The Regressor Only Protects Me - Chapter 19

Chapter 19. Siege (2)

I didn’t know how to shoot a gun.

I didn’t know anything about guns.

It was the first time I learned that guns had a certain weight to them.

It was the first time I realized how large bullets actually were.

It was the first time I found out how difficult it was to aim a gun.

So, I had to be cautious.

Instead of trying to hit the enemy from a distance, I chose to make sure to kill them up close.

I barely managed to pull the trigger at the very last moment.

Bang-!

The heavy gunshot echoed throughout the store.

Ring-.

My ears momentarily went numb.

It was the first time I realized how loud a gunshot could be.

In movies or dramas… it seemed so quiet.

But one thing was certain.

There was one thing I understood clearly.

A gun was the most powerful weapon a human could wield to definitively end an enemy’s life.

I pulled the trigger a second time.

Bang-!

Again, with a heavy explosion of gunpowder, the head of a woman charging at me burst open.

Literally exploded.

The bullet pierced her brain, shattering her solid skull into multiple fragments.

It was a gruesome sight.

But I no longer cared about such brutality.

I turned the muzzle of the gun.

A man climbing over the barricade.

The moment he faced the gun, he screamed like a child who had seen a ghost.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Bang!

I pulled the trigger to match his scream.

The man, shot in the heart, fell backward.

That made three.

Seven bullets remained.

There were still plenty of enemies.

“Sion!”

A voice called out beside me.

I steadied my dizzy mind and turned toward it.

There stood Kwon Kyung-soo, drenched in blood, running toward me.

He shouted.

“Give me the gun! I can use it better! Trust me!”

He sounded desperate.

He was indeed a former Special Forces sergeant.

But even in my disoriented state, I knew better than to hand him the gun.

Because even as I fought against the Blue Team, I was constantly thinking about the Black Team.

In the end, out of the three kings, two would die.

That was the rule.

I ignored him and turned my gun forward again.

I would end this fight.

I couldn’t yet determine the enemy’s king.

But if I killed Kim Dong-gil, the situation would certainly tilt in my favor.

Click.

I aimed the gun at Kim Dong-gil.

His torso came into view through the sight.

But soon, the muzzle of the gun began to shake uncontrollably.

The distance to Kim Dong-gil was about 20 meters—manageable—but my condition was worse than I thought.

When I fell from the barricade, I hit my head first, likely causing a concussion.

Blood continued to flow from the knife wound in my thigh.

In that moment, I knew.

Aiming at him would be a waste of bullets.

At that moment, members of the Blue Team charged at me, gripping kitchen knives.

“You son of a b****!!!!”

‘Tch…!’

I immediately turned the muzzle toward the oncoming enemies.

I fired two consecutive shots.

Bang, Bang!

The fourth bullet hit an enemy, making him collapse.

But the fifth bullet missed due to the recoil.

If only the gun’s accuracy were 100%, but it wasn’t—that’s why humans made mistakes.

I quickly aimed the sixth bullet at the Blue Team.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!”

Two people charged simultaneously.

Without hesitation, I fired the gun.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

“Argh!”

Both were hit and collapsed.

The person behind them seemed to have been grazed on the arm.

But it was still a gun.

Even a hit to the arm rendered the enemy combat incapable.

I prepared the seventh bullet.

And that’s when it happened.

“Yaaah!!!”

Thud! Crash!

A middle-aged woman suddenly jumped at me from the side, pushing me over.

I fell sideways, dropping the gun.

The gun rolled across the floor, sliding to a stop.

“Ahhh… ugh…!”

A groan escaped me.

The wound on my thigh burned like fire.

It felt like the fall had torn it open further.

“Ugh… ah…”

My vision blurred.

The pain was so intense I felt like I might pass out.

Meanwhile, the woman who had knocked me down climbed on top of me and began punching me wildly.

“Die! Die! Die!”

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!

Her fists rained down on my face.

The blows from an adult’s murderous punches hurt terribly.

I was barely able to shield my face with my hands.

Then, she grabbed my hand and bit into it.

“Ugh… ahhhhghhh…”

She bit down as if my hand were a piece of meat.

Thwack!

I swung my left fist into her side.

“Ahhh! Ack!”

The woman screamed and released my hand.

But I lacked the strength to fight back further.

The concussion had sapped all the energy from my body.

“You bastard!”

The woman crawled forward, aiming her fingers for my eyes.

I resisted with all my might, but her fingers came dangerously close.

At that moment, I squeezed my eyes shut.

