S-Rank is My Side Character (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 6

“Damn it… So that’s why I wondered why a cult leader would be somewhere other than a temple.”

Inside a large white room where hymns played in reverse, Rude took a startled step forward. Grade 4 gate boss monster: Leader of the White Fate Cult.

He lay in bed like a corpse, hooked up to every conceivable life-support device.

“He looks… kind of like a human…”

The IV drip and the oxygen mask he wore felt eerily familiar—just like something from a medical drama.

In real life, Na Ri had never been hospitalized, nor had anyone close to her, so this was the first time she’d ever seen such a scene in person.

“This is the first gate like this I’ve ever seen…”

Each gate is unique. Though people say “gate by gate,” shortened to “geba-ge,” this was the first of its kind even for Rude.

A gate that mirrored human life far too closely. Even its boss monster took the form of a human male.

“…I mean, if I get any closer, it’ll probably jump out like a ghost in a horror movie.”

[The Ruler of Chaos tilts his head, puzzled, saying, “Has our Na Ri always been weak to jump scares?”]

Ignoring the comment, Rude stepped forward once, twice. A white-haired man lay there, visibly weakened.

“What kind of gate is this, seriously…?”

[The Ruler of Chaos shrugs, saying, “But the rule remains unchanged—you can leave once you kill the boss monster.”]

“…True enough.”

Rude raised the Black Half Scissors toward the boss monster. Stabbing this creature in the abdomen with the scissors would end the game.

But because the monster resembled a human so uncannily, Rude’s hand hesitated for a moment. After taking a deep breath, he began to thrust the scissors downward.

“Huh…!”

Suddenly, the cult leader’s eyes snapped open and locked onto Rude. Their gazes met—the cult leader stared directly into Rude’s eyes with an utterly blank expression.

“Is this really Grade 4…?”

Most beings who held Rude’s gaze for long would instantly be overwhelmed by fear; only someone with extraordinary inner strength could resist it.

Yet this monster met his eyes head-on without flinching, leaving Rude utterly bewildered.

The boss monster slowly sat up and removed his oxygen mask.

Then he muttered,

“…You’re not the one I was waiting for.”

“W-What? Who are you…?”

“And you don’t seem like someone who could help that child, either.”

Thud-thud-thud-thud—With his words, a faint vibration rose from the floor. The boss monster slowly climbed off the bed with sluggish movements. A red message window popped up before Rude.

[Warning! The gate’s difficulty is sharply increasing.]

“In that case, I cannot simply hand you my neck without resistance.”

“What’s going on?”

Instantly, the boss monster’s domain transformed. White rose stems flooded the patient’s bedroom, then silently scattered away.

[Gate difficulty has been adjusted. Grade 4 → Grade 2] [Grade 2 gate boss monster encountered: Pontiff of Atonement!]

“Grade 2…?”

Rude’s eyes widened. Not only was it extremely rare for a gate’s difficulty to increase mid-clear, but Grade 2 gates were practically national-level disasters.

Since the East Sea Grade 1 gate a decade ago, all gates manifesting in Korea had ranged between Grades 4 and 5. The highest-grade gate in the past ten years had only ever been Grade 3.

At some point, the boss monster—now clad in white priestly robes—knelt slowly, hands clasped together as if in prayer.

“This gate was not made for you. Please leave.”

At the cult leader’s words, organ music echoed through the room. He stared at Rude with hollow eyes, from which wicked white magic began to surge. Rude let out a dry chuckle.

“Then how about opening an exit for the civilians first before telling me to leave…!”

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA—! Rude’s dark psychic energy swirled around the Black Half Scissors. He drove the scissors into the floor, glaring at the boss monster.

In that room saturated solely with malevolent black energy and sinister white magic, the boss monster slowly brought his hands together.

“…Then I suppose there’s no other way.”

His empty white eyes met Rude’s writhing black ones. Very slowly, the cult leader spread his arms wide. A white halo appeared behind him—and then…

“I must drive you out by force.”

At some point, a house-sized Hellspawn now stood behind him. Seven beastly heads crowned the Hellspawn, each drooling incessantly from its gaping maw.

