The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 89

## 89. Resolution (1)

Bisan was overflowing with the luxury goods that Park Ji-soo had left behind.

The workers meticulously measured their weight and verified the accuracy of the tribute amount.

Park Ji-soo had paid all the weekly luxury goods tribute at once.

And Zion distributed all the tribute to the residents of Mangyeong.

This was to boost morale before the impending war.

“To think you’d defeat even Park Ji-soo. Well, there’s an old saying, ‘The best victory is the one achieved without fighting.’ Ah, you’re truly amazing.”

Noon.

The sun brightly illuminated the ravaged city.

The workers of Bisan gathered there, sweating as they moved the tribute.

Beside Zion, who was observing them, the madam of Bisan calmly smoked a cigarette under a black silk umbrella.

One or two workers carried boxes and approached the ogre crouching on the ground.

Near them stood an ogre trainer from the Grand Park, and a huge basket was strapped to the ogre’s back.

The workers carefully stacked the boxes inside the basket.

Chew, chew-.

The ogre remained crouched on the ground, continuously chewing.

It was still gnawing on the corpse it had been given as food that morning.

The ogre’s diet consisted of meat.

However, the corpses collected by the men in the Anyang Station underground shopping center were already depleted.

So, Mangyeong devised a novel solution to supply the ogre with meat.

One such solution was the ‘funeral procedure’.

They began supplying the corpses of residents who died in accidents within the territory as food for the ogre.

Surprisingly, there was little resistance.

The residents of Mangyeong, who highly valued labor, believed that after death, they would become food for the ogre and continue to contribute as a labor force for eternity.

Inhuman, non-human – such words had long lost their meaning.

In Mangyeong, only Mangyeong’s unique philosophy and Kang Zion’s orders held sway.

Fresh meat was essential to keep the ogre docile. Corpses were accumulating within the territory. If these could be fed to the ogre to prevent rampages and simultaneously utilized as labor, it was a win-win situation.

“Lord. How is everything? My men have prepared a feast; would you care to join us?”

The madam asked with a smile, but Zion’s gaze remained fixed on a specific location.

The Pamian Apartment complex in Bisan-dong.

It was the territory acquired through the recent negotiations with Dongan.

In fact, Zion had negotiated with Park Ji-soo to seize the apartment complex along with Bisan.

Through that negotiation, he successfully secured the Bisan-dong apartment complex.

The apartment complex would serve as the core of Bisan’s defense.

Zion had dedicated the past month or so to transforming the apartment complex into a formidable ‘fortress’.

The remodeled apartment complex was a ‘work of art’.

“…Unfortunately, let’s postpone it to another time. I’m quite busy.”

Now, the war was only a week away.

The Lord of Mangyeong, Zion, had little time to spare.

Turning around, Zion walked back towards Mangyeong with the ogre laden with tribute.

The madam of Bisan silently watched the lord’s departure.

* * *

A public bathhouse near Beomgye Station in Dongan.

Splash-!

The long-haired man splashed cold water on the unconscious Yoonha.

Yoonha gasped for breath.

The long-haired man chuckled and whispered to Yoonha.

“Really-. Not-. Gonna talk?”

“Really-. Tell-. Me?”

“Quickly-. Say. Say-.”

“Baby-. Aren’t you tired?”

Despite his persistent questioning, Yoonha remained silent.

Then, Lee Jong-won lowered the corners of his mouth.

Lee Jong-won, a B-class player from Dongan.

He possessed the ability to turn his body invisible [make his body transparent].

Grab-!

Jong-won grabbed Yoonha’s hair and yanked her up.

“Cough……! Cough!”

Yoonha struggled to expel the water she had been holding in her mouth.

Jong-won stared at Yoonha’s face and continued to whisper.

“Baby-ya. Just tell me the information about Mangyeong-, and let’s make things comfortable-? Huh? Doesn’t it hurt?”

To his snake-like, insidious words, Yoonha replied weakly.

“…I’ll never tell.”

Yoonha refused to yield.

She would not betray the lord who had taken her in and saved her life, even if she had to endure harsh treatment.

At that sight, Lee Jong-won frowned again.

“If you don’t talk-. I’m really gonna play?”

Then, as if to mock such a threat, Yoonha spat in Lee Jong-won’s eye.

Thwack-, trickle-.

Yoonha’s saliva flowed thickly down Jong-won’s cheekbone.

But Jong-won’s madness transcended Yoonha’s imagination.

