The Regressed SSS-Rank Supporter Who Turned Dark - Chapter 68

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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 68
The area in front of the Nine Nutrition Factory was absolute pandemonium.
“Over here! Patient needs CPR!”
“Stop the bleeding, stop the bleeding first!”
“Aaaahhhhh! Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!”
“Please… please save me….”
Rescue workers, police officers, and soldiers administered emergency treatment to the wounded scattered throughout the area.
There didn’t appear to be many who could be saved.
Most were suffering from critical injuries where their survival hung by a thread.
“What a mess.”
Lim Captain, who had arrived at the scene, squeezed his eyes shut.
What exactly was he doing out there?
I had tracked Eun-sung’s message to Mother through location tracking, and sure enough, a tragedy had unfolded.
Yet the message itself was so tender that it sent
chills down my spine.
I’m going to sleep over at a friend’s place.
Get some rest first.
I love you.
‘Could he have intentionally leaked his location? Telling me to follow?’
I wondered if Eun-sung had deliberately sent that message.
Not many people turned their phones off and on in an era like this.
It was only suspicion, but….
“The masked individuals appear to be mostly Recka belonging to the Nine-Tail Crew. Of course, we’ll need to investigate further, but that’s what it looks like for now.”
“That would make sense.”
I nodded at my subordinate’s report.
“A detailed analysis will be necessary, but we’ve confirmed the presence of Ethereum and multiple types of narcotic compounds.”
“So this really was an Overdrive manufacturing factory.”
Since I had already suspected as much, there was nothing particularly surprising about it.
“Contact the relevant agencies and have the wounded transported to hospitals for thorough surveillance. Those in stable condition get sent directly to Defense Force headquarters for interrogation.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Sigh.”
I exhaled deeply, then sent the scene footage to Minister An and called him.
“Yes, Minister. I’ll make my report.”
I reported the full circumstances of the past several hours.
– So he’s telling us to clean up his mess.
Minister An also seemed to believe that Eun-sung had intentionally leaked his location.
“My apologies.”
– No need to apologize. There’s no way to quickly catch someone who’s deliberately playing hide-and-seek.
“However….”
– I’ll send more Hunters. Just do your best. If a dangerous situation develops, just make sure you bring that reckless fool back in one piece.
“Yes, Minister.”
– Sigh.
Through the receiver, Minister An exhaled a sigh so deep it seemed the earth itself might collapse.
As Lim Captain, I couldn’t even begin to fathom the stress he must be enduring.
A greenhorn hunter poking around Bucheon was no trivial matter.
Not only would I have to contend with the Nine-Tail Crew, but the Incheon Alliance backing them as well—a hundred lives wouldn’t be enough to survive that.
No, perhaps the forces I’d have to face extended far beyond just the Nine-Tail Crew and the Incheon Alliance.
“Let go! I said let go, you bastards!”
“Sir, please calm down for a moment….”
“Calm down? What’s there to calm down about!”
A factory worker being dragged away by police officers screamed at the top of his lungs.
“You goddamn bastards! What did I do wrong! What! I just worked for money! I had to feed my family! If I hadn’t done this, my kids would’ve starved to death!”
“I understand. Let’s just go and explain this there. If you keep this up….”
“What have you done for us! What has the government done! Did you create jobs! Did you conduct reconstruction! At least throw some pocket change and then talk like that….”
The worker’s anguished cries clawed at my heart.
He was soon subdued and taken away, but his words lingered vividly in my mind.
The government had utterly abandoned this city.
Perhaps the Nine-Tail Crew had been able to seize control of the city precisely because they filled the void left by the government.
“….”
As a uniformed soldier, I felt a deep unease at this grim reality.
But that was merely the contemplation of an outsider like myself.
Right beside me.
“Over there, pick up that leg.”
“Yes, Chief.”
Firefighters were mechanically picking up body fragments with tongs and placing them in bags.
The firefighters, police officers, and soldiers of this city simply repeated their assigned duties like automatons.
To them, the screams of the dragged-away worker were nothing but noise.
