The Regressed NoBody

Seo Jiwoo

I pushed the door forward and with a soft creak the it opened and I stepped inside the café. A bell, attached to the top edge of the door, made a low dinging noise, which echoed inside the café

I walked up to the counter and placed my order for a black coffee.

After a short wait, I was handed a tray in which my coffee was placed. With a smile, I thanked the employee who had handed me my coffee, and with a turn of my heel, I stepped to my left and walked up to the furthest table on the left side corner.

I placed the tray over the table, and took a seat.

I took the cup by its handle and brought it close to my mouth. With an inhale of the rich aroma, I took a sip.

I placed the cup over the table, and pulled my phone out of my pocket. With a tap over the screen, I scrolled through the news articles.

The rivalry between two corporations, TK and Lesveŕo were still a hot topic around the world. Because Lesveŕo had dominated the stock market for almost three decades. But after the owner's death, Lesveŕo really fell.

Not that I cared. It was simply an opportunity for me to make a pretty penny. That I did with Salvador’s help.

Today I was here to discuss the payment with Salvador. I had talked with him over the phone a few days ago and decided to meet him in person. So I came back to Korea to deal with the matters here.

The Lock had given the students some holidays after the incident involving the bombs. So I had a few days to myself now.

But what made me a little bit uneased about this whole development was that, something like this didn’t happen in the past.

An incident involving the demons didn’t happen in the past, where they targeted Lock. So I think the Evil Eye must me involved this time round. There movements have been a little weird.

Evil Eye is the name of the organisation which the humans have created who are contracted with demons, to oppose the World Union. And if demons were involved in this incident, then its bad news.

If they have made a move, it must mean they are serious about starting a war with the humans.

But I don’t thing the demons would just blatantly declare war against us. They know that starting a war will cost them as much as it would cost the humans.

I need to get stronger before that war starts.

My end goal is to defeat the demon king. And to do that the first step is to build this body.

I may have miraculously escaped death, but that doesn’t mean I would always. The enemies I would be facing in the future would be on a completely different level.

I took a deep breath, as I took another sip of the coffee.

After five more minutes, I heard the dinging noise of the bell, and soon an individual wearing a black hoodie and face mask approached my table.

He took the seat opposite to me and sat down.

“Its been a while, Salvador,” I said as I placed the cup over the table.

“Yeah, its been,” he replied as he leaned back in his seat.

“How long are you going to hide your face for? I won’t bite, I swear?” I joked as Salvador took the menu from the side and looked through it.

He placed the menu down on the table and took off his hood and face mask.

My eyes laid over his brown hair gleaming with highlights of black, which framed his pale face. His eyes had a charismatic blue colour, like the depths of an ocean. Honestly he looked above average.

“So how did it go?” I asked, as Salvador put his hand into his hoodie’s pocket.

A moment later, he pulled a black card out, and slid it across the table over to my side.

“That card contains all of your funds,” he said as he crossed his arms. “And I have to admit, the risk was well taken for the amount we made.”

“How much?” I curiously asked.

“After excluding the thirty percent, which was my payment, the total comes down to, two hundred and sixty-seven million dollars,” he mused as he spoke in a business professional tone.

I placed my hand over my chin and calculated the exchange rate to Korean won. “Approximately three hundred and forty-four trillion won.” I replied. Honestly that was a lot of money in both currencies.

I took the titanium card and stored it inside the system inventory.

With a vigorous nod, Salvador grinned.

“Exactly. We made big time.” He exclaimed, with a snap of his fingers.

But I saw Salvador’s brows knit together, as he eyed me warily.

“What?!!!”

He continuously tapped his finger over his bicep, with crossed arms, after a second he asked.

“Aren’t you a little too trusting of me?”

I thought for a moment, on how to reply, but the only thing I could thing of was that, Salvador was a trust worthy guy. He never cheated his employer and also gave the best results. Even if his asked payment was a little too much.

“Because you have your work ethics and morales, don’t you?” I said with a sip of my coffee. “And because I know you are trust worthy.”

Salvador's ears perked up over my last sentence. He leaned back in his seat and clasped his hand over the table.

“But can I ask you one more thing?” He said, with a raise of his brow.

“Go ahead,” I replied.

He cocked his head to the side, making sure that no one was listening on our conversation. He leaned forward and whispered to me.

“How did you know Robert Lesveŕo was going to die?”

With a smirk over my face, I replied. “Robert himself came in my dream, telling me he was going to die,” I muttered. “That I should take this opportunity to make some cash over his death.”

Salvador shrugged his shoulder with a nonchalant expression over his face as he heard me. He waved toward a waiter, and soon he walked up to our table.

