Not A Regressor-Chapter 277: Dogs And Wolves (2)

Baek Mu-Kang looked around with wide, sparkling eyes. “This many, guests, first time.”

The group froze in place, speechless by how drastically different he was from what they expected.

Baek Mu-Kang of Megrez was a Seven Stars and the highest-ranked among Deneb’s twelve apostles, but who would have guessed he would be a senile old man?

After a brief hesitation, Kwon Oh-Jin smiled warmly and shook Baek Mu-Kang’s booger-smeared hand as if it were nothing. “It's a pleasure to meet you, elder. My name is Oh-Jin.”

Baek Mu-Kang giggled and smiled with childlike innocence. “Hehehe. Call me Mu-Kkang.”

“Mu-Kkang...?”

“Yup. That’s, me real name. Deneb give me the name Baek Mu-Gang.”

So, Deneb had given him the name Baek Mu-Kang. Perhaps Deneb had decided on a more dignified name to replace the rustic-sounding Mu-Kkang. It was a very Deneb thing to do since he always felt conscious of how others viewed him.

Then, maybe the reason Deneb rarely talked about Megrez is...

Was it because he felt too embarrassed to openly introduce Megrez as his highest-ranking apostle?

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Megrez asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Seeing Baek Mu-Kang’s wrinkled face light up with a childlike smile, Kwon Oh-Jin could somewhat understand Deneb’s feelings.

“By the way, are you sure it’s okay to tell me your real name?” Kwon Oh-Ji asked. “This is our first time seeing each other, after all.”

“Hmm? Ah! R-Right! Deneb told me not to tell anyone!” Baek Mu-Kkang flailed, breaking into a nervous sweat.

“I promise I won’t tell anyone your real name, elder,” Kwon Oh-Jin gently said as if calming a crying child.

Baek Mu-Kang’s eyes welled up as if he felt touched. “T-Thank you. Oh-Jin, good person.”

How long had it been since someone called him a good person? Kwon Oh-Jin stared at Baek Mu-Kang with a complicated expression.

“Oh-Jin... are we sure this is okay?” Song Ha-Eun carefully whispered into his ear.

Kwon Oh-Jin slightly shook his head that he had no idea. No one had expected Baek Mu-Kang to be like this.

Can we even get any real information out of him?

Still, after coming all this way, they couldn’t just go back empty-handed.

“Would it be alright if I asked you a few questions about the Demonic District?”

“Sure! Oh-Jin nice, so I’ll tell you.” Baek Mu-Kang turned around and walked into the little cabin.

The group exchanged glances and waited for an invitation. When Baek Mu-Kang said, “Come in,” they followed him inside.

The interior of the cabin looked cleaner than from the outside. It wasn’t exactly well organized, but just looked more like the place hadn’t been used much at all.

“I’ll get. Something to drink.”

After they sat and waited for a moment, Baek Mu-Kang returned with steaming Pu’er tea.

“My wife used to love this tea.” Baek Mu-Kang smiled faintly as he set the cups down.

Kwon Oh-Jin bowed slightly and accepted the tea. A sip filled his nose with a deep, earthy fragrance.

As he set the teacup down, Kwon Oh-Jin asked, “Have you been living here for a long time, elder?”

“Hmm... four years? Five? Sorry. I don’t remember very well.”

“Is there a reason you chose to live in the Demonic District?”

“I came looking. Treasure.”

He had cut off all outside contact and lived here alone for treasure?

“What kind of treasure?”

“Hm? Treasure is treasure.” Baek Mu-Kang looked at him with big, round eyes as if surprised he even had to ask.

Kwon Oh-Jin gave up on that line of questioning and changed topics. “Elder, do you know about the Demonic District Kings?”

“Yup, I know.”

“How many of these demonic beast kings are there within the Demonic District right now?”

“Those guys aren’t demonic beasts. Demonic beasts are the guys in the forest.” He pointed toward the forest that Kwon Oh-Jin’s group had just spent a week crossing. “Here, and Earth. It’s the same.”

He echoed something that Allen once said.

“There are beastkin, dragonkin, and demonkin living here. Each group has one king.”

“Then, there are three kingdoms?”

Baek Mu-Kang took a sip of his tea and shook his head. “Hmm... not quite. There are three kingdoms, sure... but actually, they’re all under the demonkin.”

“What do you mean?”

“There aren’t many demonkins. But they’re strong. They carry the blood of the Heavenly Demon.”

Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes narrowed at the mention of the Heavenly Demon.

“Then, even though there are three kingdoms, you’re saying they’re all controlled by the demonkin?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t like that in the past. But there was a big war over a hundred years ago.”

Crack!

Just then, a noise suddenly rang out, and the cabin floor broke apart. Everyone turned toward the sound.

“Ah... S-Sorry. I stepped wrong.” Riarc looked away awkwardly.

It was hard to believe it was just a misstep since he had utterly smashed the sturdy wooden floor.

Baek Mu-Kang shook his head as if it weren’t a big deal. “It’s fine. I don’t use this house much anyway.”

“No, still, it was our fault. We’ll fix it before we leave,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“Hehe. You’re kind, Oh-Jin. Just like I thought.”

“Then, to continue the questions, would the closest kingdom from here be the Khan Kingdom?”

“Yeah. It’s the land of the beastkin.”

It was just as Riarc had told them.

“I want to approach the king of that place.”

“There’s no king there.”

“Excuse me?”

Didn’t he just say each kingdom had a king?

Kwon Oh-Jin furrowed his brow and looked at Baek Mu-Kang, wondering if the elder was starting to show signs of dementia.

“Instead, there’s a king’s proxy. A wolf from the Black Mane Tribe named Horus.”

