Shin Jonghak has it all— wealth, fame, talent, and bloodline. As the only heir of the Jinsung Clan and the eventual Guild Leader of Desolate Moon Guild, he is destined for great things.
However, he is not perfect yet.
He lacks one last thing— a romance to finally make him whole. His grandfather is a romanticist, and has told him that the source of his strength is none other than the power of love which is ironic as in young Jonghak’s mind, he doesn’t understand the reason why his grandfather has to sacrifice himself for the sake of humanity.
If Shin Myungchul, his grandfather, truly loves his family, then why does he not choose to forsake Herodom for the love of his own family? Jonghak recalls that specific memory when his grandfather decided to sacrifice himself that day while fighting to his last breath against that monster.
The reason why Jonghak pursues becoming a hero is to prove his grandfather wrong and that there is no need for him to sacrifice anything. Jonghak can just take it all, and save the world! They are naïve thoughts for the young Jonghak, but despite that, he continues pursuing the impossibility of this dream against all odds.
He enters the Agent Military Academy with this mindset.
But this mindset has long been dead when he enters Cube. “I give up.” Jonghak drops on his bottom on the hard solid ground, finding his situation something he can give up. He is a sincere person, and it’s the same now. “It is inevitable, but I lost… Still, I won’t bow to another if it is not you Nayun…” He does not give Hajin any of his attention as he remains sitting on the dirt, his hand holding his spear as barely a crutch.
“Let me join the club… and here I thought you finally found me worthy, Nayun…” The repeated crushing defeat against the hand of Chae Nayun has become a precursor to an inferior version of Shin Jonghak.
Even his rivalry with Suho is simply a petty act to soothe his own inferiority. At first, he is only jealous of Suho whom Nayun seems to always spar with back in their Agent Military Academy. But then, this jealousy changes its target to Nayun.
After some time, this jealousy has started to dull, and no longer does he have any designs of competing with Nayun simply being satisfied with the status quo. Of course, he still pretends that he is competing from time to time, but deep inside him, he has long grown tired of it.
Chae Nayun understands this subtle change in Jonghak albeit only on the level of a hunch. Hajin however can see this change in personality as clear as day.
Shin Jonghak is ill-informed of the gravity of the situation, thus they have to inform Jonghak in a way that it will not be disadvantageous of their still budding organization.
“I…” Before even Nayun can utter a word more, Hajin stops her by finishing her words first.
“Am a Regressor!” Hajin declares. “I. Am. Regressor!” He repeats, making Jonghak hear it loud and clear.
“What are you doing?” Nayun asks in a low whisper.
Hajin however simply continues on his act. “You heard me, right, Shin Jonghak… I am a Regressor. I see that you are not really motivated, so how about I give you a little bit of help.” Hajin flamboyantly walks to Jonghak seemingly defenseless.
“Hajin!?” Nayun shouts at him, realizing that he is taking the words right out of her mouth.
“Do not get on my way, Nayun. I will have to reeducate Shin Jonghak-ssi here, and at the same time, motivate him.” Hajin draws a knife just under his boot. “This is fun. I recently acquired a new art. You shall be my plaything so that I can experiment with my new Art, and a few more moves in my arsenal.” On top of his [Parkour Art], he now also has [Dexterity Art] which improves his dexterity, while plain, it synergizes well with his other skills.
“Let me play at least the villain,” This is Hajin’s true intention.
This is also Chae Nayun’s plan initially, which Hajin reads perfectly. Nayun feels conflicted. While Hyon Hyung is very proficient in playing the bad guy, no one does it better than Kim Hajin. Nayun recalls the plenty of moments when Hajin plays the bad guy, even though it is unintentional, he does it very convincingly.
Shin Jonghak feels invigorated. “You have spunk, I like it. But I don’t like you. Pest.” His words bleed with condescension. He clearly sees Hajin as less than dirt. He hefts his spear, and with a single step, he dashes at Hajin at superhuman speed.
Kim Hajin sees Jonghak’s trajectory as clear as day. “You could do better.” He snidely comments, while he throws the knife upwards as if playing with it.
Jonghak feels the world turning upside down abruptly mid-sprint when he only needs a single jerk to swing his spear. He is confused by the sudden turn of events.
