Chapter 78 - The Regressor Takes a Beating (9)

The four climbers who entered Floor 3-5 decided to split into pairs to tackle their respective trials.

"... Whew. That was tough, wasn't it?"

"... You did well."

And here were Kang Chan and Ahn Gyeongjun, having defeated the earthen figures and arrived at the entrance to a strange, mine-like area.

The two were waiting for Kim Junho and Dok Suhui.

"The other room... seems to be taking a while."

"... Yes."

Previously, the shy Ahn Gyeongjun and the taciturn Kang Chan had been something of a disastrous combination. But fighting back-to-back to overcome their trial had forged a peculiar bond between them.

Was this what they called the suspension bridge effect? The mismatched pair had somehow grown comfortable with each other.

"Hehe. Anyway, that voice from earlier? Do you remember what it said?"

"... Voice?"

"Yes. The voice we heard when we first entered."

"... Ah."

The solemn voice had said:

["Drink from the cups into which you have shared your blood, and look your comrade straight in the eye. Fully understand the comrade standing shoulder to shoulder with you. Then shall the true trial begin."]

"Does that make us blood brothers-in-arms, then? Though the spirit did the actual fighting..."

Ahn Gyeongjun grinned.

"... Hah."

In a rare display, Kang Chan's lips curved slightly upward as he spoke.

"Weren't we comrades already?"

"Ha, haha... Were we?"

The atmosphere was warm and friendly. Apparently, Ahn Gyeongjun was the sort who was shy at first but talkative once he felt comfortable. He chatted endlessly about everyday matters while Kang Chan listened in silence, nodding along.

How much time passed like that?

STEP. STEP.

"Oh, I think they're coming."

Footsteps sounded from far down the cave passage. Had Kim Junho and Dok Suhui finally cleared their trial too? Just as Ahn Gyeongjun was about to go greet them—

"... Wait."

Kang Chan stopped him.

"Wh-what is it?"

"... There's only one set of footsteps."

STEP. STEP.

Kang Chan was right.

They could hear only one set of footsteps.

And... there should have been two people coming.

"..."

Ahn Gyeongjun's broad smile froze.

Because now he could smell it too.

The bitter, metallic, cloying smell of blood.

STEP. STEP. STEP.

At last, the footsteps stopped.

"..."

Kang Chan unleashed his killing intent at full force, sending it surging outward.

The reason was clear.

Kim Junho stood with his head bowed low. His hair had turned red. No, not just his hair.

Blood. Blood. Blood.

Blood had clotted beneath his fingernails. His leather armor had soaked up so much blood that its color had changed. His entire body was stained crimson.

"... Where's Dok Suhui?"

Only at Kang Chan's question did Kim Junho raise his head.

His lips held a mad smile. A grin so wide it sent chills down the spine.

"... Right here."

He thrust something red and white toward Kang Chan.

"I only brought the part we needed."

It was Dok Suhui's severed right hand.

"Oh, fuck!"

I shot to my feet with a curse.

That's right. I was in the familiar stone chamber, and what I had just seen was a nightmare the tower had shown me.

"Hah, hah..."

Perhaps the tower had realized that most sights no longer fazed me, because it kept showing me visions of myself falling apart.

It seemed to have figured out that my greatest fear was losing my mind and crossing a river I could never return from.

Yeah, to be honest, it wasn't as though I'd never considered cutting off her hand and using it... but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was wrong. It was just too psychotic.

"Sorry, I'm sorry..."

I turned my head slightly and looked down at the weeping Dok Suhui.

I wanted to kill her. Only a saint could forgive someone who had betrayed us at the very last moment.

I was an utterly ordinary person—if anything, I leaned toward petty. Nobody should expect me to magnanimously brush it off with, "These things happen!"

It was a good thing I was a regressor... Without Regression, the other three of us would have been helpless against her. We'd have risked our lives and gone through hell on Floor 3 without getting our rewards. Dok Suhui had to pay for what she'd done.

"..."

But did that justify killing her?

Did I have the right to judge someone for something that hadn't even happened yet? Besides, Dok Suhui hadn't tried to kill us. She had only tried to subdue us.

My head was a mess. One Kim Junho was screaming, "Kill her!" while another Kim Junho argued, "Hey, come on, killing her is going a bit far..."

"Brother... I'm sorry..."

"Hmm..."

After agonizing over it, I made up my mind.

"... Suhui. Please get up."

"Uh, huh?"

"Could I ask you something?"

Whether she tried to play on my sympathies or not...

I'd hear her out before deciding.

* * *

"Here, wipe off some of that sweat..."

"... Thank you."

Dok Suhui and I sat facing each other in an awkward silence. I decided to speak first.

"... Did something happen in the tutorial, by any chance?"

I went straight to the point.

"I wasn't trying to listen, but I overheard you while you were struggling earlier. You were saying things like 'I'm sorry,' 'my brother,' 'tutorial,' and 'shaman'..."

She hadn't actually said "tutorial" or "shaman" here... I'd just taken a guess. I'd seen something before regressing, after all.

"..."

But Dok Suhui didn't answer. Right, it would have been strange for her to spill everything immediately.

I'd have to get things started again.

"Do you happen to know... the tutorial boss, the Goblin Shaman?"

"...! How do you know about that?!"

Only then did she react, her eyes widening.

How did I know? Because I'd seen you use the Goblin Shaman's barrier.

"... I was there too..."

But I hid my thoughts and let my words trail off in a sorrowful voice.

Maybe it was all the regressions, but acting felt completely natural now.

"... Junho..."

A wistful look came into Dok Suhui's eyes. I seized the opportunity and continued.

"... Could you... tell me about it...? When I was struggling too... talking about it helped me a lot..."

