Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 7

Some readers commented that the author must have downed several bowls of Soju-beer mix while writing this.

It wasn’t an unfounded remark, as it was incredibly difficult to find a character with a sound mind, not just among the protagonists but even the antagonists.

The author seemed to enjoy this aspect, even holding a poll on ‘Which character has the craziest tendencies?’

There was fierce competition, as there were so many individuals with questionable mental stability, but Raido proudly took third place.

‘Magician?

Sage?

That’s bullshit. He’s just a psycho who enjoys beating people up, and his magical abilities suddenly awakened while he was learning healing magic!’

In what world does someone learn healing magic because they want to heal someone just to beat them up again, and then their magical abilities suddenly explode?

Yet, Raido was the one who accomplished this improbable feat.

“Heh heh heh.”

Don’t laugh, you crazy old man!

Sion screamed inwardly, instinctively stepping back.

So far, Raido hadn’t posed any threat, simply smiling.

But to Sion, it felt like the Great Demon was approaching with a sinister grin, ready to cross the River Jordan together.

Kim Yu-hyun at least had Lucia as a shield.

Sebastian, as the official butler of the Klausen County, couldn’t easily harm him, the family’s heir.

But Raido was different.

He was a madman who only followed the king’s orders after they were repeated two or three times, openly called the crown prince ‘kid,’ and mocked the ministers as baldy. He was completely insane.

He was endlessly gentle and kind to Lucia, but she wasn’t here right now.

If he made a mistake, he could be beaten to death, or even worse, be restored to perfect condition just before death and then beaten again from the start.

“Answer me, son of Lichten.”

“…”

“Why do you look so troubled? You, who couldn’t tell heaven from earth and acted recklessly, suddenly.”

Could he have realized that the contents had changed?

Sion was filled with all sorts of thoughts.

However, the concept of a soul being replaced was nowhere to be found in the novel.

In other words, even Raido, as a court magician, was unlikely to consider such a possibility.

‘No need to be scared! If I get scared, I’ll show weakness!’

Anyone would want to pounce on a weakness, and being pounced on would eventually reveal hidden vulnerabilities.

And Raido was not the kind of man who would see an opponent’s weakness or vulnerability and say, ‘I’ll let you off this time. Try again.’

“Raido-nim.”

Since his name had already slipped out, Sion figured there was no point in pretending not to know him.

He bowed his head and called his name respectfully, and Raido raised one eyebrow.

“You speak as if you know me well.”

“Is there any noble in the kingdom who doesn’t know about Raido-nim, the former court magician?”

“Are you trying to sweet-talk me?”

A smile appeared on Raido’s face.

At first glance, it looked like a kind smile from an old man, but Sion felt a chill and shuddered.

Killing intent, it was definitely killing intent.

‘I’m going to die! Author, I’m going to die!’

Had Sion Klausen ever faced Raido like this before?

No, absolutely not.

Raido taught Kim Yu-hyun the ultimate martial arts and quietly stayed out of the way, later gaining notoriety as a serial slaughterer of celestials during the upcoming Holy War, cackling all the while.

He eventually died in a self-destruction attack by the celestials, even uttering the legendary line ‘Explosion is art, you bastards!’ before being blown to smithereens, a man who was so out of his mind that he had flown beyond Andromeda into the super-universe.

And now that madman was standing before Sion.

Emitting killing intent as if he wanted to tear him apart right away.

“I’ll spare you if you tell the truth. Did Lichten tell you about my identity?”

For a moment, Sion almost nodded.

The desire to escape from that terrifying man’s grasp, from that eerie gaze, was overwhelming.

“No, he didn’t.”

But his mouth moved completely differently from his brain.

Sion was surprised by the almost instantaneous response, but Raido was even more surprised.

He had openly pressured him to tell the truth, releasing so much killing intent that a mere brat shouldn’t have been able to withstand it, yet the other party was reacting as if nothing was wrong.

‘This kid is something else?’

Raido’s curiosity, or rather, his playfulness, was piqued, and he released his killing intent even more strongly.

Sion’s face soon turned white.

He was on the verge of collapsing from difficulty breathing, but the answer that came from Sion’s mouth remained the same.

“My father has never said a word to me about Raido-nim’s identity. I can swear on the name of Klausen County.”

“…”

At this point, it was right to see that as the unvarnished truth.

Or that this level of killing intent was not nearly enough.

“Then tell me. How did you, who feels competitive with your mere five-year-old brother, figure out my identity?”

“…The rumors circulating among the merchants were the beginning.”

“Circulating rumors?”

“The court magician oversees all the magicians in the royal palace and is a key figure in magical research. Naturally, a certain amount of magical materials would enter the royal palace accordingly.”

“And?”

“When Raido-nim was in the royal palace, mainly magical research materials related to healing were delivered. But about ten years ago, the items suddenly changed. From healing to ignition, and to magical materials needed to enhance firepower.”

