A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 180 : Beastkin Forces (7)

After receiving his promise regarding the conditions, I released Tan.

It wasn't that I had no other way, but I didn't exert any particular force on him.

After all, what I had requested of him wasn't to hide information but rather to add to it.

From Tan's perspective, whether my words were true or false, it just meant he had more information to report, so there was no reason for him to conceal it.

Perhaps because the development was so different from his expectations, Tan's expression as he left the Guild House was tinged with a much stronger bewilderment than before.

But he didn't do something as foolish as evading the freedom he was given.

Despite me not showing him the way out, as soon as his restraints were released, he paid no mind and immediately left the premises.

It seemed he knew how to find his own way.

Given the location, I did think it might be dangerous, but I didn't feel the need to go so far as to provide him with cover.

Tatatatak-

Tan, glancing around in all directions, receded into a small dot.

And Eliya, who was quietly watching his retreating figure.

"Hero."

called out to me suddenly, her gaze still fixed in that direction.

"What is it, Liya."

"...It's E-l-i-y-a, not Liya."

The girl, who made a now-customary retort before shaking her head.

"...More importantly, is it really okay to just let him go like this?"

"What about it?"

she asked, her voice unable to hide its worried tone.

"That... I'm sure you have your reasons, but. I was just thinking it might have been better to hide *that*."

‘That’.

It was a vague pronoun, but it wasn't hard to figure out what Eliya meant by 'that'.

'...'

Tan had surely witnessed me confronting Valencia, but that didn't mean he knew the whole story of what happened in Aileen Village.

The place he was observing us from was probably the Village Chief's house, and it wasn't that close.

From that distance, he could only guess at the state of the battle; he wasn't close enough to hear the specific details of our conversation.

In other words, all the records he had were based on visual information.

He surely wouldn't have been able to guess anything about the descendant of the Beastkin or the Thought Form residing in the sword.

The reason I could let him go without any particular gag order was precisely because he didn't know the truly important things.

In that case, the 'that' Eliya was talking about referred to something among the visual information he had gathered that shouldn't be reported.

And there was only one thing that could be.

'The fragment of the Primordial Demonic Beast.'

Eliya was asking if it was okay not to place a gag order regarding that unknown substance.

"...I don't know the specifics, but I get a very ominous feeling from it."

It was a valid question.

I certainly didn't want the fact that I was connected to the fragment of the Primordial Demonic Beast to be known to The Order.

Moreover, since I had emerged from a cocoon created by that fragment, from Eliya's perspective, she couldn't help but worry about that part, regardless of my intentions.

I had refused to answer her questions about it several times on the way here, so she must have guessed it was something unusual.

And it was more than just an ominous feeling.

Eliya had to have known, at least intuitively.

That it was, at the very least, not a creature aligned with the tendencies of The Order.

...But as always.

"Of course."

"...?"

her worry was nothing but unfounded anxiety.

"That part will be taken care of on its own, even if I don't touch it."

If it were really a problem, I wouldn't have left it as is.

It's not like I didn't know.

I knew better than anyone that the information that absolutely must not reach the UMC was the fact that I was connected to ‘it’.

The reason I left it alone was.

because, at least for that part, there was no need for me to do anything.

* * *

After leaving U-jin's Guild House, Tan made his way to the UMC headquarters.

Of course, he didn't foolishly head straight there.

For some reason, he had a feeling that wasn't the case, but he couldn't be sure.

He couldn't completely rule out the possibility that U-jin had released him without any restraints in order to tail him and find the UMC headquarters.

Following the manual in the agent's handbook, he took a circuitous route and entered through an underground entrance.

『First, let's say that you revealed your identity and approached me first, not that I discovered you.』

『...!』

『For the excuse… just say that you realized force wouldn't work, and since 'Valencia La Vael Tigris' was about to leave, you thought you might lose her.』

『....』

『Second, tell them that I wish to contact the agency directly, and that if they want, I can also cooperate on matters regarding the existing 'Demon Hunter'.』

『....』

『And third, mention that with the heir of the Beastkin King joining, a new Beastkin faction might be established here.』

The request U-jin made upon releasing him was to include those three points in his report.

But that wasn't what was filling Tan's mind at this moment.

'...That bizarre tentacle monster that came out of the Thought Form's body.'

Tan didn't know exactly what it was, but he knew instinctively.

That the most threatening thing at the scene was not U-jin, nor anything else, but that.

Well, since he had seen U-jin emerge from that cocoon in a bizarre form, he didn't think it was necessary to clearly distinguish it from U-jin.

What was certain was that ‘it’ was the most important item to report in this incident.

That's why Tan felt something was off.

Not only did U-jin not block his report, but adding items to it also felt strange.

If he were U-jin, and if he were really related to that tentacle monster, he thought he would have wanted to hide that fact the most.

But U-jin had released him without a single word about it.

As if to say, 'Go on, report it if you can.'

