Chapter 10 - The Regressor Is Fairly Strong (1)

“Urgh... Bleeeargh...”

I had died.

That time, I was a hundred percent certain I had died.

My ribs had shattered, my back had snapped, and half my vision had turned blood-red, as though my skull had been crushed.

It had lasted only an instant, but the sensation was still vivid.

“Bleeeargh...”

I had died. I really had died.

People who regressed upon death had to go through this over and over?

How had they not gone insane already?

Getting used to death? Was that even possible?

Could you even call someone human if they got used to this shit?

The pain was bad enough, but the instinctive revulsion was far stronger.

The despair... of that moment when life faded away.

This wasn't something you could just shrug off like it was nothing.

“Ghk... Urk...”

Yes, I had suspected there would be some kind of mechanism built into the clearing.

Common sense said it couldn't be a safe zone forever. I'd figured there was some sort of time limit, and that had turned out to be true.

In the form of an enormous bull-headed monster crashing down on the clearing. For now, I'd call it the Minotaur.

Monsters in towers usually took their names from mythology, after all.

The pounding must have been the Minotaur running toward us, and the explosive boom was probably the impact of it jumping.

If the voice I'd heard along with that boom really had been Choi Jiwon's, she must have been trying to warn us somehow.

“Hah... Hah...”

What mattered was the outcome itself: the Minotaur had attacked the clearing.

Given how kindhearted Jiwon was, wanting to protect the weak people gathered there, she would have tried to stop it somehow.

And ultimately, she must have failed.

Whether she'd let her guard down, been caught off guard, or whatever else had happened, it meant the Minotaur wasn't something she could easily subdue.

Even if I followed the same course again and warned her ahead of time, I doubted the outcome would change much.

My guess was that the Minotaur wasn't a monster we were meant to beat.

It was a sort of time limit. A mechanism to push people to their limits.

Otherwise, people could stay in the tutorial forever, killing weak monsters.

As I sorted through what I'd learned this time, I was finally beginning to get my breathing under control.

“Cough. Cough. Haaah.”

“Excuse me. Hellooo~.”

A bright, cute voice called out to me.

I barely managed to wipe the vomit from my mouth before looking up.

“Heehee... You weren't listening, were you?”

The Tutorial fairy was beaming at me, baring those hideously sharp teeth.

Drool dripped steadily from its mouth.

“...”

I didn't deliberate long. I made my decision fast.

THWACK!

[You have taken damage.]

[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 0.]

* * *

“That was almost fucking bad...”

I'd nearly had my head burst open.

To think I'd almost become the fairy's first victim of the season.

And because I hadn't recovered from the aftermath of dying, of all things? Getting my head popped by the fairy and dying again?

What an absolutely fucking idiotic death. I'd nearly given myself a new memory to cringe over.

“Hello, you inferior humans, wasting your lives to great acclaim! Wonderful to meet you!”

This time, I kept my head on straight and quietly listened to the fairy's explanation.

I didn't so much as glance at Choi Jiwon, nor did I give a speech.

My goal was to get beyond the undergrowth.

Now that I'd confirmed sitting around here for a week would get me killed, I needed to try leaving, for better or worse.

Of course, there were still things I could learn from Jiwon... but I was mentally exhausted. I could go back to her later, once I felt a little better.

So, how was I going to escape this dense undergrowth?

I picked up a large chunk of wood and a stick I'd spotted earlier.

What set humans above animals? Our ability to use tools.

“... Whew.”

I'd decided to use humanity's old friend, fire.

The method was simple.

Rub the stick furiously against the wood to make an ember, then set the thick undergrowth ablaze.

“Shall we?”

It was time to meet the world beyond the undergrowth.

And so, thirty minutes passed.

[You have taken damage.]

[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 0.]

* * *

“Fuck...”

I regressed.

* * *

I'd made two major mistakes.

First, this place was practically a jungle.

It was warm, slightly humid, and teeming with life.

In other words, even a dried-out piece of wood wouldn't catch fire easily in these conditions.

And second.

While I was busily rubbing the stick, Baek Dahye had come over to talk to me.

“... Sniff. What are you doing?”

“... Trying to start a fire.”

“Why?”

“To burn down all this undergrowth.”

“I don't think that'll work.”

“Sorry?”

The grass surrounding the clearing wasn't dried-out reeds. It was fresh, living grass.

Dahye explained that it wouldn't catch fire easily.

