Chapter 67 8. The Returnee
The Regressor
Episode 68
The moment the word "regressor" was uttered,
a suffocating killing intent withered the air. The atmosphere in the room shrank under her influence.
It felt as though thousands of needles were stabbing into my body.
To think she could manifest killing intent so directly...
Indeed, the title of "regressor" was no empty boast.
『Status Window』
Name: Tirpe
Level: 35
Height: 168.1 cm, 51 kg
Race: Human
Title: Blindfolded Seeker
Occupation: —
Gender: Female (24)
Origin: Earth
Sexual Experience: 0 (0 men)
Measurements: 94 - 60 - 92
Status: Focused
+Stats
[Strength 82] [Agility 125] [Stamina 35] [Mana 354]
+Abilities
[Chastisement]
[შემობრუნდი]
+Skills
[Black Magic (Heroic)]
[Superior Sorcery (Heroic)]
[Voodoo Arts (Rare)]
[Thorns Bite Into the Weight of Sin (Rare)]
[Spiritual Body Technique (Rare)]
[Small Subspace Storage (Rare)]
And on top of those grotesque stats...
Regression, possession, reincarnation.
The so-called "regression-possession-reincarnation" trio—major tropes in fantasy.
The Great Peace Sect, along with other deviations from the original scenario, could all be explained by that single word.
Even if it was just because of a possessor like me, the original story had already gone off the rails. But surely there couldn't be another person like me?
That complacent assumption was pure negligence.
The emergence of factions that didn't exist in the original was a red flag I should have paid attention to.
"There might be others besides me who are distorting the original story."
The most decisive clue had been Park Se-eun's school.
I had read about the school's collapse—how Tirpe had destroyed Seongmun General High School with black magic and lost her mind in the process. But since it was just a past event, I could only vaguely skim through Tirpe's information.
So I had merely suspected she was a regressor.
But it wasn't until I infiltrated the Great Peace Sect and read the contract that I became certain.
The high-level sorcerous language used in the contract had been written three years ago.
That was undeniably magic used before the Tower appeared.
Even as a possessor, I knew magic existed.
But only as part of the game's UI.
I had no idea how magic actually functioned in reality.
Even Park Ha-rin, a once-in-a-generation genius, only sensed mana after the Tower appeared.
She, too, had only used mana instinctively—she had no knowledge of magic, the systematic accumulation of human understanding.
So how could a magical contract have been established on Earth, a place utterly disconnected from magic?
The answer was...
"She learned it from the Tower."
Sorcery sophisticated enough to communicate with the Lord of Corpses.
That could only be obtained from the Tower.
But the Tower hadn't been open for long.
Moreover, once you entered the Tower, you couldn't leave for an extended period—you were trapped in another dimension.
Do Ro-rang had been an exception, having left temporarily to complete a Tower quest.
No, actually, far more important than that was...
"You can't make contact with an Administrator at the level of the Tower's 5th floor."
In other words, forming a contract with the Lord of Corpses would require skills only obtainable beyond the 50th floor.
Which left only two possible conclusions.
Among the trio of regression, possession, and reincarnation—
someone with transcendent intervention had traveled back through time.
「The Regressor」
"...Huuuh."
The woman glaring at me was precisely that—someone who had turned back time.
"..."
Honestly, I had suspected Park Ha-rin was the regressor.
The chilling gaze she occasionally directed at me was enough to make me fall into that delusion.
But Park Ha-rin wasn't the regressor.
No, I couldn't say for certain, but at the very least, she wasn't the one pulling the strings behind the Great Peace Sect.
From the moment I possessed this body—perhaps even before that—the true regressor had been moving behind the scenes.
Yes. A deranged specter who had returned to the past with knowledge of the future... was standing right before me.
Gulp.
The woman with disheveled long hair hardened her expression. She nervously chewed on her fingernail, wedging it between her teeth.
"You... you're..."
She was tall for a woman. Lean to the point of appearing gaunt.
"Why... are you... here...?"
Her twitching, sunken eyes were framed by dark circles.
At a glance, they looked decadent.
Even if you ignored the murderous intent veiling them, their shape alone was sultry enough to feel obscene.
That bewitching aura clung to her entire body, accentuating her ample chest and hips.
Though skinny, her glamorous figure couldn't be hidden by the priestess robes.
My gaze lingered a moment too long on her swaying breasts before I managed to tear my eyes away.
Just then, her information was revealed to me.
「შემობრუნდი」
It was a string of characters even the system couldn't decipher.
But as time passed, 「Read」 faintly translated it.
「შემობრუნდი (To reverse, to turn back)」
Precisely that kind of word.
"Uuuugh..."
Tirpe, the Great Peace Sect's enforcer.
An irregular character who hadn't existed in Tower Journey, the game I had played hundreds of times.
The woman who shattered the knowledge I had of the game.
And the woman who had lived as a regressor, born with a mysterious 「Ability」 hidden in the game's depths.
