The Regressor Plays the Game Too Well - Chapter 52

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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 52
Episode 52
The creature’s front leg extended once more, stretching impossibly long.
I dodged swiftly to the side, bracing myself for the follow-up assault.
As expected, the beast elongated its neck and bared its razor-sharp fangs at me.
I was suspended in mid-air, but that posed no problem whatsoever.
I planted my feet on empty space itself and sidestepped, activating my skill in one fluid motion.
A spear-like aura erupted from my weapon.
It pierced straight through the creature’s skull, dealing devastating damage.
[You have acquired substantial experience points!]
[Experience is shared with the Demonic Sword Gram.]
[You have defeated a Lesser Demon Beast: Flowing Rotten Wolf.]
[You have obtained an unidentified item: ‘Torn Map Fragment’.]
[Ten unidentified items, ‘Torn Map Fragment’, have been combined into one.]
[New information has been added.]
[You can view the added information when you examine the item.]
“Huff… huff… huff…”
Finally!
I’ve already hunted over fifty of these creatures, or so it feels.
And only now have I gathered all ten fragments.
Is that even fast?
Well, it has to be.
These are Lesser Demon Beasts.
Each one possesses boss-class strength.
So the drop rate for items must be quite high.
Still, I’m on the verge of complete exhaustion.
‘I’m so tired…’
Moreover, after hunting fifty of them, I’ve only managed to gain a single additional level.
I could only accomplish even this much because of my First Title, ‘Demon Slayer’.
Without it, I would have collapsed from fatigue long ago.
『Demon Slayer』
→First Title
→A title granted to the first user to defeat a Demon Beast
→Damage +10% against creatures possessing demonic energy
For a First Title, the effect is somewhat ordinary.
But in the Demon Realm, it’s genuinely a tier-one effect, wouldn’t you say?
Thanks to this, I was able to hunt considerably faster than expected.
Without it, I truly don’t know what would have happened.
The mere thought is horrifying.
Still, my strength did allow me to gather the map fragments faster than anticipated.
Already on the tenth piece.
‘Well then, let me take a look.’
I pulled the map from my inventory.
The item description itself had changed.
『Torn Map Fragment』
*Grade: Unknown
→There’s a rumor circulating in the Demon Realm.
→Somewhere in the Demon Realm, the Seven Treasures of Ultimate Power are said to be hidden.
→This is a map with insufficient information to decipher.
→However, after collecting and assembling the pieces, a portion of the map became visible.
→According to the map, I should be able to discover something at the marked location.
→Perhaps I’ll obtain a new clue if I venture to that place.
Still cryptic information.
But I’ve learned considerably more than expected.
First, I need to go to the location marked on the map.
And it seems I’ll be able to obtain a new clue as well.
Is there anything else I can discern right now?
Let me examine the map more carefully.
After all, the item name changed to “map fragment,” so there must be something.
Let me study it intently.
Something caught my eye.
‘Hmm, looking at the terrain, it resembles a village somewhat?’
The geographical structure with a river and mountains at its back.
Villages typically form in such locations.
Why wouldn’t this place be the same?
It’s merely speculation for now.
But that’s the fun of it—making educated guesses.
As I pondered this alone,
a message appeared.
[You have obtained a new clue.]
[You have discovered that the marked location on the map is a village.]
[The probability of obtaining a clue upon arriving at the designated location has increased.]
‘Oh!’
It was real.
This is incredibly fun.
It feels like I’m playing an escape room game.
It’s not technically a Quest, yet it has that Quest-like feel.
Exhilarating.
‘This is what RPG games are all about.’
Exploration and adventure!
And reaching the treasure at the very end!
It was such an entertaining element.
No problems there!
Should I head there right now?
The moment Jin-woo tried to go to the location the map was pointing to.
Another message appeared.
What kind of hint had I received?
With such anticipation, I looked at it.
My heart sank.
[Your play time has ended. Forced logout in progress.]
‘I figured this would happen.’
Hunting low-rank demons had consumed quite a bit of time.
It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
Still, knowing what to do next time feels good.
I’m looking forward to it.
Let me rest quickly and get back in.
With that thought, Jin-woo stepped out of the capsule.
While I’m out, I should edit some videos and get things done.
First, let me check the response to the video I uploaded last time.
It should be decent, I think.
But you never know.
Jin-woo logged into PanTube.
He immediately went to his channel.
“Wow.”
[Subscribers: 310,000]
Yesterday it was almost at 90,000.
I thought 100,000 would come soon.
But already 300,000?
Considering my track record, even this is low.
