The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 332: Second, Third (1)

Everything was fully prepared on the hospital rooftop for the patient. However, Han Yuhyun had no intention whatsoever of handing his brother over to anyone else. Even among awakeners, Han Yuhyun exuded such a presence that lower ranks couldn’t even meet his eyes. So Park Yerim stepped forward in his place.

“He’s not injured or anything, so we can go like this. Don’t let any healers approach unnecessarily, just guide us to the room. You were told not to use any potions either, right?”

At Park Yerim’s words, the hospital staff led them from a distance to the elevator designated for the special room. It was a ward Han Yujin had once stayed in before. As she headed to the room, Park Yerim made a few calls. After notifying Haeyeon of the situation, she briefly explained the circumstances to Yu Myungwoo and Noah.

“Should I tell Breaker too?”

“Just the guild leader is enough.”

“And we should let Chief Song know too, right?”

Han Yuhyun nodded. In the meantime, the elevator stopped. Before the doors even opened, Han Yuhyun furrowed his brows. Peace also let out a low growl. Park Yerim stepped out of the elevator first and quickly motioned for them to follow.

“I know you don’t like it, but we don’t have a choice. Mister isn’t just normally sick either.”

Park Yerim muttered quietly. The only hunter-only hospital at the moment was still affiliated with Sesung. Other large hospitals might have healers and systems for detox and recovery, but they weren’t specialized. Above all, their understanding of special injuries caused by dungeons and skills was often lacking. Even without those concerns, this was still the safest option.

However, it didn’t take long before Park Yerim also frowned slightly. At the end of the long hallway, two people stood as if waiting. The hospital staff following behind immediately stiffened and stopped a fair distance away. Belare flinched and tightly wrapped herself around Park Yerim’s arm. Only Chirp flapped his small wings calmly as if saying hello.

“Han Yujin.”

A quiet voice echoed through the hallway. Golden eyes looked directly at Han Yujin. If it were only a glance, it wouldn’t be strange. But the oppressive atmosphere filling the corridor was openly picking a fight. A tension that made it seem like weapons could be drawn at any moment spread through the air.

Park Yerim stood in front of Han Yujin as if shielding him and faced Seong Hyunjae. Her gaze met his directly, not retreating an inch.

“Mister’s not receiving visitors until he wakes up. Especially not if you came empty-handed. You should’ve brought at least some soy milk.”

“I left in a hurry, so I was unprepared.”

“Then please step aside.”

“I’m already off to the side.”

The hallway was wide enough for them to pass easily. Seong Hyunjae politely raised a hand and pointed to a room at the far end. Han Yuhyun, who had briefly stopped, resumed walking. The sound of his footsteps echoed softly down the hallway.

As Seong Hyunjae and Han Yuhyun, and Han Yujin drew closer, the surrounding air grew increasingly tense. As if a single spark would cause an explosion, in that atmosphere, Seong Hyunjae closed his eyes. In an instant, the tension eased, and Han Yuhyun passed by him. Park Yerim let out a short sigh and followed Han Yuhyun with Peace. Before long, the sound of a door opening and closing was heard.

“What was that about?”

Kang Soyeong, who had been quietly standing by, asked with a puzzled look.

“You didn’t come to pick a fight, and nothing good would’ve come from doing so either. You were complaining about Mister’s condition earlier, but now your actions are the complete opposite.”

A slow smile formed on Seong Hyunjae’s lips. Kang Soyeong blinked and looked up at his face. His golden eyes, slowly opening, gave off such an otherworldly glow that they no longer felt human. She was suddenly reminded of the first time she met him. Back then, she had thought he wasn’t human. If the most powerful and beautiful dragon wore human skin, would it look like this?

Her instincts had sounded a danger alarm, but Kang Soyeong hadn’t hesitated to jump into that danger. The cost of that choice was satisfying, and recently, she even felt happier than ever. But she still couldn’t understand her superior. He was human like her, but the real dragons around her somehow felt closer.

“If I told you that I was holding myself back as much as possible, would you believe it?”

“What?”

“What did he do this time, I wonder.”

Seong Hyunjae opened his clenched fist. A few drops of blood dripped down his fingers. Kang Soyeong looked at it with wide, surprised eyes.

