The Regressor Only Protects Me Chapter 28

#Episode 28. Beyond the Boundary (3)

30 minutes have passed since Kang Si-on entered the house.

Meanwhile, Jin Jae-hee sat on the steps at the entrance of the villa, watching out for monsters.

At the same time, we did not forget to be vigilant towards the players.

In this city, where a full-fledged ‘monarch’ has not yet emerged, the player is the most dangerous.

However, since the round has only just begun, the players will not show up easily.

So far, the only people she had seen were a group of four people passing under the bridge earlier.

If they keep showing off like that, that group won’t make it through the night.

Jin Jae-hee took out a pack of cigarettes from his bosom.

Knock knock.

Naturally, I tapped the bottom of the cigarette pack with my palm, tore off the plastic, took one out, and bit into it.

Tobacco became a rare resource as the round progressed.

So, when I had it, I had to let it bloom freely and also collect it for Zion.

In the future, cigarettes will be used as ‘currency’ in this league.

As she lit the lighter, footsteps were heard from inside the villa.

Jin Jae-hee remembered the sound of people’s footsteps.

Because people each have their own set of steps.

It was a kind of habit, so it couldn’t be changed unless you were conscious of it.

Jin Jae-hee could tell it was Kang Si-on just by hearing the sound of his footsteps.

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs gradually stopped.

Jin Jae-hee exhaled cigarette smoke, and Kang Si-on naturally sat down next to her.

Zion was breathing deeply, his body stained with blood.

Even without asking, I could tell what was going on inside.

The first to speak was Kang Shi-on.

“… …Promise me just one thing.”

It was a sad voice.

Kang Shi-on was looking ahead.

To be exact, I was just looking in the direction my gaze was directed.

Jin Jae-hee took another puff of his cigarette and answered.

“huh.”

Kang Shi-on gripped the kitchen knife he was holding tightly.

He was holding it so tightly that his hands were shaking.

His feelings, thoughts, and deep sadness were conveyed to Jin Jae-hee.

He continued in a trembling voice.

“… … Just let me find my little brother.”

Jin Jae-hee still has his cigarette in his mouth, and Kang Si-on covers his face with one hand.

Zion’s voice was trembling.

“… … Then whatever you want… … everything… … No. I just… … want to be with my little brother. That’s enough.”

It was difficult to understand what he was trying to say.

He was so shocked that he couldn’t even sort out his emotions and couldn’t speak properly.

However, Jin Jae-hee, who had gathered his thoughts a little, was able to figure out what Kang Si-on wanted.

Jin Jae-hee bowed his head slightly.

As I exhaled the smoke from between my legs, the smoke naturally rose upwards, briefly obscuring my vision.

Kang Shi-on, whom I saw in my past life.

And the current Kang Shion.

The self in front of it.

Jin Jae-hee’s emotions became complicated. But her answer was set.

“Yeah, I understand.”

He threw the half-smoked cigarette into the snow, and it exploded into the white snow.

The cigarette flame melted the surrounding snow and fell deeper into the pit.

Jin Jae-hee thought.

Perhaps the man next to you right now doesn’t know.

In the end, what he wants is what he wants. So there was no need to ask, and they were destined to be together until the end anyway.

In that way, Jin Jae-hee will return the whole world to its original state.

I will eradicate this miserable killing game, the alien creatures that are disturbing the city, and the distant divine life forms beyond the administrators who laugh and enjoy it.

Our world where they disappeared.

In that world, Kang Si-on will be able to watch his younger brother Jun-ho go to college like he wishes.

If we win the league, we can both smile.

You will be able to truly laugh.

For that, I could sacrifice my humble body at any time.

I’ve been waiting for a long time.

The second chance was just as precious, and Jin Jae-hee didn’t want to miss it.

Jin Jae-hee turned his head and looked at the other side of the city with the mountains.

There, a transparent curtain was billowing around the entire city.

The boundary of round 2.

It was an invisible iron bar.

* * *

I walked a little away from the building where my brother disappeared.

After that, Jin Jae-hee followed.

And then I suddenly remembered the status window I could see inside the shopping mall.

I quietly called up the status window.

But nothing appeared.

“It’s probably because they don’t form a group. As you can see, the king was chosen by choice in the first round, but from the second round onwards, it’s a matter of conquest.”

I walked ahead while listening to Jin Jae-hee’s words.

What I was saying was that my current situation is one in which I cannot be considered part of any group.

This meant that no interface was provided to efficiently control personnel under those conditions.

Anyway, in order to find my brother, I had to go to the place where my brother was likely to be.

The city is large.

There were too many buildings, roads, and alleys for one person to search alone.

