The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 18

#18. Siege (1)

Kim Dong-gil, as if possessed, hurried down the stairs.

Inside the stairwell, the sounds of dozens of footsteps crashed together, creating a chaotic din.

He clutched a kitchen knife, followed by his makeshift army.

The door to the first floor came into view.

Kim Dong-gil threw it open.

Thud!

The hallway stretched before them.

The main hall was only accessible through this passage.

Across the way, a glass door, stained with black smoke, was also visible.

“Hoo…! Hoo…!”

His heart hammered in his chest, and his breath came in ragged gasps.

He moved slowly, pressing himself against the wall.

The Blue Team members followed suit, hugging the shadows.

Kim Dong-gil risked a peek into the main hall.

Perfect silence.

It mirrored the unsettling quiet he’d felt on the third floor.

Only the mechanical groan of the escalator broke the stillness.

Their plan was simple: burst out, create chaos, then strike the Red Team from behind.

Victory, bought with sacrifice.

Kim Dong-gil addressed his followers.

“Everyone, get ready. Keep your lights clear. And remember the signal.”

The members nodded, their faces tight with tension.

The third floor had taught them a harsh lesson.

Without clear identification, the Blue Team was as likely to fight itself as the enemy.

Kim Dong-gil’s solution was born of necessity.

Each member had slashed off the left sleeve of their top with a knife.

That was their banner, their proof of allegiance to the Blue Team.

Kim Dong-gil swallowed hard.

‘You bastards. It’s all over for you.’

All they had to do was dodge the guns.

Crossbows were useless at close quarters.

And the Red Team’s melee weapons? Just mop handles.

Mop handles were everywhere: restrooms, janitor’s closets, even stacked among unopened merchandise.

Kim Dong-gil, as the shopping mall’s branch manager, knew every inch of this place.

Just then, light spilled from the approaching escalator.

The main force of the Blue Team began their descent.

‘Here they come.’

Kim Dong-gil signaled his group to prepare, waiting for the charge.

Soon, a flood of people poured down the escalator.

Their desperate cries echoed through the store.

“Aaaaaaaah-!!!!”

“Waaaaaaah!!!!”

“Aaaaaaaack!!!!”

The Blue Team members surged forward, screaming.

And then, the crossbows fired.

Too fast to see, but impossible to deny: a Blue Team member crumpled, an arrow protruding from their chest.

“Aaaack!”

Another scream.

Then, illuminated by the frantic beams of flashlights, the Red Team’s stronghold was revealed.

A barricade built from double-stacked display stands, towering nearly six feet high.

Using the store’s corner areas, they had created a square fortress.

A narrow, defensible zone, perfect for a small force.

The sight was both shocking and awe-inspiring.

And atop it, dozens of Red Team members brandished long mop spears, aiming down at the approaching Blue Team.

It was a siege.

* * *

The Blue Team, charging forward with wild cries, faltered as they faced the imposing barricade.

“Uh…?”

“Uh…?”

They had imagined the Red Team scattered, exhausted after the game.

A swift rush, and victory would be theirs.

Now, they realized how naive they had been.

Faced with the unexpected, the human mind often freezes.

The Blue Team was caught in that moment of paralysis.

But for the Red Team, who had planned and prepared, this was no surprise.

They had been waiting for this.

“Now!”

At Kang Si-on’s command, the javelin throwers on the display stands hurled their spears in unison.

Whoosh, whoosh!

The spears flew wide, their accuracy pathetic.

Few of the Red Team had ever thrown a spear, let alone tried to kill someone.

Even a direct hit with a mop spear might not be fatal.

But Si-on had anticipated this.

The Red Team’s true weapons were the ‘castle’ and the unexpectedly acquired ‘crossbows.’

The three crossbow wielders fired in quick succession.

Shoosh, shoosh, shoosh!

The arrows found their marks with deadly precision.

