WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 172

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The regressor wanders (8)

"No answer?"

I tilted my head like I genuinely couldn't figure out why. The old man stared back at me, face blank.

"That's pretty cold. Just answer me."

On the surface it probably looked like a tense battle of wills. In reality, I was on edge.

Causing trouble on Floor 15 wasn't as simple as I'd imagined. What, just do whatever I want and regress my way out? That was exactly the problem. Because that old man was not your average harmless grandpa.

Why did I always keep regression a secret? Because I feared the regressor's one true weakness, being 'sealed.' There were already teleporters out there, and people with something close to prophecy abilities. I couldn't rule out that someone with sealing powers existed too.

And this old man, identity unknown? In the martial world, they say to be wary of women, children, and the elderly. An old man who sat alone carving statues against a backdrop of an infinite black sky and a sea of magma, who called himself the 'administrator.' To put it bluntly, nothing he did would surprise me.

"It's just... this thing is kind of ugly. Can't we get rid of it? Hm?"

What would have happened if I'd asked outright, 'What would happen if I used a Scroll of Appraisal on these statues?' He would have grown suspicious on the spot. Too obviously strange, even at a glance.

So what I was performing right now was a full-on 4D nutjob. The kind of person whose logic no ordinary human could begin to follow.

"Hmm... so you want to break them, is that it?"

The old man reached down and picked up one of the statues from the ground. By its shape, it looked to be a wolf.

He turned it over in his hands, studied it from every angle, then shrugged like it was nothing.

"Then break it."

"...What?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to? If you want something, do it. Honestly, it's not even carved that well."

"...Is that really alright?"

"I'm saying it is, aren't I? Want me to show you how?"

Crack! The old man brought his hammer down on the wolf-shaped statue. The wolf snapped clean at the waist and tumbled limply to the floor.

"..."

Wait. Just like that? That easily? My expression slipped before I could catch it, and the old man didn't miss it for a second.

"What's the matter? Didn't you say you wanted to break the statues? Then why do you have that look on your face?"

The instant I saw him tilt his head, I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek. I wasn't about to leave myself open to whatever that might mean.

[You have taken damage.]

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

Crack! The old man brought his hammer down on the wolf-shaped statue. The wolf snapped clean at the waist and tumbled limply to the floor.

"Oh, that's satisfying."

This time, I kept my expression under control. I clapped and cheered like something heavy had been lifted clean off my chest.

"Glad you're pleased."

"No, I should be thanking you for actually doing it."

An old man nodding in satisfaction after smashing his own statue. A young man applauding and thanking him for it. Objectively absurd, the whole scene, but right now I was the madman. Stopping here would be a waste.

"Can I break all the rest too?"

"Suit yourself."

"Thank you."

Drawing on my body's strength, I stomped, smashed, and hurled statues to my heart's content. Like a child happily demolishing a snowman, I worked through them all with a bright smile. It had started as a performance, a role I was playing, but somewhere along the way a genuine kind of satisfaction crept in.

"Phew. Nice and clean now."

About a minute later, every last statue in the pit at the mountain's peak lay in pieces. I made a show of wiping my forehead, then abruptly turned and bowed deeply to the old man.

"Even so, these were works you put effort into. I'm sorry for breaking them like this."

He'd broken everything himself, and now he was apologizing for the breaking. If that wasn't madness, what was. I was congratulating myself on the inside, but.

"I gave you permission, so what's the problem? Honestly, I've thought about destroying them myself sometimes."

No pushover, this old man. He smiled brightly and patted my shoulder like it was nothing.

"They come back even when broken, so don't worry too much. If a young man's heart is lighter for it, they've served their purpose."

"They come back even when broken?"

"Of course. Floor 15 is... a copy of a certain place. Even I, here, am something like a doppelganger. What you just did is the equivalent of tearing a photograph taken of the original."

"...Ah. I see."

"Yes, yes. So don't fret over it. Move on to the next floor without a care."

A couple of light pats on my shoulder, then a nod toward the blue portal. Right. Breaking the statues wasn't going to stop anything.

