The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 140

140. Forest of the Fallen (2)

Choi Hyun-ji stood before the dozens of boxes, a bewildered look on her face.

The boxes were pristine.

It was as if they had been stacked up in the last day or two.

There was no sign of contamination, not even a scratch.

“W-Why are there so many…?”

Choi Hyun-ji carefully examined the boxes.

Tearing open one at random, she picked up a piece of paper placed on top, her face registering astonishment.

Week 52, Periodic Report.

The paper contained a report on the current situation in Man-gyeong.

-The current food situation in Man-gyeong is…

-Seoul Metro Forces Report… Monitoring enemy movements.

-Groups of wanderers wishing to immigrate to Man-gyeong…

-Ideological indoctrination of second-class citizens is successful…

The report covered everything from basic conditions in Man-gyeong to complex new developments. Choi Hyun-ji, her eyes wide with disbelief, stopped at the last sentence.

-March 21, 2026. End of report.

“2026? No…?”

The League had only started three years ago.

So, it should be 2025 now.

But the date on the last report was 2026.

She had experienced countless bizarre things as a wanderer.

But nothing was as incomprehensible as what was happening before her eyes.

Her voice dropped, heavy with suspicion.

“Care to explain?”

Choi Hyun-ji glared at Chaeng.

“Or, do you want to die?”

“W-What… are you talking about?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Thwack-!

In an instant, Choi Hyun-ji grabbed Chaeng’s neck.

A black tendril shot out from her wrist.

It slowly began to tighten around Chaeng’s throat.

Chaeng struggled, coughing and gasping for air.

Choi Hyun-ji threw him to the ground.

“Your life depends on what you say. You’d better explain properly.”

She nudged the fallen Chaeng with her foot.

At that moment, Chaeng’s eyes began to glow red.

“What…?”

And more than that was changing.

His fingernails, toenails, and teeth were growing longer.

“Witch…! We have to offer that woman…! We can’t help it!!!”

Shouting, Chaeng lunged at Choi Hyun-ji.

Whoosh-!

* * *

“So, this is what those boxes are?”

I gestured towards the boxes and looked at Choi Hyun-ji.

Choi Hyun-ji wrinkled her nose, sniffing at her coat.

“Yeah, that’s it. Ah-. That crazy perverted psycho. He suddenly charged at me… I smell like rotting corpses all over. Ugh…! I want to wash up quickly!”

-Gyaaaaaaak!!! Gyaak! Gyaaaaaaak!!!!

Chaeng, now transformed into a ghoul, was bound by the black tendril, screaming wildly.

I pressed Choi Hyun-ji again.

“Focus on what I’m saying. Did this come from Man-gyeong? Over the past year?”

“Yeah. That’s right. I’ve been checking since before you guys came, and supply boxes have been piling up every week. They’re all from Man-gyeong. I counted them earlier. How many boxes was it again?”

“52 boxes.”

“Right, 52 boxes!”

The dozens of boxes were neatly stacked.

Moreover, they weren’t ordinary cardboard boxes, but durable PP [polypropylene] boxes used for moving.

Choi Myung-joon tore at his hair in frustration.

“No! I don’t understand? What are you talking about? The supplies from Man-gyeong were supposed to come every week. It doesn’t make sense that there are 52 boxes here now. We’ve only been here for a week!”

It had been a week since we arrived, but a year had passed outside.

Simplistically, one week here was equivalent to one year outside.

It was an unbelievable fact, but for now, I couldn’t think of any other explanation for this phenomenon.

I looked at Chaeng, who was writhing against the black restraints.

-Gyaaaaaaak!!!! Gyaaaaaaak!!!!!!

Chaeng’s gaze was fixed on one person, his teeth bared.

Jin Jae-hee.

She frowned, looking displeased.

“Give her to me!!!!!!!!! Give me that woman right now!!!!!!!!!”

Ignoring Chaeng’s babbling, I examined the report.

It was definitely Ha Yoon-ha’s handwriting.

Moreover, the records of the past year were too detailed to be fabricated.

Of course, there was no reason to make it up.

It seemed like these reports were genuine.

Especially the content about rumors circulating about replacing me as king since I hadn’t returned, and the records of external forces like Metro and Gangnam.

It was disturbingly realistic.

