The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 41

## 41. Warrior (2)

The life inside the detention center for the past few weeks had clearly been devoid of proper washing, eating, and sleeping.

Despite this, the man possessed a broad physique and a strong spirit.

He appeared to be wearing several layers of clothing, but physically, he was well-built.

He was a man with a physique far superior to the other citizens upstairs, most of whom were sickly, like diseased chickens.

A naturally strong physique.

I immediately wanted a porter like that.

But if he caused trouble after being released, as he claimed he would, it would be a major headache.

There were a few things I needed to confirm.

The policeman, who had retreated three steps behind me, muttered.

“That crazy bastard. Shit.”

The police officer retreated even further after saying that.

He seemed intimidated by the gangster’s imposing presence.

I looked at the gangster again only after the officer had moved several more steps back.

Ptooey-.

The gangster spat on the floor.

Then he rubbed the spot with the sole of his foot.

“Do kids these days come to the detention center for field trips?”

He was talking about me.

I didn’t pay much attention.

Being called a kid wasn’t much of a provocation to me.

I was assessing him.

Whether he was a suitable person to be my porter or not.

To be honest, in the original world, a gangster would be nothing more than a criminal, but now that the world has been destroyed, there are no resources as rare as gangsters.

Now, strength is the only measure that dominates this world.

But if he only caused trouble after getting out of the detention center, there would be nothing more foolish than that.

I needed to talk to him a few more times to see if he was a sensible and useful gangster, or just a moron.

First, I wanted to know his purpose.

At that moment, hurried footsteps were heard from behind.

“Manager…! Haa, haa. You were here.”

It was Officer Kim Su-kyung, whom I had sent to conduct the population survey.

She arrived sooner than I expected.

I appreciated her efficiency.

Kim Su-kyung was catching her breath, as if she had been running.

Soon, she sniffed and frowned.

“Ah-. It really smells awful here. It smells like a really old barbecue restaurant bathroom. The ammonia smell….”

I had never been to a barbecue restaurant for a meal, so I couldn’t understand the smell that Kim Su-kyung was comparing it to.

But that didn’t matter.

“Have all the people I asked you to find gathered?”

“Ah, yes! It wasn’t that difficult. This is a list of citizens who have that occupation or perform similar work.”

I received the chart that Kim Su-kyung handed me.

Kim Su-kyung shone a flashlight on the chart.

The chart was a list of the citizens here, and the names of the citizens with the occupations I had requested were underlined in red pen.

Industrial Engineer, Park Jong-pal, 32 years old.

Interior business worker, Kim Du-jeong, 41 years old.

Jeweler, Ma Dong-sik, 72 years old.

Construction worker, Kim Chun-seok, 37 years old.

Boiler management specialist, Lee Jong-cheol, 53 years old.

I looked through the chart and held out my hand.

“Can I have a pen?”

“Ah, yes!”

Kim Su-kyung immediately put a pen in my hand.

I picked out only the people who seemed useful right away and marked them with additional circles.

There were about 30 professionals.

Among them, only one person had experience in boiler-related work.

Lee Jong-cheol, 53 years old.

I scanned the chart with my eyes, excluding the citizens Kim Su-kyung had underlined, but no one seemed as suitable as Lee Jong-cheol.

‘The rest will be hired as labor.’

Regardless of age, anyone who seems to have some strength will be drafted.

Man or woman. Even if they are students or elderly.

I handed the chart to Kim Su-kyung and said.

“Pick out the people who look like they can use some strength and line them up separately. I’ll go up in 30 minutes.”

“Ah, yes. I understand. Manager. But… may I ask why you are looking for these occupations?”

“It’s a long story. Just do it.”

“Ah, yes! I understand.”

Kim Su-kyung bowed slightly to me and hurried out of the detention center again.

She probably wanted to get out of here quickly because of the awful smell.

In fact, even I couldn’t breathe through my nose because of the awful smell.

Even in this awful smell, the gangster in front of me was holding on to his sanity.

Now I had to negotiate with him.

“What kind of game is that, kid? Playing house? Should I get out of here and join you, uncle?”

The gangster was still provoking me.

I took a step towards him.

Then the police officer guarding the back called out to me.

“Be careful. It’s dangerous to get close to the bars.”

Despite the police’s sincere warning, I didn’t stop walking.

Then the gangster threatened in a low voice.

“If you take two more steps, I’ll kill you.”

I stopped in my tracks.

In fact, if I moved only about two more steps, it would be within range for the gangster to grab me even from inside the bars.

