Regressor Instruction Manual - Chapter 142. Home (2)
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Chapter 142. Home (2)

Home was a great place and even though I had fun after resolving the issue at the castle, I couldn’t deny the fact that my room and home were more comfortable than that place.

‘Oh…’

Of course, I was afraid of the stress I was going to get from my work, but I thought that they had somewhat taken care of everything. I couldn’t help but smile after thinking that team leader Kim Mi-Young, the competent Park Joong-Ki of the administrative team, and Hwang Jung-Yeon who had a crush on Park Deok-Gu were working hard. Naturally, I was curious as to how everyone was doing, including Kim Hyun-Sung, Park Deok-Gu, Sun Hee-Young and the kid, Kim Ye-Ri. The people in our party were the first ones I thought of. I had always been thinking of them, but I guess I was more fond of them than I thought and it wouldn’t be so bad to go out together as a group in the future.

‘Maybe we should go to a dungeon.’

Maybe going to Celia together wouldn’t be so bad either. I wasn’t sure if we were going to have the time, but taking a break once in a while was a good thing.

I named my white griffon, Whitefall. There was no particular reason why I gave it such a name. I simply thought Whitefall was a decent name since it was white. Riding on the griffon’s back was still uncomfortable for me, but I felt better when I noticed it being considerate of me. After passing over a small mountain, I saw the Free City of Lindel and the small city became bigger as we got closer to our destination.

‘We’re here.’

We returned to Lindel. We arrived at the Red Mercenary Guild’s landing area because the Blue Guild didn’t have a griffon landing area just yet. Jung Ha-Yan got off the griffon with a disappointed look and I patted Whitefall’s head.

“Coo.”

It was definitely cute.

“I can leave it here, right noona?” I asked Cha Hee-Ra.

“Of course...”

“I’ll leave the other griffon here, too. Our guild doesn’t have an area where we can take care of them just yet,” I explained.

“It’s not a big problem, darling. More than that, how about spending the night here?” She suggested.

“It’s fine. I need to head to the guild first,” I said, declining her offer.

“Really? That’s unfortunate,” she replied.

“I’ll visit tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Since… we have a lot to talk about,” I said.

She seemed a bit disappointed, but I didn’t think much about it. Even though Cha Hee-Ra expressed her disappointment, she had work to do as well since she left the guild for a while, after all.

Jung Ha-Yan and I left the guild. It could be considered a short time for some and long for others, but Lindel was still the same as before. The people selling in the plaza were still there and there were still people looking for party members. I saw people moving busily to go out to hunt and others sitting on terraces and chatting.

‘This is nice.’

That was when I saw a familiar face…

‘That bastard…’

When I saw the back of the man with a large frame, he seemed familiar and even the woman that was beside him looked familiar as well. I was certain that the woman with the long hair was our guild’s mage. I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but seeing the smile on their faces made them seem like they were happy.

“Oh!”

Jung Ha-Yan must have realized who those people were because she was surprised and exclaimed at the sight. I didn’t need to explain. I wasn’t sure if they were in a relationship, but they seemed really close. Of course, I called out his name while smiling and I saw him turn around with a surprised look.

“Deok-Gu!”

“Huh?”

A smile appeared on Park Deok-Gu’s face and he reacted as if I came back from the dead. I was sure he wouldn’t react that way even if a person kicked open their own coffin and emerged from it. His smile lasted only for a few moments before it was quickly replaced with a frown. He wasn’t in a bad mood or angry. Rather, it was more like he was desperately trying to hold back his tears.

“Hy-Hyung-nim!” he yelled.

He was like an eight ton truck with a broken wheel. The way he ran toward me reminded me of a charging rhino. He was about to hug me without mercy because he was happy to see me and I thought about sidestepping to avoid him, but I was happy to see him as well. In the end, I ended up making a bad choice.

“Hyung-nim!”

When I opened my arms, he seemed like he was touched and when I hugged him, I couldn’t breathe.

