Regressor Instruction Manual (Part 2)

Untitled Part 50

Chapter 500: The Cliché: Growing Soon After Collapsing (3)

'Wow. Thank you, Hee-young.'

No other words were necessary; even saying that had caused me to feel tearful.

She herself was already crying, with a passion so fierce it made me doubt that this truly was the Sun Hee-young I knew. She might have had a strange side, but I had always known her to behave with great self-discipline. Because of this, I found myself unsure of how to respond to such an emotional outburst.

'The personality from the first round is still out there. Still, I'm not disappointed, so you can stop crying. If you keep going like that, Hee-ra will explode.'

And rightly so. Rationally speaking, Cha Hee-ra was absolutely right – if they had deployed troops who were driven by emotion, it would only have led to annihilation. And even though they were pulling back, for now, the best and most reasonable option – and the one I wanted – was to plan for the future.

And so, I pressed the button and called Cha Hee-ra. Neither of us here were able to judge the mistakes that had been made.

Cha Hee-ra had that rare kind of personality that put emotion before reason. That she chose the rational option this time made me think that she was also getting desperate.

Of course, overcoming the guilt inside her is another matter.

"Despicable bitches! Despicable bitch! Ptooey!"

I was dragged out of my thoughts by the sound of Sun Hee-young swearing, fear gripping me as I turned to see her trapped by the guild members of the Red Mercenary, struggling against them hard enough to cause a spectacle.

"'It's the worst, the worst!" She cried.

The hall we were in only calmed down once Cha Hee-ra herself came out, easily recognizable with her red hair, but still looking very emaciated. She approached Sun Hee-young with a gloomy expression that I had never seen on her face before.

'Why do they all look like this...?' I wondered to myself. Not a single person in that hall looked okay.

The second she saw Cha Hee-ra's face, Sun Hee-young raised her hand and slapped her across the cheek, hard enough to turn Cha Hee-ra's head with the force of it. Silence rang out around them.

If Cha Hee-ra raised her fist now, I thought, Sun Hee-young will die on the spot. Indeed, I wondered if Cha Hee-ra would explode in anger, like a beast that had just been smacked, but she surprised me by simply taking the blow and facing Sun Hee-young calmly. Seeing that, I began to feel that perhaps Cha Hee-ra wouldn't do any harm at all.

Still, it was strange and surprising that she hadn't exploded.

It was then that Cha Hee-ra spoke, her voice giving the impression of someone who hadn't slept in days. Admittedly, I couldn't hear very well because the spirit was at a distance, looking up, but I could understand enough.

"Are you satisfied now?" she asked.

Sun Hee-young said nothing in response.

"I asked if you are satisfied now."

This time there was a groan, but nothing more.

"What will you do if the troops turn back right now?"

Sun Hee-young finally found her voice but could muster nothing beyond, "You, you..."

"It's suicidal just to go back to those wizards, who are too low to chant even basic spells, and your Guild Master, who has become an idiot. I don't mean to die so ridiculously, and I have no intention of giving up on my honey in that way. If you want to take your anger out on somebody, go do it somewhere else. Otherwise, go it alone and die, or shut up and follow your orders."