The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 342: It’s a Secret (2)

“You want to go to a dungeon?”

“Yeah. It’s E-rank. The dungeon isn’t the point, I just have something I want to tell you.”

Yerim tilted her eyebrows and stared at me.

“…You had to take me all the way to a dungeon for that?”

“It’s just… something like a secret I was keeping. I already told Yuhyun.”

Seeing that she looked a bit worried about something else, I explained, and Yerim’s expression brightened again.

“Alright! So it’s just the two of us going?”

“Peace is coming too, just in case, but yeah, it’s the two of us.”

“There’s not going to be some kind of incident in the dungeon again, right?”

“It’s fine right now.”

Contact was blocked so thoroughly that nothing could happen. Yerim, excited by my words, pulled out the car keys. I should’ve gotten a driver’s license too…

The E-rank dungeon I’d reserved for clearing was in Gangnam. Because of its low rank, only the dungeon building had been constructed, and the surrounding scenery remained unchanged. Once inside the dungeon building, Yerim took out her phone and made a call.

“I’m going on a date with Mister, just the two of us!”

[What? Where are you—!]

…Wasn’t that Yuhyun’s voice? Yerim hung up without even letting him finish and turned off the phone completely, then grinned.

“This isn’t really a date though.”

“Why not? If it’s just two people going out together, it’s a date. My mom and dad say they’re going on a date with their daughter too. When Dad calls, Mom says, ‘I’m out on a date with our daughter!’”

Yerim didn’t usually bring up her parents. Maybe she felt a little more comfortable with me now.

“Alright, let’s go in before Yuhyun gets here!”

“Okay~”

Yerim and I placed our phones, including Peace’s phone, into the storage box and entered the dungeon. Inside was an autumn field. Flowers similar to cosmos were blooming in abundance.

“The weather’s nice here.”

“The monsters are pretty too.”

“Then it’ll be a shame to kill them.”

“Probably not.”

Peace jumped down from my arms and enlarged his body. It wasn’t long after we mounted him that monsters appeared in the flower field. They were round orbs of light about the size of a fist, with sparkling, translucent butterfly wings. Dozens of glowing clusters flew around like giant fireflies.

“Wow, those are monsters?”

“They look harmless, but those sparkles are all poison. When attacked, they explode and scatter poisonous dust. For an E-rank, they’re strong, so low-rank Hunters have a hard time clearing them.”

Yerim probably saw them as just pretty sparkles. Wearing a bracelet with poison resistance, Yerim didn’t even bother taking out her spear and simply waved one hand lightly. Droplets formed in the air, transforming into dozens of thin ice needles that flew toward the monsters.

Pop, pop!

The orbs of light exploded one after another. It was like tiny fireworks had gone off. Glittering lights danced in the air and settled on the petals. The wide flower field shimmered in the wind, scattering light all over. Yerim’s eyes were also filled with glimmering reflections.

“So pretty! It’d be nice if we could take pictures in the dungeon.”

“Just wait a little longer. They’re working on equipment for that.”

Development was progressing smoothly, I heard. Soon, dungeon raid broadcasts would probably make a comeback like before regression.

“So what’s the secret you wanted to tell me?”

Yerim asked as she picked a flower.

“You can’t take that out. It’s not about that. Actually, I…”

Now that I was about to say it, I felt a bit awkward. I got down from Peace and stood facing Yerim.

“Um, the thing is. I regressed.”

“Huh? What?”

“Time.”

Yerim tilted her head, clearly confused.

“Like, you know, like a time machine. I came back from five years in the future to the present. Just before I met you.”

“…Whoa, wait, you can do that?”

“There was an item that could turn back time.”

“Oh my god, seriously, oh wow. Then Mister knows the future? Did you memorize lottery numbers?”

“It happened all of a sudden. I didn’t have time to memorize them.”

“Then stocks! Uh, they crashed, didn’t they.”

“…The world’s not exactly the same.”

Why is this conversation going this way?

“It’s fine. Mister’s rich even without lottery or stocks. You made it!”

“Well, yeah. I got to meet you too.”

