I Regressed After Getting Tired of Their Obsession – Chapter 7

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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“Ah, what lovely weather. Oof!”

With the shamans dead in one fell swoop, the goblins were thrown into chaos.

Lee Seong-hyun took advantage of the opening and jumped down towards us.

He acted like a tank, unfazed by the height, but he couldn’t escape the burns from the explosion; his skin was red and blistered in several places.

“Oh my… Seong-hyun-ah, are you alright? Your skin…”

“It’s slowly healing. By the way, how’s your mana? Can you two hold out?”

“I’m good!”

“What about you?”

“About 10%.”

“Plenty.”

Plenty? What was he talking about?

There were still about sixty goblins left.

He’d taken care of the shamans, which was a huge help, but I didn’t think Lee Seong-hyun joining us would make that much of a difference.

“I’ll toss them over, you two just finish them off. Okay?”

“Uh… Okay.”

Choi Ah-hyun seemed to have no idea what he was talking about, and I didn’t like being given orders out of the blue.

But whether I followed his orders or not, we were all going to die anyway.

So I decided to just go along with it.

And soon, both of us understood what Lee Seong-hyun meant.

“These guys are pretty strong.”

He walked into the wave of monsters with a calm expression.

Even as swords grazed his body, he nonchalantly tossed goblins into the air, sending them flying towards Choi Ah-hyun and me.

All we had to do was finish them off.

Lee Seong-hyun set the table, and we just had to pick up our spoons.

‘What is this…?’

I’d never seen this kind of tanking style before.

No, could you even call this tanking?

Evasion tank.

That’s what it was.

He pushed his body to the limit, narrowly protecting his vital points. Whether he was being cut by swords or pierced by poisoned needles, he just silently did his job.

Of course, his aggro wasn’t perfect.

“Oh my god!”

Occasionally, a goblin would slip past his aggro and try to attack Choi Ah-hyun.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

And then a dead goblin would come flying, knocking the attacker away. And it always happened right as I was about to launch a meteor.

‘Coincidence… Right?’

It didn’t make sense that he was following my thoughts, my flow.

But it happened again, and again.

Sometimes, Lee Seong-hyun would cover for me when I missed an attack, and other times he’d kill the goblin I was aiming for before I could.

‘No way…’

But the more we fought, the more certain I became.

‘He’s on my level… Or even higher.’

I’d given up.

I’d convinced myself that the only person who could understand me was my father.

That he would understand this frustrating feeling of no one recognizing my abilities.

I’d endured, telling myself I’d share this frustration with him once I reached S-rank, his level.

But every time I brought it up, he’d just brush it off with, “Someone who understands you will appear someday.”

I thought it was just an excuse. That he was just worried about me still clinging to him even as an adult.

But…

“Why you…?”

The man who’d nearly shredded me with his killing intent on the first day.

You, the one I never wanted to get close to, even after we’d cleared up the misunderstanding…

‘Why are you the one who understands me…?!’

Lee Seong-hyun crushed the last goblin’s neck under his foot and approached me with a relieved smile.

“I’m not dead weight, am I?”

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The tense wait for the results.

I stood before Han Yuri, who looked deep in thought, waiting for her verdict. Honestly, I was certain she’d acknowledge us.

I mean, surely she wouldn’t just ditch us after we’d busted our asses. But…

“Don’t get cocky just because you managed to do something anyone could do. Anyone else would have finished this hunt and left already.”

She threw a cold dagger with her words.

Fuck. Another failure?

I was grinding my teeth internally when she averted her gaze and mumbled,

“But… well, I guess you’re… usable… as pack mules…”

“Huh? Yuri, so you’re going to work with us now?!”

“We’ll see. It’s not definite yet… Kyaa!”

“Thank you! I’ll work really hard!”

“It’s hot! Get off!”

Choi Ah-hyun hugged Han Yuri tightly. Looking at them, it seemed like things had worked out somehow.

It had taken a while, so we probably wouldn’t get the Academy-exclusive skill… but I could use Han Yuri to reap plenty of rewards in the future.

As I was trying to console myself, a message appeared.

“…!”

An unexpected gift.

I couldn’t have been happier to receive the reward I’d half-given up on.

“Holy shit…”

“Wow. Increased special reward drop rate *and* a skill proficiency buff…”

Han Yuri was speechless at the insane reward, and Choi Ah-hyun reread the message repeatedly, as if to confirm it was real.

I walked over to them.

“Our hard work paid off.”

“Lee Seong-hyun. Did you know about this?”

“No way. If I’d known, I would have left you behind.”

“…”

Normally, she would have retorted with something like “Asshole,” but she was silent.