I paused for a moment.

To check his expression, condition, and next action.

The gangster was glaring at me.

Soon, I took two more steps forward again.

It was then.

Thump-!!!

The gangster, who had been at the end of the detention center wall, suddenly sprinted from there towards the bars.

Wham-!!!!

The gangster reached out his hand through the bars, trying to grab my neck.

“Ah, dangerous!!!”

The policeman behind me shouted, but it was already too late.

I only turned my eyes to look to the side, and the gangster’s tattooed arm wrapped around my neck.

“…….”

“Scared?”

The gangster’s hand didn’t grab my neck, but stopped right next to it.

“Haha, are you scared?”

The gangster’s eyes were sharp like a beast, and the rough, laughter-filled breaths he exhaled were threatening.

But I calmly asked him.

“Are you any good at fighting?”

“…….”

The gangster was glaring at me.

Then he burst out laughing again.

“Puhahahaha-! Ahahahaha! Are you any good at fighting? Funny, funny.”

His laughter filled the detention center.

The gangster withdrew his swinging hand and grabbed the bars.

Then he put his face deep into the middle of the bars.

He chuckled and asked again.

“Are you any good at fighting? Are you any good? Huh?”

Only then could I see the gangster’s face.

Originally, he had a sturdy physique, but his cheeks were sunken because he hadn’t consumed nutrients for several days.

But even so, the broad shoulders and thick bones revealed inside his clothes could not be hidden.

Besides, he was overwhelmingly tall.

He looked close to 2m [approximately 6’7″].

The gangster threatened me, revealing his yellow teeth.

“Kid. Get lost. If you don’t want to die. This uncle is in a really bad mood right now.”

The gangster quickly erased his expression and trudged back into the detention center.

I said to the gangster who was returning.

“I asked if you were any good at fighting?”

“Strength? If I’m any good, can you get me out of here? Huh?”

Wham-!

The gangster distorted his expression again and trudged back to grab the bars.

Now his face was right in front of me.

The distance between his face and mine was at most 30cm [approximately 1 foot].

I looked straight at his face and said.

“If you listen to me?”

At that, the gangster sighed in disbelief and said.

“Haa… listens well. Me listening to you? You’re seriously delusional… If it weren’t for these shitty bars, you’d be dead, you son of a bitch.”

“If it weren’t for the bars, you said?”

Then I took another step forward.

Now the gap between him and me was even narrower.

At best, 15cm [approximately 6 inches].

The closer I got to him, the more foul the smell became.

It was a distance where I would be helpless if the gangster clenched his fist and swung it.

So I had walked into his range on my own.

The gangster who had been still in this place for several days.

And the threat.

Finally, the fact that he could have grabbed my neck just now but didn’t.

I was sure.

The man in front of me had no intention of causing trouble here.

Because the gangster had to get out of here.

And what was even more embarrassing was the gangster’s side.

“Listen carefully. Thug.”

I looked up at him.

* * *

‘…What is this kid?’

The gangster was flustered.

Clearly, he was looking down.

Until now, the men he had looked down on had always been terrified and collapsed on the floor.

That’s why he was confident that his dignity was second to none.

But the kid in front of him wasn’t intimidated at all.

No, rather, even though he was looking down, it was as if he was looking up at him instead.

Just one person.

There was a man who was smaller, older, and weaker than himself who had exuded this kind of atmosphere.

That was the big boss.

The big boss of Yongmu, who is 67 years old this year.

The big boss was short and old, but he completely overwhelmed his opponents with his atmosphere and voice.

The atmosphere of the big boss was being felt from the kid in front of him.

“Listen carefully. Thug.”

Sion’s voice was exactly the same type as the big boss.

* * *

Sion was looking for talent.

Broadly speaking, two types of talent.

The first were professional technicians.

It was to build an internal boiler and get advice from various experts for wintering.

The second was force.

Even if experts are found, food supplies cannot be met with police force alone as it is now.

What Sion wanted was different from the police reconnaissance team.

He needed talent who could capture monsters, who were stronger than monsters, and who knew how to handle monsters.

Of course, such talent is not only about monsters.

Ultimately, what the forces had to face were other external forces.

The gangster in front of him.

Even after 2 weeks, he was still maintaining his mental strength enough to provoke the police.

Also, the size of his muscles was still overwhelming compared to others.

Of course, there is a prerequisite.

He must be obedient.

Usually, gangsters are obedient, unlike what they are portrayed to people.

Of course, there is one condition.

That is recognition.