“Oh, so before going back, I mean before the regression, you didn’t know me at all. Makes sense.”

Yerim hesitated a little before speaking.

“What was I like?”

“Yerim, you were a strong Hunter back then too. Awakened as an A-rank all on your own, and you were famous as an ice-wielding Hunter. I only saw you on TV, so I didn’t know much else.”

“You only saw me on TV? So we really didn’t know each other.”

“Most people were like that. I saw Yuhyun because he’s my brother, and I came across people from Haeyeon Guild because of him. But before regression, I didn’t know you, or Myungwoo, or Noah, or Minui, or Hayan, or anyone from the other buildings, or Liette, or Kang Soyeong, not even the Sesung Guild Leader.”

The people now at the breeding facility, at the building, by my side—except for Do Hamin, none of them were part of my life before.

“Were you lonely?”

“Huh?”

“I think I would’ve been.”

Yerim spun the flower between her fingers as she spoke.

“I told you before. Mister suddenly appeared in front of me like a fairy tale. But originally, that wasn’t the case, right?”

“…Yeah. Before the regression, I didn’t have the power to bring you with me. I awakened later than I did this time, and I heard you awakened when you were in high school.”

“Ugh, then I would’ve had to stay at my uncle’s for a few more years… Mister, thank you so much for coming.”

Yerim shook her head like it was unbearable. In the meantime, another wave of monsters appeared. Once again, they were swept away in a single motion by Yerim’s hand. The sparkling lights scattered far and wide.

“Still, it’s a relief you had Han Yuhyun.”

Even knowing she would’ve suffered longer, she thought of me first. It was kind of her. So I became a little more honest too.

“This is a secret even from Yuhyun.”

“Even from Han Yuhyun?”

“Yeah. Actually, Yuhyun and I didn’t reconcile as quickly as we did this time. So… it was tough. In many ways.”

Yerim’s eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe it.

“Even being apart for three years must have been really hard. Was it even longer than that?”

“The situation was worse. So I got criticized a lot more too.”

“Criticized? Why? Why you?”

“Even in these past three years, I’ve been criticized. After Yuhyun awakened, I didn’t even know where he was. Since he awakened as an S-Rank, the Hunter Association kept him hidden for his protection. He was literally missing.”

For several days, it really felt like I was going to die. Then, just when I thought he’d finally come home, Yuhyun had awakened—and then he left again.

“After I found out Yuhyun had awakened, I tried everything to bring him back. Then rumors started spreading. That I was trying to hold my brother back.”

I figured it was probably the Association spreading those. An S-Rank Hunter was too valuable to stop their activity. It wasn’t as bad as before the regression, but it still hurt a lot. It was one of the reasons I couldn’t bring myself to touch the money Yuhyun sent.

“How could they say that about Mister.”

“To others, it probably seemed convincing. Clinging to him, saying don’t be a Hunter. It got worse… People love to add to things.”

People who talk badly about others are like snowballs rolling downhill. Once they latch onto someone’s mistake, they don’t stop. Everyone jumps in. Sure, there are people who deserve the criticism, but there are also people who only made a small mistake or didn’t do anything wrong at all, and they get crushed under the growing snowball just the same. Once the words are said, that’s it. The person who said them forgets and moves on like it’s nothing.

“So yeah, it was really tough. And now I’ve ended up dumping all this on you, Yerim.”

“No, I’m glad you told me. You said not even Han Yuhyun knows, right?”

“I’d rather he didn’t.”

It’s not something that can be changed, and it wasn’t even Yuhyun’s fault. He tried his best, but it just didn’t go well. That’s how the world works. If everything turned out well just because you tried, wouldn’t that be nice.

That’s why I didn’t want him to know something that would only hurt him.

“I’ll keep my mouth shut. I’ll lock it, type a random password, and send it to be emailed in a hundred years.”

Yerim covered her mouth with her hand, then spoke again.

“Mister told me a secret even Han Yuhyun doesn’t know, so I want to do the same, but I don’t really have anything. It’s not exactly a secret, but when I was a baby, apparently I hated crawling. I crawled a little, then didn’t like it and just cried, and after that I never moved again. Mom and Dad were worried, and then one day, I was just standing up holding onto a wall.”

