Chapter 26

How a Regressor Conquers the Tower of Urban Legends

Chapter 26

For a moment, I couldn't understand what the voice was saying.

I would die?

And my regression point would update before I did?

Didn't that make it sound like this voice knew about my regression ability?

My voice naturally hardened.

"Who the hell are you—"

<Don't worry.>

"What?"

<You're the only 'human' in this place anyway.>

The voice calmly cut me off.

<And regardless of what ability you possess, I am the owner of the item you chose.>

"..."

<I came here solely to help you.>

It continued speaking as though there were no reason for me to worry.

<I gain nothing from your death. In fact, the higher you climb, the more beneficial it is for me.>

"..."

<I won't ask you to trust me. Instead, trust the choice you made.>

"...Phew."

I slowly exhaled and looked at the slide in front of me.

A children's slide.

Beneath it, impenetrable darkness yawned open.

<It is true that an exit lies down there.>

"..."

<However, you are currently offstage, aren't you?>

"...That's right."

<Can you really guarantee that an elevator reached from offstage will take you somewhere you expect?>

"Are you saying..."

<Exactly. If you take that elevator now, it will carry you to floors you would never be able to reach normally at your current level.>

"..."

Questions flooded my mind.

Setting aside how the voice on the phone even knew any of this...

It sounded as though there were multiple kinds of elevators.

But I chose not to say that aloud.

It felt like I'd jinx myself.

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

Was there no exit here?

<Calm down. Don't panic.>

You're the one saying things that would make anyone panic.

The voice continued slowly.

<Think of it like getting 130 points on an exam scored out of 100.>

"..."

<And you're the model student who normally scores exactly 100 every time.>

<It's absurd, isn't it? If a student who always scored 100 suddenly brought back a 130, even the people grading the test would be left speechless.>

"I'm not asking for praise. I'm asking how to get out."

The voice laughed at my irritated response.

<Find the proper exit and leave through that. Once you do, the elevator will automatically reward you appropriately for that 130-point performance.>

"So where is the proper exit?"

If this wasn't the proper exit, then what was?

The voice answered calmly.

<Find what must be found here.>

"What?"

<You have already approached the true answer. So closely that I cannot tell you anything more.>

"Are you going to keep playing this question-and-answer game with me every time? Can't you just give me a straight answer?"

<I just saved you from entering a place that would've killed you, and now you're asking for even more? I've already told you quite a lot. I really am doing my best, you know.>

"..."

<That will be all. My call time is nearly over.>

Click.

The call ended.

I turned toward the mascot.

I already know the answer?

I closed my eyes and thought.

Let's retrace the path I'd taken.

According to the voice, going down this slide right now would be a bad choice.

I would reach an elevator, but it would take me to a floor I couldn't possibly handle.

Then...

"..."

Every floor had a front door and a back door.

And now I knew there was also an offstage area.

Two exits on the stage, and another stage beyond the stage itself.

So let's assume the offstage area also had an exit.

Why did this place exist?

Didn't it feel like someone had taken two versions of reality and placed them side by side?

The sixth floor.

And the offstage version of the sixth floor.

Both were based on an orphanage.

And outside, there were monsters made almost entirely of heads.

It was almost as though the normal sixth floor had been created by taking this offstage environment, shrinking it, and modifying it into something easier.

"...!"

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

"...?"

I looked at the mascot, which tilted its head.

"Let's look around a little more."

I thought I finally understood what the offstage area really was.

The thing I searched for most carefully wasn't an exit.

It was information.

Anything would do.

If it had anything to do with this place, I intended to find it.

And after searching for some time...

"...So this wasn't just an ordinary orphanage."

I muttered while holding several sheets of paper.

Some were torn.

Others had almost completely deteriorated.

I'd suspected something like this.

My eyes moved toward a sheet on a desk and the key lying beside it.

[CAUTION]

[Please follow the instructions below.]

[1. Do not make noise.]

[2. Do not touch exposed nerve bundles.]

[3. Carefully inspect the cut surface of the neck. If you see signs of severance, retreat.]

[4. If you discover any abnormalities, use the enclosed Syringe Key to escape.]

I slowly picked up the key.

I thought I knew where it belonged.

"Let's go."

"?"

"I'll explain while we're moving."

I began talking as we walked together.

"Honestly, I've had my doubts for a while."

The forest on the third floor.

The orphanage on the sixth.

"There are places the building deliberately prevents us from entering."

Both had been dangerous.

I'd literally lost my mind in the third-floor forest.

And I'd gotten my head cut off once in the sixth-floor orphanage.

"It's strange."

It almost seemed like the building was trying to protect me.

As though my kidnapper was somehow concerned about my safety.

"..."

The mascot silently looked at me.

"I think the building is making us climb through a difficulty level that it adjusted specifically for us... rather than the original version."

"..."

It sounded ridiculous.

A place that had kidnapped me was adjusting the difficulty for my sake.

