The Regressor Trains (10)
The Regressor Trains (10)
"..."
The number [31] inside the elevator and the [4] outside it.
To confirm my hypothesis, I erased the [31] and entered [25].
[10]
The instant it changed, the number outside reverted to [10]. Which meant the sum of the inside and outside numbers was fixed at [35].
"What are you doing?"
"..."
Whether the acne-scarred man was talking to me or not, I wiped my face with my palm and sorted my thoughts. My guess was spot on. Only one person could enter this elevator at a time. And unlike a normal elevator, it had a 'Confirm' button. Which meant...
"Hold on! Everyone, step away from the elevator for a moment, will you?"
The moment my hunch solidified into certainty, the bespectacled woman's voice rang out from outside.
"Huh? Why?"
"I think I've figured out Floor 12. Everyone, gather round! Sit here!"
The bespectacled woman stood with her hands on her hips, radiating confidence. She strode into the elevator, grabbed me by the arm and the acne-scarred man by the arm, and pulled us outside.
Once we were seated on the metal chairs, she launched into her explanation.
"Alright, listen. I think this is some kind of loyalty game."
She pushed her glasses up, her voice brimming with certainty.
"I fiddled with the number pad inside earlier, and the maximum number you can enter is 35. Which happens to match the [35] written above the elevator. The rules also stated that only one person can take the 'test' at a time, and each person can enter once per cycle. Do you see what that means?"
"...I don't get it."
"It means we each have to go into the elevator once and combine our entries to reach that sum of [35]."
So the bespectacled woman had reached the same conclusion I had. Those glasses weren't just for show, apparently.
"Here's my theory. Each time one of us enters the elevator, we can input a certain number, press the confirm button, and take some kind of 'test.' When all five turns are over, the sum of the numbers we chose should equal 35. The higher the number you enter, the harder the test will be."
Five people pick a number, then each enters the elevator once. So the five of us just have to make the numbers add up to [35].
"That [35] is probably the sum of the numbers next to the rewards we picked... So, you all saw 1, 5, and 10, right? Which reward did you choose?"
Were my expectations just too low? Or was this woman simply sharp? Watching her piece things together, I nodded to myself with satisfaction. Yeah. This is more like it.
"I chose 10."
I had nothing to hide, so I openly admitted to picking 10. To reach a total of 35 using five numbers from 1, 5, and 10, you'd need two 10s and three 5s. So, besides me, one other person chose 10... and the rest chose 5.
The standard strategy for this floor was simple: everyone enters the number matching their chosen reward into the elevator and passes the corresponding 'test.' Think of it as paying your share, like splitting a bill.
"Really? I chose 5. What about you guys?"
"...5, same."
"I just played it safe with 5, too."
"It's my first time, so I went with 5."
"..."
The problem... was that we already had a freeloader. As I said, two people chose 10. But the other four all claimed they picked 5. One person was lying.
"Hey, you serious right now?"
The bespectacled woman glared around, her face twisting as she realized there was a liar. I'd heard the other four were a team, and look at this.
"We may not have been together long, but we're still a team, aren't we? How can you pull something like this?"
"...You said you haven't been together long?"
"Ah, yes. We started moving together from Floor 11, so..."
"..."
Come to think of it, Floors 6 through 10 are solo floors. No wonder their teamwork is shaky.
"No, I really did pick 5, okay?"
"It's not me. I swear on my mom's life. Really."
"...I also... picked 5..."
Regardless, the other three kept pleading innocence. Their faces actually looked genuinely wronged... or was the bespectacled woman pulling a reverse bluff? No, don't jump to conclusions. With regression, the truth would come out eventually. For now, smoothing things over and gathering information was more important.
"Everyone, don't fight. Since the Tower blocks information, finding the culprit is impossible anyway. Let's move on and deal with it later. The important thing is passing the test, right?"
"...Yeah."
"What we're overlooking is that we don't even know what the 'test' actually is."
It could be fighting a monster, solving a puzzle, or even pain directly injected into the brain. Point is, without knowing the test type, charging in blindly is a bad idea.
