Regression is Too Much - Chapter 341

WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Chapter 341: Ruin (2)

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I'd already grasped the situation. The President had exposed my identity, and as a result, more people started depending on me, and the Hero trait had triggered excessively. As a result, I was now stronger than I could handle. I'd been lying down, but I'd already figured that much out. Everything was visible, everything was audible, so understanding it wasn't hard.

I understood why my status window had broken. My soul had broken, so naturally the status window had broken too.

Thankfully, the way the Hero trait worked wasn't by inflating the outer shell, but by layering something over it. That's what saved me. If it had been the other way around, I'd have popped like a balloon and ended up a wreck.

"...I don't get it."

Since Ji-won said she didn't get it, let me explain further.

The Hero trait works by "adding" power directly onto the soul. Like putting an Iron Man suit onto a human body, I guess. My soul itself wasn't getting stronger. A powerful reinforcement was just being layered over it.

If it had instead amplified the power of my soul directly, my soul would have shattered. Like a balloon that pops when you pour too much water into it. Instead, what I had now was a steel balloon, reinforced with layer after layer of steel plating.

Anyway. I was more intact than I'd expected. My soul, which had been shaking, had stabilized to some degree, and the senses I couldn't control before, I could now shut off at will.

Bang!!!

"Uh... sorry."

Scratch that. I still didn't have control. This immense force running wild through my body simply would not be controlled. Even right now, my beloved bed had just broken in half. I'd only put my hand down to sit up, and the mattress couldn't take it.

"For now... I'll just stay still."

Right now, I was a moving disaster. Sitting still on the bed was the best I could do.

"But... I don't feel anything."

Choi Ji-won said that while running her hands over my body.

"If you got stronger, shouldn't something be felt? Like some huge pressure, the kind the Heavenly Demon or the Hero give off..."

"That's... because I'm weak."

The reason the Hero had cut my throat. The reason I could look down on the entire Earth, beyond my own will. It was simply because I was weak. What does that even mean?

Right now my body was in an "amplified" state. Not just my physical abilities, but the sheer amount of Mana I held had grown beyond description. And that was exactly where the problem lay, in the Mana. What Ji-won called "presence" or "pressure" usually came from Mana.

My Mana pool had always been on the large side, but now it had grown past the point where "a lot" even described it. If it used to be a pond, it was now closer to an ocean, past even a river. But the soul that was supposed to control that Mana was still stuck at pond-size, so of course the Mana wouldn't stay controlled.

"But it's not like it disappears just because I can't control it."

I couldn't control it, that's all, it's not like the Mana had all vanished. That Mana clearly still belonged to me, I just couldn't use it. So the Mana that had slipped out of my control had spread across the entire planet, and even now it was drifting around here and there. My senses had been going haywire because that Mana kept feeding me information, and the reason the Hero had cut my throat was because I'd spread Mana across the whole base. From her side, it must have felt like I was picking a fight.

"So have you adjusted to it now?"

"No. Enduring is the limit."

For a while now, I hadn't said a word, just focused on enduring it. It felt like I'd lose consciousness at any moment, and I had a gut feeling that if I did lose consciousness, disaster would follow. So I endured, and endured some more, until I finally reached the point where I could speak normally. Given more time, I'd probably be able to function normally too. Fighting, I wasn't sure about, but at least moving on my own will should be possible.

Well. That was about my body.

"...I'm angry."

I was angry. Irritated. In pain. I don't enjoy being used and dragged around like this. Does anyone actually enjoy that? Because of this whole mess, I'd grown deeply, deeply disappointed in the President and Zetter.

And was that all? The Mana that had spread across the Earth had force-fed me information I never wanted. I'd watched countless people say my name with their own mouths, and I'd registered every single word they said. This was torture.

"That's not bullshit, right?"

"Believe what's worth believing. If the US President told you to die, would you actually do it?"

The people who didn't believe in my ability, at least, were fine. They had no interest in me anyway.

"Whoa, so the regression power actually exists?"

"Give it like a year and he'll clear the Tower. Thank god."