Especially Lee Joo-yeon, whose special forces training made her a terrifyingly effective sniper.

Thwack! Thwack!

One shot, one kill.

The Blue Team members fell, one after another.

“Aaaaaaack!”

“Kaaaaaack!!!”

Their desperate moans echoed through the store.

Some of the Red Team members flinched, guilt twisting their faces.

Kang Si-on roared above the din.

“Don’t hesitate!”

His leadership cut through their hesitation.

From the moment they joined this game, they had made a choice.

Mop spears rained down on the Blue Team.

More fell, pierced by spears and arrows.

The vanguard of the Blue Team, shattered, began to scatter.

But they didn’t retreat.

The Blue Team was equally desperate.

Kim Dong-gil, watching from the rear, calmly swung an ax into the head of a fleeing Blue Team member.

“Ugh!”

Pshoo! Pshooo!

The man crumpled, blood gushing from the wound.

The other Blue Team members recoiled in horror.

The people who had charged from the stairwell found themselves facing the very teammates who had come down the escalator.

Kim Dong-gil, without a flicker of remorse, yanked the bloody ax free and brandished it.

“I’ll kill anyone who runs. Your only job is to tear down those display stands. Now, charge!”

“Y… You… B…!”

“We’re on the same team! Huh?!? How can you do this!”

“Since we’re on the same team, don’t we each have our own roles?! We’re the rearguard! We’re attacking too! Damn it!”

The people on the stairwell echoed Kim Dong-gil’s threats.

The Blue Team had to breach the Red Team’s castle.

Sacrifice was necessary.

Kim Dong-gil had chosen to sacrifice a few to save the many.

“Ugh…! Ughhhh…!”

“Damn it… Damn it!!”

“You… just you wait!”

The survivors of the escalator charge had no choice but to turn back.

Death was inevitable.

But if they could break through the Red Team’s defense, they might have a chance.

So they charged.

“Aaaaaaaah!!!”

“Aaaaaack-!!!”

The Blue Team launched another assault.

The Red Team, prepared, unleashed their second wave of attacks.

A desperate, fierce, cruel, and vicious battle raged.

* * *

Swish!

An arrow found its mark, piercing the heart of a woman charging forward.

She coughed blood and collapsed.

I quickly reloaded the crossbow, pulling back the weakened rubber band and slotting another arrow into place.

The band was fixed to my finger while pulled back.

Similar to a slingshot.

Shoosh-! Thwack!

Another hit.

But after a few more shots, the rubber band stretched and frayed.

Even when pulled back fully, it barely held.

The crossbow was failing.

It was inevitable, but the timing couldn’t have been worse.

The Blue Team continued to hurl themselves against the barricade.

Some, riddled with arrows, still clawed at the display stands.

They pushed and strained, trying to topple the structure.

But their efforts were futile.

The display stands were nailed together.

But that didn’t mean the barricade was impenetrable.

We had done our best with limited time and resources, but the result was undeniably ‘shoddy.’

Without even this ‘shoddiness,’ we would all be dead.

Without exception.

“Aaaaaaa!!!”

Thwack!

A Red Team member on the display stand plunged a mop spear into the skull of a Blue Team member clinging to the barricade.

The man fell, the spear protruding from his head.

Another woman, stepping over the corpse, pushed at the barricade, only to be stabbed in the left shoulder and collapse in agony.

At the same time.

A young man from the Red Team, jabbing with his mop spear, had his head split open by a thrown ax.

The blood splattered across my left cheek.

“Uh… uh…”

Clatter!

The Red Team youth fell backward, dead.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

It was expected.

But facing it was terrifying.

The fear of dying like that made my hands and feet tremble.

Each time, I bit my lower lip until it bled.

The enemies’ shouts grew louder.

Thud!

The barricade on the left began to buckle.

The enemies were determined to bring it down, even at the cost of their lives.

Their determination paid off.

The barricade collapsed.

“Waaaaaaack!”

