The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 187

187. Ruler of Seoul (3)

At Choi Myung-joon’s call, Kim Guk-jong spoke cautiously.

“Myung-joon, it’s you. You managed to survive.”

“Whose dog was I raised under? Do you think I’d die so easily?”

Kim Guk-jong chuckled at Choi Myung-joon’s words.

“Yes, that’s right. Even when I first saw you in prison, I thought you were the kind of guy who could survive anywhere.”

This time, Choi Myung-joon was silent.

Kim Guk-jong continued, resting his chin on his hand.

“I thought you’d come straight to Seoul. If you had been here, our organization wouldn’t have succumbed to Metro.”

“I got caught by the cops.”

“…I see. You must have suffered. You must have gone through a lot.”

Even a fearsome boss like a tiger was endlessly kind when dealing with his younger brother.

In fact, to Choi Myung-joon, Kim Guk-jong was more like a father than an older brother.

Choi Myung-joon grew up with a gambling-addicted mother and an alcoholic father from a young age.

His father would beat his mother and Choi Myung-joon whenever he drank.

His father, who loved alcohol, died after being hit by a drunk driver.

His mother disappeared without a trace, wandering from one gambling den to another.

He dropped out of high school and lived insignificantly as a neighborhood thug on the streets.

But Kim Guk-jong was the one who instilled meaning into Choi Myung-joon’s life.

Kim Guk-jong had said:

– A fist is not to be used against the weak, but against those stronger than you. A strong fist will train your mental world and show you the direction you need to go.

The era of extortion and plunder by gangsters was over.

Kim Guk-jong reorganized and operated the gangsters’ organizations.

Among the organized crime groups across the country, Kim Guk-jong’s faction was the largest in scale and had the most money.

Force should only be used when you have to fight against the unreasonable.

Kim Guk-jong’s organization was closer to a company than a gang.

And Choi Myung-joon grew up under Kim Guk-jong.

He was the only person who embraced his life when Choi Myung-joon was going through the most difficult time.

So, he had no choice but to serve him as his big brother and father.

Kim Guk-jong sighed briefly and said,

“It’s truly regrettable to face you like this.”

“……”

Kim Guk-jong quietly closed his eyes.

At that moment, Choi Myung-joon walked forward step by step, and Kim Guk-jong quietly opened his closed eyes.

But Choi Myung-joon did not try to attack.

Thud-!

He knelt down on both knees in front of Kim Guk-jong.

Kim Guk-jong was only observing his actions silently.

“……”

Choi Myung-joon’s body was trembling steadily.

Then he shouted.

“I am indebted to you more than I can ever repay! Big Brother…!”

Thud-!

Choi Myung-joon slammed his forehead against the floor.

It was an act of bowing, but it was closer to self-harm.

His forehead was torn, and blood burst out.

Choi Myung-joon was still pressing his forehead to the floor and said.

“You taught me how to live like a human being and helped me do what I could do. You were like a father to me. A world without you has no meaning for me. You are the one I should serve, the one I must follow like a father.”

Then Choi Myung-joon clenched his fists and shouted.

“Big Brother!!! There must be a way!!!”

His voice echoed loudly throughout Geunjeongjeon Hall [the main hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace, a significant historical site].

It was enough to cause an echo.

“……”

Choi Myung-joon shouted even more desperately in front of Kim Guk-jong.

“There is a way…! There must be a way!!! A way for you to live! And for us to live too! A way for me to die! And for both you and Zion to live! Rather… Rather!!!”

“……”

At Choi Myung-joon’s desperate voice, Kim Guk-jong took a short breath.

“It seems you’ve taken quite a liking to your new boss. Seeing you say such things.”

“……”

Choi Myung-joon did not show his expression to Kim Guk-jong.

He was still kneeling, biting his lower lip until it bled.

Choi Myung-joon was afraid.

He was afraid of the situation where the person he trusted and followed was turning his back on him.

Kim Guk-jong took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and asked.

“What kind of person is he?”

“……”

“Tell me. It’s been a while since I’ve had a conversation with you.”

Chik-.

Kim Guk-jong sat on the throne and began to smoke.

He exhaled the cigarette smoke like a sigh.

Choi Myung-joon sobbed and continued.

“At first… he was an arrogant kid. Recklessly running around… He seemed like a madman to me. He seemed endlessly immature to my eyes… At first, I was thinking of testing him from below and then killing him and running away.”

