Chapter 75 - The Regressor Takes a Beating (6)

A dark space where nothing is visible.

Nothing exists except endless pitch-blackness. I stand alone in a place that seems filled with darkness drawn from a bottomless abyss.

"..."

How did I get here? Where am I? What was I doing just a moment ago?

Unanswerable questions surface in my mind, only to evaporate moments later. Like the space around me, my mind is turning black.

"Kim Junho."

A dry voice calls my name from behind, and I turn.

"... Choi Jiwon?"

Choi Jiwon. She is looking at me. A black ponytail, jeans, and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Not the leather-armored Choi Jiwon I saw on Floor 2 or Floor 3, but the one I saw in the tutorial.

"..."

But her lips are cracked and swollen, her skin is beyond rough, utterly parched, and her clothes are torn all over.

"Kim Junho."

Her voice cracks like a dried-up reservoir. Her eyes are as empty as this black space.

"I curse you."

Choi Jiwon approaches, one step at a time.

"After you left, everyone in the tutorial starved to death. All the goblins killed themselves, so there was no food left. I suppose it was only natural."

Her cheeks slowly hollow, and her eyes sink into their sockets. Her limbs wither to skin and bone, and her hair falls to the floor in clumps.

"I curse you for abandoning this world and regressing alone."

Now looking like a zombie, Choi Jiwon stares at me with eyes full of despair, grief, and hatred.

"I curse you, too."

This time, it isn't Choi Jiwon, but a deep male voice.

"I hate you. I hate you for surviving alone. I hate you for enjoying yourself after leaving every last one of us to die."

Kang Chan. He is glaring at me.

"For you, it all ends when you regress. But not for us. In the worlds you disappeared from, we suffered endlessly as we died."

Baek Dahye, whom I saw in the tutorial, weeps tears of blood. Ahn Gyeongjun tears at his scalp, and Dok Suhui grins vacantly as she cuts her own body with a dagger.

"I curse you."

"I pray you die a miserable death."

Countless people whose names I no longer even remember are cursing me.

In this black space, their hatred is directed at me alone.

"..."

And as I bear the brunt of all this malice...

"Fuck off."

I feel nothing.

CRASH!

The moment I realize it, the black space shatters, revealing a familiar stone chamber. The room that spouted bullshit about testing mental fortitude through fear.

"I'm sorry, oppa. I'm sorry..."

Beside me, Dok Suhui is writhing in agony, tears streaming down her face. In previous runs, she either woke up first or came to at the same time as me. I must have come to much earlier than before.

"I... I was wrong..."

"..."

This is how agonizing fear is. Everyone wants to avoid it, and it is the hardest emotion to overcome.

So why am I so unaffected? Simply because I've experienced it several times? I'm far too indifferent for that to explain it.

Come to think of it, I wasn't particularly happy when I cleared the trap corridor just now, either. Dok Suhui and Ahn Gyeongjun praised me sincerely, but their praise stirred nothing in me.

"Fuck..."

The reason is simple.

I've regressed too many times.

The road to the arrow traps was anything but short. There were so many variables.

Every time I regressed, I followed a fixed set of actions to obtain the results I wanted, and the others responded to me in fixed ways.

Something that produces the same output from the same input isn't a person. It's a robot. An NPC.

At some point, the people tackling Floor 3 with me stopped looking like people. They looked like something inanimate.

This isn't good. It isn't good at all.

No longer seeing people as people or valuing lives as lives is a primary symptom of "regressor syndrome."

Maybe it's only natural after regressing dozens or hundreds of times. But it isn't how I want to end up.

"... Wake up."

"Ah, ugh... Thank you."

I have to consciously guard against it. People are people. Being given Regression doesn't give me the right to look down on anyone else.

SMACK!

I slap my cheeks a couple of times and pull myself together.

But however consciously I try to steady myself, I cannot deny that a regressor's way of thinking has taken root in a small corner of my mind...

* * *

"Oh, y-you're here? We just got here ourselves..."

Following the path, we find Ahn Gyeongjun and Kang Chan dusting themselves off. Since I overcame the fear room early, we seem to have reached the golem room at the same time.

"..."

Without realizing it, I look at Kang Chan's fist. My fate rests on that fist. If he suddenly gets flustered and says, "Hmm... Why won't this break?" I'm completely fucked.

"... One moment. I'll use my trait to examine what's ahead."

Of course, I can't let any of that show. Keeping my tone impassive, I look ahead and narrow my eyes naturally.

"This is... There seems to be a monster up ahead... Its characteristics are..."

