Regression is Too Much - Chapter 322

WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Chapter 322: The past (1)

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It was the early days of the Tower's appearance. Really, truly early.

"I need to become the central pillar. The power of these newly emerged superhumans is far too dangerous. I need to idolize myself, become someone people look up to and also quietly fear, and control everyone that way. With my strength, it should be possible."

Zetter was inflating his own presence online.

"Marie! Come eat! I made the ravioli you like. Bought you some ade too."

"..."

"She's doing it again."

"Honey, what's wrong? Is Marie acting up again?"

"She ran off out of nowhere a few days ago, and ever since she came back, she's been like this. I say one word and she goes, 'Mom wouldn't understand.'"

"That's just how teenage girls are. Just bear with her."

"Still, she has to eat."

In another Tutorial, one without an outstanding powerhouse like Michael Zetter, a girl who had witnessed the deaths of countless humans groaned under the weight of trauma.

"Fucking hell, did I tell you to delete it or not? Didn't I tell you to cooperate? You think you're still some free American citizen?"

This was the era when America's intelligence agencies threatened the heads of social media companies to keep information about "superhumans" buried.

An era when everything was just beginning. When no rules had been set yet. When no one really understood the situation that had fallen on them.

"This is..."

The President of the United States let out a long sigh in a secret laboratory hidden beneath the National Zoo.

"Unbelievable."

A large book floated in front of him, and he was reading through a thick report with his own eyes. He was normally a politician with a "brash talk" persona who loved dropping mic-drop moments for applause, but right now, what showed on his face was pure reason and intellect.

"Everything in here is true, correct?"

"Yes."

"Give it to me."

Since this research had been conducted under such tight secrecy, there were only three scientists on the project, and the rest of the staff were all intelligence agents. The one who had just answered was one of those agents. He pulled a pistol from his jacket and handed it to the President.

"Hah."

Bang!

There was no hesitation. The President fired straight at the book, and the agent immediately picked up the crushed bullet off the floor and handed it back to him.

"...Heh."

The President shook his head. This thing, the scientists had taken to calling it.

"The Book of Truth."

They said it was a book containing all truth. An object capable of overturning the entire history of humankind.

And the owner of this magnificent object was.

"How's Ronald doing?"

"He's fine."

A blond young man, only seventeen years old. His name was Ronald. Grandson of a Republican senator still active in office today, he'd been summoned into the "Tutorial" while attending a prestigious high school.

"Heh, heh heh..."

The President's reason screamed that he had to accept all of this. He'd already watched footage of a man breathing fire from his hands, a woman outrunning a car, a grandmother lifting a 300-kilogram barbell with one hand. The world was changing into something entirely different from before, and as President of the United States, he had a duty to respond appropriately.

Maybe the Tower really had appeared. Maybe the people who survived it really had returned with superhuman powers.

But to accept that, he had to accept the contents of this report too.

—The reality of the Tower has been confirmed, and the possibility of a divine entity has been raised.

—The target object (hereafter referred to as "the Book") follows a strict principle of mutual exchange. It provides the requested information when appropriate material is offered, but shows no response when the material offered is insufficient.

—Current technology cannot alter the Book's physical structure.

—The Book is presumed to possess functions beyond simple information provision. However, currently available materials are insufficient to activate said functions.

—The reliability of information obtained through the Book has been confirmed.

>Senator Hjuwart's death from cardiac arrest.

>Explosion at a Chinese semiconductor plant.

>Billionaire Robert Kim's affair exposed.

—The amount of material required increases when predicting further into the future, but accuracy is maintained.

—For the sake of social stability, the Book proposes the establishment of an "Association" centered around "powerful climbers."

—Further research and analysis are required, along with in-depth investigation into the mechanism of this phenomenon and its potential applications. More gold bullion is requested.

If this report was true, then the Book knew everything, and everything was possible. Given enough gold, the Book was omniscient and omnipotent.

Which meant this thing only looked like a book.

"...Isn't this a god."

It practically was. Wasn't it a god?

The President. The President of the United States, the strongest nation on Earth.

He agonized through the night over whether he had to accept the existence of a god that had appeared before his eyes in the shape of a book.

Because humanity's weight rested on his shoulders.

* * *

Time flowed on again. Rather than dwell on the true nature of the Book, the President decided to make use of it, and ultimately ordered the creation of the "Player Association." At first, opposition was fierce, but it died down completely once the Vice President was summoned to the Tower and returned alive.

"No, seriously?"

"Seriously."

The Vice President conjured ice out of thin air with his bare hand. How could anyone not believe that? They had to believe it.

Either way, this was how the "Player Association" came into being. It didn't stay confined to America. Its influence spread worldwide.

"So, we're setting up an Association. We'd like your country to join as well."

"You think that's something I can just agree to?"

"This. You needed this, didn't you?"

"Wh, where did you even get this!"

"And this too. If you look at this photo..."

"Th, this photo, when did you even..."

"The Association."

"...I'll cooperate."

It should go without saying that the "Book of Truth" played a major role in all of this. No small amount of gold was spent to secure cooperation from politicians of other nations, but given how much confusion it ultimately prevented, it was probably a fair trade.

Was the Book and gold used only for the Association? One might simply note that the President's political standing was significantly strengthened during this period.

