I’m not a Regressor - Chapter 251: The Thousand Curse Dragon (3)

The next day, Ohjin, Ha-eun, and Isabella headed to the Association’s Relic Research Institute.

“Why are you coming along?” Ha-eun asked while glaring at Isabella.

“Oh, I should check if there are any relics that I can use, right?”

“You said you don’t need such things because you have Ohjin.”

“I changed my mind.” Isabella embraced Ohjin’s arm and smiled. It didn’t seem like she was going to the Association to get a relic.

“Ugh.” Ha-eun couldn’t stop her from coming along to see relics before they hunted the dragon, so she swallowed her complaints and embraced Ohjin’s other arm.

Ohjin, caught between the two women, sighed helplessly.

“Ohjin, this way!” Sihoo smiled brightly at them and waved as they approached the building, wearing a white gown that went down to his thighs. “You’re so popular!” The boy said playfully as he glanced at Ha-eun and Isabella.

“Haa. Manager Han never had a girlfriend, but you somehow have two…”

“Isabella’s not Ohjin’s girlfriend,” Ha-eun argued.

“To be exact, I’m not ‘yet’ his girlfriend,” Isabella countered.

“Who said that?”

“Ohjin’s not some item you can give and take at will, right?”

A tense war of nerves sparked between the two women.

“Stop it, both of you.” Ohjin sighed and shook their hands off of his arms. ‘They tried to get along at first, but…’ Isabella had shown her willingness to get along with Ha-eun when they first started living together by showering her with gifts, but her behavior had become more brazen since his time in the Demon Realm.

It was like someone just behind in a race who suddenly decided to speed up for the gold medal.

‘That doesn’t mean that they don’t get along.’ He would’ve stepped up and stopped them if they’d truly been on bad terms. Other than the few times a day they sparked off of each other, they were basically on good terms. No, they were on pretty good terms since the two went out shopping or to get aesthetic treatments—like subtly well-intentioned competitors.

Love wasn’t a sports competition, though, so Ohjin just felt embarrassed as he was trapped between them. ‘I can’t say anything. It’s kind of my fault.’ He held a hand up to his head. He knew he had to push Isabella away, but many reasons were keeping him from doing so; they’d gotten so close that they couldn’t go back to how things were before.

‘Whatever. It’ll work out somehow.’ Since when had he paid attention to those kinds of things? He would just keep things as they were, so long as Ha-eun was okay with it. Of course, if she complained, he’d have to tell Isabella off.

“Is this heroism? It’s like something from a martial arts novel,” Sihoo said.

“Shut up, brat.” How did kids even know about martial arts novels anymore?

“If you’re wondering about the martial arts novels thing… It’s because Manager Han likes them.” Sihoo chuckled and turned away. “Come in. I’ve set everything up already.”

Ohjin followed Sihoo into the lab, which could only be entered through three complicated locks. Inside, dozens of monitors were lined up like a checkerboard.

“Let’s start with you, Ohjin!” Sihoo’s eyes glistened.

Ohjin nodded and pulled out his folding knife. “Dantalian.” The knife’s blade trembled when he called its name, and chilling energy filled the lab that he imagined could’ve been felt in ruins or an abandoned hospital of ghosts.

“Please, put it on that shelf,” Sihoo indicated.

“Got it.” As soon as Ohjin placed the spear on the shelf, Sihoo moved to the monitors and quickly tapped on a keyboard, causing unknown characters to pour down the monitors like waterfalls.

“Wow. I thought you were just a little kid, but I guess not—” Ha-eun mumbled.

“Quiet.” Sihoo interrupted her. It was like he was a different person.

Ha-eun didn’t seem offended and just quietly watched.

As he was looking over the dozens of monitors with great focus, Sihoo suddenly slipped from his chair as if he’d fainted.

“Hey, kid! What’s wrong?” Ha-eun rushed over.

Ohjin saw that his face was blue, a cold sweat was over the kid’s forehead, and he didn’t seem to be breathing.

“O-Ohjin, ambulance, call an ambulance!” Ha-eun yelled.

“Ha-eun…” Sihoo grabbed Ha-eun’s arm.

“W-wait! I’ll call an ambulance right away!”

“Ha-eun, I…” He continued in a faint voice, as if he would die at any moment. “Give me some sweets…”

“Ohjin! Why aren’t you calling an ambulance? Huh? What?”

“Candy or chocolate. Any snack is good… come on.”

“…” Ha-eun looked down at him in disbelief.

Meanwhile, Isabella, who’d been trying to call an ambulance, suddenly halted.

“Here.” Ohjin nonchalantly pulled a calorie bar from his pocket.

“Thank you, Ohjin!” Sihoo jumped up and ate the crunchy calorie bar.

“What? Was all that nonsense because you were low on sugar?” Ha-eun asked.

“Do you know how important sugar is to a researcher?”

“You brat.” She frowned and squeezed Sihoo’s head.

“Argh!” Sihoo grabbed his head and shouted as if he were being wronged. “I didn’t do it on purpose!”

“You did.”

“Oh, you caught that?”

Ohjin smiled and helped Sihoo up. “So, have you figured anything out?”

“Hmm, a few things?” Sihoo sat down and pointed to the monitor. “First, Dantalian is the name of a ‘king’ in the Demon Realm.”