But that was the only explanation that made sense.

I met the mascot's gaze.

"Am I right?"

"..."

The mascot stared at me without moving.

Then...

"..."

It lightly tapped my back and continued walking.

How should I put it?

It had always encouraged me before.

But this felt different.

This felt more like acknowledgement.

Like a senior coworker who normally joked around and praised you casually, only to call you aside one day and sincerely tell you that you're doing well.

I scratched my cheek at the strangely embarrassing feeling and kept walking.

In any case, I had a good idea where this key belonged.

The locked iron door I'd found during the previous regression.

That was probably the back door.

I continued forward with the key in hand.

Leaving a place I'd already entered wasn't difficult.

Like most things, getting in was harder than getting out.

Fortunately, nothing was waiting outside when we emerged.

Probably because...

"They're waiting at the entrance."

I muttered calmly and kept walking.

Without a monster chasing me, there was nothing particularly difficult about this.

I walked through the quiet corridor with the key.

Muttering voices could still be heard from the area I assumed was the ordinary exit, but that had nothing to do with me.

Finding the door with the keyhole wasn't difficult.

I already knew approximately where it was.

I stood before the locked door, inserted the key, and slowly turned it.

Click.

The door opened.

An elevator appeared immediately beyond it.

"...Phew."

I let out a long breath and looked behind me.

"?"

The mascot stared at me curiously.

Why was it looking at me like that?

"We have to put the key back."

The people coming after us needed an easier way through, didn't they?

I started running toward the elevator where we'd first arrived on the sixth floor.

The mascot ran beside me, still looking confused.

"...?"

I could guess what it wanted to ask.

So I answered without waiting.

"If it's something I can do, then I'll do it."

If putting the key back meant the people following me could survive more easily, then why wouldn't I?

We reached the original elevator.

I carefully hid the key nearby and began writing in the notebook as we headed back.

[150. After leaving the elevator, look to the left. There will be a key.]

[150. Take the key and wait until the area becomes quiet. Once everything is quiet, follow the left wall.]

[150. After using the key, please return it to its original place.]

"..."

The mascot stared at me and tilted its head.

Again, I knew exactly what it wanted to say.

"You're wondering whether people in danger will actually bother returning it?"

"!"

"I don't know."

Neither did I.

That wasn't something I could guarantee.

We quickly returned to the iron door.

The elevator beyond it was still illuminated.

I stepped inside, closed the notebook, and hung it back where it belonged.

The doors shut with a heavy rattle.

"That doesn't mean I can choose not to do it."

The elevator began rising.

I slowly opened the notebook again.

[150. After leaving the elevator, look to the left. There will be a key.]

[150. Take the key and wait until the area becomes quiet. Once everything is quiet, follow the left wall.]

[150. After using the key, please return it to its original place.]

[151. No. 150, thanks for the key. It helped a lot. I returned it, so the people behind me should be able to use it too.]

[152. I used it too. I put it back for the next person, and I also tried to disguise where it was hidden just in case.]

[153. Wow, you hid it way too well. I thought I couldn't find it and nearly broke into a cold sweat.]

[153. Thanks to No. 150, I got out really easily. Thank you!]

[154. No. 150, seriously, leave a sketch of your face somewhere. If I make it back to reality, I'm going to give you the biggest kiss of your life.]

[155. I honestly think I'd already be dead if it weren't for this guy... What kind of human is No. 150? How does he keep clearing everything like this?]

[155. The key was hidden so well that I had trouble finding it, so I marked the place with a code only humans would understand. You'll recognize it immediately.]

"See?"

"?"

"If I go through a little extra trouble, other people can survive much more easily."

"..."

The mascot remained still, apparently thinking.

While we waited for the elevator to rise...

<Congratulations.>

A mechanical voice came from the elevator.

<You have survived after visiting an unscheduled floor.>

<A corresponding reward will now be issued.>

Was this the 130-point reward the voice on the phone had mentioned?

I waited.

A moment later, something clattered down from the ceiling.

"Whoa!"

I hurriedly held out my hands.

Four pyramid-shaped ornaments fell into my palms.

The same currency used to buy items on Floor 0.5.

"...Four!"

Four of them.

The phone had cost only two.

My heart started pounding.

If that was the reward for the unscheduled floor, then maybe I'd get something even better for...

<Additionally, you have perfectly cleared the sixth floor. A corresponding reward will also be issued.>

"...?"

Something else dropped with a small thud.

Before I could even pick it up...

<We wish you a peaceful rest.>

The elevator doors opened.

"..."

The familiar scenery of Floor 0.5 appeared before me.

No.

It wasn't quite familiar anymore.

"...The room got bigger."

"!"

It had clearly expanded.

And if the room was larger...

That probably meant there were more things we could do here now.

I stepped inside.

"Should we rest first?"

After everything we'd gone through...

I couldn't help feeling a little excited about what awaited us here.