The Regressor Is Obsessed With Me Chapter 18

18. Cooperation (2)

The next morning, we climbed the mountain together.
And, as if continuing a conversation from yesterday, the regressor spoke first.

“With around fifty people, it won’t be impossible.”

Meaning: With at least fifty people, that monstrous thing could be taken down.

“What’s that—instinct? Some kind of detection ability? You have something like that?” Saebyeok asked.

“Let’s just say yes.”

Brushing him off, Joo Yeonwoo added calmly:

“To be safe, seventy people would be ideal.”

“Seventy, huh…”

I looked down into the valley where the monster roamed.

With heavy, echoing thuds, the creature walked across the ravine floor. It moved on two stone-like legs—opaque and dense as carved rock—while its upper body writhed with dozens of twisted arms. At the end of each arm, a single human-like eye blinked independently. And embedded in its torso, connected to those arms like grotesque veins, were dozens of pulsing, twitching hearts.

Every time one of its limbs shifted, the stone-like plates along its body quivered faintly.

“Wow,” I murmured. “That’s a real monster.”

It looked like something straight out of a trauma-inducing creature horror film.

That aside…

“Are those really hearts?”

“They are,” Yeonwoo confirmed. “At least according to the sacrifice requirements.”

“I have no idea how you know that,” I muttered, “but yeah, he’s right,” Saebyeok admitted. “Dongwoo took one of those hearts to the altar with the other keys. A system message appeared asking if he wanted to proceed to the next floor.”

“Those stones you showed us yesterday—they were hearts from the younger ones of that thing?”

“Yeah. The juvenile looked different—more like a fluid sac—but the heart was in the same spot. And before it died, it moved exactly like that.”

So there was no room for doubt.

“Any ideas about weaknesses?” I asked. “Either of you—Yeonwoo, especially. If you’ve got guesses, now’s the time.”

I poked him in the side, urging him.

Yeonwoo studied the monster for a long, silent moment, then spoke.

“Its legs look sturdy. You should aim for the upper body. Ideally, target the exposed eyes or hearts. But those will be heavily guarded, so keep that in mind.”

“We tried for the hearts,” Saebyeok said. “If we hit hard enough to do damage, they shatter.”

“That complicates things. I recommend giving up.”

“Will you shut up already?!”

While Saebyeok clicked his tongue, I watched the monster again.

A grotesque tangle of limbs and organs.

“Does it rely only on sight?”

“Yup. Hearing and smell were weak. With that many eyes, sight is everything to it.”

“Hm…”

Restricting its vision or limiting movement seemed like the best path. But—

“You tried attacking from long range?”

“It blocked everything. Perfectly. Its tracking is insane. It practically has a 360-degree field of vision.”

Unfortunate.

We didn’t have the skillset to deal with something like that.

Which meant—

“Guess we’ll have to rely on outside help.”

“Outside help?”

“More manpower,” I said.

If our talent pool wasn’t enough, then we simply needed a larger pool.

I stood up.

“Let’s go. Time to recruit.”

It was time to expand our alliances—just as planned.

“Here’s the map!”

“Thanks.”

Jidohwa handed over a map far more detailed than her earlier ones. Ever since contracting with a constellation related to mapping and exploration, her abilities had advanced significantly.

“There are three groups with about fifteen people each, and one group with around ten,” she reported.

Just as she said, the map now even displayed faint signatures representing living people.

At this point, she was a full-on strategic weapon.

“As expected, our base has the most people,” I said.

The four groups on the map were spaced far apart, each roughly equidistant from the valley where the territorial monster lived.

“How long would it take to walk from here?” I asked.

“If you’re physically enhanced, half a day. Otherwise… at least two days,” she replied.

Given the distances, it was no wonder the groups rarely clashed. Most people hadn’t even been here for a full week yet—they were too busy adapting to think of anything else.

I scanned the map again. With its improved detail, something else became clear.

“We’re on an island.”

A small, isolated island.

“And you said the ocean side is full of monsters as strong as—or stronger than—the valley monster?” I asked.

“Yes. And Dongwoo’s teleport range isn’t enough to avoid them.”

Meaning: escape by sea was impossible.

Resource depletion was guaranteed.

Even if people adapted here, once resources ran dry, the only option would be moving to the next floor.

“…This floor really was designed with malice,” I muttered.

It became clearer and clearer what kind of person created this Tower.
Someone who wanted to watch people fight—who wanted them to kill.

“Not my style. Not at all.”

I tapped the map and pointed.

“Let’s start with this group.”

At a remote part of the 3rd floor…

A small group of ten huddled together.

“Any luck?”

“None.”

Their location was unimpressive—a thin stream of water and not much else—but it had one key advantage:

No big monsters nearby.

“How long are we supposed to live like this…?”

“Seriously… how did we end up here…”

They weren’t strong. They’d survived the first floor only by clinging to others.

“Hey, better than the tutorial, right? Remember that nightmare?”

Even so, once people were no longer starving or freezing, their minds wandered.

“A constellation said life gets better on the next floor.”

“And you believe that?”

“Why not?”

Complaints drifted aimlessly through the air.

“Well, there’s no reason not to believe it. It’s true, after all.”

A stranger’s voice cut through suddenly.

“Wh—Who?! Who’s there?!”

“A person? Someone’s here?!”

The group lurched to their feet, startled.

A woman stepped out with a pleasant smile.

“Hello.”

Behind her stood a man radiating a quiet but unmistakable sense of danger.
And beside him, a familiar guy nudged the scary man in the ribs with his elbow.

“We’re not here to fight,” he said.

“It’s nothing dramatic,” the woman added. “Just here to see your leader. We have something to discuss.”

“D-Discuss…?”

“It’s important.”

Later, two of the group members would agree on one thing:

She smiled like someone who would accept no refusal.

The leader of this first group was pricklier than expected.

“…Why exactly have you come here?”

A sharp-eyed woman in her thirties hurried over at the commotion. Judging by how the others reacted to her, she was indeed the leader.

“To show up so suddenly—it’s quite a shock.”

Her already sharp expression hardened further as she looked between us. She seemed especially irritated with Saebyeok, as if assuming this was his doing.

Unfortunate misunderstanding.

“Sorry,” I said, stepping forward before Saebyeok could speak. “But it’s urgent.”

Only then did her gaze shift to me.

“And you are…?”

“I’m Chae Saebyeok’s younger sister. Chae Noeul.”

Meeting her probing stare, I smiled politely.

“Would you mind if we talked for a moment?”

A short while later, we were invited into her shelter.