The Regressor Plays the Game Too Well - Chapter 98

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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 98
Episode 98
People typically lose their composure when witnessing something they cannot believe.
I was no exception.
My eyes trembled violently as I stared blankly at the Auction House window.
Wait, they’re giving me this much?
A Wish Bread reward?
Is that even a reasonable amount?
No, the fact that someone possesses that kind of money in the first place is astounding.
Even for a conglomerate, could they prepare such a sum all at once?
Right now?
‘F-f*ck?’
125 billion?
The amount felt utterly unreal.
With that sum, couldn’t I live comfortably without working for the rest of my life?
It’s more than enough.
I still have the 4 billion I received from the Dragon’s inheritance not long ago.
125 billion?
Does that even make sense?
Gulp.
Wait, can this even be converted to cash?
‘Is this actually possible?’
Why would they give me this amount in the first place?
No matter how I think about it, the sum makes no sense for a Wish Bread reward.
It defies all common sense.
Then, a memory suddenly surfaced.
Kaiser’s pathetic form as he begged for his life.
And what he said afterward.
‘Didn’t he ask if I was recording?’
Wait?
What did I say in response?
I asked for 100 million through the Wish Bread, didn’t I?
Ah!
This is clearly extortion by any standard!
Only then did it make sense.
I had held Kaiser’s reputation hostage and blackmailed him.
And he paid 100 million dollars for it?
‘Heh.’
If I were just an ordinary person, I would’ve laughed and told him to upload the video.
The wealthy truly operated on a different level.
No way, 125 billion won?
Let me get my head straight first.
The tournament isn’t over yet, after all.
Looking at the final semifinal match, Kong Yuna is dominating overwhelmingly.
It seems the finals opponent will be Kong Yuna.
Jin-woo shook his head and regained his composure watching this.
I can’t afford to space out here.
‘Kaiser won easily too, but I shouldn’t let my guard down.’
Jin-woo prepared himself lightly with that thought in mind.
The finals are still the final match, after all.
Now that I think about it.
‘If I beat Yuna here, I’ll become Kong Yuna again?’
I guess it’s an unavoidable fate.
Kong Yuna is certainly skilled too.
Jin-woo chuckled at that thought.
So should I prepare for the finals?
I did think I should be ready.
But I couldn’t help the corners of my mouth from rising continuously.
Why, you ask?
Because I have 125 billion won.
Why do I keep laughing?
They say the best medicine is financial therapy, after all!
“Ehehehehe!”
Jin-woo, unable to stop smiling, waited in the preparation area.
* * *
The long-awaited finals.
Everyone spoke in unison.
“Man! Kaiser getting beaten at his own game was honestly pretty satisfying!”
“Insane!”
“Kaiser’s luck was just bad, honestly.”
“All you bastards who said Kaiser would beat Jin-woo, come on out!”
The spectators in the Tournament Arena were naturally excited.
The internet was also blazing hot.
It couldn’t have been otherwise.
A match between Kaiser and Jin-woo.
Everyone thought it would be the finals, didn’t they?
It was always the two of them being compared.
It felt disappointingly anticlimactic.
And Kaiser ended up surrendering and losing, no less.
Hahaha, let’s seduce Kaiser John X!
-Hahahaha, so much for acting superior—ended up on his knees in defeat!
-Hahahaha, acting all high and mighty, wasn’t he?
-Wow, but Jin-woo is seriously incredible.
-How does he win so effortlessly?
-Where did all that talk about Jin-woo’s control issues go?
-For real, where did all those Jin-woo haters disappear to?
Anyone who had dared question Jin-woo’s control was utterly silenced.
Well, to be fair, things had been pretty quiet since the Barmon match anyway.
But there had still been plenty of talk that he couldn’t beat Kaiser.
Even that had completely vanished now.
Kaiser’s comment brigade had disappeared as well.
While everyone spoke of how refreshing it all felt.
