were those who had suffered losses when the Kaiser Guild fell.
Of course, they had provoked Jin-woo first.
But those consumed by vengeance wouldn’t have had the leisure to consider such details in the first place.
The biggest talking point was that Valen and Raigan, who had been executives in the Kaiser Guild Alliance, declared that their entire guild had chosen the Empire’s side.
As several others voiced their support for them, it gradually became apparent that the Empire’s faction was larger than initially expected.
Nevertheless, the Revolutionary Army’s side still commanded the majority.
[I really can’t tell what’s going on.]

Quite a lot of guilds have declared their participation, and the former Kaiser Alliance guys are no joke either, so I have no idea what’s going to happen?>
Hahaha, that turned out to be hilarious.
Haha, this is it.
-This is way better than a one-sided affair.
-Letting people choose sides was truly the best feature.
-Since there are NPCs involved too, it doesn’t seem entirely disadvantageous?
-But with so many major guilds participating, who knows?
-How many people are participating in this? It must be huge.
-This is a real war, a real war.
-Khm, it’s on the scale of an inter-nation war, but since it’s the Empire, the class is different.
Everyone waited for the update with equal parts anticipation and trepidation, and an additional announcement was posted.
Though they wanted to start immediately, the war would only begin after a certain amount of progress had been made.
When Count Zapin stepped forward and engaged in battle, Jin-woo broadcast it live again, announcing victories and showcasing an unstoppable winning streak.
When there wasn’t much time left for all users to participate,
several figures began to move.
The saying goes that great sums of money flow when war breaks out.
And there, moving in the shadows, was a man in a black hood.
The two who made contact with that man were also famous figures.
Raigan and Valen.
Those who once followed Kaiser.
They were also among those who benefited most from this war.
So who were such people meeting?
It wasn’t a user.
One might think it was Kaiser, but it wasn’t.
Kaiser had long since abandoned this game.
The one who lowered his hood was none other than an NPC.
And Valen and Raigan greeted him upon seeing him.
“We are honored to meet Van, the eldest son of Marquis Kawen.”
“Let’s skip the formalities. So you have information to pass along?”
No one could predict how the tide of war would flow.

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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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