The Regressor Only Protects Me Chapter 21

#Episode 21. Guilt (2)

While hearing the girl’s cries, Kwon Kyung-soo ground his teeth.

Because once again, someone died right before my eyes.

And that too by a young student.

During that time, Kwon Kyung-soo couldn’t do anything.

There was nothing I could do even after seeing the inhumane things happening before my eyes.

Kwon Kyung-soo despaired at his own helplessness.

‘Shit… … foot.’

Kwon Kyung-soo thought while suppressing his emotions.

Maybe Jin Jae-hee’s words are right.

Perhaps it was the tiny bit of sympathy and compassion he had left as a human that prompted him to try to protect him.

You may have consoled yourself that saving him was the right thing to do.

But that was just my own delusion.

At this moment, right after he had already killed so many people, the shallow sympathy he showed could not convince anyone.

Even that middle school girl.

All he could do was lament his helplessness in front of it.

“you.”

Jin Jae-hee called out to Kwon Kyung-soo, who was trembling.

Kwon Kyung-soo looked at her with only his eyes raised.

His eyes were bright red and veiny, looking like they might burst at any moment.

Strong anger and emotions welled up from within him.

Jin Jae-hee spoke coldly about him.

“It’s annoying. Be careful.”

Ssung- Okay.

After saying that, Jin Jae-hee put away his sword.

And then he went back without saying a word.

To the place where Kang Shi-on collapsed.

Kwon Kyung-soo’s fist, which was clenched, trembled.

‘… … Am I a bad guy? Am I a weird guy… … ? You guys are the weird ones. What’s wrong with your brains? We’re all human… … !’

Kwon Kyung-soo desperately hid his emotions.

I just silently bit my poor lower lip.

* * *

The survivors of the surviving Hong team went up the escalator one by one.

The Hong team decided to move their residence to the 11th floor.

Lee Se-beom suggested it and everyone agreed.

In fact, I didn’t really agree, I just followed.

Because at the moment, no one has expressed their opinion.

Zion moved while Sebeom was carried on his back.

With Kim Dong-gil’s death, there is now no force in the shopping mall that can stand against the Hong Team.

In any case, this brought about a brief moment of peace.

Even while moving to the 11th floor, I searched the inside of the shopping mall, but I couldn’t find any survivors.

The fire was still burning above the 9th floor, but it was almost completely extinguished by the sprinklers.

There was no one alive inside this shopping mall right now.

Except for the 12 people here.

I went up to the 11th floor.

It was a movie theater.

Corpses from the first battle were visible everywhere.

Most of them are probably people who have been attacked by goblins.

“I’d like the inside of the theater. At least there are seats there.”

People agreed with Kwon Kyung-soo’s words.

1 I used the theater as a resting place.

There were also many goblin and human corpses there.

People cleaned up the bodies without exception.

Jin Jae-hee said while looking at them.

“Throw it in the elevator.”

People were annoyed by her use of the word “throw away,” but eventually decided to listen to her.

Because there was no place to properly store the body.

Dddddddddd!

Jin Jae-hee opened the elevator door.

This place was one deep hole.

One by one, corpses were thrown onto the ceiling of the stopped elevator.

The corpses were piled up like Tetris blocks, soon reaching the fourth floor.

People returned to the first theater again.

Now there was nothing left for them to do.

This was because all of Kang Shi-on’s thought circuits stopped while he was unconscious.

Up until now, we only relied on Kang Shi-on and did whatever he said, but now that we have lost our leader, no one will step forward.

Meanwhile, Lee Ju-yeon continued to check on Kang Si-on’s condition.

Centered around Kang Si-on, Se-beom, and Gyeong-su were blankly watching the scene.

Slurp. Slurp.

When I removed the relatively clean cloth that had been taped with blue tape, blood flowed down my thigh.

Because it was a fairly large wound, it was difficult to stop the bleeding.

Still, Zion’s condition has improved greatly.

“You won’t die, right?”

“He won’t die… … but there won’t be a hospital… … If we leave him like this, he won’t be able to walk properly.”

Jooyeon weakly answered Sebeom’s question.

Sebeom spoke coldly about such a leading role.