In addition, there were dozens of personal letters from Ha Yoon-ha.

Saying that she couldn’t find me, that she had sent search parties with the supplies but no one had returned, and that she was continuing to send supplies, believing I was still alive.

Choi Hyun-ji fluttered the envelopes, showing them to me.

“There’s a letter about me too~. What a guy, cute. But the difference in the number of letters is real. 20 letters to the king… 15 to me… Even our little sister got 2 letters… The thug got none. Heh!”

“What’s so funny?”

“No~. It’s just that you didn’t get a single one.”

“Would there be one? Huh?! We weren’t even close in the first place.”

“Heh. Are you sulking? So. Fix that shitty personality of yours. Then you’ll make friends.”

“You son of a…!”

I ignored the bickering and focused on the report.

If all of this was true, returning to Man-gyeong was the right move.

Either way, there was no way to pass through the poison zone right now.

Besides, I had found out that my sister had passed through this place, so I had already achieved my goal to some extent.

It was a pity, but now it was right to return to Man-gyeong and plan for the future.

To do that, I had to find a way back.

It would be convenient to have a guide.

That guy seemed suitable.

Chaeng was still trembling, his eyes locked on Jin Jae-hee.

As I approached, he began to thrash even more.

“Rather!!!!!! Rather!!!!!! Just kill me… If I can’t take that woman… we… Ah, no. No! If I’m going to die anyway, even if it’s just one drop of blood…!”

Suddenly realizing that the monster was speaking human language, the sight felt grotesque.

I approached him and squatted down.

Even though I was right in front of him, Chaeng’s eyes were fixed on only one place.

Only on Jin Jae-hee.

I looked into his crazed eyes and asked.

“You. Do you know how to get out of this forest?”

-Kaaaaaaa…

The stench of rotting corpses vibrated.

It was a smell I had smelled before.

A smell that would come from an ogre’s feces.

It was the smell of eating and digesting humans.

“Choi Myung-joon. Dagger.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“Woman…! Give me that woman…!”

As soon as I received the dagger from Choi Myung-joon, I immediately stabbed it into the guy’s forehead.

Thwack-!

Dark red blood splattered everywhere.

“Since he’s a monster, he probably won’t die from this much.”

“If you let me drink just one drop…!”

Chaeng showed no signs of pain.

“Want me to do more?”

I pulled out the dagger and stabbed him in the neck this time.

Once again, blood splattered everywhere.

This time too, the guy showed no signs of pain.

‘Doesn’t he feel pain? Or is he so consumed by madness that he can’t feel pain?’

I repeated the stabbing several times.

Like the pirate barrel toy I used to play with as a child.

Waiting for the scream to pop out of that guy’s neck, just like the pirate’s head popping out of the barrel.

But the guy only repeated the same words over and over again.

By the time his whole body was covered in dark red blood, as if he had taken a shower in blood, I stopped torturing him.

I was panting heavily.

“Hyung. Should we switch? You look a little tired.”

Choi Myung-joon asked, handing me a water bottle.

I took the water bottle from him and took a sip.

“It’s okay. Just kill him.”

If torture doesn’t work, there’s no need to waste unnecessary time.

There are plenty of opponents who will be affected by torture anyway.

If this guy is a monster, then the residents of Bitnam are also very likely to be monsters.

Therefore, if no torture works, burn this entire area…

“That one drop of blood….”

Chaeng was still muttering.

Even with knife marks all over his body, he continued to speak with difficulty.

“I’m going to die anyway… So… Before that, that blood… Just let me drink one drop.”

Chaeng’s whole body drooped, but his eyes were still consistently directed at one place.

“How to get out of here… Who we are… And if you want, even your sister…!”

For the first time, the guy’s crazed eyes turned to me.

“I’ll tell you. Everything. So just one drop. Just let me eat one drop of blood, enough to fill my mouth…!”

At that moment, Jin Jae-hee took out a dagger and cut her finger.

Trickle-.

Red blood slowly flowed from her finger.

“If you want it that much, I’ll give it to you. Blood.”

-Gyaaaaaaaaaaak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gyaaaaaaaaaaak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Give it to me!!!!!! Give it to me!!!!!!! Give it!!!!!!!!!

Chaeng, who looked like he was dying, started thrashing like crazy again as soon as he saw Jin Jae-hee’s blood.

