The Regressor Agonizes (4)
The Regressor Agonizes (4)
My hypothesis for the conditions of Accompanied Regression was as follows.
First: I feel an intense emotion toward a target.
Second: In the same cycle where I feel that emotion, the target must also feel an intense emotion toward me.
Third: After regressing, all memories from every cycle in which I felt an emotion toward that target are implanted into them.
This was essentially big data I'd accumulated through repeated regressions with Choi Ji-won. It was likely not completely accurate, but I was confident the broad strokes were close.
And based on this hypothesis... there was a high probability that Dok Su-hee had recovered the memories from when she betrayed me.
To organize the timeline: Dok Su-hee betrayed me, I felt rage, and those memories were stored.
After that, I regressed, listened to Dok Su-hee's story, and activated the Awe Trait—fulfilling the condition that Dok Su-hee feel an intense emotion. Then, when I blew off Dok Su-hee's arm and felt guilt, my emotions likely crossed the threshold as well.
In other words, when I regressed for the first time after entering Floor 4, Dok Su-hee likely regressed along with me. How many times did I regress back then? I don't remember clearly, but it seems like it was at least three days' worth.
"..."
But could Dok Su-hee really figure out that the regression originated from me with just three days of regression—and only a single regression at that, not multiple? She probably had plenty of circumstantial evidence, but I doubted it was enough to be certain.
"This watch. What are you trying to say?"
Which meant there was absolutely no reason for me to volunteer information here. Now that I'd sorted out my thoughts, the situation looked clear.
"Hmm. Are you pretending not to know?"
But it seemed the very act of organizing my thoughts had given something away, because Dok Su-hee narrowed her eyes. She kept tapping my watch with her right hand.
"Fine. I'll show my cards first."
A warm cup of coffee suddenly materialized in front of me. She must have pulled it out of her Inventory on the spot.
"Shall we talk over a drink?"
"...I don't drink coffee."
"Oh?"
Dok Su-hee shrugged and began her story.
"To be honest, I didn't suspect anything at first. I just thought—my plan got read, and I was punished for it. That's what I assumed."
"And then?"
"Then after clearing Floor 3... ah, though I was unconscious at the time. Anyway, after clearing Floor 3 and returning to reality... while I was dwelling on the pain, staring at the empty space where my arm used to be... time reversed. You know?"
Her right hand tried to grab my wrist, so I moved my arm to evade it. I seemed to have the advantage in reflexes. A surprise attack might work.
"At first I thought I'd gained a regression ability. I seriously wondered if I'd lost my mind. A scene I'd never experienced—me betraying you, Jun-ho—also came to mind. But... no matter how much I thought about it, I realized I'd been way too obvious on Floor 3. I didn't look like someone experiencing it for the first time."
"..."
Dok Su-hee was right. I'd predicted the wolves appearing in the first room, taken the lead in breaking through the mirror trap, and charged through the needle traps coming from all directions with my body. Now that I thought about it, it wasn't strange at all that Dok Su-hee was certain I was a Regressor.
"And they say you were quite active on Floor 4 as well... so suspicion became certainty. Does it make sense for everyone to survive on your first time through Floor 4? It makes sense if it isn't your first time. It's probably a regression ability with a limited number of uses or a time limit, right? And if certain conditions are met, other people can regress with you too."
"..."
"And judging by your reaction... I can tell that my regressing with you wasn't intentional. At first I thought you'd deliberately made me regress so you could observe my response. A shame."
"So what do you want to say?"
From what she was saying, she hadn't figured out the condition that a mere graze triggers regression, or the exact regression point. Well, knowing that much would be absurd. I leaned in threateningly and glared at Dok Su-hee.
"I didn't come here to fight, Jun-ho."
Dok Su-hee held up both palms and stepped back a little.
"I'll say it again—I want you to accept me as an ally. I was foolish on Floor 3. I was consumed by the thought that I had to climb to the top of the Tower with this ability of mine. And it really is a good ability. Now I can even do things like this."
Ting. A metallic sound rang from the glass table. A pistol now lay on the table.
"But... the world has a lot of strong people, it turns out. There are abilities greater than mine. Regression, for instance."
"...And?"
