WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 208

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The regressor endures (5)

"Help... please help me..."

A frail girl was trembling all over. Anyone would see only a thin, powerless child, but I did not let my guard down. Even if the chance was tiny, I could still rush in to help and end up in a "So I got tricked!" situation. My mission of 'survival' might literally be a mission to survive her. She could be everything I had feared, the end of all things, the one who ends the world.

Then why was I approaching her while staying this cautious? Because I was a regressor. Even if I made a mistake, I could get back up. If I got betrayed, I could rub the back of my throbbing head and move forward again. Hesitating here and letting everything get tangled would be the real mistake.

And from what I could tell, what I needed to do right now was save this girl. The Government of the Republic of Korea, or some power on that level, was after her. The proof was everywhere: news, billboards, every possible publicity channel was covered with her face. I did not know why, but they clearly wanted her back badly.

"Hey, kid."

"Yes..."

"People are looking for you right now. Do you know that?"

"Yes..."

"What do you want to do? Should I take you to them?"

"...N-no, I don't want that. I don't want to go back..."

Fear flooded her face in an instant. That was enough explanation for me.

"Okay, got it. Get on my back... no, wait, that won't work with this armor. I'll carry you and run."

"I-I'm scared..."

"Bear with it."

At first I ran at a speed no normal person could even imagine, then slowed down a little when she seemed frightened. I planned to get to a place with as few people as possible as fast as I could, but that plan fell apart almost immediately.

"...What is that guy? Am I seeing things?"

"Hey, film it. Film it. Let's post it to Reels."

A man in gleaming full-body armor running while holding a tiny girl was bound to attract attention. I had even chosen rough riverside paths with barely any roads, yet I still saw people in the distance pulling out their phones the moment they spotted me.

"I need to take this armor off here. Wait a second."

This would not work. I carefully set her down on the damp riverbank and quickly stripped off the armor. Under it I had the plain cloth clothes that seemed to be standard Tower issue. It still looked awkward, but it drew less attention than steel armor.

"Can you walk?"

"N-no..."

"Got it."

They say if you want to hide a tree, hide it in a forest. The best option, in my view, was holding hands and walking together, but since she could not do that, carrying her on my back and walking was better.

"Climb on. Bury your face and pretend you're asleep. You can really sleep if you want."

"Okay..."

The moment she got on my back, she fell asleep. She must have been exhausted.

...

...

Once I carried her on my back and walked, the stares vanished fast. A few older people looked at us warmly, but besides that, almost nobody cared. It was surprising.

"Your daughter? You must have it rough."

"Haha, no."

Even while answering with a smile, my mind was racing. With things like this, the city was dangerous. I did not know all the details yet, but public authority did not seem like it would be on our side. The police? They were a major threat, if anything.

Do ordinary criminals hide in cities all the time? Sure. But the ones who stayed hidden all had helpers. That meant they had at least one place to stay.

I was a complete outsider. A stranger with no roots here. I did not even have cash on me, never mind shelter. The only money-making method I could think of right now was shaking down random passersby, and even that was pointless these days since people used cards.

So I could not make use of city life. CCTV and similar systems were threats instead. The countryside, and if possible the mountains, would be better.

Then the question came back. How do we get to the mountains? This was Seoul. No car, obviously, and no money for a bus either.

...

Did I really have to ride a bus?

"U-um, where are we going?"

I heard the girl's voice, as if she had just woken up.

"To the riverside."

First, we needed to get out of Seoul.

The sun was setting. I always thought this, but dusk really was beautiful. I liked that it was an everyday kind of beauty you could see anywhere.

"Where... are we?"

"Good question. I don't know either."

Right before departure, we slipped into a bus luggage compartment. I heard it was heading somewhere in Gangwon Province, and the timing lined up perfectly.

Wasn't that caught on CCTV? It was. Absolutely. So once I felt the bus was on the highway, I forced the compartment open from inside and jumped out. In general, jumping from a moving bus should be avoided, but after pushing my superhuman body to its limit, I landed without injury. I closed the compartment again right before jumping, so nobody got hurt. Probably.

