The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 439: Thank You for Your Hard Work (3)

To start with the conclusion — among the Awakened currently here, only about 20 percent had fully obtained their optimized skills. Most were combat-types, and since combat Awakened generally found it easier to acquire optimized skills, that percentage couldn’t be considered high.

In the end, it seemed Dan Unbi and Park Hayul’s sister were not the same person. Then who could she be? Could she be an as-yet-unknown born S-class? A born S-class with the ability to nurture others… though, honestly, that didn’t feel like a perfect fit.

‘When it comes to looking after others, Yuhyun… aside from me… well, he does take care of Yerim a bit.’

It wasn’t likely, but if by some miracle my younger brother ever had a child, I figured it’d be better if I raised them myself. Liet had tried in her own way, but she was too rough. Seong Hyunjae had that sort of tendency too, but only from short-term interest.

…If all three had kids, I’d take them in out of sheer frustration. Sure, their spouse might be a decent person, but… why would someone decent marry those three? Feeling unsettled, I called Peace onto my lap and stroked him.

“Lately, I’ve been thinking — if someone comes along wanting to date Yuhyun, maybe I should go around with a packed lunch protesting against it.”

“Congratulations, Mister. You’ve finally peeled off one layer of your rose-colored glasses.”

Yerim paused mid-bite of a mooncake to clap her hands.

“There’s still about nine hundred ninety-nine layers left, though.”

“Still, isn’t Yuhyun a bit better than Liet?”

“Why? Liet unni gets along really well with Soyeong unni. She’s close with Hyunah unni too, has lots of friends.”

…Even if I give up on the idea of romance, maybe they could still manage friendship. Earlier, she’d even gone out with Noah on pretty good terms.

“Yerim, you could call yourself Yuhyun’s friend, right?”

“Uh… more like a pseudo–family registry mate?”

“Family registry mate?”

“Think of it as oscillating somewhere between sworn enemy and best friend.”

“Best friend means a really close friend. Thanks, Yerim.”

“…I’ll tell other people we’re moderately close, at least.”

Why was she looking at me like I was pitiful? Avoiding her gaze, I checked the list we’d gotten from the Murim Alliance again.

“Besides this elder, there’s another A-class healer in China. A relatively young one.”

Were they unawakened still? In Korea, there were only two A-class healers — one in Sesung, and the other in the now-defunct MKC. With MKC gone, they’d have to move, but neither Breaker nor Hanshin would give up easily.

The Hunter Association had even tried to get involved, suggesting they be jointly affiliated and subtly angling to take them in. That had annoyed me, but honestly, having an unaffiliated A-class healer wouldn’t be a bad thing.

“If Breaker gets an A-class healer, Hyunah will be thrilled.”

“Of course. Why, are you planning to give them one?”

“High-rank healers are always good to have, but let’s meet the elder first. The MKC healer is younger, but we can negotiate with Hyunah depending on the situation.”

Even among healers, the skill types and grades varied. The requirements for the title were three abilities — Healing, Detoxification, and Cleansing — and the average grade of those skills determined the healer’s rank. Since I had Detoxification and Cleansing covered, I’d want to bring to Haeyeon the person with the highest Healing skill grade.

“Yerim, is there any Hunter you’re interested in?”

“They wouldn’t speak Korean. I borrowed this translation item from Hyunah unni. Even if I got my own, my teammates wouldn’t be able to communicate.”

That was indeed an issue. Translation machines didn’t work in dungeons, and translation items weren’t common enough to hand out to A-class Hunters.

“When we get back, focus on team raids for a while.”

“Don’t worry. Oh, I still haven’t decided on a name for the Water Dragon! Between Haerang, Sanho, Suri, Mar, Doran, and Parang, which— no, never mind.”

Yerim quickly waved her hands, looking a bit embarrassed.

“Parang sounds a lot like Blue.”

“It means wave, not color.”

…I should’ve just kept quiet. Still, to someone who didn’t know, it sounded similar. I quickly switched the topic back to Hunters.

“Where Yuhyun and Noah went, there’s also a B-class healer. Should we bring them too? The more healers, the better. Any high-grade curse support types? If we could make contracts in-house, that’d be convenient.”

“You’ve got Liet unni and Noah oppa.”

“I mean in Haeyeon. And curse work has good prospects — it’s versatile. Outside dungeons, we have translators and machines, so foreigners aren’t a problem. I’d like to bring this reinforcement support Hunter too. Where’s Guangzhou?”

“Near Hong Kong.”

Eun Sesun stepped through the round doorway.

“Are you truly not going to try the hot spring? It helps with fatigue and pain relief.”

“Not right now. Honestly, I’d feel uneasy going in alone.”

How could I fully trust the Murim Alliance? With Yerim and her teleportation skill nearby, even if S-classes swarmed us, escape wouldn’t be too hard. Peace could come with me too, but I’d still feel uneasy.

“The King—”

“No, I don’t know about that kind of thing.”

Why bring up kings again?

“Do Murim Alliance people just like quoting old tales?”

“More accurately, Chinese people do. But I heard the leader was a bit excessive.”

Eun Sesun spoke apologetically.

“I understand your caution. But how about at least soaking your legs?”

That was tempting. Maybe because I’d overexerted myself earlier, my legs occasionally throbbed. And I couldn’t just turn off poison resistance to take a painkiller.

When I agreed, Eun Sesun guided me to the back of the mansion. Inside a high-walled area was an open-air bath the size of a pond. Peace stepped onto the damp stone, then lifted a front paw and shook it in distaste.

– Kiwoong.

“Oh dear, you don’t like it being wet.”

– Kyang.

“Peace is such a drama queen sometimes.”

I rolled my pants up to my knees, wiped a rock dry with a towel, and sat down. Peace immediately hopped onto my lap.

