The Regressor Only Protects Me Chapter 24

#Episode 24. Disqualified as Human (3)

The king of the blue team was an old man.

The old man was lying casually on the floor of the branch manager’s office.

He was emaciated, his ribs were prominent, and his sunken cheeks made him look like a zombie.

The two pupils that could not bear to close their eyes were bloodshot and red.

He starved to death.

For the past six days, Kim Dong-gil had been preparing for the worst by locking the Blue Team’s king in his office.

It makes sense that there would be a lock outside this office.

It seemed like they gave food.

But it seemed like no one was able to help with the meal as the rest of the team, including Kim Dong-gil, died.

He was an old man who could not eat properly by himself, so he starved to death here.

The old man was Kim Dong-gil’s insurance.

The system chose the old man, and Kim Dong-gil, who could not become king himself, seemed to have chosen to keep him locked up in his office and protected him rather than expose him to external dangers.

So, why did Kim Dong-gil act as if he had seen the status window?

You probably used a system authority like ‘delegation’.

I could also check it in my status window now.

Each king could delegate his systems and powers to specific individuals.

This explains why Kim Dong-gil couldn’t identify Pia during the third floor battle.

He wasn’t the king of the blue team.

As it turned out, Kim Dong-gil’s thoughts were right.

We didn’t find the king until the old man died of starvation.

At that time, Kwon Kyung-soo approached the old man with his head bowed like a drunk person.

His gait was irregular.

Then he covered the old man’s face with the small cloth he was holding.

And then it came back again.

Everyone left the branch manager’s office one by one at the gruesome scene.

The only ones left here were Jin Jae-hee and me.

The survivors of the Red Team were huddled together on one side of the hallway, sobbing.

‘What should I do now?’

Among the 11 people behind me now, there is the king of the black team.

One of them had to die.

I was afraid because I thought there was a black team king targeting me in the same space.

Maybe that’s a good thing.

Now I had neither the time nor the luxury of delaying any longer.

I had to get out of here.

If the king of the black team were to spend several days hiding his identity, it would be the worst possible situation for me.

I had to get out of this mall as soon as possible, and I had to find the black team’s king as soon as possible.

When all these concerns came together, I came to one conclusion.

Voting to select people one by one.

In the end, this was the only way.

I eventually figured out a way to survive in this game by killing my teammates who had fought alongside me.

If there was no way to deduce the king of the black team, this was the only way to approach it.

And through this, if we eliminate one of the 11 survivors one by one… … !

When I got to that point.

I felt something creepy coming from behind me.

“under……!”

Ugh-.

A hand was placed on my right shoulder.

I was so surprised that I forcefully pushed away the hand on my shoulder.

Tamar-!

There, Jin Jae-hee was blinking her eyelids in surprise.

I glared at her and gasped for breath.

“Haa… … Haa… … .”

I was out of breath even though I wasn’t working hard or doing anything difficult.

Jin Jae-hee asked me carefully.

“Cold sweat… Are you okay?”

At her words, I wiped my forehead with my hand.

I was literally dripping with cold sweat.

It was because I was too nervous.

“ha.”

I took a deep breath and stood up.

I swept my hair up.

The cold air touched my forehead and cooled the sweat.

“Let’s go back first. Let’s go back.”

I said that twice and then walked between them.

When I left the branch manager’s office, people naturally followed me.

At that moment, Jin Jae-hee turned around and whispered to me.

“Don’t worry, no matter what. I won’t let you die.”

I could clearly hear her voice, but I tried not to answer.

* * *

When he returned to the 11th floor, Jaehee noticed something moving and looked towards the elevator.

There, K’s baby angels were putting out the fire that was burning in the elevator.

He said this while humming a tune.

Even in my second life, scenes like that felt disjointed.

An angel in the form of a baby putting out a fire that was burning a corpse.

Jin Jae-hee averted his gaze from there and entered the theater.

Everyone was exhausted and collapsed all over the place as soon as they arrived at the theater.

Some of them seemed to be in severe mental distress.

Jin Jae-hee glanced around at them and then approached where Zion was.

He sat down and seemed to be thinking about something.

But next to him, Jin Jae-hee couldn’t do anything.

Kang Shi-on was a great monarch who had the largest army in his previous life.

A man who has risen to the highest position in humanity, a position no one can threaten.

That’s what the man is thinking about now.

I mean, I’m thinking about what I should do about the situation I’m in.

You shouldn’t talk down to him like that.

Jin Jae-hee, her role is simply to protect him.

And the test is just to check.

That’s all.

Now the round was coming to an end.

Jin Jae-hee had to keep his eyes open and watch how Kang Si-on would finish this round.

If you can’t even solve this problem, then Kang Shi-on in this life is not the Kang Shi-on in the previous life.