“What?”

* * *

* * *

Demon kings… Ohjin knew about them from Kasia, but what did that have to do with his spear?

“To be exact, the soul of a demon king is trapped here,” Sihoo explained.

“Then the weapon didn’t have ego from the start…?” Ohjin asked.

“Yes, it gained an ego due to the trapped soul. Would it be easier to understand if I say it’s a haunted object?”

“…” Ohjin narrowed his eyes. A spear with a demon king’s soul? “Why would a Living Armor…?”

“I don’t know.” Sihoo shook his head.

Ohjin examined the black spear. ‘Is it Kasia’s work?’ The Living Armor might have been Kasia’s servant. “Considering that it has a demon king’s soul, its performance isn’t very good…”

“Second, the inscription inside is not even 10% active yet,” Sihoo said.

Not even 10% of it was active? “Are you saying its strength is sealed?” Ohjin asked.

“Simply put? I think its low ego is also because of it.”

“How can I unseal it?”

“I don’t know…” Sihoo shook his head while sweeping his hair up. “Once its ego returns as much as it can, its seal will be released, so you’d better keep calling its name and use it often.”

“Hmm.” So there was no way to unseal it in such a short time. “Thanks.” Still, just knowing that it contained a demon king’s soul was a great harvest.

“Oh, and let me show you approximately what Dantalian looks like.”

“You can do something like that?” Ohjin looked at Sihoo in surprise. He knew the kid was a genius, but not to such an extent.

“The soul is bound to influence the body. This is what Dantalian looked like in life.” Sihoo pointed to a monitor, where a monster with a lion’s body, a snake’s tail, and an eagle’s head was shown.

“…Boppi?” Ohjin murmured.

“Huh?”

“No, it’s nothing.” Ohjin shook his head in bewilderment.

“Ohjin, that monster… it’s the one that chased you out of the Demon Realm!” Isabella exclaimed.

“Huh? Uh, yeah. Looks like it.”

“Hmm… are they the same species?”

‘Why is Boppi showing up here?’ Ohjin was also confused. Why did Dantalian look like Boppi? ‘They could be the same race, as Isabella said.’ It was unusual for monsters to look alike. Ohjin pushed the thought back and resheathed the spear.

“Should I make a relic for you, Ha-eun?” Sihoo asked.

“Yes. I’ll give you a lot of money, so please pick a good one.”

“Go over there first and move as you usually do in a fight.”

Ha-eun entered the cube with dozens of cameras, as Ohjin had before.

“Can I take out a cigarette here?” Her voice came from the speaker.

“That is a no-smoking area… why?”

“This is my weapon.” Ha-eun smiled as she took out a cigarette and lit it. Its odor spread as it burned, and the spark at the end swirled into a flame around her body. She moved quickly, firing flames at the wall while doing her best not to damage it.

“Hmm,” Sihoo said, analyzing her movements with interest. After about five minutes… “That’s enough.”

“Can I leave?”

“Yes.”

Click—

Ha-eun exited the cube.

“First, you’re a long-distance mage who doesn’t require a separate weapon,” Sihoo explained.

“Well, that’s why I’ve been fighting well without one.”

“Embodying the image of ‘fire’ through the cigarette was also very new.” Sihoo replayed the recorded video and nodded. “Oh, I don’t think you would be bad in close combat. Where did you learn martial arts?”

“I learned some boxing.” Ha-eun smiled and waved her fist slightly. “Then, the form of the relic could be a gauntlet or… no, a gauntlet is a little much; I think gloves would be right.”

“Gloves are nice.”

“Well… there are some problems,” Sihoo said.

“What problem?” Ha-eun tilted her head.

“For you to use the relic effectively, something that can raise the output of the stigma’s mana would be best…” Sihoo scratched his head as if troubled. “It’s a bit… very expensive.”

“How much? I have a lot of money.” Ha-eun tapped her chest in confidence. She’d accumulated a million and a half dollars thanks to her steady sale of starstones.

“Just the starstones will cost about 22.5 million dollars.”

“What…?” Ha-eun’s mouth dropped open. Did he think 22.5 million was easy to come by? How could a piece of equipment cost hundreds of millions?

“Relics that increase mana output are the most expensive. Even in games, that holds true, right?”

“But 22.5 million…” Ha-eun blurted out with tears in her eyes. That was three times more expensive than her Dragon’s Cursed Eye. No matter how much money an Awakener made, someone with that much money…

“Do you want me to pay for it?” Isabella nonchalantly pulled a black card from her purse.

A spark appeared in Ha-eun’s eyes. “Y-you’re going to pay for it? Really?”

“Yes, in return…” Isabella gave Ohjin a deeply seductive look. “About 10 dates with Ohjin? Of course, just the two of us.”

“Th-that’s!” Wouldn’t she be selling Ohjin? “I… I can’t do that…”

“Think carefully, Ha-eun. 22.5 million dollars? Even if you’re a high-ranking Awakener, it’s not easy to make that much.”

“But…!” Ha-eun angrily balled up her fists. “Are you trying to buy Ohjin with money? No! I can’t take that money!” Still, it was too much money to let go of… “C-can it be five times…?” She bowed her head in shame.

“Fufu. Alright.” Isabella smiled as she shook Ha-eun’s hand.

Ha-eun trembled.