The Regressor Only Protects Me Chapter 203

Episode 203. The Ruler of Seoul (3)

With the collapse of Gangbuk and the Metro, the power of Gangnam finally began to move.

Although he couldn't take a large stake in this round, Gangnam had a plan of his own.

I was preparing for round 3.

Dongwang Kang Da-hye looked at Lotte Tower while smoking a cigarette.

An old subordinate came up behind her and asked her.

“Are you okay with not getting anything out of this round? Maybe investing a little more troops and advancing to Gangnam was the right thing to do. Even if you have a plan… … .”

“Don’t worry, Grandpa.”

Whoosh-.

Kang Da-hye flicked the cigarette with her finger and sent it flying far away.

She looked at her old subordinate with a smile.

“I’m afraid I’ll die. Really?”

“… … That’s not it.”

“If you lose a round, only the leader will definitely die. Of course, you will also receive a life penalty, but it’s not something to worry about.”

The old subordinate remained silent for a moment at Kang Da-hye's words, then slowly bowed his head and spoke.

“I am a servant of the King. The King’s life is more precious to me than my own. Don’t say such things.”

“Thank you for your words, Grandpa.”

Kang Da-hye squatted down.

And then he said:

“Don’t worry. I’ll catch the dragon.”

Her eyes went up and looked at the top of Lotte Tower.

Lotte Tower has survived through dozens of wars over the years.

It was not only healthy, but also stood tall and majestic.

And at the top lives a dragon.

* * *

Disturbing voices were echoing outside the room.

Ha Yoon-ha and Jung Hyun-soo, the two people, had successfully completed the surgery and were lying side by side in separate beds.

This room was designed as a recovery room for the emperor and commanders.

The battle for Seoul ended, and Kang Si-on eventually became the ruler of Seoul.

A large number of people were needed to handle the scene, and Commander-in-Chief Hwang Min-jae was assigned as the scene commander.

“… … .”

“… … .”

The two people just lay still.

Over the past two days.

The player would normally recover in a day, but the damage taken from the battle was so great.

I can't even get a glass of water on my own if someone doesn't help me.

dripping-.

Someone knocked on the door, and a young woman came in with food.

The food on the tray was ordinary military rations.

Before the war began in earnest, Kangshion stored the city's industrial facilities, food, and drinking water.

Since this arena where the monsters reside is the safest, most resources were gathered here.

“How are you feeling?”

“… … It’s okay. Haha.”

The young woman scooped up food with a spoon and fed it to the two men.

She immediately left the room, leaving only the two of them behind.

What broke the silence was the sound of Jeong Hyeon-su trimming his trim.

Ha Yoon-ha crumpled her expression and barely managed to turn her head to look at Jeong Hyeon-su.

“… … dirty.”

“It’s dirty.”

“… … .”

Jeong Hyeon-su had bandages wrapped all over his body.

Because the bandages were soaked in blood, they had to be changed periodically.

Ha Yoon-ha asked.

“Your body… … are you okay?”

“Except for the stuffy feeling. You?”

“… … I’m better than you. I can get up though.”

“If you can get up, bring me some water.”

“Just now… … When that older sister came, I asked you to do something.”

“I feel bad asking that older sister to take care of me. She takes care of me 24 hours a day, day and night.”

“Aren’t I sorry?”

“Okay. Hurry up. I’m thirsty.”

“Ugh. Okay.”

Ha Yoon-ha barely managed to get out of bed and pick up a bottle of water.

In fact, Jung Hyun-soo's physical condition was the most serious, and Ha Yoon-ha's physical strength simply declined due to overwork.

Of course, Ha Yoon-ha's physical condition was also not as good as that of ordinary people.

Ha Yoon-ha poured water from the water bottle and brought it close to Jeong Hyeon-su's mouth.

As the glass of water approached, Jeong Hyeon-su stuck out his lips.

Then, Ha Yoon-ha just splashed water on Jeong Hyeon-su's face.

Chomp!

“Phaaaak! Ao. Paha-!”

Ha Yoon-ha smiled faintly at the sight of Jeong Hyeon-su coughing.

Jeong Hyeon-su asked with a frown.

“What are you doing?!”

“Go wash your face. I haven’t washed it in a few days, so your face looks like shit. My sister poured some water on it for me.”

“… … Ah. I’m out of my mind. Haa-. Ah, give me water quickly.”

“Spray it one more time?”

“Give me some water! No… … . Give me some water! Some.”