Zion looked at his watch.

Soon he raised his head again and tried to get up from his seat.

At that time, Kwon Kyung-soo approached him.

“Please eat. Aren’t you hungry?”

Contrary to concerns, Kwon Kyung-soo walked in holding canned food in both hands.

And gave it to Zion.

Zion stared at them blankly and then picked one up.

It was a can of tuna and a bottle of water.

“There’s no such thing as a fork. You have to eat it with your hands.”

Kwon Kyung-soo smiled awkwardly and scooped up a can of tuna with his hands.

Now, no one was concerned about hygiene or etiquette.

Everyone here right now hasn’t washed or eaten properly for several days.

Their appearance was beyond words, and some of them smelled bad.

Zion stared blankly at the canned food and then took a bite of it.

I sucked the tuna oil with my mouth, then dipped my finger in and took a bite of the tuna.

“Come to think of it, I think this is the first time I’ve seen Mr. Zion eat something.”

Kyungsoo, who had just finished a can of tuna, asked about Sion.

Zion was now devouring the second one.

“I ate a little bit here and there. Like beef jerky, or something like that.”

Thump-.

Zion took another bite of the tuna on his finger.

I was trying to feel full rather than taste while eating.

Chewing for a long time felt similar to eating a lot.

Of course, it didn’t fill my stomach, but I chewed it for a long time just to feel that way.

Kwon Kyung-soo stuck out his tongue and licked even the small pieces inside the tuna can.

Land grotto.

Then he threw the can towards the left wall, took out a cigarette, and lit it.

“Phew-.”

The smoke from his cigarette dissipated.

Kyungsoo, who was blankly watching the end of his cigarette burn out, muttered as if talking to himself.

“You can’t even get cigarettes here.”

“… … .”

Zion ate the canned food without paying any attention.

No, rather, it was Kwon Kyung-soo who wasn’t paying attention.

Zion continued to speak, regardless of whether he listened or not.

“So you dig through the bodies and get the cigarettes. Seriously. This isn’t some war movie, you know? A war movie. You dig through a pile of enemy corpses and make them your own… something like that.”

Still Zion had no answer.

Kyungsoo lit a second cigarette.

“But at some point… … No. So from the beginning, I didn’t know that this was wrong. I just thought it was normal. Because I wouldn’t be able to last a minute here without a cigarette… … Yes.”

Sigh-, phew.

Again the cigarette smoke dispersed.

Kwon Kyung-soo’s hands were trembling.

Zion looked at the hand holding his cigarette.

At the same time, attention was drawn to the hand hidden under the left hip.

“You know this. Do you know what this is? Mobius. I’ve seen this brand a lot. When I was teaching, ah. So, in my early 20s before I enlisted. Phew! Oh, back then, the kids were always smoking this. At the back of the playground. So I wondered what it tasted like… …and started smoking it too, and oh.”

after-.

“That was the beginning. Thanks to that, I’ve been a heavy smoker for 10 years now. But do you know who picked this up from?”

Chick, support support… … .

Kwon Kyung-soo stubbed out his cigarette on the ground.

The trivial conversation continued.

By then, Kang Shi-on had emptied a can of tuna and was drinking water.

Now he started to look back at Kwon Kyung-soo, and he took a drag on his third cigarette.

“What… … A student in a middle school uniform… … It was him. The student had blood dripping from his neck, and he was still breathing. Do you know what that expression looked like? It was like this. Look closely. Kkeueeek! Gulp! Gulp! Puhahaha! Ah, even our Sion-ssi should have seen that expression!”

Kwon Kyung-soo suddenly made a strange expression and pretended to be the dead student.

It was a stark contrast to his usual calm demeanor.

From that moment on, Zion sensed something strange and put down the can.

“Mr. Kyungsoo.”

“But really? Seriously. Do you know what I was doing back then?”

At that moment, Kwon Kyung-soo’s right eye became moist.

I felt like I was going to burst into tears at any moment.

But Kwon Kyung-soo still wasn’t looking at Zion.

He just kept smoking cigarettes.

Zion frowned and asked again.

“Mr. Kyungsoo, what are you trying to say now?”

“No, no! Mr. Zion. Listen. Please! Just listen to me. It’s the last time anyway.”

“last?”

Zion frowned at the word “last.”

The man named Kwon Kyung-soo in front of me now was extremely unstable.

His body was shaking frequently, and he, who had been calm until then, was about to burst into tears.

Kwon Kyung-soo spoke blankly, as if recalling something, with a cigarette between his fingers.