‘Shit… I shouldn’t have hugged him.’

I was worried that he was going to break my back, but I patted Park Deok-Gu’s back. The others looked at us strangely as we shared a brotherly hug, but Park Deok-Gu seemed like he didn’t care. He even picked me up and started spinning me around.

‘This bastard…’

After I was spun in the plaza for a while, he spoke. “Hyung-nim! You should’ve told me that you’re coming back…”

“Hahaha. I’m sure the others know about it. You didn’t see the griffons flying?” I asked.

“Oh! Were you the one riding the white griffon?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“I heard you moved up in the world hyung-nim… nice… by the way, did something happen there? You look like you lost weight.” He pointed out.

“It’s nothing like that. Actually, things have become better for me lately,” I answered.

“By the way, I read in the newspaper that you… got framed or something. My heart dropped after reading that. Did you get that taken care of?” he asked.

“Of course! I was going to tell you about it anyway. It wasn’t a big deal, so you don’t have to worry. Didn’t you read the letter I sent?” I asked him.

“I mean, I had an idea about what happened, but since we didn’t know the situation, we had no idea what was going on. I would’ve gone if I was able to, but a letter came every time I thought about doing that… so I thought everything was okay. Still, I couldn’t sleep because I was so worried,” Park Deok-Gu explained.

“Hahaha.”

“Hey, it’s nothing to laugh about, hyung-nim. Seriously. Even that dude Hyun-Sung was about to rush over there. Oh, I didn’t see you there, noonim. How have you been?” he asked Jung Ha-Yan.

That was good news…

“Hi, Deok-Gu oppa. We-We’ve been doing well,” she answered.

“Wait, we should hurry back to the guild. I’m sure everyone will be happy once they find out that you’re back.” He suggested.

“By the way, what are you and Miss Jung-Yeon doing here?” I asked him.

When I asked while glancing at Hwang Jung-Yeon, I noticed Park Deok-Gu being hesitant. Despite calling himself the love doctor, he seemed embarrassed. Seeing Hwang Jung-Yeon lowering her head while blushing made me think that there had been some progress in their relationship.

“L-Let’s hurry up and go back to the guild, Mr. Ki-Young. It’s nice to see you again after so long,” Hwang Jung-yeon said.

“Ahem, let’s go,” Park Deok-Gu agreed.

The way they tried to change the subject was kind of cute and thanks to them, the way back to the guild wasn’t going to be boring. Jung Ha-Yan and Hwang Jung-Yeon were catching up and Park Deok-Gu and I were talking, but it was mostly about the guild.

“How’s Miss Hee-Young and Ye-Ri doing?” I asked.

“Hee-Young noonim is the same as always and the kid’s growing up pretty fast,” Park Deok-Gu answered.

“Huh?”

“Kids usually grow pretty fast at that age. I can’t really tell since I see her every day, but according to the guild members, she grew up a lot and I think she’s been getting stronger pretty fast… you… might be surprised after seeing her,” he explained.

“I see…” I said, nodding

“I guess you’re not that curious, hyung-nim.” He pointed out.

“It’s not that. I already expected her to grow up fast. What about you Deok-Gu?” I asked him.

I used Mind’s Eye to check his stats while talking to him and noticed that his overall stats weren't that bad. I wasn’t that impressed, however, because I saw a lot of powerful people recently, but it seemed like his stats were growing at a steady pace.

[Checking Player Park Deok-Gu’s Status Window and Potential]

[Name - Park Deok-Gu]

[Title - None. Please work harder.]

[Age - 23]

[Nature - A simple, ignorant and ardent person]

[Job - Steel Tank - Rare Rank]

[Stats]

[Strength - 67/Above epic growth limit]

[Agility - 34/Below rare growth limit]

[Stamina - 70/Above epic growth limit]

[Intelligence - 27/Below rare growth limit]

[Endurance - 71/Above epic growth limit]

[Luck - 23/Below average growth limit]

[Magic - 22/Above average growth limit]

[Overall Review - The player’s high strength, endurance, and stamina shows that he has been growing well. His endurance and stamina that are over 70 are the most noticeable. It’s unfortunate that his magic is lacking in comparison, but if he works hard, I’m sure he’ll become a top player. No matter how much I think about it, his magic stat is really unfortunate.]

