The Regressor Is Too Weak (1)
The Regressor Is Too Weak (1)
"Fuck! Where is this!"
A loud voice from somewhere yanked me out of sleep. Maybe some drunk was causing a scene outside.
"Ugh... my head..."
I clutched my throbbing head and carefully propped myself halfway up.
My whole body ached like crazy. Had I passed out outside after drinking last night? No. I even remembered punching in my front-door code.
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and forced them open. What I saw wasn't my familiar cramped studio. It was countless people rising around me.
My back was damp. I felt around. The ground beneath me was damp soil. Setting aside the shared quality of 'soft,' this was about a hundred million light-years removed from a bed.
Come to think of it, there were way too many trees around. Excessively so.
"...Huuh. Hah."
I took a deep breath. The air was impossibly clean and crisp. Was this that phytoncide taste?
I had no idea where this was, but it definitely wasn't Korea.
A wide clearing surrounded by trees. Countless people sat within it.
"Fuck! I said, where is this?! You need consent before pulling shit like this!"
They say that when something is too absurd, words fail you. Other than that bald man shrieking at the top of his lungs, no one raised their voice.
"What... fuck... what the hell..."
Just as the raging man finally ran out of steam and started panting—
Poof!
With a cute sound effect, a winged, childlike being revealed itself.
"Hello! You lowly humans doing such a splendid job of wasting your lives! Nice to meet you!"
It greeted us cheerfully, but between words, glimpses of its pointed teeth flashed as sharp as any predator's.
I'd woken up in an unfamiliar place packed with people who, like me, seemed to have been dragged here—and now a winged, fairy-like thing was showing up?
This situation felt eerily familiar. No, not just familiar—downright cliché.
"That's the Tutorial Fairy from webtoons..."
Someone murmured.
They were right.
Floating above our heads was the all-too-familiar Tutorial Fairy.
The very Tutorial Fairy who would blow your head clean off if you so much as got on its nerves.
"..."
I clamped my hanging jaw shut.
Run my mouth off for no reason, and I might end up as an unlucky prologue victim with an exploded head.
A lot of people must have thought the same, because the clearing sank into a heavy silence.
"Ah... um... nope..."
Even the pot-bellied bald man who looked like he had something to say nervously glanced around and carefully sat back down.
Everyone sat obediently, like a flock of tame sheep.
Maybe displeased with our behavior, the Tutorial Fairy pouted discontentedly.
"...Hmm. Is there anyone who wants to speak their mind? Or perhaps offer some constructive feedback? If it's now, I'm willing to consider it... positively?"
Its fingers practically twitching to do something, the Tutorial Fairy flitted around, trying to meet people's eyes.
But instead of defying the fairy, people avoided its gaze and lowered their heads.
"...You all seem to know us pretty well by now, huh? For lowly humans, you even know your place?"
The thing was trying its own little provocations, but...
Unfortunately for the fairy, there wasn't a single idiot in this clearing stupid enough to hand it an excuse to pop a head.
"...Fwuh. Guess I have to do this by the book."
The fairy looked noticeably deflated. Popping people's heads in the tutorial must have been one of life's little pleasures.
"...I'll just give the essential explanation and get this over with, okay? I don't want to do it either, but it's procedure so I can't help it."
With a voice mixed with irritation, sorrow, and sheer laziness, the fairy slowly began its explanation.
To sum up the fairy's words... God had recently grown sick and tired of mankind's arrogance, and Earth had been placed on God's judgment stand.
Humanity had been driven into a corner where it had to prove its worth, and the method for doing so was climbing this very tower.
We were the chosen humans summoned to climb the tower.
It was a setup I'd seen plenty of times in tower-climbing stories.
Basically, "If you don't want everyone to die, climb the tower!" was the gist.
"So, any one of you has to clear Floor 66 of this tower. Otherwise, humanity goes extinct. Got it?"
"..."
People nodded silently and cautiously.
"Alright, the rough background is done... grab whatever catches your eye here..."
The fairy dropped assorted weapons into the middle of the clearing with a clatter.
"The system will give you the detailed explanation... Tutorial start!"
It flicked its wrist lazily and vanished with a cute poof! sound effect.
Even after the fairy disappeared, an awkward silence hung in the air.
"What the fuck... my phone isn't even working..."
"This isn't a hidden camera, right? I've seen YouTubers build Squid Game sets... this is something like that, isn't it..."
"Didn't they say a bunch of simultaneous disappearances happened recently...? Could it be connected?"
Only then did people start murmuring cautiously.
Words they'd been too overwhelmed to speak earlier were now spilling out all around.
"...Ha. Fuck."
