353 – Regression (1)

-Pot.

When I came to my senses, I felt like I heard that sound. It was the previous underground laboratory.

“Junho? Kim Junho? Are you back?”

Jiwon Choi, who grabbed my shoulder and shook me. Yes, it was the real Jiwon Choi. The living, breathing Jiwon Choi. When I confirmed her existence, I hugged her tightly without realizing it.

“love you.”

“What, what? All of a sudden? Here? Huh?”

“I love you.”

“…me too.”

At first, I hugged her without thinking, but then I thought it was too out of context, so I slowly pulled away. The book was watching, too. Yes, the book.

“…the book?”

The book had disappeared at some point. According to Choi Ji-won, it suddenly disappeared right after I was standing there blankly.

“Ronald? Can I see the book?”

“Hey, Junho? A book? Of course! Just a minute… Huh? Oh? Why not… ”

Even if you ask the book’s owner, Ronald, separately, the only answer you get is that the book cannot be summoned right away. So… it’s done its job, so it’s gone. If you open the status window, the trait itself still exists, so it doesn’t seem to have disappeared completely.

“Junho, what the hell is going on?”

“…first.”

My head is so complicated right now. I don’t know what’s going on.

“Let’s go home.”

I needed time to think.

**

“This is it.”

“what?”

A familiar-looking room. Yes, this is it. A room that smells like people, and to be exact, a room that has traces of Choi Ji-won all over it. This is the room I remember. That room that smells cold and like a widower is nothing more than an illusion.

After enjoying the cozy scent of that room, I sat down with Choi Ji-won, who was looking at me with eyes demanding an explanation. The story I was going to tell from now on would be long.

“So what happened here is…”

That’s how it went for a whole day. I spent the whole day explaining to Jiwon Choi about the visions I had.

“…”

After hearing the whole story, she also became deeply troubled with a serious expression. Yes, I would have had a hard time believing it if I hadn’t seen it myself.

“First of all… it makes sense that the companion return would disappear as well.”

Choi Ji-won seems to be convinced up to this point. In the process of erasing the book, the connection to the center of the world was lost, and as a result, ‘Return Together’ was also affected. It makes sense.

“And I understand why you… became like that.”

And it makes sense that I went half crazy as a result of Choi Ji-won disappearing. It’s a bit embarrassing to say this myself, but I was quite mentally dependent on Choi Ji-won. In the regression where everything disappeared, she was the only person I could share everything with. Well, I’ve talked about this to the point where my mouth hurts, so let’s just move on.

“Actually, the part I don’t understand the most is… the part where we reconnected.”

“…”

“No, no. You know that’s not what I meant. Okay?”

Although the tone was a bit strange, I understood what Choi Ji-won was trying to say.

“Are you sure there is no such thing as a return together?”

That world has lost its connection to the center of the world. In other words, no matter what you do, ‘joint return’ itself is impossible.

But since Choi Ji-won and I are connected, this part is really strange.

If I make up my mind, can I date Jiwon Choi again? Hmm… It’s possible. It’s definitely possible.

I know Choi Ji-won very well, and Choi Ji-won also liked my honest self. We have fought because of differences in opinion, but there is nothing that we are truly disappointed in or dislike about each other, so I think it is possible for us to continue if I put in enough effort.

But what if I get teased? Hey, no way. Let’s stop imagining ourselves as loners.

Anyway, I understand that it continued. Well, that could happen.

“How… did it become so deeply connected?”

However, the Choi Ji-won I saw and the Kim Jun-ho of that world had a deeper relationship than just being ‘lovers’.

There was no trace of the fresh scent of a newlywed couple. It was a relationship where you see a trustworthy partner with deep trust in each other. I, Kim Jun-ho, can guarantee this. After all, it’s my job.

“But this doesn’t make sense either.”

But let’s think about it. Kim Jun-ho doesn’t have much time when he enters the 29th floor. There isn’t much time left before the monsters appear, and there’s no way I can leisurely walk around the park after defeating them. Either the world is in chaos, or I’ve become too famous. It’s one of the two. (Even if Choi Ji-won of that world is relatively less popular, a park date is difficult for us.)