“Puhahaha……!”

Jong-won wiped Yoonha’s saliva with his palm and then licked it off his tongue.

“It’s sweet. Huh? Heh-.”

Then he grinned.

At his deranged appearance, Yoonha laughed helplessly and gasped for breath.

“Psycho…… bastard…….”

“I hear that a lot.”

Lee Jong-won was still grinning when he suddenly slapped Yoonha’s cheek.

Slap-!

Then he brought his face close to Yoonha again and asked with a ‘heh-‘.

“Is this what a psycho is?”

After speaking, he slapped Yoonha’s cheek again.

Slap-!

“Is this what a psycho is?”

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Jong-won felt a surge of desire at the sight of his opponent being broken down by him.

He had attended the best art school in Korea and was a socially recognized artist, but he harbored a peculiar desire.

Originally, he couldn’t bring himself to kill people in the real world.

At first, it was ants, lizards, hamsters, cats, dogs.

He had been deriving pleasure from brutally killing his pets in the shadows.

But now the world had changed.

A world where killing humans was easier than killing dogs.

Moreover, humans were intelligent beings.

That sight of a higher being falling helplessly into his hands.

Jong-won relished it.

“Kyahahahahak!!! Hahahahahak! Haaaak!!!”

Slap! Slap! Clack! Slap-!

Jong-won continued to slap Yoonha’s cheek.

Hoping she would give in.

But Yoonha did not yield at all.

Then, Kim Yong-pyo, a B-class player from the same Dongan, who was eating nearby, spoke up.

“The Lord told you not to hit her…….”

Kim Yong-pyo muttered worriedly, and Jong-won smiled and replied.

“……Pig- be quiet- I’m working?”

Then Kim Yong-pyo reacted immediately.

“You, you! I told you not to call me a pig!”

Splash, splash.

Kim Yong-pyo got up from his chair and pointed at Lee Jong-won.

Every time he moved, his belly fat jiggled up and down rhythmically.

“I, I! It’s my constitution!”

“Constitution- my ass? Idiot-. Go.”

“You, you about me. What do you know about me?”

“I- know everything.”

Then, Lee Jong-won grabbed Yoonha’s hair again.

And he dragged Yoonha and shoved her head into the tub.

Bubble, bubble, bubble-.

Lee Jong-won continued to force Yoonha’s head underwater, pressing down with all his might.

Yoonha, submerged in the water, struggled as if in agony.

In front of her, Jong-won grinned, revealing his yellow teeth.

“Puhihhih-! Hihhihihihi……!!! Ah, it’s thrilling! It’s so- thrilling!!!”

Splashing sounds and bubbling sounds.

Sound of water dripping.

Yoonha’s blood dripped onto the bathroom tiles.

But even so.

Even in this moment when she felt such a strong urge for self-destruction that she wished for death.

Ha Yoonha never, ever gave in.

Another two hours passed in that manner.

At Yoonha’s unwavering resolve, Jong-won’s temples throbbed with bulging veins.

“Why……! Why! Why! Why!!! Why!!!!! Originally, if this happens!!!! If this happens!!! This, this!!! Isn’t it a cliché [a predictable or overused trope]!!!”

Jong-won took Ha Yoonha out of the tub and threw her onto the bathroom floor.

Thud-!

Then Yoonha spat out the water that had filled her mouth as if in pain.

Jong-won was consumed by madness and began to shout so loudly that the bathhouse seemed deserted.

“This…… this……! This isn’t it!!!!! It’s been hours already!!!!!!!! Fucking!!!!! It’s been 8 hours!!!!!! 8 hours!!!!!”

“……Cough! Cough! Ugh…….”

“This can’t be! Quickly! Quickly……! Ah, please! Aaaagh……!!!”

Jong-won screamed as if in agony, covering his head.

Then, Jong-won approached Yoonha, who was lying down, in one swift motion, knelt down, and began to beg with both hands.

“Please, cry and beg me to save you. Please. Please. This. It’s not like this. Please. Please. Please beg me. Please. Cry. Give in. Please stop killing me now. Okay? Please. Please. Please.”

“…….”

Looking at Jong-won begging with both hands in front of her, Yoonha felt fear.

What the hell is this guy?

What happens when legal regulations are lifted and the shackles of suppressed ‘desire’ are released.

Yoonha was experiencing it firsthand, looking at Lee Jong-won in front of her.