"At least dozens of regressions."
As I thoroughly read her inner thoughts, I roughly grasped her past.
─I've failed... again this time...
Tirpe had used her "Revert" ability to return to the past.
With it, she employed knowledge gained from the future to lay the foundation for conquering the Tower from Earth.
'That foundation was the Great Peace Sect.'
Using the Great Peace Sect as her base, she sought to climb higher.
She installed the sect leader as a figurehead while hiding behind the scenes, secretly imparting teachings to the executives.
Tirpe, the Great Peace Sect's executor, was the true power behind the sect.
The real mastermind manipulating the Great Peace Sect from the shadows.
'It was a good plan.'
But her mistake was getting involved with my sister.
"I personally ended the cult you created. You're welcome, right?"
"Gyaaaaah!!"
Tirpe screamed as she tore at her hair. Her eyes bulged wildly, as if about to burst from their sockets.
Instantly, her mental state also wavered, becoming unstable.
『Tirpe's mental state has become unstable.』
Well, it made sense.
Her grand plans had all crumbled to dust.
The Great Peace Sect she'd prepared to exploit in the Tower had been annihilated by my hand, and her Tower conquest strategy had been ruined because of me.
Most critically... Tirpe couldn't escape to the past.
『「შემობრუნდი(Revert)」 ⅓ Plunder Quest』
+
---------------------------
「Steal the mysterious woman's last bastion!」
Infiltrate the Great Peace Sect to deduce 「Tirpe」's identity (Complete)
Destroy 「Tirpe」's foundation, the 「Great Peace Sect」 (Complete)
Gain recognition from the 「Lord of Corpses」 whom 「Tirpe」 sought to cling to (Complete)
---------------------------
『Upon meeting conditions, steal ⅓ of 「შემობრუნდი(Revert)」 to limit the target's abilities.』
『To fully steal it, you must acquire a skill derived from 「Seize」.』
『You can now use 「შემობრუნდი(Revert)」 ⅓.』
Ever since I partially read Tirpe through past recordings,
I'd been acting to steal her ability regardless of what it was.
Who could have guessed it would be 「შემობრუნდი(Revert)」?
The interpretation took so long that I hadn't realized until now.
"...You... it was you...?"
As a result, Tirpe hadn't returned to the past until now. No—she couldn't.
『Park Si-hyun's Abilities』
『「შემობრუნდi(Revert)」 ⅓』
With even a third of her ability stolen, she couldn't easily interfere with the world's spacetime.
She must have realized that too, which is why she couldn't recklessly commit suicide either.
Meaning, this regression cycle was truly her last.
"You... you stole my ability...!"
Instantly, boiling hatred surged from her blurred irises.
I was the one who destroyed the Great Peace Sect she'd nurtured from the shadows.
I was the one who prevented her from using her ability properly.
But was there any reason to hide it?
None.
"Yeah. It was me."
Because I was stronger than her.
"!"
"Your ability was delicious. Slurp."
The bewildered black man's gaze darted between us in confusion.
No matter how much he rolled his eyes, he wouldn't understand.
The rift between me and Tirpe was something no third party could possibly comprehend.
"Aah, aah, ah..."
Tirpe hung her head in despair.
Yet the trembling in her shoulders refused to stop.
"My..."
Her face, shadowed by long bangs—within them, dead eyes gleamed.
Excessive killing intent dripped from her pupils like drops of liquid. The despair of losing her regression.
"Let... go...!!!"
Kugugugung!
With a shriek, black magic power erupted from Tirpe's shadow.
The shadow took the form of black rose thorns. Sharp vine tips targeted me as they shot forth.
[Thorns Bite Into the Weight of Sin (Rare)]
Even the hesitant black man aimed for my back.
In front—rose vines stretching relentlessly with no escape. Behind—the black man...?
'Disgusting, isn't it...?'
As if we'd been coordinating for days, the black man's fist filled the gaps between the vines.
But it was meaningless.
『Park Si-hyun's Stats』
[Strength G-][Agility G-][Stamina G-][Mana G-]
It's not like you're a Ranker from the 5th Floor.
Uuuuung!
『Skill 「Circuit of Reckless Uncertainty (Rare)」 accelerates.』
『Skill 「Mana Operation (Rare)」 activates.』
『「Seize」 activates.』
The scale of mana I wielded was on a different level from the black man's.
My fist already carried—
『「Amplification」 active.』
—the power to threaten even the frontline heroes of the 5th Floor.
Kwaaaaang!
A single punch unleashed a storm of mana. The rose-shaped constructs couldn't even maintain form, shattering into fragments of black magic. As I charged forward, I summoned the Holy Sword into my right hand.
"Ghk—urk?!"
I chased after the Black Mage who had been sent flying by the explosion of mana.
"Mana... circuit?"
Tirpe, who had been blankly watching the scene, muttered under her breath. A moment later, the Black Mage's severed head went flying through the air.
Just like Mana Operation, the Mana Circuit was something impossible to obtain during the Tutorial.
