The Heroine Stole My Regression-Chapter 128
First, let’s organize the current situation.
I was chased out by Bugaram.
Though, it didn’t seem like I was officially expelled. If I had been fully kicked out, there would’ve been a system notification.
Once again, I was chased out by Bugaram.
And the child I’m supposedly raising turned out to be Yoon Chaeha.
Now, I’ve been teleported to Yoon Chaeha’s room.
She’s sleeping peacefully in front of me.
And outside, someone presumed to be her mother was repeatedly calling her.
This situation—
How am I supposed to explain it?
“Chaeha~ Are you still sleeping~?”
There was no way I could be caught face-to-face with Yoon Chaeha’s parents like this. I had no confidence in explaining the situation.
I quickly approached Yoon Chaeha.
– Tap.
“Yoon Chaeha. Yoon Chaeha.”
I gently tapped her back.
Her sleeping face slowly frowned.
She looked like she was about to wake up soon…
– Tap tap.
“Chaeha.”
“Mmm… Just a bit more…”
Yoon Chaeha blinked open her eyes drowsily.
Her barely opened eyes looked at me.
“……”
“……”
For a few seconds, we just stared at each other in silence.
“……”
“Good morning.”
I smiled softly. Her dazed, sleep-drunk expression was honestly hilarious.
But Yoon Chaeha’s reaction was duller than expected.
“Jeong Haein…?”
She slowly looked up at me with half-closed eyes.
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A moment later, without the slightest hesitation, she grabbed my arm and yanked me onto the bed.
Caught off guard by the sudden motion, I lost balance and fell onto the bed.
The strong scent of lavender soaked into the bedding stung my nose.
“Even in a dream…”
She murmured faintly as she wrapped her arms around my neck.
Yoon Chaeha pulled her body tightly against me, clinging up to my chest.
Her leg lightly wrapped around my thigh.
“Hnnng… Me too…”
With her head buried against me, she kept inhaling deeply.
I silently watched her.
“Chaeha, I’m coming in, okay?”
Whatever misunderstanding she was under, it was already too late.
They were right in front of the door now.
I just gave up.
– Creak.
“I made some food—”
Before the sentence was even finished, the door opened.
And the woman who saw the inside of the room froze on the spot.
On the bed.
I was lying in my training uniform on Yoon Chaeha’s bed.
Yoon Chaeha was nestled in my arms, her legs wrapped around my waist, breathing deeply.
Only her right eye, slightly opened between my chest and arm, made direct contact with her mother’s gaze.
“……Mmm.”
The air in the room froze.
Yoon Chaeha slowly raised her head.
Her eyes grew wider and wider as she seemed to grasp the situation.
“……”
Yoon Chaeha’s mother closed the door and walked out.
The door shut quietly as if nothing had happened.
Only then did Yoon Chaeha slowly lift her face from my chest.
“It… wasn’t a dream…?”
I was speechless.
For a while, the two of us said nothing, frozen on the bed.
***
“What should I do…? What should I do? But it’s kinda fun…”
“Put on some clothes, first.”
I had turned my back and was looking out the window.
I gave Yoon Chaeha a rough explanation of the situation.
Bugaram had chosen her.
She had jumped with joy, but then quickly became anxious again once she recalled the current circumstances.
“I’m dressed now.”
It seemed she had finished changing.
I turned my head.
“Were you planning to go out?”
An orange jacket over a white t-shirt.
Not exactly the outfit for entering the workshop.
“Never mind… It’s fine.”
Her outfit wasn’t what mattered now.
I led her out the door.
I had roughly decided how I’d explain things.
But the ones who greeted us outside weren’t Chaeha’s parents.
On the living room table sat a single white memo note.
[Chaeha! Mom and Dad had to leave suddenly for something. We’ll be back late at night! There’s side dishes in the fridge, so take care of dinner with your boyfriend.]
[P.S. Make sure to use protection. This is not a joke. Dad insisted. Mom agrees!]
“……”
So much for the chance to explain.
It was over.
Yoon Chaeha, her face bright red, flipped the memo over.
“Let’s explain later.”
There would surely be another opportunity.
I pulled Yoon Chaeha back into the room.
I’d been wondering how to return to the workshop—until I saw the red tattoo etched on my arm.
A pattern as if flame had scorched the skin.
When I traced the tattoo with my fingertips, a faint heat and subtle vibration pulsed through it.
I instinctively understood.
If I injected mana into this tattoo, I could return to the workshop.
But it was designed so that I couldn’t activate it with my power alone.
“Hold here and inject some mana.”
I held out my forearm.
“Okay.”
Yoon Chaeha carefully wrapped her hands around my arm.
I could feel her fingertips trembling slightly.
As her mana flowed in, the tattoo glowed with a faint red light and released heat.
In that moment, the space subtly twisted.
My vision bleached white, and all sound and sensation rapidly vanished.
Then, when I opened my eyes again—
The two of us were already standing in the middle of a place as hot as hell.
“So hot…”
Yoon Chaeha panted for breath.
I quickly pulled the Magma Booster out from my coat and handed it to her.
