Unprecedented Rookie (5)

'So what should I buy?'

"For now, skip the healing potions and buy more vitality potions instead. Sure, you're specialized in purification, but my holy power alone can handle the first floor without breaking a sweat."

'Okay. What's next?'

Eunho took the regressor's advice and threw himself into his shopping spree. A plump coin purse had never felt so reassuring.

"I don't know what kind of weapon you have an affinity for, Eunho. This is the one part where your own instincts matter most. What do you think?"

'Honestly? Most of them feel kind of iffy.'

"Then let's put off the weapon and buy the other things first. See that Loser's Coin at the very end? You have to buy that one."

'Why? I haven't seen a single person buy it.'

"That's this floor's little twist. You'll need it, so be sure to grab it."

'Okay.'

"Next. See those empty bottles over there? Buy those too. They'll definitely come in handy later."

"Wind Feather... you should grab this one as well. It's single-use, but it lets you use a great skill."

"Oh—and don't buy the Vampire's Sword. It looks nice, sure, but that thing's a demonic sword. It gnaws away at its owner's mind. A total dud item."

Following her guidance line by line, Eunho managed to shop without a single misstep.

Deep pockets and a regressor's guide. Armed with those two things, he swept through the Unmanned Shop's stock as if he meant to empty its shelves entirely.

Watching him from the side, present-day Arin's expression could only go slack-jawed.

"...Eunho. Don't you think you should be saving some of those coins? What if you run short and can't afford a resurrection...?"

"Don't worry. With your talent, Eunho, resurrection is nothing to sweat over. You can replenish your coins as you climb, and sure, the amount you need grows with every floor... but you'll earn plenty. And if you can't, I'll make sure you do."

Trusting Regressor Arin's word, Eunho passed the reassurance right along to present-day Arin.

"How am I supposed to not worry? Without coins, you won't even be able to resurrect!"

The problem was that she still had no idea the regressor existed.

'Ah. I forgot.'

From acquiring the achievement, to filling out his character sheet, to the manifestation and use of his trait—

he had been in the Tower for less than a single day, and yet so much had happened.

So much, in fact, that he'd gone and completely forgotten he was supposed to tell her about all of it!

"No way you could forget that when you've had your eyes on me this whole time? ...Aha! Hehehe... You were too busy staring at my body to focus, weren't you?! Eek! Eunho, you pervert!"

"The truth is, Arin, what happened was—"

If he kept listening to that nonsense, savior of his life or not, he was going to end up throwing down with her right here and now!

Steadying his mind and body, Eunho calmly walked Arin through everything that had happened so far.

And the reaction that came back was—

"? What kind of nonsense is that? Do you have a fever?"

—precisely that!

'Right. Hard to blame her for not buying it.'

If someone walked up to him and said, I am one with the you who regressed from the future. Please believe me—what would he do? Writing them off as a lunatic and steering clear would be the decent thing to do.

'Hmm. So how do I explain this?'

"How about telling her a secret?"

'A secret? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠What kind? No, wait. Hold on—I had a secret?'

"Of course you did. I'm a woman, you know?"

'Then what is it?'

"Simple. Academy days. Bottom drawer of my desk. Sealed. Notebook. Now in the inventory. Just say that much."

He had his doubts those few words would do the trick, but Eunho trusted Regressor Arin and repeated them exactly as given. She was the one vouching for it, so try it he would.

"Arin."

"What."

"The you who regressed told me to say this. Academy days, bottom drawer of your desk. Sealed. Note—"

He never got the "book" out. Arin's eyes turned beastlike in an instant, and she lunged at him, clamping both hands over his mouth.

Above the hands pressed tight over his lips, he could see her pupils shining a vivid yellow, as clear as morning sunlight breaking over the horizon.

Those pupils rolled this way and that, as if they'd lost their bearings entirely.

"H-how did you... Then the regression is real? W-wait a second... then the things inside it..."

What on earth was in that notebook to earn a reaction like that?

Curiosity prickled at him, but Eunho steadied his emotions as best he could and asked, "Arin. Do you believe me now?"

"...Yeah. I'll believe you. You really must be me, if you know about that."

What in the world was in it?! He wanted to ask—but the words wouldn't leave his mouth. Why, though? Something about it sent a faint chill down his spine.

"...Do you want to know?"

"No."

Eunho shook his head, sharp and decisive. He couldn't say why, but his body had answered before his brain could issue the order. It was the first time he'd felt anything like it since his fight with the fairy.

Relieved by his answer, Arin let out a sigh and asked, "Then that power from before—was that the other me helping you?"

"Technically, it's the power the pre-regression you built up. A Tower ranker who cleared all the way to Floor 34."

"Wow. I make it that far?"

"Yeah. She came back to save me and the people who were there with me."

"Then why didn't she come into my body?"

"Beats me. She doesn't know either."

"Hmm. You two seem awfully close, though?"

Arin's head tilted sideways. What exactly was the problem with her getting along with herself?

Just as Eunho tilted his head at the same inexplicable question, Regressor Arin's snickering laughter rang out.

"Heh! Look at her, jealous of her own self. Isn't it adorable?"

'Seriously, why are you jealous of yourself? There's no reason for it?'

"Eunho, are you a T?"