It was a complicated emotion. Strong enough that it was hard to resist the impulse. More than anything, to Seong Hyunjae right now, Han Yujin was a dangerous existence. He threatened Seong Hyunjae’s uniqueness as a human and had even stolen a part of him. And that part still remained in Han Yujin’s body.

It’s part of me. His instincts whispered to seize it immediately and sink his teeth in to reclaim it. But it was still bearable. The sharp sensation itself was even somewhat enjoyable. When else would he feel something this strange?

But just moments ago, Han Yujin had been even more provocative. For a second, it made his whole body tingle. The part of him still connected to Seong Hyunjae had conveyed that Han Yujin had recently encountered something truly immense.

What on earth had happened this time? It was almost impossible to resist the urge to dig into it immediately. If Han Yujin had been standing alone in front of him, he might not have been able to hold back. He didn’t want to lose him, and yet at the same time, he wanted to tear him away with his own hands.

“You make my heart race like this every time—how could I not like you?”

“There you go again, talking like that. For now, you’re here to visit someone who’s sick.”

The oppressive pressure had vanished, and hospital staff, who had been cautiously observing from a distance, began to carefully pass by the two of them. Sticking as close to the opposite wall as possible and bowing their heads awkwardly—it looked quite ridiculous. Kang Soyeong gave them an apologetic smile.

“It’s convenient for us that Mister has the guild leader’s attention, but please, be a little careful. I beg you. He’s the director of the Breeding Facility and the older brother of Haeyeon’s guild leader. I’m a lover of peace.”

“That’s true. I probably should’ve paid more attention to the young master.”

It was rare to hear regret in his tone, and Kang Soyeong looked surprised again, then quickly became serious.

“It’s too late now. If you mess with Haeyeon’s guild leader, Mister won’t stand for it.”

“I’m not interested now. I was talking about three years ago.”

Han Yuhyun awakened a few months after dungeons first appeared, and at that time, Seong Hyunjae was already expanding his influence overseas. He had heard about the appearance of a new S-rank awakener in Korea while abroad. Later, at the first and last S-rank awakener meeting hosted by the Hunter Association, he met Han Yuhyun and noticed his true nature, but simply passed him by.

To Seong Hyunjae, he wasn’t even worth taking an interest in. More independent than Liette, there was no need to get involved.

“If I’d taken a closer look back then, I might’ve noticed something about Han Yujin too.”

But he hadn’t. Even when Han Yuhyun, out of character, began building and growing a guild, he was the same. Since he held out for quite a while, Seong Hyunjae glanced his way, but lost interest again upon seeing how indifferent he was to others. Instead, he ended up fooling around with Seok Gimyeong for a bit.

He had even considered him a candidate to take over responsibility for Korea—so why hadn’t he investigated his family? That thought crossed his mind, but truthfully, even now, the relationship between Han Yujin and Han Yuhyun remained utterly baffling. It was an exceptional case, so naturally difficult to grasp, and perhaps understandable that he had overlooked it—but he still regretted it.

What if he had known Han Yujin three years ago? Their relationship now would certainly have been very different.

“If it had been right after the brothers were separated, it would’ve been easy to worm my way in.”

It would’ve been entertaining in many ways. Kang Soyeong looked at her superior with sharp eyes.

“Are you seriously regretting not tormenting Mister, who must’ve already had a hard time back then? You really are…”

“The Breeding Facility would’ve become part of Sesung.”

“Why didn’t you do it! What a waste. I could’ve commuted to the Facility!”

“Just yesterday, you skipped work to go on a date with Liette…”

“Well, look at me now—I’m paying for it with my whole body. I’ve taken on the most avoided task in Sesung: accompanying the guild leader. If Mister had been part of Sesung, I could’ve passed this on too!”

Kang Soyeong let out a sigh full of lingering regret. Despite being an A-rank hunter, she had decent affinity with powerful dragonkin regardless of rank, so she was able to deal with Seong Hyunjae without much issue. As a result, she often ended up saddled with her troublesome boss. Still, it wasn’t without its burdens—Han Yujin’s presence was something she genuinely appreciated. That, and also Chief Song Taewon.

Kang Soyeong glanced around and lowered her voice.

“You say all that, but are you really going to leave the country while Mister’s like this? I’ve heard things are chaotic everywhere.”

