The Regressor Wanders (8)
The Regressor Wanders (8)
"No answer?"
I tilted my head as if I honestly didn't get why he wouldn't reply. The old man just stared at me, expressionless.
"You really are cold. Just answer me."
On the surface it was a tense battle of wills, but... I was more than a little on edge.
Causing a ruckus on Floor 15 is trickier than it sounds. Couldn't I just do whatever I wanted and regress? That's exactly the problem—I can't. That old man... is no ordinary geezer.
Why do I hide my regression? Because I'm afraid of being "sealed"—the classic weakness of every regressor. Right now, teleporters and people with prophecy-like abilities are running around, so I can't be completely sure there's no sealing ability out there.
And what about this old man whose identity I can't pin down? In the martial world, you're always told to be wary of women, children, and the elderly. This old man carves statues all by himself under a sky that looks like the universe itself, with a sea of magma as his backdrop, and he calls himself the "Administrator." At this point, frankly, nothing he did would surprise me.
"I mean, these things are kind of gross. Can't you clean them up? Huh?"
What would have happened if I'd started by asking, "What would happen if I used an Appraisal Scroll on this statue?" The old man would have suspected me right away. Honestly, wouldn't that be way too suspicious?
That's why right now I'm playing the role of a fourth-dimensional lunatic. The kind of madman whose behavior an ordinary person could never understand.
"Hmm... So you want to break this?"
The old man picked up one of the statues from the ground. Judging from its shape, it looked like a wolf.
He examined the wolf statue this way and that, then shrugged as if it meant nothing.
"Go ahead and break it, then."
"...Excuse me?"
"You said you wanted to break it. If you want to, do it. To be honest, it's not even well-carved."
"...Is that really okay?"
"It's precisely because it's okay that I'm saying so. Shall I give you a demonstration?"
Wham! The old man brought the hammer down on the wolf statue. Its back split in two and collapsed helplessly onto the floor.
"..."
What the hell. He just let me? That easily? The unexpected outcome made me lose control of my expression for an instant, and the old man didn't miss the opening.
"What's wrong? Didn't you say you wanted to break the statue? Then why the look?"
The moment I realized he was tilting his head at me, I bit down on the inside of my cheek. I had no intention of surrendering myself to an unknown possibility.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 15.]
***
Wham! The old man brought the hammer down on the wolf statue. Its back split in two and collapsed helplessly onto the floor.
"Wow, that's so refreshing."
This time I managed to control my expression. I clapped my hands as if a great weight had been lifted off my chest and cheered for the old man.
"If you're happy, then I'm happy as well."
"Oh, no, I'm grateful that you granted my request."
An old man who destroyed his own statue and nodded with satisfaction, and a young man who clapped and thanked him for it. It looked bizarre at a glance, but I was a madman right now. Stopping here would be a shame.
"Can I break all the others too?"
"Go right ahead."
"Thank you."
Drawing on my strengthened physical ability, I stomped, smashed, and threw the statues to my heart's content. Like a child destroying a perfectly built snowman, I ravaged them with a bright smile on my face. I had started out faking madness, but as I kept going, I felt a certain thrill.
"Phew. All nice and tidy now."
About a minute later, every single statue that had been in the pit at the top of the mountain was shattered. I pretended to wipe my forehead with relief, then suddenly bent at the waist toward the old man.
"Still, these were works you put so much effort into. I'm sorry I destroyed them."
I'm the one who wrecked them, and now I'm apologizing for wrecking them? Could there be a deeper madness than this? I grinned inwardly with satisfaction.
"Nonsense, I gave you permission, so what's the problem? To be honest, I've thought about smashing them myself once in a while."
This old man was no pushover either. In fact, he smiled brightly and reassured me, telling me it was fine.
"In any case, they'll reappear even if you destroy them, so don't worry yourself over it. If it's lifted a young man's spirits, then hasn't it served its purpose?"
"They'll reappear even if I destroy them?"
"Of course. Floor 15 is... a copied version of another place. I myself am something like a clone here. What you've done is like tearing up a photograph made from the original."
"...Ah. I see."
"There, there. So don't let it trouble you. Just move on to the next floor at your leisure."
