WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 022

──────

The boss is too weak (2)

After we first dropped the rations off in the clearing and finished introductions, we followed Park Cheol‑jin's lead and set off through the forest.

‘Guess I was right not to trigger another regression.’

Not that I'd ever lasted as far as day six before, anyway.

Back when I lazed around in the clearing doing absolutely nothing, stuff like this never happened.

This is the first time I've even heard talk of someone finding the boss.

So I guess this is another butterfly effect caused by me dragging everyone into the clearing, but I still cannot figure out which choice twisted the future this way.

“...”

“...”

Park Cheol‑jin and Choi Ji‑won kept walking in silence. The mood was kind of awkward, but I decided to ask what I had been wondering.

"How did you even know about us?"

Calling us a ‘we’ made Ji‑won's eyebrows twitch for a second, yet she didn't object.

For reference, Cheol‑jin left the clearing in the early morning of day two, while Ji‑won started handing out rations after that.

Meaning the two of them should have had no reason to cross paths.

"Kim Gun‑do‑ssi tipped me off," he said.

Park Cheol‑jin answered my question without hesitation.

"Uh, and who is that again?"

"Kim Gun‑do."

“...”

I had no clue. Who on earth was Kim Gun‑do?

It felt like a stranger shaking my hand and going, ‘Hey, Junho, long time no see.’

"He came over from your group, so I figured you knew his name," he added.

"Any distinctive features?"

"He digs. Like, all the time."

"Ah!"

So the ahjussi who kept digging holes was named Kim Gun‑do.

"He planned to spend five whole days leisurely digging up the clearing, but he couldn't handle the crowd, saying it was too noisy. Now he's with our group."

"I see."

In the previous cycle, Kim Gun‑do vanished on the night of day five.

Because I dragged so many people into the clearing this time, he must have left earlier than scheduled.

One thing led to another and he ended up joining the firefighter's crew. So this is what they call the butterfly effect. The whole thing felt strangely surreal.

"Here we are," he announced.

I wasn't sure how long we'd walked, but Cheol‑jin finally came to a stop.

"Wow."

Three tidy little wooden cabins stood here, each one small but well crafted.

"Did you build these yourself?"

"No. We had a carpenter in the group, and his trait let him shape wood like it was clay. These are his handiwork."

"Oh, may I ask his name…?"

"He was killed by a mutant goblin."

"Ah."

Come to think of it, when Cheol‑jin left the clearing, he didn't believe in status windows or the Tower at all.

He had insisted this was all some elaborate prank, the stubborn old geezer.

Yet now he tossed around words like ‘trait’ and ‘mutant goblin’ as if they were everyday terms.

How much hardship had it taken for him to accept this new reality?

The thought weighed on my chest.

"But where is everybody?"

The log cabins were completely empty.

You could see signs that people had lived here, which made their absence feel all the more uncanny.

“...”

All of a sudden the air turned icy.

What is happening?

Don't tell me the boss killed everyone except Park Cheol‑jin?

Did I just stick my foot in my mouth?

"They're hiding over there in the distance," he said.

So it wasn't a foot‑in‑mouth moment after all, thank goodness.

Still, that sounded odd. Why were they hiding?

He sighed.

Cheol‑jin plopped down on a rough wooden chair, drew a deep breath, and fixed us with a sharp gaze.

"Before I show you the boss, I want an honest answer."

“...”

“...”

Ji‑won had been staring off silently, so I spoke up instead.

"Sure, go ahead."

Park Cheol‑jin kept his eyes on us and asked carefully,

"How did the two of you learn to use a sword so well?"

“...”

“...”

This time I was speechless, because I finally understood why he was so wary.

Let me repeat, today is only day six since we entered the Tower.

Yet Ji‑won and I swung our blades far too skillfully for two people who had supposedly self‑taught in six days.

Honestly, in the modern world you might fire a gun, but when would you ever need a sword?

The perfectly reasonable question, ‘So where did you learn swordsmanship?’

The doubt I'd once aimed at Ji‑won was now pointed squarely at me.

"I'll go first," Ji‑won said.

She was the one to break the silence.

"My father was a kendo instructor."

"An instructor?"

Figures.

There was a good reason she handled a sword so well. When your dad is a kendo master, it's only natural you know your way around a blade.

