Memoirs of the Returnee - Chapter 121



Only Krnovel

Returner’s Notepad Episode 121

Mental Strength (1)

Step by step. Step by step.

I am climbing the stairs of my apartment.

Step by step, regularly. While maintaining speed, breathing and spacing.

Step by step. Step by step.

As the number of floors increases, the body becomes slightly heavier.

Perhaps it is the ‘weight of the clothes’.

I already took off my backpack and shoes, and put food in my inventory, but as a Homo sapien trying to live a social life, I left at least a t-shirt and pants.

[40th floor]

I climbed to the 40th floor with some sincerity. The number of dropouts counted so far is exactly 50.

Still, more than 50 people remain.

Step by step. Step by step.

it’s tough.

The gravity technique that pulls space is greatly reduced for me, and there is no damage to my joints or muscles, but physical strength is still an issue.

Life is a battle of physical strength.

[50th floor]

50th floor stairs. I found a person sprawled out, leaning against the wall.

“uh… … It’s Zion… … .”

It was Raje.

He looks at me with his tired eyes and smiles mischievously.

“… … Shion is in good spirits. Hehehe.”

I passed him and went up the stairs.

My grades are already satisfactory.

Top 1%.

Before my regression, in the days when I was always at the bottom, I could not even imagine or dream of a rank.

So I become more greedy.

“after… … .”

My breath is hot and my throat feels like it’s burning, but it’s not enough to give up.

Rather, it is too simple.

All you have to do is lift your leg and step down the stairs.

At best, it’s just climbing the stairs.

It was not a fight against a disease that felt like death every night, nor was it a surgery for which I earnestly prayed for tomorrow to come.

It’s worth it.

I can climb high.

* * *

──Time remaining, 2 hours.

Current floor number, 95th floor.

Up to the 100th floor, only -5 floors.

“ha… … .”

However, Solliet Arcne feels as if she is being torn away from reality.

Am I climbing the stairs or are the stairs climbing me? The consciousness itself seems to be spinning around with a lot of decoration.

Although she already has no stamina, what keeps her moving is her unconscious ‘routine’.

Left foot.

Breath.

Right foot.

Breath.

Her reason is not involved in all the processes of her body.

Creaking joints and screaming muscles. I walked down the stairs, trying to ignore all the pain signals that my whole body was crying out for… …

─ Again.

There was a commotion behind me.

Solliette didn’t even have time to turn around, but he passed her first.

Solliet looked at her back.

Elise.

She is climbing with her eyes closed.

Maintaining a correct posture at a constant pace and even assisting the movement of the joints with “twitching”.

Graceful steps.

Looking at his movements that did not waver in the slightest, Solliet suddenly realized that he had been very foolish.

Mental strength is ultimately the ability to control oneself.

Nevertheless, he was caught up in Akane’s words from the beginning and was unable to maintain his composure. He didn’t get enough rest and was so excited that he overworked himself.

The result… … .

It’s miserable.

It’s obvious.

Elise suddenly disappeared from sight, and she stopped here.

The 100th floor is already impossible.

I know, but I just don’t want to admit it.

No, I just can’t admit it──

Solliet climbed the stairs again, clutching the railing.

Just one space.

At that moment, my heart stopped. Her whole body relaxed. My balance was lost, and the muscles in my lower body were twisted. My breathing was so shaky that I couldn’t even let out the pain.

It was a seizure.

She fell down the stairs and was out of breath.

“——.”

… … In my consciousness, which seemed as if it would break at any moment, a scene spread before my blackened eyes.

Just as a burned photo is slowly restored.

It is a morgue where the cool air clings to the skin of the dead. Like these stairs, a place filled with meaningless chill.

-Please confirm your identity.

A cliché.

The freezer door creaks open.

Just like taking out meat, a person comes out of it.

A person who is already dead.

Sadness and trembling as I stood blankly, alone, looking at him.

Even more than that, it was the helplessness and frustration that tormented him so deeply.

