The Regressor Endures (7)
The Regressor Endures (7)
The amusement park was decently busy for a day out—not weekend-jammed, but bustling. For people like us, there to hide in a crowd, though, that was bad news.
"Whoa, whoa...!!"
I felt sorry for the girl, seeing her eyes wide with delight. We weren't here to have fun. We were here to pretend to have fun.
We needed a place with open sightlines, an easy escape route, and a way to stay on guard without looking suspicious...
"Let's go over there."
"The line's huge, though?"
"Exactly why we're going."
We got in line for a suspended ride that slowly circled the ceiling. It was known for being boring, but it looped through the indoor section, was perfect for photos, and was popular with couples and little kids. The turnover was also horrendously slow, so the line was always long.
"Whoa, whoa..."
Areum was simply standing in line, but she was thoroughly delighted. The cheap children's clothes I'd bought her on the way suited her perfectly. Her constant wonder was honestly cute.
"You like it that much?"
"Yes! Seeing things I'd only ever heard about is amazing...!!"
"..."
'Only ever heard about.' A scenario took shape in my mind: a cold laboratory, a pitiful girl, painful experiments. A researcher who couldn't stand to watch, and treated her warmly. Her wary glare giving way to something softer without her noticing.
"After this ride, can I have one of those tornado potatoes over there? Please?"
"...We aren't actually riding this, but I'll buy you a tornado potato."
"Yay!"
Areum bounced on the spot. The couple in front of us glanced back and murmured about how cute she was.
"Is she your daughter? Or your sister?"
"Ah, my cousin."
"Oh my. Could you take off her mask for a second? Her eyes are so pretty..."
"Ah, that's a little..."
While I was casually deflecting the couple, a crackling sound came from the indoor speakers, and an announcement began.
"We are searching for a missing child. We are searching for a missing child. This is an urgent matter. Please cooperate fully with our staff. Thank you."
"Police. Would you mind if we briefly check on the little lady? It won't take long."
At the same time, a group of police officers entered the park. And not just police. Some were in plain clothes, but they radiated a sharp, unmistakable edge. They looked exactly like ordinary people, but that edge was different. Professionals.
"Mm..."
It hadn't even been an hour since we'd entered the park. I don't care how good Korea's investigative abilities are—I don't think they're good enough to deduce "amusement park" in forty minutes flat. We'd stuck to routes with fewer cameras, too. Normally, this speed was impossible.
"Huh? Areum, you need the bathroom?"
"What?"
"Can't be helped. We'll ride next time."
I took Areum and hid inside the nearest accessible restroom. I figured this would buy us a little time, but.
"Sir. Come on out."
"..."
"You probably have no idea what's going on. Come out while I'm asking nicely."
We were discovered in five minutes. I cracked the door and saw the same plainclothes agent from earlier, waiting. The device in his right hand pointed at us and beeped with a flashing light.
"What do you mean, I don't know what I'm doing?"
"I'm fairly certain you're better off not knowing."
The man gestured, and the agents behind him aimed Tasers. Right—firing an actual sniper rifle here in the open would be a hassle for them.
"..."
Should I fight? I'd win. But then what?
"This is a failure."
I sorted my thoughts and bit down lightly on my cheek. I'd run a few more experiments.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 21.]
***
Several regressions repeated. I squeezed my imagination dry and tested every possibility I could think of. The results were all the same.
Amusement park. Arboretum. Department store. Café. A remote mountain. The seaside.
Crowded places, empty places—didn't matter. We moved constantly. Sometimes we acted like siblings, sometimes like father and daughter, sometimes like strangers. Sometimes I put a mask on her, sometimes just casual clothes, sometimes I carried her in a sack.
"Haaah."
All of it. All of it was useless.
Where we went made no difference. They always found us. The police, obviously. And whoever was behind them—connections reaching major corporations, with terrifying speed and resources.
"We're definitely being tracked."
One hundred percent, absolutely, Areum's body had some kind of chip implanted. No matter what route I took, they found us instantly, without exception. I asked her, "Do you have any square-shaped bumps on your body?" but she just said no. Checking her myself felt... awkward, which made it a real problem. For now, there didn't seem to be a chip visibly embedded in her skin.
