Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 565

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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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565. In the Chaos (Complete)
The system format initialization had begun.
Void’s emoticons that had filled the monitor crumbled like dust and vanished.
I roughly swept back my sweat-dampened, dust-covered bangs. Then I immediately began reviewing the manual again for what needed to be done to re-register the key holder.
“…Oppa!”
Moments later, Seo Ji-ye burst through the Security Room door.
Looking just as disheveled as I did, she thrust forward the key to the Secret Passage that Son Je-u had originally possessed, barely catching her breath.
“Why did you come?”
“Floor 4 is completely covered with Security Robots. Ha Tae-jin went to pick up Sara, and Zeus is waiting on Floor 3. Once I hand over the key, he’ll head straight to the Secret Passage to open the door. You and I are safe because of our research uniforms.”
“Still, since you’re the key holder, we’ll need your fingerprint eventually, right?”
“Apparently unlocking with the key and password takes some time. They said the fingerprint is only needed at the very end, so we decided to do it this way first.”
“Well… okay for now.”
Having one person brute-force their way back and forth between Floor 4 and Floor 1 would be exhausting, so they’d divided the work among themselves.
Well, the people actually there would know the situation better than I would. I didn’t bother asking twice and immediately took the key.
“Is this it?”
“Yeah, wait a moment.”
Following the manual’s instructions, I powered up the equipment and accessed the server. Soon, systems capable of recognizing administrator information began appearing one after another.
Fortunately, the process of registering a new key holder wasn’t particularly difficult, so I finished quickly. What was more distracting was the constant sound of things exploding and detonating from various places.
In any case, after completing the initial tasks, I returned the key to Ji-ye.
“Done. Now run.”
“You’re staying here, right?”
“I still have work to do, and we don’t know what might happen. Once you all properly open the Secret Passage, I’ll head up right away.”
“…Okay, I’ll contact you. Please be careful coming up.”
“Got it.”
Ji-ye, having taken the key back from me, sprinted out with the perfect form befitting a national representative. Meanwhile, on the restored CCTV screens, I could see the cast members scattered throughout each floor.
I confirmed that Ji-ye swiftly broke through Floor 2 and met Son Je-u on Floor 3, then I unlocked all the security gates along the way so they could easily run up to Floor 4.
【■■■■■■■■■□ 90%】
【■■■■■■■■■■ 100%】
【Fingerprint registration complete.】
【Please register a password.】
After passing through the loading bar that felt oddly familiar—triggering PTSD—a white input cursor blinked.
I placed my hands on the keyboard and entered the password we’d pre-designated over the radio earlier.
-What should the password be?
-Only alphanumeric combinations are possible. Minimum five characters.
-Hmm… can you do something like this?
【TGHND88】
-What? What does that mean?
-‘Time to go home, bye bye’.
-….
I cheerfully pressed Enter, and password registration began.
All I could do now was wait.
* * *
“Where’s Ha-jin?”
Nam Sa-ra, who had just arrived at the Secret Passage with Ha Tae-jin, asked about Ha-jin’s whereabouts without even catching her breath.
Ji Ye, who was busy activating the Gate alongside Son Je-u, nodded reassuringly toward Sara and answered.
“We finished everything we needed to do in the Security Room. Just to be safe, he said he’d verify that the door opened properly before coming up. We still have plenty of time anyway, and he has an employee ID, so it’s fine.”
“That’s a relief then….”
“Once the door opens, we were going to radio right away….”
“Oh, it’s open! We’re good!”
“It’s open?”
Son Je-u cheered with an expression of joy in front of the Secret Passage door.
Ji Ye quickly grabbed the radio after confirming the passage door had opened.
“Ha-jin, we opened the door! Come up quickly…?”
“What? I’m not hearing anything.”
But the radio that had been working perfectly just moments ago suddenly stopped functioning. The same was true for Sara’s radio beside her.
Ha Tae-jin took the radio from Ji Ye and checked the battery, then clicked his tongue softly.
“The battery’s dead…. It won’t turn on.”
“What do we do then? We were supposed to signal Ha-jin through the radio….”
“Ha-jin brought the radios, right? Then his is probably dead too. He’s smart, so he’s likely figured out the situation by now.”
“Still…. Should I just go down and come back?”
Ji Ye asked anxiously, seeming flustered by the sudden turn of events.
Ha Tae-jin, acting as the group’s leader, shook his head after a moment of thought. Security Robots were already swarming the path they’d come from, and the laser gun’s battery was nearly depleted.
They risked running into far greater danger.
“No, let’s wait a bit longer. If things get worse, I’ll go myself. For now, you all get on first.”
“Once this closes, we can’t open it again. We all have to board together.”
“…Then at least get on and wait. I’ll go out to the Hallway and check if Ha-jin’s coming. This place is getting dangerous too.”
Boom―!
The moment Ha Tae-jin finished speaking, explosions erupted throughout the building, and smoke billowed up as destruction began in earnest.
The walls and ceiling of the distant Hallway began to collapse, and sparks flew in all directions.
“Hey, look! The Security Robots are coming from over there!”
Son Je-u shouted as he saw the Security Robots converging from the opposite direction.
The System format would be completed soon, and at this rate, everyone would be eliminated without a chance to escape.
The cast members standing on the Gate looked at each other with confusion. If Ha-jin didn’t arrive, they would have to make a choice.
“What, what do we do!?”
“We still have time before the System format finishes! Let’s wait just a bit longer!”
“What if we all die waiting! Is he even coming!?”
