Regressor Instruction Manual - Chapter 423. Problems From Above (6)

“What’s wrong with that?” I asked.

[No matter how scummy—I mean, no matter who you are, I don’t think you should hear it.]

‘What is she talking about? I’m not really affected.’

Something had to have happened on Earth. It was the only explanation I could think of as to why those managing Earth handed us over. Honestly, I couldn’t understand why Benigoa was pitying me because I was here. It would be sad if we got abandoned by our parents, but we got abandoned by Earth itself, which was a bigger deal than getting abandoned by our parents. Therefore, I could say that the latter was sadder.

‘They really are gods…’

The way they thought was completely different from humans.

Compared to the first time when she went on a rampage, she became really quiet and seeing that she was answering my questions seriously, the goddess statue before started looking kind of different. While I was deep in my thoughts, I heard Benigoa’s voice again.

[It’s a relief that you’re not affected by it, but… anyway, that’s what happened. I-It’s kind of sad from our point of view.]

“I can think of it as you guys taking in refugees, right? I should be thanking you, right?” I asked.

[There’s no need since we didn’t have a choice.]

“Hm, then does that mean something happened on Earth?” I asked.

[That place always has problems, and so does this place… If you’re asking if a unique problem occurred, then you’re right. However, I can’t tell you the details because that’s not part of my jurisdiction, to begin with. Not only that, they want to hide it as well…]

“Hm…”

[Wait. If you’re worried about your sister, you don’t have to worry. She’s…]

Yul-Ha was the type of person who would survive even if she was dropped at the North Pole by herself, so I wasn’t really worried about her.

“No, I’m not worried about Yul-Ha,” I told her.

[Is that all of your questions?]

“I have one more,” I answered.

[What is it?]

“Kim Hyun-Sung. Is that top secret, too?” I asked.

[Part of it is top secret, and there are some things that I don’t know, but there are parts I can tell you. What are you curious about exactly? His past life?]

“The reason behind his regression and this Altanus who made Kim Hyun-Sung regress. Can you tell me about it?” I asked.

This was actually my main question because I was extremely curious about it. Benigoa went silent for a while, so I was sure that she was sorting out the parts that she could tell me and the parts that she couldn’t tell me. I patted the goddess statue lightly, and I heard her voice a few moments later.

[He regressed because Altanus wanted him to regress.]

“…”

[Altanus is a god and a manager, just like us. She’s[1] in charge of Kim Hyun-Sung.]

“As expected. Where’s Altanus? Can I meet her?” I asked.

[No, that’s impossible.]

“How come?”

[Altanus doesn’t exist anymore.]

“Ah…”

[She died. Actually, saying that she disappeared is a better description. It was the price she had to pay for turning back time, and we inherited her will.]

‘As expected…’

Giving out Forced Quests and jobs consumed a tremendous amount of holy power, so I was sure that an unimaginable amount of holy power was necessary to perform an overpowered miracle like time regression.

After all, it was literally turning back time. It was highly likely that Altanus was a god who was higher in rank than Benigoa because such a ridiculous miracle like time regression shouldn’t have been possible under normal circumstances.

I couldn’t even imagine Benigoa turning back time. She had to hide in a goddess statue after going bankrupt, so how could she have enough holy power to perform time regression?

‘Tsk.’

[Altanus loved that man. And… she pitied his life. After giving it a lot of thought, she decided to sacrifice herself and turn everything back. Of course, I think I tried to stop her back then, but… I respected her decision. I’m sure there isn’t a god who could make a decision like that, and we all feel the same way about her.]

“Could you tell me what his past life was like?” I asked.

[You have a general idea already. You found out through that special human named Kasugano Yuno. Of course, I don’t know the details either.]

“You guys don’t remember his past life either?” I questioned.

[Yes and no. We can’t remember all of it, but we remember Altanus’ will.]

“I don’t know anything about Altanus’ will or whatever. It’s not something I can just accept. You’re telling me that you can’t see the Dark World that Kasugano Yuno can see?” I asked.

[Don’t underestimate the potential of humans. She’s special. It’s the same for the humans named Jung Ha-Yan and Cha Hee-Ra. Human potential is endless. Even your Mind’s Eye—no, forget I said anything. Anyway, some of us can see the Dark World you mentioned, but there are limits. Managing a dimension is a lot harder and more complicated than you think. If we can fix everything, then Altanus wouldn’t have turned Kim Hyun-Sung into a regressor.]

“Potential?”

[Yeah, potential. I’m sure Altanus saw that in him.]

“So you guys aren’t perfect either.”

[That’s right, we’re not perfect. Keep that in mind, my proud Father Lee Ki-Young. We’re not perfect either. We’re incomplete. We’re just standing in a different position from those on the continent, but we’re not that different from you. Keep that in mind.]

“There’s no need to emphasize that. I can tell just by looking at you. More than that, I feel like you avoided my question with a vague answer, Goddess Benigoa. What I’m curious about is the reason behind Kim Hyun-Sung’s regression. I didn’t want to hear about Altanus’ will or whatever. I want to know exactly what kind of threat he experienced and for what reason he regressed. To be blunt, I want to know the reason why you guys failed,” I explained.

[That’s not top-secret information, but I can’t tell you about it. It’s probably better if you hear it from Kim Hyun-Sung or Kasugano Yuno. One thing I can tell you is that your assumption is correct.]

“What?”

