The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 576: Show (1)

The corners of my eyes were damp. And then.

‘…I remember all of it!’

The dream I’d had when I fell asleep inside a dream was so blurry it was almost erased, but I remembered most of the normal dream. It was only smudged over a little; every word I’d said came back to me. Good thing Senior was the only one there.

“…Hyung.”

I heard Yuhyun’s voice. The low tone reached my ears, and for some reason a dull ache spread in the middle of my chest. When I tried to sit up, my little brother supported me.

“I just woke up after sleeping fine. Why are you looking at me like that?”

Not just Yuhyun – Peace was sprawled on one side of the bed, watching me too. Both of them had worry written all over their eyes. I reached out with both hands and patted Yuhyun and Peace on the head.

“You suddenly started crying, Hyung.”

“Huh? Ah, that’s just from a dream. I don’t really remember it clearly either.”

What kind of dream was it again? Hm.

“…I think I got kind of pissed. There was some annoying jerk!”

But then, even so–

“Seeing how you’re still annoyed, did you maybe fight him and lose? Anyway, Yuhyun.”

I looked at my brother’s face. And my mouth moved on its own.

“You don’t have to date anyone! Don’t date!”

“Huh? …Okay.”

…Why the hell did that suddenly pop out of my mouth? Even Yuhyun looked puzzled as he asked,

“Don’t tell me you cried because I was dating someone in the dream?”

“No way. It wasn’t that, it’s just…”

I fidgeted with my fingers for no reason. I felt like grabbing someone by the collar. Seong Hyunjae? Did that guy pop up even in a dream inside a dream to spout nonsense? Or Chatterbox? Or Whitey?

“I’m perfectly happy with how things are now. I don’t want anyone else coming into our home. I turned down every single marriage offer too.”

“Marriage offers?”

“Back then. There wasn’t a single unmarried high–rank Hunter who didn’t get them. I kept getting contacted from everywhere, saying an engagement was fine even if they were still a minor. Park Yerim’s probably still too young, so she hasn’t heard that kind of thing yet.”

“I did hear arranged marriages still happen now and then. I’m completely against them. If anyone brings that crap up to you, Yuhyun – or to Yerim – I’m burying them in a dungeon.”

Over my dead body. No, even if I die and come back as a ghost, no way.

Yuhyun gave a small nod, telling me not to worry.

“Anyway, the only people I could even remotely see as political marriage candidates are Peace and Park Yerim. If you get married, you have to live together, right? Yerim’s still a minor, so for now it’s only Peace.”

“Uh… yeah.”

– Grrmph.

Peace tilted his head like he couldn’t figure out why his name was coming up. I knew my brother had this kind of inclination, but it still caught me off guard sometimes.

“Mm, so the bigger issue for you is them being underage, not the species difference.”

“Because Hyung said that’s not okay.”

“Right… I never said anything about species. And yeah, in this day and age, nitpicking over species might even count as discrimination. There are so many different races now.”

Rookie and even Senior may look human, but strictly speaking they’re basically aliens. We’ve got spirits like Iryn and Ismuar too. ‘You can’t date them because they’re a different species, even though you can talk to each other and your intelligence levels aren’t that different!’ – that’s just wrong… right? Seong Hyunjae is Crescent Moon’s prospective groom, after all.

And maybe someday, a race with a disposition similar to Yuhyun’s will show up. Something closer to pure fire than to humans. Then the two of them might even end up dating.

“Species isn’t a problem! You just need to be able to talk to each other. Proper communication, and preferably around the same age. You and Peace can’t communicate, and the age gap’s way too big. Let’s not go past a twelve–year zodiac cycle, okay?”

I gripped my brother’s hand and soothed him as I spoke.

“If there’s someone you like, or want to date, or want to marry, you have to tell me first. Promise me.”

We can’t have you suddenly showing up with some weird jellyfish and announcing you’re holding a wedding.

…Should I tell Yerim this too? That if she wants to date a non–human – humans I can deal with – she should at least give Mister a heads–up first. I need time to brace myself.