I was implying that I, too, had just had a nightmare about the tutorial.

"..."

After agonizing over it for a long time, Dok Suhui finally spoke.

"... All right."

* * *

"... You know there's a hidden boss in the tutorial, right?"

"I saw it. The Minotaur."

"... We killed it."

According to Dok Suhui, the tutorial she and her older brother had been summoned to had an extraordinarily high number of strong people.

"They were all strong, kind... capable... They were incredible people."

Normally, tutorials tended to become every-man-for-himself affairs where the strong preyed on the weak.

But this tutorial was different.

"Fifty people gathered to take down the boss. Instead of fighting each other over the golden orbs, they wanted to try to survive together."

Even the weakest of them had a B-rank trait. They were, quite literally, the elite of the elite.

Obtaining golden orbs and escaping the tutorial would have been easy for them. And yet they hadn't left.

Those fifty-odd heroes had both the ability and the sense of responsibility to choose to defeat the Minotaur and save everyone, even if it meant accepting some casualties.

And so the seal was broken, and one monster clashed with fifty humans.

"... It was a bloodbath."

Thirty of the fifty died. Nineteen others suffered serious injuries or lost body parts. Dok Suhui, who had focused on support, was the only one who came out unscathed.

"But we'd won. We'd survived. So we could smile."

... Until the Goblin Shaman jumped into the swamp, leaving only a staff behind.

"... We searched every inch of the island. We found a golden orb on a dead body, one they hadn't managed to swallow."

Several people. One orb.

Staying on the island meant certain starvation. They had to choose who would survive.

"And the person they chose..."

"Yes. It was me."

Their injuries were severe. Her trait had the greatest potential. She was the youngest.

Because they were such wonderful people, they gave Dok Suhui their chance to survive.

But even the noblest saint... would have feared a meaningless death. They would have wanted to believe they had helped somehow.

"... They told me I could definitely clear this tower. That my trait was useful, so I could do it. That they believed in me."

They wanted their deaths to mean something, and left Dok Suhui with their dying wishes.

And those wishes... became a crushing burden on her shoulders.

"... I've had nightmares every day since then... I'm afraid to fall asleep... Maybe I should have been the one to die there..."

Unable to continue, Dok Suhui wept. She'd said she had been summoned to the tutorial with her older brother.

And her brother had probably...

"..."

Regardless of what Dok Suhui had done, compassion welled up inside me. I'd been through something similar.

"... I went through the same thing."

"..."

"After the Goblin Shaman killed itself in the swamp with the golden orbs, I had to flee, leaving my dearest friend behind in the tutorial."

That day, the day the Goblin Shaman betrayed me.

In the tutorial clearing, as the sun slowly set.

I lost the first person who had understood me—my companion and my friend.

"... That wound still hurts."

"..."

"But... I'm still trying. If I give up, that sacrifice will have been meaningless."

Those were my true feelings, without a single lie.

The Choi Jiwon I had seen that day was already gone from this world. The Choi Jiwon here now was a different Choi Jiwon.

And my friend Choi Jiwon had told me that I could do it. That I should keep moving forward.

... Regression was agonizing, but I kept going. For the dear friend I could no longer see.

"... You're amazing."

Tears streaming down her face, Dok Suhui gave a small nod.

"I... pretend I'm fine on the outside, but inside, I'm festering. But you, Junho... I can feel that you've overcome it. I think that's incredible. I... I... could never do that..."

This wasn't the cold woman I'd first seen.

Nor was it the cheerful woman she'd been until now.

Dok Suhui was smiling at me, revealing her true self, wounded and tormented.

"..."

Slowly, her emotions flowed into me.

-Awe [B] >>> Awe [A]

-Trait evolving.

-Awe [A]

-Praise for your greatness. Fear of the unfathomable.

-You may use a weakened version of a target's trait once if they are affected by Awe.

-Dok Suhui: Inventory (SSS) >>> Synthesis/Explosion (B-)

"..."

SSS-rank. Thanks to that, my Awe trait had evolved.

No, more importantly, it had been a while since I'd experienced this emotional transference. I could feel that she genuinely thought I was amazing.

"... Junho."

After wiping her tears with the back of her forearm, Dok Suhui looked straight into my eyes.

"The rewards for Floor 3. If they're distributed rather than given individually... I want all of them. Please invest in me. So I can clear this tower."

"..."

"I believe you'll understand. No, perhaps nobody but you could understand me. If I fall apart here, the people who died for me will have died for nothing."

I hesitated to answer. The two Kim Junhos inside my head were fighting more fiercely than ever. They'd even taken the fight to the ground.

"And... I have a way to subdue Ahn Gyeongjun and Kang Chan. For Kang Chan, I can use the Goblin Shaman's staff I got in the tutorial..."

"...?"

Until Dok Suhui started saying something strange.

"Um..."

"Yes? What is it?"

"Why subdue them...?"

"Because I need all the rewards. They are remarkable people, yes... but I can put the rewards to far better use. I thought you understood, Junho?"

"Uh..."

"My trait rank is probably higher too... I'm smart... and responsible... Besides, it's for the greater good, so they can understand... It's not like I'm going to kill them..."

"..."

Choosing my words carefully, I could only offer the most basic solution.

"Don't subdue them. I'll try to persuade them. Don't do anything unnecessary. Understood?"

"... Yes."

After a long silence, Dok Suhui nodded.

'This is a bit...'

'I told you she was a crazy bitch, you moron.'

The two Kim Junhos in my head stopped trading submission holds.

Because the eyes of Dok Suhui, her true self now exposed... were steeped in madness.

"... Let's go."

And at last, I was able to decide what to do about Dok Suhui.