The Regressed SSS-Rank Supporter Who Turned Dark - Chapter 14

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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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#Episode 14
Click!
The Special Task Force soldiers raised their rifle barrels in unison, taking aim at Du-hyun.
“H-help!”
Startled, Du-hyun flattened himself against the ground like a frog.
“It’s fine, lower your weapons. Quickly.”
“But….”
“I’m serious. It’s fine.”
“Understood. Everyone, lower your weapons!”
The platoon leader was about to conduct a body search when I stopped him, and he lowered his rifle barrel.
Sigh.
Why did they have to frighten the kid like that….
But they were doing their best to carry out their duties in their own way, so I decided to let it slide without comment.
“Du-hyun.”
“D-don’t shoot! Ugh!”
“Du-hyun.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“….”
Du-hyun was so frightened that he showed no sign of getting up.
“I’m telling you it’s fine. Get up.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah, come on.”
I smiled and helped Du-hyun to his feet.
“Come on, get up. You’ll get dirt all over your clothes.”
“Is that okay?”
“I’ve lived my whole life being deceived.”
“You lied to me.”
“….”
I didn’t have much to say about that.
“Regardless, it’s fine. Get up quickly.”
“Okay.”
Once Du-hyun awkwardly got to his feet, I called over one of the soldiers to bring Du-hyun’s delivery motorcycle.
“Thanks for letting me use it. Sorry for taking it without asking. You were sleeping so soundly I didn’t want to wake you.”
“You know you’re sorry but you still take the motorcycle without saying anything? Because of you, my whole day….”
Du-hyun, feeling wronged and angry, was about to vent his frustration when his eyes suddenly widened.
Jingle, jingle!
“Do you know what this is?”
“Isn’t that a car key? BMW?”
“That’s right.”
“Why are you showing me this?”
“Why? Because it’s yours, that’s why.”
“Huh?”
Vroom!
Right on cue, the Special Task Force driver pulled up with a BMW X2, their compact SUV model.
“It’s yours.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah.”
“For real?”
“Have you spent your whole life being deceived?”
I grinned and pressed the X2 keys into Ho-bin’s palm.
“You rode the motorcycle well. This is a gift, so take it. I specially picked it out for you.”
“Wh-whoa!”
When had he been calling everyone bastards left and right?
The sudden shift in attitude was absurd, but I understood Ho-bin’s position well enough not to press the issue.
“From now on, I’ll treat you like a real older brother!”
“I’m your younger brother, though?”
“Come on! Anyone who buys a car is an older brother! Hyung!”
“You’re that happy about it?”
“Of course!”
Ho-bin clutched the car keys and bounced up and down as if he might do a backflip right there.
“Kid.”
Seeing Ho-bin so delighted made me happy too.
And Ho-bin deserved this gift without question.
The truth was, my burden had been lightened considerably thanks to him fighting alongside me during the transition phenomenon.
“Drive it well. If you ever need help with anything difficult, just tell me. I’ll help however I can.”
“Yes, hyung!”
Ho-bin’s smile was so wide his face looked like it might split.
* * *
“What is all this?”
Father looked quite taken aback.
My son, who’d supposedly gone to register as an Awakened, had just arrived by helicopter and was even being escorted by armed personnel—there was no way not to be shocked.
“It just… happened. Haha.”
“What do you mean ‘it just happened’? Explain yourself.”
Father wouldn’t let me brush it off with a laugh.
Well, Father wasn’t a fool—he couldn’t possibly miss that something was off.
Even if he wasn’t an Awakened, a career officer who’d fought monsters for over a decade would understand how the industry worked.
“So you’re saying you’re an Awakened of a completely new class that didn’t exist before? And that’s why the Defense Strategy Department is giving you special treatment?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Hmm. Well.”
Father’s expression showed he was at a loss for words.
“Aren’t you pleased?”
“Pleased? What’s there to be pleased about? My only son has become even more dangerous, so do I look like someone who’d be happy?”
“But Eun-ha is also… Ow!”
I clutched my head in pain.
What kind of flick was this—why did it hurt so much?
“You only have one son!”
“Ugh.”
“You’re such a handful. Always saying nonsense to your father.”
“I’m… I’m sorry.”
“Anyway, all this special treatment is just compensation for your life.”
“I understand.”
“What parent would want to live comfortably off their child’s life?”
“But couldn’t you just think of it as a good thing and enjoy it? You should take what’s offered to you.”
“I suppose that’s true…”
“I promise I won’t do anything reckless and get myself killed, so please don’t worry too much.”
“I’ll try.”
“And this is a new car—I brought it for you to drive, Father.”
“It’s the same as the one I had before. A Sierra?”
“Yes.”
“That’s enough. You drive it. I can live without a car.”
“I have my own vehicle.”
“Is that so? Hmm.”
“Since I’ve already brought it, just drive it. You don’t have a car right now anyway.”
By now, the car Father used to drive was probably buried under the rubble of the collapsed Apartment.
It was because I’d been distracted and hadn’t moved it to safety beforehand.
I should have parked it somewhere else.
“That’s right, dear. You’ve been through so much—think of it as a gift from the country and drive it.”
