Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: 19. The Deepest Part of the Abyss (1)
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Yoo Ji-tae bought alcohol on a whim, chasing some inexplicable feeling.
70-proof, 29-year-old bourbon whiskey.
Ten bottles of it, no less.
Clink... The heavy glass bottles clinked against each other inside his leather bag.
Back at the dorm, Bom, Yeoreum, Gaeul, Gyeoul, and the Guardian were all gathered in the living room, playing a board game.
It was a five-player game, perfect.
So he quietly headed to his room. “Huh? Ajusshi, play with us! The janitor ajusshi sucks!” Gaeul called out to him, but he just waved her off dismissively.
Once in his room, he cracked open a bottle.
Leaning against the wall, he downed the liquor straight, no chaser. Gulp, gulp, gulp. The signature sweetness and thick aroma of bourbon rose up. Normally, his body wouldn't let him get drunk, but he deliberately dialed his metabolism down to human levels.
Moonlight streamed in through the window. A perfect night to get wasted.
The regressor thought so, at least.
Back in his 2nd and 3rd regressions, Yoo Ji-tae had been glued to the bottle just like this. Getting drunk let him escape the complexities of the world, if only for a moment.
In those early loops, he'd even vented to others, showing them his wounds. I'm suffering so much. I'm so pitiful. But as the regressions piled up, he realized leaning on empty comforts was foolish. No amount of sympathy changed reality.
The world rewound itself endlessly, always leaving him behind. A perfectly ordinary man, abandoned alone, had no choice but to accept it.
So Yoo Ji-tae stopped seeking understanding from others. They could never fully empathize anyway, and self-pity was pointless. Once he had nothing left to console himself for, alcohol lost its meaning.
He quit getting drunk.
Tonight's binge was just a whim.
It was around the time he cracked open his fourth bottle and started getting properly wasted.
'The time has come, my liege.'
A message from his clone brushed through his mind.
Yoo Ji-tae rose leisurely from his spot. In that instant, a thick wave of alcohol scent wafted from his entire body. He'd forced the drunkenness out through his skin.
'Transmitting memories.'
The clone sent over its memories.
Everything it had seen and heard over the past week.
Yoo Ji-tae reviewed them one by one, projecting them in his mind like a film.
Intel on the 70-man raid team.
Reports on Prototype X's movements.
Wei Lian's rage over losing a cherished comrade.
And several demonkin meetings.
'Will you handle the event personally?'
Yoo Ji-tae affirmed it.
It was already dawn. Having geared up, he stepped into the hallway to leave.
Olivaceous eyes met his in the darkness.
“What're you doing. Not sleeping?”
“Where are you going?”
“Out for a bit.”
Bom stared at him with her usual enigmatic blank expression.
Her eyes were on him, yet somehow gazing into the distance.
As Yoo Ji-tae tried to pass her,
Bom moved to block his path.
“Why.”
“I wanna go too.”
“No.”
“I won't be any trouble.”
“You saw something, huh. Right?”
“...I can't say. Just know you need me, ajusshi.”
She had seen something.
Still, no meant no.
“Stay here. I'll be right back.”
As Yoo Ji-tae sidestepped, Bom blocked him again.
Left, she blocked left. Right, she blocked right.
Yoo Ji-tae spoke in a low voice.
“Bom.”
“......”
“Go wait in your room.”
“...Why won't you take me?”
“These are things you don't need to know. Nothing good comes from it. So move. Keep this up, and I'll tie you to a chair.”
Half-serious.
“No.”
“Yoo Bom.”
“No. I won't let you go alone.”
She was more stubborn than usual today. He wasn't in the mood for a tussle.
Yoo Ji-tae hardened his expression a bit and walked past her side. Bom's eyes widened in surprise, and she didn't block him.
As he slipped on his shoes from the entryway,
Something wrapped around his waist.
Bom's arms.
“Hey.”
“......”
“Let go.”
A hint of irritation crept into his voice.
“Do you think you have to protect me because I'm a child...?”
“What?”
“Keep bad things from my sight. Shield me from the dirty stuff. Fill me with only good things, and that'll make us happy. Is that what you think?”
Bom was right.
Seeing the filth was a job for one regressor only.
Dragons didn't need to see it. Or know it.
Her voice came from behind him.
“...Ajusshi, do you know what it means to live as a dragon of the Green clan?”
She exhaled against his back, like a sigh.
The life of a Green Dragon who beholds Providence.
Even as a regressor, he couldn't comprehend it.
Anyway, he didn't have time for this now.
“No clue. Point is, I can't take you. So let go while I'm asking nicely. I'm not kidding about tying you up.”
“......”
Her arms slowly released.
Before putting on his shoes and heading out, he glanced back. She was holding something.
Bom gripped the Guardian's longsword, still in its scabbard.
“What's that.”
“Borrowed it earlier.”
After hesitating a moment, Bom added,
“Ajusshi. Hypothetically. If there's something you really, really don't want to do... but you have to. What do you do?”
“Do it. No question.”
“Even if someone hates you for it? Or if someone has to suffer no matter what?”
He silently met Bom's gaze.