Thunk!

“Guh. Kughk.”

A mop handle pierced diagonally through her neck.

The woman collapsed, lifeless.

The one holding the improvised spear was Lee Saebom.

He had clearly been through several battles himself.

His appearance was severely worn, and he was gasping for breath.

Lee Saebom extended a hand to me, and I grabbed it to stand up.

He pointed his spear toward the other side and spoke.

“Your thigh.”

“I’m fine…! I’m fine, really…”

I hurriedly searched for the dropped gun.

It was unlikely anyone had picked it up in the dark, but finding it again wouldn’t be easy either.

Fortunately, I soon spotted the handgun nearby.

I let out a breath of relief and limped toward it to grab it.

But someone else picked it up first.

In that instant, my heart sank.

No matter how much they were on the same team, having someone else hold the gun was incredibly dangerous.

I looked up at the person holding the gun.

“……”

Lee Joo-yeon.

She was staring at the gun in her hands.

She, too, had a military background.

She must have handled firearms far more than I ever had.

My heart pounded erratically.

Around us, people continued clashing in combat.

But amidst the chaos, my attention was fixed solely on the gun.

I waited for her next move.

Then, Lee Joo-yeon lifted the gun.

“Take care of it.”

“……”

Whoosh-.

Lee Joo-yeon casually tossed the gun to me.

The gun arced through the air, and I barely caught it.

She gripped her spear and moved closer to me.

Behind me, Lee Saebom stood with his back against mine.

I glanced at the gun in my hands, then back at her.

Her recent actions made me trust her.

As she approached, I immediately handed her the gun.

Slightly surprised, Lee Joo-yeon looked at me.

“One shot. Can you hit the target?”

“……”

I didn’t know how to use a gun.

But Lee Joo-yeon did.

She held the gun, staring at me briefly before nodding.

I spoke to her firmly.

“You must hit.”

“Who is it?”

I pointed with my finger.

Her gaze followed the direction of my finger.

Across the way.

Despite the chaotic battle obscuring the view, one figure stood out.

A man in a suit with disheveled hair.

Black-rimmed glasses and a square jaw.
Kim Dong-gil of the Blue Team.

“That man.”

“…I’ll try. But give me some time to aim.”

Lee Joo-yeon held the handgun and aimed ahead.

Her posture was stable.

Unlike when I did it, she held the handgun firmly with both hands, her eyes focused solely on the sight.

She took a deep breath and steadied herself.

During that time, Lee Saebom and I had to protect her from external threats.

I gripped the spear she had been holding and aimed forward.

On the opposite side, Lee Saebom stood guard.

“Are you okay?”

Lee Saebom asked again with a worried look.

I responded.

“It doesn’t matter.”

The pain I felt now was something I could endure.

I could feel the blood flowing with every passing second, but I had to do it.

It was all for the victory of the Red Team.

“You bastard, monster!”

A young man approached, suddenly cursing.

He was breathing heavily, and there was a clear cut on his left arm.

The man spoke, his voice trembling as if he were about to cry.

“From the start… if only…! If only all of us except your king had joined the Blue Team, we could have survived… Why, why! Why do we have to fight like this?”

“…”

I stayed silent, focusing only on his arm.

“I just… got a job, damn it! I was finally going to make life better for my grandma! I… I can’t die here. I can’t…”

The man’s body trembled as he tightly gripped the knife in his hand.

He could lunge at me at any moment.

“If we had just taken out your king… everyone could have lived. Ah…”

The man sobbed, but I couldn’t empathize.

Ultimately, he was right.

I was the king of the Red Team.

If I had surrendered my life and died, everyone on both the Red and Blue Teams could have survived.

But I wanted to throw his words right back at him.

I couldn’t die here.

More than this young man who cherished his grandmother and was a filial son.

More than the kindergarten teacher who taught children with a bright smile every day.

More than the righteous prosecutor who graduated from law school and locked criminals away.

More than the university student who found time amidst their busy life to volunteer on weekends…!

My life.

My brother is more precious to me.

More than your cherished and valuable lives, lives I never knew or saw before coming here, my sibling is far more precious.

He was right.

I am a monster.

From the moment I became king, I gave up being human.

No, maybe even earlier than that.

From the day I sat as a mourner before my parents’ funeral portraits, I could no longer be human.

That’s the cursed life I live.

And I still couldn’t die.

“Ahhhhhhh!!!”

The newly employed young man screamed, raising his knife as he charged at me.

I thrust the mop spear I held in both hands directly into him.

