The Regressor Only Protects Me

Chapter 12. Rapid Development (1)

1st Floor, Red Team Encampment.

We moved all the corpses.

I went back down to the first floor to inspect the encampment.

There was vomit scattered here and there, but I couldn’t worry about that right now.

After the battle, we had moved the bodies, built barricades, and relocated the encampment.

People were utterly exhausted.

It was already 6:20 a.m., the time when the morning sun was about to rise.

People hadn’t slept for hours.

The elderly and children were nodding off, while even the able-bodied adults were gasping for breath.

There wasn’t enough food, the smell was awful, and anxiety hung in the air.

What they needed now was rest.

If the Blue Team attacked while everyone was asleep, we’d die without putting up any proper resistance.

A night watch had to be assigned.

“Attention for a moment, please.”

Despite their exhaustion, people looked at me.

“Let’s assign a night watch. I’ll take volunteers first.”

I organized three teams with two people each.

One team was stationed at the escalator, one at the stairs, and one at the elevator.

Excluding Jin Jae-hee, who was out scouting.

Excluding Kwon Kyung-soo and the four people producing food, totaling five.

With six excluded, 33 people remained here.

With three teams of six and rotating shifts every two hours, we could cover 24 hours.

I considered the efficiency of our manpower.

There was no need to mobilize everyone for the night watch.

But neglecting the watch wasn’t an option either.

What we needed most was to strengthen our forces, so I assigned only the minimum number necessary for the night watch.

“I’ll assign only six people for the night watch. The shifts will rotate every two hours without pause. In return, those on watch will be exempt from all other tasks. Let’s take volunteers from the elderly and children.”

Able-bodied adults were excluded from the watch.

At those words, some adults lowered their hands.

Soon, two children and four elderly people stepped forward.

I earnestly spoke to them.

“During your shift, you must never let your guard down, not even for a moment. If you need to go to the bathroom, ask a nearby teammate to cover for you. The night watch is crucial. All our lives depend on it. And if you sense danger or anything happens, run away first. Remember, your life comes first.”

The children swallowed nervously.

I looked at the smallest child among them.

He was about 13 years old at most.

Roughly Junho’s age.

I spoke to the child.

“This is important. Really important. While the remaining adults figure out how to resolve things, you must become our eyes. Can you do that?”

I looked into the child’s eyes and asked, and he silently nodded.

The child’s young face was stained with fatigue and blood, and it hurt my heart.

It reminded me of Junho.

I patted the child on the head.

Then, I addressed the four elderly people.

“Good. Now off you go. Remember what I said.”

They decided on their shifts among themselves and headed to the third floor.

What remained was rest to preserve our strength.

“Everyone else, get some sleep now, even if it’s just for a bit. I’ll wake you in exactly five hours.”

At last, people’s expressions relaxed.

With the night watch assigned, they could finally rest a little easier.

Thankfully, this place was a shopping mall.

The first-floor lounge, along with the luxury shops, had plenty of clothes.

There were more than enough makeshift beddings.

People spread expensive padded coats that had lost their value on the ground and lay down on them one by one.

Those who felt cold covered themselves with mink coats and slept.

They used luxury bags as pillows and began to sleep.

The morning sun was about to rise.

But I couldn’t sleep yet.

The first-floor lounge, where everyone was asleep.

Snoring and the sound of teeth grinding filled the air.

In one corner, I lit a candle.

Under the bright candlelight, I placed the materials I had gathered on the floor.

The Blue Team likely armed every soldier with at least one knife.

The restaurant floor was overflowing with knives, after all.

Thus, the Red Team had to produce its own weapons.

Mop handles had a longer reach than kitchen knives, but they were weaker in durability and offensive power.

I needed another method.

‘How to effectively kill people.’

It was a thought I had never once considered in my life.

I was a little surprised at myself for even thinking this.

But I quickly shook it off and examined the tools again.

There was no time for pointless thoughts.

A goblin’s dagger.

When I held the dagger in my hand, a faint item status window appeared before me.

It was likely an ability applicable to all players.

●[Temporary]

Goblin’s Shoddy Dagger (+0)

Rank: F

Attack Power: 2

Durability: 2

Special Effects: None

Acquisition Difficulty: Low

Ignoring the attack power, rank, and special effects, the durability was a mere 2.

Human skin and bones were tougher than expected.

A blade like this couldn’t rival a kitchen knife.

Wham! Crack!

When I struck it against the ground, the dagger shattered to pieces.

‘This won’t work.’

I tossed the shattered dagger to the floor and pondered other options.

I needed a weapon more refined and sharper.

As I thought about this, I felt someone’s presence.

“This could be pretty decent as a spear, don’t you think? Not for swinging, but for stabbing.”

At the voice, I turned my head.

There was a woman crouched down, examining a mop handle.

She had long brown-dyed hair that reached her waist.

The woman waved the mop handle in her hand.

“This, this. It’s long, just like a spear.”

“It’ll break the moment it stabs anything.”

The mop handle was, at best, made of plastic.

It wasn’t strong enough to pierce human skin.

“Hm… really?”

But the woman tilted her head and continued.

“Then how about a throwing spear?”

Swoosh—clatter.

She tossed the mop handle weakly.

It flew forward and fell to the ground without much force.

I shook my head.

“That won’t work either. It’s too light to fly far, and the accuracy would be terrible.”

“Then let’s add weight!”

She suddenly sprang up excitedly and began grabbing clothes nearby.

Then, she started wrapping the clothes around the mop handle.

They were random pieces of clothing discarded in the shopping mall lounge.