In the end, I had to think first about where my younger brother might have gone.

To put it simply, my brother couldn’t have gone far from here.

And as long as there is a border, it must be within this city.

The end of Round 1 is different for each building.

According to Jin Jae-hee, a week is quite a long time.

Most of them finish in two or three days.

That’s why K, who couldn’t stand to watch anymore, got involved in the game.

But even so, things weren’t that bad.

“The initiative among those who advance to the second round belongs to those who occupy the streets.”

I walked almost side by side with Jin Jae-hee.

I walked down this road where there was nothing, no, not even any bodies, just a row of abandoned cars.

It felt like we were the only two people in this big city.

Aside from the mysterious feeling, we were so busy keeping an eye on the four pillars that our eyes didn’t have a moment to rest.

“Players who start round 1 on the streets will have an advantage in taking over the city. They will surround the people from the buildings and either recruit them to their team or kill them. They may already have a large force.”

I walked a little while listening to that, then pointed with my finger at the piles on the other side of the street and asked back.

“Is that the result of a street turf fight?”

“… … You could say that.”

Human corpses were piled up like pyramids.

They were raised so high that they were almost at the height of a traffic light.

Whoever did the incineration, the corpse was so burnt that it was impossible to recognize its shape.

There must be a bunch of people around here who burned those corpses.

“You have to choose. Do you want to form a new force and fight against them? Or do you want to join their forces and wait for an opportunity?”

“… … .”

In the second round, unlike the first round, the administrator did not directly intervene to select a ‘king’.

The goal for round 2 is just to get through this winter.

Forming groups was inevitable in order to survive the winter.

Even if Jin Jae-hee possesses superhuman strength, it is uncertain whether he will be able to stand up to a group that has piled up corpses to that extent.

To get a definite result, you had to make a definite number.

As a result, my brother would have gone to ‘a place where people gathered’.

If the time we finished Round 1 at the villa was 4 days ago.

Distance that can be traveled in 4 days.

And crowds of people.

Street conditions within Anyang City.

Where would my younger brother have gone?

Now, if I were in my younger brother’s position, what would I do?

As I was thinking that, Jin Jae-hee came closer to me and spoke quietly.

“Your body is not yet fully developed, so without a gun, you will have no means of fighting against your opponents, whether they are humans or monsters.”

“… … .”

That was right.

My current body was extremely weak compared to other adult men.

The last time I measured my height was during my training as a day laborer and during my physical examination when I was 19 years old.

165cm, 54kg.

Those were my body specs.

I was still so weak that I couldn’t even protect my own body.

At that time, Jin Jae-hee handed me something.

It was a stun gun for self-defense.

When I pressed the button, it crackled and sparks flew.

“I don’t know why, but I brought this kind of stuff in advance because it’s not a prohibited item. Take it. And the artifact will be released in a week. Before then, you need to make a residence and secure it.”

I listened to her as I watched the crackling sparks.

“After the artifact is opened, I will definitely make you the strongest here. Honestly… … I’m not sure about Round 2, but the wider the boundary, the stronger the monsters become.”

I took the electric shock device and examined it.

It was indeed the perfect weapon for me.

Because with this electric shock device, no matter how different their physical specs are, they can be destroyed in one blow.

This is something she had prepared in advance, taking advantage of her being a regressor.

But I was a little suspicious that she didn’t hand this over to me at the mall. She must have had intentions of approaching me from the beginning, was she perhaps testing me?

Jin Jae-hee glanced around and spoke to me.

“Once we secure a place to live, we will begin training, even if the artifact is not open yet. We will not be lenient. Be strong.”

I put the stun gun in my padded pocket and turned to her.

She was looking around.

For some reason, it felt like today was the first time I saw her properly.

It was only after I confirmed my brother’s whereabouts that I began to notice someone else’s face.

Jin Jae-hee was wearing a thick gray nightgown and a fur-lined padded hat pulled over his head.

The face inside the fur hat had long eyelashes, a sharp nose, and rare brown eyes.

His black hair was sticking out of his hat and down to his collarbone, his pink lips would constantly emit white breath whenever he spoke, and his pants looked like they had secured storage space as jogger pants.

Beneath that, she was wearing long ankle boots.

It was to ensure mobility.

Looking at her now, she seemed fully prepared for the league.

Jin Jae-hee asked, conscious of my gaze.

“why?”

“… …What is the conclusion?”

I turned my eyes away and avoided eye contact.

I couldn’t even remember when the last time I looked at someone’s appearance like this was.

As I took a step toward the road, Jin Jae-hee answered my question.

“You are going under the power.”