After some wrangling, the two regained their composure.

Ha Yoon-ha was sitting in front of Jeong Hyeon-su's bed.

Ha Yoon-ha looked at Jeong Hyeon-su's face for a while and then said.

“What happened to the hero?”

"……well."

Even after the war ended, no news of Kang Shi-on reached the two of them.

I was worried.

Because Kang Shi-on's power was not felt anywhere.

“There’s no way the hero could have done anything wrong. Just wait.”

“You haven’t come yet… … .”

“Should the hero come to see us in person?”

“That’s not it, but… … .”

“Wait. Just wait.”

After saying those words, Jeong Hyeon-su closed his eyes again.

“He’ll take care of everything. Just wait.”

Ha Yoon-ha nodded cautiously.

"……okay."

* * *

I had a long dream.

I was in the middle of the desert, with nothing on.

The sandstorm blew fiercely, but I didn't blink or raise my hand to try to block the wind.

Not knowing where to go, I moved wherever my feet took me.

When I realized it at some point, my younger brother was on my back. He was fast asleep behind me.

I endured the heaviness and walked again.

Just moved forward.

At some point, I realized that my brother behind me had disappeared, so I started moving to find him.

From then on, I moved desperately, floundering like a man falling into the sea.

I tried to overcome the sandstorm and cross the sand dunes to find my brother's traces.

And I was about to collapse from exhaustion. It was a woman who supported my body.

The woman now began to walk with me.

The path I was walking along with the woman gradually began to change from sand to grass.

It is now a dense forest.

The woman taught me how to hold a knife and how to cut leaves.

He also taught us how to deal with wild beasts we encountered in the forest.

It's becoming more and more worth living.

The pain of walking this thirty thousand mile road alone became halved when I started walking it with someone I could rely on.

It took me a long time to realize that the attention and affection she gave me without any reward was not something I took for granted.

When I realized it, something had changed.

She was moving further and further away from me.

As our surroundings change, we also change.

I realized as she gradually changed.

I cared about her.

As a person, and as a friend.

But now she was nowhere to be seen.

It was nowhere to be found.

“… … .”

I opened my eyes carefully.

* * *

Kang Shi-on lying on a luxury bed.

There are 20 people working under him.

Around the bed are doctors, masseuses, and healing artifact users.

When Kang Shi-on first opened his eyes, the person he saw was a nurse.

She was carefully wiping Kang Shi-on's forehead with a towel.

'It's soft… … .'

That was the feeling that Kang Shi-on felt when he opened his eyes again.

Lying on this bed, I felt as if gravity had disappeared from my body, as if I was floating in the sky.

Kang Shi-on slowly got up.

Even though people around him tried to dissuade him, Kang Shi-on got up from his seat.

He said.

“Jin Jae-hee… … ?”

At Zion's words, the man sitting next to him smiled faintly and said.

“Indeed, that’s not what I wanted to hear from you in the first place.”

At that voice, Zion turned around.

From Zion's perspective, a man she had never seen before was peeling apples.

The man peeling the apple was Kang Jun-ho.

Square. Square.

Kang Jun-ho carefully peeled the apple and placed it calmly on a clean white plate.

Kang Shi-on still didn't know that the man in front of him was his younger brother.

That's because Kang Jun-ho's appearance was different from what Kang Si-on had imagined his younger brother to be like when he grew up.

Kang Jun-ho said again, peeling the apple peel excessively.

“When I was young… … . I don’t know where I saw it, but the person caring for me was always peeling apples. Maybe… … . I think it was the main character in a TV drama I saw in kindergarten. I envied that main character. … … Back when I didn’t have money. That is, when it was hard to buy even one apple. There was a time when I was sick. I don’t know if you remember, hyung.”

Kang Si-on's eyelids fluttered slightly, and Kang Jun-ho continued speaking.

“If you think about it, it was quite a high fever. I couldn’t move properly because I had a high fever. It was a strange house where you wouldn’t catch a cold. There were cockroaches, weevils, and no heating or cooling, so we thought we would survive even in the summer and at night.”

Bam.

One more apple was added.

Kang Jun-ho continued speaking.

“I had a cold and aches, and at that time… … . I really wanted to eat apples. Why is that? Apples aren’t particularly good for colds. They’re not even medicine.”

Puhhh.

Kang Jun-ho laughed softly.

“Maybe so. I thought that was normal life. Why couldn’t I… … . eat an apple? I wanted to eat an apple like everyone else. So I pestered my brother. I pestered him. Without knowing his feelings, I kept pestering him. On that day when a record-breaking snowfall was falling, my brother went outside to get an apple.”

