The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 569: Older Brother, Older Sister, and Younger Brother

“I thought it’d be Noah!”

Liette shouted as if it were unexpected. She then tilted her head.

“Were you that bummed out about not getting to fight the Commissioner General?”

Han Yuhyun quietly looked at Liette. He also thought it was unexpected. He had definitely expected to run into Han Yujin. Even if Han Yujin was matched with someone else, he thought Peace or Park Yerim would be within the expected range, but the person who actually appeared in front of him was Liette.

Liette narrowed her eyes at the silent Han Yuhyun. Then, clap, she clapped her hands.

“Alright, I wanted to have a chat anyway!”

“Chat?”

Han Yuhyun asked quietly, as if talking to himself. Conversation didn’t really suit Liette. It was the same for Han Yuhyun. Liette nodded vigorously. Her black bar–shaped earrings swayed with the motion.

“I don’t know you that well, but I get the feeling we’re pretty similar. So why are you so close with your family?”

“…”

The tip of Han Yuhyun’s eyebrow raised slightly. Family. She had to be talking about Han Yujin.

“Your brother is weaker than Noah. Why did you let him live? He’s older too, so he wouldn’t have been cute like Noah.”

“Just because someone is young doesn’t mean they feel cute.”

No, it was difficult to understand the meaning of the word “cute” itself. When Han Yuhyun was young, Han Yujin often said he was cute. There wasn’t any special reason. He was cute when he was acting normal, and he was cute when he did something different. So, Han Yuhyun had thought that “cute” was just another expression for “like.”

Now he knew through knowledge that it had a different meaning, but he still couldn’t feel a big difference between that and “like.” So, consequently, the only existence Han Yuhyun could call cute was Han Yujin. Though he didn’t say it out loud since his brother wouldn’t appreciate it.

“I don’t say everything is cute just because it’s young either. Cute is cute. Anyway! Did you never try to get rid of him? I did. They get in the way. Especially for us. Since our parents were wary of us.”

“If Hyung hadn’t liked me.”

Han Yuhyun answered calmly.

“I would have judged that it was better not to have siblings.”

Han Yujin disappearing would be more helpful for Han Yuhyun’s survival. Reproduction and raising offspring are realms close to instinct. So, if there was only one child. If they lost one of the two and only one remained. There was a high probability they would try to raise the remaining child with more care than before, even if that child was unsettling.

So, if Han Yujin hadn’t loved Han Yuhyun. Han Yuhyun would have pushed Han Yujin out like a cuckoo chick. Without difficulty, disguised as an accident, and since he was a child, without receiving suspicion.

“Right? That’s normal.”

For them. Like a snake egg dropped into a small bird’s nest. Once fully grown, one might become generous without bothering to touch the weak things. But for a hatchling needing protection, it was a natural instinct not to hesitate in swallowing the young of the same nest to survive.

“Especially since I was born first. It was obvious they would only try to keep the newly born child. It wouldn’t have been strange if one day they suddenly disappeared, leaving only me behind.”

Liette’s parents were afraid of their young daughter but couldn’t abandon her. Her appearance as a child and their responsibility as parents held them back. But the situation changed when a new child was born.

Ordinarily cute, younger, and more fragile—a newborn baby. With the existence of the new child, Liette was no longer the youngest protectee of the household. Rather, she ended up becoming a threatening existence that might harm her younger brother.

They have to protect the other child. The new child is smaller and weaker. Liette quickly noticed that her parents could soon cast off their responsibility toward her.

“So I was going to kill him~ But you saw him. Noah was small, shiny, and cute. That’s my brother. He’s mine.”

It was a different feeling from her parents, who were nothing more than useful guardians. He was useless, weak, and just wiggled around. But she liked him. Liette changed her mind and took care of her brother, albeit clumsily. Parents with common sense couldn’t abandon a daughter who cherished her younger brother.

Although, as Liette grew, they eventually gave up on both, unable to handle her.

“Hyung was.”

At the look in Liette’s eyes asking, ‘Why did you let him live then?’, Han Yuhyun opened his mouth.

“Strange.”

“He is pretty fearless. Usually, people are scared of me.”

“Hyung chose me instead of a guardian.”

Han Yuhyun was young, but he instinctively understood the situation. Human hatchlings are weak. It was impossible to live without the help of adults, and the growth period was long. Han Yujin was born much earlier than Han Yuhyun, but he was still quite small compared to an adult.

So, for Han Yujin, the existence of an adult, a parent, was essential. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that for a young hatchling, the parent—the adult—was their entire world. Everything needed for living was given by the adult, and knowledge, values, habits, and so on were greatly influenced by the adult.

“Even though he shouldn’t have.”

A living creature’s greatest instinct is survival, and Han Yujin should have chosen his parents to survive. Obviously.

