WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 171

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The regressor wanders (7)

"..."

"..."

The silence between us hung like two people who'd had a bad fight and agreed to meet and make up, knowing something had to be said, but afraid of how it would land. Every arrangement of words I put together felt too fragile, too easy to misread. I kept them all inside.

Intense emotions. Right now... I love Choi Ji-won. I care for her. In the Tutorial, she was my lighthouse. My sword teacher. My partner climbing this Tower. If someone asked me right now to name the person I treasured most, it would be Ji-won.

Taking her hand and swearing eternal love would be easy enough. I could tell her my heart will never change. That what I feel for her will always burn this fierce. That she has nothing to worry about.

But... would it really never change? How many promises had I made over the course of my life, and how many had I kept? People go from disliking someone to caring for them, and from caring to distance. That's just the nature of a human life. Can a feeling last forever?

Even if I kept loving Ji-won... would it stay fierce enough to satisfy the conditions for a shared regression? Hating someone endlessly, I could imagine. But loving someone endlessly... I didn't know. Whether I could keep that promise.

"...Jun-ho."

It was Ji-won who finally broke the silence.

"Even if I can't regress with you anymore... on the surface, we'd still be a couple. We'd find comfort in each other, warmth, good days. I fell for you because of how hard you push yourself, after all."

Ji-won barely got the words out.

"But... even after knowing that neither of us is special enough to the other to carry a regression... could we still be what we are now? That's the moment I'm afraid of. The moment you look at me and realize the memories didn't carry over."

"..."

"I've thought about it a lot. But... I don't know. There doesn't seem to be a clean answer. If things just go on like this, and time passes..."

"No. That's not right."

I stopped her before she could spiral further and shook my head.

"Save that for when it actually happens. Didn't you tell me not to worry about things that haven't happened yet? Those were your own words."

"This situation is different."

"No, it isn't. You're still worrying about something that hasn't happened."

"I'm not worrying, I'm preparing! You're the one who always ends up destroying your own mental health in the process... sorry."

She was halfway out of her seat before she caught herself, recognized she'd gone too far, and sat back down slowly.

"This isn't something to get angry at you over... sorry. But what I'm trying to say is this. We don't have a lot of time. The time we have to be together like this, just the two of us... it's running out. That's what I wanted to say."

"Is that why you said we shouldn't rest in the real world and should keep climbing the Tower?"

"Yeah. When I can still be by your side... I wanted to give you as much as I could."

"..."

"I lean on you too, in my own way. But you lean on me as well. Before we both fall apart without that support... while I still can..."

She couldn't finish. Ji-won pressed her lips tight. This wasn't anguish she'd been carrying for a day or two, the same Ji-won who had always seemed unshakeable was showing cracks this deep. She must have spent a long time turning this over and over in her mind, and found nothing.

"I still think it's too early to give up."

I couldn't let myself get swept along, though. If Ji-won was going to see things that darkly, I couldn't follow her there. That would make a bleak future a certainty. This was the moment for groundless bravado, whether I felt it or not.

"Even without waiting the full ten months, we can find a solution. The moment we regress, we go see the elder on Floor 15. The lowest reward is the Elder's Wise Counsel. If we keep using that, we can put together some kind of answer without sitting on our hands for ten months."

"But in the end, we'd still have to wait ten months to confirm whether the theory is right."

"True. We'd have to wait at the end. But when that time comes, do we have to be together for it?"

"You're saying we should spend those ten months apart?"

"Yeah."

"...There's a saying that distance weakens the heart."

"There's also one that says it makes it fonder. Like Gyeonwu and Jiknyeo[1]. Time apart doesn't cool things, it sharpens them. Don't you think?"

"..."

"Or are you actually saying ten months is enough for your feelings to go cold? Honestly, I still haven't gotten used to your face. You're too beautiful. After ten months apart, it'll be even worse for me."

"Stop it."

Ji-won laughed despite herself, just a small exhale through her nose. At the same time, Bung-bung, resting on the dining table, let out a low hum and vibrated.

"What's that about?"

"It says you're right. It's asking why I'm even worried, because even after ten months apart I could easily win back a fool like you. It says I'm clearly out of your league."