But in that short time, without any memories of being together in the tower, is it possible to become that close with just conversation and real-life experiences? No, you can become close. But what I saw was ‘trust’. Trust is not easily built. At least Choi Ji-won does not trust people carelessly.

Mystery. It’s a mystery. It doesn’t make sense. No, it does. Am I overreacting? But I think the reason Jiwon and I were able to become this close is because ‘we saw each other’s good and bad sides in the extreme situation of being a top.’

“Anyway… it’s certain that Kim Jun-ho figured out a solution.”

Let’s move on from what has already happened. What’s important is that it is possible.

He overturned the logic and got Choi Ji-won back. And by the same logic, I also have to overturn the logic and get my peaceful life back. If it is possible to reunite with Choi Ji-won, who has lost all of her memories of me, it is also possible to make the act of having all of my personal information wiped out as if it never happened.

Persuading the warrior? That would be good. But that is also just a stopgap measure. After all, what the world leaders know about me will not change. A better solution, and a solution with a higher score, is the method that the Kim Jun-ho of that world presented.

“But I don’t know what the solution is… and I don’t know what to do?”

“That’s right.”

But I know what he did first. I know where he started.

“Let’s follow along.”

If so, maybe we’ll get some clues.

**

Finding a clue is finding it. I rested with Jiwon for about a month and recuperated comfortably. Since my personal information was stolen, I couldn’t rest in my own room, so I went to a remote place like the jungle where there was no one and rested with only basic amenities. It wasn’t that it wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was more comfortable than that.

Mentally? Not good. Not good… But that doesn’t mean I can’t take the easy way out, and I can’t keep mumbling when I know there’s a new solution.

If there was a difference from before, it was that before, it felt like wandering through a maze with no exit in sight, and it felt like I was forced to make an extreme choice to get out. Now, it was like a situation where I could see the light, even though it was close to the eye of a needle.

“Whew. I’ll go back now.”

By the time I felt I had enough rest, I returned and started following the same path as Kim Jun-ho in that world. Becoming famous was easy because I had the president’s help. Flying high into the sky and free-falling, or not leaving the 29th floor on purpose, pretending to be crazy and hunting monsters, or getting splashed by a waterfall…

“Hmm…”

To be honest, I don’t really understand the meaning. What is the meaning here? What is the intention? I have no idea, but I just followed along mechanically. I didn’t want to stand in front of everyone, but I gritted my teeth and endured. There is a path there.

“I am a regressor.”

Becoming more and more famous.

“… Is this what I did?”

Getting stronger and stronger.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

People are crazy about me.

As the extraordinary I had already seen became reality, I observed the situation with as much composure as possible. The reason why I had to become so strong. The reason why I became popular with people. The reason why I tried to use the hero traits to the max, to the extreme.

It regresses. It regresses. It regresses again. I would just grind away at the time, but then I would suddenly take a break for an entire episode. It was hard, but I could endure it because Choi Ji-won was by my side. I’m not alone. We’re together.

How much has it regressed like that? How much time has passed?

“…uh?”

At one point, as I was conducting an interview as usual, I was waving my hand to people. At another point, I was smiling business-like and cautiously observing my surroundings.

I felt a man reading web novels. He was lying on the bed on the third floor of a nearby villa, reading through his phone. Yes, I had a time like that. There was a time when I could read web novels without any worries and even eat a bag of snacks.

-Fuck, it always starts from the beginning and goes back to the beginning.

A muttering man. A prologue that begins with death. A web novel I’ve seen countless times. Regression. An element that has now become inseparable from my life.

But it’s different. My regression and that regression are different. They’re fundamentally different.

“…I get it.”

I know how Kim Jun-ho of that world figured it out. He focused on the past. He was obsessed with what had happened so far. On the other hand, I was only concerned with how to overcome this situation. That was our difference.

I realized. There was only one way. It was a ridiculous possibility, and it seemed much harder than trying to pass through a needle hole. But there was no other solution. No, there was only one solution.

There was a clue. I had already seen the possibility. But I thought it was impossible, so I passed on the method.

Me. Me in a world where books have disappeared, and me on the 25th floor where Choi Ji-won wasn’t.

“It has returned.”

The answer was nearby.

“For the first time.”