WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 337: The past (16)

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While Zetter was gone, the President began his own preparations. Someday, he wanted to be remembered in history books as "the leader of the people who helped the regressor." People who reached the top were usually driven by a hunger for honor.

"What do you think the difference between stone and gold is? Why is gold valuable enough for the Book, but not stone?"

He spent his days discussing the Book's conditions with the handful of doctors living in his research lab, mulling over anything that might be of use, turning the question over again and again.

"It's strange that only pure metal has value. The Book won't accept artificial metal."

"Isn't the value in that 'purity' itself?"

"Then why doesn't pure air have any value?"

"That's true too."

While the detailed research into the requirements continued.

"Could it be possible... to offer a person to the Book?"

"...Probably. It probably can be offered."

It was an uncomfortable subject, but since the goal was pure inquiry, the President did not lose his temper. The Chinese Chairman had already openly suggested offering a human being, after all.

But thinking about offering a person raised a natural question.

'...What happens if time turns back after a person has been offered as a sacrifice?'

This was less a stroke of genius than a question that came naturally to mind. It seemed strange for nothing at all to happen.

So the President did what any sensible person would do.

"Book."

He simply asked the Book directly. Up until this point, his heart had still been light.

□A human used as a sacrifice loses one-tenth of their remaining lifespan.□

"Hmm..."

The Book answered that even if time turned back, the lifespan of the sacrificed human would still shrink. The number was one-tenth. Not small, but not exactly large either.

'If it's certain that time will turn back...'

He was even considering whether it would be fine to offer a death row inmate, or his own life.

□If the human used as a sacrifice dies, the soul of the deceased becomes bound to the Book.□

"...That won't do."

The Book's next answer was rather shocking. The soul... becomes bound to the Book? That implied the existence of an afterlife, or reincarnation. And it meant that anyone offered to the Book would be stripped of that possibility.

The President was a Christian. Naturally, he believed in the afterlife. Because of that, offering a person to the Book shifted from being "a risk worth taking" to "something that must never be done." Even for a death row inmate, there was a line that had to be respected.

But still.

□Most humans holding American citizenship, including you, are already bound to the Book.□

"...What?"

The Book's answer was not finished.

* * *

And so, back to the present.

"You, you bastard...!"

"Mr. President."

"Fine. Let's hear whatever excuse you've got."

If Zetter had been shameless enough, he could have insisted, "Maybe it wasn't me. This happened before time turned back." But even Zetter himself knew this was something he had done. The mark itself had pointed to Kim Jun-ho, after all.

What Zetter truly failed to understand was this:

"...What's the problem here?"

He simply could not grasp why a penalty like this was a problem.

Ten percent of a lifespan? Humans never know when they'll die anyway. And human life only grows more painful as it moves toward old age. The body creaks, activity declines, sleep increases...

What was the issue with taking away a small slice of that old age?

The afterlife was the same. Nobody knows what happens after death anyway. A human life ends there. Since it had already been revealed that something called "god" existed, obsession over heaven had lost all meaning, so what was the problem with becoming part of the Book after death?

"..."

The President's jaw dropped, stunned speechless. That Zetter's thinking had warped, fine, that could happen. But who did he think he was, to take away everyone else's afterlife?

"...Ha. Hahahaha!!! To think I believed this man was the one I trusted most!"

Only after seeing the President's reaction did Zetter realize he had made a grave mistake. Was this normally a huge risk? Something as trivial as the afterlife? Had he become twisted?

"Ha, haha..."

Whatever the case. The President trembled with rage, but showed nothing beyond that. He understood, too.

Whatever he did right now, whether he shot Zetter in the head with a pistol, called security, or stabbed him with a knife, he could not harm the man standing before him. The two of them occupied the same space, but they were not equal in power.

And even knowing Zetter was an insane psychopath... the two of them had to keep cooperating, immediately.

If Zetter disappeared, the President could not handle the fallout. Likewise, if the President vanished right now, Zetter could not handle it either. For the sake of order, for the sake of peace, the two of them were fated to cooperate to the very end.

"...Get out."

