The Regressed SSS-Rank Supporter Who Turned Dark - Chapter 42

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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 42
The [Capture] card bore no spirit seal like the others.
It was simply a blank card.
I only understood why nothing was drawn on it after examining the card’s effects.
[Capture]
Sealing Card
★★★
Captures and seals monsters of 3-star grade or below onto the card.
You can command the sealed monsters!
【Current Card Count】
3
※ To increase the count, absorb Blue Etherium to duplicate cards!
※ Each rank increase grants 1 additional Capture card!
※ Capture success rate varies depending on your disposition, rank, the target monster’s disposition, rank, and numerous other factors!
‘Seal a monster? On a card?’
I was genuinely astonished.
It was a concept I’d never heard of before.
To seal a monster on a card and command it.
I wanted to experiment immediately, but I had no suitable subject.
I had no desire to trap some filthy creature like a Cannibal Roach on a card, and besides, Ra Si-hyun had incinerated every last one of them.
“C-congratulations.”
Ra Si-hyun approached and offered her congratulations on my rank increase.
“Thanks.”
“Um, but…”
“…?”
“Did I… do well just now?”
“What?”
“I was just wondering if I did well…”
“You did fine.”
“That’s all…?”
“Why?”
“I thought I’d get praised this time.”
“That’s a mage’s job—why would I praise you for it?”
Ra Si-hyun’s shoulders drooped in disappointment.
‘Not a chance.’
Praise?
I could offer empty flattery if I wanted to.
But the person in question was Ra Si-hyun.
I had no intention of giving her reason to become arrogant.
The more her pride swelled, the exponentially higher the probability she’d kill me.
“Still… that wasn’t bad just now.”
“…Really?”
Ra Si-hyun’s expression brightened noticeably.
Instead of answering, I checked on the rookies’ condition.
“How are you all doing?”
“I’m fine, sir.”
“I’m in one piece.”
Oh Tae-kwon and Kim Seung-hye were unscathed, befitting their roles.
“I think one of my arms is broken, but I can manage.”
Park Seok-ho winced in pain.
“Hold on.”
I pulled a [Healing] card from my deck and treated Park Seok-ho’s arm.
Since it was just one broken arm, there was no need to call Undina.
“What about Ho-bin and the instructor?”
“I’m not sure.”
Kim Seung-hye wore an uncertain expression.
“Still, we managed to stay together somehow.”
“We were lucky.”
“Yeah, luck matters.”
People often overlook it, but luck is far more important than most realize.
Especially when working as a Hunter, you learn viscerally how crucial fortune truly is.
Even the smallest variable can flip a situation on its head—I’d experienced that countless times.
From that perspective, the [Luck] card was genuinely invaluable.
Runes or items that boost such an abstract stat as luck are extraordinarily rare….
“First, let’s bind ourselves together.”
We formed a bond and then resumed our advance.
“Might I ask what your plan is, sir?”
Oh Tae-kwon asked carefully.
“First, I need to find Ho-bin and the instructor.”
“And then the next plan is….”
“We’ll have to see how things unfold.”
There were too many variables to give a definitive answer, so I left it at that.
The troublesome environment of the Fog Maze was partly to blame.
“Everyone, put your hands on my shoulders and follow close. Keep checking. If you fall even a few steps behind, you’ll end up somewhere completely different.”
Nod, nod!
The rookies bobbed their heads up and down.
“Watch your muzzles, and if you need to fire, warn us first before you shoot. If you accidentally gun down a teammate, I won’t let it slide.”
Ra Si-hyun placed her hand on my shoulder and issued a stern warning to the team.
“If your gun jams, calmly handle it the way you’ve been trained. Don’t panic or hesitate.”
Good.
Why are you saying what I was going to say?
“What?”
“What do you mean, what?”
“What did you just say?”
“I said what you were about to say, oppa.”
Ra Si-hyun wore a pleased expression.
“That’s not what you should be saying.”
“Let’s hurry. We need to find that idol oppa and the instructor.”
Ra Si-hyun smoothly changed the subject.
I held back the urge to flick her forehead.
She was right—finding Kim Sang-eung and Jung Ho-bin was the priority right now.
* * *
Moving through the Fog Maze was mentally exhausting.
With enemies liable to emerge from anywhere at any moment, trudging through fog so thick you could barely see a few meters ahead was enough to set anyone’s nerves on edge.
But what drove people truly mad was the cacophony of overlapping sounds.
Explosions, screams, the growls of monsters, gunfire—all of it.
With space itself warped and twisted, the fragmented barrage of noise gnawed away at the mind relentlessly.
Everyone was wound tight as a spring, and even just following me left their eyes bloodshot with strain.
“Everyone, relax a bit.”
I couldn’t help but speak up.
“Just follow me and you won’t face any serious danger. Don’t overthink it. Tension only makes things worse.”
“B-but…”
Park Seok-ho glanced nervously around as he spoke.
“If you die, you die. Why are you so scared?”
“Huh…?”
“First-year hunters have about a 30% survival rate on average. Seven out of ten die within a year.”
“Gasp?”
“Don’t act surprised now. The Transition happened 15 years ago. Of the first-generation hunters who awakened back then, how many are still alive? In South Korea alone, you could count them on one hand.”
“Y-yes, that’s true.”
“That’s a hunter’s life. Mayflies. Exactly like that.”
“…”
“No need to tremble. You’re going to die anyway—what does it matter if it’s today or tomorrow? If you die, you die. So…”
Oops.
