Regression is Too Much - Chapter 345

WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Chapter 345: Ruin (6)

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The Hero. If I could actually get her cooperation, nothing would be more reassuring.

Out of all the countless stories I'd seen, heroes came in every possible flavor. Some were villains in name only, others so weak they barely deserved the title. But this Hero, whoever she was, was strong. Far stronger than me.

I had no idea why someone like that was stuck playing administrator inside the Tower, but flipping an administrator to my side was never a bad move.

"Secret? What are you talking about?"

The Hero asked, still sprawled in her chair, chewing on a snack. Her reaction told me everything. I was still in my unenhanced state right now. Since the Hero trait hadn't activated, I probably looked like the weakest thing imaginable to her.

"What secret would I even have? I'm here all day, every day. Fine, here's one. I always thought I liked dogs, but lately I've been leaning more toward cats. Might get one. Happy now? Get lost."

She waved a hand at me like she was shooing away a bug. I'd expected a reaction like this. So what I said next was just laying groundwork.

"I'm a regressor. I can turn back time and keep my memories."

"Yeah, yeah. And I'm the Hero. Gonna save the damn world. Now scram."

"Tomorrow. I'm going to gain an enormous amount of power. It won't be my own will doing it."

I'd thought about this a lot. Should I reveal my regression to the Hero? Just looking at the elder on Floor 15, revealing regression to someone strong was never a wise move. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have taken this gamble either.

"...A lunatic's shown up."

"You'll find out if you wait."

But a few facts made me believe I could trust the Hero, or at least that she wasn't friendly with the Tower.

First, there was no angel on this floor. These "release-type" floors usually had a guide angel present. Here, instead, there were only obedient soldiers.

On top of that, Floor 29 looked like a war zone to anyone who saw it, and according to the soldiers, there had even been something called a "Demon King." Demon King and Hero. The connection practically writes itself. Yes, this world was clearly the Hero's original home world.

Above all, the Hero was strong. Ridiculously, absurdly strong. If she decided to turn hostile, she could wipe out every player here without breaking a sweat. In other words, a hazard, an unexploded bomb.

Just look at the Heavenly Demon's case. Excessive strength that didn't fit its floor caused all kinds of variables. And that was an incomplete Heavenly Demon. What would a Hero at full power do?

If I were an archangel, would I just leave a bomb like that sitting on a single floor unattended? If the Hero had ever submitted to the angels, wouldn't they have stripped her power instead?

Who sent you.

Last but not least, there was that line the Hero had spoken right before killing me in a previous cycle. It implied some force existed that wanted the Hero dead, and that force had influence inside the Tower. Who could that be? Was it more than just the angels?

So my conclusion was this: the angels and the Hero weren't exactly close. They might even be hostile to each other. And if that turned out wrong? I didn't exactly have the luxury of picking through better options right now.

"Stop bothering me and go. I've got things to do."

"Understood. I'll see you tomorrow."

I left the Hero behind as she reached into thin air and tore open a fresh bag of snacks, then spent the rest of the day in the quarters prepared for me. A day passed, and the familiar pain started up again. After Ji-won nursed me through the worst of my rampaging mana, I went back to the Hero's tent.

"So. What do you think?"

"..."

"Do you honestly believe this is power that belongs on Floor 29, at this point in time?"

This time the Hero didn't hide. She showed herself openly, sitting at that same desk, watching me. She didn't flood the air with mana to pressure me like before either. If anything, she sat there quietly, present and absent at once.

During the day she'd sprawled in her chair stuffing her face with snacks, but now her eyes glowed in the dark, and she stared me down like a predator. That bloated, overwhelming soul I'd felt from her before wasn't there anymore. My senses told me there was nothing there at all, and yet she sat in that chair, watching me.

"A regressor, you said."

The Hero asked in a low voice. I nodded and sat in the nearest chair.

"You know the concept?"

"...Yeah."

