The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 264: Water Spirit (3)

“Wow, I’ve never seen a spirit core that big before.”

Yerim said as she looked at the enormous pearl held inside the giant clam—so big, not even three adults linking arms could wrap around it. The pearl, glowing with a milky-white light, actually looked small compared to the clam’s massive size.

“A core?”

“Yes. When spirits age, their power accumulates and turns into a gem-like thing like that. It’s also called a spirit stone. Even if a spirit loses its core, they don’t die—but they do get weaker. It’s like losing all the power they’ve built up.”

Yerim said the biggest one she’d ever seen was about this size, making a large circle with her arms.

“The white whale. I heard that whale lived over five hundred years.”

Then how old was this spirit? Had it lived thousands of years?

-Welcome.

A deep and weighty voice greeted us. As we descended farther, it felt less like a clam and more like we were facing a towering, white wall. A fog-like mist drifted out from the spirit, swirling softly around our feet.

“Hello.”

Yerim, unlike how she usually addressed other spirits, used formal language. Since it was said to be the oldest, I also felt a little intimidated.

“Um, I told the other spirits I’m someone from another world, but… it’s a bit more complicated than that. So…”

Yerim trailed off, looking at me, unsure whether she could explain or how she should go about it.

“This world was created using the data of a world that already perished in the past. It’s not real—it was artificially generated. The original world is gone.”

-So it is, as I suspected.

“…Excuse me?”

-I realized it when the world shook for the third time.

He must mean when we installed the third disc. The mist around us grew denser. It was thick enough that even Yerim’s face, standing right beside me and shielding me from the water, looked slightly blurry.

-But there is a way. You are aware of the spirit eggs, correct?

“Oh, yes. The multi-colored eggs.”

-They are the result of spirits from a dying world joining forces to create something. By turning themselves into items, they made it possible to travel to a new world.

I suddenly remembered how Iryn had said she knew many things from the moment she was born. Could it be that the knowledge of the spirits who created the egg had been passed on?

-However, it takes a long time for an egg to awaken. In places with strong elemental affinity in the target world, it can take decades—or even over a hundred years. If nurtured by spirits of the same attribute in their native world, it may hatch sooner, but it still requires more than a year.

“More than a year? But the fire spirit that came with us awakened as soon as it touched the power of another fire spirit.”

-It was thanks to the nurturer’s help.

“What?”

-With the nurturer’s aid, the hatching process is greatly accelerated. We had nurturers in our world as well, but you seem to possess even greater power.

…I had used the My Kid Is the Best skill on Iryn’s egg. Nothing popped up, but maybe it had some effect.

“Then if they make the egg into an item, we should be able to take it out with us, right? Mister can hatch it later.”

“Probably…?”

Even if it wasn’t a quest reward or something from the point shop, Rookie might be able to help with just one egg.

“They might take points in exchange.”

“I’ve got tons of points!”

Yerim shouted happily, then quickly grew serious again as she looked at the clam.

“But will the spirits agree to it?”

-Of course. It’s a way for part of themselves to live on. Are there any water spirits in your world?

“Probably just the fire spirit. Right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Iryn said she was the first.”

-Then it’ll take longer to hatch, but with the nurturer’s help, it’ll awaken quickly. So that fire spirit… is the first, is she?

Everything turned white. Mist. I couldn’t even see Yerim anymore, let alone my own hands. It was too thick. And it felt bad. I suddenly remembered Choi Seokwon’s jellyfish monster and its suffocating fog. At that moment, Yerim—

…Huh?

“I’m back!”

The door burst open and Yerim ran in, fanning herself with her hand as she immediately opened the fridge.

“Ugh, it’s hot. Uncle, you got off work early today?”

“Uh? Oh, uh… yeah.”

She drained a glass of water in one go and flopped onto the sofa. A Hunter-related program was on TV.

“I want to awaken already! I wanna be a Hunter!”

“The Awakening Center doesn’t take minors. And why would you want to do something dangerous anyway.”

Awakening aside, it’s better not to become a Hunter. The world may have changed, but most people still live ordinary lives.

Yerim picked up the remote and changed the channel. A brief segment showed the Sesung Guild winning a new S-rank dungeon bid, and the Guild Leader appeared for a moment.

“Do you think the Sesung Guild Leader is actually that handsome in real life? Or is it just the camera?”

“He’s disgustingly good-looking. Even better in person.”