“So, what happened is. So… … Ah. Ah… … ! The dying student was begging for help… … and I was taking a cigarette… … out of the student’s arms… … and I was rummaging through the cigarettes to see if I had any. Swoop- hoo-. But do you know what’s really scary? I thought that was normal… … ! Swoop- hoo-. Puhaha! That wasn’t normal! … … Why, Sion-san? Why… … are you shaking right now? Swoop- hoo-”

Kwon Kyung-soo looked back at Zion, blowing out cigarette smoke.

The cigarette smoke scattered as it hit Zion.

Shudder.

Zion shivered slightly.

And Zion looked at Kwon Kyung-soo.

His eyes were bloodshot and tears were streaming down his cheekbones and pooling on his chin.

Kwon Kyung-soo didn’t seem to have any intention of wiping away his tears.

“But this isn’t normal, right? Even if you’re a human being, Mr. Sion!!! You know that this isn’t normal, right? Yes!?!!! Tell me!!!”

“It’s dangerous. Back off.”

Bam!

At that time, Jin Jae-hee, who was behind Zion, came forward and blocked Kwon Kyung-soo.

A shining sword blade was placed before Kwon Kyung-soo’s eyes.

Only then did the people inside the theater start to stand up from their seats one by one in surprise.

They looked at the three people.

Kwon Kyung-soo looked at the blade.

“Haa… … hahaha. Oh, right. Jaehee, you keep… … interfering. Can’t you just leave me alone?”

Zion pulled out his pistol without him noticing.

And he kept his pistol hidden behind his back, ready to shoot at any moment.

Only then did Kwon Kyung-soo wipe his tears with his sleeve.

“But you know… … Anyway, my role ended here.”

“wake up.”

Jin Jae-hee held the knife to Kwon Kyung-soo’s neck and gave an order.

But Kwon Kyung-soo didn’t budge.

“I… … am the king of the black team. And my role is over.”

“Then die.”

Whew-!

Jin Jae-hee swung his sword.

There was not an inch of hesitation.

It was a quick moment.

It was a speed that an ordinary person wouldn’t even be able to react to.

But at that moment, Kwon Kyung-soo twisted his body and knocked Jin Jae-hee’s body down.

“?!”

Damn!

Kwon Kyung-soo threw Jin Jae-hee’s body over her and pressed her chest with both legs.

He shouted at Jin Jae-hee, almost mad.

“You think you’re the best? No, you’re wrong!!!”

Kwon Kyung-soo was drooling and glaring at Jin Jae-hee under his legs.

Jin Jae-hee below just stares at Kwon Kyung-soo without saying anything.

He fell down on purpose, leaving himself vulnerable.

No matter how weak your body is, you will not be overpowered by an ordinary person.

But Jin Jae-hee was thinking the same thing as Kwon Kyung-soo.

He said his role ended here.

At this moment, Kang Shi-on had to resolve this situation on his own.

Kang Shi-on had to prove to himself that he had what it took to win this league.

Jin Jae-hee wanted to confirm that.

At that moment, Kang Si-on pulled out a gun and tried to shoot Kwon Kyung-soo in one breath.

But Kwon Kyung-soo was one step faster.

Whirik- Bang!!!!

Kwon Kyung-soo intercepted Zion’s arm, which was about to shoot him, and bent it backwards.

The bullet fired at Kwon Kyung-soo struck the ceiling.

There was now only one bullet left.

Kwon Kyung-soo cried out sadly.

“Zion-san… …!!! XXX. That’s not how you shoot a gun. Who shoots at someone from that close?! Huh?! Is this a movie?!!! It was wrong from the start!!! Zion-san, you weren’t in the military, were you? I’ve been holding a gun for 10 years. I could’ve snatched your gun several times until now. But why didn’t I? The answer. Don’t you want to hear it? Huh? Huh?? Huh???”

“Khuuuk… … Euuuk!!!”

Kyungsoo twisted Zion’s arm further.

Zion groaned as if in pain.

Zion tried to escape from his embrace, but Kwon Kyung-soo didn’t budge.

The physical difference between the two men was significant.

Kwon Kyung-soo is a former special forces soldier with a sturdy build and a height of over 180cm.

Kang Si-on is just a day laborer with a slim build and a height of less than 170 cm.

When two men faced each other head-on, the outcome was obvious.

At that time, Lee Joo-yeon and Lee Se-beom rushed to stop him.

But at that moment, Kwon Kyung-soo tied up Zion and aimed a gun at his temple.

“Stop! Or I’ll shoot.”

At that sound, the two siblings stopped there.

A cold sweat formed on Lee Se-beom’s right temple.

Zion should never have been allowed to die.

Lee Se-beom spoke to him slowly.

“no…….”

“why?”

“What do you want… … anything.”

“What do you want? Well, not much.”

Kwon Kyung-soo smiled in vain.

Kang Shi-on was still in his arms.

