Regressor Instruction Manual

It had to be Woo Hyo-Yeol, William, or the Master of the Slender Tentacle Queen Familia. It could be Lim Cheong-Ha or Han Seung-Yoon, but I was hoping Woo Hyo-Yeol had come to save me since I didn’t have long to live.

This happened because of him, so it was only right for him to be here.

‘I’m sure he’s been watching me.’

The others had already left, so I was sure it was him.

I was in pain, so my senses were in a mess. When my vision finally improved, the person I saw before me was someone no different from the thugs earlier…

“...”

“...”

It was a blond-haired and tanned thug.

‘W-Woo Hyo-Yeol!’

However, what caught my attention the most was his predatory aura.

His cold and downcast eyes were filled with contempt as if he were sneering at his prey, but strangely, there was a hint of annoyance in his eyes. I had no idea why, but I felt like I knew why he was annoyed.

He was annoyed at himself for getting involved in such a troublesome situation.

“Y-You…” one of the thugs stuttered.

“I asked you what you're doing,” Woo Hyo-Yeol questioned.

“W-We’re just…”

The three thugs froze when they saw a thug who was superior to them.

However, it was too late to give any excuses.

‘You guys were caught in the act. You got caught red-handed!’

I was sure he had been watching me, but the victim and the culprits were already clear at first glance. There were two big guys and a normal-looking guy.

They looked really happy, and it was probably because they had successfully committed a crime. There were some leftover gems and cold on the ground, but the most important detail was the fact that Flower Ki-Young was sprawled out on the ground with his face covered with his blood.

Even if their parents were here, they wouldn't be able to defend them. It was undeniable that those criminals had beaten me up and stolen my precious goods.

No explanation was necessary.

“Damn it…” one of the thugs mumbled.

“...”

“So we…”

‘You think your excuses will work?’

“You see… we…”

‘It won’t work at all.’

“...”

“Get him, damn it!” one of the thugs shouted.

“What? What?!” the other thug questioned.

“Kill that bastard!” one of the thugs ordered.

In the end, their choices were limited. They could either turn themselves in or find a way to escape. Unfortunately, the latter was a stupid choice.

“Ahhh!”

Woo Hyo-Yeol dodged the guy who punched first, and then he twisted the latter's arm.

“Ack… AAAARGH! Aaaah! My arm! M-My arm!” the thug shouted.

“You’re noisy,” Woo Hyo-Yeol said.

I closed my eyes when I saw the thug's arm getting twisted in ways I had no idea was even possible. He collapsed to the ground and with a scream, but Woo Hyo-Yeol, the cold-hearted thug, showed no mercy and stepped on the back of the thug's hand.

“AAAAH!”

“I said you were being loud,” Woo Hyo-Yeol repeated.

“Ugh… ack!”

Woo Hyo-Yeol immediately punched the thug's face, and the ground was soon stained with his blood.

‘He’s really violent.’

He was smurfing, but it was fun to watch as well.

Actually, this fight was over.

Before the other two could join the reckless fight, one of them was already rolling on the ground in pain while covered in his own blood.

I knew there was a difference in their level, but they couldn't possibly fight back against Woo Hyo-Yeol. Those thugs definitely knew that better than anyone. To add to that, the normal-looking started trembling at the brutal sight.

It was kind of heartbreaking, as he had never really intended to turn all this into a crime, but it was too late for regrets.

“I-I’m sorry. I… lost my mind… for a moment…” one of the thugs said.

“Don’t move! You bastard!” the other thug shouted.

“...”

“If you move, I’ll twist this guy’s neck,” he threatened.

“...”

“I’m… not joking. If you take another step, I’m going to… twist Lee Ki-Young’s neck,” he repeated.

‘That’s why you should be careful who you make friends with.’

There was room for mitigation, but the criminal’s violent hands had already grabbed my head. He couldn't think of any other way aside from violence…

‘He really is the typical villain.’

“...”

“Don’t move! I-I killed people before. You think I’m joking?” he confessed.

“...”

“Move it!” he yelled.

“...”

“Move it, you bastard. What are you looking at me? Didn’t you hear what I just said? I said move it! Unless you want to see something really ugly!” he threatened.

“Kill him,” Woo Hyo-Yeol said.

“W-What?”

“It doesn’t matter to me, so twist his head and kill him,” he said.

“Y-You asshole… Y-You think I won’t do it?” the thug stuttered.

“That’s why I said to kill him,” he said.

It wasn’t a battle of nerves.

With a sly smirk, Woo Hyo-Yeol provoked the thug and cast an urging gaze at the latter. It was like he couldn't care less whether I survived this ordeal or not. I was kind of upset, but I felt like he knew that the thug had no guts to kill me.