The finals were about to begin.
Naturally, both the spectators in the Tournament Arena and those watching online knew.
“Is this what they call a foregone conclusion?”
“Jin-woo’s obviously taking the championship?”
“But hey, Yuna’s control is just as good as Kaiser’s, right?”
“So what? Kaiser lost helplessly anyway.”
“That’s true.”
Everyone was predicting Jin-woo’s victory.
And Yuna thought the same way.
“Kaiser was impressive, I’ll admit.”
For a moment there, he’d pushed me to the brink before I could overwhelm him.
But Jin-woo was simply superior.
Watching that match, I felt it acutely.
I would struggle to beat Kaiser, let alone Jin-woo.
If Jin-woo hadn’t participated in this tournament, could I have won the championship?
No, that would never have happened.
So I reflected.
‘I’m still weak.’
I acknowledged my weakness.
Then my vision suddenly opened wide.
With humility, I accepted my shortcomings.
Rather than despair, it led to growth.
I could see the path forward.
Yuna wouldn’t know this.
In the future—the world before Jin-woo’s regression—that Yuna had given up.
She’d hit the wall that was Kaiser and believed she could never surpass him.
But this Yuna was different.
Kaiser, already mauled by the apex predator that was Jin-woo.
And I had to admit that if Kaiser had been my opponent, I would have been torn to shreds.
A new path began to reveal itself.
And guiding that path was none other than.
“Jin-woo, you’re truly amazing.”
Jin-woo.
A benefactor who had broadened my horizons.
With that thought, I rechecked my weapons and skills.
Wondering if there was anything more I could do.
And I discovered several things.
Could I exploit an opening?
I didn’t entertain such thoughts.
It wouldn’t work against Jin-woo anyway.
But I would do my best.
I would give it my all.
That’s what I decided.
Kaiser had been overwhelmed and couldn’t display his full strength from midway through, hadn’t he?
Of course, Jin-woo stealing his breath was the biggest problem.
But even so, if he’d kept his composure, he could have handled it more skillfully.
So I resolved that I wouldn’t fall into the same trap.
“Let’s go.”
As I stood up from my seat.
The message announcing the finals rang out.
The final match.
Even if I couldn’t win the championship, I hoped it would be a memorable battle that people would remember forever.
At least, I didn’t want to show such a pathetic loss like Kaiser did.
As I walked out onto the Tournament Arena, I could immediately see Jin-woo.
But.
‘Did something good happen to him?’
Jin-woo kept breaking into laughter.
It felt like watching a PanTube streamer trying to hold back their laughter.
The kind of smile that just naturally overflows?
Did something good happen to him?
Probably because he’d turned Kaiser into a pulp.
Maybe he was happy thinking the hate comments would disappear?
No, but he seemed too pleased for that to be it.
‘He must have had a hard time.’
I simply left it at that.
What other reason could there be?
Jin-woo wasn’t the type to accept Kaiser’s Guild offer and join.
Though I did see him having a conversation with Kaiser.
I couldn’t imagine Jin-woo ever joining a Guild.
Unless he created one himself, that is.
Regardless, Yuna bowed her head slightly in greeting as she watched Jin-woo.
“It’s been a while.”
“Ah, yes it has. I hope you’ve been well?”
“Yes! Thanks to you, I’ve been doing great! So, I’m counting on you today! I’ll do my best!”
“Ah! Yes! I’ll give it my all as well.”
“Thank you!”
At Jin-woo’s words, Yuna bowed her head in gratitude, and Jin-woo’s expression grew serious.
And so the finals began.
* * *
Yuna’s style was that of an archer who didn’t shy away from close combat.
But fighting Jin-woo was different.
Jin-woo narrowed his brow as he watched the arrows flying toward him at high speed.
‘Hmm.’
Arrows that certainly left no openings.
Jin-woo was using his monstrous control to carve through the gaps and close the distance, but.