“influence?”

“Yes. Honestly, I don’t like it, but we lost most of our people in the first round. All we have left is to join the existing forces, kill the king, and take over that force. In order to do that, we need to find a stable force… … but it won’t be easy.”

In short, the idea is to eventually become like the ‘black team’.

Like Kwon Kyung-soo, who hid in our team in the last round and survived until the end.

He had been defeated before, but this time he infiltrated their forces and took over their forces when he had the chance.

It wasn’t a bad plan.

With just two people, we wouldn’t be able to find our younger sibling or expand our power.

I said as I made my way through the snow.

“Let’s stick to the forces near Manan Police Station.”

“Near Manan Police Station… …? Are you sure there are forces there?”

“huh.”

“how?”

Jin Jae-hee followed me and asked.

Sigh. Sigh.

With every step I took, my feet sank.

It was harder to take my feet out of the snow than to take a step.

“It’s a simple principle. If you were in a crisis, what would you do?”

“… … .”

Jin Jae-hee thought for a moment and then answered.

“Find the source of the crisis and destroy it?”

I looked back at her at her odd answer.

Jin Jae-hee just blinked his eyes, and I looked forward again and explained.

“Wrong. Think about it from the perspective of a regular citizen. The most common thing to think about is a shelter. In fact, the disaster manual says to evacuate to a shelter first.”

There was a huge hole in the building across from me.

I looked into it.

It was never a hole that a human could make.

“Are you saying we should go to the shelter?”

“Shelter would be nice, but there are four things I’m considering. Power. Safety. My brother’s whereabouts. And faith in the law.”

“Faith in the law?”

“The belief that the law will protect you. In any case, citizens have faith that the state will save them when they are in danger. To put it simply, they will wait for the rescue team.”

Now we’ve reached the outskirts of the apartment complex.

Inside the apartment complex, which was surrounded by iron bars, there were several people.

They were gathering wood from the playground and lighting a fire, and I made eye contact with a few of them, but they showed no intention of attacking me.

I too passed by there, wary of them.

Jin Jae-hee was still following me behind me.

“Ultimately, when a disaster strikes, most citizens on the streets will seek out the nearest police station or military base rather than a shelter. Because of the belief in the law that I mentioned earlier.”

“huh.”

“For that reason, if it’s the South Korean police, there’s a high possibility that they’ll maintain government power even after the first round ends.”

“huh.”

I walked toward the traffic light.

Habitually stopped.

But soon I figured out the situation again and moved on.

Now the traffic light didn’t come on.

Jin Jae-hee seemed a little troubled and didn’t say anything.

I summarized it in one sentence for easy understanding.

“The sphere of influence you mentioned earlier. The most orderly, stable, and large-scale group is ultimately a force created by the police.”

“ah.”

Only then did Jin Jae-hee realize it and scream out loud.

“There’s a high chance that my younger brother went there too. Above all, the internal stability would be better than other forces. To be honest, if you go under a force like Kim Dong-gil, you won’t be able to do your job properly because of internal instability.”

In the end, I was the one who worried and hated the most.

If you look closely, it was like choosing a sphere of influence where someone like Kwon Kyung-soo was the leader.

Jin Jae-hee muttered.

“Wow. How did you come up with something like that in such a short time? I’ve always wondered. Even in my past life. Even now.”

“I just choose the most reasonable case… … this way.”

I walked into the deserted street.

I was walking along the road and entered an alley.

The depth of the snow varied from street to street.

In some places it came up to the calves, while in others it came up to the navel.

Also, there were places where there was no snow at all.

Instead, human corpses were strewn about in the snow-free streets.

The snow has cleared away, meaning this place has been touched by human hands.

The area where I was walking was cleared of snow, centered on the road, and wide enough for two people to pass.

I checked the roof of the building on the other side and checked the movement around me again.

It was as quiet as a mouse.

But I kept getting the feeling that someone was watching me from somewhere.

And I soon discovered that it wasn’t just a delusion.

A crowd of people coming out from one side of a commercial building.

Most of them were huddled together in fear, and only a few of them were carrying weapons.

They were police officers in uniform.

And among them, a middle-aged policeman was walking out slowly, holding a pistol.

I knew from K that that gun wasn’t working.

Police officers in charge and civilians under their protection.

Everything was as expected.

This was a force formed by the police.

It was a shame for them though.

I intend to use that power.

And I will swallow up the entire force. To find Jun-ho.

The middle-aged policeman pointed his gun at me and said:

“Stop. This is police. Drop your weapons.”

I slowly raised both hands, but Jin Jae-hee did not raise them.

(Continued in the next episode)