Five Time Regressor Walks the King’s Path - Chapter 29
Chapter 29
“Was the half-Phantom I’d only heard about through rumors actually Mr. Ha Chun-Sung? I didn’t know you were still here. I thought you would’ve gone far ahead.”
“There was a situation. More than that…”
I gave Bambi a look when I noticed his outfit.
“Are you a student too?”
“No, I’m an instructor.”
“What? Instructor?”
“It just happened.”
I whispered to Bambi who lightly laughed.
“Shouldn’t you go to the Preeminent Fury as well?”
“I became an instructor to gather information in my own way. Currently, the location of the Preeminent Fury isn’t easy to find, since only the superiors know.”
It’d be best for me to also keep quiet for a while.
As someone who was designated a dangerous person due to the half-finished Phantom Ending, the method to obtain information on the Preeminent Fury was to remain calm.
“Chun-Sung, is he an acquaintance?”
“You could say that.”
When I answered Sung-Ah’s question, Bambi gave a light bow.
To me, the act looked somewhat cute, but he showed the utmost courtesy to Sung-Ah.
“I didn’t know that the lady of the Baek-Ho family was an acquaintance of Ha Chun-Sung. I apologize for the late greeting. I’m Bambi Staylor, a C-class Phantom Hunter.”
Unlike me, who was an F-class, Bambi had already reached C-class, which meant he already had quite the results.
Since he was also an instructor, the amount of information he’d obtained must be overwhelming.
‘Should I roll with him?”
The thought occurred to me, but I dismissed it.
After bumping into Sword Queen recently, I didn’t want to cooperate with others.
“No need to be so polite. I’m just here to accompany Chun-Sung!”
Sung-Ah responded by waving her hands in dismissal to Bambi’s greeting before forcibly pulling my arm.
As I was forced to follow her to my seat, at that moment, I noticed a familiar figure giving me a strange look.
“You’re so easygoing.”
“…Sword Queen, you came up as well?”
There sat Sword Queen in a black uniform.
“I followed after you as soon as you went up. I’d heard about a half-Phantom appearing, but didn’t expect it was you. You seem to be quite loved by the Constellations.”
“We’ll have to see whether this is love or poison. Because of this arm, my movement is restricted.”
“You have what other regressors don’t, so you have to bear at least that much.”
I didn’t deny it.
Still, thanks to my circumstances, while others raised their rank as a Phantom Hunter to obtain more information, I easily encountered important people such as Sung-Ah and Lee-Han.
“Well, let me start the lecture.”
Then, Grand Wizard began his lecture.
“A Phantom refers to the deified beings or animals. They are all the gods from old stories, myths, and legends.”
After listening to Grand Wizard’s entire class with my arms crossed, I rubbed my chin.
The Constellation wouldn’t have made the Floor so sloppily, just needing to hunt a Degenerate God to clear it.
There had to be a reason for the Constellation’s thoughts, but there was nothing I could think of at the moment.
Sung-Ah caught my eye as I was thinking.
I’m sure what Lee Ju-Hee said was…
“Sung-Ah, I heard from Lee Ju-Hee that the Baek-Ho family is looking for a successor.”
“Are you interested?”
The words had barely left my mouth before Sung-Ah, sitting next to me, quickly reacted.
When I saw Sung-Ah with her eyes shining, I answered with my head tilted.
“You could say that.”
“I told you a few times before to come to my house. I want to introduce you to my dad.”
“Is that…”
“That’s right. I think you, Chun-Sung, could replace me as the family’s successor.”
I clicked my tongue at Sung-Ah’s words.
Was it something that could’ve been done earlier?
“You don’t seem to care about hunting Phantoms.”
“Yeah. My dad’s been a Phantom Hunter for too long. I saw that and thought that I didn’t want to do the same thing. Though my father believes I’d be able to block the Preeminent Fury.”
I replied to Sung-Ah, whose smile was a bit bitter.
“Yes, take me to your house. I need to see your dad.”
By rising to a high position, it’s possible to find out the location of the Preeminent Fury.
Sung-Ah loudly cheered at my answer.
It was as if I’d already replaced her as the Baek-Ho family’s successor.
Perhaps because of how easily I obtained information, Sword Queen was next to me, looking at me with an absurd expression.
When I gave her a glance that said ‘What are you looking at?’ she smoothed her hair and sighed.
“In many ways, you solve everything so easily.”
“I’m moving smartly.”
“Isn’t it just luck?”
Ha ha, funny. Luck is also a skill.
After class, I left the classroom with Sung-Ah while Sword Queen followed after me. Behind, Grand Wizard also secretly followed.
“Why are you following me?”
“I want to go to the Baek-Ho family, so please take me with you.”
I frowned when Sword Queen naturally approached me, trying to stick to me.
“Don’t you have any pride? I thought you guys collected information.”
“I threw any pride away with the first regression. Plus, the more information, the better, right? So let’s help each other out. Yay, Mr. Ha Chun-Sung, the world’s strongest.”
“…If you’re going to do it, then do it right.”
As I looked at Sword Queen, thinking she was a woman terrible at flattery, another person appeared at my side.
“I’m also begging you.”
