The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 67

## 67. Fluctuating Landscape

Park Ji-soo, the lord of the First Faction of Doan, exhaled cigarette smoke in the middle of a gruesome battlefield.

Wearing an Eskimo fur hat, she squatted down, staring at the lone head of a man.

Then, she coughed.

“Cough……! Cough!”

Park Ji-soo wiped her mouth and asked,

“……So, you’re saying one kid did all this?”

“……Yes.”

Her closest aides, squatting next to her, bowed their heads.

The aides were on edge, sensing Park Ji-soo’s changing emotions.

She was a ruthless lord.

If anything disrupted her work, she purged the target, no matter who it was.

A world without just laws and order.

To hold power in that world meant possessing a force that overwhelmed all existing powers.

“Ha. Shit.”

Park Ji-soo quietly cursed, seemingly displeased.

At that, the middle-aged man knelt in the snow, bowing his head to her and apologizing.

“I, I’m sorry. Please, forgive me!”

*Tzzzzzz…… Phew.*

Park Ji-soo held the cigarette smoke in her mouth before exhaling.

The scene here was utterly惨酷 [cruel and tragic].

Buildings shattered and buried upside down, cars crushed like cans, and human corpses torn to pieces beyond recognition.

In fact, Park Ji-soo was aware.

She was a lord chosen by the system [referring to the game-like world they inhabit].

Moreover, she was the lord of a faction with considerable power in southern Gyeonggi [a province in South Korea].

If she could destroy the massive faction in Suwon [a city in Gyeonggi], Park Ji-soo could become the true number one in southern Gyeonggi.

So, she had been trying to secure time to build a wall and prepare defenses against the southern forces.

But even such a large-scale defense facility design was meaningless in the face of a ‘Player’ [individuals with superhuman abilities].

Players were beings who transcended humans.

The power of Park Ji-soo’s faction, which had grown based on overwhelming military force and decrees, was shaken by a single Player, highlighting the significance of Players.

In short, Players were asymmetric power.

The more Players a faction had, the more advantageous it would be in shaping the future landscape.

In the end, Park Ji-soo’s faction had to devise a plan to counter Players.

They had to scout talent.

Park Ji-soo stood up and threw her cigarette forward.

The cigarette she threw was buried in the snow.

At that moment, a subordinate approached and whispered to Park Ji-soo.

“Due to this incident, that woman seems to have escaped as well.”

“That woman?”

“Lee Se-beom’s sister, Lee Joo-yeon.”

Lee Se-beom had been obeying Park Ji-soo until now on the condition of ensuring Joo-yeon’s safety.

But with Lee Joo-yeon’s escape, there was no longer any justification for keeping Se-beom by her side.

The man was worried about that.

However, Park Ji-soo stared blankly at the man.

At the lord’s gaze, the man tensed up and bowed his head again.

“Do I…… have to worry about things like that?”

From the start, Park Ji-soo had no intention of letting Lee Se-beom meet Lee Joo-yeon.

Lee Se-beom was merely Park Ji-soo’s thorough ‘toy.’

“I’m sorry.”

“Forget it, Aide.”

At Park Ji-soo’s gesture, the middle-aged man rushed over and bowed his head.

She said in a small voice.

“Start it.”

At Park Ji-soo’s words, the aide’s pupils shook.

When the aide didn’t answer, Park Ji-soo turned to them and ordered again.

“What are you doing? Human hunt. Start it. Release those monster bastards.”

That was the inhumane act that Park Ji-soo’s faction had been doing since the start of Round 2 [a new iteration of the game-like world].

An operation to hunt humans like beasts, shooting them with arrows.

After all, Players wouldn’t die from just having an arrow through their necks.

Park Ji-soo had already placed 13 Players within her faction using this operation.

And the human hunt would never end until Park Ji-soo found a Player with the abilities she wanted.

“Understood.”

The middle-aged man bowed his head once more, receiving the lord’s command.

* * *

Across the police station’s parade ground, a notification window appeared, announcing the decree proclaimed by the lord.

It was a golden notification window with a golden border.

[Manan First Faction, Lord Kang Si-on]

[Decree Proclamation]

[Proclaimer: Kang Si-on]

In front of that notification window, Si-on shouted to everyone.

“Article 1, Clause 1: All citizens belonging to the faction can express their free will and opinions according to their own intentions, and are guaranteed the right to life while belonging to the faction.”

[Manan First Faction, Lord Kang Si-on]

[Decree Proclamation]

[Proclaimer: Kang Si-on]

[Article 1, Clause 1: All citizens belonging to the faction can express their free will and opinions according to their own intentions, and are guaranteed the right to life while belonging to the faction.]

The content of the groundbreaking Article 1.

Everyone gathered here was surprised.

The right to survival is not guaranteed simply by the lord proclaiming it.

That’s how it is in history too.

Even among countries with systematic structures and armies, there are many that fail to guarantee the right to survival for their citizens.

Joseon [a Korean dynasty] was like that right away, and in modern times, countless countries have neglected their own people due to reasons such as civil war, economy, and coups.

The ‘right to survival’ that Si-on was talking about meant securing the safety of citizens by mobilizing all the power of the faction.

In other words, it was a declaration that the safety of citizens was the top priority, and the expansion of the faction, establishment of systems, and construction of economic markets were secondary goals.

It was an altruistic judgment.

K was watching Si-on’s proclamation with interest.