“A proxy? Then, the king is...?”

“The king of the beastkin must inherit the name Khan,” Baek Mu-Kang explained with a naive smile like a child retelling a fairytale. “The previous Khan went missing in the war, and no one has inherited the name since. The throne is currently vacant.”

Kwon Oh-Jin frowned and rubbed his forehead.

“But the throne has been empty for so long that everyone just calls Horus the king now.”

“Is that so?”

Then, it didn’t matter much. Whether it was a king or a proxy, what mattered was that he found a connection to the Heavenly Demon.

“Is there a way to approach this beastkin named Horus?”

Baek Mu-Kang shook his head from side to side. “I have no idea.”

Kwon Oh-Jin hummed in thought and pressed his fingers against his forehead. At this point, they could only sneak into the kingdom and figure it out themselves.

This won’t be easy.

He could hide his presence using the Black Curtain, but Song Ha-Eun and Isabella wouldn’t be able to conceal themselves as easily.

“You just need ears and a tail,” Baek Mu-Kang said.

“Pardon?”

Baek Mu-Kang tapped the side of his head and his lower back.

Kwon Oh-Jin looked at him in surprise. “That’s all you need?”

“Yup. Beastkins have barely ever seen humans. So they don’t really know.”

That made sense. Very few Awakeners settled in the Demonic District, so it wasn’t surprising the beastkins didn’t know much about humans.

“So, fake ears and a tail are all we need?” Isabella, who had been quietly listening, asked.

“Yup. I’ve got a few. Wanna borrow?”

“Oh, yes. Could you show us?”

“Wait.” Baek Mu-Hang stood up and waddled over to a cabinet in his usual ridiculous gait.

After rummaging through some things, he came back with arms full of fake ears and tails. They looked like furry cosplay props.

“You have quite the variety,” Isabella said.

“There are lots of different beastkins.”

Isabella curiously examined the fake ears and tails. She picked up a pair of droopy brown ears that looked like a puppy’s and wore them on her head.

“How do I look, Mr. Oh-Jin? Does it suit me?” She turned to Kwon Oh-Jin with a smile.

Kwon Oh-Jin usually had no interest in this kind of thing, but seeing Isabella with puppy ears made him slightly blush. “Ahem. Y-Yeah, it suits you.”

“Thank goodness.” With a seductive smile, Isabella walked up to him. She leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “Woof woof.”

What the hell?

His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped.

Isabella burst into a giggle, clearly enjoying his reaction.

Song Ha-Eun frowned and glared at them. “You two just had to start flirting in broad daylight, huh?”

“You should try them on too, unnie.”

“No thanks. I’m not into that stuff.”

“Aww, but we’ll have to wear them to enter the kingdom anyway, right? I think cat ears would really suit you.”

Isabella dug through the pile and placed a pair of black cat ears on Song Ha-Eun’s head.

“Ugh, seriously. This is embarrassing...”

Even as she said that, Song Ha-Eun glanced at Kwon Oh-Jin. Her slightly flushed cheeks looked utterly adorable.

Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled softly and turned his gaze toward the pile of fake ears. “So, we can just pick any of these to wear?”

“Black is best,” Baek Mu-Kang said.

“Black?”

“Yeah.” Baek Mu-Kang nodded. “Right now, in the Khan Kingdom, the Black Mane Tribe is the strongest.”

The Black Mane tribe, huh. Come to think of it, Riarc said he was from the Silver Mane Tribe.

Kwon Oh-Jin picked up a pair of silver ears. Just as he did, Baek Mu-Kang grabbed his hand.

With a serious expression, Baek Mu-Kang shook his head. “Not silver.”

“Is there a reason?”

“The Silver Mane Tribe is weak.”

Even among the beastkin, did fur color indicate some kind of social hierarchy? Kwon Oh-Jin turned to look at Riarc, silently staring at the silver ears.

“Let’s go with black...” Kwon Oh-Jin picked up a pair of black ears instead.

“Even with ears and a tail, be careful of your scent. Beastkin don’t really know what humans smell like, but they’ll notice if you get too close.”

“I understand.”

That part wasn’t an issue.

While it would be difficult for Isabella and Song Ha-Eun, Kwon Oh-Jin could completely erase his presence with the Black Curtain.

Still, I’ll need something to mask their scent too since we’ll be traveling together.

That could probably be handled with Riarc’s help.

Song Ha-Eun, still fiddling with the cat ears on her head, looked at Baek Mu-Kang and asked, “Wait, if just ears and a tail are enough, does that mean beastkin basically look the same as humans?”

Baek Mu-Kang nodded.

“Then...” Song Ha-Eun turned to look at Riarc.

Riarc usually maintained a wolf-like form. Even when he transformed for battle, he turned into a full-blown werewolf, something completely unlike a human.

Riarc sighed. “Beastkin usually take this form the most.”

With the chilling sound of bones cracking, Riarc began to transform into a human-like form instead of a werewolf. Soon, he had transformed into a ruggedly handsome middle-aged man with a strong jawline, bronzed skin, and well-defined muscles.

Song Ha-Eun’s eyes widened like saucers as she stared at him. “Uh...?”

Riarc, now in human form, scowled deeply. “What?”

“Uh, I think you should...” Song Ha-Eun trailed off and coughed awkwardly, turning her head away. “C-Cover yourself, man.”

Riarc quickly turned around. “Ugh! I-It’s just been a while since I turned human, so I forgot! That’s all!” he shouted in a fluster and immediately transformed back into his wolf form.

Song Ha-Eun walked up beside Kwon Oh-Jin and lightly tapped him on the thigh. With a smirk tugging at her lips, she gave him a thumbs-up. “You win.”