Regression Is Too Much chapter 173

173 – The Returner Wandering (9)

“As much as the climbers risk their lives… It makes sense for the rest of humanity to risk their lives too. “Isn’t that right?”

The old man smiled for the first time despite his repeated regressions.

“However, there is a possibility that the rest of humanity will be summoned to the tower, so it is safe to say that they are equally risking their lives. “In the end, isn’t it a difference of perspective?”

After awkwardly blurting out his words, he picked up a hammer and started fiddling with the stone. If I hadn’t seen it without knowing, I would have thought it was just that, but I felt a sense of discomfort as I was somewhat accustomed to the old man.

“Can you explain in a little more detail?”

“Why don’t you explain something in detail and go to sleep? “I was just talking in principle.”

Even though I repeatedly asked the old man whether he was aware that he had made a mistake, I did not receive a satisfactory answer. People who accidentally reveal their true intentions tend to be very cautious.

However, simply understanding the old man’s thoughts is a great harvest. Because I had a return, I was able to face the ‘old man who wasn’t careful.’ Again.

The old man is hiding a big secret. I felt that confident, and I decided to trust my conviction.

From this point on, I started brainwashing myself. I hate the rest of humanity except the players. I think climbers are amazing. I have the same thoughts as the old man.

“You don’t like the feeling that the rest of the humans are being carried by climbers? “People shouldn’t be like that.”

At first, perhaps because my acting was inexperienced, the wall the old man had placed on me did not go away. Even though we had similar ideologies, it was his first time seeing me, and he wasn’t an old man enough to trust someone with just one or two words.

“I didn’t like people… Things like that happen, too. “In times like that, you’ll feel better if you spend time alone.”

However, through repeated regression, my understanding of the elderly has improved.

“You hate people who beat the tutorial but don’t climb the tower? hehehehe, it’s really painful to see someone wasting an opportunity.”

More and more.

“Sincerity, yes. Sincerity is the greatest talent. “What do you know?”

It has become deeper.

“No colleagues? Hmm… How about making a friend now? “You might regret it later.”

The old man was suffering from loneliness. He was alone, and he was suffering from that fact.

“You can’t trust others too much. “In the end, the one you have to trust is yourself.”

At the same time, he did not trust humans.

“In the world… There are more foolish people than you think. “It is foolish to expect everyone in the world to be rational and rational.”

The old man liked people who were talented and sincere. He hated stupid and insincere people for the opposite reason.

“I’m amazing? No, not really. I’m just… “He’s just a shabby old man.”

The old man… He loathed himself.

At first, it was a regression that started to find out the exact structure of the 15th floor… As the regression repeated, I felt as if my relationship with the old man deepened.

When I looked at him as a person, the old man was not such a bad person to me. He loved jokes, was considerate of others, wise and thoughtful. At the same time, the problem is that they despise and hate low-class people.

What made this old man like this? How did this person come to design the tower in this way?

“Junho.”

“Yes?”

“Are we spherical?”

Was my agony revealed through my facial expressions? An old man suddenly asks me, ‘Is it spherical?’

“… No? “What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Something… It’s because you feel friendly. hahahaha, I said something nonsense. “What kind of obscene behavior is this to a young man I’m seeing for the first time?”

At some point, he stopped urging me to enter the blue portal. The conversation time before returning gradually increased, and I could feel the eyes of the old man looking at me changing little by little.

“Junho… You’re okay, right? “You didn’t just go crazy, did you?”

“Okay then. “I’m in the middle of acting.”

Choi Ji-won said my condition looked strange… I couldn’t stop here. Little bit more… I felt like I could completely find out the information about the 15th floor with just a little more effort.

One day when regression was repeated like that.

“Junho.”

“Yes?”

“It’s bad to say this when we first meet, but… “I feel a sense of kinship with you.”

“Are you talking about identification?”

“I feel like I’m seeing myself in my younger days… “It would be appropriate to say that.”

The old man stops pounding the stone and quietly looks at me.

“But… “I find that part very strange.”

“What is it?”

“Your distrust of humans… It’s just not enough to get out on the 15th floor. “It’s been about half a year since the tower was created. What made you like that?”

“I was just betrayed. “I met many liars.”

“… “

An old man squinting his eyes.

