WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 037

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The Earth is changing rapidly (2)

『 [Breaking News] The United States acknowledges the existence of the Tower! The official title for returnees has been decided as 'Player'! 』

The moment the world's strongest superpower, the United States, acknowledged the existence of the Tower, all embargoes across the globe were lifted.

The existence of the 'Tower', which had been secretly hidden by governments around the world, was revealed to all.

『 A Tower made of 66 floors? Humanity will perish if it isn't climbed? An unbelievable story from the mouth of the White House spokesperson! 』

『 Korean government points to the 'Tower' as the cause of the recent global serial disappearance cases. 』

The serial disappearance cases. Information was revealed that the perpetrator was God.

Furthermore, this 'abduction' incident was not the first. The US government had identified at least 650 instances. Considering that all the people summoned together were from the same country...

When looking at the entire world, the number of people summoned to the Tower so far would be literally astronomical.

『 Current US Vice President reveals he returned alive from the Tower. 』

The one who put the matter to rest for the seething public was the American Vice President.

He demonstrated the ability to create ice out of thin air in front of reporters, a video of which was immediately uploaded to YouToob and hit 100 million views in the shortest time ever.

To sum it up in one phrase, the reaction was explosive.

-Does this even make sense? Do they think this is a novel or something?

-What are you gonna do if you don't believe it? Didn't you see the video of the US Vice President making ice on YouToob?

-Does this mean gates are going to start appearing now? What do we do if a goblin shows up in front of our house?

-I went to the hardware store to buy a crowbar, and there were three other people there like me. Better get one in advance.

Koreans, who were somewhat familiar with the concept of a 'Tower' through various media, had a milder reaction.

Overseas, including in the West, the reaction was much more intense.

-If the Vice President isn't crazy, does this mean god is really trying to wipe out humanity?

-Could it be that the 'Judgment Day' from the Bible has arrived?

-So are we all going to die?

-We have to. It's god's will.

In the first place, the proportion of Catholics and Christians in the West was overwhelmingly high.

Debates raged on whether this was truly god, or the will of some monstrous transcendental being.

Extremists even appeared, arguing that since all of this was god's will, they should simply accept extinction.

-But I'm not even sure if that Tower thing really exists.

Of course, there were also a great number of people who didn't believe in the Tower's existence.

-In webtoons or web novels, doesn't a tower usually appear somewhere in the Pacific Ocean? But where the hell is the tower these crazy people are talking about?

First of all, the Tower had no physical form. At least, not on Earth.

The Tower could not be observed even with all of humanity's technology. All that existed was the testimony of the survivors.

However, the fact that their testimonies were remarkably consistent and that the survivors had gained special abilities added to the credibility.

To ordinary people, the 'Tower' felt like a mythical creature.

-And why can't the bastards who supposedly came back alive say what was in there? Aren't they keeping their mouths shut because their scam will be exposed if their testimonies don't match?

The fact that the survivors of the Tutorial were remaining silent about what was inside the Tower also played a part in why people couldn't believe in its existence.

Their testimony that the Tower existed was consistent, but not a single testimony about the inside of the Tower was leaked. It was as if the survivors were trying to keep the benefits for themselves.

Of course, from the survivors' perspective, the situation was maddeningly frustrating.

-You think we're not talking because we don't want to? It's because you guys can't see or hear it!

They had already been talking about the Tower nonstop.

-I told my mom about what happened in the Tutorial, and she said I just suddenly stopped talking. I posted about it on an internet community, and it only got 3 views.

-But we're all talking nonstop about the Tutorial among ourselves right now, aren't we?

-That's the problem. I don't think people who haven't been to the Tower can see this comment.

The Tower's returnees acted with extreme common sense.

They contacted media outlets and used internet communities to try and spread the word about what happened in the Tower.

-I've been persistently posting about what happened in the Tutorial on various communities, but almost no one reads it. On the rare occasion that someone does see it, that person is also someone who came back alive from the Tower.

But all their efforts were in vain.

Ordinary people couldn't even perceive the fact that they were trying to talk about the Tower.

To put it in game terms, it was a situation where it seemed systematically blocked.

They could say extremely basic things like, the Tower has 66 floors, humanity will perish if we don't climb it, the Tower is god's judgment, and so on, but it was completely impossible to mention what happened inside the Tower.

<Hey, I thought of a loophole to talk about the Tutorial>

But they say humans are thinking animals. There was someone who tried to reveal what happened in the Tower by using a loophole.

