Chapter 12 - The Regressor Is Fairly Strong (3)

"..."

I admit it. I'd been careless.

Her senses were incredibly sharp. She was kind enough to hand out food to complete strangers. It would have been reasonable to consider the possibility that she'd hear the screams and come running from the clearing.

If I'd known this would happen, I would've stopped dithering and jumped out right away to at least buy some time. I could've scored some points with Choi Jiwon and gotten some information out of the woman on the ground.

I'd missed a chance to kill two birds with one stone.

"... It's okay. It's okay."

But it was okay.

Why was it okay?

Because I was a regressor. Why else?

As long as I put up with three days of hassle... I could recreate the exact same situation.

The thought of hacking through all that grass again already had irritation welling up inside me, but who could I blame? My own mistake had caused this regression.

Oh, right. There was something I'd planned to do once I regressed.

"Status window."

[Name: Kim Junho] [LV:3]

[Traits]

-Regression [EX]

"What?"

I'd only just regressed, but I was level 3. This proved my hypothesis that levels carried over through regression, but...

"Why 3?"

I couldn't understand why it was 3 instead of 2.

The last time I'd checked, I'd been level 2. And I hadn't killed many goblins after that.

So why had my level gone up? There was no reason for it.

Maybe my experience bar had been just shy of reaching level 3, and killing those few goblins had filled it up completely...

But my gut told me that wasn't it. There had to be another reason.

"..."

Well, what else could I do if I wanted answers?

Time for more grinding.

Fuck.

* * *

Long ago, the sage Siddhartha reached a realization after years of ascetic practices that subjected his body to every kind of suffering.

That realization was, 'Ah, inflicting physical pain on yourself is utterly meaningless.'

That's right. Through ascetic suffering, he realized that ascetic suffering itself was nothing more than meaningless abuse.

"... Fuck."

O Buddha.

I beseech thee, cut this grass for me.

You've at least put yourself through plenty of suffering, so you must be used to it. I can't do this stuff.

I'd always hated repetitive work, and the sheer tedium of cutting grass was driving me insane.

At first, I'd thought, 'Won't I get used to it and find it easier if I keep at it?' But...

I'd ended up reaching the same conclusion as the Buddha.

This was nothing but meaningless abuse. I could feel my willpower being whittled away in real time.

"... Is this day three?"

I'd slept twice, so it had to be.

If I remembered correctly, I'd finished cutting through the grass and heard the screams sometime on the afternoon of the third day...

About three more hours of cutting should do it. At least the end was in sight.

SWISH.

"... Huh?"

The resistance felt underwhelming. Too shallow, maybe?

SWISH! SWISH!

Sensing something was off, I swung my sword a few more times and finally stepped onto clear ground for the first time in ages.

The end wasn't in sight. It was over. I'd finally escaped the tall grass.

"... Hmm."

I'd been faster than on my last run.

Was this the power of leveling up? Even if there wasn't any obvious difference... apparently it really did improve things like strength and endurance.

Right. Surely they couldn't just toss me a regression ability and expect me to figure everything out.

As I was now, I couldn't beat Choi Jiwon even if I became a master swordsman. She was dozens of times stronger and faster than me to begin with.

Maybe someday, after grinding a whole bunch of levels, I'd be able to beat her?

"... Status window."

[Name: Kim Junho] [LV:3]

[Traits]

-Regression [EX]

"Tsk."

Unfortunately, my level hadn't gone up. I still didn't even know what made it increase.

This status window couldn't have been less helpful.

Well, I'd escaped the tall grass...

Now, once I heard the screams, I'd head over and...

"Huh?"

Come to think of it, there was no way I'd hear any screams. I was about three hours ahead of schedule.

At this point, they were probably having a grand old time, nowhere near screaming.

"..."

Was this the privilege of being a regressor?

My heart fluttered in anticipation.

This time, I really was going to change the future.

* * *

I reached the place where the woman's screams had led me in the previous run.

Wary of goblins lying in ambush with bamboo spears, I searched the area very carefully, but there were none in sight.

Apparently, the goblins weren't here yet.

Had I come too early? Getting the timing right wasn't easy.

I lay down nearby and waited for something to happen.

"... I'm sleepy."

Soft grass.

A gentle, pleasantly warm breeze.

I fought to keep my eyes from drifting shut.

If I fell asleep, Choi Jiwon would come along and give me a good whack on the head. I didn't want to do all that weeding again.

I spent a long while resisting sleep, pinching my thighs to stay awake.

