WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Ryuu

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell

Chapter 11

──────

Troublemaker ⅠⅠ

Thanks to the Saintess, I was able to pinpoint the location of OldManGoryeo.

I would like to write that I immediately moved and defeated OldManGoryeo, but in reality, it took a bit more time.

A regressor's schedule is as tight as that of a superstar who just started being hailed as a national actor.

No matter how despicable OldManGoryeo was, I had much more urgent matters at hand. I had to upload the 'Aura Display Video (Advanced Part)' under a sub-account on SG Net, reorganize the Korean Awakeners' Federation, tour famous eateries in Busan, and prepare for the meteor shower, among other things...

It's no joke; my calendar was packed up to the 7th year based on the regressor starting point.

Eventually, I managed to find some time to meet with iJoinedToday nearly fifteen days later. That was also barely squeezed into my schedule.

I, through the Saintess (more precisely through the Constellation she was enacting, 'The Saintess of National Salvation'), arranged the meeting place and time.

At the meeting place, there stood a muscular young man with broad shoulders.

“iJoinedToday sir?”

“Ah... Are you ZERO_SUGAR?”

“Yes. Nice to meet you. Please feel free to call me Undertaker.”

“Pleased to meet you. I am Lee Ju-ho.”

We shook hands.

Heavy hands.

I could feel the fat-free muscles of someone who forges their path through this harsh world.

To add a note, I personally believe that one can tell more about a person from their hands than their face.

“Are you perhaps a teacher by any chance?”

I asked, sneaking a glance over his shoulder.

“Ah.”

Lee Ju-ho laughed awkwardly.

Our meeting place was an elementary school playground. More precisely, it should be described as a split-in-half elementary school.

Peekaboo—

If a used car dealer had seen it, they would have already issued a junkyard disposal for the pile of junk in which tiny children were stealthily watching us. When our eyes met, they scurried to hide like squirrels.

How adorable.

Lee Ju-ho scratched his head.

“Yes, well... I am currently taking care of elementary students.”

“It’s really commendable in these times. May I call you a teacher?”

“Oh, no need for formalities. Please, just call me comfortably. I wasn’t originally a teacher.”

Lee Ju-ho gave a wry smile.

“I was just a math tutor getting paid at a tutoring academy... Somehow, there wasn’t anyone left to take the podium. In the mornings I finish guild tasks, and in the afternoon I juggle teaching. Another member takes care of being the nurse and art teacher, as well as managing the library.”

“Oh...”

Let me just say that by this point, my fondness for Lee Ju-ho had already surpassed Lv.5.

What is this young man? An angel?

“Ah. By the way, ZERO_SUGAR sir, it must have been hard traveling in this hot weather. Would you like something to drink...?”

With that, Lee Ju-ho offered a ZERO Coke beverage.

Since the Gate incident, such commercial products had always been treated as precious.

Probably because my ID was ‘ZERO_SUGAR’, he had deliberately prepared a zero-calorie drink.

“Oh...”

Fondness level: Lv.6 surpassed.

“What a thought... But I will definitely not refuse. I’ll gladly drink it.”

“Haha, I’m glad. I thought you’d like it.”

“Indeed. It's even more pleasing since it’s been a while. And I apologize for being late, but I offer my condolences.”

“Thank you.”

We then sat side by side on a bench in the half-destroyed elementary school playground.

Once again, the young man’s name was Lee Ju-ho.

The active area was Pocheon-Cheorwon. And the place we were meeting was Pocheon as well.

The guild to which Lee Ju-ho belonged could not compare to AAA-class guilds like Samcheon or Baekwha, but it was solid in its own right.

However, according to my memory, at some point, it was one of those mid-size guilds that mysteriously disappeared. In these times, it wasn’t the only one.

“So, Undertaker sir...”

After some initial chitchat, Lee Ju-ho looked at me.

“You mentioned that you had information about OldManGoryeo.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Lee Ju-ho’s black eyes darkened, a burning anger for the father he loved.

Lee Ju-ho licked his lips.

“Will you help me kill that bastard?”

Hmm.

I set down the aluminum can.

“Whether to kill him or not is your decision, Mr. Lee Ju-ho. My role is to guide you to your destination.”

“By destination, you mean...?”

“Of course, the place where OldManGoryeo lives.”

“...!”

Lee Ju-ho’s eyes widened.

“You know where that bastard lives?!”

“Yes.”

“How on earth... Ah. Perhaps...?”

The words Lee Ju-ho swallowed must have been asking if I was an acquaintance of OldManGoryeo.

I shook my head.

“Do not worry. I am not even an acquaintance, let alone having seen his face.”

“Ah.”

Though it would later turn out that I had inadvertently lied.

“I didn’t mean to doubt you, ZERO_SUGAR sir. But how did you find out his location...?”

Of course, it was thanks to the Saintess, with her clairvoyant ability. If you keep listening to my story, you’ll gradually realize that the Saintess is truly a cheat-level Awakener.

“I cannot tell you, but let me hint that it was thanks to my awakening ability and the Constellation I personally serve.”

“Ah...”

“Will you follow me?”

As I got up from the bench, Lee Ju-ho also stood up, albeit hesitantly.

He reflexively looked towards the direction of the abandoned school, where the children were hiding.

“Ah, um, I didn’t know it would come to this... I didn’t settle things before coming. I have guild tasks and school tasks to handle. I’m really sorry, but could you possibly wait just a little longer?”

