The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 154

154. Excellent Porter (1)

“Crazy! Crazy! Crazy!!!”

Choi Hyun-ji shouted, her eyes blazing as she took in the training grounds. She repeated the word three times for emphasis.

Mangyeong, the wanderer residential area.

This place thrilled Choi Hyun-ji, a wanderer at heart, more than anything.

She darted out, eagerly examining the wanderers and their diverse races.

“A quest, a quest window?! What is this?”

“Dwarves! Is that a Naga [a mythical serpent-like being]? Wow. There are orcs too! Look at that, it’s an orc!”

“What kind of meat is this?”

“Wow, so many maps came out? How much are they?”

She zipped around like a child on their first visit to an amusement park.

If Choi Hyun-ji was a kid in an amusement park, the other expedition members were like the older cousins watching her antics.

Kang Si-on and Jin Jae-hee looked around with mild interest, but they weren’t particularly excited.

Choi Myung-joon’s emotions were more complex.

He carefully observed the massive creatures wandering around.

‘Orcs, huh……?’

Bulky arm muscles. Sharp fangs. Bronze skin.

He was looking at what seemed like an upgraded version of himself.

‘If Hyung-nim uses orcs… my porter position is in danger.’

Choi Myung-joon couldn’t hide his anxiety, though for a different reason than the others.

In any case,

The expedition decided to rest here for a day.

It wasn’t a lavish meal and bedding fit for royalty, but Kang Si-on actually preferred this humble setting.

Even when he was the king of Mangyeong, he felt uncomfortable with people bending over backward or excessively humbling themselves for him.

Kang Si-on muttered as he surveyed the wanderer market street.

“What about accommodations?”

“I’ll check it out!!!”

“I’ll go find out!”

Choi Myung-joon and Choi Hyun-ji answered almost simultaneously.

They then glared at each other.

“……I’ll do Hyung-nim’s errands. You stay out of it.”

“Do you even understand the wanderer system? You don’t even know the wanderer community.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

While the two bickered, Jin Jae-hee had already spoken with a nearby street vendor and secured accommodations.

Kang Si-on left the two still glaring at each other and headed to the lodgings with her.

Upon arriving, the group booked two rooms and decided to divide them by gender.

Jin Jae-hee frowned, expressing her dissatisfaction with the arrangement.

She insisted she should be in the same room as Kang Si-on.

Choi Hyun-ji hugged Jin Jae-hee’s arm and soothed her.

“Please, dongsaeng-nim [term of endearment for a younger sister or female friend]. This isn’t Bitnam. It’s Mangyeong. Okay? Let’s hang out just the two of us sometimes.”

“……”

Normally, she would have stubbornly insisted on staying by his side, but Jae-hee changed her mind.

It was because of the emotional growth she experienced in Bitnam.

Protecting him.

She realized it wasn’t about sticking to his side like armor.

Helping him was more important than just protecting him.

Also, she realized that unconditionally agreeing with him could actually harm him.

For example, in Bitnam, she had blindly believed Kang Si-on’s words that he was okay, and then she had suffered the Transformation.

Sometimes.

Really, just sometimes, Jin Jae-hee accepted that Kang Si-on could be wrong.

Kang Si-on’s words were mostly right, but there was one crucial thing he lacked.

That was, Kang Si-on didn’t consider ‘his own health’ at all.

‘I need to be more meticulous. I need to… I can’t let something like Bitnam happen again.’

As Jin Jae-hee was seriously contemplating this, Kang Si-on wrapped up the situation.

“Take a good rest for a day or two. I also want to wander around the city for a bit.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Then it’s decided? We’re resting tomorrow too?”

“Do whatever you want. We’re in the next room anyway. Let’s just meet up in the evening.”

With those words, Kang Si-on walked to the opposite side with Choi Myung-joon.

Choi Hyun-ji, still excited, clung to Jin Jae-hee’s arm and asked.

“Oh, nice~ nice~ dongsaeng-nim. What do you want to do tomorrow? Oh my. Look at your clothes. They’re completely tattered. Want to go shopping?! I saw a bunch of clothing stores earlier.”

“Training.”

“……Anything but that.”

And so, the expedition split into two teams.

* * *

As darkness fell, yellow lights began to flicker across the city.

I sat on a plastic chair, staring at a creature in the center of the table.

‘A firefly… or something similar?’

Inside a lamp-like glass tube, a creature larger than a firefly emitted a bright yellow light.

The light was brighter than expected, momentarily making me think electricity had been brought to the city.

