The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 9

The voting results window appeared in the air.

[The player selected as king of the Red Team is ‘Kang Si-on.’]

As the king was chosen, red stamps appeared above the heads of everyone present.

All those belonging to the 7th floor were selected as ‘citizens’ of the Red Team kingdom led by me.

K smiled as she looked at the results.

“I knew Si-on would be chosen. Who else would it be here besides Si-on?”

K was talking about me, but I wasn’t interested in her.

What I was interested in were the kings of the Blue and Black Teams.

In other words, the targets I had to eliminate.

From the moment I was selected as king, I steeled my resolve.

I looked at the remaining two notification windows.

[The player selected as king of the Blue Team is ‘???’.]

[The player selected as king of the Black Team is ‘???’.]

The individuals elected as kings were marked as ‘???’ and kept private.

“The affiliated kings are superficially ordinary ‘citizens.’ So, it’s not easy for the opposing team to know whether someone is a ‘king’ or a ‘citizen.’”

K’s voice continued.

Ultimately, the fastest way to eliminate a king was through a large-scale battle or assassination.

Given that the opposing team’s king cannot be easily found, this game will not go so smoothly.

Internal unity.

Strong internal unity was directly related to the combat power of the group.

That was the first goal to aim for.

‘The number of Blue Team members was overwhelmingly large.’

That meant there were more survivors in the Blue Team.

In comparison, we had only a few dozen at best.

Based on what I saw, there seemed to be more than twice as many of them.

If a battle started, our side would suffer more damage.

No, we might not even be able to win in the first place.

“The round will start exactly 60 minutes from now. The current time is… 23:00, so it will start at 00:00. Oh, and! From 23:00 to 00:00, neither the Red Team nor the Blue Team can attack each other. During this time, you can all… rest, or prepare for the attack.”

Everyone was determined.

After experiencing the tutorial and K’s game.

No one would still deny the reality they faced.

K surveyed the expressions of the people and smiled with satisfaction.

Then, she clapped her hands and drew attention again.

“Well! Shall we begin now?”

With those words, K opened a dimensional door in the air again.

Baby angels lined up and entered first, and K remained until the very end, saying one last thing to us.

“Enjoy yourselves, everyone. They say no one can beat someone who enjoys themselves, right? Then good luck.”

Swoosh-.

With those words, K disappeared into the air.

And silence returned to the store.

At the same time, a status window appeared before my eyes, signaling the start of Round 1.

[Temporary Status Window] [Building A112305: Red Team]

[King: Kang Si-on]

[Resources

Number of Citizens: 32 (Injured 3, Minor Injuries 3, Serious Injuries 0)

Number of Vassals: 0, – Grade

Occupied Area: 7th Floor

Ranking in Residence: 2nd

Food: 0

Water: 0

Power: Military (0), Weapons {13, F Grade (12), A Grade (1)}

]

* * *

After K disappeared, silence fell over the place.

Some people sighed in relief, while others silently stared at the space where K had vanished.

Si-on was examining the status window.

Jae-hee took out a cigarette from her pocket and put it in her mouth.

‘Fortunately, the future hasn’t changed.’

Click, click-.

She lit the cigarette and turned to look at him.

He seemed to be deep in thought, looking back and forth at the status window.

As expected, Kang Si-on was selected as the king of Round 1.

In the meantime, there was no role she could play.

Now that he was selected as king, he was figuring out how to survive in this world.

If she recklessly told him everything, the future would change exponentially.

All she had to do was add a little explanation to make it easier for him to understand.

And to see if he could really win this league in his own way.

Jin Jae-hee slowly approached Kang Si-on.

Si-on was picking up a mop handle that had fallen nearby and examining it.

He thought as he looked at it.

‘Internal unity, huh.’

As he gripped the mop handle, the weapon’s information window naturally appeared before his eyes.

[Temporary] [Mop Handle (F Grade), Attack Power (5), Durability (10)]

The mop handle was also treated as a weapon.

The grade was F, and the durability was ridiculously low at 10.

It was at a level where the durability would be halved if you swung it against the wall with all your might once.

He opened the inventory again and examined the revolver.

The information window that hadn’t been visible until now appeared.

It was an information window surrounded by a purple border.

[Temporary] [Smith & Wesson .38 Caliber (A Grade), Attack Power (70), Durability (100), Bullets (10)]

It had a completely different attack power and durability than the previous mop handle.

He realized once again how great an advantage this weapon that K had given him was.

Si-on needed to objectively assess the power that the Red Team currently possessed.

Because he didn’t know what the Blue Team was doing or what they were armed with.

As Si-on was looking at the weapon window, Jin Jae-hee approached and said casually.

“You can upgrade weapons by using citizens with special jobs. You can increase the durability or the attack power.”

Si-on pondered for a moment at those words and asked again.

“How do you get those citizens with special jobs?”

“Special citizens, or players with unique skills, are like gold dust in the sand. They’re hard to find and hard to get. So, as you move past the mid-game, special citizens are often traded at considerable prices.”

Special abilities? People being traded at high prices?

Si-on looked around with questions.

And above their heads, there were stamps symbolizing the Red Team.

The stamps looked like medals, but most were simple red patterns.

It seemed to be a stamp only visible to the king.

Because none of the Red Team members here were looking at each other’s heads.

“You won’t be able to get information about special citizens in the early stages. Most of it will be revealed after passing the early to mid-game.”

