Chapter 75
In a space where darkness prevails, nothing is visible.
Apart from the endless pitch black, everything else is non-existent, as if this place has drawn upon the abyssal darkness itself. Here, I stand alone.
“...”
How did I end up here? Where is this place? What was I doing just moments ago?
Questions arise in my mind only to evaporate soon after, much like how this black space seems to engulf my thoughts in darkness.
“Kim Jun-ho.”
A dry voice calls out from behind me, prompting me to turn around.
“...Choi Ji-won?”
Choi Ji-won. There she was, looking at me. Not the Choi Ji-won in leather armor I saw on the second or third floor, but the Choi Ji-won from the tutorial, with her black ponytail, jeans, and a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves.
“...”
However, her lips were bruised, her skin parched and withered, and her clothes torn in various places.
“Kim Jun-ho.”
Her voice cracks like a dry reservoir, and her eyes are as empty as this black void.
“I curse you.”
With each step she takes towards me, Choi Ji-won speaks.
“After you left, everyone in the tutorial starved to death. It was inevitable since all the goblins committed suicide, leaving us without any food.”
Choi Ji-won’s cheeks hollow out, her eyes sink deep, and her limbs become skeletal, leaving only bones, as her hair falls to the ground.
“I curse you for abandoning this world and returning alone.”
Choi Ji-won, now a ghastly figure, stares at me with eyes filled with despair, sorrow, and hatred.
“I, too, curse you.”
This time, it’s a deep male voice.
“I despise you. I despise you for being the only one to survive. We were left to die, while you lived on in joy.”
Kang Chan. He was glaring at me.
“You might think it’s over once you return, but not for us. In the world you left behind, we continued to suffer and die endlessly.”
Baek Da-hye from the tutorial sheds tears of blood. An Kyung-Joon tears at his scalp, and Dok Su-hee smiles maniacally as she stabs herself with a dagger.
“I curse you.”
“I curse you.”
“I wish for your miserable demise.”
Countless people, whose names I can no longer remember, were cursing me.
In this black space, I was the sole target of their hatred.
“...”
And I, the recipient of all this resentment...
“Go away.”
...felt nothing.
- Crash!
The moment I became aware of that, the black space shattered, revealing the familiar stone chamber. It was the room that spouted nonsense about testing one’s mental strength through fear.
“I’m sorry, oppa, I’m so sorry...”
Next to me, Dok Su-hee was twisting in agony, tears streaming down her face. Normally, she would be the first to wake up or we would awaken at the same time. It seems I’ve regained consciousness much earlier than in previous cycles.
“It’s my fault, all my fault...”
“...”
Fear is such a tormenting emotion, one that everyone wishes to avoid and finds most difficult to overcome.
Yet, why am I so unaffected? Is it simply because I’ve experienced it many times? That would be an oversimplification; my indifference is too profound.
Even when I cleared the trap corridor just before, I wasn’t particularly happy. Although Dok Su-hee and An Kyung-Joon genuinely praised me, their compliments failed to stir any emotion in me.
“Fuck...”
The reason is simple.
I’ve returned too many times.
The path to reach the arrow trap was by no means short. There were countless variables.
With each return, I only performed actions that would lead to the desired outcome, and others reacted to me in a predetermined manner.
When the same inputs consistently produce the same outputs, it’s not human behavior; it’s that of a robot, an NPC.
At some point, the people I was progressing with on the third floor no longer seemed human to me. They appeared as something inorganic.
This is not good. Not good at all.
To not see people as people, to not value lives as lives, is a primary symptom of ‘Regressor’s Syndrome.’
It might be a natural phenomenon after dozens, hundreds of returns. But it’s not the ending I desire.
“...Please, get up.”
“Ah, uh... Thank you.”
I must consciously guard against this. People are people. Being granted the ability to regress doesn’t give me the right to look down on others.
- Slap!
I slapped my cheeks twice and gathered my thoughts.
However, despite my conscious efforts to correct my mindset, the undeniable fact remains that a corner of my mind still harbors the thought patterns of a regressor...
**
“Oh, you’re here? We just arrived too…”
Walking along the path, I saw An Kyung-Joon and Kang Chan dusting off the dirt on their clothes. It seems we’ve arrived at the golem room at the same time, thanks to my early overcoming of the room of fear.
“...”
Without realizing it, I found myself staring at Kang Chan’s fist. My fate hinges on that fist. If Kang Chan suddenly says, ‘Hmm... why isn’t this breaking?’ and gets confused, then I’m totally screwed.
“...Hold on a moment. I’ll use my ability to scout ahead.”
Of course, I couldn’t let this show. With a stoic tone, I gazed forward, naturally furrowing my brows.