At Sion’s words, Raido unknowingly let out a small exclamation.

In fact, the new court magician who came after him was a woman who was completely obsessed with fire magic.

“The reason is as weak as what’s between your legs [a crude way of saying the reasoning is flimsy]. That’s just speculation, isn’t it? Couldn’t the court magician have simply switched research from healing to fire magic?”

“This is a list of the magical materials that were always delivered at that time. Tears of fairies, dew of the night sky, blood of demons, feathers of angels. All of them are top-quality magical materials that most merchants can’t even dare to obtain. Such items were delivered to the royal palace until then. But at some point, those items began to be delivered not to the royal palace but to the merchants in charge of the frontier count’s trade.”

“…”

It was a sharp point.

He had been careful, dividing the deliveries little by little and making them irregular, but if persistent investigation continued, it would eventually be revealed.

“These items were sold to a magic material store in the city after being delivered to the merchants. But if someone bought these high-end materials, the store should have had a considerable margin left, but the taxes didn’t reflect that. That meant the books were manipulated, but when I investigated, I found that the magic materials had never been officially sold in the first place. They simply disappeared like ghosts.”

“Hmm.”

“My father must have been the first to receive this report. But he, who values the territory more than anything, kept silent about it and pretended not to know. And those magic materials were transported somewhere again by a resident. Do you know where that final destination is?”

At Sion’s words, Raido unknowingly closed his mouth.

Like a thief who has been caught in his hiding place, unable to say anything and just standing there blankly like a fool.

“It’s an empty warehouse in a small village. It’s a warehouse that the villagers use in common, but in fact, there were none of the farming tools or other items that the villagers needed inside.”

“…”

“And next to that warehouse is the house where the person standing right in front of me lives.”

After saying that, Sion paused for a moment and watched Raido’s reaction.

In fact, this guess wasn’t based on any real investigation, prediction, or any kind of reasoning from a mystery novel.

He was simply reciting the contents of the novel, which described how Raido received those expensive magic materials from the royal palace and used them in the frontier count’s territory.

“…”

Fortunately, Raido didn’t react as if he was thinking, ‘You’ve found out my secret, so you must die quietly!’

He simply raised the corners of his lips slightly, as if he was impressed, and stroked his chin.

‘Am I alive? Shiba [a Korean swear word], am I alive?’

He could feel his chances of survival, which had been close to zero, soaring.

Sion barely managed to hold back a sigh of relief, thinking that it would be best to drive a wedge in before Raido had other ideas.

“If you want to punish me for the rudeness I committed against Lucia-agassi [Miss Lucia], I will gladly accept it. The sins of a subordinate are the fault of the master, so I will accept it even if you severely reprimand me.”

Raido cherished his only daughter with all his heart.

Raido’s lips twitched at the mention of Lucia.

He wanted to curse right away, but if Lucia found out about what happened today, he would have to endure her immense anger, and Raido didn’t have the confidence to do that.

“Ha! This kid is something else.”

Raido sighed, strode over, pulled out a chair, and sat down on it.

He put his feet on the table, clasped his hands together, and supported the back of his head.

“Sion Klausen, was it?”

“Yes, it is.”

“You figured out my identity with that much, and you sensed the aura of war. I think you’re quite something.”

“Thank you.”

“But why did you hide it?”

At the sharp question, Sion paused for a moment.

It wasn’t that he was hiding it, but that the contents had simply been replaced, and he was at a loss for what to say if asked that way.

“You answered everything else well, but you’re closing your mouth at a strange place?”

This time, he wasn’t releasing killing intent, but that made Sion even more afraid.

When a madman doesn’t act like a madman, that’s when it’s most serious.

After a moment of contemplation, he sighed and opened his mouth with a hesitant air.

“I wanted to live properly.”

“What?”

What kind of novel nonsense is this?

That was Raido’s reaction.

It made sense, since someone who had been living a reckless life like a thug suddenly wanted to live properly?

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

“It’s as I said. Yes, I was definitely worse than my five-year-old brother. But at some point, I couldn’t help but see Sion Klausen as pathetic. So I made up my mind. To live properly, even now. That it’s not too late, even now.”

“…Hmm.”

“Would you call it rehabilitation?”

Yes, this is rehabilitation.

The only way for this damn weakling, but damn it, Sion Klausen, who has lived a shitty life, to survive.

He had no intention of living as an absolute powerhouse like Kim Yu-hyun.

If surviving was the trial given to him, he was going to survive no matter what.

He was an avid reader of the novel, and if he died in a panic, he would regret the time he had invested in this novel.

‘Yeah, I’ll survive. So I’ll live as Sion Klausen, Shiba [a Korean swear word], I’ll live really well!’

Meanwhile, Raido, who had been staring at Sion, tilted his head slightly and opened his mouth.

“Hey.”

“Yes, Raido-nim.”

“Yeah, I’m Raido. So you know what kind of guy I am, right?”