The Regressor Only Protects Me

Chapter 1. The End of the World (1)

“Chirp-.”

A rat poked its head out of the sewer.

Then it spotted a decaying corpse, scurried over in an instant, and began gnawing on its cheek.

Crunch, munch.

The rat, biting into the cheek, surveyed its surroundings warily.

Above, an unidentified monstrous creature was flying through the sky.

Its size rivaled that of a whale; it had no wings but soared freely over the ruined city.

Sion quietly gazed up at the sky before shifting his eyes to a streetlight.

Caw-! Caw-!

Crows were perched on the streetlight, gathered and cawing loudly.

They were likely hoping for Sion’s quick death.

Only then would they get to feast on his fresh eyeballs.

Sion turned his head to look at the city.

This was Jamsil, Lotte Tower.

Ten years ago, it had been filled with countless cars, city buses, and office workers.

But now, it had turned into a slaughterhouse, reeking of blood.

Sion walked along the yellow line in the middle of the eight-lane road that had become a wasteland.

Step, step.

His footsteps left behind traces of blood.

It was the blood of all sorts of malevolent spirits and humans.

Living beings were rare.

Even when they were alive, most were merely awaiting death.

Sion walked through countless piles of corpses.

Step, step.

Walking feebly, he occasionally stumbled over bodies.

As he continued on, he approached a woman.

She was dying.

***

Jin Jae-hee trembled as she looked down at her abdomen.

A sword had pierced her deeply.

“…Ugh.”

Thud!

Struck by the sword, Jae-hee fell backward.

Luckily, there was a wrecked car behind her, allowing her to lean against it.

“Haa… haa…”

Her breathing was labored.

Her liver had been stabbed.

Blood poured out like a waterfall, and her consciousness was fading.

The thought of her impending death consumed her mind, but soon, Jae-hee accepted it.

At that moment, Jae-hee looked ahead.

Through her blurry vision, she saw a man drenched in blood walking toward her.

It was Kang Sion.

He approached slowly, eventually kneeling in front of her.

His injuries were no less severe.

He was likely awaiting his end as well.

Thud!

Sion drew closer and leaned against her shoulder.

Even as he leaned, his body slumped weakly.

With Sion in her arms, Jae-hee looked up at the sky.

Above the ruined city, the sky was split in two.

Through the rift, a blazing black eye glared intensely.

Surrounding that eye were eleven Administrators.

The Administrators.

Messengers of the gods who monitored and managed the “players” during the game.

They were awaiting the arrival of the ultimate victor.

But in the end, we failed to become the ultimate victors.

We couldn’t pass the final gate of the League.

“…It’s so unfair.”

At that moment, Jae-hee shed tears as large as beads.

She had never once cried since the League began.

But only at the very end, when there was no way out, did tears finally stream down.

Jae-hee turned her head slightly to look at the unconscious Sion.

She could faintly hear the beating of his heart.

He was still alive, but death was only a matter of time.

“…It’s really unfair. It’s so, so unfair.”

With Sion in her arms, Jin Jae-hee wept bitterly.

It had been ten years since the League began.

We had killed many players and created countless stories.

We had been together for three years since the world ended.

In that short period, the two of us had accomplished feats other players couldn’t even dream of.

As a result, Kang Sion’s dominion over the competitive zone defeated the final faction and reached the final round.

But the final round was an insurmountable challenge for the two of us.

In that final round, we were defeated.

Jae-hee bowed her head slightly.

Just then, footsteps echoed.

They started from far away but were soon close by.

Using the last of her strength, Jin Jae-hee lifted her head.

There stood Administrator J.

The Administrator with white hair and an eyepatch.

J knelt down on one knee to meet Jae-hee’s eyes.

“It’s unfortunate. You were just one step away.”

“….”

Jae-hee no longer had the strength to speak.

Noticing her state, J smiled faintly and continued.

“To be honest… among the anomalies, you achieved the greatest feat. You can take pride in that.”

“….”

“And yet, this is as far as you go. You couldn’t cross the threshold to victory.”

“….”

“I had high hopes for you two, and you failed to meet them. That’s our ending.”

J straightened his back and stood.

Jae-hee could no longer see him.

All she could see was his thigh.

“If there’s a final wish you’d like to make, I’ll grant it. A reward for satisfying my entertainment.”

Jin Jae-hee opened and closed her blood-soaked lips, trying to say something.

J bent down again, leaning closer.

Close enough for her to feel his breath.

Using all her strength, Jae-hee spoke.

“A chance… just one last… chance…”

Hearing her final plea, J nodded silently.

Then he raised his head to look at the sky.

There, the black eye glared down.

J looked into that black eye and laughed.

Then, as if muttering to himself, he spoke.

“That’s something even a god can’t do.”

“….”

