WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 221

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The regressor is too strong (8)

Changes inside the Association. It was something I had already noticed. More precisely, I should call it a shift in the U.S. political climate.

Back on Floor 15, around the time we met the elder, we once waited almost a full year to confirm whether monsters would really appear, and how strong they would be if they did.

At the time, the United States Government failed some kind of research project and collapsed badly, while the Player Association rose in return and became the center of power. That was when I first heard rumors about the U.S. secret warehouse.

In other words, it was the year the United States Government set and the Association rose.

That trend turned strange not long ago, when I personally went looking for the U.S. secret warehouse. The warehouse that was supposed to exist was completely empty, and after I regressed and checked the U.S. situation again, everything was hopelessly tangled.

Suddenly, both the Association and the United States Government had entered decline. More exactly, both sides acted like their leadership had its mind somewhere else.

And the cause was... this thing called the Book of Truth?

After scanning the area, Martin spoke cautiously.

"Before that, is there anyone around? I heard Ji-won-nim's senses are very sharp."

"Yes. There is no one."

Other than me hiding here and listening, that was true.

"Whew, good. It is ironic that the Tower is safer than reality. Then... I should first explain what the Book of Truth is."

Only then did Martin seem to relax a little, and he finally began the real story.

"The Book of Truth is... a trait. Its rank is unknown. The holder is a blond white young man, and we suspect he is either a high-ranking government official or that official's child. The only confirmed facts are that the owner of the Book of Truth was one of the first players, just like the Association president, and that he is friendly to the government."

"What do you mean, a book is a trait?"

"When the trait is activated... a very thick, very large book is summoned. I have never seen it myself, but they say it looks like an encyclopedia a giant would use."

"...Go on."

"Yes. Anyway, the book cannot be opened by normal methods. No, it does not even get scratched. Whether an ability user applies force or someone brings in machines... they have not tested everything, but even if you set off a bomb, the book would probably stay intact. They say the owner even survived the Tutorial by using this trait."

As if the book were physically right in front of him, Martin spread both arms wide.

"But those are all secondary details. The core is that by offering a sacrifice to the book, you can get information in return. They say the pages turn on their own and stop at the page containing the information you want."

He suddenly bent one knee and started drawing on the dirt with his finger.

"In the early days, when all this began, don’t you think the response by the U.S. was too fast?"

"Huh?"

"I do not know how it is in Korea, but creating a new government agency in the U.S. is not easy. Creating an external organization under government sponsorship is even more absurd. But this organization called the Player Association was created only two months after the first Tutorial appeared. It was rushed, yet its organizational structure was solid and its personnel placement was precise."

"No way..."

"Yes. I think it was probably the influence of the Book of Truth. They must have received some kind of guidance."

"Does that even make sense?"

Choi Ji-won tilted her head and asked. Exactly what I wanted to say too. A broken cheat trait like that exists? It sounded even better than regression.

"I think you are overlooking the sacrifice."

Martin calmly pointed at the scribbles on the ground.

"I do not know the small verification questions they asked to test whether it was real, but officially, the first question ever asked to the Book of Truth was, 'Does the Tower truly exist?' Of course, we know it does. We are literally standing here."

Martin's finger stopped digging through the dirt. What he had drawn was...

"The price for that question was ten tons of gold bars. Even though it was a simple question you could answer by grabbing a single player."

"Ten tons means..."

"You can think of it as roughly one trillion won. One trillion won vanished at once."

He wiped away the gold bars he had drawn with his palm, frowned, and met Choi Ji-won's eyes.

"After that, several more questions were asked, and each time new facts were revealed. The sacrifice does not have to be gold alone. The farther into the future the question is, the more sacrifice is required. If the question is about a person, the price rises according to that person's trait rank. Questions about ordinary people were almost free, while investigating a player with a B-grade trait cost over forty tons of gold bars... so you can consider it impossible to ask the book for information about players with good traits."

"Then that means..."

"Yes. The U.S. has already identified all information on people who are not players, or at least those they consider important."

"..."

