The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 518: Taking Good Care of Things (1)

“Your location.”

[America, my house. Want to come visit?]

If it was true, he’d crossed an incredible distance. Since it was a Transcendent’s power, it wasn’t surprising though.

“Cut to the chase—what’s the puppeteer’s exact purpose?”

[How cold. Shouldn’t you at least ask how I’m doing before starting?]

“I’m truly regretful that you’re unharmed, Hwang Rim.”

That bastard Hwang Rim laughed. Then, surprisingly readily, he answered.

[I’m just an errand boy, so I don’t know all the inside details, but the reason for asking you to bring the civil servant was simply because he’s dangerous.]

“Because he’s a threat to Transcendents?”

[Something like that. Like I said, if you handle him well, he can even swallow Transcendents. Not many Transcendents know about the lunar eclipse, but if they did, they’d all find it bothersome.]

I looked back at Song Taewon sitting on the sofa. Only people who knew the inside story were present here—me, Chief Song, Yuhyun, Seong Hyunjae, and even Gyeol. Yerim had grumbled about being left out, but it couldn’t be helped for now. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Yerim, but the people involved wanted it this way.

“Did you hear that?”

“Yes.”

Song Taewon nodded slightly as he answered. Seong Hyunjae, sitting next to Song Taewon, had a thoroughly uninterested expression. Yuhyun beside me was also looking at the phone with distaste. More precisely, he seemed to dislike Hwang Rim on the other end. For reference, this phone—the line was thoroughly secured. It would be troublesome if anyone eavesdropped.

“Would you ask if he knows the exact method?”

“Yes. How can Chief Song Taewon eliminate a Transcendent? Does the puppeteer know the exact method?”

Even while obediently relaying the words, I felt bitter inside. Why did it have to be this power that Chief Song never even wanted? It would be unfair no matter who it was, but it felt especially regrettable because it was Chief Song.

[Probably? I don’t really know~]

“Then… the puppeteer could use Chief Song Taewon to eliminate other Transcendents.”

I continued relaying Song Taewon’s questions.

[Ah, I did hear about that. You can use the lunar eclipse. But if you’re not careful, you might get swallowed instead. To use it safely, you’d need to set up double or triple Transcendent-level contracts.]

“So contracts are essential.”

Song Taewon spoke, faintly showing relief. I also breathed a sigh of relief. If Transcendents could easily lay hands on him, Chief Song would absolutely not leave himself alone. He would try to leave Korea, to leave our side at the very least.

…Suddenly, I remembered the Seong Hyunjae I’d met in the nightmare dungeon. The one who had failed to escape from the Crescent Moon, lost even Song Taewon, and left Korea.

[Is the civil servant worried about a lot of things?]

“None of your business.”

[If I’d known he had that personality, I would’ve secretly met him alone and persuaded him with words. What a shame.]

Hwang Rim spoke with a laugh, but I got goosebumps. If that had happened, there would have been no chance to hold onto Chief Song. By now, I’d be panicking over his sudden disappearance. I reflexively looked at Chief Song.

“I won’t disappear without a word.”

“Even if Chief Song endangers the people around you?”

“…If the situation isn’t urgent, I’ll at least tell you.”

“Yes, let’s worry about it together.”

[You’re only cold to me, how mean.]

Hwang Rim grumbled.

“Think about your character.”

[Both my outside and inside are excellent.]

“All show and no substance.”

[You’re so dazzled by my appearance that you like it, thank you darling.]

…If I were S-rank, or even mid-rank, the receiver would have been crushed. I want to sew this bastard’s mouth shut. How can there be such a slippery snake? Seong Hyunjae was also good at stabbing people with his tongue, but compared to Hwang Rim, he was gentlemanly. Even if they were both thousand-year-old snakes, Seong Hyunjae seemed like one who refused to become a dragon even when heaven called, staying in the mortal world, while that bastard Hwang Rim seemed like he’d been banned from ascending to heaven because his roots rotted black before he’d even aged a hundred years, let alone a thousand.

[Won’t you come visit holding hands with the civil servant? I’ll show you the Statue of Liberty.]

“Hey, you’re Chinese. Why are you talking like it’s your own country’s tourism?”

[It’s the American Dream.]

What are you even saying? How did this bastard manage to enter and live in the military? Since getting dragged in would be endless, I changed the topic again.

“Forget about you—I want to talk directly with the puppeteer, so connect us. You said they’re very interested in us too.”

[If it were easy, I wouldn’t be used as an errand boy. Plus, since I invaded Little Jin’s secret room, even I’ll have a hard time contacting them for a while. Apparently the interference was excessive.]

