The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 126

126. The Prepared Future (1)

Something was shining in K’s hand.

Rewards from the Administrator were always beneficial.

The gun I received in the first round was threatening enough, but this time, that level wouldn’t be enough. [The implication is that the challenges are escalating, requiring more potent rewards.]

Unless it was a significant item, I wouldn’t say anything.

“…Alright. I’ll give you a reward so satisfying that no one can complain… A very satisfying reward. Hold out your hand.”

K opened her clenched fist.

In contrast to the dazzling light, what she held was a small spear.

A stone spear that looked like it was from prehistoric times, with a sharp stone tied to a wooden stick with twine.

“A spear.”

The stone spear flew toward me, and I caught it.

I doubted if this could even be called a spear; it was really short.

Compared to a 30cm ruler, it was about the same length or even shorter.

K provided further explanation.

“That’s not just an item. No, it’s not an item at all.”

Still holding the spear, I asked her.

“Not an item? What does that mean?”

“That is the authority of an Absolute Being. Be glad. You, this arrogant Disturbance, are the first Disturbance in the history of the past thousands of Leagues to receive that spear.”

Thousands of Leagues.

That meant Earth was just one League among thousands of League matches. [A ‘League’ likely refers to a competition or game between different worlds or factions.]

I couldn’t even begin to fathom how high-dimensional the beings who oversaw this League were.

K began to explain the spear.

“It can delete the target it pierces from the League.”

“Delete?”

“Yes. No matter how strong an S-Class player, a field boss stronger than that, or an impossible-to-clear World Boss. Any being is ‘deleted’ the moment they are pierced by that spear. It’s the authority to erase everything belonging to the League except for the terrain. To use a game analogy, it’s like a deletion cheat. However, it can only be used once.”

“…”

K took a step closer to me and continued her explanation.

“The activation conditions for the cheat key are fixed. You must concentrate the mental power consumed by the artifact onto the spearhead, and the target must touch the spearhead. If either of these two conditions is not met, the effect will not activate. There will be no additional support if it is lost.”

“What about damage?”

At my question, K smiled slightly.

“Damage? What a joke… Even if you explode the Earth, that spearhead will survive. What do you think the high-dimensional blacksmiths are? …The stick is just ordinary wood, though.”

Listening to K’s explanation, I looked at the stone spear.

It looked so weak that it would break if I just dropped it.

But if what she said was true.

This was undoubtedly an item that granted absolute authority, incomparable to anything else.

It seemed necessary to test it out.

It was possible that K had given me a defective product, so I wanted to check it in front of her.

As it happened, I was holding Jin Jaehee’s Holy Sword.

This Silver Star Sword was also an S-Class artifact, so it was suitable for testing the stone spear.

I threw the spear up into the air.

And like a baseball player, I smashed the spear that was floating in the air with the Holy Sword with all my might.

Clang-! Shatterrrrr…!

“?!”

In that instant, the Silver Star Sword, which had been an S-Class artifact, shattered into small pieces and scattered into the air.

Certainly, there wasn’t even a small scratch on the spearhead.

Of course, the wooden stick that had been holding the spearhead had disappeared without a trace.

All I needed to have was this stone blade part.

At that moment, K clicked her tongue.

“Tsk.”

I glared at her and asked again.

“This isn’t a lie, is it?”

Then K became very angry.

“Ah-! Seriously!!! This is annoying… A lie? Have I ever lied to you so far? When have I ever lied? The League regulations basically state that administrators cannot lie. And I really accepted all the conditions you wanted and gave you the reward.”

“But the end result is a ‘lie’.”

“That’s just your opinion.”

“My opinion is right.”

“Think whatever you want. You damn Disturbance…”

I thought about a way to safely carry the stone.

I wasn’t wearing anything on my body right now, so there wasn’t a good way, but even if I was wearing clothes, the safety of the stone would still be uncertain.

I had to create an item that would allow me to carry this ‘always’ on my body.

At that moment, K’s voice sank heavily.

She spoke again, mixing in honorifics.

“…However, giving you that item is only if your reasoning is valid. If the reasoning that you didn’t need the King’s qualification is not valid, then that item will be confiscated. This is an order directly given to me by the higher-ups.”

“I know.”

I wasn’t worried about that part.

I was sure that the decision I had made now was the way to get closer to my brother.

There was no time.

I started explaining as simply and quickly as possible.

“There’s a premise. It’s not that I’m giving up the position of King.”

“But you said you didn’t need the position of King. I’m saying to convince me of that.”

“Alright.”

I looked at her and began to speak.

* * *

The throne, in a way, can be the highest position a human can reach.

In modern times, it has been replaced by the ‘President,’ and whether it’s a president or a tribal chief, leaders have powerful authority in any era.

But that was all true when the world was normal.

In a world where nothing is guaranteed, the position of King has no value.

Sion said to K.

“I just thought there was no longer any need for me to stay here and serve the citizens of Mangyeong.”

“Serve…? In the League, a monarch means you can enjoy that much qualification and status, right?”

“If my goal was wealth and fame, I would have. But my goal is to find my brother. That’s my unchanging purpose.”

Since the League started, and until now, several years have passed.

Sion had never forgotten his purpose even once.

However, he had only cooperated with K to find his brother during that time.

Wealth? Fame?

Sion didn’t need any of it.

But he thought he could use it.

To find his brother.

“From now on, Mangyeong will be used as my own factory to achieve my goals. Gold, resources, food, and even troops if necessary. The power itself becomes my strength. A 98% approval rating. This number is for that. The citizens of Mangyeong now will all understand and accept it with just one word from me. They think of me as their savior.”

