The Regressor Endures (2)
The Regressor Endures (2)
"Um... Angel?"
"What is it?"
"The laptop keyboard is broken..."
"..."
After learning the TMI that a superhuman pounding a laptop at full power will instantly break the keyboard, we cleared Floor 19.
- Floor 19 cleared.
Returned to the real world, we immediately began gathering intelligence. This was the first time the future I knew had changed, so we resolved to be more thorough. I needed to understand exactly what was happening now—to avoid making the same mistake again and to figure out how to handle it.
Choi Ji-won and I split our roles clearly: she handled external affairs, and I took the internal side.
"Well then, I'll be off?"
"Yeah. Keep in touch."
Choi Ji-won dashed around, scrambling to piece together information about the U.S. warehouses and what had changed at them. She met with high-ranking officials from the Korean Association, even contacted the South Korean government directly, and sometimes flew to the United States to arrange meetings.
"Did you call me right from the States? Isn't international calling expensive?"
"We're rich, remember?"
"...Oh. Right."
Every night we talked on the phone and shared what we had learned that day, but for the moment, there seemed to be no major breakthroughs.
"I have a job for you, too."
"Yes. Just say the word."
I also secretly ordered the Death God to collect intelligence. While some information can only be obtained in the light, some can only be found in the shadows. I already knew the movements of every bastard I was watching, so there was absolutely no need to let the Death God loaf around.
"..."
At the same time, my worries about the Death God's treatment grew deeper. Asai Yūki was dangerously close to being that 'insane powerhouse' I had been so vigilant against. He was young now, and because I had activated the 'Awe' trait, he listened well... but could I be certain that he would remain cooperative five or ten years later? The guy could lose his mind and start acting abnormally at any moment.
'Can people change?' The Death God had become one of the subjects of that observation too.
A bit of a tangent there. The 'internal work' I was doing was nothing other than... retracing my past actions and guessing where the 'Butterfly Effect' might have triggered.
Going back over everything that had happened, pinpointing where things had gone wrong.
"...What did I do back then?"
As a regressor, I can clearly remember every scene, but their order often gets hopelessly tangled, and this was no easy task. In the end, I had to borrow the power of paper to organize a timeline, which took quite a long time.
Two months passed like that, quickly.
"Well..."
"I, too..."
Both Choi Ji-won and I... utterly failed.
"The association contact who usually passes me information says things are strange... that he can't make sense of anything..."
The warehouses hadn't simply vanished. The entire foundation was shaking.
According to Choi Ji-won, the Association had been running oddly lately. The atmosphere was generally unsettled, and the higher-ups seemed to be absent.
And it wasn't just the Association... the U.S. government's mood was chaotic. The news criticized the government daily, and brawls were breaking out on YouTube, on message boards, everywhere.
"Was it always like this? Before I regressed?"
"Back then things were chaotic too, and the government got cussed out plenty... but it feels like it's gotten worse? Yeah. 'Gotten worse' is probably the right way to put it."
So the variable had intensified the U.S. government's incompetence and escalated the conflict.
Should I have paid closer attention to how reality was unfolding? It was too late for regret now. I had no choice but to carry the mess forward.
"I've... racked my brain too, but I couldn't find an answer."
I had dug through my memories as hard as I could, but I couldn't find 'a major shift that would affect the American Association.' If I had to pick something with even a sliver of possibility... it would be Dok Su-hee.
Suppose she retained her memories because I had inadvertently directed intense feelings at her during the period when I stayed out after the monsters appeared. And suppose Dok Su-hee knew about the warehouses since she was originally on Michael Jeter's side... Then the fact that the warehouse interiors had vanished made sense. She could have swept them clean using her Inventory ability.
"But she has no reason to do that..."
Yet too many things couldn't be explained by that alone. First of all, Dok Su-hee wanted to earn my favor. She wanted to become the regressor's ally. She didn't seem like someone who would pull a stunt like this without telling me. No, even if she did it, she would have handed me the items with some sort of 'Surprise!'
And it was even stranger that not only the warehouse contents had disappeared, but the guard forces and their traces had vanished too. If Dok Su-hee had emptied the warehouses, shouldn't there at least have been experts examining the scene?
"...Did she make a deal with the U.S. government?"
Just in case, I tried reaching out to Michael Jeter's side... but Jeter didn't answer. I didn't know Dok Su-hee's number. Had he entered the Tower? Or had something happened to them?
One thing was certain: nothing could be confirmed in this situation. I had to keep all possibilities open and not bury myself in dubious information.
"I'm not about to get dragged around like this."
In the end, I decided to return to the fundamentals.
"Let's climb the Tower fast."
Ironically, the moment when past information can be most objectively gathered is in the future.
And why were we hesitating to head toward the future? Because we lacked power.