[Magma Booster]
[Absorbs surrounding heat and converts it into a protective shield.]
I had brought it as a spare, never expecting I’d actually need to use it.
Yoon Chaeha cautiously took the small switch.
“Just press the button firmly. It should help.”
I gave a brief explanation.
As soon as the booster’s button was pressed, it would absorb surrounding heat and convert it into a shield.
It should make breathing and movement easier.
But instead of pressing it, Yoon Chaeha turned the switch this way and that with her fingertips, sniffed it—
And then, without a moment’s hesitation, popped it into her mouth.
“Nom.”
“?”
The switch disappeared between her cherry-like lips.
– Slurp slurp.
She began rolling the artifact around like a candy, tasting it.
– Lick lick.
Once, twice, slowly rolling it with her tongue and savoring the strange metallic flavor spreading in her mouth.
Her pupils wavered momentarily, then her lips slowly curled up.
And then, as if °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° satisfied, she gave a slight nod.
“Ptoo.”
The next moment, she spat out the empty shell of the switch onto the floor.
At the same time, the surrounding heat began being sucked in like a wave.
Yoon Chaeha’s aura devoured the surrounding heat, absorbing it into herself. Red light bloomed at her fingertips.
The raging heat swirled like a vortex into her body.
Soon, the heat was completely shut out, and a red, semi-transparent shield formed around her.
“Tasty.”
She stuck out the tip of her tongue and licked the corner of her lips.
As if savoring the lingering sweetness, Yoon Chaeha smiled faintly.
“This is the gift you gave me.”
Ah.
As I watched that bizarre act, something suddenly came to mind.
“…Seeker of Hunger?”
“Yep.”
The true nature of the stunt she had just performed—was the Authority Yoon Chaeha had recently awakened.
Seeker of Hunger.
It was awakened after she absorbed the remnants of an evil god.
Yoon Chaeha had swallowed the essence of the Magma Booster and made it her own.
The ability of the Seeker of Hunger didn’t seem to stop at mere absorption.
It dismantled the artifact’s power and principles, completely reinterpreting them into her own unique method of assimilation.
The switch she had spit onto the ground had now become a completely useless piece of scrap metal.
Watching that sight, a strange sense of anticipation began to rise inside
Possibility. I could see potential.
“How much do you think you can eat?”
At my question, Yoon Chaeha fell silent for a moment, deep in thought.
“Mm… you?”
…What the hell are you saying?
“Ah… yeah, that’s true.”
Now that I think about it, she wasn’t wrong.
Yoon Chaeha had copied both my Catenaccio and Phalanx, then altered them into her own style.
“Kidding. Probably almost any artifact?”
Yoon Chaeha turned the topic with a mischievous smile.
It seemed she had awakened an absurdly powerful Authority.
A completely new type of power I’d never seen before.
Most likely something that happened because of the unpredictability of the evil god’s remnant being so strong.
The distance to the workshop was still considerable.
Now, it was time to move forward.
***
“It’s so much easier.”
Jeong Haein murmured. It was nothing like when he had been wandering alone.
He could feel it clearly—the roads, the fights, the whole process of moving forward had become noticeably smoother.
Now he could understand, at least a little, why Bugaram had emphasized ‘connection’ so much.
What’s more, the combat chemistry between Jeong Haein and Yoon Chaeha was far better than he had expected.
Maybe even as good as what he had with Ha Sion, who had been with him for ten years.
If his synergy with Ha Sion had been built on years of trust and mutual care, then his synergy with Yoon Chaeha was of a completely different nature.
Yoon Chaeha constantly observed Jeong Haein’s actions, tried to learn, to understand.
As a result, the more time passed, the more their orientations began to align.
Jeong Haein wanted to show her everything he had.
And Yoon Chaeha showed no hesitation in taking that and making it her own.
Without bothering with consideration or compromise, they selfishly clashed and probed each other—yet naturally, they became more compatible.
Yoon Chaeha was growing more and more excited.
A smile spread across her face.
She felt a sudden sense of gratitude toward Jeong Haein for introducing her to such a fun place.
“Jeong Haein!”
Eventually unable to hold back, Yoon Chaeha called out to him.
Jeong Haein turned his head with a soft smile.
But at that very moment—
Just for a split second, as their eyes met and the scenery behind him blurred, an unfamiliar scene overlapped.
A memory surfaced from deep within her mind—a towering structure collapsing like hell.
And in the center of that tower, a single person standing alone.
“Uh…?”
Yoon Chaeha’s gaze wavered.
The face she had just seen was both familiar and unfamiliar.
As if someone she had long forgotten was now overlapping like a shadow.
An unexplainable, unknowable sense of dissonance. Déjà vu.
She took a deep breath. That strange feeling slowly faded.
“What? Something wrong?”
Jeong Haein asked playfully, smiling.
Yoon Chaeha stared blankly at his face for a long time, then slowly shook her head.
“No… nothing.”
Yoon Chaeha felt, for a brief moment, as if she had been dreaming.
Somewhere in her chest, she felt an inexplicable, faint twinge.
.
!
Chapter 128
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