WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 075

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The Regressor racks his brains (6)

A dark space where nothing could be seen.

Besides the endless darkness, the rest was nothingness. I stood alone in this place, which seemed to have dragged in the darkness of an abyss.

"..."

How did I end up here? Where is this place? What was I doing just a moment ago?

Unanswerable questions floated in my head, only to evaporate just as quickly. Just like this black space, my brain was also being dyed black.

"Kim Jun-ho."

Hearing a dry voice call me from behind, I turned my head.

"...Choi Ji-won?"

Choi Ji-won. She was looking at me. A black ponytail, jeans, and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. It wasn't the Ji-won I saw on the 2nd or 3rd floors wearing leather armor, but the Ji-won from the Tutorial.

"..."

But her lips were chapped, her skin was so dry it was parched, and her clothes were torn here and there.

"Jun-ho."

Her voice was cracked like a dry reservoir. Her gaze was as empty as this black space.

"I curse you."

Saying so, Ji-won approached me, one step at a time.

"After you left, everyone in the Tutorial starved to death. With all the goblins having committed suicide, the food disappeared, so I guess it was only natural."

Ji-won's cheeks gradually became gaunt, and her eyes sank deep into their sockets. Her limbs became gaunt with only bone remaining, and her hair fell to the floor in clumps.

"I curse you for abandoning this world and regressing all by yourself."

Ji-won, who had turned into a zombie-like figure, stared at me with eyes full of despair, grief, and hatred.

"I, too, curse you."

This time, it wasn't Ji-won's voice, but a thick, male voice.

"I hate you. I hate that you survived alone. I hate you for leaving us all to die while you live in blissful ignorance."

Kang Chan. He was glaring at me.

"For you, it's over once you regress. But not for us. In the world you disappeared from, we died in endless suffering."

Baek Da-hye, whom I had seen in the Tutorial, shed tears of blood. Ahn Gyeong-jun tore at his scalp, and Dok Su-hee giggled as she cut her own body with a dagger.

"I curse you."

"I curse you."

"I pray that you die a miserable death."

Countless people whose names I couldn't even remember anymore were cursing me.

In this dark space, they hated only me.

"..."

And I, who was receiving all this resentment...

"Get lost."

I felt nothing.

Crash!

The moment I realized that, the black space shattered, and a familiar stone chamber revealed itself. It was that room where they spouted nonsense about testing mental strength through fear.

"I'm sorry, Oppa, I'm sorry..."

Next to me, Dok Su-hee was twisting her body in agony, tears streaming down her face. In the past, Su-hee had woken up first or at the same time as me. It seemed I had come to my senses much earlier than in the previous cycles.

"It was… It was my fault..."

"..."

Fear is just that agonizing. It's something everyone wants to avoid, and it's the most difficult emotion to overcome.

So why am I so okay? Is it simply because I've experienced it many times? I'm far too unfazed to be saying that.

Come to think of it, I wasn't particularly happy when I cleared the trap passage just before, either. Su-hee and Gyeong-jun genuinely praised me, but their praise failed to evoke any emotion in me.

"Fuck..."

The reason was simple.

I've regressed too many times.

The path to reach the arrow trap was by no means short. There were many, many variables.

Every time I regressed, I took only the prescribed actions to get the results I wanted, and the other people reacted to me as prescribed.

They didn’t look like people but robots that produce the same output when the same input is given. An NPC.

At some point, the people I was progressing through the 3rd floor with stopped looking like people. They looked like something inorganic.

This is not good. This is very not good.

Not seeing people as people, and not regarding life as life, is a major symptom of 'regressor's disease'.

It might be a natural phenomenon after regressing tens, or hundreds of times. But this is not the end I want for myself.

"...Get up."

"Ah, ugh... Thank you."

I have to be consciously vigilant. People are people. Just because I was given Regression, it doesn't give me the right to look down on others.

Slap!

I slapped my cheek once and collected myself.

But even if I consciously tried to get a grip, I couldn't deny the fact that the regressor's way of thinking had taken root in a small corner of my heart...

"Oh, you're here? We just arrived too..."

As I walked along the path, I saw Gyeong-jun and Chan dusting themselves off. Because I overcame the fear room early, it seemed we arrived at the golem room at the same time.

"..."

I unknowingly glanced at Chan's fist. My fate hangs on that fist. If Chan suddenly gets confused here and says, 'Hm... why isn't this breaking?', I'm completely fucked.

"...Just a moment. I'll try to figure out what's ahead with my trait."

Of course, I shouldn't let it show. I looked ahead with a blunt tone and naturally furrowed my brow.

"This... I think there's a monster up ahead... Its characteristics are..."