Thunk!

The spear pierced under his chin and went straight through his head.

The young man froze, tears welling in his eyes.

Blood ran down the trembling spear, touching my hands.

It was hotter than I expected.

Thud!

The young man collapsed, mumbling.

“Grandma… Grandma… Gra…”

He couldn’t finish his words and died.

Then came the eighth gunshot.

Bang-!

Lee Joo-yeon had pulled the trigger.

As soon as I heard the gunshot, I looked at Kim Dong-gil.

Kim Dong-gil was still chopping away at the Red Team’s people with his axe.

Squish! Squish!

Kim Dong-gil swung his axe into people, deep in thought.

The gruesome scenes from movies seemed tame in comparison.

Without even realizing what he was doing, he focused only on killing the lifeforms in front of him.

“I can do it. I can do it…!”

He mumbled those words habitually as he looked around for his next prey.

Wiping the blood off his glasses, he swung the axe again.

Then it happened.

Thwack!

A bullet pierced through his left arm and side.

The sound of the gunshot followed.

Bang!

“…!?”

Thud!

Kim Dong-gil staggered and fell.

Lying on the ground, he writhed in pain.

He struggled to breathe, unable to even consider inhaling through his nose.

His stomach burned as if on fire, and bright red, hot blood began pooling on the ground.

“Ah… ugh… ah…”

Words failed him.

He wanted to speak, but he couldn’t get the words out because he couldn’t breathe.

In his field of vision was a dead woman, lying with her eyes open.

Around her, people from both teams trampled over her corpse as they fought.

In that moment, a single, despairing thought crossed Kim Dong-gil’s mind.

‘Am I dying?’

He realized he was facing death.

His body wouldn’t move, and he could barely wiggle his fingers.

Without even feeling the pain, he clutched at his stomach and stuck his fingers into the wound.

What he felt at his fingertips was slippery, like pig entrails.

Pulling his fingers back, he held them in front of his eyes.

They were covered in blood.

Kim Dong-gil had always hated blood, even nosebleeds.

Seeing blood now was mentally unbearable.

If he had to die, it was better to die quickly.

The sensation of dying was unbearably painful.

“Ah… ah… ahhhhhhh!!!”

Finally, a scream burst from his throat.

Kim Dong-gil barely lifted his upper body and crawled toward a collapsed display stand.

‘I don’t want to die, don’t want to die, don’t want to die, don’t want to die, don’t want to die, don’t want to die, don’t want to die, don’t want to die…! I don’t want to die!’

He pressed his wound with one hand.

But no matter how hard he tried to stop it, the blood gushed out even more.

Kim Dong-gil was desperate.

He struggled to pull the clothes off a fallen man next to him.

Then he pressed the wound tightly with the cloth.

‘Why should I die? I’ve succeeded in life…! If someone has to die, it should be someone else. Why me? Why me…!’

Kim Dong-gil pressed the wound with all his might.

His agonized screams echoed through the mall.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

His mind grew hazy.

His eyes rolled back, and he felt like he might faint at any moment.

But driven by the desperate desire to survive, he mustered superhuman strength.

He only needed to survive now.

Just now.

If he could get through this moment, he could leave this place.

He would leave, escape.

He had to get out of this hellish mall.

“Ah!”

“Ugh!”

“Arghhh!”

Screams erupted one after another.

Hearing them, Kim Dong-gil laughed maniacally.

‘See! See! We’re winning. We’ve won.’

Until then, Kim Dong-gil’s gaze remained fixed on his wound.

He scooped up the blood spilling out and pushed it back into the wound.

He kept shoving things back in as they poured out.

Eventually, he even stuffed filthy, blood-soaked clothes into the wound.

Thunk.

At that moment, something sharp touched his chin.

“Ha… ha… ha…?”

Kim Dong-gil trembled as he looked up.

There stood Jin Jae-hee, holding a sword.

The blade slowly tilted upward, lifting Kim Dong-gil’s chin.

Jin Jae-hee spoke in a cold tone.

“It’s over. Stop resisting.”

“Ha… ha…”

Kim Dong-gil glanced around.

The screams he had been hearing.

They were all from the Blue Team.

They were all lying on the ground, cut down by swords.

From the escalator entrance on the other side to this place, it was as if dominoes had fallen.

Jin Jae-hee had killed them all.

And the surviving Red Team members, gasping for breath, were staring at Kim Dong-gil.

Jin Jae-hee coldly said to Kim Dong-gil.

“Where is he? Your king?”