Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 247

247

Suffering is for the Main Character, Villainy is for…

The only thing the fairies guarding the village’s border remembered was a flash of light and a deafening roar.

The moment the light flashed, blinding them, they were lifted into the air with an explosion, soaring endlessly into the sky like leaves caught in a storm, only to crash back to the ground.

“Kuh-erk!”

“Gerk!”

The Celestial race’s device, meant to identify demons, detected nothing.

Nor did they sense anyone approaching within their guarded perimeter.

Yet, an unidentified ‘enemy’ bypassed all of that perfectly and entered the village.

Bringing a crimson blaze and lightning, destroying everything in the village, one by one.

When the fairies rushed to stop it, wielding their weapons and magic, the enemy mercilessly unleashed flashes of light, and each time, the fairies were torn in half without even a scream.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Uwaaagh!”

Some fled from the unidentified intruder, a terrifyingly powerful slaughterer.

Watching them, the intruder, or rather, the protagonist from the novel, ‘Kim Yu-hyun,’ didn’t bother to swing his sword.

He didn’t want to do such dirty work, and more than that, there was a flame that felt no remorse, unlike him.

Whirr, whirr, whirr!

The flame danced as if alive, swaying back and forth, swallowing those who were running away whole.

Without even a scream, those who were fleeing were burned alive before collapsing.

‘It’s amazing every time I see it.’

It wasn’t magic using mana.

Rather, it should be seen as a ‘flame’ ignited in the purest sense.

Just what kind of flame could show such movement and seem to judge with reason?

Thud! ―

“Kuh-uh-uh…”

A fairy, still barely alive, grabbed Kim Yu-hyun’s ankle.

He lightly shook his leg to dislodge the fairy, as they were fatally wounded and wouldn’t last long.

“Y-you…”

The fairy, trying to say something, discovered something white behind Kim Yu-hyun and widened its eyes before dying.

Even in death, its eyes were wide open, apparently quite shocked.

“Father!”

A boy, still looking young, screamed.

Then, wielding a sword larger than himself, he charged at Kim Yu-hyun.

The young fairy probably knew it too.

That if he did this, he would surely die at the hands of that monster.

That he wasn’t going to avenge his father, but just to die together.

But, if he didn’t struggle like this, he wouldn’t be able to live with a sane mind.

“…”

Kim Yu-hyun’s face momentarily contorted with 고민 [Korean word meaning ‘anguish’ or ‘worry’].

He had mercilessly killed all who resisted, but seeing even such a young boy charging at him with a sword made him feel uneasy.

‘There are no innocents.’

At that moment, a villain’s words came to the protagonist’s mind.

Of course, he thought of himself as a villain, but others didn’t think so.

A word from a man whom even Kim Yu-hyun now considered an ally.

‘What could be more idiotic than letting my people get hurt tomorrow because of an enemy I spared today?

If they feel wronged, think you did a good job.

Because you’ve uprooted them completely.

If they curse you, you’re doing even better.

Because they have nothing else to do but curse.

Kim Yu-hyun, I told you, I come first, and those around me come first.

So, just do as I ask, do as I say.’

With deeply sunken eyes, Kim Yu-hyun looked at the boy charging towards him and drew a flash of light.

Soon, the boy’s speed gradually slowed down, and eventually, he collapsed right in front of Kim Yu-hyun, on top of his father, who had died, and breathed his last.

‘There’s no need to feel guilty.

Just transfer all that responsibility, that guilt, to me.

Think that I was the bad guy.

That you just did as you were told.

Then, someday, when you feel like you can share the burden a little, you can share the responsibility.’

When he first met Sion, he was clearly twenty years old, a fledgling who had just stepped into society.

After spending nearly a year with Sion, Kim Yu-hyun realized very clearly that his thoughts and the world’s assessment were completely wrong.

The first meeting wasn’t pleasant, but after seeing Sion’s various aspects, Kim Yu-hyun thought that this man was truly a being who had emerged into the world with thorough preparation, unlike himself, who had gained strength by chance.

The chaos of the world was said to make ordinary people into heroes, but perhaps that wasn’t the case.

Sion Clausen was simply a person who was different from others from the start.

