The Regressed SSS-Rank Supporter Who Turned Dark - Chapter 38

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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 38
‘Didn’t she evacuate first?’
Honestly, it’s unexpected.
I thought she’d boarded the Chinook with the civilians and escaped, but she was still here.
“Take off… now… hurry!”
Ra Si-hyun shouted urgently.
Tremor, tremor, tremor!
Her hands, releasing ether, trembled visibly—she was clearly straining to maintain control.
“Take off! Now!”
“Yes!”
The Chinook carrying us began to rise slowly.
‘A mage is a mage, after all.’
I didn’t want to admit it, but I had to acknowledge the truth.
Mages receive noble treatment because they possess the power to alter situations by their very existence.
Ra Si-hyun was demonstrating that now.
She’d bound the gargoyles attacking our Chinook in a single motion.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Thanks to her, our Chinook lifted off safely and began rapidly leaving Jebu Island behind.
Thud!
“Huff, huff!”
Ra Si-hyun collapsed, her strength exhausted.
Lurch!
The Chinook’s fuselage shook violently as it executed evasive maneuvers to avoid an incoming gargoyle.
“…!”
Ra Si-hyun, standing before the wide-open hatch, slid out of the Chinook.
I lunged desperately and caught her wrist.
“Seong-ah!”
The moment I caught Ra Si-hyun, Instructor Kim Sang-eung grabbed my ankle.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
Three or four gargoyles dove toward Ra Si-hyun, dangling helplessly.
“Why aren’t you shooting?!”
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr―!!!
Kim Seung-hye unleashed a torrent of gunfire from her Mk.48 light machine gun at the gargoyles.
“Kyaaaaaaaaah!”
The gargoyles couldn’t withstand the hail of bullets and were knocked far away.
In the meantime, Ra Si-hyun pulled herself up, gripping my hand.
“Gasp, gasp.”
Ra Si-hyun was breathing heavily, clearly shaken.
She’d nearly fallen from the Chinook and plummeted to her death—the realization had terrified her.
“Breathe. Just breathe.”
“Huff, huff.”
“Calm down and breathe. Nothing’s wrong. In through your nose, out through your mouth. In, out, in, out.”
“In, out, in, out.”
“That’s right. Slowly.”
I deliberately helped Ra Si-hyun steady her breathing because panic could sometimes lead to fainting or, in rare cases, cardiac arrest.
Whether I liked her or not, if she collapsed, it would become a hassle one way or another.
“Phew…”
With my assistance, Ra Si-hyun soon recovered her breathing and regained her composure.
“You with us now?”
“Yes.”
“How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three.”
“And this?”
“One.”
“Good enough.”
The moment I confirmed she’d regained her senses, I tried to stand, but Ra Si-hyun grabbed my wrist.
“Why won’t you praise me?”
“Huh…?”
“I’m asking why you won’t give me praise.”
Ra Si-hyun spoke with an indignant expression.
“Everyone survived because of me. Shouldn’t you praise me for that?”
“…”
I was left speechless by her audacity.
Ra Si-hyun’s performance certainly deserved recognition.
After all, the Chinook was able to take off safely because of her.
But praise wasn’t an obligation, and demanding it outright was absurd beyond measure.
“Are you serious?”
“What?”
“We need to assess the situation first before I praise or criticize anything. Is it appropriate to demand praise like this?”
“That’s…”
Ra Si-hyun trailed off, apparently at a loss for words.
‘What kind of upbringing did she have to end up like this?’
I’d noticed it before, but Ra Si-hyun seemed fundamentally lacking in basic ethics and morality.
Before returning to the past, I’d assumed her arrogance stemmed from being a ranker and a mage, intoxicated by her own power. But now it seemed that wasn’t quite it.
“Then when will you praise me?”
“Get a grip on the situation. We haven’t even escaped safely yet, and you want to do this?”
“…”
“Let me ask you one thing. Why did you step forward?”
“You said if I want to be treated like nobility, I should act like nobility.”
“Is that really why?”
“Is something wrong?”
“Oh, no.”
I was fed up.
Not to save everyone, but to receive noble treatment—what a joke.
“So you’ll treat me like nobility now, right?”
“We’ll see.”
“What did you say?”
Ra Si-hyun bristled, but I cleanly ignored her.
There was no point arguing with someone whose thought process was fundamentally broken—it would only exhaust me.
Besides, this was hardly the time for petty bickering with Ra Si-hyun.
Beep, beep, beep!
Warning alarms shrieked as the interior of the Chinook was bathed in crimson light.
“Visibility dropping rapidly! The fog is too dense!”
The Pilot’s urgent cry echoed through the cabin.
* * *
‘What kind of fog is this…!’
I glanced absently out the window and froze in shock.
Everything was blindingly white.
As if buried within clouds, nothing was visible.
“Increase altitude! Continue the flight!”
“But…”
“It’s just fog, after all!”
The Pilot cut off the Co-pilot’s words, gritting his teeth.
“We can fly safely by trusting the radar alone…”
In that instant.
Beeeeeep!
The warning alarm shrieked even more sharply.
A red warning light flashed on one side of the instrument panel.
