346 – Ruin (7)

If we can’t get the warrior’s cooperation, there’s nothing we can do. We have to find another way.

The plan I came up with was two-track. The principle was simple.

First of all, Jiwon Choi climbs the tower. Right now, we’re climbing the tower together for stability, but Jiwon Choi is stronger than me. And if you’re not aiming for a ‘perfect clear’ but just a clear, she’s not a woman who’ll be defeated here.

So Jiwon Choi leaves me alone and quickly climbs the tower. But just like on the 25th floor, even if she climbs the tower faster than me, it’s impossible for her to give me any information. So why is she climbing the tower?

“Find Dok Soo Hee.”

The goal is simple: find Dok Soo-hee, who is still climbing the tower.

From my experience so far, there are several types of floors in this tower. There are floors with time limits, floors where you have to work together to complete missions, and floors where everyone shares a single field, like the 29th floor. I’m aiming for the last type.

If there is a floor where all players are gathered in the same place, and Dok Soo-hee is attacking it… and if Choi Ji-won can get there within the appropriate time.

“He knows you… so he can clear up any misunderstandings.”

If I convey the fact that I am looking for Dok Soo Hee… she will come out of the tower. I calculate that since she has an inexplicable obsession, she will be friendly to me.

“Okay, Junho. I’ll do as you say.”

“thank you.”

So Jiwon Choi works hard to climb the tower, and I figure out a way out of the real world. We each decided to do our best in our respective positions.

“Jiwon-ah?”

“…huh.”

A month has passed.

“…”

There was no result.

**

Choi Ji-won didn’t give me a separate message. No, she couldn’t give me a message. It’s strange that she can tell me about the contents of the tower that I haven’t climbed yet.

However, I could guess that I couldn’t find any trace of Dok Soo Hee, as she didn’t seem comfortable when she returned to reality and spent time with me. In fact, Dok Soo Hee didn’t even come to me.

What have I been doing? First, I investigated all the people who could be called the president’s acquaintances. Who he usually talks to, who he meets, who he trusts… I reviewed all the people who could be called the president’s network.

And after carefully reviewing that list,

“…there is no one you can trust.”

Surprisingly, the conclusion was that there was no one I could return with. Of course, there was no one I knew, but there were disqualifying factors such as being very close to Jitter, changing when drinking, or having a secret hobby.

Even if there are no disqualifications and the person has a good personality, it is a different story to say that you can regress with that person. As I mentioned before, if you decide to regress with that person now, that person is someone you have to keep in your arms for the rest of your life. So what on earth do you believe in and why do you regress with that person?

If I were a petty person who could easily exploit me and only believed in the desires in front of them, I might have believed it again. If I were such a petty person, it would have been possible for me, who possessed regression, to control them.

But, since he was the president of a country, and everyone around him was just a person who did one thing or another, there were no such petty people. In the end, it was confirmed that there were only uncertain bombs, and the only conclusion that was repeated was that Dok Soo-hee was the most suitable person for the return together.

There is no way for anyone who can trust to approach the president. And there is no way for anyone who can approach to trust. After much thought, I decided that the best thing to do was to wait for Jiwon to find Doksuhee.

What have I been doing?

“wow.”

Actually, I’ve had quite a good time. I’ve spent the past month exploring ‘nature’.

“No, what kind of fish looks like this?”

Or going into the deep sea with your bare body, a place that humans have never explored before.

“Wow, it’s dazzling.”

Or fly through the sky naked.

“Hiya. It’s cold, it’s cold.”

Spend a night on the top of the mountain range closest to the sky.

“hello?”

Or share a meal with the natives you meet while exploring the jungle.

I spent my time doing activities that normal people would not be able to do because they were afraid of their lives or because they were certain to die. There were still many mysterious things on Earth, and they satisfied my desire to explore more than enough.

And here we can find one thing in common.

“Hey, isn’t that a person?”

“What are you talking about? There’s nothing there.”

“Huh? There’s definitely… a person in the air…”

“You don’t like it? I told you to take your supplements.”

“Oh, no…”

In fact, I’ve been intentionally avoiding people all this time. Thinking that they would recognize me isn’t some kind of illness, it’s a stark reality. I didn’t want to see someone in real life saying, “Huh? It’s Kim Jun-ho!”

Their reactions were reactions, but I didn’t think ‘I’ would be able to react positively. Would I get angry, feel good, or despair… Was my reaction really coming entirely from my emotions? Since my condition was not normal, I would react abnormally.

And I was afraid that my current reaction would be imprinted on me and that I would become an ‘abnormal’ person in the future. So I avoided people.

Oh, I didn’t avoid all people. I tried hard to meet people I thought were important, and among them was a boy named Ronald, the owner of the Book of Truth.

“Oh, hello?”

“…Nice to meet you.”

“Wow, I don’t know what to say… Can I take a picture? I’ll post it on Instagram… Oh, I’ll just post it as a close friend. Seriously.”

Ronald, who possessed the ability to regress to my level, was just an incredibly ordinary high school student. Except for the fact that he spoke in a somewhat sophisticated tone, was well-behaved, and was polite, he was just like any other high school student you could find anywhere.

“A book? I honestly don’t know…”

Whether intentionally or because he had not thought to find out, Ronald knew that his book was important, but he did not know exactly why or for what reason. Having given up on climbing the tower, he was no different from any other person.

This boy, the owner of such an important ability. Except for being healthier and in better shape… there is no difference. So if this boy dies…

“I will go.”

“Oh, yes. Thank you for your hard work!”

I ran away quickly because my thoughts were going in a strange direction. Ha, why are people like this? I need to come to my senses.

Anyway, after a month, two months, three months had passed, both I and Jiwon were a bit worn out.

There is no sign of Dok Soo-hee. Time passes without end. In the midst of all this, people seem to be bringing up issues of responsibility like, ‘Society is falling apart. So what are the regressors doing now?’

I was disillusioned. Was there any point in wasting my time like this? I could either climb the tower or take responsibility for this entire world. As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility, and with too much power comes too much responsibility. I don’t know if I can… handle this responsibility.

So, let’s say I just broke the tower. With this great power, I successfully finished the tower, liberated the world, and became a hero.

After that… After that? In a world where everyone knows that I am a regressor and that I am strong… How should I live? The me of now, the ‘Kim Jun-ho’ that I think of, would not be able to endure that. The petit bourgeois Kim Jun-ho would be unable to endure such a reality.

I guess I’ll have to change. I guess I’ll have to change a lot. People always change, but I can’t keep my old self in that situation. But is that change… the change I want? Really?

I struggled, saying I didn’t want to become a monster, that I didn’t want to become a dull, regressive person. But if I continue like this, I will face unwanted changes again.

And judging by the fact that Dok Soo-hee was nowhere to be seen, it was clear that she was seriously mentally ill. If she wasn’t even in the tower, she might be locked up on the first floor.

It’s true that it was a situation that could easily lead to mental illness, but is it right to regress a woman with mental illness?

I just wanted to… pretend it never happened. Back to a time when no one knew me, a time when I didn’t have to worry about these things, a time when all I had to worry about was climbing the tower.

The book, the root of all evil. If only it hadn’t existed… If only my regression wouldn’t have been discovered. If only… If only…

Suddenly, I felt a small presence in my arms.

“…”

A possibility I hadn’t thought of intentionally. The most dangerous, but most certain means. The last resort I had saved.

“ring.”

A ring given by an angel. A ring that can erase one characteristic.

With this.

“What if we erase the characteristics of the book?”

Wouldn’t it be possible to make it seem like nothing ever happened?