What exactly is a ranged weapon? While Jonghak is flipping sideways, Hjain is actually viewing everything under the effects of [Bullet Time]. The moment he catches his knife, Jonghak has already tripped on Hajin’s outstretched foot.
Jonghak crashes on the dirt and grass, tumbling down in a complete halt as he uses his spear to maneuver himself, and gracefully land on his own two feet. “What happened?”
Kim Hajin remains silent, deliberating on the amount of magic power he needs to expend while under [Bullet Time]. Under [Bullet Time], he only needs to pull the trigger of his guns thus the need of little movement. But because of that one leg movement he does, he has expended so much more magic power.
“Again,” Shin Jonghak rushes the second time at Hajin. This time, he watches his own footwork carefully. When he reaches the appropriate distance to throw his spear, he changes his posture and hurls his spear brimming with magic power. “HaAH~!”
However, midswing, Jonghak feels his footing slipping, causing the spear he has thrown to miss by a wide margin, a foot far off from the target.
Kim Hajin has tested his Authority of Setting Intervention on the dirt. Because of Hajin’s extraordinary perception, he is able to easily predict Jonghak’s trajectory of attack and create a trap on his path by using his SP to change the dirt's properties and imbuing effects on the dirt.
This is impossible without prep time, but because of Cube AI’s system overclocking his device, and having modified his smartwatch, Hajin is able to use [Setting Intervention] to some extent while in combat.
“Your aim is very bad.” Hajin emotionlessly gives Jonghak’s skills a scolding. “In the past timeline, you aren’t this bad. If you lost your spear, you would have chosen to attack me with your fists then.”
Jonghak clenches his fists, realizing how close he is to do exactly that.
“What is wrong?” Hajin activates his [Bullet Time] and throws his knife in one big motion which eats a sizable chunk of his magic power.
In the blink of an eye, Jonnghak feels a stinging bloody sensation on his cheeks. “What?”
“Shin Myungchul would have evaded that… Well, he is a regressor too so his skills will definitely be superior to you.” Hajin picks up a pebble this time. “Here, I will go easy on you. I will only use a pebble against you.” Hajin playfully tosses the rock in the air.
“You!? What is your name?” Shin Jonghak is seething angrily, finally deeming it necessary to learn of the self-proclaimed regressor’s name. “Don’t put my grandfather’s name in that dirty mouth of yours!”
If his grandfather is really a regressor, then doesn’t it invalidate the Great Hero Shin Myungchul’s efforts? The very sound of Regressor is impressive, but to Jonnghak, it is nothing but an insult!
“You have seen my strength, so you have no choice, but to believe me now.” Hajin turns his back on Jonghak, picks up his spear, and returns it to the owner by lazily tossing it back.
Hajin does not stop there as he walks to Nayun and stands beside her. “Look, Jonghak…” He then grabs Nayun’s shoulder with one arm and hugs her. “Do you see now? We are actually head over heels for each other. Do you know why we are together? It is because she regressed too.”
Nayun is speechless, by Hajin’s shamelessness. All of this is very new to her.
Shin Jonghak cannot bring himself to pick up the spear lying below him.
Kim Hajin continues with his narration. “Shin Myungchul regressed. Do you know why? Because he is in love. He loves his wife very much. Thus, he did everything in his power to get her back— and the choice presented to him is none other than regression.”
“But there is a catch. His regression has a cost, and that is his soul which will be used as fuel for Baal’s descent into this world with his Devil Army. I am sure you must be confused about the talk of Devils, but do you remember Shin Myungchul’s death?” Hajin has a few conjectures of his own as he refers to Nayun’s memories in his head.
“What does this have to do with me?” Shin Jonghak grits his teeth in annoyance, he feels like he is being played.
Hajin smiles, and he rarely smiles when he plays the villain. “You have to discover that by yourself. You see, we are inviting you to join our organization… It is not simply the Devil Hunter’s Club that the others know on the surface, but something deeper, more intricate, and inhumanly difficult.”
Something in Shin Jonghak has changed, but they can just fix it over time.
“What is your answer, Jonghak-ssi? If you want to know, you have to prove yourself. Nayun ehre went to great lengths to involve you, but you are wasting her effort.”