At some point, Sion’s heartbeat stopped.

At the same time, Jae-hee also sensed her end approaching.

J bid her farewell.

“Goodbye, Sword Saint.”

J’s footsteps grew distant once more.

And Jin Jae-hee’s consciousness faded.

Her death was not far off.

Her final emotion was a hollow sense of futility.

***

“…”

It was a quiet morning.

She thought she could hear birds chirping or the clamor of a construction site.

When she opened her eyes, what she saw was a worn and faded ceiling.

Jin Jae-hee cautiously sat up.

Looking around, she realized she was in a studio apartment.

It wasn’t hard for her to recognize it as her old apartment from years ago.

But it didn’t make sense.

She had surely died after the final battle in Jamsil.

Yet, here she was, back in her apartment.

“…What is this?”

Jin Jae-hee clenched and unclenched her fists, trying to grasp her sense of reality.

It didn’t take long for her to realize that this was real.

No matter how surreal the past ten years of apocalyptic phenomena had been, she couldn’t mistake the familiar sight of her old apartment, a place she had longed to return to.

Her trophies for first place in national kendo tournaments and her scattered clothes.

And even the genuine sword on display.

This was before the League began.

Specifically, it was her studio apartment exactly ten years before her death.

She had returned.

“…Haa… haa.”

Jin Jae-hee took deep breaths, trying to understand the situation.

After a moment of thought, she realized what she had to do.

Ten years ago, Kang Sion.

She had to find him.

Kang Sion was a player who advanced to the final round of the League.

There was no other player as strong as him.

If she helped him from the start, met him at the beginning, and faced the League together, they could clear the final round.

Crash-!

Jin Jae-hee quickly picked up the scattered clothes around her and put them on.

She knew where he was.

In Gyeonggi Province.

Beep, beep-beep-!

Not even noticing that her apartment door had opened, Jin Jae-hee hurried straight to Busan Station.

In her right hand, she held a sword in its scabbard.

***

Thunk! Swoosh-.

I suppressed my drowsiness as I shoveled cement into a wheelbarrow.

Sweat poured down like rain, and I wiped it off with the towel around my neck.

“Hoo…!”

Thunk!

After a deep breath, I stuck the shovel back into the cement.

The more I shoveled, the more my elbows throbbed as if pierced by needles.

I was hungry, sleepy, and exhausted, but I silently continued with the menial work.

From 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Nine hours of work already.

When shoveling ended, I would go home, cook for my sibling, sleep a little, and wake up at 1 a.m. to start again.

The night shift at the convenience store began at 1 a.m. and ended just in time for another day of shoveling.

At least I could recover on weekends.

There was no work on construction sites during weekends.

But even that was regretful.

Working on weekends would bring me one day closer to escaping this hellhole of a life.

Grinding sound-

The wheelbarrow filled with cement screeched as it was dragged along.

In the distance, a group of workers gathered, smoking cigarettes.

“Just endure a bit longer. Push through it. With grit and determination.”

That one thought was what kept me going.

With grit and determination.

A hectic life of constant pursuit and being pursued.

I was a young breadwinner who had given up on school to support my younger sibling’s livelihood.

No matter how hard I tried to save up money, the future still seemed bleak.

Yet, even in those moments, I didn’t give up.

Because giving up felt like my entire life would collapse.

For the sake of my sibling.

And for the sake of my own future.

Now was the time to step up.

Clatter.

I dropped the wheelbarrow full of cement at the construction site and returned to fetch another load from the pile.

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat…

Days turned into a hamster wheel of repetition.

An unending cycle of labor at the construction site.

Just then, I heard someone calling from a distance.

“Hey, Sion! The foreman’s calling for you!”

I stopped shoveling and looked toward the person.

Wiping the sweat off my forehead with a towel, I replied.

“Oh, sure! I’ll be right there!”

Thunk.

I left the shovel buried in the cement and hurried off to the foreman’s office.

***

At another corner of the construction site.

Jin Jae-hee sat, her hat pulled low over her face, with a cigarette in her mouth.

Her right hand was busy holding the cigarette, while her left kept checking her wristwatch.

“Didn’t they say a shopping mall?”

Anyang District, Manan-gu, Gyeonggi Province.

If it was a newly built, large shopping mall in this area, there was only one place.

After spending an entire day searching construction sites, she had finally found Kang Sion.

There was no doubt.

There was no way Jae-hee wouldn’t recognize him.

First, she had traveled from Busan to Anyang to be in the same vicinity as him.

Now, her goal was to follow him and work on getting into the same “building” as him.

One way or another, she had to protect Kang Sion.

“Cough! Ugh…”

Jin Jae-hee pressed her temple with the hand holding the cigarette.

Her body, after regressing, wasn’t used to nicotine anymore.

Thunk, sizzle.

