Chapter 59 - The Regressor Loves Sweet Payback (1)

On a small wooded hill somewhere in Seoul.

“Hmm...”

I was doing something I never did: hiking. Thanks to my vastly improved physical abilities, it barely strained my body, making it more manageable than I’d expected.

All the hard parts of hiking had been stripped away, leaving me free to enjoy the fresh air and beautiful scenery.

As I briskly made my way uphill, I reached the summit before I knew it.

“You’re here.”

“Good to see you.”

Choi Jiwon and Park Cheoljin were waiting for me.

“Sounds like you’ve had a rough time?”

“... It has been difficult.”

Choi Jiwon was wearing a hat, an oversized face mask, and even sunglasses. Given that all of Korea was in an uproar over her, her choice of clothing was understandable.

“... But I have to live with it. This is the path I chose.”

The stories about Choi Jiwon had spread so widely in part because she wanted them to.

When we were planning how to clear Floor 2, she had wanted to become a hero.

She wanted to be a shining beacon for the people who had holed up on Floor 1 with no intention of climbing the tower. She also wanted to improve the unsettled mood in a society plagued by crimes committed by people with powers.

As a result, her face had become absurdly well known... But as someone who had seen the future, I could say that she would have become famous anyway. The government would give her an award and hail her as “Korea’s hero.”

I’d only given things a little nudge. It wasn’t my fault...!

“Junho, did you get some good rest?”

“You don’t have to be so formal with me. You’re older than I am, after all...”

“... Oh, um. Shall I, then? I mean, you’re sure that’s all right?”

“Of course.”

Just before clearing Floor 2, Choi Jiwon, Park Cheoljin, and I had exchanged contact information, which had led to this gathering on the hilltop.

Unlike the others, we shared a common goal: climbing the tower to resolve this catastrophe.

“Might I ask... what did everyone choose for their Diamond reward? No, no. What did you two pick?”

Firefighter Park Cheoljin asked casually as he looked out over the scenery below.

“... I chose the Lightning Heart trait,” Choi Jiwon replied.

“I think what I lack is explosive power. My fundamentals are solid, but... with all the supernatural abilities in the tower, I thought I needed a decisive strike.”

I also thought Lightning Heart suited Choi Jiwon.

No matter how gifted her combat instincts were, she ultimately fought with her body.

Rather than Flash Step, which was useful for surprise attacks, Lightning Heart would suit her as a trump card.

“I chose the elixir.”

In truth, I hadn’t had a choice. I already possessed the other two traits, so I couldn’t select them again... I’d simply had to take the elixir.

“... So you don’t even need to receive it as a trait, since you can copy it just by watching.”

Choi Jiwon muttered something, but her voice was so quiet that I couldn’t quite catch it.

“I took the elixir too.”

Last was Firefighter Park Cheoljin. Surprisingly, he seemed to have chosen the elixir as well.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to take Lightning Heart, like Jiwon?”

“... My wife had cancer.”

“... Oh.”

“Don’t look at me like that. She drank the elixir, and it was completely cured. Even the doctors called it a miracle and asked to run some tests. This is something to celebrate. Why the long faces?”

With a playful smile, he stood and gazed down at the woods swaying in the wind.

“There’s been a lot of talk about superpowered crime and whatnot lately... But even poison can be medicine, depending on how you use it, wouldn’t you say?”

SHHHHH.

The wind brushed through the trees.

“While I was at my regular job—as a firefighter... my trait and stats let me save someone I could never have saved otherwise. That was when I realized it. This tower is an opportunity for me.”

Clenching his fist, Park Cheoljin turned toward us and grinned.

“I may be nowhere near as capable as you two... but I intend to work harder than anyone at climbing the tower. For the sake of others.”

“I like the sound of that.”

Choi Jiwon smiled back.

The wind was fierce at the summit, but the atmosphere between us was warm.

Of course, my own smile was a little awkward. It felt like we were getting a bit too close...

We continued talking for quite a while.

“Oh dear, looks like we’ve let time get away from us,” Park Cheoljin said, glancing at his wristwatch.

There was one reason we had gathered on this hill.

If Floor 3 was like Floor 2, with multiple people progressing through it at the same time, entering together would definitely be to our advantage.

“Well, then...”

“I’ll see you on Floor 3.”

We each opened a portal to Floor 1 and threw ourselves inside.

[You have entered Floor 3.]

“... Oh.”

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was an enormous stone door.

It had a rough texture. Rather than a carefully crafted structure, it looked more like someone had simply set a huge slab of rock there.

What stood out was that there were five identical stone doors lined up in a row. Above each door were between one and five lines, roughly carved as though someone had gouged them out with a knife.

“... It’s a bit gloomy here.”

I looked around, but all I could see was stone. I also realized that my clothes had changed into the leather armor provided on Floor 2.

This seemed to be part of a long cave. The five stone doors stood in front of me, while behind me, a winding passage ended in a pile of rubble.

Notably, torches were the only source of light. There were signs of human work here and there, as though someone had tried to remodel the cave, but the workmanship was distinctly crude.

Unlike the paradise of Floor 1, or Floor 2, which had at least possessed the trappings of civilization despite its people’s suffering, Floor 3 had a decidedly primitive feel.

“Hmm...”

I wasn’t alone in the cave. About five people were staring intently at the doors, deliberating over something.

“All right. I’m going with two lines.”

One of the men who had been deliberating walked up to the door marked with two lines and placed his hand on it.

FWIP!

He vanished.

It seemed we were supposed to choose one of the five doors... but I couldn’t be certain until the floor’s description appeared.

“Oh, you’re here already.”

“Have you figured anything out?”

My inspection of Floor 3 was brief. Choi Jiwon and Park Cheoljin arrived soon afterward.

“... This place is rather creepy. The air feels chilly, too...”

Just as Firefighter Park Cheoljin frowned in distaste...

<Floor 3>

-Clear Condition: Choose one of the five stone doors and proceed to the end to clear the floor. The more lines marked above a door, the greater the difficulty.

-Clear Reward: Varies according to difficulty.

A familiar message window appeared before my eyes.

So the number of lines above each door did represent difficulty. Perhaps the idea that harder tasks deserved better rewards was universal among humans.

Whatever the case, there were five difficulty levels, and we were being told to choose one. Floor 3’s setup was straightforward, if nothing else.

Naturally, our choice here was...

“Five lines would be best, right?”

“Four lines would be best, right?”

Choi Jiwon and I spoke at the same time, then looked awkwardly at each other.

“... Surely five is the obvious choice?”

I was the one arguing for the highest difficulty.

Just look at our lineup.

Choi Jiwon. Park Cheoljin. And me.

Our party was in the top 0.1 percent of Players. If we couldn’t clear the highest difficulty, that would be a design flaw.

Of course, there were variables.

“... For starters, there’s no guarantee we’ll all be tackling the highest difficulty together.”

Choi Jiwon calmly explained her objections, as though trying to persuade me.

She was right.

We might walk through the door only to be split up with a cheerful, “It was a solo mission all along!” In that case, there would be no benefit to entering together.

Blindly choosing the highest difficulty on the assumption that the three of us could work together might be reckless.

“And I think being the highest difficulty carries a certain significance.”

Besides, the “highest difficulty” was usually in a league of its own.

Floor 2 was proof enough. Taking down nobles hadn’t been that damn hard, but trying to move up to a Diamond reward had made the difficulty skyrocket to an absurd degree.

In other words, there was likely a very, very large gap between levels four and five.

Of course, the reward would be correspondingly incredible...

“Since we earned hidden rewards on Floor 2, I don’t think we need to take a risk here. It’s dark everywhere, too... The atmosphere is different from what we’ve seen so far, isn’t it? Just because Floors 1 and 2 felt peaceful doesn’t mean we should let our guard down too much.”

That was why I thought Choi Jiwon’s argument was about as sound as it could be.

There were no suffering residents here. We had no need to take risks.

Besides, as she said, just because Floors 1 and 2 had felt peaceful, there was no guarantee Floor 3 would be the same.

“... Then shall we split up? You two can take the four-line difficulty. I’ll take five.”

But her argument only applied if I didn’t have Regression.

I could charge headfirst into the highest difficulty thinking, Yeah, whatever! I can just regress! There was no risk to me.

What if I tried the five-line difficulty and it turned out to be manageable? I could regress and persuade Choi Jiwon and Park Cheoljin.

What if I tried it and the difficulty was completely insane? I could regress and we could all take the four-line difficulty together.

Other people had to enter without knowing how the floor worked, but I could sample everything Floor 3 had to offer before making my decision.

It was closer to no risk, high reward than high risk, high reward. There was no reason not to take the plunge.

“... Will you really be all right? I know you’re strong, Junho, but...”

“... Junho. We might get split up, but we might also be able to stay together...”

Park Cheoljin and Choi Jiwon had seen my skills in the tutorial, but they still seemed reluctant and kept trying to dissuade me.

“I’ll be fine.”

But I couldn’t suddenly reveal Regression. I thought the best approach was to try the highest difficulty, get a feel for it, then regress.

I could use what I learned to indirectly steer Choi Jiwon and Park Cheoljin’s actions. Arguing when I didn’t know anything was inefficient.

“... Isn’t that woman Choi Jiwon?”

“... I think you’re right.”

Our conversation in the middle of the cave seemed to have drawn attention. One by one, people began looking at Choi Jiwon and whispering. Being a cave, the place did make sound echo.

“Well, I’ll head in first.”

The right move here was to proceed without wasting any more time.

Dithering when I could simply regress would be maddeningly, agonizingly frustrating.

An infinite regressor should always act decisively. I had to blaze trails where no one else ventured, and I couldn’t be afraid of death.

With the spirit of a great pioneer, I strode forward and confidently placed my hand on the door marked with five lines.

[Entering Floor 3-5.]

“... Huh?”

Or at least, I was confident until that message window appeared before my eyes.

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