It doesn’t take Jonghak long to give an answer as he kicks his spear into the air and loads it with his every magic power. “This is my answer.” He throws his spear which breaks off sound-barrier.
Kim Hajin draws a streak and a half of his stigma and creates a barrier to protect him and Nayun. Strong turbulent winds bounce outside Hajin’s barrier, and when the magic power is no more, there appear two dividing trenches from where Hajin stands. “Impressive, you have proven yourself.”
The barrier that Hajin has conjured has a very minor crack to it, almost unnoticeable if not for Hajin’s monstrous perception. Nayun is similarly astounded, but not by Jonghak, but by Hajin. “If it were me, I would have chosen to dodge that.” She comments. “Well, I can parry it too if I want, but that’s just annoying…”
Shin Jonghak is speechless by the lack of damage he has caused. Yet, he remains smiling, and proud. “That’s utterly ridiculous…” His tough-guy act almost breaks out.
“You passed. Well done.” Hajin continues on his big bad boss act, while he imbues a streak of stigma to the pebble he has been playing with for some time now. “Receive this, I care to warn you. I never miss.” He hurls it in a straight trajectory seemingly disappearing in the speed of light.
Jonghak haphazardly summons what is left of his magic power and defends himself. The pebble lands on his stomach, sending him crashing into more trees twice the number that Nayun has caused after kicking Jonghak in the back.
Nayun can no longer see Jonghak’s silhouette. “Is that necessary?”
“Don’t worry. The pebble is actually harmless.” Hajin has made sure to put the idea of painful, but harmless into his stigma, so Jonghak shouldn’t die from that. Moreover, Hajin has played a little deception to it actually as he purposely made the pebble have a flashy effect to make it look very intimidating when flung.
“…” Nayun tiredly removes Hajin’s arm still on her shoulder, the exhaustion of her consecutive dungeon runs finally catching up to her. “To our dear Jonghak, I wish him a successful career.” Nayun prays in her heart guilty for roughhousing the spear user.
Announcement This author wants to apologize for making Nayun kick Suho last chapter. It took me some time to realize where it went wrong LOL.
Shin Jonghak has it all— wealth, fame, talent, and bloodline. As the only heir of the Jinsung Clan and the eventual Guild Leader of Desolate Moon Guild, he is destined for great things.
However, he is not perfect yet.
He lacks one last thing— a romance to finally make him whole. His grandfather is a romanticist, and has told him that the source of his strength is none other than the power of love which is ironic as in young Jonghak’s mind, he doesn’t understand the reason why his grandfather has to sacrifice himself for the sake of humanity.
If Shin Myungchul, his grandfather, truly loves his family, then why does he not choose to forsake Herodom for the love of his own family? Jonghak recalls that specific memory when his grandfather decided to sacrifice himself that day while fighting to his last breath against that monster.
The reason why Jonghak pursues becoming a hero is to prove his grandfather wrong and that there is no need for him to sacrifice anything. Jonghak can just take it all, and save the world! They are naïve thoughts for the young Jonghak, but despite that, he continues pursuing the impossibility of this dream against all odds.
He enters the Agent Military Academy with this mindset.
But this mindset has long been dead when he enters Cube. “I give up.” Jonghak drops on his bottom on the hard solid ground, finding his situation something he can give up. He is a sincere person, and it’s the same now. “It is inevitable, but I lost… Still, I won’t bow to another if it is not you Nayun…” He does not give Hajin any of his attention as he remains sitting on the dirt, his hand holding his spear as barely a crutch.
“Let me join the club… and here I thought you finally found me worthy, Nayun…” The repeated crushing defeat against the hand of Chae Nayun has become a precursor to an inferior version of Shin Jonghak.
Even his rivalry with Suho is simply a petty act to soothe his own inferiority. At first, he is only jealous of Suho whom Nayun seems to always spar with back in their Agent Military Academy. But then, this jealousy changes its target to Nayun.
After some time, this jealousy has started to dull, and no longer does he have any designs of competing with Nayun simply being satisfied with the status quo. Of course, he still pretends that he is competing from time to time, but deep inside him, he has long grown tired of it.
Chae Nayun understands this subtle change in Jonghak albeit only on the level of a hunch. Hajin however can see this change in personality as clear as day.