She dropped the cigarette to the ground and crushed it with her foot.

She then continued to monitor Kang Sion’s movements.

The League’s commencement was now just three hours away.

***

After nine hours of grueling labor, it was time to head home.

While waiting for the bus, I idly watched people on the opposite side of the street.

Many were returning to their homes.

A child was perched on a man’s shoulders, laughing joyfully.

Beside them, a woman with long brown hair held the man’s hand.

They looked like a happy family of three.

The evening was growing darker, but as it was midsummer, the sun hadn’t fully set even at 8 p.m.

A bus heading in my direction approached, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the large supermarket across the street.

Today was my younger brother’s birthday.

Not just any birthday—it was his 13th.

The 13th birthday wasn’t like other birthdays.

Turning 13 meant starting middle school next year.

No matter how stingy I had been—no matter how my most extravagant gift so far was a second-hand toy from a bargain app—this time felt different.

Something about his 13th birthday made me feel I couldn’t let it pass like all the others.

I stood by the bus stop and watched multiple buses come and go.

Finally, after much hesitation, I crossed to the large supermarket.

I already had something in mind to buy.

His school year would start in March, which would still be quite cold.

I decided to buy him a thick coat.

“Can I help you find something?”

A sales associate approached me cheerfully but quickly hid their enthusiasm after taking in my appearance.

I awkwardly browsed through the clothing racks and pointed at a black fleece jacket.

“How… how much is this?”

The associate forced a smile and replied.

“118,900 won. Who’s it for?”

“My younger brother. He’s 13.”

“Oh my, you’ve got good taste! This is a popular item among elementary school kids these days.”

One hundred and eighteen thousand won?

For a fleece jacket?

That was an entire day’s wages for me.

Money I earned after nine hours of shoveling.

I glanced down at my worn windbreaker, a 3,000-won second-hand purchase from Dongmyo Market.

Shaking my head, I resolved myself.

“…No. Let’s do it.”

My brother was about to start middle school, and unlike me, he needed to succeed and go to college.

Suppressing my trembling hands, I grabbed the blue fleece jacket.

“This one, please. It’s new, right?”

“Yes~ It’s the latest model! Super popular these days. Lucky for you, it’s one of the last ones we have. This way, please.”

The sales associate smiled as they brought the jacket to the counter and packed it neatly.

I pulled twelve crumpled ten-thousand-won bills from my pocket.

Today’s entire earnings.

I counted it again in front of the associate, just in case I had an extra ten thousand won somewhere.

Barely handing it over, I felt the weight of my sacrifice.

It was money I’d shed blood and sweat to earn.

I had never spent so much in one go before.

When it came to money, I was a miser.

Yet, despite the expense, I felt good.

Whoosh.

The associate snatched the money from my hand.

“Twelve thousand won received. Thank you, sir!”

They handed me a neatly packed shopping bag, and I couldn’t help but smile at it.

I couldn’t afford to get my brother a gift every year for his birthday.

But despite that, he had never complained.

My brother, Junho, always lit up over the smallest things.

Seeing his happiness always left me feeling a twinge of guilt.

He often muttered about needing new clothes, and now I could finally buy him something.

Clutching the shopping bag, I headed toward the elevator to leave the mall.

“He’s going to love it, right?”

At first, I was too focused on the jacket in the bag to notice.

But soon, the murmurs of the people around me reached my ears.

Lifting my head, I saw a crowd gathering.

“…?”

It seemed like something was happening ahead, as shoppers crowded near the stairwell.

I stood on my toes and peeked at the front of the group.

Someone was struggling to open the stairwell door.

The elevator didn’t seem to be working.

Curious, I squeezed through the crowd.

Reaching the front, I asked the man tugging at the handle.

“What’s going on?”

The man, panting with effort, replied.

“Looks like someone locked it from the outside. Damn it. I’m in a hurry, and no staff is coming to help.”

The middle-aged man cursed under his breath, glancing around.

Probably looking for an employee.

I approached the struggling man, intending to give it a try myself.

But at that moment, my vision turned blank, as if someone had flipped a white page in front of my eyes.

When my sight returned, something bizarre appeared before me.

Ding-!

A hologram hovered in midair, clear and unmistakable.

This wasn’t a mistake or an illusion.

[@#$%…… @#$…… Wel…… ome.]

[Welcome…… @#$ Earth…….]

[W…… come to Ear…… @#$]

The strange notification was filled with unintelligible symbols.

There was no immediate danger, no direct threat, yet my heart pounded violently.

And then.

The weight on the handle suddenly lifted.

Creeeeak…

The door slowly opened.

The shoppers who had been staring at the hologram turned as one to face the stairwell.

[Wel…… come.]

[Welcome, Earthlings.]

[Administrator K. At your service.]