“Really? That must’ve been so cute.”

“They even recorded my first steps. Not anymore, though.”

“…Should we try looking for it?”

“They probably threw it out a long time ago. Oh, and kindergarten—I went to Sprout Kindergarten, and I had this doll I really loved. It was a dog. This big, and spotted.”

As if digging through her memory, Yerim started to share bits of her childhood. Fun things, sad things, things that made her angry, things that made her happy. One by one, as she grew older—then she stopped. The year her parents passed away.

She stood quietly for a long time, like the film had suddenly stopped rolling.

“…Sometimes I wanted to forget because remembering hurt so much. But now I feel like it’d be a shame to forget.”

“Yeah. Those are good memories.”

“Right. And now it doesn’t hurt as much anymore. I said all that and I’m not even crying.”

Even as she said that, Yerim’s eyes were red.

“So what if you cry a little.”

“It’s embarrassing. Crying.”

“What’s there to be embarrassed about. Crying’s just crying. People say you should cry when you need to. It’s not like you’re hurting anyone. People who complain about others crying are the ones in the wrong.”

It’s a natural emotion, and there’s nothing wrong with it.

“I felt a lot better after I cried too.”

“Still embarrassing, though.”

“Then come here. I won’t look.”

I opened my arms and hugged Yerim. She hugged me back and let out a sigh.

“Mister, you’re so skinny. My tears disappeared into you.”

“I’m average, okay? Everyone around me is just abnormally healthy.”

“You’re like half of Chief Song.”

“Did you have to compare me to Chief Song, of all people.”

“Then the Sesung Guild Leader, Han Yuhyun, Myungwoo oppa…”

“…Alright, I give up.”

She giggled, then quieted down again. My shirt was slightly damp. Not much. Yerim stepped back and created a big water drop to roughly splash her face.

“Ah, refreshing! Mister from the future, didn’t you have any fun stories?”

“Fun stories? Hmm…”

Unlike now, the general mood of society wasn’t so cheerful.

“Oh, right. Yuhyun once got into a scandal with Soyeong.”

“…What?”

Yerim stared at me blankly. Her mouth hung open as she froze in place for a while.

“Pffft, ha, Han Yuhyun and Soyeong unni…!”

She immediately bent over and burst out laughing. She looked ready to roll on the floor laughing herself to death. Eventually, she collapsed to the ground and started pounding the floor. Tears even dropped onto the dented earth.

“What kind of, what kind of idiot published that article?”

Still sitting, Yerim wiped away her tears. Her eyes were already flushed, and now they grew even hotter. Though for a different reason this time.

“Soyeong unni aside, Han Yuhyun, that Han Yuhyun liking Soyeong unni—liking anyone other than Mister! Just imagining such nonsense, pfft, how!”

…I imagined it too, though.

“Well, the people who wrote it and those who got excited about it must not have known Yuhyun. Or Soyeong either. They wouldn’t have said something so ridiculous if they knew. No one had tamed a high-grade dragonkin yet back then, so people didn’t even know Soyeong was a Dragon Rider.”

“What, still no one five years later? Soyeong unni is incredible!”

“Plus, looks-wise, it kind of made sense. The two of them.”

Yerim nodded in agreement.

“If you just looked at appearances, they matched well. Still, Han Yuhyun in a relationship? Only someone who absolutely doesn’t know him would say that. Ah, this is hilarious! Unreal! Soyeong unni dating a human instead of a dragon! Han Yuhyun, dating, heuheup, both of them being like that! That’s really…”

She grabbed her stomach and burst into laughter again. Was it really that funny?

“Ah, seriously! It would be more believable if the Sesung Guild Leader and Hyunah unni were dating!”

“Hyunah said she likes younger guys.”

“But unni said she does like the Sesung Guild Leader’s face, didn’t she?”

“Well, I mean…”

There probably weren’t many people who didn’t like that face.