“Hyung-nim. But why aren’t we meeting Ha Yoon-ha right away? The edict… or whatever it was. Can’t we use that to see her immediately?”

Choi Myung-joon asked from across the table.

Our table was laden with various foods and drinks.

It was dinner from the wanderer lodgings.

I picked up something crunchy and chewed on it.

“There’s no need to rush to meet Yoon-ha. Honestly, I want to rest a bit too.”

At the opposite table, a group of orcs was drinking boisterously.

“More than anything, I want to see how much this world has changed.”

More than five empty bottles lay under the orcs’ table.

This was a sight unimaginable in the old Mangyeong.

I had seen many monsters without ‘intelligence,’ like ogres or alligator turtles.

But since the Big Bang [likely referring to a significant event or update in the game world], several creatures with ‘intelligence’ had appeared in this league.

I only knew one thing through the returner [someone who has returned from the future or another world].

What kind of lifestyle they had.

Of course, I also needed detailed information about the dwarf race.

The dwarf race that could refine red ore.

The role of red ore was extremely important in the 3rd and 4th rounds [likely referring to stages or levels in a game or challenge].

There were three reasons for this.

First, red ore controlled the player’s artifact abilities; it sealed them.

Second, it was valuable as a resource.

Even the chef working in the kitchen had red ore placed under his frying pan.

Red ore had the property of becoming hot when pressure was applied.

Depending on the ‘method of use,’ it could replace Earth’s resources.

That was the refining technology that had to be obtained through trade with the dwarves.

Third, it was the only mineral that could pierce the dragon’s scales.

The kings of each faction would be doing everything in their power to monopolize red ore.

The fact that red ore had not yet been commercialized meant that mining capabilities hadn’t yet developed much.

The answer to that mining was also the dwarves.

Dwarves were a treasure-like race in many ways, but the black beard dwarves were the best.

Only they could refine red ore.

If you wandered around Mangyeong, you could find dwarves without difficulty, but most were brown beard dwarves.

‘I heard that the black beard dwarves are in Incheon, the wanderer alliance.’

Originally, they were beings summoned to live on Hallasan Mountain in Jeju Island, but after the sea route opened, many black beard dwarves came up to Seoul through Incheon.

Perhaps it was because this era was an era of great change.

In some ways, returning at this point, 5 years later, may have been beneficial to me.

Unnecessary time was skipped at once.

I felt I needed to carefully examine how red ore was processed and used by observing the citizens.

There would be limitations if I grasped those things as the king of a city-state, so I was going to take a closer look from the wanderer’s perspective.

Crunch-!

As I ate the strange snack, my gaze was fixed on nothing in particular.

In fact, observing things too openly had been my weakness for a long time.

That’s why I often got into fights in the past.

Every time, I chose to avoid the fight.

“……”

I belatedly realized I was staring at the orc too openly.

An orc, heavily drunk, was having a staring contest with me.

I naturally turned my eyes to Choi Myung-joon, but the orc had no intention of letting my gaze go.

The orc with the black tattoos glared at me, then got up and approached.

“Hyung-nim-. Try some of this too. It’s really delicious!”

Even though the orc was approaching, Choi Myung-joon, sitting in front of me, was only focused on eating.

At that moment.

Thud-! Crash!

The orc grabbed the back of Choi Myung-joon’s head and slammed it into the soup.

The provocation was directed at me, but the target was Choi Myung-joon.

“Human. What have you been looking at?”

A low, rough voice.

And clear Korean.

Come to think of it, the ghouls in Bitnam also spoke Korean.

It was amazing.

That a non-human creature was speaking Korean.

“You bastard. Are you ignoring me because I’m an orc? If you’re human, does that mean you can stare at other races?”

Ah, I see.

It seemed other races were being discriminated against in this city.

I calmly picked up a wooden cup, drank water, and looked up at the orc.

The orc bared his huge teeth and threatened me.

The other orcs in the tavern turned their attention to the orc’s outburst.

The atmosphere grew tense, as if it would explode any moment.

‘……But.’

There was something a little strange.

If it was the Ha Yoon-ha I knew, she would never tolerate discrimination, given her personality.

Why does discrimination exist?

The answer was immediately apparent.

A sleek orc next to him stopped the drunken orc.

“Stop it! Ah, I’m sorry. This brother had a bad day at the unit today. It seems his human comrades are ostracizing him. Please understand generously. Human brother.”

“It’s disgusting how those human bastards look at orcs like bugs. It’s disgusting!”

Every time the orc shouted, saliva splattered and landed on my forehead.

I naturally wiped it off and looked back at the tattooed orc.