But Han Yujin turned his back on his world and held Han Yuhyun’s hand.

“Hyung is the strange one.”

It was strange. That was a kind of seed. Han Yuhyun felt that Han Yujin was strange, and that was his first emotion toward another person. Because it was something that couldn’t happen.

Han Yujin abandoned his own world and became Han Yuhyun’s world. Like that, he slowly engraved emotion, love, into Han Yuhyun.

“Hyung is the strange one.”

That there is no one who likes me as much as Hyung, that there is no one who likes me as much as Hyung does. That he has no choice but to look only at Han Yujin. The reason Han Yuhyun spoke calmly as if it were a firm truth was also because it couldn’t be any other way.

Who else could give up their world and come to him? Even if he lived for an eternity going forward, he had no doubt that it would never happen again. Perhaps that was something only possible because both Han Yujin and Han Yuhyun were children. Something only possible for the two of them at that time, in that moment.

“He really is weird.”

Liette said, blinking her eyes. Even with just a few words without detailed explanation, she could understand because she was from a similar environment. Han Yujin’s parents must have ostracized Han Yuhyun. But Han Yujin embraced Han Yuhyun until the end. Even now.

“Why did he do that? Your brother.”

Han Yuhyun was silent for a moment, then answered briefly, hesitating a little.

“Because I was cute.”

Hyung had said so. Because my little brother is cute, pretty, and kind. Liette nodded as if she understood.

“Being cute is really fascinating, isn’t it? But Noah is cuter than you. You aren’t shiny. Your hair and eyes are both black.”

“Hyung said I’m the cutest.”

“That’s because he didn’t see Noah back then. Even now, you’re pitch black and Noah is shiny, right? If you ask him now, he’d probably say Noah is cuter?”

Han Yuhyun didn’t answer. He didn’t feel the need to answer. Han Yujin did consider Noah quite cute, but not compared to Park Yerim and Peace. And the person Han Yujin looked at most fondly and cared for was always Han Yuhyun.

So instead of answering a useless question, he lifted Ruler’s Sword. Liette leaped back lightly. Her boot heels touched the very edge of the cliff precariously.

“My brother is the cutest!”

“…Hyung thinks the same.”

Because this is Han Yujin’s opinion, not Han Yuhyun’s. Since Han Yujin would surely answer that his little brother was the best, Han Yuhyun spoke up too. At those words, Liette pouted slightly. A longsword was held in her hand as well.

“How did you two get along so well? I protected my brother. And I made him strong. I still don’t think that’s wrong. Surviving is natural!”

Because he was what she cherished most, she tried to make him stronger. If you die, it’s over. No matter how cute and pretty, all that cute and pretty stuff disappears.

If her position had been reversed with Noah’s, Liette would have understood and accepted it without any complaints. Because for Liette, becoming strong was the best thing. Living without one’s life being threatened, doing whatever one wanted.

So she tried to give him the best thing. Even if Noah became stronger than her and tried to kill his sister, Liette would have been satisfied. My cute little brother is going to live a super long time.

“What did you do?”

Boom!

At the kick pushing off the ground, part of the cliff crumbled down. As Liette’s body shot forward, sword energy reached for Han Yuhyun’s neck. The sharp energy that approached in an instant, as if crossing space, was barely blocked by the pitch–black blade and scattered.

Immediately after, Liette arrived in front of Han Yuhyun. Clang! Sword clashed against sword.

“I.”

Krrrk— The blades twisted against each other, making a grating sound. Liette’s sword was S–Rank, but high–tier, and reinforced with skills. Even so, the blade chipped faintly against Ruler’s Sword.

“Abandoned it. Because I had to accept Hyung.”

If Han Yujin gave up Han Yujin all at once, Han Yuhyun was whittled away little by little. To adapt to the newly given world, he slowly discarded his old self.

Fwoosh, dark blue flames rode up Ruler’s Sword. Liette hurriedly retreated and scattered poison. But the poison was devoured by the fire and burned away.

“Hyung and I are different. That will never change.”

Flames dripped down. Soaking into the ground like raindrops. In between, Iryn mixed in and permeated.

“…Noah and I are different too.”

Liette admitted reluctantly.

“Honestly, I didn’t yield even a little bit. Because my brother is weak and I’m strong! Were you okay with your brother being weak? Is it okay to do things the weak person’s way?”

“Hyung isn’t weak.”

“I know Honey is amazing, but~ He is weak.”

“If it’s simple power, that might be true. But Hyung is.”

Han Yujin is. The corners of Han Yuhyun’s lips lifted slightly. How amazing Hyung was. Han Yuhyun also tried to worry about and protect Han Yujin at first. But now, even if his martial power itself was weak, he believed in his brother.