Korea had suffered the least damage from the mass monster outbreaks. Only a few low-grade dungeons had burst, and they were handled quickly, allowing life to return to normal in no time. In fact, with higher dungeon safety and detection systems now in place, the situation was even better than before the monster crisis.

But things were different in other countries. Some places still hadn’t cleared the monsters that had appeared. Russia and China, while not as bad as Japan, were still struggling to deal with numerous relatively high-grade monsters.

Because of that, it was hard for Seong Hyunjae to stay in Korea much longer. If he wasn’t careful, the overseas influence he had worked so hard to build over the past three years could suffer a hit.

Seong Hyunjae let out a dramatically heavy sigh.

“Maybe I should just kidnap him.”

“Aren’t you even a little sorry to Chief Song?”

“Our dear Chief Song Taewon should take a business trip abroad soon too. He’s been in Korea for a long time. Maybe I’ll donate a private jet to the Government Bureau.”

Kang Soyeong made a half-hearted apology, “Sorry, Chief Song,” without sincerity. Still, if both of them left, life would be a lot easier for those who remained.

“Just give us a heads-up so we can prepare. One wrong move and the guild building might go up in flames. No insurance company covers fire damage even if we’ve got a bunch of high-rank hunters.”

“I should make one more offer to accompany me, at least. I wonder what the most popular lipstick brand is these days. My partner seems to have picked up a new hobby.”

Han Yujin would’ve thrown a fit if he heard that. Kang Soyeong, chuckling, said, “He had his nails done too,” and pulled out her phone.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was an unfamiliar ceiling. Though, to be honest, it wasn’t all that unfamiliar. I’d been a guest here once before.

“Hyung, are you okay?”

Yuhyun’s voice came through. I blinked, and his face came into view. I thought I saw something weird attached to his head just before I passed out again after waking earlier.

“Mister, are you alright?”

Yerim’s voice followed. Peace, Chirp, and Belare were there too. I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t gather any strength in my body.

“Stay lying down. They said you’d be sick for a day.”

“How long has it been?”

“Just one night. It’s morning now.”

Surely they didn’t stay up all night… They’re still in yesterday’s clothes.

“Yuhyun, and you too, Yerim—did neither of you sleep at all?”

“How could we sleep? And one night is nothing. Even non-awakeners my age can pull an all-nighter.”

Youth really is something. Though I’m still young too. It was just one night, but I asked if anything had happened. They said Myungwoo and Noah came by during the night. But neither could stay long due to the current focus on Seok Hayan’s lab.

Listening to Yuhyun and Yerim’s nagging, I opened my inventory.

[Shard of the Black Dragon’s Heart — ?

A strong fire energy is imbued.]

The description had changed from before. A fire-attribute monster magic stone—Haeyeon probably had a few of those.

“Yuhyun, prep some magic stones. We have S-rank ones, right? No SS-ranks, I guess?”

At my words, my brother’s mouth twisted in displeasure. He looked like he couldn’t be more annoyed. Yerim, who didn’t know the situation, also furrowed her brow.

“Mister, what are you trying to do now?”

“You know that sword Yuhyun just got? I’m going to upgrade it.”

“Huh? You are?”

“It’s a bit of a special sword. Oh, Yerim, let’s go to a dungeon together later. There’s someone I want to introduce you to.”

“I heard you’ve picked up another weirdo.”

Weirdo, huh. What exactly did Yuhyun say about him? Anyway, he’s someone who’s going to be my teacher. Should I buy a fruit basket when I go? I should’ve asked what he likes.

“Do it after you’ve recovered. You can’t even get up yet.”

“It just feels like I’m a bit weak, but I think I’m fine.”

I said I’d rest, so they should rest too, and closed my eyes. My body was limp, and there were still mountains of work ahead, but even so, my mind felt a lot lighter. I lacked both information and practical power. If only the ones outside would stop interfering, I was confident we could survive just fine on our own. But there was no way to stop that interference.

Then, after the rookie, a trustworthy transcendent being—Young Chaos—had appeared. And supposedly the strongest of them all. It felt like I’d finally found a ship after drifting in an endless ocean.

I couldn’t rely on him completely yet, but still. At the very least, in the very end, maybe I could entrust the kids to him. I let out a soft breath and slipped back into sleep.