The Regressor’s Personality Training - Chapter 2

Either way, they weren’t in a good enough relationship to see each other.

The man laughed at Danwoo. He was grinning widely, definitely not intending to entertain the other person.

‘Why are you snickering?’

“What is it?”

“I heard you’re taking the Hunter Qualification Exam.”

“…?”

Danwoo was already a hunter. Why would he take a second qualification exam?

“Your mana is F-Rank, but you’re still going to take the exam? No matter how much the awakened get hurt by the qualification exam, isn’t it a waste of national manpower? Hunters are busy anyway.”

Danwoo had always had a question for his cousin.

“Haven’t you had enough?”

“What?”

“Since there is a shortage of manpower, I will take the test. We need to hire more hunters to make them work.”

“Well, no…”

“Why are you here?”

Why was his cousin, whom Danwoo hadn’t seen in years, at his place? There was no way he would’ve visited just because he was family…

Danwoo looked around the room and realised that it was rather familiar.

It was the room where Danwoo used to sleep in when he had lived with his aunt.

“This room used to be mine!”

His cousin went wild.

“I’m just entering my room, are you trying to stop me? Hey, you’re misunderstanding something! This isn’t your room. I just gave it to you because I would’ve felt sorry for my study room if I let you have that instead.”

Danwoo slapped himself.

Smack!

There was a sting followed by a headache, but he didn’t wake up.

The spot where he hit himself was tingling, so Danwoo rubbed his cheek. Then, he realised that his palms were surprisingly soft.

‘What is this?’

Danwoo’s main weapon was a sword. The hand which he held his sword with for such a long time was rough and full of calluses.

“Hey… Are you crazy? Your mana is only F-Rank, so you want to die out of despair? Then go out and die. Somewhere other than under the roof of our house. Or else the house’s price will drop.”

Kim Jigyu said.

‘He was such a bastard.’

The great thing about Kim Jigyu was that all of those words were sincere. It would be difficult for the 20 year old man to sugar coat such things.

Kim Jigyu had hated Danwoo from the moment his aunt took him in, but at that time, Danwoo had lost his parents.

Jigyu tormented his cousin terribly, making him even more unhappy.

The first day after Danwoo transferred schools, he realised that rumours about him had already spread to the other kids.

Rumours that said Lee Danwoo was an orphan and a beggar, and that he was a bad-tempered child whom Kim Jigyu was taking care of.

In such a situation, having a normal school life was impossible.

“What are you going to do as a hunter? There’s no way you can do anything, though. Your parents died in a dungeon too. Oh, are you going to follow them?”

Jigyu, who had been talking ever since he walked in, spoke as if he knew what was going to happen.

Danwoo thought for a moment about what to do with this young, rude little boy.

“Do you think you can become anything if you get your hunter ID? Hey…”

When Danwoo remained speechless, Jigyu thought he was scared so he became even more arrogant. Not wanting to hear more of what he had to say, Danwoo raised his foot and kicked his stomach.

Thud!

“Ugh…”

When he stepped on the fallen man’s stomach, Jigyu couldn’t even breathe properly and his face turned yellow.

Danwoo removed his foot for a moment.

“Y-Y-You crazy bastard… Agh!”

When Danwoo stepped on his stomach again, Jigyu vomited. Danwoo squinted and raised his foot in fear of the vomit spilling on his feet.

He noticed Kim Jigyu squirming on the floor, trying to run away.

As a child, Danwoo was afraid of Kim Jigyu. He thought Jigyu was ‘a nuisance’ and that he would win if they were to fight, but Jigyu wasn’t an opponent he could fight. He was living in his aunt’s house, and Kim Jigyu was her son.

When Kim Jigyu cursed at him, Danwoo pretended not to hear him. When he insulted him, he pretended not to see him. It all piled up to the point where Danwoo broke out in a cold sweat just by looking at Kim Jigyu. Even now, his hands were shaking and he was short of breath, so he was shocked.

‘What…’

Wasn’t it too realistic to be a dream?

Danwoo stepped on Kim Jigyu, who was already unable to breathe, by placing a leg on his shoulder.

He was going to break his arm that way, so Jigyu screamed.

“Aaah! My arm! You’re breaking my arm!”

“What! What happened?!”

The noise of something boiling outside stopped, and Danwoo’s aunt asked.

Danwoo answered in a normal tone.

“Jigyu fell.”

“Oh goodness! You have to be careful.”

He could hear the sound of her preparing breakfast again. As soon as Danwoo was caught, he shoved his socks into Jigyu’s mouth to keep him quiet.

And he thought.

A young and stupid Kim Jigyu.

His aunt’s house.

The Hunter Qualification Exam.

Kim Jigyu, who barged in on the morning of the exam…

Lee Danwoo had already been through this before. A phenomenon in which something felt like it had happened before was called déjà vu, but this wasn’t…

It really just happened once.

Danwoo didn’t have great talent as a hunter. Rather, he was very far behind, and the only reason why he was able to clear <The Last Dungeon> was because he had a knack for thinking.