Expectations they placed on me however they pleased.

"That Kim Jun-ho guy hit the jackpot."

"But what floor was it again? Still on 29 after all this, isn't he being lazy? He should push harder."

"How many times has he regressed anyway?"

"If he'd regressed a lot he wouldn't still be on 29. Regressors always turn into losers past the third cycle. Everyone else just clears it once, and this guy alone does it over and over. You know how I cleared Floor 11 this time? Without some broken cheat ability. Now imagine having Regression."

"So this regressor guy is..."

"Either he just got the ability recently, or he's an idiot. One of the two. But given the President outed him, isn't he probably the idiot?"

"Damn, being a player really makes the difference, huh."

"I know a thing or two."

Words spat out by people who knew nothing. Every single one of them cut into me.

"Man, that guy's got it made for life. Jealous, so jealous. Give some to me too."

"That Kim Jun-ho guy..."

"Kim Jun-ho..."

Everyone knew me. Everyone ran their mouths about me. It was a sensation I couldn't put into words.

Was I not angry? I was angry. At the President and Zetter, who decided my fate without ever asking me. At the public, running their mouths without knowing a single thing. All of it made me angry.

But now I couldn't even get angry on my own terms.

"Ji-won, while I was lying there, I saw a guy."

Some lunatic holed up in a dark corner of a room, endlessly typing hate comments about me. The smile on his face as he carefully picked out words too vile to repeat. My Mana, spread across the whole Earth, had picked up on his snickering, and I'd gotten angry enough to clench my fist without even realizing it.

"Gack...!"

But the next moment. The guy had suddenly collapsed. Since he'd been holed up alone in his room, he wasn't found for a while, and he was taken to the hospital fairly late. Something about permanent brain damage from respiratory failure.

The cause was obvious. Me. My Mana had reacted to my emotions, and I'd nearly killed a person for real. Right now I couldn't even control my own movements as I pleased. I couldn't even afford to hold an emotion. If this wasn't hell, what was?

"For now... I want to go into the Tower."

But on Floor 1. There, I could swing this power around freely. Inside slowed-down time, I could definitely adapt to this power.

And after that... I'd think it through. What I could do with this power, and what I should do going forward. Whether to climb the Tower fast, just like they all wanted. Or whether I needed to do something else entirely.

And then...

"...Jun-ho?"

Ji-won tapped my shoulder as I sat there mapping out the plan ahead.

"Hm?"

"Why haven't you mentioned the thing you always do?"

I didn't know what "the thing I always do" meant. What had I always done?

"Regression, I mean. Usually when something happens... you make a plan to regress. Gather as much information as you can in reality first, and then regress. That's what you always did."

"Ah."

Right. That had been my whole operating principle up to now. Whenever something happened, I threw myself into gathering information, then regressed and solved it.

But this time was different.

"How, though?"

The President had offered up a sacrifice at a point when I was already inside the Tower. The point when Michael Zetter and the President had been scheming among themselves was long before that.

What would even be the point of regressing now? What was I supposed to do? Taking down Michael Zetter and the President would be easy. But what would that actually change?

I'd given up. There were things that couldn't be changed. Now... I had to adapt. To this twisted reality. To this broken...

"Jun-ho."

Thump. Choi Ji-won gripped both my shoulders firmly.

"I don't care what you think about it. But let me ask you one thing."

Choi Ji-won looked at me with eyes brimming with tears.

"Is this... what you wanted?"

"..."

Was this what I wanted?

Not growing stronger step by step. Not putting in steady effort. Just becoming known to others, having the Hero trait fire off, and growing monstrously strong through that alone, was that really what I wanted?

"No way."

No. This wasn't the situation I'd wanted. I could be called selfish for even thinking about it. Someone could ask, does my personal preference even matter when the whole human race is on the brink of extinction.

But this... wasn't the situation I'd wanted. That much was certain.

"Yeah?"

She let go of my shoulders and pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Then..."

Still with her face buried in my chest, she said.

"Let's try doing something. Anything."

Once again, she breathed hope back into me.

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