“Kyaaaaack!!!”

The Red Team members on the collapsing barricade tumbled to the ground.

The Blue Team swarmed them, knives flashing.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!

The sounds were brutal.

This couldn’t continue.

In the distance, Kim Dong-gil watched, a strange smile on his face.

I realized for the first time how eerie a smile could be.

Beside him, dozens of Blue Team members hurled anything they could find.

Objects rained through the air.

They struck both Red and Blue Team members indiscriminately.

The situation was spiraling out of control.

‘This won’t do.’

I fumbled to reload the crossbow.

My urgency made me clumsy.

After dropping the arrow several times, I finally managed to slot it into place and aimed.

I strained to pull back the band, aiming at Kim Dong-gil in the distance.

Then, I released the string.

But the band, weakened by stress, snapped.

Tear!

The arrow fell weakly to the ground.

The crossbow was dead.

And in front of me, a Blue Team man, his eyes burning with hatred, clambered over the barricade.

“Ugh…! Ughhhh!!!! Die!!!”

The man’s eyes were bloodshot, a crossbow arrow protruding from his right arm.

Doo-geun, doo-geun, doo-geun, doo-geun.

My heart hammered.

The blood-soaked man screamed like a beast and lunged.

“Gyaaaaaaack!”

He threw himself at me, knife raised, and I fell backward with him.

Thud!

I landed headfirst from the six-foot barricade.

“Ugh…!”

The back of my head slammed against the hard floor, and I nearly lost consciousness.

The man landed on top of me, straddling my stomach, and raised the knife.

As I struggled to regain my senses, I reached out to stop him.

Crash!

The remaining barricades collapsed.

The Red Team’s castle had fallen.

* * *

‘That’s it… that’s it!’

Kim Dong-gil, watching, clenched his fist.

The Blue Team, making a last stand, had turned the tide.

They had found their ‘desperation.’

Complacency had been their weakness.

Now, fueled by desperation, they had seized control.

Kim Dong-gil surveyed the waiting Blue Team members and roared.

“Now, everyone charge! Kill them all!”

At his command, the remaining Blue Team forces surged forward.

The battlefield was a chaotic mess of intertwined bodies, collapsed barricades, and spilled blood.

The Red Team, caught off guard, were helpless.

They began to die.

The Blue Team, moving with ruthless efficiency, hunted down the Red Team members, forming kill squads of two or three.

In the darkness, a massacre unfolded.

No one remembered their former lives.

The office worker, the student, the housewife, the elderly man – all were gone.

Only beasts remained.

They bit, they clawed, they gouged eyes, they chewed on ears.

They silenced screams with their palms and plunged knives into stomachs.

Blood and slaughter.

Kim Dong-gil laughed.

A laugh of pure, unadulterated victory.

“It’s all over… it’s all… over… with this…!”

Thud, thud.

He stepped onto the battlefield.

His path was paved with bloody footprints.

Kim Dong-gil, consumed by madness, swung his ax, felling anyone who crossed his path.

Thwack, thwack, people fell.

He crossed the collapsed barricade and entered the stronghold.

“Haha. Hahahahaha!”

His laughter echoed through the store.

Mixed with screams and groans.

And then, as his laughter reached its peak, another sound cut through the din.

A gunshot.

Bang-!

One gunshot.

The sound swallowed everything.

Groans, screams, the sound of breaking objects, shouts – all silenced by the gunshot.

Startled, Kim Dong-gil swept the battlefield with his flashlight.

The beam landed on ‘that man.’

“Haa… haa… haa….”

The dagger in his thigh, the blood streaming down his leg, his exhausted eyes, his hand pressed against the wound, and the Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver in his other hand, smoke curling from the muzzle.

Kang Si-on, breathing heavily, aimed his gun.

The Blue Team man he had shot crumpled to the ground.

An absolute weapon.

The gun.

Then, the second shot.

Bang-!

(Continued in the next episode)