WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 145

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The regressor is training (6)

Contrary to what Jun-ho imagined, the people controlling information about Elixirs on the internet hadn't actually put in all that much effort.

That was because there weren't many mentions of Elixirs to begin with.

The overwhelming majority of posts were just wishful thinking along the lines of "wouldn't it be nice if Elixirs dropped as rewards?" and there were only a handful of idiots who seriously wrote about Elixirs.

The reason was simple. Elixirs were far too precious.

-Lesser Elixir [S+]

'Unless your luck is terribly bad, this will become your spare life.'

Consuming one full bottle heals all physical dismemberment. It also has some effect on curses and mana imbalances.

Anyone who wasn't a complete fool could tell from reading the item description. This was incomparable to any potion that had appeared so far. The ways to actually obtain one were also nearly impossible, whether it was getting a platinum reward on floor 2 or keeping all the players and NPCs alive on floor 4. floor 4 in particular... wasn't even a reward the angels had intended people to obtain.

200 bottles. In the antiques or collectibles industry you might say 200 was too many, but for consumables it was a different story. Only 200 people on Earth could drink these. They were incredibly, incredibly precious.

"If people find out I have this, won't I die?"

"...I think keeping it hidden is the right call."

And just as Elixirs were precious, the people who possessed them were cautious.

Treasure only has value to those with the power to protect it. And with the Tower's appearance, the gap in power between humans had grown even wider. You could be killed just for the fact that you possessed an Elixir.

In fact, 8 bottles of Elixir had appeared at an underground auction... but their owners were no longer in this world. Since the price of the sold Elixirs reached astronomical levels, it was much cheaper to kill someone and accept the hit to one's reputation.

Returning to the beginning. The people controlling information about Elixirs on the internet hadn't put in all that much effort. They had simply added a few commands to existing monitoring systems and deployed a bit of manpower.

But there was one thing that needed to be remembered.

There were forces watching Jun-ho.

Floor 11. The path leading to the dwarves' fortress.

"So basically, we just need to clear floor 11 like before, right?"

"That's right."

I was explaining the plan going forward to Ji-won. Because Ji-won's memories hadn't been preserved.

Why hadn't I preserved her memories this time? It wasn't my intention, it was Ji-won's request. Usually when we decided to keep our memories we would go on dates, visiting amusement parks or aquariums, but this time we had regressed right away.

The reason... I didn't know. Since she didn't bother to tell me, I was just going along with it for now. Well, if it was important she'd tell me about it later.

"Then, I'm going now?"

And so once the plan explanation was finished, Ji-won left for the fortress after using Bung-bung to slash her skin all over and create wounds. I also walked to the clearing I remembered and put the skull of a dead animal on my head.

"I am the Grim Reaper."

In this cycle, I would call myself the Grim Reaper.

The Grim Reaper uses daggers. I use longswords. The two weapons have completely different applications, and you couldn't call them similar even generously.

"Hi, hiiiik...!"

"You deserve to die by the hand of this 'Grim Reaper.'"

To overcome that gap, I chose the method of completely subduing enemies before using the dagger. I didn't mainly use daggers, but I left the rough impression that I 'also' used daggers.

What I did afterwards was the same. Like before, I guided people to gather together, showed myself from a distance to scare them, left traces to maintain tension, and then...

Crash!

I made a flashy exit at Ji-won's hands.

[You have cleared floor 11.]

As soon as we returned to reality, I booked same-day flight tickets and a hotel, then collapsed straight into bed. Sleeping rough in the forest was something I just couldn't seem to get used to.

"I'll be back. Don't forget to contact the Association."

"I'll be waiting."

The next evening. I waved to Ji-won and departed for the airport.

In the last cycle Ji-won and I had gone to Japan together, but this time I boarded the plane alone. It seemed like going alone would be more effective.

I don’t speak Japanese? It's fine. I won't need it anyway.

-Passengers, our plane will be landing soon. Please fasten your seat belts...

