Regression Guidelines For the Supporting Character-Chapter 313

Past midnight, deep in the night.

A crow rose swiftly through the darkness and approached the Circle Guild building.

Perching on the window frame with its head tilted, the crow then slipped through the glass as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The lights were off in the guildmaster’s office.

Flapping its wings as it came in, the crow soon turned liquid and dripped to the floor. The shadow pooled in a circle and then surged upward, revealing two people.

“You’re here.”

Chronos, seated on the sofa in the dark office, addressed them.

Arms folded, wearing a vaguely sulky look, he grumbled at the two brothers.

“Do you take me for your attendant? I’m the administrator of this world, not some cur who comes when called. Hah, how did I end up tangled with a bastard like that....”

Having officially handed the guildmaster’s seat over to Song Jiwoon, ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) Chronos had no reason to be here so late. Which left him sitting alone in the dark, unable to even turn on the lights, waiting for Cha Seohu in solitude.

Cha Seohu, nestled in Cha Sahyeon’s arms after the choker was removed and he’d returned to his original form, snorted and walked over.

“Dogs are at least cute. What are you.”

You little—...

At Seohu’s contemptuous stare boring into him, Chronos swallowed the curse rising to his throat.

The primal anger ebbed, replaced by fatigue—the fatigue he’d grown used to after starting to cooperate with Cha Seohu.

As an administrator, he rarely needed sleep or felt physical limits, but Seohu was the first person to weigh him down with this kind of mental exhaustion.

Seeing Seohu sit himself, as if it were obvious, on the sofa opposite before Chronos even spoke, Chronos scrubbed his face dryly and began.

“Fine. Let’s get straight to the point.”

Seohu, who hadn’t forgotten to seat Sahyeon beside him, shrugged. With a look that said this was exactly what he wanted, he briefly summed up what had happened.

“So, hand it over.”

“What?”

“The shining fragment. Hand it over.”

Chronos pressed his brow for a moment.

“...I understand you gleaned a few hints from the precognition of that ‘youngest’ you refer to. But why ask me for it?”

“Is there another collaborator in the darkness besides you? Hand it over now. Give me whatever among what you’ve got could be called a ‘shining fragment.’”

“......”

Never in his life had he been strong-armed by a prophecy.

Does that attitude make me want to give it? It makes me want to toss it in the trash.

He wanted to snap at once, but if Chronos blew up, Cha Seohu would blow up two or three times harder.

Massaging his temples with the hand that had been on his brow, Chronos took out an item.

Clink. A small, round object of gold appeared in midair and drifted down in front of Seohu. Seohu reached out and took it.

The golden object was a mirror.

A small, round folding hand mirror with glass on both sides. The exterior was covered in gold, and the top bore a carved motif of a lush tree.

Seohu turned the mirror this way and that with a bored expression.

“This is an item? What’s the effect?”

“That I can’t tell you.”

Seohu tore his eyes from the mirror and looked at Chronos in disbelief.

“Even if you look at me like that, no is no. You understand that the youngest can’t speak, so why give me that look?”

“If you’re jealous, go ahead and cough blood in front of me too.”

He never loses a line. Clicking his tongue, Chronos folded his arms.

“It’s to shave the price down, even a little. If you’ve got a quick mind and your survival instincts are intact, you’ll use the item at the right moment without me spelling it out.”

“Hm.”

Seohu flipped the mirror, a little smaller than his palm, over and over, then, without refusing it, tucked it into his inventory.

'An item from an administrator ought to be useful somewhere.'

Shaking his head at Seohu’s strictly profit-and-efficiency mindset, Chronos continued.

“The price doesn’t end there. Bring me three blossoms—the source of the energy. Not ones you already have; new ones. Anything you obtain after using the mirror will count toward the price.”

“Picky, aren’t you.”

“It isn’t me being picky. The standards the world sets for a price are picky.”

Same difference.

Answering inwardly with indifference, Seohu asked what had popped into his head.

“Was the reason you appeared in my dream to call me here just to give me this?”

“To a degree.”

Chronos sighed.

“You asked for an item to defend against mental skills. I can provide it—if you’re ready to pay the price.”

“Table that for now.”

