The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 12

#12. Rapid Development (1)

First floor, Hong Team’s base.

The bodies were all moved.

I went back down to the first floor to check the base.

There was vomit everywhere, but I couldn’t afford to worry about that right now.

There had been a battle, and not only did we have to move the bodies, but we also had to build barricades and relocate the base.

People were exhausted.

It was already 6:20 AM, time for the morning sun to rise.

People hadn’t slept for hours.

The elderly and children were nodding off, and even the physically fit adults were panting.

There wasn’t much to eat, the smell was terrible, and there was a sense of unease.

They needed rest now.

If the Blue Team attacked while everyone was asleep, they would die without being able to put up a proper resistance.

We had to set up a night watch.

“Please pay attention for a moment.”

Despite their exhaustion, people looked at me.

“Let’s set up a night watch. I’ll take volunteers first.”

We simply formed three teams of two people each.

Escalator, stairs, elevator.

One team was assigned to each.

Except for Jin Jaehee, who was out scouting.

And Kwon Kyungsoo and his four people who were producing food, five people in total.

Excluding those six, there were a total of 33 people left here.

Three teams of six, taking turns on two-hour shifts, would secure 24 hours.

I considered the productivity of the manpower.

There was no need to mobilize all personnel for the night watch.

However, we couldn’t neglect the night watch either.

What we needed most was to strengthen our forces, so we pulled out only the minimum number of people to stand guard.

“Only six people will stand guard. The night watch will continue non-stop in two-hour intervals. In return, they will be excluded from all other tasks. I’ll take the elderly and children.”

The physically healthy adults were excluded from the night watch.

At those words, some of the adults lowered their hands.

Soon, two children and four elderly people came forward.

I earnestly asked them.

“You must not lose focus for even a moment while on duty. Even when you need to use the restroom, ask a nearby colleague to watch your post. The night watch is important. All of our lives depend on it. And if you sense danger or if anything happens, run away first. Remember, your lives always come first.”

The children swallowed hard.

I looked at the smaller of the children.

He was probably only 13 years old.

At most, he looked to be around Junho’s age.

I said to the child.

“This is important. Really important. While the remaining adults look for a solution, you need to be our eyes. Can you do it?”

I looked into the child’s eyes and asked, and the child nodded silently.

The young child’s face was stained with fatigue, which pained my heart.

It reminded me even more of Junho.

I stroked the child’s head.

Then, turning to the four elderly people, I said.

“Okay. Now go. Remember what I said.”

They decided on their order among themselves and soon went up to the 3rd floor.

What remained was rest to maintain our strength.

“The rest of you, get some sleep, even if it’s just for a little while. I’ll wake you up in exactly 5 hours.”

Only then did people relax their expressions.

Now that we had set up a night watch, they would be able to sleep a little more comfortably.

Fortunately, this place was a shopping mall.

The first-floor lounge had a lot of clothes, along with luxury goods.

There were plenty of bedding materials.

They piled up heaps of expensive padded jackets that had now become useless on the floor and lay down on them one by one.

Those who felt cold covered themselves with mink coats and slept.

They started to sleep, using luxury bags as pillows.

It was the time when the morning sun was rising.

I couldn’t sleep yet.

* * *

The first-floor lounge where everyone was asleep.

The sounds of snoring and teeth grinding filled the air.

In one corner, I lit a candle.

Under the bright candlelight, I placed the materials I had gathered from here and there on the floor.

The Blue Team would have at least one knife per soldier.

The restaurant floor was overflowing with knives.

Therefore, the Hong Team had to produce their own weapons.

The mop handle was longer than a kitchen knife in terms of striking length, but its durability and aggressiveness were weak.

There had to be another way.

‘How to kill people effectively.’

It was a concern I had never even thought about in my entire life.

That’s why I was a little surprised at myself.

But the surprise was only momentary as I examined the tools again.

There was no time to get caught up in unnecessary thoughts.

The goblin’s dagger.

As I held the dagger in my hand, a faint item status window appeared before my eyes.

This was probably an ability that applied to all players.

●[Temporary]

Goblin’s Crude Dagger (+0)

Rank: F

Attack Power: 2

Durability: 2

Special Effect: x

Acquisition Difficulty: Low

Even excluding attack power, rank, and special effects, the durability was only 2 at best.

Human skin and bones are tougher and harder than you think.

With this level of blade, it wouldn’t be able to stand up to a kitchen knife.

Bang! Crash!

When I slammed it down on the floor, the dagger shattered into pieces.

‘This won’t work.’

I threw the shattered dagger on the floor and thought of another way.

I needed a more precise and sharper weapon.

As I was thinking that, I felt a presence.

“But wouldn’t this be pretty good if you used it as a spear? Not swinging it, but stabbing.”

I turned my head at the voice.

There was a woman squatting there, examining the mop handle.

She was a fairly long-haired woman with brown dyed hair that reached her waist.

The woman shook the mop handle in her hand and said.

“This, this. It’s long and shaped like a spear.”

“It’ll break the moment you stab.”

The mop handle was made of plastic at best.

It would be insufficient to pierce human skin with that.

“Hmm… really?”

But the woman tilted her head and then continued.

“Then how about a javelin?”

Whoosh-. Clatter.

The woman threw the mop handle weakly.

The mop handle went forward and fell weakly to the ground.

I shook my head.

“That wouldn’t work either. It doesn’t have enough weight to fly far, and the accuracy is terrible.”

“Then we can add weight!”

Suddenly, the woman seemed excited and stood up, starting to grab the clothes nearby.

She started wrapping the clothes around the mop handle.

These were the clothes that had been haphazardly discarded in the shopping mall lounge.