At first, he tortured her with violence, but when things didn’t go his way according to his desires, he knelt down and begged.

She felt a sense of alienation.

It was an incomprehensible situation.

How many of these people were originally around us in the original world?

When she considered that, Yoonha got goosebumps.

“……I don’t want to.”

It was terrifying.

The situation in front of her was so disgusting, scary, and uncomfortable.

To be honest, Yoonha had never been able to understand people who ‘committed suicide’ in her life.

How can you end a life you started yourself?

But now she could understand their feelings a little bit.

When the pain of living exceeds the fear of death.

You can choose death yourself.

Lee Jong-won, who was sobbing with his forehead on the ground, suddenly stopped crying and raised his head.

“……Did you just say you didn’t want to?”

He smiled.

Jong-won.

And in front of the smiling Jong-won, Yoonha was holding back tears.

Then, Jong-won crawled slowly towards Yoonha on his elbows like a cockroach.

“Just now…… you said you didn’t want to? Right?”

“Ugh…….”

He got closer.

“Right? Right?? Right??? Huh!!!!”

Jong-won got closer and tried to grab Yoonha’s neck.

But.

Grab-.

Suddenly, a huge man appeared from behind, grabbed Jong-won, and threw him against the opposite wall.

Crash!

“…….”

“…….”

Jong-won was embedded in the bathroom wall, bleeding.

And Yoonha looked up at the man who had suddenly appeared.

A man with scars all over his body.

One of his arms was missing.

He was Lee Hyung-seung, Park Ji-soo’s bodyguard, an A-class player.

Lee Hyung-seung adjusted his glasses and stepped aside.

Then, Park Ji-soo, the lord of Dongan, walked next to him.

The lord of Dongan was a woman.

She was wearing a black coat that reached her ankles, a white turtleneck, dark jeans, and brown boots.

Anyone could tell that she was a college student, and she looked neat.

Park Ji-soo frowned as if displeased as she looked at Ha Yoonha.

“……You fucking idiot, I told you not to touch her. You never listen.”

She was talking to Lee Jong-won.

Kim Yong-pyo, who was nearby, immediately approached and knelt in front of Park Ji-soo.

“I, I, I’m sorry. Lord. I tried to stop him.”

“Shut your mouth. Your breath stinks. And get away.”

“Yes…… Yes, yes…… Yes!”

Flutter!

Kim Yong-pyo scurried away from her while kneeling.

Park Ji-soo stood in front of Yoonha, who was panting.

Then she carefully squatted down and stroked Yoonha’s face.

The wounds were severe.

Ji-soo rested her chin on one hand and turned Yoonha’s chin from side to side with the other, asking languidly.

“What did Zion say?”

“……What?”

“Did he give you a position in the organization? Or, well…… did he give you a lot of money? Or something else? What is it?”

“…….”

Yoonha moved her head left and right according to Ji-soo’s hand movements.

Park Ji-soo, who was scrutinizing Yoonha’s face like that, threw out a tempting offer.

“I can take care of you even better. Wealth? Fame? Or should I give you a man? I can give you a new man every day. I’ll give you three people every day until someone looks just like your ideal type. Only younger guys. Or, well. Food? Is there anything you want to eat?”

“…….”

“Tell me, why don’t you talk? You must want something, right? Kang Zion said he would do something for you…… or, well, did he? That’s why you’re keeping your mouth shut like a mute.”

“…….”

“……I’ll give you twice as much as that, no, three times as much. Come on-. Tell me. What do you want?”

* * *

What you want.

People are bound to want something.

Of course, Ha Yoonha also had a dream.

But since the world has been destroyed, she already knows that such things are useless.

Yoonha lost her family.

During the first round [monster wave], when goblins attacked on the highway.

Yoonha, who was the only one in her family who had unbuckled her seatbelt, managed to escape.

The remaining family members who had buckled their seatbelts were eaten alive.

After that, it was just wandering.

She rummaged through the snowfields and ate everything.

She ate anything she could find.

She didn’t even hesitate to consume unidentified corpses.

She also stole food from other wanderers.

She kept wandering like that, and when her strength was exhausted, she sensed death approaching.

What you want.

Yes, there was only one thing.

Do you remember that warm feeling?

The feeling that your heart warms and swells just by being in that moment.

Simply going to school and hanging out with friends in the city streets as the sun sets.

Chatting with friends and parting ways at the bus stop.

Coming home, washing up, eating, and lying in bed watching YouTube and giggling.

