Chapter 8: The Ponytail Girl is Too Strong (4)
I regressed.
"...I'll just give the essential explanation and move on quickly… okay? I don't want to do it either, but this is the procedure, so I can't help it."
'What was the problem? Ah, I put too much force on my wrist.'
While the fairy chattered, I organized my thoughts.
"Everyone! I don't know whose trick this is, but in times of crisis like this, we must come together!”
I encouraged the people to come together and capture the boss.
At first, the tone changed several times due to awkwardness, but now, I began to say it with the same confidence every time.
Has it become routine?
It felt like my body behaved automatically without my realization.
Just like previous regression, Choi Ji-won stopped me.
Hwoong! Hwoong!
And just like before, I began to learn from her, swinging the sword like crazy.
"...I think I've seen enough to cut you some slack. I need to practice too, so I'll be going now."
After the class ended,
Thwack!
Regressing back to the time when you first entered the 0th floor.
I regressed.
***
There came a moment when it felt like my heart would break.
The whispers of the devil, tempting me to give up, haunted me every moment.
But I kept regressing.
And regressing again.
And regressing once more.
Then, one day.
Finally,
WHOOSH!
"Haah! Hahaha!"
The sound of my sword finally seemed a little threatening.
"What's going on? Why did you suddenly collapse in laughter instead of swinging the sword?"
'I guess I'm having a nice dream. Please, don’t wake me up.'
"Get up."
Tap.
Choi Ji-won lightly nudged me with the tip of her foot, but I didn't even flinch.
"...How annoying."
Thwack!
Regressing back to the time when you first entered the 0th floor.
***
"Hmm... It's not bad..."
Choi Ji-won spoke with a face that seemed to ponder how to speak without hurting me.
"It's not bad. It's not bad... Well, it’s not that... I don’t want to give you more time, but I also need time for training. Sorry."
After giving a reassuring tap on the shoulder, Choi Ji-won started swinging the sword as usual.
If it had been a normal situation, it would have been the timing to regress, but now there was no strength left to do even that.
"Haah... Hahaha..."
I am an idiot. And not just an ordinary idiot, but a f*cking idiot beyond imagination.
What confidence did I have to think I could do it?
Three years? Three years of non-stop training? Me?
Even during three years of high school studying, I couldn't show the same perseverance. If my high school teacher had known that I vowed to swing a sword for three years, he would have snorted in exasperation.
I didn't know my limits, or rather, I didn't even think I had one at all.
I should've known; I wasn't a web novel protagonist with iron willpower.
I wasn't a vengeful ghost who could withstand anything to achieve my goals, and I wasn't a hero who returned to save the world due to resentment of my past life either.
I was just... I was just an ordinary person.
In my perception, I had swung the sword for a few months now, but even then, I didn't hear a single compliment that my talent for swordsmanship was ‘okay’.
Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like I had an unyielding mentality that could constantly endure such failure.
I lay sprawled on the dirt floor without any strength.
"..."
I wasn't a chosen hero. I was just an average citizen who could be found anywhere.
How can a person suddenly change just because they are suddenly thrown into the tower?
At least… I couldn’t…
.
.
.
.
Hwoong! Hwoong! Ssuaeaek!
Choi Ji-won continued to swing the sword.
'Support him.'
"Huh?"
She suddenly stopped as her beloved sword, Boong-Boong, spoke to her.
She had been getting the hang of it. There was a lingering feeling that something was about to slip through her fingers, but she still stopped.
Because Boong-Boong would have known that too. Still, Boong-Boong spoke; she must have something important to say.
“What is it?”
Choi Ji-won asked, wiping sweat with the back of her hand.
Boong-boong could easily read Choi Ji-won's thoughts, but Choi Ji-won could not read all of Boong-boong's thoughts yet. So, she had to ask her.
Maybe it was because she hadn't gotten used to her trait yet. That's why, there was the inconvenience of having to speak in this way.
‘That guy from earlier, Kim Jun-ho.’
"...Kim Jun-ho?"
Kim Jun-ho was the man she had just taught sword techniques to.
She didn't know the effects of his unique trait, but he was handling a form of swordsmanship that was quite similar to Choi Ji-won's.
However, his level was quite low. He wasn't someone particularly noteworthy.
"Why him?"
That's why Choi Ji-won couldn't understand why Boong-Boong mentioned Kim Jun-ho.
'Support him.'
"Why do you keep saying that?"
