WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 181

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The regressor agonizes (3)

"I'm sorry."

The South Korean President bowed deeply at the waist.

"To the unfortunate victims who lost their lives yesterday, to the bereaved families in anguish, and to every citizen of this country who had to witness this tragedy... I'm sorry."

In restaurants. At airports. In PC cafes. At home.

Wherever a TV was on, the President's apology played. Six hundred people had died. Those watching felt their chests tighten, felt the anger rising, and still couldn't bring themselves to blame him.

Who could have imagined a giant tiger would appear on Namsan and just start slaughtering people? It was a disaster. Not just a disaster, but a catastrophe.

"The nineteen police officers who gave their lives in the line of duty... the twenty-three players as well..."

Click.

"..."

Ji-won reached for the remote and switched the television off. Her hands wouldn't stop trembling. She picked up the tea from the glass table and took a sip, but it had gone cold long ago.

Kang Chan's guild office. Chan had invited me and Ji-won immediately after the fight with the tiger, and we had agreed to visit a day later. That was why we were sitting here now.

"..."

The disaster wasn't Korea's alone. Monsters had surfaced across the world, some weaker, some stronger. Every outbreak was contained within twenty-four hours, but the wounds they left behind were another matter.

Europe and Russia had come through it relatively clean. The creatures that appeared there were weak, and by sheer luck, fully prepared players were already nearby, which kept the damage minimal. (Probably thanks to Michael Zetter's advance warning, I thought.)

The places that suffered worst were the United States and Canada. Between the two, they had taken damage that made Korea's losses look like nothing.

In Canada, a massive lightning eagle had appeared. It surfaced along the western coast and flew low toward the capital, Ottawa, electrocuting countless civilians with its presence alone.

Canada had no strong players to speak of. The few who did exist had relocated to the States long ago. The land itself was sprawling and impossibly vast, making it hard for players to arrive in time.

Police were mobilized first, then the military, and eventually missiles were fired. None of it worked. Modern weaponry couldn't finish the creature off. The eagle had been wounded, and the best guess was that it had retreated somewhere into the northern forests.

Estimated damage: incalculable. Half of Canada's fighter jets were destroyed, and civilian deaths alone numbered well into the tens of thousands.

Even that paled against what happened in the United States.

The heart of New York had been obliterated. The Statue of Liberty melted in the fury of the battle, the Empire State Building collapsed into rubble, and the death toll was still being counted. Part of what made it so catastrophic was the timing, the fighting erupting in the dead of night in one of the most densely populated cities on earth.

The dragon was dead. Player Association President Michael Zetter and his allies had killed it, but America's heart, its symbol, had crumbled. No one could celebrate.

The bigger problem, though, was the giant werewolf in the west.

In raw combat power, the werewolf was nothing next to the dragon. Roughly on par with the tiger that had appeared in Korea, maybe slightly weaker. But it was smart.

Whenever strong players came after it, it fled. It targeted only the weakest civilians, slipping away fast before circling back to kill again. The timing hadn't helped either. The creature surfaced in the middle of the night, which only drove the casualties higher.

The real issue was that the American government's response had been far, far too slow.

"The government is reviewing every available option, and we ask that the citizens please..."

The American President at his press conference, expression locked rigid. Unlike the reception the Korean President had received, the journalists here gave back nothing but ice.

"Reports have emerged that no orders were given for approximately five hours after the incident began. What were you doing during that time?"

"We were formulating a response from the bunker."

"The military couldn't move because you did nothing. With the ruling party already slashing defense spending, what exactly is going through your mind?"

"We were simply trying to respond with caution."

"Let me be blunt, Mr. President. Where is the money going? Budget cuts keep coming from every direction, but there's no word of any new investment. And the price of that is the people of this country ground to dust."

"It is being used for this nation."

He held his ground well enough, but the relentless wave of questions proved too much. The conference ended fast.

-This crazy pig. You think he's siphoning the budget to build himself a secret bunker? What was he doing while people were dying out there?

-Probably somewhere with his hands on some actress's backside.

-This is absolutely impeachable. Did you see all those government agencies whining about budget shortfalls lately? That idiot is definitely doing something idiotic behind the scenes, no question.

People were screaming that the President had lost his mind. Impeachment protests swept the country. Analysts said they couldn't make sense of his behavior. Political suicide, and no one could explain why.

