Regression is Too Much - Chapter 106

WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 106

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The regressor gets to work (1)

Vwoom.

The blue portal faded away.

In the last cycle, it was Baron George who had told me about the portal's existence. Since finding it was his achievement, I thought it was only right to give it to the people of his domain.

Well, now that the portal was taken care of...

"We should get back to work. Oh, and for the record, I wasn't saying I consider you otherworlders to be livestock. You know what I mean, right? It was, uh, a reference to that apple analogy from before..."

"...I understand."

Baron George nodded with a grave expression.

Assuming the baron didn't now see me as some kind of dimensional supremacist, it was obvious what he was thinking. He was probably racking his brain, wondering, 'How did he know this?' And I had just given him a roundabout way of saying, 'Don't ask.'

How I knew wasn't important anyway. We had to survive first, right?

Time flew by like an arrow.

"So, are we really just supposed to smash through this?"

"That's what he said, isn't it? To connect the rooms..."

"Sigh... I don't know if this is right..."

"Didn't you see that guy earlier? He seemed like a total psycho, so just do it."

The players' project to create a 'giant room' had begun. Of course, I hadn't given them a detailed explanation, so it was obvious they were all thinking, 'Why do we have to do this?' But...

"What are you doing over there?"

"Well, it's just that..."

"I see a hammer. Are you not going to work quickly?"

"...Yes, sir."

Whenever I went over and glared at them a little, they would 'cooperate' diligently. That's right, just shut up and work.

You might ask why I don't just tell the other players about the future. The reason is simple.

Yoon Joong-hyun, William Smith, and Baron George are competent. They're smart. They can clearly distinguish between right and wrong. Therefore, they could weigh the pros and cons of my actions, make their own calculations, and cooperate actively.

But there was no guarantee that every player was like that. It was far more likely that they would think one-dimensionally and react with, 'Isn't that bastard crazy?' And being seen as 'just a psycho' had a higher probability of gaining cooperation than being seen as 'a psycho who deludedly thinks he knows the future.'

The former earned contempt, but the latter inspired fear. If that was the case, I would gladly become the psycho.

"Please be careful and break it down without the ceiling collapsing. You know what I mean, right?"

Regardless of the players' enthusiasm, the speed of their work was tremendous. While breaking down stone walls with your bare hands is tough, it wasn't impossible if you wore gloves. Besides, the vast majority of players had high strength. Perhaps because the tower only provided close-range melee weapons, most people had invested in their strength stat.

-112 : 14 : 11

And so, before the sun had even set, the wall demolition work was finished. It was a task that required no skill or technique, just simple smashing, so this result was to be expected.

"Alright, now..."

"Now?"

"Rest. This is enough for today. You can maintain your weapons or have a meal. I will see you all tomorrow morning."

Since the useless processes of exploring the castle, fighting each other, and coordinating opinions were skipped, we had plenty of time. There was also a need to match the tempo with the group of otherworlders, since the work for tomorrow couldn't be done by the players alone.

"Well, if you say we're done..."

"Hey, let's search the castle some more. There might be a hidden piece or something."

"Should we?"

The players scattered in small groups. For the record, I had already secured the hidden piece a long time ago. The 'Emergency Escape Stone' that Joong-hyun was supposed to find was also sleeping soundly in my subspace. They could search all they wanted, but they wouldn't find a thing.

Alright, the inside is finished...

When I went outside the castle and headed toward the main gate, I saw that the construction there was also entering its final stages.

"Baron-nim, how are things here?"

"Take a look. What do you think? This should be enough, right? Just as you said, the main gate will be safe even if monsters appear. The side gate has also been roughly reinforced..."

Under a sky stained by the sunset, Baron George smiled with satisfaction.

The first day was over.

The sun of the second day rose. The courtyard in front of the castle was bustling with noise from early in the morning.

"I'm sure you all understand that the foundation work is the most important. I trust you all have experience fixing the floors of your own homes. You don't? Enrique, was that you just now?"

"Baron-nim, this punk Enrique still lives with his parents! His dad fixes the floor!"

"Hah... Henry... How do you plan to get married? If you keep this up, I'll pass a law making bachelors pay more taxes."

"Puhahahaha!"

The otherworlders were in good spirits. They were united by their absolute trust in Baron George and seemed ready to believe him even if he claimed he could make fermented soybean blocks out of red beans.

And Baron George had taken the stance of, 'He's suspicious, but I'll trust Kim Jun-ho for now.' There was no need to persuade all the otherworlders individually.

On the other hand...

"So... we have to finish all the preparations to block the passages, but we're not actually supposed to block them?"

"Yes."

"You want us to get everything ready right up to the point of blocking them, and then do nothing?"