The lies I had become so accustomed to flowed smoothly from my mouth, and the expressions of the others gradually hardened.

Come to think of it, that golem is an absurd monster. It's only the 3rd floor, but it doesn't make sense for such a terrifying monster to appear.

"But it's alright. Because we have Chan hyung-nim."

But just as that side is absurd, we also have an absurd monster on our side. His name is Kang Chan.

"Chan hyung-nim, you just need to take care of that monster...! We have no hope other than Chan hyung-nim...!"

This time, everyone's gaze turned to Kang Chan. He seemed slightly flustered, but he stood silently without showing it.

"..."

He gently closed his eyes and pondered over and over, then gave a small nod.

"Alright. I'll do it."

Inside a dark passage like a mine shaft.

Chan was walking in the lead, and the other three followed behind him.

Will it work? No, it has to work.

"...That's the one."

As we walked silently like that, we quickly reached the front of the golem. Right now, it was in the form of scattered metal chunks, so it had been decided that Gyeong-jun would wake it up by throwing his spear first.

"...Hm."

Spirit Descended Gyeong-jun took out a wooden spear with a fancy design. The moment he was about to throw the spear without a second thought, Su-hee blocked his path.

"W-wait a minute!"

Su-hee hastily took out a piece of a wolf's heart from her bosom.

Just like in the previous cycle, the heart fragment on Su-hee's hand turned into a transparent, burning flame, and Su-hee placed the flame on the spear.

"Not yet!"

Su-hee took out another heart. This time, she placed the mass of flames on Chan's leather armor.

"...What did you do?"

"I enchanted the armor! You should feel your strength has increased, right?"

"...That's interesting."

It seems the range of 'Enchant' is wider than I thought. All she had to do was just place it on.

"...Now I'm really going to throw it."

After glaring at Dok Su-hee with a dissatisfied look, Spirit Descent Ahn Gyeong-jun loosened his shoulders.

Whoosh! Craaack!

The spear that flew, tearing through the air, hit the golem's body.

Rumble!

As soon as the impact was transmitted, the scattered metal chunks gathered to form a shape.

"..."

Chan strode forward.

The golem, which had assembled in an instant, was swift. As soon as its body was assembled, it charged towards Chan.

Whoooosh!

It gathered the chunks that served as its arms and brought them down on Chan. A swift and heavy blow. If he were hit by that attack, Chan would turn into a pool of blood, just like in the previous loop. It was a terrifying blow that made my own knees tremble just from watching at a distance.

"..."

But Chan's expression was serene. He didn't emit killing intent convulsively like before, nor did he awkwardly twist his body to dodge.

He just got into his stance and glared at the golem's body.

Vwooooom.

His fist glowed. The metal chunk rushed in. The fist moved. The metal chunk was just about to reach Chan.

"Hup!"

At the very last moment, Kang Chan's fist disappeared.

Kra-boooooooooom!

A tremendous impact sound, the likes of which I had never heard before, rang out.

Ruuumble!

A blinding light, a vibrating floor, and a deafening roar that felt like it would burst my eardrums. Most human senses were momentarily paralyzed.

"..."

After a little time had passed, around when my senses had returned to normal.

"...The door up ahead is open. Let's go."

Chan turned his head and was looking at the three of us.

"...Wow."

With the shattered metal fragments as his backdrop.

"Hoo, hoo hoo..."

I did it. I finally did it. I finally defeated the golem. I'm filled with deep emotion.

A sense of satisfaction welled up from deep within my chest. As expected, I wasn't completely broken. I was even happier to be able to confirm that. Maybe the reason I wasn't happy before was because the worry 'what if I can't defeat the golem?' was in a corner of my heart.

But this isn't the end. The passage still continued, and there were still tasks to be solved.

"...It's a door."

As I walked, lost in a sea of thought, a stone gate was blocking the path before I knew it.

A familiar stone gate. Four palm-shaped grooves carved into the stone gate.

After exchanging glances, we placed our palms on the stone gate, and with a loud noise, the stone gate moved.

"..."

What will pop out? A monster? A trap? A puzzle?

But what appeared was not something so threatening.

"This is..."

Torches hanging on the walls. Four large boxes placed in the center of the room.

Four people. Four boxes. It's intuitive. One person would be able to take one box. I don't know what's inside, but since it's the most difficult route, I'm sure there's something amazing in them.

"..."

"..."

But for some reason, everyone's gaze was not fixed on the boxes.

"...What's that?"

On the other side of the room, there were two doors.

One was a stone gate of a familiar design that we had seen until now. The door had four palm-shaped grooves.

The problem... was the other stone gate.

On the stone gate, which was as red as blood, there was only a single palm print.

Footnotes:

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