The Regressed SSS-Rank Supporter Who Turned Dark - Chapter 55

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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 55
“My son, are you hurt anywhere? Are you alright?”
Mother examined me from head to toe, scrutinizing every inch.
“I’m fine, so please don’t worry. And I’m rather… a mess right now.”
I gently stepped back from Mother.
I was covered head to toe in blood, flesh, the Mudflats Lord’s viscera, mud—every conceivable filth imaginable.
“You’re truly not injured? That’s right, isn’t it?”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
Mother asked about my condition several times over.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Father, having endured countless trials throughout his life, responded with far less emotion than Mother.
“Come here for a moment.”
“Yes?”
“I said come here.”
“Yes.”
Father embraced me.
“Thank you. For coming back alive.”
“…Father.”
Now I could see that Father had suffered just as much anguish as Mother.
This side of Father was entirely new to me.
Before I returned to the past.
Father had fallen in battle before ever witnessing my career as a Hunter.
“For heaven’s sake! Please stop worrying me!”
Eun-ha, too, had been deeply concerned about me, and now she huffed indignantly.
“Lower your voice, and let’s move to another location. Eun-ha, come here.”
Father whispered to Mother and Eun-ha.
“Many have lost their families. Let’s not make a spectacle of ourselves.”
Father’s words were wise.
While families like ours savored the joy of reunion, many others endured the agony of loss.
“My daughter, my dear daughter!”
“Nooooo! You bastards! Give me back my child! Give them back!”
“Sob… sob, sob!”
The families of those who had not returned from Jebu Island were already beside themselves with grief.
It was an uncomfortable situation.
Joy and sorrow.
Happiness and despair.
Relief and rage coexisting in a single space.
And among them were those with no family at all.
“I’m… exhausted. I’ll head out first.”
“I’ll be in touch.”
“Yeah.”
Choi Yu-ra tapped my shoulder lightly and turned to leave.
She wasn’t the only one without family.
“….”
Ra Si-hyun stood motionless, like a sack of barley left in the corner.
Her gaze drifted aimlessly through empty space.
Her eyes held a lost, wandering quality—touching nothing, finding nowhere.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
I asked my family’s permission and approached Ra Si-hyun.
“What are you doing here?”
“Just… standing.”
“Are your family members running late?”
“There’s no one coming.”
Ra Si-hyun’s voice carried a sharp edge.
“What about friends?”
“How could I have any?”
Right—with that temperament, it would be stranger if she actually had friends.
Now that I thought about it, Ra Si-hyun didn’t have a single person she could call a friend.
All she’d ever had were attendants and playthings surrounding her—servants and courtesans vying for her attention.
‘Let it go.’
Given the circumstances, I’d apparently overstepped without realizing it, and seeing such a sharp response, I figured leaving her alone was the wisest course.
“Is she a teammate?”
Mother suddenly interjected.
“Yes, well. Something like that.”
“I see. What’s this young lady’s name?”
Ra Si-hyun startled at Mother’s question.
“She’s going to be Eun-ha’s mother’s colleague.”
“Ra Si-hyun… it is.”
“What a beautiful name.”
“….”
“If no one’s picking you up, would you like to join us for a meal?”
“I… beg your pardon?”
Ra Si-hyun’s expression shifted to bewilderment.
“It’s fine if you’d rather not. I’m not trying to force you. It’s just that since you’re a colleague of our Eun-ha’s, I’d like to treat you to a meal.”
Ra Si-hyun’s pupils trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
“If you’re waiting for someone… “.
“There’s… no one… waiting.”
Ra Si-hyun’s voice wavered, thick with emotion.
“This lovely young lady has been through quite a lot, hasn’t she? It’s alright, truly.”
Mother stepped forward without hesitation and embraced Ra Si-hyun.
Flinch!
Ra Si-hyun started at her Mother’s sudden embrace.
‘D-danger!’
Without thinking, my hand flew to the axe handle hanging at my waist.
If Ra Si-hyun were to accidentally hurt her Mother….
Fortunately, the situation I’d feared never came to pass.
“Sob, sob sob.”
Ra Si-hyun wept silently in her Mother’s arms, as if burdened by some profound sorrow.
‘…Why is she like that? It doesn’t suit her.’
To me, who remembered Ra Si-hyun’s past—or rather, her future—this was an utterly foreign and discordant sight.
Cold, arrogant, relying on no one.
That was the Ra Si-hyun I knew….
‘Perhaps something went wrong in her upbringing.’
Everyone has their own circumstances.
It occurred to me that Ra Si-hyun’s transformation into such a ruthless person might have stemmed from the absence of a caring adult in her life.
Not that I intended to absolve her of the atrocities she’d committed in the past, not even a shred.
How much time had passed?
“…I’m sorry.”
Ra Si-hyun, as if regaining her senses, carefully withdrew from her Mother’s embrace.
“Don’t be. What are you apologizing for? It’s natural to cry when things are hard.”
Mother smiled gently, as if it were nothing at all.
“….”
Ra Si-hyun said nothing.
Her lips pressed firmly shut, she lowered her head.
“Will you come with us?”
Mother asked once more.
“….”
Ra Si-hyun glanced back at me.
As if seeking confirmation of something.
“It’s fine.”
I answered briefly.
“Th, then….”
Her mouth opened slightly, barely perceptibly.