If I pushed mana into her body, I could scan her in more detail, but that might harm her frail frame—I couldn't bring myself to do it. What if I damaged her organs? And my mana ran cold. She'd almost certainly end up with frostbite in a couple of places.
"Gunfire... wasn't there."
Another oddity: except for the very first cycle, I never saw a sniper rifle again. I'd deliberately gone to a secluded mountain and the seaside, but even then, only police and agents appeared. Not once did anyone take a long-range shot. At this point, I couldn't shake the suspicion that there was something special about that mountain I'd visited the first time. The problem was I didn't know exactly where that place was.
"Still, that's not a real issue."
Time was fixed, so I just had to get on the same bus. I remembered the bus number, and I could earn money through grunt work—which wasn't a big deal. I could use the luggage compartment if I had to. Later, I'd go back to that mountain and check it out properly.
Another question: Areum's movement pattern.
No matter where I was, she always found me. In the city, in the mountains, by the sea. When I was too far away, she took a little longer, but she always walked up to my side as if drawn by a magnet. I'd never gone overseas—no passport—and I'd never drifted on a boat at sea... but the important thing was the fact itself: she followed.
"She said she feels something strange pulling her..."
What was she sensing from me that kept drawing her back? And what did the government want so badly that they were obsessed with her? After trying countless methods, I had already eliminated "running away" as a viable option.
This was impossible, no matter who you were. Choi Ji-won? Michael Jeter? No. Areum was fated to be captured no matter what we did. If a regressor like me couldn't pull it off, no one could.
"..."
Did that mean I'd give up? No. I wouldn't. If running was impossible, I just had to try another approach.
"Let's negotiate."
First, I needed to find out why the government wanted Areum. I had to know the reason to have any counterplay, and only with counterplay could I steer the situation in my favor. Repeating the cycle of running, getting Tasered, and resetting would get me no answers.
But to negotiate, you need an appropriate table. To create an environment where I wouldn't get shot out of the blue and could actually talk...
"I need a lot of eyes watching."
As many eyes as possible.
I glanced down at the iPad in my hands.
These days, the online world has far more eyes than the real one.
**
Inside a police station. The Chief was leisurely sipping coffee, chasing off his morning drowsiness. He'd woken up early, and his eyelids were unbearably heavy.
"Hoo..."
His retirement age was approaching. He didn't have the connections to land some honorary post, and he didn't have the ambition to dip a toe into politics. Fortunately, he'd saved a bit of money, so he wouldn't starve, but for an old man who'd worked his whole life, "retirement" was a terrifying prospect.
All he wanted was to retire without a single blemish on the career he'd built up, steady and clean. That modest hope had formed over the years as he watched other colleagues be stripped of their uniforms in disgrace.
"Hmm, hmm..."
The Chief pictured himself receiving congratulations and an honorable send-off.
"Chief!"
Then the Department Head burst through the door, and the happy vision scattered and vanished in a flash.
"It's... an urgent matter. You need to see this."
"Urgent? What is it?"
The Chief set his coffee aside and shot to his feet. In this line of work, the word "urgent" was enough to make cold sweat trickle down your back before you even knew why.
"Take a look at this."
The Department Head pulled up YouTube on his phone and showed it to the Chief. The Chief took off his glasses, squinted, and stared hard at the screen.
"What crime did our Areum commit?! Why are the police coming after her and persecuting her?! The government must apologize!"
"Apologize!"
A man with a red bandana tied around his head was shouting at the top of his lungs. In perfect rhythm, a cute girl echoed "Apologize!" —only she had a ribbon tied in her hair instead of a bandana.
"Uh, th-that..."
But the girl's face looked familiar. As if he'd seen her somewhere before...
"Yes... it's the girl from the news."
"Where is this broadcast happening?"
"In a park, within our jurisdiction."
"Good heavens."
The Chief sprang from his seat and hastily threw on his coat.
"You're going yourself? A team already left—"
"Call in everyone who isn't tied up with something critical. No, tell them all to get here. This is an emergency."
He remembered the official notice from early that morning, the one that had been stamped, "Burn after reading." It had stressed that the target must be recovered alive, and a photograph of a girl had been attached.
"In my final years, what on earth..."
The sender was the President of South Korea.