The Regressor Only Protects Me

Chapter 23. No Longer Human (2)

“From now on, we’re going to capture the King of the Black Team. Everyone, get ready.”

I stood up fully and gave orders to the people of the Red Team.

The moment I got up, a sharp pain shot through my thighs.

I wasn’t fully mobile yet, but it wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t move at all.

Lee Joo-yeon gasped in surprise and approached me.

“Ah, if you move like that…!”

“From now on, no one is allowed to act independently.”

As I spoke firmly to the group, Lee Joo-yeon immediately backed down.

The others began to rise from their spots, leaving their food behind.

A middle-aged man approached me and spoke.

I remembered his face.

He was the one who had mercilessly stabbed the Blue Team members with a spear at the forefront.

He had a large build.

For someone like me, who was shorter than average, his size was intimidating.

He approached me, almost threateningly, and asked, “What do you mean by ‘no independent actions’?”

“I mean it literally.”

After saying that, I scanned the group.

Everyone here was looking straight at me.

“Don’t stray from my line of sight from now on. I’m telling you to make sure you stay within my sight.”

“What if… what if someone does go out of sight?!”

A younger man standing behind the middle-aged man shouted nervously.

One of the lenses of his glasses was cracked.

Looking directly at him, I answered, “I’ll kill them.”

At that moment, the atmosphere grew heavy.

Everyone stiffened, their faces pale, and their bodies trembling slightly.

The middle-aged man in front shouted in alarm, “Ki… kill them?! How could you say such a thing?!”

“I mean, if you stray from my sight, I’ll consider you the King of the Black Team. So, I’m begging you—don’t do anything suspicious.”

No matter their objections, I was going to catch the King of the Black Team.

Although a few suspects were already on my list, there was no definitive proof.

There were still things I hadn’t confirmed, so I had no choice but to forbid individual actions until I had more clarity.

Allowing independent actions would only increase the variables I needed to consider.

Still, I wasn’t surprised by their resistance.

The man with glasses shouted at me in frustration.

“What are you saying?! This is too much!”

His attitude was noticeably different from before.

Just as Lee Saebom had predicted, it seemed some conversations had taken place among them.

Everyone focused on the man’s irritable voice.

Nearly in tears, he continued shouting.

“You may be the King, but that doesn’t mean you can treat us however you like! Are you the president?! Are you my parent?! This is ridiculous! How could you say such things so recklessly?!”

Some of the Red Team members nodded in agreement.

Under normal circumstances, I might have felt something, but at that moment, I didn’t feel anything.

That’s because I wasn’t planning to back down even an inch.

“Do whatever you want if you want to die.”

“Ah…”

I was tired of this.

I couldn’t delay my work because of their petty complaints.

Up until now, we had united against external enemies, but from now on, we had to eliminate the internal threat.

If they didn’t listen and acted on their own, I wouldn’t hesitate.

After all, I still had a powerful weapon—my pistol.

They had no way of knowing how many bullets were left in its chamber.

Though I only had two rounds, that alone was a significant threat to the Red Team.

Clang—!

Just then, Kwon Kyung-soo burst into the auditorium entrance.

“Huff… Huff…”

He was gasping for breath.

Noticing the tense atmosphere, Kwon Kyung-soo furrowed his brows.

Jin Jae-hee followed behind him.

The Red Team began searching the mall from the basement floor.

The main goal was to find the King of the Black Team.

If we couldn’t find the King of the Black Team during this expedition, I would have to admit something.

That among the 11 people walking ahead of me, one of them was the King of the Black Team.

“Kwon Kyung-soo is highly likely to be the King of the Black Team. We should prepare for that—or deal with him now.”

Jin Jae-hee, walking beside me, said this casually.

Without looking at her, I asked, “What’s your reasoning?”

“He kept demanding your gun and wandered around the mall while you were asleep. At first, he brought back a little food, but later, he stopped bringing anything at all. It’s suspicious.”

Jin Jae-hee spoke quietly, glancing around us.

I stopped walking and called her to a halt.

Then, I spoke.

“That’s just speculation.”

Of course, I had considered the possibility that Kwon Kyung-soo might be the King of the Black Team.

His constant demands for my gun and his cryptic conversations with others stood out.

Most of all, I recalled what Lee Saebom had told me.

But there was no concrete evidence.

If the King of the Black Team was deliberately leading me to suspect Kwon Kyung-soo, then I would be playing right into their hands.

I wanted to avoid that at all costs.

“First, we need to focus on finding the King of the Blue Team in this mall. If we can find the King of the Blue Team, we might uncover some clues. Like why the King of the Blue Team is dead right now.”

I turned my head and resumed walking.

Then, I turned back to look at Jin Jae-hee.

“And when the King of the Blue Team died, you weren’t there either, right? That means you could be the King. If revealing you’re a regressor was part of some ploy.”

Jin Jae-hee flinched, startled by my words, and tried to defend herself.

“Ah, b-but I…”

“But I what?”

“Ah…”

Her eyelids fluttered nervously before she bowed her head low.

“You’re right.”

She seemed to be holding back something she wanted to say.

But I didn’t have the time to entertain her further.

We had already wasted enough time here.

I didn’t want to waste any more.

The Red Team searched the basement floor and moved up to the first floor.

It was the site of the intense battle from a few hours ago.

The scene was horrifying.

With only flashlights to illuminate the mess, people prepared to move to the second floor.