"Like I told you on Floor 3, I want to climb the Tower to the very top. Monopolizing the rewards is merely part of that process."
"..."
"But what if I had the cooperation of a Regressor? If it were us, couldn't we climb the Tower to the very end? The reason I haven't contacted you all this time... I wanted to prove that I'm the best possible ally, fully capable. This arm is proof of that."
Dok Su-hee showed me her right arm—the one that had unmistakably been gone before.
"Elixir. I got it through an auction. And you know the Player Association Chairman, right? I'm on his direct team now. Michael recognized the potential in my ability. If regressing together multiple times is possible, I can confidently say I'm the best ally you could have. The ways to utilize the Inventory ability are truly limitless."
In her colorless eyes, contradictory emotions swirled—affection, hatred, envy, inferiority, self-love, self-destruction, and the like. Dok Su-hee was insane.
If I let my emotions surge too strongly here, Dok Su-hee would definitely satisfy the regression condition. I calmed my heart and leaned back deep into my chair.
"I'll think about it for now."
"...Is that all?"
"Yeah. So go now."
"...Fine. I've said everything I wanted to say."
Dok Su-hee looked at me one last time, then left. The pink watch was still fastened around my wrist.
"Is it over?"
"...You heard?"
"No. It didn't seem polite."
A moment later, Kang Chan and Choi Ji-won came in. I immediately asked Kang Chan.
"Kang Chan. You were betrayed by Dok Su-hee too. Why were you traveling with her?"
"Why, you ask. At first, it was a request from the Association Chairman. He asked me to stop the monsters that would appear in Korea."
Kang Chan looked down at his now-cold coffee. The pistol Dok Su-hee had summoned earlier had vanished at some point.
"But as time went on, I got the sense that she'd matured a lot. It'd be more accurate to say she'd become more humble."
"..."
"I'm of the belief that traitors don't get a second chance... but she's still just a high school student, isn't she? That's what I thought."
According to Kang Chan, Dok Su-hee had definitely changed. She occasionally muttered strange things to herself, but she was fundamentally diligent and had become more polite. Of course, whether that change was a temporary act or a genuine transformation, he couldn't say.
"Haaah..."
Dok Su-hee's regression. This was an enormous variable.
The truth was, there was a clear solution.
Kill Dok Su-hee and enter Floor 16. Then the past would be fixed, and Dok Su-hee would vanish from this world forever. I'd have nothing left to agonize over.
"Haaah..."
But... I didn't know. Killing a girl who was now showing signs of change pricked at my conscience. She was a traitor, but... right now she was extending goodwill toward me.
If it were an old man, I would have killed him. If it were Choi Ji-won, she would have rehabilitated him. I was standing at a fork in the road.
"Jun-ho, what's wrong?"
"This... I'll tell you in a bit."
But the real problem wasn't just Dok Su-hee alone. I was looking further ahead, into the distant future.
From now on, as I climbed the Tower, could I do it without fighting anyone, without feeling emotions toward anyone?
As if.
When I considered the malice woven into the foundation of this Tower, when I pictured that black, sticky design—I was absolutely, inevitably going to feel emotions toward someone. Whether hatred or affection or anything else.
And if they were the kind of people I would despise, it was certain that a bad ending would await when they regressed with me. They'd be the sort who'd use the rewound time in the worst way imaginable.
"..."
Yeah, I had thought regression was too lenient. With an absurdly overpowered ability like regression, clearing the Tower was absolutely, definitely possible. I'd taken clearing the Tower itself as a given—to the point where I only focused on whether I'd break down in the process or not. Regression had that much potential.
But if the negative emotions I harbored could also trigger regression... the story changed. The possibility that not just the people I love, but also evil people could regress—that would have a profound impact on the future I was envisioning.
There is... a solution. One very simple solution. The method of me becoming numb.
Even if someone betrayed me, even if I was stabbed, even if someone spent their time trolling me, even if I killed someone—I must feel nothing.
I must not feel hatred, let alone guilt. I just need to be able to look at everything in the world with dry detachment.
I distance myself from Choi Ji-won, from my comrades, from everything. Then I climb the Tower alone.
Only I need to be sacrificed.
"...Why me."
Just like... the worn-out Regressor I had so desperately wanted to avoid becoming.