The Regressor Is a Cloud (7) (Revised 5.31...)
The Regressor Is a Cloud (7) (Revised 5.31...)
Slam!
The stone door we had come through slammed shut, sealing the room.
"...What the hell."
The Tutorial had hidden elements too. If you beat the supposedly unkillable Minotaur, you got a reward.
Floor 2 had hidden elements as well—subduing the City Master granted a Diamond Reward, a grade above the standard reward.
And now Floor 3 has hidden elements. What is this, a web-novel scheme? Every floor springs hidden gimmicks on you. It's ridiculous.
"..."
I set aside my grumbling at whichever god or archangel designed the Tower, and took stock of the others.
"Uh, uhh..."
Ahn Gyeong-jun, teeth chattering, radiating tension.
"..."
Dok Su-hee, staring at the red door with a hardened expression.
"..."
"...What."
Kang Chan met my eyes.
Right—Kang Chan had to have been thinking the same thing, watching everyone's reactions.
Four handprints on the door to the right. One handprint on the door to the left.
The implication was obvious.
『Last Trial』
- Passing through the door in front of you will clear Floor 3. However, only one person may pass through the red door. Passing through the red door grants an additional reward.
A message window appeared before my eyes, confirming my suspicion.
They'd been stressing cooperation the whole time, and now they wanted us to fight it out? I couldn't shake the feeling that this was malicious.
"..."
Should I just kill them all and hog the rewards? I ought to see what the red door reward is at least once, anyway. If I regress, they all come back...
No. Stop. Think like a normal person. If I slaughtered everyone here, my mental state would really become unmanageable.
I rolled my eyes, read the floating message thoroughly, then looked at the two doors.
Do we really have to fight? Isn't there another way?
"Wait, there is?"
There was. A way.
I don't think we have to fight...?
"Um... could I have a moment?"
All eyes turned to me.
"You all saw the message, right? The one saying only one person can pass through the red door."
At a glance, it sounded like it was telling us to kill each other—kill the three others, claim the reward and the extra reward all by yourself, and clear Floor 3.
"First, there's no need to fight each other. If any of you were thinking of killing everyone—you don't have to."
From what I'd seen, none of the four of us was truly evil... but you never know. I pressed on, wearing a light smile.
"We don't clear Floor 3 just by opening a door. It said we clear it by passing through the door. We can open the regular door as a group, and then one person can open the red door."
It was a minor play on words. They planted a blood-red door in front of us, herded us into a terrifying sealed room, then suddenly sprang the message on us. A situation that would fluster and panic anyone.
But I consciously thought logically, and with the mindset of "I can just regress if things go wrong," I saw the bigger picture. In this last room, there was no need to fight.
If Floor 3 cleared the moment a door was opened... whoever wanted the red door would have to kill everyone else. Because the instant someone stepped through the red door, the other three would lose their way to clear Floor 3. No one would just stand by and allow it.
But the Tower used "the moment of passing through" as the trigger. I think it's an intentional loophole—a loophole designed to prod cooperating people into fighting each other, then leave them to protest, "What? We could have cleared this without fighting?"
I'll say it again: this Tower was built with the goal of "judging humanity." Yet it keeps steering us into situations where we have no choice but to fight... but peaceful solutions definitely exist.
"Let's resolve this rationally. First, we open the regular door, then decide who goes through the red door via rock-paper-scissors or whatever. That's fine, right?"
Everyone gets their reward. And the red door person is decided by chance. A rational, reasonable solution fit for democratic citizens.
Of course... I planned to brute-force it until I was the one going through the red door. Gotta secure that reward.
"...I think that's a good idea, too!"
Dok Su-hee nodded.
She approached the stone door first, then turned back to look at us.
"Hurry up."
She grinned and urged us over.
"Alright, Mr. Kang Chan over here, Mr. Gyeong-jun over here, Mr. Jun-ho over here..."
When we first entered Floor 3, she'd seemed quiet and reserved... but she's more outgoing than I thought.
"...Ready, everyone?"
The four of us gathered and placed our hands on the damp stone door.
Rumble...
The stone door shifted, revealing a blue portal. Stepping into it would clear the floor.
