The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 396: Managing the Dungeon

The sunset sky remained unchanging. Haeyeon Guild was blocked, and Sesung Guild was closed. The system message would have been delivered to the others as well. So where should I go now? And where was everyone?

‘If it’s not just me who was separated, but everyone was scattered.’

The place I woke up in was a subway station. It wasn’t particularly special, but it was where Yuhyun’s birthday ad was displayed. Could it be that we end up in places with some sort of connection? But Yuhyun and Yerim weren’t near Haeyeon Guild. The real Seong Hyunjae wasn’t at Sesung Guild either.

Then again, for me, a place with direct connection would be my current house or my old house…

‘…Am I also here?’

Seong Hyunjae was here. The Hunter Association Hunters were present too. Then me… At best, I’m an F-Rank, so I might not have even appeared as a dungeon monster, but the fact that this dungeon was influenced by the raiders bothered me.

I stopped walking for a moment. Something like a long sigh escaped.

‘It would be best to check.’

If I’m here, I’ll be a monster, so it would be better for me to take care of it first. Before the others see. Even if my grade was raised by the dungeon buff, I’d be an E-Rank, so it wouldn’t be difficult.

‘Would it be the house from after I awakened?’

Before I awakened, I lived in a pretty decent place, but I had to move because of debt. I let out another sigh, turned, and started walking. An S-Rank Hunter, now an SS-Rank, wouldn’t be wandering around outside the area, right? As long as I was careful not to step into specific areas, I could get there safely with the Stealth skill.

If I am there, I shouldn’t deactivate my Stealth skill. That’s right.

The Hunters—the monsters—that were rarely seen on the streets were only mid-rank. Avoiding them, I recalled what I had seen with a slightly calmer mind.

‘Seong Hyunjae cannot die.’

He had become an immortal being. To be precise, dozens, or even hundreds or thousands of beings were layered on top of each other, so getting rid of just the outermost one was probably useless. Seong Hyunjae’s death could only be achieved by annihilating his entire massive existence at once, before Crescent Moon could intervene.

It would probably be impossible for anyone but a transcendent being. The massive entity that was Seong Hyunjae itself would already be at a level beyond the abilities of a transcendent.

‘Then, Chief Song…’

A black lunar eclipse. That was how Whitey had described it, but it was undoubtedly Song Taewon.

‘But how on earth? Chief Song is just an S-Rank Hunter.’

He was strong among S-Rank Hunters, but he was still a human belonging to this world, far from being a transcendent. But how on earth could he kill Seong Hyunjae? Is the Plunder skill that amazing? Or is there something—something else—that Chief Song has?

I had learned about Seong Hyunjae’s existence and the goals of Whitey and Crescent Moon, but Chief Song had become even more of a mystery.

‘And Chief Song even died while trying to remove only a part of Seong Hyunjae.’

Wasn’t it simply a failure? There was no way a person who could swallow the whole thing would fail to endure a mere part. Was it because Crescent Moon intervened? What on earth happened in the dungeon?

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go back to the Sesung Guild right away. But it was already closed, and I didn’t know if the Seong Hyunjae inside was safe.

‘A man who seemed to have nothing to envy in the world…’

My fate is quite eventful, but Seong Hyunjae’s is no less so. If he hadn’t caught Crescent Moon’s eye, would he have ended his own life as he wished a long, long time ago? He might have become a transcendent being, but the image of him protecting his first, his own world and staying there suited him better.

He would have been able to prevent destruction easily enough. Perhaps there, he would have made precious people and been with them. Seong Hyunjae, who had grown old, had a natural retirement, married, and had children and grandchildren. It wasn’t an easy image to imagine, but it still felt warm.

‘But he said he couldn’t even make friends, let alone marry, without Crescent Moon.’

The only exceptions, me and Chief Song, are both men, so what can you do? Still, it’s a relief that he can at least make two friends. Though Chief Song would be disgusted. Ah, could Young Chaos be possible too? He said he was the strongest among the transcendent beings.