So, as soon as he arrived, Tan tried to report that first to Director Ludwig Allegro.

"...What? Why are you here at this hour?"

"...Director."

"And what the hell happened to you?"

"Please listen carefully to what I have to say."

...But.

"I—"

The moment he tried to open his mouth.

Tan understood why U-jin had just let him go.

"...You? You what?"

"......"

It was simple.

Physically.

It was impossible for him to open his mouth and speak of its existence.

No, he wasn't sure if 'physically' was the right word.

He just couldn't do it.

The moment he tried to speak about it.

"Uwekk—"

"...What the? What's wrong with this bastard?"

he felt his brain being violently stirred, and an indescribable sense of terror washed over him.

Unable to hold back the sudden wave of nausea, Tan couldn't bring himself to vomit inside the director's office, so he quickly turned, opened the door,

and ended up spewing a load of vomit right in front of the door.

Pant, pant—

After catching his breath, he turned back, wiped his mouth, and muttered in a small voice.

"...It's nothing."

He didn't even think of trying a second time.

He couldn't speak of it.

Not at all.

* * *

"What?"

Director Ludwig Allegro of the executive agency UMC shouted loudly, his brow deeply furrowed.

"You revealed your identity and approached him first?"

"...Yes."

At the reluctant affirmation, he let out a scoff of disbelief, then his eyes widened as he shouted in a rage-filled voice.

"Are you an idiot?"

"......"

"You blabbed the identity we've painstakingly kept secret for years, not to some villager, but to some Hero riffraff from the outside?"

Of course, he knew that Seo U-jin wasn't someone who could be summed up with the simple term 'Hero riffraff'.

In the first place, there was no one else the UMC had been watching so closely recently.

But unfortunately, Ludwig was not the type of man to hold back his surging anger while speaking.

"Oh, for crying out loud, why don't you just give away the UMC headquarters while you're at it? Wagging your tail like a dog that's found its master."

"......"

"Hah, this is ridiculous. Since becoming director, I thought I'd heard every kind of bullshit report there is, but this is the first time I've heard such a moronic report about an agent not getting caught, but trotting over and spilling the beans himself."

"......"

"Yeah, it's so disgusting it makes me want to puke too."

In truth, his words and actions were a bit excessive.

...No, not just a bit, quite a lot.

Although he held the title of Director, since it was a secret agency directly under The Order, Ludwig was also a former Priest.

It wasn't just his words that crossed the line.

"...It was impossible to subdue her by force, and I judged it necessary as it seemed I was about to lose 'Valencia la Vael Tigris' who was leaving immediately."

"Well done! You goddamn idiot."

Shhhhk—

Throwing the entire stack of documents piled on his office desk, he was now rebuking him in a way that the word 'insult' couldn't fully capture.

Nevertheless, the reason Tan had no choice but to endure it was simple.

As far as he could recall, an agent on a secret surveillance mission revealing their identity and approaching a target first was an unprecedented, absurd event in the history of the UMC's founding.

Moreover, while he wasn't sure if it was true, official records showed that while there were cases of agents having their identities discovered, there had never been a case where their affiliation was also revealed.

That's how thoroughly trained the agents assigned were.

So, knowing Ludwig's fiery temperament from the start, and having done something unprecedentedly stupid, he had no choice but to accept this tongue-lashing.

Letting out a deep sigh inwardly, Tan took the reprimand head-on and carried out his duty.

"...One more thing to report is that he wishes to contact The Agency directly."

"Oh, wonderful. So you're not just a dog, but a loyal one that runs errands too."

"......"

"So, did you really go and spill the location of our agency too?"

Shakes head—

"No. Of course not... but he said he could cooperate on the matter of the existing 'Demon Hunter' if we wished, so we agreed to make contact again later."

"...Heh. Demon Hunter?"

Flinch—

"Is his target designation nickname not enough for you? You're making decisions without permission from your superiors?"

Screech—

At Tan's continued explanation, Ludwig stood up from his seat and pointed at the chair with his palm.

"You do it. The director's job."

"......"

"What kind of director am I? When a low-level agent is making unofficial decisions for a secret agency and spilling classified information."

"......"

"I'd rather quit than sit here like a scarecrow listening to reports like 'I just took a shit.' Don't you think?"

"......"

"Sit and wait for a moment, Mr. Next Director. I'll go write my resignation letter."

Tan, looking half-dazed by Ludwig's verbal hazing, barely managed to steady his pupils, which were shaking with clear anxiety.

'...'

And in his dazed state, he barely managed to recite the sentence that came to mind.

"...And third, with the heir of the Beastkin King joining, it seems a new Beastkin force might be established there."

He expected to get another earful for this final piece of the report as well, but.

"...That kind of thing isn't for you to report based on your own thoughts, you report the facts and I'll..."

"......"

"...What?"

His reaction to the final report was a little different from the previous ones.