The Regressor Is Startled (1)
The Regressor Is Startled (1)
"Ah, geez... seriously... I told you I have ADHD..."
"Still, I'm glad they gave us food..."
"Shh. Stop talking and focus. We need to finish this fast."
Floor 3. While Choi Ji-won and Park Cheol-jin were busy putting together a 4000-piece puzzle.
"Kyaaaaaa!!!"
Without warning, Choi Ji-won clutched her head and rolled on the floor.
"J-Ji-won!!!"
Firefighter Park Cheol-jin flinched in alarm and ran toward her.
"The puzzle, the puzzle!!! Hey!!!"
"No!!!"
The other two recoiled in horror as Park Cheol-jin bumped into the puzzle and sent the pieces flying.
"Ah..."
Choi Ji-won, tears streaming, slowly stood up and pressed her fingers to her lips.
"Ahh...
Tutorial. Goblin Shaman. Betrayal. Despair. Kim Jun-ho's regressor declaration. Blackout.
The crushing failure on Floor 4. Finally finding Kim Jun-ho. The time she spent with him.
Roughly two cycles' worth of memories had burrowed into Choi Ji-won's mind.
"..."
The memories were far too vivid and lucid to dismiss as mere delusion.
'Ji-won. What are these memories? No...'
Even Boongboong-yi seemed to sense the memories, speaking to her in a deeply flustered tone.
"Ji-won, are you okay?"
"Just a moment, sir."
Firefighter Park Cheol-jin tried to help her up, but she refused and stood on her own.
Was this the Tower's meddling? Or had knowledge from the future—or the past—truly flowed into her? There was one way to check.
"The puzzle."
"...What?"
"Where's the puzzle?"
She had to enter Floor 4.
**
"...Ugh."
Morning sunlight crept through the gaps in the blinds. I rubbed my eyes roughly and sat up in a daze.
"...What the hell."
My head felt sluggish. My brain still seemed to be hovering between dream and reality. I scrubbed my face dry to jolt myself awake.
"So..."
Last night.
Choi Ji-won had come to my studio apartment. With the words, "It's been a while."
I'd frozen up, and the moment I processed what was happening, I pulled her into a tight hug. We stayed like that for a long time.
After we let go, we talked. I told her about how I'd fallen into total despair. How I'd secretly resented her. How I'd wasted time like a shut-in.
Choi Ji-won told me how she'd regained her memories of the Tutorial and the previous cycle. How she'd quickly assembled the puzzle and entered Floor 4. How she'd escaped the castle, just as I had, and saved everyone.
When I asked how she'd pulled that off without a related trait, she said that when she revealed herself as "the Choi Ji-won who changed Floor 2," she got full cooperation from everyone. Right—now that I thought about it, Choi Ji-won was already a nationally known celebrity whose personal information had been leaked.
Of course, we had more to say to each other than just Tower stories. We kept talking until it grew dark. We chewed over the memories that only I had remembered, lost in conversation.
But even superhumans get thirsty from talking nonstop, and as luck would have it, my place was out of water.
Drinking from the tap felt a little off, so we went down to the convenience store together. Since we were already out, we grabbed a few cans of beer and some snacks. Back at the studio, we celebrated our reunion with a modest drinking session.
"..."
The mood had been perfectly bright, wholesome, and cheerful.
"Heeeyyy... Kim Jun-hooo... don't you have a girlfriend...?"
"No, dumbass."
"So surprisesiiing..."
Until a tipsy Choi Ji-won started clinging to me. Who would have thought a twenty-year-old girl would be drinking for the first time?
I'd always thought of Choi Ji-won as a friend and a partner. Sure, we'd kissed and parted ways during the last cycle... but isn't that something you can do when emotions run high?
Yet once the alcohol took effect, once the studio slowly filled with her scent, once Choi Ji-won began pressing against me—
"Uh, could you, move away a little?"
Choi Ji-won started to look like a woman.
I'm a healthy man. And Choi Ji-won is an absurdly beautiful woman. Because she does kendo, her figure is incredible, too. Which meant holding back was an enormous ordeal.
"Heeeyyyyy... Kimmm Juun-hhooo..."
"Stay still."
But I managed in the end. I got the drunken Choi Ji-won lying down, cleaned up the table, turned off the light, and lay down on the bed.
I'm a regressor. Suppressing carnal desires with mental fortitude was hard, but it was entirely doable.
Satisfied with my own self-control, I was just about to slip into sleep—
"Hhk."
Something touched. My arm. Something soft.
Choi Ji-won had shifted in her sleep, and her chest ended up pressed against my arm.
"..."
The build was no joke. She'd been seriously underestimated because of the sports bra.
Was it okay to stay like this? Would she be angry when she woke up?
My heart pounded loudly, and heat rushed to my face. After agonizing over it, I made up my mind to act like a proper adult and fix her posture.
"..."
"..."
I hadn't expected to meet her eyes as she looked right at me.
"...You weren't asleep?"
"...I couldn't sleep."
