WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 255

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The regressor is troubled (2)

"Ohh..."

I picked up one of the potions in the glass bottle and held it up to the light. The mysterious purple liquid caught the glow and scattered it every which way. It was just a liquid, sure, but it looked almost like a piece of art.

Next, I picked up a pair of gloves with pretty decent craftsmanship. After examining them closely, though, I couldn't find much use for them compared to the Transparent Gloves I already had on, so I set them back down.

I was standing in the "Market Zone" of Floor 26. The owner of this stall had his arms crossed, quietly watching me poke around. It wasn't surveillance, exactly, since stealing was systemically impossible here. He was just watching out of pure curiosity.

"How much for this?"

"2000 contribution ranking."

The owner answered right away. For reference, buying things in the market worked simply enough.

First. You spend "contribution ranking," which you can only earn from Floor 27 onward. Contribution ranking was basically a currency usable in all sorts of ways on Floor 26, and clearing a Floor or killing a monster automatically added to it. Kind of like a game where monsters drop money when you kill them.

And second.

"Or I could trade you for those gloves you're wearing."

Or you could trade an item of equivalent value. Items counted, and apparently even consumables like potions counted too. Oh, and for reference, selling an item in exchange for contribution ranking wasn't possible. The owner apparently had no ability to hand out contribution ranking himself.

"Is this everything you've got, though?"

"There's more in the back."

"Can I take a look?"

"Nope. You'd need to clear Floor 35 to get back there. Come again once you have."

"..."

So I couldn't browse everything either. It worked kind of like department store membership tiers, unlocking as you climbed the Tower. A lot of what was already here looked useful enough, though.

"Wow... this is really, really good."

There was also a "Dining Zone" where I got to try otherworldly food I'd never seen before.

"Huh, they've got clothes like this too."

"So much armor."

An "Equipment Zone" stocked with all kinds of clothing and armor.

"Is all of this martial arts techniques?"

"All techniques that made a name for themselves in their own right. Some from wuxia worlds, some from fantasy worlds. Swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, axe techniques, you name it. Ah, don't open them, though. The purchase processes automatically."

"This one's... how to sleep anywhere? Kind of interesting."

There was even a "Skill Zone" selling weapon techniques, cultivation methods, and other practical tips that looked genuinely useful.

Beyond that, all kinds of zones had been set up, every one of them built purely for the players' convenience.

"This is a little scary."

Getting treated this well made me hopeful, and thinking about how much faster I could get stronger from here on lifted my mood. But at the same time, I couldn't help thinking, what's coming that they're handing out this much?

It wasn't like they were running some charity program. There had to be a reason behind all this generosity. Whatever lay ahead was clearly going to be brutal.

"..."

And there was one more thing bothering me. The humans stationed here.

Were they even human? Whatever they were.

The market stall owner, the head chef in the Dining Zone, and all the others waiting around to provide various conveniences.

They clearly wore different attire from the angels, and while the angels were beautiful in a way that felt oddly uniform, these people came in every shape and personality imaginable. So they were clearly a separate kind of intelligent being. But all they seemed to do was kill time waiting for players to show up.

Probably one of the fates awaiting a failed player. We were essentially sharing space with defeated seniors. It didn't exactly put me in a good mood.

"Jun-ho. Forget about that, let's go check out the outer area."

"Should we?"

Ji-won had a point. We'd already looked around everything near the plaza. All that was left was the avant-garde space out at the edges.

Volcanoes, glaciers, forests, deserts, fantasy, wuxia. The outer area, a jumble of every setting imaginable, looked almost like something a malfunctioning AI had generated. Chaotic, and yet strangely seamless.

"Hmm..."

I opened the map, wondering where to start. Was there a Fortuitous Encounter here too? Why had they built it this way? I couldn't figure out the reason.

"If you're not sure, why don't we just start with fantasy?"

Choi Ji-won grabbed my arm while I was still thinking it over and pulled me toward the "fantasy" zone. We drank beer at a bar run by dwarves, ate salad at an elf's house, had a genuinely good time overall.

"...Hm."

But I couldn't find the hidden piece I was looking for. In fact, I couldn't even find another player.

"Hmm... is that really Choi Ji-won?"

"Excuse me, could I ask you something?"

"Hmm... if it's something I can answer."

Since this didn't make sense to me, Ji-won stopped a player passing by near the central plaza and asked.