“She said if he were a bit younger and softer, it might’ve been okay.”

“What? Really?”

I opened my eyes wide, and Yerim waved her hands as if to tell me not to get ahead of myself.

“She said if, okay? Oh, and unni did say she found Sigma kind of cute.”

Why’s that guy suddenly coming up? Where is he now anyway? Hopefully he’s doing well.

“Anyway, Han Yuhyun in a relationship! If by some miracle he did start dating after getting hit on the head or something, he’d still cling to Mister all the time instead of his partner. You’d be lucky to get one date a month—no, a year. And he wouldn’t even feel guilty about it. No, wait, he would. To Mister. ‘Sorry for spending time with someone other than Hyung,’ he’d say.”

“…That’s awful.”

“It’s okay. Han Yuhyun would only date someone who thinks Mister is the most important. With his personality, there’s no way he’d accept someone who likes him more than they like Mister. He’d break up right away, like, ‘How can you like me more than my brother?’”

Yerim really nailed his impression. Still, what is that supposed to be. As strange as it sounded, it was too believable when it came to Yuhyun, and that made it more frustrating. If that’s what dating would be like, it might be better for him to stay single—no, but still. As long as both sides agree and it works for them, it’s fine… but even so, that’s a bit much. …But if both people were like that, maybe it’d surprisingly work out?

“He could meet someone like himself, and the three of us could go on dates together. That’d work. Then they get married—Mister walks in between them at the wedding, and you go on the honeymoon too, and live together in the newlywed house—”

“No, no, Yerim! That’s not okay!”

“Why not? That could happen. There are all kinds of relationship styles in the world.”

“…Have you been watching some kind of wild drama lately?”

“I’ve been watching American TV shows.”

…American ones? I’ve heard people over there have more liberal ideas about relationships than we do.

“If you want Han Yuhyun to date, maybe you should look among the people who like Mister. Someone who puts Mister first, really loves him, and is at least kind of accepted by Han Yuhyun, a girl…”

Yerim’s voice trailed off mid-sentence. Even her complexion started to go pale.

“Yerim?”

“…Ugh.”

“Yerim! What’s wrong?!”

What, what is this? Why is she suddenly gagging? A curse? Poison? But the poison from monsters here is weak! Don’t tell me the dungeon glitched again…!

“Uweeeeegh!”

“Ye, Yerim! The antidote—no, I’ll—!”

“No, it’s not that, Miste—ugh. I had a weird thought, uuuuugh, god! Gross!”

…Weird thought?

Yerim clutched her head and screamed.

“AAAAAH! CREEPY! SO CREEPY! I want to erase my brain! I want to go back! Just five minutes ago!”

What… what the hell?

“Calm down, Yerim. You’re really okay, right?”

“My body’s fine! My mind is contaminated!”

…That’s weird. There aren’t any psychic-type monsters here. I should call a Healer just in case once we get out.

“Let’s go. Yuhyun’s probably waiting outside. The aquarium nearby would be good for a change of pace, the three of us could go on a date—”

“Misteeeeer!”

“…What.”

“What even is a date, huh, a date?!”

“But Yerim, you said—”

“Cancelled. Totally cancelled! Cancelled! Cancelled!”

Yerim shouted that it gave her chills and scratched her arms. Maybe I really should take her to a Healer. Let’s just sweep up the rest of the monsters and get out of the gate.

“Hyung.”

Yuhyun was standing there. As soon as Yerim saw his sullen face, she gagged again.

“Han Yuhyun, stay away from me!”

“…What’s wrong with her.”

“I don’t really know.”

Usually, it was Yuhyun telling her not to get close.

“Ugh, no. Han Yuhyun only thinks about Mister. Don’t imagine anything weird, Park Yerim. Hey, you’re going to live with Mister forever, right? You’re sticking with him, right?”

“…Yeah. We’re not separating.”

“Good, keep that promise forever. Mister, let’s go to the aquarium! I want cotton candy. I need sugar, right now! Something sweet and fluffy and pretty!”

Yerim cried out for cotton candy as she stomped off. Wait, we need to grab our phones!