Regression is Too Much - Chapter 338

WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Chapter 338: The past (17)

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"Good to see you."

Teleporting into Choi Ji-won's house, Zetter looked, on the surface, no different from before. Expressionless as ever, unshakable as ever, he drank plenty of water.

'...I.'

But inside, he was as turbulent as an ocean caught in a typhoon. Until now, every action Zetter took had come from certainty. He was right, his path was the correct one, and if he acted on his own will, everything would turn out fine. That belief was broken now, and Zetter had no idea how he should move forward.

Thanks to the Adaptation trait, his emotions themselves had grown thin, and it filtered out the various signals that came from a shaking heart. If not for the trait, his face would have gone pale, and his voice would have trembled.

"...Kim Jun-ho, no. Jun-ho-nim."

He steadied himself and held out a hand for a handshake. Choi Ji-won took it naturally, and Kim Jun-ho seemed briefly startled but did not refuse.

A rough palm. Hard calluses. Zetter had once had calluses like these too, though Adaptation had erased them by now. How many bruises had bloomed on his chest from firearms drills, how many times had his grip torn open climbing rope? The traces of training stirred something like nostalgia in him.

"I believe you already have a rough idea of the situation. The Association as it stands now is rotten, and it needs to be torn out."

Even as he said it, Zetter did not believe his own words. Was the Association really rotten? Wasn't the real problem the fact that he, Zetter, had ever tried to build a players' association in the first place? Hadn't the bureaucrats done their best in their own positions? Sure, removing them would make the Association run more smoothly, more in line with Zetter's intentions. But was that really "the best," really "efficient"?

"The reason I've come to see you both... is to ask a favor."

Whether or not Zetter was still wrestling with doubt, his mouth moved mechanically. Everything he needed to say had already been decided. Even his attitude toward the regressor had already been decided. All that remained was to carry it out.

"A favor?"

"Yes. A favor that came to me after I cleared Floor 29, and after I decided to overhaul the Association."

"...Wait a moment. You cleared Floor 29?"

Kim Jun-ho was genuinely surprised that Zetter had already cleared Floor 29. In real time it hadn't actually been that long, but for Zetter it had felt like a far longer stretch. Partly because of everything that had happened in between, and partly because Zetter had accelerated his own thinking, wrestling with himself the whole way.

Either way. From here, the conversation went exactly as Zetter intended.

"By the way, did Dok Su-hee not come with you? I can't reach her."

"...You mean Ms. Dok Su-hee."

Even when Kim Jun-ho asked about Dok Su-hee, Zetter didn't flinch. He already had an answer prepared.

"...How did you know Ms. Dok Su-hee belongs to our Association?"

He started by turning the question back around.

"I see. If Ms. Dok Su-hee told you herself, I trust she had good reason to."

He showed that he trusted Dok Su-hee.

"Ms. Dok Su-hee has entered the Tower. She tends to keep climbing once she starts, so."

He answered without lying. It was true that Dok Su-hee had entered the Tower, and true that this was her usual habit. He simply left out what had happened on Floor 26, and the conflict between her and himself.

"Ah, I see..."

And so, right around the moment Kim Jun-ho's suspicion faded and he started managing his own expression instead, careful not to give away that he was the regressor.

"Anyway, didn't you say you had a favor to ask?"

At last, Kim Jun-ho asked the question he had been waiting to ask.

"Yes, the favor. Let me get right to it."

Before speaking, Zetter opened the fridge and drank some water, and a thought crossed his mind.

Was this the first time this scene had played out? What if the regressor was testing him right now? What if he was saying something different from what he'd said in a "previous" cycle?

No. No need to overthink it. He just had to say what was in his heart.

Originally, he had planned to propose, "When the monsters invade, why don't we act together?" In the process, he meant to display his own strength, observe the regressor's strength, and naturally reveal the friction with the United States Government, all in order to get the regressor to cooperate in building "an order among players." That had been Zetter's goal.

But the more they talked, the more he could feel it, that Kim Jun-ho and Choi Ji-won were genuinely good people. People like this should not be used. People who moved forward for the public good rather than their own gain should not be exploited for Zetter's selfish ends.

"People like us... tend to fall into the wrong path, I think. Convinced that no one but me can do it. That I, someone special, need to prove it right now. That I am the chosen one, so I must be the one to solve the problem."

