The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 533: Going to America (2)

While waiting for departure at the airport, I read articles about Chatterbox. Since the first broadcast, Chatterbox had only put forward the Prophet as his proxy and hadn’t appeared directly himself. Naturally, people were incredibly curious about him. Among various theories, the one receiving the most support was that he was a French-born wealthy magnate.

‘The Phantom of the Opera, really.’

Though I’d never sung a song. But when I looked up the phantom from the novel, he was quite similar to Chatterbox. Those people spreading such stories were completely clueless, but that Chatterbox bastard was also committing insane acts because of someone he one-sidedly liked.

‘The youngest of the Severed Labyrinth, was it.’

It was a title that sounded like someone who would sinisterly create an underground maze. If I were to substitute myself in, I’d be about Raoul—should I say this crazy phantom was trying to capture Raoul as a substitute for the dead Christine? It was rather disgusting. If it were someone else’s business, I might munch on popcorn going “wow, what a mess,” but unfortunately, it was my business.

Anyway, people were chattering that Chatterbox had enormous wealth and was trying to lure S-rank Hunters from around the world with all sorts of items, including SS-rank weapons he’d been collecting. In reality, it was common for rich people who weren’t even Awakened to buy high-grade items. For investment purposes, for showing off, and since item effects did apply to non-Awakened people, for self-protection as well.

Particularly in America, there were many such celebrities, to the point where the government had tried to regulate it. Though it didn’t really work. I didn’t know the details, but apparently arms dealers had also jumped into the item trading market, making it even more difficult to control. On top of this, the mafia, terrorist organizations, and various other armed groups were entangled… ah, of course oil money was involved too. There was no way they’d sit idly by watching magic stones replace petroleum.

In short, it was a complete mess.

“Are there really a lot of groups in America that hate S-rank Hunters?”

Yerim asked as she brought over a plate of food.

“Korea doesn’t really have any. Not any actual organizations, at least.”

“It’s not just America, but that whole area. All the way to the Middle East. There was even a saying that if a Hunter dies, the culprit is OPEC.”

One day, A-rank Hunter Thomas was found dead. The police identified Thomas’s team member, lover, neighbor, and regular item dealer as suspects. Who was the culprit? Answer: OPEC from across the ocean.

“OPEC?”

“Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Some say it’s the group that hates Hunters and dungeons most in the world.”

“Ah, petroleum!”

Yerim nodded vigorously as if she understood. In contrast, Gyeol on my shoulder tilted his head in confusion. He knew a lot considering how recently he was born, but he was still lacking in common knowledge.

“And the American shale industry hates them too. If Hunters and dungeons disappeared overnight and the magic stone supply was cut off completely, they’d be throwing parties for three months and ten days.”

Petroleum consumption was still high. Just because a new energy source called magic stones had appeared didn’t mean all the cars and various machines around the world could be replaced at once. It was also being used in various other fields beyond fuel. But if magic stone use became widespread like this, the downfall of the petroleum industry was an inevitable sequence. Even though petroleum could be used in all sorts of places without any waste, its biggest consumption area was fuel.

“Korea was relatively peaceful since we don’t produce petroleum. The transition to magic stones as an alternative energy is progressing smoothly too. But Hunters over there had to fight with major corporations as well. Even if Awakened people are amazing, their opponents were people who already possessed tremendous wealth and power.”

No matter how strong Hunters were, they were individuals belonging to society. Unless they planned to live alone their entire lives, they couldn’t help but be affected by society. Moreover, in the early days, they couldn’t even form guilds or other organizations.

“I heard they poured enormous amounts of money into all sorts of organizations—political circles and media of course, but also religious, medical, environmental, and more. Still, since dungeons had burst open before magic stones and people’s livelihoods were being threatened, the Hunter world eventually gained power and established itself, but that influence still remains.”

“That’s strange. If dungeons burst open, money and everything else becomes useless.”

“Since they can’t do anything about dungeons, rather than completely eliminating Hunters, they probably also had the goal of stomping them down early and monopolizing magic stone distribution themselves. Of course, they’d want dungeons and Hunters to all disappear most of all.”

“They say using magic stones is good for the environment too. But environmental protection groups really fell for it?”

“There must have been tons of fake data released about harmful substances generated when using magic stones as an energy source, right? I don’t know the details either.”