And the muzzle was still touching Kang Shi-on’s temple.

Kwon Kyung-soo looked around at everyone and said.

“The condition for the king of the black team to win is to survive in this shopping mall for 6 days. If that happens, I will win even if several kings survive before me. And exactly 10 minutes later. It will be our 7th day here.”

At that sound, Lee Se-beom checked his wristwatch.

11:50.

As he said, in 10 minutes it would be the 7th day since the game started.

Kwon Kyung-soo remained silent for a moment and then continued speaking.

“I’ve been thinking… a little bit. I wonder if God can forgive us for everything we’ve done here… something like that.”

“……wait.”

Zion, who was in Kwon Kyung-soo’s arms, said.

He was breathing a little hard.

“You could have won in just 10 more minutes. Why did you reveal your identity? It’s contradictory.”

“… … .”

Zion’s words were right.

If Kwon Kyung-soo had just spent his time quietly, he could have won.

But he didn’t do that.

He deliberately approached Zion, revealed his identity, and launched a surprise attack that might have succeeded.

The result is what it looks like now.

Kwon Kyung-soo said with a faint smile and tears in his eyes.

“You’re like that until the end… … haha. Okay. Well… … I’ll tell you why.”

That was the moment.

His right arm, which held Zion, was shaking like crazy.

It was the trembling of a man gripped by fear.

Zion could feel the trembling fully.

“I told you, I… I don’t think I can live as myself anymore.”

He lowered his gun, aiming for Zion’s temple.

But still, the situation did not change.

Because the gun was still in his hand.

“I kept thinking about it. Whether I should really survive. If I kill you here, all ten of us, including you, will die. Right?”

“Hey, Kyungsoo… …! Calm down!”

“Please! Put that gun down first!”

“If Mr. Zion dies, we all die too!”

Rather, the survivors of the other Red Team became even more anxious.

But Kwon Kyung-soo said to them.

He was smiling faintly, but tears continued to flow from his eyes.

“If I leave here… … anyway… … anyway, these things will definitely continue to happen… … ! Then I’ll go crazy someday… … ? I kept thinking. Am I really the man who’ll be the last one to be suited for it… … ! Huh? Mr. Sion. Do you think I’ll be the last one? I told you before. Why didn’t I take your gun when I could have? And when we did the flag-grabbing… … that time I secretly went out and caught the monster… … and I quickly told you that the Blue Team was coming… … My actions were full of contradictions. But the… … reason… … was fu*king simple. I was weighing the options. Is it you who should survive here… … or is it me!”

“… … .”

Zion, who was in Kwon Kyung-soo’s arms, did not respond at all.

At that moment, Lee Ju-yeon took advantage of the confusion and carefully retreated.

And picked up the crossbow.

The odds are slim, but for now, this is the best we can do.

Lee Se-beom discovered Lee Joo-yeon and carefully blocked Kwon Kyung-soo’s view.

Lee Ju-yeon put one arrow into the groove.

‘It has to be right. It has to be…!’

The protagonist thought about it alone.

And then I pulled the band carefully.

Kwon Kyung-soo cried and shouted at the people.

“But… … No matter how much I think about it! The man who would be the perfect match for you in the end is not me. Mr. Sion. Mr. Sion, you’re calm in all this? Huh? No way… … You weren’t enjoying it, were you? This is hell. Hell. Now hell has begun!”

Lee Ju-yeon carefully lifted the crossbow.

And he aimed for Kwon Kyung-soo’s head.

My hands were shaking like crazy.

But the lead actor didn’t let his guard down until the very end.

This one step.

If they failed to match, the Hong team would be finished.

As Lee Joo-yeon aimed at him, Jin Jae-hee watched silently.

If Jaehee had wanted to, he could have ended the situation by beheading Kwon Kyungsoo in an instant.

But that wasn’t the case.

There was no need for that, and Jin Jae-hee needed to see how the situation would end in the end.

In his previous life, Kang Shi-on cleared the first round without any confidence and thus ascended to the throne.

If he were to die in this situation, it would mean that Kang Shi-on in this life was not fit to advance to the final round.

Jaehee watched the situation.

Quietly, holding your breath.

Kwon Kyung-soo continued speaking.

“So… … I’m escaping from hell. I’m… … I’m escaping. Goodbye. Goodbye. Everyone. Goodbye!!”

Phew-!

At that moment, Kwon Kyung-soo’s hand holding the gun was raised.

And almost at the same time, Lee Ju-yeon released a band containing an arrow.

Swish!

The arrow flew towards Kwon Kyung-soo.

But as always, the gun came first.

Taang-!

A single gunshot rang out.

Soon a notification window popped up.

[Round 1 ends.]

[The surviving team is… … ]

(Continued in the next episode)