Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1603. Transmigrated to the Central Plains’ Murim (8)

Yes, eight years, not eight weeks. Not one year, not two years, not three years. Damn it, a whole eight years had passed since then.

'That bastard Clan Head of the Murong Clan... is ruthless. Absolutely ruthless.'

What more needed to be said when he hadn't sent me a single message for eight whole years? Back in the first year, I thought he’d finally reach out sooner or later, but after seeing him gnash his teeth and pretend that his own daughter didn't exist, all I could do was stare in disbelief at him. He even had a grandson.

'What a shitty family.'

Then again, I wasn't exactly in a position to criticize. For all I knew, they were probably just as dumbfounded by my stubbornness. Who could have imagined that a spoiled girl who had spent her entire life inside the clan would survive out in the world for eight years? First of all, they probably thought I'd come back next month, then next year, and then the year after that.

Before anyone realized it, eight years had already passed.

'This is all because of that bastard Murong Yul and Mr. Gorilla.'

If I had been living off Templar Gen and pig slop, I would have sent out a distress signal myself, but the problem was that life had been surprisingly manageable. The two of them couldn't just leave me alone after I walked out of the clan with nothing, so they supported me from behind the scenes.

I was living in a fairly large house. I thought I would end up living in a moldy shack with the Shim sisters, and I actually did find and move into a moldy house at first, but not long after I settled in, those two idiots kept pressuring me to move, so I ended up relocating to a much bigger residence.

The pantry had never been empty either. The Shim sisters had never really said much about it, but it was obvious that Mr. Gorilla would secretly drop by every so often to stock it with food and supplies. Seriously, he was like some kind of invisible caretaker.

Moreover, he would avoid meeting me whenever possible. The only exception was whenever something happened to Squirmy. He'd appear out of nowhere with a doctor, but that was about it.

I would tell him to stay for a meal at least, but he would stubbornly refuse, flash a familiar good-natured gorilla smile at me, and disappear. Murong Yul wasn’t much different.

Unlike Mr. Gorilla, who operated from the shadows, the bastard had openly inserted himself into my life. I honestly couldn’t understand why he felt the need to meddle in every little thing. He’d practically show up here every few days, and thanks to him, strange rumors had been spreading throughout the neighborhood.

'It makes it impossible to have a normal social life.'

People were saying that the mistress of a mysterious, powerful figure had moved into town.

"..."

Honestly, I couldn't even blame them. The fact that I was Murong Hwa-Yeon was a secret. I settled down in a remote corner of Liaoning, far away from Shenyang, so the people here couldn't care less about things like the Murong Clan.

Even if I were to walk around openly, nobody would recognize me as a Murong. Naturally, they know nothing about what was happening within the clan, so from their perspective, I definitely looked suspicious as hell.

"..."

One day, a single mother with a child suddenly bought a large estate and moved in; she was wealthy, to boot. She had a pantry overflowing with supplies, and she was always dressed in expensive-looking clothes. On top of that, I have three maids attending me, and to make matters worse, a handsome young nobleman was constantly visiting my residence.

'Honestly, anyone will find that suspicious.'

Frankly, the story that the precious daughter of the Murong Clan got pregnant in a moment of anger, fought with the Clan Head, and stormed out of the house on her own was far less believable.

I wasn’t supposed to be grateful for it, but thanks to those rumors, my reputation around town was at rock bottom. Some people even convinced themselves that I had such a shady past that some unnamed powerful figure wouldn't even take me in as a concubine.

The town was insular to begin with, and that sort of atmosphere only fueled the gossip. I had tried to do something about it at first, but the locals closed ranks and pushed me out, making it nearly impossible to break into their circles.

Of course, another reason I didn't bother trying too hard was that there wasn't much point.

'Who gives a damn about what people in this town think?'

My reputation in a place I would eventually leave behind wasn't important. What mattered was keeping track of the situation in the Central Plains and, damn it, finding the others who could have been left behind.

Since Commander Jin wasn't looking for me, I had no choice but to push things forward myself.

"..."

"...

'The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it is. Seriously.'

Fine, I could understand the Clan Head, but the fact that the bastard Commander Jin hadn't even tried to look for me was baffling. The guy had just recently emerged from whatever secluded nonsense he had locked himself away in.

"My lady... I heard the eldest young master of the Jin family has finally completed his secluded training," a maid reported.

'That news travels slowly.'

More accurately, he had come out a week ago. The Shim sisters were acting as if they had just heard the news, but I had already learned of it before them. After all, I had been watching him through the Telescope.

"A-And according to the rumors, he's become a completely different person. They say he reached the Transformation Realm at such a young age, and the Jin Family of Shenyang is celebrating..." the maid added.

'He's too busy learning martial arts and living out his delinquent protagonist fantasy. That bastard.'

I already knew that. Rumors had already spread throughout Shenyang. The wastrel heir of the Jin Family, who used to waste his life gambling away his money, had changed completely after narrowly escaping death.

Honestly, saying that he was living the time of his life would be putting it mildly. They called it the Transformation Realm, but he seemed closer to the Mysterious Realm, and now that he'd gotten a taste for martial arts, he was throwing himself into it with obsessive enthusiasm.