“In the early days, Korea was slightly affected too. But it quickly quieted down.”

Yuhyun said as he set down a plate of fruit in front of my table.

“Overseas, several people came forward claiming they got sick from magic stones. Hunter guilds got caught up in various lawsuits. In Korea, even if Hunters caused civilian damage while hunting monsters from dungeon breaks, they weren’t held responsible, but America was different.”

Among early Hunter guilds, some went bankrupt because of lawsuits, Yuhyun explained. Good grief. Enticing ordinary citizens for profit, providing legal support while making themselves look good. Killing two birds with one stone.

“I wonder if we should just stay quietly without sightseeing or anything.”

Yerim muttered with a slightly intimidated expression.

“If I accidentally destroy a building or something, I’d get sued for hundreds of billions, right?”

“In New York, wouldn’t it be in the hundred-billion range? There are buildings in Seoul worth over a hundred billion too. And if related damage compensation lawsuits pile up and pile up… it might reach the trillion range. Though we shouldn’t destroy buildings anywhere in the first place.”

“I heard it’s more problematic overseas. Team Leader Kim earnestly warned me that if I cause an accident in America, I should absolutely not get caught.”

While Korea tends to be lenient with S-rank Hunters, overseas isn’t like that. Why would they be lenient with foreign Hunters—they’d try to squeeze as much as possible. Thinking about that, Seong Hyunjae really caused accidents everywhere quite freely.

“We pretended we didn’t go to China, but America is an official visit, so we need to be careful.”

Even with dungeons and Awakened people, the world was still capitalist. High-rank Hunters were in the spotlight even more because magic stones and items meant money.

“Well, I’m the one who needs to be most careful though.”

In many ways. How nice would it be if we could clearly say Chatterbox and the Filial Duty Addicts are my enemies and I just need to deal with them. But reality wasn’t so clear about who was on my side and who was on theirs.

– Dad, don’t worry too much.

Gyeol, who had gone down to the table and was fiddling with a tangerine, said.

– If people blame Dad saying you did something wrong, Gyeol has a good method.

“Dad is fine, I told you.”

What is this young one trying to do? But the fairy dragon’s eyes were serious.

– It’s a really sure method.

“Gyeol, children—”

“Let’s at least hear it.”

Yuhyun cut in. Yerim also looked curious. Gyeol smacked the tangerine with his front paw and continued.

– To cover a scandal, a bigger scandal is best!

…I really should have given him a phone without internet access.

– Gyeol will do an interview in the form of a human child. Saying that the Sesung Guild Leader abandoned his mother and ignored his child’s existence. Then there’ll definitely be chaos and everyone will completely forget about Dad’s matter!

…Where did this kid watch some makjang drama?

“Gyeol, if you keep looking up weird things, I’m confiscating your phone.”

– Uuuung.

Gyeol shook his head forcefully. His ears flapped wildly with the momentum.

“And genetic testing will reveal everything. That you’re not human will be exposed too.”

– We can falsify it!

“Phone confiscated.”

– Daaaad!

“Simply having a parent neglect their blood relative wouldn’t be very effective, would it?”

Yuhyun said seriously.

“It’s common, that sort of thing.”

“It’s not that common. Of course, unless it’s a celebrity, it wouldn’t be much of a talking point…”

I turned to look at my brother, and my chest stung. Yuhyun had a truly indifferent expression.

“…Parents should take care of their children. Our parents—that was wrong too. I, Yuhyun. Back then, I had to be okay.”

Though I was still young, I vaguely understood. If our household wasn’t okay, then I—especially my brother—would be abandoned.

“I had to pretend to be normal. It had to be a household living perfectly fine for us to continue living as we were. If our parents couldn’t endure and gave up, if they split up, we would have had to split up too.”

That was what I feared most. Yuhyun might have been secretly thrown away entirely. Neither would have wanted to take him. And I too would have had no choice but to avoid either mother or father. Because I’d be a being that constantly reminded them of the fact that they’d abandoned their second child.

So for me at that time, pretending to be fine, pretending to be harmonious was the best option. I tried to believe that too. In reality, everyone outside the house regarded us as a normal family. No fighting, no violence, and they took care of the basics.

“Hyung. I was really okay.”

Yuhyun looked at me and spoke calmly.