Anyway, so what on earth happened to Chief Song? What, well, he is a human, right…? Whitey said he was human, but how on earth?

‘Should I show him to the Old Man?’

He seemed to be good at seeing things like that. Since he immediately noticed something strange about the Seong Hyunjae in the dungeon, he might be able to see Chief Song well too. Chief Song wasn’t at the Hunter Association. Is he perhaps near the Awakened Management Office? Since he has no idea about my regression, he must have been flustered… wait a minute, this is a point in time after his death.

‘Chief Song!’

What should I do? No, he might just think the monsters in human form are spouting nonsense. But still, if everyone says, you’re dead, Seong Hyunjae said he killed you, then… I have to find Chief Song quickly—

“Still, it would be better for you to wait here since you could be in danger, Hyung.”

Yuhyun’s voice reached me. My heart sank. Now, what did he say?

“I’ll just check the situation and come right back, so don’t ever come out of the building. There are no other mon—, Hunters around.”

It was an affectionate voice, mixed with worry. I could deduce the situation in my head, but I couldn’t accept it and took a step. Beyond the statue next to the building, which was not easily visible from the street, two people were standing.

“…Yeah.”

The me in the black padded jacket, holding a cake box, answered softly. His shaded face was weary, but his expression was not completely dark.

So I really was here. When was this? I stared blankly at the two of them. Uh, well. It did feel strange. The emotions that the current me, that me, must be feeling were inevitably imagined… and my heart ached even more.

So my little brother came to find me. At that time. And the Yuhyun of today is really, so affectionate.

‘Then what I felt.’

It must have been my emotions. So that’s what it was.

Not knowing what to do, I just swallowed dryly. Is it okay for me to step in now? After Yuhyun leaves, should I try talking to that me then? This is really unexpected. First—

CRUNCH, with the sound of the cement floor being crushed, a fragment of the broken floor flew towards me. Yuhyun had broken the floor and kicked it up. The fragments, crushed like sand, showered over my body. Even without Grace, it would have been of little impact. An attack to pinpoint the location of a stealth skill user by seeing the fragments hit.

Right after that, before I had a chance to react, Yuhyun approached closely. His outstretched hand grabbed my shoulder.

“…Hyung?”

I took a deep breath and deactivated my Stealth skill. My and my own gaze met, suddenly.

[Sesung Guild Area Closure Complete]

“It’s done! I closed it!”

The Rookie cheered loudly. The hem of his petal-like clothes fluttered along. But the joy was short-lived, and the Rookie’s face became sullen.

“Ugh, it’s a complete mess!”

In front of the Rookie, a dozen or so spheres made of complexly intertwined lines were floating. The spheres were connected to each other and spun around chaotically.

“It was fine up to creating the dungeon, but…”

Normally, even if it were a region outside of Korea, this level of intervention would be impossible. But shortly before the Nightmare on Christmas dungeon was created, Yu Myungwoo had come to find the Rookie.

Yu Myungwoo had gone to Japan and entered a low-rank dungeon. He couldn’t visit the passageway to meet the Rookie, the dungeon for Han Yujin, but instead, he had thought of another way.

The Golden Forge.

If he used the space that belonged to Yu Myungwoo, not this world, within a dungeon where the Rookie could intervene relatively easily, wouldn’t he be able to meet the Rookie directly? And as expected, an otherworldly being with long ears appeared before Yu Myungwoo.

‘Mr. Blacksmith, perfect timing!’

Saying this place would work, the Rookie, who had spun around the forge, inspecting it, grabbed the bewildered Yu Myungwoo’s hand and began to explain.

‘I have to create a dungeon from now on, so please let me use this place as a passageway!’

No, it was closer to a notification than an explanation. But since the dungeon had to be made quickly, and at the words that only then would Honey, Han Yujin, and those around him be safe, Yu Myungwoo rolled up his sleeves in a daze and helped the Rookie. For him, controlling the magic that he could not even begin to understand was difficult enough just by following instructions.

Not only Yu Myungwoo, but also the Rookie was completely exhausted, but the new dungeon was completed just in time. With numerous errors.

