WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 268

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The regressor proves himself (8)

"It couldn't be helped."

The voice sounded utterly exhausted.

"There was no other choice. This was the best I could do. Humanity? Morality? I wasn't in any position to bring up such soft, comfortable words. The blizzard kept expanding its range. There were even testimonies of people hearing the Ice Dragon's breathing."

A voice defending itself with visible strain.

"People died in droves. All we had was the food stockpiled in the storehouse. The mouths to feed had shrunk by half, no, more than half. My best option was to gather every last scrap of that food and keep the seal maintained."

"That's sophistry."

I rested my chin on my hand and pushed back.

"You deceived those warriors. Their whole reason for living was to be used by you. You're garbage."

"I am garbage, yes. But it wasn't deception. It was mercy."

"You. Have you ever raised animals? Even if you haven't, you eat meat, don't you?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"Pigs. Cows. Chickens. Imagine that at some point, they gained intelligence close to a human's."

"..."

"Livestock destined for slaughter. Animals used their entire lives, fated in the end to have even their bodies turned into meat, gaining reason would only bring them misery."

Even if a chicken raised on a farm suddenly became self-aware, nothing would change. One chicken acting strangely couldn't alter its fate.

"So first they'd resist. Then rage. Then despair... and at some point, they'd simply wait day after day for death. Have you ever thought about what it feels like to be livestock marked for ruin?"

"..."

He wasn't wrong. If something absolutely, absolutely had to be killed, it was better for both sides if the one dying was too stupid to know it. What if the savages this man spoke of had been rational?

"Trapped inside a dark mage's terrifying time ward, destined to be offered as sacrifice to a demon, with no way to escape. All they can do is wait for death. How hopeless, how terrifying a situation is that? You could even call it mercy."

"You keep piling up sophistry."

But as I'd said before, this only applied when killing was truly, absolutely unavoidable.

"Did you even try to find another way? No. You already admitted you're garbage, so there's nothing more to say. But you don't get to insist to me that it couldn't be helped."

I crossed my arms and spoke with conviction.

"'It couldn't be helped' is something only a person who actually looked for another way gets to say. Did you even try? I doubt it."

The dark mage had said it couldn't be helped. That this was the best he could do. As far as I was concerned, he had no right to say that.

"I saw your memories. You want recognition, don't you? I can't give you recognition for your methods. I have no intention of giving it."

"..."

"And that livestock story. Was that about you? Funny, I like using a similar method myself."

Thinking about it, that livestock talk sounded awfully autobiographical.

"You probably lived a life like that yourself once, like livestock. And yet you survived, didn't you, just like now? Can you really be certain there's no hope for the chickens and cows?"

"...True. I can't guarantee that. Some miracle might happen and produce an answer where everyone wins."

The dark mage admitted it calmly.

"But what happened to me wasn't any kind of miracle. I was born a bastard of a noble house, and I was meant to be killed for political convenience. I was raised for a clear purpose."

"That's unfortunate, but it seems beside the point."

"Listen. I wanted to live. That's the truth. Because I knew I was certain to die, I wanted to live all the more. I thought that if I could live, there was nothing I wouldn't do. That's how desperate I was."

The dark mage's voice cracked. The scent of blood seeped into it.

"A dark mage attacked our house. Killed my parents. Killed my brother and sister. Killed the servants. After killing everyone, he asked if I wanted to become his disciple. Refusal, of course, meant death."

"..."

"I wanted to live. But... I wanted to live my own way. I didn't want to live a life where someone else force-fed me every mouthful. Chickens and cows can't stand on their own. They need a miracle injected into them by someone else. If living meant living someone else's life like that... wouldn't it be better to just die?"

It's a pointless thing to talk about now, the dark mage muttered.

"I'll say it again, I'm a villain. Human garbage. But this was the best I could do. I don't think of the warriors I raised as human. They're livestock without reason. Rather than show some half-hearted mercy, this is what's best for them. They really are happy, aren't they?"

Happy. Happy, he said.