I closed my eyes for just a moment and we were already in Japan. This cycle, instead of heading to the Grim Reaper's house, I headed to the hotel I had booked.

"Wow, so this is what a hotel vacation is like?"

I rolled around for a while, enjoying the comfortable indoor temperature and soft hotel bedding. After the sun set, the streetlights came on, and the sounds of drunk people died down, I left the hotel and headed to the Grim Reaper's house.

"Let's see..."

The time was 3 AM. The lights in the Grim Reaper's house on the 4th floor were off.

"No CCTV it seems..."

The moment I confirmed there were no people passing by in the area.

"Up we go."

I started climbing up the outside of the apartment building, grabbing onto small indentations and outdoor units. I hadn't done much of this kind of climbing, but for a superhuman, this level of exercise was as easy as lying down and eating rice cakes, no, mochi.

"Phew."

Reaching outside Yuuki's room in just a few seconds, I gently pushed the window with my palm. As expected, the window wasn't locked. People don't usually lock their outside windows.

"..."

And so without causing any commotion, I succeeded in infiltrating the Grim Reaper's room. When I glanced at the bed, I saw the Grim Reaper fast asleep without a care in the world.

"...?"

No, that bastard just flinched. He was just pretending to sleep to assess the situation and make me let my guard down. His left hand was also fidgeting suspiciously... there seemed to be a dagger there? He sleeps with a dagger hidden away? Isn't that crazy?

Well, anyway, having noticed that the Grim Reaper was awake, I walked over and sat on his desk chair. From now on, seizing the initiative was important. Ahem. I lowered my voice and sharpened my gaze. The image I was imitating was... Chan. Let's go with a heavy boss feeling.

"Grim Reaper. Azai Yuuki."

"..."

"It's me. Kim Jun-ho."

Just as he thought I would know about him, I acted as if I naturally knew who he was. In fact, I already did know.

"..."

But the Grim Reaper didn't answer and kept fidgeting. The moment mana rippled through his entire body as he was covered by his blanket.

"Die!"

The Grim Reaper, now completely invisible, threw off his blanket and swung his dagger.

"...!!"

"You're slow."

But his wrist was easily blocked by my hand. This guy, his stats weren't that high. Did he dump points into mana to extend his stealth duration? No wonder his mana quantity seemed a bit high.

"Grim Reaper. I've been watching you for a while."

Whether the Grim Reaper's eyes widened as his attack was blocked or not, I recited my prepared lines calmly. My voice was thicker and more relaxed than usual.

"I understand your intentions. There are people in this world who deserve to die."

"No, no."

The Grim Reaper, who had been too flustered to say anything, muttered in a cracked voice still foggy with sleep.

"Really, you were really watching me? You?"

"That's right."

"...Wow."

"And I was quite disappointed."

The Grim Reaper's lips, which had been about to curl up, crashed straight to the floor instead.

"Your methods are too crude. I was especially disappointed that you killed civilians."

"...B-but... there was no way to judge a person's true nature until I tortured them..."

"That's what I mean by crude."

After releasing the Grim Reaper's wrist I'd been holding, I interlaced my fingers and covered my mouth like he had shown in the past. From that guy's perspective, I probably looked like a cold, capable operator.

"Grim Reaper. Don't you feel guilt?"

"..."

"Aren't you sorry to the civilians who died because of you?"

"I-it couldn't be helped..."

The Grim Reaper turned his head away, avoiding my gaze. Not missing that opening, I pressed even harder.

"Could you accept it if you yourself became an innocent victim? If your family had to die? Would it still be unavoidable then?"

"..."

It was true that he had just woken up, and it was also true that I wasn't giving him any room to breathe as I pressured him. But in this moment, the Grim Reaper was truly overwhelmed. The fact that my Awe trait activated and copied his stealth trait was proof of that.

The Grim Reaper's eyes wandered, lost for direction, he gulped down saliva, and his hands trembled faintly. My words were clearly logical. There would be no way to refute them.