Unlike himself in the Murim [a world of martial arts and cultivation] world, who was too weak and foolish to even protect his own woman.

Sion didn’t crumble under the weight of others’ gazes, but rather moved fluidly, calling himself not a hero but a villain, just a selfish person, and wasn’t crushed by the pressure.

“Excuse me.”

At the woman’s voice, Kim Yu-hyun snapped out of his reverie and turned around.

There stood Trisha, who had been quietly hiding and spewing flames and lightning.

“I tried to catch all the ones who were running away, but it seems some managed to escape.

What should we do with them?”

“…Do as Sion said.”

Kill not only those who resist but also all those who flee.

Burn all the villages they lived in to ashes and erase even the traces.

However, if anyone succeeds in escaping, don’t bother chasing them and move on to the next point.

This was what Sion had ordered Kim Yu-hyun and Trisha.

If he had met someone like Sion not in this world but in the Murim world, Kim Yu-hyun would have naturally protested, saying that even if they were enemies, there were many innocent people, and he couldn’t commit such terrible acts.

From a modern perspective, they were inhumane and immoral actions, and Kim Yu-hyun believed that those with power should have compassion and embrace even their enemies.

‘I’m really rotten inside now.’

But all that returned at the end of that embrace and compassion was a painfully cold betrayal and, as a result, the blood and tears of his people.

Wasn’t his beloved woman brutally murdered by enemies due to a friend’s betrayal?

Without time to heal from those wounds, a new world and new people suddenly unfolded before him.

Kim Yu-hyun thought he was really tired now and just wanted to live quietly.

He ended up living with a grumpy and difficult master, but he was a benefactor who had healed him, and he had also gained various information about this world and unexpectedly learned martial arts, so he thought it was a decent relationship.

In the midst of all that, he met Sion Clausen.

At first, he thought he was just a young man who was born with good parents and didn’t know anything about the world.

But it turned out that he was a man who, like himself, was born with talent and luck, a hero prepared by this world.

‘I was curious about how he would live.

I wondered if he would become a useless idiot crushed by the expectant gazes of others, like me, or if he would taste even more despair from foolish thoughts.

But…’

Sion, as if to show him, as if to say that those born with both talent and luck should live like this.

With some exaggeration, he was resolute, like someone who had lived life once, and there was not a single doubt in all his actions.

And the result was the opposite of Kim Yu-hyun’s.

Those who loved Sion didn’t shed blood or tears, and the world praised him even more as a hero, yet Sion himself wasn’t crushed by the weight.

Rather, he says he’s not a good guy.

He says he’s not a hero.

He says he’s a human, a selfish human, who can become an evil person at any time and inflict a terrible end on those who threaten him and his people.

‘He’s different from me.’

Yes, he’s different from me.

So, he wants to see how far that man, who is similar to himself yet different, can go.

Whether he was really wrong, or whether he too will eventually say he was wrong and despair.

And he also wanted to unleash the anger he couldn’t unleash back then on all the cunning groups that reminded him of his past enemies, as much as he wanted this time.

“More than that, what are those wings?

Are you trying to trick them into thinking you’re a Celestial [a race of divine beings]?”

“Let’s just say that for now.”

“…Fairies aren’t stupid, and it feels too obvious that you’re trying to trick them, but I wonder if they’ll fall for it.”

Trisha’s concern wasn’t wrong either.

Honestly, this is too crude.

It’s too crude.

Fairies aren’t stupid, and they know that there’s no reason for the Celestial race to suddenly attack them.

It would make sense if the demons were trying to separate the relationship between the fairies and the Celestial race.

“Or they might think that humans or other races attacked us, right?”

“They might think that for sure.”

But Kim Yu-hyun’s expression didn’t show much concern.

He had already questioned Sion about that part, and Sion had given a pretty good answer.

‘Don’t worry.

It’s not bad if they think that way, and there’s a high probability that they won’t.’

‘Why?’

‘According to the information, the fairies have items from the Celestial race that can detect the approach of demons.

The items of the Celestial race that they revere so much.

But even with that device, demons approached, attacked the village, and massacred their people?

