Chapter 1: Tutorial  

After roughly a hundred regressions, I’ve come to a realization.  

I am unbelievably untalented. Like, cursed-by-the-gods kind of untalented.  

But, as they say, even a mutt at a Confucian school starts reciting poetry after three years.  

So after spending an ungodly amount of time stuck in this loop, I learned how to act like a genius.  

You could call it a form of social camouflage.  

At this point, there’s probably no job I haven’t tried across my regressions.  

Mercenary? Of course. Knight? Naturally.  

Mage, scholar, alchemist, engineer… I even dabbled in politics once.  

And all that accumulated knowledge? Still crammed in my head.  

It’s like playing an RPG with endless class options.  

I could become any kind of frontline fighter and also pick from a premium selection of lifestyle classes.  

A true all-rounder.  

If I had a status window, I probably would’ve leveled up in no time.  

But unfortunately, I was never granted one.  

Still, I do have a perfect memory.  

I can recall any past event or knowledge at will.  

Thanks to that, at least no one treats me like a senile regressor.  

If I didn’t have even that, I’d probably have lost my mind ages ago.  

I idly tossed and caught a pebble while strolling through the cave.  

I already knew where the exit was.  

If I wanted, I could run straight there.  

But the exit wouldn’t open for another three days.  

No matter what I did, there was no getting out until then.  

So, for the next three days, survival was all that mattered.  

Back in the earlier runs, I’d slash myself just to lick my own blood and stay alive.  

Now? I just needed to hunt demonic beasts.  

Much easier.  

Goblins and wolves taste like shit.  

But ant meat? Surprisingly edible.  

Yoo Hana was absolutely repulsed by the idea, but hunger has a way of making anything look tasty.  

Eventually, on day two of starving, she devoured an ant whole.  

This run probably won’t be any different.  

While I was thinking, I spotted a lone goblin.  

A scout, separated from its group.  

The green bastard was armed with a dagger and a club.  

The moment I saw the back of its head, I surged forward.  

Monsters on the first floor can be taken down by normal humans.  

It’s not like the tower drops a death boss right in the tutorial.  

I guess you could call it the tower’s mercy.  

Though, that mercy disappears the moment you hit floor two.  

Still, for what it’s worth, I appreciated it here.  

–Kerrrk?  

The goblin must’ve sensed me.  

It started to turn around—  

But I was faster.  

I grabbed its wrist, twisted it hard, and snatched the dagger.  

Before it could scream, I shredded its throat and lungs.  

If the lungs are punctured, you can’t scream.  

Personal experience.  

Proof?  

I didn’t even have to cover its mouth—yet the goblin could only wheeze, blood bubbling out.  

No cries for help. No high-pitched screeches.  

Just gurgles.  

In no time, it was dead.  

I took the dagger and club, then moved on without hesitation.  

Eventually, the smell of its corpse would attract other monsters.  

Then the ants and goblins would start clashing, and the cave would descend into chaos.  

“If I want to grab the hidden treasures on this floor, I’ll need to play into that chaos.”  

Creating confusion was child’s play.  

My stint as a politician taught me one thing:  

I’m damn good at stirring the pot.  

The thrill I got from toppling royalty during a revolution?  

Still fresh in my memory.  

Yoo Hana’s illusion magic helped a lot back then, too.  

I plan to make good use of her again.  

By now, she’s probably trembling and wandering through the cave.  

It’s still a little while before she gets found by a wolf and gets split into Yoo / Ha / Na.  

So I don’t need to run.  

Walking will get me there just fine.  

Yoo Hana was the first talent I ever scouted and nurtured.  

Naturally, I’m attached to her.  

I treasure her, in my own way.  

She had a bit of an obsession issue—but as long as I kept that under control, she was one of the most obedient and capable allies I had.  

You won’t find another talent like her.  

Among the many mages inside the Tower, she was unmatched—a true Archmage.  

With just a flick of her hand, she could massacre enemies, and within a domain she created herself, she wielded near-invincible power.  

A monster, really.  

But at the moment she first arrived in the Tower?  

She was no different from an ordinary, helpless civilian.  

Just like I had been during my first fall into this place.  

“H-Hello? Is anyone there?”  

A voice echoed faintly, calling out for help.  

I pulled out the dagger at my hip and gave it a few twirls like I was performing at a circus.  

A habit I picked up from the guy who taught me dagger skills. He was a circus clown, after all.  

Every time I handled a dagger, I couldn’t resist going through that routine.  

“Can someone hear—eh? A… a wolf?”  

The voice came closer—tinged with panic.  

She must’ve spotted the wolves.  

Peeking around the dark corner, I saw a familiar face—surrounded by growling beasts.  

Yoo Hana.  

Her legs gave out, and she collapsed on the spot, watching the wolves close in on her.  

“Ah… ahh…”  

The fear had robbed her of the ability to speak.  