No clue why MBTI suddenly entered the conversation.

Anyway. That was where we meant to drop the subject.

They had, after all, succeeded in impressing upon Arin that her regressed self existed.

But then, all of a sudden, present-day Arin's eyes began to tremble, and out it came:

"W-wait a second... Eunho, earlier you definitely called the great being some—"

"KYAAAAA!! Why are you bringing that up again?!"

One Arin's pupils quivered as her ears flushed red; the other Arin writhed from head to toe, cringing so hard she seemed to be having a fit.

Teasing one person really did come back with double the reaction. Double in every sense.

While they waited for the two Arins to collect themselves, they took a room at an inn in the 1st Floor Starting Village.

'So the first floor's theme was medieval, huh. The building's old and run-down.'

At this rate, he half expected them to bring out "shit-stew" or whatever it was called.

Personally, he had zero desire to find out what that tasted like.

Fortunately, his wish was granted: no shit-stew appeared.

They could spend coins to buy ingredients, and borrow simple cooking tools besides.

For the record, the inn sold ready-made meals too, but Regressor Arin talked him out of it. Pinching coins whenever you could, she said, was a climber's basic virtue.

"Then wouldn't camping outside be better than paying for an inn?"

Present-day Arin floated that suggestion, and Eunho shot it down on the spot.

"We start the real climb tomorrow. What if our condition slips overnight? Tonight, we sleep properly."

"...Tch."

He thought he heard a tongue click just now. Or was he imagining it?

Just as Eunho tilted his head, Regressor Arin went tsk-tsk, clicking her tongue.

On closer look, she wasn't just clicking her tongue—she was shaking her head side to side, too.

"Eunho-yah. Can't you take a hint? She wants to share a tent with you."

"...."

He felt like he'd just been sexually harassed out of nowhere.

What on earth had this girl lived through to turn her personality into... that?

Eunho gave Regressor Arin a sour look, then turned away. Present-day Arin was busy prepping dinner, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trimming a pile of vegetables.

'I should go give her a hand with that.'

Eunho tossed in the ingredients Arin had laid out and stir-fried them. Nothing fancy—just the fried rice they used to make more often than anything else.

"Talk about memories. You two used to make this at the orphanage all the time, didn't you?"

'We did.'

A small orphanage.

After the Tower descended, the number of children who had lost their parents had exploded.

By all rights, orphan care should have been a guaranteed blue-ocean field—but with the government itself in shambles, support had been scarce for a long while.

In times like those, the only people still running orphanages were the ones who truly loved children, scraping by on their own assets to keep the doors open.

The director of the orphanage where Arin and Eunho grew up had been one of those people.

Though his tastes were, admittedly, a little eccentric.

Eunho was silently shoveling down his fried rice, drifting through those old memories, when present-day Arin spoke up.

"You know, doing this like this takes me back to the orphanage days."

At her words, Eunho's face went blank for a beat—and then he burst out laughing.

"Wh-what?! Why are you laughing?!"

Arin flustered and raised her voice, but Eunho was already wiping away the tears pooling at the corners of his eyes, waving his hands.

"No, no, it's nothing. It just... hit me that we're still us."

The present-day Arin, gentle and composed—and the Arin back from the future, with a personality turned completely inside out.

And yet the two of them were the same. Their essence hadn't changed, was what he meant.

An essence that would never change, so long as they shared the same memories, the same nostalgia, the same bonds woven in the past.

Holding onto that feeling, Eunho finished the rest of the meal in high spirits.

Time slipped by, and the next day arrived.

Eunho and Arin left the inn and set out on foot.

Even at this early hour, streams of industrious early risers were already moving through the streets.

Their outfits were a little unusual, though—enough that you'd think they'd marched straight out of the Middle Ages.

Leather gear, a bow and quiver slung across their backs, swords at their hips. A keen, ready-for-the-hunt edge hung in the air around them.

"This is daily life for the people of the first floor. Every day they stop by the automated tavern to take on requests, and the next day they head out to hunt the beasts those requests call for. With what they earn, they feed their families and gather in little groups to drink now and then."

Eunho gave a small nod as he listened to Regressor Arin's explanation.

What would have happened if a regressor hadn't taken up residence inside him?

He didn't need to think twice—odds were he'd have ended up living blended in among them.

'...No. I probably wouldn't have even belonged among them.'

The ceiling of a person with no status window and no mana was, in the end, no different from that of ordinary humanity.

Feeling a fresh surge of gratitude toward Arin, Eunho kept walking. The crowds thinned with every step, until they reached terrain where no one lived at all. That, she'd said, was where the crossing point to the second floor ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lay.

"This is it?"

"Yep. See those rocks standing like Stonehenge over there? Head for the center and the formation will activate. When you open your eyes, you'll be on the second floor."

Eunho relayed Regressor Arin's words to present-day Arin, and they moved forward.

Vmmm—

A sound like some great machine powering up. Flickering light.

And then, blackout.

Just as Regressor Arin had described.

The way darkness falls when eyelids close—so darkness swept over their surroundings and stole the scenery away.

And then the landscape abruptly changed. Changed...

"Why isn't it changing?"

Had the Tower glitched or something?

Just as Eunho was pondering the question in dead earnest—

The achievement had laid its deal on the table.