WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 051

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Choi Ji-won is too strong (2)

"Uh... Ji-won. To see him looking like that..."

"Cheol-jin ahjussi. Look at his clothes. And then look at ours. The degree of wear is different. I'm telling you, he hasn't just been here for a day or two."

"Oh, um... I can't tell just by looking."

"And why are you speaking so informally to him?"

"No... it's just..."

The two of them conversed in a friendly manner.

The dynamic of the firefighter Park Cheol-jin being flustered by Choi Ji-won continued for a moment, before Ji-won turned her head to look at me again.

"Hello. My name is Choi Ji-won."

"I Park Cheol-jin. No, my name is Park Cheol-jin. I am sorry. You just look so young..."

The firefighter Park Cheol-jin let out a hearty laugh.

"...It's alright. My name is Kim Jun-ho."

Come to think of it, back when we cleared the Tutorial, I only told them my name one-sidedly, we never even had a proper introduction.

"You know that the country publicly gathered the survivors, right? I thought I might see you there."

Ji-won said, gently stroking Bung-bung.

"...I had my reasons."

Of course I knew. It was something that happened while I was in the middle of gathering information before coming up to Floor 2.

One week after the Tutorial was cleared. So, from the present moment, two weeks ago. The government of the Republic of Korea publicly called for the players to gather.

In fact, at that point in time, the term 'player' had not been standardized yet. That is because the United States government officially announced the term 'player' a week later.

It was a period of upheaval.

The word 'upheaval' was the most fitting description for the current times—a time when public opinion was boiling over, and people were arguing back and forth about the Tower.

The way people perceived the Tower varied from person to person, and the opinions of global citizens were fragmented in every direction—a time with no right answer. It was a time of shouting meaningless assertions like 'I'm right, no, you're right’ and grabbing each other by the hair over a problem with no solution.

That was the current situation.

As much as national public opinion was divided, it would have made sense for each country to make different judgments...

Surprisingly, the decisions of the leaders of each country were all the same. First, to collect the list of players and computerize it. Because of this, gossip would often chatter that there must have been some kind of secret agreement between the leaders.

Whatever the case may be, whether it was following public opinion or following international trends, the government of the Republic of Korea also recklessly gathered the players.

-Hey, did you go to that thing where your country was calling for Tower survivors?

-Why would you go? Wouldn't they just lock you up and do human experiments?

-I went, and it was not like that. But they seriously do not do anything. They just check your name and face and send you back.

-Then why did they call people? Should they not have asked what the Tower is? Or at least taught us how to use weapons or something.

-How should I know? You go ask the president.

The problem was while gathering them was all well and good, they failed to move on to the next step. Systematic support? Listening to the stories of the survivors and forming an emergency task force?

There was none of that.

It was later revealed that a power game had broken out between the president and the main opposition party, and because of that, related legal revisions had stalled, but... well, that was not my business.

Anyway, I had no intention of going just because the government called. Since they were just going to send people back after doing nothing, there was no reason for me to go through the trouble of regressing and visiting.

"Cheol-jin ahjussi and I met there. Was it the Seoul Military Manpower Administration office? It was a place being temporarily used for identity verification of survivors."

"...It really had been a long time since I'd gone to the Military Manpower Administration. Especially since my civil defense duty is over..."

It was common for those who had survived a near-death crisis in the Tutorial to be saddled with at least one form of mental illness.

There must have been people who had to stab a trusted companion in the back.

There must have been people who had to turn a blind eye to someone else's death in order to live.

There must have been people who had to pay the price for the sins they themselves committed.

There was no way they would not have PTSD.

But their closest family members could not empathize with their experiences in the Tower at all. In the first place, it was impossible for them to even hear about it. Then what about the government? What did they know that made them gather people? If I were to say something, would they even be able to listen?

Moreover, right before their eyes was the 1st floor, a sweet fruit of unprecedented proportions. It was strange to even think of trotting off just because the government called.

"When I went... almost everyone there was someone I had seen fleetingly in the Tutorial. On top of that, Cheol-jin ahjussi was an acquaintance of my late father..."

That is, if you exclude the people who passed the Tutorial without any wounds, just by doing as they were told.

Choi Ji-won and Park Cheol-jin. Besides them, about fifty other people who cleared the Tutorial thanks to me.

After the government's identity verification was over, having recognized each other, they apparently rented out an entire restaurant to talk.

And, as might be expected, the topic of conversation was the Tower.

"It's posted on the internet almost every day, is it not. What the Tutorial was originally like. Betraying to live, killing not to die... It was horrifying."