Shin Jonghak is ill-informed of the gravity of the situation, thus they have to inform Jonghak in a way that it will not be disadvantageous of their still budding organization.
“I…” Before even Nayun can utter a word more, Hajin stops her by finishing her words first.
“Am a Regressor!” Hajin declares. “I. Am. Regressor!” He repeats, making Jonghak hear it loud and clear.
“What are you doing?” Nayun asks in a low whisper.
Hajin however simply continues on his act. “You heard me, right, Shin Jonghak… I am a Regressor. I see that you are not really motivated, so how about I give you a little bit of help.” Hajin flamboyantly walks to Jonghak seemingly defenseless.
“Hajin!?” Nayun shouts at him, realizing that he is taking the words right out of her mouth.
“Do not get on my way, Nayun. I will have to reeducate Shin Jonghak-ssi here, and at the same time, motivate him.” Hajin draws a knife just under his boot. “This is fun. I recently acquired a new art. You shall be my plaything so that I can experiment with my new Art, and a few more moves in my arsenal.” On top of his [Parkour Art], he now also has [Dexterity Art] which improves his dexterity, while plain, it synergizes well with his other skills.
“Let me play at least the villain,” This is Hajin’s true intention.
This is also Chae Nayun’s plan initially, which Hajin reads perfectly. Nayun feels conflicted. While Hyon Hyung is very proficient in playing the bad guy, no one does it better than Kim Hajin. Nayun recalls the plenty of moments when Hajin plays the bad guy, even though it is unintentional, he does it very convincingly.
Shin Jonghak feels invigorated. “You have spunk, I like it. But I don’t like you. Pest.” His words bleed with condescension. He clearly sees Hajin as less than dirt. He hefts his spear, and with a single step, he dashes at Hajin at superhuman speed.
Kim Hajin sees Jonghak’s trajectory as clear as day. “You could do better.” He snidely comments, while he throws the knife upwards as if playing with it.
Jonghak feels the world turning upside down abruptly mid-sprint when he only needs a single jerk to swing his spear. He is confused by the sudden turn of events.
What exactly is a ranged weapon? While Jonghak is flipping sideways, Hjain is actually viewing everything under the effects of [Bullet Time]. The moment he catches his knife, Jonghak has already tripped on Hajin’s outstretched foot.
Jonghak crashes on the dirt and grass, tumbling down in a complete halt as he uses his spear to maneuver himself, and gracefully land on his own two feet. “What happened?”
Kim Hajin remains silent, deliberating on the amount of magic power he needs to expend while under [Bullet Time]. Under [Bullet Time], he only needs to pull the trigger of his guns thus the need of little movement. But because of that one leg movement he does, he has expended so much more magic power.
“Again,” Shin Jonghak rushes the second time at Hajin. This time, he watches his own footwork carefully. When he reaches the appropriate distance to throw his spear, he changes his posture and hurls his spear brimming with magic power. “HaAH~!”
However, midswing, Jonghak feels his footing slipping, causing the spear he has thrown to miss by a wide margin, a foot far off from the target.
Kim Hajin has tested his Authority of Setting Intervention on the dirt. Because of Hajin’s extraordinary perception, he is able to easily predict Jonghak’s trajectory of attack and create a trap on his path by using his SP to change the dirt's properties and imbuing effects on the dirt.
This is impossible without prep time, but because of Cube AI’s system overclocking his device, and having modified his smartwatch, Hajin is able to use [Setting Intervention] to some extent while in combat.
“Your aim is very bad.” Hajin emotionlessly gives Jonghak’s skills a scolding. “In the past timeline, you aren’t this bad. If you lost your spear, you would have chosen to attack me with your fists then.”
Jonghak clenches his fists, realizing how close he is to do exactly that.
“What is wrong?” Hajin activates his [Bullet Time] and throws his knife in one big motion which eats a sizable chunk of his magic power.
In the blink of an eye, Jonnghak feels a stinging bloody sensation on his cheeks. “What?”
“Shin Myungchul would have evaded that… Well, he is a regressor too so his skills will definitely be superior to you.” Hajin picks up a pebble this time. “Here, I will go easy on you. I will only use a pebble against you.” Hajin playfully tosses the rock in the air.