“It doesn’t matter. Once you leave the shopping mall, you’re a stranger. Just survive until then.”

“Sebeom, you.”

“Why, did I say something wrong?”

Sebeom looked at Jooyeon fiercely.

In fact, there was nothing wrong with what he said.

This is because the two siblings and Kang Si-on had only known each other for a week and were not even ‘acquaintances’.

Although they were now bound to each other by the ‘rule’, as siblings, there was no reason for them to stick to Zion.

The protagonist answered by lowering his head.

“I’ll try to get some food.”

Kwon Kyung-soo, who had been quietly listening to the conversation from the side, intervened.

Looking around, most of the Red Team survivors were lying down or had their heads bowed.

It didn’t seem like anyone would come forward easily.

In the meantime, Kwon Kyung-soo voluntarily left the theater to get food.

As Kwon Kyung-soo opened the theater door, Jin Jae-hee came in through the open gap.

It seemed like she had gone somewhere alone.

Kwon Kyung-soo nodded slightly in greeting, but Jin Jae-hee ignored him.

She approached Lee Ju-yeon straight away.

Jin Jae-hee handed the bandage he was holding to Lee Joo-yeon.

Joo-yeon, startled, looked back at Jae-hee.

She handed the bag she was carrying to the protagonist.

It was filled with all kinds of medical equipment.

“Hey, where is this from?”

“I brought what I needed. Anti-inflammatory medicine, bandages, gauze. I have it all.”

“Ah… … Thank you.”

Joo-yeon took the bag from Jae-hee and looked through the items inside.

It was a proper medical device.

It wasn’t as bad as a hospital though.

Seeing that, Jooyeon smiled and started looking at Zion’s wounds again.

He removed the soiled temporary gauze and poured anti-inflammatory medicine on Zion’s wound.

Gulp gulp.

At that moment, Zion frowned but did not wake up.

The protagonist carefully placed a clean gauze over the wound and wrapped it with a bandage.

Because the bleeding was still occurring, the tourniquet that had been applied as a precaution was not removed.

Instead, it was tied even more tightly.

Fortunately, the excess avoided the artery.

If an artery had been touched, even Lee Ju-yeon would have been helpless.

“I’m so glad. Really.”

Lee Joo-yeon smiled bitterly at the sleeping Zion.

Jin Jae-hee looked at her and said.

“If you need anything else, just tell me.”

“Ah. Yes. Thank you.”

And Jin Jae-hee left the theater without saying a word.

Squeak-.

The theater door was stained with blood and corroded.

The loud hinge noise was annoying.

She sat down at the entrance to the theater, smoking a cigarette.

The first thing I did was to take a break.

At the same time, it was also to protect the theater from anyone coming.

“Phew-.”

The cigarette smoke that came out of his mouth dispersed.

In the distance, corpses were scattered everywhere, and there was a foul smell.

Originally, Jaehee didn’t smoke.

Even if it was only until the 5th year of the previous life.

But the damn world and the disgusting smell of corpses were not things I could ever get used to, no matter how much time passed.

That’s why I smoked several cigarettes a day to forget the smell, even if only for a short while.

Swish-.

Jaehee shrank back, still smoking a cigarette.

A series of lonely fights.

The first round is now almost over.

Everyone in the theater right now will probably think it’s over.

But they wouldn’t know.

That the game has only just begun.

and.

The point is that Round 1 is just a trial run before the full game.

“… … .”

Jaehee crouched down, shivering slightly.

If he dies, it’s completely over.

He had to aim first at testing him and then at protecting him.

The reason Jin Jae-hee left him alone was as part of a test.

I only dealt with things that I judged to be something I had to step up and solve.

In any case, he had to impress upon Kang Shi-on in this life what kind of being he was.

But while trying to solve everything on my own, I almost ended up leaving Zion to die.

He put strength into his fingers and bit the cigarette again, twisting it.

“Come to your senses… … .”

Jaehee muttered without realizing it.

There will be no second mistake.

It’s a difficult task.

But I had to do it.

When the second round begins, I will put aside all my emotions and move only to protect Zion.

It’s all about surviving the game.

For that, I will kill people again and again.

“… … several times.”