“Stop it! Brother! Don’t get caught by the military police again!”

“Next time, let’s settle it with a duel! Not a staring contest! Got it! The guys in the unit are the same! If you have the confidence, let’s do it with strength! Sniff!”

“Let’s go! Quickly! Let’s go!”

“……”

I let them go without any particular response.

Discrimination, huh……

Even in human society, there is no legally defined discrimination, but discrimination clearly exists.

Discrimination against the sick.

Discrimination against those who don’t have.

Discrimination based on age.

It seemed the other races in this city were also experiencing such discrimination.

In any case, this was a city of humans.

And the other races were foreigners.

“Wait.”

At that moment, Choi Myung-joon, who had his face in the soup, slowly raised his head.

The soup dripped from his face to the floor.

Then, he bowed to me and asked.

“Please allow me.”

He showed me the top of his head and asked for permission.

After I had stopped his actions several times, he was now asking for permission in advance.

Normally, I would have firmly said no, but this was good timing.

I wanted to see what kind of power the orc had.

What kind of power he would exert against the strongest human.

I grabbed the tattooed orc who was returning.

“Did you say a duel?”

“What is it, human brother? Did you have something left to say?”

“Let’s do it. A duel. Should we bet? Decide what you want to bet if you win first.”

“……”

The black tattoo orc seemed to have sobered up a bit, and he glared at me with a muscular expression.

Then, he looked around the tavern and shouted.

“If I win, I’ll pay for everyone’s drinks! The drinks at this tavern aren’t cheap. You’ll need at least 50 liters! That’s more than your monthly salary! But! Looking at your appearance, I don’t think you have that much money. Human brother. If you don’t have money, there’s no duel.”

50 liters, huh.

That was about 1 percent of the cash I had.

I asked Choi Myung-joon first.

“Can you win?”

He showed me the top of his head and said.

“I can tear him to pieces, Hyung-nim.”

“Good.”

I took out a pack of cigarettes from my inside pocket.

Since one cigarette was worth 20 liters.

I took out about three cigarettes and placed them on the table.

Everyone was surprised.

“Ci, ci, cigarettes?!”

“He has a whole pack……”

“He’s not an ordinary wanderer after all. That human brother.”

The black tattoo orc was just as surprised.

It seemed the value of money was similar for humans and orcs.

“How is it? Orc. Is that enough proof?”

The tattoo orc smiled.

“It’s enough, human brother.”

“Instead. What will you do if you lose? You’ll have to give me the value of three cigarettes. As you said, they’re quite expensive?”

The tattoo orc snorted.

“I’ll give you one of my arms. There’s no way I can lose to a human in strength. How is it. Is it enough?”

I nodded.

“Good.”

At that moment.

The other orcs in the tavern all stood up and shouted.

“It’s a duel!”

“Blood and flesh!”

“The winner takes all!”

“Duel! Duel!!!”

Everyone became one mind.

Like those cheering for a game.

They began to leave the tavern.

This was a simple game.

* * *

“Choi Myung-joon! Choi Myung-joon!”

“Choi Myung-joon! Choi Myung-joon!”

A strange phenomenon occurred.

Many spectators gathered around Choi Myung-joon and the black tattoo orc.

But the orcs were constantly shouting Choi Myung-joon’s name.

At that time, the tavern owner cautiously approached Kang Si-on.

He was human.

A human wanderer.

“Um… are you going to be okay? Boss. That black tattoo. It’s a sign of Choi Myung-joon’s elite squad. Choi Myung-joon’s elite squad is a very famous group of killers in this area. It’s best not to get involved with the elite squad……”

‘Ah-. So that’s what happened.’

Kang Si-on smiled a little.

The situation became interesting.

Choi Myung-joon and the orc elite squad that Choi Myung-joon’s disciple raised.

They would never dream that the man they were facing was Choi Myung-joon, who led the elite squad.

The orc was raising both hands and inducing cheers from the audience.

“Victory!!!”

“The elite squad will definitely win!!!”

“Take it easy! Take it easy!”

After that, the black tattoo orc cracked his knuckles and approached Choi Myung-joon.

Choi Myung-joon’s height was 197cm [approximately 6 feet 5 inches].

The black tattoo orc’s height was 230cm [approximately 7 feet 6 inches].

The difference in muscle mass was also significant.

However, Choi Myung-joon, standing in front of the black tattoo orc, was determined.

If he lost to this bastard, he would just be a pig who only consumed rice and cigarettes.

He would be disqualified from being Hyung-nim’s porter.

Choi Myung-joon made that resolution and moved forward.

(Continued in the next episode)