Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 561

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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561. In the Chaos (14)
Meanwhile, at the Broadcasting Studio for “In the Chaos,” the recording was in its final stages.
With barely an hour left until the shoot wrapped, the entertainer Nam Sa-ra found herself thinking.
‘How did things end up like this?’
Sirens wailed from every direction, crimson warning lights flashed, and the building trembled as though it might collapse at any moment.
Nam Sa-ra gazed calmly at the two buttons before her.
【Emergency Evacuation System Activation】
【System Format】
Crackle—
As she deliberated between the two buttons, a signal crackled through the walkie-talkie she’d set beside her. Sara quickly brought it to her ear, and a voice came through.
-Noona, don’t overthink it. Just do what you think is right!
The voice on the other end belonged to none other than Ha-jin.
Apparently too far away for clear reception, Ha-jin’s voice came through mixed with static, carrying a note of exhaustion and labored breathing.
-Sara noona, can you hear me?
“….”
-Trust me just one more time.
“….”
-I’m really not going to die.
Hearing those words, Sara’s resolve crystallized. She lowered the walkie-talkie from her hand.
Standing before the two buttons that would end this long day’s ordeal, she made her choice without hesitation.
The moment she pressed the button, every monitor before her flickered with an abnormal response.
“…I don’t even know anymore.”
If I die, I die. What can you do?
Having done what needed to be done, she exhaled sharply and muttered while splashing water on her face repeatedly.
* * *
To understand how Nam Sa-ra had ended up risking her life just to film an entertainment show, one would need to rewind time a few hours.
“Found you, Son Je-u.”
“Aaah…!”
The combination of Seo Ji-ye’s sharp eyes and Kang Ha-jin’s swift legs was nearly unstoppable.
Having escaped the Security Room with lingering doubts about the traitor, the two quickly located Son Je-u, who had hidden himself in the Laundry Room, using Ha-jin’s blueprints and Ji-ye’s intelligence.
What the two hadn’t anticipated was merely….
“Ahhh, g-get away!”
“Hey, hey! Where’s he going!?”
“Catch him, hurry!”
The only thing was that Son Je-u, who had been chased by countless people and threatened with death in the short span of time, had developed a wariness that would put an African gazelle to shame.
Already informed about the traitor, Son Je-u was in near-panic mode. The moment he saw two strangers in unfamiliar research coats carrying laser guns, he bolted as though he’d seen a murderer.
The startled Ha-jin gave chase, but the situation didn’t unfold favorably.
“Oppa! Behind you!”
“…Oh, Lord.”
The Dropouts, hearing the sounds of Zeus and Ha-jin’s pursuit, began ascending from the Basement!
A chase ensued between Ha-jin attempting to capture Zeus and the Dropouts trying to catch Ha-jin’s group. To make matters worse, the Security Robots would soon resume their patrol routes.
“Zeus! We’re on your side! I came to protect you!”
“Hey, Ji Ye, circle around that way. Let’s corner Zeus.”
“Yes, understood!”
Desperate now, Kang Ha-jin sent Ji Ye down a faster shortcut passage. He then entered a hallway that required a slight detour, concealed himself, loaded his laser gun, and assumed a sniper position.
Moments later, two Dropouts pursuing them came into view.
“Damn it, I could’ve sworn they went this way?”
“So Zeus and who else were there?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t get a good look… Ah, we need to catch them fast, now.”
While the arrogant former athlete-turned-broadcaster and the cautious professional MC that Ha-jin had been wary of fumbled about indecisively, Ha-jin pulled the trigger. The sharp crack of the shot rang out, and the MC’s laser patch flickered with light at his waist.
“What the—!”
“There! Over there!”
Damn. So one shot doesn’t kill them outright?
While Yong-guk, the MC, frantically checked his patch, Seok-ho, the former athlete, came rushing toward the hallway where Ha-jin was hiding. Since Ha-jin had only intended to draw their attention anyway, he quickly lowered his gun and slipped between the stacked boxes nearby to conceal himself.
Even as he hid, he made footstep sounds as if running in place, and didn’t forget to knock over a box or two as if he’d collided with the stack.
“Go, go faster! We’re really out of time now!”
As expected, the two men paid no attention to the box stack where Ha-jin was hiding and rushed rapidly toward the end of the long hallway. Once Ha-jin confirmed they’d completely disappeared, he emerged from the boxes and headed toward the shortcut passage Ji Ye had taken.
“Ji Ye!”
“Oh, brother. …What about those people?”
“I lured them the other way. But they’ll probably come this direction soon.”
Reaching the end of the hallway, Ha-jin spotted Zeus still positioned opposite to Ji Ye. Though it seemed Ji Ye had done considerable persuading in the meantime, Zeus appeared more composed than before.
Ji Ye continued in a calm voice.
“Brother, we really are on your side. If you get caught by a traitor or a Dropout now, you’ll die immediately, right?”
Ugh, she’s getting irritated too, it seems.
A hint of exasperation could be detected at the end of Ji Ye’s words—she who, as a national team athlete, was typically skilled at emotional control. Zeus, sensing that shift in emotion, visibly flinched despite his dust-covered face.
