WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 201

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The regressor runs into trouble (4)

Now then, imagine an ordinary unemployed man with no talent, no connections, no money, nothing.

What is the easiest way to turn him into a millionaire? Give him a status window? Send him to another world as a Hero, then return him to modern times? Turn him into a cute girl and make him start streaming online?

The correct answer is sending him back to before 2010.

Bitcoin, the miracle of the modern age, twisted the entire formula of "go back in time and get rich." You don’t need to go back and start a company. You don’t need to go back and invest. You don’t need to go back and build connections. You just have to grind part-time jobs and buy Bitcoin bit by bit.

In 2009, one Bitcoin was worth a little less than 1 won. In 2013, one Bitcoin was around 100,000 won. And now, one Bitcoin is worth more than enough to buy a decent car.

Of course, even without Bitcoin, regression itself was still absurdly overpowered.

If you knew the future and still failed to make money, you were an idiot. The only difference was how fast you moved.

And my goal? Get an elixir within one month. Not easy, but not impossible either.

If there was one piece of know-how I had gained as a professional regressor, it was to gather information first.

In the modern world, a few clicks on a computer flood you with high-quality information. In a wuxia world like this, information itself is money and power. It is not going to come to you just because you sit around and wait.

I decided to make use of guanxi, that excellent social tradition still found in modern China.

"I saw a stray cat wandering around, but it looked far too elegant to be an ordinary stray. I asked around and found out it belonged to your household."

"M-Meow-ah!!! Thank you! Truly, thank you!"

First step, I made contact with the wealthy household whose cat I had found before. They said, "You've done us a favor, so we should at least keep up appearances," and offered me a place as a guest retainer. I accepted.

The rich man who had lost the cat was the head of a successful merchant company, and a large house like his had guests coming and going all day.

"I heard the Wang family's tanghulu shop went under..."

"That Wang brat should have behaved himself... tsk, tsk."

"They say an inspector is coming from the capital... our merchant company will be all right, right?"

"Hmph! Do you know how honestly we run this business? Aside from two or three little under-the-table payments, there is nothing they can pin on us!"

I picked up all kinds of information just from people passing through. Watching useful and useless information sort itself out over time was surprisingly interesting.

After living there as a guest retainer for a month,

"Is this all?"

"Just eat it."

"..."

The day my meals were reduced to wild greens and a tiny dish of soy sauce, I realized I had overstayed my welcome. Maybe staying over a month after doing nothing but finding one cat had been too much. I regressed without hesitation.

After regressing, I repeated the cat search.

"Sir. I heard an inspector is coming from the capital."

"...Is that true?"

Using information from the previous cycle, I strengthened my position a little more. Then, with that stronger position, I gained even more information. The more I regressed, the faster my standing rose, like climbing stairs.

"Brother Kim. Here's lunch."

At first, I was just an ordinary guest retainer.

"Brother Kim. The head merchant invited you to dinner with the other retainers."

Next, I became a useful and capable retainer.

"Teacher Kim. The head merchant invited you to a banquet."

After that, I was no longer just a retainer of the merchant company, but an adviser and helper.

"Teacher Kim. The head merchant asked whether you have plans tonight. He wants to have dinner with you alone."

Eventually, I became part of the merchant company itself, and a business partner.

"Teacher Kim? Ah, of course I know him. The hottest young gentleman around these days, right?"

"I heard Teacher Kim predicted the future again. They say he was an immortal cultivating in the mountains. Is it true?"

"I just want to share one meal with Teacher Kim..."

Regression. Regression. And more regression.

With every regression, I gained access to more important information. With every regression, I could hold onto more things. With every regression, I was treated better.

I will be honest. It was the first time regression felt fun.

Repeating regressions to get stronger was boring. Constant fighting was exhausting. But climbing to higher and higher social status through information felt like a drug. I could see people's reactions changing. I could see the way they treated me changing.

If the Tower did not exist, and if I did not carry the pressure of knowing the future, what would regression have been like then? Back in modern society, I might have enjoyed regression to the fullest. One life as a successful businessman. One life as a young scientific genius. One as a soldier. One as a politician.

That was what regression on Floor 18 became. Within the larger goal of "gather enough information," I enjoyed life. At first, the fact that my power was limited stressed me out. Looking back, it was a blessing.

From the start, I chose a path where I did not have to throw my own body into the dirt to seize momentum. I gained enough power, then used that power to extract information. Because of that, I had no reason to regress in the middle of combat.

Of course, it was not all pleasant.

"Hey. Wake up."

"...?"

Some days I came to my senses and found a bandit poking me in a mountain valley. The night before, I had gotten thoroughly drunk with people from the merchant company and gone to sleep.

Why was I here?

"Ah."

Only then did I realize I had regressed. Someone must have poisoned my drink, or snatched me while I slept. In the real world, my sharpened senses would have caught it, but this weakened body could not react.

So they were trying to keep me in check. I was less angry than fired up. I had a cheat key called regression. If I could not overcome even this kind of obstacle, what was the point?

"Sir, that man has been falsifying the ledgers."

"W-what are you saying! Do you have proof?"

"Yes. The proof is right here."

"..."

I cut down the arrogant ones. I got rid of the useless ones. I frightened traitors so they would never try again. The fact that my own martial strength was high worked as a kind of bonus.

The speed at which I built my position kept increasing with each regression. Sometimes assassins came, and I subdued them with my own hands. After once regressing because of an assassin's poison needle, I always wore thick padded clothes. As long as I was not pierced and forced into regression, assassins were no longer much of a threat.

At some point, I even forgot I was supposed to clear Floor 18 and focused only on climbing higher. Build connections, use those connections to make money, then use that money to build even more valuable connections.

I charged ahead without looking back, and before I knew it,

"Sir Jun-ho. Here it is."

"Mm."

I had become the head merchant of a massive merchant company myself. Dozens moved at a single word from me, and letters packed with interesting information piled up in my office every day. It was an achievement I built in just eight months.

Now I could sit in one place and look down over this vast land. As a bonus, when I ordered reports on anyone showing suspicious behavior, players were caught in droves.

What was Choi Ji-won doing? Choi Ji-won had cleared Floor 18 long ago. She had sent word through another player months earlier, so she probably was not too worried about me.

If I wanted an elixir now, I could get one whenever I wanted. Not just elixirs. I could get anything money could buy.

"Are you saying there is no Taoist using the surname Jang?"

"Yes. My apologies."

The "Jang" I had been looking for had vanished, perhaps hiding in the mountains. I knew where the other Overseers were, but he was the man I had targeted first, so I wanted to finish through him too. Even if I returned to reality now, the U.S. secret warehouse was already gone, and the time for monsters to appear was near. There was no information I did not already know. Rather than rushing back by clearing quickly, I wanted to see the end of Floor 18.

"Bring me every piece of information from before the point eight months ago."

"Understood."

From then on, I prepared for regression. Who I would visit right after regressing. Which goods I would buy in advance. Which villains I would threaten. Like setting up a speedrun build in a game, I stacked each move one by one without wasting time.

What came out of that was a full one-month plan. If I moved nonstop for one month, I would barely secure enough money and power to obtain an elixir.

"Hmm..."

Failure was still possible, so I stuffed more information than necessary into my head and regressed.

I lightly dealt with bandits who picked fights, then ran around cities through sleepless nights according to plan. Some pieces of information were wrong, and in some cases I missed bids by only a few hours and took losses, but in the larger flow, everything went according to plan.

"It's here."

"This is..."

"Yes. Please handle it carefully."

Only a month and a half after regressing,

I obtained the supreme elixir, thousand-year snow ginseng.

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