‘His endurance is 70…’

It wasn’t bad, actually, it was amazing. Considering the fact that it wasn’t easy to grow once your stat reached 60, having your main stat at 70 was pretty amazing.

‘He worked hard.’

I was sure that he had been working really hard because he had to catch up to the other geniuses. Of course, there was still a limit to how much he could catch up to them because I knew better than anyone that you couldn’t change the limits of the talent you were born with. Still, I had a feeling that this pig was going to achieve just that.  to break that prejudice.

“Well I… it wasn’t anything amazing… I just worked as hard as the others,” Park Deok-Gu answered.

“Oh yeah?” I asked.

“I just trained every day. My stats increased and I also visited the sunbaes I met last time to learn from them, but I don’t think I grew that much,” he explained.

“How much did you grow?” I asked him.

“My stamina and endurance are over 70 now, but my strength is only 67 and my magic stat seems like it doesn’t want to increase…” he said with a disappointed tone.

“You’re doing fine,” I complimented him.

“What?”

“You’re doing fine so just keep doing what you’ve been doing,” I told him.

“Ohh…”

“There’s no need to compare yourself to others, Deok-Gu. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll get rewarded for it someday. It’s fine to contemplate about it, but don’t think too much about it and if you’re having a hard time, you can come to me. If you look at the stats of the other free city citizens that started out with us or the people that had no choice but to choose a non-combatant job, you’ll understand just how fast you’re growing,” I explained, comforting him.

“H-Hyung-nim.”

“There’s the saying, fortune favors the prepared,” I added.

Even though I said that, I had a guilty conscience because I knew very well that effort could easily betray a human’s expectations, but this simple-minded guy seemed impressed by my words. I quickly changed the subject because I was afraid that he was going to try to hug me again.

“Did they complete everything I ordered them to do?”

“Oh, I’m sure they’re done. I’m not sure myself, but the Kim Mi-Young lady you picked has been taking care of her own tasks as well as other tasks,” Park Deok-Gu answered.

“That’s a relief,” I commented.

“I mean, I’m sure you’ll have to check yourself, but our bro seemed like he has been doing fine,” he told me.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“There’s a new person that joined the guild and I think our bro recruited them himself. He’s nice, friendly, and strong too… oh! While you were away, he has been taking care of the guild as the general administration manager. He has also been getting along with the bro so well that they’re always together,” Park Deok-Gu replied.

“...”

I felt anxious for some reason.

“And?” I asked, hinting that he should continue.

“I’m not sure how to describe him, but it feels like he possesses both literature and martial arts talents. He’s smart and good at fighting at the same time,” Park Deok-Gu continued.

I thought someone was going to fill my place while I was gone, but I never imagined a new person would join the guild and when he mentioned that the new member was close to Kim Hyun-Sung, my heart dropped.

‘Shit… Hyun-Sung.’

I naturally felt anxious. I expected Kim Hyun-Sung to hire talented people since he knew a lot of them, but it happened faster than I thought and I was sure that some of them were people he knew from his past life. The people he had built a bond with may start appearing as well, so as Kim Hyun-Sung’s closest staff, hearing that made me nervous. It felt like fate was playing a joke because I saw Kim Hyun-Sung walking from far away with a person by his side. He was having a lively conversation with a person holding a spear and I noticed a bright smile on his face.

“Oh, I guess the dude came here to see you, hyung-nim.” Park Deok-Gu pointed out.

I obviously didn’t hear what Park Deok-Gu had just said because I was focused on how Kim Hyun-Sung was enjoying his conversation with the other person.

‘You never even smiled at me like that, you bastard…’