[There is a threat, and Kim Hyun-Sung is preparing for that threat. And I-I don’t acknowledge this, but y-you… have been doing well… s-so far…]

“Hm, I knew it. Thanks for the compliment. But… I feel like I haven’t gotten as much information as I thought…” I pointed out.

[I-I can’t help it. I really can’t… You think I’m not telling you because I don’t want to? I want to relax, too!]

“I have one more question,” I continued.

[Kgh. Ugh. You sure have a lot of questions. I have one—]

“Of course I do. I suddenly got dragged here for some reason. Wouldn’t you feel the same way if you were in my shoes? Anyway, here’s my question. Can we… Hm… return to Earth?” I asked.

[Do you want to go back?]

“Not really, but I’m curious,” I replied.

[That’s impossible. You guys are residents of this place now. You can’t go to any other place.]

“Honestly, I feel kind of sad to hear that,” I commented.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t attached to Earth at all, but there was no use crying over spilled milk. I couldn’t just throw a tantrum and ask them to send me back to Earth.

I couldn’t believe everything that she said, but Earth definitely abandoned us while Benigoa and the other gods accepted us.

I looked up at the goddess statue and saw that Benigoa was still crying tears of blood.

[T-There’s nothing I can do about this. It’s like a sign… Okay, I-I’ll stop crying.]

“What kind of sign? Is it a sign that the integrity of the continent’s foundation is deteriorating?” I questioned.

[Something… like that.]

‘Shit.’

“Anyway, everything will return to normal once you recover your holy power, right?” I asked.

[That’s pretty much right. A-Anyway, what I wanted to say was…]

“Go ahead. I don’t know what it is about, but is it really serious?” I asked.

[It’s kind of serious.]

‘I wonder what it is…’

Benigoa sounded worried, but she started talking once more.

[H-Have you seen the message about how Quest Creation has temporarily stopped due to unknown reasons?]

“I think I’ve seen it before…”

[I-It’s about that.]

“Didn’t it stop because of your current condition? That’s—Wait…! Shit…”

[I-I’m sorry. My…]

“S-Stop it with the bullshit. Damn it,” I cursed.

It was so ridiculous I almost laughed. It wouldn’t take a genius to deduce what it was about. She couldn’t give quests because she didn’t have the necessary holy power. I understood that part, and it made sense. However, Benigoa wasn’t the only one being plagued by that issue.

The others could be in a better condition compared to her, but they were basically in the same boat. It was more accurate to say that they were one big family on a sinking ship rather than in a boat.

I bit my lips nervously, and I heard Benigoa’s voice once more.

[The bare minimum is being maintained, like jobs and tutorial dungeons, but… legendary-ranked dungeons and some epic-ranked dungeons will be blocked. A-And the raid monsters that are asleep will be s-sealed…]

“Why would you block those dungeons? Why?” I asked.

[Some of the dungeons are extremely dangerous. Think about the Rift Museum. S-So when it comes to dungeons similar to the Rift Museum… a god has to monitor it. There are places we turned into dungeons, but there are many places that appeared naturally or through rifts. If humans were to enter those dungeons, they would fall into extreme danger. If they fail to conquer the dungeon or if a problem occurs, it’ll be impossible to fix. We don’t want to block those dungeons either, but it’s necessary.]

‘Shit…’

It seemed that the problem was more serious than I previously thought. I had achieved something noteworthy by uniting the human race, but if we lost our way to becoming even stronger, then it basically meant that we were in the worst-case scenario.

It was undeniable that players would become stronger through battles. The reason why the humans in Kim Hyun-Sung’s past life were extremely strong was that they spent most of their time fighting those stronger than them.

I wasn’t praising them for how they spent a long time killing each other like idiots. I was talking about how they were able to eventually move forward through conflict.

The threat Kim Hyun-Sung was expecting and was preparing for truly existed, and even though I knew that it had to be real, I didn’t expect to hear from Benigoa that they would block the dungeons.

‘They’re going to block the dungeons?’

Blocking the dungeons meant blocking our path to growth, especially if they blocked the epic and legendary-ranked dungeons that were often visited by special players.

I couldn’t even begin to describe the chaos that would occur the moment those dungeons couldn’t be accessed anymore. If they sealed the raid monsters as well, then the situation would become worse.

The processing factories that produced items using monster by-products would close down, and the overflowing workers would end up on the streets with no work. It was safe to assume that the economy and the firepower of each country would suffer a lot of damage.

People could sell supplies because of the dungeons’ existence and because there were people constantly entering those dungeons. In other words, people were making money because there were people who spent money.

It was a system that had long become an integral part of society. It was kind of exaggerated, but it was no different from the complete disappearance of oil in modern society.

‘We’re going to go completely broke…’

Obviously, Lee Ki-Young would have to stop selling potions as well.

‘Ki-Young Coin’s price will plummet.’

“Shit…”

‘Ki-Young Coin’s price will plummet…!’

“Shit!”

‘Let’s go to Mirror Lake!’

I knew I was exaggerating right now, but I couldn’t help but keep on imagining scenes that I didn’t want to see at all. I couldn’t help but start yelling amidst the confusion in my heart, and it was all because Benigoa was making me angry.

[Q-Quest Creation will also be suspended all over the continent for the time being. I-I don’t know when we can resume…]

“…”

[…]

“You crazy troll…!”

I genuinely think that she was trolling.