“Until when?”

[At least a week?]

It wasn’t too long. Anyway, summarizing—the puppeteer’s surface purpose seemed to be dealing with the lunar eclipse, Song Taewon, who could be a threat to them. Since they were entangled with the white bird, there were probably other purposes too.

‘They helped create him in the first place… maybe because he became stronger than expected.’

There definitely seemed to be something more. Would the newcomer know about the puppeteer? I should drop by after the party ends.

“Then I’ll contact you again in a week.”

[Woon’s downstairs—should I switch? He really wants to see you.]

“Tell him to wash his neck and wait.”

Even setting aside Hwang Rim, there was no reason to spare Cho Hwawoon when we met again. Even if not me, those around me wouldn’t stay still. Hwang Rim babbled on about something more, but I hung up.

“It seems definitely better to hide as much as possible about Chief Song. If we’re not careful, Transcendents other than Chatterbox might try to interfere too.”

If they learned of his existence, they’d surely want to eliminate or contract him.

“For now, only these four know about Chief Song—the Crescent Moon, the puppeteer, the white bird, and the King of Harmless. The elder seems to have guessed too. The King of Harmless is dead, the white bird is missing, and the puppeteer has been silenced, so only the Crescent Moon remains. But she also can’t easily spread the word. If she’s not careful, the identity of the small moon might be revealed.”

So for now, we just needed to be careful with our words.

“Once the Transcendents’ interference disappears and we protect the world, Seong Hyunjae will be safe too, and then Chief Song can also remain as he is now.”

If Seong Hyunjae, the small moon, remained as Seong Hyunjae and didn’t threaten the source, then Song Taewon, the lunar eclipse, could also continue living as a human. A two-for-one deal.

The problem was how to drive out the Transcendents, though.

“The puppeteer seems reasonable at least, and the immediate problems are Chatterbox and the Crescent Moon. It’s daunting, but we have Transcendents on our side too. If we pull in the puppeteer, it’s three against two.”

The newcomer seemed almost completely won over, and the elder would probably help too. Though the Crescent Moon seemed to have several Transcendents under her… the Crescent Moon really was the biggest problem. That person I hadn’t even seen once yet. The more I thought about it, Seong Hyunjae really was pitiful too. How did he end up catching the Crescent Moon’s eye?

“You don’t remember anything from back then? How did you live to get caught by a Transcendent?”

“I was probably the same then.”

“I shouldn’t blame the victim, but I want to.”

For now, it seemed better to focus on stopping Chatterbox. There was too little information about the Crescent Moon.

“I don’t know when the party will start, but it would be good to meet Hwang Rim and the puppeteer before then.”

“I don’t like that guy.”

— Right, Dad.

Yuhyun said with dissatisfaction. Gyeol agreed with him.

— Can’t Uncle just get rid of him?

“You can’t say things like that. He hasn’t really done anything seriously wrong.”

Even if he were properly tried, he wouldn’t serve many years. As for the kidnapping request, Hwang Rim had technically just been asked to prevent the Goblin King from falling into military hands, so the ringleader was Park Hayul’s side. Hwang Rim stood in the position of a bystander, easy to slip away like a real snake.

Even now. He was just a middle connection who bore no responsibility.

“He certainly is grating.”

Even Seong Hyunjae expressed displeasure toward Hwang Rim. When Seong Hyunjae agreed, Gyeol narrowed his eyes. He seemed to dislike sharing an opinion with Seong Hyunjae. Should I arrange an occasion for those two to get closer?

“I thought you’d just ignore him, Seong Hyunjae. You don’t get shaken even when people pick fights with you.”

He’d respond, but he wasn’t the type to hold onto it. It felt like: a fly was buzzing, so I caught it, the end. Seong Hyunjae’s gaze moved between me and Song Taewon in turn.

“I don’t like having what’s mine taken. Didn’t I say that?”

“First of all, they’re not yours, and when Soyeong said she’d take Sesung, you just let it go.”

“I can’t get angry one by one over someone taking a handful of sand from the beach.”

…Was Sesung at the level of a fistful of sand? Seong Hyunjae spread both arms slightly.

“If I judge the value of possessions from an extremely personal perspective, I’m poor. The poorest person in the world, clutching only a heap of sand.”

“You’re asking to get hit.”

But for the existence called Seong Hyunjae, that would be true. What use was it to grasp the entire world? Nothing remained for him. Not even the memory of having possessed anything.

“Trying to take away one of only two valuable things from someone like me—isn’t that too much?”

Seong Hyunjae pretended to be pitiful. He actually did feel a tiny bit pitiful.

