Too Good at Grinding (1) (Revised)
Too Good at Grinding (1) (Revised)
"..."
When I closed my eyes, it had been the beautiful clearing bathed in the fading glow of sunset.
When I opened them, warm sunlight greeted me.
Same space... yet it felt strangely unfamiliar.
"Hoo..."
I let out a sigh and turned my head to find Choi Ji-won.
"..."
She glared at me once with a cold face, then sharply turned her head away.
The familiar blank expression, a stark contrast to the warm smile she had shown me just moments ago.
My chest ached. My stomach churned, and my head spun.
Was this... loss?
Did I like Choi Ji-won? I don't know.
But I was aware that we had become friends.
In exchange for saving people's lives, I had lost a friend.
"..."
If I had regressed and left them all to starve to death, I would certainly have regretted it.
So why did this choice fill me with regret too?
Why did Choi Ji-won's smile keep drifting through my mind?
When you choose one thing, you must give up another. You can't have everything.
"So this is how I'll have to live from now on..."
I'd never formed a deep bond with anyone in this Tower before.
At most, I'd chatted a bit with that short-haired girl, Baek Da-hye. I don't think I've ever gotten close enough to anyone to call them a real friend.
That's why I never knew it could hurt this much.
I never knew it could be this agonizing—having someone I felt close to look at me like a complete stranger.
I remember. But only I remember, and that tore at my heart.
"Just... let's not get attached to people anymore."
As long as I'm a Regressor, all my relationships will be like this.
If I get close to someone, I have to fear regression.
Someday, a moment will come when I have to weigh the benefits I'd gain by regressing against the bond I've built with that person right now.
And if the bond happens to win?
If because of that, I miss out on potential rewards I could have gotten, and fail to become strong enough?
If those little missteps pile up, one after another, until I finally reach Floor 66 and fall short because I lack the strength?
By then, regret would be too late. I only regress to the moment I first entered a floor—I don't always go back to Floor 0.
Even if I abandoned the bond and just regressed, it would deal a heavy blow to my mental state.
The gap between memory and reality carves out your heart.
Even now, my chest stings every time I see Choi Ji-won.
For my own sake, and to conquer the Tower.
Not getting attached to other people is the right choice. Going it alone as much as possible is the right choice.
"Ha, haha..."
And then, suddenly, I thought of the Infinite Regressors I'd seen in webtoons and web novels.
They don't travel with others, they're numb to killing, and they treat life as cheap.
When you get down to it, they're lunatics who don't see people as people.
But were they lunatics from the start?
In the beginning, they'd have been ordinary people too.
Their hearts were just worn down in the sandstorm called time.
And the start of that erosion probably began with the decision to go it alone—just like me.
Will I end up like them someday?
After my heart has been crushed—frustrated, despairing, ruthlessly trampled until I can't get back up—will I become one of those cold-blooded lunatics without a shred of mercy?
"...I don't want that."
Stubbornness.
I think stubbornness is the most accurate word for it.
The feeling of refusing to surrender, because the coming ruin is so vividly clear.
Everyone else went crazy? I won't. I'm going to stay sane. I'm going to be a hero.
You could call it childish defiance, but this is what I genuinely feel.
I won't become like them.
Going my own way is fine.
What matters is not losing my humanity. Keeping the personality of the person named Kim Jun-ho intact.
Not making choices that my future self will regret over and over.
And always remembering this resolve.
"Hoo."
Once I sorted out my thoughts, my head felt clearer.
'Don't give up. I'm sure you can find an answer that satisfies you.'
That was what Choi Ji-won said right before I regressed.
What would be an answer that satisfies me here?
In this brutal Tutorial, what results would I need to achieve so my future self can look back without regrets?
"...Simple."
Everything.
I'll obtain every Trait that can be obtained.
I'll strip this place bare of every last thing they've laid out as a reward.
I'll save every single person summoned to this clearing.
As long as I have this absurdly broken Trait called regression, I should at least do that much to have no regrets.
"...I think that might work."
Ignoring what weapons other people grabbed or what they were doing, I focused entirely on devising a plan to save everyone.