It was obvious. His hands were shaking, and he was slowly letting go of my head.

“Y-You bastard… Woo Hyo-Yeol!” the thug shouted.

Woo Hyo-Yeol stomped and appeared in front of me in the blink of an eye. Then, he kicked the face of the criminal standing behind me.

The extra slammed into a wall and collapsed to the ground.

The normal-looking guy was absolutely terrified, and the sight of it told me that this incident was over.

‘At least he knows that he can't kill them. We’re still inside the academy, so letting the security guards take care of this will make things less annoying. Yeah, I agree.’

“...”

“...”

“...”

There was an awkward silence. I was too embarrassed to ask why he was here and why he helped me. The sick Lee Ki-Young couldn’t express his gratitude because his pride was getting in his way.

I probably looked pretty pathetic. I allowed people to praise me by calling me "Genius Commander," and a few minutes after I rejected all offers from those familias as if I had something up my sleeve, this incident somehow happened.

What would have happened if Woo Hyo-Yeol hadn't stepped in to help Lee Ki-Young?

What would have happened if we had been in the slums of a small city instead of the academy? I wouldn’t be standing here like this. I received help from the type of person I hated the most, and my pride wouldn't let me express my gratitude.

‘It’s the worst.’

It was really… bad.

'Flower Ki-Young… i-is this the kind of man you are?'

A part of me felt ashamed and jealous of Woo Hyo-Yeol. Horrible emotions were swirling inside me.

‘I’m really… really… the worst.’

Woo Hyo-Yeol looked embarrassed as well. Normally, other people would ask if I was hurt anywhere, but sadly, he wasn’t a normal person.

He was confused about why he was here, and asking me if I was okay was a hard task for him. Of course, he had to say something. He was having a hard time enduring the silence, so he ended up saying something first.

“How pathetic.”

“...”

“You’re really pathetic,” Woo Hyo-Yeol said.

He threw the pouch full of precious goods in front of me. I got up slowly and wiped my face clean. Woo Hyo-Yeol said nothing. He created a heavy atmosphere and just stared at me.

“I…” I paused.

“...”

“I know that I’m pathetic,” I continued.

“...”

“And… thank you… for helping me,” I added.

I staggered my way past Woo Hyo-Yeol, but the guy who remained quiet after calling me "pathetic" asked, “Why.”

“...”

“Why did you interfere?” asked Woo Hyo-Yeol.

‘So he was watching.’

I knew it.

“It had nothing to do with you,” Woo Hyo-Yeol said.

“...”

“Why did you interfere?” Woo Hyo-Yeol asked again.

“You were… watching?” I asked.

“Answer me, Lee Ki-Young,” Woo Hyo-Yeol demanded.

‘Did you just say my name?’

What would be a good answer? I had lots of choices, but an overly touching answer would easily cause side effects. A normal answer was probably the best choice here. I decided to just mumble my answer without any emotions.

“I just… I just didn’t like what they said,” I answered.

That had to be enough...

“I just didn’t like hearing them blame you when they didn’t even do anything, and before I knew it… I ended up… in that situation,” I added.

'Let’s not listen to his answer, and there's no need to look back at him either.'

Going my own way was the right thing to do here. If one were to take a step forward to approach a wild dog, the wild dog would usually take a step backward. Until our relationship had reached a certain point, I had to avoid reaching my hand out to him.

Woo Hyo-Yeol would take care of those thugs, so I ought to just head to the warp gate.

My face and mood were in a mess, but thinking of this as a brutal initiation ceremony made it easy for me to endure the ordeal as I started walking away.

I got involved in something stupid by acting like an idiot.

It was so stupid that Flower Ki-Young wouldn’t normally get involved in something like this, but I wasn’t upset at all. I was in pain, and the type of person I despised had to help me, but looking back at it now, I didn’t feel distressed at all.

‘This isn’t the end, right, Hyo-Yeol?’

I hoped the incident just now would help him make the right decision.

‘You won’t… let me down, right?’

If we were to part now, we wouldn't see each other for a while.

Upon our next meeting, I believed he wouldn't be as confused as he was today.

‘Please…’

“This is the central warp gate. Where would you like to go?” a staff member asked.

“Harizel, please,” I answered.

“Okay. I’ll teleport you to Harizel,” they replied.

And that was when I heard a familiar voice...

“One more for Harizel.”

I looked back and saw him. Once again, he had appeared out of nowhere. When we were growing apart, he carefully took a step forward.

Before I could ask anything, he mumbled, “Don’t get the wrong idea.”

“What?”

“We just happened to be heading to the same place,” Woo Hyo-Yeol answered.

‘Woo Hyooooooooo-Yeooooooool!’

“...”

‘I knew you were going to come with me, damn it!’