I’d meant to ease their tension, but the mood had grown heavy instead.
Still, I figured a bit of melancholy was better than the frayed nerves of extreme tension.
People make careless mistakes when they’re too wound up.
“Um, oppa?”
Ra Si-hyun spoke up.
“Are you really a provisional hunter?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Why do you speak as if you’ve experienced every hardship under the sun?”
“W-well, you don’t need to experience something to know about it. The statistics tell us everything.”
“That’s true enough.”
“Enough chatter. Just keep up with me.”
My foot caught on something with a dull thud.
I glanced down to see the leg of someone wearing military boots.
“…This is.”
After a few more steps, a horrifying sight unfolded before my eyes.
Corpses, corpses, and more corpses.
Nearly twenty bodies lay scattered across the ground.
“Marines… Special reconnaissance unit and Hunters, perhaps.”
As a weathered veteran, I could discern their identities simply by examining their uniforms.
“They’re… all dead.”
“Ugh.”
“What do we do….”
My team members reacted as though they could barely stomach the sight.
Understandably so.
Mad as this world had become, witnessing this many corpses was hardly a common experience.
“Keep watch around the perimeter. Examine the bodies.”
“Yes, sir.”
I left the team to maintain their guard while I surveyed the fallen and the surrounding area.
After roughly a minute of examination, I could deduce the nature of the beast that had killed them.
“This wasn’t the work of monsters.”
“W-what do you mean? If it wasn’t monsters, then….”
Oh Tae-kwon flinched in shock.
“People… possibly even our own forces.”
“Pardon…?”
“Look.”
I gestured toward the scene.
“The direction they’re lying in is wrong.”
“I’m not sure I follow, sir?”
“Their heads and bodies are oriented inward. This isn’t a combat formation.”
“Huh?”
“The scarcity of spent casings on the ground is also suspicious. If they’d died fighting monsters, there should be hundreds of shell casings scattered about at minimum.”
“Ah?”
“The wounds on these bodies are far too clean to be monster work. Each one bears the marks of a sharp blade—all of them struck with surgical precision at vital points, all dead from exsanguination. Look, there’s barely any blood pooling. This… is the handiwork of an exceptional Hunter. One skilled with a short blade.”
I was certain of it.
My experience spoke volumes.
This wasn’t the work of a monster, but of a human being.
“Who could have done such a thing….”
Had this been anywhere else, I would have suspected the presence of Recka operatives.
But this was Jebu Island.
Given that the Special Armed Forces Training Institute was located here, it was hardly a place where Recka would dare to tread so carelessly.
I examined the corpses again.
‘There’s no butcher here—just butchery.’
This wasn’t a fight. It was a massacre.
Even for a Hunter, wielding a dagger with such precision against human targets was extraordinarily difficult.
Looking at the wounds, it wasn’t merely skillful dagger work—it was the mark of someone who had mastered the art of killing itself.
‘The only place that systematically teaches such lethal technique is a special forces unit. Though it’s possible this could be an assassination-type Hunter specialized in daggers.’
Rather than voice my thoughts aloud, I issued a brief warning to my team.
“Trust no one we encounter from here on. Not until I give the all-clear. Stay vigilant, and doubt everything until the very end. Understood?”
“Yes.”
I set out again to find Jung Ho-bin and Instructor Kim Sang-eung.
‘No, it couldn’t be.’
A thought had crossed my mind, but I forced it away.
Misunderstandings and speculation were luxuries I couldn’t afford.
Yet one person kept surfacing in my thoughts.
Even though I knew it was absolutely impossible.
* * *
About thirty minutes had passed since we left that horrific scene behind.
Thud, thud!
Footsteps echoed from ahead.
Whoosh, whoosh.
At my silent signal, my team members instinctively dispersed left and right, forming a combat formation.
Soon, the source of the footsteps appeared.
“Instructor!”
Oh Tae-kwon recognized the figure and greeted him warmly.
It was Instructor Kim Sang-eung, Bravo Team’s dedicated instructor and a junior colleague of my father.
“Is anyone hurt?”
The moment Instructor Kim Sang-eung saw us, relief bloomed across his face.
“Thank goodness. Everyone was worried, but seeing you all gathered like this puts my mind at ease. You led them here, didn’t you, Eun-sung?”
Instructor Kim Sang-eung asked me.
Click!
Instead of answering, I leveled my rifle at him.
“…!”
My team members flinched at my sudden action.
But remembering the warning I’d just given them, no one stepped forward recklessly.
“What are you doing?”
“Hm?”
“Who are you really?”
Kim Sang-eung’s expression stiffened slightly.
“I understand you’re nervous, but there’s no need to point that gun at me. Eun-sung, it’s alright—lower the weapon. I’m your Uncle Sang-eung.”
“Bullshit.”
I didn’t waver.
I wouldn’t fall for such a transparent trick.
Not after everything I’ve endured.
“There are no signs of fighting monsters—only traces of killing people.”
“What are you talking about? Me, kill people?”
“You’re covered head to toe in human blood and still playing dumb.”
….
Kim Sang-eung’s face hardened into a rigid mask.
A brief silence hung between us, then Kim Sang-eung spoke.
“You’re quite perceptive.”
Kim Sang-eung’s face twisted like that of a malevolent spirit.
It was an unsettling, grotesque expression—impossible to tell whether he was laughing or crying.

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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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