Regressor Instruction Manual

Fear rather than reason dominated my body. Not only were my teeth chattering, but my hands and feet were shaking as well. I couldn’t move at all.

— Ready or not, here I come.

“...”

— Ready or not, here I come.

‘Crazy. She’s crazy. Shit… she’s insane.’

“The bad man is running away! He’s running away, Sora!” Jung Ha-Yan yelled.

‘Damn it… who the hell is Sora? Where the hell… is Han Sora?’

“He’s over there! Over there! There!” Jung Ha-Yan exclaimed.

‘She’s completely nuts. She’s…’

She wasn't talking about me.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“Ahhh! Help me! Help me! Ahhhhh!” Robinwood screamed while running.

He had a bow and melee weapons, but he wasn’t even thinking about resisting.

The murderer wearing the white hat was following him with a dagger in hand.

I couldn’t understand why she was using a dagger. I was confused as to why she was trying to get close, and I was also confused about why she was swinging her dagger in the air.

I assumed she wanted to know what it felt like to be prey, but she was crouching for some reason. Anyone would describe this scene as grotesque, and I couldn't help but wonder whether murderers in horror movies looked like her.

The murderer clad in white was swinging her dagger while sniffling, and she wasn’t really moving fast. She’d even trip from running too fast, and she'd sometimes yell a bunch of nonsense while swinging her dagger in the air, giving Robinwood enough time to widen the distance between them.

Despite that, she was getting closer and closer to Robinwood.

‘Why won’t you fight back?’

I wanted to ask that question to myself.

‘Why can’t I swing my spear?’

Why wasn’t I using the spear to pierce the neck of the white mage?

‘We have no chance.’

I was afraid.

Just like me, Robinwood was frightened, and all he could think about was getting far away from this place. The white murderer’s dagger was getting closer to him, but all he could do was cower in fear.

The other girl wasn’t all that different.

Saint of Forsaken Sun Hee-Young was clearly different from the white murderer I had seen earlier, but she was creepy as well. She walked slowly with sadness in her eyes, and she was reciting a prayer with a rosary in hand.

It was an elegy for her upcoming victim.

When she extended her hand out towards the one who was running away, I saw ghosts wearing priest uniforms appear from behind her.

"Heretic. She’s a heretic! Heretic!"

Before I knew it, the noble-looking ghosts transformed into murderers.

"Kill them! Offer the heretic’s heart to the Goddess. Give the sinner the mace of pain for insulting the Priest of Prophecy!"

“AAAAAH!”

A hymn made of screams and unpleasant noises made me feel like my ears were going to bleed. The ghosts surrounded the escaping man. Then, I saw something red. It was such a grotesque scene that I wondered whether he was being surrounded by zombies or those famous Gluttonous Mouths.

Rip. Riiip. Riiiiip.

“Please… please spare me. Please…”

“I’m not the one punishing you for your sins. Please don’t forgive this sinner. May he burn and suffer in the flames of hell forever,” Sun Hee-Young said while crying quietly.

“There he goes! There he is! He’s running, Sora!” Jung Ha-Yan yelled.

“Ah! Please do not extend your hand of salvation to them,” Sun Hee-Young added.

“Kill him! Kill him! Kill hiiim!” Jung Ha-Yan screamed.

“Heuk… heuuk… eternal rest,” Sun Hee-Young mumbled while crying.

‘They’re crazy.’

“I found him, Sora! Over here!” she yelled.

‘Damn it! Damn it… damn it!’

She was definitely after me.

“Sora—Ah!” she screamed. The white murderer seemed to have tripped on something, but I had no courage to attack her. I had to get away from her no matter what.

That was all I could think about.

Just then, Father Lee Ki-Young’s voice echoed in my ears.

— You’re thinking that things have gotten pretty bad, right?

‘Damn it…’

— Ah! What the heck? Move, Commander. Why do you keep asking me to show you?

‘What?’

— No, Commander. This isn’t a game. What? Does this look fun to you? You can’t commercialize this one because Ha-Yan made it.

‘Jin Cheong? Jin Cheong of the Republic? Are they together right now?’

'Oh yeah, they’re supposedly meeting. Those scums were working together all this time. They’re known as the Hero of the Continent, Saint of Miracles, and the Hero of Shadows… but they’re all the same.'

“Pant… pant… pant…”

I was completely out of breath.

“He’s running… he’s running away!” Jung Ha-Yan yelled.

“Pant…”

I couldn’t stop running.

I ran across a space filled with a dark red light, and I saw pieces of meat hanging from hooks.

‘Can I buy time…’

I took down the people hanging from the hooks, and I started running once again. Just as I expected, the white murderer swung her dagger towards those who were running away. Those people were buying me some time, but it was futile.

“The exit… Where’s the exit?” I mumbled.

“...”

“Damn it. Where is the exit,” I said.

— I wonder where the exit is? Want my help? It wouldn’t be any fun if things just ended like this, so I’ll help you.

‘A trap?’

— It’s not a trap. I can see everything you’re doing right now. You think I’d use a silly trap like this just to trick you? You’re flat on the ground right now. Are you going to crawl your way out? Ah! I suggest you hold your breath for a moment.

I stopped and instinctively held my breath…

“I-I thought he was here,” Jung Ha-Yan mumbled.

“...” “M-M-Maybe he’s not here. He must be elsewhere. He must’ve run somewhere else. What do I do, S-Sora? Ah! S-S-Sora isn’t here,” Jung Ha-Yan stuttered.

She was close. I could hear her footsteps. I felt cold sweat breaking out all over me, and I was afraid to make even the slightest noise. I covered my mouth with my hand. I was running out of breath, but the fate that awaited me if she discovered me was certainly more painful than suffocating to death.