Even if such a boring routine is repeated, warmth permeates everything.

And Zion was the lord who reminded her of that warmth, which she had lost.

He was different from the adults she had encountered so far.

Kang Zion was the only one.

In this world, in this space, in this league.

He was the only adult.

The scene when she first met him was still vivid.

Yoonha’s body buried in the snow shook rhythmically, and soon the view became bright again.

A man standing against the backdrop of the brightly shining sunlight. He was reaching out his hand to her.

“…….”

Rescue?

Could it be that I’m being rescued?

I thought there would be no more rescue in this world.

Yoonha was pulled out of the snow by Zion’s hand.

When Yoonha was embraced in Zion’s arms, she felt strangely warm. That warmth was the feeling she wanted but couldn’t find, and eventually forgot.

The first feeling she had felt since the world was destroyed.

That day, Yoonha saw hope in Zion.

No matter what feelings Zion had when he rescued her, it was at least a turning point in Yoonha’s life.

All the good heroes in the world die and fail to leave their names in history.

So what? She saw ‘hope’.

* * *

“He said he’d give me the Earth. If you give me three times that…… I’ll think about it.”

“…….”

Park Ji-soo’s eyelids flickered at Yoonha’s words.

……He said he’d give her the Earth?

It wasn’t even giving her the world, but what does it mean to give her the Earth?

It was an incomprehensible answer.

But Park Ji-soo didn’t try to understand.

Thud.

With that voice as the last, Yoonha’s head dropped.

The girl fainted.

Park Ji-soo was silent in front of the fainted Yoonha.

She silently put her hands in her coat pockets and got up from her seat.

The hem of her coat was wet.

Her subordinates in the bathhouse were silent.

The lord’s silence was a sign of anger, so no one dared to speak to her.

But at this time, Lee Jong-won, who had no tact, approached with a sashimi knife, chuckling.

“L, Lord-. C, can I, can I play with her now-? Why did you tell me not to torture- her? There are so many- games to play. Dalgona game [Korean honeycomb candy game]. And…… historical drama game…… Ahh. Lots of new games.”

“…….”

At Lee Jong-won’s words, Park Ji-soo narrowed her eyes. Then she looked down at Ha Yoonha, who was lying sideways.

An unknown emotion bubbled up from within.

Soon she chuckled and said.

“……Leave her alone.”

“Yes, what-?”

When Lee Jong-won asked back, Park Ji-soo frowned and said again.

“Don’t touch her and leave her alone. Take her to my room. Treat her first.”

“Why-. Why-? Th, this kid is a b, bitch who stole our information and sold it……? She’s a completely bad kid……? Bad kids…… sh, should be pu, punished……? -Ugh?!”

Stab-!

Then, when Lee Jong-won retorted, Park Ji-soo immediately stabbed the knife into his mouth.

It was a military dagger she took out from inside her coat.

Chururuk…….

Lee Jong-won choked as if in pain, holding blood in his mouth.

Park Ji-soo stared at Lee Jong-won as if to kill him and said.

“Hey, you X bastard. Just do what I tell you to do. Why are you talking back? Huh? Jong-won-ah. You’re good at everything. Don’t just talk back, you X. Got it?”

Nod, nod, nod.

Lee Jong-won nodded vigorously with a knife in his mouth.

Then, one of Dongan’s warriors entered the bathhouse and reported to the lord.

“Lord. All troops have completed assembly.”

Park Ji-soo stared at Yoonha for a moment, then ordered Kim Yong-pyo.

“Clean up here and come out.”

“Yes…… Yes. Yes. Lord.”

She followed the warrior back outside.

The sound of rain was heard.

The rain that started in the morning continued to fall in the afternoon.

On the stairs going up to the first floor, her pupils shook wildly.

Her heart was pounding, and her body was trembling like crazy.

Because she was afraid of death?

No, she was excited.

When Kang Zion’s army and her army try to kill each other and rush at each other.

And when her army finally completely tramples on Kang Zion’s forces.

Kang Zion becomes hers. She was excited to imagine that.

And that girl.

She’s probably a child that Kang Zion cherishes.

So, she shouldn’t do anything that bothers Zion. Because he will soon become her man.

‘……Haha. Hahahahaha.’

The small excitement she felt at first enveloped her whole body.

Park Ji-soo reveled in this feeling and left the underground bathhouse and came outside.

Warriors were already gathered there.

(Continued in the next episode)