“Huh? You’ve seen him before?”

“Well…”

I was about to say I’d met him several times—but my words stopped. Why would I have seen the Sesung Guild Leader? But I felt like I had. Was it a dream?

“Haeyeon’s Guild Leader is the most popular with the kids, but Sesung has a lot of fans too.”

“He’s totally a Mister to your generation. The Haeyeon Guild Leader’s way better.”

He’s basically dad-age. I’m already twice Yerim’s age, but Seong Hyunjae is even older than that… No, wait—I’m twenty-five now. That’s why people sometimes mistook us for siblings with a big age gap, not uncle and niece. I only have one little brother—actually, I don’t have one.

…Don’t I?

Something felt off. I definitely didn’t have a younger sibling. Yerim felt like a little sister, sure. I’d known her since she was young, played with her, taken care of her, and lived with her ever since she was left alone. People around us worried, asking how I, a kid myself, could raise a niece—but to me, she was more precious than anything else.

It’d be a lie to say it wasn’t hard, but our Yerim was so good-natured. My little sister was, really…

…Something’s not right.

“Yerim, Mister—”

…Not ‘uncle’?

“I—I’m just going out for a bit.”

“Okay, see you later.”

I left the house. It was an apartment. One I’d never seen before. I didn’t live here. Then where? Where was I supposed to go? I forced myself not to think as I flagged down a taxi and spoke the first words that came to mind.

“Haeyeon Guild.”

Haeyeon Guild. At some point, I had gotten out of the taxi and was standing there. And I saw the Haeyeon Guild Leader. Han Yuhyun.

“Yuhyun.”

My little brother. The moment I thought that, mist settled around me. Mist. Spirits. Just as something began to rise in my mind—

“It’s dangerous, Mister!”

Yerim pulled me back, yanking me out of the way. A blade filled with heat slashed just past my nose.

“Fire spirits are dangerous! And their contractors are violent too!”

“What?”

This was seriously wrong. Why was Yerim calling Yuhyun dangerous?

“Yerim, ack—!”

The back of my neck was grabbed roughly. I was flung and rolled across the ground. I was lucky I was C-rank right now… Wait? No, I’m F-rank—no, I haven’t even awakened—ah, shit!

“Stop digging around in someone else’s head! Ow—wait, Han Yuhyun!”

Flames surged through the mist. I rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the attack. The heat passing by was intense, but strangely, not that hot. There’s no way Yuhyun’s fire would be this weak. And why the hell is my little brother attacking me?

“The real one, ?!”

A blade grazed my arm and stabbed into the floor. Then a foot pinned down my chest. I knew it was fake—but the cold look in my brother’s eyes felt awful.

“I’ll save you, Mister! That person is really dangerous, so I have to eliminate—”

“…Cut the crap in Yerim’s form, spirit.”

At my outstretched fingertip, a white gun appeared. I pulled the trigger. If it were the real Yuhyun, that wouldn’t even leave a scratch. But the fake scattered like mist. As I got up, I threw a bomb randomly in any direction.

Puff—there was a small noise. Being underwater, it couldn’t make much sound or force.

“Hey! Our Yerim doesn’t treat Yuhyun like a threat! She might say he’s messed up in the head, but that’s it!”

And then she’d probably smack him on the back of the head, telling him to get it together. Eliminate him, my ass. Same goes for Yuhyun.

“What’s your goal?!”

Don’t tell me this thing is with the Filial Duty Addict crew. Or maybe connected to the ones trying to breach the Forest of the Black Ox outside this dungeon. The mist is similar to that jellyfish guy’s. I was way too careless.

If installing the discs lets Rookie step in, it means the Filial Duty Addicts could too. We haven’t heard from Rookie yet, but…

-Yerim is better.

“…What?”

The spirit spat out nonsense.

-The fire spirit is really dangerous. It’s in their nature. They greedily devour everything they want. That’s just what they are. So love Yerim the most. It’s better for the nurturer too. I’ll protect you from the fire spirit and its contractor.

“What kind of idiotic nonsense is that?”

It was so absurd I actually felt calm. Maybe it wasn’t related to the Filial Duty Addicts after all.

“I don’t care what their nature is—my little brother would never hurt me. Yerim doesn’t need to protect me from him.”

-They can’t suppress themselves forever. That’s the nature of fire. It devours, burns, and allows no one near. The nurturer loves Yerim too, right? I’m not saying to abandon the fire. Just keep Yerim closer. That’s better for the nurturer.