‘Whoo

Just then, I heard a voice that made my heart stop.

“I-I found him,” Jung Ha-Yan said.

‘Please… please…’

— It’s not you.

I heard her footsteps moving away. Obviously, I couldn’t even think about responding to Father’s Lee Ki-Young’s voice, which echoed in my ears nonstop.

I had lost my sanity a long time ago, and all I could think about was getting away from here.

— Take a right from there. You just need to go a little further. Ah! Not there. I think Miss Hee-Young is on patrol.

‘What the hell is his goal?’

— Run a little faster and move quieter. Ha-Yan is coming. I think she'll be there soon..

‘Damn it, damn it… damn it!’

— It’s Ha-Yan! It’s her! She’s coming!

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

— I’m joking, I’m joking, so don’t be so surprised. Pfft! Hahaha. Look at you. Pfft!

“Damn it… how…”

— You don’t know how things turned out this way? I know very well how it turned out this way. You know, people shouldn’t live beyond their means. You’ll only end up in trouble if you try to obtain more than you can handle. That's bad, right? Right? Yeah, you’re right.

“Damn it…”

— It’s true that I want to see you in pain. I must’ve been feeling stressed these days. You’re probably wondering why I’m helping you find the exit, right? I just want to see you struggle. I want to see how much you’re going to struggle. Do you have the guts to match your greed? That’s what I want to see. If things go well, I might forgive you.

“...”

— Hey, fishy, I’m only going to tell you this. I think the Federation is going to go through a major reorganization. I was preparing to transform Gregory into a symbolic figure of the newly reorganized Federation, and I prepared many things behind the scenes.

— Unfortunately… Gregory is dead, and that spot has become empty. That’s why I lost my mind and got angry at you.

— Everything went down the drain, so it’s natural I’d be angry… But were you aware that if you had just proven to me that you were qualified, I'd have no reason not to place you in that spot? It would take some time, but the Saint of the Sacred Democratic Country values talent the most.

“...”

— This is the end of our conversation. Ha-Yan will be coming soon. I’ll send you the exit route now, so try figuring things out on your own.

'I-It’s nearby.'

I moved quickly. Whether I trusted him or not wasn’t important.

The fact that there was a way to get out of here was important.

‘Please… please…’

“Pant… pant… pant…”

‘Please…’

I saw a place that looked like an exit.

“Pant

I hurriedly took the final step into the exit and—

[Exit unavailable.]

[You haven’t met the exit condition of Archmage Jung Ha-Yan’s exclusive domain, Crimson Playground. You cannot escape.]

“Uh…”

- Pfft! Hahahahahaha.

“Uhh…”

— Hahahahahahahaha! You thought it was going to work, right? Right? You pretended to be stoic, but I knew you were expecting something. Cough! You’re such a dummy. You fell for it again. Commander… I mean, Mr. Squiat.

The white murderer ran toward me innocently with a twisted smile tugging at her lips.

“H-Help me…” I begged.

— I don’t know…

“Help me, please…” I said.

— Should I…

“I was… wrong, Father Lee Ki-Young. Please…” I begged.

- Hahahahaha. I forgive you, but will Miss Hee-Young and Ha-Yan do the same?

“Please…” I said.

— Pwahahahaha!

“Y-You dirty bastard… You scum!” I shouted.

— Mwahahahahahaha!

“Is that all you know how to do?” I questioned.

I had no idea what I was saying.

My hand holding the spear was shaking, and I screamed with all my might.

I just wanted to avoid the murderer in front of me.

‘Don’t come closer to me.’

“Y-You didn’t succeed in the end. You have no way of getting rid of me legally, and this was your only way…” I said.

- What?

‘Please don’t come closer, damn it.’

“In the end, you're just afraid of losing! You couldn’t handle this issue properly, so you resorted to this method. T-This is your limit, Lee Ki-Young. This is your limit!

"You’re a failure! The only difference between you and me is that you were summoned to this place first, damn it!” I shouted.

‘Don’t come closer, please…’

— That’s… bullshit… Your words won’t work on me, so just stop. It sounds like you’re trying to avoid our lovely Ha-Yan by provoking me, but that will only make me angrier.

“You weren't confident in finding evidence against me, so you resorted to this…” I trailed off.

- …

“You weren’t confident in handling this legally… That’s why you used this kind of method… and I—we… didn't know what was going on.

"Isn’t that why you’re angry?! Father Lee Ki-Young! I know guys like you very well! You’re afraid of failure! Damn it!

"You hate failure because you've failed more than anyone! That’s probably why you wear the mask of a saint. You want to hide your true self from everyone else!” I exclaimed.

— …

“You want to know why you’re hiding behind the honorary cardinal mask? It’s because you know better than anyone that your human side has failed more than anyone else.

"That’s why you can’t remove your mask. Y-You know better than anyone that no one will look at the real you, and that’s why you’ve been hiding your true self! Right? Am I right, you nauseating jerk?! You monster!" I exclaimed.

- …

“The reason you refused to join the game and crossed the line is that you weren’t confident, damn it! In the end, you lost, Lee Ki-Young! I beat you! I managed to remove your mask, so I'm the winner!

"I-I’m the winner! I won! I won because I made you take your mask off!” I shouted.

— …

“…”

— So what?

“...”

— Are you suggesting… we resolve this… legally?

“...”

— Is that what you’re trying to say? Handle this legally? You want me to handle this… as the honorary cardinal?

“...”

— So… you want to… have a religious trial, right? Mr. Squiat?