I Regressed After Getting Tired of Their Obsession – Chapter 13

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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“Didn’t you hear me? Open your status window.”

Status window. In the past, I would have shown it to her without a second thought.

But now, it was problematic.

Even just the name of the skill screamed suspicious.

There was no telling what would happen if Han Yuri, a Witch herself, saw a Witch-specific skill.

If it was just a seed, it might germinate into a sprout. If it had already sprouted, it might even bloom.

I forced a calm response.

“Nothing’s really changed since last time. I’ll let you know if anything interesting pops up.”

My answer seemed to displease her. Han Yuri frowned deeply.

“Why? You don’t want to show me?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that there’s no real difference from last time, so there’s no point.”

“No real difference? So there is a difference?”

Shit…

Han Yuri’s gaze sharpened.

‘I should have just gone back to my room. Why did I follow her?’

As they say, curiosity killed the cat.

Or in this case, almost killed me.

I wanted to tell her to fuck off, but then all my efforts so far would go down the drain.

‘I finally got her to listen to my commands. I can’t go back to square one now.’

I opened my status window and showed it to Han Yuri.

Han Yuri scanned the list from top to bottom. Her eyes moved down just as she was about to reach the last skill, when…

“You really don’t have anything special.”

She looked at me.

“Your Aggro went up a rank, and you only have three skills besides the Academy default ones. You weren’t lying.”

“I told you, there wasn’t much difference. Have you lived your whole life being deceived? Why don’t you trust me?”

“Because you’ve been acting suspiciously. It would have saved us all this trouble if you’d just shown me in the first place.”

“Always blaming others, I see.”

Even as I responded casually, I was analyzing the situation.

‘Could it be… she can’t see it?’

Since the skill targeted Witches, it seemed Han Yuri couldn’t see it herself.

‘Holy shit. That was close.’

I felt like I’d aged ten years in that moment. My pain points had actually gone up by 1%.

As I breathed a sigh of relief, Han Yuri said casually,

“Can I take a look again in the future?”

“…At what?”

“Your status window. We need to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses to improve our teamwork.”

“Tsk. The girl who never even mentioned the ‘T’ in team before is casually talking about teamwork.”

Since she couldn’t see the Witch-specific skill, I had nothing to hide.

“Sure, whatever.”

“No take-backs, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.”

My agreement brought a small smile to Han Yuri’s lips.

Her smile, illuminated by the moonlight, was breathtakingly beautiful.

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The day of the grade evaluation.

The participants were gathered on the training grounds, facing the podium.

Silky silver hair framing an impassive face. A stark contrast to her tall, 170 cm frame and slender, model-like figure.

First-year Class A. Irena.

The ideal type of every male student at the Academy, and our homeroom teacher.

“As you all know, this grade evaluation will be points-based.”

A blunt and business-like voice.

If Han Yuri’s tone was sharp and prickly, Irena’s was crisp and controlled.

She was the one who’d bored me to death with her long-winded explanation on my first day back to the past.

And now she was in charge of this grade evaluation.

“Hunt monsters, earn points. It’s very simple, but there are a few things to keep in mind.”

“Unlike the assignments in the Hall of Challenges, this evaluation carries the risk of death, so please be extremely careful.”

Her casual mention of death sent a chill through the air.

Perhaps sensing the shift in atmosphere, Irena cleared her throat a few times before continuing.

“Naturally, stronger monsters are worth more points. Also, one hour after the start of the evaluation, ‘Golden Goblins’ will appear. Keep that in mind.”

Golden Goblins.

That was our team’s target.

“I wish you all the best of luck.”

She tore the paper in her hand, and a white light enveloped the participants.

It felt similar to the assignment teleportation.

I closed my eyes and opened them to a landscape of lush forests and grassy plains.

“What? It’s already started?”

“Looks like it. Hey! Let’s move!”

Whether first-string or second-string, everyone seemed disoriented, this being their first grade evaluation.

But true to their Korean nature…

Everyone quickly scattered into the forest or onto the plains. Within a minute, only our team was left at the starting point.

“Uh… Seong-hyun-ah, are you sure about this?”

“Positive. Just relax and have fun. You said you wanted to see how other students fight.”

“I did say that, but… I didn’t think you meant we’d be relaxing for a whole hour.”

The grade evaluation lasted five hours. And the Golden Goblins would appear in one hour.

‘Technically, catching just one Golden Goblin guarantees first place.’

The problem was that finding a Golden Goblin was harder than getting a perfect score on the CSAT, but I knew where they’d appear.

‘This is practically a free win.’

Regression was definitely the best cheat code.

“Just do what Lee Seong-hyun says. If anything goes wrong, we can just beat him up for three days straight.”

“Hmm… Good idea!”

Choi Ah-hyun clapped her hands and nodded enthusiastically.

As expected, there was no one you could truly trust in this world.

“See you in an hour then.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah~”

The two girls, giddy with excitement, walked hand-in-hand towards the forest.

It seemed they’d decided to stick together.

“Let’s see…”

I looked up at the sky. A scoreboard, like a giant screen, displayed the rankings.

Thirty-nine monsters in less than five minutes…

That bitch was unbelievable.

Which made it all the more entertaining. I moved to a better vantage point to enjoy the show.