I couldn’t move even a fingertip.

I felt like my heart was melting and my bones were breaking into pieces.

that day.

I was determined to get revenge, and I promised myself that I would never experience these feelings again, but I fell the same way and felt so helpless… … .

──Tap.

Footsteps coming up the stairs, permeating my distant ears.

A familiar voice that pulls oneself out of the glass that could be mistaken for death.

“you. What are you doing here.”

Zion Askal.

* * *

It’s not a mental test for nothing.

I feel it painfully.

The hardest torture among all tortures is probably the torture that causes oneself to suffer. Like these damn stairs, the more you climb, the more painful it becomes, and it is a torture that you have to climb in the end even though you know it will be painful.

“… … “I’m dying.”

I’m still climbing the stairs.

The only thing I can boast about is my recovery speed, which has long since slowed down, but more than that, I am sleepy. Every cell in the body cries out that it needs to sleep.

Thanks to you, I found out.

It’s a way to restore the body by consuming fatigue.

[97th floor]

Despite all the physical difficulties, I finally reached the 97th floor by moving my body.

97th floor.

It represents 9,700 stairs, and at the same time, it is a number that makes you wonder if you can give up at this point.

A number you can quit with satisfaction.

The moment I was staring blankly at the 97th floor and contemplating giving up.

“… … ?”

I found a woman. She was lying down, leaning against the railing.

My eyebrows furrowed for a moment.

It was strange.

Anyone can see that she failed on the 97th floor, but she is someone who should not fail on the 97th floor.

“you.”

I barely got out a word. She moved her lips as he approached her.

“What are you doing here.”

Soon she opened her eyes. My eyelids fluttered as if they were heavy.

“… … .”

I am so completely exhausted that I cannot even make a voice.

A few strands of hair fall pathetically over the face, and the eyes looking at me are already dead and unfocused.

“why… … .”

I didn’t understand it.

Now, this evaluation exam must be a destiny-like development.

You must reach the 100th floor before anyone else, receive Akane’s business card, and become her colleague.

why?

──Suddenly.

A warning bell rings in my head.

There was no me in Soliette before she returned.

Since I wasn’t there, I did everything on my own.

Standing alone, she was imperfect, but in return she gained strength.

The body and mind that can overcome the 100th floor are things that the current Soliette does not have.

“I have to go up.”

“… … .”

Solliet just nodded. Luckily she was still conscious.

“Akane, that guy. I definitely know. About Nightmare. “You heard it too.”

“… … Right… … “Yes.”

She touched the ground. As she tried to raise her body, her palms chafed. She fell back down like a doll whose strings had come undone. She hit her head on the edge of the stairs.

It’s as if he doesn’t even feel the pain, and his complexion looks as if he’s already dead.

I looked at her quietly.

“… … let’s go.”

She is not the Soliette she was before her regression.

There is no venom like back then. There is no evil. Before that, my physical strength is much lacking.

Probably because of me.

“Let’s go. “You have to go.”

I forced Soliet to stand up. He carried her on his back as she flailed around, unable to control herself.

“!”

Only then did the amplified gravity hit me. It was heavier than most chunks of steel.

3 or 4 times the normal amount.

I gritted my teeth and climbed the stairs.

square. square.

It felt like my back was being twisted every time I took a step.

square. square.

The future has changed, and Solliet has changed.

Looking back, it was something I had already prepared for.

square. square.

It means holding Solliet’s hand and chasing Nightmare together.

Sharing the pain that she alone had to endure.

square. square.

Even if Solliet is not as strong as it used to be.

Even if it does not receive the title of the best sword of all times and all times, it is the best across the continent and even in all history.

square. square.

Because that won’t be your happiness.

In order to repay the ‘you’ before I returned, I decided to share your burden.

square. square.

If it weren’t for you, I would have died helpless in my hospital bed.

Because every time I fell down, you always picked me up.