Gangsters usually obey those they recognize.

Sion opened his mouth calmly, meeting the gangster’s eyes.

“The world has been destroyed by alien races, and we are in the middle of a game of unknown origin. The outside is not the world you knew. There are monsters that eat people, and humans are hunting the same humans. There is a giant whale floating in the sky that cannot be identified. The world has changed. So even if you get out of the detention center, the brothers and sisters [fellow gang members] you would die for may all be dead.”

“What, what…?”

The gangster’s expression distorted.

The gangster glanced at the police officer.

But the police officer was silent.

“Here’s a suggestion. If you promise to come out of the detention center and listen to me, I’ll get you out of the detention center.”

“…….”

The gangster was still gripping the bars, glaring at Sion.

The confident look he had until just now was nowhere to be found, and the corners of his mouth were slightly lowered, giving him a subtle expression that was hard to tell whether he was sad or scared.

The gangster provoked one last time.

“If I get out of the detention center, I’ll kill you. Can you trust someone like me?”

“If you kill me, you will surely die.”

“…Do you think there’s anyone here who can kill me?”

“There is. Someone who can kill you.”

“Haha.”

The gangster swept up his bangs.

He clicked his tongue in disbelief, but it didn’t seem like Kang Sion was lying.

The gangster exhaled.

“I’m a person with no future. I can just kill you and die too. Right?”

“If you have no future, why haven’t you killed me yet?”

“What?”

“You want to get out of there and leave the police station. Don’t you?”

“What makes you judge me? Huh? Kid.”

“Let me tell you one thing.”

Sion scanned the gangster up and down.

The gangster looked like a lion standing on two feet.

That’s because his long hair felt like a lion’s mane.

“A person with no future does nothing because there is no reason to leave this place. Just like those people over there.”

Sion said, pointing to the people who were lying around in a corner of the detention center.

The gangster looked at that side once and glared at Sion again.

“But you exercise, provoke the police a little. It’s a distance where you can kill me, but you don’t kill me. It’s strange. If you’re really a person with no future, you’d try to kill everyone if you had the chance. Besides, you didn’t cause a ruckus in there. You even persuaded a man who was clinging to the bars and begging. You’re really a model prisoner? You have pride, so you have to provoke the police… But if you cause a big problem, you can’t avoid punishment, so you don’t do that. No. In fact, you have no reason to kill me. You and I met for the first time today, so there’s no grudge or emotion.”

Step, step.

Sion walked a little to the side.

He continued to speak, looking inside the detention center.

“The fact that there is a reason is certain. But well. You don’t have to have a reason to leave. I have the authority and power to get you out of there now, and you’re just a criminal locked up in the detention center. That alone gives me enough power over you. Unless you’re stupid, you’ll know that. And… you know that I’m not a kid to be condescended to.”

The gangster was silent.

Only Sion’s voice filled the detention center.

Sion looked inside the detention center and then approached the gangster again.

While Sion was looking inside the detention center, the gangster gripped the bars and didn’t move even once.

“Is your pride hurt? Because a kid appeared and said he’d let you go if you followed my words well?”

“…….”

“I’m making you an offer. Not a threat.”

The gangster’s breathing became a little rougher.

But Sion’s low voice, which was full of dignity, rang through the detention center calmly and steadily.

Just like the gangster’s big boss.

“I need you. That’s why I came here. In any case, in any situation. I promise. If you let me get what I want, I’ll take responsibility and get you out of here. …Surely you know what an offer means?”

Sion took another step closer to the gangster.

Now Sion was completely overwhelming the gangster.

He was perfectly neutralizing the gangster with just his words, atmosphere, and tone.

The gangster now felt like a young boy in front of Sion.

“Cooperate with me, or stay in there until you rot and die. That’s what you have to choose.”

“…….”

Sion stared at the gangster silently and continued.

“Let me tell you one more thing. You will surely die if you stay here.”

“…….”

At those words, the gangster’s pupils shook.

Sion checked his watch and then looked up at the gangster again.

“I’ll come again tomorrow. Think about it until then. There are no second chances.”

Sion turned and walked.

Step, step, step.

His footsteps echoed throughout the detention center.

The gangster, who had been gripping the bars until then, slowly released the bars only after confirming that Sion had disappeared into the darkness.

The gangster muttered to himself without realizing it.

“Shit…….”

Because none of Sion’s words were wrong.

The gangster, no, Choi Myung-joon, had to get out of here.

Even more so if the world had already been destroyed.

(To be continued)