"...Fair enough."

"Right, maybe I was being too negative. Sorry. Getting carried away with dark thoughts like that. If I actually think it through, there might be a real answer."

The suffocating weight between us lifted, just a little. The problem of maybe we won't be able to regress together anymore hadn't been solved. But it no longer felt entirely beyond hope.

"Jun-ho, could you run out to the convenience store and grab some beer and snacks?"

"Beer? Out of nowhere?"

"Being back in this old place brings up memories. I have a lot I want to tell you about. Let's stay here tonight."

That night, the two of us laid everything bare, every worry we had been carrying inside. And we understood. We still loved each other. More than enough.

After that, there was nothing left to hesitate over.

Worrying about things that hadn't happened yet was pointless.

What needed worrying about was the crisis right in front of us.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 15.]

A familiar black sky. A dazzling sun and glittering stars. Like someone had pasted a photograph of deep space directly across the heavens.

"...Phew."

One deep breath, and I didn't waste another second. I set off up the mountain at a long, steady stride. Last time, I'd wandered up slowly, stopping to look around. This time I kept my head down and walked, and the summit appeared before I'd thought to check.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of a chisel against stone. From the center of the hollow at the mountain's peak, a wizened old man was chipping away at rock with a hammer and nail.

"Who goes there?"

"My name is Kim Jun-ho. Does that mean anything to you?"

"No. We've never met, have we."

"..."

The elder let out a laugh. But when I stood there watching him without any reaction, he rubbed the back of his smooth, hairless head and looked away.

"I was trying to lighten the mood a little. Rather awkward without a response."

"Why don't you explain Floor 15 instead."

"Fine, fine. To clear Floor 15, you pick one reward from the list floating in front of you right now. That's all there is to it."

-[10] Weapon Technique Training Assistant

-[9] C-grade Trait Selection

-[8] Refined Mana Stone

...

-[1] The Elder's Wise Counsel.

<Floor 15>

-Select your reward.

The window appeared quickly, but I'd seen it before. I answered without a moment's pause.

"The Elder's Wise Counsel, please."

"...Wouldn't you like to think it over?"

"No. I've already decided."

"Impatient. Very well. Ask what you'd like to know."

A little put out, but he waved me on. I went straight to the question I had ready.

"I have a Scroll of Appraisal. Where would it be best to use it? No matter how I think about it, I can't figure out a proper use for it."

"Hmm... a Scroll of Appraisal, you say."

The elder turned a piece of stone over and over in his palm, thinking. After a brief pause, he raised the hammer in his grip and leveled it loosely at my chest.

"What's that you're carrying, young man?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"There's a ring in your breast pocket. Quite a valuable one, I'd say."

"...Oh?"

I reached into my breast pocket at his words, and sure enough, my fingers closed around a silver ring. This ring... the ring the archangel Raphael had given me on Floor 2. I had completely forgotten it existed.

"The status window probably won't come up for it. Try using the scroll on that. It's no ordinary ring, but even the most sacred divine artifact is just a lump of metal if you don't know how to use it."

"..."

This was... genuinely wise counsel. In the same breath, he had reminded me of a forgotten ring and told me exactly what to do with it. He'd earned that title, it seemed.

"There. That clears Floor 15. Best of luck to you."

He waved a hand, and beside him a blue portal shimmered open. But I wasn't ready to leave.

"May I ask just one more thing?"

"No."

"Come on, don't be like that."

"Young people these days. You should have chosen your question more carefully."

The elder gave the portal a series of playful pokes with his hammer.

"What would happen if I destroyed the statues here?"

His hand stopped mid-poke.

"...What do you mean by that?"

"I'm asking what would happen if I smashed every last statue scattered around this place."

My goal was simple. Try every scheme available to me. Collect as much information as possible.

I could tend to a battered mind later.

"No answer?"

Now was the time.

[1] A beloved myth shared across East Asian cultures, best known in Korea through the festival of Chilseok. Gyeonwu (the Cowherd, represented by the star Altair) and Jiknyeo (the Weaver Girl, represented by Vega) are lovers separated by the Milky Way, permitted to meet only once a year when magpies and crows form a bridge across the sky. 

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