“You!? What is your name?” Shin Jonghak is seething angrily, finally deeming it necessary to learn of the self-proclaimed regressor’s name. “Don’t put my grandfather’s name in that dirty mouth of yours!”
If his grandfather is really a regressor, then doesn’t it invalidate the Great Hero Shin Myungchul’s efforts? The very sound of Regressor is impressive, but to Jonnghak, it is nothing but an insult!
“You have seen my strength, so you have no choice, but to believe me now.” Hajin turns his back on Jonghak, picks up his spear, and returns it to the owner by lazily tossing it back.
Hajin does not stop there as he walks to Nayun and stands beside her. “Look, Jonghak…” He then grabs Nayun’s shoulder with one arm and hugs her. “Do you see now? We are actually head over heels for each other. Do you know why we are together? It is because she regressed too.”
Nayun is speechless, by Hajin’s shamelessness. All of this is very new to her.
Shin Jonghak cannot bring himself to pick up the spear lying below him.
Kim Hajin continues with his narration. “Shin Myungchul regressed. Do you know why? Because he is in love. He loves his wife very much. Thus, he did everything in his power to get her back— and the choice presented to him is none other than regression.”
“But there is a catch. His regression has a cost, and that is his soul which will be used as fuel for Baal’s descent into this world with his Devil Army. I am sure you must be confused about the talk of Devils, but do you remember Shin Myungchul’s death?” Hajin has a few conjectures of his own as he refers to Nayun’s memories in his head.
“What does this have to do with me?” Shin Jonghak grits his teeth in annoyance, he feels like he is being played.
Hajin smiles, and he rarely smiles when he plays the villain. “You have to discover that by yourself. You see, we are inviting you to join our organization… It is not simply the Devil Hunter’s Club that the others know on the surface, but something deeper, more intricate, and inhumanly difficult.”
Something in Shin Jonghak has changed, but they can just fix it over time.
“What is your answer, Jonghak-ssi? If you want to know, you have to prove yourself. Nayun ehre went to great lengths to involve you, but you are wasting her effort.”
It doesn’t take Jonghak long to give an answer as he kicks his spear into the air and loads it with his every magic power. “This is my answer.” He throws his spear which breaks off sound-barrier.
Kim Hajin draws a streak and a half of his stigma and creates a barrier to protect him and Nayun. Strong turbulent winds bounce outside Hajin’s barrier, and when the magic power is no more, there appear two dividing trenches from where Hajin stands. “Impressive, you have proven yourself.”
The barrier that Hajin has conjured has a very minor crack to it, almost unnoticeable if not for Hajin’s monstrous perception. Nayun is similarly astounded, but not by Jonghak, but by Hajin. “If it were me, I would have chosen to dodge that.” She comments. “Well, I can parry it too if I want, but that’s just annoying…”
Shin Jonghak is speechless by the lack of damage he has caused. Yet, he remains smiling, and proud. “That’s utterly ridiculous…” His tough-guy act almost breaks out.
“You passed. Well done.” Hajin continues on his big bad boss act, while he imbues a streak of stigma to the pebble he has been playing with for some time now. “Receive this, I care to warn you. I never miss.” He hurls it in a straight trajectory seemingly disappearing in the speed of light.
Jonghak haphazardly summons what is left of his magic power and defends himself. The pebble lands on his stomach, sending him crashing into more trees twice the number that Nayun has caused after kicking Jonghak in the back.
Nayun can no longer see Jonghak’s silhouette. “Is that necessary?”
“Don’t worry. The pebble is actually harmless.” Hajin has made sure to put the idea of painful, but harmless into his stigma, so Jonghak shouldn’t die from that. Moreover, Hajin has played a little deception to it actually as he purposely made the pebble have a flashy effect to make it look very intimidating when flung.
“…” Nayun tiredly removes Hajin’s arm still on her shoulder, the exhaustion of her consecutive dungeon runs finally catching up to her. “To our dear Jonghak, I wish him a successful career.” Nayun prays in her heart guilty for roughhousing the spear user.
Announcement This author wants to apologize for making Nayun kick Suho last chapter. It took me some time to realize where it went wrong LOL.