The Regressor Is Obsessed With Me Chapter 15

15. Base Camp (2)

Chae Saebyeok seemed to be pretty popular in the base camp.

“Oh? Saebyeok! Where’d you go?”
“Just had to take care of something.”
“And who’s this with you? A new person? You two look alike—family?”
“Family? You said you were looking for them, right? That’s great!”
“Haha, yeah.”

Judging by how many people immediately approached him so warmly…

Well, he was always the type people liked.

“I need to talk to these two for a bit. Just a moment…”
“Oh sure, go ahead!”
“Yeah, go on!”

Brushing off the people trying to chat, Chae Saebyeok led us deeper inside.

The base camp consisted of makeshift houses—almost like tents—clustered together.
The place he led us to was the one farthest in, and definitely bigger than the others.

I teased him.

“What’s this? You’re basically the chief here. Popular guy, nice house?”

“It’s not like that.”

He averted his gaze awkwardly.

“Things just… happened that way,” he muttered, clearing his throat as he changed the subject.

“Anyway! Welcome to the base camp. Most of the monsters around this area have been cleared out, so you don’t need to worry too much about attacks.”

So that’s why we didn’t encounter any monsters on the way here.

“And if anything does happen, I’m here.”

He must’ve worked hard.

If he was confident enough to say that, then this place really was secure.

Good. That solved the most important concern.

Then…

“I have something I want to ask.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Among the monsters you’ve defeated so far—were any of them suitable to use as offerings for the altar?”

What we needed next was a way to clear this floor.

I still desperately wanted to escape the Tower and go home.
And I was sure Chae Saebyeok felt the same.

While I wasn’t here, he must have already looked into possible solutions.

“There were. Once I looked at them individually, there were actually more fitting creatures than I expected.”

As expected, he grinned and raised three fingers.

“I’ve collected about thirty each. Omnivore skulls and the eyes of pain-perceiving creatures.”

…Skulls and eyes?

“What about the heart of a bipedal creature?”

“Ah… that has a teensy bit of a problem~”

The confidence vanished from Saebyeok’s voice as he awkwardly avoided my eyes.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

That stiff, guilty smile told me immediately that this was the problem he’d been avoiding telling me.

“What is it?”

I was about to pressure him—tell me honestly, from the start—when he abruptly turned toward the door.

I followed his gaze—just as the door slid open.

“We’re back!”
“Returned.”
“Oh, hey, you’re back?”

Two familiar students walked inside.

“Oh? Noeul unni! Long time no see!”
“Hello.”

Lee Dongwoo and Ji Dohwa.

Kids we survived the first floor with.

They’d managed to keep themselves in one piece—probably thanks to Chae Saebyeok.

“Dongwoo, seriously—be more delicate with your teleporting. You dropped me headfirst again!”
“Aw, but I improved a lot~ And you’re not dead, right?”
“We finished mapping the area you told us to survey.”
“Good work. Nobody got hurt?”

The three of them seemed pretty comfortable with each other now.

But that didn’t mean I was about to drop the conversation.

I turned back to Saebyeok and pushed again.

“So? What’s the issue? Stop hiding it and explain it. From the very beginning.”

“Alright, alright. Kids, close the door tight. Make sure nothing can be seen from outside.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re going to talk about that?”

The two kids moved like they’d done this many times before, blocking the door and windows completely.

The inside of the makeshift house dimmed instantly.

Then Saebyeok reached into his clothes and pulled something out.

“Here. Look.”

A red stone—shaped unmistakably like a heart.

He placed five palm-sized stones on the floor.

“This is the heart of a bipedal creature.”

“…Wait, you have them? I thought you said you didn’t.”

“I do. The problem is…”

Thunk.

With a troubled expression, he tapped the stone heart.

“The monster that drops this heart… there aren’t any left.”

I frowned.

Because now I understood roughly what kind of situation this was.

“There are more than twenty people here, you know.”

“Yeah. And the only ones who know this right now… are us.”

“If this spreads, it’ll be chaos.”

Now I understood why he was so reluctant to talk about it.

Lots of people, but not enough resources.

A perfect recipe for bloodshed.

I asked again to confirm.

“There really isn’t a single monster left that meets the heart requirement?”

“Not a one. We searched the entire area—nothing left.”

At that moment, Lee Dongwoo opened his mouth.

“There is one.”

“One?”

“Dongwoo, that’s….”

Ji Dohwa tried to stop him, fidgeting anxiously, but Dongwoo continued anyway.

