Chapter 87
From before my regression until now, I had never once directly encountered the existence called the System.
No.
I'd never even thought about trying to understand it.
No one questioned the System that had simply always been there.
Not even me.
That's not what's important right now.
This thing... feels different from every Administrator I've ever met.
Ever since gaining Rank, I'd become capable of sensing the Rank possessed by Administrators.
Even how they used it.
But this was the first time I'd felt absolutely nothing.
It wasn't simply a matter of whether this being possessed Rank or not.
Whenever I blinked, I momentarily forgot that it even existed.
As though it had never existed in the first place.
More importantly...
This place.
It felt as though I'd been pulled into the System's mental world.
I couldn't draw out any of my power here.
[This place far exceeds your current Rank.]
[The restrictions of this space temporarily suppress your power.]
And it had even stopped the flow of time for the watching Constellations.
It was an utterly alien existence.
"...What exactly are you?"
"My identity...."
Step. Step.
The System seemed to consider the question for a moment.
Then it slowly approached me.
It gently placed a hand on my shoulder.
"For now, there isn't much I can tell you."
"Most of it consists of truths the current you wouldn't be able to understand."
It smiled.
"But I'm sure you're curious."
"Why I suddenly appeared before you."
The words were deliberately vague.
I knocked its hand away from my shoulder and asked,
"You knew about me from the beginning?"
"Is that why you brought me here?"
"Of course."
The System answered as though it were obvious.
"You're not just anyone."
"You're you."
Its smile deepened.
"I'm the one who made sure you were ‘chosen’ to come all the way here."
"...Chosen?"
"Yes."
"A choice."
The System quietly smiled.
Then it gestured.
Several enormous screens appeared one after another across the black void.
I froze.
They showed everything I'd done.
Even events from before my regression.
All the way up to my final conversation with the Highest-Level Administrator.
It knows everything.
That I regressed.
That I became the Apostle of the Primordial God....
The System glanced at my surprised expression and stopped in front of one screen.
It showed me immediately after my regression.
Killing goblins in the Tutorial.
"Lee Suhyeok."
"Do you really believe even a single thing that brought you here was coincidence?"
It slowly walked along the row of screens.
"Among countless beings inside this Tower, you alone survived and reached the 100th floor."
"And then, at just the right moment..."
"Tragedy struck you."
Mihyeon.
Taesu.
The deaths of everyone in the raid party.
The System's pace slowly decreased as the scenes passed.
Then came the Constellations' Banquet.
"And was that all?"
"After your regression, you shocked everyone at the Constellations' Banquet."
"You swept up an enormous number of Coins through the incarnation selection."
"What are you trying to-"
"And unlike before your regression..."
The System interrupted me.
"Now you've become the Apostle of the Primordial God."
"And here you are, facing me."
It paused.
"More importantly..."
"Do you really think Trait Plunder just happened to be given to you by chance?"
Coincidence.
Choice.
At the end of the path stood an enormous statue of a goddess holding a scale.
"You asked what I am."
The System looked up at it.
"I am the System of this Tower."
"And its Arbiter."
"I chose you."
"I gave you countless choices."
"And among all those possibilities, you kept selecting one path after another until you arrived here."
"..."
Only then did I understand what it meant.
Thinking back...
It was true.
Ever since I was first dragged into the Tower, every moment had forced me to choose.
And at the end of those choices waited rewards that made no sense.
Trait Plunder was the same.
Before my regression, after barely surviving a near-death experience on the 60th floor, it had awakened in response to my desperate will to survive.
In other words...
From before my regression until now...
There had never been any coincidence.
"...I get it now."
I stared at the System.
"So all this time..."
"No."
"All of us."
"We've been playing on a board you created."
"Am I wrong?"
"That is one way to look at it."
The System tilted its head.
"But think carefully."
"You had opportunities to undo everything."
"Regression."
"And Return."
At that moment, the Broken Hourglass appeared from my inventory without my consent and floated into its hand.
"If you'd chosen Return, you would've forgotten everything and gone back to your ordinary life."
The System looked at me.
"Wasn't it your own will that chose otherwise?"
In other words...
Everything that had happened was supposedly the result of my own free will.
It sounded like justification.
And yet...
It wasn't entirely wrong.
If I'd chosen Return instead of Regression back then...
Maybe things really would've been different.
Did I regret it?
Yes.
Perhaps I could've produced a better result than the one I had now.
But if I'd chosen differently...
Would everything truly have gone in a better direction?
No one could know that.
So there was only one thing I could do.
Believe that the choices I'd made were the right ones.
"Enough bullshit."
I looked straight at the System.
"I am the one who makes my choices."
"And I'm the one who takes responsibility for them and keeps moving forward."
"I don't regret the choices I've made."
I paused.
Then corrected myself.
"No."
"I won't regret them."
The System stared at me.
Then a satisfied smile appeared on its blank face.
"Good."
"That's the answer I wanted."
Snap!
It flicked its fingers.
Messages appeared before me.
[The spatial restrictions have been released.]
[The target's temporarily suppressed power has been restored.]
I opened and closed my fist.
My strength had returned.
My power's back.
But the frozen chat and Leon are still the same.
"Don't worry too much."
"If you leave this place, everything will return to normal."
The System smiled.
"Though none of them will understand what happened."
My vision gradually blurred.
Yet the System's voice only became clearer.
"As you already know..."
"Before long, you'll be given another choice."
"I'm looking forward to seeing what you decide."
Fade.
"I'm sure you still have many questions."
"But those can wait until you've grown beyond where you are now."
Its voice grew distant.
"We'll meet again."
"One way or another...."
My eyes closed completely.