“Maybe I should just go down quickly and come back…!”
“No, if we do that, we might miss each other or call more Security Robots, making things worse.”
“Then….”
In that brief moment, panic flooded everyone’s eyes.
In a situation where nothing could be decided easily, it was Nam Sa-ra who made the call.
“Let’s wait.”
“What? Unnie, closing this gate takes time too. If we wait and it gets late, we’re all really dead.”
“Just five more minutes. If he doesn’t show up by then, we close the door. There’s still five minutes left until the system format completes. We’re safe until it finishes anyway.”
Nam Sa-ra pointed to the watch on her wrist as she spoke.
When she, who had been accommodating and supporting others’ opinions throughout the filming, spoke with genuine conviction, even Son Je-u, who had been whining about needing to close the door immediately, had no choice but to nod in agreement.
Ha Tae-jin tapped Sara’s shoulder and nodded.
“Right, let’s do it your way. If Kang Ha-jin doesn’t show up at the end of that hallway in five minutes, Zeus closes the gate right away.”
“…Okay.”
“Uh, there…!”
That was when it happened.
Seo Ji-ye, who had been maintaining her shooting stance and keeping watch on the security robots approaching from a distance regardless of whether the older ones were arguing or not, cried out in surprise.
As everyone turned their heads at her voice, a familiar black-haired figure appeared at the very end of the hallway Tae-jin had pointed to.
“Kang Ha-jin!”
“It’s Ha-jin oppa!”
Kang Ha-jin, having discarded his research coat somewhere, came sprinting at an incredible speed in only his original clothes.
When Nam Sa-ra and Seo Ji-ye spotted him and gestured eagerly for him to hurry, Kang Ha-jin waved his long arms frantically. At first, people thought he was waving in greeting, but as he drew closer, they began to feel something was off.
“Why does his expression look like that?”
“It looks like Ha-jin oppa is trying to say something.”
As Ha-jin continued waving his arms endlessly while running from quite a distance away, people gradually realized it wasn’t a greeting—it was a gesture trying to convey something.
Watching him draw closer, Ha Tae-jin leaned slightly out of the gate and examined Ha-jin properly.
“Close… the… door…?”
Close the door?
Tae-jin and the others, confused about what he meant, soon understood Ha-jin’s intention.
Ding—!
[System format has been completed.]
Behind Ha-jin, an enormous number of security robots were pursuing at a speed incomparable to anything before. Simultaneously, the robots that had been slowly gathering from the opposite direction also transformed into a terrifying force with the announcement that the system format was complete.
A panicked Ha Tae-jin flapped his arms toward Son Je-u and shouted.
“Zeus, the door! The door! Close the door, the door!?”
“Ah, ah, yes, yes!”
“Hey, Kang Ha-jin! Hurry up!”
“I’m coming!?”
As Zeus pressed the button to close the gate, the iron door began descending slowly from above.
Tae-jin deliberately positioned himself beneath it, slowing the door’s descent even slightly. Seeing the timing of the descending door, Ha-jin lowered his body accordingly.
“Aaah, hey, Ha-jin!”
Goodbye, my knee joints.
At least it’s better than being left behind.
Confirming that Ha-jin had slid inside, Tae-jin quickly pulled his body into the gate as well. Before they could even enjoy the joy of reunion, Ha-jin and Tae-jin, as if they’d coordinated it, urged the rest of the group forward.
“Hurry! Go, hurry!”
“Uh, where, where to!?”
“Here! Over here, unnie!”
“Whoa, it’s so dark!? Is this the right way!?”
The passage leading out through the Gate was a dark, pitch-black slide—just like when I’d first entered the Research Lab’s interior.
Pushing aside the small thought of “if you’re going to help, at least use an elevator,” I grabbed Son Je-u’s wrist as he hesitated at the front.
“Zeus.”
“Y-yes?”
Son Je-u, who’d been ambiguous about his speech level throughout filming, stared at me with wide eyes, then looked down again.
After a grueling 12-hour overtime shift, my eyes were already beyond normal as I stood on the threshold of clocking out.
“Scared again?”
“Huh?”
“Sit down. Now.”
“What? No, ah! Aaaahhhhh!”
Gripping Zeus’s wrist firmly, I nudged his shin with my knee to seat him, then launched us both onto the wide slide passage together.
As we descended through the still-dark, lengthy tunnel, I even remembered to strike a pose toward the mounted cameras, as if riding a flume ride.
After a long descent, fresh night air and the soft mattresses we’d set up beforehand greeted us both.
“Oof!”
“Careful there.”
I offered belated caution to Son Je-u, who’d already tumbled ungracefully onto the mattress, but he was lying there nearly half-crying, too exhausted to respond.
Behind him, I watched Seo Ji-ye, Nam Sa-ra, and Ha Tae-jin tumble down from the other slide passage.
As I finally gathered my senses and looked around, the darkened sky above dotted with stars came into view, along with the welcoming faces of the Production Team waiting for us.
Boom!
Bang! Kaboom—!
As the Production Team crawled toward the Safe Zone they’d set up beforehand, the massive Research Facility we’d been trapped in all day exploded with a thunderous boom and smoke. Of course, it was all special effects, but it was still impressive to watch.
“Congratulations, everyone.”
Then, Kwon Myung-eun’s elegant yet cutting voice—the one I’d heard most throughout the day—echoed through the megaphone.
“You have successfully escaped the Chaos Zone of In the Chaos.”
Finally…!
I clenched both fists and cheered.
The massive 12-hour journey had come to a perfect close.

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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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