"Compared to all that... a lot of people are saying Korea handled things relatively well. Don't you think?"

"We did our best. Isn't that enough?"

Kang Chan settled into the head seat and nodded. He had become a hero now, eclipsing even Ji-won in the public eye. A body cam worn by one of his guild members had caught him killing the tiger in a single instant. He had posted the footage online, naturally.

"I feel bad hogging all the spotlight. Without you two, the casualties would've been far worse."

"No... you were the one who finished it off, in the end."

"..."

Chan and I had stopped using formal speech months back, worn down by time spent side by side. Ji-won, even though she had exchanged greetings with him earlier, still looked mildly awkward.

"So how does it feel? Being a hero."

"Honestly, it's a lot of pressure. Do you know there are reporters outside? That's why the blinds are down."

"Oh, that sounds rough."

We spent a while on small talk, the state of the world and everything else. Chan had long since noticed that nothing had changed between me and Ji-won, but to his credit, he didn't bring it up. He probably figured there was a reason and was letting it go.

When the conversation felt warm enough, I moved to the point.

"So, about Dok Su-hee. What is she to you? Why are you traveling together?"

"Before I get into that... I received help from Su-hee, and I made her a promise. The reason we were together, though, that had to do with the Association President."

"The Association President?"

Bang.

The moment I said it, the door swung open and Dok Su-hee walked in.

"I'd like to speak with Jun-ho oppa alone. There's something I need to say."

"...Why should I?"

Just because she wanted a private conversation didn't mean I had any reason to agree. I felt my expression sour without meaning to. But—

"You want to talk to him alone?"

Ji-won saw it differently.

"...Fine, I'll step out. Shall we grab a coffee?"

"Sure."

She sent me one glance and then left the office. Chan followed, getting up from his seat with a reluctant look.

Ji-won knew what had happened on Floor 3. She was probably giving me a chance to sort through the past.

In the end, just the two of us remained. Me and Su-hee. Only then did she push back her hood and pull down her mask, revealing her face.

She looked fragile. Dark circles had sunk deep beneath her eyes, her skin gone pale enough to be almost white. Before, she had given off the impression of a high school girl. Now she looked like one who had stopped going to school and hadn't left the house in weeks.

"So what did you want to say?"

I opened first, not wanting to drag this out. The words came out colder than I intended, but Su-hee just tilted her head and looked at me with an odd little smile.

"I just... wanted to say let's forget the past and get along."

Not what I expected from her. This was what she'd needed a private conversation for?

"Honestly, I don't really understand."

"What don't you understand?"

"Why you'd want to get along with me."

"...Why not?"

"Your arm. It's healed now, but I was the one who took it."

Su-hee had betrayed me. She had her reasons, but from where I stood it was just a stab in the back. I had set a trap and taken her arm. Even now, I still found myself second-guessing that decision sometimes. Whether it had really been right to take a high school girl's arm.

I had listened to her story afterward and activated the Awe trait for her. She had stayed friendly right up to the end. If she never knew I was the one who took her arm, it wasn't strange that she still held some goodwill toward me.

That didn't mean I had any interest in being close to her. A person who betrays you once will betray you again. That had always been my belief. And Ji-won was by my side. Letting Su-hee in as a companion was simply not going to happen.

"My arm? I already knew about that."

She gave a casual nod, unbothered.

"Something like that is... just a small incident, really. Isn't that how relationships work? People clash sometimes."

"What exactly are you after?"

"Just to get along. Like friends. Keeping in touch now and then. Swapping tips as we climb the Tower."

"...And if I say no?"

"Then... there's nothing I can do. I'd have to give up. That's all."

She tilted her head about thirty degrees, face blank.

"But do you know something?"

"..."

One step, then another, she closed the distance and sat down beside me. Her eyes were pitch black, pupils so deep a person could fall in and never be found.

"I have one of your weaknesses in my hands, Jun-ho oppa."

She slipped the pink watch off her wrist and fastened it around mine. With slender fingers she tapped the watch face. Once. Twice. Three times. Then she held my gaze.

"...We'll need to talk about this."

Cold sweat ran down my back. A possibility I had only half believed had just become real.

The condition for a joint regression was emotion. For memories to carry over, I had to have felt intense emotion toward the target at the moment of regression.

At the moment of Su-hee's betrayal, the rage I had felt toward her had been enormous.

"Okay!"

And that... had apparently triggered the regression.

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