The Regressor Wanders (3)
The Regressor Wanders (3)
[Entering Floor 15.]
In the brief moment my eyes closed and opened again, my gaze instinctively turned to the sky.
"...Oh?"
A black galaxy was embroidered across the heavens. I looked up at the universe, and the universe looked back down at me. Glittering stars. A dazzling sun. Endless darkness. The sky was draped in a profound, inky black.
"...But I can see the sun too?"
What was deeply uncanny was that, despite the black sky, the sun was also visible. Like looking at a photo of the sun taken from a spaceship.
"...Is this outer space?"
Only then did I lower my head and take in my surroundings. I was standing near the peak of a mountain, and like the ground beneath my feet, the entire mountain was black.
With both the sky and the mountain black, it should have been hard to see anything...
"...Whoa."
Except for this mountain... everything in sight was covered in lava. It looked like the mountain was afloat on a sea of lava. Yet, strangely, even though everything visible was lava, the air wasn't that hot. I could breathe just fine.
"..."
Going down the mountain here would just mean plunging into magma. In the end, the only option left was to head for the peak. I leisurely looked around and climbed the rough, craggy mountain. No signs of other people. This floor seemed to be a solo stage.
"The message window doesn't pop up when you need it."
How long did I climb? I scaled the mountain aimlessly, taking in the scenery, and before I knew it, I had reached the summit.
"...A person?"
A broad, sunken pit at the top of the mountain. At its center, I saw a figure.
"..."
There was nothing else to see anyway, besides that person. I carefully made my way toward the figure in the middle of the pit, watching my step so I wouldn't fall.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A rhythmic sound echoed through the silent mountain. As I walked toward the center of the pit, I paused and picked something up from the ground.
"...A statue?"
A dog? A wolf? I couldn't tell exactly what it was—a fist-sized statue depicting some kind of canine. Judging by the color and texture, the material seemed to be the same as the mountain itself.
The closer I got to the center of the pit, the more statues there were. Some were humanoid. Some resembled animals. Some were closer to the dragons of legend. The sculptor's skill was impressive, but the statues were so small that fine details seemed hard to capture.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I checked the statues one by one as I reached the center, and finally found the source of that tapping sound.
"...Who are you?"
I couldn't tell if they were male or female. An old person, their exposed skin wrinkled and crinkly, was diligently tapping a small stone with a nail and hammer as they spoke to me. Their tone was as casual as greeting the neighbor's kid.
"..."
To be honest... it was suspicious. Suspicious as hell.
The atmosphere of Floor 15 was worlds apart from the other floors. The black sky like outer space, the lava surrounding everything on all sides, and the fact that the only person here was this wrinkled cocoon of an old person.
"Who are you?"
"I asked you first."
Contrary to his shabby appearance, the old man spoke in a surprisingly clear voice.
"I am Kim Jun-ho."
"I see."
"...Won't you tell me who you are?"
"Why should I?"
"..."
"Just a joke. I am... something like an Administrator."
Tap. Tap.
The old man giggled and tapped the stone in his hand. I stared at him without laughing. A terrifying possibility had just hit me.
"Could it be..."
"Hm?"
"Are you the God who created this tower?"
Didn't mysterious men who say, "Hello, I'm God," always show up at the beginning or the end of a novel? Between the strange environment of Floor 15 and the fact that this man was here all alone with nothing else around... I thought it was a perfectly reasonable suspicion.
"Kh kh kh... You have a vivid imagination, young man. Why would God appear on Floor 15? If He were to appear, it'd be much later."
The old man denied my theory with a chuckle. The fact that he had just casually mentioned "Floor 15" told me he knew this was the Tower.
"Then what do you do here? And what do you mean by Administrator?"
"No more questions about me. I can't tell you, and even if I did, you wouldn't understand."
"...Understood."
Tap!
The stone the old man had been tapping away at was finished. It was a goblin statue of a rather adorable size. To my eyes, it was well-made, but the old man let out a deep sigh.
"Hoo. Stone is always so hard to work with. Now then, let me explain the task for Floor 15."
The old man put down his hammer and waved his wrinkled right hand. A string of text unfurled before my eyes.
- [10] Weapon Skill Training Helper
- [9] C-rank Trait Selection Ticket
- [8] Refined Magic Stone
...
- [1] The Old Man's Wise Advice.
"Now, choose one."
"What is all this?"
"Rewards. Pick whatever you like."
"...What happens after I pick a reward?"
"Then Floor 15 is over. You may return to reality."
<Floor 15>
-Choose a reward.
Only then did a message window pop up, as if urging me to pick a reward. After a moment of thought, I stepped back two paces.
Swoosh!
I drew my sword from its scabbard, convinced the old man was lying.
"What's your angle?"
"...What do you mean, my angle?"
"What's the price for this reward? And what are the numbers next to them?"
"Those are the value I assigned to the rewards. And a price? What price are you talking about?"
The old man tilted his head as if he genuinely didn't understand. My grip on the sword tightened.
"Floors 11 through 14 were designed so that one person's greed would hurt everyone else. And now you're telling me I can just take a reward? You really expect me to believe that?"