"So, I'd like to make a suggestion. We pick one brave volunteer to enter [1] and take the test."
Since we didn't know the test's nature, we'd have someone input 1—the presumably easiest difficulty—to test the waters. I thought that was an extremely rational suggestion.
"But..."
However, there was one problem.
"That person was originally supposed to enter 5 or 10... but they'd be entering 1 instead, right?"
"Correct."
"Then how do we make up for the missing number?"
Exactly. In a squad run, if one person slacks off, someone else has to pick up the slack. But there was a solution for that, too.
"I'll enter [19] instead. No, better yet, I'll take on the entire remaining [34]. It's fine."
In other words, I would shoulder the load. Honestly, this was how I'd been handling every floor so far. With my regression-enhanced strength, I'd take on all the problems others were supposed to handle and just smash through.
The approach had worked beautifully up to now, which was why I'd said it with a generous, magnanimous air.
"Hold on."
The man with the dot-like features strode over and planted himself in front of me.
"I think that approach is wrong."
"...?"
"If you do that, you're blocking our chance to grow, aren't you?"
"..."
"We came into the Tower to get stronger. So if you just sweep up all the enemies like that, don't we lose our chance to grow? Both in experience points and combat experience."
His tone was deeply unpleasant, but the man had a point. It was the same issue I'd been wrestling with since the Tutorial and Floor 4.
If I charged ahead and crushed every trial, others lost their chance to fight. Especially on Floor 4: the people I saved there survived and got an Elixir, but they missed the opportunity to fight monsters and earn massive experience. Saying they took a loss because of me wasn't wrong.
But did that mean I should just let them die? Should I let people who put their lives on the line die just because they signed up? A cop or a firefighter might stop someone from jumping off a building out of duty, but I'm not a cop, and this isn't normal society. Is it right to drag old-world morals into this place?
"We're not people you need to babysit. If you really want to scout with [1], then you do it yourself."
"..."
I see. Maybe he was right. Maybe I'd been too selfish. Maybe I'd been robbing others of their 'chance to grow.' I'd thought I was the one losing out by being a pushover, but maybe the opposite was true.
That doesn't mean I'll just stand by and watch people die. But it's clear that sweeping up every enemy is wrong too. Finding a proper compromise is the right call. Hm, feels like I've achieved some personal growth.
Fine. This time, I'll play by their reasoning.
"Alright. I'll pick 1 and go scout. Does everyone agree?"
"Yeah, well..."
"Okay."
"Understood."
I glanced around once, then slowly stepped into the elevator and entered [1]. The elevator hummed to life and began to move.
After about 30 seconds, it stopped and the doors opened. A completely white space stretched out before me. The walls, the floor, everything was stark white, making it impossible to judge distance. It felt like an empty void with just this single elevator hanging in the middle.
"...Hm."
-The test will now begin.
The moment I stepped out of the elevator and looked around, a flat, monotonous voice sounded out. At the same time, a dark, mannequin-like shape staggered to its feet up ahead. This was similar to what I'd experienced on Floor 5.
"So I just have to kill this thing."
A black mannequin with a large [1] marked on its head slowly approached, gripping a rod that looked like a wooden bat. But its movements were sluggish, and its limbs trembled slightly, as if it was feigning fear.
"..."
Slishk!
It wasn't even a fight. I simply cut its head off with my sword, and the mannequin couldn't block it.
-Test complete. Please return to the waiting area.
"...Seems doable."
Even as a level 1 test, the difficulty was clearly low. Easier than the mutant goblins in the Tutorial.
Come to think of it, the people stuck on Floor 11 weren't there because the floor itself was hard; they couldn't climb because the dwarves wouldn't sell them Passage Stones. For top-tier players, the Tower's lower floors were easy. Their specs were so high now that calling them over-spec'd would be an understatement.
The guys with me just now might be sloppy, but they were probably top-ranked players too. If so... this would be a smooth, clean clear of Floor 12. After clearing it once, I'd head back to reality and rest. Ji-won would be worried; I should prepare an explanation for her in advance.
There was a time when I thought that way.