The Regressor Agonizes (3)
The Regressor Agonizes (3)
"I apologize."
The President of South Korea bowed deeply.
"To the unfortunate victims who lost their lives yesterday, to the grieving families left behind, and to all citizens who have heard of this tragedy... I apologize."
In restaurants. At airports. In PC rooms. At home.
Wherever a TV was on, the President's apology speech was playing. Six hundred people had died. Those watching felt their chests tighten. They were angry. But they couldn't bring themselves to blame the President outright.
Who would have imagined a gigantic tiger suddenly appearing on Namsan and slaughtering people? It was a disaster—not an ordinary disaster, but a catastrophe.
"The nineteen police officers who died in the line of duty... and the twenty-three players..."
Click.
"..."
Choi Ji-won picked up the remote and turned off the TV. With trembling hands, she lifted the teacup from the glass table and took a sip, but the tea had already gone cold long ago.
This was Kang Chan's guild office. Kang Chan had invited Ji-won and me right after the battle with the tiger, and we'd agreed to visit his office a day later. That was how we came to be sitting here now.
"..."
The catastrophe caused by the appearance of monsters wasn't limited to our country. Monsters had appeared all over the world, though their strength varied. The chaos was suppressed within twenty-four hours... but the scars remained.
Europe and Russia were among those who resolved the incident relatively smoothly. The monsters that appeared were weaker, and fully prepared players happened to be on standby nearby, so they managed without major casualties. (I suspect Michael Jeter's advance warning played a role.)
The places that suffered the most damage were... the United States and Canada—hit so badly that they made Korea's situation look trivial by comparison.
In Canada, a giant lightning eagle appeared. Emerging from the west coast, the eagle electrocuted countless civilians just by its presence and flew at low altitude toward the capital, Ottawa.
Canada has no strong players. What few there were had long since relocated to the United States. The country is also absurdly vast, making it difficult for players to regroup in time.
Police forces were mobilized first, then the military deployed, and missiles were even fired... yet modern weaponry couldn't finish the creature off. The eagle is only presumed to be hiding somewhere in the northern forests, wounded.
Estimated damages are incalculable. Half of Canada's fighter jets were lost, and civilian deaths easily surpassed the tens of thousands.
But even that paled in comparison to the state of the United States.
The United States... central New York was devastated. The Statue of Liberty had melted in the fierce battle, and the Empire State Building had collapsed into rubble. The death toll is still being calculated. Fighting in the middle of the night, in a major city, had made everything far worse.
The dragon was dead. Thanks to Player Association Chairman Michael Jeter and his comrades, the evil dragon was slain... but America's heart, its symbol, had been destroyed. No one could celebrate a victory over the monster.
But the bigger problem was the giant werewolf in the West.
Compared to the dragon, the werewolf had pitiful combat strength—roughly on par with the tiger that appeared in Korea, or maybe slightly weaker. But the creature was cunning.
Whenever a powerful opponent pursued it, it fled at once. It targeted only the weak—civilians. With nimble movements, it evaded pursuit for days and relentlessly slaughtered civilians. And the timing of its appearance, in the dead of night, only magnified the damage.
The real issue here was... the US government's response was far, far too late.
"The government is reviewing every available solution, and I urge all citizens to please..."
The US President delivered his speech with a rigid expression. Unlike in Korea, the reaction from the press corps was utterly frigid.
"A disclosure has revealed there were no orders for roughly five hours after the incident began. What were you doing during that time?"
"We were formulating countermeasures from the bunker."
"Because you did nothing, the military couldn't move. With your own party having just slashed the defense budget, what exactly were you thinking?"
"We only sought to respond with caution."
"Let me be blunt. Where exactly is the tax money going? We hear about budget cuts everywhere, but no news of increased investment anywhere. The price was our citizens reduced to pools of blood."
"It is being used for this country."
The US President handled himself reasonably well, but perhaps he lacked the skill to withstand the reporters' relentless assault—the press conference ended quickly.
-That crazy pig bastard. Isn't he siphoning the budget to build a secret bunker or something? What the hell was he doing while people were dying?
-Probably off slapping some actress's ass.
-This is genuinely grounds for impeachment. You've seen government agencies whining about budget shortages lately, right? That lunatic is definitely pulling some insane crap behind the scenes.
People were clamoring that the President had lost his mind—that this was an impeachable offense. Protests erupted nationwide. Pundits took the stance that the President's behavior was incomprehensible. They couldn't fathom why he'd commit political suicide.
"Compared to that... people are saying our country handled it relatively well. Don't you think?"
"We did our best. Isn't that enough?"