Jaehee thought like that and smoked a cigarette.

In a dark, corpse-filled, stinking movie theater.

* * *

The protagonist dozed off in front of Zion.

I haven’t slept for hours already.

Besides, physical fatigue was now at its limit.

Sebeom called out for such a leading role.

“Sister.”

The protagonist shook his head in surprise.

Then he wiped the spittle from the corner of his mouth and looked at Sebeom.

“Huh? Huh… … Why?”

“Noona, there’s something you’re misunderstanding right now.”

“uh?”

Sebeom set the mood heavily.

At that sound, Jooyeon immediately woke up from sleep.

This was the first time Sebeom spoke with such weight.

Sebeom continued speaking.

“We are not a charity. We are not a volunteer group. We are not obligated to save anyone. We are not great people.”

Sebeom remembered the argument he had with Lee Jooyeon and Sion a little while ago.

As Sebeom, I had to tell my older sister clearly.

That’s because the sight of my older sister up until now was a series of extremely dangerous scenes.

The protagonist asked cautiously.

“What’s wrong, Sebeom?”

Sebeom was annoyed, but he never got angry at Jooyeon.

The lead actor is twenty-seven. Se-beom is only twenty.

It was because of the age difference, but Sebeom was a younger brother who followed his older sister around a lot since he was young.

Jooyeon and Sebeom grew up in wealthy families.

Joo-yeon was not good at studying since he was young and liked to play and eat.

The parents were not pleased with such a leading role.

But Sebeom was different.

Sebeom was a good student, listened to his parents well, and was a talented person who surpassed them.

So Sebeom was good at being the lead role.

This is because in a family that only knew how to study, Lee Ju-yeon was the only one who could live according to her own will and shine.

When I was in elementary school, when I came home from being beaten, my older sister, who was in high school, would always come to school and scold the bad kid who hit her.

No matter what happens.

No matter what happened, Sebeom was on Jooyeon’s side.

But this time, I couldn’t just let it go.

“We can’t be good people.”

“Ha, but. You said the same thing. If this guy dies, we’re finished too.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about!”

Percussion!

Sebeom grabbed Jooyeon’s wrist.

Sebeom said to her, who was very excited.

“When you were nursing this man, didn’t you just think that our lives were at stake?”

“… … What is that… … How is it?”

“I’m telling you not to get confused!”

Sebeom became even more excited.

Some of the sleeping people stirred but did not wake up.

Sebeom spoke directly to Jooyeon in an excited tone.

“This man… … The man lying here right now… … ! He is just a tool for us siblings to survive here. This man is also just using us as tools. Am I wrong?”

“Sebeom, you… …! What is that?”

“The objection you’re making right now! It’s the problem I’m talking about! … … Listen carefully, sister.”

Sebeom slightly pulled Jooyeon’s hand.

The lead actor’s eyelids fluttered in surprise.

Because Sebeom had never been this angry before.

“The world where only good guys survive is over. I will save myself and my sister. If that means following this man, then I will. If killing people is the only way for us to survive, then I will do it too. Why? Because that is the only way for my siblings and I to survive.”

“… … .”

“So, you too, sister, put aside your personal feelings. I mean, things like unequal pity. Don’t feel more than that for anyone. You idiot! Do you really think this changed world is a joke? People are dying like flies?”

The protagonist bowed his head slightly.

“Calm down a little, Sister. We are us. This person is just this person. This person is a man who knows how to weigh things. He will abandon us whenever he needs to. I know. That man named Kang Shi-on. Since a long time ago. Do you understand now?”

Swish.

Only then did Sebeom let go of Jooyeon’s hand.

There was a reddish handprint left on the hand that Sebeom was holding.

The protagonist carefully held the handprint.

My wrist felt cold.

But my heart ached more than that.

She kept quiet for a while.

Then, he soon lowered his head and said.

“Okay… I’m sorry.”

Kwon Kyung-soo was just quietly listening to the siblings’ conversation.

He came back three hours ago after getting food.

And after he made sure they were asleep, he carefully turned over.

I sat in the movie theater, crouching down so that no one could see me, holding my breath.

He was gritting his teeth.

(Continued in the next episode)