episode_0016

Episode 16. Floor 1. Round 2.

‘This… it was maintained?’

My lips twitch, and the corners of my mouth reflexively try to rise. I desperately clenched my lips to hold it back.

I mustn’t give off a strange vibe. Act as usual. As usual.

Fortunately, thanks to the amount of Gold, I could tell what day it was. It’s day 3. Day 3.

‘This changes the plan. I need to tell her about the accompanied regression as quickly as possible.’

Originally, my goal was to become a little closer to her. She had such an unpredictable personality, and naturally, I had to be careful.

‘I need to use her more actively. This regression.’

Just maintaining memories is an amazing ability, but even the status window is preserved? Just imagining it makes my mouth water.

At that moment.

“Mr. Yohan. Mr. Yohan. Are you awake?”

“…….”

As if her words had woken me up, I rubbed my eyes and got out of bed.

“Umm, yes. I’m awake.”

I keep my words to a minimum. Isn’t there a saying that if you stay still, you’re halfway there?

“Then let’s meet in the restaurant in 10 minutes.”

“Okay.”

With those words, she turned and left the room with a calm expression. Only after she disappeared did I lie down on the bed with a relaxed face.

‘I hope I didn’t get caught?’

Normally, I would wash my face and go down to the restaurant, but I didn’t feel like it right now. I need to calm my mind and body for a moment.

After relaxing my body, I closed my eyes and counted to 30. Whew, I can finally control my expression.

Only then did I get out of bed and head outside. First, I need to wash my face.

A clean face will make it easier to gain people’s friendship than a grimy one.

‘I should start laying the groundwork.’

Not too suddenly, and not too slowly. Moderately. Let’s reveal the truth to her moderately.

***

Munch─ Munch─

I slowly chewed my food and observed her condition. She was making a very calm expression for someone who had just died and come back to life.

‘Does she know I killed her?’

It’s hard to say. She has such a poker face that it’s impossible to know.

I poured water into a cup on the table. After quenching my thirst, I wiped my mouth with my sleeve and cautiously brought up the topic.

“Ms. Sarah.”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t we eat this yesterday too?”

Pause.

Her spoon, which was slowly moving towards the food, stopped.

Then, she asked back nonchalantly. But her voice was trembling slightly.

“…We’re eating this menu for the first time, aren’t we?”

“Huh? That’s strange… I definitely remember eating it. The side dishes too.”

“…….”

After a moment of silence, she cautiously opened her mouth.

“You might be mistaken. Since the environment is like this, I also feel like my memories are getting jumbled up sometimes.”

She’s saying quite a bit. It was an unfamiliar sight.

“Is that so? That’s really strange. I hardly ever get my memories wrong.”

“…….”

She seemed to be deep in thought. She also knows my trait. I briefly explained that I have a trait that improves memory.

Maybe she’s thinking this.

‘It’s a trait directly granted by the Tower, so how could the effect be so weak that he can’t even remember what he ate for breakfast?’

I glanced at her and started eating again. This is enough for now.

‘Suspect. Keep suspecting. Could it be that he remembers the regression? Keep thinking about it endlessly.’

Sometimes in life, you come face to face with a truth that shakes your life.

At first, you deny it, but eventually, as evidence keeps coming out, you can’t help but admit it.

I will continuously throw bait at her. Even if a fish doesn’t bite, what if the entire riverbank is covered in bait? Eventually, it will get hooked.

“…….”

The back of my head, which was naturally lowered to eat, tingles. Ignoring her gaze as much as possible, I ate the food deliciously.

***

Sarah Kim looked at Yohan, who was eating his rice with an innocent face.

It’s clear that this is the first time eating this food. It’s because the innkeeper gave it out as a special dish.

In other words, Yohan is either lying right now. Or his memory is strange. Or else…

‘If he remembers the time before the regression, it’s possible.’

First of all, I decided to rule out the first possibility. Why would he lie about the breakfast menu? It was impossible to understand with her common sense.