If a mental item was going to be critical, it would have shown up in Lee Seowon’s precognition.

Which meant, for now, the mirror he’d just received would suffice. There was no point burdening himself with items he couldn’t immediately pay the price for anyway.

Judging there was nothing more to do, Seohu stood up at once.

Watching that utterly unreserved exit, Chronos didn’t try to stop him—he was glad, at last, to be freed.

Then it happened.

Ding!

A familiar chime.

With a gaze gone cold, Seohu checked the status window floating before his eyes.

《A Main Quest has arrived!》

《Main Quest: Enter the Unidentified Rift and clear it. (S-rank) (Time remaining: 5 days 23 hours 59 minutes)》

[Main Quest: Enter the Unidentified Rift and clear it.] 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Enter the unknown rift created by someone, grasp its interior, and clear it to delete it.

The remaining-time countdown begins upon entering the rift.

'Right. It’s been quiet for a while.'

At the System’s timing—sending a quest as if it had been waiting—Seohu crooked one corner of his mouth.

Nothing to be surprised about.

Unless it was a sudden incident like the last irregular rift, the System always delivered quests like this.

'An unidentified rift, huh.'

Be grateful it gave at least that hint, maybe.

The moment he dismissed the quest window—

Ding!

Another chime, and a new status window rose.

《A Sub Quest has arrived!》

《Sub Quest: Protect the key figures in the Unidentified Rift. (S-rank)》

[Sub Quest: Protect the key figures in the Unidentified Rift.]

Ensure that the key figures do not die within the unknown rift.

Key figures: Sahyeon, Kwon Taehyuk, Ryu Sunghyun, Eun Woojeong, Mook Jeongho

Warning! If even one designated “key figure” dies, the quest will be considered a failure.

Seohu’s eyes twisted wretchedly.

He had already expected there would be six participants. Lee Seowon had foreseen it.

“ If six footsteps do not gather, that path will lead to death.”

Lee Seowon never wrote obscure sentences. Even if it cost him more, he sacrificed to convey a slightly more precise future.

So this line should be taken at face value: if six people don’t go, it will be dangerous.

Whether the status window had “matched” the six because it was aware of that prophecy, or whether this had been destined from the start—none of that mattered now.

'Mook Jeongho?'

Could there be anyone more out of left field.

Seohu glared at the name Mook Jeongho brazenly listed at the end of the window.

'You want me to drag that by-the-book psycho machine into some unknown rift I don’t even know the nature of?'

His head hurt just imagining it.

As he exhaled in annoyance and kneaded the back of his neck, Sahyeon approached with a worried look.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?”

To Sahyeon, he probably looked like he was standing still, glaring at nothing, then getting irritated. Of course he’d be concerned.

“It’s nothing. Just stiff.”

Unable to tell the truth, Seohu moved close to Sahyeon.

“Let’s go back.”

To the district.

As the pitch-black shadow surged from the floor and swallowed them, he worked his mind.

'Ryu Sunghyun alone is complicated enough....'

And now he had to wedge Mook Jeongho in out of nowhere.

Seohu recalled one of the remaining three prophetic lines that Seowon had written.

“ On the night when the moon is perfectly full the path will open.”

Four days remained until the full moon.

By then, he had to gather those five somehow and get to where the unidentified rift would open.

***

The next day, as soon as he finished breakfast—chewing curses in his head—Seohu left his room. Just in case, he took Sahyeon by the hand, choker on, and went together. With Sahyeon, he felt secure anywhere.

“Please wait a moment.”

Upon reaching the top floor and stepping out of the elevator, a servant waiting in the corridor bowed and stepped away. He returned shortly.

“I’ll guide you to the office.”

Following the servant, Seohu headed to Representative Seo’s office. He’d returned in just a day.

When he opened the door and entered, Representative Seo was reviewing documents exactly as yesterday—only his clothes had changed.

Uninterested in dragging things out, Seohu skipped greetings and went straight to the point.

“Lend me Mook Jeongho.”

The fountain pen flowing smoothly over the papers stopped dead.

At length, Representative Seo raised his head.

“......”

Instead of saying, 'Has this brat finally gone mad?' he lifted one eyebrow slightly and let it fall, exuding poise.