Her voice was so faint it was almost inaudible.
“I’ll go.”
Mother pulled Ra Si-hyun’s hand along.
Father, Eun-ha, and I dared not raise a single objection to Mother’s decision.
Though it might be unfair to Father, Mother’s word in our household was absolute.
* * *
Before we returned home.
I exchanged greetings with my teammates.
“Normally, I don’t share my personal number with just anyone, but I’ll make a special exception for you, Eun-sung. After all, you saved my life.”
Jung Ho-bin entered the digits with the gravity of a momentous decision.
“….”
I was taken aback, but considering he was a popular idol, I decided to let it slide.
I’d actually wanted to say something, but Eun-ha’s pleading expression beside me made me hold my tongue.
“Sir, thank you for your hard work. You are my savior.”
“I owe my life to you. I will never forget this.”
“Thanks to you, I’m alive. I’ll never forget this debt.”
Oh Tae-kwon, Park Seok-ho, and Kim Seung-hye also offered their gratitude.
“We went through all that trouble to make time, and now we have to re-enlist. Ugh.”
“We’ll see each other again soon, and I’ll serve you well then too.”
“Since this happened on day one of training, we’ll definitely regroup.”
“We’ll all be on the same team again then, right?”
The Bravo Team members looked forward to re-enlisting at the Special Armed Forces Training Institute.
Since the dimensional rift occurred on the first day of enrollment, it was only natural that we’d be re-enlisted at a new Special Armed Forces Training Institute to resume training.
‘Let the rookies get their fill of training.’
I had no intention of re-enlisting, though I felt bad about it.
The Defense Strategy Department had already acknowledged that I didn’t need further training, so there was a very high likelihood they’d exempt me from the program.
“You’ve raised your son wonderfully, senior. I’m truly envious.”
“Envious? He’s an embarrassment to show off.”
“You’re being too modest, senior. Among all the seniors and juniors, who else has a son as accomplished as yours? And he’s even handsome, taking after you and your wife.”
“Ha ha.”
“I’ll visit you formally soon.”
“Yes, bring your wife and the kids. We’ll have a proper meal together.”
“Yes, senior. Oh, and I’d like to have a word with your son for a moment.”
Instructor Kim Sang-eung, after chatting with my father whom he hadn’t seen in a while, approached me.
“I’m truly grateful. If it weren’t for you, Eun-sung, I would never have seen my wife and daughter’s faces again.”
“You’re too kind….”
“But here’s the thing.”
“…?”
“The dead Spirit Blades… you said they’re useful to you, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then, could you take my Spirit Blade and use it?”
“What do you mean by that?”
I asked, startled.
Take his Spirit Blade?
It didn’t make sense by any reasonable standard.
Spirit Blades couldn’t be transferred to another person.
“I want to put it down.”
Kim Sang-eung pulled out his Spirit Blade and handed it to me.
A crimson short sword.
It was an ominous weapon, blood seeming to slosh ominously within the blade itself.
“I can’t bear to keep it any longer. Still, it’s a decent tool, so I’d like you to have it, Eun-ha.”
“….”
I understood what he meant, so my lips remained sealed.
Kim Sang-eung was probably feeling far more guilt than relief in this moment of reunion with his family.
Even though he’d been controlled by Giseolchung, the memory of slaughtering dozens of his own comrades with his own hands would never fade.
Moreover, before becoming an instructor at the Special Operations Bureau, he’d specialized in assassination missions, so it made sense he’d find his Spirit Blade unsettling.
“I’m not sure if it’s possible.”
“Could you at least try?”
“I could try, but… it doesn’t seem like a good choice.”
“Are you worried you’ll weaken me if I succeed? By losing my Spirit Blade?”
“It’s like a beast tearing out its own claws.”
“I don’t care.”
“But….”
“Claws can grow back, can’t they?”
Arguing with someone whose mind was made up seemed pointless, so I decided to at least attempt it.
If I succeeded, Kim Sang-eung could set down some of the burden weighing on his heart.
The moment I pulled a blank card from my deck—
‘Ah!’
As if a forgotten memory had surfaced, the method came to me.
“Hold out your left hand.”
“Hmm?”
“Hold your left hand out, and place the blade over the card with your right hand.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Soon Kim Sang-eung’s left arm and my right arm intertwined diagonally, and his Spirit Blade in his right hand rested carefully over the blank card.
“Stay like that.”
I breathed ether into the card.
The card’s surface rippled like water.
Whooom!
Kim Sang-eung’s Spirit Blade began to tremble faintly.
“This, this is—”
Kim Sang-eung’s eyes narrowed.
“Concentrate.”
The Spirit Blade resting on the card seemed to decompose, then seep into the card itself.
A soft radiance spread along the card’s edges, and a short sword was inscribed upon what had been a blank card.
Flinch!
Kim Sang-eung’s shoulders trembled.
The aftereffects of severing his connection to the Spirit Blade seemed considerable.
[Ownership Transfer Complete!]
[You have acquired 【Bloodthirsty Specter】!]
Immediately after receiving Kim Sang-eung’s spirit blade.
A card slipped from my deck with a soft whisper, hovering before me.
[Alchemy]
★★
A card capable of performing card synthesis, Etherium refinement, processing, and combination.
As the card’s rank increases, the quality of crafted items improves accordingly.
It was the Alchemy card I hadn’t used in quite some time.

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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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