“Even if that was strange and not normal, it wasn’t for me. So… at least to me, hyung created the best family possible. It was unavoidable for you, hyung, but I was really okay and happy.”

“…Yeah.”

I reached out and stroked my brother’s head. Yuhyun added almost like an excuse that he did know it was hard for me.

“Yeah. But I’m happier that you were okay.”

Truly. Before the regression, there was no way the story about our family circumstances wouldn’t come up. I heard so many times that wasn’t I treating him so coldly because I hadn’t properly taken care of him. I was young too, so of course I must have been lacking. Even though I did my best, such guilt was definitely lodged in my chest.

That’s why my brother’s words like this were comforting.

“…It’s not right to carelessly talk about other people’s family matters, but Mister, your parents were definitely wrong. Even if Han Yuhyun wasn’t like a human, he was still a child.”

“Our parents were ordinary people. I understand.”

“Even if you understand, wrong is still wrong.”

That was… true. At the very least, it wasn’t my fault. Yuhyun just happened to be born that way.

“But we’re living well now. Even now we’re not an ordinary family, but… no, actually. If we’re living well, that’s what’s normal. Who cares anyway.”

“Right, we’re pretty good.”

Does a family have to be parent-child structure to be good? If the people living together are happy, that’s the best thing. Even if there are strange aspects to others, what’s the standard for that strangeness in the first place? As long as you don’t harm others and live well, that’s normal.

“Even if the species are completely different, we’re still family.”

– Yeah, Dad!

Peace on my lap rumbled as if understanding the words. I smiled and extended my hand to Gyeol.

“Phone.”

– Hiiing.

“But hyung, I think the method itself is fine. Let’s say he abandoned his child and disguised his wife’s death as an accident. The genetic test will show it’s not human, so it might actually be okay. We can say Sesung contaminated them.”

“…Hey. Are you planning to send the Sesung Guild Leader to prison?”

Then my matter would be completely buried, but Seong Hyunjae would get buried along with it. Of course, that guy would somehow resolve it well, but it was a method that would prick my conscience to death.

“And before the Sesung Guild Leader, Gyeol would be harmed too. That absolutely can’t happen. Same goes for you two. If you sacrifice yourselves to protect me, I’ll blow up even bigger. Really.”

“That’s a bit scary.”

“…I won’t.”

– …Gyeol will endure too.

All three of them shuddered simultaneously. Well, even if they cause an accident, I’m confident I can cause a bigger one.

“The Breaker Guild’s private plane is scheduled to arrive in New York in three hours.”

While eating refreshments and taking a last look at information about America’s Hunter world, Song Taewon entered.

“It really takes a long time. Noah left last night.”

Noah belonged to the Dodam Breeding Facility, but this time decided to act together with his team member Moon Hyunah. The Hunters who boarded Breaker Guild’s private plane yesterday were Moon Hyunah, Noah, Liette, and Kang Soyeong. Soyeong was also a Sesung Hunter, but since Liette was S-rank, she joined that side. On top of that, Yun Yun also accompanied them to register a super-long-distance gate.

“They said it takes over ten hours to America by plane.”

That’s absurd. Still, thanks to planes we could go in a day—if it were by ship, wouldn’t we be celebrating Yuhyun’s birthday on the ocean? How long would a ship take? A month?

“Civil servant mister, you’re good at English too, right?”

Yerim looked at Song Taewon with expectant eyes. Even though we’d received translation items from Shishio, they didn’t translate written text.

“…Reading is slow for me.”

“Being able to read is enough! Since you’re a civil servant, you know the law well too, right? I just need to trust you, right, mister?”

“…”

Difficulty spread across Chief Song’s face. He looked troubled about what to do. Yerim was a completely different type from Seong Hyunjae. Even if she’s S-rank, she’s young. Chief Song, hang in there.

“…Since it could become an international issue, please act carefully and cautiously.”

“Yes! But can I go see Hollywood? Flying there, just briefly.”

“From New York to Los Angeles takes over five hours even by plane.”

“…Wow.”

Yerim’s mouth fell open. I was a bit surprised too. I knew America was big, but it’s the same country. That means it’s several times farther than between our country and Japan.

When departure time was almost here, Seong Hyunjae and Evelyn also arrived, and we all boarded the plane to America together.