My “Proper Education” video, being a short, was already approaching 20 million views, and my first “Yellow Demon Horse” video had surpassed 10 million views.
Moreover, the “Guardian of the Forest” appearance video was also approaching 10 million views.
And that one’s over 10 minutes long.
‘Insane.’
Before regression, I never experienced such massive popularity.
I never thought I’d gain this kind of fame.
Let me check the comment reactions too.
-Wait, where’s the next video!
-I can’t breathe! I think I’m dying!
-I’m holding my breath until the next video comes out, huff!
Haha, you crazy bastard.
└A dead person, please take down the post.
-No, I really want to see the Forest Guardian soon. Please upload the video.
└For real lol
└I really can’t wait to see it.
-But this is from the first day or second day, right? I can’t even imagine what it’s like now.
-Wait! But the items are insane. He’s already selling that? That means he’s obtained even better gear by now. Does that even make sense?
└Jin-woo is a god, so it’s possible!
└He’s a god. He’s a god. He’s a god!
There was no chaos quite like this.
People were having an absolutely fantastic time.
If anything, I found it rather pleasant.
I didn’t dislike this atmosphere at all.
Most of the posts were praising Jin-woo, weren’t they?
Why would I have any reason to dislike it?
Of course, there weren’t zero negative comments.
-Lol don’t feed the troll with attention.
└Yeah; don’t feed this bastard.
└Did I say something wrong? I don’t get why you’re all sucking up to him so much. Isn’t it just an ordinary video?
└Lmaooo who else was uploading videos like that in the early days of Pantheon? Idiot, it’s only day 3.
└Ah, poor thing who can’t manage real life. Please just leave him alone. You’re not even pitying him? My mom said not to make fun of disabled people;;.
└You’re the worst. Lmaooo
Even the occasional negative comments all followed that pattern.
They say fans create haters.
But that didn’t apply to Jin-woo right now.
A fanbase of this magnitude had formed in just a day or two.
Well, it couldn’t be helped.
Wasn’t he the person that major corporations’ guilds wanted to recruit as their top priority?
So it would be strange if such a fanbase didn’t form.
It was a bit embarrassing though.
‘Let me check out other posts.’
With that thought, I entered the community.
Was there anything else worth learning?
I remembered most things.
But there were definitely things I’d forgotten.
Sometimes seeing hints like these could jog my memory.
I browsed quite a bit.
Good grief.
‘It’s all about me.’
The community was ablaze with news that even foreign guilds were searching for me.
There was no national pride quite like this.
Whenever another post appeared, it was an analysis thread.
In short, since Jin-woo had sold an item,
he must have obtained a better one.
And speculation ran wild about what it could be.
Just pointless drivel like that.
Nothing but utterly worthless posts.
‘Is there anything worth looking at?’
Before editing, browsing through stuff like this was actually entertaining.
Procrastinating and editing later was the real charm of it.
While surfing the internet that way,
I spotted a strange post.
[Wow, seriously?! Is the price of the auction item that Hwang Gyeongma posted actually real?]
‘Huh? What’s this?’
The price of an auction item?
Why?
Come to think of it,
I think I left it up for almost seven hours.
Did the price go up quite a bit?
I hope it did.
‘At least it should reach ten million, right?’
Even if it’s an early-game item, isn’t it my first rare auction listing?
The Cobolt Set isn’t even a bad early-game item.
It’s actually an overpowered item for the current stage.
If I consider that prices are inflated because it’s still early,
wouldn’t the price be somewhere between ten and twenty million won?
The Dark Mage job change book would be different, though.
It’s a job change for a rare class, after all.
‘That one has to be at least fifty million!’
Thinking about the future, those prices are absurd.
Actually, just before regression, the market prices Jin-woo had checked were less than half of that.
Early rare items like the Cobolt Set didn’t even reach five million.
Three million was actually a decent price.
The Dark Mage job change book was considered well-sold at ten million won.
With those price records in mind,
I still couldn’t quite gauge it.
Even if it’s early-game, it shouldn’t be that high.
Yet that’s human nature—to hope anyway.
Jin-woo chuckled to himself as he thought,
‘Over ten million won? Pfft, that’s ridiculous.’
Since I was thinking about it anyway, should I check the Auction House app?
It was an essential app, so I’d downloaded it right away.
Jin-woo launched the app on his phone and immediately checked his listings.
Oh! It’s really 10 million!
The Cobolt Warrior’s longsword is at 20 million.
Huh? Wait a second, but for 10 million, doesn’t it seem a bit pricey?
Just to be sure, I counted it out loud.
“One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand… million, ten million, hundred million, billion—wait, what!?”
What the hell!