I grabbed Jin Jae-hee’s wrist as she approached Chaeng.

“You don’t have to sacrifice yourself like that. We can just find another way.”

Jin Jae-hee naturally released my hand.

She was firm.

“I’m okay. And this is the fastest way.”

Chaeng was struggling wildly.

Choi Hyun-ji began to manipulate the black tendril, covering Chaeng’s entire body.

Leaving only his mouth.

And the black tendril opened Chaeng’s mouth and pulled out his tongue.

Jin Jae-hee put her finger, from which blood was dripping, over Chaeng’s tongue.

-Kahahaha… Kahaaaa…

Drip.

A drop of blood fell on Chaeng’s tongue.

Then a few drops of blood slowly fell, and soon it flowed down.

Drip. Drip.

Trickle trickle trickle-.

Chaeng trembled all over as he consumed Jin Jae-hee’s blood.

The amount of one drop was quite a lot.

It was almost the amount drawn through blood donation.

Jin Jae-hee was looking down at Chaeng with contempt in her eyes, without any signs of pain.

About 3 minutes passed.

Jin Jae-hee withdrew her finger.

“If you don’t talk, I’ll kill you slowly. So you can feel yourself dying.”

She spat out those harsh words and stepped back.

Chaeng remained still for a while, rolling his tongue and savoring the blood.

Then, in order to feel the taste even more, he smacked his lips repeatedly.

After a long time, he dropped his head to the ground with a thud.

The black tendril that had wrapped around Chaeng’s entire body slowly subsided.

Only then did Chaeng’s eyes appear.

Chaeng’s white eyes, filled with tears.

“I’ll tell you everything… Everything….”

Chaeng opened his mouth, sobbing.

* * *

Elf.

A race that eternally pursues beauty.

They lived peacefully in the magic forest.

But one day, one elf committed fratricide.

The elf, who unknowingly tasted the blood of his fellow elf, felt that his body was changing.

Time makes living things weak and decays them.

But he realized that if he consumed this beautiful blood and flesh, he would no longer age.

After that.

The elves faced tragedy.

Eating each other.

They even killed their own families to gain eternal beauty.

Beauty is a medium for lust.

The lust stimulated by beauty amplified the elf’s appetite to eat, swallowing reason and desire, turning them into beasts that ate each other.

The ears that should have been pointed drooped down, and if they didn’t eat something beautiful even for a day, their skin would become dry and grayish.

That was the reality of the ghoul.

Then one day, a witch who practiced black magic came and whispered to them.

If they offered her a beautiful being as a sacrifice, she would give them eternal youth.

They no longer had to eat each other.

As long as they filled the weekly quota, she would provide them with potions to maintain their youth and appearance.

The elves, who wanted to protect their beautiful appearance, were tempted by the words and began to offer the witch all the beautiful things in the world.

Chaeng finished the story.

“We too… We wanted to live peacefully… It’s… your fault. Because you set foot in this forest. People are gradually… They learned the taste of human flesh. So… We hunt you. Ah, no! Think about it. We are beings who eat and are eaten by each other, right? In the first place, if you hadn’t set foot in this forest!”

Chaeng said, sobbing.

“The villagers are coming… Please… Please don’t touch the villagers. It’s the limit now. Soon everyone will lose their minds….”

For a monster, he was acting like a human, whining.

“Our villagers are all kind. You know? Huh? Please… Please… So please….”

Jin Jae-hee sucked on her cut finger.

Awakened ones recover quickly, so no follow-up measures were needed.

Kang Si-on was quietly listening to Chaeng’s words.

At that time, the sound of something approaching was echoing from all directions.

Chaeng shouted, trembling with anxiety.

“It’s the villagers…! Please! Save them! There are still young children. You may call us monsters, but… We think you’re the monsters? Think about it carefully. Please save them! You. You! You’re the final decision maker, right? Right? Brown hair. Curly hair!”

Chaeng shouted at Kang Si-on.

Kang Si-on was still glaring at Chaeng.

“Make a wise choice. Wise….”

The sound of the Bitnam residents approaching was getting louder.

It was really close now.

Si-on, who had been contemplating quietly, organized his thoughts and stood up from his seat.

(To be continued in the next episode)