The world is full of things you must do out of duty.
Some can be skipped.
“...Do it.”
But some must be done, even if the whole world hates it and suffers.
“...I see. Even if you hate it enough to die, if it must be done, you do it, right?”
He pondered why Bom was acting like this.
She'd seen something in Providence.
And had to act on it.
Something she didn't want to do.
“Guess I'm still too young... I know I have to. I know, but really, I...”
Hesitating again, Bom slowly extended the longsword to him.
“...I didn't want to give this to you.”
He looked at Bom's face.
Eyes still unreadable. But today, they seemed especially sad.
He took the sword.
The International Hunter Association's 70-man raid team.
This raid's target: subjugating the boss "Kraken" dwelling in the S-rank dungeon, "Heteia's Sea." Naturally, to minimize casualties, the Association had gathered renowned powerhouses.
Every member was a superhuman in the top 0.5% or higher. In metaphor, the raid team's combat power rivaled a decent developing nation's military.
And their leader was an executive of the International Hunter Association, a top-tier powerhouse in the world ranking's 90s.
His name was...
"Shiraishi Ryunosuke."
Silver-framed glasses.
The intellectual-looking man greeted Yoo Ji-tae with an uncomfortable expression.
"You're... Japanese?"
"Live nearby. You understand my proposal?"
Yoo Ji-tae scrutinized his face.
The Scales Eye marked the man with faint evil. Not a demonkin.
Yet he'd colluded with them, slipping the invisible demonkin Prototype X into the raid.
A grave mistake.
"You want one spot in the 70-man raid? And full access to everyone's profiles?"
"Yes."
"You... look pretty strong. But isn't this ridiculous?"
"Ridiculous?"
"The raid starts tomorrow morning. No teamwork drilled, no connections, not even Association-affiliated. Identity's shady too. What am I supposed to trust to slot you in? Your sheer audacity is absurd."
“......”
Yoo Ji-tae didn't reply.
"Can't even reveal your identity. No idea how you knew about this place either, but do you think the Association is a joke?"
"So you'll say no?"
“...Your arrogance knows no bounds.”
Suddenly, light burst from Ryunosuke's hands. In an instant, a bow formed in his left, an arrow in his right.
Incredibly fast switching to combat stance.
He nocked, drew, and released in a flash.
The next moment, Yoo Ji-tae caught the arrow mid-flight and stabbed it through Ryunosuke's left wrist. It pinned halfway into the table.
Ryunosuke dropped his bow.
“......!”
It happened in the blink of an eye. Ryunosuke grimaced from the pain.
"Damn. You're a bigger deal than I thought."
Despite the arrow through his hand, Ryunosuke smirked leisurely, adjusting his glasses with the other.
But he couldn't stop his pounding heart.
"What if I still refuse?"
"Dunno. Flay your skin and wear it, maybe."
"I look young for my age. Old man's hide is pretty tough, though? Flaying it might be..."
Forcing nonchalance, Ryunosuke trailed off upon meeting the man's eyes.
He was one of Japan's Twelve Thrones, a celebrated ranker. Though barely clinging to the last seat, he was strong—and in nearly twenty years, he'd never felt fear facing any superhuman.
But now, the man's gaze terrified him.
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
Retreat.
The instant he decided, he moved.
Mana erupted from Ryunosuke's body as light. The office flooded with brilliance.
Light March (A)
A mobility skill that blocks vision and senses.
Ryunosuke yanked his wrist free from the arrow. Blood sprayed as flesh scraped the shaft. The metal fletching caught, grinding bone. The wound tore wider, but no choice.
In that split second, he debated smashing through the outer wall? No, he'd be pursued. Instead, he hurled himself at the inner wall.
Beyond it: an emergency escape teleport machine. Hard to track, perfect for fleeing.
But as he burst into the teleporter room,
He froze with a groan.
From the open door slit, a longsword thrust out, piercing into his mouth.
“......!”
Ryunosuke stiffened, sword in mouth.
Then the door opened.
There stood the mysterious man from the office moments ago.
Step. Step.
With the blade shoved deep into Ryunosuke's mouth, the man slowly advanced, forcing him back. To avoid throat impalement, Ryunosuke retreated in sync with the man's movements.
Thus, he backpedaled right into his own office.
Just like that, the 70-man raid became 71.
"Here they are."
Then a woman entered through the office door.
An older lady, bald with a shaved, bristly head.
Yoo Ji-tae's clone, wearing the skin of the lab director "Vera."
She approached and handed Yoo Ji-tae the documents.
"Found the 70 profiles."
"Good."
Yoo Ji-tae flipped through them, checking faces and names one by one.
“...My liege.”
The clone addressed him cautiously.
"What."
“......”
"Spit it out."
“......I sorted the Prototype X file to the very last page.”
"You peeked ahead? Just send the memory next time."
“......My apologies.”
But the clone's reaction felt off somehow.
Wondering briefly, Yoo Ji-tae turned to the final page.
Now, who was the sole change in the 7th regression's Prototype X?
Didn't matter who.
Whoever it was, they had to die.
But the moment he opened the last page.
Yoo Ji-tae's hand froze.