‘He’s sometimes a bit of a psycho, but not that much.’

Secondly, memory confusion. In fact, if Yohan were an ordinary person, this hypothesis would have gained traction.

But he is someone who possesses a memory-related trait granted by the Tower.

‘I benefited greatly from [Indomitable] before the regression. This trait can easily overwhelm the performance of a skill depending on how you use it.’

She naturally recalled the memories from before the regression. A situation where she fought against 9 adult men.

‘If I didn’t have Indomitable, I would have lost a long time ago.’

The more the men inflicted injuries on her body, the more her stats increased little by little. Thanks to that, she was able to take down 3 of them together.

That’s how outstanding the performance of the trait was. In other words, even if Yohan’s trait seems to be of poor quality. It still has the performance to be called a [Trait].

Soon, she eventually reached the last possibility.

‘Does he ‘remember’ the time before the regression with the ability of his [Memory] trait?’

If that’s really possible. If he can really share memories with her…

“…….”

Sarah licked her lips without realizing it.

‘I don’t think I can stand it. Absolutely.’

Twitch!

Yohan, whose spine suddenly tingled, shuddered. But then he tilted his head and started eating again.

***

After eating a simple meal, we went outside. We headed towards the outskirts of the castle gate with familiar steps.

“Confirmed.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

After passing through the checkpoint lightly, we immediately walked towards Marim. Suddenly, I rolled my eyes and looked to the side.

“…….”

She’s been unusually quiet since I threw out the bait during the meal today. She’s probably having a lot of thoughts. If she’s paying attention to my words in her own way, it’s a success.

I moved my feet with a pleased heart. Judging by her attitude, it seemed like I could move on to the next stage soon.

‘By the way, what was that while eating rice earlier? I got goosebumps.’

Well, it’s probably nothing. It can happen sometimes. I immediately brushed that thought out of my head and prepared for the next plan.

***

Before the regression, I had leveled up Magic Missile, but I hadn’t been able to test its power. Because I was almost dying.

So I wanted to actually see it. Just how powerful would a level 2 skill be with 10 Karma invested?

Piiiiing─ Baaak!

The blue light shot out with a much sharper sound than before. Soon, with a refreshing impact sound, the skeleton was literally smashed to pieces.

The power was clearly different than before. Seeing that sight, Sarah Kim hurriedly turned around and looked at me.

We’ve fought together in dozens of battles. Of course, she also knew the power of my skills.

“…….”

She sent me a suspicious look. But we were still in battle. She immediately turned her eyes away and rushed towards another skeleton.

I said as if she was meant to hear it.

“Huh? Why is it so strong? That’s strange…”

“…….”

Swish─

She cut the last skeleton in half with a face that seemed somewhat anxious. Then she strode towards me.

“…Mr. Yohan.”

“Yes?”

“Have you opened your status window today?”

“Uh… Not yet. It didn’t look like I had 10,000 Gold.”

“…….”

She also knew why I needed that much money. We usually share our information generously.

What equipment to buy, how to use Karma points, what skills to learn… and so on.

She didn’t hesitate because she was a regressor. And I freely shared information because I would accompany her regression.

In other words, I had secured the plausibility of why I hadn’t opened the status window until now.

“Open it once.”

“Yes?”

“Open it. Didn’t you say that 10,000 Gold was the goal? How much have you collected, how much is missing. You should check it once.”

I barely held back the laughter that was rising in my chest. Just like this morning, she’s talking quite a bit today.

I tried to deflect it one more time.

“Umm… I already have it all in my head anyway…”

“…….”

Hoo, she took a deep breath. It seems like the blood is rushing to her head.

“…Quickly, quickly open it. Because there is something I want to check.”

It seemed like she was reaching her limit. I obediently opened the status window. Of course, she wouldn’t be able to see it.

“…Yes. Well. I understand. I was also curious. The power is so different… Huh?”