Grand Wizard seemed like he was set on sticking to me so I looked back at Sung-Ah.
“Never let either of them into your house.”
“Wow, you’re being mean.”
“Mr. Ha Chun-Sung, you’re too mean.”
Like I would just give them the information.
I snorted at the disappointed expressions of Sword Queen and Grand Wizard.
“If you want it, you should also make connections.”
“That’s too much.”
“Can’t you hear my booing?”
“Are you children?”
As the two turned around while expressing their disappointment, Sung-Ah smiled broadly, watching as she stood next to me.
“You all seem to be very good friends.”
“If it looks like that, there must be something wrong with your eyes.”
We exited the building, and once outside Sung-Ah picked up one of the bundles of bone keys she had. Soon, she’d opened a door in the air with a snap, and at that moment, I saw a room before me.
Sung-Ah took off her shoes and went inside a girl’s room. An oriental-style Baek-Ho painting* stood out, and she gestured for me to follow her.
*PR/N: A painting of a white tiger, for anyone curious.
Mimicking her, I took off my boots and entered, sensing the distinctive scent of a girl’s room. It seemed like this was Sung-Ah’s room.
“Let’s go out to the hallway. I want to show my father there’s someone stronger than me.”
Since it was part of the exchange, I nodded as she opened the door.
Then, the same masked people from last time appeared in front of her.
They showed great courtesy to Sung-Ah as well as me, who was currently Sung-Ah’s guest.
“Let’s go.”
As Sung-Ah moved about with familiarity, I followed her.
The fairly long corridor with a view of the yard continued on, and Sung-Ah stood tall in front of a room, knocking twice on the door.
When she opened the door a woman was sitting inside, slowly tilting her teacup.
“Oh, it’s Ha Chun-Sung. You’ve finally come this far.”
Dark scarlet eyeliner, a build smaller than others, and sleeves long enough to cover the fingertips.
It was Apsara.
She smiled and welcomed me while Sung-Ah came in and looked back at Apsara.
“Is Chun-Sung someone you know?”
“You could say that.”
I didn’t know that she’d already come this far, so I looked at Apsara with an expression of approval.
Was it because she was Emperor’s bodyguard in the past?
I walked in and plopped down in front of Apsara.
She smiled and I laughed. It was a war of nerves.
“First, I’ll inform my dad.”
Waving at Sung-Ah who left to inform her father, I stared at Apsara.
She was tilting her teacup with a relaxed expression, and slowly wiped the tea from her lips with thin fingers.
“For someone who ignored us, your climbing speed is quite slow. I thought you’d have already left this Floor.”
“Oh, my. I thought the same thing. I never thought that you, the master of information warfare, would still be here.”
We smiled at each other again.
“Look at the state you’re in. Those horns look ridiculous.”
“It’s better than someone who’s been a teenager their whole life.”
A crack appeared in Aspara’s smile for a moment.
Since she entered Crown Road at the age of fifteen, she reverted from twenty years old every time she regressed.
Therefore, her appearance and real age were a mismatch, and it was a complex for her. I touched that landmine.
“I met Sword Queen, but what about Magician and Lord?”
“They’re taking charge of their own work. Though, there’s no reason for me to tell you.”
“Must’ve been culled. That’s why I decided not to form a group, since we’d only hold each other back.”
“…Ha Chun-Sung, I won’t stay silent if you curse my comrades again.”
Rustle.
In Apsara’s hands was a book.
Holding a book that could be a thousand pages long, Aspara was staring at me as I smiled sadly.
Her poker face, which didn’t collapse even when I touched her complex, changed when it concerned her comrades.
“I like to fight, so don’t regret it.”
The moment I went to pick up the Heavenly Star Sword, Sung-Ah opened the door and entered.
“He said yes, so let’s go. Oh, and he said for the guest to come too.”
Despite the atmosphere that seemed like a fight would start at any moment, Sung-Ah was easygoing and gestured for us to follow.
In response to her, Apsara collected her book and I followed suit with my sword.
For now, it was a brief cease-fire.
“Follow me. We need to move.”
Sung-Ah said so as she began to guide us.
After walking through the corridor, we entered a new building in the yard and passed through several doors before reaching the basement.
An old man sat on the other side of the glass in a white room, looking at us with eyes that were barely opened.
He sat in a lotus position while circulating his mana, and a faint energy flowed from him. I noticed he was sick and dying.
“I’m happy that I’ve been able to meet a lot of people recently.”
Low-pitched words.
As soon as he uttered them, he coughed violently and wiped his mouth.
Dressed in white robes, he smiled faintly.
“Nice to meet you, young Phantom Hunters. My name is Ho Baek-San, and I’m the head of the Baek-Ho family.”
When I heard the name Ho Baek-San, I remembered what Lee Ju-Hee had told me.
This old man was the strongest Phantom Hunter.
Then, perhaps because she felt the energy of the strong emanating from the old man, Apsara immediately set an example.
“I greet the greatest Phantom Hunter. My name is Jin Hong-Sang, an A-class Phantom Hunter.”
A-class.
She shot up to that point in such a short period of time.
She smiled triumphantly as I looked at her strangely.