The firefighter Park Cheol-jin shook his head from side to side.

Only after clearing the Tutorial did people realize what a great blessing it was to have survived with all their limbs intact.

What great fortune it was that everyone survived the Tutorial.

"I-if we were to meet again, I really wanted to say this."

Ji-won bowed deeply from the waist.

"I want to apologize for not trusting you back then in the clearing and doubting you first. I am truly sorry."

Unlike her previous voice, which carried a faint sense of intimacy, it was a serious and heavy voice.

"I, too, am sorry for speaking so informally earlier."

Firefighter Cheol-jin likewise bowed his head.

"After clearing the Tutorial... I came to understand. How unreasonable and cruel the place we were in was. How many lives you saved, Jun-ho-nim. I really wanted to say thank you. Thank you once again. The others also asked me to pass on their thanks if I met you, Jun-ho-nim."

"...It's alright. Really."

My throat was choked with surging emotions, but I swallowed hard and barely managed to answer.

There were many things I wanted to say, too.

Ji-won. How she had been all this time. If Bung-bung was listening to her a little better now. If firefighter Cheol-jin's body was feeling a bit better.

I want to approach them in a friendly way, put my arm around their shoulders, and chat endlessly.

But I cannot do that.

I could tell from the attitude of those two right now. The emotion they're feeling is gratitude. Not intimacy.

I was... a benefactor. Not a companion.

They are not the Choi Ji-won I knew, and not the Park Cheol-jin I knew.

The memory of us joining forces to defeat the Minotaur remains only within my own memories.

The Ji-won who smiled at me in the clearing as the sun set is gone.

The firefighter Cheol-jin who, with a pale complexion from sweating so much, gave me a thumbs-up and called me a hero is gone.

In that case... the Kim Jun-ho who was with them is also gone, I suppose.

This happiness of mine, I guess it is something I must bury deep in my heart.

I thought my heart would ache. But I did not know it would be to this extent. I thought I would be fine since a good amount of time had passed. I was wrong.

I was lonely.

As expected... I should avoid getting excessively close to other people. It was fine when I was always alone, but when I meet people I have grown attached to, the dormant loneliness rears its head.

Let's maintain a suitable discomfort. Let's maintain a suitable distance.

Let's be friendly, but not get close.

"...It's nice to meet you like this."

For my sake, and for theirs.

"People... have no intention of going up to Floor 2 right now. At least, the sane ones do not."

The firefighter Park Cheol-jin began to speak with a heavy expression.

First, he said that people whose mental states were broken from the cruel Tutorial did not want to go up to the 2nd floor.

After being badly scarred in the kill-or-be-killed Tutorial, they had completely lost their will, buried in the comfort of the 1st floor.

Except for a responsible few who wanted to save humanity and a small number who climbed the Tower with the sole desire to become stronger, everyone was absorbed in playing and idling away on the 1st Floor.

It did not seem like item trading was as active as in the American underworld, so there were no people climbing the Tower out of desire either.

Then did the people who passed the Tutorial unscathed want to go up to the 2nd floor? That was not it either.

They have no levels. Does that get covered by achievement levels? But it is not just levels they lack, they also have no combat experience.

They did not know the exact nature of Floor 2, but if it was a death game where they had to kill each other... they were not confident they could win in a competition against others who had cleared the Tutorial by putting their lives on the line.

"So... Cheol-jin ahjussi and I came as an advance party, in a sense. To see if it is safe."

Park Cheol-jin and Choi Ji-won belonged to that responsible few he mentioned earlier.

They had not neglected their training, utilizing the 1st floor, and said they came up to the 2nd floor together when they were finally confident that they had grown somewhat accustomed to combat.

Ji-won stopped talking and shifted her gaze to me.

"Jun-ho-nim... you seem to have been here for quite a while. Is there a reason for that?"

"There is. A very important reason."

After briefly explaining the rules of the 2nd floor to them, I explained the information I had discovered through Regression as if I had found it out through careful investigation.

The structure of Floor 2. The prohibition of violence. The residents who were being forced to live others' lives. The master of the city who had created this whole environment. And that if you stole the residents' boxes, there was a very high chance of summoning the master of the city.

"That is... a crazy woman."

"I cannot believe that a god created this Tower. Is it an evil god?"

Ji-won was indignant, and firefighter Cheol-jin was disillusioned as if he was fed up.

These people. If it was these righteous people, I thought they would side with me.

"I need your help. Would you listen to my plan for a moment?"

Choi Ji-won.

There is something you have to do for me.

Footnotes:

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