WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 030

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Too good at grinding (1)

“...”

When I closed my eyes, it was a beautiful clearing in the light of the setting sun.

When I opened them, warm sunlight greeted me. It was the same space... but for some reason, it felt unfamiliar.

"Huuu..."

I let out a sigh and turned my head to find Ji-won.

“…”

After glaring at me with a frosty face, Ji-won sharply turned her head away. It was a familiar, expressionless face, a stark contrast to the warm smile I had just seen.

My chest ached. My stomach churned, and my head felt dizzy.

Is this... the feeling of loss?

Did I like Choi Ji-won? I don't know about that.

But I was aware that we had become friends. In exchange for saving people's lives, I had lost one friend.

“...”

If I had let people starve to death and regressed, I definitely would have regretted it.

But why do I also regret this choice?

Why does Ji-won's smile keep coming to my mind?

If you choose one side, you must give up the other. You can't have everything.

"So this is how I have to live from now on..."

Until now, I had never formed a deep connection in this Tower.

At most, it was just exchanging a few words with the short-haired girl, Baek Da-hye, but I don't think there was anyone I got close enough to call a true friend.

That's why I didn't know it would be this painful.

I didn't know it would be so agonizing to be looked at by someone I feel close to as if they were a complete stranger.

I remember, though. The fact that only I remember hurt my heart.

"Let's just... not get attached to people from now on."

As long as I am a regressor, my human relationships will always be like this. If I become close to someone, I have to fear regression.

A moment will come when I must weigh the benefits I would gain from regressing against the bond I have built with that person.

And what if the bond wins out in that moment?

What if, because of that, I fail to obtain the potential rewards I could have gotten, and I don't become strong enough?

What if these small mistakes pile up, and in the end, I lack the strength on the 66th floor and face failure?

By then, it would be too late to regret. I only regress to the moment I first entered each floor, not always Floor 0.

But what if I just abandon the bond and regress? Then my mental state takes a severe blow.

The gap that comes from the discrepancy between memory and reality carves out my heart.

Even now, my chest stings every time I see Ji-won.

For my own sake, and to clear the Tower.

It is right not to give my affection to other people. It is right to be alone as much as possible.

"Ha, haha..."

Then, suddenly, I thought of the infinite regressors I had seen in webtoons or webnovels.

They don't travel with others, they are numb to killing, and they disregard life. To speak of their essence, they are madmen who do not see people as people.

But were they madmen from the very beginning?

At first, they must have been ordinary people too. It's just that their hearts were worn down in the sandstorm called time.

And the beginning of that erosion probably started with a decision to be alone, just like me.

If so, will I become like them someday?

After being frustrated and falling into despair—after my heart is trampled into so many pieces that I cannot get back up.

Will I become that kind of madman, without blood or tears?

"...I don't want that."

Stubbornness.

Calling it stubbornness seems most accurate.

Because the predetermined doom is so vividly clear, it's a feeling of never wanting to surrender to it.

Everyone else has gone mad? Well, I won't go mad. I'm going to stay sane. I'm going to become a hero.

You could see it as a childish tantrum, but this is my sincere feeling.

I will not become like them.

It's fine to travel separately from people.

The important thing is not to lose my humanity. To maintain the personality of the person named 'Kim Jun-ho'.

To not make choices that my future self will regret for a long, long time.

And to always remember this resolve.

"Huuu."

After organizing my thoughts, my head feels much clearer.

'Don't stop thinking. Don't give up. I'm sure you'll be able to find an answer you're satisfied with.'

Those were Ji-won's words right before I regressed. What is the answer here that would satisfy me?

In this cruel tutorial, what level of achievement must I attain so that my future self will not have regrets?

"...It's simple."

Everything.

I will obtain every trait I can. I will completely clean out everything that has been prepared as a reward.

I will try to save every single person summoned to this clearing.

As long as I have the cheat-like trait of Regression, I have to do at least that much to have no regrets.

"...I think this will work?"

Ignoring whether others were picking up weapons or doing whatever else, I immersed myself in creating a plan to save everyone.

After reviewing it about three times, the conclusion was that the probability of success was quite high.