Ten crimson horns, shaped like parasites, took root across the beasts’ foreheads.

Rude scowled at the grotesque Hellspawn. As if guessing his thoughts, an indirect message appeared.

[“That thing’s genuinely dangerous, Na Ri,” says the Ruler of Chaos, looking at you with a grave expression.]

“I know. Gotta get serious now.”

Rude figured anyone without mental fortitude would’ve gone insane just from seeing this monster. Raising the black scissors, he invoked a constellation’s power.

[Avatar-exclusive trait: Fragment of the Primordial Dream] [Using the power of Constellation ◼◼◼◼.] [Borrowing a spirit’s skill.] [Spirit ◼◼◼◼’s exclusive skill: Vampire of Living Flame] [“Do you really have to use that skill?” asks the Ruler of Chaos, frowning in disapproval.]

“Stop whining. You know we’re in a hurry.”

BOOM—!!! The moment Rude’s half-scissors—adorned with crimson flames and beastly claws—collided with the monster, a massive explosion erupted.

THUD! Using the blast’s momentum, Rude leaped onto the ceiling, then landed on the beast’s back and drove the black scissors deep into its flesh.

“Hah!”

With a firm press, crimson blood oozed out between the scissors and the torn flesh. His psychic energy reacted violently with the beast’s blood, igniting into blood-red flames that began to burn him from the inside out.

“You bastard! Don’t thrash around! I’ll fall off!”

The blood-red flames lashed out like tongues, trying to devour the beast. The monster shrieked in agony and thrashed wildly. Rude, clinging tightly to the half-scissors, struggled to keep his balance atop the writhing creature.

[The Hellspawn screams in pain!] [Status effect inflicted: Paralysis]

“Argh!!”

Rude, dangling from the scissors like a paper doll, finally tumbled off the beast’s back.

Still shrieking, the beast swung its claws at Rude. Rude leaped back several steps, a large gash now slashed across his arm.

“Hey! Hey! Stop it! STOP!!”

He conjured an avatar through illusion magic, but the beast refused to be fooled—it kept chasing only him. Damn it, it seemed most field boss monsters were naturally resistant to illusions—unless they were exceptionally well-made, they wouldn’t even work.

“We do not trust our senses. It’s too easy to be deceived. Only faith is truth. Only He is truth.”

The white cult leader smiled as Rude faced the snarling beast cornered against the wall. He hadn’t expected his avatar to fail him so badly.

ROOOOAAAR—!! In an instant, the beast’s claws pierced Rude’s abdomen.

“Ugh…!”

Rude summoned several spears mid-air as a last resort, but they quickly dissolved into black psychic energy and vanished. The white cult leader smiled as he watched him.

“I’ve heard physical pain is an illusionist’s greatest enemy—it breaks their concentration. Such fragile liars.”

At the cult leader’s words, Rude gave a bitter smirk. As if sensing his final moment, he let out a hollow laugh.

“So… was it really too much for me to handle a Grade 2 gate in this state…?”

“Of course it was. From the start, I’ve warned my beast: illusionists are all liars, so be extra cautious.”

“Really? Sounds like you got some good parenting.”

A dry female voice came from behind the cult leader. At the same moment, the Rude before him turned into a mannequin and collapsed to the floor.

The white cult leader’s eyes widened as he spun around. Until that voice spoke, there had been absolutely no presence behind him…! A woman with black hair in a ponytail, upturned eyes, and a hooded shirt stood ready, black scissors poised to strike.

“Wait—since when were you…?!”

“Exactly. It’s best not to trust illusionists.”

He’d been tricked. This woman was the real one. The black-clad man’s presence had been so overwhelming that the cult leader never noticed her. She’d deliberately amplified her avatar’s presence while hiding silently behind him.

‘Since when…? Ah—the explosion! She must’ve separated herself from the avatar right during that blast.’

The white cult leader instantly grasped the situation and ground his teeth. No—even without the avatar’s overwhelming presence, he probably still wouldn’t have noticed her.