In fact, there was nothing wrong with what the old man said. A young man in his 20s views everything in the world negatively and is distrustful of people. I can’t believe you’re climbing the tower with all your might for something like that. No matter how much you think about it, isn’t it strange?

This part was a part that kept getting stuck even though the regression was repeated several times. It is good to empathize with the elderly and build intimacy. But if you truly sympathize with the old man, that is just as strange.

In the end, the method I chose was… It’s mixing the majority of truth with a few lies.

“In the tutorial, I was betrayed by the Goblin Shaman. All the humans who tried to protect them starved to death. “I lost my colleague who had overcome the crisis with me there, and I had to clear the tutorial alone.”

A story about being betrayed by a goblin shaman in the tutorial.

“On the second floor, there were people who forced others to suffer for their own gain. By blocking the road.”

A story about encountering gangsters who were blocking the street on the second floor.

“On the third floor, a colleague I trusted stabbed me in the back. “At the end of the day, he decided to take the prize all by himself.”

The story of Dok Soo-hee insisting that she would eat the reward alone on the third floor.

In addition to the 4th floor. 11Th floor. 12Th floor. It tells the story of the numerous groups of people he encountered on the 13th floor and the disappointment he felt in dealing with them.

Although I left out the regression, there is no lie in the story itself. No, from the beginning, the old man’s thoughts were dormant within me. I hated incompetent players who only held me back. I hated the citizens who, instead of helping, consumed players as content. I hated the players who stayed on the first floor the whole time and were satisfied that they had acquired useful features. I hated people who didn’t know my will to help. The reason the old man listened to my story was probably because what I said was true.

If Choi Ji-won wasn’t there… I too might have become like this old man. Suddenly a thought occurred to me.

“… “

“… ”

As my long story ended, silence fell on the mountain top. We were looking up at the black sky without saying a word.

What broke the silence that followed was a word that was close to a lament from the old man.

“You’re out of luck. “I see you experiencing things one after another that would be difficult for an average person to experience even once.”

“I think so too.”

“Why did you tell me this story?”

Instead of looking at the sun in the dark sky, the old man lowers his head and looks at me. The reason is obvious. The purpose is to find out information on the 15th floor and prepare for the future. This is to find out this old man’s intentions.

“… I do not know.”

It was like that at first. But now… I don’t know. Actually, I already noticed. The statues on the 15th floor will turn into monsters and attack the Earth. Any old man I know would have designed his floor like that. If it was simply to find out information, I didn’t have to repeat the regression anymore.

Nevertheless, the reason I told my story… Maybe it was because I sympathized with this old man to some extent.

“I… I have always cleared the tower in a way that saves as many people as possible. There are people who don’t like it, and there are people who hate it… Still, we are the same person. “I thought it was my duty to save them.”

“… “

“But sometimes… I hate people. I don’t want to save it. “Even though I know that once I cross the line there’s no turning back, I just want to do what I want.”

This is something I already told Choi Ji-won. When I said this, Choi Ji-won asked me back, ‘If you do something like that, won’t you regret it later?’

“If it’s a person… “There are times like that.”

But instead of denying me, the old man nodded and affirmed me.

“It’s human to feel that way when you see other people doing stupid things. When we all suffer together, if we see a selfish person alone… A guy like that deserves to die. “Things like this come naturally to me.”

An old man resting his left hand on the floor. The moment his palm touched the stone floor.

-Duung.

The world… It was beating. I’m not sure what exactly has changed, but something has definitely changed. I had that feeling.

“But… That can’t be right. “If you do that, you’ll end up becoming a foolish old man like me.”

Grumbling. A trickle of blood flows from the old man’s nose. I tried to ask him if he was okay, but his body wouldn’t move and he couldn’t make a sound.

“I… I thought I could handle everything on my own. I thought I was the hero who would save everyone. But no. I’m Junho, you… “I hope you don’t follow the same path as me.”

The old man didn’t even look at me, but quickly wiped away the blood and stood up in the dark.

“Where do you think the Tower’s residents come from? Goblins… Orcs… Humans… Elves… Dwarves… Where did they come from? Have you ever thought about it?”

“… “

“We… “

He carefully closed his eyes as he looked up at the sky and said this.

“They are survivors of a destroyed world who were unable to climb the tower to the end.”