“Got it.”

Yuhyun nodded, then stared right at me. And he smiled.

“I’m glad you seem to have gotten some of your energy back.”

“…Huh? Oh, was it that obvious?”

“Yeah. But I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do…”

My brother said, sounding deflated.

“Whenever I worry, you try to hide things and say you’re fine. My worrying becomes another thing you worry about. So all I could do was stay by your side.”

“…That’s more than enough.”

I stretched out my arms and pulled my brother into a hug.

“Sometimes there are things you can’t fix no matter how hard you try. It was like that when we were kids. There was a time when the only answer was for time to pass and for us to grow older.”

Sometimes all you can do is just barely hold on. It’s not that you did something wrong or didn’t try hard enough – it’s just… there are times when you’re unlucky.

“…I thought things would keep getting better little by little, but they haven’t. You must have been having a much harder time than I realized.”

“It’s okay, Hyung.”

Yuhyun wrapped his arms around me in return.

“Like I said back then – I love you no matter what kind of person you are, Hyung.”

A long breath sounded. I couldn’t tell if it was mine or Yuhyun’s.

“I can’t completely understand you. Even now, I don’t really know why you’re struggling this much. The way you easily come to like other people, and try to look after and take care of people stronger than you are – honestly, that’s weird too.”

A small laugh slipped out of me.

“So I’m weird now, huh.”

“Yeah. You’re really weird. You’re the weirdest person I know. You’re the person closest to me, the one I’ve spent the most time with, but I understand you less than anyone. You’re hard.”

Yuhyun spoke with real effort, putting his whole heart into it.

“But all of that, every bit of it, is still part of the Hyung I like. And no matter how you change in the future, you’ll still be the Hyung I love. So even if you get better, or even if you somehow get worse, I’ll always be by your side.”

…Life is worth living after all. It felt like I’d been standing out in the freezing midwinter wind with my whole body, and finally stepped into a warm house. The warmth slowly spread through my whole body, all the way to the tips of my fingers and toes.

If I let go of my little brother, things would definitely get easier. That was simple fact, and nobody’s fault. But this warmth I had now would vanish forever. Other people might think I’m being foolishly attached, but who cares.

I’d rather be a stubborn idiot quietly suffering than give up on the people I love.

“My little brother is the best! I feel better after sleeping it off. What time is it now? Feels like dawn – don’t tell me I kept you up? Peace, were you awake because of Daddy?”

– Rrraow.

“It’s not like I forced myself to stay up. I just wanted to watch over you.”

“Still. Come on, sleep. You two should at least get a little rest. Lie down, quick.”

I patted Yuhyun and Peace on either side of me. They lay down like I told them to, but my brother looked up at me with eyes that didn’t have a hint of drowsiness.

“Can you tell me… what happened?”

“Huh? That’s…”

The words stuck in my throat. The fact that I’d tried to kill myself. And… those kinds of things. I just couldn’t say it. Not just to Yuhyun, but to anyone. How was I supposed to talk about that…

“It’s okay, Hyung.”

Whatever my expression looked like, Yuhyun hurried to speak. Forcing a smile, I patted his head.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to talk about this even later. We said we wouldn’t hide things, but… sorry.”

Yuhyun gave a small shake of his head like I had nothing to be sorry for.

“Mister!”

Yerim waved brightly at me. She flew over in a blink, peered into my face, and let out a relieved expression.

“You were worried?”

“Of course I was! Ah, ‘sorry’ is banned! It’s normal for family to worry about each other.”

With ‘sorry’ banned, I suddenly had nothing to say. Well, besides being sorry.

“Thank you.”

“For what.”

Yerim looked a little embarrassed. Then other people came by one after another to check if I was okay, and I ended up feeling embarrassed too. Especially with Seong Hyunjae – it was awkward even making eye contact. Why the hell was he showing up in my dreams.

‘At least his arm’s intact.’

