How To Use Regressors

3 – Episode 3 – Tutorial (3)

The night had passed and the sun had risen. I didn’t wake the old lady up again because I thought she would come up with various excuses.

“…It’s pointless to wake her up.”

Among those who were sleeping, Jochan-ho woke up first.

“Yoonseong, you woke up first.”

“Yes… well… did Byungok sleep well?”

First of all, I had to make sure not to show Jochan-ho that I thought he was acting strange.

I felt so tired from not being able to sleep, but I casually started the conversation, pretending not to know anything.

“Because of what happened yesterday, I couldn’t sleep well. But I feel somewhat relieved from the fatigue.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Yes. Now, before we move on, we should have a meal. I’ll wake up the others. Can you take a look around the field for a moment, Yoonseong?”

“Understood. Just in case, I’ll grab a weapon.”

I had my weapon and shield ready. Deep down, I wanted to gather provisions and escape, but taking provisions would raise unnecessary suspicions, so I couldn’t do that. I quickly glanced around, realizing that I didn’t need provisions at the moment.

I just needed to take a quick look around and return. I started moving slowly on foot.

“Why can’t I see any monsters? Is it because they’re still far from this building…?”

I looked around, but there was nothing special. It felt like hiking on a mountain with a few trees.

“But first, I need to find a job. That way, I’ll be able to do something even in the worst situations.”

Crunch – !

I heard what sounded like footsteps. It could be a monster, so I quickly hid among the bushes.

After a while, I started hearing voices of people having a conversation.

“Sister… where are we going…?”

“We need to get as far away from the building as possible. And it’s not just the monsters that are dangerous. You saw it back then. We can’t trust anyone just because they’re human. Yoo Hyun, you shouldn’t trust anyone either. We were just… lucky.”

As I cautiously observed their faces, they were the siblings I first encountered in the building.

“They were lucky to survive… what should I do? Should I talk to them? They might have some information that I don’t know.”

The sister, who seemed to be on guard, worried me, but at least she seemed less dangerous than Jo Chan-ho.

Not knowing when I would encounter other survivors, I cautiously took a step forward and spoke up.

“Just a moment.”

When the woman heard my voice, she was startled and, leaving her younger sibling behind, raised a dagger and shouted, “Who are you?”

“I have no intention of harming you. Please, calm down. I only want to have a conversation.”

“Fine, but don’t come any closer! If you do, I’ll stab you!”

“Her guard is too high… I need to calm her down first,” I thought to myself. I placed my club and shield on the ground and raised both hands, asserting that I meant no harm. After several moments without approaching, the woman began to speak.

“Are you alone?… Why did you approach us?”

“No, I’m not alone. I have companions, but they’re resting some distance away. I only approached because I want to exchange information that we both might find valuable.”

“How many of you are there?”

“Including me, there are five of us. Can I ask you a question now? Have you or anyone else here encountered monsters or other people?”

“We haven’t seen any monsters come this far yet. They might come later as time passes, but as for other people, we don’t know. We’ve been in disarray…”

“You say monsters might come as time passes? What does that mean?”

“I’ll ask the questions now. There’s a woman’s corpse a bit to the east from here… Was it your group’s doing?”

“…A woman’s corpse? What are you talking about? If it’s a corpse, it means she was attacked by monsters, right?”

I haven’t been to the east, so I have no knowledge of that area. After all, it’s only been a day since this madness began yesterday.

“Why are you suspecting me? If there’s a corpse, shouldn’t we be suspecting a monster?”

In the moment when I questioned the suspicion cast on me, the girl spoke from her side.

“… Because the corpse was stripped of its clothes.”

“Could it be Cho Chanho?”

As soon as I heard the girl’s words, I briefly suspected if it was the work of Cho Chanho. However, after a moment’s thought, I concluded it couldn’t be Cho Chanho’s doing.

“No, it’s not. I was with him all day yesterday. It’s not Cho Chanho… Someone else must have done it.”

“No, it’s not our group. In the first place, we have three men and two women.”

“How can we trust that?”