“This is... there seems to be a monster ahead... The characteristic is...”
The lies I had grown too familiar with smoothly flowed from my lips, gradually hardening the expressions of the others.
After all, that golem is an absurd monster. It’s only the third floor, and it doesn’t make sense for such a terrifying creature to appear.
“But no worries. We have Kang Chan Hyung with us.”
But just as their side defies logic, we have our own illogical monster. His name is Kang Chan.
“If Chan Hyung takes care of that monster...! Our only hope lies with Chan Hyung...!”
This time, everyone’s gaze shifted to Kang Chan. He seemed slightly flustered but stood silently without showing it.
“...”
He closed his eyes for a moment, pondering deeply, then finally nodded slightly.
“Alright. I’ll do it.”
**
Inside a tunnel-like dark passage.
Kang Chan was leading the way, with the other three following behind.
Will this work? No, it has to.
“...That’s the one.”
As we walked in silence, we quickly reached the golem. Currently, it was just scattered pieces of metal, so the plan was for An Kyung-Joon to throw a spear first to wake it up.
“...Hmm.”
An Kyung-Joon draws out a spear adorned with elaborate designs. Just as he was about to launch the spear, Dok Su-hee stepped in front of him.
“Wait, just a moment!”
Dok Su-hee hurriedly pulls out a piece of a wolf’s heart from her possession. As before, the heart piece transformed into a transparent flame burning atop Dok Su-hee’s hand, and she placed the flame onto the spear.
“Not yet!”
Dok Su-hee takes out another heart piece, this time placing the ball of flame onto Kang Chan’s leather armor.
“What did you do?”
“I enchanted the armor! You should feel stronger now, right?”
“...That’s fascinating.”
The scope of ‘enchantment’ appears to be broader than expected. It worked just by placing it on lightly.
“Now, I’ll really throw it.”
With a disgruntled look at Dok Su-hee, An Kyung-Joon loosens his shoulders.
- Swoosh! Boom!
The spear, cutting through the air, hits the golem’s torso.
- Rumble!
Immediately upon impact, the scattered metal pieces began to coalesce, forming a shape.
“...”
Kang Chan steps forward, walking steadily.
The golem’s assembly was swift; it charged at Kang Chan as soon as it was formed.
- Whoosh!
Gathering chunks to form an arm, it strikes down at Kang Chan. The blow was swift and heavy. If hit by this attack, just like in the previous rounds, Kang Chan would be reduced to a mere puddle of blood. Even from a distance, the strike was terrifying enough to send shivers down my spine.
“...”
However, Kang Chan’s expression remained calm. He did not exude a killing intent in a burst, nor did he awkwardly twist his body to dodge.
He simply positioned himself, eyeing the golem’s form.
- Goooooh.
Fists shine. A mass of metal charges forward. The fist moves. The metal mass is about to reach Kang Chan.
“Shh!”
In the very last moment, Kang Chan’s fist disappeared.
- Boom!
An unprecedented, tremendous crash echoed.
- Rumble!
Dazzling light, the ground vibrating, a roar loud enough to deafen. For a moment, most human senses were paralyzed.
“...”
After a brief moment, when the senses returned to normal.
“...A door has opened ahead. Let’s go.”
Kang Chan turned his head to look at the three of us.
“...Wow.”
Behind him, against a backdrop of shattered metal fragments.
**
“Haha...”
It was a success. Finally, the golem had been defeated. The feeling was indescribable.
A deep sense of satisfaction welled up inside. Indeed, I wasn’t completely broken. It felt even better to confirm that. Perhaps the reason I wasn’t overtly happy was because of the worry in the back of my mind, ‘What if I can’t defeat the golem?’
But this wasn’t the end. The passage still continued, and there were tasks yet to be solved.
“...It’s a door.”
Lost in thought, I walked until a stone door suddenly blocked the path.
A familiar stone door. Four palm-shaped indents carved into it.
As we placed our hands on the indents, the stone door moved with a loud noise.
“...”
What could jump out? A monster? A trap? A puzzle?
But what appeared wasn’t something threatening.
“This is...”
Torches hung on the walls. Four large boxes were placed in the center of the room.
Four people. Four boxes. It’s intuitive. Each person could take one box. It’s unclear what’s inside, but given the highest difficulty, it must contain something extraordinary.
“...”
“...”
However, for some reason, everyone’s gaze didn’t stay on the boxes.
“...What’s that?”
On the opposite side of the room, there were two doors.
One was a stone door with a familiar design, with four palm-shaped indents.
The problem was... the other stone door.
For on that blood-red stone door, there was only one palm indent.
– – – End of Chapter – – -
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