Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1326. First Life Ha-Yan (9)

“She really knows how to talk about pointless things, making me overthink for no reason at all,” I lampooned.

“...”

“Blowing up something so trivial out of proportion...” I grumbled.

“...”

“...”

Still...

‘I’m a little disappointed.’

Being left alone in this empty space only made the feeling even stronger.

I wasn't saying that I agreed with Ji-Hye noona, but giving myself a little time to breathe...

‘It’s not like it’s going to end the world.’

Her words were probably not entirely wrong, and it only deepened that sense of disappointment. Misfortunes piling up was probably the best way to put it.

Just like she said, the weakening connection with the Regressor Instruction Manual had to have played a part, and the fact that my body had become younger made both my mind and spirit weary.

The word "healing" sounded silly, but there was nothing wrong with recharging a little.

‘But still...’

“...”

‘It’s not like I’m short on time anyway.’

I kept tapping on the unsent message I had typed out, but of course, I didn’t send it. I was using the Regressor Instruction Manual to send my intent across, but I had no way of knowing whether it was really reaching him.

It felt just like some temporary signal outage, so it was unsettling, but it wasn’t enough to worry me.

‘At least the connection isn’t completely lost... It’s Hyun-Sung who’s the bigger problem, not me.’

As she said, for him, it was but a fleeting moment, so he probably wouldn’t even worry.

And his condition had been improving as well.

I was probably supposed to worry, but I believed he wouldn’t do anything reckless.

Seeing him laugh and chat over a meal with that quack doctor made me think he’d gotten pretty used to these temporary outages.

He was showing signs of real recovery, so I wanted to believe he was fine... and yet, I disliked the idea of him growing too used to this.

‘Once I return, that damn doctor’s the first thing I need to deal with.’

Of course, the task right in front of me came first.

“...”

“...”

Naturally, I instinctively glanced around. The sleek, futuristic Magic Tower that stood before me was gone. Once again, I could feel that I was in a damp, unpleasant place—an enclosed, dark space.

I saw a gray tower that looked as though it was built for black mages. The question was this: what point in time was this? Was this before Jung Ha-Yan’s death or after? I couldn’t be sure.

Naturally, I wanted to believe it was before she died, but the opposite was far from impossible. After all, my assumptions and predictions weren’t always the right answers.

With that in mind, I hurried toward where Jung Ha-Yan and I met.

“...”

“...”

I saw Jung Ha-Yan bolting away; she even stumbled and crashed to the ground. I was transported to the point in time when I saw Jung Ha-Yan disappearing in a rush after talking to Little Ki-Young.

‘I came back.’

I had regressed.

‘I really did regress.’

It wasn’t the same as that, but it was still regression. Though whether it was right to call this regression... I wasn’t exactly sure.

‘Then... where am I?’

Could two versions of Lee Ki-Young exist in the same timeline? I quickly scanned my surroundings, but there was no other Ki-Young in sight. The one who had just been talking to Jung Ha-Yan about her thesis, watching her walk away, was nowhere to be found.

The moment I stepped into this place, he vanished into thin air.

‘So they can’t coexist.’

However, I couldn’t really say for sure.

Perhaps they couldn’t coexist with this magic circle, but perhaps they could using a different magic circle.

I thought that hexagram magic circle was nothing more than a means of returning to the first life, but it ended up capable of performing a short regression.

It wasn’t just some ordinary passage. Just like Benigoa and Belial had said, the circle could be seen as a tool to patch over the holes left in the story of the first life.

This phenomenon couldn't care less about the means.

It only cared about the goal. I could nod to that, at the very least.

If I had regressed to this point, perhaps even the first life wished for the survival of this version of Jung Ha-Yan. Why such a phenomenon occurred, or what exactly this magic circle was, I had no time to think about them.

Even if it was a short regression, this could only be explained as the will of the system. No matter how, no matter what, it all came down to one thing—patching the missing hole in the first life. Naturally, I hurried after her with my thoughts racing.

“M-Miss Jung Ha-Yan! Miss Jung Ha-Yan!” I called out to her.

“...” “Miss Jung Ha-Yan!”

I called out again, but she gave no reply. After patting Little Ki-Young’s head for fourteen minutes and fleeing outright, she had to be feeling too guilty to face the little mage again. Moreover, she seemed intent on getting as far away as she could from me..

“Miss Jung Ha-Yan!” I shouted again.

‘Geez, why is she so fast?’

Naturally, at times like this, it was a rule to trip and fall.

“Urgh!”

My feet tangled up with each other, and with a loud thud, I crashed to the ground.

“...”

“...”

“A-Are you okay?”

When had she gotten so close to me? Jung Ha-Yan’s face was gazing down at me. There was a flicker of surprise in her face. Her surprise wasn't born because of the noisy tumble I’d taken with all my clumsy theatrics, but because the little mage had chased her down through countless barriers.

She pulled me up to my feet and stared intently at me. Even up close, she didn’t look like someone about to make a drastic choice. Her gaze dropped to my scraped knee, and...

“Oh no...”

“...”