“When is your physical exam?”

“Mhh!”

Kim Jigyu made a choking noise. Danwoo didn’t care about it and asked again.

“Did you take the practical exam?”

“Mmm!”

He shook his head.

“It would be difficult if you broke your arm now. There’s no way you suddenly went crazy and can’t grasp the concept of what that means.”

Kim Jigyu’s eyes grew wide with fear.

Do you want me to hit you?”

“Mm!”

“Will you behave?”

“Mhm!”

Kim Jigyu nodded his head.

“Let’s take care of ourselves. You should treat your cousin well.”

Danwoo let Kim Jigyu go. He kindly removed the sock, and the wad of stinky cloth came out, moistened with saliva.

Danwoo grimaced, and Kim Jigyu stood up next to him. He wasn’t the kind of person who could understand what others were saying.

“Mom…!”

“Don’t call for your mom at this age.”

Thud!

Danwoo ran out of breath when he knocked the big guy down again.

Danwoo was an A-Class hunter, but he wasn’t qualified as one now. Even after being recognized as an A-Class hunter, he wasn’t talented when it came to power.

“Why do you call your mother after insulting someone else’s? It makes me sad.”

When Danwoo put his whole weight on him, Kim Jigyu couldn’t even speak. He just gasped and scratched at the floor.

Kim Jigyu wheezed, and then stuttered out some words.

“You… What are you… Who are you? Are you Lee Danwoo?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am…”

Danwoo sighed. His headache was severe. He was dizzy again because he didn’t really know where or who he was.

But if this really was his aunt’s house, there was only one thing Danwoo could do.

“I’m leaving.”

“What?”

“I’m leaving this house. Whether you use this room or not, take all of Aunt’s attention and do what you want. Whether you’ll be kind or not… If you open that door again, I’ll break your arms.”

“What…”

Danwoo kicked Jigyu, who was acting stupid, and locked the door.

The lock would be of no use, but it mattered to him. Kim Jigyu had a key to the room.

‘I did it.’

Danwoo remembered the reason why Kim Jigyu hated him.

This room was his study room.

That didn’t mean that Jigyu used to study in it, it was just that once Danwoo came in, he had lost it.

Kim Jigyu was the type of person who didn’t want to share anything of his own. His cousin who had lost his parents came in and didn’t speak for a week, so his mother took care of Danwoo.

Danwoo couldn’t remember what he was thinking at that time. He didn’t seem to even notice where he was. Ironically, it was Kim Jigyu who ended his disassociating period, including the memories from the funeral home.

– Hey! You mute bastard!

Kim Jigyu kicked Danwoo, and he came to his senses.

It didn’t mean that Danwoo was thankful to Kim Jigyu, though.

Now, he was in a similar situation.

The hands and feet that he used to hit Kim Jigyu were throbbing, so Danwoo came to his senses. A dream couldn’t be this vivid.

When he looked for his phone, he found the same model he had used a few years ago lying on the bed.

– January 7th, 20XX. 7:11 a.m..

His heart began to pound.

‘Calm down. Don’t think about anything weird. Don’t think about it, if it’s a dream, wake up quickly…’

Danwoo hit his cheek once more. This time, it was with his fist.

Even though he hit himself properly, his wrist and joints still hurt, and Danwoo realised that this poor body belonged to him.

It belonged to Lee Danwoo from the past.

A thin, pale, useless body that had hardly ever exercised was reflected in the mirror. Slightly long bangs covered his forehead and eyebrows, making him feel stuffy.

With such a stuffy and frightened expression, neither a hunter nor monster could’ve been afraid of him.

Danwoo stormed out.

“Danwoo, is that you? Danwoo! You have to eat breakfast!”

He ignored the sound of his aunt’s voice and ran until he was out of breath. And then, he saw the world with his own eyes.

The sky was blue and there were a few clouds floating about.

The collapsed buildings, the dark sky, the poisonous air that made it impossible to breathe, the cracked ground, and the monsters crawling out of it… There were no traces of <The Last Dungeon>.

As the team died, Cha Woowon had died, and he escaped <The Last Dungeon> alone…

What did Danwoo want?

He noticed an old man walking his dog with a stroller. It had cataracts in both of its eyes, and it was sitting quietly in the stroller, panting.

The peaceful sight made Danwoo dizzy.

He looked at his phone again.

– January 7th, 20XX. 7:15 a.m..

On this day, Danwoo’s morning was ruined because of Kim Jigyu and he had entered the Hunter Qualification Examination Centre without getting much sleep.

And then, he met Cha Woowon.

That was the first meeting between Lee Danwoo and Cha Woowon.

Danwoo’s heart raced.

He hadn’t met Cha Woowon yet, and Lee Danwoo hadn’t ruined anything yet…

“Is this real?”

The last notification he saw came to mind.

[You have cleared The Last Dungeon.]

[Choose a reward.]

.

.

.

[The reward has been received.]

The reward for clearing the dungeon.

There were plenty of things he regretted. And he had returned before the most regrettable thing happened.