To move proactively, power is necessary. And to grow stronger, we had to climb the Tower.
"Let's go."
When the situation gets tangled, the solution tends to be simple. We headed back to the Tower.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 19.]
***
About a week later, after checking whether anything had changed, we finally decided to enter Floor 20.
- Entered Floor 20.
Floor 20 took the form of a quiet little villa. Peach trees bloomed here and there, a scenic mountain rose in the distance, birds chirped, the sunlight was warm, and amidst it all a tranquil Asian-style building stood with a pavilion floating on a pond.
"Ji-won..."
Choi Ji-won wasn't here. It seemed this was a solo-entry floor. With no particular destination, I slowly walked toward the pavilion.
"Congratulations."
Inside the pavilion, a single angel was drinking tea. Violet hair, an androgynous appearance. A faint, indefinable pressure radiated from him.
"...Archangel?"
"Yes. My name is Raguel. To be precise, this is a Thought Form. My main body is occupied with other matters at the moment."
Raguel sat drinking tea with a calm demeanor. The exact opposite of the sacred majesty that Raphael had exuded the moment I saw him on Floor 2—this was a quiet, composed atmosphere.
"..."
The old man's advice flickered through my mind. Too many regressions, or intense emotions, could trigger a regression. At most two or three times. That was likely the maximum number of regressions I could afford. I steadied my heart and sat across from Raguel.
"So... what do I need to do on Floor 20?"
"Please read this aloud."
I'd cut straight to the point because I had no desire for small talk, and Raguel without hesitation produced a single sheet of paper from his robe. I glanced over it; the contents were short and simple.
"...An oath?"
"Just read it exactly as written."
"Oath. I swear to use this power righteously as a climber chosen by God and a representative of humanity, and to do my utmost to uphold justice."
"Thank you."
Raguel took back the paper with the baffling oath. With a slight flick of his right hand, a blue portal opened beside me.
"This concludes Floor 20. When you return to Floor 1, there will be a modest reward."
"...Does this paper have any sort of binding effect?"
"It's simply paper. Nothing more, nothing less."
"What about some kind of soul contract, where breaking it means disaster..."
"Not that, either. It rests solely on the climber's conscience."
"..."
"It's merely a floor that carries the wish that you would use your power righteously. You may consider it a rest floor. Well done."
Having said his piece, Raguel slurped his tea. He genuinely seemed to have no lingering attachments.
"..."
I knew I shouldn't get entangled with an archangel. I knew the right move was to exit Floor 20 now, return to reality, and begin analysis.
"May I ask one thing?"
"Of course."
But I couldn't hold back this question.
"From Floor 16 to Floor 20. The Tower consistently encourages players to grow stronger. No, not just from Floor 16—it's been doing that since Floor 11. What was the point of making us stronger by climbing? I can't understand it."
What meaning was there in this entire process? Why, when the Tower claimed it would judge humans, had it designed floors that actively made people stronger? I was so consumed by curiosity that I simply couldn't contain it.
Slurp. Raguel stared straight into my eyes as he drank his tea. Even if this was a Thought Form and not the main body... an indescribable energy swirled in that gaze.
"Earth's scholars typically call democracy the most stable social system. Do you know why?"
"...I have a rough idea."
"It is the same reason. One might call it intentional instability. If humanity were sufficiently mature, nothing would happen."
The words were heavily abbreviated. Yet I understood exactly what he meant.
Why democracy is stable. Because power is spread among many people. Democracy is the shape you get when you tear up the single pie of power and scatter it everywhere. The trade-off is that radical change becomes virtually impossible, and sometimes the whole group does something collectively stupid... but it is stable.
Conversely, dictatorship is unstable. Radical changes impossible under democracy become achievable, but the nation's fate wavers with the leader's competence. When the leader's brain suddenly rots and they start doing insane things, an entire country can be ruined at once.
What happens when you apply this to the real world? Players are stronger than ordinary humans. Soon they will enter a domain that cannot be controlled by guns or blades, and the ideal of 'equality' rooted in Earth can be shaken at any moment. This is what occurs when a single human's capabilities expand.
And if such a powerhouse is a crazy psychopath? Or grows old and loses their mental stability?
"...Haha."
This wasn't the first time I was hearing this story. It was the situation I had worried about over and over. The main fear I had harbored about social collapse.
In other words... this precariously balanced instability was deliberately orchestrated by the Angels. It wasn't merely my personal anxiety—it truly was a 'trial' imposed on humanity.
"Hahaha."
Knowing it was intentional actually put my mind at ease. It wasn't that humanity was bad. The Angels had simply exploited our weaknesses.
But things wouldn't go the way they intended.
"Just watch."
Before society collapses.
I will conquer this Tower.