Chapter 116

A week flew by in the blink of an eye. Gathering information, training with my sword, and practicing moving mana around—it all made time race by.

“Three more bowls of udon, please!”

Of course, I didn’t spend all my time on self-improvement. The first thing I did was go on a food tour. On the fourth floor, I had to survive on jerky and stale bread, so my craving for delicious food was always strong.

Like a soldier on a hundred-day leave, I indulged in the sweet comforts of society, and before I knew it, a whole week had passed. 

I’ve always set goals and relentlessly pursued them. So, just lying in bed felt satisfying.

If you think about it, this is how life was supposed to be—work, eat, play, sleep.

It wasn’t supposed to be a place where people get torn apart by monster attacks, or where I have to swing a sword until my head throbs with stress. This reality hit me anew.

“Phew…”

Anyway, as time passed, the day of our promise finally arrived. I was standing in front of Choi Ji-won’s house.

Sure, I could’ve just ignored the promise and regressed, but I felt guilty for the stubbornness I’d shown last time. So, for today at least, I decided to humor her.

“You’re here.”

“Yeah.”

I couldn’t help but scan Choi Ji-won’s outfit.

Her trademark ponytail was as expected. She was wearing slightly fitted jeans and a loose white oversized t-shirt that wasn’t tucked in. It was the same style she used to wear back in the tutorial. 

Was that intentional?

Despite the storm of emotions swirling inside me, Choi Ji-won seemed unchanged. It seemed she had shaken off some of the despair from her failure on the fourth floor over the past week.

“Have you eaten? Let’s get some food first. I’m starving.”

Choi Ji-won tilted her head slightly, gesturing for me to follow. As I walked with her through the streets, we soon arrived at a barbecue restaurant.

“…Barbecue? For lunch?”

“What, got a problem with that?”

Choi Ji-won chuckled and walked straight into the barbecue restaurant. Feeling awkward just standing there, I followed her inside.

“The aprons… here they are. Take a seat. I’ll handle the order.”

With a natural motion, she grabbed two aprons and started calling over the server to place an order.

“Auntie! Five servings of pork belly, five servings of pork neck, and some pig skin too. Oh, what’s this? A new dish? We’ll have that too.”

“Ji-won, aren’t you eating a bit too much these days? And who’s this young man with you? Is he by any chance…”

“Oh, Auntie!”

Choi Ji-won bickered playfully with the server before clearing her throat and putting on her apron.

“Do you want soybean stew? How many bowls of rice? Don’t hold back—I’m treating today. After all, I’m the one who called you out.”

“…You’re really not what I expected.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t seem like the type to...”

My first impression of Choi Ji-won… was cold. Distant. Her eyes were sharp.

She has this perfect chaebol heiress vibe, and seeing her so naturally order a feast of meat felt a bit off. She seemed like the type to twirl pasta in a fancy restaurant.

“I like pasta too. Vongole pasta. But pasta doesn’t fill you up. And ordering too much feels a bit awkward. Ah, the meat’s here.”

As she received the wooden board piled high with meat, she suddenly shot a glare at me.

“Hey. I brought you to a barbecue place because I thought you’d like it, and now what? You think it doesn’t suit me? Should we just head to a pasta joint then? Or tteokbokki? Or even Mala xiang guo?”

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry.”

“That’s it. I was gonna treat you, but now we’re splitting the bill.”

Grumbling, Choi Ji-won grabbed the tongs and began cooking the meat.

Hisssss.

The meat sizzled on the grill, the sound alone making my mouth water. In contrast, our conversation abruptly stalled.

Though we chatted casually, there was still a subtle distance between us. The moment I realized that, an awkward silence crept in.

“…”

“…”

We quietly grilled the meat for a moment.

“Shall we start eating? Looks like it’s done.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sure.”

And so, the silent meal began. The sound of the news from the TV mounted on the wall. The hum of an old fan spinning lazily. The muffled sound of a phone call coming from the kitchen. The cars passing by the open door. Everything made noise—except for us.

I felt like I should say something, but I didn’t know what. I didn’t even know why we were meeting today in the first place. What am I supposed to do?

“So, what did you do before the Tower appeared?”

While I was stuck thinking, Choi Ji-won broke the silence.

“Me? Well… I just went to school.”

“Oh, really? What school?”

She rested her chin on her hand, looking genuinely interested. Memories of the tutorial crept back—the endless conversations about school that led to constant sparring with her. 

‘Ugh, why do I suddenly feel nervous?’

“Okay, let me tell you first then; I almost went to Korea University. They were going to recruit me as a special talent for the physical education department.”

While I was reliving my tutorial-induced trauma, Choi Ji-won continued talking casually. 

Wait, Korea University?

“…Korea University? Seriously?”

“Yeah. It was right after my dad passed away, so I turned them down. Still, sometimes I wonder what it would’ve been like, going to college.”

She placed a piece of meat on top of my rice before grabbing another piece for herself.

“I went to an all-girls high school, so I don’t have any male friends. The only men I know are all older. People always say you make lots of friends in college, right?”

She chewed thoughtfully on a piece of pork neck as she spoke.

Now that I think about it, she’s only 20 years old. I had completely forgotten, with her strong personality and cold demeanor.

Wait, does that mean I’ve been locked in a power struggle with a 20-year-old girl this whole time? Feeling ridiculous, I stuffed a piece of meat into my mouth.

