Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 563

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

563. In the Chaos (16)
The moment the test began, everyone sprang to their feet in unison.
Tae-jin hastily grabbed a laser gun and turned to Zeus. “Zeus, take the lead. Let’s head straight to the passage.”
“Zeus, take the lead. Let’s head straight to the passage.”
“Ah, yes…! It’s on Floor 4! The elevator is too dangerous, so we should take the stairs right away…!”
“No, that won’t work.”
“…?”
It was Ha-jin who blocked the two of them from heading straight to the passage.
Until just moments ago, he’d been lounging around eating cream bread while chanting “NO plan, YES leaving work,” but now he wore a troubled expression, rubbing the back of his neck.
Ha-jin clicked his tongue and addressed the group. “Let’s find the Hidden Room first.”
“What? Why all of a sudden?”
“System format?”
“You just said it. Survivors escape, Hunters hunt, and Traitors achieve their objectives.”
Setting aside the fact that the precise term for Dropouts within the program was “Hunters,” what Ha-jin focused on was the information about the Traitor.
“The Traitor’s objective is to kill us all and let only Void escape. If you ask which is more important between the two, it’s obviously Void’s escape. So if…”
“If Esther decides right now to deliberately get Void out… we could be in real danger.”
“Danger aside, this test would clearly fail regardless. Whatever this is.”
Ha-jin deliberately looked toward Tae-jin, pointedly emphasizing the words “test failure.”
He was the type who would release an AI bent on destroying the world if it meant succeeding at a mission, so to convince him, the objective needed to be crystal clear.
“…I’m in favor.”
Ji Ye was the first to agree with Ha-jin’s words.
“No matter how I think about it, the ‘system format’ setting doesn’t seem like it’s just there for nothing. Zeus said the Secret Passage has nothing to do with Void, but honestly, we can’t be sure about that either…”
“…”
“Let’s find the Hidden Room, format the system, then find the passage and escape. If worst comes to worst, you all can escape, and I’ll go to the Hidden Room alone―”
“No, let’s go together. If we’re going, we all go together. Don’t say such nonsensical things.”
Hearing Seo Ji-ye’s resolve to sacrifice herself alone, Tae-jin hastily shook his head to stop her. Son Je-u, who seemed eager to escape immediately, also offered no objection, sensing that this approach was safer.
Once everyone’s opinions aligned, Ha-jin picked up his laser gun and urged the group forward.
“Then let’s move quickly, yeah? We’ll run out of time if we have to find the Hidden Room and open the Secret Passage in two hours. We should scatter now and search for the Hidden Room―”
“No, there’s no need for that.”
“…?”
This time, Nam Sa-ra blocked Ha-jin, who was hurrying off to find the Hidden Room.
As if she knew something, she exchanged glances with Ha Tae-jin and gave a small nod. Her solemn demeanor sent a chill through the air.
“I know where the Hidden Room is.”
“Pardon?”
“We found it. The Hidden Room.”
Nam Sa-ra unfolded the building blueprints they possessed, a subtle smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
* * *
By coincidence, both the Secret Passage that Son Je-u had found and the Hidden Room that Nam Sa-ra and Ha Tae-jin had discovered were located on Floor 4.
“But they’re at completely opposite ends. It’ll take quite a bit of time to go to the Hidden Room and then reach the Secret Passage.”
“But the locations are at completely opposite ends. It’ll take quite a bit of time to go from the Hidden Room and then get to the Secret Passage.”
“And it’ll be even worse if obstacles appear along the way.”
Ha-jin traced his finger across the table after confirming the positions of both locations on the blueprint.
The real question was whether the Hunters and the Traitor also knew about these positions.
If the three Hunters were still alive and maintained their alliance with the Traitor, that made four of them. Against their current five, the numerical advantage wasn’t as decisive as it seemed.
After reaching his conclusion, Ha-jin straightened his posture.
“Let’s move then? Right now, the more we scatter, the worse our position becomes. We need to move together as one group.”
“Right, Sara and I will take the lead. We know the Shortcut Passage.”
“Understood. Thank you. Oh, and….”
Ha-jin trailed off in a way unlike himself.
As the Group Members turned their attention to him, Ha-jin placed a hand on his waist and continued his thought.
“Just in case, let’s decide who will enter the Hidden Room and press the button. Someone whose priority will be reaching inside first, even if we encounter enemies.”
“What, this is like a movie.”
“In movies, usually everyone except that person dies, right? Please decide with that awareness in mind.”
Ha-jin countered Tae-jin’s joke with a serious remark laden with ominous implications, his expression turning wry as he shrugged his shoulders.
The brief exchange drew laughter from everyone, but the levity couldn’t last—silence soon settled over them.
“….”
There were multiple reasons why no one immediately volunteered.
