The Regressor Gets Stronger (7)
The Regressor Gets Stronger (7)
"Hey, you got no shame? Where's your shame? Ah, fuck. Pisses me off, seriously."
"...Wanna die?"
By the time Choi Ji-won and I reached the carriage, there were players already putting on a real shitshow.
"Ah~ this is bullshit. I can't even gouge that mangy bastard's eyes out."
A bulky Asian guy with bleached blond hair, shouting his lungs out and throwing a blind rage.
"..."
A white guy with a skinhead, glaring murderously at the musclehead.
At a glance, it looked like the big guy was on the offensive, but his body language made it clear he was scared stiff. And no wonder—the skinhead's aura was no joke. Even just the way he held his mace screamed that he wasn't some average fighter.
"Hey! Let's just go. What's your problem?"
The only reason he kept holding his ground, despite that, was probably because his girlfriend was watching from behind.
"What're you lookin' at? What? You son of a bitch, for real."
Just before the musclehead, completely consumed by his own bluff, crossed the point of no return—
"Hello everyone? It's nice to meet you."
The tense atmosphere dissolved the instant Choi Ji-won stepped forward and greeted them.
"Choi Ji-won? Is that really Choi Ji-won?"
"Whoa. So Choi Ji-won was on Floor 13. I thought she'd be way higher."
"...The nation's bubble has arrived."
Whether they greeted her with delight or threw shade by calling her a manufactured hero, Choi Ji-won was a celebrity. Just the appearance of that celebrity was enough to flip the atmosphere entirely.
"...Know you got lucky."
The big guy, still fronting with bravado to the bitter end but deeply relieved inside as he slunk back to his girlfriend.
"...No matter how I look at him, he just seems mental. What kind of self-esteem is that?"
The white skinhead, tilting his head like he couldn't comprehend it and heading back near the carriage. I could tell at a glance. The white skinhead was a top-tier player with the skill to back up his confidence, while the musclehead was just an upper-mid-tier player who'd climbed the Tower quickly.
This is the problem with this Tower. As long as you compromise a little on the rewards, it's possible to climb fast even without real skill. So in the end, skilled players and unskilled players end up all mixed together. Or no—maybe even this was intentional?
"Water's over that way, and food spawns inside these wooden crates here. I've been waiting for three days, so I've got it all figured out."
"Thanks for letting us know."
Players cozying up, trying to forge a connection with Choi Ji-won, and Choi Ji-won looking around as they guided her. In the meantime, I was busy scanning the carriage up and down, gathering information. The carriage was completely empty inside. And there were no horses to pull it. You could say it was practically just a bare frame.
Some questions came up about what kind of relationship I had with Choi Ji-won, but I just brushed it off by saying we were colleagues. It was obvious that openly calling her my lover would bring more harm than good.
"Is this the place? Doesn't look like there's anything but this."
While I was investigating the carriage like that, the 20th player finally arrived. At the same time, the text floating in the air changed to [20/20].
Shwaak!
The tarp covering the carriage was drawn back, and a man with an impressively thick mustache stepped down to the ground.
"Are you the adventurers hired for the commission? One, two, three... twenty. Precisely. You've arrived at an opportune time."
"The—what now?"
"There was no sign of anyone inside the carriage?"
"No, horses appeared in front of the carriage, too."
Regardless of the players' bewilderment, the mustached man swept his gaze around and gave a nod.
"Good. I'm sure you're already aware of the commission details, but I'll explain one last time. Our carriage will now depart for Kalada Village. Ah, I should mention this beforehand—I'm aware. It's a two-day journey if we're fast, three if it takes a while. It is not particularly far."
"...Where's that."
"Nevertheless, the reason we've hired you adventurers is that the goods inside this carriage are that precious. The carriage must never, never be damaged! You must escort it with all your heart and soul. Ah, except for the last carriage. That one contains your food and water, so you may use it freely."
After rattling off an explanation in an oddly accented tone, the mustached man moved to go back inside the carriage.
"Mister! Hold on, stop!"
"Hey, hey! Grab him!"
Three or four players lunged at him to stop him, but with superhuman strength, the mustached man shook them all off and climbed right back inside the carriage.