The now-familiar lies flow effortlessly from my mouth, and the others' expressions gradually harden.

When you think about it, that golem really is an absurd monster. We're only on Floor 3. It makes no sense for something so terrifying to appear here.

"But we'll be fine. We have Boss Kang Chan."

But just as that monster defies reason, we have a monster who defies reason, too. His name is Kang Chan.

"Boss Chan just needs to take care of that monster...! You're our only hope, boss...!"

This time, everyone's gaze turns to Kang Chan. He seems slightly taken aback, but he stands silently without letting it show.

"..."

He gently closes his eyes and deliberates at length before giving a small nod.

"Fine. I'll do it."

* * *

Inside the dark, mine-like passage, Kang Chan walks at the front, with the other three of us following behind.

Will this work? No, it has to.

"... That's it."

As we walk in silence, we reach the golem in no time. Right now, it is nothing but chunks of metal scattered about, so we've agreed that Ahn Gyeongjun will throw his spear first to wake it up.

"... Hmm."

The possessed Ahn Gyeongjun takes out his ornately designed wooden spear. Just as he is about to throw it without further ado, Dok Suhui steps in front of him.

"W-wait!"

She hurriedly pulls a piece of wolf heart from inside her clothes.

Just as in the previous run, the piece of heart turns into a burning, transparent flame above her hand, and she places it on the spear.

"Not yet!"

Dok Suhui takes out another piece of heart. This time, she places the mass of flame on Kang Chan's leather armor.

"... What did you do?"

"I used Enchant on your armor! You should feel stronger now."

"... That's fascinating."

Apparently, Enchant has a broader range of applications than I thought. All she had to do was lay the flame on it.

"... I'm really throwing it now."

The possessed Ahn Gyeongjun shoots Dok Suhui a disgruntled glare, then loosens his shoulder.

WHOOSH! BOOM!

The spear tears through the air and strikes the golem's body.

RUMBLE!

The moment the impact lands, the scattered chunks of metal gather together, taking shape.

"..."

Kang Chan strides forward.

The golem finishes assembling in an instant, and its movements are swift. The moment its body is complete, it charges at Kang Chan.

WHOOOSH!

It gathers the chunks that serve as its arm and brings them crashing down at Kang Chan. A blow both fast and heavy. If that attack lands, Kang Chan will be reduced to a splash of blood, just like in the previous run. Even from this far away, watching that terrifying blow makes my knees weak.

"..."

But Kang Chan's expression is calm. He doesn't frantically unleash killing intent like before, nor does he awkwardly twist his body to dodge.

He simply takes his stance and stares at the golem's body.

HUMMMM.

His fist shines. The mass of metal rushes in. His fist moves. The metal is a hair's breadth from reaching him.

"Hup!"

At the very last moment, Kang Chan's fist vanishes.

BOOOOOOOM!

An impact more tremendous than anything I've ever heard rings out.

RUMBLE!

Blinding light, a shaking floor, and a roar that feels loud enough to deafen me. Most of my senses are momentarily overwhelmed.

"..."

A little time passes, and just as my senses return to normal...

"... A door opened up ahead. Let's go."

Kang Chan has turned to look at the three of us.

"... Wow."

Behind him lies a backdrop of shattered metal fragments.

* * *

"Heh, hehe..."

It worked. It finally worked. We finally defeated the golem. I'm overcome with emotion.

Satisfaction wells up from deep within my chest. I knew it. I'm not completely broken. Being able to confirm that makes me feel even better. Maybe I hadn't felt happy because some corner of my heart had been worrying, What if we can't defeat the golem?

But this isn't the end. The passage continues, and we still have challenges to overcome.

"... A door."

As I walk, lost in a sea of thoughts, I find a stone door blocking the way.

A familiar stone door, with four palm-shaped recesses carved into it.

We exchange glances, then place our palms on the stone door. With a thunderous noise, it moves.

"..."

What will come out? A monster? A trap? A puzzle?

But what appears is nothing so threatening.

"This is..."

Torches mounted on the walls. Four large chests in the center of the room.

Four people. Four chests. It's intuitive. Each of us should be able to take one. I don't know what's inside, but given that this is the highest difficulty, it must be something extraordinary.

"..."

But for some reason, no one's gaze lingers on the chests.

"... What's that?"

On the far side of the room are two doors.

One is a stone door in the familiar design we've seen so far. It has four palm-shaped recesses.

The problem... is the other stone door.

Because on that blood-red stone door, there is only a single palm-shaped recess.

A Word from the Author (Afterword)

Thank you, as always, for reading.