Chapter 29 - The Boss Is Too Weak (9)

“My dad was a kumdo instructor. My mom died giving birth to me.”

Choi Jiwon spoke calmly.

“He was strong... righteous... kind... funny... He was a better dad than I could ever have deserved.”

Choi Cheolsun, a promising kumdo practitioner. And his only daughter, Choi Jiwon.

A respiratory illness had kept her home more often than she went to school as a child. She would lie listlessly in her room, listening to children her age laughing outside.

Perhaps he had felt sorry for her.

“Dad... suggested I try learning the sword. He said that once I started enjoying exercise, my health would naturally improve.”

She was able to learn kumdo as long as she didn't strain her lungs.

What had begun as a way to pass the time in the backyard eventually became her one and only hobby.

Whether thanks to kumdo or the medicine prescribed by the hospital, she regained her health. Once she entered middle school, her pretty looks helped her make plenty of friends, too.

But no matter how many friends she made, the time she spent practicing with her dad remained the most precious to her.

He was her parent, her teacher, and her role model.

“Dad used to tell me things. Don't fool around, even with a bamboo sword. Always be humble. Those with strength should give to others. An upright heart makes an upright martial artist. You can't save everyone, but don't turn your back on someone right in front of you. Don't do anything you'll regret.”

Choi Jiwon's father, Choi Cheolsun, truly deserved to be called a righteous man.

After he subdued a robber at a convenience store, everyone in the neighborhood knew his name. Whenever he walked through the market, the vendors would offer him food, and students who passed him on the street would bow deeply.

Everyone respected Choi Cheolsun.

Until the incident in Jiwon's final year of high school.

“Dad... died saving people.”

She gently fiddled with Whoosh's hilt.

“There was a gas explosion in a low-rise apartment building, and it caught fire... Dad was the first to notice...”

It takes an average of five minutes for a fire engine to reach the scene.

As soon as Choi Cheolsun finished calling emergency services on his phone, he plunged into the flames without hesitation.

He managed to save four people from the fire.

But he couldn't save himself.

“...”

I remembered seeing that story online. I'd even left a comment on YouTube saying, “May he rest in peace.”

I just hadn't known he was Choi Jiwon's father.

“... Are you okay?”

“I'm okay.”

Her face was far too peaceful for someone who had just opened up about her parents' deaths.

“Honestly... I resented him. Saving other people is one thing, but shouldn't he have looked after his own life, too?”

He had saved so many people.

But he hadn't saved himself or his daughter.

“Did everyone else matter, but not me...? I just couldn't understand...”

The press sang his praises, and a seemingly endless procession of mourners came to pay their respects.

None of it did anything for Jiwon, who had lost the person dearest to her.

She closed off her heart and shut herself away at home.

The backyard that still held traces of her dad. The room that still held traces of her dad. The wardrobe that still held traces of her dad. Whoosh, the sword that still held traces of her dad.

For over a year, that was her entire world.

“I hated him. He must have known there was a good chance he'd die. He could have just stayed alive, even if it meant being a coward, and made up for it by saving more people later.”

“...”

“But then, suddenly... I started wondering.”

Why had her dad made that choice?

Why had he plunged into the flames without hesitation, knowing he was likely to die?

She had been huddled in a corner of her room, lost in thought with Whoosh clasped to her chest.

Then she came to in the tower.

“At that point, I just didn't care what happened.”

She gave a faint chuckle.

“Why did I protect the clearing? Just... because I could. Because the strong should protect the weak.”

“...”

“Why did I offer to lure the Minotaur away? I was simply... curious. What it felt like to sacrifice your life for someone else.”

“... I see.”

“But after we all pushed the Minotaur together... I understood Dad. It wasn't that he didn't care about me.”

She grinned.

“It's just... there are moments when you know you'll regret it forever if you don't step up. Moments when going all in seems better than regretting it later, no matter what you have to stake.”

“Then the reason you're so calm now...”

“That's right. I don't regret my choice. We lost, but we did everything we could.”

“...”

That explained why the Jiwon talking to me in this clearing felt so much more human than the one I'd known until now.

“Whew. That feels good to get off my chest.”

Her tone turned lighthearted.

“Okay, your turn.”

She handed the conversation over to me.

“... Hmm. Where do I even start?”

I needed to say something, but my mouth moved without a sound coming out.

I didn't have any special story or tragic past.

“... There's really nothing special about my life.”

“Tell me anyway. I want to know.”

“... Okay.”

I started telling my story, too, but it really wasn't interesting.

I was born in Korea.

Went to school. Made a few friends.

Took the college entrance exam and went to university.

The story of any Korean-born man in his twenties you might find anywhere.

It was an ordinary life, in every sense.

But simply telling Jiwon about that ordinary life made me feel much more at ease.

Just having someone to connect with could be a comfort.