The way it said for Yerim’s sake stung in my ears. And my conscience too. But just because it said that—

THUD! A heavy banging sound rang out. Then—TONG! THUD! Another deep vibration rippled through the water.

“Mister!”

It was Yerim. The mist cleared, and I saw part of the sea had frozen in a long stretch. A massive pillar tilted and struck the clam’s shell with a loud TONG!

“Yerim!”

“You idiot, you did something stupid, didn’t you!”

-It wasn’t something stupid!

The spirit shouted in protest.

-Yerim is anxious too! Because you’re not her real family, she worries she’ll be left behind! She wonders how far she’ll be accepted! She’s afraid that if she wasn’t an awakener—if she became just an ordinary person—it’d all disappear…

“Hey!”

Yerim screamed. Her face flushed bright red.

“How dare you blurt all that out, you idiot!”

THUD! Another huge chunk of ice slammed against the clam.

“Yerim.”

“I just thought that way sometimes, only sometimes!”

“I would never…”

“I know! I do know.”

Yerim spoke as if it were nothing, patting her flushed cheeks lightly with her palms.

“But even so, those thoughts still come up. You remember when I said I imagined it, like it was something I dreamed? It’s been months now, but it still kinda feels like a dream. I get scared it’ll suddenly vanish. And because it’s all so good right now, I don’t want to lose it. You know what I mean.”

“Ugh, this is so embarrassing,” Yerim grumbled.

“I was a little self-conscious too, yeah. But I’ve eaten way more scraps and lived through worse, and just like when I first met you, Mister, I’m not the type to just stay quiet. With you and Han Yuhyun, it’s just… I like you both, so I want to go along with you. …You’re gonna say, ‘Why would you care about that kind of thing,’ aren’t you.”

“No, I’m not.”

“…I just don’t want to lose it again.”

“Me neither. I mean, not as long as you, Yerim, but I was separated from Yuhyun for years. I don’t want to go back to that time. Never again.”

“It still amazes me, no matter how many times I hear it. How did Han Yuhyun even manage that.”

Yerim smiled softly.

“It would’ve been nice if you really were my family.”

“You are my family.”

“A new one. Hey, you!”

A spear made of ice appeared in Yerim’s hand. She jabbed the tip against the clam.

“It’s true, I really like Mister a lot. I do get a little jealous of Han Yuhyun sometimes. But my mom and dad loved me the most! I already have that! I don’t need you making a fake one for me!”

— But. But if you have the nurturer, you don’t have to feel uncertain anymore!

“I seriously want to drag Han Yuhyun here and show him this. You have no idea how nervous our guild leader gets because of Mister.”

…Why are you stabbing me in the heart now?

“Besides, I’m actually totally fine. I mean, being a little insecure now and then is normal, right? I was nervous when grades came out too. I thought Han Yuhyun might look at me like I was pathetic. But when I brought it up, he just said I was growing fast as a Hunter. I have other worries too, but these days I barely cry even when I think about Mom and Dad. Mister, don’t say anything!”

I shut my mouth immediately. But still—

“So don’t go trying to help me without asking. If I’m really having a hard time, I’ll tell you. I bet Han Yuhyun would help too. So would Hyunah unnie. And Soyeong unnie, of course. I have tons of people in Haeyeon and Breaker who care about me. There’s Eunha unnie, and Song Hye unnie, and Yujin unnie who has the same name as you. And…”

She started listing names—some I recognized, others I’d never heard before.

“If I ever need help, I’ve got more than enough people who’ll be there for me.”

— …I just wanted to help too.

“That’s fine. You can help. Just talk to me first. And anyway, I came here to ask for help.”

Yerim reached out her hand toward the spirit.

“Help me take the spirit with me. I’ll love it a whole lot.”

— …Yes, Lady Yerim.

The spirit’s enormous body gave a faint shudder. The clam shell dissolved like mist, leaving only a pure white pearl behind, which began to shrink. It floated down, small enough to fit in the palm of Yerim’s hand.

— My pearl will serve as the foundation for the egg. Tell the others. Let them know you intend to take a spirit egg with you. Then they’ll join their power.

“Thank you. Really.”

Yerim hesitated for a moment but didn’t ask the spirit if it would be okay. So I asked instead.

“When the world shook for the third time… could you tell me more about how you realized this place wasn’t real?”