The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 138

138. The Unveiling Truth (2)

After a simple meal at Chaeng’s house, the expedition and I headed toward the village chief’s residence.

The chief and several villagers were gathered there to see us off.

“Hehe, did you all rest well last night? I feel heavy-hearted that I couldn’t provide proper hospitality.”

The chief stroked his white beard, looking apologetic.

Choi Hyun-ji waved her hand dismissively.

“No, not at all. We rested really well before leaving.”

That was true.

Despite the many suspicious aspects, the hospitality shown by the villagers was excessive.

It would have been even more satisfying if it weren’t for Choi Myung-joon’s snoring, but that wasn’t the village’s fault.

“Chaeng will guide you. He will lead you along the path that Kang Jun-ho took.”

Hearing my brother’s name, I unconsciously clenched my fist.

Only when Jin Jae-hee gently placed her hand on my arm was I able to calm down.

I couldn’t let go of my suspicion of them until we left the forest, but I desperately needed the information about my brother that they possessed.

At that moment, a small child squeezed through the crowd of villagers.

It was Hana.

“Take this! Smell! Rain smell! It’s going to rain!”

Hana held a broad tree branch like an umbrella in her hand.

Hana ran toward us and abruptly handed the branch to Jae-hee.

“To me?”

“Give! Get wet! Don’t like cold! Water! Cold!”

Jin Jae-hee awkwardly accepted the branch, still uncomfortable with Hana’s innocence.

Choi Myung-joon, who had been watching, interjected in a booming voice.

“Hey, kid. Are you discriminating against people? What about us?”

“No! You’re ugly!”

“What? You little runt!”

As Choi Myung-joon got angry, Chaeng stepped in again to cover Hana’s mouth.

“You! Hana! What kind of manners are those to guests!”

“Uuub!”

Leaving the small commotion behind, I looked around.

The village scenery remained unchanged.

The villagers were seeing us off with warm smiles, and the children were still laughing brightly.

It was a scene of a generous countryside village that anyone could see.

I almost felt foolish for being so wary.

‘If this were the original world, that is.’

But the world had changed.

Now, trusting someone who approached with a smile was not just foolish.

It was a dangerous thing that could cost you your life.

And that was a universal rule, even in this remote place.

I firmly held onto the suspicion that was trying to loosen.

At that moment, an ominous sound came from the sky.

Rumble.

The sound of thunder rumbled in the distant sky.

“Oh, my? It really looks like it’s going to rain. Hey, give us an umbrella too!”

“Eek… No! This is precious! Find! Difficult!”

“Ugh! Let’s just go! Are you going to die from getting rained on? You’re so big.”

Choi Hyun-ji’s nagging, Choi Myung-joon’s grumbling, and Jin Jae-hee’s awkward bearing.

It was now a familiar sight.

“Alright, everyone. I’ll lead the way, so please follow me slowly.”

Chaeng, who had stepped forward, was gesturing toward us.

My party and I headed toward the forest, following him.

As I turned back at the village entrance, the villagers waved with bright smiles.

‘It’s really a village I can’t figure out until the end.’

As soon as I entered the forest path, I tensed up and prepared for any possible situation.

* * *

The forest was truly vast.

My party and I walked for several days.

It was hard to estimate how many days had passed, but at least my party and I were tired of the endless greenery.

Still, the scenery of the forest wasn’t always the same.

The deep green color of the forest was gradually fading, and a different landscape than the forest we saw in Bitnam was unfolding.

“Wait a moment. Everyone, please stop for a moment.”

Chaeng warned in a low voice.

The party stopped briefly and looked at me.

“Why?”

I stopped walking and asked Chaeng.

“It seems difficult to go any further from here.”

At Chaeng’s words, I looked around.

The forest, which had been lush with green, was now tinged with a light purple color.

It was a faint purple color, but it was a color that couldn’t be seen in the Bitnam forest.

“Poison…”

Jin Jae-hee muttered.

I quietly took a breath.

A very slight, tingling scent was mixed in with the smell of grass.

“Oh dear. I didn’t expect this.”

Chaeng said in a low voice.

I stepped forward and asked Chaeng.

“What do you mean?”

“Yes. Kang Jun-ho passed this way and headed to the Green Dragon’s lair. Perhaps, this poisonous area was created during the battle between Kang Jun-ho and his companions and the Green Dragon.”

My brother’s companions.

And the Green Dragon.

I exchanged glances with Jin Jae-hee.

So the Green Dragon’s corpse I saw at Uiwang Station was Jun-ho’s work.

Jun-ho was also active as a wanderer and properly participating in the league.

Besides, the Green Dragon…

My younger brother, who was small and fragile, seemed to have grown much stronger than I thought.

That fact encouraged me even more.

It meant that the probability of my brother still being alive was even higher.

While Chaeng was carefully observing the poisonous zone, Jin Jae-hee discovered something and gave me a look.

Looking at where Jin Jae-hee’s gaze was directed, I saw an unidentified black mass.

‘What is it?’

At first, I couldn’t recognize it properly.

It just looked like a pile of mud covered with clothes.

But as I looked closer, I was soon able to identify it.

“A soldier of Mangyeong [a region or military faction within the story’s world].”

Jin Jae-hee whispered to me.

What I thought was mud was the remains of the soldier’s flesh and bones that had rotted away.

He was in a position where he had tried to escape after belatedly realizing that he had entered the poisonous zone.

‘That uniform is definitely our Mangyeong’s uniform.’

Unlike the rotten flesh, the clothes and weapons were relatively intact.