‘What’s this?’

Her expression seemed strangely displeased, and I wondered if I’d done something wrong.

“Anyway, we got this thanks to Seong-hyun suggesting we come early, right? Shouldn’t we treat him to a meal?”

“There’s no need for that.”

“Come on, we can’t just keep receiving. Don’t be silly. We’re treating you to a big breakfast today, right, Yuri?”

“Yeah. The thought of you getting all puffed up about this every day is disgusting. Let’s just grease your palms and be done with it.”

“Okay! Let’s go!”

I thought we’d smoothly wrap things up with a celebratory breakfast…

‘Fuck. I shouldn’t have come.’

“Seong-hyun-ah. The meat’s cooked. Eat up.”

“…”

Lee Seol was grilling meat for me, right beside me.

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Here’s what happened.

Right after we cleared the assignment, Team 1 also emerged. As we were chatting, the topic of a celebratory meal came up.

My suggestion that we postpone it, considering our torn clothes and injuries, was overruled by Lee Seol, who’d brought spare clothes and potions.

And so, the six of us ended up at a barbecue restaurant for an impromptu breakfast.

Lee Seol was on my left, Choi Ah-hyun on my right.

And Han Yuri?

‘Poor bastard.’

She was next to Kim Ji-hoon.

She was radiating an icy aura, clearly annoyed about something.

Thanks to her, Kim Ji-hoon didn’t even know if he was eating or not.

“Alright! Let’s raise a toast to Teams 1 and 2 for clearing the first assignment!”

“Cheers!”

*Clink!*

The soju glasses clinked, and the conversation resumed.

I tried to turn towards Choi Ah-hyun to avoid talking to Lee Seol, but I was too late.

Lee Seol placed a piece of meat on my plate and asked,

“How was it fighting with Yuri for the first time? Was it manageable?”

“Yeah, it was alright. I think we worked well together. Don’t you think so?”

I directed the question to Han Yuri, who replied with a condescending look.

“Don’t flatter yourself. You have no idea how much effort I put in to accommodate you.”

“We finished it successfully, though. Isn’t that what matters?”

“Whatever.”

She turned her head away, refusing to engage further.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Yuri fight with anyone else since high school… Your styles must be compatible, Seong-hyun.”

“I guess so. I’m not sure.”

When I trailed off, Lee Seol teased me saying, “Aren’t you being too modest?”

The conversation then shifted to post-battle analysis and other topics.

We’d agreed to keep the Academy-exclusive skill a secret, so we avoided that subject.

As the atmosphere grew more relaxed, a few people started getting drunk.

Choi Ah-hyun, in particular, was getting quite rowdy.

“Lee Seong-hyun! Just because you can hold your liquor doesn’t make you special! Does it?!”

“Are you drunk?”

“Am I? I’m not drunk! I’m perfectly fine!”

“You’re drunk.”

She slumped against my shoulder, still clutching her soju bottle.

Anyone could see she was completely wasted.

I started to get up, wanting to “check” something.

“I’m going to the restroom.”

“Okay, go ahead~ Relieve yourself and then let’s have another drinking contest!”

“Sure, sure.”

As soon as I was out of sight, Choi Ah-hyun sat up and held out her soju bottle again.

She was relentless.

Pretending to head to the restroom, I stopped at the door.

I hadn’t had a chance to check properly before, but now was the time.

‘I should have accumulated enough pain points from getting beaten up by the goblins.’

The price of getting the shit kicked out of me. This should be enough.

‘Equivalent Exchange.’

I envisioned the skill I wanted. A skill to check the germination status of the Witches’ seeds.

In the previous timeline, all three Witches’ seeds had not only germinated but had fully bloomed.

If Lee Seol had regressed, her seed would undoubtedly have germinated.

After a tense moment, a message appeared.

As expected. This was within my predictions.

‘This is fucked up.’

The original overpowered skill, which told you the seed’s status, as well as the Witch’s physical and mental condition, was now reduced to simply detecting whether a seed had germinated or not.

And with a six-month cooldown, to boot.

Well, I didn’t get this skill until four years later, so the nerf made sense.

I sighed and activated the skill. A strange scent, mingled with the smell of barbecue, tickled my nose.

I closed my eyes to focus.

A scent that was neither good nor bad. But one thing was certain: it wasn’t of this world.

And I knew for sure.

‘The seed…’

…had germinated.

The seed that should have germinated years from now, due to my actions, had already germinated?

Which meant…

“Seong-hyun-ah?”

“…!”

Lost in thought, I hadn’t noticed her approach. I quickly opened my eyes.

“What are you doing?”

Lee Seol was looking up at me with an innocent smile.

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