Not A Regressor-Chapter 309: Faded Promise (1)

Three days had passed since that chaotic day.

Kwon Oh-Jin’s group finally made it out of the Sky Mountains and reached a long canyon that led toward the Dragonian Kingdom.

“Finally!” Song Ha-Eun threw both arms up in joy upon seeing the dreadful fog finally disappear.

Even though Behemoth had died, the fog blanketing the Sky Mountains hadn’t disappeared right away. It had taken them a while to find their way.

“Now we just follow this path straight ahead, Mr. Oh-Jin?”

“Yup, according to the map.” Kwon Oh-Jin nodded as he recalled the map drawn by Leoru.

“By the way...” Song Ha-Eun trailed off as she scratched her head. “Has Vega been holed up in the Sanctum ever since?”

Kwon Oh-Jin cleared his throat and avoided her gaze. “Uh... yeah.”

Ever since that day, Vega hadn’t shown herself and remained hidden in the Sanctum.

“Well, I can’t blame her after what happened,” Isabella said.

It made sense. Her preferences had been exposed in front of the group in vivid detail. Even someone like Vega wouldn’t be able to endure that.

“Let’s just not call her out unless it’s really necessary,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“Alright,” Isabella replied.

In any case, their top priority now was checking the status of the Dragonian Kingdom. They didn’t urgently need Vega’s help.

“By the way, Mr. Oh-Jin...” Isabella clung to his arm with a sweet smile. She pressed herself tightly against him and whispered seductively in his ear, “Would you give my butt a few good spanks too?”

“I told you. I’m not into that.”

Vega had nearly dragged him into a new world, but Kwon Oh-Jin didn’t fundamentally enjoy spanking people for fun.

Still smiling playfully, Isabella pressed herself even closer. “Hehe, is that so? Are you sure?”

No wonder Vega locked herself away in the Sanctum.

Kwon Oh-Jin sighed and continued down the canyon.

Riarc had also locked himself up in the Sanctum, saying he needed to beg for Vega’s forgiveness.

So, Kwon Oh-Jin took the lead.

Stigma of Canes Venatici.

Sharpening his senses, he climbed onto Boppy’s back.

“Grrrr!”

“Let’s take it slow.”

Boppy nodded and began walking.

They moved cautiously and kept watch at a decent pace after exiting the Sky Mountains.

After several hours of uninterrupted travel, Song Ha-Eun giggled and tightened her grip around Kwon Oh-Jin’s waist.

“Man, I finally feel like I can breathe without all the fog and demonic beasts.”

Though she had been on edge at first and constantly scanning their surroundings, the complete lack of any movements had eased her nerves.

“Should we camp here for the night?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.

The sun was beginning to set, and they had found a suitable stream nearby to wash in. They needed to reach the Dragonian Kingdom as soon as possible, but pushing forward without rest wasn’t an option.

“Okay! Let’s pitch the tents first!” Song Ha-Eun said.

Dismounting from Boppy, the group cleared a space and set up camp as usual.

“I’m gonna go take a smoke break!” Song Ha-Eun waved and dashed off after the tents went up.

While she stepped away for a smoke, Isabella approached Kwon Oh-Jin and asked, “How much farther do you think we have to go?”

“Hmm. It didn’t look that far on the map.”

However, they could only see a massive canyon around them that reminded Kwon Oh-Jin of the Grand Canyon. No artificial structures worthy of being called a kingdom could be seen anywhere.

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to keep looking,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

They had a bit more time to spare now after crossing the Sky Mountains.

“Alright. I’ll start prepping dinner then. Can you go grab unnie for me?”

“Sure.” Kwon Oh-Jin nodded and went off to find Song Ha-Eun.

After activating the Stigma of Canes Venatici and following the scent of tobacco, he spotted her smoking in the distance.

“You came all the way out here just to smoke?”

“Eek.” Song Ha-Eun quickly stubbed out her half-smoked cigarette as he approached.

“What a waste. Why stop halfway?” he asked.

“Well, um...” She trailed off and averted her gaze awkwardly. “I heard guys don’t really like girls who smoke.”

Where did she even hear such a weird rumor?

“You know there’s no point hiding it now, right? We’ve been together for years.”

“Still... it just feels different when you actually see me doing it.” She scratched her head, looking embarrassed.

So, that’s why she always goes off somewhere far whenever she smokes these days.

“I like it though,” he said.

“Huh? R-Really?”

Something about it seemed kind of sexy.

With her tall, model-like figure and fierce eyes, Song Ha-Eun gave off a gangster vibe that oddly suited her when she was smoking.

“But I don’t like the smell of tobacco.”

“Ugh.” Song Ha-Eun was about to take out another cigarette from the pack with a big smile, but her hand froze in mid-motion.

She lightly sighed and put the cigarette back.

“Oh-Jin, come sit here for a bit.” Song Ha-Eun patted the spot beside her.

“I came to get you for dinner.”

“Bella only just started prepping, right? We’ve got like ten minutes.”

“True.” He nodded and sat down next to her.