Come to think of it, Ji‑won had never shown off any flashy sword forms. She'd never shouted something like ‘Choi Ji‑won Style, Form One!’

She was simply outrageously strong because her fundamentals and physical ability were beyond solid.

"I have some connections in that circle myself. May I know your father's name?" Cheol‑jin asked slowly, as if sensing something.

"He writes it Choi Cheol, Sun," she answered, giving the characters.

"Ah."

Choi Cheol‑sun.

Apparently that was a name Cheol‑jin recognized.

"About… your father…"

"It's all right," she said calmly.

He suddenly looked sorry, and she just replied in a level voice that it was fine.

What was that? Why were they having a conversation only the two of them understood?

"You must already know without me having to ask, right?" he said to her.

"I can feel it."

After that cryptic exchange, an awkward silence hung in the air.

"So… should I share my story too?" I offered.

It was my turn now.

"I… gained my swordsmanship after coming to the Tower."

"Gained?"

"It's a trait, Swordsmanship, grade B. Knowledge I never had just lodged itself in my head one day."

“…”

Operation ‘No Clue’ in full swing.

The Tower gave me swordsmanship, I don't know how. Please direct any further questions to the Tower!

Of course the Tower runs no help desk, making it the perfect excuse. Cheol‑jin was left speechless.

"Miss Choi Ji‑won, can this man's skill be trusted?"

"I think he's in the upper ranks," she said.

"Very well, if you say so, I'll take your word for it."

The firefighter nodded at her testimony.

"Truth be told, I'd love to test Kim Jun‑ho's skills myself…"

He sank deep into his chair and met my eyes.

"But we don't have time. The situation is quite serious."

"Serious how?"

"You saw the message window about the boss, right?

"Yeah, more or less…"

<Tutorial Stage>  

-Clear Condition 1: If you swallow a Golden Marble hidden somewhere in the forest, you may proceed to the next stage. Only fifty Golden Marbles exist.  

-Clear Condition 2: If you defeat the boss, the Goblin Shaman, a portal to the next stage will appear.

"Doesn't it puzzle you why, after finding the boss, we haven't killed it yet?"

He had a point.

Killing the boss should open a portal to the next stage.

And, at a glance, Cheol‑jin was quite the powerhouse, from the massive axe he carried to the muscles and aura that radiated off him.

So why would someone that strong trek all the way here instead of simply taking the boss out?

"Once you see it yourself, you'll understand. Come along."

The firefighter rose and started walking.

"Shall we go?" Ji‑won asked.

"Yeah, let's go."

Ji‑won and I followed him.

"We only found the boss by chance. Kim Gun‑do‑ssi was digging and uncovered a goblin tunnel."

The farther we walked, the more familiar a smell drifted in.

Musty, metallic, bitterly foul—the stench of a swamp. Judging by that smell, we were heading for the forest's edge.

"Exploring the goblin tunnels, we found an exit to the surface, and that's when we stumbled onto this place."

Because I gathered people in the clearing, Kim Gun‑do bailed early…

His digging here led Park Cheol‑jin to discover the boss, a mysterious butterfly effect.

“…”

Yet I was quickly losing the room to ponder such things.

Electric tingles pricked my skin, the hairs on my neck standing up. I could sense its presence, and it was furious.

"Look, that's the boss, the Goblin Shaman."

Shaaak, shaaak—the ragged sound of its breathing.

Sure enough, an aged goblin was gasping for breath.

It wore some unidentified animal skull over its head and brandished a staff decked out with ornaments, leaving no doubt it was the Goblin Shaman.

The odd part was how terrible the boss looked. Green blood dripped from its mouth, and it seemed like a light shove would topple it.

"So if we kill that frail‑looking thing, a portal opens?"

"Exactly."

The Goblin Shaman muttered nonstop, standing atop an intricate sigil.

"This is actually a big problem."

The real problem wasn’t the Goblin Shaman.

"Grrr… Gwooooh…"

Muscles writhed beneath the skin.

Its eyes were overflowing with madness.

It clutched an enormous axe.

The body was humanoid, but the head belonged to a bull. The boss, the Goblin Shaman, was barely maintaining the seal.

A seal that held the monster which had one‑shotted me before, the Minotaur.

Footnotes:

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