Even that wasn’t easy.
Watching Yuna retreat backward as quickly as possible, Jin-woo smiled slightly.
She was definitely strong.
In fact, looking at her now, she seemed even stronger than Kaiser.
‘Her control itself has improved?’
Judging from the future footage and PanTube videos I’ve seen, she appears superior even to that version of Yuna.
Something must have happened in the meantime.
But Jin-woo thought as he observed this.
There were brief gaps.
She was using timing and maximizing her arrows to disrupt Jin-woo’s rhythm as much as possible, but.
There were definitely intervals within those attacks.
And the pattern was quite distinct as well.
Perhaps only Jin-woo could see it.
But Jin-woo couldn’t afford to be uncertain.
Jin-woo leaped swiftly between the incoming arrows.
Then he used Iron Mass and rapidly stepped across the arrows in mid-air to advance.
Pat! Pat!
Jin-woo’s figure closing the distance in an instant.
Normally, Yuna would have continued retreating as she had been doing.
Close combat was certainly disadvantageous for an archer like Yuna against Jin-woo.
But instead, Yuna charged forward just like Jin-woo.
And as she did, she fired arrows with lightning speed.
Whoosh!
Arrows faster than ever before.
With skill layered atop his running speed, they moved with the brilliance of light itself.
Yet even such arrows, I twisted my body to slip them aside, kicked one away as if using the wall as leverage, and launched myself skyward once more.
Crash!
The skill-infused arrow dealt some damage, but my iron body absorbed it to a minimum.
Launching myself again, my speed accelerated further.
And Yuna—she charged in without hesitation.
The speed was so overwhelming it was nearly impossible to react to.
As I swung my blade at that velocity, Yuna drew a dagger from her waist and deflected the attack.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
She managed to parry my wild sword strikes, but it took considerable effort.
Yuna’s brow furrowed deeply.
Our stats were identical, yet…
The difference was this pronounced.
He was undoubtedly utilizing 100% of his abilities—no, even more than that.
Extreme mastery.
I marveled at this reality, but now I had to regain my composure and counterattack somehow.
If I didn’t…
“Ah.”
I blocked the blade, but then Jin-woo spun and a back kick came flying.
Deflecting that too was beyond my capacity.
I pushed off the ground with both feet, launching myself into the air, and caught his kick with my raised hands.
Knocked back through the air, I managed to reduce the damage somewhat, but…
“Hack!”
Even blocked, the back kick’s force left me gasping for breath.
Jin-woo didn’t let the airborne Yuna escape—he used Charge again and swung his blade.
I desperately tried to block with my dagger.
But the sword’s trajectory suddenly wavered.
It shifted course and sliced straight across my waist.
“Ugh!”
A sword strike that changed trajectory like a Brazilian kick.
Impressed despite the pain, I grabbed my bow again and fired an arrow in counterattack.
Normally, an arrow fired at this distance would be impossible to block or evade.
It was essentially checkmate.
But what’s this?
Jin-woo simply swung his blade and cut the arrow in half.
And still had momentum left to swing at me.
On that swing, Jin-woo activated a skill.
Cleave.
Facing a blade that seemed capable of severing everything, I desperately raised my dagger once more.
This time, I would block it.
But in that instant, my wrist trembled.
And the blade’s trajectory shifted.
“Ah.”
Yuna couldn’t help but acknowledge it as she watched.
It was still too difficult to reach.
Then she would do the same!
As she threw the dagger one last time, I simply tilted my head and dodged, then cut Yuna down without hesitation.
And so, allowing that final blow, Yuna’s character fell.
I touched my cheek and let out a soft laugh.
‘I took one hit.’
To think I’d been hit only once throughout the entire tournament.
It was quite entertaining.
And so.
[Champion! Player Jin-woo!]
I had claimed the championship.
Plus 125 billion won.
“Hehehehe!”
It was sweeter than sweet.

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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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