“Hyung is strong.”

“Huh?”

Feeling the heat under her feet, Liette tried to dodge hurriedly. But before that.

Rumble!

The cliff collapsing was faster. The ground started to crumble down from a couple of steps in front of Han Yuhyun. The permeated fire melted the underground into mush, and the fire elemental caused an explosion. As if a giant shovel had dug deep into part of the cliff, the ground sank and was swept away just like that.

“Hot!”

Liette shouted as she was swept down by the collapsing soil. Even if she tried to step on a rock and jump up, it heated up in an instant and melted away. No matter how great an S–Rank Hunter she was, running on liquid was impossible without a related skill. Liette growled softly.

Crash!

A heavy sound echoed from below. Stepping on Blue Willow Leaves, Han Yuhyun looked down beneath the cliff. A massive Black Dragon was coiled among the half–molten piles of dirt, looking up at him. Red–hot molten soil and stones tapped against its scales. It was a terrifying heat, but it couldn’t melt the Black Dragon’s scales.

– Everything else is great, but the lack of wings is a total bummer! So, you decided to live as your brother said? Hmm, like Noah? Noah hated it though.

“I did, but Hyung accepted the original me.”

Blue Willow Leaves fluttered down like snowflakes. Each one was engulfed in flames, clouding Liette’s vision.

“He said it was okay to live as myself.”

He said the parts that were hard to accept and understand as a human were okay. Liette frowned. The leaves directly imbued with Han Yuhyun’s fire felt hotter than lava.

– What does that mean?

“He said we just have to acknowledge the differences and yield to each other. That I wasn’t wrong, and Hyung wasn’t wrong either.”

– …Noah.

Liette fell silent. Her brother was kind, cute, and pretty. But Liette didn’t have much interest beyond that. Since he was younger and weaker than her, she just thought protecting him and making him strong was the best way.

– I don’t know Noah as well as I thought.

That was true. Noah became strong. It seemed like there was no need to take care of him anymore. Then what’s next? Should he just live happily on his own like that? Liette became a little confused, and Kang Soyeong had suggested, ‘Why don’t you try getting close to him?’ ‘What does Noah like? Food or hobbies. Hmm, he cooks often. He said he cooks.’

She had given him many gifts. Her brother said thank you no matter what she gave. She called, wrote letters, and told him he was pretty every time she saw him.

– My brother didn’t talk much. But I think it’s also that I just didn’t listen.

My little brother. That seemed to be all. The weak, cute, and pretty thing wiggling in the cradle.

– Is Noah, Noah? I still think making my brother strong wasn’t wrong. But.

Before that.

– I don’t want you to die, so let’s get strong. Should I have asked for consent to do that?

“I don’t know.”

Han Yuhyun said indifferently.

“Ask him yourself.”

– Yeah, I should!

Liette answered.

Boom!!

Flames soared. The cliff completely collapsed on top of the Black Dragon. The floor wasn’t safe either. Everywhere her feet touched melted and burned. Even for a giant dragon, it was hard to move properly without a place to step unless it had wings.

– Wow, amazing! I just got distracted for a second!

Liette exclaimed in admiration while being flustered. Everywhere was dyed red, black, and blue. It was hard to control her massive body, but she couldn’t turn into a human either. She only endured because they were dragon scales resistant to heat; if she were in human form, she would have suffered severe burns.

The ground sinking like a swamp, hot piles of stones battering her whole body. New flames soared continuously between them.

– Huh?

And Han Yuhyun disappeared. Even with Liette’s keen senses, she couldn’t find him. All she could feel was fire, fire, and more fire. It’s dangerous. Liette prepared herself for injury and turned back into a human. The dragon body was too big of a target.

“Ugh!”

Terrifying heat rushed in, and just as she stepped on the pouring stones trying to escape the lava zone somehow.

“…!”

Han Yuhyun appeared. A hand, partially transformed into a beast’s, grabbed the stabbing sword. Scrape, scales were scratched as the sword tip was pushed right up to Liette’s Adam’s apple. It seemed to stop there, but.

Crunch!

Ruler’s Sword pierced Liette’s neck. Liette shrugged her shoulders slightly, and just like that, disappeared. She looked like she had no regrets, though it was a shame she had let her guard down too much.

The flames receded, and the air slowly cooled down. Han Yuhyun, landing on the hardening ground, sheathed Ruler’s Sword.

“…But Hyung.”

The whittled–away Han Yuhyun was returning, but Han Yujin was… An expression like a lost child flashed across Han Yuhyun’s face.

[Han Yuhyun Victory]

Han Yujin’s fingertips twitched. Suppressing it, scratching the floor, he eventually grabbed the arm that was blocking his breath. Han Yujin applied more force. Gagging sounds were heard. He squeezed even harder.