Kang Chan nodded as he sat down at the head of the table. He was now a hero who had surpassed even Choi Ji-won. One of Kang Chan's guild members had been wearing a body cam, and it had captured the moment he struck the tiger down in a single blow. Kang Chan had naturally posted it online.
"I feel a bit sorry for hogging the spotlight. If it weren't for you two, the casualties would have been far worse."
"No... you were the one who put it down at the end. That's a fact."
"..."
After months of working together, Kang Chan and I had dropped the formal speech. Choi Ji-won, though we'd already exchanged greetings earlier, still looked slightly awkward.
"So? How does it feel being a hero?"
"Honestly, it's overwhelming. Did you know there are reporters outside? There's a reason I closed the blinds."
"Ah, man."
We made small talk for a while, touching on the global situation and other things. Kang Chan had long since noticed that things between Ji-won and me hadn't progressed at all... but, thankfully, he didn't bring it up. He probably figured there were circumstances and let it be.
Once the conversation felt sufficiently warmed up, I decided to get to the point.
"So... what's the deal with Dok Su-hee? Why are you running around with her?"
"Before I explain in detail... I received help from Dok Su-hee, and I made her a promise. We've been together because of the Player Association Chairman."
"The Association Chairman?"
At that very moment, the door burst open and Dok Su-hee walked in.
"I'd like to speak with you alone, Jun-ho. I have something to say."
"...Why should I?"
Even if she wanted to talk alone, I had absolutely no reason to agree. I frowned without meaning to.
"You want to talk alone?"
Choi Ji-won seemed to think differently.
"...Fine, I'll excuse myself. Shall we go have a coffee for a moment?"
"Sounds good."
Choi Ji-won glanced at me, then left the office. Kang Chan awkwardly rose and followed her out.
Ji-won had heard from me about what happened on Floor 3. She was probably giving me a chance to settle the past properly.
In the end, only Dok Su-hee and I remained. Only then did she push back her hood and remove her mask to reveal her face.
She looked sickly overall. Dark circles stretched long beneath her eyes, and her face was pale as a ghost. If Dok Su-hee had once seemed like any other high school girl, now she looked like a shut-in who had dropped out and never left home.
"So, what do you want to talk about?"
I was the one who opened the conversation. I didn't want to drag this out. My voice came out colder than I intended, but Dok Su-hee only gazed at me with an enigmatic smile.
"I just... wanted to say let's forget the past and get along."
Dok Su-hee was saying something uncharacteristic of her. Was this what she'd meant by wanting to talk alone?
"...Honestly, I don't really get it."
"What don't you get?"
"Why you'd want to get along with me."
"...Why?"
"Your arm... it's fine now, but I'm the one who took it."
Dok Su-hee had betrayed me. She had her own reasons, but from my perspective, it was nothing but a stab in the back, and I had set a trap and blown off her arm. Even now, I sometimes regretted that decision—whether it had been right to take a high school girl's arm.
Of course, I had listened to Dok Su-hee's past, and I'd even activated the Awe trait on her. Dok Su-hee had remained friendly toward me to the very end. If she didn't know I was the one who'd taken her arm, holding goodwill toward me wouldn't be all that strange.
But even so, I had no intention of being on friendly terms with her. It was my firm belief that someone who betrays you once can betray you again. And I had Choi Ji-won by my side, too. There was no way I'd ever accept Dok Su-hee as a comrade.
"My arm? I already knew about that."
But Dok Su-hee tilted her head casually, as if it were nothing.
"That much... it's just a trivial incident. People have fights sometimes, don't they?"
"What are you getting at?"
"I'm just saying, let's get along. Like friends. Keep in touch now and then. Trade tips when climbing the Tower."
"...And if I refuse?"
"Then... nothing I can do, I guess. I'd have to give up."
Dok Su-hee tilted her head about thirty degrees, expressionless.
"But do you know what?"
"..."
She took one step closer, then another, and eventually sat down beside me. Her pupils were black and dead—so deep you might not notice a person vanishing into them.
"I happen to have a hold on one of your weaknesses, Jun-ho."
She slipped a gaudy pink watch off her wrist and fastened it onto mine. With her slender fingers, she tapped the watch face—tap, tap, tap—and met my eyes.
"...Looks like we need to talk a little more."
A cold sweat ran down my back. The possibility I'd dreaded had become reality.
The condition for Accompanied Regression is emotion. The condition for memories to be preserved is that I feel intense emotions toward the target.
When Dok Su-hee betrayed me, I had felt an immense fury toward her.
"Great!"
And it seems... that's what triggered the regression.