“Okay. Done.”

The woman held the mop handle and smiled softly.

I was still looking at her, and she pulled back the hand holding the spear.

Soon, something amazing happened.

The mop handle, released from the woman’s grip, drew a curve similar to a straight line and flew forward.

Thud.

The mop handle flew cleanly and fell to the ground.

“Oh.”

The woman seemed surprised herself and pursed her lips.

Certainly, wrapping the clothes around the mop handle made it stable with the added weight.

It was an unexpected gain.

“Not bad.”

“It’s good, right? Right? Isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Using the mop handle as a throwing weapon was good.

But if we couldn’t solve the problem of the blade, its lethality would be low.

Then the woman came up with another ingenious idea and started sticking something on the end of the handle.

‘What is she doing?’

I took another step closer and watched carefully what she was doing.

The end of the mop handle had a round groove where something could be inserted.

The woman brought the goblin’s dagger to the groove and started forcing it in.

With her tongue sticking out, she enjoyed assembling it like a child playing with Lego for the first time.

“Hmm. It’s not working well. Just a moment.”

Eventually, the woman inserted the dagger into the mop handle.

Luckily, the dagger fit perfectly inside the groove.

“Done! Should I throw it once?”

The woman turned to me and asked, and I nodded.

The woman held the completed spear and looked around.

Then she found a place where clothes were piled up and threw the spear there.

Whoosh-. Thwack-!

The spear flew straight and pierced the pile of clothes.

It was amazing.

Even more amazing than that was the woman’s ability.

It was definitely not something she had done just once or twice.

She showed the innate qualities of a hunter.

When I pulled out the spear, the blade had pierced through two or three layers of clothing.

“How is it? Isn’t this good enough?”

The woman turned to me and said.

I slowly approached and pulled out the spear stuck in the pile of clothes.

Then, the weapon’s information naturally came to mind.

●

Crude Spear (+0) (Combination)

Rank: F

Attack Power: 3

Durability: 5

Special Effect: x

Acquisition Difficulty: Low

The attack power had increased by 1, and the durability had increased by a whopping 3.

Simply combining weapons changed the item settings.

Thinking about it, it was a simple combination method.

But I couldn’t easily think of it.

Was it because I had too many worries?

Come to think of it, I had been having a slight headache since earlier.

The spear devised by the woman was excellent.

It was a disposable weapon that would only be used here anyway.

If we left the shopping mall, we could get better weapons, but for now, this was enough.

“Can you keep making these?”

I asked, looking at the spear, and the woman nodded.

“Yeah, of course.”

“About 50 of them. The mop handles will be on the 7th floor. That’s where the interior design stores are.”

“Ah, 50? Okay, okay. Why not? I was bored anyway.”

As the woman was about to start working right away, I stopped her.

“Do it after you wake up. You’re tired.”

“No, I’m not tired.”

The woman replied innocently, and I lowered my head slightly as if I had lost.

“Okay, then can I ask you to do that?”

“Of course. Your Majesty. I will do my best.”

Smiling broadly.

The woman called me that as if she were acting in a historical drama, and carried the materials from here and there.

I stared at her blankly and then asked casually.

“What’s your name?”

“Me?”

The woman, who was holding a dagger in both hands, replied.

“Lee Jooyeon. What about you?”

“Kang Si-On.”

I lowered my head and picked up the dagger on the floor.

“But you know, you’re really smart, aren’t you?”

“It’s nothing.”

I listened to her voice and collected the daggers.

“My younger brother is also really smart. He’s a real genius. A genius. But I really hate using my head. I feel like I’m going to throw up just looking at numbers.”

I didn’t bother to answer and just listened.

“But I really didn’t know, but my younger brother is your friend?”

‘Friend?’

I abruptly stopped the hand trying to grab the dagger.

Friend.

I don’t have any friends in my life.

Because I didn’t have the luxury to have any.

“Who is it?”

I turned to her and asked, and she immediately replied.

“Lee Sebeom.”

I repeated his name.

But even so, no one came to mind.

I dropped out of middle school and started working part-time right away.

If it was a friendship that could be called a friend, it would be referring to my friendships up to middle school.

Lee Sebeom in middle school.

But even so, no one came to mind.

“Okay, I understand.”

I couldn’t think of a proper answer.

Even if he’s a friend, it doesn’t change anything for me.

I just needed to focus on what’s in front of me.

I hurried to make the spears again.

Now that I knew how to make them, all that was left was production.

Combine mop handles, goblin daggers, and clothing to create new weapons.

Squeeze……

As I tied the clothes to add weight to the spear, another status window appeared before my eyes.

[You have acquired the Crude Spear Crafting Method!]

[Crafting Skill + 1]

It was as if everything in everyday life had turned into a game.

Even if I was just doing something, a status window would always pop up.

It wasn’t difficult to adapt, but it was still difficult to understand.

Anyway, I had to be familiar with this status window to be able to proceed smoothly with the game in the future.

I continued to make spears, following the woman.

Each time, the skill leveled up.

[Crafting Skill + 1]

[Crafting Skill + 1]

[Crafting Skill + 1]

At first, it was once every two or three times. Now, I had to make about 10 to level up.

I wondered if this was only happening to me, so I turned to the woman, but she was also checking her status window.

Of course, I couldn’t see other people’s status windows.

What I saw was the woman’s hand gestures waving in the air.

I turned my head back and hurried to make the spears.

The time was now 10:30.

There had been one night watch change, and there were no special events.

And the moment I made the 22nd spear, another status window appeared before my eyes.

[You have acquired a skill!]

[Skill…….]

(Continued in the next episode)