Just barely climbing the stairs… … Gladly.

square. square.

100 of those spaces are gathered together to form one floor.

99th floor.

“you… … .”

Suddenly, a faint voice comes from behind me.

“Shh.”

If you’re going to say the cliche, “let it go,” do it quietly.

Solliet’s expression was not visible. Instead, her arm moved. Carefully, I held onto my body.

I smiled.

It was because a certain day came to mind.

The locations were probably opposite back then.

I carried you on my back, and you smiled.

square.

I stepped on the stairs again. Blood flowed from the sole of my foot, which was crushed by the edge.

square.

I only looked down the stairs, holding on to my body and mind that felt like they were going to break.

square.

I forced my eyes wide open, as if they were about to burst with sweat.

square.

Supporting the fragmented consciousness with the abstract power of mental power.

square.

Finally, we reached a dead end road.

A threshold where you can go no further.

I raised my head in a daze.

There was an iron gate. The final obstacle leading to the 100th floor.

I grabbed the doorknob.

“Ugh… … .”

I pushed with all my might, but it did not open.

thud-!

I bumped into my shoulder. There was no way. She wasn’t even excited. Instead, my body was chafed and I fell down the stairs.

“ah… … “Fuck you.”

That time when I cursed without realizing it.

Tuk-.

The sound of feet hitting the ground was heard. My body also became lighter in an instant.

I looked back.

Solliet, who had been carried on her back, stood up on her own.

“… … Thanks to.”

Even though she was staggering, she walked steadily and grabbed the doorknob.

“I charged it.”

Breathe!

With one move, the iron door was almost smashed open. A cold and heavy wind rushed in.

It was a rooftop.

She climbed up there, guuuek! After gagging, she looked back at me.

“Zion.”

He extended his hand to me. I stared blankly.

She waved her finger. She meant, hurry up and catch it.

I held her hand. She pulled me.

So, we came up to the rooftop together.

“… … Zion.”

Soliet looks at me with trembling eyes and calls my name again.

“I’m sorry.”

A wet voice. An apology offered with a very tired expression.

I laughed.

“Isn’t it time to say thank you?”

She took a deep breath. She then smiled palely, nodded her head, and said to me-

“that… … .”

I collapsed without being able to speak.

I received her body as my body. It was still heavy, but I put it down as gently as possible.

I followed suit and sat down on the floor.

I looked at the rooftop.

Soliet, Elise, and Gerken fell one after another like dominoes. Beyond that was Akane.

“Should I film a movie?”

I shrugged my shoulders at the sarcastic Akane.

“If you come this far, you are first place.”

She pointed to the Gerken right in front of her.

To roughly express the location.

Me │Soliet │Elise │Gerken │Akane

That’s about it.

I asked her back.

“What do you get if you come in first place?”

“Why do you want me to help your grades improve?”

“They said they would give Soliette a business card. jeon… … Isn’t there something poisonous or something? Deadly poison.”

If you give it to me, I plan to use it for you.

“Just try to come.”

Akane said. I casually got up and took a step forward.

thud-!

At that moment, my whole body almost stuck to the ground. It was because of the gravity coming from Akane.

I quickly took a step back.

“Foot.”

Akane sneered, covering her mouth with her hand.

“I can’t even walk a single step, so I’m in first place? “You’re thinking about pooping before you even eat the soup.”

“… … .”

It was probably because of the clothes.

This Endex t-shirt is so strong that it won’t tear even when tens of times more gravity pulls on it.

I took off my top.

“?”

Akane tilted her head.

However, T-shirts are probably within the expected range. Because most people take off their tops.

I also take off my pants.

He even grabbed my panties. Akane took a step back in surprise.

“Hmm.”

I left the panties on for now.

Because of the gravity technique, it may flow or tear on its own, but if that happens, it’s not my fault.

I said while staring at Akane.

“… … going.”

Akane responded with a psychotic look on her face.

“What are you doing, you crazy guy?”