Then, quick as a cat, Song Ha-Eun lay her head down on his thigh.

Night had fallen, and the sky above sparkled with beautiful stars.

“Oh-Jin.”

“Yeah?”

“Vega most likely has feelings for you, right?”

“That’s...” His face stiffened.

Kwon Oh-Jin wasn’t some clueless protagonist from a rom-com. He had known for a while that Vega had feelings for him.

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t?”

“Even if she does, it’s probably more like maternal affection.”

“Maternal, huh...”

Even Song Ha-Eun knew that didn’t make much sense.

“Fine, let’s go with that for now.”

It’s not like she wasn’t possessive herself. She had only just accepted Isabella, so she couldn’t tell him to take Vega in too.

I feel bad for Vega, but...

For just a little longer, she wanted to savor their time together and make more memories with just the two of them.

“Lying here like this really brings back memories,” she said.

“Memories?”

“Remember when we used to sneak up to the orphanage rooftop to get away from the director?”

“Oh, yeah. I remember.”

They would hide up there any time they pulled a prank or tricked the bald director.

Song Ha-Eun giggled and began bringing up old memories only the two of them shared.

“Remember when the director made fun of your name and you got so mad that you threw a rag in his face?”

“Of course, I remember.”

“Man! His face at the time was freaking hilarious!”

Back then, Kwon Oh-Jin had a serious trauma regarding his name. Any time someone mocked it, he would explode in anger.

Looking back now, he wondered why he reacted so strongly to something as simple as a name. At the time, being abandoned by his parents and left only with a name that meant filthy dust felt like the deepest kind of despair.

“Now that I think about it, you started purposely mispronouncing my name back then,” he said.

Looking back, it had been a subtle but incredibly thoughtful gesture from a kid. The slight slur in pronunciation made a world of difference to someone deeply hurt by their name.

“What do you think? Pretty sharp of me, right?” Song Ha-Eun asked.

“But honestly, you don’t have to call me that anymore.”

“I’m used to it. It’s more comfortable this way.”

As always, she smiled as she affectionately slurred his name. She was the only person who called him that way. Others never understood why she called him like that. It felt like a special nickname only the two of them shared.

“Speaking of which, I always thought your name had such a nice meaning,” he said.

“Heaven's blessing?”

“Yeah.”

Compared to his own name, which meant filthy dust, hers was so beautiful.

“You even once said that you wanted to be like your name, to shine down on me with the blessing of heaven—”

“Hey! Stop! Aaaaaaah!” Song Ha-Eun screamed and squirmed, overwhelmed by her cringy past self. “How the hell did I say something like that with a straight face?!”

“You were still a kid, after all.”

They had placed too much useless significance on their names in their youth.

“God, I’m so embarrassed just thinking about it now.”

“Why? You don’t want to be my heaven’s blessing anymore?”

“I said stop it!”

“Well, hey, it’s still way better than filthy dust. Don’t you think?”

They didn’t even need to think about who had the better name.

“Too bad my bastard parents who gave me that name threw away their heaven’s blessing.” Song Ha-Eun bitterly smiled and gently raised her hand to caress Kwon Oh-Jin’s cheek. “But thinking back now, I’m glad.”

“Glad about what?”

“If those bastards hadn’t thrown away their heaven’s blessing, I would’ve never met you.”

Had he really become someone so precious to her that being abandoned by her parents was a good thing? A wave of indescribable emotions washed over him, followed by a crushing weight of guilt pressing on his shoulders. Did he really deserve to hear something like that from her?

“You’re overthinking again, aren’t you?” Song Ha-Eun tugged on his cheek and stretched it out. “Come on, let’s go eat now!”

She quickly sat up from resting her head on his thigh. Grabbing his arm, she flashed a bright smile and pulled him to his feet.

Maybe it was because of the old memories they had just shared. For a brief moment, her bright smile overlapped with the face of the little girl from his childhood.

Of course, even if it did overlap, he couldn’t exactly recall what she looked like as a kid since those memories had long since vanished into the Black Heaven’s clouds.

“Huh? What’s with the sad face all of a sudden?” Song Ha-Eun worriedly asked.

“It’s nothing.”

She didn’t know that he had forgotten how she looked as a kid.

Kwon Oh-Jin quietly buried that torn-out page from his mental photo album deep in his heart and turned away.

“Let’s go eat,” he said.

“Wait.” Song Ha-Eun gently tugged his arm.

He curiously cocked his head, only for her to tiptoe and press her lips against his. The light kiss felt like a bird pecking at its food.

“Feeling a little better now that I gave you a kiss?” She mischievously smiled and playfully patted him on the butt a few times.

“Ha...”

Just seeing her playful smile made that heavy, suffocating weight disappear as if it had never been there.

I really am simple.

Kwon Oh-Jin started walking again with much lighter steps.

After dinner and his usual training routine, a tired Kwon Oh-Jin crawled into his sleeping bag and called it a day.

Heaven’s blessing, huh.

He thought Song Ha-Eun’s name perfectly suited her as he closed his eyes.