“What does ‘temporary’ mean next to this status window?”

At my question, Jin Jae-hee blew out cigarette smoke and replied.

“Literally. All status windows and stats that come out during the tutorial process are temporary. Don’t worry about it. Anyway, the tutorial is a process of selecting players, and there’s no need to worry about it for long. Focus on the game right now. And one more thing.”

After that, Jin Jae-hee pointed to the opposite place with a finger holding a cigarette.

I followed her finger and shifted my gaze.

There were two people who looked like siblings.

Their voices could be heard.

“Can we eat this?”

“…A monster? Are you crazy?”

“Ah. But I’m starving to death, what should I do?”

“Just swallow your saliva.”

“I’m swallowing.”

The two people who looked like siblings were talking about the fallen goblin corpse.

Jin Jae-hee said, looking at the two siblings.

“I saw them on the way here, those two. They’ll be a great help to you.”

“They came up from the lower floor?”

“Yeah.”

I looked around.

Most of the people seemed to be waiting for my next words.

In any case, in order for us to survive, we had to eliminate the kings of the Blue and Black Teams, and I had a duty to lead them.

“What is food?”

Si-on asked Jae-hee.

“Food refers to the number of days a force can last. If the number is 1, it means the entire force can last one day.”

“That it’s 0 now means…”

“It means you can’t last even a day in this state.”

Tuk tuk.

Jin Jae-hee flicked the cigarette ash with her finger and said.

Si-on looked around and thought.

If this were a large mart [a general store], there would be no problem with food.

Because a large mart has one or two floors full of food ingredients.

But this is a shopping mall outlet [a mall featuring discounted goods].

It’s not a shopping mall mainly focused on food ingredients, but a shopping mall mainly focused on fashion, miscellaneous goods, and movie theaters.

The floors where food is likely to be are the food street and the restaurants on the 9th and 10th floors.

Or at least the 11th floor, in the movie theater.

Si-on turned his head and looked at the goblins who were just lying dead.

He asked Jae-hee about it.

“Can you eat goblins?”

“Yeah, it just tastes disgusting.”

“What about nutrition?”

“The worst, but you can last a few days anyway, but as a king, you must solve the food problem for your citizens.”

“That’s enough. Kyung-soo.”

“Ah, yes! Si-on.”

When Si-on called, Kwon Kyung-soo, who had been taking care of the exhausted survivors, hurriedly ran over.

Si-on told Kwon Kyung-soo to collect usable meat from the goblins.

“Monsters…?”

“Yes, if possible, leave the internal organs and only trim the lean meat. You can throw the remaining corpses on the 6th floor.”

“Ah… yes! I’ll try.”

Kwon Kyung-soo looked around and picked up scissors from the store.

After taking a few more, he headed towards the goblins with the people around him.

Next was weapons.

Si-on looked at his status window and asked.

“Will all the rounds proceed like this in the future?”

“Yeah. Depending on the location.”

“Location…?”

Si-on turned to look at Jae-hee.

Jae-hee explained nonchalantly.

“Yeah. First the building, then the city, small areas, multi-areas, and then the whole country. Right now, only small-scale battles are taking place… but as the rounds progress, the scale becomes enormous.”

In the end, it meant that you had to invest not only in the immediate victory but also in places that were essential in the long term.

Beating the Blue Team was the top priority, though.

Four or five people came out of the bathroom, groaning.

They brought buckets full of water for cleaning mops.

“We, we brought water. Si-on.”

“We brought it too. Huff… Huff….”

[Water: 0 -> 3]

The update was very fast.

As soon as they brought the buckets inside the barricade, which was judged to be the current residential area, the amount of resources increased.

At the same time, goblin trimming was in full swing on the opposite side.

They split the scissors in half and started trimming the bones and internal organs from the corpses with the sharp parts.

They were all making miserable faces, and some even vomited, but they didn’t stop working.

‘Hoo….’

Si-on sighed deeply.

Now all that was left was to figure out what kind of people the Blue Team were.

Si-on looked up at the ceiling and thought.

The ceiling, which was nothing but darkness, felt even farther away.

He had to form a search team to monitor their movements.

There are three kings in the shopping mall.

If the structure was that he had to eliminate them to live, Si-on vowed not to hesitate.

It didn’t matter where they were from, what they did, how kind they were, or how evil they were.

He would eliminate them.

He would do his best to eliminate them.

“Uh… uh…?”

“Wait a minute. People?!”

At that moment.

A commotion was heard, and Si-on looked towards the sound.

It was the escalator.

And men with sturdy physiques were coming down the escalator in groups.

They were holding baskets in one hand, and the baskets were full of delicious-looking food.

“……”

Si-on slowly stepped out of the barricade.

Step, step, step.

They came down in a row and placed the baskets in front of us.

The area was instantly abuzz with the appearance of food.

And a low, deep voice was heard.

“Ah-. Everyone.”

Another man walking out between the men.

He wore horn-rimmed glasses, and his hair was slicked back.

He had a prominent square jaw and was dressed neatly in a suit.

The man walked alone among the Red Team members and then smiled, saying.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Dong-gil, the branch manager of Benix Shopping Mall.”

The Blue Team had approached first, before the Red Team could move.

It was the advance team of the Blue Team, who were grouped on the 11th floor.

(To be continued in the next episode)