“Hyung is my only one.”

— Dad, me too! Dad is my only one!

“Thank you both.”

But that wasn’t entirely a good thing. While Yuhyun couldn’t help it due to his nature, should I really send Gyeol to kindergarten? Since he looked like a foreigner, I could create an identity abroad and adopt him.

Good kindergartens had tough competition. Should I just establish one? Was it hard to make a private kindergarten? The black dragon could talk and might have a human form too, so there was a possibility of one more kid going to kindergarten. So a kindergarten safely composed of awakened teachers. While we’re at it, it would be nice if it went all the way through elementary, middle, high school, and university.

I got caught up in random thoughts for a moment before quickly coming to my senses. By the time Gyeol became a college student, he might become too similar to Seong Hyunjae and cause trouble.

“Here’s the Chatterbox party invitation. Registration can be canceled and re-registered anytime, so please register for now, both of you.”

If Seong Hyunjae and Song Taewon were a team, wouldn’t there be no one who could handle them? So the two going together would be fine. Balance-wise, it would be better for each to pair with a support type though. Above all, for Chief Song’s mental health, it might be better to divide the final teams.

“Do you have any preferred teammates?”

At my question, Song Taewon thought briefly before answering.

“Hunter Noah. However, any combat type would match well with Hunter Noah. Next is Hunter Park Yerim. Hunter Park Yerim could make a good team with anyone except Hunter Han Yuhyun.”

“That’s definitely true. More precisely, Yuhyun has no match except Noah. Even with Noah, only support is possible—the poison skill becomes unusable.”

“Besides Peace, Han Yujin with Grace would be optimal. If Hunter Evelyn participates, she could also get along with most hunters.”

“Hunter Miller is a combat type but can perfectly match others.”

Seong Hyunjae also agreed with Song Taewon’s words. If Seong Hyunjae rated her highly, Evelyn’s skills must be considerable. Then Gyeol made a groaning sound and fluttered over to Seong Hyunjae. Then he held out one front paw.

— Gyeol, team with… Gyeol.

“This is unexpected.”

— I want to go with Dad, but it’s two people each. I don’t want to get in others’ way.

The fairy dragon said while trembling. Seong Hyunjae looked at Gyeol with eyes showing great interest.

“You mean I should take responsibility for an incompetent teammate.”

— Uuuu.

“Then compensation is necessary.”

— Wh-what…

“Stop bullying the kid!”

I quickly brought Gyeol back. What would he demand from a little kid?

— Dad, I’m okay!

“Gyeol, you don’t need to. It’s not a dangerous place, you know?”

“I had no intention of demanding too much.”

“You would’ve demanded something mean. We’ll be back soon, so stay home and play, okay?”

Even while whining, Gyeol stared at Seong Hyunjae. This kid was also quite stubborn.

For the next two days, in addition to Monster Mount breeding information, I distributed prototype stamina potions and leaked information about manufacturing firearms for hunters. Moon Hyunah also concluded several wine trade contracts during that time.

Of course, I didn’t forget the bets over party invitations either.

Kaboom—! The bomb went off spectacularly. This time it was a plain with a village similar to the first one. Our team arrived at the village first, planted the bomb, and got out. Then when the opposing team arrived—bang!

“It ended too easily.”

“Right, kind of boring.”

Sitting on a bicycle, Moon Hyunah answered. The secret about firearms was kept, but the fact that we were winning every match had apparently spread, so there were no people willing to fight teams composed of S-ranks. Thanks to that, I had to get involved every time. Since F-rank seemed easy.

“Only one team left now. The rest refused even with me included, and there are teams that haven’t come here.”

“The last one is Chief Song?”

“Yes. Chief Song hasn’t gotten a single gold coin yet.”

When he’d been on a team with Yerim, he’d declined receiving divided coins. A message window appeared saying two people get one coin each, one person gets three.

“This really is terrible.”

“Right. So I’m a bit worried about the party too. Whether it’s okay to take Yerim.”

It’s sinister. Hyunah pointed a gun at me. I looked at her quietly before speaking.

“What if I said I didn’t want to die?”

“Hm? Then we’d just split them one each. Why, don’t want to?”

“No. What’s the point of being particular at this stage?”

At my words, Moon Hyunah smiled.

“At this stage? Not wanting to die isn’t being particular. It’s something you can say anytime—’I thought better of it!'”

“…Well, it’s not real anyway. I was just saying, so go ahead and shoot.”

“Even if it’s fake.”

Still with gentle words, Moon Hyunah pulled the trigger.

After going outside and finally securing Song Taewon’s gold coins last, the gathering ended.