WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 359

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Regression (7)

So, to sum the plan up again.

1. I operate under the fake identity of "the Hero."

2. Everyone else believes the Hero's true identity is Choi Ji-won, but out of consideration for her, nobody says so directly.

3. My real identity stays hidden.

That covered it.

Even if people believed the Hero was Choi Ji-won, the Hero trait would still activate because the actual substance behind the mask was me. A kind of trick, riding on that loophole. Get the benefit, keep the safety, kill two birds with one stone.

So the work from here on was laying groundwork, making sure that when the rumor eventually spread that the Hero was Choi Ji-won, nothing about it would feel out of place. Every human who took part in this Tutorial would survive, and they'd take what they saw and heard and blow it up into something bigger. That wasn't a guess. That was based on something I'd lived through myself.

"So the plan me and future-you came up with was basically just, you go out front and sweep everything away..."

Choi Ji-won's status window wasn't carried over the way mine was, but of course she'd still grown. Not just grown, either. In swordsmanship, her growth had gone even further and faster than mine.

If my own growth had been about expanding my mana and squeezing the most out of that growing power, Choi Ji-won's growth had been about depth, the depth of her swordsmanship itself. In her regressed state, I'd assumed she could toy with a Minotaur single-handedly.

"But you didn't regress, so..."

"...That wasn't my fault, and it still stings a little to hear you say it like that."

"You're using formal speech with me even now?"

"I always use formal speech."

"Before you regressed, you talked casual, cursed at me, waved your sword around like..."

"..."

Sure, I'd only used casual speech with her back then because I found her suspicious, but there was no need to bring that up now. Anyway, the core of the original plan boiled down to: Choi Ji-won shows off overwhelming skill starting right now and saves everyone.

Overwhelming skill? Her skill really was overwhelming. Plenty for showing off, and nobody here was stronger than her except me. The problem was the latter half.

"You can probably feel it already, but you can't beat a Minotaur. You haven't even adjusted to your body's changes because of Bung-bung yet. If you fight it, you lose, a hundred times out of a hundred."

Choi Ji-won wasn't in peak condition right now, and on top of that, her matchup against a Minotaur was bad. If she fought it, she'd lose about eighty percent of the time.

"So, to keep things plausible and give this a decent shape as a story..."

There was really only one option left.

"Ji-won, you're going to have to sacrifice a bit of your image. Can't be helped."

I had to step up.

By the time people had gotten used to swinging their weapons around and the braver, or dumber, ones had finished preparing to slip out of the grass...

"Everyone. Your attention, please."

Right at the center of the clearing, in the spot everyone had silently agreed to leave empty because it was where the fairy had appeared, a ponytailed woman took her place. If that had been all, nobody would have looked twice.

"This place might be dangerous. Please don't step outside the grass. Wait here."

But the quiet dignity radiating off her body, the aura, the "presence" of someone strong.

"Wh, what is that."

"That sword doesn't look like something she picked up around here. Does she just carry a sword around normally?"

It seized everyone's attention.

"So, I heard the status window..."

"Shh, shh. Listen. She's saying something."

It pulled every eye toward her.

"...Ji-won?"

An older firefighter muttered it without even realizing he had.

"I will go."

The swordswoman shrugged off the crushing weight of roughly two hundred people staring at her without so much as flinching.

"I'll go look around. Please wait a moment."

Without any further explanation, she vanished into the tall grass.

"..."

"..."

An awkward silence settled. They'd finally started paying attention like she asked, and then she just vanished like that? All she'd told them was not to leave the grass? That baffling behavior left a short gap of confusion behind.

Flash.

A burst of light followed right after.

"Ah?"

"...Huh?"

Whoosh.

The sound of grass brushing in the wind. No, a sound with a slightly more violent color to it than that.

The tall, stiff grass that had towered over everyone was collapsing limply in every direction. Grass that had once risen past the height of a grown man now fluttered around, leaving only knee-high stubble in its wake.

What made it even more unsettling was that the height of the cut grass was perfectly even. If a human hand had done it, there'd be some unevenness, some wobble at least. But this grass had been sheared to an unnaturally uniform height, inhumanly precise.

"..."

"..."

Gulp. In the windless clearing, someone's swallow rang out loud and clear. If someone could slice through this dozens of meters of grass in a single stroke, cutting a human throat would be easier than a yawn.

Footsteps. Crunch, crunch.

The one responsible for this miracle, this superhuman feat, walked out from between the collapsing grass with a perfectly unbothered expression.

"I didn't do it."

"...What?"

"I didn't do it. This grass."

"..."

Utter nonsense.

She'd drawn everyone's attention, then vanished into the grass. She had a sword strapped to her hip that anyone could tell was suspicious. And she came back right after the entire field of grass had been sheared clean.

"...You're saying you didn't do it?"

"That's right. I didn't do it."

She was claiming, with a straight face, that she had nothing to do with any of it.

"Then... who did?"

"Who knows."

"..."

"H, hey. Shut up."

"Yeah... let's just go with it."

The ones whose brains weren't quite keeping up wore the expression of people who wanted to argue, screaming what is this nonsense on their faces, but the sharper ones held them back. They'd already learned the eternal truth: you don't poke a crazy person.