"Hmm... guess you don't know, huh."

The guy looked us up and down, then just walked off. A faint, knowing smile on his lips.

"...?"

I'll admit it threw me off, but I figured it happened sometimes. Not everyone had to be friendly.

"Beats me."

"No idea here."

"Sorry. Kind of awkward to answer that."

But it wasn't just the first player. Every other player we asked withheld information from us too.

"Ugh..."

This was a first. Existing players usually treated Choi Ji-won one of two ways. Looking up to her, getting giddy at the thought of riding her coattails, desperate to get close to her. Or dismissing her as pure hype and glaring with jealousy.

But here, from these players, I felt some kind of wall. A sense that they treated information as a resource to be guarded. Like villagers in some rural town treating an outsider. I hadn't felt anything like this since the dwarf village on Floor 11.

"For now... should we look around a bit more?"

"Let's."

We walked away without getting anywhere and checked out the other zones too, and the situation stayed exactly the same.

"..."

"..."

Some players were chatting away happily in a wuxia-style inn, then went dead silent and just stared once they sensed us coming.

"...What. It's Choi Ji-won."

There was a man digging furiously in the middle of a desert who stopped the moment we showed up.

The common thread was that everyone froze the second we got close, and went on guard. No words. Just glaring.

It wasn't a threat, exactly. Nobody was trying to pick a fight. They just stopped whatever they were doing. But a clear, sharp hostility radiated off them.

"Feels like getting shut out."

There seemed to be some kind of shared consensus among them, and since we didn't know it, they were rejecting us for it. If we didn't know, couldn't they just tell us? Why the hell were they freezing us out like this?

"Let's just do one loop and get out of here. This mood's disgusting."

"Should we? I don't like this vibe either."

Because of that, the air between me and Choi Ji-won sank low too, until eventually we stopped talking entirely and just looked around in silence. If it weren't for the Tower watching, I could've held her hand to lighten the mood, but since we were keeping things secret, even that wasn't an option.

We walked, and walked, and kept walking, until we reached a space that looked like some dark back alley. According to the map, it was pretty much the last zone left.

"Nobody's even here."

"Guess it's too filthy for anyone to bother."

A back alley with an obviously gloomy air hanging over it. I thought I caught something werewolf-like slip past at the edge of my vision.

If the other places had some reason for being empty, this one felt genuinely unpleasant enough that people avoided it. And there didn't seem to be anything worth seeing here either.

"Should we go?"

"Let's."

Having lost interest fast, we decided to just leave. Two zones were still left to check, so lingering here felt like a waste of time.

"Wait."

Deep in the alley. From a shadowed corner.

"Hey. Choi Ji-won. And Jun-ho."

A voice called out to us.

"You need information, don't you. I can help with that."

"...How do you know my name?"

"Choi Ji-won keeps calling your name, doesn't she. I don't know your surname either. Just the given name."

A dark silhouette let out a soft chuckle. The figure that stepped out of the shadow was wrapped in a thick robe that hid every inch of skin. It didn't look like the kind of outfit he'd normally wear. This looked like the effect of a Ring of Transformation.

"Let's talk business. I've been watching you two. Bit unsettling, isn't it?"

"..."

"I can give you information. In exchange, you give me some too. Call it a 'trade.' What do you say?"

He dragged over a half-rotted wooden chair, plopped himself down onto it, and laced his fingers together. Right then, I was certain this whole scene had been staged. Even I had to admit it looked pretty cool. The Grim Reaper had tried something like this once, and this guy pulled it off with far more polish and skill.

"We don't even know who you are. We're not just handing over information."

Unlike me, quietly impressed on the inside, Ji-won glared at the man with open wariness. The robed man raised both hands, palms out, as if to show he had no hostile intent.

"Look, right now you two don't have any other option besides me. Are you going to keep getting shut out like this forever? The community on Floor 26 runs deeper than you'd think. You need to know the reason before you can even think about patching things up, don't you?"

"..."

"Still, I can't really expect you to just trust me on nothing. I'll give you information first. Judge me after you hear it."

The man kept talking, palms still raised. I couldn't see his face, but I got the sense he was smiling.

"The reason you two are getting shut out is simple."

What came next was more than a little shocking.

"It's because of Michael Zetter."

That wasn't a name I'd expected to come up here.

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