“I’ll like to order the breakfast menu one,” he said, as he pointed in my direction. “And the gentleman here will be the one paying.”

I lifted my free arm slightly upward—just above my chest—and opened my mouth to speak. “Yeah, go ahead.”

The waiter took the order and trailed off.

“So how is the investment in the TK going?” I asked, scrolling through the news articles once again.

“I have already opened a few other accounts to buy stocks to seem less suspicious,” he quickly replied. “The investigation bureau was really on their toes after Robert's dead. So anyone who invested in TK in big amounts, or withdrew from Lesveŕo stocks before Robert’s death are still under investigation.”

I placed the empty cup down on the table and looked at Salvador.

The sole reason I had chosen Salvador to do my bidding was to make sure that suspicion didn’t befall over me. And I knew Salvador was a cautious man, so he had already prepared many escape plans, if by chance things did went south.

But as if he had remembered something important, Salvador again put his hand inside the other pocket of his hoodie and took something out wrapped inside a red cloth.

“Here.”

He shoved the wrapped object toward me, and I took it from his hand. It was almost half the size of my palm.

I observed it for a second before storing it inside the inventory. This was something I had requested him to get me on short notice.

“Don’t worry its the highest quality one I could get my hands on,” Salvador assured.

With a satisfied nod, I thanked Salvador.

“Thanks. But it must have been hard to obtain this?”

Salvador's brows furrowed as he glared at me with a scorned expression.

“You told me to find you something like that last minute, of course it was hard to find,” he hissed. As he sighed tiredly.

I looked at Salvador with amused eyes.

Despite the last minute request he had done what I had told him too.

Now I can finally initiate the first phase of my plan.

The money problem was somewhat solved, but I needed a permanent source to make me money. And I already had someone in mind who could help me with that.

But first I need Salvador on board. He was already on, but just needed a final push.

I straightened in my seat, and rested both elbows on the table and clasped my hands.

With a dry cough, I looked Salvador straight in his eyes, and with complete solemnness in my voice, I spoke. “Salvador I want you to form a formal deal with me.”

Salvador’s expression shifted and his usual business like atmosphere surrounded him now.

“What kind of deal?” He muttered. His face and tone solemn.

“I want to assemble a group of competent people, and to do that I need your help,” I explained.

Because if I had the future world’s best broker on my side, then what I wanted to do furthur on the road will become hell of a lot easier.

“But why should I help you?”

Honestly, this won’t be a bad deal for Salvador, if he rejects or accepts.

But after seeing just how competent he was, I needed his help at all cost. His ability to work as a businessman was a rare talent that only a few possessed.

I took in a deep breath, and looked at Salvador for a long moment. Just as I was about to speak, Salvador cut me off and continued.

“Nah scratch that, I am in,” Salvador said, as I saw the waiter from before bringing his breakfast.

My eyes went wide for a moment, after hearing his reply.

The waiter placed the food over the table and with a nod, he went back to work.

I wrinkled my nose, as I looked at Salvador with uncertainty in my eyes. My brows momentarily knit as I thought for possibilities of his sudden acceptance.

Why would he agree? I didn’t even tell him anything yet?

“What's wrong? You seem surprised?” He asked as he pulled the plate a little to his left.

I mean, I was. I had thought forming a deal with him would be a hard task. But...

“Can I ask why?”

Salvador took a bite of the bread with a fired egg placed on top. After swallowing the bread, he rested his elbow over the table and thought for a moment.

“I guess... you can call it a businessman’s intuition,” he muttered. “And I think I can make a lot of money if I work with you,” he said with a lucid smile.

I chuckled as I saw Salvador’s eyes gleam with a tinkle.

“Then once again, its a pleasure working with you, Salvador,” I extended my hand forward, and right after he shook it.

I pulled a file out of the system inventory and passed it over to Salvador.

“What’s this?” He asked with curious eyes.

“Your first task,” I exclaimed. “I want you to find information about this person.”

Salvador opened the file and saw the contents inside.

His brows jumped in surprise as he read the name written over the file.

“Osbern!!!”

He snapped his head back toward me and gave me a disappointed shook of his head.

“I did once do some digging around after the incident involving the Osbern’s,” he took a sip of his orange juice and continued. “But unfortunately I couldn’t find anything about them. Unless...”

I pointed my finger at Salvador whilst assessing. “Exactly!”

Salvador placed his hand over his chin and thought for a long moment. “And this person you want me to find...”

I nodded my head and replied. “All I know so far is that someone payed for the Osbern’s assassination, which they portrayed as an accident toward the public eye.”

“Ok, I’ll inform you as soon as I find something,” Salvador said as he went back to eating his breakfast.