"...It seems there's a misunderstanding."
Still seated, the old man pointed at my armor.
"That armor and sword. Where did you get them?"
"...On Floor 11."
"You've gotten good use out of them, haven't you? Dwarven craftsmanship is worthy of recognition."
"What are you trying to say?"
"On Floor 12. On Floor 13. On Floor 14. Did you not grow stronger? It's true that the floors are designed to impose a slight disadvantage when people don't cooperate... but you have definitely grown. Have you not?"
"Are you the Archangel in charge of Floors 11 through 15?"
"No. But you could think of me as a helper who was slightly involved in the design of each floor."
"..."
"Floors 11 through 15 aren't designed to torment climbers. Rather, they were made with the hope that climbers would become stronger. I, and the Archangel... want climbers to grow strong. Did you mention a price earlier? There is no price for you to pay. Choose your reward without a single worry. Consider it a sort of bonus."
The old man smiled gently. To be honest... I couldn't fully trust his words. But there was an echo of sincerity in his voice. Or it could be an act. I lacked the evidence to judge either way.
Confrontation could come later. First, I'd clear Floor 15, then gather information, including reviews from other players. I'm a Regressor. I have plenty of time.
Of course, I was uneasy about carelessly picking the [10] reward. There was a chance the old man's words were a trap and that the numbers actually corresponded to hidden trials. So my choice was—
"I apologize for doubting you. In that case, I will choose the [1] reward, The Old Man's Wise Advice."
"...Are you sure? It's nothing more than me simply giving you advice."
"Yes."
"Hmm... Very well."
I chose 'The Old Man's Wise Advice,' the lowest-numbered and most trivial-looking option. If there were any hidden traps, this one should be safe.
"Now, go ahead and ask. What kind of advice do you want? If it's something I can answer, I will tell you with all sincerity."
"Um..."
But now that he told me to ask a question, nothing came to mind. The specific design of Floor 11? The identity of the God who made the Tower? Its true purpose? He didn't seem likely to answer such profound questions.
Still, it'd be a waste to ask something trivial... but I have regression. No need to overthink this. I'll just ask the thing I'm most curious about right now.
Having made up my mind, I pulled out the question I'd been burying for days.
"On Floor 13 and Floor 14... are there any hidden routes?"
"...What do you mean by hidden route?"
"I mean, were there any elements apart from the standard method—things that could grant extra rewards or change the way things progressed?"
I wanted to confirm whether my intuition about Floor 13 and Floor 14 having hidden routes was right or wrong.
"I don't know what you mean by a hidden route... but there are ways to alter the progression."
"Is that so?"
"On Floor 13, once all the horses are dead, a puppet appears to lead the way to the village... and on Floor 14, there is one more hidden material. The reward itself doesn't change much; it just speeds up the rate at which the machine is completed."
"..."
"You could see them as a kind of safety net. For example... on Floor 12, you don't actually die if you fail the test. You simply don't get the reward. And do you remember the 'Passage Stone' from Floor 11? If the dwarf who makes the passage stones were to die in an accident... an Angel would bestow the ability to create passage stones upon another dwarf. We can't have a situation where a floor becomes permanently impossible to clear, can we?"
The old man's words were perfectly logical and contained no oddities. Just as Floors 1 through 5 had hidden elements... but Floors 6 through 10 did not, it made sense for Floors 11 through 15 to simply lack them too.
But... something still felt off. A nagging sense that I'd missed something. Even if there really were no hidden pieces on Floor 13 and 14, it felt like I was missing a bigger picture hovering above them.
"There, you've cleared Floor 15. I wish you the best of luck."
The old man clapped his hands without giving me a chance to think. At the same time, a blue portal appeared beside me. So there really was no trap; he was simply letting me clear it.
"I've got one more goblin to sculpt. I can't concentrate with someone next to me, so off you go now."
"...Understood."
There were so many questions I still had, so many things I wanted to ask... but I decided to clear Floor 15 first. If there were still things I needed to know, I could always ask after regressing. It was time to return to reality and check the information.
After passing through the portal back to my apartment, I saw Choi Ji-won looking at her phone.
"Ji-won? How was Floor 15...?"
I was about to casually ask her what Floor 15 was like, when—
"...Jun-ho? Can you come here for a sec?"
Choi Ji-won called me over, staring at her phone with a grave expression.
<Refreshing! Clean! For you! Find it at your local pharmacy!>
Judging by the sound coming from the phone, it was a product advertisement.
"What's going on? Why'd you stop watching YouTube..."
I walked over to Choi Ji-won without much thought, but the moment I saw the phone screen, I froze.
The audio was a normal ad. But the screen was different. A screen covered entirely in red text couldn't possibly count as an advertisement.
As if an elementary schooler had made their first PowerPoint, the ad screen was plastered with red text. The content was as follows:
-This is Player Association Chairman Michael Jeter. I need the help of players who have cleared Floor 15. Please contact me at the email below. Especially Choi Ji-won. I am waiting for you. Please do not inform the Association.
It was a message from Michael Jeter, the Player Association Chairman who was said to have gone silent.