Chapter 99

Chapter 99

“No, this, uh...”

“It’s alright...”

Baron Jorge, with a smile on his face, insisted he’s fine despite his completely disheveled appearance. A stream of blood was still trickling down from his mouth.

How did it come to this? Why? How? My mind went blank and my breath started to quicken.

“Elixir.”

Yes. Elixir. There was an elixir. The reward from the second floor. I hadn’t used it yet. I could still save him.

“Just a moment, please wait a moment.”

With trembling hands, I reached into my pocket and took out a small glass bottle. Yes, even though it’s the lowest grade, it’s still an elixir. This kind of wound...

“What?”

The ornate glass bottle was empty. The golden liquid that should have been inside was nowhere to be found.

“...”

Looking closely, I noticed a crack in the bottle. The liquid must have leaked out through the crack.

“No way...”

That cool sensation I felt during the battle. The feeling of fatigue leaving my body while my focus increased.

“No... no...”

The elixir bottle must have broken during the fierce battle. The elixir had been steadily leaking out, healing my body.

“No, this can’t be...”

It had certainly been helpful. But because of it, I couldn’t save Baron Jorge now.

To be blunt, it didn’t matter if the other otherworlders all died. I was planning to go back anyway. I felt pity for them, but they were essentially strangers to me, and I had no deeper feelings for them.

But Baron Jorge... we had been through a lot together. Even though I tried not to get attached, a bond had formed. I had promised to protect him. And now, that person was dying right in front of me. The situation I had feared the most had become reality.

“W-William. William Smith. You can use your healing power, can’t you? What are you doing? Someone’s dying right now.”

“...I’m sorry.”

“Do something... anything...”

I knew I was being unreasonable. William Smith was utterly exhausted. He had probably used his healing abilities to the point where he couldn’t move anymore.

Should I turn back? After coming this far? I need to see this through to the end, don’t I? Should I just let him die?

Tap.

Baron Jorge gently grasped my tormented hand.

“...Jun-ho. I have... something to apologize for....”

He spoke in a strained voice, each word squeezed out with great effort.

“That day... on the third night... at the entrance...”

I immediately knew what he was talking about.

The third night. Just before the monsters breached the walls.

Baron Jorge and I had discussed various things in the corridor, including our future plans.

“That time... I lied...”

Baron Jorge’s lips, pale as a sheet, moved with difficulty.

“I said the monsters didn’t particularly target us...”

“...”

“...But they were definitely targeting us... the otherworlders... I could feel their eyes on us...”

A single tear rolled down from Baron Jorge’s eye. His gaze was filled with regret.

“I’m sorry... I was afraid you’d abandon us... that all my people would die... so I lied to you...”

With those final words, he gripped my hand tightly.

“Thank you... and I’m sorry...”

And then he stopped breathing.

‘That’s what you wanted to say?’

“...Ha.”

It was absurd.

“I knew that... all along...”

***

-00:15:02

Sir Thomas covered the body with a cloth.

Baron Jorge had pushed his endangered subjects aside and took the injury himself. Now I understood why the otherworlders had been so quiet. It was a moment of silence.

“...Are all of you standing in the hallway to honor the Baron?”

“...No. We are using the rooms for other purposes.”

These people didn’t deliberately choose the hardest difficulties to overcome like I did.

These people didn’t have grand goals of climbing the tower like I did.

This was only the fourth floor. While the tutorial was hellish, it was still too early for people to be sufficiently skilled. I was only relatively adept because I had used my regressions more effectively.

“It’s... my fault...”

Even if they hadn’t cooperated with my plan, these people did exceptionally well for regular individuals who had just reached the fourth floor.

But they were so kind-hearted that they overextended themselves to protect the otherworlders. And they died for it.

“...”

As I hung my head low, a message window appeared before my eyes.

00:00:00

Summary [Players] 54 / 100

[NPCs] 109 / 300 (No bonus due to failure in key NPC survival)

-No penalty assigned

-Rewards equivalent to 10,900 points are distributed to all survivors.

-Top contributors: 1st [Kim Jun-ho], 2nd [Yoon Joong-hyun], 3rd [William Smith] will receive additional special rewards.

You have cleared the 4th floor.

As I slowly lifted my bowed head, I found myself back on the 1st floor. I wasn’t even given the chance to properly ask for Baek Da-hye’s forgiveness.

Thud.

The first floor was transformed into the form of a luxury hotel room I had temporarily set up, and a large chest lay on the other side of the room.

It must be the reward for clearing the 4th floor.

“...”

I couldn’t bring myself to even look at it. I collapsed onto the bed.

Taking slow breaths, I quietly began to cry.

‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’

When my eyes were finally swollen from crying, I started to plan my next steps.

Choices. Choices. Choices.

All this devastation was the result of my choices. Some were wrong, and some were right.

Ultimately, people died. Because of my choices.

But I am a regressor. I have the opportunity to correct my wrong choices.

By repeating the floor over and over again, I can eventually derive the perfect solution I desire.

Yes, there’s no need to apologize. I can set things right.

“...”

But... When will I stop? When will I be satisfied?

Do I really need to perfectly clear the 4th floor?

Let’s say I save Baron Jorge. Let’s say I save the man with glasses. But what about the others? Do I really need to save everyone?

The tutorial? I achieved perfect results in the tutorial. But the 4th floor is different from the tutorial.

The 4th floor lasts five days. Repeating it ten times means fifty days. Repeating it a hundred times means five hundred days. And if people die... The negative impact on my mental state is immense.

Do I have to go through these horrific experiences repeatedly to save all these people?

I made small compromises on the 2nd and 3rd floors.

I didn’t regress on the 2nd floor because I was afraid to meet the archangel again, and on the 3rd floor, I didn’t regress because I feared what would happen if I saw Dok Su-Hee again.

Compromise is easy.

These people would have died pointlessly if it weren’t for me. It’s right to think that my involvement allowed more of them to survive.

I’ve done enough. There’s no need to push myself further. Let’s just compromise reasonably.

“No.”

I clenched my teeth. The thought of the man with glasses’ body I just saw. The thought of Baron Jorge, who had held my hand tightly. And... And thinking of Choi Ji-won, who smiled in the vacant lot during the tutorial, I decided.

“I have to.”

This is different from the 2nd and 3rd floors. This is a matter of human lives. Just glossing over this now is akin to creating a small crack in my conscience.

Even if I seem fine now, I will undoubtedly break down someday from this moment on. I can’t compromise.

Of course, saving everyone on this insanely difficult floor seems... Impossible.

But I have to do it.

“If not me, then who?”

Because it’s something only I can do.

– – – End of Chapter – – -

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