Fascinating, really.  

That this fragile, trembling girl would one day become a mage capable of killing people without batting an eye.  

Every time I saw it, I felt a strange mix of nostalgia and awe.  

But that moment didn’t last long.  

I spun the dagger in my hand one last time, gripped the blade by its tip, and hurled it with full force at a wolf.  

CRACK!  

The dagger pierced straight between the eyes of one that had leapt toward Hana’s shoulder.  

A yelp echoed through the cave, and the remaining three wolves turned their heads toward me.  

I rolled my shoulders as I picked up the club.  

“Grrrr!”  

Now all the wolves that had been eyeing Hana were slowly creeping toward me instead.  

But I didn’t back away.  

I’d done this dozens of times—wolf bashing.  

I already knew the exact moment when they’d pounce.  

One step.  

Two steps.  

And on the third step—  

“Ruff!”  

The leading wolf lunged at my throat.  

I immediately swung the club with everything I had.  

CRACK—SNAP!  

With a satisfying sound, the wolf’s neck twisted violently mid-air.  

Its teeth scattered as its body crashed into the wall like a broken toy.  

At that exact moment, the remaining two wolves charged in unison.  

I pivoted slightly to the right and swept my leg sideways.  

CRUNCH.  

One wolf’s maw was forcibly snapped shut.  

Then I brought the club down vertically on the other.  

SMASH!  

Its head shattered, one eyeball bursting out with a splash of blood.  

Sticky fluid sprayed across my face, but I didn’t care.  

I chased the wolf I had just kicked and brought the club down again.  

WHAM. WHAM. CRACK!  

Three heavy strikes centered on the skull.  

The wolf’s head burst open alongside the already splintered club.  

Clear brain matter and crimson blood splattered across the stone floor.  

I tossed the broken club aside and picked up the dagger I’d thrown earlier.  

The whole thing took less than a minute.  

My wolf-killing skills were definitely improving with every run.  

“U-uhh…”  

I wiped the blood from the dagger onto my shirt as I heard Hana’s dazed voice.  

I slid the dagger back into my belt and turned toward her with a small smile.  

“You okay? Any injuries?”  

“A-ahhh! P-please don’t kill me! I-I’m sorry!!”  

Hana shrieked and curled up like a terrified shrimp.  

Still hilarious every time.  

I chuckled as I wiped the blood off my face.  

Some time later, after she’d calmed down a bit, Hana sat against the cave wall and gave a hesitant thank-you.  

“…Thank you.”  

I nodded as I got a small fire going using an ant leg as kindling and some claws as flint.  

“You’re Korean, right?”  

“Y-Yeah… My name’s Yoo Hana.”  

“How old are you?”  

“I’m twenty this year… I just… woke up and suddenly found myself here…”  

She was about to ask that question.  

“Um… do you happen to know where this place is?”  

As expected, she didn’t disappoint.  

Fwoosh!!  

After a few tries, the fire finally caught.  

Using my dagger, I chopped up the giant ant corpse—some parts went into the fire as fuel, and the meatier sections were skewered and set to roast over the flames.  

“So, the truth is… I’m a regressor. And this place? It’s called the Tower. One of many otherworlds. You’ve been transported here.”  

“…What?”  

“I don’t really know the details either.”  

“O-oh, I see…”  

Even though I’d told the truth, she didn’t look convinced.  

So I immediately brushed it off like a joke.  

Same old routine—every single time.  

Yoo Hana only started to believe in my regression after we built some trust.  

Not that it really mattered whether she believed me or not.  

It’s not like I’d ever made it to the 100th floor anyway.  

“…C-Can I ask your name?”  

“Baek Siyoon. I’m three years older than you.”  

In truth, I was a few hundred years older.  

“Ah… okay. So you’re Korean too.”  

“Doesn’t it look obvious?”  

“Well, yeah… it does.”  

Hana let out a small laugh.  

But then her expression darkened as she hugged her knees and buried her face between them.  

The way her emotions shifted so rapidly—it was like watching a storm.  

Probably a side effect of extreme stress.  

I’d seen it before, so I understood.  

Just like me, Yoo Hana had lived a normal life back on Earth.  

And now she was thrown into a world crawling with monsters.  

Being confused was natural.  

Me? I was already desensitized. Even if I died, I’d just yell “One more coin!” and pop right back up.  

But Hana wasn’t like that.  

To someone from modern society, the Tower was more than just brutal—it was catastrophic.  

“Sniff… sniffle…”  

Eventually, the tears came.  

A regular part of the show.  

Happened every time I rescued her.  

Like clockwork.  

I gently stroked her hair as I tore off a chunk of roasted ant meat and took a bite.  

That sour, tangy flavor—distinctly ant-like—danced across my tongue like tap shoes on stage.  

Now this… this was the good stuff.