"No, you gotta at least take some questions!"
One player, completely hot-headed, flung back the tarp of the carriage the man had entered.
"...Where'd he go?"
The inside was packed tight with wooden crates. No room at all for a person to slip in.
<Floor 13>
-Escort the carriage.
At the same time, a concise message window floated up before our eyes. The players were staring dumbfounded at the strings of text in the air.
"What, it starts like this?"
"Just saying 'escort the carriage' without any explanation..."
"Hey, hey. The carriage is moving. We gotta follow it."
"Ah, you fuckin'—"
Players weren't even given time to feel deflated. The horses that had suddenly appeared in front of the carriage snorted and shook their heads before starting to pull the cart.
"Where's this thing even going? Do the horses know where to go?"
"That's what I'm saying. It's real... sudden."
Up until now, the intelligent beings that appeared in the Tower were mostly residents who lived here. It felt like players were intruding on their livelihoods, sort of.
But that mustached man we just saw seemed like an NPC in the truest sense. He popped up all of a sudden—poof—then rattled off an explanation all by himself—blah blah—and vanished again—poof. No wonder the players were thrown off.
"Jun-ho."
Choi Ji-won slipped up next to me in the confusion.
"You know something, don't you? Be honest. Your expression looks strange right now."
"To be precise, it's not that I know something specific, but I do know most of the possibilities."
Five carriages. Three days given. Twenty people required to escort those carriages.
This was the classic cliché known as an 'escort mission.' To be honest, it's a scene that comes up in web novels to the point of nausea.
"Hmm... from what I can tell, there are roughly three endings I can guess at right now."
Walking beside the carriage, I continued my explanation to Choi Ji-won.
"First case: there are real valuables inside the carriage."
Whether it contained the last survivor of a fallen kingdom, some kind of sacred relic, or the final masterpiece of a legendary artisan... anyway, the case where the carriage truly holds precious cargo.
In this case, we just need to watch out for two things: external threats and internal threats. Since there's an escort, naturally there'll be attackers, and there'll also be some nosy player who can't control their curiosity about what's inside.
So, all we have to do is protect the carriage completely and perfectly, and it's a success. With me and Choi Ji-won here, this scenario is a freebie.
"Second case. We actually shouldn't be escorting the carriage."
But if you twist it once, there's also the possibility that something terrifying is inside. Like the moment some curious player can't help themselves and opens a wooden crate, a sealed monster awakens from inside.
In that case, the attackers are probably actually allies. They came to help, to purify something sinister, but we don't know any better and end up slaughtering them all. Well, that's another time-honored cliché.
"And finally..."
"And finally?"
"There's also the possibility that the carriage is just full of junk."
"What do you mean?"
"The carriage wasn't the target. We were."
The truth is, there are no valuable goods inside the carriage, and the very act of transporting the players to 'Kalada' Village was the objective. The ending would be the carriage arriving at its destination, a mob of thugs appearing, and then us finding ourselves at swordpoint, thinking, 'We've been had!'
"Well, there could be some ridiculous possibility I haven't thought of. With the Tower's description so concise, I think it's right to keep all possibilities open."
"Hmm... so it's kind of like a puzzle. On the surface, it just looks like an escort mission, but once you pop the lid, there's a ton hidden underneath."
"Still, there's no need for us to overcomplicate things."
"...?"
Choi Ji-won gave me a look that said, 'You just rattled off all those complicated possibilities, and now you're saying we don't need to complicate things? What's that supposed to mean?'
"It's just my guess, but just escorting the carriage normally should be enough to clear the floor. Even if there's something hidden, we wouldn't even know it exists."
"So, you're saying let's just clear it once first and see?"
"Yep."
I'll pass on the business of discovering secrets by repeating regressions and banging my head against the wall. There might not even be any secrets.
As long as we get back to reality, we can receive intel through the Association. So first, we just need to clear it once.
And honestly, with Kim Jun-ho and Choi Ji-won here, how could we possibly fail an escort mission?
"No wonder it felt easy."
A floor with tangled truths, the kind that often pops up in Tower-climbing stories.
From a Regressor's perspective, it can't be anything but the easiest kind of floor.