How To Use Regressors

42 – Romantic Guy (1)

The next day, when we arrived at the entrance of the dungeon, I could see the faces of the divine clan members who had arrived early.

“Hello. I am Lee Jae-hyo from the Eternity Clan.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Park Darim from the Hwashin Clan.”

The man who appeared to be a high-ranking member of the Hwashin Clan and Lee Jaehyo exchanged greetings.

Considering their positions as high-ranking members of their respective clans, one might have thought that they knew each other’s faces, but judging by their reactions, it seemed like they were meeting each other for the first time.

Checking the status window of the woman who introduced herself as Park Darim, it was similar to or slightly below that of Lee Jaehyo.

“These are… newcomers to the Eternity Clan, right? Nice to meet you. These are our clan’s first-year members.”

She introduced her clan members. I couldn’t just stand there in silence, so I greeted them.

“Nice to meet you. We’re the new recruits in the Eternity Clan.”

‘Except for the clan’s high-ranking members, there are three guys and three girls on their side, a total of six.’

The high-ranking member of the Hwashin Clan seemed indifferent to us, but one of their male clan members had an uncomfortable look in his eyes as he stared at us.

‘What’s with this guy’s gaze?’

The man smiled and approached us, speaking.

“Oh… you were supposed to join our clan this term, but you ended up joining the Eternity Clan. Welcome.”

‘… Is this guy insane?’

The situation at the training facility was a sensitive topic for both clans. It wasn’t something to bring up in a first meeting.

Park Darim, the woman, seemed just as taken aback as the man that he would bring up such a topic, and she responded with a bewildered expression.

“Mr. Myungjoon, about that story…”

“Oh, I apologize. I made a slip of the tongue.”

There was no expression of remorse at all.

I opened up his status window.

[Name: Kim Myungjoon]

[Age: 28]

[Occupation: Light Mage (Hero Grade)]

[Title: None]

[Unique Traits]

Light Attribute Magic (Hero Grade) – You can easily use light attribute magic more than others. Additionally, your magical power stat permanently increases by 3.

[Traits]

Intermediate Understanding of Magic (Rare Grade) – Your understanding of magic increases to a certain extent.

[Stats]

Strength – 35 Agility – 30

Stamina – 49 Luck – 41

Mana – 59 Resistance – 30

“Seems like this kid doesn’t lack confidence entirely, huh?”

Considering it’s only his first year in the field, his abilities are quite good. The fact that he has a hero-grade profession is probably one of the reasons why he can perform this well.

Park Dalim seemed to have sensed the cooling atmosphere within our clan and intentionally spoke up with an excited voice.

“Well, since everyone’s gathered, let’s get going.”

Lee Jaehyo didn’t seem in the best mood, but he nodded in response to Park Dalim’s words.

The entrance to the dungeon appeared in the form of a lush, overgrown ruin. And so, we entered the dungeon.

[ Dungeon – You have entered the Ruins of Pupils and Spirits. ]

“Pupils seem to refer to Evil Eyes… but what does Spirits mean?”

We pushed aside our curiosity about the dungeon’s name and moved a little, and that’s when the monsters called Evil Eyes, which we encountered yesterday, started appearing.

Perhaps because we had dealt with them before, our party members began to handle them skillfully.

“Hyunjin, two on the right!”

Upon Kang Iseo’s command, Hyunjin immediately cut down the approaching enemy on the right with his sword. Kang Iseo finished off the remaining one with an arrow.

The enemies coming from the left were blocked by Mr. Howon and defended by Haeun’s summoned spirits.

“It’s not too challenging.”

From Noble mtl dot com

It wasn’t difficult as expected; the statement that it was an average-level dungeon seemed correct. Rather, it was easier than I had thought.

“But it’s better not to relax too much since there might be monsters stronger than Evil Eye.”

As far as I know, it’s rare for a dungeon to have only one type of monster. Most of the time, there are at least two different types of monsters.

“There could also be a boss monster.”

Not every dungeon has a boss monster, but the probability is high.

Our party seemed to have some spare time, so I glanced briefly at the Hwasin Clan, but they had already finished organizing.

“Indeed… there is a difference between being in the first year and the second year.”

Except for Seo Yoo-joo, our party’s specs were clearly slightly lower than theirs.

After our party finished cleaning up the remaining enemies, Bak Dal-im came up to us.