“Still, I’ve blocked the biggest error for now! Although Honey’s little brother made another error… and the one with the power of the droplet also caused problems…”

The Rookie’s two ears, which had been perked up slightly, drooped down.

“Why, King of Harmless! Why did you have to interfere to this extent! The last dungeon was like that too, and you even dragged in Chatterbox! If you were alive, I would have grabbed you by the collar!”

“Do you have the strength for that?”

At the reprimand from Young Chaos, who was sitting on a backless round stool, the Rookie’s nose twitched.

“F-first, I’ll start debugging the whole thing again. Mr. Blacksmith, are you alive?”

“…Yes.”

Yu Myungwoo raised one hand and got up from his sprawled position on the chair. The Rookie was in charge of most of the dungeon creation, but the passageway to make it a reality was the Golden Forge. In other words, Yu Myungwoo, the master of the Golden Forge, had to be responsible for the connection.

He had only just become interested in handling space. It was no different from a brand-new college freshman being dragged into the lab of a world-renowned authority professor to act as a teaching assistant. And that was after just glancing at the cover of a major textbook.

At the sight of Yu Myungwoo, who looked as haggard as if he had pulled several all-nighters in just a few hours, the Rookie made an apologetic expression.

“It’s like that for everyone at first. Do you want to go up and rest for a bit? I think an hour or so will be fine. I’ll call you if I need you.”

“I can manage.”

“Still, you should rest when you can. If you overdo it, you’ll just create more errors.”

At the Rookie’s words that an unstable passageway would lead to a high information loss rate and was no good, Yu Myungwoo nodded his head, staggering.

“Should I bring you some refreshments on my way?”

“Do that.”

Young Chaos answered, and Yu Myungwoo’s form disappeared from the basement. Seeing that, the Rookie lightly clapped his hands.

“Even though it’s his own space, he learns quickly! I think Mr. Blacksmith’s control over the forge space is about 30% now.”

“30 percent?”

“When he perfects it, he’ll be able to create refreshments right here.”

“I still prefer handmade ones. More importantly.”

Young Chaos looked around. The Rookie, noticing the reason, said.

“It’s okay. I have this area under control.”

“What on earth is that thing called Chain?”

His black eyebrows furrowed deeply. The Rookie, touching the spheres here and there with his hands, his tentacles, perked up his ears.

“I don’t know either. Crescent Moon was in charge of Chain. He was just one of the Vein-Bearers in Honey’s world.”

“What kind of Vein-Bearer is that? He might have been a Vein-Bearer once. No, what on earth is wrong with that Firstborn that strange things stick to him?”

“W-well. Uh, I wasn’t originally interested in Honey. I also found out late that Honey’s little brother had a guardian. But why do you say Chain is strange?”

Young Chaos frowned and closed his mouth, then opened it again.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, rabbit, but if you don’t know anything, I can’t tell you now. If things get any bigger here, I won’t be able to handle it.”

“…Is it that serious?”

The Rookie tilted his head. Young Chaos let out a short sigh.

“But why does it feel more like a real human than a monster? No matter how much of an error it is.”

“Ah, that’s because they’re connected to their original bodies! They’re receiving real information. That’s why the real Chain couldn’t wake up right away. The fact that the monster Chain suppressed the original body seems to be because of Crescent Moon’s power, though. He should be awake now.”

“Then will the Firstborn and the Secondborn also meet their real-like selves?”

“Honey, yes. But Honey’s little brother died, you know. I don’t know what state he’ll be in, but it will probably be a little different. He might not appear as a monster at all. The same goes for the other dead people besides Honey’s little brother.”

The Rookie continued, looking at the dungeon data.

“The goblins won’t appear because they didn’t become a species before the regression, and Honey’s little brother and these two also died.”

“Two of them?”

“Yes. Since the dead people are excluded, they can’t belong to the dungeon made from the fragments of the pre-regression world. Even if it’s a perfectly replicated data, it’s not real in the end.”

“…”

“You can just think of it as simple data not being able to become real!”

Young Chaos decided to just let it slide.