But I stopped them.

“Stab each corpse with your spear.”

Rather than ensuring they were dead, my goal was to account for the possibility that the King of the Black Team might have disguised themselves as a corpse.

The group hesitated, glancing at each other.

No matter how hardened they were, the idea of stabbing a dead body was unappealing.

But it had to be done.

Hoping the King of the Black Team was among the corpses rather than the living was a slim chance.

Still, I didn’t want to overlook it.

One by one, people picked up spears made from mop handles and began walking among the corpses.

Thud! Thud!

The human body was surprisingly easy to pierce.

It was entirely different from stabbing living flesh.

Thick blood oozed out through the pierced skin.

Corpses that had been dead for a while released putrid fluids when stabbed.

The process went on for hours.

From the first floor to the seventh floor.

Stabbing corpses and conducting searches.

The mental pain must have been worse than the physical pain.

I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but everyone was already deeply exhausted.

Each time, Kwon Kyung-soo spoke up.

“Hey… Sion. How about giving the people a little rest?”

“No.”

Each time, I firmly refused.

My death would mean the death of everyone in the Red Team.

Everyone in the Red Team knew that fact.

So they had no choice but to follow.

We stabbed and stabbed and kept stabbing the corpses.

Even as they committed acts against humanity, the people held onto their sanity with sheer will to survive.

The King of the Black Team was meticulous.

The fact that they had never once shown themselves meant they were undoubtedly plotting something.

I didn’t want to get caught up in the Black Team’s strategy.

Hours passed.

We checked up to the 11th floor.

Even so, there were no survivors.

Nor did we find anyone who could be considered the King of the Blue Team.

Of course, we didn’t find the King of the Black Team either.

Everyone collapsed on the 11th floor, utterly drained.

Some grumbled and voiced their complaints.

Their muttering reached my ears.

“Dealing with some old geezer… Hah… This is just… Ugh…”

“My back and calves… My whole body’s broken. Couldn’t we take a bit of a break?”

Most of the complaints came from the older people.

I was aware of their grievances, but I had no intention of addressing them.

After all, the objective hadn’t changed.

“This is the last of it.”

Jin Jae-hee approached me and spoke quietly.

I gave a small nod and looked at my bloodstained thigh.

The bandage had soaked through with blood again, turning red.

Cold sweat dripped from me slightly.

Honestly, even just walking was becoming too much.

“Is this really the end?”

I double-checked with Jin Jae-hee.

If this was truly the end, it was time to make a decision.

Jin Jae-hee hesitated for a moment, then seemed to recall something.

“There’s a pile of bodies by the elevator shaft. About 30 of them.”

“The elevator?”

At her words, I headed toward the nearest elevator.

When I opened the doors and shone my flashlight downward, I saw corpses piled up, entangled together.

Rats chewing on the flesh of the dead scurried about here and there.

As I peered down, Jin Jae-hee came up beside me and looked down as well.

“Pulling those bodies out one by one and checking them would be impossible.”

I nodded slightly.

Even with a clear objective, it was absurd to pull out and examine each body individually.

But that didn’t mean there was no solution.

“Burn them all.”

The answer was to incinerate them.

Jin Jae-hee responded without hesitation.

“Got it.”

She went somewhere and soon returned with a container full of oil.

It was a large drum of cooking oil used in the mall’s food court.

Without hesitation, she poured the oil into the elevator shaft.

Gush—!

The oil poured like a waterfall over the pile of bodies.

Startled by the sudden flood of oil, the rats scattered in all directions.

Jin Jae-hee lit a cigarette, took a puff, and then dropped the lit butt into the shaft.

The cigarette, glowing faintly, fell through the white smoke.

Twisting and turning, it hit the pile of corpses.

Soon, flames erupted.

Fwoosh—!

Thick black smoke began to fill the elevator shaft.

I stared at it blankly.

The ones in there were no longer among the living.

I wouldn’t feel any sympathy or pity.

All I could do was wish them peace.

And that was all.

After observing it carefully and confirming there was no response from the notification window, I stood up.

When I turned around, I saw Kwon Kyung-soo.

He was staring at me blankly.

His face was flushed, but his lips had turned a pale blue.

Kwon Kyung-soo was looking at me as if I were a monster.

But when I met his gaze, he instinctively averted his eyes.

Just now…

It felt like something between us had been severed.

At that moment, Lee Saebom came running from the opposite direction.

After catching his breath, he spoke to me.

“I think we’ve found the King of the Blue Team.”

I frowned.

The King of the Blue Team?

Not the Black Team?

Everyone turned to look at Lee Saebom upon hearing his words.

We naturally followed him.

The location was a hidden floor accessible from the 11th floor.

When the tightly closed door was opened, another staircase was revealed.

The survivors ascended the stairs.

Step by step.

With each step, an eerie silence enveloped the group.

At the top of the stairs was the 12th floor.

A floor inaccessible to regular customers.

This was a staff-only office area.

Click.

At the front of the group, Sion turned on a flashlight and walked cautiously into the darkness.

There were no corpses here.

In fact, the area was strangely pristine.

It didn’t feel like part of a post-apocalyptic world.

On either side of the hallway were staff offices, and at the end was a door marked “Branch Manager’s Office.”

Sion cautiously opened the door.

Creak—.

When they saw the person inside the room, they couldn’t help but be shocked.

Sion furrowed his brow.