“Terrain warning ahead!”
“That’s impossible!”
“Radar shows a ridge 500 meters ahead!”
“That can’t be right! There shouldn’t be anything ahead!”
The Pilot pulled back on the control stick to gain altitude, even as he doubted the radar.
“Climb! Full power!”
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!
The rotors roared with deafening force.
The Chinook’s fuselage tilted as its altitude surged upward.
Yet the fog was endless, and visibility never improved.
‘Could this be…’
From the shouts coming from the cockpit, I could make an educated guess.
I had experienced this phenomenon before, after all.
“Stop!”
I shouted urgently toward the cockpit.
“The terrain is distorted! Space itself is tangled within the fog! If we keep flying, we’ll all die!”
“W-what are you talking about!”
“The fog is warping space! The spatial dimensions are all jumbled together—if we continue flying, we’ll definitely crash into something!”
“Then what do you want us to do!”
“Just land vertically! Right here!”
“D-damn it!”
While the Pilot wavered between trusting my words or not.
The warning lights on the instrument panel flashed red.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The radar’s terrain warning intermittently blared from within the fog.
“…There’s no choice.”
The Pilot made a decision and gripped the control stick.
The aircraft’s speed began to decrease gradually, and the Chinook that had been hovering in mid-air slowly started its descent.
Within the thick fog where I couldn’t see even an inch ahead.
The massive Chinook descended slowly.
‘Just land safely. Please.’
I prayed desperately.
I had no confidence I could survive a Chinook crash at this moment.
Crash!
Suddenly, a deafening sound like the rotor snapping rang out, and the aircraft lurched.
The moment I felt the sensation of being on a roller coaster, the aircraft dropped abruptly.
* * *
Boom!
The aircraft plummeted nose-first, and an enormous impact reverberated through my body.
“Ugh!”
I struggled to push myself up.
Fortunately, the fall time was extremely brief.
It felt like less than two seconds, as if we’d fallen from a height of less than ten meters.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say we’d avoided the worst.
“I-is everyone alright?”
“We’re fine!”
“No problems!”
Instructor Kim Sang-eung quickly checked the condition of the passengers while rapidly opening the hatch to order evacuation.
“Disembark quickly! Everyone, hurry!”
“Yes!”
Not knowing when the crashed aircraft might explode, we hastily escaped from the Chinook.
Outside, the fog still enveloped everything.
Through the haze, the crashed Chinook lay sprawled before Maebawi Rock, which jutted up like a blade.
That distinctive stone formation of Jebu Island—the one they called Maebawi Rock—was where the rotor had struck during the descent. ‘This has to be the Fog Maze.’
My suspicions were correct.
The Chinook had definitely been flying eastward.
Yet we’d arrived at Maebawi Rock, off the southern coast of Jebu Island.
This thick fog was undoubtedly the Fog Maze—a space-warping phenomenon.
“Don’t move recklessly! Maintain formation!”
“Yes!”
Following Kim Sang-eung’s orders, we huddled together and braced ourselves for any potential enemy assault.
Fortunately, there were no signs of immediate attack.
“Is anyone injured?”
“No!”
Since we hadn’t fallen from a great height, there didn’t appear to be any serious casualties.
“Ugh.”
Ra Si-hyun, whose profession naturally left her with weak defensive capabilities, seemed to be showing mild concussion symptoms, though nothing alarming.
‘This is dangerous.’
I kept my senses sharp, constantly scanning our surroundings.
If enemies had us surrounded on this exposed coastline, we’d be finished.
‘At least I have the Search card.’
I wasn’t certain whether the Search card would function within the Fog Maze, but having even one anchor of hope was reassuring.
‘If we can just reach a safe area and hold out a little longer, we’ll survive. Minister An should be taking swift action, so as long as we stay alive….’
Whoooooooosh!
A violent wave sound suddenly roared toward us.
“Huh?”
Given the current tidal conditions, the land route was submerged, so there was no reason we should be hearing waves.
‘Wait a moment.’
Something felt wrong.
At high tide, the area around Maebawi Rock should be completely underwater….
‘Don’t tell me.’
A bad premonition seized me, and I turned my gaze toward the source of the wave sounds.
Through the thick fog, I could faintly make out something massive—like a wall—slowly advancing toward us.
A colossal wall advancing with the roar of violent waves… there was no need to spell out what that meant.
“Sigh.”
A groan escaped my lips.
One disaster after another—we’d survived the crash only to face a tidal wave.
“Everyone, let’s hope we make it out alive.”
“…?”
The others tilted their heads, not grasping my meaning.
It didn’t matter.
They’d understand soon enough.
Rattle-rattle-rattle!
The sound of dice rolling echoed near my ear.
‘This sound is….’
Soon after, the Goddess of Fortune, her eyes bound with cloth, appeared behind me and wrapped her arms around me.
“May fortune accompany you and your companions.”
As the goddess’s whisper reached my ears, a status window materialized before my eyes.
The dice showed 5 and 6.
A total of 11.
Luck increased by 110% for 5 minutes!
Whether luck will be enough to keep us safe remains to be seen.
Shwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh!
Boom!
A colossal barrier of seawater engulfed us.

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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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