"The reason major countries all joined the Player Association was also the result of using that information. Did it not seem strange that there was basically no conflict while the Association spread across the world?"

The longer Martin talked, the more dizzy I felt.

So the U.S. had actually been playing Big Brother? International organizations united because of one insane cheat trait? And if you paid the price, you could even get information about the future?

They could not get information on players, so details about me and Ji-won were safe, but this was still a huge shock.

"Wait, wait. There is something I do not understand."

Right when I was pressing my forehead through a splitting headache, Choi Ji-won asked a question.

"From what you have said so far... that Book of Truth belongs to the government, right?"

"Correct."

"But you said the Association changed... were the Association and the United States Government not in conflict? Are they connected?"

"It would be more accurate to say the Association president and the United States Government are in conflict. All core Association executives are government people."

Tap tap. Martin tapped the ground.

I definitely remembered Michael Zetter saying in the past that the Association executives looked distracted by something else. If so, then the thing distracting them was probably that Book of Truth. The United States Government experiment was probably related to that book too.

"But a week ago, the Association president secretly called me. Everything I just told you came from him."

"...A week ago?"

From our perspective, quite a lot of time had passed, but on reality's timeline, only about one month had passed since clearing Floor 15. That meant around four months had passed since we entered the Tutorial, and five months since the very first Tutorial.

For reference, the monsters appear nine months from now. The U.S. secret warehouse should have been built five months from now.

Michael Zetter visited us one month ago. But this was one week ago?

Whether my brain was racing or not, Martin kept talking.

"I do not know if you were aware, but the Association president had been secretly gathering and raising talented players. They were all said to possess very dangerous abilities."

"...Keep going."

"But not long ago, he reportedly had a conflict with one of them. I do not know whether they actually fought or only argued... but that conflict is said to have changed the president's mind."

"What do you mean changed?"

"The Association president plans to tear down the Association. Before, he was waiting slowly for the right chance. Now he has decided to move aggressively."

Martin spat and cursed the Association executives.

"The current Association leadership, and the United States Government, only think about using the Book of Truth. They believe that as long as they do what the book tells them, a golden future is guaranteed. Before, they at least pretended to work. Now all their attention is focused on the book. It is not even an independent organization anymore. It has turned into a subordinate agency of the United States Government."

"..."

"But soon, the United States Government will run out of resources. To get more important information, and information farther into the future, the required sacrifice rises sharply. There is a limit to how much budget money they can secretly divert."

"Does that become a problem?"

"Yes. It does. Like I said earlier, the sacrifices you can offer to the book are not limited to gold. Things with ritual significance are valued highly, from what I heard."

"...No way."

"Yes. The United States Government may commit human sacrifice."

A government that depended only on the book to prepare for the future reaches a dead end... then offers people to peek into the future. It was completely possible. It might even have already happened in the future I experienced.

"So the Association president wants to respond first. He plans to intentionally disable Association functions to create critical public opinion, then when the time comes, politically and physically seize total control of the Association. He is also considering securing and isolating the player with the Book of Truth trait."

Martin pounded his own knee with his fist and looked up at the sky.

"I... plan to leave the Association soon and help the president with everything I have. There are things you can only do from inside, but there are also things you can only do from outside. I intend to devote myself to punishing the rotten United States Government and the Association executive group."

Was that it? The reason the once-rising Association suddenly started collapsing, and the United States Government declined even harder... all of it tied to the Book of Truth? It felt like getting hit in the back of the head with a hammer.

Still, one part remained unexplained. Why had Michael Zetter's actions changed? Why had the U.S. secret warehouse disappeared? The only reason I could think of was...

"...Dok Su-hee?"

If. Really, if.

If I had unknowingly felt intense emotions toward Dok Su-hee during our last meeting...

And if Dok Su-hee, who retained memories about human sacrifice as a result, leaked that information to Michael Zetter to prevent disaster? If they clashed during that process, and Michael Zetter changed his mind in the end?

Dok Su-hee...

"Were you actually a good person...?"

Maybe things had changed in a better direction.

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