Regressor Instruction Manual - Chapter 105. Instigation and Fabrication (1)
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Chapter 105. Instigation and Fabrication (1)

“You’re a piece of trash that I really like,” Cha Hee-Ra complimented me.

“...”

She was still smiling.

“I guess Lee Seol-Ho and the Yamato Guild are connected somehow. I did think that there was something strange, but this is turning into a fun situation,” she said.

“I’m not certain enough that we can do something about it, noona, but it’s a possibility. Even if that old man wanted to kill me, do you think that the guilds and groups within Lindel will be able to look down on you?” I asked.

“My cute darling, are you trying to flatter me?” she asked.

I was trying to flatter her.

“Somewhat…” I answered.

“I like your honesty. Keep going,” she said.

“There isn’t a person in Lindel who isn’t afraid of you, so it’s right to assume that the crazy outsiders were the ones that pulled the trigger. We can assume that they’re forming a force where they don’t have to think about the consequences even after getting caught, so I just picked the side that was most likely to pull something like this,” I explained.

“I understand. Yamato… now that I think about it, that bitch is the guild master of that guild,” Cha Hee-Ra said.

“Have you met her before?” I asked.

“Masters of large guilds gather at least once regularly and it’s hosted by the holy empire. I ran into her a few times… but since you said all that, I guess I can be a bit patient. You do know that fighting between guilds within the holy empire is forbidden, right? I trust that you’ll come up with a way,” she said.

“...”

“You can leave now since I know you’re busy. My guild members will escort you back,” she told me.

“Thank you, Hee-Ra noona.”

“The list you sent me last time has been put to good use. Oh and about Jung Ha-Yan…”

“I’ll leave her at the Red Mercenary Guild for now. Until this is over,” I said, interrupting her.

“I thought so, darling. I do want to spend more time with you, but… I don’t think we should do that considering how you look right now,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll see you later. It’d be nice if we met at a more romantic spot next time.”

“Let’s do that, noona,” I told her.

I bowed when I saw Cha Hee-Ra waving her hand and when I walked outside, I noticed people running toward me.

‘Red Mercenary Guild.’

Getting scolded by Cha Hee-Ra must have been effective. I never imagined that they would run up to me first. They looked extremely nervous and seemed like they were trying their best not to hurt my feelings, making this situation quite enjoyable. The fact that these puppies were walking on eggshells around me was amusing.

“Um… Mr. Ki-Young.”

“Yes?”

“We’ll escort you back to the guild.”

“Thank you,” I said.

There wasn’t a reason for me to reject them. It seemed like they had cleaned up the surroundings perfectly, but there could still be a few more around.

‘Although the possibility is low.’

It was best to be as careful as possible.

Park Deok-Gu, Jung Ha-Yan, and Sun Hee-Young were currently at the Red Mercenary Guild. I didn’t see Kim Hyun-Sung around, so I assumed that he was trying to find out the mastermind behind the attack.

‘He’s a pretty busy person.’

I was certain that he must be doing that even now.

While heading back to the guild, I had various thoughts. What would be the most miserable way to get rid of the old man? Or what would be the best way to kill him? I thought that changing a part of the plan wasn’t a bad idea, but since I wanted to take care of this as quickly as possible, I also thought that adapting to the situation when it happened wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

‘Don’t be swayed.’

If I got too worked up, it would be no different from losing the fight. I thought that the saying people that smile during hardship were the best people was bullshit, but for me, raising the corner of my lips was more fitting.

“Here should be fine,” I told them.

“We’ll be on standby not too far from here so that we can immediately come to you in case something happens within the guild,” one of them said.

“There’s no need to… it’s our guild anyway,” I said.

Despite saying that, I didn’t think that they would be too effective. Not only that, but they took something out after searching their pockets.

“And this…”

“What’s this?” I asked.

“We prepared this item so that you can send a rescue signal anytime you’re in trouble,” they explained.

As I glanced at the man in front of me, I noticed that his eyes were filled with passion. I guess they became determined after getting scolded by the Mercenary Queen. When I thought about the possibility that a task force was created just for me, I started to feel a bit flustered.

‘I like that they’re keeping me safe, but…’

It would be annoying if I got restricted because of it. I think it would be better to talk about this with Cha Hee-Ra later on.

After bowing, I immediately entered the guild and noticed how messy the inside was. I guess everyone had recently returned to the guild after what happened earlier. It was proof that the situation within Lindel had been taken care of.

‘While I was talking with Cha Hee-Ra…’

They moved quickly. A meeting could open up soon where all the guild masters in Lindel would have to meet. Basically, the terrorism happened because they were targeting me, but the location where it happened was the problem. Finding proof of the culprit that was behind the attack may be difficult, but I was sure that they would discuss how to prevent this next time. The press would also certainly make headlines about the attack and even though I regret not giving them a lot of information, I didn’t need to use the press for now.

When I looked around after entering the guild, I noticed a few members. Kim Ye-Ri was the only member of our party that was here. I guess she felt more comfortable being around me because her face brightened up when she saw me. Lee Sang-Hee, whose eyes were swollen, approached me with a surprised look, and Hwang Jung-Yeon did the same.

“Mr. Ki-Young! Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine, Miss Lee Sang-Hee,” I answered.

“Th-That’s a relief. Oh… I heard Miss Ha-Yan got hurt…”

“She’s out of danger. I did hear that she’ll experience an aftereffect, but it’s not life-threatening. It was so chaotic that I let the Red Mercenary Guild take care of her. Deok-Du and Miss Hee-Young went with Ha-Yan to keep an eye on her condition. As for Mr. Hyun-Sung, I’m sure he’ll be returning soon,” I explained.