“What? There is one. It’s just stupidly strong, that’s the problem.”

“Strong?”

“Yeah. It’s got a ton of hearts—literally—and it’s insanely tough.”

She pointed at the stones.

“That heart we have? It came from that monster’s kid. And even then, taking it down was crazy hard.”

Hard, huh.

I didn’t know the exact gap between its offspring and its adult form, but if even the child took that much effort… then taking down the adult was basically impossible.

“Have you tried attacking the adult at all?”

“Not yet. We’ve been scouting around it—its territory, any weaknesses, stuff like that—but the more we learn, the more hopeless it seems.”

Ji Dohwa added carefully:

“A-and we’ve been searching in case there are other bipedal monsters, but no matter how far we go, we don’t see any. That alpha monster… it seems to be the only one.”

Dongwoo’s power was teleportation.
Ji Dohwa’s power was mapping.

The perfect pair for exploring farther and more thoroughly than anyone else.

And even they hadn’t found anything.

Which meant there really were none.

In the end… the conclusion was obvious.

“So you’re saying you’re stuck? Because you don’t have enough hearts?”

“Pretty much. There’s no time limit, so we’re… you know, just looking around more for now.”

What a mess.

With a groan, I pressed my fingers to my forehead. Then Joo Yeon-woo opened his mouth.

“Is there a need to agonize over this?”

I flinched.

This sociopath was about to say something outrageous again, wasn’t he?

“You can just leave the rest behind.”

…And the regressor didn’t disappoint.

In the worst way.

“…What?”

“You don’t have any obligation to take responsibility for the others. What you’ve done so far is already more than enough.”

At Chae Saebyeok’s look of disbelief, Yeon-woo stated his opinion without the slightest hesitation.

“You only need to take responsibility for those you choose. Just like on the first floor.”

“…….”

“What happens to the rest afterward is none of your concern.”

[The Administrator of the Planetarium agrees with Joo Yeon-woo.]
[The Harmed Sister strongly opposes Joo Yeon-woo.]

Silence fell for a brief moment, broken only by the flickering system messages.

Then Chae Saebyeok shot to his feet.

“Did you seriously just say that?”

Despite Saebyeok’s face looking like he could explode any second, Yeon-woo answered calmly.

“Yes.”

…Wow. Seriously.

“In an abnormal situation, you must make the rational choice suited to it.”

“…….”

“And if you’re still scrambling just to survive… all the more so.”

Unbelievable. He said it without blinking.

Are all regressors this deranged?

While I was busy reevaluating what kind of monster a regressor truly is, Saebyeok grabbed Yeon-woo by the collar.

“Don’t talk like you know anything.”

“You’ve already told me everything necessary. You lack hearts. Therefore you must choose wisely.”

The air went cold.

Saebyeok was smiling, but his eyes definitely weren’t.

[The Abandoned Princess says she doesn’t know about the opinion, but that mouth is a mouth born only to bring ruin.]

Exactly. That.

Even faced with the very real possibility of getting punched, Yeon-woo’s mouth just kept running.

“Unless an unforeseen miracle occurs, the situation is hopeless. And a miracle is unlikely. You can’t hide the truth forever either. How long do you think you can stall? If there’s no perfect solution, then a swift decision—”

“Enough!”

Before Saebyeok could punch him, I hurriedly grabbed Yeon-woo.

“Stop talking! And you! Stop too!”

[The Harmed Sister urges: “Just hit him already!”]
[The Abandoned Princess tells the Sister to calm down.]

Forget the excited Constellations—these two needed to be separated before someone got seriously hurt.

As I pushed myself between them, the two kids quickly rushed over as well.

“Calm down! No fighting!”

“Please don’t fight….”

Only after everyone pulled them apart did the tension ease.

“…I’m stepping out for a bit. Get some rest.”

Still fuming, Saebyeok left the tent, fists clenched tight.

The two kids, clearly worried, slipped out after him.

“…….”

And Yeon-woo just sat there, emotionlessly, like nothing had happened.

With a long exhale, I finally asked:

“Joo Yeon-woo.”

“Yes.”

“That thing you said earlier… were you serious?”

“Yes.”

“No ulterior motive? No resentment? Nothing?”

“No.”

“…….”

He just stared at me, expressionless.

“Couldn’t you… I don’t know… phrase it better?”

“?”

“…Never mind. Forget it.”

Right. What was I expecting from him?

I sighed again—thinking about how I was supposed to fix this disaster.