Noise as commonplace as the sound of a passing delivery motorcycle—a fleeting sound that soon faded away.
* * *
After leaving the Ojeong Industrial Complex, Eun-sung and his group stopped their bikes on a sparsely populated roadside to rest.
“What were you doing back there, wearing that mask like some vigilante?”
“Haha….”
“Don’t laugh. Answer me.”
“Well… I’ve been doing this work for a while now.”
“Before or after your awakening?”
“Before.”
Oh Tae-kwon answered.
“Why?”
“I just couldn’t stand watching those guys run rampant.”
“Is that really all there is to it?”
“Hmm… Yes.”
“Not bad.”
“I… beg your pardon?”
“I like your reason.”
A smile played across Eun-sung’s lips.
“It’s better than spouting flowery rhetoric dressed up in talk of justice and righteousness.”
“Is… is that so, sir?”
“If you’d been a smooth talker, I would’ve treated you the same as those Nine-Tail Crew bastards.”
“….”
Oh Tae-kwon’s expression hardened.
“Why are you trying to scare the kid?”
Choi Yu-ra’s brow furrowed.
“Who said I was scaring anyone?”
“You just did.”
“Did I?”
“How is that any different from saying you’d kill him?”
“Ah, I suppose so.”
Eun-sung scratched the back of his head.
“Don’t worry about it. I was just confirming something.”
“Confirming something, sir…?”
“It could’ve been some gang dispute, you know.”
Eun-sung was aware enough that Gaksidan wasn’t that kind of organization.
But that was only based on what the news had reported, so he didn’t know the true nature of things.
Besides, he didn’t trust the news anyway.
“A dispute? It’s just a turf war.”
Choi Yu-ra let out a scoff, as if mocking his refined phrasing.
“That’s absolutely not it, sir. We don’t even know who each other is.”
“Really?”
“Yes, hyung. And how could a ragtag bunch like us pick a turf war with the Nine-Tail crew? That’d be like throwing an egg at a rock…”
Unlike the reckless factory raid, he seemed to have a clear grasp of the situation.
“Still, it’s only been a short while since you escaped Jebu Island, and you’re already running around in a mask. If you die like this, there’s no point in me saving you.”
“I’m… I’m sorry. Hehe…”
Embarrassed, Oh Tae-kwon scratched the back of his head vigorously.
“By the way, what brings you here, hyung?”
“I have business.”
“Ah…?”
“Our purposes seem roughly similar. Want to tag along, or would you rather not?”
“If it’s with you, hyung, I’d follow you even to hell. Hehe.”
Oh Tae-kwon didn’t ask for reasons.
He vividly remembered how Eun-sung had saved not only his life but many others on Jebu Island.
“I won’t have any regrets. By tomorrow night, the fact that the Nine-Tail Crew controlled Bucheon will be ancient history.”
Eun-sung’s words carried absolute conviction.
* * *
A dilapidated warehouse on the outskirts of Bucheon,
“You call that an explanation?”
Gu Tae-il snarled at his subordinates lined up before him.
Crack!
Gu Tae-il began slapping his subordinates across the face from left to right.
“In. Just. One. Single. Night. You. Lost. Everything?”
Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!
“Ugh!”
“Gah!”
The Nine-Tail Crew’s executives gritted their teeth and steadied their posture.
Any loss of composure would make them prime targets for Gu Tae-il’s concentrated beatings.
If unlucky, they might not survive the ordeal.
The corpses piled behind Gu Tae-il proved it.
They were the remains of organization members he had indiscriminately executed for panicking or failing to answer his interrogations about informants cleanly.
“Nothing to say, you bastards? Tch!”
His bloodshot eyes darted about, searching for the next target for his rage.
“We apologize, boss!”
The Nine-Tail Crew’s executives shouted in unison.
“Incompetent idiots, imbeciles, worthless scum.”
Gu Tae-il hurled curses at them.
His fury was understandable.
The Nine-Tail Crew Office, Taeil Transportation, the Overdrive manufacturing factory.
