A Regressor's Bucket List

‘So you harbor a grudge after being used and discarded by the Demon King… I can roughly understand that.’

'…'

'In the end, the fact that your goal is also to take the Demon King's head doesn't change.'

After hearing Shuten's whole story, I broached the topic I had been holding back.

'So…'

To be honest, this was the real reason I had sought him out.

Not to say that hearing the full story of ‘why he was following the Suicide Squad and hunting Magical Beasts’ wasn’t important.

That was from the Suicide Squad's perspective; for me, personally, this was the more important matter.

So.

'Any thoughts on joining the Suicide Squad?'

'…?'

'Well, it’s not something I’ve agreed upon with the others, of course, but I figured it wouldn’t be impossible if I pushed for it.'

'…'

'I may not look it, but I have a bit of pull.'

An offer to become a member of the Suicide Squad.

This was what I had wanted to say to him.

Since we'd be fighting the Demon King's Army continuously anyway, and our goals were the same, I thought it would be better for him to join rather than follow the Suicide Squad from this ambiguous distance.

Unlike those detestable ‘Magical Beasts’ and ‘demons’ I knew.

He was pretty much the only one who fulfilled the rights and duties of a sentient being.

…Of course, it would be a bit awkward at first, but many of the guys in the Suicide Squad were warm-hearted, so I thought at least a few of them could become friends with him.

But Shuten immediately rejected my proposal.

'…It is not a place where I can belong.'

'…'

A clean refusal, without any additional remarks.

It was such a firm and resolute rejection that it made the one who asked feel awkward.

But I didn’t have an ability like ‘Lie Detection’ as he did.

Therefore, to confirm his true feelings, I offered again.

'We’re going to be fighting together from now on anyway. Why not just join when I’m offering?'

'…No.'

…I was taught that if you’re Korean, you should ask at least three times.

So I asked one last time.

No, I was about to ask.

'Still, you’ve known me for quite a while, so you can trust me, right? Just trust me and—'

But my final offer was cut short.

By the answer he spat out before I could even finish.

'Pfft—'

'…Don’t make me laugh, brat.'

'…'

'I will never trust anyone again. Not even if my own father came back from the dead.'

At the bitter, almost resentful sneer that settled on his face then.

'…'

I couldn’t finish my invitation.

***

“Who told you?”

【…?】

“A certain big friend. Looked a bit aggressive and scary, but sometimes had a tsundere-like side.”

After my rather blunt answer, Shuten stared into my eyes for a moment, then, as if confirming I wasn’t lying, he nodded lightly and muttered.

【…It doesn’t seem to be a lie. Which means you have a backer I don’t know about.】

'Pfft—'

I said it thinking he might understand.

But judging by his expression, it seemed he couldn't even dream of it.

That the ‘aggressive, scary-looking friend with a tsundere-like side’ I mentioned was Shuten himself.

“…”

【Well, that doesn’t matter. In any case, if you, brat, can prove yourself, I will contribute to this ‘Demon King Hunt’ plan you speak of.】

“…Okay.”

【…You’d better succeed, brat. You have to at least be worth the price of my mana.】

…For now, this much was a success.

Of course, the point at which he would actually join the party would be after I succeeded in the ‘Reconstruction of the Demonic Cult’ and proved my potential.

If I failed at the ‘Reconstruction of the Demonic Cult’ from the get-go, executing the plan for the Demon King Hunt would be impossible.

It would be arrogant to guarantee success in a task of such difficulty, but there was no need to worry about failure from the start.

'…'

I paused my thoughts and looked over the members.

A one-winged Demonic Species who sided with the Hero.

The last survivor of the exterminated vampire race.

A deposed baron, abandoned by the Demon King and now a wanted man.

And a regressed Hero candidate.

'Pfft—'

It was, literally, a ‘laughable hodgepodge’.

Each title was so weighty that it occurred to me that I might be the most normal one in this party.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought about it while making my bucket list, but seeing them all gathered together made me laugh in spite of myself.

‘…Things are working out pretty well.’

Most of the reason for my laughter was the absurdity of the combination itself.

But a sliver of ‘relief’ also occupied a corner of it.

In terms of the entire bucket list, this was, in fact, still just the ‘very beginning’.

But isn’t there a saying that a good start is half the battle?

Since the start was good, I had a feeling that things would continue to go well.

“…Partner.”

It was then.

Jerry, who had been silently listening to my conversation with Shuten, spoke up as if he had something to say.

“Why?”

“…There is a part I am not pleased with.”

I replied to him as he spoke, rubbing his brow.

“If it’s about not telling you about the Demon King Hunt beforehand, I apologize. Just let that much slide.”

“…”

“It’s a minor detail. You probably guessed it anyway. That I wouldn’t be taking the path of an ordinary Hero candidate…”

“…That is not it.”

Cutting off my attempt to brush it aside, Jerry shook his head and brought up a rather unexpected topic.

“…It is about the ‘Demonic Cult’ you mentioned.”

