Chapter 5 - The Ponytail Woman Is Too Strong (1)

The plan was simple: stick around in the clearing as long as possible and get friendly with the ponytailed woman.

Unlike the other cowards, the ponytailed woman stayed in the clearing despite being strong enough to leave.

I had no idea why. Was she really trying to reach a hundred thousand sword swings to unlock some hidden rewards? Or did she have some noble cause, like protecting the weak?

But none of that mattered.

What mattered was that she knew how to handle a sword.

“And so, God created this tower. To punish you foolish humans.”

The fairy was jabbering on about something, but my eyes were fixed solely on the ponytailed woman in the corner.

She was gently stroking the scabbard holding her sword, her gaze cold but tinged with unease.

“... Huh?”

As I watched her, something felt off. Like I was seeing something that shouldn't be there.

Like I was missing... something important...

“Right, that pretty much covers the background... Take whatever you like from here...”

Apparently finished with its explanation, the fairy sent weapons tumbling into the middle of the clearing.

“Oh.”

I realized what had been bothering me.

The fairy hadn't handed out the weapons yet. So why the hell did that woman already have a sword?

When I was summoned to the tower, only the things I had on me came along.

My clothes, my wallet, a rice-burger coupon stuffed in my pocket. I'd left my phone charging beside my pillow, and it was nowhere to be found after I arrived.

In other words, only the things you were carrying right before being summoned counted...

Which meant that woman was a crazy bitch who carried a sword around in the real world, too.

“... No. Let's look at this differently.”

This was actually a good thing.

To carry a real sword around in the real world, you needed... a weapons permit? A sword permit?

Anyway, I'd heard you needed government permission to own a real sword.

I didn't know the details, but the process was probably a hell of a hassle... Yet this young woman had a real sword on her?

It was reasonable to assume she had professional training.

That meant she wasn't just good with a sword because of some overpowered trait she'd gained after entering the tower.

My decision to learn swordsmanship from her hadn't been wrong.

And so I kept watching the ponytailed woman for quite a while.

“Status wiiiiiindow!”

This was the important part.

How would she react when most of the people started calling out for their status windows?

The ponytailed woman wasn't very expressive to begin with, so reading her face was extremely difficult. But with all my attention focused on her expression, I could just barely make it out.

First, bewilderment.

Her eyes widened slightly, as if she wanted to say, “Seriously?”

Then, deliberation.

She lowered her gaze and tightened her grip on her scabbard.

Finally, resolve.

Looking a little embarrassed, she moved to the edge of the clearing and quietly moved her lips.

I thought she'd probably said “Status window.”

Immediately afterward:

“!!!”

Her eyes went wide.

She turned her head this way and that, looking startled.

“... What's that about?”

That was quite an unexpected reaction from someone who'd been so cold and aloof.

What had she seen in her status window to startle her so badly?

Actually, did everyone else's status windows even look like mine?

Maybe theirs had stats, a shop, and all sorts of other functions, instead of just a trait like mine.

Maybe I didn't have any of those things as the price for having an absurdly powerful ability like Regression.

My mind grew cluttered with the thoughts that had suddenly occurred to me.

And in that brief moment when I lost sight of the ponytailed woman...

“You there.”

“... Yes?”

A woman's icy voice sounded behind me.

No way. Surely not.

Praying desperately that it wasn't her, I slowly turned my head.

SMACK!

A tremendous impact forcibly swung my field of vision about eighty degrees.

“You fucking pervert.”

The ponytailed woman dusted off her hands and went back to her spot.

Did I just get slapped? I was dumbfounded.

I moved my tongue a little and tasted blood in my mouth.

Wait. Blood?

[You have taken damage.]

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

* * *

“Fuck! Where the hell am I?”

“Fuck...”

The first thing I did upon waking was swear.

Why had she hit me? Because I looked like a pervert? I couldn't make sense of it.

In all my regressions so far, she'd never smacked me across the face like that.

Okay. Let's think rationally.

There had to be a difference between this time and the others. Something had changed, so her reaction had changed, too.

The only difference I could think of... was how intently I'd been watching her...

