The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 422: Duckling (2)

“Hyung.”

My little brother smiled. The palm pressed against my neck was hot.

– It will be okay if you swallow him!

Iryn, that kid! Fortunately, he wasn’t choking me, but the temperature I felt was gradually rising. As for Grace, wait a minute. I haven’t gotten Grace back yet. But Iryn was still talking.

‘Is it because the pre-regression me and I are connected?’

The reason Iryn can talk is because of the Fountain of Young Mana. Not the damage nullification effect. Mu also did the mana connection, so it would be possible for me and the other me too. But right now, damage nullification is more urgent than mana, but can’t I bring this over?

“Yuhyun, calm down.”

“Okay, Hyung.”

I could feel Yuhyun’s mana flowing in, as if exploring my neck. Not through a skill, but direct mana was trying to dig in.

The bodies of humans and monsters contain mana. It was extremely difficult to directly interfere with another’s mana. That’s why Yerim couldn’t freeze or control the moisture in another’s body, and Seong Hyunjae couldn’t make another’s body move with electric signals.

Unless the grade difference was very large. Even an S-Rank couldn’t directly touch the mana of a B-Rank or C-Rank, but as for an F-Rank, well.

And I was an F-Rank, and Yuhyun was an S-Rank.

“Wait, hey…!”

A familiar power began to stir inside my body. Perhaps because my mana stat was higher than an F-Rank thanks to the earring, or perhaps because my mana amount was at least an S-Rank thanks to the Fountain of Young Mana, he couldn’t dig in so easily. But still, he pushed in little by little, steadily.

“Ugh, Han Yuhyun!”

The back of my neck burned and my spine tingled. The mana imprinting was reacting to the sudden invasion. My little brother flinched at the un-F-Rank-like repulsion, but still, he didn’t back down.

“Yuhyun, ah! Stop it!”

I thought he would burn me if he got into trouble, but this was unexpected. If another’s mana completely took over and controlled a body, what would happen? I had never heard of such a thing.

It was an extremely unfamiliar situation, but instinctive fear rushed over me. The Fear Resistance skill window appeared. As expected, this is dangerous. With the help of the mana imprinting, I resisted my little brother’s mana that was trying to spread throughout my body.

“Yuhyun! Tsk, Han Yuhyun!”

I tried to remove the hand that was holding my neck, but it didn’t budge. I lifted my leg and kicked my little brother.

“Ugh.”

Of course, only my foot hurt.

“Be careful. You’ll get hurt.”

“Stop it!”

Damn it, let’s talk!

“Yuhyun, I’m sorry. Okay? Listen to me…”

“Don’t apologize. Hyung did nothing wrong.”

Unlike his actions, my little brother’s voice was really gentle. The kid is not in his right mind. Although Crescent Moon is a big reason, it’s still my fault. It’s my fault, but I can’t just let him have his way.

I gritted my teeth, took out a dagger from my inventory, and stabbed Yuhyun’s arm. SCRAPE, a sound that couldn’t be thought of as coming from hitting human skin echoed. With only a very faint scratch left, the little brother showed no reaction.

He was just focused on digging into me. It was the same when I stabbed his arm again.

“Don’t stab Hyung. I won’t stop even then.”

“At least let go of my neck! I’m going to suffocate!”

Although he was still pressing down, the hand on my neck loosened. At the same time, I aimed the gun I had secretly taken out with my other hand at my little brother’s chest. He was so focused on me that he seemed to be completely unaware that the mana was being charged.

Without hesitation, I pulled the trigger.

THUD!

The magic bullet that was shot out struck Yuhyun’s chest. It wasn’t a full charge, but it was enough to push my little brother away. The body that was pushed into the air spun around and landed lightly on the floor like a leopard. The formal wear that was loosely worn swayed greatly. The Chinese-style clothes underneath were completely torn, revealing a broad chest.

Beyond the dim bed, reddish-tinged eyes looked at me.

No one will come with this much noise. Should I have just shot at the wall or ceiling?

“Calm down.”

At my words, Yuhyun’s lips slightly parted. I felt like I was facing a ferocious beast that might attack me at any moment, not my little brother. Will sharp fangs pop out from between those lips? Such an imagination also came to mind.

Without rashly getting off the bed, I sat up with only my upper body. With the white gun in my hand, I slowly stroked the barrel.

“What are you planning to do, at least tell me. And the reason too.”