“…Hoo.”

“But I saw the same eyes in him as I saw in you… Eyes that were as fierce as an eagle and as sharp as a tiger, just like yours.”

“……”

“Even so, I still had you in my mind! Even until I left the police station…! But for some reason, he was different. An unknown pressure. I saw the future in that man. And I… I started following him. I ended up serving two great men.”

“Kang Zion, was it?”

“…Yes.”

“What do you want to do?”

Kim Guk-jong stubbed out his cigarette on the throne.

Choi Myung-joon could not give any answer to his question.

Choi Myung-joon wanted to ask Kim Guk-jong’s opinion first.

He wanted to know what he should do, how he should overcome this difficulty.

Kim Guk-jong got up from the throne.

And he approached the kneeling Choi Myung-joon.

He sat down in front of Choi Myung-joon and said.

“I don’t know either.”

“……”

Kim Guk-jong’s first words were shocking to Choi Myung-joon.

Kim Guk-jong, who seemed to know everything, gave up on himself, saying that he didn’t know either.

Even the great man like the sky was just like Choi Myung-joon.

Kim Guk-jong recited his story as if he were making a confession.

Some time passed.

Choi Myung-joon was in deep anger after hearing the whole story.

Kim Guk-jong said.

“I tried to build the organization well. We had our own plans. But we had no choice but to collapse in the face of absolute power. I resent the world, and everything I’ve done so far feels futile. Now I’m barely clinging to life, serving as a caretaker for the cult leader. I had a big dream and challenged the world, but I got nothing in return. I thought I wasn’t afraid of death, but now I’m afraid that there’s nothing after death. I wanted to ask you too. What should I do to live well? I thought you would know the answer.”

Kim Guk-jong stroked the back of Choi Myung-joon’s head with his rough hand.

It was the warm touch of a kind father that Choi Myung-joon had dreamed of.

“Do what you want to do. It is my will that old leaves must fall for the sake of fresh sprouts.”

Choi Myung-joon slowly raised his head.

Silence flowed between the two men for a while.

How long had the silence lasted?

Soon, two gunshots rang out in Geunjeongjeon Hall.

Bang… Bang!

* * *

Choi Myung-joon wiped the blood from his cheek with his hand and left Geunjeongjeon Hall.

He stared at the monster with soulless eyes.

The monster that the Gangbuk [northern Seoul] forces had been raising.

The elite members repeatedly stabbed the monster to death with their swords and were returning.

One of the elite members approached Choi Myung-joon and asked.

“I heard gunshots. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“……”

The elite member was silent and then spoke again.

“We killed the monster. The Seoul Gangbuk forces will collapse. Shall we continue the operation?”

The operation that the elite member was talking about was the story that Kang Zion and Choi Myung-joon had shared in advance.

The elite team was to infiltrate northern Seoul, kill the monster, escape to Nowon-gu, which was friendly territory, and then escape to Gangnam.

Mapo Bridge was the only passage in the Seoul area, but there were plenty of bridges in Gyeonggi Province that could cross the Han River.

Sledimans were not inhabiting there.

So now the elite team had completed its mission and just needed to join Mankyung through Gangnam.

But now Choi Myung-joon was in deep anger.

The elite member who was looking at him was so surprised that he trembled.

“……”

Choi Myung-joon’s anger was directed at the Metro forces.

The stories he had heard from Kim Guk-jong.

The barbaric tyranny of the guys who had been in northern Seoul so far.

He heard in detail how his beloved Black Dragon Clan brothers had died tragically and how Kim Guk-jong had been treated.

And he also figured out where the Metro forces’ monster was.

The bastards were hiding the monster in the basement of Mapo-gu.

Choi Myung-joon took a deep breath and said.

“You guys go back to Mankyung through Nowon-gu as planned. Zion must be struggling right now. Go and defend Mankyung with your lives.”

Choi Myung-joon’s orders were strange.

The elite member asked again.

“What about you, Captain?”

At his subordinate’s question, Choi Myung-joon frowned and looked around.

This place was all ruins.

But Choi Myung-joon said to them.

“The scenery is beautiful…”

“Yes?”

The subordinate looked at Choi Myung-joon’s face.

His face was crumpled up.

He felt deep anger.

“…I think I’ll have to stay here a little longer.”

Choi Myung-joon left only those words and went outside.

The place he was heading to was Mapo-gu.

* * *

I wasn’t afraid.

