The Regressor Only Protects Me Chapter 47

#Episode 47. Anyang Station (3)

The raid team returned straight to the police station.

From the moment they faced the ogre, there was nothing they could do.

Even after returning to the police station, Zion was unable to recover from the shock.

They had huge bodies, like three elephants lined up, and only had one pupil, but their hands were large enough to hold a car in one hand.

“Killing it isn’t hard. Just focus on attacking the bridge. When it falls, climb on its back and cut off its neck.”

Jaehee, sitting on the opposite bed, spoke to Zion.

She spoke as if what she had just said were very easy.

Zion glanced at her once, then looked away again and looked at his fingers.

The indoor temperature wasn’t warm, but the cold had gone away a lot.

It got to the point where you didn’t need to wear padding indoors anymore.

This was possible because we had combustion workers on duty 24 hours a day.

Zion, who had been staring blankly at his own fingernails, pulled out his dagger and spoke.

“We’re not trying to kill them. We’re trying to capture them. And there’s no reason to focus on killing them. They’re not invading the police station, and monsters are just something to avoid.”

My fingernails had grown a lot.

Square, square.

He continued talking to her, bit by bit cutting off his fingernails with a military dagger.

“We have to think of a way to capture it.”

Jin Jae-hee climbed all the way onto the bed and leaned his back against the wall.

And then, as if lost in thought, he remained silent for a while before answering his words.

“Its weak points are its lower body and eyes. If you can attack the ogre’s eyes, you can incapacitate it.”

“Disarm it?”

“It literally disables them. An ogre without eyes can’t do anything. It can’t move, it can’t hunt, it’s just like a rock, it doesn’t do anything. And the only part that doesn’t regenerate is its eyes. That makes it easy to hunt. If you attack just the eyes, it just sits there and does nothing.”

Hot-. Hot.

Zion said, still cutting his fingernails with the dagger.

“The internal situation has been sorted out to some extent, and now we need to produce results externally. The police department’s leadership wants to leave behind new achievements.”

“What did I say to you again?”

Jaehee raised his voice a little instead.

“They’ll have nothing left anyway.”

Councilman Gil In-ho and the police chief thought they were using Kang Shi-on, but it turned out that Shi-on was using their power.

Everything went according to plan.

None of Zion’s actions deviated from the plan.

Jin Jae-hee asked him while he was cutting his fingernails with a dagger.

“If they take control of the police station, what are they going to do?”

“… … That’s right.”

Hot!

Zion exerted the wrong amount of force and cut his finger.

A bright red stream of blood ran down his cut finger.

Phew.

Zion licked his fingernails.

And he answered calmly.

“I’m going to kill them all.”

He pressed his cut finger with the rag he had nearby.

And he followed her, leaning against the wall and lifting his head.

Zion probably doesn’t know how terrifying his expression is to others as he looks down and raises his head like that.

Even if that wasn’t actually the intention.

Sideways, dark eyes, a tired look as if he hadn’t slept in days, and black hair without a single dye.

And the gaze that was cast down was enough to make even Jin Jae-hee swallow dry saliva.

Zion finished speaking, peeling the cloth from his fingers.

“… …except for the doctor.”

He was a man who left no regrets behind.

* * *

From the day I discovered the ogre’s habitat, I headed to Anyang Station every day.

The attack force has reduced its size.

Because they had no reason to attack before the uprising.

So, the only ones who took part in the attack were Jin Jae-hee, Choi Myeong-jun, and me.

I was the only one who observed.

Choi Myeong-jun played the role of a porter.

Choi Myeong-jun, who was carrying a bag full of items needed for the investigation, continued to smoke a cigarette.

Jin Jae-hee monitored Choi Myeong-jun and the surrounding monsters or polished artifacts.

Then, when Choi Myung-jun asked what it was, Jin Jae-hee acted coldly and said, “Get out.”

Meanwhile, time continued to pass.

I continued to watch the ogre’s actions.

I observed them picking their noses, scratching their butts, defecating, rolling over, playing with corpses they picked up, eating corpses, staring blankly at the sky, fighting Nepenthes, climbing up the wall of Anyang Station and falling over, and even several survivors being eaten as they passed by.

Everything begins with observation.

Observation produces results.

I’ve always lived like that.