Zetter saw revulsion in the President's eyes. Contempt. Whether it was directed at his own helplessness, unable to do anything, or at Zetter himself, there was no way to know.

What was certain was this:

"...Yes, sir."

The relationship between the two of them had broken.

* * *

Some time passed.

Zetter fell into thought again. His relationship with the President had broken down, and so had his relationship with Dok Su-hee. No, judging by the President's attitude, if word got out that Zetter had sacrificed an American citizen, whatever trust remained in him now would vanish completely.

"..."

In truth, he could just deny it and be done with it. It was certain that Zetter had carved that mark, but no one else would know that. All that was certain was that "such an incident" had occurred, but who had done it had already slipped across the veil of time. Blaming the government instead... would carry some weight.

Right. That was what he would do publicly. Zetter still needed to hold on to power.

But internally, Zetter had never experienced conflict this severe. Had he really become a monster? Him? This him?

That internal conflict reached its peak the moment a player belonging to the Association reported having met Kim Jun-ho on Floor 22.

"Yes. I told him everything, all the atrocities the government committed. I already let him know their ugly reality! We've pulled the 'Hero' onto our side!"

"...Well done, Martin."

Martin had taken the "false rumor" spread by the President and Zetter completely at face value, and had gone off and explained it diligently to Choi Ji-won. That humans were being sacrificed, that things were rotten on the inside... The one who had actually offered a human sacrifice was Zetter, so he had to think hard, again and again, about what to even say.

"..."

This was the moment Zetter finally recognized his own break from reality. He... might have been the kind of person who never should have stood at the top.

Meanwhile, the President had a great deal on his mind too. He understood that his current position was deeply ambiguous.

"..."

Approaching the regressor right now would be a bad move. Suddenly telling Kim Jun-ho, "I'm the President of the United States, and I know you're the regressor," would only backfire badly.

But then again, not approaching Kim Jun-ho at all? According to his sources, Zetter had already made contact. If anything, that relationship would only grow closer over time, not more distant. Zetter wasn't a fool. He would be as careful as possible with his words and actions in front of the regressor.

Which naturally led to one more thought.

"...If Zetter... starts driving a wedge."

If Zetter turned Kim Jun-ho against the government, painting it as garbage? If he spouted nonsense? Did the President have any means to counter that?

None. None at all.

Not after already hearing that he could not go to heaven when he died. His soul was destined to become part of the Book. Was there any reason to be afraid? Any reason to keep living with a clean conscience?

To begin with. What was his goal right now? What did he want to accomplish, even if it meant dying?

"..."

The President had made up his mind.

* * *

About a day later.

Word came that Dok Su-hee had been sighted in the Tower. Since Zetter had temporarily stopped climbing, he could not see her directly. Even asking top-tier players to try to reach out to Dok Su-hee only brought back the same answer, that she was not in her right mind at the moment.

"..."

Zetter... regretted it. He had never assumed he was always right. He had always considered the possibility he could be wrong, which was why he so often asked the people around him for their opinions.

But the people around Zetter had always been people he himself gathered, people whose thinking resembled his own. Why hadn't he realized that exchanging opinions among people who thought alike would only push them further off course? Why had he acted so unilaterally? Chasing "efficiency," why had he treated "morality" so lightly?

While Zetter kept mulling it over, caught in a slower stream of time than everyone else, Mahesh approached him with a phone in hand.

"Association President."

"...What is it?"

"I got in touch with Choi Ji-won-nim. I think it would be good if you went to Korea."

"..."

With Mahesh's arrangements, Zetter set a schedule to leave for Korea. Even as he mechanically prepared for the trip, he kept thinking to himself.

Should he tell the regressor about the Dok Su-hee situation? Or should he come clean and reveal that he was aware of the regression itself? To begin with... did he even deserve to be Association President?

And at the same time.

"...Secretary."

The President gave an order. Hack the Wi-Fi device in the regressor's house. With modern technology, hacking a router alone was enough to detect the presence of a person. In other words.

The President could now tell the moment the regressor entered the Tower.

Footnotes:

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