"... I'm telling you, I just want to look."

"Come on. We had an agreement."

"Don't you trust me? Seriously, I'll only look."

The voices nearby snapped me to attention.

A group of four men and one woman was approaching.

I didn't recognize the men, since they'd all been lying on the ground covered in blood, but I remembered the woman's face.

She was the one the goblins had nearly had their way with.

"Oh, come on... Let's not do this. I want to trust you too."

"Well, I don't think I can trust you anymore. How do I know you haven't stashed them somewhere?"

As I watched quietly, it looked like a punk with dyed blond hair was arguing with a man in glasses.

"We agreed to collect five orbs and swallow them all at once! We've got two now, so we only need three more. Just be patient, okay?"

From what the man in glasses was saying, they'd apparently agreed to swallow the orbs together once they had five.

That was the most sensible plan, really.

If they swallowed each orb as soon as they found it, the group's fighting strength would steadily dwindle. The last person left would end up having to find an orb alone.

But if they collected enough for everyone to escape before leaving, they could preserve their full strength to the end and deal with any threats in the next stage, too.

Hell, dozens of goblins might jump them the moment they swallowed an orb and crossed over.

"... I just want to check they're still there. Okay? I'll only look."

Unable to argue with sound reasoning, the blond punk didn't even offer an excuse, just insisted on seeing the orbs.

He said he only wanted to look, but anyone could see what he was really after.

The bastard wanted to gulp one down and make a run for it.

"... You can use telekinesis."

"... So what?"

"... You know what."

The punk kept stamping at the innocent dirt beneath his feet. After thinking something over, he held an open palm toward the man in glasses.

"Fine. I guess I was being a little touchy. Sorry for not trusting you."

"... Thanks for understanding."

"Junwoo and I are going to have a smoke and cool our heads. Let's take a quick break before we move on."

The punk slung an arm around the shoulders of the scrawny beanpole beside him and walked toward me.

"..."

Luckily, neither the punk nor the beanpole seemed to have spotted me as they lit their cigarettes.

As a nonsmoker, I had to work hard to keep from coughing. Ugh, that smell.

"... Junwoo."

The punk whispered as he smoked.

"Yeah?"

"Do we really need to keep carrying those traitless bastards?"

"... Forget the others, but didn't we agree to take Minji with us?"

The punk shot a glare at the bespectacled man waiting behind them.

The beanpole, however, didn't look convinced.

"Look, we've busted our fucking asses for three days and only managed to get two orbs. We've nearly died plenty of times. We've got no food and too many mouths to feed. I've been rationing my cigarettes like hell, and this is my last one. How long do you think we can keep this up?"

"But..."

"There are plenty of women in the world. Think you'll die without Minji? You won't. We need to survive first. Yeah?"

The punk kept working on the beanpole. Judging by their conversation, "Minji" probably referred to the woman the goblins had nearly killed.

"Let's get rid of them right now. You saw how that four-eyed bastard was suspicious of me, right? We might not get another chance."

"..."

"If they sneak off at night and hide the orbs, we'll really be at their mercy. This is our last chance, man."

So these assholes were plotting to stab the others in the back.

Only two orbs.

Five people.

Unless you were ridiculously overpowered like Choi Jiwon, even finding food was uncertain.

For ordinary people, betrayal might be inevitable.

"Go make it quick. I'll stall."

"... Okay."

The beanpole headed off somewhere, while the punk returned to the group with a smile.

"... Where's Junwoo going?"

"Says he needs to take a shit. Hey, more importantly..."

The punk smoothly changed the subject.

I had a rough idea of what had happened now... but one question remained.

Where the hell had the goblins come from?

No matter how hard I looked, there weren't any nearby.

But in the previous run, those three had nearly met their end at the goblins' hands.

I couldn't have changed the future by interfering, because I'd literally done nothing. I'd only watched.

This wasn't Schrödinger's cat. Just looking couldn't change the outcome.

There was something... There had to be more to this...

As I kept turning it over in my head, I heard the beanpole's footsteps.

Carefully turning my head, I saw him walking slowly back, looking anxious.

"... What the fuck?"

The only problem was the dozen or so goblins creeping along behind him, spears strapped to their backs.

It was a bizarre sight, like an officer with soldiers following at his heels.

Obviously, that made no sense, but...

"... A trait that controls monsters?"

I'd forgotten for a moment.

When even regression was possible, nothing in the tower was beyond belief.

A Word from the Author (Author's Afterword)

Goblin control...!

Read the Next Chapter