“If it were me or our group, we wouldn’t be revealing ourselves to you; we’d call our team and ambush you.”

“……..”

“I wish you could trust us. I’m treating you with respect now, right? So let me ask you one thing. What does it mean that the monster might come later when some time has passed?”

“That is…”

Creak –

“Ah, you’re here, Mr. Yoon Sung. These two are…?”

As soon as I heard the voice, a shiver ran down my spine. That was because the owner of the voice was Cho Chanho.

“Damn… How the hell did they find their way here?”

I maintained my composure and responded to his words.

“…. You must be Byung-ok. I found some other survivors while exploring the area. We were having a conversation.”

As a robust adult male appeared, a woman who seemed to be his sister shouted anxiously.

“What…! Didn’t they clearly say that our group was far away?! It’s you guys after all…!”

“Well… I think there may be some misunderstanding. Yoon-sung here has been gone for a while, so we came to find the group. Please calm down.”

Jo Chan-ho laughed and reassured the two students. Their initial wariness did not completely disappear, perhaps due to his gentle demeanor and soft tone, but they seemed to slowly relax as he did not cause harm or threats.

“How did you know and find where I am, Byung-ok?”

“Since Yoon-sung didn’t return even after some time had passed, I looked for some traces. Thankfully, there were footprints on the mountain trail, so I was able to find you.”

“Damn it… You found me just by seeing footprints?”

It seemed like a wise decision not to run away recklessly. If I had fled without thinking, Jo Chan-ho, who surely would have sensed something strange, would have undoubtedly followed me, and as someone with low stats, I would have been caught quickly.

If an ordinary person had come to find me out of concern, I would have been grateful, but it was creepy that someone, who I didn’t know if they were a crazy murderer, found me just by footprints.

“If only you two are alright, would you consider joining our group? Having more people in a crisis situation brings comfort, you see.”

“….What?”

“Of course, I’m not forcing you, but wouldn’t it be better if we joined forces to pass through this tutorial? Individual strength has its limits, after all.”

When the proposal of Jo Chan-ho was heard, the female student began to think. It would be difficult for just two students to survive against monsters and murderers.

If our group were a normal one, it would be natural to think that it is a good proposal from our perspective and our sister’s. Although my sister has the ability called magic power and her unique characteristics are not ordinary, she is still young, so she would have been worried about many things.

‘Of course, it’s natural for the student on the older sister’s side to have concerns because she is also young.’

“……”

While the female student was pondering, the boy next to her, who seemed to be her younger brother, spoke to her.

“Sis, do you think it would be alright to follow those people? They don’t seem like bad people…”

Yes, at this moment, joining our group seems like a good choice.

‘… I wonder what kind of answer she will give.’

If Jo Chan-ho hadn’t been in our group, their choice would have been a good one.

“Okay… However, there are conditions. We won’t be forced to do dangerous things just because we’re young, and we won’t have to share our food and water. If that happens, we’ll leave the group.”

“Haha. Yes, of course. Welcome. My name is Jo Byeong-ok.”

“… My name is Lee Yoo-rim. And my sister’s name is Lee Yoo-hyeon.”

“I’m Yoo-hyeon. Hello….”

Jo Chan-ho smiled happily and opened his mouth.

“Great. Shall we move then? Mr. Yoon-seong, the others are waiting.”

“… Yes.”

…. I couldn’t stop the children’s choice.

As we all returned to the field, everyone was preparing for the meal. Even though the meal consisted only of bread and water, I had to consider myself fortunate to be able to eat something in this situation.

Hyunjin noticed me and spoke to me.

“Yoonseong hyung! Where did you go? We were worried.”

“I just went around the area at Byungok’s request. But let’s greet the new people first.”

“Uh… Are they kids?”

‘From my perspective, you’re a kid too. Just a guy one year older than a girl…’

“Hello, I’m Yurim. And this is my younger brother, Yuhyeon. Nice to meet you.”

Hyunjin and Yurim were exchanging greetings when suddenly the lady spoke as if she had a complaint.

“Oh my… they’re young students. Byungok, it’s nice to have new people here, but… aren’t they too young?”