Kang Shi-on recalled that day.

Of course, I didn't even have money to buy one apple.

This is because Kang Shi-on at the time used all of his money systematically.

Of course, Kang Si-on had already saved up enough money to buy a triangle kimbap for lunch the next day and bought an apple for a thousand won.

“So, my brother came into the house with his eyes wide open, shook the apple at me. His hands were red and swollen from the cold… … He must have been so cold that he sniffled and inhaled his mucus… … And so my brother peeled the apple in front of me. Square. Square. The shape of the apple that my brother peeled because he didn’t know how to hold a knife was really ugly.”

"you……."

“It was so delicious. That apple back then. I’m sorry about that. I’m really sorry. It must have been hard already. I’m still so sorry about that day. It’s so much that I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. When I heard the news that my brother disappeared in Man-gyeong, when I thought I had to give up, when I finally saw him again… … I was so maddeningly sad and sorry.”

Kang Jun-ho placed the apple on the plate with trembling hands.

Now his expression was distorted with sorrow.

Everyone in the room felt the same way.

No one said a word.

Kang Si-on's expression was also distorted.

Zion swallowed his emotions as he rolled up the blanket that covered his thighs.

Kang Jun-ho's eyes turned red.

The current Kang Jun-ho is the same Kang Jun-ho as when the two brothers separated.

Thirteen-year-old Kang Jun-ho began to pour out words he had never been able to say to his older brother.

“When I was young… … I was so young. I didn’t understand anything. Really. I just compared myself to other families, and I just resented my family. Why was my family so poor… … . Why didn’t I have parents… … . Why did I live in a semi-basement, and why did I get teased for being on basic welfare… … . Why… … Why… … I had to force myself to eat school lunches until my stomach burst. Why… … At home, when it rained, I had to scoop up rain, and when it snowed, I had to shovel snow… … . Why was I different from the kids who lived in apartments. I wanted to take the elevator, too… … I wanted to bring my friends home, too… … . And why did I have to run alone during the sports day… … . I was so jealous of kids who had dads… … I was so jealous of kids who had moms… … . I was so jealous of kids who held their parents’ hands tightly and went to eat pork cutlets… … . When we went out to play at school… … Kids who thought about what they were going to do without worrying about money… … . When the kids went to the PC room or played games on their phones… … . When the new season, the new semester, and they wore new clothes, I was so envious of them… … . Those who had good parents. Those who enjoyed those ordinary things as if they were natural. Those parents who readily gave their children ten thousand won as allowance. Those parents… … I envied them all. But… … Hyung. I’m really sorry. Hyung. I think I’m finally starting to understand. I realize.”

Kang Jun-ho shed hot tears.

“… … I am proud that my older brother is much stronger than those wonderful parents.”

After saying that, Kang Jun-ho turned his head and swallowed his tears.

He was throwing tantrums at his brother like he used to when he was younger.

When Kang Si-on was young, he always accepted Kang Jun-ho when he threw a tantrum.

It would have been natural for him to get in trouble once, but he always comforted and took good care of him. Kang Si-on put Kang Jun-ho first in everything.

Health, money, and food.

Although he couldn't buy new clothes for his younger brother, he was the older brother who brought good used clothes to keep him warm.

Although I couldn't feed him delicious meat, I made sure my younger brother had regular meals so he wouldn't go hungry.

I couldn't buy him a nice game console, but I made sure my little brother played with it every day so he wouldn't get bored.

I couldn't send my younger brother to a private academy, but if there was something he didn't know, he would ask his college student brother who worked part-time at a construction site and find out the answer.

Kang Shi-on was strong.

Kang Si-on was stronger than his parents, whether they were prosecutors, company employees, civil servants, or politicians.

Kang Si-on was Kang Jun-ho's older brother.

My only brother.

And… …my only brother.

Kang Shi-on swallowed his emotions and barely managed to smile. Then he looked at his younger brother and said.

“You’ve grown so much… … Junho.”

“… … .”

The two brothers hugged each other as if they were reunited.

He hugged me tightly, and even more tightly, as if he didn't want to let go of me again.

The two brothers did not burst into tears like children, but their eyes were red.

Kang Shi-on said.

“… … I’m the one who should be thankful. Thank you for being alive.”

Kang Jun-ho couldn't bear it any longer and burst into tears.

(Continued in the next episode)