Studying, school, and hard labor.

For the first day or two, quietly observe the people around you and try to figure out their way of thinking.

Studying? Reading? It’s the same.

What the book is about, what habits the teacher who teaches the book has in teaching children, the type of questions, frequency, difficulty, and even personality.

Even now, I wonder if the teacher teaching me is in a bad mood, good, or just teaching roughly, if attending the teacher’s class is a waste of time, or if it’s better to just study on my own.

I figured everything out and invested my time.

When I was in middle school.

People called me a genius.

I denied it.

I wasn’t as quick-witted as them, nor was I as good at remembering things, nor was I able to understand math formulas the first time I saw them.

I was just observing.

Equations, functions.

That was also discovered through observation.

How equations solve numbers, how functions solve numbers.

Why was the question posed this way, and which solution is closest to the correct answer?

When there are three paths, stand in front of them and decide which path is the fastest and safest.

One day, two days, three days.

My observations continued for several days.

And I wrote them down in a small notebook without missing a single one.

-The lower body is weak compared to the upper body, but there is no problem supporting the overall body.

-Three times a day, he goes hunting, hunting human corpses, monsters, and trees.

-Do not eat living creatures. They must be killed before eating.

-The pupils are round like a human’s, and the whites of the eyes are lined with veins.

-The eyelids that protect the eyes are so thick that you would believe they are thick leather armor.

-If you notice any slight changes in your eyes, take them seriously, stop your activities, and check for foreign bodies in your eyes.

-Not active at night.

-The color of the stool is dark yellow.

Before I knew it, my notebook was filled with observation journal entries about the guy.

* * *

Swish swish swish-.

The sound of Zion’s ballpoint pen continued to ring out.

His ogre observation journal was not enough to fill even one notebook.

I observed with my eyes and immediately wrote it down by hand.

I wrote down the same actions in the same place on paper.

As if that observation wasn’t enough, Zion continued to observe the guy until night.

I had to know what those who had their sights stolen were doing.

Without that information, capturing him, let alone killing him, would be next to impossible.

The four ogres moved again at dusk.

It was a new movement other than going out hunting or exploring the surroundings.

The ogre entered the collapsed Anyang Station.

They were going down to the Anyang Station underground shopping mall in a line, one by one.

No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t make sense that such a huge creature would use such a narrow space as a nest.

Because the space was so narrow that they had to crawl, let alone walk, in order to get around.

There must be a purpose.

Zion had to know its purpose.

And today I was going to leave the rooftop.

“let’s go.”

Zion checked his gear and grabbed the rooftop railing.

Choi Myeong-jun, startled by his voice, approached him and asked.

“Hey, hey, bro. Where are you going?”

“Underground shopping mall.”

Zion was looking at the ground, and Choi Myeong-jun, standing next to him, continued to ask.

“There? Why? Did you just watch those freaks go in? No, observation until dinner is okay. We’re on the roof anyway. But if you get hit in the head with one of those guys’ fists, you’ll turn into a tomato. Do you know what I’m saying, hyung?”

“That’s why I’m going in.”

Zion checked the ground.

The snow was piled up to the second floor.

It was difficult to just walk to the underground shopping mall, so I had to go down the nearest underpass.

Zion called Jin Jae-hee.

She came straight to him.

“We’re going to go into the underpass number 6. We’re going to go as close as possible to the building near the entrance they came in from, roughly… … .”

Zion checked his watch and spoke again.

“… … I’ll be observing you until 3 in the morning. Is that too much?”

Zion asked her if it was too much to protect herself from external threats, and Jaehee sensed his intentions.

But Jaehee nodded right away.

“Leave it to me.”

Zion nodded, confirming her intention.

He tightened his bag strap and retightened his shoelaces.

Since we were going into their den, we had to be fully prepared.

Zion walked towards the rooftop door.

At that moment, Choi Myeong-jun approached and tried to grab Zion’s shoulder.

“Hey, wait a minute! Brother!”

Whirik- bang!

At that time, Jin Jae-hee grabbed Choi Myung-jun’s hand that was about to reach out to Sion and turned it away.

Choi Myeong-jun, who was unable to move, screamed.

“Ugh… … !”

“Don’t do anything stupid… … I told you clearly… … ?”