With his limited perspective, he’d never seen a human capable of creating such a lifelike avatar.

“My servant! Come quickly and protect my body!”

Feeling the danger, the white cult leader distorted his face in rage and prepared to counterattack. White rose stems erupted from his robes. The beast charged toward him, ready to defend its master.

But her scissors struck first.

“You’re all just liars.”

The small woman sighed and lightly swung the Black Half Scissors.

THUD. The monster’s head dropped to the floor. That was the end. The white cult leader heard her voice one last time.

“Exactly. You shouldn’t have trusted your senses.”

[This is the timeline separator] [“This time, it actually felt a bit satisfying,” sighs the Ruler of Chaos.]

Her looting hands were busy. Rude’s avatar had suffered grievous wounds and would need time to recover.

So during looting, she had to stay as Na Ri. If someone arrived and caught her like this… Just the thought was horrifying.

“Seriously. How was I supposed to know the difficulty would spike like that? If I hadn’t sent only Rude’s avatar during the explosion, I’d have died for real. Luckily, there were no witnesses, so I didn’t even get the social-anxiety debuff.”

Na Ri recalled the moment, thinking how lucky she’d been. Through a black indirect message, she saw the Ruler of Chaos looking pleased.

[“Our Na Ri is both cautious and brilliant!” claps the Ruler of Chaos.]

“Of course! I’m rank 1, after all!”

Feeling triumphant, Na Ri proudly straightened her back. But the moment she checked the final item left by the boss monster before heading home, her face instantly fell.

[Item Info]

Name: Essence of the White Rose (L)

Type: Consumable (Single-use), Special

Effect: The white rose symbolizes “a new beginning.” Upon destruction, erases all your accumulated karma.

Special Note: Also nullifies your contract with the Constellation.

“What the hell? This is total trash…!”

[“You’d erase all the karma we’ve built together? O_O” says the Ruler of Chaos with a cute pout.]

“Shut up! This is clearly meant for good-aligned players!”

For evil-aligned characters like her, karma was a reward—not a burden. So this item was utterly useless to her. It might work on good-aligned players… but who’d ever sell it, knowing it breaks the Constellation contract?

After all that effort, she’d gotten absolutely nothing. Na Ri gnashed her teeth and sighed deeply.

“Ugh… Whatever. Maybe it’ll come in handy someday. Let’s just get home and stitch up Rude’s avatar.”

She picked up the Golden Half Scissors lying on the floor and stored it in her inventory, then looked over Rude’s collapsed avatar.

“It’s pretty badly torn. Guess I’ll spend all day tomorrow just sewing this. Aside from this and the lousy loot, it was actually a somewhat fulfilling day.”

After inspecting the long chest wound from various angles, Na Ri dispersed Rude’s avatar into black mist and stretched her arms with a long yawn.

[“What’ll you do about Master Golden Retriever?” asks the Ruler of Chaos.]

“Oh—Kang I Hyeon? That was probably just a random remark. I won’t ever see him again once I leave here. Why was he even alone in the first place? Doesn’t he have a partner? Was he really here to see me?”

[“Seems like he really likes you,” chuckles the Ruler of Chaos.]

“Not really happy about that… People’s attention is such a burden.”

The Ruler of Chaos sent Na Ri another indirect message—one with slightly alarming content.

[“Na Ri, you might want to look to your side,” says the Ruler of Chaos, pointing beside her.]

“Huh? My side? Why…?”

Na Ri casually glanced to the side—and froze completely.

CLANG! The sound of a golden holy sword hitting the floor echoed through the gate.

Kang I Hyeon stared at Na Ri with wide, stunned eyes. Silence filled the gate. With a robotic expression, Kang I Hyeon slowly raised his hand and pointed at Na Ri.

“Y-Y-You… Y-You’re R-R-Ru-Ru-Ru-Rude…!”

[“Now the real fun begins,” says the Ruler of Chaos, putting on 3D glasses.]

Exactly six years, two months, seven days, and twenty-one seconds since she began operating her secret account.

This was the precise moment her main identity—Shin Bit Na Ri—was fully exposed.