Kang Sion had been ‘training’ the citizens with the very sweet reward of ‘stable survival’.

All of them to be used as his own chess pieces.

“…”

“The position of monarch… is sweet. But that’s only limited to the past. If it were ancient times, living as a king would be the most ideal, but now?”

K couldn’t answer Sion’s question.

“It wouldn’t be. Every time a round progresses, the monarch of one faction must die. A position where you die every round. It’s not a very good position.”

“Then you will be eliminated. You know that, right? All the rounds so far… were possible because you were in a faction.”

“…No. You’re wrong.”

K took a small step back.

Sion said again.

“Who said I’m stepping down from the position of King? I’m maintaining the status of King, but I’m no longer going to care about the national affairs of Mangyeong. As I said before, Mangyeong is now my sponsor. A place that only sponsors me, for me, and will be my strength. And…”

Even if you’re not in the position of monarch, even if you’re not in the position of a citizen, you can still play the rounds.

That was what Sion had heard from Jin Jaehee in advance.

“A Wanderer.”

“…?!

“Wanderers have been wandering around here and there without belonging to any faction.”

“…”

“The ‘wall’ seems to be released faster for Wanderers than for players belonging to a faction.”

In the first round, the wall that blocked the building gradually widened as the round progressed.

K clearly said.

As the rounds progress, the area will gradually widen.

But there was something strange.

The fact that Wanderers traveled between several cities from the second round when the city was sealed off.

The conclusion that can be inferred from this is that Wanderers are playing their own rounds.

And this was true.

He had already confirmed that fact through Choi Hyunji.

So he made a plan to change the reward to something else.

To my advantage, and to meet my brother as soon as possible.

“Give me and Jin Jaehee the authority of ‘Wanderers’. Changing jobs wouldn’t be difficult, right? Choi Hyunji told me that if you don’t belong to a faction, you automatically become a Wanderer. And even if you belong to a faction, you can ask the administrator. So, this is a cheaper reward than the location information of your brother that you mentioned. No, it’s almost free. Now, give it to me. Give me that authority.”

Sion reached out his hand.

“…!”

Now, if I get the authority of a Wanderer, I will be able to explore a wider area than before.

The area unlocked for ‘players belonging to a faction’ is a small area.

The area Kang Sion currently belongs to is only ‘Southern Gyeonggi’.

But Wanderers currently had the authority to travel all over South Korea.

The ‘continent’ has not yet been unlocked for Wanderers, but the probability that Kang Junho went to North Korea or Japan was close to zero.

Sion thought.

‘I have a Regressor.’ [A ‘Regressor’ is someone who has returned from the future or a past timeline.]

Jin Jaehee.

She is a truly amazing being.

Having already experienced the League in her past life, she has overcome numerous challenges based on her rich knowledge of the apocalypse and overwhelming combat power.

The power that Jin Jaehee possesses was more valuable than this small stone.

Anyway, Sion only needed to find his brother, and after finding his brother, he also had the idea of ending this damn League.

Now he will be different.

The monarch had the advantage of overwhelming status and power, but there was a fatal disadvantage to that.

That is that the monarch’s movement is limited.

But Wanderers are different.

Wanderers have no restrictions on movement.

If Sion is granted the additional status of Wanderer, he can roam freely without belonging to any faction. Moreover, he can receive the full support of the massive faction of Mangyeong.

And until now, none of the Wanderers had ever received the full support of a faction.

At this moment, a Wanderer backed by a ‘faction’ was being born for the first time.

Kang Sion was trying to take advantage of that point and play the next round from the most advantageous position.

“But then you will have to handle the round quests twice. The quests that the monarch has to play and even the individual quests given to the Wanderers!”

K’s voice was full of excitement.

That was right.

If Kang Sion gains the authority of a Wanderer, he will have to perform the quests of the King and the Wanderer at the same time.

But there was no problem.

“Do you think I can’t do it?”

Power in Mangyeong is subdivided, and each department head and staff member has maintained the faction so far.

The faction of Mangyeong, which Kang Sion had painstakingly built up during the past rounds, was already complete.

All that was left was the individual quests given to the Wanderers.

And if the position of monarch was in the way, there was no need to try to keep that position.

Even if he wasn’t exactly the position of monarch, the reputation that the citizens of Mangyeong had for Kang Sion was already overwhelming.

That was why Kang Sion expected the support of the faction to continue.

This was the difference between Sion and other monarchs.

If other monarchs ruled with fear, Kang Sion ruled with hope.

Now he had only one purpose.

To travel around the country as a Wanderer and find Junho.

There was no more time to delay.

Sion looked at K and asked.

“Are you convinced?”

It was the most suitable method for Kang Sion’s position and purpose.

The beings who were watching this scene could also be sufficiently convinced.

No, they were rather cheering.

Towards their new star.

K had promised to make Kang Sion a star for the beings, but Sion became a star on his own.

Becoming a star of the beings meant that he had become a person that even the administrator could not treat carelessly.

Now K couldn’t even touch Kang Sion with a fingertip.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it…!’

The bet that the Absolute Being had proposed to K.

The order to eliminate Kang Sion.

She thought that it might be a trap that the Absolute Being had thrown at K herself.

The Absolute Being knew from the beginning.

What kind of being Kang Sion was.

The rewards of war, the rewards of the administrator, and the rewards of the beings.

These were the things Sion had gained through this war.

(To be continued in the next episode)