Floor 3 was over. All that remained was the question of who would snag the extra "Red Door" reward.
"Well then, shall we go with rock-paper-scissors?"
"Hmm... but with four people, rock-paper-scissors introduces too many variables, doesn't it?"
"We don't know what the reward is... but since this was the hardest difficulty, let's decide carefully."
"Hmm... draw lots then? Do we have something to use as lots..."
"My legs are tired, so let's sit down and talk."
The atmosphere was harmonious.
Dok Su-hee, smiling as she suggested various methods.
Ahn Gyeong-jun, speaking up actively despite looking a little sheepish.
Even Kang Chan, standing silent and expressionless, would firmly pipe up and say, "I don't think that's it," making it clear when he disagreed.
It was a situation where anyone could have gotten greedy, but no one showed any sign of it.
The reason was simple.
Floor 3's theme had been cooperation. We'd walked through it back-to-back, building a peculiar bond.
I'd repeated regressions and provided the strategies, sure... but the four of us executed them.
We'd combined our strength to defeat the wolves, and relied on each other's shoulders to break through the Mirror Maze.
The Arrow Trap and the Golem fight had been mine and Kang Chan's stages alone... but the memory of joining forces against the common enemy of the Tower wasn't going anywhere.
"What do we have..."
"Let's think it over slowly. The reward isn't going anywhere, right?"
The bastard who made this Tower probably wanted us to fracture here. But they were wrong. Not all humans are utter shitheads.
About ten minutes into the meeting...
"Alright, let's settle on a method. The ones on the table are rock-paper-scissors, drawing lots, rolling dice..."
Our meeting, sitting in a circle, was nearing its end.
"Shall we stand up and talk?"
Ahn Gyeong-jun dusted off his pants and got up.
"...Huh?"
Suddenly, Ahn Gyeong-jun dropped to one knee and planted his hand on the floor, looking bewildered.
"...What's wrong?"
Startled, I tried to approach Ahn Gyeong-jun, but in that moment—
"Huh?!"
A large piece of cloth materialized before my eyes, blocking my view. It didn't fly in, nor did it rise up. It just appeared.
Slice!
It wasn't a rational action. It was pure spinal reflex. Without thinking, I drew my sword from my waist and slashed through the cloth blocking my sight.
And the moment I cut the cloth—
Shwing!
A dagger flew in from beyond the severed cloth, gleaming with an ominous light.
"...!"
My reflexes, honed over many trips through the trap corridor, were enough to dodge the dagger.
"Huh?"
But the dagger hadn't been aimed at me. It was aimed at Kang Chan behind me.
"?!"
Whoooom!
Kang Chan dodged the sinister, flickering dagger while flaring his bloodlust. A terrifying killing intent radiated in every direction.
Just as I thought he'd dodged it, the dagger flying at Kang Chan seemed to fly past him, then suddenly burst into light.
Flash!
The moment the dagger flashed, a transparent barrier surrounded Kang Chan.
The barrier had a glassy texture, encasing Kang Chan's body in a sphere.
The design gave me déjà vu. Where... where had I seen this...?
"...Goblin Shaman?"
Right—the sphere that had sealed the Minotaur looked exactly like that.
Half-formed thoughts flitted through my mind, and a swirl of emotions muddled my head.
But before I could process any of that.
"..."
My body felt numb. Sensation dulled, and a faint dizziness washed over me.
I recalled Ahn Gyeong-jun dropping to his knee earlier. Glancing over at Kang Chan, I saw he was perfectly fine—just trapped in the barrier.
'It's not a lethal type. It's a paralytic poison. But it accumulates in the body gradually.'
Ahn Gyeong-jun had said that before.
Paralytic poison. Probably the same kind that coated the needles fired in the trap corridor.
But when? We'd long since passed the trap corridor. Had I ingested something? No. Poison gas in the air? Then Kang Chan should be paralyzed too.
Something... did I touch something?
But since entering this room, the only thing I'd touched was...
"...The stone door."
But why? How?
Gripping my sword tightly to keep it from slipping out of my hand, I slowly raised my head.
"..."
And I found myself meeting Dok Su-hee's cold gaze.
At the very end. Just before clearing Floor 3.
Dok Su-hee had betrayed us.