Regressor Instruction Manual

Honestly, it wasn’t just Jung Ha-Yan. I could say that I was one of the better ones, but it was obvious who amongst us was feeling anxious. Kim Ye-Ri was one of them, but I could understand it since she was still young. She always stuck to Kim Hyun-Sung like a cicada and her usual calm expression wasn’t the kind of expression a child would have. I wasn’t sure what she saw, but based on her reaction, I guess it was something horribly traumatic.

It was the same for Jung Ha-Yan. I wasn’t certain, but she probably saw an image of me abandoning her. I was able to realize once again that this curse brought out one’s weakness.

Anyway, I saw people coming back to their senses one by one and the majority of them had escaped from the curses' influence, however, no one spoke about it first. While I was stroking Jung Ha-Yan’s hair, we heard a voice once the situation calmed down. It was Lee Sang-Hee.

“D-Damage report please.”

“There’s no damage. This type of curse appears to be part of the spiritual world and I don’t think there are any other effects. I believe that visual and auditory hallucinations are the effects of the curse.”

“Is there anyone that’s unable to move?” she asked.

“No one sustained physical injuries.”

There wasn’t any physical damage, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t any damage at all because what everyone experienced was mentally exhausting. I could see why the Blue Guild’s party got annihilated here. Just like its name, assuming that these curses overlapped or worsened…

‘It’s going to get serious.’

The situation could get out of hand and become even worse.

“Is there anyone that’s hearing things?” Lee Sang-Hee asked.

No one answered. I was sure that they could somewhat hear it. I slowly opened my mouth to answer her question. “I can hear something.”

“I see.”

“I believe it’s the same for the others,” I added.

“I don’t think the holy purification spell is breaking the curse, so it seems like the curse was built into the dungeon itself. There’s a good chance that it activates every time we enter a certain area or when a certain time passes.”

‘That’s a good assumption.’

She had the same thought as me. When I glanced over at Kim Hyun-Sung, I noticed him nodding. It might not have been the perfect answer, but I thought that we somewhat found an answer.

“Or the symptoms we just experienced could get worse. If this type of curse activates while we’re fighting the Undead…”

We would obviously suffer a lot, but the most important part was the curse itself that had just activated. No matter how much I thought about it, the Undead and spirits were easier to deal with. Just like its name, the only way to control the Cursed Shrine was to break the curse.

- In the end, you’re going to be alone.

‘Shut up.’

I was certain that the situation would become out of control if we didn’t break the curse. Lee Sang-Hee and party two were able to resist the voices that they were hearing right now, but excluding Kim Hyun-Sung, party seven’s situation was different. It was embarrassing to say it myself, but Kim Hyun-Sung’s party was growing really fast. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that we were growing at a ridiculous rate. I was currently keeping up with the party through the many catalysts and Ramus Tucker’s Introduction to Alchemy. It wasn’t necessary for me to talk about the members who started off with above legendary stats, but just because their stats were high didn’t mean that the party was strong. The people in our party had mental issues, and it meant that their physical growth was faster than their mental growth.

‘Was that what he was aiming for?’

Taking that into consideration, I thought that perhaps Kim Hyun-Sung brought us here on purpose, but the possibility of that was low. He wasn’t the type to play with people’s lives. If it was an average-ranked dungeon, then I would have nodded, but…

‘The current situation is serious.’

It was just like I said. The others were experiencing something similar and it wasn’t just our party. In this situation, there were three choices the group could choose from.

The first choice was to return. We didn’t have enough information about the dungeon and even though our main goal was rescuing the survivors, it didn’t mean there wasn’t anything dangerous here. If the expedition group leader was a bit more cautious, then I was certain that Lee Sang-Hee would pick the first choice.

The second choice was to continue. I honestly didn’t want to recommend it, but since we didn’t know the condition of the survivors and considering the urgency of the situation, this wasn’t such a bad choice.

The last choice would be…

“I think it’ll be best to set up a camp here.” Lee Sang-Hee suggested.

‘That’s right.’

“For those with close-ranged jobs, please get into groups and search the areas around us. See if you can find any information or hints about controlling this dungeon. The remaining members will create a camp here. Please start making some food. I think it’ll be best if we rest for now. First, with party two in the center…”

“I’ll go as well,” Kim Hyun-Sung volunteered.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Yes. I don’t know the reason, but I don’t think the curse affected me that badly. I do hear the voice, but… I’m not really worried about it,” he answered.

“Oh, in that case… I appreciate the help, Mr. Hyun-Sung,” Lee Sang-Hee said.

I also thought that this was the best decision. Before everyone had experienced the curse, they were already exhausted. We marched for more than half the day and it had been about six hours since we entered the shrine. If we continued the search in this state, then we would soon reach our limits. It applied especially to the priests and mages since they must be at their limits by now, and they needed time to recover.

“After we sleep here, we’ll immediately go to work in the morning, so please be ready. We’ll stay for three days and if I believe that there isn’t any progress, we’ll leave the dungeon. Also,” she announced.

“Yes?”

“If we can’t break the curse that has been inflicted on us, then I think it’ll be best to think of another way,” she added.

“Is that even possible?”

She was overflowing with confidence since curses were usually semi-permanent.

“Yes, but for now, please focus on recovering. We’ll come up with countermeasures after the search team comes back,” she said.

When Lee Sang-Hee finished talking, Kim Hyun-Sung, Kim Ye-Ri, and the other people with strong capabilities who had been assigned to the search group left the room. The slower members were doing their best to set up the camp. Since Kim Hyun-Sung volunteered to go, I guess he had an idea on how to control the dungeon.

‘He may even bring a different hint.’

