The Tower's Regressor is a Coward - Reincarnated as the Villain

["Enough of these mutts."

"Duchess! You won't get away with—"

"—Slaughter them all."

END]

The office worker clicked his tongue.

He leaned back on the hard plastic seats of the late subway train as he scrolled down to the comments of the chapter.

[TheDankSlayer: What a bitch. First that Ativan and now this duchess. The villains should just die]

[TheXXX: No main character stomping them? Dropped]

[Ilikelickingdogs: The duchess can step on me! Awooo!]

[TheDankerSlayer: This is just the fifteenth floor of the tower right? Right?]

The office worker smirked as he read through the comments with a relaxed gaze.

"Hm, it was a good enough chapter," he muttered. Nobody would hear him in the scarcely filled compartment. Even if someone did, they were all either people working late at night or drug junkies, neither of whom would care.

With a sigh, he dropped a word of thanks in the comments. Even though the story had barely reached the fortieth chapter, there were still over two-hundred comments.

The latest hit, the growing tower-fantasy story with unique characters and heart-gripping action! That was the rising star novel of Royal Novelhub, [The Tower's SSS-Class Hunter]

For all the praise, the office worker knew that the only praiseworthy thing about the tale was its marketing strategy, and if he was feeling kind, the way it handled abilities. Nothing else was worthy of note, but he still enjoyed reading it.

He enjoyed reading them all.

After working fifteen hours a day, sometimes all seven days a week, all amid salty and bitter coworkers and careless and haughty superiors, reading webnovels on his way back home from work was the office worker's only solace. He couldn't even afford to close his eyes on the subway in the fear of falling asleep.

No friends.

No family.

No girlfriends.

The only way to escape the shithole he called life was through the screen and the small world the words on it made.

{Ding Dong~ Next stop, XX-Ward. XX-Ward}

Heaving a sigh, the office worker picked up his bag. The subway soon stopped at the next stop and the office worker got off the train. His feet wobbled as he passed over the stairs and walked under the dim night sky. Just a few months ago, he would have sighed over and over, but now he was numb to even that.

Adult life was hard.

"Shit, it would be so much better if I could be a hunter..."

He would have kicked away this tiring life. He could imagine himself standing along with those hunters and facing off against the villainess.

Pathetic.

The office worker's feet moved on their own as he made his way home, wading through a blanket of foggy thoughts in his head. It was probably the lack of sleep doing it.

Probably that.

He would go home, kick off his shoes, jump on the bed, maybe look for a new webnovel until he's knocked out.

And then, the same day would repeat again.

Again.

And then again.

White stripes were on the road underneath his feet.

The green pedestrian light turned red.

"How pathetic," he thought.

His feet came to a stop.

A chain of blares rang out as a yellow light fell on his sides.

The office worker didn't move.

"Maybe some change."

It had been five years since he had been living his pathetic life on a loop.

A skid rang out, the blares were loud enough to make his ears ring—

It was probably a good time to go to sleep.

—And his body was hit.

***

"Haah!"

He took a deep breath. His eyes trembled as he looked down.

His gaze landed on his palms, everything else was a blur. His ears didn't ring, but he couldn't make sense of any sounds around him. His chest swole and shrank as he tried to catch his breath.

"Was that a dream...?" he muttered.

No matter how sleep deprived, he wouldn't commit suicide now.

The man took in a few more deep breaths. His narrowed field of vision focused on his hands slowly expanded as he shifted his gaze upward.

Dozens of people walked around the place. Under the bright sun, people in exotic clothing not that different from cosplays walked around. From ones donning full armor to robed wanna-be magicians.

"Huh?" he voiced.

It was the night. He was about to be hit by a truck on his way home.

When did he come to a cosplay den?

A chilling premonition took him over as he looked around. Never had he seen a city as beautiful and orderly as the one in front of him, the brick roads and the small buildings like the reimaging of an ancient civilization, plants and shrubs around the houses that seemed to be straight out of a solarpunk world surrounded him while people of all ethnicities crowded the place.

Something similar. He was aware of a similar layout.

Suddenly, a window popped open in front of his eyes.

[The tower greets the newcomer]

[Welcome to Symphonia - The City of Beginnings]

Symphonia.

It was the same place.

The same name from the story he had read.

"Hey, what happened to you all of a sudden?"

A soft touch on his shoulder urged him to look back.

[Opening your character window]

His breath was stuck in his throat.

[Name: Ativan von Carley

.

.

.

Class: Transmigrator]

The first villain introduced in the story. The vile elitist scum who bullied the main character despite being a talentless hack.

He had turned into that villain, that Ativan von Carley

"Excuse me? Are you pulling a new tantrum now?"

And in front of him, staring at him with his blue eyes was his prey from the beginning of the story.

The tower's SSS-Class Hunter.

And his would-be murderer.

"If I knew this would happen... I would have just gone to sleep..."