The Regressor Is Brave? (1)
I laid out the snacks I'd bought at the convenience store and popped open a can of beer. I was in comfortable clothes. As always, Ji-won looked good in anything.
"...Ugh."
"What's wrong?"
"It's way too bitter..."
"...Good grief."
I'd bought a beer called 'Super Dry,' but it wasn't dry at all—it was bitter as hell. If it was going to be like this, they should've named it Super Bitter. Why call it Super Dry?
Anyway, this was a brief moment of rest. A drinking session to cool my head before climbing to the next floor.
I had no intention of going through Floor 23 again. Honestly, I'd been lucky. Floor 23 was the kind of floor that dealt major psychological damage the more you repeated it. If I'd been stuck there for a long time... I don't know what would've happened.
Let's not think about painful things. I was just munching on snacks with a "let's enjoy the moment~" kind of mindset, but...
Maybe because it was late at night, strange thoughts kept popping into my head.
"Sometimes, I end up thinking this."
"What kind of thing?"
"Like, maybe we're overreacting too much."
I'd felt it after seeing the other players' reactions on Floor 23. Those people... were ready to kill if they had to. I'm no different. I've actually killed someone in the tutorial. Though that became something that never happened.
"But just because those people are killers... it didn't seem like they were evil."
Even if they'd "committed murder," they weren't bad people. They were rational, they felt compassion, and they hesitated before doing something. They were far from the "cold-blooded psychos without a shred of mercy" that I worry about.
A father who killed someone to protect his son, versus a psycho with a rotten character who has never actually murdered. The former is probably more virtuous... that's what I'm saying.
"At this point, when handling a blade has become second nature... just killing someone who's clearly evil might not change me all that much... that kind of thought."
"..."
Choi Ji-won quietly sipped her can of beer as she listened to me. Her cheeks were a little flushed.
"...Are you drunk?"
"Yeah. If I circulate my mana just right, I can actually get drunk. Heehee."
Tilting her head at about a 90-degree angle, Choi Ji-won rested her chin on her hand and stared at me.
"The truth is... I do think that even if you commit murder, there's nothing to be done about it."
"O-oh, really?"
"Yeah. In the world... there might be people who just won't change. If someone is consistently trash... you can't help it."
"..."
"But even so, the reason I don't want you to kill someone... is because I think that acts as some kind of inner line you draw for yourself. You said you wanted to become a hero, right?"
"...I did, didn't I?"
"A hero doesn't seem like they'd kill someone out of being unable to help it... and you... you'd probably be disappointed in yourself too... that's why I'm saying this. I trust your judgment completely... but when it comes to killing, I still want to prevent it even if it means being stubborn about it."
We're climbing the Tower without breaking. We're already about a million light-years removed from "everyday life." Would the other cold-hearted players on Floor 23 have been like that from the start? They became abnormal themselves in order to adapt to the abnormal.
"Climbing the Tower is an inherently dehumanizing process anyway... it'd be more accurate to say I don't want that process to accelerate. Ah, trying to use difficult words makes my head hurt."
Grinning as if embarrassed, Choi Ji-won sipped her beer again. Just as she licked the moist beer foam off her lips, crossed her legs firmly, and seemed about to say something—
-Vrrr.
Her phone buzzed. In an instant, all signs of intoxication vanished from her as she checked the screen.
"...Oh, I got a reply."
"What kind of reply?"
"Remember I said I'd ask that older friend of mine? How other people cleared it."
The Association had become a mess, and since Michael Jeter was the one encouraging that mess, I couldn't contact them for information. So the next best option was to use Choi Ji-won's connections. (I wanted to use my own connections, but Kang Chan is climbing the Tower extremely slowly... and I can't get in touch with Dok Su-hee.)
The plan was for Choi Ji-won to contact an older woman she'd gotten close to on Floor 23 and gather information.
"She said this friend of mine has connections all over Europe. Wait a sec."
Choi Ji-won quickly tapped at her phone. After exchanging rapid messages, she began to explain a moment later.
"So... this is according to a friend of a friend."
"Okay."
"Usually... people clear it when someone dies."
According to the player who provided the info, Floor 23 was "a floor that's easy to clear if a human dies." Apparently, when the smell of a human corpse wafts out, the tentacles that had been hiding in the burrows crawl out. And then you kill the tentacles while they're defenseless from eating the corpse.
"...There are people who hold out for five days and clear it like we did... but there aren't many."
"..."
How did they find out that information? Well, they probably experienced it firsthand. Was this rough, astringent taste in my mouth from the alcohol, or from the story I'd just heard?
"L-let's skip over this part."
"Yeah, let's."
"The rewards. Should we talk about the rewards? We're out of snacks anyway."
I took out the equipment I'd received as a reward on Floor 22 and placed it on the table.
