The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 574: Dream Within a Dream (2)

“Wh… what’s going on?”

His touch was gentle, but worry hit me first. I wondered if something else had gone wrong.

“Didn’t you say it was hard for you to take on your adult form?”

“This is a dream.”

“Huh? I mean, last time too…”

“It’s your dream, but it’s my dream as well. It’ll blur once you wake up, but that makes it the safest.”

…So that meant young Chaos was asleep too, maybe. It seemed to be a different method than when Rookie came into my dream with him. Either way, hearing that it would all get fuzzy later made my guard loosen a little for no reason.

“So why are you, ah!”

Chaos suddenly picked me up like I weighed nothing. Maybe because it really was a dream, the surroundings were hazy like fog, not as clear as when Rookie showed up. I could hear the soft trickle of water from somewhere and smell grass. My vision sharpened a bit, and I saw a field of grass. In the middle of it, a sofa and a table were just plopped down there.

“That looks… like our sofa and table from home. Why are they outside?”

It was definitely the sofa we’d recently replaced at home – the extra–large one big enough that Yuhyun could stretch out on it, with the long claw marks from Peace and Horang. The previous sofa had been destroyed by Milky Blanc.

“Our dreams are mixed together.”

“…Do you, uh, enjoy sleeping rough or something?”

“I don’t have a house at all.”

“Uh…”

“Don’t start pitying me.”

“No, that’s not it! I wouldn’t dare…”

Still holding me, Chaos dropped onto the sofa. Thanks to that, I ended up in a pretty embarrassing position.

“Um, I can sit on my own, you know.”

“I don’t have much experience calming kids down.”

He laid me down on the sofa. I wriggled a bit, but it didn’t do any good. Aren’t dreams supposed to let you get stronger or something? It was better than a moment ago, but a lap pillow was still embarrassing. I’d done it for my little brother, but that was family, and I’d been doing it for him since he was small. With this old man, it just made me feel like I’d turned into a little kid.

“So sleep.”

“You really have zero experience, huh.”

That’s what beginners usually do. When they have no idea what to do with a child, they either try to put them to sleep or feed them. If the kid cries, they panic, and they’re awkward about playing with them too.

“I was a total beginner myself, you know. I was a kid too. Actually, most adults are beginners. If it’s your first child, it’s your first time being a parent too.”

Adult or kid, if you don’t have experience, you’re a beginner.

“Still, Yuhyun was… I mean, he was a bit different from other kids.”

Being different doesn’t mean it’s bad or wrong, but it still felt hard to say out loud. That’s the kind of world I grew up in.

“He didn’t really make things hard for me. He was a seriously easy kid to raise.”

He never whined and he listened well. Chaos wore an expression like he wanted to flick my forehead. Instead, he smoothed my forehead back.

“You have nothing to talk about except your brother.”

“Well, yeah, but…”

I mean, I like my brother, but still.

“…If you think about it, I really don’t have anything else. I only had one goal. Getting Yuhyun into a good college. Then getting him a good job so he could live well.”

“And you.”

“Me. But I wasn’t the only one like that, you know? There are a lot of people like that. They were talking about their kids instead of their younger siblings, but still.”

I happened to work with a lot of people who were older.

“Eight out of ten either talked about their kids or their house. So we got along. Their kids’ grades, what school is like these days, whether to send them to cram school – I didn’t send Yuhyun though – packing side dishes or making breakfast… I heard a lot of housework stories too. Oh, one of the things I really liked after coming back was dryers. Hanging laundry is sneakily a lot of work. Our place isn’t that big, and we didn’t get that much sun, so once the drying rack is open and everything’s hanging there for a while, the air gets all damp. During the monsoon you have no choice but to hit a laundromat.”

I remembered sitting side by side with my little brother at the coin laundromat, drinking canned drinks from the vending machine while the laundry spun. Since we wanted to wash as much as possible in one go, we usually went together. How much was one load again?

“Dryers are the best.”

Well, other appliances too. His hand stroked my hair, and my eyes kept wanting to close. Even though I was already asleep and this was a dream, drowsiness slowly crept in.

“If I ever get married… I want a full set of appliances…”

“Do you like doing housework?”

“Nah… most people just do it because they have to. I am on the tidy side… kind of. When I lived alone, I’d put off doing the dishes and stuff…”

“What was it like living alone?”

“…Lonely. Because I was the one who got left behind…”

So.

“…I didn’t even know what to eat.”

I’d get stuck right at, What side dishes should I make? I didn’t have the motivation to buy or cook side dishes.

“I didn’t feel like cooking rice either… I really don’t think I’m cut out for living alone.”

“Yeah.”