The Hero had flinched the moment she said the word "regression," but from then on, her body stayed completely still as she spoke. Breathing, moving her mouth, there should have been some small movement, but she sat there like stone.

"...So what do you actually want to say?"

"Help me."

I'd come this far, so I decided to lay everything out. I was betting that the Hero was someone I could trust. Or at least, that she wouldn't run and tattle to the angels.

"So, here's the thing..."

I roughly explained the power of my Hero trait. How other people had exposed my identity without my permission. How, as a result, every Earthling now knew who I was, and I'd ended up with this undeserved amount of power.

"...Spoiled rotten."

For the first time, the Hero showed something you could actually call an emotion. If a snort of disbelief counted as an emotion, that is.

"To me, that just sounds like a pampered kid whining. So what kind of help do you need?"

Her tone had gone cold. What I actually wanted was simple enough.

"Floor 29. Does clearing it really require three days?"

"...No. At my discretion, I could pass someone through in a single day."

Once she said that much, the Hero nodded, seeming to catch on.

"Is that why you asked me for a secret yesterday?"

"Yes. You're quick."

The plan was simple. The Hero tells me a secret, one that isn't fatal but is something there's absolutely no way I could have known.

Then I regress, and at the point before the President has exposed my identity, I tell the Hero that same secret again.

What happens then? It goes the way every regression cliché goes. "How could you possibly know that..." And from there, I smoothly slide into, "You already told me this information once, and I'm a regressor," and so on. There's a whole established routine for this.

Since the Hero said she could clear me through in a single day, all I needed now was to hear an appropriate secret.

"First off, that's impossible."

The Hero tapped a finger against the desk, and a complicated string of characters floated up in the air. The characters shifted independently of each other while giving off a mysterious golden glow, lending the whole thing an air of the sacred.

"Recognize it?"

"...No."

"It's the contract binding me to Floor 29."

The Hero lifted her finger off the desk, and the mysterious string of characters vanished again.

"You've probably got the gist. It's not that I won't say it. I can't. Here, I'm nothing but 'the Hero.'"

"...Hmm."

The same method Michael Zetter, Dok Su-hee, and the President had all used. Contracts. Since everything was apparently locked down with contracts, there wasn't much to say.

I understood that in a world where abilities could restrict someone's actions, it made sense to have proper restraints in place. I understood that the people I was dealing with weren't fools, and that they'd all prepared for exactly this. But speaking as the one on the receiving end, it was infuriating as hell. The moment I tried anything, I couldn't get a word out, contracts handling everything before I even opened my mouth. It made my blood boil.

Still, thinking about it, this Hero was uncommonly strong and seemed to know an awful lot too. Made sense, in a way. Fine. Let that one go.

I still had a Plan B.

"Then how about this."

"...Companion regression?"

Exactly. Companion regression. All the Hero had to do was go back to the past with her memories intact.

What if the Hero had a change of heart? What if she stabbed me in the back? She was already an overwhelming force. She'd proven in a previous cycle that she could kill me if she wanted to.

Of course, there was a big difference between betraying me while knowingly aware I was a regressor, and simply killing me outright. But thinking about it logically, keeping a regressor as an ally was obviously far more valuable than making an enemy of one. Why kill off a regressor standing right next to you? Treat him well, keep him sweet, and you'd get far more out of it in the long run.

So naturally, I assumed the Hero would accept my proposal.

"I refuse."

"...Wait, what?"

"Now go. I've lost interest."

Astonishingly, the Hero shook her head. I asked for an explanation, but she simply issued the order to leave without another word.

Why? What had gone wrong? Had I made some mistake? I didn't think so.

Ji-won approached me carefully as I stood there, thrown into confusion.

"...Jun-ho. Don't take it too hard..."

Her memories must have just flooded back in, leaving her confused too, and yet she was trying to comfort me first. Seeing that, I steeled my resolve.

"...I've still got three plans left."

There was still hope. And out of those, the one with the best odds was...

"Ji-won. Let's have you climb the Tower on your own for a bit."