Sometimes, whenever I observed him, I would shake my head.

'To think our useless young master would change this much!' This single sentence perfectly summed up his situation.

Every time I looked at him, another cliché episode would be unfolding around him, like teaching disrespectful servants a lesson, clashing with the steward who used to run the family from the shadows, and cementing his position as eldest son by battling the second and third young masters in the family power struggle.

He practically looked like he enjoyed picking the perfect moment to casually reveal another piece of his strength. It seemed like his first objective was taking control of the Jin Family, and honestly, he was proceeding with it almost perfectly.

Given that, it wasn't hard to understand why the Jin Family was doing everything they could to keep news of Murong Hwa-Yeon hidden from him.

From their perspective, I was nothing more than a seductive fox who had led their precious son straight into ruin. They were probably terrified that hearing news about me would turn him back into the wastrel he used to be.

They also likely feared that he'd become so obsessed with chasing after a woman that he would throw away the family and everything he had built so far. The same family that used to ignore him couldn't stop singing his praises these days.

"Our son is the best." This was practically their motto at this point. Even the clan head seemed to be observing the former wastrel's mood before making decisions. The younger brothers who once looked down on him now gazed at him with clear admiration, and he had become wildly popular among the maids as well.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before someone came up with an absurdly grand nickname for him.

"I see, that's good news," I said.

"I-If it's alright with you, perhaps we should send word to him one more time?" a maid suggested.

"No. Haven't I already told you? I don't wish to hold on to him any longer..." I reminded her.

"B-But shouldn't he at least be told that the child was born? Perhaps he would..." She paused.

"..."

"..."

This was the part that made me really angry. While that bastard had spent the last eight years cultivating his ass off, working on himself, and building his future, I had been stuck filming a family drama.

'He’s seriously a piece of shit... that asshole...'

"..."

"..."

'That huge asshole.'

It wasn't like I had had the chance to work on myself, either. Sure, Murong Hwa-Yeon was weak from birth, so perhaps I wouldn't have achieved anything extraordinary even if I had devoted myself to cultivating, but who could say for sure what could have happened after eight years?

I could have changed something. Hell, I could have transformed my physique enough to learn a proper martial art. I could have also mastered some overpowered demonic art and become Master Murong Hwa-Yeon.

While that bastard Commander Jin was busy flipping through martial arts manuals, I was flipping through childcare books. While he was sitting in meditation to cultivate his mind and body, I was sitting awkwardly with Squirmy attached to my breast.

'Gosh, this bastard...'

The more I thought about it, the more unfair it felt.

'You asshole...'

And it wasn't like all I had done was raise a child. I had to search the entire martial world for the rest of the group, so I even established and ran an escort agency.

I was doing my best just to survive while searching this vast continent for people who were probably not even here in the first place, but I had Squirmy to take care of, so I couldn't devote myself to it the way I wanted to do so.

Of course, it didn't help that the escort business was already a saturated market in the Central Plains, but compared to my original dream of building a massive escort network and turning it into a franchise, the results were downright pathetic.

Perhaps all those career moms I saw in the media only existed in fairy tales, or I was probably just incompetent. Honestly, I was starting to question my own abilities.

'Am I... actually not that smart? Maybe I'm not all that capable... Maybe I was just lucky back on the continent... Maybe I should forget all this and stay home raising Squirmy properly. An escort agency... What a joke...'

"..."

'Even Chang-Ryeol managed to build both an information guild and an assassination guild, but here I am, eight years later, and I still haven't managed to grow a single major escort agency.'

"..."

"That truly is wonderful news. For now, that’s enough," I said.

'Wonderful news, my ass. You're dead. Seriously. You're so dead.'

I was genuinely feeling so bitter that tears almost welled up in my eyes, but what hurt even more was...

“...”

Even after all those sacrifices, I still didn't feel like I had raised Squirmy properly.

"Ah... and, My Lady... the young master's academy examination results were released today..." a maid reported.

"I know. That’s why I'm on my way to see Jin-Cheon," I said.

"The young master appears to be quite disappointed in himself. Perhaps you should encourage him today. He answered forty-three out of fifty questions correctly. It's a commendable result," the maid suggested.

"..."

Creak.

The moment the door opened, I saw a little figure flinch.

"Whoo..."

"Sob!"

"Haa..."

"Sob..."

'Come on, Squirmy... you're crying over this score?'

"..."

'His Intelligence stat is high, so why is his score like this? Did he take after his father?'

"..."

'That kid So-Eun from next door only has an Intelligence stat of 10 and a growth limit of Epic at best, but I heard she gets perfect scores every single day.'

Squirmy was shaking from head to toe. Normally, I would snatch the exam paper, tear it to pieces, and throw it in his face. However, I was worried that I’d end up hurting him, so I settled for shoving it aside as if I couldn't bear to look at it.

"Pathetic," I commented.

"Heuk..."

"Truly pathetic. I—wheew... No, it's better if I don't say anything," I said.

"..."

"Leave," I told him.

"Heuk... heuk..."

"I can't even bear to look at you. Leave," I told him.

"I-I'm sorry, Mother... heuk... I'm sorry..." Squirmy said while crying.