“Wait, wait. Don’t just eat—talk to me.”

It seemed Choi Ji-won still had plenty of questions, as the conversation continued from there.

“What do you usually do to relax?”

“Do you know this YouTube channel? It’s pretty fun.”

“Instagram? Why would I do that?”

“MBTI? I only do kendo, so I don’t know much about that stuff. What is it?”

“Swords? Do you really want to talk about swords while eating?”

“But seriously, do you really regress just by a small scratch? I guess it wouldn’t be a good idea to experiment…”

“Oh, we’ve finished all the meat.”

As we continued chatting about random things, including each other’s daily lives, the meat disappeared quickly.

“Should we order more?”

“No, let’s head out. Auntie, we’ll take the check!”

“Sure! Ah, young man, please take good care of Ji-won~.”

“Oh, Auntie!”

Choi Ji-won grabbed her bag with Bung-bung inside and stepped out of the restaurant.

“Kim Jun-ho, do you play games?”

“Games? I’m obsessed. Are we heading to a PC bang?”

I couldn’t believe that Choi Ji-won was into gaming too. A smile was about to spread across my face.

“No, are you an otaku or something? I was talking about an arcade. Follow me.”

Shaking her head, Choi Ji-won let out a deep sigh. Well, I didn’t know that’s the kind of game she meant.

And so, we arrived at the arcade.

“Wanna try the basketball game first?”

“Sounds good.”

I inserted the coins, and basketballs started rolling out. Casually, I grabbed one and shot it cleanly into the hoop. Both Choi Ji-won and I mechanically kept sinking shots, and before long, we set a new arcade record.

“Sigh”

“Hm…”

Boring. This is ridiculously boring.

Not long ago, we were risking our lives, fighting battles where every second counted. How hard could it be to toss a ball into a hoop? It was only slightly more challenging than eating rice cakes lying down.

“This isn’t working. Let’s go.”

Apparently, Choi Ji-won felt the same way, as she led me outside the arcade.

“Let’s try this.”

“…This?”

She pointed to a punching machine. The mitts were pretty worn out, suggesting the machine was quite old.

“Hey, won’t this thing break if we hit it?”

Even though I’d only just cleared the fourth floor, my physical abilities were already far beyond that of an ordinary person. If I wanted to, breaking the machine would be no challenge at all.

“No, that wouldn’t be fun. Look at the score here.”

Choi Ji-won tapped on the scoreboard that read 000.

“Let’s make it a game. Whoever gets exactly 777 points wins. What do you think?”

“Oh, that sounds good.”

It would definitely be harder to hit the exact score than to just smash the machine. Alright, this time, I’ll beat Choi Ji-won.

“Huh?”

“Heh.”

But the result? A total defeat for me. While I kept landing awkward scores like 600 or 900, Choi Ji-won consistently stayed in the 700 range and eventually hit the exact 777.

“You’re still not in control of your body, are you?”

“…Tch.”

Thanks to the rapid growth of my physical stats from my achievements on the third and fourth floors, my body had undergone significant changes. And with my hero trait activating, my physical capabilities changed so drastically that I still wasn’t quite used to my current state.

“You lost the bet, so you’re buying ice cream.”

“Should we head to the convenience store?”

“…Are you kidding?”

After indulging in ice cream at a franchise with 31 flavors, the sun had begun to set.

“…”

“…”

We walked down the street in silence. The orange glow of the sunset reflected behind Choi Ji-won, just like it had back in the tutorial.

Realizing this made my chest ache.

“Choi Ji-won.”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you want to meet today?”

The time I spent with Choi Ji-won was fun. We shared some hobbies, and we got along well. Besides, Choi Ji-won is insanely beautiful.

But the closer I got to her, the heavier my heart felt. An uncomfortable feeling was growing inside me.

“I’m going to regress anyway. I told you, didn’t I? I want to reduce the time it takes to clear the floors as much as possible.”

“...”

Choi Ji-won adjusted the bag with Bung-bung inside and, after carefully choosing her words, finally answered.

“Well… I was curious too. I told you about my dad during the tutorial, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I never really talked about that with anyone before. My close friends know, of course, but I’ve never had a conversation about it. It’s sensitive and deeply personal.”

“…”

“So, why did I trust you with that? I don’t understand it. Was it because I was close to death? But we had the golden orb back then, didn’t we?”

“Right.”

“So what was it that made me share my most secret story with a guy I’d just met in the tutorial? I was curious. I thought maybe spending time with you would give me the answer.”

Choi Ji-won stopped walking and turned to look directly at me. The sunset hit her face, making her squint slightly. “So, does that answer your question?”

“…Yeah.” But I still had one more thing to ask. “So, after spending today together, what do you think? Why do you think you told me that story?”

Just like I had been observing Choi Ji-won, she had been observing me. And I wanted to know what her conclusion was.

“I’m still not sure.”

She let out a small laugh.

“So, come out again next week. To my place.”

“Uh, well…”

“You’ve got plenty of time, right? You’ll just be back on the fourth floor when you regress. Don’t you need to train and hone your mana before new possibilities open up? You said you already know the perfect way to clear it.”

“…Yeah.”

She wasn’t wrong.

And because she wasn’t wrong, I could only nod in agreement…

…Ignoring the ache in my chest.

– – – End of Chapter – – -

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