“Hmm. Done.”

The woman held the mop handle and smiled faintly.

I continued to watch her, and she pulled the makeshift spear back with her hand.

Soon, something astonishing happened.

The mop handle left her grasp, tracing a curve nearly like a straight line as it flew forward.

Thunk.

The mop handle soared cleanly through the air before falling to the ground.

“Oh.”

The woman pursed her lips in surprise, as though even she hadn’t expected it.

Wrapping the mop handle with clothes had added weight, giving it stability.

It was an unexpected gain.

“This isn’t bad.”

“Right? It’s good, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Using the mop handle as a throwing weapon wasn’t a bad idea.

But unless the tip of the spear was addressed, its lethality would be limited.

Then, as if another idea had struck her, the woman began attaching something to the end of the handle.

‘What is she doing?’

I stepped closer and carefully observed her actions.

The tip of the mop handle had a round socket, designed for something to fit into it.

The woman brought over the goblin’s dagger and began forcefully inserting it into the socket.

She even stuck out her tongue slightly, like a child assembling their first Lego set, clearly enjoying herself.

“Hm, it’s not going in well. Hold on.”

Eventually, the woman managed to attach the dagger to the mop handle.

By luck, the dagger fit perfectly into the socket.

“Done! Should I try throwing it now?”

She turned to me and asked, and I nodded.

She held the completed spear and looked around the area.

Finding a pile of discarded clothes, she threw the spear toward it.

Whoosh—thud!

The spear flew straight and embedded itself into the pile of clothes.

It was impressive.

What was even more impressive was her skill.

This wasn’t the work of someone doing it for the first time.

She had the instincts of a natural hunter.

When I pulled the spear out, I saw that the blade had pierced through several layers of clothing.

“What do you think? This should work, right?”

She turned to me and spoke.

I slowly approached, pulling the spear from the pile of clothes.

As I did, information about the weapon naturally surfaced in my mind.

●

Crude Spear (+0)(Crafted)

Rank: F

Attack Power: 3

Durability: 5

Special Effects: None

Acquisition Difficulty: Low

The attack power had increased by 1, and the durability had risen significantly by 3.

Simply combining components had changed the item’s stats.

In hindsight, it was a straightforward crafting method.

But I hadn’t thought of it myself.

Had I been overthinking things?

Now that I thought about it, I seemed to have a slight headache.

The spear she designed was excellent.

After all, it was a disposable weapon meant for use in this place only.

If we left the shopping mall, we could secure better weapons, but for now, this would suffice.

“Can you keep making these?”

I asked while looking at the spear, and she nodded.

“Of course.”

“About 50 of them. The mop handles should be on the 7th floor, where the interior decoration stores are.”

“Ah, 50? Sure, no problem. I was just getting bored anyway.”

As she prepared to start working, I stopped her.

“Do it after you’ve had some sleep. You must be tired.”

“Nope, I’m not tired at all.”

She answered innocently, and I lowered my head slightly in surrender.

“All right, then. Can I count on you?”

“Of course, Your Majesty. This humble servant will do her utmost.”

With a grin, she pretended to act like a character in a historical drama before gathering materials from here and there.

I watched her quietly for a moment before asking her softly.

“What’s your name?”

“Me?”

She answered while holding a dagger in both hands.

“Lee Joo-yeon. And you?”

“Kang Sion.”

I bent down to pick up a dagger from the floor.

“You know, you’re pretty smart, huh?”

“It’s nothing.”

I listened to her voice as I gathered the daggers.

“My little brother is super smart too. A real genius, honestly. But I hate using my brain. Just looking at numbers makes me feel sick.”

I didn’t bother responding and just listened.

“But seriously, I didn’t know this, but my brother is friends with you.”

‘Friend?’

I froze mid-action while reaching for a dagger.

A friend.

I’d never had something like that in my life.

I never had the luxury for such things.

“Who?”

I turned to her and asked, and she answered immediately.

“Lee Saebom.”

I repeated the name to myself.

But no face came to mind.

I had dropped out of middle school and started working part-time right after.

If I had someone close enough to be called a friend, it would be someone from my middle school days.

Lee Saebom, from middle school.

Still, no one came to mind.

“Got it.”

I didn’t have much else to say.

Even if he was a friend, it didn’t change anything for me.

I just needed to focus on the task at hand.

I returned to making spears.

Now that I knew the crafting method, all that was left was production.

Combining mop handles, goblin daggers, and pieces of clothing to create new weapons.

Crrrk…

As I tied the clothes around the spear to add weight, another status window appeared before my eyes.

[You have learned the crafting method for the Crude Spear!]

[Crafting Skill +1]

It felt as though everything in life had turned into a game.

Even simple actions caused status windows to appear.

Adapting to it wasn’t difficult, but it was still hard to comprehend at times.

Regardless, I needed to get used to this system if I wanted to progress smoothly in the game ahead.

I continued making spears alongside the woman.

Each time I crafted, my skill level increased.

[Crafting Skill +1]

[Crafting Skill +1]

[Crafting Skill +1]

At first, my skill leveled up after every two or three spears.

Now, I needed to make about ten to level up.

Curious if I was the only one experiencing this, I glanced at the woman, but she seemed to be checking her own status window as well.

Of course, I couldn’t see someone else’s status window.

What I saw were her hands moving through the air as if interacting with something invisible.

I turned back and focused on making more spears.

It was now 10:30 a.m.

The night watch had rotated once, and there were no unusual occurrences.

As I completed the 22nd spear, another status window appeared before me.

[You have learned a new skill!]

[Skill…….]