“This is nice.”

The warmth really did seem to ease my fatigue. Yerim sat beside me, splashing lightly at the water. Eun Sesun excused himself to give us privacy. Above, the blue sky was wide open, clouds drifting lazily, birdsong coming from somewhere.

“In a dungeon, I met you.”

Yerim fiddled with the ring on her finger.

“Mister, did you think I was cool?”

“Of course. You were famous, Yerim. Honestly, people don’t usually remember A-class Hunters. Even S-classes aren’t few.”

Even someone interested in Hunters mainly looked up S-classes. In Korea, they were few, but worldwide, there were hundreds. So if an S-class wasn’t especially famous, people wouldn’t know them — let alone A-classes.

TV mostly featured S-class Hunters too — the exposure level was completely different.

“But if you said ‘Park Yerim,’ there weren’t many who didn’t know. There was one incident that made you really famous.”

“What was it?” Yerim’s eyes sparkled.

“The Shinho Group snow butterflies. I think it was right after you awakened. Shinho was breeding dungeon-bred butterflies for research. Then suddenly, they multiplied explosively and spilled out.”

They weren’t quite monsters, but the problem was that their dust could wither certain crops.

“At the time, Yuhyun was in the middle of a dungeon raid. Seong Hyunjae was abroad. Before the swarm reached beyond Seoul, someone had to stop it — but aside from those two, no one had an effective large-area skill.”

They weren’t monster-class, so pesticides didn’t work. They held mana, making them much hardier than ordinary butterflies. And the one who stepped up was none other than Park Yerim.

“I froze them all?”

“There were too many for just Cold Sigh and Pale Rain. Instead, they brought in water trucks, fire trucks, even firefighting helicopters. It was a sight — massive amounts of water falling like rain, and through the drenched butterflies spread your frost. The snow-white butterflies covered Seokchon Lake like snow.”

Other Hunters had worked hard to lure the swarm toward the lake. After that… was it then that dungeon flora and fauna management became stricter? Maybe even before that.

“That shot your recognition way up… but fame doesn’t bring only good things. You were young, without a proper guardian. Still, you secured your place in the Korean Hunter world.”

“Enough for you to remember me, Mister?”

“Yeah. But… I think maybe we met once before, Yerim. Sorry I don’t remember.”

“I heard about that.” Yerim spoke casually.

“It’s a little disappointing, but in a way, I’m glad.”

“Huh? Why?”

“In the end, you came to me because of my ability. That’s kind of reassuring.”

She glanced at me, a bit embarrassed.

“It would’ve been nice if it were because we were already close, but this way, it feels like I earned it purely with my own strength. Even if you lost your memories again and we all got separated, I think we’d still meet again like this. Like my place wouldn’t just vanish.”

She murmured that it was hard to explain.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Mister. It’s just… I’m happy now, I’m having fun. But sometimes I still feel worried or uneasy. Even when nothing’s really wrong.”

“That’s normal. No one’s life is perfect. Even Seong Hyunjae gets bored and acts up. Liet, I think, does care about Noah in her own way.”

Though she didn’t seem to like Diarma approaching him.

“Soyeong unni said she was afraid she might never meet her dragon. Sometimes she couldn’t even sleep.”

“Really?”

“She even cried to Hyunah unni once, saying the guildmaster could only get her a mid-rank dragon.”

“Mid-rank dragons are rare though — their stats are high for their rank.”

“But they can’t raid dungeons together.”

And they were often small or, like that old eel, dragonkin in name only. Blackie didn’t match the common dragon image either. Soyeong’s taste seemed to lean toward big and rough. She liked Noah too, but still.

“Anyway, I feel lighter now~” Yerim stretched both arms overhead.

“I don’t know what’ll happen next, but even if I get new worries, I think I’ll be fine.”

“You will. But if anything’s hard, tell me anytime, Yerim.”

“Okay!”

It’d be nice if her life stayed smooth, but with the world changed, that would be hard. And with her big dreams, the obstacles would be bigger too. Once she became an adult and started working internationally, she’d be beyond my reach.

I already felt a bit hollow inside. But Yerim would surely do well.

“My legs feel a bit better.”

“Really? When Han Yuhyun gets back, you should soak completely. You could even go in now with your clothes.”

“Yerim, take your hands off my back.”

“I wasn’t pushing! I was just going to lift you lightly — plop.”

“I’ll pass. I need to meet the leader again.”

Now that I was sure she wasn’t Park Hayul’s sister, I needed another talk — to make sure she didn’t end up siding with Chatterbox. Still, since she was protecting Hunters and civilians, she probably wouldn’t join the transcendents who wanted to destroy the world.

Japan was safe as long as Shishio was there, and if the Murim Alliance took power, China would be fairly stable. As for other regions… maybe I should visit Russia.

A golden dragon alighted lightly on the building’s roof. Even from hundreds of meters away, the sight was striking, but thanks to his stealth skill, no one noticed him.

“Hunter Han Yuhyun, shall I go in and scout?”

Noah, now in human form, asked Yuhyun beside him. Yuhyun shook his head briefly and extended his fingers. A red lizard coiled around them as it appeared.

“They said there’s only one S-class Hunter here. Lure him out.”

The fire spirit leapt to the rooftop, split into two, four, six — and slipped into the building like mist.

Noah climbed the rooftop railing, scanned the surroundings, then jumped down. As he vanished, Yuhyun closed his eyes, focusing on the spirit’s movements. Sharing vision with a spirit wasn’t easy — unless you left your body completely defenseless, you only got hazy impressions.

Still, it wasn’t hard to get a sense of the building’s interior.

It wasn’t long before—

Kwaang!

An explosion roared from the opposite building.