“…”

“I know quite a bit about it. I did not witness the era when the Demonic Cult reigned, but ever since the Great War of Righteousness and Evil in Murim about 100 years ago, I have been visiting the Shandong Peninsula annually for personal reasons.”

“…”

“My reason for boarding the Guardian Train this time was also to visit the Shandong Peninsula.”

…It was a more important question than I’d thought.

I thought he was going to continue his earlier nitpicking, but commendably, it seemed he wanted to talk about the upcoming plan.

“…I have investigated it separately before. To see if the ‘remnants of the Demonic Cult’ truly exist as the rumors say.”

“…”

“I employed several reliable informants and spent no small sum.”

As if counting money.

He folded and unfolded his fingers a few times and muttered in a low voice.

“Eight thousand eight hundred and twenty-two coins… plus value-added tax, and other additional costs, it seems to have cost roughly over ten thousand coins.”

“…That’s a needlessly precise calculation.”

“…It’s just your imagination.”

“…”

“In any case. From what I confirmed, there was one insignificant old man living while hiding his past as a member of the Demonic Cult, but there were no groups on the Shandong Peninsula that could be called remnants.”

“…”

That was something I didn’t know.

I knew that at this point in time, Jerry visited the Shandong Peninsula for some reason, and that’s why I was able to time it to get on the Guardian Train.

‘…I never thought he’d have taken a separate interest in the Demonic Cult and investigated it.’

Periodically visiting the Shandong Peninsula and having an interest in the ‘Demonic Cult’ were two different matters.

“…The part I was not pleased with was this.”

“…”

“…I am not saying I will back out now after receiving everything just because I heard about the ‘Demon King Hunt’, but I refuse to partake in a pointless waste of time where the ends don’t justify the means.”

…The rumor that remnants of the Demonic Cult existed was a persistent piece of lore in Murim that hadn’t died down for over 100 years.

Of course, given the time that had passed, most people thought it couldn’t be true, and indeed, for over 100 years, nothing like a ‘Demonic Cult Uprising’ had ever occurred.

The impression the Great War of Righteousness and Evil left on the Murim empire was so great that it was a sort of ‘conspiracy theory’ that would pop up whenever it was about to be forgotten.

Knowing Jerry’s personality, he wouldn’t have been careless with his information gathering, and as could be inferred from the cost, he had probably hired the top experts in the field.

Since nothing came of it, from his perspective, he must have concluded that the rumors of ‘Demonic Cult remnants’ were just a ‘conspiracy theory’ of old geezers in the back rooms.

‘…Commendable.’

…And for him to question something he had already concluded.

'Ssk—'

“…You must have something else in mind, right?”

It was rarer than one might think.

The question he just asked was certainly a single sentence, but its meaning was not so light.

It meant that he valued the unknown, intrinsic worth of his ‘partner, Seo U-jin’ more than the information he had spent a whopping ten thousand coins to obtain.

'Grin—'

“Of course. A ‘Demon King Hunt’ isn’t something you can do just by gathering numbers with guts alone.”

After my immediate reply, he remained silent for a moment, then nodded and murmured.

“…I understand. I will proceed with that in mind for now.”

“…”

Not bad.

Like Shuten, the life he had lived was far from smooth.

I had thought that from the series of exceptional actions I would show in a short time, his doubt and trust would be evenly balanced.

But it seemed the scales in his mind had tipped further toward trust than I had expected.

‘…Nice.’

…Things were going well.

Things.

Were going too well.

'‘…''

Suddenly, I felt a chill.

Like cold water trickling down the back of my neck in the middle of winter, an unpleasant shiver ran down my spine.

'‘It’s good, but…''

If someone asked why I had a bad feeling when things were going so well, I would have nothing to say.

Because I couldn’t pinpoint any concrete reason for this unsettling chill either.

…If I had to pick one thing.

Intuition.

Countless experiences accumulated over a long time of treading the line between life and death were sounding an alarm for an unknown reason.

'Hosadama'.

I never particularly liked that irresponsible four-character idiom that Bamboo Hat Mister used to recite, ‘Good things are always met with obstacles.’

…But I had rarely ever thought it was wrong.

Whenever my subconscious, steeped in such long experience, sounded a groundless alarm like this, without fail, ‘misfortune’ would appear.

And just like always, this time too.

【Well now.】

My bad premonition came true.

【A Demon King Hunt… now that sounds interesting.】

From behind me, where it had been quiet, a new voice suddenly cut in.

“…!!!”

…It was a rather familiar voice.

At the same time, it was a chilling voice.

A voice I couldn’t understand why I was hearing here.

A voice that should never have been heard.

That is.

The current strategist of the Demon King's Allied Forces, who was giving The Order a hard time.

The one who had last received the Trait, ‘The Chosen One’, before me.

A traitor to The Order's Allied Forces.

A titan who ranked within the top 10 of the Demon King's Army's peerage.

‘Isaac, the Count of Chaos.’

【Mind if I join in?】

…It was his voice.