“Good luck then. And I’ll send you the contract in a few days,” I said as I got up from my seat.

Salvador nodded his head with his mouthful.

He tried to saw something—I guess goodbye—but his voice came out muffled due to his mouthful of food.

I grabbed the tray and cup and walked up to the counter to pay for my coffee and Salvador’s breakfast.

After paying, I stepped out of the café and entered the busy streets.

***

The streets were as busy as always, with pedestrians moving left to right. The rowdy noise of the car engines entered my ears, as I stood in front of the guild house of the Shadow guild.

I was on my way to the portal house but, this place came in between the route to my destination. So I stopped by to see Jihye while I was here.

“I might be disturbing her if go in unannounced?”

Well, I am already here, might as well just see her before going back.

I stepped forward and walked up to the entrance of the guild.

But I was stopped by two of the guards who stood post. They weren’t the same guards when I had came here before.

Both of them were wearing a black suit, with a pair of sunglasses. One had blond hair and the other had brown hair. Both looked to be strong, as the mana surrounding their body was around rank.

‘One rank and one rank.’

I looked at both of them, as I assessed their ranks and strength.

“Is there a reason why you both are stopping me?” I asked.

“Do you have any prior appointment with someone inside the guild?” The guard with blond hair on my left side asked.

“I don’t, but I am here to meet a relative who works here,” I answered.

After answering, I took a step forward, but the guard on my right stepped in front of me and blocked my path.

I sighed as I exchanged glances with the brown haired guard.

“Can you please move out of the way?” I grumbled, as my face turned solemn.

But the guard didn’t budge from in front of me. Instead he placed his hand over my shoulder and released a crushing pressure at me.

‘Seriously, Park Yujin should properly assess the people that work for him,’ I inwardly sighed as I took his pressure head on. My clothes pressed downwards, as the atmosphere around me became dense.

To them my rank would have only seemed equal to an rank. But I was already on pair with both of them.

In response, I released a pulse of my mana and directed it toward them both. The blond guard jumped a step, as he felt my oppressive pressure being directed at him. His breath hardened with a squeak, as he tried to fight back.

The brown haired guard’s grip loosened over my shoulder, as I increased the amount of pressure I released. The air shook with a little ruffle, as both of the guards fought back.

Their face twisted into a frown as they were both pushed back, and they gasped hard. I felt a sudden tingle in the air, as the guard on my left channelled the mana inside his body, and thrust his dominate arm forward.

I was just about to react and break his arm, but stopped as I heard a familiar voice emerge from behind me.

“What is going on over here?”

All three of us stopped, and I snapped my head backward. There I saw the same Butler, who had first brought me to the guild to meet with Park Yujin.

He walked toward us and asked with his voice stern.

“I asked what is going on here?”

I took a step back and looked at the guards who had now bowed their heads, whilst respectfully addressing Mr. Butler.

“Mr. Baek-Hyun, this boy was trying to enter the guild premises without any prior appointments, so we only tried to stop him but he tried to force his way inside.”

Mr. Butler turned his head toward me for a second before snapping it back toward the guards. His eyes now glaring at the two.

What a lot of bullshit. Now they want to save their ass, after getting caught in act by someone on a superior rank than them.

“Then is that a good enough reason to assault someone?” Mr. Butler asked. “And Mr. Seo is a guest...”

He faced me and slightly bowed his head with his hand placed slightly above his sternum. “I apologise for the mistreatment Mr. Seo.”

“You don’t have to apologise, Mr. Butler. I was just passing by so I came to visit Jihye before returning back to Lock,” I quickly replied.

“I see.”

Then Mr. Butler stepped forward and waved his hand for me to follow him.

“And I guess we need to do a better assessment on the people we hire,” his face turned expressionless, as he sternly exclaimed.

The guards face twisted into a tight frown, as both of them kept bowing.

We passed the guards and entered the guild premises, and Mr. Butler turned over his heel and walked toward the elevator. I followed suit.

He pressed on the button of the side panel and soon after the elevator’s doors opened with a low ding which rang in ears.

Both of us stepped inside and he pressed his finger against the panel—over the thirty-first number—and soon the elevator began to ascend.

“I heard about your condition from Young Master Jihoon. Is your condition alright now, Mr. Seo?” Mr. Butler asked.

I cocked my head in his direction and replied. “Fortunately, the injuries that I sustained weren’t that detrimental, so I got better after recuperating for a few days.”

He nodded his head in reply.

Honestly, the injuries that I had sustained would have taken me at least a few weeks to recover from. But thanks to the new passive skill—Regeneration—I obtained, my body healed faster than I had anticipated.