"Exactly."

"What kind of bullshit is that?"

"...I know, right."

The players' morale was about to hit rock bottom.

Joong-hyun was diligently explaining 'what needs to be done next,' while the players found it utterly impossible to accept.

Saying 'If we block the passages in advance, the monsters will come up with a countermeasure!' had no persuasive power at all. It's not like he was some guy from the future, so how could he possibly know that?

It would be impossible to convince them.

"Are you not going to work?"

"No, it's just that..."

"What?"

"...It's nothing."

I didn't feel the need to convince each and every one of them, so I just suppressed them with force again. As people who had made it to the 4th floor so quickly, their intuition was excellent, so no one openly defied me.

Of course, that just means no one 'openly' defied me.

"Hey, no matter how I think about it, this doesn't feel right. What are we even doing?"

"Aren't we going to get seriously screwed if this keeps up? The mission is survival, survival."

I could feel the secretly accumulated dissatisfaction slowly reaching its critical point. The number of people whispering insults about me increased. As if I couldn't hear them all.

"Hmm..."

Still, this was within my expectations. If I had my way, I'd grab one of them and explain in great detail why I was right, but...

Showing them would be faster than a hundred words.

The third day. A pitch-black night without even a moon.

The castle, which should have been endlessly silent, was for some reason bustling with noise. That's because I had woken everyone up in the middle of the night and ordered them to climb the castle walls.

"Ah, son of a bitch..."

"Hey, he'll hear you. Keep it down."

"So what if he hears me, damn it. Let him hear. How long are we going to listen to every little thing that psycho says? What time is it now?"

"Can't someone just step up and take that bastard down? I think we could get him if we all ganged up."

The murmuring was incessant. The atmosphere was like a middle school classroom during a lecture by an old, exhausted teacher.

"This... don't you think you need to make an example of someone? The mood is getting pretty serious..."

Joong-hyun sidled up and whispered to me. To be honest, Joong-hyun was right. If I picked a conspicuous one and beat him up, they wouldn't think of defying me again.

"Leave them be."

But I was unkind, not a tyrant. I had no intention of crushing the players. I was only temporarily suppressing their autonomy out of necessity. I was even willing to accept any novel ideas if they came up right now.

Of course, my idea was the novel one.

After about thirty minutes of waiting on the castle wall, braving the snowy wind, signs of the monsters' appearance began to show.

"Hey, you. What the hell do you think you're doing? No, more importantly, who are you? You haven't even revealed your name..."

"Shh. Shut up."

One player stepped up to be the representative and confront me, but now was not the time to argue about such trivial rights and wrongs.

"Is there a woman here, one with a jutting chin? The one who's good with fire..."

"...It doesn't jut out that much."

"Alright, look over there and shoot your ability."

I called over the woman who handled fireballs and instructed her to shoot a fireball in the direction I was pointing.

"Hup!"

Whoosh!

Just like in the previous cycle, a ball of fire flew, cutting through the darkness.

"Ah, dammit. I can't take this anymore. Are you messing with us right now?"

"Hey, you. Get over here. You think you're all that just because you're a little strong?"

He had ignored their complaints, and now he was suddenly shooting fireballs into empty space. Just as the players, who had been holding it in, were about to explode.

"Uh...?"

"Did I see that wrong...?"

The brightly shining fireball illuminated a horde of monsters so vast it was impossible to count.

And then... it slowly faded.

"..."

The players, at a loss for words, stood in shock. They rubbed their eyes as if they couldn't believe the sight they had just witnessed.

Suddenly? Monsters? That many? Come to think of it, the mission was survival... Could it be that the construction we've been doing all this time was for this?

The moment the players' eyes widened as if they'd realized something.

"A pleasure to meet you. I am Kim Jun-ho."

Only then, after three days, did I reveal my name. It was because I knew I would only be cursed at if I had revealed it earlier.

"I may not have said it in words, but I foresaw this situation from the very moment we were first summoned to the 4th floor. That's why I prepared countermeasures in advance. Look back on everything I instructed you to do. And then, think of the horde of monsters approaching us right now."

I slowly walked along the top of the wall, making eye contact with each and every player. The players who met my gaze all looked down at the ground.

"You all seemed to have a lot of complaints earlier... does anyone still have a complaint?"

"..."

The castle was now endlessly silent. Everyone was watching my lips move with trembling eyes.

"I'm glad you all seem to understand."

I could feel their emotions.

Shock. Fear. Doubt. Admiration.

And... hope.

The hope that I would protect them.

"Well then, shall we begin our preparations before the monsters arrive?"

[The effect of the Hero trait has been activated!]

I had no intention of betraying that hope.