Sure, the timing could just be a wild coincidence. Maybe she really hadn't done it. Maybe some regressor from the future was hiding in a corner, silently slicing up the whole field with mana, then pinning it on this woman. Whatever the truth actually was, provoking her clearly wasn't the smart move.

"Okay, so, can we go outside now?"

"I'll take the lead. Follow me."

"Ah, yes. Thank you. The grass was so tall it looked kind of scary."

"I told you, I didn't do that."

"That, uh, was meant for whoever cut the grass for us."

"..."

Thanks to her painfully sharp senses, Choi Ji-won could partially read other people's emotions, which meant she understood exactly what everyone around her was thinking.

'...Bung-bung.'

'Should I just kill that man?'

'What do I do...'

Inside, she was writhing in absolute mortification.

Guided by Choi Ji-won, the Tutorial group moved in a single direction.

"Um... what do you do? There's something about you that feels, I don't know, strange? That's why I'm asking."

"I've disciplined myself."

"Ah..."

Along the way, there was a small incident where people started peppering an ordinary-looking man with questions, but it fizzled out naturally once they felt some inexplicable dignity, or maybe awe, radiating from him and slowly drifted away. Still, the information "there's a man here with a strange aura" burned itself into everyone's minds.

Anyway, after walking for a long while, Choi Ji-won stopped at a certain spot, and the people who'd been following her mindlessly froze in shock at the sight in front of them.

"A, a monster...!"

"Is this actually real? A movie... this is a movie set, right?"

The Minotaur, a monster with a massive bull's head, whined and struggled inside its seal, and the sight alone was enough to crush the air with pressure. Its impossible size, its raw power, none of it felt real.

"Stay calm. I'll handle this."

"B, but..."

"I need some time. Everyone, please wait here."

While Choi Ji-won kept the other players in check, the man everyone had described as having a "strange vibe" had, at some point, quietly disappeared.

"So basically, I've been through every kind of insane nonsense you can imagine and made it back."

"Kerrk. Humans have quite a talent for lying convincingly."

"No, seriously, I'm not lying. On Floor 25, I... ah, this part you probably shouldn't hear. Anyway, you've got some kind of king, don't you?"

The man exchanged this and that with the old Goblin Shaman, who was trembling weakly in the corner, then smiled and patted the goblin on the shoulder.

"Good fortune to you, human. Kerrk."

"Thanks. You too."

The green body slumped over as gently as falling asleep. The Goblin Shaman met a painless death by mana at that very moment. Right then—

"Groaaaaaargh!!!"

The Minotaur broke free and roared. The roar overflowed with unmistakable bloodlust, sharp enough that the exposed civilians felt their knees give out, a few of them wetting themselves outright.

"That, that thing!!!"

"Fall back."

Choi Ji-won pushed the crowd behind her and stepped forward. She rested her hand on her sword's hilt and glared down the Minotaur.

"Groaaaaaargh!!!"

The Minotaur charged, its tank-like body leading the way. The swordswoman stood still, eyes locked on her enemy.

The gap between them closed. Five meters. Three meters. One meter. Fifty centimeters.

Right as that savage fist was about to crush her ponytailed head...!

Shk.

The Minotaur's body split into dozens of pieces and collapsed like a toppling block tower. Cut. And it had been cut.

"I, I didn't even see it..."

The strike had been so blindingly fast that no one saw Choi Ji-won move at all. It was quick enough that, to anyone watching, it looked like she'd merely struck the pose while someone else had done the actual cutting.

"Wh, whoaaaa!!!"

"What's your name? What's your name? Thank you so much for saving us!"

"I didn't do that."

"...What?"

"I got lucky."

"...Ah, I see..."

[Wondrous Achievement Notification!]

You have succeeded in defeating the hidden boss, Minotaur, Demon of the Labyrinth!

There are no casualties! An achievement experience bonus has been awarded!

The greatest contribution goes to...

"Everyone, hurry into the portal."

"Uh, okay."

Once she'd pushed everyone through the clear portal, Choi Ji-won sank down onto the ground.

"What do I do..."

"It'll be fine."

"Those people think I'm... some kind of lunatic... completely insane..."

"It'll be fine."

"Shut up..."

Setting aside the damage done to Choi Ji-won's dignity for a moment.

"Anyway, the plan itself was a success..."

Our plan had worked. My identity stayed hidden, and I'd sufficiently sold the idea that Choi Ji-won had some secret fetish for helping people behind the scenes. I'd also proven the Tutorial could be cleared through "legitimate means."

Next was facing off against the deranged angel who thought it was some kind of supreme judge, and then heading to Floor 1. All that was left was heading to Floor 1, but.

"Hmm..."

Something suddenly came to mind, the spot where that man had been digging his tunnel. The one who'd said something would turn up if you dug deep enough.

Was there really no hidden piece buried in the Tutorial? Really? Truly? I didn't know. I honestly didn't know.

"Guess I'll just try it."

From what I understood, it was practically standard practice for a regressed munchkin to raise hell in the Tutorial.

Since I was already back, might as well try everything there was to try.

"I'm regressing. You won't remember any of this."

"So the humiliation I just went through was..."

"Sorry."

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 0.]

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