The Cobolt set is in the hundreds of millions?
No, wait—the Cobolt set is exceeding a hundred million?
[Cobolt Warrior’s Sword]
*Current Bid: 223,500,000 won
[Cobolt Shaman’s Pendant]
*Current Bid: 148,210,000 won
[Cobolt Shaman’s Robe]
*Current Bid: 191,940,000 won
All of them are exceeding a hundred million?
Is what I’m looking at the real market price?
No, is this really correct?
This valuation?
Besides, there was still plenty of time until the auction closed.
I’d set the duration to three days.
Yet the prices had already reached this level in just seven hours.
Though the bidding had calmed down somewhat—prices weren’t skyrocketing as dramatically as before.
Still, the prices were creeping upward bit by bit.
‘This… this can’t be real, can it?’
The Cobolt set was like this.
Which meant…
[Tome of Dark Mage Advancement]
*Current Bid: 549,830,000 won
‘540 million?’
Someone had just placed another bid, raising it by a million to 550 million.
No, people are actually buying this at this price?
“….”
Come to think of it.
Pantheon is a game whose growth potential is limitless.
Wasn’t there a lot of talk about that before the launch?
Buying items you can secure early in such a game?
It’s an investment with real value—a way to establish yourself quickly.
Now that I thought about it that way, the amount almost seemed too low.
No, that’s not right. Combined, it’s over a billion—how is that not a lot!
This is driving me crazy.
‘Wait, no.’
But that’s not all.
Look at the user IDs placing bids.
‘There are even guilds openly asking people to check their messages and mail.’
It seems they’re spending this much money to recruit Jin-woo.
If recruitment is on the table, I suppose it makes sense.
Plus, from a corporate perspective, securing a foothold in Pantheon—a game with such a bright future ahead—for a billion won?
That’s an absolute steal.
The value for money is unbeatable.
They say corporate executives have a different mindset than ordinary people.
Looks like it’s true.
Now that it’s starting to feel real, Jin-woo breaks into a grin.
‘Ah, what should I do with all this money?’
Should I hire an editor and upgrade to a better capsule?
No, wait—even when I earn money, I only want to spend it on game-related things….
I need to change my thinking.
First, I absolutely have to buy Pantheon stock.
I’ve already invested most of my savings into it.
But I should put this new money in too!
I’m thinking of putting in exactly 500 million.
Other stocks might go up or down unpredictably.
But Pantheon has shown consistent growth—don’t I know that well!
Now is the opportunity.
Just buy it and wait a few years.
‘Ah, and what else should I do?’
A pleasant dilemma.
While I was mulling over various options.
I spotted one particular user ID among those bidding.
[Hansung Group****]
‘Come to think of it.’
Kong Yuna was the youngest daughter of Hansung Group, wasn’t she?
The guild name was Hansung too.
So they’ve jumped into the bidding war as well.
Of course they would.
How could they not participate?
They obviously had to.
‘Hansung could very well be bidding.’
They’re a company with considerable capital, after all.
Foreign companies occasionally appeared as well.
But the Hansung Group was no pushover either.
Still.
‘I absolutely won’t read any messages from the Hansung Group.’
Did they really think I’d reject them without even confessing first?
No, that couldn’t be it.
I was never that petty.
Probably.
In any case, Jin-woo grinned widely upon seeing the auction price and called someone.
After just a few rings.
“Oh! Mom! How have you been?”
It was only natural that family came to mind first when something this joyful happened.
* * *
Meanwhile, while Jin-woo was checking the auction price and calling his mother.
Yuna furrowed her brow and tilted her head in confusion.
Seeing this, her mage party member asked what was wrong.
“Why are you like that?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just feels off somehow.”
“Pardon?”
“Never mind.”
A sudden chill ran through her—an eerie, unsettling feeling.
Was someone thinking about her?
That’s exactly what it felt like.
Anyway.
I need to focus on hunting right now.
No monsters had appeared yet.
But if I wasn’t careful, an ambush could come at any moment.
Just then.
“By the way, Yuna, do you think we can recruit them?”
“Of course. We’ve already recruited Tensor from Nen Village, so we’re ahead of others in that regard.”
“That’s quite promising!”
“So don’t worry. Besides, if we win the auction house bid, we can send a message to the seller through the auction house, so we’re planning to try that route.”
“Oh! You’re right—they’ll definitely read an auction house message even if they ignore other emails or notes.”
At her party member’s words, Yuna smiled and nodded in agreement.
But why?
This unease in my heart?
‘Something feels off. It must be just a bad feeling.’
Kong Yuna’s intuition was sharp.

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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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