The Regressor Trains (16)
The Regressor Trains (16)
Choi Ji-won had just finished a roughly thirty-minute call with the Association.
"So... there's news about the real world, and news about the Tower. Which do you want to hear first?"
"...The real world first."
"Got it."
Choi Ji-won popped open a can of cola she'd just bought from a convenience store and handed it to me, then started talking.
"First... the reason you had to wait eleven days was, when it comes down to it, probably because of me."
"...What?"
The story was that top-ranked players, fired up after seeing Choi Ji-won's overwhelming performance, had agreed among themselves not to enter the Tower for a full two weeks, meaning the people I'd tackled Floor 12 with were at best upper-mid-tier.
"And it turned out I wasn't being ostracized. Everyone was just trying to recruit me and jockeying for position."
"...So the US is shocked and China's on edge, that sort of thing?"
"Pfft, yeah. Something like that."
The real reason we'd had so much trouble gathering information, apparently, was the power struggle among countless organizations. The world was already watching Choi Ji-won.
"And you know the Player Association? Michael Jeter."
"Yeah, I know him. Why, what's up with him?"
"That guy... hasn't been seen for a while, from what I hear."
"...What? Are you sure?"
"Yeah. The Association probably didn't tell me everything... but this much is definite."
Even Michael Jeter, the Player Association chairman who'd left a message on Floor 2, was now unaccounted for.
Besides that, Choi Ji-won had also received a list of promising players and a file on the groups they'd formed. This was exactly the kind of information I needed most. The Tower never changed. Each floor's content was fixed, so there were no variables. So all variables came from people. And if I had a player list? There was no way that wouldn't help.
"Oh... and they talked about you, too."
"...Me? Kim Jun-ho?"
"Yeah. They didn't seem to know we're in a relationship, but based on how we acted together on Floor 2 and the fact that we both got Elixirs on Floor 4, they'd guessed we're working together."
The Association had apparently concluded that Choi Ji-won and I were collaborating, too. I'd drawn attention, obviously, because of the Elixir. But according to Choi Ji-won, Yun Jung-hyun must have kept his word—the details didn't seem to have spread. No big difference from what the Death God had told me.
But could the Association, with its vast information network, really not know that Choi Ji-won and I were a couple?
"Yeah... I guess they really wouldn't have a way to find out."
Come to think of it, they really didn't. Every cycle where I'd gone around having fun with Choi Ji-won had ended with a regression at the very end, and I'd always kept a safe gap before moving to the next floor. No traces left behind.
Surveillance? If I may say so myself, the person in all of humanity with the best detection ability right now was Choi Ji-won. Trying to tail her was futile.
Anyway, with that, the real-world talk came to a rough conclusion.
"So, shall we hear the Tower talk now?"
"Mmm..."
It was time for the Tower information, but Choi Ji-won looked extremely hesitant to speak. I waited patiently until she was ready.
"Hoo. All right, main point first. When I cleared Floor 12, there was no base point or anything like that. I went through it with some Russian players, and everyone got exactly the score they'd stated."
"Which means..."
"Yeah. There was a liar among the people you tackled Floor 12 with."
"..."
I'd suspected as much when the score had shot up by a full twenty points on my last cycle, but hearing it from Choi Ji-won's own mouth still hit me. Right. So there really had been one piece of trash.
"The Association also put me in touch with a player who already cleared Floor 12, and according to them, the lowest reward on the second test was five. Looks like your guess was right—the next test's difficulty is determined based on the highest reward anyone picked."
"...Haah."
And since the next test's difficulty seemed to be decided by whoever picked the highest reward... it was basically confirmed that someone had picked ten on the first test.
Ah, what a headache. I did have a vague suspect. That was something I could pin down by repeating regressions later...
"By the way, did any of the other players end up dead?"
"I did ask that, but they said no one. Though they probably would've hidden it if there had been."
That was the problem with information from the Association. Because the Association was functioning as a quasi-official international body, its affiliated players managed their images. No idiot was going to admit they'd gotten into a fight on Floor 12 and killed one of the people they were running it with.
"Mmm..."
