The Regressor Likes Cider (1)
The Regressor Likes Cider (1)
A small mountain on the outskirts of Seoul.
"Well..."
I was hiking, something I'd never done in my life. My physical abilities had improved so ridiculously that my body barely felt the strain, which made it surprisingly manageable.
All the hard parts of hiking were stripped away, and I could simply enjoy the clean air and beautiful scenery.
I climbed the mountain at a brisk pace, and before I knew it, I'd reached the summit.
"You made it."
"Good to see you."
Choi Ji-won and Park Cheol-jin were waiting for me.
"Looks like you've been through a lot?"
"...It's been a bit rough."
Choi Ji-won was wearing a hat, an oversized mask, and sunglasses. Considering the entire country was going crazy over her right now, the outfit made perfect sense.
"...Still, I have to accept it. This is the path I chose."
The stories about Choi Ji-won spreading everywhere were the result of her own will.
Back when we were planning Floor 2 clear. Choi Ji-won wanted to become a hero.
She wanted to become a bright beacon for the people holed up on Floor 1 with no intention of climbing the Tower, and she wanted to improve the chaotic social atmosphere caused by ability-user crimes breaking out everywhere.
Because of that, her face got spread around like crazy... but speaking from the position of someone who's seen the future, Choi Ji-won's face was going to get famous anyway. The government would give her an award and hold her up as the 'Hero of Korea.'
I just added a little push. It's not my fault...!
"Mr. Jun-ho. Did you rest well?"
"You can speak casually. You're older than me..."
"...Ah, um. Should I? No, is it really okay?"
"Of course."
Just before we cleared Floor 2.
I exchanged contact information with Choi Ji-won and Park Cheol-jin, and as a result, we gathered here on this mountain.
Unlike other people, we shared a common purpose: to climb the Tower and resolve this disaster.
"By the way... what did everyone pick for the Diamond Reward... no, no. What did you pick?"
Firefighter Park Cheol-jin, who had been gazing at the scenery below the mountain, asked the question as if it had just occurred to him.
"...I took the Heart of Lightning trait."
Choi Ji-won answered.
"I think what I lack is explosive power. My fundamentals are solid, but... in a Tower full of supernatural abilities flying everywhere, I figured I needed one sharp decisive blow."
I also thought Heart of Lightning suited Choi Ji-won well.
No matter how much innate combat sense she has, she's ultimately a physical fighter.
Rather than Flash Step, which is good for surprise attacks, Heart of Lightning suits her better as a secret trump card.
"I took the Elixir."
Honestly, I didn't have a choice. The other two traits already existed for me, so picking them as duplicates was impossible... I had to pick the Elixir.
"...So you can learn things just by watching, meaning there's no need to waste a trait slot on them."
Choi Ji-won muttered something, but she said it so quietly I couldn't quite catch it.
"I took the Elixir too."
Lastly, Firefighter Park Cheol-jin. He'd apparently chosen the Elixir as well, surprisingly.
"Wouldn't it have been better to take Heart of Lightning like Miss Choi Ji-won?"
"...My wife has cancer."
"...Ah."
"Don't make that face. She drank the Elixir and got better like it was washed away. The doctors called it a miracle, asked if they could run some tests. This should be a happy situation — why's the mood like this?"
With a playful smile, he stood up and looked down at the forest swaying in the wind.
"There's a lot of talk these days about ability-user crimes and all that... but isn't poison something that can become medicine depending on how you use it?"
Swoosh.
The wind brushed through the trees.
"My main job, firefighting... there was a time when I saved someone I never could've saved under normal circumstances, thanks to my traits and stats. I felt it in that moment. The Tower is an opportunity for me."
Park Cheol-jin clenched his fist, turned his head to look at us, and grinned.
"I might be far less impressive than you two... but I plan to climb the Tower harder than anyone. For the sake of people."
"That's great."
Choi Ji-won smiled back.
The wind was howling since we were at the summit, but the atmosphere here was warm.
Of course, I was wearing a slightly awkward smile, since I felt like we were getting a bit too chummy...
We talked for quite a while.
"Whoops, looks like we've let the time get away from us."
Park Cheol-jin said as he glanced down at his wristwatch.
The reason we'd gathered on this mountain was one thing.
If Floor 3 turned out to be like Floor 2, with large numbers of people progressing simultaneously, it would be advantageous for us to enter together.
"Well then..."
"See you on Floor 3."
Each of us opened a portal leading to Floor 1.
And we all threw ourselves into the portals.
[You have entered Floor 3.]
"...Oh."
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was an enormous stone door.
A stone door with a rough texture. It looked less like an elaborate structure someone had painstakingly built, and more like a giant slab of rock somebody had just plopped down.
The thing worth noting was that five identical stone doors were lined up in a row. Each door had crude markings carved above it, like someone had scratched them with a knife — from one stick up to five sticks.
"...The vibe's a bit dark."
Looking around, I saw nothing but stone. When I checked my clothes, they'd changed into the leather armor issued on Floor 2.
This place seemed to be part of a long cave. Five stone doors stood in front, and behind me, a winding cave path stretched out before being blocked by a pile of rubble.
What stood out was that torches were the only source of light. And while there were traces of someone trying to renovate the cave here and there, the work felt crude and unpolished.