The warriors had certainly looked happy. No worries, no anxieties, no burdens, just doing their utmost toward the single purpose of death. The dark mage called that mercy. But it was hypocrisy. The same kind of hypocrisy as eating a chicken raised free-range for the sake of a clean conscience.

"I'll say it again, you have no right to talk about doing your best. Can you really be certain that was the best you could do?"

"No, I can't. No one can be certain of that except a regressor. Except you."

Resentment crept into the dark mage's once-calm voice.

"Certain, you ask? Have you lost your mind? Do you think everyone else gets the chance to test every option one by one like you and then pick whichever suits their taste? I just grabbed whatever looked best among the possibilities I was given! That's how my whole life has been! I was always forced to choose!"

"..."

"What would you know! You get to regress whenever you fail, so do you even understand what real failure means? Do you understand how I felt?"

I tried to argue back, but the words caught in my throat. No matter what I said, I felt certain I couldn't convince him.

That's right. Before I entered the Tutorial, I had my own share of failures, big and small. But could I really stand here and lecture a man who'd had to make choices with the fate of an entire world on the line, ask him whether he'd truly done his best? I honestly didn't know.

"Heh heh... right. It's easy for you, isn't it. You were given the ability, so you use it."

The dark mage let out a laugh.

"That's true enough. I was given it, so I use it. So then, was this resentment of mine just the ugly jealousy of someone who has nothing?"

Suddenly, I felt the dark mage glaring at me.

"Since I'm already jealous, let me add a curse on top of it."

His bloodshot eyes, his voice full of the resentment of someone already defeated and despairing, the bitterness in it.

"I hope a day comes when you too are trapped the same way I was, when it couldn't be helped."

"..."

"I hope everything goes wrong, so wrong you can't even tell where it started, and nothing can be set right anymore. I hope you realize that the best option you could scrape together was the worst choice of all. I hope you regret it, bitterly."

The dark mage's form spat blood.

That was the last thing I remembered before consciousness cut out.

"Jun-ho!"

"I think... his eyes just opened."

"Hey!"

"..."

Choi Ji-won gripped my shoulders and shook me. Behind her, a blue portal rippled. Had Floor 27 already been cleared?

"The dark... mage?"

"Dead. No, I killed him."

I turned my head slightly and saw the dark mage's corpse, head severed from his body. I also saw the blood-stained weapon of the Italian man.

"What happened? The dark mage suddenly collapsed, and then you collapsed too..."

The French woman asked, eyes wide. She'd gotten a little too close, so I nudged her back gently as I spoke.

"Just... a battle of wills. I won."

"Ohh..."

In truth, it seemed more like I'd won because the dark mage's body had died, but there was no harm in seizing the mood while I could, was there? It fit the image, too, wearing this mysterious martial robe.

"Give me a moment to think..."

I brushed off my clothes and got to my feet. My head felt like a mess.

I didn't know the dark mage's justifications, or whatever backstory lay behind them. There was only one thing I cared about.

The dark mage. Would he regress too? I had no idea.

He wasn't as strong as the elder who'd noticed my Regression. He had no connection to the archangels. He wasn't a player. And above all, he wasn't particularly strong, not anymore. Weakened was probably the better word, but regardless.

Without knowing the exact conditions, I couldn't be sure. That was something I'd have to check after regressing.

Something else I needed to check...

"The reward?"

"They said you can check the reward once you get to Floor 1. Heading there right away?"

"Well... we won. And there's a lot to talk about."

Right, let's get out first. Get outside and take stock of things. Just as I was about to sort out my thoughts and stand up.

"Let's go!"

"Let's gooo!!!"

A sudden commotion. From the direction of the cave entrance, the noise of a crowd grew steadily closer.

"Let's g... huh?"

"What... what is this..."

The warriors who had finally arrived stared down at the dark mage's corpse, eyes wide.

"...Let's go."

I didn't have the confidence to deal with whatever came after this, so I stepped through the blue portal.

My own problems alone were already more than enough to fill my head.

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