When I slowly opened them again...
I was standing outside the president's office.
Why are you just standing there?
Something wrong???
Maybe he just got the chills. Did you see the president's eyes? lol
If someone touched me that creepily I'd get goosebumps too ;;
(blushing) W-What if I actually liked it....
Dude seriously ;;;
The messages were moving normally again.
Leon was also managing the chat as usual.
...No one has any idea what just happened.
The sudden meeting with the System hadn't been entirely bad.
If anything, it had given me certainty.
The enemies I'd eventually have to face weren't limited to Constellations and Administrators.
Now all that's left is preparing for the exchange event.
The System's final words.
It had clearly said another moment of choice would come soon.
Most likely...
That meant the president's plan.
Ding!
A message appeared at just the right moment.
[‘Anonymous Sponsor’ has sponsored you with an item.]
[You have obtained Legendary ‘Beginner Starter Pack’ x4.]
"This is...."
Time passed.
Soon, only two days remained until the exchange event.
The students and instructors from the participating countries had safely arrived in Korea and were already at the academy.
"You've come a long way."
The chief instructor smiled politely.
"Please settle into your rooms and have a meal first."
The chief instructors from the other countries returned his smile.
"Haha, it wasn't difficult at all."
"You took such good care of us during the journey that we arrived comfortably."
"We feel the same."
The students began entering their assigned rooms and unpacking.
"...Tch."
One of the Chinese students tossed his luggage aside.
"We're supposed to sleep in a pigsty like this?"
"As expected of a barbaric little country."
"Seriously."
"Back home, we'd put livestock in places like this."
"Korea hasn't changed at all."
The Japanese students were no different.
"This is how Joseon people are."
"They never improve."
"They claim they're independent, but they're the kind of people who only grow when they're ruled by someone else."
"Right, Tatsuki?"
"...This is the last time anyway."
Tatsuki spoke coldly.
"We don't need a low-level country like Korea anymore."
The groups eventually headed to the cafeteria.
The Korean students who had arrived first immediately focused on two people.
"...That's her, right?"
"Yeah."
"She came again this year."
Zhi Lianhua of China.
Top student of the superpower department.
Kang Rahee's direct rival.
Just like her bright red hair suggested, she controlled fire.
The other was Tatsuki of Japan.
Swordsmanship was generally treated as a niche discipline.
Ironically, however, he was the overall top student of Japan's academy.
"Same as always."
"Look at them pretending to be so refined."
"Why don't they just serve themselves instead of waiting for the cafeteria lady to bring it over?"
"Hey, keep your voice down."
"What if they hear and start a fight?"
"Look."
"Even the instructor is holding back."
Eventually, everyone received their meals and sat down.
One of the visiting students lifted a spoonful of soup.
Then immediately let it fall back into the bowl.
"Ugh."
They grimaced.
"Haa..."
"We're supposed to do something after eating this pig slop?"
"Ugh, the smell of kimchi."
"Disgusting."
"I'd rather not eat than put this garbage in my mouth."
"Though I guess it's suitable for people at their level."
They deliberately spoke in Korean rather than their own language.
The Chinese side was no better.
"Truly fitting for a small country."
"Even their food is crude."
"It's bad enough they stole dishes from our homeland."
"Now they've degraded them into something this low-class."
"No wonder they're all so weak."
Splatter. Thud! Thud!
Eventually, they simply dumped the food from their trays onto the floor.
"Those bastards...!!"
"Hey, hold it in."
"The exchange event hasn't even started yet."
"I know it's infuriating, but starting something now would be bad."
"Look."
"Even Instructor Lee is keeping quiet."
The chief instructors of China and Japan were seated directly across from Suhyeok.
Once again, they wore polite smiles.
"Oh dear."
"It seems the food wasn't to our students' tastes."
"Such a shame, isn't it?"
"We simply can't ask our students to eat food of such poor quality."
Wow, even I'm getting pissed watching this lol
Fuck, can we just kill all of them? I'm furious.
If you're barely stopping yourself from punching something right now, upvote. Fuck ;;
I really want to soccer-kick them in the face. Listen to the way they talk lol
Leon, hidden from view, had gone completely red in the face.
He even rolled up imaginary sleeves that didn't exist.
[ Let me go, nya! I'm going to scratch all of them to pieces, nya!! Kyaaah! ]
"..."
Suhyeok understood.
They called it an exchange event.
But in reality, it was a battle of national pride.
And Korea was considered the easiest target.
"Hmm."
The visiting chief instructor looked at the food.
"As expected, the quality isn't very good."
"If this had been held in our country, you'd never see food like this."
"Well, perhaps that's simply part of the local charm."
"Haha."
They were no different from the students.
They simply wore a social mask while expressing the same contempt.
At that moment, Kang Hana returned with her food and sat down.
She quietly shook her head at Suhyeok.
She was probably telling him not to get dragged into it.
Even if he protested their behavior now, there wasn't much he could actually do to stop it.
But...
Drip.
Drip, drip, drip.
"...!!"
The noisy cafeteria suddenly fell silent.
Everyone stared in shock.
The soup from Suhyeok's tray had been poured directly over the heads of the two visiting chief instructors.
Their expressions froze in real time.
Suhyeok gave them a leisurely sneer.
"...Oh."
"My hand slipped."
He glanced at the tray.
"Korean trays are apparently quite slippery."
"I hope you'll understand."
[Many Constellations give a thumbs-up at the incredibly satisfying retaliation!]
[Several Constellations prepare popcorn for the exciting fight.]
Then...
BOOOOM!!
The table and floor split in half.
GRIND.
"You bastard...!!!!"