When those people headed out, it was obvious what the others had to do. Our job was to take care of the mentality of our children. Even though no one asked me to take care of the others, I could feel them relying on me.

Unlike Sun Hee-Young who had calmed down rather quickly, Deok-Gu was the first person I had to counsel because he was still standing frozen with a blank expression. Jung Ha-Yan was naturally recovering by sticking next to me. It didn’t just apply to me, but seeing others talking amongst themselves helped me realize that talking to the affected people was the solution.

“Deok-Gu.”

“Oh, hyung-nim,” he said.

He clearly looked haggard and he greeted Jung Ha-Yan who was next to me.

“Are you feeling better?” I asked.

“O-Of course,” he answered.

“I’m asking you seriously.”

“Y-You don’t have to worry about me, hyung-nim. Just worry about noonim since I don’t budge easily,” he said.

‘This pig…’

“What did you see?” I asked.

“It was nothing,” he said.

His answer was short. He must be thinking that he was being a burden by showing this side of him. When I stared at him quietly, he started to become slightly anxious.

“I heard the voices of those that I killed and those that died before my eyes,” I told him.

“Oh…”

“Yoo Seok-Woo, the woman I couldn’t save and I even saw Park Hye-Young’s corpse. I also saw Jung Jin-Ho and his lackey’s faces too. They told me that I was going to die soon and they’re cursing at me right now. They even yelled at me and told me not to rationalize,” I explained to him.

“...”

“What about you?” I asked.

He looked like he was deep in his thoughts. He was hesitating whether it was right to tell me or if it was something he didn’t need to tell me. It was natural for him to be cautious since it was related to either his weakness or trauma, but I guess telling him what I saw was a big help. In the end, I saw him talking.

“I-I… saw you and the other party members dying. We were fighting a large monster… and I couldn’t endure it, but th-that wasn’t my intention and when I flinched for a moment, you and noonim got hurt, so I don’t know what I should say… that’s, you see… ugh…” he explained.

I guess he was pretty shocked. Even while talking, he was crying and stuttering. I knew that Deok-Gu’s mind was weak, but I never imagined that it was this bad.

‘Even when I killed Yoo Seok-Woo…’

Park Deok-Gu forced himself to not look at it.

“And then I saw you and noonim criticizing me. That… it was because of me… that it was all my fault… I wasn’t able to do anything and just stood there while trembling… I saw the same situation again, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t move at all…” he added.

“What happened next?” I asked.

“It was the same… I couldn’t save you and just…”

“Do you still hear the voices?”

He nodded.

“What does it say?”

“Coward, it’s all because of you is what it’s saying,” he answered.

“Who’s saying that?” I asked.

“It’s yours and noonim’s voice. I can also hear Mr. Hyun-Sung’s voice, Hee-Young noonim’s voice, and even the kid’s voice. Is it the same for you, hyung-nim?” he asked.

“Of course. I hear the same thing. Like I said earlier, I hear it now, but it doesn’t affect me,” I answered.

“As expected from you, hyung-nim…” he said.

“Don’t say things like… as expected from you, hyung-nim. What you experienced were just simple visual and auditory hallucinations,” I told him.

Even though I was saying it to Park Deok-Gu, it also applied to Sun Hee-Young and Jung Ha-Yan who were beside me.

“There’s no need for you to waver or even worry about it because it’s all bullshit. Just ignore it. Just focus on the reality you’re seeing right now,” I advised him.

“Oh…”

“If I can do it, then you can do it even better, Deok-Gu,” I told him.

“Okay, got it,” he said.

“Just keep thinking about that. If I can do it, then you can do it even better.”

Obviously, I knew this wasn’t enough, but since he listened to me pretty well, I was sure that it was somewhat effective. I was certain of it because he looked like he was starting to feel better. Aside from that, we talked about other things. I had a short conversation with Sun Hee-Young and also spoke to Lee Sang-Hee, Hwang Jung-Yeon, and Kim Hyun-Sung about how we should approach this while eating together. In addition, I also invested my remaining time into Jung Ha-Yan because I thought that it would be best to calm her mentally by constantly talking to her. I thought about talking to Jung Ha-Yan like I did with Park Deok-Gu, but the problem was that she wasn’t showing that much reaction toward me. She probably didn’t want to talk about the nightmare she had seen.

‘...’

When I asked what she saw, I noticed her biting her lips to the point that they looked like they were going to explode, so I had no choice but to give up. She was different from Park Deok-Gu who was trying to pretend that he was okay.

Everyone was on edge, but we were able to endure it. Auditory hallucination was the only thing that was happening and no one was experiencing anything worse than what we had just experienced. Breaking the curse through holy magic was impossible, but it was helpful in maintaining the current situation.

‘Taking a short break is…’

…The best choice. Excluding the people that were on watch, everyone, including myself, were sleeping. Trying to sleep properly was a bit difficult at first, but since I was exhausted from the long expedition, I was able to fall asleep rather quickly, but that didn’t mean I was able to keep my eyes closed the entire time.

‘Oh…’

It was because I realized that at some point, Jung Ha-Yan was staring at me with her eyes wide open.

“We’re going to stay together forever. Mhm… no. Oppa would never do that. What you’re saying is stupid. Oppa told me to ignore you, so you don’t exist,” Jung Ha-Yan mumbled.

I didn’t know who she was having a conversation with, but I heard her whispering into my ear.

“I’m not going to listen to you, you idiot because I can’t let oppa die. I’m going to live forever with oppa,” she continued.

‘Shit…’

“We’re going to be together forever. We can live together. Let’s stay here together, Oppa. Hehehe,” Jung Ha-Yan giggled.

Her voice gave me goosebumps.