Chapter 72 - The Regressor Takes a Beating (3)

An answer came to mind.

Just one.

An answer as narrow as the eye of a needle.

“But before I tell you, there’s something we need to clear up first.”

“... What?”

“That punch of yours. I need to know the exact conditions for using it.”

In terms of sheer offensive power, Kang Chan’s ability was the strongest I’d seen from any Player. The impact of a single blow was comparable to that of the city’s ruler with Lightning Heart activated.

Naturally, his punch was also the key ability we needed to clear Floor 3-5.

For now, I was merely guessing that he could use it about once, but knowing the precise conditions was important too.

“... In that case, I’ll need an explanation from you as well.”

Kang Chan turned my question back on me.

“My guess is... you aren’t the sort of regressor who only goes back once. You’re probably the kind who regresses repeatedly. The moment you entered Floor 3-5, you spoke to me without even looking around.”

“...”

“I need to know what changes the point you return to. Do you choose it? Or is it determined by some condition? Can you update it again?”

He was asking about my Regression ability. He’d told me about his own ability so readily that I’d forgotten I hadn’t explained anything about mine.

“... Why do you want to know?”

“Aren’t you planning to regress anyway? What’s the harm in telling me?”

“...”

He had a point, so I had nothing to say. His memories would disappear once I regressed anyway. There was no reason I couldn’t tell him.

And yet... admitting that even a graze would make me regress felt a little unsettling. It wasn’t a rational objection, but an instinctive aversion.

“... I regress when certain conditions are met. The point I return to is fixed at the moment I first enter each floor.”

“You ask me to reveal the penalty for my punch, yet you’re hiding the precise conditions yourself.”

“...”

“Let’s just both keep those to ourselves.”

Kang Chan shrugged.

“... Well, fine. Next, I’d like to hear exactly what you’ve experienced since entering Floor 3-5.”

“Why do you need that?”

“Shouldn’t I at least be able to judge whether your plan is realistic? I’ve already told you my whole story.”

“Um, everyone...”

In the midst of our battle of nerves, Ahn Gyeongjun tactlessly interrupted.

“There’s a woman waiting for us... You really should come now...”

“... Go on ahead. We’ll be there soon.”

“Y-yes...”

Having subdued Ahn Gyeongjun with a single look, Kang Chan turned his gaze back to me.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. You can lie, too. I’ll forget everything once you ‘regress’ anyway. In fact, you could regress right this instant. You’ve already gotten the information you wanted out of me. But you’re on your own. A plan that looks perfect to you might have flaws an outside observer could spot. And there are things I can tell you.”

“...”

Kang Chan.

Unlike my initial impression of him, he seemed pretty sharp. And right now, he was being cooperative.

I didn’t know what he was after... but he would probably be helpful.

“... All right. I’ll start from when I first entered Floor 3.”

And so I slowly recounted everything that had happened since I entered Floor 3-5.

I felt a strong aversion to revealing my Regression and talking about the past... but Kang Chan was right. A plan that looked perfect to me might reveal its flaws to an outside observer.

“... After I saw the blood on the golem’s fist, I regressed.”

Had about ten minutes passed?

I finished my story. Kang Chan was deep in thought, his expression stiff, while Ahn Gyeongjun had slipped over to see why the hell we weren’t coming, only to retreat again at the heavy atmosphere.

“... I see.”

Kang Chan nodded. His face wasn’t entirely expressionless, but it was hard to read.

“First... it looks like I’ll only be able to use my ‘punch’ once on Floor 3.”

“Are you sure?”

“To be honest, I do feel uneasy giving you too much information. But I’m not lying. Floor 3-5... is an extremely bad matchup for me.”

“... I see.”

Kang Chan seemed to understand what giving information to a regressor meant. And he didn’t seem to be lying.

If he could use his ‘punch’ twice, things would become much, much easier. But only once? It was hard not to be disappointed.

“More importantly, the other three, including you, must be quite strong.”

Kang Chan turned toward where Dok Suhui and Ahn Gyeongjun would be waiting.

“... For me, the ‘punch’ is something of a last resort. Once I use it, I’m practically walking around with my neck exposed.”

“Yet you used it in the arrow trap corridor?”

“I probably came to trust you. To trust that with you three, I could survive to the end even after using my ability.”