“Oh.”

As the great cat Schrödinger once said:

“Simply observing something can change the outcome.”

Could she have slapped me because I'd been watching her so intently?

“... Let's try it.”

Repetition was the foundation of experimentation.

And time was one thing I had plenty of.

* * *

After roughly six regressions, I could finally be certain.

The ponytailed woman had indeed hit me because I'd been staring at her. When I played in the dirt instead, she didn't come over to hit me.

But the important thing was that she always noticed my staring after checking her status window.

What on earth was her trait?

Was there something like a heightened-senses trait? One she had to toggle on in her trait window?

I decided to conduct one last experiment.

People had started leaving the clearing in small groups.

The middle-aged firefighter hadn't left yet, and the ponytailed woman was hard at work swinging her sword.

Keeping an eye on my surroundings, I cautiously made my way over.

“Hello?”

I'd approached the bob-haired woman I'd seen before. Her cute face and the fact that she'd once asked me for food had stuck in my memory.

“... What is it?”

She looked a little wary. Suspicious of me.

“Oh, it's nothing much. I just wanted to tell you something.”

Sorry, bob-haired woman, but she'd have to be my test subject.

She was directly opposite the spot where the ponytailed woman was practicing her swings—as far away as she could possibly be.

“It's important... Could you lean in for a second?”

“... It really is important, right?”

Despite her hesitation, she cautiously leaned her ear toward me.

I whispered in the faintest voice.

“You. I like those milk jugs.”

“... Excuse me?”

Her jaw dropped, as if she couldn't believe what she'd just heard.

“Nice childbearing hips, too. You'd pop babies out just fine.”

Sexual harassment as vulgar as I could possibly make it.

Just before the horrified woman could scream...

THWACK!

“Aaaaaargh!”

A tremendous impact sent me flying through the air and crashing into the tall grass.

My back hurt so fucking much. I couldn't feel my toes.

Turning just my head to look behind me, I saw the ponytailed woman slowly lowering her outstretched leg.

“... Even my sword is wasted on trash like you.”

Her face was filled with contempt.

[You have taken damage.]

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

* * *

“... Couldn't you have regressed me a little faster?”

My back still ached. Was this phantom pain?

After experiencing that beating firsthand, I started to think regressing upon death might not be such a great ability.

Just getting kicked hurt this much. If I actually died, the aftereffects would be no joke.

“Still, that settles it.”

I'd spoken so quietly that even an animal with keen hearing, let alone an ordinary person, couldn't have heard me.

And there had been quite a distance between us.

But the ponytailed woman had come flying over in an instant, kicked me, and called me trash.

That meant she'd heard what I'd said to the bob-haired woman from all that distance away.

What did that mean?

It meant that after checking her status window, the ponytailed woman could detect every movement in the clearing.

Even while endlessly swinging her sword.

I didn't know her trait's rank, but surely it was at least SS? She was displaying that monstrous an ability as soon as she'd entered the tower.

But the mystery was solved.

Why she'd cut me when I'd asked her to teach me swordsmanship.

She'd known all along that I was acting.

She could have been monitoring my every move the whole time. She must have already known I wasn't the kind of upstanding young man who'd sacrifice himself for others.

When I looked at it that way, her rejection made perfect sense.

THUMP!

As if reproaching myself, I struck my shoulder hard.

[You have taken damage.]

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

* * *

This time, I didn't look at the ponytailed woman. I even listened attentively to the fairy's explanation. I had to be doubly, triply careful.

<Tutorial Stage>

-Clear Condition 1: Swallow a ‘golden orb’ hidden somewhere in the forest to advance to the next stage. However, only 50 golden orbs exist.

-Clear Condition 2: Defeat the boss, Goblin Shaman, to generate a portal leading to the next stage.

Now was my chance, in the brief silence as everyone read the announcement.

CLAP! CLAP!

“Everyone!”

I stood and clapped a couple of times to draw everyone's attention.

“My name is Kim Junho! Everyone, please hear me out for a moment!”

Ponytailed woman.

Are nice guys your type?

Then this time, I'll be a nice guy for you.

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