'Thanks to the traits you've acquired, your senses are dozens of times sharper.'
"...So? I know that too."
‘The world you're experiencing now is much different from the world you used to perceive.’
Choi Ji-won kicked the ground in frustration.
"I know that too. Isn’t that why I’m repeating this boring downward strike? To bridge the gap between my perception and the real world. Why are you suddenly talking about that?"
Boong-Boong couldn't move because she was a sword, but Choi Ji-won felt that Boong-Boong shook her head like she wanted to sigh.
'In regards to your body... You're right. What I want to talk about is how you perceive others.'
Choi Ji-won was a master of swordsmanship.
Therefore, she had adapted to some extent when it came to her own body. Martial arts begin with understanding one's own body, after all.
‘Because of slowed time in your perception... your standards are much higher. His movements, they weren't bad.’
But it hadn't even been five hours since her senses sharpened and her eyes improved.
Saying that the world seemed slow in her eyes… It was natural, but…
The problem was that the raised standards applied to Kim Jun-ho too.
All of his movements seemed slow and frustrating, simply because Choi Ji-won hadn't yet become accustomed to her new senses.
"...Is that so?"
Choi Ji-won realized that she had misjudged Kim Jun-ho.
As she subtly turned her head, she noticed Kim Jun-ho lying weakly on the dirt ground.
"..."
It was clear that he was depressed because of what she said. His eyes were dull and empty.
"Ugh… I should apologize and explain again."
Just as Choi Ji-won began approaching him to reveal the truth.
Kim Jun-ho clenched his fist tightly.
Thwack!
Then, he slammed his own chest forcefully.
.
.
.
.
Thwack!
Regressing back to the time when you first entered the 0th floor.
***
I made up my mind.
This time, I won't do anything.
But… What if people die…?
F*ck that. I've decided not to care about such things.
After all, this world will disappear once I regress anyway.
What's urgent for me now is a warm rest.
I decided to just relax.
"Hello! Greetings to all you inferior humans who are wasting your lives! Nice to meet you!"
Even when the fairy appeared, I did not pay any attention.
Even when weapons were distributed, when people shouted their status, when the majority of them left the field… I didn't take any action.
I just wanted to rest.
"...Humm."
This time, I really won't do anything.
Really.
I knew that if I waited for a day and a half, Choi Ji-won would bring the food anyway.
In the end, what I had to do was endure hunger and pass the time.
"What are you looking at?"
"You… digging the ground."
Thump!
"Hey! What if the dirt gets in my mouth!"
"Get lost, you son of a bitch!"
While staring intently at the diligent old man digging the ground, sometimes the dirt he dug flew into my mouth.
"Sniff..."
"Why are you crying?"
I tried to approach the short-haired girl, but I went back to where I was when Choi Ji-won, who was swinging her sword, glared at me.
Twang! Twang!
Besides the man rummaging through a pile of weapons, I also rummaged for some time. (I couldn't find any hidden pieces.)
Anyway, I wasted a lot of time doing such things.
Literally, I didn't do anything productive, but…
Why am I so happy?
Later, if there was a floor with a bed, repeatedly regressing and wasting time on the ground like this didn't seem too bad.
I had more time than anyone else in this tower, after all.
And just like that, the night passed.
"If we stay here like this, everyone will starve to death. I am thinking of leaving this vacant lot in search of a water source. Is there anyone willing to join me?"
Park Cheol-jin, a firefighter with a tiger-like impression, left with his group.
Around the time I was lying down with the screams coming from far away as the background music—
"Um... Wow! Unnie! Can I... Can I eat this?"
Choi Ji-won appeared with food.
I remembered progressing to this point in a previous regression.
At that time, I had asked to be taken as a student, got beaten up in return, and regressed.
But this time, it was different.
How was it different?
I intended to sit quietly like the other members in the vacant lot and eat the food.
"...It's delicious."
As I calmly chewed on the calorie bar, a smile naturally formed on my face.
I'll say it again, even though I didn't do anything, I'm happy.
This is healing. This is a vacation.
It was a small gift for me who had suffered from wielding the sword all this time.
And on the other hand, I was also curious.
Was this vacant lot really a safe zone?
The 'tower' that I knew had malice towards humans.
There was no way it would let us settle down in one place like this.
"..."
I was curious what would happen if one actually considered it a safe zone… So, I just decided to try it out myself.
– – – End of Chapter – – –