As if it didn’t affect inanimate objects.

“Why is a Mangyeong soldier dead in a place like this?”

“I don’t know. The only people who could come from Mangyeong are the support troops that will depart in six days.”

A missing soldier?

Or just a wanderer who stole and wore a Mangyeong soldier’s uniform?

I couldn’t be sure of anything.

At that time, Chaeng approached us as we were talking.

“What are you looking at? Ah… A corpse. But do you know him?”

“He’s my subordinate.”

At my answer, Chaeng slightly twitched his eyebrows.

I kept every single one of Chaeng’s trivial actions in my memory.

There was something more important to do now.

“Is there a way to bypass it?”

At my question, Chaeng lowered the corners of his mouth as if he wasn’t confident and shook his head.

“There is a way to bypass it, but few of our residents know the way properly around here. I’m familiar with the forest, so if I look for it, I might be able to find a way…”

“You have to find it, no matter how long it takes.”

I dismissed Chaeng’s concerns in one word.

This was why I had been trading with the Absolutes using K [likely a currency or resource within the story] in preparation for this kind of situation.

The King’s authority.

If my brother had companions, I had the King’s authority.

I didn’t have a way to get through the poisonous zone right away, but I had the power to mobilize a large number of people to carry out a search operation.

“Then do you know the way back to Mangyeong?”

“Mangyeong? Ah. Yes. I know it. It will take as long as it took to get here, but we have enough supplies.”

I was satisfied with Chaeng’s positive answer.

“Brother. Are you going back to Mangyeong?”

“Yes. This journey was just the first search anyway. I’m going back to Mangyeong to form a search party and come back.”

At the word search party, Chaeng’s eyebrows twitched again.

The smiling poker face was still the same, but I didn’t miss that small change.

Clearly, Chaeng didn’t seem to welcome the search party.

Rumble.

At that time.

The sky shook once again.

The sky, which had been rumbling since the day we left Bitnam, was now filled with dark clouds.

And no sooner had that thought ended than a heavy rain began to pour down.

Swish-!

It was not a good element for our journey.

“Here’s an umbrella.”

Jae-hee came to me and held out the tree branch she had received from Hana.

I quietly refused the tree branch in Jae-hee’s hand.

Nevertheless, she came next to me and raised the tree branch umbrella.

How long had it been since the party had set off again?

The rain continued to pour down without stopping, and the party was getting more and more tired.

I couldn’t properly estimate the time because of the dark clouds, but it seemed like we had walked for about six hours.

“Let’s take a break.”

I stopped Chaeng.

Chaeng, who had been leading the way, turned to look at us and bowed his head as if he hadn’t thought of it.

“Ah. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking of you all. I’m used to the forest path, so… But if we go a little further, there’s a place to rest ahead.”

Chaeng seemed hesitant to stop the party right away.

“Ugh. Let’s just rest here for a while. Just sit down anywhere and that’s a break.”

This time, Choi Hyun-ji, who was the most exhausted, complained first.

After walking the rough forest path for several days, it was perhaps natural that her stamina was running out.

But Chaeng remained strangely adamant.

“Ah, no. If we go just a little further, there’s a really good place to rest…”

“Tsk. Don’t beat around the bush and tell me straight.”

It was Choi Myung-joon who first became angry at Chaeng’s lukewarm attitude.

Myung-joon also pretended to be okay, but he couldn’t ignore the fatigue that had accumulated over time.

Myung-joon was constantly breathing heavily.

But Choi Myung-joon couldn’t bring himself to say that he was tired and wanted to rest because of his bluff, and he just kept looking at me.

“Let’s just rest here. I want to conserve my energy.”

At my adamant attitude, Chaeng began to subtly look at the party’s reactions.

“Still…”

Jin Jae-hee seemed to still be wary of Chaeng and was preparing to use her artifact [a magical or special item].

Tension began to rise among the party.

Then.

“Ahaha! I understand. If that’s the case, let’s rest here. I was just trying to guide you more comfortably, so I guess I was being presumptuous. Please forgive me.”

Chaeng smiled brightly as if nothing had happened and raised both hands.

Only then did the party briefly put down their luggage and stretch their stiff bodies.

Jin Jae-hee also slightly relaxed her sharp energy and relaxed her posture.

* * *

Was it because of the arduous journey?

Choi Myung-joon, who had such good stamina, began to doze off.

Several hours passed.

Jin Jae-hee, who had been sitting on the floor, closing her eyes and meditating, suddenly opened her eyes.

“Vibration.”

There was a heavy tension in Jin Jae-hee’s voice.

As she muttered softly, a vibration that everyone could feel shook the ground.

Coo-goong-!

The sound of something huge being dragged across the ground.

Crack-!

The sound of water-soaked trees being crushed and falling.

But the vibration was only getting closer.

Creak!

The trees surrounding us all fell down.

And the protagonist of the vibration revealed itself through the crushed trees.

If you were to crush a person and knead them like a dumpling, would they look like that?

The monster dragged its round body with its long tentacles and approached us.

It was spewing a sticky, dark red liquid, whether it was blood or saliva, from its large mouth in the center.

“Kkeueooooooo!”

The monster wailed, and Chaeng, who saw it, shouted.

“Aaaah! Dueoksini [monster’s name]! Everyone, run away!”

Chaeng quickly got up and ran to hide behind the party.

Jin Jae-hee stepped forward.

As always, she had sensed the danger in advance and immediately took a combat stance.

Then, Kang Si-on grabbed Jae-hee’s shoulder and said.

“I’ll do it.”

(To be continued)