WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 018

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Choi Ji-won is rude (1)

“Hello! Haven’t we met somewhere before?”

“…”

“Maybe… Korea University? I’m sure I spotted you on campus!”

Swoosh!

Exactly like before, Ji-won’s blade nicked the bridge of my nose in the blink of an eye.

“…Stop bothering me and get lost.”

So, not Korea University then.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 0.]

“Could it be Sinchon University?”

Shhk.

“Or… Anam University?”

Shhk.

“Hyehwa…?”

Shhk.

“Hoegi…?”

Shhk.

“You must be from some no-name college, you crazy witch.”

Shhk.

I rattled off every university I knew, and all I got back was cold steel, not a warm hello.

“I don’t know many high-school names, either…”

There are three possibilities.

First, I simply don’t know the school she attends.

Second, she never went to university.

Third, I guessed right, but she is the sort who cuts people first and asks about alumni ties—never.

Either way, pretending we are old classmates clearly won’t draw a meaningful reaction.

Maybe the issue is trust.

This time, like in an earlier loop, I asked Ji-won-ssi for sword lessons.

“Whew… whew…”

“I’ve taught you enough. Now leave.”

“…Ji-won-ssi.”

“I said go.”

“Could I just ask—”

“No.”

“...”

She gives me no opening at all.

No matter how saintly I act, her heart’s door stays shut. Do something nice and she merely stops being hostile, she does not turn friendly.

Even when she hands out food, she does it silently, as if it were an obligation. Every time she gave me a bowl I said, “Thank you,” but never once heard a reply.

Whatever I say, Ji-won-ssi offers nothing of substance. At last, annoyed, I tried going nuts.

“Oi! Soko no jose!” [1]

“…Hold it, Bung-bung. ‘You fucking lunatic’ is too much.”

‘…I didn’t say anything like that?’

Her fist blurred toward me like a bullet.

Thunk!

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 0.]

This time I could at least faintly see the punch coming.

The problem was stopping it. Her fist curved in an impossible arc, a line my sword angle simply couldn’t cover.

Even if I blocked, I’d have reset anyway—the punch hit like a truck.

“…What a vicious woman.”

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

Whatever I try, she just ignores me.

Was Ji-won-ssi always an unbreakable character?

Damn… maybe I should give up and go hunt the boss instead. Given enough hours, I could definitely track it down.

Or I could follow someone else.

For example, the firefighter ahjussi led a group of survivors out of the clearing on the morning of Day 2.

If I clear a path early and shadow him from Day 2…

“Wait.”

Someone else?

I don’t mean tricking a stranger into doing weird stuff for me.

Ji-won-ssi is equally cold to everyone; apart from the bob-cut girl Baek Da-hye, I’ve never seen her chat with anyone for long.

So she isn’t singling me out, she treats everyone like a psychopath would. I’m going to use “someone else” in a slightly different way.

“Heh heh… heh-heh-heh-heh…”

Choi Ji-won,

Let me test your limits.

Whack!

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 0.]

“Huff, huff, huff-huff…”

Run. Run. Keep running.

He had sweated out every last drop, his head swam, and his breath rasped at his throat, but Kim Jun-gyu could not stop.

“Graaaah!”

Behind him, a gigantic goblin, sword raised, charged like a mad beast.

The first day inside the Tower had been fine.

Kim Jun-gyu’s trio discovered that goblins dropped food when slain, so they roamed about with lighthearted, game-like excitement.

Rations were scarce, but they’d never felt their lives in danger. Their cold weapons were sharp, and goblins were weak.

They spent the first night without a hitch.

With danger forgotten, their strides grew swaggering, shoulders squared. While marching along, they came upon an outsized goblin perched on a fallen trunk.

“Jun-gyu hyung, that one looks kinda tough, doesn’t it?”

“Hey, we’re already level ten. Normal goblins don’t even tickle now. Time to upgrade prey.”

“I guess…”

The thought that it might be dangerous never crossed their minds. A goblin is still just a goblin, they believed.

