Chapter 7
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Regressor (1)
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“...”
“Hey, hurry up and leave her and get lost! You wanna die?!”
“... Oppa.”
‘Damn it... What the hell am I supposed to do?’
No matter how much he thought about it, there was no solution. Fight them? All four of them? Starting a fight in this situation would just be suicide.
As Lee Yun-seong hesitated, Lee Yu-rim squeezed her eyes shut and opened her mouth.
“... Oppa. Leave me behind. Just... please take good care of Yu-hyeon.”
“Noona! What are you saying...! Hyung, no way, right?!”
“...”
‘Just... abandon her and go. Then... I can survive safely. And save Yu-hyeon too...’
They hadn’t known each other long. He just had to think of her as a pawn to use on the chessboard.
Companions worth keeping could always be gathered again. Gambling in this unfavorable situation was a foolish choice by any measure.
But despite himself, words completely opposite to his thoughts burst out of his mouth.
“... Everyone, get ready to fight. Be extra careful of the guy shooting arrows. Yu-hyeon, you’ve got a dagger, right? You and noona hold out for now. Help me out if the situation improves.”
As he looked ready to fight, the axe-wielding thug sneered.
“Ha... You’re gonna fight with that? Hey, ditch the pathetic sense of justice. You’ll regret it later.”
Ignoring the guy’s words, Lee Yun-seong spat out his instructions.
“I’ll charge the bastards first. Follow close behind. Dodge the arrows however you can!”
“Oppa!”
“Yun-seong hyung!”
The moment he finished speaking, he rushed at the thugs. He heard voices calling after him but ignored them. Right now, he had to focus on the fight.
‘Take out the leader later. First, that axe-wielding idiot in front.’
There was a huge difference between those with a job and those without. He had to deal with the jobless ones first and save his magic for the fight against the leader.
“You little shit!”
The guy in front swung his axe. It was slow and clumsy, but the problem was that Lee Yun-seong wasn’t much good at fighting either. He blocked the axe with his shield and aimed his club at the thug’s torso.
“Fuck!”
The thug barely rolled aside. The other two went after the kids, and the leader with a job slashed at him from the side.
Clang!
“Urk—!”
The leader’s strength stat must have been higher; even blocking with his shield pushed Lee Yun-seong back a little.
“Damn it!”
He was too busy handling two enemies on either side.
In the midst of blocking and attacking, a scream came from where the kids were fighting.
“Aaaagh! You bitch—!”
“Die! Die, you filthy bastards!”
Lee Yu-rim must have dodged the archer’s arrow and stabbed another one with her dagger.
The moment he glanced away, a fierce attack came at his legs. He barely blocked it with his shield.
“Huff... huff... damn it...!”
Seeing him panting, the leader grinned wickedly and spoke.
“Heh... I’ll give you credit. You block and dodge well, but how long can you last? You pinning your hopes on those kids?”
‘Damn it...!’
Slash—
“Argh!”
Distracted blocking the axe guy’s attack, the leader’s sword sliced across the arm holding his club.
“Guhhhh...”
“You son of a bitch! You’re done for!”
Thud!
Pain made him drop the club, and the axe thug kicked him down.
“Guhk...!”
“Puhahaha... You idiot. Wait right there while I check on the others.”
“Groan...”
He couldn’t let the thug go to the kids.
Slowly gathering mana in his hand, he muttered.
“Fire... Ball.”
He felt the mana drain from his body. The axe thug, never imagining magic, widened his eyes as it hit him dead-on.
“Haaaaah! Uwaaaah—!”
The thug danced like a bug on fire.
“You bastard...!”
“Guhk...!”
The leader mounted him and started choking him. They didn’t seem to have much camaraderie, but seeing Lee Yun-seong counterattack after being neutralized must have pissed him off.
“I’ll make you die painfully...!”
“Guhk... kkh... ugh...!”
‘Ca...n’t... breathe...’
While being strangled, he slowly glanced toward the kids.
‘As expected... no way we can win...’
“Aaaagh!”
“Noona!”
“Fuck, this bitch is feisty as hell. Damn slut. Hey, what about my arm? Huh?”
“Don’t touch my noona!”
“You gonna fuck off or not, you little shit?!”
Thump—
“Kkhuk... ugh... noona...”
“Hoo... damn bitch.”
The man whose arm Lee Yu-rim had stabbed grabbed her hair with one hand and yanked her head up.
“Look forward to it. This is gonna be fun. You dare stab my arm?”
A hopeless situation. No way out. Lee Yun-seong felt his consciousness fading too.
“Uwaaaah!”
Suddenly, light began emanating from Lee Yu-hyeon’s body. Similar to when classing up, but even more intense.
“Huh? W-what is that?”
At the same time, Lee Yu-rim’s body nearby glowed white, her wounds slowly healing.
Sensing something off, the thug yelled.
“Kill these kids now!”
As they lunged at Lee Yu-hyeon, a woman’s voice came from somewhere.
“Who’s killing who?”
In the end, no answer came from Jo Chan-ho’s lips. Meeting him this early in the loop was a huge stroke of luck. He was one of the top-priority targets to eliminate.
He just screamed curses until his fingers and toes were all severed. As he’d felt in the first loop, this guy was different from normal people. Purely as a human, he was creepy.
