Chapter 68
What the hell is all this mail?
I checked the mailbox with trembling hands.
ㅡFwoosh.
[Sort by oldest]
Does it start with the very first piece of mail?
[Message: You have acquired a new achievement.]
-Achievement: Died for the first time
-Achievements are automatically claimed.
"What the hell is this?"
Why is an achievement arriving by mail?
When I checked the title section right away, the 'Died for the First Time' title had been newly added. As expected, achievements and titles were linked.
"Died for the first time, huh."
This was the one where Sekriem killed me on the subway.
The date on the mail made it certain.
It was from the very day I died at the hands of the vampire.
I thought about why this had arrived by mail, but the answer came quickly.
"Ah, is that it?"
At the time, the status window's functions hadn't been fully unlocked. So I couldn't acquire the title, and it seemed to have been sent to me automatically by mail instead.
What the hell.
"What kind of system is this?"
Sending me things I'd missed could be called a decent system, but the mailbox itself only became unlocked after I learned about the playthrough mechanics.
It was unbelievably user-unfriendly.
To compare it to a game, it felt like being thrown into an open world with no information at all and being told to figure out and unlock the basic systems yourself.
Ah, right.
It really is an open-world game.
Normally, in a game like this, you could use a beginner-recommended route from a guide someone else had posted and quickly unlock everything you needed from the start.
But without that kind of knowledge, you could spend ages running around in circles before unlocking things later—or, in the worst case, there could be something everyone and their dog unlocked early while you didn't even realize it existed until the very end.
Maybe...
I might have been in a similar situation.
"Could there really be a huge number of things I've missed like this?"
Thinking that made me inexplicably afraid. It was also ridiculous, and I felt a little irritation and anger. But it wasn't as if I could point my finger at the status window and give it a scathing lecture.
I simply accepted it and scrolled through the mailbox.
Since it had sent me an achievement like this, it might have sent me some good things too. And there were 999+ of them, so I was extremely excited.
But then.
"Oh."
[Message: You have acquired a new achievement.]
-Achievement: Became unable to die
-Achievements are automatically claimed.
"This is..."
I checked the date on the mail.
"It was... around the time I was in the hospital."
Yeah.
Back then, I had ended up in a situation where I couldn't die.
I had broken the rules and escaped, falling into a world where everything had been stitched together. I tried to commit suicide by jumping, but I didn't die even after my brain and heart were destroyed. I became unable to die. After that, I was dragged back to the hospital... and endlessly offered up my skin.
...
This was strange.
Back then, I had definitely turned into something that wasn't human. But why hadn't an ending appeared? And why had I regressed despite being in a situation where I couldn't die?
I did have a theory about that.
That unknown value... it rose all the way into the hundred-thousands, and perhaps because of it, I was forcibly sent into regression without even dying.
If that was the reason, then I had been forcibly sent back in exchange for raising some penalty value to one hundred thousand.
"Hmm."
An ending, huh.
Unable to die.
Unable to move.
That was roughly the state I had been in.
Maybe I had ended up in a situation where I couldn't see an ending, so I gained that penalty value and was forcibly sent into regression?
Endings, regression, death, playthroughs, systems.
I couldn't reach a conclusion because I knew nothing for certain.
"Let's move on from this too."
I had only checked the second piece of mail, and my head already felt like it was splitting open. There were still 999+ pieces of mail left. Could I read all of them in this lifetime?
All right, then. The third piece of mail.
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[Message: You have acquired a new achievement.]
-Achievement: Revealed the fact of regression
-Achievement: Revealed the fact of regression
-Achievement: Revealed the fact of regression
-Achievement: Revealed the fact of regression
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-Achievement: Revealed the fact of regression
-Achievement: Revealed the fact of regression
-■■■■■■■■■■■
-■■■■■■■■■■■
-■■■■■■■■■■■
-■■■■■■■■■■■
-Ach■evement is ■utomatically cla■med.
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What is this?
Revealed the fact of regression...?
Why is only this one garbled, as though there's an error?
ㅡFwoosh.
A chill ran through my entire body, and I suddenly broke out in goosebumps.