“I really…”

I don’t remember exactly what I said. I think I just mumbled nonsense. Hopefully I didn’t blurt out anything weird.

And then I opened my eyes.

“…You.”

I saw myself. A me who was bigger than me, perched on a single–seater sofa. Not a lot bigger, just a little, slightly bigger. Wearing a coat and clothes that looked pretty expensive.

…What kind of obnoxious dream is this.

“You look even more run–down than back then.”

“…What?”

I shot to my feet. He looked up at me with an infuriating gaze. His face was all healthy and glossy, like he’d been eating well and living comfortably.

“Back then, the ramen.”

“Hey.”

He lifted his hand in a casual greeting. Wait, no way.

“…How!”

“It’s a dream. A really deep one, at that. Once you wake up, you and I will barely remember any of it.”

“No, even if it’s a dream! I heard the world you’re in is completely separated!”

The me from the Chinese dungeon, twenty–nine–year–old me, nodded.

“So they say. But you and I are strongly connected… gross. Anyway, that’s how it is. Even if the link’s cut, I guess a quick face–to–face in a deep dream is still possible. And somebody must’ve been worried about you.”

“…Worried? You?”

“No. Someone else.”

“…Who.”

“Someone.”

He stood up. I instinctively took a step back.

“What the hell are you wearing.”

“We cleaned out a department store. It’d be a waste to leave all that when no one but us can use it. I didn’t know what to pick, so I just stripped a mannequin.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Yuhyun said it looked good.”

“He’d say you look cool no matter what you threw on.”

“Then that’s enough.”

He laughed. His face was annoyingly bright.

“It’s not like there’s anybody else around anyway.”

“…Did you come here just to rub it in? Get lost.”

With a firm thud of his step, he came right up to me. Maybe his rank–up made him taller, because his eyes were just a hair higher than mine compared to back in the dungeon.

“Han Yujin, you haven’t failed your brother even once. Not now either.”

…My insides flipped over in an instant. My body moved before my brain. My hand shot out for his collar, but he grabbed my wrist first. The moment he caught my wrist, I snapped my leg up, aiming a kick at my injured leg for leverage.

“Ugh!”

He didn’t budge. Instead, he twisted my arm and pushed me straight down to the floor as my balance broke.

“You son of a bitch! You never lost anything, is that it?!”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“And what the hell, why is your leg fine!”

“There was an elixir in Korea. They were so scared someone would steal it or die with it and make it vanish that they didn’t even stash it in an inventory – they kept it deep underground. Apparently it was for some clique of chaebols and big–shot politicians. Yuhyun knew where they’d hidden it, so I found it.”

He clicked his tongue, saying wasn’t it hilarious.

“They should’ve given it to Korea’s strongest Hunter, and instead they just let it rot there. Did they really think they’d be fine if something happened to Yuhyun?”

“…No kidding.”

If they’d given that to Yuhyun…

“There’s also the option of cutting the leg off and dumping top–grade potions on it. I told him it’d be a waste, but Yuhyun insisted. Said he couldn’t stand you getting hurt anymore. Elixirs are great. They put even badly set bones back perfectly without surgery. There was a rumor they extend your lifespan too, but I dunno if that’s true. Do I look a bit younger to you?”

“How would I know!”

“Calm down a little.”

“Would you calm down if you were me!”

“No. But it’s the truth. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“…That from the guy who told me to go die.”

The strength went out of my body all at once. He let me go and slumped down on the floor nearby. I didn’t have the energy to get up, so I just sprawled there.

“So you’re all right now because life turned out fine for you.”

“As if. I’ve just grown different from you, and I happened to find out a bit more, that’s all.”

“Found out what!”

What is it you know. I forced myself upright to sit.

“That it’s okay to forgive myself. So I don’t hate you anymore.”

I glared at him. I wanted to ask more, but it didn’t feel like he’d tell me. Even if he did, I’d forget it all anyway. And more than that.

“I’m not there yet.”

“Yeah. Of course you’re not.”

Silence fell. It hit me again that that Han Yujin and I really were different people now. Similar, but in different worlds – different people.

“…Is Yuhyun doing okay?”

“Of course he is. We talk a lot. There was a lot of time we didn’t know each other, right?”

Han Yujin smiled, so gentle it startled me. Then he started chattering, full of life.

“Hey, did you know? There was a scandal about Yuhyun and Hunter Kang Soyeong. But they never actually dated!”

“…I know.”

“Yeah? I thought they’d make a good couple. But there’s nobody else left alive, and in the end he never got to date anyone! There wasn’t anyone else besides Hunter Kang Soyeong either.”

“…Figured.”

“He’s that handsome, that perfect, and he’s never had a first kiss or anything. Not even a fling. Apparently the most physical contact he’s ever had with someone else is a handshake! Ah, he did say he once held Chief Song Taewon’s arm. The severed one.”