After reviewing it about three times, I concluded that the odds of success were fairly high.
That settled what I had to do.
All that remained was to act.
I clenched my fist tight and drove it down into the left side of my chest, right where my heart was.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 0.]
***
Honestly, saving most of the people isn't all that difficult.
As long as I don't over-intervene, I just repeat the past cycle.
I've already taken down the Minotaur without taking any damage.
If I run through the same process again, I can kill the Minotaur.
And if I preemptively subdue the Goblin Shaman who's looking for a chance to backstab us... done.
The hidden boss dies, and the portal opens.
After that, if everyone just goes through the portal in an orderly fashion, it's possible to save most of them.
But if the condition changes to saving 'everyone,' things get a little tricky.
Because the plan to push the Minotaur into the swamp becomes nearly impossible.
The problem starts with just rallying everyone together.
Well, let's say I somehow succeed in controlling them by force.
While feeding that many people, I'd need to level up the ones who show potential, make them invest in Strength stats, and then have them push the Minotaur.
Just looking at it, it looks incredibly difficult.
And there would be a difference in desperation, too.
The people in the previous cycle had already experienced the Tower.
They were people who had killed goblins, witnessed their comrades' deaths, and been pushed around while going hungry.
On top of that, the Golden Orbs kept getting rarer as the days went on...
It was only because the situation was so bad that they went along with my plan to push the Minotaur into the swamp.
But what if I'm controlling everything?
They level up the way I tell them to, they pick stats the way I tell them to.
If I deliver meals to them and tell them to level up diligently...
Would they really display the same transcendent strength they showed last cycle and push past their limits?
I don't think so. It seems more likely they'd start complaining and ask, 'Why don't you push?'
So if I want to save everyone, I have to use a different method.
A head-on fight.
Defeating that thing in a straight-up fight is the only way to save them all.
Is that even possible? I'm not an idiot. I've thought of a plan to bring it down.
And in the messages I saw last cycle, there was this:
-[Wonderful Achievement Notifier!]
-You have successfully defeated the Hidden Boss, 'Labyrinth Demon Minotaur'!
-There are no casualties! An achievement experience bonus is awarded!
-The highest contributor, [Choi Ji-won], receives a Special Reward!
What stands out is that Choi Ji-won, as the highest contributor, received a Special Reward.
Earlier, my mind was so wrecked I didn't get to ask what the reward was, but I doubt they handed over some worthless rag as a reward for taking down a Hidden Boss.
It must have been something incredible.
That's it. I'm going to defeat the Minotaur and snag the 'highest contributor' bonus.
No matter what I do, I can't win right now.
Before I fight, I have to bulk up my own weight class.
There are three things I need to test right now.
First. Find out if I can repeatedly obtain a Trait from the same person.
I've already confirmed that if I get overlapping Traits in a similar direction, instead of having two similar Traits, the grade goes up.
So, after I regress, is it possible to obtain a Trait from the same person again?
For example, the Anchovy from whom I first obtained the 'Awe' Trait is somewhere in this clearing right now.
If I can make him feel awe toward me again in this cycle... can I raise the grade of the Awe Trait?
Or what if I make Anchovy feel a different emotion? If Anchovy feels a strong sense of 'admiration,' would I be able to obtain a Trait? That's the question.
And second. After regressing, check whether I can get achievement experience again when I kill the Minotaur again.
My Achievement Level shot up tremendously after I defeated the Minotaur.
I need to check if I can get duplicate achievement experience the same way.
If this is possible, I'll be able to grow incredibly fast.
Though, now that I think about it, killing the Minotaur gave me no normal experience.
That was an EX-rank Trait for you. Amazing. Truly amazing.
And lastly, swordsmanship practice.
I've already memorized all of Choi Ji-won's swordsmanship.
I can use that to train hard on my own, or I could reveal my regression and get direct instruction from Choi Ji-won.
Now then, in what order should I execute this?
First, I'll start with...
"Hello? Mr. Anchovy?"
"Uh, hello... wait, what did you just call me?"
I'm starting with you. Anchovy.