He patted me on the shoulder and then gestured toward the blue portal with his chin. So, smashing the statues wasn't going to stop it, huh?
Instead of answering, I bit my cheek.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 15.]
***
I regressed. And regressed. And regressed again.
The part that took the most effort was... acting as if I was seeing everything for the first time. A stranger stepping onto Floor 15 and then immediately walking right over to start a conversation with the old man would look suspicious.
Even if I climbed up without delay, once I got up here I spent a generous amount of time looking around and examining the statues.
After I finally spoke to the old man, what followed was question time. I worked tirelessly to understand the exact structure of Floor 15.
"Why did you start making these statues?"
"There really is no price, right? You're sure?"
"There's no one else here except us... Is that how it usually is? I came in with my friend over there."
In the process of repeating my regressions... I became certain that the old man was cunningly deceiving me.
"There is no price for you to pay. Choose your reward with an easy mind."
He didn't say there was no price at all. He said there was no price that I had to pay.
"It is true that the Tower is designed to impose small disadvantages when two people aren't in harmony... but you have clearly grown stronger. Isn't that so?"
He brushed off a floor clearly designed with malice as a "small disadvantage." And this was conflict that could easily escalate into drawn weapons, not just arguments.
"These statues? Well... I simply make them as mementos whenever a visitor comes by."
He dodged the question about why he made the statues, dismissing it as if it were no big deal.
No matter the situation, the old man never gave a detailed explanation. On the outside he was just kind. Gentle. He chuckled like a nice old man, but there was an invisible wall between us. Though, to be fair, the same was true of me.
Still, the more I regressed, the more I came to understand the old man, whether I wanted to or not. He wasn't a mysterious entity like an Archangel... he was a human being.
"Why is there magma here? Ho ho... Isn't it tasteful? I'm rather fond of it myself."
The old man was insane. He was simply faking being an ordinary person. The complete opposite of me, faking being a madman.
"What do I think about Floor 12? Hmm... Isn't it a floor where, if everyone does their part, each person can earn a fine reward?"
I could feel a faint misanthropy from him. He didn't trust people. It seemed he viewed human beings as creatures who were, by nature, betrayers.
"Don't trouble yourself. Speaking with an outstanding young man is always a pleasure."
Yet he was always favorable toward me. When I asked why, he said it was because I was strong. He didn't elaborate, but the old man was endlessly generous to powerful humans.
"..."
In the end, to get any in-depth information, I had to break through the wall he had put up around me. At first I tried pleading, then threats, then eccentric behavior too embarrassing to put into words. But the old man only smiled awkwardly; he never opened up.
As a last resort, the method I chose was "sympathy."
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 15.]
***
"A moment, if I may... Can I talk to you about something?"
With my eyes moist, I looked up at the dark sky.
"Forgive me, we've only just met, but... I have no one to confide in. It feels like something is festering inside me."
"...Ho. It's a bit sudden, but... old folks are supposed to be good listeners. Speak freely."
"Thank you."
I dusted off my backside, plopped down right there, and let out a long sigh.
"...Climbing the Tower is too hard."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Staking my life at every moment, climbing the Tower... it's too painful."
I opened up to him about all the absurdities I'd felt. The indifference of Earth's people. Other players constantly looking for a chance to stab me in the back. The disillusionment with humanity I'd experienced along the way.
If Choi Ji-won weren't here... that would probably be my honest, unfiltered heart. No, honestly, a part of it was already genuine.
"I just don't know... when the Earth will be destroyed... whether I can keep doing this all the way to Floor 66..."
"..."
Unlike before, the old man listened to my words attentively. After taking them in, he asked me a question in a markedly serious tone.
"What is your name?"
"Kim Jun-ho."
"Jun-ho. The Tower is... a trial for humanity. You would have heard that in the Tutorial."
"That's right."
"Jun-ho. In your eyes... does this Tower look like a trial for 'humanity' right now? Or does it look like a trial for the climbers?"
"...Honestly, I think it's a structure where the climbers are the ones sacrificing themselves."
"I think so as well."
He set down the hammer and nail he'd been holding.
"If the climbers are staking their lives... then the rest of humanity ought to stake their lives too. Isn't that only logical?"
He was smiling brightly.