WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 117

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The regressor gets to work (12)

A week passed.

“I heard your hobby is visiting famous restaurants. They say the naengmyeon here is amazing. Are you interested?”

A week passed.

“They say there's a place with an aquarium and a cafe together. Let's go check it out. Whoa, why are the prices so high?”

A week passed.

Restaurants. Cafes. Movie theaters. Parks. PC bangs. Amusement parks. A Hanok village. A botanical garden. A lake. Gyeongbok Palace.

The time we spent together began to accumulate, along with the memories we shared and a subtle, building tension.

It was fun—and then some—enough to make me forget the hell I’d been through in that snowy old castle.

It was a fact I was realizing all over again, but I must have been incredibly lonely. People who showed the same reactions every time I regressed. People who moved just as I designed. People who would obediently follow my words if I used my traits.

“Can I have just one bite of that? No? I'm going to eat it anyway.”

That wasn't what relationships were supposed to be like. I came to realize that relationships are about different people coming together and creating all sorts of chemical reactions.

“Ah, today was really fun.”

“It would've been perfect if you hadn't broken the puzzle at the escape room cafe.”

“What? Jun-ho, do you want to die?”

Ji-won and I were already friends. After being entangled with each other for the past few months, it had happened without us even realizing.

“…”

The moment I became aware of that, I felt the time had come.

Time flowed on mercilessly.

A dark night street. The sporadically lit streetlights were the only source of light.

“…”

“…”

Ji-won and I walked the street without a word. Someone once said you can call people friends when silence isn't awkward between them. However, the silence flowing between us now was endlessly uncomfortable.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

I called her informally for the first time. It was awkward, but it felt like something I had to do.

Because the words I was about to say would remain in my memory forever.

I cleared my throat, needlessly straightened my clothes, and then uttered the sentence I had practiced tens, hundreds of times in my mind.

“I'm going to regress now.”

“…”

Ji-won was silent. But her expression wasn't so much shocked as it was a look of someone who knew this was coming.

“If you look at the news these days, it's nothing but talk about players all day long. Who committed a crime, who is amazing, how strong someone is… I heard some crazy guy in Japan massacred dozens of other players.”

“…”

“Look at us now. We've only cleared the 4th floor, but our physical abilities are already better than an Olympic gold medalist's. If it's like this now, what will happen when we advance to the 10th floor, the 20th, the 50th? How much more unstable will this society become? If we don't clear the Tower as fast as possible, the Earth could be shattered by players.”

With Ji-won standing there not answering, I mechanically recited the words I had prepared. They were words for her, but they were also words for myself.

“So, for everyone's sake… I have to regress. The Earth can't be destroyed just so I can have a little fun.”

I don't want to regress. But I have to. For everyone.

Step.

Choi Ji-won's footsteps stopped. Accordingly, my own footsteps stopped too.

The two of us, standing under a streetlight. We both just stared at the ground.

“You're not mad at me?”

Ji-won asked cautiously.

“You said it yourself. That you didn't want to get close to anyone anymore because it was too sad to grow distant from people you were close to every time you regressed. That you'd keep your distance as much as possible. But you became close to me because of my stubbornness.”

“…That's right.”

The moment she said, ‘See you next week,’ I already knew this future would come. I knew that regressing right away was the wise thing to do.

“I guess… I was just having a hard time, too.”

Just like how people reach for a cigarette even when they know it's bad for them, I think my judgment was clouded by loneliness, seeing as I chose a future that held nothing but ruin in the long run.

Seeing me scratch the back of my head, Ji-won let out a small laugh.

“Jun-ho, Kim Jun-ho. Do you know what kind of expression you had when I saw you at the cafe?”

“What was it like?”

“You just looked… blank. Like a person who had been completely emptied out.”

“…”

“I've been thinking about it constantly, and you really seem unique.”

Ji-won said, walking in circles around me.

“When we hang out, you just seem like a guy our age. I feel like if I had a normal guy friend, this is exactly what it would be like.”

“…Well, that's because I am a guy your age.”

“But looking at your actions, that's not the case.”

Ji-won, who had been circling me, stopped behind my back.

“Saving everyone? Repeating regression because you'd feel it was unfair if someone died because of you? A normal person would have just given up long ago, or compromised somewhere.”

“…If I hadn't been given the ability to regress, I would have given up too.”