That Mana Circuit spun silently within my heart.
A whisper escaped from between teeth gnawing at fingernails.
"Y-you... you... wh-who... who the hell... are you...?"
Tirpe didn't even spare a glance at the Black Mage's corpse.
I cast a pitying look at the nameless, decapitated man.
I had wondered if he was her disciple, given that he possessed the Black Magic (Normal) skill, but in the end, it seemed there had been no personal connection between them.
'Poor bastard.'
I cut off my thoughts and turned to Tirpe.
"You don't recognize me? That's pretty cold, Regressor."
"I-I-I asked who... the hell you are!"
Tirpe fidgeted uncontrollably. The pitch of her voice fluctuated erratically, like a broken record.
I was getting bored, so I rubbed the back of my neck.
"What's this about? You don't know me? I'm Park Si-hyun."
This wasn't some narcissistic delusion.
Tirpe's mind was layered with the accumulated darkness of dozens of lifetimes.
There was no way she wouldn't know me—Park Si-hyun—after countless regressions.
'This body is a cheat, after all. The only reason she wouldn't have tried to recruit me is... because she needed more time to analyze me, or maybe she just wanted to ask directly—'
But.
"I-I don't know y-you! I don't! Wh-who the hell are you?! Why are you—why are you interfering with me?!"
Tirpe spat out the words in a single breath, her voice laced with barely restrained fury.
'She's seeing me for the first time?'
An unexpected wave of confusion washed over me.
"...Do you know Park Ha-rin?"
Screech.
"Why... would I know... some random woman...?"
Tirpe muttered as she compulsively scratched at her neck.
I used Read to confirm her emotional state and inner thoughts.
...She was telling the truth.
She genuinely didn't know Park Ha-rin.
"...What about Hayase? Kang So-eun? No, have you ever seen Park Se-eun before?"
Geniuses who couldn't help but stand out in the Tower.
Yet this regressor didn't even recognize their names.
"...Shut up. Shut up! Shut up! Stop spouting nonsense and just—give me back my ability...!"
It was clear. The regressor didn't know the heroines.
"......How many times have you regressed?"
This is how my Read works:
I read the target's consciousness. Then, I delve into their inner world, sifting through an ocean of information.
Occasionally, I stumble upon the exact piece of knowledge I need.
I could never extract the exact information I wanted in a short time.
That's why I hadn't realized.
That Tirpe's mind was more tangled and chaotic than anyone else's.
That's why the answers I sought weren't immediately visible.
She just kept mumbling incoherently, refusing to answer. But it didn't matter.
—...129 times. H-how the hell... did you figure out how many times I've regressed...?
Because I had already read that thought—129 regressions.
But even after that many lifetimes, Park Ha-rin, Park Se-eun, Hayase, and Kang So-eun had never caught her attention.
That was impossible.
"Then... do you at least know Gleis, Rapaelleu, Ha-jeu...? Or Disepon?"
—Disepon... I know him?
She knew Disepon.
"...."
Disepon had been a famous name even before the protagonist entered the Tower.
The important thing here was that he was male.
He was the guy we had to begrudgingly drag into the party during the late game when we were trying to take down Park Ha-rin, the so-called "Demon King of the Era"—because we needed a male party member.
'But she doesn't know the heroines.'
I frowned at the gap in information.
"My ability... give it... back!"
Unable to hold back any longer, thin veins bulged in Tirpe's pupils.
Her eyes, scrunched up as if struggling against some deep unease.
Tirpe clutched her temples, wincing from a migraine.
Meanwhile, I walked toward her without a word.
Mana ignited in my right hand.
Like flames lingering on my palm.
"Seems like you and I have a lot to talk about."
I wasn't just recklessly expelling mana.
The Mana Circuit shaped it efficiently, amplifying its force in a controlled rhythm.
Tirpe noticed the difference.
Her chest heaved as she lowered her head. From between strands of pale black hair, a murderous glint flickered in her eyes.
"I-I have nothing... to say to you...!"
"No, you do."
Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't have had anything to talk about.
No matter how much Tirpe had suffered as a regressor worn down by countless cycles, in this iteration, she was a villain who had tried to sacrifice tens of thousands.
I had originally planned to kill her on sight.
'But now there's something I need to know.'
In the world she had lived through, Park Ha-rin, Park Se-eun, and I didn't exist.
She was a regressor from a Tower Journey timeline that had diverged from the original.
I had to bridge the gap between the information I knew and this altered reality.
The only question was—how to pry open the mouth of this lunatic?
'Beat the answers out of her first.'
In my right hand, the Holy Sword of Sacrifice.
In my left, the Thorn Tip of Sin Absolution, shaped into a longsword.
"It'll be easier if you talk on your own."
At my insulting words, Tirpe's eyes rolled back.
"—!"
The regressor, having lost all reason, let out a shriek.
Black Magic surged from her hands, twisting into a long whip before lashing toward me.