So he hadn’t changed. And it annoyed me.

“Let me slap you just once.”

“No. He said he left everyone else’s arms alone, but figured it’d be a problem if the Head of the Special Inspection Office lost his arm. Lucky he didn’t burn it up.”

“Timewise in that world, it’s not like…”

“They say he’s dead. But there were rumors Guild Leader Sesung smuggled him away. Yuhyun heard that too. Since there was no body, and Sesung personally led the funeral.”

With nobody else there, he still dropped his voice.

“Among the high–rank Hunters, there were people betting their lives the two of them ran off together. That there was no way Guild Leader Sesung killed the Head of the Special Inspection Office when he liked him that much. They said they probably changed their faces and settled down overseas.”

This time, a faint, helpless laugh slipped out. Of course Seong Hyunjae hadn’t hurt Chief Song. And the reverse hadn’t happened either. If things had really gone the way of those rumors… it would’ve been better.

“We really did talk about everything.”

“Even Yuhyun doesn’t know the exact story. He says Guild Leader Sesung completely dropped off the map after that. But as Guild Leader of Haeyeon, even if he didn’t care, he heard every kind of rumor.”

Han Yujin chattered happily. I still wanted to smack him just once.

“We messed things up that badly. We tried to fix it, but neither of us really knew how. So we went to a library together. There were so many books!”

“You came here just to brag about yourself, didn’t you.”

“I’m comforting you.”

“How the hell is that comforting.”

“You like hearing that Yuhyun’s living well.”

He propped his chin on his hand and smiled.

“…You said I wouldn’t remember anyway.”

“But you’ll remember the feeling. You’ll think, That was a good dream. Right now you’re definitely relieved, and even though you’re jealous, you’re glad things worked out.”

“…”

“Oh, right!”

He suddenly jumped to his feet. Then a huge bed popped into existence with a soft whump.

“Why is the bed so huge?”

“The bed from the best room in the best hotel in Seoul! Perks of the apocalypse, right?”

“I’m in a New York hotel. I’m in the States now.”

“Oh, you made it to America. I’d like to see how things are outside Korea, but all Yuhyun can fly is a helicopter, not a plane. Anyway, lie down.”

“What?”

“If you fall asleep one more time, you might get an even better dream. Or maybe not.”

He yanked me toward him. I couldn’t match him in strength, so I ended up getting thrown onto the bed.

“It is pretty soft.”

“Sleep tight.”

“…Tell me more about Yuhyun.”

“Then you won’t fall asleep. We even went to our old place. The place you two used to live together.”

Despite wanting to listen, my eyes slid shut. And… I think I dreamed.

Han Yujin’s cheek grew wet. Young Chaos looked down at his sleeping face.

“The second one must be panicking.”

In reality, he’d be crying too. But Han Yuhyun wouldn’t be able to bring himself to wake him easily and would be at a complete loss. Chaos let out a small sigh.

A child so impossibly young. More fragile than down fluff. To Chaos, there had been countless beings like that, so he hadn’t bothered to pay attention to each and every one. He protected them, but the connection never lasted. They brushed past and were gone.

This time, though, he had given him a sword. And not just any sword – the first one. The very first sword he forged when he was still immature. The childhood of his oldest blade.

That made it all the harder to simply pass by. Maybe this was why the white bird had insisted on the first sword in particular.

“How much longer can he hold out.”

There wasn’t a single part of this brat that was intact, inside or out. And on top of that…

“You’re the same.”

Meeting young Chaos’s gaze, Seong Hyunjae’s lips curled up. One of his arms was gone. When Chaos looked at the missing arm, Seong Hyunjae spoke in a slightly embarrassed tone.

“Keeping track of my arm is harder than I thought. At this point I’m wondering if losing it is just my destiny.”

“You’re not the type to believe in destiny. And that contract wasn’t meant for this kind of thing.”

The contract with young Chaos. Before it was actually fulfilled, Seong Hyunjae used it to contact Chaos and ask him to watch over Han Yujin.

“An old Transcendent I knew gave it to me. If it goes wrong, I can’t make another one on my own.”

It was a contract to send someone with a presence beyond a Transcendent to a world born from a different source. Naturally, it held an overwhelming amount of power, so using it once to get in touch with the other party outside the world was possible.

“How many more times can I use it?”

“Don’t. Just come into the dungeon instead, you rough–edged brat.”

Not that he was the type to listen. Young Chaos’s brow furrowed.

“Well, as long as things are like this, I might as well pass along the message. I got word from Crescent Moon.”

Seong Hyunjae shrugged his empty shoulder.