But the problem I was facing at this moment was with my mana channels. They felt restricted and heavy for some reason. The absorption of mana and refining it had become a little harder after forcing them to dissipate the raging mana of the bomb.

“How’s...ahn, Jihye?” I asked, breaking the silence between us.

Mr. Butler thought for a moment, and answered as he turned his head slightly toward me.

“She is a very competent young lady. Ever since she joined our guild she has recruited a few rank hunters, and two rank hunters. Her colleagues are quite fond of her, and she is liked by almost everyone present in her team.”

My lips curled into a smile as I heard Mr. Butler’s evaluation on Jihye. If she wasn’t being burdened here, unlike her previous workplace, then everything’s fine.

“Well, her cheerful personality is one of her good points,” I commented with a warmth filled voice.

Honestly, I didn’t even knew Jihye that well, but the familial love she has shown me, I can’t be more grateful than I already am. The love which I had almost forgotten about, she made me realize it all again.

I saw from the corner of my eyes, Mr. Butler’s lips tucked into a thin smile.

“Well, she reminds me of my own daughter Sang-Ah,” he muttered.

“Your daughter?” I asked, surprised. So Mr. Butler had a daughter.

He nodded his head once and spoke. “Yes, she isn’t in Korea at the moment due to work purpose.”

“You must really proud of her, by the way you are speaking,” I firmly said.

“Well, yes..., “ the smile over his face widened slightly as he continued. “She's currently working as an armour and battle gear designer for a conglomerate in Brazil, pursuing her dream, or rather she already has.”

My brows rose in thought as I remembered hearing that name—"Sang-Ah”—before.

But where...?

Sang-Ah...Sang-Ah... where have I heard that name?

I thought for a moment before finally remembering.

“If you don’t mind me asking, does your daughter work at the Hephaestus?”

He clearly heard the surprise in my voice.

He snapped his head in my direction, with a surprised expression covering his face. But he re-composed himself quickly and spoke.

“W-Well yes...”

Hephaestus! The biggest armour and battle gear manufacturers. And his daughter, who was Shin Sang-Ah worked for them.

If I remember correctly her work name was “Nero”.

Each design she created had a uniqueness of its own. I had seen Nero’s designs in my past life, and they were breath-taking. Each had a beauty of their own.

“Nero really does create great designs,” I said looking at Mr. Butler.

His brows knit together as he looked at me.

“How do you know her work name? She hasn’t revealed it to the public?” He exclaimed.

“Uhm...”

The elevator door opened and I took this opportunity to dodge his question. I exited the elevator and stepped forward, with Mr. Butler right behind me.

He took a sharp right turn and I began to follow him from behind again.

“If you don’t wish to answer me, then its alright, but...” he looked over his shoulder and stared into my eyes. “But I would like you to keep her identity a secret.”

“Don’t worry I won’t tell anyone, my lips are sealed," I gestured my fingers at my lips in a zip like notion.

After a short walk through the wide corridors, we stopped in front of a door and Mr. Butler stepped inside first.

I followed him from behind and I saw Jihye standing near a wide glass window. Her gaze was fixated down at the hunter who was I guess being tested.

I walked close to the glass window and crossed my arm as I saw the hunter taking the exam.

He was fighting a mana beast. A Tarantula Spider.

The hideous monster shot its sticky web like fluid at the hunter. The hunter kicked back and brought his wooden staff forward, creating some distance between them.

He muttered something, maybe the incantation of his spell. I activated Mind’s Eye, and observed more carefully.

I saw the mana which fluxed through the hunter’s body being circulated towards his arms. The mana flared inside him and surged towards his hands, with a final push it began to escape his body and take form. The mana flared again and a fiery ball of flames began to conjure in front of him.

But I saw something weird. Small motes like particles surrounding the ball of flames.

I rubbed my eyes and looked again but they were still there.

‘Those motes look just like the things I saw when gauging the core’s mana.’

The fiery ball of flames shot towards the monster. The Tarantula Spider dodged with a swift movement of its eight feet.

But the ball of flames tore into three individual flames and shot at the Master from three directions.

The monster dodged the first one which came from its right, but it failed to dodge the one on its left and in front.

The flames erupted with such ferocity, that they swallowed the monster's body and with scorching ruffle the body of the monster fell to the floor. Lifeless.

“That will be the end of the test,” Jihye said from the side. Not being aware that I was standing right beside her.

I deactivated Mind’s Eye and focused my gaze at Jihye.

“Great work,” I said.

“Thank you,” she firmly replied.

But a moment later, she snapped her head toward me and with a dumbfounded expression over her face, she spoke.

“J-Jiwoo.”