That means there’s a defect in the Celestial race’s items, and furthermore, that those great descendants of light made a mistake, right?’

‘…’

‘An attack by other races.

That’s also a possibility.

But the place you’re heading to now isn’t a small village, but a large village with a certain scale.

Of course, there will be several skilled people.

Who would think they could launch a surprise attack on a place guarded by such people?

Fairies who think they are the noblest and strongest race after the descendants of light.

Of course, they’ll think they can handle everything themselves.’

If they say it’s demons, it means there was a defect in the Celestial race’s items, and furthermore, that even the Celestial race, whom they follow so much and believe to be perfect, makes mistakes.

If they say it’s a surprise attack by humans or other races, it means the fairy warriors are much weaker than they thought, and that other races are much stronger.

It would be a serious obstacle to their claim that they are superior to any race except the Celestial race.

‘If they don’t think it’s either of those, another possibility is that the culprit is a race that is not only not caught by the demon detection device but also much stronger than the fairies.’

‘So…’

‘That’s right.

That’s why you’re targeting the moderate fairies, not the villages of the radical fairies.

To make them properly doubt it.’

An unidentified enemy appeared to those who followed the Celestial race but didn’t take action.

If they don’t think it’s demons or other races, what do they think that enemy is?

‘Will they fall for it as the lord wants?’

‘It doesn’t matter if they don’t.

It’s fine if the moderate fairies doubt the Celestial race, or if they think that the Celestial race wasn’t as perfect as they imagined.

Or it’s okay if they put aside their petty pride and become anxious that other races have become as strong as them.’

Sion didn’t have the slightest intention of completely destroying the fairies’ faith from the start.

Even if there’s only a small crack in their faith and pride, he can dig in as much as he wants.

Fanatics can just be burned to death together, but ordinary believers are the ones who will leave on their own if you just show them a little, saying, ‘Actually, your god isn’t a big deal.

Look at this.’

In addition to those parts, the picture that Sion wants the most is this.

That the fairies are divided into two factions, one that blindly believes and follows the Celestial race, and one that says, ‘Let’s think about it,’ and they bite and tear at each other and become a mess again.

‘They’re the guys who had a civil war over whether to eat jam or not.

They’re trying to cover up that crazy past with modifiers like noble, beautiful, and strong.

Is that possible?

That’s what they were born to be.’

There’s no need to go to all the trouble of trying to win them over to my side.

Just make the enemies fight each other, and when the guys who defected from there run to this side and beg me to accept them, that’s the moment.

It’s not me who goes, it’s the other party who comes!

“Sion must have a plan.

Wasn’t it because of his orders that you were burning this entire area to the ground like this?”

“Right?”

Sion had given Trisha separate orders.

When Kim Yu-hyun finishes cleaning up, you are to burn not only the corpses but also the entire village, even the surrounding area.

Not to erase the traces, but to incinerate it very cleanly, as if disinfecting the area that has been defiled by disease and filth.

Kim Yu-hyun and Trisha may not know it, but Sion knows one fact.

Demons enjoyed attacking the other side’s camp and then scattering the corpses around like toys, and humans were mostly slave traders, so they tended to focus on capturing as many things as possible rather than destroying the village.

Burning the entire area so cleanly like this was something that not everyone did.

Whirr, whirr―.

Trisha had no change in expression even as trees, houses, the dead, and the living were all devoured by the flames.

She just looked at the brilliant flames and muttered, ‘Pretty.’

“Let’s go to the next place.”

“A-already?

Ugh…”

Trisha, who had been burning the entire village without a trace as Sion had ordered, once again quietly became baggage and was attached to Kim Yu-hyun’s side.

Immediately, Kim Yu-hyun, with Trisha tucked under his arm, dashed like lightning to the next place marked on the map.

“H-how much longer will it take!”

“I don’t know.”

I want to finish quickly and return to Sion’s side!

Uwaaa!

Trisha screamed inwardly like that and was tucked under Kim Yu-hyun’s arm as baggage, and flew somewhere, whoosh, whoosh.

Sion, on the other hand, was sitting face to face with a woman at the villa, talking leisurely.

―――――――Author’s Note―――――――

Recommendations are always welcome!