Before the broadcast even started, he’d been so insufferably arrogant, like someone afflicted with celebrity syndrome. Now, after just a few hours, he’d become so cowed that it was almost pitiful to watch.
‘Well, honestly, if I were in his shoes and didn’t understand anything while everyone chased me down to kill me, I’d probably pass out too.’
Ha-jin scratched his cheek as the features he’d initially found detestable began to seem trivial. Under normal circumstances, he might have toyed with him a bit for entertainment, but there was no time now. From far away, he could hear the footsteps of the Dropouts drawing gradually closer.
“I heard it directly. The traitor is on Void’s side, so we have to kill everyone—us and the Dropouts alike—and let only Void escape…”
“Ji Ye.”
“Yes?”
Unable to bear it any longer, Ha-jin cut off Ji Ye’s words and called to her. Both Ji Ye’s and Zeus’s gazes snapped toward Ha-jin simultaneously.
However, Ha-jin didn’t spare Zeus a single glance. Instead, he lightly tapped the laser gun he was holding and asked Ji Ye a question.
“Do you know the effective range of this laser gun?”
“Oh, about 3 meters. Beyond that, the sensor can’t detect it even if you fire.”
“I see. …From here, 3 meters would be roughly where in this hallway?”
“Um… about where that emergency exit sign is.”
“Got it. What about the rifle you’re holding? Is its range the same?”
“No, this one’s about 1.5 meters… But why are you asking?”
“I see…”
Ha-jin didn’t answer, merely nodding with a meaningful hum.
His mind raced rapidly.
After glancing once at the elevator panel behind Zeus, once at the clock hanging on the wall, and finally at the shadows of the Dropouts slowly drawing closer from beyond the hallway, Ha-jin commanded Ji Ye.
“Then aim at Son Je-u right now.”
“Huh?”
“If you don’t shoot, I will?”
“…?”
Caught off guard by the sudden order, Ji Ye stammered as she trained her rifle on Zeus. At the same moment, Ha-jin pulled out a spare employee ID he’d kept in his back pocket.
As Son Je-u panicked at the abrupt shift in attitude and took a stance to flee again, Ha-jin stepped forward and blocked his path.
“Don’t move. You move, you get shot? She’s a national representative.”
“….”
“I’m doing this to save you, so trust me just this once, alright?”
The elevator that had remained on Basement Level 1 began to operate. In the distance, the Dropouts who spotted the three of them were rushing toward them urgently.
“Oppa! People are coming…!”
“Don’t turn the gun barrel until they get within 3 meters!”
“You, you, you…! What, what are you doing!”
“You’re speaking informally, you bastard.”
What mattered was timing.
Thinking so, Ha-jin took one more step toward Zeus―.
[The door has opened.]
The elevator doors slid open.
Son Je-u instinctively turned around, and his vision filled with a line of Security Robots standing in formation for their patrol.
“Uh, uh, uh…! …Ughhhh!”
“Ji Ye, now!”
The moment Son Je-u descended into panic again, Ha-jin swiftly threw himself forward to block Zeus’s path. As Ji Ye quickly shifted her target and struck the Security Robots with a shot, Ha-jin hung the employee ID around Zeus’s neck and hoisted him onto his shoulder in one fluid motion.
“Run!”
“…!”
Knowing that the Security Robots wouldn’t recognize the three people wearing employee IDs as targets, Ha-jin shouted, and Ji Ye immediately understood the situation and bolted toward the Emergency Staircase.
Soon, the Security Robots, having lost their targets, discovered the Dropouts who had gotten far too close.
“Ah, damn it. Seok-ho! Seok-ho, run!”
“Ah, shit…!”
The Security Robots began pursuing the Dropouts in the opposite direction.
But since there could still be threats nearby, Ha-jin, carrying Zeus on his shoulder, and Ji Ye continued climbing the Emergency Staircase.
“Where are we going!?”
“Let’s head to the 2nd Floor Cafeteria for now. I arranged to meet my sister and brother there.”
“No, put me down now! I trust you! I do!”
“Seriously. Hold still, my shoulder’s killing me.”
“Just put me down!”
At Zeus’s whining, Ha-jin finally set him down on the ground. Now that his senses had returned, he seemed to want to die from embarrassment, but that wasn’t Ha-jin’s concern.
As they hurried to climb the stairs again, an unexpected sound of footsteps echoed from below.
“Hey, you guys!”
“…?”
“Here, here! Down! Look below!”
“It sounds like Esther…”
Following the voice, I looked down and spotted someone standing about half a floor below us.
Her hair was tied back in a single knot, and like Son Je-u, she was visibly grimy—one of the civilian participants in the broadcast.
She was someone who had worked with Sa-bin and another female cast member early on, and was also suspected alongside Ha Tae-jin of being a “traitor.”
“Come down here quickly! There’s a place to hide!”
“…Ha-jin!”
“…?”
Then, a familiar voice called from above.
When the three of us looked up, we saw someone looking down at us from about half a floor higher.
“Huh? Zeus and Ji Ye are here too? What are you doing? Come up here.”
Holding a laser gun from nowhere, waving cheerfully at the three of us, was Ha Tae-jin—another suspect for being a traitor.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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