“That’s right, Dad.”
When Mother and Eun-ha joined in, Father abandoned his stubborn resistance and accepted the car keys.
“Fine, I understand. I should drive a gift from my son.”
“You made the right choice.”
I smiled broadly and turned to Mother.
“We’ll move in a few days, so just bear with it until then.”
“You’re really giving us a house?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“We’re planning to move to the Hyperion Penthouse.”
“The Hyperion… there???”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible!”
Hyperion Penthouse.
A luxury apartment located in Bangsae-dong, Seocho-gu, worth well over two billion won at this point in time.
With a safety rating of Tier 1, it’s one of the dream palaces that everyone wishes they could live in.
“Really? We’re going to Hyperion?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. So Cha Eun-sung really is an Awakened One.”
Eun-ha looked me over from bottom to top as if I were a monkey in a zoo.
“But oppa, is it really okay for you to be an Awakened One?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“You’re not even that handsome, oppa.”
….
“Awakening is something handsome people like our Ho-bin oppa do, isn’t it?”
I was so flabbergasted I couldn’t even speak.
Not handsome?
Sorry, but I’m good-looking.
Sure, my role is a supporter, but I’ve enjoyed my share of popularity while belonging to a group of rankers.
Why else would people have misunderstood that I was being kept around as a pretty face?
In my past life, after Father died, I was a quiet, gloomy child who never cracked a joke. But since that tragedy never happened, this version of me is an absolute wild colt with no reins.
“You sound like Ho-bin oppa. He’s going to die soon anyway, so will you die with him?”
The “Ho-bin oppa” mentioned here is a member of a male idol group who happens to be an Awakened One.
They say he’ll juggle idol activities and hunter activities simultaneously… as if.
“Who’s dying? Why are you saying that?”
Eun-ha snorted as if I’d spouted nonsense.
“Why are you hurling insults at poor Ho-bin oppa?”
“You threw the first insult.”
“When did I?”
“You said I’m not handsome.”
“So you are handsome? What do we do? Our Eun-sung’s self-awareness is this pathetic.”
“This is ridiculous.”
Grrr!
I held back the urge to punch her.
Her reckless demeanor somehow didn’t bother me.
That was probably because she hadn’t experienced the shock and sorrow of losing family.
A thought suddenly crossed my mind.
I wished she could stay exactly as she is now—carefree and thoughtless.
“Forget it, let’s stop talking. Phew.”
“You’re only saying that because you have nothing to say.”
“Want to get left behind?”
“What?”
“I could just move without you. While you’re at school.”
“That, that’s…”
“The Refugee Camp suits your temperament, doesn’t it?”
“Ugh… ugh!”
Trembling.
I could see him gritting his teeth, struggling to contain his rage.
Heh heh.
Go ahead, keep testing me.
‘But that guy’s actually going to die.’
From what I remember, Ho-bin is scheduled to die a month from now.
How did he die again?
I wasn’t particularly interested, so I don’t recall the details, but I’m certain Ho-bin dies.
What was the cause again?
Buzz, buzz!
The phone call made me completely forget about Ho-bin.
Impatient as always.
010 ×××× ××××
It’s Choi Yu-ra.
I told her to wait a bit, but she couldn’t hold back and called instead.
Since this wasn’t the right moment to take a call, I pressed the side of my smartphone and rejected it.
Due to the risk of wiretapping, it’s not advisable for Awakened to use unencrypted communication devices.
Just as I don’t trust the Defense Strategy Department, they don’t trust Awakened either.
In particular, wiretapping Awakened by each national agency is standard practice.
Especially for officially contracted Awakened like me, it’s safe to say that virtually all calls, messages, and even personal SNS are monitored.
I have suspicions, but without evidence, there’s nothing to protest.
‘If I really want to contact her, I could use HunterLink… oh, right. I don’t have an account yet.’
I realized why Choi Yu-ra risked wiretapping by calling on her smartphone.
* * *
There’s a saying.
All Awakened are mentally connected.
If true, it’s an accurate statement.
And there’s legitimate basis for it.
Awakened have access to a very special network that only they can access.
[HunterLink].
A psychic resonance network that guarantees absolute anonymity.
The method of access is simple.
Close both eyes, concentrate your mind, and simply draw up ether.
Remarkably, it was a first-generation hunter from Korea—a Buddhist monk—who discovered this.
Taebong Monk.
His callsign is [Maitreya], meaning ‘the Future Buddha.’
True to his monastic nature, he discovered HunterLink’s existence while meditating by chance and spread it to the world.
True to his monastic nature, Taebong Monk had named it [Heart Resonance Network], but the name proved too difficult for everyone to pronounce, so they all called it HunterLink instead.
Deep in the night.
After confirming that my family members were fast asleep, I collapsed beside the field cot and crossed my legs in a lotus position.
Accessing HunterLink left me defenseless and vulnerable, which could be dangerous, but with Special Task Force members standing watch around our tent, I could rest easy.
I closed my eyes and, with my mind focused, slowly drew up my ether.
Soon I felt my consciousness shift beyond reality, and an entirely different world unfolded before my eyes.

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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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