Regression is Too Much - Chapter 367

WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 367

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Regression (15)

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Ah? Uh... sorry. Sorry."

Eom Hong-gil let go of my hands and stepped back, meeting my cold stare.

"You didn't like me holding your hands, huh? Some people are sensitive about that kind of touch, sorry, sorry."

"..."

He seemed to think my irritation was about the hand-holding. Was that an act? Or... who knew.

Honestly, the first thing that crossed my mind had been the possibility of joint regression. I remembered being startled at the sight of this man, and I'd wondered if that emotion might have triggered joint regression in him too. If so, that would explain why things had turned out differently this time.

But there was a hole in that theory too. As far as I could guess, the moment "memory transfer" triggers is the moment I re-enter each floor. If that were true, his memories should have returned the instant I stepped onto Floor 4. But the timing here felt off.

From the moment I arrived, people had already been waiting for something, the whole place buzzing with restlessness. If it had been joint regression, the reaction should have come only after some time passed.

"Follow me for a second."

"Uh, okay..."

I grabbed the man's hand right away and moved us to the edge of the protective barrier surrounding us. The stares still clung to me, but as long as I kept the sound from leaking out with mana, that was enough.

"What did you do?"

"That's..."

Eom Hong-jun's eyes darted around at my blunt question.

"I just... liked it?"

"You call that an explanation?"

"No, really. I just liked it. Liked it so much I jumped around a bit, danced because I was excited... that's probably why people were staring. That's it, right? Sorry about that."

So this man had thrown some kind of fit, and that was what changed fate? If so, what caused the fit?

"I just got this feeling, like... someone really interesting was about to walk in. I originally wanted to climb that mountain over there, but this side felt like it'd be more fun... so I got excited... sorry..."

Eom Hong-jun. The man who kept vanishing every time, saying climbing the mountain seemed fun. But also the man who avoided the monster waves because of it. Back then I'd just chalked it up as "he's crazy, but it's worth trying" and never bothered to look into it properly. Saving everyone on Floor 4 had been more urgent at the time.

"You're saying you sensed that 'interesting' feeling coming from me?"

"Yeah. So I waited around a bit. Sorry if that upset you. I cause a lot of trouble for people normally..."

So to sum it up, Eom Hong-jun had used some ability to sense that I was coming, made a scene about it, and that was why everyone noticed my arrival ahead of time.

Good news, at least, that it wasn't some butterfly effect. But at the same time, I found myself thinking this man's ability was pretty impressive. He didn't seem to realize it himself, but wasn't this an ability that led him toward outcomes favorable to himself, dressed up as "fun"?

If his mountain climbing in the first place had also been guided by the ability, that would make sense. Same thing with him seeking me out now, that was the ability's guidance too. My guess was that the ability amounted to something like "luck," or "an instinct that steers you toward outcomes advantageous to yourself."

Before I regressed, had I not been a good enough choice to trigger that ability? And now that I'd grown strong enough after regressing, had I finally entered the range his ability could detect? Interesting.

"Do you not know exactly what kind of ability it is?"

"Ability? What ability?"

"That... if you check your status window."

"What's a status window? Status window! Oh, what's this? But I don't need this!"

Of course, given that this man seemed genuinely a bit unhinged, there was no way to pin down the exact conditions. Not that I needed to figure it out right now anyway. Clearing Floor 4 came first, I could look into the details after regressing.

"Hmm..."

Either way, now that I knew this wasn't triggered by angelic interference or joint regression, there was nothing to hold back for. The protective barrier would disappear soon enough...

<Floor 4>
-Clear Condition: Survive for 5 days. When the timer ends, you will automatically clear the floor and be moved to Floor 1.
-120 : 00 : 00

"Perfect timing."

Inside the stone fortress, another black protective barrier vanished, revealing the otherworlders within. Baron George stood at the front, as always. He wore a stiff expression, tense but trying not to show it, scanning the surroundings warily.

"Guh, guh!!!"

Then, maybe sensing my mana, Baron George's face turned pale.