<Hey, I thought of a loophole to talk about the Tutorial>

When we try to mention the Tutorial, to normal people it just looks like we've frozen, right? Couldn't we use that to our advantage? I've asked my friend to list about 1,000 words that might be related to the Tower. Then, my friend will show me the words one by one. I'll nod my head if the word is related to something in the Tower, and shake my head if it's not. What happens then? I'll shake my head for unrelated words, but for related words, it will look like I've frozen, right? If my friend just picks out the words where I freeze, won't they be able to get a rough idea about the Tower?

-Dude, are you a genius?

-This is pretty good, isn't it? It uses the very fact that you freeze when you try to talk about the Tower.

Someone had tried to inform others about the Tutorial using their own logic.

But the result was disastrous.

<Guys, it failed.>

When we tried to start the experiment, it wasn't me who froze, it was my friend. A little later, I realized he had forgotten the fact that we were even trying to do an experiment. It seems like all loopholes are blocked. Let's just give up, guys.

No matter what method was used, it was impossible to tell the story of what was inside the Tower to someone who hadn't been there.

The inside of the Tower remained a completely unknown space.

About a month passed like that. The people of Earth engaged in a massive, heated debate over the topic of the Tower.

If you turned on the news, there was talk of the Tower, internet communities were talking about the Tower, and when people met, they talked about the Tower.

But they say all bubbles are bound to burst eventually.

After a wave of great confusion passed, the world was largely divided into three groups.

First, ordinary people who didn't believe in the Tower's existence.

Second, ordinary people who did believe in the Tower's existence.

And finally, third, the survivors of the Tutorial.

The public perception of the Tutorial survivors was, quite literally, plummeting to rock bottom.

-Why the hell aren't those survivor bastards climbing the Tower? I heard you can count the number of bastards who've entered the 2nd floor on one hand.

-What's in the Tower that's making them act like this? I get that there's a risk of dying, but humanity is on the brink of extinction right now!

-If someone told you to risk your life, would you? Besides, you guys don't even know what's on the 1st floor, do you? You poor, unchosen bastards.

First of all, the survivors of the Tutorial didn't want to go up to Floor 2.

With the exception of the people who passed through the Tower very comfortably with me... everyone else had just gone through the worst experience of their lives.

Many had trauma, of course, and some had suffered permanent physical damage.

On top of that, Floor 1 was an environment that was literally close to heaven. You could eat what you wanted and do what you wanted.

Except for the disadvantage of not being able to bring other people in, it was a place where you could enjoy everything imaginable. That was Floor 1.

There were very few saints on this Earth who would abandon the sweet fruit right in front of them and volunteer for a path of hardship for the sake of others. And when that scope was limited to the survivors, the number dwindled even more.

But from an ordinary person's point of view, this was nothing but selfishness.

-Hey, if you guys don't do it, we're going to die! Do we have to die because of you?

-Summon me to that Tutorial too. I'll go and destroy the Tower. We have to entrust the fate of humanity to those cowardly bastards?

Their lives are in someone else's hands, but that 'someone else' is being lukewarm. It would be impossible for them to contain their anger.

That wasn't the only problem.

『 Player crimes 'on the rise' around the world. Are there really no countermeasures? 』

The survivors could open a portal to return to Floor 1 at any time.

In other words... it meant it was possible to commit a crime and then escape into the Tower.

These were survivors with superior physical abilities and even supernatural powers that modern technology couldn't handle.

There was no way to catch the criminals who would escape into the Tower as soon as the police managed to close in on them.

『 US police advise caution around people with physical disabilities. Controversy over discrimination against the disabled. 』

A common trait among the criminals who used supernatural powers was that many of them were missing a part of their body.

It's presumed this is because they committed a sin so great they had to pay with a part of their body during the Tutorial's 'judgment'. Of course, this was something ordinary people couldn't know.

Whatever the case, a social climate of fearing disabled people arose worldwide. Naturally, disabled people protested fiercely.

It's been only one month since the Tower's existence was revealed. The world is sinking into chaos.

They are wary of each other, fear each other, and fight each other.

But the Tower itself did nothing. It didn't spit out monsters, nor did it threaten humanity. It simply existed, somewhere.

...Haaah.

As the situation unfolded to this point, I became certain.

Even if god didn't directly bring down divine punishment...

If Earth is left like this for just 10 years, humanity will ruin itself.

Footnotes:

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