“D-Does it hurt?” Jung Ha-Yan asked. She rubbed a potion on my knee. Why was she even carrying such a potion? Was it because she would often stumble and fall to the ground? After the potion came a simple healing spell. It didn’t contain holy power, so its effect wasn’t dramatic, but it was better than the half-baked spells of mediocre priests.

“I’m sorry. I-I’m sorry,” Jung Ha-Yan stuttered.

‘There’s nothing to apologize for. You didn’t make me fall in the first place.’

“B-But you’re amazing,” Jung Ha-Yan complimented me.

“P-Pardon?” I asked.

“You broke through this magic maze and its barriers so quickly... There hasn’t been anyone like you in a long time,” Jung Ha-Yan answered.

“Ah...”

“...”

“...”

‘I could see a few things that were high level.’

Apparently, those were Jung Ha-Yan’s handiwork.

“There was only one person... I-I mean, some people could solve it, but... Ah... how did you know? Some of those spells are hard to detect... Are you more sensitive to magic than others?” Jung Ha-Yan asked.

“Um... I-It was just visible to me... and I could feel it, too,” I answered.

“Ah!”

“B-Breaking them is difficult, but passing through them...” I paused.

“Ah! Ahh... ahhh... heh... hehe... I see. You can see it too, little mage,” Jung Ha-Yan giggled.

“...”

“B-But...” Jung Ha-Yan trailed off.

‘You're asking why I called you?’

'Damn, that’s something I’ll have to think about right now. I can’t exactly tell her that I called out to her to stop her from hanging herself in a few hours.'

I couldn't tell her that I had just regressed or that I knew everything. I wanted to utter some words that would give her strength, something that could comfort her, but the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

A few sentences from me wouldn’t erase the pain or troubles she had been carrying all this time.

If I were someone close to her, my words would probably mean something, but as Little Ki-Young, I had built no real rapport with her. We’d only crossed paths briefly, and our discussion about her thesis was the extent of it. Telling her that I understood what she was feeling and that I wanted to comfort and help her would be useless.

If I were in Jung Ha-Yan’s shoes, a few empty reassurances wouldn’t comfort me either.

‘I honestly don’t know.’

'What should I say?'

What kind of answer would come closest to being right? For this, there is no real answer, so...

‘Let’s just do what she did.’

I wasn't really used to doing something like this. All I could do was follow Jung Ha-Yan’s example. Perhaps it felt a little too sudden, but I pulled First Life Ha-Yan into a tight embrace.

“H-Huh?”

I could feel her freeze in surprise, but I didn’t care. My hand couldn't quite reach her head, but still...

“I-It’s okay,” I said.

“...”

“It will be okay,” I added. I could only pat her back, offering what little comfort I could offer her. Whether she reacted to it or not, I couldn’t see her face to be sure...

“Everything will be alright. None of this is your fault, Miss Jung Ha-Yan,” I told her.

‘It’s a cliche, but sometimes the obvious words work best.’

As these cheesy words left my lips, I felt her shoulders tremble ever so slightly. Right afterward, she flinched and tried to run away again once she realized that she was in my arms.

“I-If I come tomorrow, will I see you again?!” I shouted.

“Y-Yes!”

I heard her tear-choked reply. There was no longer any excuse to hold her back, nor any reason to remain by her side.𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

‘This is where it really starts...’

It wasn’t over yet, after all.

“...”

“...”

Naturally, I activated my Telescope to look at Jung Ha-Yan. Before long, she reached her room, hurrying inside and shutting the door.

The scene before me was no different from earlier. Her room was like a trash heap. In a corner, she settled down, and large tears fell from her eyes.

I knew she had been crying for some time now, but this time, her tears showed no signs of stopping. Was it grief? Or was it because those obvious words of comfort had unraveled her emotions to the point of no return? I couldn’t tell at all.

Afterward, she decided to get busy doing just about anything. She wiped her tears away with both hands and collapsed onto the garbage-strewn floor before reading a letter she was holding up to her chest.

I even saw her folding a paper airplane and tossing it toward the ceiling.

After a while, she eventually opened a drawer. A long rope was inside the drawer. When she pointed at it, the rope floated gently into the air, tying itself into a knot as if playfully showing off.

She stared blankly at the ceiling as the rope wriggled about in the air. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Why would she go this far? Why had she been weighing herself down to the point that she had to make such an extreme choice?

Were my words of comfort useless? Were my words too obvious? Had something triggered her? Or was it simply that she no longer had any attachment to life? What the hell was going through her mind?

‘Damn it.’

And that was when Jung Ha-Yan quietly got up.

“...”

“...”

She nodded, holding the rope firmly in her hands. Just as I was wondering about stepping into her room and stopping her, I saw her setting the rope back down on the floor.

"Unni? Unni, are you there? It’s Ah-Young."

"H-Huh? Ah-Young?"

"Please open the door, unni."

"A-Ah!

"Let’s go eat something together. It’s been a while."

Jung Ha-Yan cautiously stuck her face through the ajar door.

I caught sight of Kim Ah-Young grinning at her.

“She stopped her,” I mumbled.

"Can I come in?"

"N-No..."

"Then come out, quick. Let’s go eat something yummy, unni."

"O-Okay..."

Jung Ha-Yan’s death was prevented; I was sure of that.