“Thanks for telling me. I feel like I understand you a little better now.”

She closed her eyes and nodded, the light of the sunset falling across her face.

The setting sun was quite beautiful.

I watched it for a little while before turning back to her.

“... Hey, Choi Jiwon.”

“Yeah?”

“You don't have any golden orbs stashed away, do you?”

I rummaged inside my clothes and pulled out a golden orb.

I'd stashed away three in total. I'd returned the one Jiwon had tossed me, then given two to the Goblin Shaman, leaving me with one.

“If you do... should we just swallow them?”

“... What?”

If she had even one golden orb hidden away, what if we both swallowed one and moved on to the next stage?

I didn't know whether that next stage would be easy or hard.

But one thing was certain: I would have Jiwon's full support.

Of course... everyone else would starve to death.

Rationally, I knew regressing was the right thing to do.

“But what if this timeline stays behind when I regress?”

In that case, whether I went on to Floor 1 or regressed, these people would starve to death anyway.

The outcome would be the same.

Besides, I didn't want to give up my bond with Choi Jiwon.

She was the first person to share her life story with me. The first person I'd shared mine with.

The first person in the tower to understand me as a person.

“If I regress... you'll be a complete stranger again. You'll forget everything we've talked about.”

Through all those repeated regressions, I'd always been alone.

Without even noticing it, I'd been slowly worn down.

The bond I'd gradually built with Jiwon during this run—I didn't want to tear down that painstakingly constructed tower.

Now that I'd felt another person's warmth, I was afraid of being alone again.

“...”

She didn't answer.

“Look, think about it. Even if I regress and use everything I've learned to get close to you again, could I really get the same wholehearted cooperation? If anything, in the long term...”

As I began pouring out words to persuade her...

“Pfft... Ahahahahaha!”

Jiwon suddenly burst out laughing.

“Junho. Kim Junho. Do you know what your face looks like right now?”

“... What does it look like?”

“You look like you don't believe a word you're saying, even as you say it.”

“...”

“I think I finally understand you completely.”

I felt my face without thinking. What kind of expression was I making for her to say that?

“Kim Junho... you're fascinating. At first, I thought you were a good person like my dad. But the more I listened to your story, the less I thought so.”

She smiled.

“Sometimes you seem kind. Sometimes you seem like a lunatic. Sometimes you're clever and calculating... And right now, you're being pathetic and selfish.”

“... That's just how people are.”

“Right. That's how people are.”

She stood up, then plopped down beside me with her back to the sunset.

“But what's fascinating about you... is that through all of that, you're always thinking things through. In every story you told me, you were wrestling with something.”

“...”

“Working out the precise conditions of your traits and regression. Figuring out how to escape the clearing. How to get me to like you. How to defeat the Minotaur without anyone getting hurt. Wondering what happens to this world when you regress.”

She gently rested a hand on my shoulder.

“I'm impulsive, but once I decide on something, I see it through. You keep thinking until the very end, wondering if there's a better way. I think we're complete opposites. That's what fascinates me.”

She took a golden orb out of her clothes, just as I had.

“Okay, Junho. Let's think about this. Say we each swallow an orb, pass all the trials waiting for us, and make it to Floor 1... Would you regret it?”

No one knew whether the others would starve to death if I regressed or regress along with me.

But... if I simply swallowed the orb and headed to Floor 1, their deaths were a hundred percent certain.

My memories with Jiwon, bought at the price of everyone else's certain deaths.

Would I... regret it?

“... Now that I think about it, I think I would.”

I barely managed to get the words out, my voice trembling.

“That's what I thought, too.”

She met my eyes.

Emotion was flowing into me from her.

“I think that's your strength. Always questioning. Thinking. Trying to find a better way.”

- Curiosity [A]

- Opposites naturally attract. People feel an inexplicable curiosity about you and instinctively take notice of you.

“You're wavering right now. Pull yourself together. Don't stop thinking. Don't give up. I'm sure you can find an answer you're satisfied with.”

She wore a bright, radiant smile I'd never seen before.

It was her refusal, her farewell, and, I imagined, her heartfelt encouragement.

“I'll... be looking forward to it. To seeing how you find the answer you want. I'm so curious about the future you'll create.”

Her smile was so beautiful, and the sunset so dazzling, that I squeezed my eyes shut without thinking.

“... Okay. I'll make sure you see it.”

I already knew what I had to do.

THUD!

[You have taken damage.]

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

-The regressor's emotions have exceeded the threshold.

-Saving the target's memories.

-Target: [Choi Jiwon]

-Memories will be restored when the conditions are met.

* * *

A Word from the Author (Afterword)

That was why Choi Jiwon became so much friendlier starting two chapters ago...

Because she understood her father...

* * *

Starting next chapter, we'll get the plot moving again...!

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