The first to step up was the younger friend they’d made after climbing the Tower.

“Hyung, I dumped all my stat points into Strength, feels like I can deadlift five hundred kilos now.”

He flexed. The bulging muscles looked reassuring.

“I’ll wreck that thing like a side-lateral-raise demo. Watch.”

Grinning, dual hand-axes held awkwardly, he strode toward the mutant goblin.

Swish!

“Huh?”

In a flash the mutant seized one axe,

Crunch!

and split his skull clean in half.

“Uh… uh-uh…”

While Kim Jun-gyu and the last companion froze, unable to process reality, the goblin calmly scooped up the remaining axe and hurled it.

Thwack!

The sound was so jauntily crisp it felt unreal.

The standing man toppled, hot blood spraying across Jun-gyu’s face.

“Ah… aaaaAAAAAAAH!”

Kim Jun-gyu bolted like a madman.

He ran nearly ten minutes.

“Huk, hhaaaak…”

Even with higher level-granted stamina, a ten-minute sprint was brutal.

“Huk, kuh!”

His vision spun. He must have clipped a rock, sharp pain bloomed inside his lip where he’d bitten it.

He tried to rise but his arms had no strength.

“Kh-heek, kh-heek, kh-heh-heh-heh…”

The mutant goblin approached, breathing heavy too, but far less battered.

“Someone… anyone… help…”

Is this how I die?

Just for poking the wrong big goblin?

He had imagined dying of old age someday. The death now before him was filthy, frightening, and viscous.

“Please…”

“Kh-hel-hel…”

The huge goblin wiped drool from its mouth with the back of a hand and raised clawed fingers toward him when…

Skrunch!

A razor-sharp sonic tear sliced the air, and the goblin froze.

Silently its torso pitched forward.

“…Huh?”

No, it wasn’t bowing.

Its upper body had parted from its waist.

Splatter!

Green blood geysered belatedly.

“Are you all right? Up you go.”

A savior—who knew how long he had been standing there—lifted Kim Jun-gyu to his feet.

Sunlight rimmed the man like a halo, masking his face, but the sword in his hand gleamed, slick with green.

“A… ahhh…”

‘This man saved me.’

‘Thank you, thank you, thank you…!’

His throat was tight, words barely trickling out, so he chanted thanks inwardly.

“…Another F-grade trait, huh. Can’t use this either.”

The savior whispered to himself. His eyes, which had been lingering in mid-air, now locked onto Jun-gyu’s face.

“What is your name?”

“Kim Jun-gyu… I’m Kim Jun-gyu…”

He managed a cracked reply.

The savior nodded once, then gripped his shoulders firmly.

“Jun-gyu-ssi. You’re exhausted, aren’t you?”

“…Yes.”

Exhausted.

His two close friends were dead.

He himself had been hauled back from the River Styx at the last second.

This Tower was no carefree RPG hunting ground. It was a place where you kill or be killed, pure survival of the fittest.

Confronting that truth had broken his spirit.

“I… I’m sorry for being so weak…”

Jun-gyu lowered his head.

But the savior patted his shoulder with a gentle smile.

“It’s all right.”

“…Sir?”

“It’s all right to be weak.”

“But…”

In this Tower, the weak cannot survive.

Jun-gyu was already afraid of fighting. He wasn’t even sure he could beat an ordinary goblin now.

Without killing you could gather no food or water. He was obsolete.

“No.”

The savior shook his head.

“You can survive even if you’re weak. You can still enjoy life.”

“But how…?”

Click.

With a mysterious finger he pointed in a direction.

“Go back.”

“…Pardon?”

“Return to where you first started.”

His warm palm stroked Jun-gyu’s back.

“There you’ll find a cozy haven, food and water, and people ready to welcome you.”

It sounded like heaven itself.

“…Yes.”

All Jun-gyu could do was nod.

Choi Ji-won, let’s see how many mouths you can feed on your own.

Footnotes:

[1] “Oi! Soko no jose!” is gamer-level broken Japanese for “Hey! You there, lady!”

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