"...I'm saying this up front: even if you find the culprit, I'm against killing them."
Choi Ji-won cut in, seeing me mulling it over.
"I think killing should really, truly be an absolute last resort."
"...That's true, but."
I was well aware of the negative impact killing could have on a regressor. But this floor's situation was a bit different.
"You know as well as I do—so far I've gotten every reward a floor had to offer before moving on, right?"
"Yeah. I know."
Up until now, I'd always aimed for a perfect clear. My goal had always been to thoroughly scrape every floor clean, find a perfect resolution that settled every conflict, and snag every possible reward before heading to the next floor.
"But if I don't weed out the liar... that looks like it's going to be really hard."
The first and second tests were fine. The other players weren't completely useless, so they'd each pulled their own weight.
The problem was the third test. The short-haired woman and the man with the mole had both picked twenty on the second test, so the third test was guaranteed to start at twenty. On top of that, the liar was going to pick forty and then dump it on me...
"Even running the numbers simply, if I wanted to claim the forty reward on the last test, I'd have to handle eighty all on my own. That's... just absurd."
I didn't know exactly how punishing difficulty eighty would be, but carrying my regression penalty, it wasn't something I could clear. Impossible.
"No. I think it's completely possible."
But Choi Ji-won flatly denied my assessment.
"...Possible? Difficulty eighty?"
"I thought it was impossible at first, too. But after hearing your story, I saw the possibility."
Choi Ji-won tapped around my solar plexus with the tip of her finger.
"If you invest enough time... That Cold Mana. If you could properly control it, wouldn't you get a lot stronger than you are now?"
"...Cold Mana?"
"Yeah. You told me last time, didn't you? That the longer you stay conscious of mana, the more naturally you can handle it?"
"...Right?"
"And when you think about it, out of everyone, you're the one who's lived with mana the longest, aren't you? So there's nobody more familiar with mana than you. Isn't there?"
She had a point. Even if my raw talent for handling mana wasn't the greatest, I was indeed the person most familiar with it.
"Plus, I don't know how you feel about it, but isn't Floor 12 a perfect environment for training? It's quiet, clean, and meals come on time. You have to wait eleven days anyway, so even if you regress in the middle of training, you lose nothing."
"...That's true."
Truthfully, I didn't really know the true nature of this power dwelling inside me either. Once unpacked, it might be nothing much. But dig deeper, and it could be something terrifying. Still, Choi Ji-won looked like she firmly believed in my potential.
"And if it gets too hard, you can just run it like this cycle and come see me. Rest as much as you need. I think right now is exactly the moment for you to get stronger."
"..."
"Jun-ho, I want you to get stronger. Way stronger than you are now, so you don't have to make painful choices."
There's a story called the Trolley Dilemma. The one where one hostage is tied up on one track, and five are tied up on the other. If you want an ending where nobody dies, the solution is simple. You stop the train. Choi Ji-won wanted me to gain the power to stop the train.
If I invested an enormous, truly enormous amount of time... could I grow strong enough to beat down difficulty eighty mannequins? If I could freely command Cold Mana, would it be possible? Would my talent allow it? A vague dread washed over me.
"You can do it. I believe in you."
As I stood silent, Choi Ji-won wrapped her arms around me again.
"And above all, there's one flaw in your thinking."
"...A flaw?"
"Yeah."
She let go of the embrace, vanished briefly through a portal, and returned holding a single sheet of blue paper.
"Here."
"...What's this?"
"Just take it. It's a gift."
I took the blue paper with a slightly dazed look, turning it over in my hands to see what it was. There was nothing written on it, but when I studied it closely, a message window popped up before my eyes.
- A-rank Trait Selection Ticket (Unique)
-Select and acquire a desired A-rank Trait. Can only be used once.
"...This is?"
This was definitely the forty-point reward from the final test... Ah. Right. I'd forgotten something completely obvious.
"Jun-ho. The final number you have to handle is seventy, not eighty."
Right.
"I already claimed the forty-point reward from the last test."
Choi Ji-won had already cleared Floor 12 on the highest difficulty.