“No, there’s no need for that.”

“No?”

I smiled brightly.

“It’s very close from here.”

I had specifically adjusted my busy regressor-schedule to afford some leeway to intervene in this case.

“If it’s close, how close is it?”

“Pocheon. Mr. Lee Ju-ho, you and OldManGoryeo, in fact, are from the same neighborhood.”

“......”

Lee Ju-ho’s mouth hung open.

Why hide it?

This case was a simple quest that could be solved with just one proper attempt.

[Turn right into the alley.]

[Then it's left into the next alley.]

[Keep going straight.]

The performance of the 'Saintess', a limited edition navigation product that only I could use worldwide, allowed me to find my way even with my eyes closed.

“......”

Meanwhile, Lee Ju-ho, who was following me, did not stop showing signs of confusion.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah, yes. It's just... this information was so unexpected...”

It was understandably shocking.

Connecting to SG Net meant OldManGoryeo was also an Awakener. And though Pocheon was not a major city, it was expected that all the Awakeners there knew each other.

“Oh! Team Leader Ju-ho!”

Sure enough, as we walked down the street, village patrol members who recognized Lee Ju-ho approached us.

In these times, a patrol team was a must-have item for every village. According to the latest trends, the patrol members looked at me, a stranger, quite suspiciously.

“Excuse me, but what brings you to this neighborhood?”

Lee Ju-ho stepped forward.

“Oh, that... Just taking a walk with an old hometown friend.”

“Your hometown friend? Wow. Such friendships are rare these days.”

The patrol member opened the road barrier.

“Well, if he’s an associate of Team Leader Ju-ho, it should be fine. Please go ahead.”

As we passed the security checkpoint, the streets became a bit tidier. This must be the affluent area of Pocheon, akin to Gangnam Cheongdam-dong. Although, the original Cheongdam-dong had been turned into ruins.

“Here, ZERO_SUGAR sir. Is this really the place?”

Entering this neighborhood, Lee Ju-ho's already anxious voice began to tremble even more.

“Why? Are you feeling uneasy?”

“To be honest... Yes. This area is primarily where our guild's Awakeners live. There isn’t a single member from another guild here.”

“Is that so? Then you should brace yourself.”

“......”

Frankly, whether Lee Ju-ho was prepared or not didn’t matter much to me. After all, I had come all this way just to see how impressively the facial muscles of OldManGoryeo were arranged.

Unlike Lee Ju-ho, I didn't particularly intend to kill OldManGoryeo. A good beating and a warning to 'never troll on the internet again' would suffice.

“This is the place.”

We soon arrived in front of a house. Red bricks. A small front yard.

It wasn’t particularly luxurious, but living in a detached house rather than a communal residence in these times was a sign of privileged status.

Lee Ju-ho's eyes flickered. It seemed it was indeed the house of an acquaintance.

“My goodness.”

“This is the location given by my Constellation. You know of her, The Saintess of National Salvation, right? Among the Constellations, she is the most trustworthy. Let’s see the face now.”

“ZERO_SUGAR sir, just a moment...!”

Lee Ju-ho tried to grab my shoulder, but by then, I had already stormed into the mansion.

Fitting for an Awakener’s hideout, the mansion was equipped with various security devices. However, I infiltrated them as easily as a mosquito would in summer.

Why? Because I, the regressor, was the very person who initially proposed and implemented these security designs.

Passwords? Traps? Puppeteer’s special spider webs? They all crumbled before me, the copyright holder, in less than a second.

“No, what――”

The sound of Lee Ju-ho's astonishment came from behind, but I ignored it. These kinds of infiltration operations needed to be quick and decisive, and once initiated, it was best to finish them without looking back.

If this were a game, my profile would probably read [First Profession: Regressor], [Second Profession: Assassin (Thief)].

I reached the heart of OldManGoryeo’s hideout in an instant.

“Hiee... here's blue, hehee...”

OldManGoryeo was busy painting on a canvas, completely absorbed.

He hadn’t noticed my intrusion at all.

As I approached right behind him, he finally perked up his ears.

“Huh? Who...?”

A critical hit to the nape. With an aura attached as an option.

“Hiek.”

Thump-

A woman in a white doctor’s coat fell clumsily, avoiding the paint cans and collapsing on the floor was my final act of consideration.

OldManGoryeo was, in fact, a woman.

Target secured, mission accomplished.

That was easy.

“Hmm?”

The problem started then.

It was fine to have knocked out OldManGoryeo, but upon checking her face, shockingly.

What in the world.

“No...?”

The identity of OldManGoryeo, who now rolled her eyes like at symbols on the floor, was one of the 399 survivors who had been summoned to the Busan Station waiting room.

‘Such a coincidence?’

While 399 isn't a small number, making such a coincidence statistically possible, surprisingly, 

OldManGoryeo was not just familiar to me, but to all of you readers from a previous chapter.

Our fiery SG-man, Seo Gyu, who was prettily decapitated by the Tutorial Fairy, remember?

-Hieeeeek!

There was someone who was drenched in Seo Gyu’s blood back then.

-People, people have died...! People have! Hiiik, they died! Hiiiiiek! A person has died...

Who, while running away, scattered Seo Gyu’s innards and blood across the Busan Station waiting room, causing a scene reminiscent of Moses parting the Red Sea (though with a bit more crimson).

That person was Sim Ah-ryeon.

‘...Why is she here?’

Isn’t the world unexpectedly small?

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried