Chapter 61 - The Regressor Loves Sweet Payback (3)

The Tutorial fairy.

A merciless villain out to smash the skulls of innocent civilians newly arrived in the tower. A being that drives home the fact that this is not the reality humanity has always known, but a place called the “tower,” where you must risk your life and struggle to survive.

The first monstrosity modern people encounter, teaching those who have lived comfortably within the protection of the law the cruel natural principle that the strong prey on the weak. That is the Tutorial fairy.

-Tutorial fairy << Anyone seen somebody get their head blown up by this thing?

-Would anyone actually fall for that?

-I saw some middle-aged guy try to give the fairy shit, but someone next to him stopped him. Seriously, what fucker doesn't know about Tutorial fairies these days?

But these days, fiction had spread awareness of fairies so widely that practically no one actually had their head burst in those sinister clutches.

An angry middle-aged man or a thug with hair dyed bright yellow mouths off to the Tutorial fairy, gets blown to pieces, and leaves everyone else horrified. The scene was practically a cliché in webtoons and web novels.

Of course, a lack of victims did nothing to diminish its standing.

The Tutorial fairy was still an object of terror, a starving beast prowling for an excuse to burst someone's skull.

-You guys know some dude beat the fairy in the tutorial?

Until word began to spread about a man named Kang Chan.

<You guys know some dude beat the fairy in the tutorial?>

Can't believe it? Neither can I. I'd just been summoned to the tutorial and was still freaking out when this scary-as-fuck guy suddenly stood up.

At first I just watched, wondering what was going on. But he stood there without saying a word, and there was this murderous intent, or aura, or whatever you call it. It was honestly hard to even look at him. I was so fucking scared I just stared at the dirt, and a little later there was this sudden thwack!

Guess I wasn't the only one staring at the ground, because everyone slowly looked up after the sound. The Tutorial fairy was lying facedown on the ground (I didn't even know it was the Tutorial fairy at first), and a trickle of blood was running down the guy's head.

I heard later that the fairy shot some kind of magic at his head, but he dodged with barely a graze and knocked it out with a counterpunch. In the end another fairy showed up, took the unconscious one away, explained the background, handed out weapons, and left.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone that terrifying in my life. I can still picture that murderous stare and expressionless face...

* * *

-Cut the bullshit.

-I was in the same tutorial as this guy, and every word is true. A few guys were trying to intimidate each other in the clearing at first, but once they saw him take down the fairy, they bowed their heads and said they'd follow him as their boss. The atmosphere was seriously scary.

-If they'd only just been summoned to the clearing, he wouldn't even have had a level yet, and he beat a fairy? Holy shit...

-How good does your trait have to be to pull that off? Mine's C-rank, and now I feel cheated...

-Don't call him “this guy.” Show some respect. The boss's name is Kang Chan.

The man's name was later revealed to be Kang Chan. No definite facts emerged about his appearance, abilities, age, or other details, since everyone who claimed to have seen him gave a different account...

-Apparently the fairies don't threaten to blow people's heads up anymore.

-They got taught a lesson, so now they're watching their own asses lmao.

-God Chan. Holy shiiiiit.

But one thing was certain: he was a tremendously powerful fighter who had subdued the Tutorial fairy with a single punch.

Choi Jiwon, who had defeated the city's ruler on Floor 2 single-handedly.

Kang Chan, who had subdued the Tutorial fairy with his bare fist.

And finally, the mysterious man who had supposedly beheaded the hidden boss, the Minotaur, with a single sword stroke.

Ask anyone to name the three hottest figures on Korean forums right now, and those were the three they would pick...

Yes, definitely.

Even if only half the stories I'd read online were true, he was more than qualified to be on Floor 3-5.

He wore stiff leather armor, but it did nothing to hide that menacing aura.

“... Hmm.”

After enduring our stares with his eyes shut, Kang Chan slowly opened them and strode toward the stone door without a word.

“...”

Was he saying we'd chatted enough and should get on with Floor 3?

Ahn Gyeongjun and I exchanged a brief glance, gave small nods, and joined him in front of the stone door.

The four of us stood before the huge stone door.

The moment we each placed a hand in a palm-shaped recess...

RUMBLE!

The stone door slowly moved with a ground-shaking roar.

Our attempt to clear Floor 3 had begun in earnest.

TAP. TAP.

How long had we been walking by the light of the torches mounted on the walls?

Our footsteps echoed loudly through the narrow cave passage.

“Kieeeek!”

Every now and then a goblin would spring out with a shriek, apparently from a hiding place in a crack in the rocks.

SHUNK!

But frankly, I'd already grown far too strong to regress over a mere goblin. Goblins had only made me regress in the very earliest days of the tutorial. Now they were literally just another trash mob.

With so little room to maneuver, I dispatched the goblin with a thrust and flicked the blood off my blade onto the ground.

“... Have their eyes degenerated from living in caves? Those white eyeballs are disgusting...”

Ahn Gyeongjun never stopped talking, perhaps trying to shake off his nerves.

“Still, there aren't any bugs, even though it's a cave. How strange!”

Dok Suhui, whether she'd relaxed or simply loosened her tongue, offered offbeat observations that didn't suit her sharp features.

“Hmm.”

And Kang Chan continued to exude that aura, never letting his guard down.

With me in the lead, we slowly made our way through the cave.

So far, Floor 3-5 had been... too easy. Seriously, absurdly easy.

After the first stone door opened, we'd picked out familiar weapons from a room piled with all kinds of arms.

After that, all we'd done was walk along a damp, slippery cave passage.

The only enemies that popped out were goblins and bats.

Were we just too strong? But common sense said anyone strong enough to enter Floor 3-5 wouldn't fall to a goblin.

This couldn't be all there was to Floor 3. There had to be... some other trick to it...

As I continued forward, pondering that question...

“...”

The cramped passage that had seemed to stretch on forever opened into a vast cavern.

The circular chamber looked almost as large as the concert hall at the Seoul Arts Center. Torches mounted at regular intervals along the walls flickered eerily.

“Hmm...”

The four of us cautiously entered the cavern. We watched our surroundings with our vigilance cranked to the limit, but nothing leaped out at us.

“There's a door up ahead, but...”

As Ahn Gyeongjun said, a familiar-looking stone door stood on the far side of the cavern. Unlike the previous one, however, it had no palm-shaped recesses. Putting our four hands against it wouldn't open it.

“... Maybe we need to find a hidden mechanism? If there aren't any enemies, I think there might be a puzzle!”

The suggestion came from Dok Suhui, and it made sense.

We needed to move forward, but the door was shut, and there were no enemies. Besides, the chamber was quite large... The idea that we needed to press a hidden switch or something to reach the next room was perfectly plausible.

Floor 2 had been closer to a puzzle than a combat trial, after all... There was no reason Floor 3 couldn't be the same.

“Sh-should we split up and look...?”

So when Ahn Gyeongjun suggested splitting up to search for anything suspicious, no one objected.

* * *

Had about fifteen minutes passed?

“Hmm...”

I'd spent a good while feeling along the cavern walls and tapping them, but found no hidden mechanism of any kind.

“Hmmm...”

To be honest, I'd suspected there wouldn't be a hidden mechanism.

The atmosphere in this cavern was far too eerie.

Sometimes, while playing a game like Dark Souls, you get a certain feeling.

That feeling of, “This is definitely a boss room, isn't it?”

But there was no terrifying boss to be found, just torches burning ominously.

We'd entered a boss room, only to find the boss missing.

In web novels, this is usually when something comes from the ceiling...

“Huh?”

I slowly raised my head.

In the darkness overhead, beyond the reach of the torchlight, my eyes met a pair of glowing yellow eyes.

“Ghk!”

The moment I saw those slit pupils, my body was already moving.

CRAAASH!

A monstrous beast crashed down where I'd stood a moment earlier... No, a gigantic wolf, white fur streaming behind it.

“Junho!!!”

“Fuck...”

Cracks split the ground where it had struck. The monstrous wolf, fully the size of an SUV, turned its head and fixed its gaze on my neck.

WHOOSH!

The monstrous wolf immediately launched itself at me with tremendous springing power. Its leap was so fast that even a superhuman would struggle to react.

CLANG!

I reflexively held my sword horizontally to block its swiping forepaw. The resulting sound was impossible to believe came from animal flesh striking metal.

“Urgh...!”

This wolf was unbelievably strong. Unable to fully redirect that absurd physical force, I was lifted off my feet and hurled backward.

As my airborne body came back down toward the ground, I stretched my feet behind me to slow myself...

They slipped.

“Huh?”

Both feet, extended behind me to brake, danced across the slippery cave floor.

CRUNCH!

My body spun through half a turn, and my face gave the cave floor a hard kiss.

[You have taken damage.]

[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 3-5.]

* * *

“... Get up, rookie.”

Kang Chan's growling voice reached my ears, and I rubbed my face with both palms.

“Fuck...”

A Word from the Author (Author's Afterword)

Labor Day...

I'd like a day off too...

Read Next Chapter