Therefore, the task at hand was decided.

All that's left is to execute it.

I clenched my fist tightly, and struck my left chest where my heart is.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 0.]

To be honest, saving most of the people isn't that difficult.

It's just a matter of repeating the previous turn, as long as I don't intervene excessively. I have already defeated the Minotaur without any casualties.

Just by repeating the same process, the Minotaur can be killed.

If I just subdue the Goblin Shaman who was looking for an angle to betray us beforehand... Ta-da.

The hidden boss dies, and a portal opens.

After that, just by passing through the portal in an orderly fashion, it's possible to save most of the people.

However, it gets a little troublesome when the condition changes to saving 'everyone'.

This is because the plan to push the Minotaur into the swamp becomes nearly impossible.

Just gathering everyone together is a problem from the start.

Well, let's say I somehow succeed in controlling them with force.

And then, while feeding all those people, I have to level up those who show promise, make them put points into their strength stat, and then have them push the Minotaur?

Just looking at it, it seems very, very difficult.

Plus, there will be a difference in desperation.

The people from the previous turn are people who have experienced the 'Tower'.

They are people who killed goblins, witnessed the deaths of their comrades, and starved while being knocked about here and there.

On top of that, the Golden Marbles were becoming rarer by the day...

It's likely because the situation was this bad that they went along with my plan to push the Minotaur into the swamp.

But what if it's a situation where I control everything?

They level up as I command, and they assign stats as I command. If I deliver food so they can level up diligently...

Will they really be able to display the same superhuman strength that surpassed their limits, like they showed in the previous turn?

I don't think so. It seems more likely they would ask me something like, 'Why aren't you pushing?'.

Therefore, if I want to save everyone, I must use a different method.

A head-on fight.

Defeating that beast in a head-on fight is the only way to save everyone. Is that even possible, you ask? I'm not a fool. I have thought of a plan to defeat it.

Besides, in the message I saw in the previous turn, there was this content.

-[Wondrous Achievement Notification!]

-You have succeeded in defeating the hidden boss, 'Minotaur, Demon of the Labyrinth'!

-There are no casualties! An achievement experience bonus will be awarded!

-A special reward will be given to [Choi Ji-won] for her great contribution!

The point to note is that Ji-won, who made the greatest contribution, was given a special reward.

Earlier, I was so mentally out of it that I couldn't ask what the reward was, but they wouldn't have given rags as a reward for catching a hidden boss.

She must have been given some kind of amazing reward.

Yes, I intend to defeat the Minotaur, and take the 'greatest contribution' bonus for myself.

Of course, right now, I can't win no matter what I do. Before fighting, I must first bulk up my own weight class.

There are three things I need to try right away.

First. To check if it's possible to repeatedly obtain traits from the same person.

I have already confirmed that if you obtain duplicate traits with overlapping directions, instead of getting two similar traits, the grade increases.

If that's the case, after I regress, is it possible to obtain a trait from the same person again?

For example, the scrawny kid from whom I first obtained the 'Awe' trait must be somewhere in this clearing right now.

If I can make him feel awe towards me again in this turn... will I be able to raise the grade of the Awe trait?

Or what if I make the scrawny kid feel a different emotion? It's a question of whether I can obtain a trait if the scrawny kid strongly feels a sense of 'coolness'.

And second. To check if I can obtain achievement experience again when I catch the Minotaur after regressing.

My achievement level rose tremendously after defeating the Minotaur. Likewise, I need to check if achievement experience can be obtained multiple times.

If this is possible, then extremely fast growth will be possible.

But now that I think about it, my normal level didn't go up even after I caught the Minotaur.

An EX-grade trait, as expected. Amazing, truly amazing.

And finally, swordsmanship practice.

I have already memorized all of Ji-won's swordsmanship.

Using this, I could either practice swordsmanship diligently on my own, or I could reveal my regression and receive lessons from Ji-won.

Now then, what should the order of execution be?

First of all, the start is...

"Hello? Scrawny-ssi?"

"Yes, hello... what did you say?"

The start is you. scrawny.

Footnotes:

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