“Even though you guys are newcomers, you seem to be more skilled compared to others in the same year.”

This woman named Bak Dal-im, unlike that guy Kim Myung-joon, seemed to have a twisted personality as she praised us after seeing us.

It’s impossible not to react when someone compliments you. I expressed my gratitude to her.

“Haha… Thank you. I’m not sure how to respond to such high praise. We still have many areas where we are lacking…”

“No, Mr. Lee Yoon-seong. You just came out of the training center, and yet you are already so excellent. You’re definitely the hottest party in Varonia.”

She knows my name, so it’s possible that she also knows about our party from the Hwasin Clan, but I don’t understand what it means by being the hottest party in Varonia.

“Is it the hottest party in Baronia?”

“Oh my, you didn’t know? It’s the party that cleared the tutorial in the shortest time and is rumored to have top-tier talents within Baronia.”

“…Rumored within a neutral zone?”

Certainly, it seemed plausible, but it was too overwhelming.

“Why go to such lengths to be exclusive?”

Even if they were allied clans, there was no need to gild our faces to this extent.

It might be different if it were a small clan, but they were from the same Three Great Clans.

“There must be a reason behind this.”

There might be complex reasons, but the thought crossed my mind that it could be a purposeful attempt to build rapport in anticipation of our party’s potential growth.

Whether Park Dalim was complimenting us or not, Kim Myungjun approached us.

“Well… they do seem skilled for newcomers, but there are areas that need refinement. Nevertheless, not bad.”

“That idiot…”

It was inconceivable for a second-year rookie to make such remarks. It was amusing to know that he was indirectly acknowledging, as if saying, ‘I somewhat respect this much from a fellow rookie.’

Seo Yooju seemed equally amused, staring at Kim Myungjun as though he were an idiot.

Looking at the status bars of others, excluding Park Dalim as an officer, it seemed that Kim Myungjun, who was in his second year, essentially held the position of party leader in this one-year-old party.

Kim Myung-jun seemed slightly annoyed at our lack of response to his words.

Continuing to catch the gradually appearing monsters as we moved, it wasn’t long before the stairs leading underground came into view.

Seo Yoo-joo spoke up.

“Well… it’s dark now that we’re underground. We might need light. A lamp…”

“Light.”

As the party members attempted to find a lamp in their bags, I invoked a light magic spell.

*Poof.*

“Ah, Yoon-seong? You’re skilled in light magic too?”

“Yes. I thought it might be helpful in the darkness.”

Certainly, using a light spell wasn’t necessary, as they could have used a lamp. However, it’s not easy to handle an attack by monsters while holding a lamp.

The next move was striking.

“Light.”

Kim Myung-jun cast a more potent light spell, smirking slightly at me.

His intent to cast a more powerful light spell despite my initial invocation was clear in his mocking demeanor.

Sure enough, Kim Myung-jun began speaking.

“Haha… Since I have my light magic, Mr. Yiunseong can turn off his magic if he wants.”

I don’t know if Kim Myung-jun is also aware of the fact that I have no talent, but today the target of this bastard’s teasing is me.

“I heard that he’s a dark sorcerer… It seems like he uses utility magic rather than attack magic.”

Generally, dark sorcerers focus on using attack magic, so it means that you only use utility magic because you have no talent.

He understands it. If he criticizes the other party members, he won’t see any flaws. Kim Myung-jun is just a rookie with only one year of experience. How much can a rookie with one year of experience see?

I am also a magician like Kim Myung-jun, so he can show off himself compared to me and consider himself as someone worth criticizing.

Of course, as someone who doesn’t want to waste my magical power, I appreciate his words.

“Even though it’s a waste of magical power, I’m grateful that he offered to cast it instead of me.”

I’m not stupid enough to worry about each and every one of these things. The problem is not me, but Seo Yoo-ju and some of our party members who were looking at Kim Myung-jun with eyes that could kill him.

“Oh, humans…”

I suddenly started to worry about Kim Myung-jun.

“Ah, thank you. Then, I’ll ask you to cast the illumination spell instead. As expected, you’re different, senior. Hahaha.”

“He’s making himself suffer.”

Kim Myung-jun responded with a wrinkled face, as my words were different from what he expected.

“…. Yes.”