Since it was daytime, traffic was light, so I jumped clear without getting hit by another vehicle. We followed the road, climbed a nearby hill, then kept going up the mountain with no fixed destination. First goal: stay out of sight. Second goal: be able to spot anyone approaching.

By the time we reached the top, the sun was already going down. The girl on my back looked worn out too, so we needed to rest here.

"Haa, haa, haa..."

While breathing hard, she suddenly looked at me and bowed her head.

"Um... thank you for helping me."

"...Yeah."

If it were me, I would have asked, "Why did you help me?" first. Was she just an innocent girl? Either she accepted goodwill as pure goodwill, or she just was not thinking that far.

"First, what's your name?"

"My name? It's Areum. They told me it's a pure Korean word, it means being able to hold someone full in your arms. What about you, oppa?"

"I'm Jun-ho. Do you have a family name?"

"My family name... I don't have one."

...

Areum was raising ominous flags one after another already. A girl in plain white cloth saying she had no surname naturally made all kinds of scenarios explode in my head.

"Do you know... why you're being chased?"

"That... I'm sorry. I don't really know either."

"Then why did you say you don't want to go back?"

"My memory is blurry... but it was painful... and awful... I don't want to go back... it's too hard..."

"Ugh... then how did you get all the way here?"

"I don't know that either... I just... came to my senses and I was outside..."

My rough guess was that she had been confined in some secret lab, or a facility like that, and escaped for some reason.

The unusual part was that she had memories of the outside. If she had grown up only in a lab, living her whole life there, she should have had no outside knowledge, but Areum had basic common sense.

"Hmm..."

What now? I wanted to ask her much more, but pushing a girl who had just escaped did not sit right with me. I could gather details after she calmed down.

"Sleepy, right? Let's find a place for you to rest first. I think I saw somewhere that if you pile up leaves and lie down, it's soft."

"Yes, okay."

Just in case, I spread my mana wide as an alarm and walked while looking for a place to rest. Since this was just a Korean hill, I would not find a cave or anything like that. I planned to stop when I found a decently wide flat patch.

"That spot should be fine, right?"

"...Yeah..."

Areum's words dragged, maybe from fatigue. I had just met her, but honestly, she was cute. Right around when I thought that if I ever had a daughter, I would want one like this.

Maybe I relaxed a little. Just a little.

BANG!!!

"Urk...!!"

A destructive pain exploded near my shoulder. Blood scattered like flower petals in every direction. A wet crunch rang out, a sound that should never come from a human body.

I had spread Mana and stayed alert, and I reacted in an instant by twisting my body, but I could not dodge the bullet. At best I turned a chest shot into a shoulder shot. Sharp pain shot through my entire body, and at the same time, time seemed to slow down.

Far away. A faint flash of reflected light from the opposite ridge. A sniper.

"Oppa...!"

Areum stared at me in shock. Her eyes widened. Her mouth fell open.

BANG!!!

"Aaaah!"

Both of her knees shattered. Her thin legs bent backward as she collapsed in a blink.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 21.]

I blacked out.

...

"Cosplay?"

"Are they filming a movie? Or YouTube?"

"Can I take a picture? That looks cool."

Ignoring everyone around me, I dropped onto the nearest bench. I needed to collect my thoughts.

"A sniper..."

I knew Korea had snipers, but I had never heard of them being deployed in real operations. Let alone firing on civilians.

And what I saw at the end was telling too. The sniper's bullet targeted my chest. That meant kill. Areum's legs were targeted instead. That meant they needed her alive. It also meant they were confident they could save her before blood loss killed her.

"Hoo..."

If they had enough force to deploy a sniper, then I could treat it as confirmed that the group after Areum was the Government of the Republic of Korea. A nation targeting one girl.

Either way, my immediate goal was set now. If told to choose between a frail girl and ruthless power, anyone would make the same choice I did.

Hide Areum from the world.

For a week. Or longer.

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