“I thought the most important thing to Hyung was me.”

“That’s right.”

“Then why did you say you were sorry? Why am I pitiful?”

My little brother said, as if he couldn’t understand.

“If Hyung is by my side and cherishes me the most, I can’t be pitiful.”

“Yuhyun.”

“I’m not sad, not tired, and not lonely. In the first place, if it’s not because of Hyung, I don’t feel any of those emotions. Because I was born like that.”

Yuhyun’s hand pointed to his own chest.

“Hyung is the one who made me who I am now. Other people can’t make me feel anything. They’re all the same, just a piece of wood. I just distinguish them through Hyung. Someone who is helpful to Hyung, someone who might harm Hyung, someone Hyung cherishes. No, not a person, but an existence. Monsters and humans, there’s no difference to me.”

“…But you’re getting along well with Yerim and Peace.”

“Yeah. Because those two are similar to me. When it comes to Hyung. But if Hyung disappears, everything disappears. Because the world itself where we can stand together will disappear.”

My little brother’s voice was calm. But his gaze towards me was as sharp as a knife. As if he wanted to attack again at any moment, Yuhyun’s hand slowly clenched into a fist and then opened again and again.

“So if Hyung abandons me, I.”

“Abandons you! No!”

The carpet burned. But there was no smoke, no smell. It was a fire that literally swallowed everything. What floor was this? If I shoot the floor and break it to get out, will my body be okay?

“I would have endured it in the past.”

Yuhyun muttered softly. My little brother’s actions now were abnormal from my perspective. Of course, it’s something Yuhyun should endure and stop, but.

As my eyes unconsciously looked down, Yuhyun moved. My arms were grabbed in an instant, bent behind my back, and my face was shoved into the bed. I didn’t even have a chance to resist, let alone make a small sound.

“Ugh!”

A burning pain spread across the back of my neck where the mana imprinting began. It was as if I had been badly bitten. Then, with his hand pressing down on my back, Yuhyun’s mana dug in as if to control the mana imprinting first.

The moment a chill ran down my spine—

“…!”

Yuhyun suddenly took his hand off. At the same time, I felt a faint, foreign mana from my back.

“My…”

Yuhyun’s, and the Black Dragon’s mana.

“…This is only for the twenty-year-old you.”

Although it wasn’t a cake.

“And your birthday will come soon too.”

It became quiet. I sat up. Suddenly, I wondered if the saying “perfect nurturer” was right. Of course, I did my best to take care of my little brother.

But that best was ultimately based on my standards. To be precise, I pushed my little brother into the mold of society that I knew, based on what I had learned. As long as he had a human form, if he couldn’t fit into the mold of society, it would have been Han Yuhyun who was cut off, but still.

‘If raising someone as you wish is called nurturing, then I guess I deserve the title.’

Is it right for one side to unilaterally demand understanding and make the other accept it?

“I’m sorry for making you anxious. But I will never leave you.”

“…Hyung.”

I heard a loud exhale from behind me. Iryn scurried over to me and clung to the back of my hand.

– It’s not Yuhyun’s fault! It’s what he was originally like!

“Yeah, I know.”

I turned around. I saw my little brother. His face was stained with confusion.

“Yuhyun. I can’t completely understand you.”

My little brother’s shoulders flinched.

“Just like a hen that has hatched a duck egg is horrified to see the duckling go into the pond, it’s hard for me to easily accept what you want.”

“……”

“The world I know and live in is one where you dig through the earth and grass. Mingling with people, making friends, dating, having a family and children, and growing old. That’s why I was worried and anxious about you only looking at me. Even now, I sometimes think that I have to change you somehow. Because you’re my little brother.”

Because so many things have happened, my thoughts have also changed. I’ve tried to understand my little brother, and I’ve also come to think that if Yuhyun likes it, then there’s nothing I can do.

It was the same for Han Yuhyun. After only enduring in the mold I had given him, he began to reveal his own instincts, his own desires.

“I, as Hyung wants…”

“You probably had a hard time understanding me too. Right?”

Yuhyun hesitated and then nodded. I remembered my little brother when he was young. Wasn’t this society itself a strange world to Yuhyun, not just me? That’s why he could only form relationships through me.

Iryn also chimed in.

– Hyung has too many feelings! All you need is the person you like the most!

“People live by mingling.”

– I know, but we don’t have to!

“Right, that’s right. We’re different.”