If there is one thing that puzzles me, it’s the fact that this guy, who is in the same profession as a magician, is specifically targeting me for some unknown reason.

From the moment I met the members of the Incarnation Clan until now, I have felt that this guy is unusually hostile towards me.

It was a thought that came to me suddenly.

“Could this guy… perhaps have been friends with Joo Seung-hwan?”

If Joo Seung-hwan and this guy were friends, he might think that it’s my fault that Joo Seung-hwan was disposed of.

After all, people tend to stick together.

“I should examine this further.”

As I descended into the underground, I put on a gaze of admiration towards the guy and approached him to start a conversation.

“May I call you senior from now on?”

Suddenly, Kim Myung-joon started looking at me as if I had suddenly become familiar to him.

“…Yes?”

I was about to burst into laughter at his reaction, but I managed to hold it in and started speaking after licking my lips.

“I have been facing a lot of difficulties in learning magic. Seeing you casting spells, I couldn’t help but admire you, senior.”

Our party members couldn’t quite grasp why I was behaving like this. As I complimented the person who was targeting me, they looked at me with expressions that seemed to say they had seen all sorts of strange humans.

I continued to speak, although I was a bit conscious of the gazes from the party members.

“How can I use magic like you, senior? If it’s okay, could you please tell me the secret… I’m not very talented, so…”

“….. Uh…”

He seemed surprised that I would say something like this and froze, his face turning red.

‘Well…’

I acted as if I knew nothing, as if I didn’t have any malicious intent, and started speaking.

Of course, it was just an added touch to slightly mock him in my tone of voice.

“When I was at the academy, I actually learned about magic manipulation from a member of the Divine Clan.”

“……..”

“Sadly, I could never learn from them again…”

If he is who I think he is, he would know what I’m talking about. If I’m right, he should definitely show a reaction here.

“What the hell is this guy?!”

The problem was that his reaction was way too extreme, different from what I had expected.

‘What, what’s wrong? Why is he like this?’

As he suddenly grabbed my collar and shouted profanity, the atmosphere became tense.

Park Darim and Lee Jaehyo immediately approached, asking what was going on.

It seemed like there was an argument, considering the use of profanity.

However, I was also quite taken aback because I didn’t expect this guy to react this strongly.

“Why, why are you acting like this… If I did something wrong…”

“What the… hell, hey! Say that again! What did you say?!”

To the point where I thought he should be given the title of Anger Control Disorder along with Juseunghwan.

I wondered why this guy didn’t have anger control disorder as his title.

Instead of going down the stairs, everyone stopped and it became noisy.

Seeing Kim Myungjoon grabbing my collar, Lee Jaehyo spoke up.

“What… the hell! What are you doing?!”

Park Darim immediately began to mediate the situation.

“Hold on for a moment! Let me talk to our clan members for a moment…! Myungjoon-ssi, why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“This bastard…! About Seunghwan hyungnim…!”

When the name Juseunghwan was mentioned, the atmosphere in our party turned cold.

I immediately started to speak up.

“Yes, yes? What is that…”

“You… just mentioned Seung-hwan hyungnim!”

“Uh… no. Sorry, I didn’t mention that bastard.”

And even if I had mentioned Seung-hwan first, it would have been normal for him to keep quiet from his perspective. Supporting Seung-hwan, who violated continental law, would be an act directly against continental law.

Moreover, I am currently mentioning the perpetrator to the victim of attempted murder.

“W-what are you talking about… I was just talking about what I learned from Instructor Kang Sung-joon…”

“…. What?”

I actually asked Kang Sung-joon about magic several times, so it’s not a lie. He must have realized now that he made a mistake.

“Because I never mentioned him directly.”

I only said that I was from the Hwasin Clan, I never mentioned Seung-hwan once.

“Now I’m the victim, damn it.”

In the case of Kang Il-seo, he couldn’t hold back his anger when Seung-hwan’s name was mentioned and cursed at him.

“You motherfucker! Seung-hwan?! What are you trying to do now? Why is that fucking name coming up here?!”

“Hyungnim! Are you okay?!”

Seo Yoo-ju demanded an apology from Kim Myung-jun with a terrifying expression, even in my eyes.

“…. Apologize.”

“What…”

Kim Myungjoon’s head seemed to freeze in response to the sudden situation. I noticed his bewildered expression.

“You should apologize.”