Jin Jae-hee was glaring at Choi Myeong-jun as if he was going to kill him.

“Hey X… … Foot. I’m not doing anything stupid, I’m just holding you for a moment. Let go!”

Kwuuuk… … .

At his shouting, Jin Jae-hee twisted even more instead of letting go.

At Choi Myeong-jun’s scream, Zion turned around while trying to grab the rooftop door handle.

“Let go.”

At Zion’s words, Jin Jae-hee immediately let go of Choi Myeong-jun.

Choi Myeong-jun muttered as he pulled away from her.

“Ah, f*ck. That’s fu*king fast.”

Choi Myeong-jun carefully turned his swollen wrist while grumbling.

Kang Shi-on took a step closer to him.

And then he asked Choi Myeong-jun in a low, dry voice.

“Is there a problem?”

“There’s a problem… … It’s so much… … Brother… … Ah. Wrist.”

Choi Myeong-jun looked at Zion with a frown on his face, as if his wrist still hurt.

Zion had no expression on his face.

“Brother. There’s something wrong… … You said that I would definitely be of use to you.”

Zion did not answer.

“But, bro. Even I can’t beat a monster that big. Right? I’m not even a UFC world champion. No, even a world champion can’t beat that.”

Zion still did not answer.

“Entering the underground shopping mall is obviously suicidal, and you want me to go in with you? If we just go in, we’ll die. Brother. Brother, don’t you know that Titan Attack? That anime I used to watch when I was little. Oh, shit. We’re going to end up like that, right? Brother. Brother… … I appreciate you taking me out of the detention center to protect you. Yes?”

Choi Myeong-jun sighed deeply, as if he was frustrated, and continued speaking.

Yet Zion’s eyes did not meet directly.

Even Choi Myeong-jun, who had spent his entire life fighting, could not look Zion in the eye.

For Zion’s eyes were sharp and fierce.

The feelings Choi Myung-jun was having right now were normal.

What Zion was trying to do now was tantamount to suicide.

Even though he was a gangster and had spent his entire life fighting with iron pipes and clubs, he couldn’t help but feel fearful of the death that was right in front of him.

But there was one thing that Choi Myeong-jun was deeply mistaken about.

“I know. You can’t defeat that monster.”

Zion took a step closer to him.

“I also know very well that you are a weak, punk.”

Zion took another step toward him.

Now, Choi Myung-jun was in a situation where he had no choice but to meet Zion’s eyes.

Because Zion was looking up at him right in front of him.

“Do you think I took you out of the detention center to protect me? The mental strength and willpower you showed in the detention center, and the natural body that maintained its size despite being locked up. You’re a porter. You’re strong. I judged you to be the strongest labor force and took you out of there. Do you understand? Protect me? You?”

“… … .”

Choi Myeong-jun’s pupils shook.

On the other hand, Kang Si-on’s pupils did not waver at all.

“You can’t protect me. Don’t get me wrong.”

After hearing that, Choi Myeong-jun was speechless and looked at Jin Jae-hee.

It was an appearance that was completely unreliable.

I don’t have muscles, I don’t have a gun, I only have a sword, and yet I have his trust.

Choi Myeong-jun couldn’t understand it.

Looking at Choi Myung-jun standing there dumbfounded, Zion let out a short sigh and said.

“You go back to the detention center now.”

“older brother……?”

“If you don’t do what I say, I don’t need you. And don’t ever touch my body again. I won’t forgive you for even one finger. Do you understand?”

With those words, Zion walked towards the rooftop door.

“Brother. No, that’s Brother.”

Zion walked a few steps and then looked back at Choi Myung-jun and said.

“Oh, right. You can run away now. But… … Is there a time when you can go other than to the detention center? The outside world is probably a world of monsters.”

“… … That’s it, hyung! I’m sorry… … !”

Zion turned away coldly from Choi Myung-jun and walked towards the rooftop door.

Jin Jae-hee followed him.

As Choi Myung-jun tried to follow Zion, Jin Jae-hee glanced back and threatened him while holding the handle of his sword.

“If you follow me, I’ll kill you.”

Choi Myeong-jun froze at her cold voice.

Creak… … Thud!

The rooftop door closed, and Choi Myeong-jun knelt down on the spot.

He let out a ragged breath.

(Continued in the next episode)