The dark room. Moonlight seeped in faintly. My heartbeat hammered in my ears.
"...What are you staring so hard at?"
Choi Ji-won's lips looked especially alluring. The embarrassment on her face shook my reason. This was my limit.
"...Ji-won."
"...Yeah?"
Even a regressor's ironclad willpower crumbles in the face of overwhelming stimulus, just as pathetically as the castle walls on Floor 4.
And then, and then...
Last night. I did it. With Choi Ji-won.
"Hauugh..."
The moment the memories fully returned, my face blazed red.
How was I supposed to process this? How was I supposed to face her from now on?
While I was scratching the back of my head over the pile of worries—
"..."
"..."
Beside the bed, I made eye contact with Choi Ji-won, who had pulled the blanket up to her nose. Her face was similarly bright red.
"No, uh, I..."
Flustered, I stammered, about to blurt out anything—
"..."
The graceful curves that even the blanket couldn't fully hide. The pale, bare skin. The sweet scent.
They numbed my reason once again.
"..."
"..."
The atmosphere in the room heated up all over again.
**
After straightening up our surroundings and tidying our appearances, the two of us sat down on the edge of the bed.
"It was my first time."
"Yeah... me too..."
"If I had a regression ability, I would have regressed. Since I took damage."
"..."
"...Take responsibility."
"...Okay."
We sat there awkwardly, staring at the floor. Both of our faces were roughly the color of a radish.
No, I get me, but I thought Choi Ji-won was a total catch—why is she so embarrassed?
"F-first... should we eat something?"
"...Yeah."
Not a single exchange took place until we'd roughly gotten through lunch. We could feel that we'd grown closer, yet somehow looking at each other's faces was still mortifying.
"Um, hey..."
I couldn't waste time in complete silence forever. As a change of pace, I brought up a concern I'd been carrying in my heart.
"What do you think the condition is for retaining our memories?"
Choi Ji-won doesn't remember every cycle. She only remembers the Tutorial cycle, and the last cycle.
What is different between all the other cycles, this cycle, and the Tutorial cycle?
What is different between other people and Choi Ji-won?
"...I think there's a high chance it's 'emotion.'"
A keyword the Tower consistently emphasizes. Emotion. I thought that was likely the influence, and Choi Ji-won nodded slightly, apparently thinking the same.
"In the Tutorial, and in the last cycle... I regressed when I was with you, and I got very emotional. That might be the condition."
Over all my time climbing the Tower, even though I'd shuddered at the Tower's irrational systems, I could count on one hand the times I'd felt truly intense emotions directed at a person.
When I was with Choi Ji-won in the Tutorial.
When I was betrayed by Dok Su-hee.
And when I parted with Choi Ji-won this time.
Aside from those, I've never really held strong emotions toward anyone. So, emotion.
"But the tricky part here is..."
Then why, during the Tutorial, did Choi Ji-won's memories not come back? Why did they come back this cycle, even merged with the Tutorial memories?
There must be some trigger besides my emotions. Otherwise, it can't be explained.
"Maybe the condition includes 'my emotions' too?"
Choi Ji-won spoke quietly.
"Honestly... during the Tutorial, I was pretty close to giving up. I'd even considered the possibility that I might be left behind after you regressed. So that cheer I gave you at the end... it wasn't entirely sincere, even just a tiny bit..."
"But it was different in the last cycle?"
"That's right."
Then it makes sense. My emotions, and the emotions of the person involved. The moment those two interlock, they act as a trigger and the memories return. It's a perfectly plausible story.
"The problem is..."
This is all just a hypothesis. There's no way to be sure.
What if Choi Ji-won's memory recovery was a one-time event? What if I regress right now, and she looks at me like a stranger?
There's no catastrophe worse than that. I'm smiling now, but if Choi Ji-won's memories suddenly vanished, I might completely lose my mind.
But to know the exact conditions, a regression would have to happen first. What am I supposed to do in this situation?
"Jun-ho."
Choi Ji-won, seeing me frowning in worry, smiled gently despite her own embarrassment.
"What's the point of agonizing over something you won't get an answer to?"
"...Even so."
"Let's just go to Floor 5 together. What's the worst that could happen?"
"...Floor 5?"
She's right... going to Floor 5 is the best move right now.
When we enter Floor 5, the regression point updates. That means "Choi Ji-won with her memories recovered" gets saved, and the fear of losing the version of her from this moment goes away.
"..."
Most importantly, if we enter Floor 5 together, we can prevent another disaster like Floor 4. The more I think about it, the more this is clearly the best course of action.
"Let's do it."
Now that the plan was set, all that remained was execution. We awkwardly changed clothes in our own corners, got ourselves ready, and opened a portal to Floor 1.
"Hey, Kim Jun-ho."
"...Yeah?"
Face red, eyes averted, Choi Ji-won spoke.
"I'll see you there."
With those words, she threw herself into the portal.
"...Right."
I, too, entered Floor 5 without a moment's delay. To move forward.
[Entering Floor 5.]