"So what... what do you want me to do..."

Unable to withstand my pressure in the end, the Grim Reaper whined in a sobbing voice. Originally when someone's mental state is completely broken, they enter 'so what do you want me to do' mode.

"I'll look for that. You wait. Until I prepare the role of a 'hero' for you."

"...Me, a hero?"

"You have the aptitude. Trust me."

I didn't know whether he had aptitude or not. But I felt like I should say it this way right now, so I just went for it.

In the end, the Grim Reaper's actions stemmed from a hero complex. They were the processed result of a desire to 'change the world for the better.' If I could satisfy that in an appropriate way, I might be able to rehabilitate this guy. And I'd get some benefit out of it too while I was at it.

"I've prepared a suitable stand-in on floor 11. And I'm planning to spread a rumor through the Association that you died. Then you just need to stop your activities and add credibility to that rumor."

"..."

"I'll contact you again. Wait for me."

With those final words, I coolly jumped out the window. I had implied that I had connections with the Association, and also implied that I was a big shot who could easily arrange for one or two stand-ins who needed to die. I didn't bother confirming the Grim Reaper's reaction to my bluff.

All I had to do was watch how he behaved going forward and decide then.

A week passed. Whether the Grim Reaper followed my words or had a change of heart, he truly stopped his activities. And the Association made a big announcement that 'the Grim Reaper is dead' at the same time his activities ceased. This was the result of Ji-won reporting to the Association 'I killed the Grim Reaper,' and the result of me actively playing the Grim Reaper.

However, this time people's reactions were much less intense, perhaps because the Grim Reaper's identity didn't spread. It was just something like Ji-won took care of one nasty villain.

Well, compared to the stimulation of watching a family's life get destroyed in real time, news of this level would just feel bland. The person in question was already dead too. Anyway, the news of the Grim Reaper's death spread far and wide for a week like that.

What were we doing during that week?

For the past week, I'd been enthusiastic about gathering information. I felt like I hadn't been thorough enough lately. Just because things were mentally tough, I'd been roughly glossing over things I should have been checking in advance. That wasn't like me.

What I wanted to find out this time was, first, the nature of my changed mana. And second, what had changed due to the Grim Reaper's social death. I wanted to observe that butterfly effect...

First, the nature of my mana had a complete cold quality to it. As a test, I drank an Elixir and tried using my mana in various ways, but when I used too much mana my hands and feet got cold in a way that felt like it would regress, so I stopped. It seemed like something I'd need to gradually get used to over time.

And second. Even though I invested a 'whole' week, the results of the information investigation were relatively lackluster.

"Jun-ho. I really can't find it..."

Ji-won, who had been diligently tapping away at her keyboard, leaned back in her chair and slumped over her desk. She had been combing through internet communities until just now.

The internet was still full of stories about the Tower. Floor 2 was like this, floor 3 was like that, floor 4 was too difficult... but from floor 6 onwards mentions dropped off sharply, and stories of players who could truly be called 'top tier' didn't appear on the internet. Information gathering had little meaning.

"...Should I make some connections?"

The reason was obvious. Top tier players had formed their own closed communities. They must be circulating truly valuable information among themselves.

Well, it was too optimistic to think we could find information on the internet forever.

Should I join some inner circle? Even now, excluding someone like Chan, our player connections were at a catastrophic level. Should I have Ji-won build some connections on floor 11? But that would dilute her mystique image...

"...Yoon Joong-hyun?"

If I contacted Joong-hyun, I could get quality information. But for some reason, I hadn't been able to reach him in this cycle. Did something change when he learned about the Grim Reaper's death first? Ah, I need to figure this out too.

Anyway, to sum it up... we were suffering from a serious lack of information. We couldn't even grasp the movements of floor 11, which we'd already cleared.

Of course, we'd probably repeat regression a few more times to gather information, but...

At this rate, it looked like the only answer was to just bash our heads into floor 12.

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