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Taking a break while others work.

Wasn’t that the sweetest kind of rest? I’d learned that lesson the hard way in my previous life.

I settled down in a grassy spot on a hill and watched the other students toiling away.

Among them, the most notable team was, of course, Lee Seol’s.

“Ji-hoon-ah, can you handle five more?”

“Huff! Huff! Of course I can!”

He looked ready to collapse, but he raised his shield nonetheless. Even he, in his pathetic way, wanted to appear strong in front of a girl.

Kim Ji-hoon drew the monsters’ attention with his shield, and Lee Seol froze the five wolves in an instant.

“Grrrr! Gurgle…”

An S-rank Unique Skill versus F-rank Junior Wolves. It was almost unfair.

One-second kills.

She was a walking, talking balance breaker.

But even this seemingly perfect team had its problems. A girl on Lee Seol’s team clapped for her.

“As expected of Seol~. I didn’t even get a chance to do anything.”

“S-sorry! I’m still not very good at controlling my power…”

“No, it’s okay. Our team wouldn’t even function without you, Lee Seol. Don’t worry about me.”

She tried to sound cheerful, but I could see the resentment simmering beneath the surface.

‘She’s going to snap soon.’

That team was a perfect example of why Han Yuri wanted to kick Choi Ah-hyun out.

The battle continued.

Ji-hoon would draw the monsters, and Lee Seol would instantly obliterate them.

As a result, the surrounding area was covered in snow and ice, despite it being spring.

The temperature dropped, and a cold wind blew.

This, in turn, amplified the power of Eternal Snow.

The loop of positive repetition.

“Having a broken ability is so unfair.”

“Sorry my ability is shit.”

A sharp jab from behind. I turned to see Han Yuri standing there with her face etched with annoyance.

“If you like Lee Seol so much, go join Team 1. I’ll ask her for you.”

“Really? Please do. I can’t live with this nagging demon queen anymore.”

“You little shit…!”

“Hey, hey, both of you calm down. It’s been an hour, so Seong-hyun, get up. And Yuri, don’t take it to heart. He was just joking.”

Choi Ah-hyun was working hard, as always, mediating between us. She calmed Han Yuri down before she could explode.

I brushed the grass off my clothes and stood up.

“Shall we get going?”

“Huh? Where are we going?”

“I found a spot earlier. I think it would be a good place for Han Yuri to deal some damage.”

“Hehe. Seong-hyun is such a tsundere. Always acting all grumpy, but he takes care of us.”

“I don’t want to get beaten up for three days straight. Anyway, let’s go.”

Whether it was Choi Ah-hyun’s intervention or something else, Han Yuri’s anger seemed to have subsided.

And we headed towards the plains.

Unlike the forest, the sky above the plains was wide open.

Several teams were already hunting there, leaving little room for us. We moved past the edge of the plains, heading deeper.

A thick fog began to roll in, like a barrier.

I walked towards the fog without hesitation.

Despite the unsettling atmosphere, the two girls followed without complaint.

After walking for a while…

“Huh? Is this a barrier?”

“It is.”

An invisible wall blocked our path.

Two wolf statues stood guard, flanking a crystal orb.

“This gives me a bad feeling. Don’t you think, Detective Han?”

“I do.”

They both looked at me expectantly.

“I found this while I was scouting earlier. If I were a teacher, I wouldn’t put the Golden Goblin in a normal place. So, let’s go in. We’ve got nothing to lose.”

“Alright.”

We approached the crystal orb. An inscription appeared on the ground beneath it.

In short, it was an effort meter.

It measured the effort, physical and mental pain you’d accumulated throughout your life.

If it exceeded a certain threshold, you passed.

“Can’t we just break it and go in?”

Han Yuri muttered irritably, and I quickly stopped her.

“Let’s try this first. We can think about breaking it if it doesn’t work.”

In the previous timeline, someone had tried to break the orb and ended up cracking it.

It was strange, considering even A-rank skills couldn’t scratch it.

Anyway…

‘I heard things went to hell after that.’

All the monsters in the evaluation zone went berserk, and the statues transformed into hidden bosses, attacking the students mercilessly.

It was a complete disaster.

There were several casualties, and the crystal orb gimmick was removed after that incident.

“So, who wants to go first?”

Han Yuri stepped confidently forward.

As someone who prided herself on her hard work, she had nothing to fear.

“I just put my hand on it, right?”

“Yep.”

Han Yuri touched the orb, and blue liquid filled it.

About 40%.

A wolf-shaped tattoo appeared on the back of her hand.

A mark of passage.

I nodded at Choi Ah-hyun.

“Ugh… This is nerve-wracking.”

“It’s okay. Just relax.”

“Ugh…”

Choi Ah-hyun continued to hesitate.

I took her hand and placed it on the orb.

But her hand continued to tremble uncontrollably.

“…”

“…”

Holy shit.

90%.

Both Han Yuri and I gasped.

At least double Han Yuri’s score.

Choi Ah-hyun had put in twice as much effort as Han Yuri throughout her life.

Han Yuri was so shocked that she couldn’t speak.

Just then…

-Rumble.

“What?!”

“They’re moving!”

The two wolf statues, previously motionless, bowed their heads to Choi Ah-hyun.

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