He said his past self had probably observed the others closely. Without his Intimidation trait, Kang Chan was as good as dead, so he always had to watch other people.

Their personalities, their strength, their ways of thinking. Taking all that into account, he would have concluded that our party was trustworthy and used his ability along the way. (It wasn’t as though Kang Chan could breeze through the trap corridor himself.)

Besides, with Intimidation as his final fallback, he would have been confident he could survive most situations.

“... I just didn’t expect a golem immune to killing intent to show up.”

Unfortunately, it hadn’t ended well.

“... I think I’ve laid all my cards on the table now. It’s your turn.”

His black eyes stared straight into mine.

“Let’s hear this plan of yours.”

“... All right.”

After a moment’s deliberation, I began explaining.

My plan.

At its core, it was simple.

I just had to figure out what the four of us had at our disposal, analyze the obstacles ahead, and put our assets to use where they were needed.

It wasn’t some grand scheme. Just a simple shift in perspective.

“... So your resolve is the most important part of this plan.”

That was Kang Chan’s response after hearing me out.

“The odds of success look high. As long as you don’t break.”

That was, in fact, the biggest problem with this plan.

It all came down to whether my willpower would hold out. But of all the plans I could think of right now, this was the only one that looked like an answer.

“... I’ll be rooting for you.”

Kang Chan gave a small nod and slowly stood up.

He loosened his shoulders, took a stance, and glared at me.

“Now, regress.”

Light wreathed his fist. Killing intent poured from his body.

The telltale signs of Kang Chan’s ‘punch.’

“... I was planning to regress anyway, but is this really necessary?”

Of course, I had intended to regress, but his sudden change in attitude left me a little hurt.

“It is. Try looking at it from my perspective.”

Kang Chan shook his head.

“You might have some special technique that let you peek at my Status window. Or you might have deduced my ability and then played mind games with me.”

“...”

“Why do you think I told you about my past and my ability so readily?”

Like a regressor, Kang Chan had a clear counter once his true nature was exposed.

Numbers.

You could beat him simply by overwhelming him with numbers. There would be some casualties, but once you baited out that one punch, he was helpless.

In other words, from the moment he revealed his ability, he’d had no intention of letting me leave peacefully.

“... If I’m not a regressor, you’ll be trapped on Floor 3. You can’t proceed without four people.”

“With my ‘true nature’ exposed, I’m as good as dead. I’m taking a gamble of my own...”

He broke off with a chuckle.

“No, let me be honest. I was suspicious at first, and I took a gamble just as I said... but now I believe you can regress. It’s partly my gut feeling, and partly the conclusion I’ve reached from everything you’ve shown me.”

“... Then why are you doing this?”

“To earn some points with you.”

“... What?”

“Have you never considered it from someone else’s perspective? What it would feel like to meet a regressor?”

“...”

“You’re a kind of natural disaster, or something no one can resist. Unless someone has a way to seal you away forever, making an enemy of you is practically suicide.”

One corner of Kang Chan’s mouth lifted.

“I’m making my case to you. I’m not an empty-headed idiot. I’m someone who can be useful to you—and beyond that, to humanity.”

This was what Kang Chan was telling me.

That he had grasped this much of the situation in an instant. That he had insights of his own.

That rather than exposing his ability to everyone and bringing him down completely, it would be more rational to leave him be and make use of him.

“... I thought you were being a little too forthcoming at the start.”

So he’d had a plan all along. I’d just thought he wasn’t thinking.

“No, I didn’t tell you simply because I had no intention of letting you leave.”

But Kang Chan shook his head.

“I also wanted to see how you’d react to my story. Just as you were observing me, I was observing you.”

“...”

“And from what I’ve seen... you’re someone I can trust.”

His present self thought so, and his past self would have thought so too.

As he said that, Kang Chan gave an awkward smile for the first time.

“... So, I’ll be rooting for you.”

As the light slowly faded from his fist...

“... Thanks.”

I gave a small nod and regressed.

[You have taken damage.]

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

* * *

“... Get up, rookie.”

“... Whew.”

Before putting my ‘plan’ into action, there was something I needed to test first.

“Let’s go.”

The golem.

I had to face it again.

A Word from the Author (Afterword)

Thank you, as always, for reading.

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