I let out a quiet curse too.
I'd fallen asleep at home. When I opened my eyes, I'd been summoned into a tower.
Intellectually, I knew that stories from novels and webtoons had become reality, but it still hadn't fully sunk in.
I almost pinched my cheek like a comic protagonist, then stopped, thinking it was a stupid thing to do.
"...I really did enter a tower."
If this tower was similar to the novels I'd read... dangers would be lurking outside this clearing. God's malice, prepared to take my life.
From now on, I had to put my life on the line. Realizing that fact only made my headache worse.
"Hoo... let's think positive."
Even in a tiger's den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you. Feeling depressed won't help a thing. Now is the time to think and make plans.
In a tower tutorial, what do main characters usually do?
"...A tower tutorial."
The moment the phrase 'tower tutorial' crossed my mind, one thing came to me.
Something inseparable from towers, like fish-shaped pastry and sweet red bean paste, or hot dogs and ketchup.
"Status Windooooow!!"
Another man had the same idea. The cry of "Status Window" echoed powerfully through the clearing.
"What... what's wrong with that kid...?"
"Did he eat something weird?"
The middle-aged aunties and uncles unfamiliar with tower-climbing stories glared at him like he was a lunatic, but the youngsters who knew the cliché watched his mouth with a hint of anticipation.
"It came up! It appeared! The Status Window, I said it came up!"
The man who had shouted "Status Window" cheered like a striker who had just scored a goal.
"Status Window!"
"Status Windooow!"
"Sta-tus Win-dow!"
Seeing his reaction, as if they'd been waiting, people everywhere started shouting "Status Window."
"...Status Window."
I also looked around carefully and mumbled it under my breath.
[Name: Kim Jun-ho] [LV:1]
[Traits]
-Regression [EX]
A familiar-looking transparent message window appeared before my eyes.
It was so shabby I was almost embarrassed to call it a Status Window. Shouldn't it at least have some stats?
But my attention was drawn elsewhere.
"...Regression?"
Forcing my trembling finger to move, I pressed firmly on the word [Regression].
-Regression [EX]
-Regresses to the moment you first entered each floor. No limit on the number of times.
Such an absurdly brief description.
But anyone who has read their fair share of web novels knows: the simpler the description, the more broken the ability.
"It came up!"
I couldn't contain my joy and let out a shout.
Death Regression. It's the ability that always shows up when you're asked to pick an overpowered power.
Because returning to the past upon death was no different from being invincible.
The key was being able to return to the past with knowledge of the future.
I'd been given an opportunity to keep growing stronger without end.
Of course, death regressors usually get the absolute shit kicked out of them.
Will the struggle ahead be hard? Sure, but it beats dying permanently, doesn't it?
This ability makes you practically immortal as long as your mental fortitude holds. I had been chosen.
I am the protagonist.
I am the hero who will conquer this tower and save Earth.
A sense of exhilaration spread to every corner of my body. I could barely contain the trembling.
"Woohoo!"
I sprang to my feet and bolted toward the dense thicket ahead.
Goblins? Orcs? Bring it on.
I am invincible, and the regression ability is overpowered.
Just as I was about to charge through the thicket—
"Ouch."
The leaves were surprisingly sharp. A blade of grass cut my ankle, and tiny beads of blood welled up.
It's fine. It's a minor scratch. Information gathering comes first right now.
I had to check what lay beyond this clearing.
No. Calm down. I was too worked up.
My hands were empty. I realized I'd dashed out without even picking up a weapon.
Even now, if I went back and grabbed a sword, at least one—
"Huh?"
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 0.]
At least one—
I—
I blacked out just like that.
***
"Fuck! Where is this!"
My head throbbed like crazy.
A familiar voice. It was that man from earlier.
I instinctively realized I had regressed. I'd already lived through this situation once.
But how? When had I died?
Had that dense thicket been coated in poison or something?
But if I'd died from poison, it hadn't hurt at all, and my mind was perfectly clear right up until the moment I regressed.
Then... had I regressed because of something other than death?
I recalled the message I'd glimpsed just before regressing.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 0.]
Taken damage... had I taken damage?
I didn't recall getting hit by anyone.
"No... no way..."
Don't tell me... I regressed because of that tiny grass cut?
It was barely a single drop of blood.
I instinctively looked around the clearing.
Green here.
Green there.
The moment you stepped outside the clearing, the undergrowth was so thick you couldn't even see the ground.
It might as well have been a living prison made of grass and trees.
If... if just getting cut by a blade of grass really did make me regress...
"...Fuck."
Even getting out of this clearing seemed like it was going to be extremely difficult.