“Oh…”

“I think being there will be a lot safer than here,” I said.

It was implied criticism. Even though it wasn’t an offensive remark toward Lee Sang-Hee, she looked depressed. Naturally, Lee Seol-Ho and his lackeys caught my attention more than Lee Sang-Hee. Lee Seol-Ho looked like he was maintaining his composure, but his lackeys looked like they were having a hard time remaining calm because they all looked anxious. The person that they thought was going to die came back alive and by now, they must be regretting their stupid decision. I was certain that some of them thought that it would be okay to feign ignorance, but since I was attacked first, I now had the right to retaliate.

‘Stupid bastards.’

Their incompetency had reached its limits. Even if Lee Seol-Ho and his lackeys were innocent, I couldn’t be in the same guild as them. They would use any means necessary to make the guild theirs.

When I remained quiet, I noticed Lee Seol-Ho talking as if he had been waiting for the right moment.

“Hahaha, what a relief! It’s good that you survived such a terrifying terrorist attack.”

‘Crazy old man.’

He had a talent for annoying people.

“Your body may still be affected by the aftermath of the explosion. How about getting a check-up, Mr. Ki-Young?” he suggested.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“You’ve been through a lot. I can’t believe that you got caught up in an explosion. My heart dropped when I heard that you were surrounded by unknown rioters… I was really worried. Our guild had already lost a lot of members and to lose new talents like yourself… it would be really heartbreaking,” Lee Seol-Ho said.

He didn’t sound all that sincere for someone that was truly worried.

“There’s been a lot of bad news lately, making this old man feel anxious,” he added.

“...”

The way he was trying to fix this situation was a sight to see. It only took a moment for me to decide how I should start the conversation. Just looking at him made me want to curse, so when I started talking, I noticed him biting his lips.

“They weren’t ordinary rioters,”

“...”

“I’m sure that all of you will hear about it later. What happened in Lindel wasn’t random terrorism. The people that raided the city were well-trained assassins and not ordinary mobs. I’m also certain that they were targeting both me and Ha-Yan,” I explained.

“Why…” Lee Sang-Hee suddenly asked.

“Maybe it’s because of the legendary-ranked item that Mr. Ki-Young has, Miss Lee Sang-Hee,” Lee Seol-Ho said to her.

‘Pffft.’

It was a convincing reason because even if the item had already selected its owner, a legendary item was still a worthy item to steal. Still, it would be more convincing to say that all this was the work of greedy bastards if the item hadn’t selected its owner yet. However…

“I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Oh…”

“The Blue Guild members are the only ones that know about the fact that I obtained a legendary-ranked item and everyone already knows that the sword chose me as its owner. I have no idea who leaked the information, but I’m sure that people won’t target an item that already has an owner, especially when the Mercenary Queen could also become their enemy,” I explained.

“Information…”

Lee Sang-Hee seemed really surprised by the possibility that the information that had been shared within the guild was leaked.

‘She’s a naive woman.’

I wasn’t sure what the Blue Guild meant to her, but this guild had been tainted a long time ago.

“I think I was attacked because of my curiosity,” I said.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m trying to be careful about saying this, but I have my suspicions about the guild master’s death,” I told Lee Sang-Hee.

“Oh…”

“Of course, I already knew about the fact that we didn’t know when the guild master was going to pass away, but despite that, there are a few things I’m suspicious of,” I added.

Lee Seol-Ho looked at me as if he was asking me what I was talking about.

‘It wasn’t you.’

I thought that maybe Lee Seol-Ho really wasn’t the culprit. The fact that I was attacked could possibly be due to Lee Seol-Ho’s pride or to sell the guild over to the Japanese guild. From the beginning, Lee Seol-Ho believed that we wouldn’t be able to clear the Cursed Shrine. If we didn’t manage to clear it, the guild master was as good as dead. Now that I thought about it, there really wasn’t a reason for him to kill the guild master. Of course, he could have killed him in order to speed things up a little or for personal reasons, but…

‘It’s becoming more likely that the guild master died of natural causes…’

Under the condition that Lee Seol-Ho wasn’t pretending. No matter what the truth was, it didn’t matter to me.

The situation was actually getting exciting. From my point of view, I was feeling a bit excited about framing someone.

“I believe that it’s possible that he got murdered. When the guild master died, no one was in his room and while we were on our expedition, the people that remained at the guild didn’t think of the possibility that he could have been murdered. Actually, it seemed like they were hiding something, to be exact,” I said.

“What are you…”

Bullshit.

“I thought about the possibility that an outside enemy could be the one responsible for it, however… there wasn’t any internal report about what happened after we left. I think it’s right to think that it happened within the guild,” I explained.

“...”

“What you’re seeing are the results of my investigation. I didn’t have enough time, but I was able to gather a few clues and on my way back from work, I was attacked. There must be someone trying to hide the truth,” I said.

I was good at talking bullshit.

It was better to approach it with details. I had a lot of proof, physical evidence, and conviction, but I didn’t have enough time to piece everything together. I needed time to autopsy the guild master’s body and I had to be more meticulous about cornering Lee Seol-Ho.

But the situation had changed a lot. Why? Because I was attacked. That fact alone created a frame that helped me solve the puzzle that I couldn’t complete before the attack.

Lee Seol-Ho was obviously suppressing his emotions. When I started talking, he looked as if he had just eaten a pile of shit.

“You know, Miss Lee Sang-Hee. I think there’s a disgusting traitor within the Blue Guild. The culprit that murdered the guild master,” I told her.

The truth wasn’t what made the world go round.

‘It’s instigation and fabrication.’