But that wasn't true. I had been given the means to produce the best possible outcome, and giving up with an ability like this was practically a dereliction of duty.

“Jun-ho. That way of thinking is what's unique.”

I couldn't see Ji-won, but for some reason, I felt that she was smiling.

“You talk about being an ordinary citizen and all that, and your behavior is similar… but your sense of responsibility is the best in the world. It's not like someone threatened you, saying, 'The Earth will be destroyed if it's not you!'”

“But it actually could be destroyed because of me, right?”

“Most people don't think that way. Maybe 'it's just me,' but not the other way around.”

Ji-won had been saying she thought that side of me was cool, but her tone suddenly changed.

“But in that process, what about the person you are being worn down into?”

“…”

“Even if you climb to the very end and clear the Tower with those empty eyes, like when I saw you at the cafe… what happens to you?”

“I'm doing my best to guard against that kind of situation.”

“Has it been effective?”

“…No.”

Hadn't I felt it keenly on the 3rd and 4th floors? The phenomenon of people no longer looking like people.

“But… still, what can I do? If I don't do it, the Earth might be destroyed.”

To be honest, it still doesn't feel real. The Earth is suddenly going to be destroyed? When? How? Nothing has been decided.

But because I realized that was likely the Tower's aim, I couldn't bring myself to stop.

I could get sidetracked along the way. I could waste as much time as I wanted. But right before moving on to the next floor, I had to do my best to produce the absolute best outcome. That was the answer I had settled on.

“…”

Ji-won, who had been silent, took my soft hand from behind with her own slightly rough one.

“Do you know what my ideal type is?”

“…What is it?”

“It's someone I can respect. Like my father.”

“…”

“You're… pretty cool.”

Ji-won's voice trembled.

Hearing that voice, my breathing gradually quickened. It felt like the blood was draining from my head.

"At first, it was really because of curiosity. But not anymore."

“Don't.”

“I know this memory might become painful for you. Maybe you'll end up cursing me out as a bitch for a long time to come.”

“No…”

“But I think this is the right thing to do for Kim Jun-ho to remain Kim Jun-ho, instead of degenerating into an emotionless machine. Just like how you thought of the Choi Ji-won from the tutorial whenever you were struggling, I want you to think of me from today.”

I shook off Ji-won's tightly held hand and forced my body to turn.

"You're a really cool person. So just keep being that way. I'll be cheering for you."

On the quiet street, under the streetlight, the Ji-won I finally faced was crying.

She was forcing a smile, while tears streamed down her face.

We both knew what the right thing to do was. We just couldn't accept it in our hearts.

“If you… do that…”

“…”

“If you do that, how am I supposed to regress…”

I had been alone all this time. I was involved with many people, but none were friends in the truest sense.

This was a friend I had gained again after a very long time. No, I already thought of Choi Ji-won as something more than that.

“You should have… you should have been cruel to me instead…”

You should have cursed at me so I could at least cut my attachments, spit on the ground, and move on. How am I supposed to accept a farewell like this?

“I don't want to leave you…”

I hugged her tightly. We hadn't expressed it in words, but there was already something that passed between us.

We acknowledged each other's skills to some extent. We acknowledged each other's character. We acknowledged each other as companions to climb the Tower.

At the same time, we confirmed that we were also incredibly compatible as friends.

It's fun to be together. But we can't be together.

Even if I regress and meet Choi Ji-won again, that won't be the Choi Ji-won of now. Just as the Choi Ji-won before my eyes now is not the Choi Ji-won from the tutorial, the new Choi Ji-won will not be the one before my eyes now either.

The warmth and joy I had felt until now turned into daggers that stabbed into my heart. Just as I was contemplating whether to just throw it all away and go up to the 5th floor.

Grab.

A firm touch grabbed both my cheeks.

"Listen carefully. I'm not going to say it twice."

Ji-won, who had stopped her tears, looked straight into my two eyes.

“I don't know if I love you yet. But I like you.”

Ji-won kissed me in a surprise attack. The stinging sensation at the tip of my tongue as it was drawn out.

The moment I felt the ecstatic sensation, the scent of Choi Ji-won's skin, and the sharp taste of blood.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment you first entered Floor 4.]

“…Ah.”

It was the 4th floor.

Footnotes:

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