Instead of answering, I bit down on the inside of my cheek.

[You have taken damage.]

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

Regression. Regression. And again.

The thing I was most careful about was acting like I was seeing everything for the first time. If someone who had supposedly just entered Floor 15 walked straight over and started talking to the old man without so much as a glance around, it would look suspicious.

So even when I came up quickly, I made a point of looking around, examining the statues, investing enough time to seem natural.

After approaching the old man, the questions began. I pushed hard to understand the exact structure of Floor 15.

"Why did you start making these statues?"

"There's truly no price to pay? Really?"

"There's no one here besides the two of us... is that normal? I came in with a friend."

Through all those regressions, I arrived at one certainty. The old man was deceiving me, and doing it cleverly.

"There is no price you have to pay. Choose your reward at ease."

He hadn't said there was no price. He had said there was no price I had to pay.

"It is true that the Tower is designed with some disadvantage if people don't work in harmony... but you have clearly grown, haven't you?"

He brushed off a floor built with obvious malice as 'some disadvantage.' Conflicts that could and did escalate into drawn blades.

"These statues? I just... make them as keepsakes when visitors come."

He waved it off. Something trivial. Not worth dwelling on.

No matter what I asked, the old man never explained anything in depth. Outwardly, he was always kind, gentle, and laughing that warm, easy laugh of a good-natured elder, but between us there was an invisible wall. Admittedly, the same was true of me.

Still, with each regression, like it or not, I was coming to know him. Not some unknowable entity like the archangels. A person.

"Why is there magma here, you ask? Ha ha... it's atmospheric, isn't it? I rather like it."

The old man was mad, but he was performing normally. The exact opposite of me, who was performing madness.

"What do I think of Floor 12? Hmm... if everyone plays their part, everyone walks away with an excellent reward. Isn't that what it is?"

There was a faint misanthropy to him. He didn't trust people. Humans were creatures that inevitably betrayed, that seemed to be his deepest held belief.

He was always warm toward me, though. When I asked why, he said it was because I was strong. He never explained further, but the old man was endlessly generous toward strong people.

"..."

To get any real answers, I had to break through the wall he'd built. I tried pleading. Threats. Behavior too embarrassing to put into words. Every time, the old man would laugh awkwardly and stay exactly where he was, heart closed.

The last method I settled on was empathy.

[You have taken damage.]

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

"May I speak with you for a moment."

Eyes filled with sorrow, I looked up at the black sky.

"I'm sorry to spring this on you, but... I have no one I can be honest with. I feel like something inside me is festering."

"...My. A bit sudden, but... old people tend to be good listeners. Speak freely."

"Thank you."

I brushed off my hands, sat down right where I was, and let out a long, slow breath.

"...Climbing the Tower is too hard."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Risking my life at every turn, climbing this Tower... it's become too much to bear."

I told him everything. The unfairness I'd been carrying. The indifference of the people back on Earth. The other players who aimed for my back the moment I let my guard down. The distrust of people that had taken root in me through all of it.

If Ji-won hadn't been there... this would have been the full, unfiltered truth. Even with her, some part of it still was.

"I don't know anymore. I don't know when the Earth will fall. I don't know if I can keep doing this all the way to the 66th floor..."

"..."

He listened. Really listened, this time, unlike before. A long quiet settled between us before he spoke, voice careful and sober.

"What's your name?"

"Kim Jun-ho."

"Well, Jun-ho. The Tower is... a trial for humanity. You probably heard that in the tutorial."

"I did."

"Jun-ho. In your eyes... does this Tower look like a trial for 'humanity'? Or does it look more like a trial for the climbers?"

"...Honestly, I think it's a structure where climbers are the ones doing all the sacrificing."

"I think so too."

The hammer and nails came down to rest on the ground.

"If the climbers are the ones risking their lives... then the rest of humanity should risk theirs as well, for it to make any sense. Wouldn't you say?"

He was smiling. Bright and unclouded, like a child with nothing to hide.

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