Si-on’s proclamation did not stop.

[Achievement Point -50p.]

Achievement points were consumed each time a decree was proclaimed.

Si-on had accumulated many points through quests so far, so he was able to proclaim all the necessary decrees.

On average, the number of decrees that a lord who first took over a faction could proclaim was at most 2, but Si-on could currently proclaim up to 5.

Si-on then proclaimed the contents of Clause 2.

“I proclaim.”

He immediately proclaimed the second decree.

It was a decree thoroughly planned and established before the coup.

[Article 1, Clause 2: All citizens belonging to the faction are responsible for all areas to ensure the development of the faction and the right to survival stipulated in Article 1, Clause 1.]

Si-on believed this was the fastest way to grow the faction.

The citizens’ right to survival is closely related to two things:

Food, including drinking water, and national defense.

These two were ultimately the most important factors in growing the faction.

Si-on placed the responsibility for these two factors on the citizens.

Article 1, Clause 2, is about that.

In the end, through Clause 2, Si-on was trying to carry out activities for the right to survival stipulated in Clause 1.

However, this was just a pretext; in reality, it was a means for Si-on to move the faction according to his will.

By stipulating this, all orders Si-on issued would be to ensure the survival of the citizens.

In exchange for the duty to work, they would be guaranteed the right to survival.

The citizens would eventually follow Si-on’s orders for their own sake.

‘…The right to survival is just bait. From today on, what I have to fight is the internal citizens and the approval rating.’

Becoming the lord of a faction comes with responsibility and power.

As a result, all citizens belonging to Si-on’s faction would have a duty to work.

The direction Si-on wanted the faction to develop was a form where all citizens felt a sense of belonging and stability within the faction and voluntarily took on duties.

‘…After the stabilization of the faction, it’s just a bloody war of conquest.’

Si-on thought.

Now that he had decided to win this league, he would no longer take a defensive strategy.

Once he had raised the power within the faction, he would turn his eyes to the outside.

“That’s all.”

First, the decree was proclaimed only up to Article 1, Clause 2.

With this, the foundation of the faction that Kang Si-on had seized was established.

Article 1, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.

The Republic of Korea is a democratic republic.

The sovereignty of the Republic of Korea resides in the people, and all power comes from the people.

Article 1 of the constitution of every country stipulates the basic principles of that country.

The basic principle stipulated by Si-on was that in order to protect oneself, one must work.

Work for the faction in exchange for guaranteeing the right to survival in the faction.

Even though it was just one sentence, Si-on would be able to maximize the labor force of all citizens through this.

Adults, men, women, even children, the elderly, and the disabled.

Children, the elderly, the disabled.

In the original world, should those who were socially disadvantaged be allowed to rest?

That couldn’t be.

Now that the world has fallen, there is no longer a status that should be protected for free.

To survive, one must pay the price.

Whatever the kind, in this situation where each person’s life is at stake, there is no room to protect others without any compensation.

At that moment, K clapped and approached Si-on.

“Excellent. I don’t know what the strategy is, but the character of the faction depends on Article 1 of the decree. In my opinion… Si-on’s faction will be a humanitarian faction.”

“…….”

Humanitarian, huh.

After thinking for a moment, Si-on shook his head.

The decree he had just proclaimed could never be called humanitarian.

Perhaps the citizens would be given harsher labor than what the police chief had done.

Si-on had only decorated it with the nice packaging of guaranteeing the right to survival.

The citizens gathered around the guillotine were all looking up at Si-on.

They all supported Si-on.

What they needed most was ‘the right to survival’.

Who would rebel when their leader guarantees the right to survival?

It was completely different from when they were under the rule of the police chief.

The police officers assaulted, oppressed, and even executed citizens when necessary.

Of course, Si-on was involved in those things, but no one knows this.

Even if they did, no one would say it out loud.

The concealment of these facts would ultimately solidify Si-on’s approval rating.

From beginning to end.

Si-on steadily harvested the seeds he had sown.

The moment he heard about his younger sibling from K, Si-on didn’t need to hesitate.

He would now expand the faction.

Because he had a specific goal: unification of Anyang City.

So that no one could do it faster, so that no one could catch up.

He would now begin to massacre humans.

“Long- live!!!”

At that moment, a skinny, white-haired old man in the crowd raised his hands and shouted.

The old man’s voice was desperate.

But there was power in it.

“Great Lord! Long- live!!!”

The old man praised Kang Si-on.

To them, Kang Si-on was already a savior and they thought of him as a leader to guide them.

Approval rating 100%.

The numbers proved it.

“Lo, long live!!!”

“Long live!!!”

“Long live!!!”

“Long live!!!”

All the crowds surrounding the guillotine began to praise Kang Si-on.

Their shouts of long live echoed throughout Manan-gu.

Si-on listened to their shouts and silently raised his head to look up at the sky.

Pristine white snow filled his vision.

At that moment, a drop of water fell from the sky and landed on Si-on’s cheek.

“Long live!!!!”

“Long live-!!!!”

“Lord! Long live!!!!”

Here, filled with the shouts of the crowd, a drop of water fell on his cheek.

Si-on wiped the water off his cheek with his middle finger.

Then he rubbed his middle finger with his thumb and checked it.

It was sleet.

Rain means the temperature is rising and the water is no longer freezing.

This also meant that winter was coming to an end.

(To be continued in the next episode)