The moment I saw the word regression, an unknown sense of danger began to rise in me. It was a similar feeling to the one that had surfaced when I saw Jaldi's final moments in the Giant Tower.
I assumed this message had arrived when I revealed to Jaldi in the Giant Tower that I was a regressor.
"F-fuck... Seriously, why is this happening...?"
Could my instincts really be right...?
It probably wasn't a good idea to casually tell people about regression.
Then.
What was the next piece of mail?
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[Message: ■■■■ has detected the existence of the regressor.]
[Message: ■■■■ has detected the existence of the regressor.]
[Message: ■■■■ has detected the existence of the regressor.]
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[Message: ■■■■ has detected the existence of the regressor.]
[Message: ■■■■ has detected the existence of the regressor.]
[Message: ■■■■ has detected the existence of the regressor.]
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[Message: ■■■■ has detected the existence of the regressor.]
[Message: ■■■■ has detected the existence of the regressor.]
[Message: ■■■■ has detected the existence of the regressor.]
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The identity of the mail filling the mailbox was...
This.
A barrage of messages saying that some unknown entity had detected the existence of the regressor.
I felt like I was going insane.
I had been foolish.
I had acted far too rashly.
I was a regressor, yet I had tried to reveal that I was one.
Because of that one careless remark... some unknown entity, something I couldn't identify, had detected the existence of the regressor...!
"H-huff! Hoo! Hoo!"
My heart pounded rapidly as ragged breaths burst from me. It felt as though an unknown terror was crushing both my body and mind.
What the hell was ■■■■?
What would happen if it realized the existence of the regressor?
No.
Beyond simply knowing of my existence...
What would happen if it found me?
It was a fact that there were beings who knew about my regression.
Ghanak obviously knew, and Sekriem, who had fought Spangdal after receiving those memories, probably knew too. But it didn't seem like either of them could send me mail.
These terrifying messages might have been a warning from the status window.
I suppressed my fear and continued scrolling through the mailbox.
[Message: You stopped the descent of the 'Singing Star's offspring' early and received a reward.]
-Reward: Singing Flower
-Would you like to claim it?
"Ah!"
Something new had appeared!
It was a normal message about a reward, not another terrifying message saying that some unknown entity had detected the regressor!
And it was about a reward, at that!
Some of the tension left me.
The Singing Star's offspring was some extremely powerful extraterrestrial entity. A reward left behind by an entity like that... Whatever it was, it was bound to be incredible.
"But a Singing Flower?"
It would be nice if I could check its form or abilities. I reflexively tried to claim it, then stopped moving.
"Wait a second."
This...
Can I accept it?
What happens if I accept it in the first place?
Will that Singing Flower suddenly appear in my hand?
...
I still vividly remembered the giant apocalypse.
Suppose I claimed this reward. What if something incredibly suspicious and horrifying suddenly appeared in my hand, then escaped my control and caused another incident similar to the giant apocalypse?
"I'm fucked!"
That would simply be a shortcut to getting completely screwed.
I couldn't decide whether I should accept it. So I suppressed my excitement and scrolled through the mailbox again.
The mail with the 'Singing Flower' attached moved back up as it was. When I scrolled down to check it again, the option to claim it was still there.
"So I don't have to accept it right now."
It didn't look like it would be deleted just because I didn't accept it.
Then I'll put it on hold for now.
The next piece of mail...
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[Message: ■■■■ is trying to find the regressor.]
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[Message: ■■■■ is trying to find the regressor.]
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[Message: ■■■■ is trying to find the regressor.]
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I forced myself to ignore my anxiety and scrolled rapidly downward. Hundreds of messages said the exact same thing. Only a few were legitimate messages; all the rest were terrifying spam.
No matter what happens, let's never say out loud that I'm a regressor.
This was the status window warning me.
It was extremely terrifying that some unknown entity was trying to find me, but the situation had already happened. I couldn't waste my mental strength trembling in fear. The best thing to do was force myself to ignore it and put it aside. I shouldn't repeat the same mistake.
[Message: You defeated '■■■.■■■' and received a reward.]