It’s different, not wrong.

“Maybe I, and you too. It might be impossible to completely understand each other in the future. That’s a difficult thing to do even among ordinary people. But if, by any chance, you go deep into the sea instead of the pond, I will stand on the beach and wait for you.”

Even if we become different beings in a completely different world.

“It would be impossible to breathe underwater like you. But I can dip my feet in the waves. You can also stick your head out of the water. No, you’ve already done that. My grateful little brother.”

I reached out and hugged my little brother. I don’t know how happy I was when my little brother took my hand and smiled at me.

“It’s okay if you don’t come out completely. We can live like that, compromising a little with each other. If you are perfectly free—”

“I don’t want that.”

Yuhyun shook his head.

“I told you I like the me that Hyung made.”

“Yeah. I like it too. And Yuhyun, you yourself, you know that, right? I loved you even before you looked at me.”

That’s why I raised the current Han Yuhyun.

“It’s also my greed that made you like this. I wish you were happier, I wish you were better off. It’s for your sake, but it’s still greed. Thank you for liking my greed.”

Ms. Hyunah had once said that there could be no kind and obedient child in a difficult environment. A child is a child. As she said, a child who is like an angel in front of a guardian is just a child who is trying hard to endure. Even adults can’t give up everything they want and are greedy, fight, and fall out with each other.

“So I will compromise too.”

“…Compromise?”

“I won’t let you swallow me. I will resist and run away just like today.”

Yuhyun’s expression darkened.

“I’m sorry, Hyung.”

“No, I understand that you feel such an urge… well, it’s hard, but it’s okay. I’ll think that it can happen.”

Since it’s like an instinct, what can I do? It’s probably like a ferocious beast that endures when it’s full but eventually bares its teeth when it’s hungry. And he usually endures it well. Thinking about it, I was proud of him.

“But if, by any chance, I have to leave you first.”

I took a long breath. There was still a sense of reluctance.

“Then you can follow me.”

“…Hyung?”

“I won’t ask you to live in a broken world.”

It was a statement that I could never make with my social and ethical views.

How can I live a long life? Now that I’ve said this, I have to find a way to extend my lifespan. As Iryn said, a few thousand years might be impossible, but at least a hundred years.

Yuhyun’s eyes blinked. He was surprised and flustered, but the corners of his lips rose slightly.

“Hyung, you don’t like it, right? Even if you don’t like it, I, I won’t be able to live anyway.”

“Why should you be the only one to endure? I have to endure too. Both of us.”

Hesitating, my little brother smiled brightly.

“Thank you, Hyung.”

“I’m the one who should be thankful. And I’m sorry. And again, there will continue to be things to be sorry about in the future. Because I’m not a perfect person.”

What perfect nurturer? I’ll make mistakes again, I’ll try to fix them, and then I’ll make the wrong choices again. If you ask me if this is the right thing to do now, I probably wouldn’t be able to nod.

I’m just trying to think and worry hard and become a little better.

“So you too, Yuhyun, don’t try to match me too much. We really haven’t fought before, have we? After you awakened, we were separated like that, and we were apart for a long time. At least after the regression, we fought. Since we’re different people, it’s natural that we would clash.”

“But I like everything about Hyung.”

“What? What was that about not being able to help it even if you don’t like it? You smiled so happily.”

Yuhyun looked troubled and his pupils rolled. It seemed that because he had been enduring too much, it was hard for him to even understand his own feelings.

I collected saliva in my slightly dry mouth and swallowed.

‘About the pre-regression Yuhyun…’

Should I tell him? I was still hesitant about this. If I brought it up, we would surely get into a big fight. There was no way the current little brother would accept that I would take back the little brother that the white bird had taken. If I thought about it rationally, it was right to give up. Because a living person is more important than a dead person.

But how can I do that?

I will never back down, and Yuhyun will never back down either.

‘My stomach hurts.’

“Hyung?”

“Huh? Oh. Yerim and Yun Yun went out to get clothes. I wonder if they’re back.”

In the end, I couldn’t bring this up and got off the bed. I have to tell him someday, but we just had a fight. If we continue like this and understand each other a little more, maybe I can talk about it more comfortably.

“I have to wash up. You too. You can burn it off with fire, but still. A proper wash is refreshing. I have to wake up Mr. Noah too.”

As I opened the guest room door and went out, my little brother followed me like a duckling.