Plus the gambling den and the labor office on top of that.
Seven key bases of the organization had been completely destroyed.
Nearly three hundred organization members had been killed or wounded in the process.
All in a single night.
“From this very moment….”
Gu Tae-il checked the time and opened his mouth.
The current time showed 5:25 AM.
“Before today ends, I want those bastards captured and brought to me. Alive. Do you understand?”
“Yes!!!”
The executives roared their affirmation.
“Why are you still standing around? Get moving! Run, you worthless dogs!”
“Y-yes!”
The executives fled from the warehouse like hunted animals.
“Whoever they are… when I catch them, I’ll strip the skin right off their bodies… and deep fry them in boiling oil… until they’re nothing but charred remains….”
Gu Tae-il’s voice dripped with murderous rage as he muttered to himself.
* * *
An abandoned building near Sosa Station.
“…This is uncomfortable.”
Choi Yu-ra woke with a frown etched across her face.
Having slept on a dust-covered sofa, my entire body ached with stiffness.
“Snore, whoooosh. Snore, whoooosh.”
“Grrrrrr…!”
The sound of Oh Tae-kwon and Doo-hyun snoring drifted from the adjacent room.
‘They’re completely knocked out.’
Current time: 16:00.
We’d entered the abandoned building around 05:00, so despite the uncomfortable sleeping conditions, I’d slept for nearly ten consecutive hours.
When I thought about it, there was nothing strange about that.
The exhaustion from Jebu Island hadn’t even fully dissipated yet.
And on top of that, I’d been running around causing chaos all night long….
‘Where did he go.’
My gaze swept across the interior of the abandoned building.
‘He’s sleeping well.’
Eun-sung lay dead asleep, leaning against a concrete wall.
Even in sleep, he gripped his gun, ready to respond to any surprise attack at a moment’s notice.
Since I was already awake, I picked up the blanket I’d been sleeping under and approached Eun-sung.
Perhaps because it was autumn, the air had grown quite chilly.
Not that a Hunter would catch a cold from sleeping in the cold.
‘Unnecessarily handsome. Hmph.’
Just as I was about to drape the blanket over him with genuine admiration, it happened.
Whoosh.
Eun-sung reflexively raised his gun barrel.
I even heard the click of the safety mechanism shifting.
Flinch!
I trembled involuntarily.
I’d nearly gotten a bullet hole through my skull while trying to cover him with a blanket.
“…What.”
Eun-sung recognized me and opened his mouth.
“What do you mean ‘what.’ I was just trying to drape this blanket over you. Why?”
“Why are you doing something so pointless.”
Eun-sung slowly lowered his gun barrel, his brow furrowing as if he genuinely couldn’t comprehend my actions.
“Pointless…?”
“Both of us are people who endure just fine even in extreme conditions. Why would you cover me with that? It’s not even particularly warm.”
“….”
“Why are you looking at me like that.”
“You’re annoying.”
“Who? Me?”
“You’re getting on my nerves,” she growled.
Choi Yu-ra snarled and spun around sharply.
“Wait.”
“What, what is it?”
“Not you.”
“…?”
“Come to think of it… isn’t he still stuck in the truck bed?”
Eun-sung’s face registered a sudden realization.
“Who?”
“That guy Yeom Taek-su or whatever his name is.”
“That tattooed pig?”
“Yeah.”
“Probably. Doesn’t look like anyone pulled him out.”
“Ugh.”
Eun-sung brushed himself off and stood up.
“He didn’t freeze to death, did he? That would be a problem.”
“Even if he’s low-rank, he’s still a Hunter, so he shouldn’t have turned into frozen pork belly. And he’s got plenty of fat on him anyway. Can’t say for sure, though.”
“I guess. I’ll go check and come back.”
“When you get back, hey. I need coffee the moment I wake up.”
Just as Eun-sung flipped his middle finger behind his back in response.
Thud, boom!
The truck bed lurched violently.
Crash!
A sound like something exploding erupted from inside the freezer compartment.

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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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