Unlike Floor 1, which was like a paradise, and Floor 2, where people suffered but at least there was a semblance of civilization, Floor 3 gave off a distinctly savage feeling.
"Hmm..."
And I wasn't the only one in this cave. About five people were staring intently at the doors, pondering something.
"Alright. Going with two sticks."
One man who'd been deliberating walked up to the door with two sticks carved above it and placed his hand on it. With a 'poof!' sound effect, his body vanished.
It looked like some kind of selection system among the five doors... but I couldn't be sure until the floor description appeared.
"Ah, you got here first."
"Did you figure anything out?"
My appreciation of Floor 3 was brief. Soon, Choi Ji-won and Park Cheol-jin arrived on Floor 3.
"...This place is a bit creepy. The air feels chilly, somehow..."
The moment Firefighter Park Cheol-jin frowned in discomfort.
<Floor 3>
-Clear Condition: Choose one of the five stone doors and proceed to the end to clear. The more sticks marked above the door, the higher the difficulty.
-Clear Reward: Varies by difficulty.
A familiar message window appeared before my eyes.
As I thought, the number of sticks carved above the doors indicated the difficulty. The idea that harder challenges yield better rewards might be a universal human concept.
Whatever the case, there were five difficulty levels, and I had to pick one. Floor 3 was straightforward, if anything.
Naturally, here...
"Five sticks would be best, right?"
"Four sticks would be best, right?"
My voice overlapped with Choi Ji-won's, and we awkwardly looked at each other.
"...Isn't five the obvious choice?"
I was the one advocating for the hardest difficulty.
Let's take a look at our current roster.
Choi Ji-won. Park Cheol-jin. And me.
This is a party in the top 0.1% of all players. If this party can't clear the highest difficulty, the design is just broken.
Of course, there are variables.
"...First of all, there's no guarantee we'll all go through the highest difficulty together."
Choi Ji-won calmly explained her opposing view, as if trying to persuade me.
She had a point.
There was a real possibility that once we opened the door and went in, it would turn out to be 'Actually, it's a solo mission~' and we'd all get separated. There would be no benefit to entering together.
Assuming synergy between three people and blindly charging into the highest difficulty might be reckless.
"Besides, I think there's symbolism attached to being the 'hardest difficulty.'"
On top of that, the 'hardest difficulty' is usually on a completely different level.
Just look at Floor 2 — catching the nobles wasn't that intense, but the moment you tried to raise the tier to the Diamond Reward, the difficulty spiked to absurd levels.
In other words, there's a very high chance that difficulty 4 and difficulty 5 have a massive gap between them.
Of course, the reward would be equally massive...
"Since we already got the hidden reward on Floor 2, I don't think we need to take risks here. Everything around us is dark and gloomy, and... the atmosphere's different from before, isn't it? Just because Floor 1 and Floor 2 had peaceful atmospheres, that doesn't mean we should let our guard down completely."
That's why I think Choi Ji-won's opinion could practically be called the correct answer.
There were no suffering residents here. There was no reason to take a risk and gamble.
And as she said, just because Floor 1 and Floor 2 were peaceful, there was no guarantee Floor 3 would be the same.
"...Then should we split up? You two take difficulty four. I'll take difficulty five."
But that only applies when I don't have regression.
With the mindset of 'Yep~ just regress and it's all good~,' I can ram my head into the hardest difficulty with zero risk.
If I try difficulty five and it's more manageable than expected? I regress and convince Choi Ji-won and Park Cheol-jin.
If I try difficulty five and the difficulty is absolutely insane? I regress and we all go into difficulty four together.
Other people have to enter without knowing the floor's structure, but I'm in a position where I can chew up Floor 3, tear it apart, taste it, savor it, and then make my decision.
This isn't high risk, high return — it's closer to no risk, high return. There's no reason not to take the gamble.
"...Are you sure you'll be okay? I know Mr. Jun-ho is strong, but..."
"...Jun-ho. There's a chance we might get separated, but there's also a chance we might all stick together..."
Park Cheol-jin and Choi Ji-won had seen my skills in the Tutorial, but they still tried to talk me out of it, as if they were uneasy.
"It's fine."
But I couldn't just suddenly reveal regression now. I figured the best move was to just go into the highest difficulty, get a feel for what it's like, and then regress.
Then I could use the information I gathered to indirectly guide Choi Ji-won and Park Cheol-jin's actions. Arguing back and forth while knowing nothing is inefficient.
"...Isn't that Choi Ji-won?"
"...I think it is?"
Because we'd been talking loudly right in the middle of everything, we'd drawn attention — people were starting to glance at Choi Ji-won and whisper among themselves. The cave made voices echo, too.
"Then, I'll head in first."
No point dragging things out here. Better to just get moving right away.
Hemming and hawing when you've got regression to fall back on is pure frustration — the kind of thing that gives you cancer.
An infinite regressor should always act decisively. You have to forge paths no one else takes, and you can't be afraid of death.
With the heart of a great pioneer, I strode forward and confidently placed my hand on the door with five sticks carved above it.
[Entering Floor 3-5.]
"...Huh?"
That is, until the message window appeared before my eyes.