Whatever the end of this story may be, I will accept the results I have created.

Once, when I was very young, I went to church.

The pastor gathered the young me and my friends and said.

We all live sinfully, so we can only go to heaven if we believe in Jesus and come to church.

The reason I am an unbeliever is not just because I can’t see it.

It was because of the question that my inner self threw: If God really exists, why does he leave evil in the world as it is?

God even died for humans.

If God really loves humans so much.

Why does he leave evil as it is?

The answer I came to was one.

God may exist.

God is testing humans.

He gives them the opportunity of life and evaluates them through death.

Of course, no one knows the criteria for that evaluation.

I don’t think anyone knows about that.

Good deeds are good for humans to live together, but they are never actions for God.

I think that to become a higher-dimensional being, something other than good and evil is needed.

I thought that was the ‘ability to overcome loneliness’.

I suddenly thought of Kwon Kyung-soo, the king of the Black Team in the first round.

He said that I was the person who deserved the last place.

I was able to get a hint from his words.

The last thing is, after all, being left alone.

God is a lonely person.

In the empty universe, God has existed alone.

What did God think of in that dark void?

Perhaps the being called God created humans in his own image because he was lonely.

The price for creating humans out of unbearable loneliness was high.

Humans tried to challenge God by building towers, they could not live together and pointed guns and knives at each other, and they even denied and blasphemed God.

God is the one who can overcome loneliness.

So perhaps the God of this world, or perhaps the God of this dimension, could not overcome loneliness and came down from the throne of God and set foot in the human world.

In that sense, what am I?

According to the words of the Absolute One I met in Bitnam, I am their puzzle piece to move to a higher dimension.

I don’t know why they want to go to a higher dimension and why they are pulling me into their puzzle piece.

At first, my goal was just to find my brother, but now I don’t know.

I’m just killing the enemies in front of me and moving forward.

I am neither lonely nor abundant.

I don’t even know if everything I’m doing is right or wrong.

I just have the thought of ending this league with my own hands.

That one goal was certain.

I was thinking that as I rushed towards the charging hunters.

I shouted.

No, I roared.

“Uwaaaaa-!”

* * *

Whir-! Swish!

Kang Zion swung his lines and tore the body of the hunter rushing from the front into pieces.

“You sons of bitches!!!”

“Kill them all!!”

The hunters screamed and rushed in, and Zion continued to fire spheres.

Now the spheres were powerful enough to penetrate the enemies’ bulletproof vests and kill them, if not as much as bullets.

The spheres that were constantly flying around Kang Zion flew to the desired location with his command.

Swoosh- Swoosh- Swoosh-!

The spheres and lines spread widely across the battlefield, swallowing the hunters.

Zion was out of breath due to the battle that had been going on for several hours, but he couldn’t stop here.

The ultimate goal was to annihilate Metro’s main force in Mankyung after wiping out all the remaining enemy forces.

At that time, an arrow flew towards Kang Zion.

Jin Jae-hee, who saw this, moved faster than the flying arrow and deflected the arrow with her holy sword.

Clang-!

She always protected Kang Zion.

Always by his side.

Jae-hee looked back at Zion and asked.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“…You’ve really gotten stronger.”

“I don’t think this is the time to say that.”

Zion found Doodoo rushing from the opposite side and immediately bent the ends of the lines to make hooks.

Then he hooked the hooks into Doodoo’s flesh and pressed down.

Thud!

…Kugugugugu!

Doodoo fell down with his head stuck forward.

Jin Jae-hee finished it off by swinging her holy sword and cutting off Doodoo’s neck.

Jin Jae-hee approached Kang Zion and said.

“It’s not much left. To Mankyung.”

“Okay.”

It wasn’t much left to go to Mankyung.

He knew through the administrator’s system that the Northern King’s monster had fallen. Now all that was left for Zion was to destroy Metro’s main force.

The two ran together.

Towards the hunters rushing from the front.

But then, an unexpected event occurred.

Something began to swell from the ground Kang Zion was stepping on.

Jin Jae-hee recognized it, but couldn’t react.

It was a mushroom.

And with it, a woman’s voice echoed across the battlefield.

“Wow-. It’s really Kang Zion? I can’t believe you’re still alive!”

Kang Zion began to be buried in the giant mushroom summoned by the woman.

The woman who suddenly appeared was kidnapping Kang Zion.

The woman smiled and said.

“Junho will be happy if I take him?”