He had already made a grave mistake. He no longer had any certainty about himself.

But there was a solution. Zetter didn't have to be the one to bear the responsibility. If Zetter wasn't enough, then someone better, someone greater, someone more responsible could lead instead.

He used to say it often in meetings with his team. If someone better than him ever appeared, he would step aside without hesitation.

"But now I understand. There are far more brilliant, far more special people in this world than me. I don't need to carry everything on my own shoulders. If it's something I can't do alone, I can rely on someone more special."

"..."

"So my favor comes down to just two things. First. Keep climbing the Tower as fiercely as you have been. Grow even stronger, and when the invasion comes, protect humanity. Can you do that?"

Choi Ji-won and Kim Jun-ho took this as nothing more than a well-wishing remark, but Zetter meant it literally. He genuinely wanted Kim Jun-ho and Choi Ji-won to be the ones to conquer this Tower. He had decided to settle for the same role as every other ordinary person: supporting the regressor, nothing more.

Michael Zetter was not the protagonist. He was closer to the villain. So then, shouldn't he be useful now, at least? Rather than refusing to admit his mistakes and drifting further off course, wasn't it more efficient to repent, however late, and try to set things right?

"Please, take this Medal."

Entrusting him with the Medal carried that meaning. Genuinely, in the spirit of supporting them.

"For the time being, I'm not in a position to climb the Tower. The two of you will overtake me in no time."

With those words, Zetter left for America once more.

To correct his own mistake.

* * *

"Wait. Wait a moment."

Choi Ji-won cut off Zetter's long account and clenched her teeth.

"..."

Until then, Kim Jun-ho had been unable to bear the pain and had let out groans here and there, but at some point he went still, staring blankly into empty air. His eyes looked past that emptiness, at something further beyond.

"So... you'd already decided to leave everything to us, back then?"

"...That's correct."

"Then why didn't you tell us sooner?"

From Choi Ji-won's perspective, no, from anyone's perspective, this was a situation that would make a person furious. If he'd told them sooner. If the truth had come out even a little earlier. Kim Jun-ho could have regressed, and might have found some way to resolve the entire conflict.

But Zetter had hidden his true intentions and tried to fix everything on his own, and now it was too late for all of it. The point of regression was already fixed. And now, after everything, he was telling them this?

"Please, calm down."

"You expect me to... calm down right now?"

Bang!!!

The Wi-Fi router, already half destroyed, shattered into pieces beyond recognition. Despite the loud crash, Kim Jun-ho didn't react at all, and the studio apartment remained endlessly quiet. Quiet enough to raise the hair on your arms.

"I apologize. I was reluctant to reveal the whole truth. And I believed I could resolve it myself. That was a delusion."

"Now, after everything..."

"Yes, I know. I know that apologizing now means nothing. But please, calm down just a little, and let me finish."

"But...!"

"I'm almost done. I'm not asking for forgiveness. I simply thought it was only right to tell you what happened. Please. Jun-ho-nim isn't reacting, but I believe he's still listening."

"..."

Choi Ji-won bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood, then sat back down. Zetter, who still hadn't touched a drop of water, was growing steadily paler, but he showed no sign of moving as he resumed his account.

"I headed straight for the White House..."

* * *

Zetter went straight to the White House. Everything he had experienced had changed him.

The regressor didn't need Zetter's help. He was already doing more than well enough, and he would keep doing well. Dok Su-hee had been right.

Which meant... there was no need to ask the Book of Truth for answers. Even if the Book of Truth ever had to be used, it should only happen at Kim Jun-ho's own request. The assumption that "the regressor would need our help" had been nothing but an arrogant, condescending way of looking down on him.

Zetter meant to discard every "plan" they had pursued until now. To say they should find another way. To say he had been wrong.

"You cannot be received at this time."

"...Why is that."

But Zetter couldn't meet the President. He could have forced his way in, but instead he asked why.

"The President has a schedule in China. He's expected to be there for about a week."

"..."

Right. China, at a time like this. It could happen. Of course it could happen. But.

"Could I meet with Ronald, then?"

"Ah, Ronald went with the President as well. I understand it was for training purposes."

"..."

It wasn't just the President who had vanished. Ronald, the Book of Truth's owner, had disappeared too.

So the President hadn't gone there simply to keep an appointment.