Come to think of it, I was pretty sure I'd heard that forest fires mostly happened in spring or winter, and weren't common in summer.

“... You're right.”

My mistake had been thinking purely in terms of Pokémon type matchups.

Grass types were weak to fire types, weren't they?

I finally understood why the news warned people about gaming addiction. Here I was confusing games with reality.

Or was I just a fucking idiot? The thought made me so embarrassed that I smacked the back of my head hard and immediately regressed.

“...”

In the end, I had two options left.

One: bundle up in clothes again and throw myself into the undergrowth.

Two: try to cut away as much grass as possible with a sword.

This time, I chose the second option.

Jiwon had called me below average, but even a below-average idiot ought to be able to cut some grass, right?

With practiced ease, I picked up a sword and stood before the grass.

I sharpened my senses. Focused on the tip of my sword.

Tensed every muscle in my body.

And cut.

“... Hup!”

SWISH!

With a crisp sound, the grass parted cleanly at waist height.

“... I did it.”

I'd done it.

I'd finally done it.

What had happened the first time I'd swung a sword?

Forget cutting it—the grass had simply bent over.

Now, at least, I'd reached the point where I could cut grass.

All that grueling training under Jiwon hadn't been a waste of time.

I hadn't realized it because I'd been comparing myself to someone as overwhelmingly strong as her...

But I had been getting stronger, little by little.

Overcome with emotion, I clenched my fist.

“... All right.”

This one step might look insignificant at first glance... but for a regressor like me, it was an enormous stride.

Keep this up, Junho. You can do it.

Okay, motivational session over.

Time to face reality.

Being able to cut the grass was encouraging... but there were two problems.

First, cutting grass was fucking exhausting.

As you can probably tell from that grand description earlier, I had to concentrate and swing with all my strength to cut it.

In other words, the physical and mental drain was enormous.

All that effort just to cut a sword's length of grass?

I didn't know where the undergrowth ended... but this would probably take a good while.

“...”

On top of that, the grass had been cut just below my waist.

I'd tried to cut as low as I could... but I didn't think I could put enough force into a swing any lower.

Of course, even that was encouraging progress.

It meant I could get through the undergrowth with only my lower body wrapped up in clothes. Being able to carry a sword easily was a bonus.

But, put another way, I still had to wrap up my lower body, and that would seriously hamper my mobility.

I'd still have to force my way through the dense grass.

“... Tsk. What else can I do?”

Of course, none of that gave me any other options, so I decided to keep cutting.

What could I do, even if I didn't like it?

Get stomped on by the Minotaur again?

* * *

What followed was a long, tedious stretch of grinding labor.

For clothes to wrap around my lower body, I secretly stole the digging man's jacket.

Cut. Rest. Cut. Rest.

Repetitive work was what I hated most, but I'd have to get used to it.

As a regressor, repetition was practically my destiny.

Sometimes, the bob-haired Baek Dahye would come talk to me.

“... Excuse me. What are you doing?”

“Cutting grass.”

“Why?”

“I want to get out of the undergrowth, but I'm allergic to grass.”

“... Oh.”

Our conversations weren't particularly substantive.

I cut grass all day, fell asleep exhausted, then woke up and cut more grass. At one point, I ran into Jiwon returning with food.

“... Eat.”

Looking at me with pity, she kindly tossed me a bottle of water and an energy bar.

She probably thought I was crazy... but there was nothing I could do. It wasn't as though I could explain.

I gratefully ate the food and went back to cutting grass.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Around the time I began to feel thirsty again, despite having emptied an entire bottle of water, I heard a familiar cry nearby.

“Krrrk! Kieeeek!”

I gently set down the sword that had dulled from cutting grass behind me, then took a light grip on the fresh sword I'd brought in advance.

I'd done plenty of clinical testing by cutting grass...

But wasn't real combat the only way to know what I was truly worth?

“... Bring it on.”

I murmured quietly.

“Kieeeeeek!”

Two goblins sprang out from either side, going for my neck.

Their filthy nails, the scraps of flesh caught between their teeth, their gleaming eyes—I could see every detail clearly.

“... Ah.”

Was this how Jiwon had felt when she looked at me?

From the same stance I'd used to cut grass all this time, my sword flashed out.

SPLASH!

Green blood spurted like fountains celebrating my debut.

The two goblins collapsed, clutching their throats without even understanding what had happened.

“Too slow.”

Trash mobs like these were no match for me anymore.

A Word from the Author (Author's Note)

On to a higher stage...!

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