Pressure, fear, considerations about the stakes, and uncertainty about which choice would benefit them most.
While Ha-jin understood all these concerns, time remained the critical factor.
Deciding they couldn’t afford to waste precious moments on this awkward standoff, Ha-jin spoke up immediately.
“If there are no volunteers, would it be alright if I made a recommendation?”
“…?”
“I’d like it to be Sara.”
“…What? Me, me?”
“Yes.”
Ha-jin nodded casually and added his reasoning.
“Ji-ye, myself, and Tae-jin are all capable in combat. Whether it’s Hunters or the Traitor, they’ll definitely follow us to the Hidden Room, so it’s safer if the three of us provide cover from outside.”
“What about Zeus? Zeus has the key to the passage, so wouldn’t it be better to entrust it to him instead…?”
“Once the situation on Floor 4 is roughly handled, Zeus needs to head straight to the passage and open the Gate first. Going all the way into the Hidden Room and then back to the Gate would be too demanding.”
“That’s right. Besides, Zeus is currently being targeted by both the Hunters and the Traitor.”
“….”
“Since you already know the location of the Hidden Room, it’s most logical for you to go straight there and format the System.”
Nam Sa-ra’s face drained of color as she unexpectedly found herself assigned the crucial role.
Tae-jin grinned broadly at Sara’s reaction, affectionately massaging her shoulder as if she were adorable.
“I think it’s right that you go too.”
“No, why are you all like this….”
“Honestly, if I went in there, I might just panic and hit the emergency exit button. But you won’t do that.”
“….”
“You said it yourself earlier. That you’d die together with Void if it came to that, right? There’s no one more suited for this than you right now.”
At Tae-jin’s persuasion, Sara’s eyes wavered.
The group waited for Sara for a moment. Ten minutes had already slipped by.
Nam Sa-ra checked the timer on her wrist, then nodded with a grim expression.
“Alright, I’ll go. I’m going to eliminate that Void bastard for sure.”
“Then I’ll cover you and head to the Hidden Room, while Tae-jin and Ji Ye protect Zeus and watch our rear. If anything goes wrong, take both of them straight toward the passage.”
“Okay. …Let’s move fast. We really don’t have time anymore.”
From that point on, it became a race against time.
The group rapidly entered Floor 4. They encountered Security Robots along the way and faced several critical moments, but all five managed to arrive safely.
The situation erupted the moment they entered the hallway leading to the Hidden Room.
Bang―!
“Ugh! What, what is that?”
Son Je-u screamed as the laser gun fired. At the same time, the numbers on his laser patch dimmed with a red glow.
“Ha-jin! Take your sister and run!”
“Sister, let’s go!”
“Y-yes!”
The moment Tae-jin spotted the Hunters and Traitors rushing toward them from a distance, he pulled Zeus behind cover and loaded his laser gun. Seeing Ji Ye take a firing stance, Ha-jin immediately grabbed Sara’s wrist and bolted toward the Hidden Room.
Sara seemed to struggle keeping up with Ha-jin’s speed—nearly Olympic-level sprinting—but she gritted her teeth and pushed herself to follow. Knowing her effort, Ha-jin didn’t slow down and accelerated even further.
“Ha-jin! There! Over there!”
“Damn it!”
“Ahhh!”
Just as Ha-jin suspected, the Hidden Room was concealed in a location completely invisible from the outside. With only about an hour remaining, desperation seized him, and he simply kicked down the partition wall blocking the Hidden Room.
It pained him to see the set that the installation crew had labored over for days shatter to pieces, but since it would all be demolished anyway after filming ended, he figured he’d just saved them some trouble.
Once the partition—which had probably been a door—was destroyed, the stairs leading to the Hidden Room finally became visible.
Then the radio crackled.
-Sister, did you arrive?
Confirming it was Tae-jin’s voice, Ha-jin gestured for Sara to go up first and responded to the radio.
“Yes, we found the Hidden Room entrance and are heading in now. How’s the situation there?”
-We’ve mostly dealt with the Dropouts, but we lost Esther. She probably went your way, so I’m about to head over there now.
“No, wait. I already sent Sister up first, so you just take Zeus and head to the passage first….”
“Ha-jin!”
“…?”
Ha-jin froze when he heard Sara calling from above. Something in her voice felt wrong.
“Hold on a second.”
Sensing something amiss in Sara’s tone, Ha-jin hurried up the stairs. As he reached the landing, he found Sara coming down toward him, her expression alarmed as she pointed toward the Hidden Room.
“What is it, sister? What’s wrong?”
“It’s not that something’s there, it’s that….”
Sara seemed to think showing him would be faster than explaining, so she led Ha-jin toward the Hidden Room. After climbing the remaining half-flight of stairs, she opened the door to what was unmistakably a Restricted Area.
What unfolded before Ha-jin’s eyes was―.
“…?”
“All the power’s gone out. Nothing’s working.”
Complete darkness.
And darker still was my own path home from work.

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