“Stubborn bastard... Won’t talk till the end.”
He hadn’t expected much anyway. He just sighed thinking about how long it’d take to find Yun-seong in this forest.
‘Gotta find him fast. He could be in real trouble.’
Why had he started over? To prevent the guy who died because of him from dying again.
‘Follow Jo Chan-ho’s footprints back, and something should turn up.’
Tracking Jo Chan-ho’s footprints back, he found a corpse half-eaten by monsters and footprints scattering in multiple directions from people who’d fled.
The monster victim was unfortunate, but not his concern now.
‘Excluding Jo Chan-ho and the victim, two directions. One with a single set of prints, the other with three.’
The three were probably Yun-seong and the siblings. Yun-seong had said in the previous loop that he stuck with the two siblings during the tutorial.
He hurriedly followed the trail.
After some time tracking, what he saw was a traumatic scene.
“Who’s killing who?”
The sudden unfamiliar voice made the thugs halt their charge and turn toward the sound. The owner was a woman wielding a spear.
“What the...?”
The guy choking Lee Yun-seong spotted her and panicked, releasing his arm. Air finally reached his lungs.
“Kuhk... hack... guh... cough...”
“... Who are you? You alone?”
The thugs addressed her, but she didn’t speak after her initial line.
She just glared ferociously at the man straddling Lee Yun-seong.
“Hey, bitch! I asked who you are!”
The woman spoke coldly.
“... Who I am? The one here to kill you.”
With that, she shot toward him at blinding speed. The leader, who’d been choking him moments ago, panicked at her velocity.
“W-what the hell?!”
Swoosh—
“Huh?”
In an instant, the leader’s head separated from his body and hit the ground. Blood then gushed from the neck stump.
Spurt—
Thud thud thud.
Covered in blood, the woman stood still for a moment.
“Hiiik...! F-fuck, what was that?!”
The remaining two seemed terrified by their leader’s anticlimactic death.
‘Fuck, what... was that just now... seriously?’
Even Lee Yun-seong’s body began to tremble at the scene.
‘That speed from the start... was it even human?’
Not on Jo Chan-ho’s level, but the leader was among the strongest he’d met. He couldn’t have imagined such an easy death.
The woman knelt on one knee before him, looking at him with a complicated expression.
“Wait just a moment...”
Finishing, she slowly headed toward the two remaining thugs.
“W-wait, stop!”
The club-wielder saw her pause and desperately kept talking.
“Hey... Our leader made us do it. No point fighting, right? We’ll just... leave. We’ll even leave food behind. Yeah? Let’s just go our separate ways...!”
The woman replied expressionlessly.
“... Don’t overthink it. You touched someone you shouldn’t have. And you wouldn’t have spared them even if they begged.”
“C-crazy! Stay back!”
The thug grabbed Lee Yu-rim’s neck.
“Kyaa!”
“You bitch! Come closer and I’ll snap her neck! Drop your weapon!”
“Noona...! Don’t! Please don’t do it...!”
“... Taking hostages now? Think that’ll save you?”
“Fuck, then what, kill me?! Huh? You crazy bitch! Test it! Who’s faster, you killing me or me snapping her neck?!”
The woman rubbed her face tiredly.
“Sigh... Fine. I can’t drop my weapon for safety, so I’ll just stand still and raise my spear. How’s that?”
“Y-yeah, do that! And don’t come closer!”
The two men eyed her warily, slowly backing away.
It happened in a flash. She whipped her spear arm with full force, hurling it straight at the thug’s face.
Crack!
The spear pierced his face; his body crumpled, and Lee Yu-rim collapsed.
“Wh-what...?!”
The archer beside him, who’d been backing up, stared blankly as his comrade was skewered by the flying spear.
The woman closed in on the last one. He tried to react but was too flustered—too late. She kicked his gut.
“Guhk!.. Guuh... urk!”
“Quiet.”
Stab!
“Grrgl... gulp...!”
She retrieved the spear and thrust it into his throat. He flopped like a fish on a hook before going still.
“Hah... haah... h-heuk...!”
Realizing the spear could’ve hit her face if slightly off, Lee Yu-rim panted, pale-faced.
Lee Yu-hyeon rushed to her, sobbing.
“Noona! You okay?!... Hic... huu... waaah...”
“Y-yeah... Noona’s fine.... Stop crying, dummy..”
“Huuu... waaah... It’s my fault noona...”
Leaving the embracing siblings, Lee Yun-seong limped toward the woman with thanks.
“Cough... Thank you. Without you, we’d all be dead. Truly grateful. How can we ever repay this...?”
‘I have to latch onto this woman no matter what.’
Just from her fight, he couldn’t afford to upset her. Objectively, one died to his magic, but she soloed the remaining three in seconds.
‘She’s on another level.’
Like an Irregular. Jo Chan-ho and the leader were strong, but she was leagues above. He couldn’t picture him, Yu-hyeon, and Yu-rim beating her even three-on-one.
“I don’t know what to say... If you want, take all our food. Thank you again.”
If she wanted, she could take their food—or lives—in an instant. Food was a loss, but worth it for their lives.
While thanking her verbally, he checked her status window.