Either way, the President and his research team never stopped investigating the Book. They pulled in other nations to expand the pool of usable gold, and ran light experiments on Ronald, the Book's owner. Their understanding of the Book and what sacrifices it required only deepened over time, to the point that some scientists began to imagine that world peace itself might be achievable through the Book.

The world changed. But it changed in a fairly "orderly" way. The existing social order didn't break. Control was still maintained. All thanks to the President, the Book of Truth, and, to some extent, Michael Zetter.

The god-given "status window" opened up a new world. There was more to research, and humanity made real progress.

"Mr. President! An entire family was murdered in Massachusetts!"

"Mr. President! That's already the third bank robbery this week!"

"Police stations across the nation are on the verge of collapse! This is beyond what our police force can handle!"

But the newly emerged "status window" and "players" carried far more darkness than light.

"Sir. Unidentified murders have already crossed nine hundred cases."

"At first we thought it was a simple dispute between drug gangs, but... the cause of death isn't gunshot wounds. It's burns. This has to be the work of someone with powers."

They'd built the Association exactly as the "Book of Truth" instructed, doing everything possible to suppress the chaos, but the President had precious few tools to stop crimes committed by players. Guns worked, sure, but criminals just had to hide on Floor 1 and that was that. Without snipers capable of taking someone down from a completely hidden position, there was no way to shoot a fleeing player, and well-trained snipers were absurdly scarce.

And in the first place, how were you supposed to know when and where a player would commit a crime, so you could position a sniper in advance?

"Mr. President!"

"...What is it."

"It's, the next presidential candidate...!"

The chaos reached its peak when a politician was assassinated. A politician known for making extreme statements to boost public recognition and popularity had been killed in a hotel room, and the culprit left behind absolutely no trace. At least, none that current scientific methods could detect.

"Aren't our lives already worthless as flies?"

"Famous movie stars and influencers are getting killed or kidnapped too. This is basically walking around with a target on your neck."

The world's leaders threw fits over this. The realization that you could die no matter how much money you poured in, no matter how many people you hired, no matter how you fortified yourself, struck real fear into them. All the more so because these were leaders who'd always carried a sense of privilege, always believed they were different from everyone else.

"We need countermeasures. Please, with that Book..."

"America's supposed to be the one in charge, aren't they? Please, save us!"

It was a genuinely undignified sight, watching people who represented entire nations beg the President of the United States like this, but it was also true that no one besides America had any real means of coming up with countermeasures.

Their circumstances were understandable enough, but America had its own deep worries too.

"...We can't use the Book for this. The amount of sacrifice required is beyond measurable."

America poured in resources close to its absolute limit, but the Book of Truth gave no answer to the question, "Tell us how to prevent the assassination of politicians." The amount of material offered was clearly insufficient, but it seemed the question was also simply too broad, and it tangled with the private lives of players besides.

"China can provide test subjects. If we offer people as sacrifice..."

"Don't cross that line, Chairman. Let's think of another way."

The Chinese Chairman spouted nonsense, but the President flatly refused. Some lines were not meant to be crossed. Of course, the situation remained just as hopeless as before.

"Players need to remain heroes. They need to climb the Tower."

In the middle of all this, the head of the Player Association had the nerve to say, "The darkness surrounding players shouldn't be spotlighted too much." Meaning, since players lacked sufficient motivation to climb the Tower, the government needed to step in and help. His position was understandable enough, but the President's head was about to explode as it was.

To begin with, players' abilities weren't fixed to any set list. There was no specific category, no common thread running through them. They were, quite literally, powers you could just "use," and how was anyone supposed to contain that?

Metal detectors? Useless. Facial recognition? Players who never even joined the Association were committing crimes to begin with. Keep close watch on anyone with a physical disability? That was discrimination against people with disabilities.

After gathering senior government officials, crime experts, and every kind of scholar for meeting after meeting, the President eventually realized what was missing.

"...Imagination."

The whole situation itself was already beyond common sense. Why had he kept clinging to common sense?

That night, the President summoned popular novelists in complete secrecy. All writers known for their rich imagination.

"Sir. Do you really think calling in novelists will accomplish anything?"

"The situation itself doesn't make sense to begin with. So we need to respond with methods that don't make sense either."

Once the writers were gathered, the President had them debate what would be the "most lethal superpower imaginable." At first the writers seemed to wonder if they'd been dragged in for some crime they'd committed, but soon enough, they threw themselves fully into the discussion.

"If there's someone with powerful mind control abilities, there's no way to counter that. Target number one would probably be you, Mr. President. Take control of your mind, then use the United States Government as a foothold to expand influence outward, and that person becomes the ruler of the world."

A mind controller.

"What about someone who can teleport? All they need is a single pistol. Bang, shoot, and vanish. That's it."

A teleportation user.

"Invisibility is deadly too. No evidence left behind."

An invisible person.

"What about someone who can hack into computers? The current computerized system has no way to counter that."

An information manipulator.

"What if someone's just too strong, too fast? What if humanity's ultimate deterrents, guns, missiles, even nukes, don't even work on them?"

A body-enhancer.

"There could also be someone who can stop time and move freely while everything else stays frozen."

A time-stopper.

And.