-Reward: Vampire Angel's Heart
-Would you like to claim it?
Another reward.
"...Ghanak."
It was the reward for defeating him.
"The Vampire Angel's Heart, huh."
This definitely looked like it was something.
I had no idea what the Singing Flower was supposed to be, but this was incredibly straightforward. It had to mean Ghanak's heart.
If I claimed this, would I gain the vampire's power? It did seem possible, but in the worst case, I might turn into a vampire angel and get a bad ending.
"What the hell kind of rewards are these?"
Every single one of them was suspicious!
If I gained a vampire's abilities, wouldn't I just become a vampire?
There was one thing I hated more than anything in the world, and that was vampires. For me, the world's most avid vampire hunter, to become a vampire... it was an unbearable insult. It would truly be worse than death. It had to be one of the most horrifying endings possible.
In the end, I left the second reward unclaimed as well.
It would remain in the mailbox anyway, so I could take it out whenever I wanted.
[There are 0 unread messages.]
And so I checked all the mail.
Even though there were 999+ messages, they were all related to the regressor.
Thinking too deeply about it would only make me go insane.
Let's just move on.
"Status window."
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[●Status Window]
Name : Grong
Title : Activated the Reality Re-recognition Device
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Run : 2
Death count : 16
[●List of deaths by run]
[●Collected endings]
[●Functions]
[●Resolution list]
[●Owned abilities]
[●Point shop]
[●Mailbox]
[...]
——————————
"Why did my death count get so high?"
Still, I had earned a lot of points this time.
Compared to all the times I'd died before, it was barely a drop in the bucket, but whatever. Let's try using them this time.
[●Points held : 11,001]
Seeing how many points I had made me quite satisfied.
I opened the point shop window.
——————————
[●Point Shop]
[-Available purchases]
[●2,000 points]
[-Lowers the death count by (1).]
[●2,000 points]
[-The #$%#$%$ value decreases.]
——————————
"Let's try it."
For now, let's lower the death count and that unknown value once each. I had to try things like this while I had a lot of points. Otherwise, I might never get another chance.
Even after spending 4,000 points, I'd still have 7,000 left.
I could use those to draw one ability and save the remaining points.
This was what frugal spending looked like.
"Lower the death count."
[Would you like to lower the death count?]
[YES / NO]
"Yes."
ㅡDing!
[The death count has decreased by (1).]
[Current death count : 16(-1)]
What?
So instead of becoming 15, the death count was displayed as 16(-1)?
ㅡDing!
[You have acquired a new achievement.]
[Achievement: Want to Turn Back Death]
"Oh, you bastard."
Another achievement like this.
From what I could tell, achievements didn't actually come in many varieties. They just existed to mock me.
Anyway.
...
I focused my mind and looked around from where I sat.
Something... There wasn't really anything.
I had lowered the death count by 1, but I couldn't feel any change. Well, I hadn't felt any change when I died repeatedly either. It was only natural that lowering it by one wouldn't be noticeable.
"Okay. Then the value."
I selected the one beneath the death count.
[Would you like to lower the value?]
[YES / NO]
"Yes."
ㅡDing!
[#%#$^&@#% : 171,125 -> 158,829]
The unknown value decreased.
...
I couldn't feel anything from this either.
"If it goes down... that's good, at least."
According to my theory, this was some kind of penalty value that rose when I ended up in a situation where I couldn't see an ending, instead of regressing from that situation.
There was no harm in lowering it.
The problem was that it had shot up by 170,000 right off the bat, and now spending 2,000 points had only lowered it by around 10,000... All I could do was sigh.
"Yeah. No matter what, abilities are what matter."
I'd cursed this damn ability as useless and pathetic every single time.
But even after lowering the death count and that value without feeling any difference, I realized that nothing else was as immediately noticeable as an ability.
[●You can spend 3,000 points to acquire a new ability.]
I entered the ability acquisition window.
"Allahu Akbar! Please let something good appear!"
ㅡFlash!
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[...][...][...]
[...][...][...]
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Great!
This time, I'm choosing the second slot!