I raised a finger to my lips as a signal to stay quiet, then turned to speak to Eom Hong-jun.

"Will you follow me?"

"Uh, sure! That sounds more fun!"

He agreed instantly, without me saying where we were going or what we'd be doing. Well, there were people I trusted here anyway, Yoon Joong-hyun, William Smith, and the rest. They could at least keep the otherworlders from getting hurt. Speaking of which, I still needed to figure out what to do about William Smith. I'd worry about that later.

Either way, while the otherworlders and players stood off against each other, I slipped into the fortress, grabbed a bit of food and a sleeping bag, then hurried back out and headed toward the direction the monsters had come from.

"Get on my back."

"Sure!"

Carrying a middle-aged man on my back felt a little awkward, but there was no other way to move quickly. (Eom Hong-gil didn't seem to mind at all, though.)

With Eom Hong-gil on my back, I poured mana into my legs and ran for a long while. I stopped to rest for a moment, pulled out some food, and asked him while eating.

"How does it feel right now?"

I asked because I wondered if his ability might be giving him some kind of signal. Considering we were heading straight toward the source of the monsters, it seemed like there should be some kind of reaction.

"That... I'm not sure."

"What?"

"There are times the feeling just hits, bam!!! Like that. But right now, how do I put it. I'm just not sure."

Eom Hong-gil scratched the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed. Given how impressive the trait's performance seemed to be, it looked like the kind of power he couldn't consciously control.

Honestly, the ability looked useful enough that I briefly wondered if it might be worth bringing him on as a companion. But since he couldn't control it, and since I still didn't know exactly what the ability was, I settled on "let's just stay on good terms" for now. Bringing someone in as a companion for regression was a matter that needed more caution than that.

"Rested enough? Let's go again."

"My legs kinda hurt, but... fine..."

With the whining middle-aged man on my back again, I ran for a long while more. A full day passed, and it was past noon into the afternoon of the next day when.

"Hmm..."

Honestly, by this point I was starting to wonder if my plan had been wrong.

The speed I'd been running at was clearly beyond human. Obviously, it was far faster than the speed the monsters had been closing in on the fortress at.

So by rough calculation, I should have already reached the monsters' point of origin long ago, but there wasn't a single trace of anything nearby.

The snowfall was heavy enough to cut visibility down, sure, but I had mana. At the very least, I should have sensed some kind of signal within a 3km radius. I hadn't felt anything.

Had I gotten the direction wrong? I was mulling over whether I'd made some mistake, when.

"Wait, wait a second."

Eom Hong-jun, who'd been quiet the whole time, suddenly tapped my shoulder and spoke up.

"Let's go around that way. To the right."

"...Go around?"

"Yeah. Straight ahead feels like... it'll be boring."

"..."

There was nothing visible ahead. Even spreading my mana out, even waking my soul to shift my perspective, it was just an empty snowfield.

But since Eom Hong-jun had proven himself before, I obediently turned and veered right.

"...There's nothing here."

"Huh, guess so."

Just like before, we walked a long while through the empty snowfield. It went on so long that suspicion started creeping into the look I gave Eom Hong-jun, and he in turn started avoiding my eyes.

"?!"

Suddenly, I felt something like passing through a barrier, and the view shifted entirely. The snowfield was still there, the sky still blue, the distant mountains still visible, same as before.

But far off. A pure white light spreading out. And there, standing in it, was.

"Uh, um... senior."

"What, what now. What is it."

"That, uh, the part where you adjust the monster count."

"Ha... I taught you that ten years ago. Are you even paying attention?"

"S, sorry!"

"I can't deal with you, I really can't. So this part goes..."

A button-shaped control device carved into white marble. A massive, swirling amount of power surrounding it. Two figures bickering with each other.

"You get it? Do it like this, and you can even control monsters that already set out. This is the last time I'm explaining this, so..."

"Uh, senior?"

"I told you I hate it most when people interrupt me."

"No, that's not it... over there... there's a human..."