-Bracelet of Growth [S]
-Gain 30% more experience points from combat.
The identity of the reward I'd worked so hard to get on Floor 22 was this bracelet. The design looked like a bracelet woven from knotted thread, so thin it seemed like there was nothing there at first glance.
In games, the low-level areas usually give big weapons or armor as rewards, but as you level up, they tend to give accessories or passives instead.
"Hmm, this is seriously good for me..."
Gain 30% more experience points. The description was simple, but equipment with simple descriptions is usually the really good stuff.
The foundation of a player's physical abilities is stat points. And the way to get stat points is through levels. And it gives 30% more experience, which is the means to raise levels. Even someone clueless would look at it and shout, 'That's broken!'
"Jun-ho, is it useless for you?"
The problem is... it had no effect on me. Since I still don't have a level.
"Still, it's no loss."
Of course, it's just that I can't use it right now. The reward itself is clearly excellent.
Later on, I could give it to Michael Jeter or Dok Su-hee. (Assuming the latter is rehabilitated, that is.) For now, I'd just hold onto it and think of it as having a couple's bracelet.
Next was the reward from Floor 23. Mine and Choi Ji-won's rewards were slightly different.
-Condensed Royal Jelly (Unique)
-Upon consumption, a chosen stat increases by 20.
-Royal Jelly (Unique)
-Upon consumption, a chosen stat increases by 10.
The former was my reward, and the latter was Ji-won's. Since I'd personally flipped the village upside down and dealt with the tentacles, there must have been a difference in our rewards. (In case you're wondering: isn't the unwritten rule for elixirs to regress and eat them twice? ... But I didn't want to enter Floor 23 again.)
More importantly, a whole 20 stats. Considering you usually get 5 stat points per level-up, this was essentially giving me the stats equivalent to 4 levels.
Ah, for the record, my attempt to give both to one person failed. It seems the (Unique) effect is applied uniformly to elixirs of the same category. Anyway, after gulping down the wriggling blue jelly, I adjusted my Status Window and raised my stats.
"Where'd you put it?"
"Me? Into Health."
"...Health?"
"Yeah. Even if I still regress the moment I take a single hit... I saw the potential on Floor 22."
On Floor 22, I was incredibly strong. I was strong before, but I was much stronger then. Why? Because my body could endure it.
So my calculation was that if I consistently invested in the Health stat... and my body reached a level where it could handle this Cold Energy, I'd break out of my shell and soar. Besides, my other stats were rising evenly thanks to my 'Achievement Level', and I wasn't feeling any particular shortage in attack power anyway.
In any case, that settled the rewards. My body had gotten a bit tougher, and a small bracelet had appeared on my wrist. After getting a good night's sleep and resting, the only thing left to do was move forward. I was tired... but just a little. If I climbed the Tower a little bit more, there'd be time to rest.
"Ready?"
"Of course."
They said Michael Jeter climbed from Floor 24 to Floor 29 in just one week. There's nothing stopping us from doing the same.
I shared a kiss with Ji-won, then firmed my resolve. Up until now, I've done well. So I'll be able to do well going forward too. As long as regression exists... I'm the one who wins.
On Floor 21, the angel said it. That humanity's greatest weapon is 'courage.'
"Let's go."
And right now, I'm not afraid of anything.
-Entering Floor 24.
**
-Entering Floor 24.
I'm not afraid of anything right now...
There was once a time when I thought that.
-Flicker. Flicker.
The incandescent bulb on the low ceiling flickered precariously. I'd woken up on a bed. When I sat up, the mattress creaked beneath me.
"...Ji-won?"
No answer came back. Only a chilling silence drifted through the air. I carefully pulled back the curtain surrounding my bed and realized there were six beds in this room total.
"...A hospital?"
Yes, a hospital. This interior design was used in hospitals.
-Creak.
As my feet touched the floor, peeling paint crunched underfoot. The walls, the floor... everything was yellowed and old. It gave a strong impression of being unmaintained. No, it was more like it had been abandoned.
And unlike a normal hospital, there were no windows here. All that existed was a flickering light bulb. A horrifying silence. Thick cement walls, a door leading outside. And beds.
Attached to the beds were things that looked like handcuffs, made to bind wrists and ankles.
"..."
My own breathing felt loud. It felt like something was going to jump out at any second. The moment the silence broke, something terrifying was going to happen.
I couldn't even bring myself to move from the bed where I'd first come to my senses. I just stared endlessly at the door, the only passageway out of this space. The dented metal door was filled with an ominous aura, as if it would move at any time.
No, at any moment...
-Ding!
"...Holy shit."
I flinched at the sudden noise, but it was just the sound of a message window. My heart nearly dropped out of my chest.
Letting out a sigh of relief, I calmly read this floor's objective.
<Floor 24>
-Escape.