Well, of course – it was just a dream. He looked that fine, so why had I blown his arm off and strangled him in front of Senior in my dream? The subconscious is something else.

Chatterbox didn’t show up through breakfast and all the way up to lunch. The staff kept repeating that they’d let us know as soon as the next event was scheduled, so we shouldn’t worry and should just relax. As if I could not worry.

Using ‘Korean Hunters’ tea time’ as an excuse, we took over one of the private rooms in the restaurant. The soundproofing was solid, and we got assurance that our privacy was guaranteed.

“Anyone have anything suspicious happen?”

I looked around at the people gathered as I asked. Of the Hunters who had come from Korea, Liette, Kang Soyeong, and Evelyn weren’t there. The three of them still hadn’t heard the detailed story. Liette could have joined us, since she’d even met with Diarma, but she refused, saying it sounded boring. Kang Soyeong weighed whether to sit with Noah and Liette or with her boss, then chose Liette, and Evelyn didn’t look like she’d ever planned to attend in the first place.

– Dad, that!

Gyeol landed on my shoulder and looked back and forth between Seong Hyunjae and me. Seong Hyunjae quietly raised one hand.

“Crescent Moon was among my viewers.”

“And you didn’t think to tell us that until now?”

“She only watched for a little bit.”

“…She probably can’t interfere while it’s Chatterbox’s party, but the problem is that means things are going to wrap up soon.”

Chatterbox was pretending to be human and more or less following this world’s rules. In other words, he couldn’t keep the party going forever. S–rank Hunters had to clear the dungeons under their management.

In Korea the dungeon overflow timers had been extended, but that wasn’t true for other countries. So a party that gathered this many high–rank Hunters could last maybe ten days at most. They couldn’t let dungeons explode just to pick up prizes, so if the party dragged on, the S–ranks would have no choice but to drop out one by one.

“And it’s not going to end quietly either.”

If they only targeted me and ended things, that would almost be a relief.

I fiddled with the teacup in front of me.

“Chatterbox’s target is me. So we need to start thinking things through.”

“…That’s not even worth considering.”

Yuhyun said quietly. A step behind, Yerim caught on to what he meant and shot up from her seat.

“What do you mean by that! Are you saying we might have to give up on Mister or something?”

“Calm down, Yerim. For now, Chatterbox has no intention of killing me. He’ll keep me alive.”

If I’m lucky, I’ll just end up stored away as a relic of the King of Harmless. If I’m unlucky, well… I’ll probably still be alive.

“I’m saying it might be better to wait for a chance to rescue me rather than recklessly trying to protect me.”

“Mister, at this rate kidnapping is going to become your hobby.”

I do need a new hobby, but still.

Yerim grumbled and sat back down. Yuhyun also looked completely displeased. Gyeol tugged on my ear, careful not to hurt me.

“What’s certain is that Chatterbox can’t use his power as a Transcendent. I don’t know how he’ll play it, but I’m planning to give it my all up to the last game. We’re better off squeezing every advantage we can out of him. This party was originally meant to raise the Hunters on Chatterbox’s side anyway.”

Either way, Chatterbox had no choice but to use the awakened ones from our world. So for now he was smoothly achieving the purpose of holding this party. I was probably getting the best results, and everyone had picked up plenty of gold coins.

“And after Chatterbox, we’ve got Crescent Moon next… ugh.”

– Dad, let’s just throw that thing out.

Gyeol whispered right into my ear. Seong Hyunjae rested his chin in his hand and smiled at me, while Chief Song Taewon, sitting across from him, looked slightly grim.

“Honestly, you Transcendents just can’t leave people alone. And the rule that you can’t interfere directly on our side still stands, so the both of you, don’t get any strange ideas.”

“The same goes for you, Mr. Han Yujin.”

Chief Song met my eyes as he spoke. I waved my hands with a laugh.

“I told you, I plan on living a long time. Anyway, forget the Transcendents – how are things back home?”

“Korea’s quiet. Japan too. The Amaterasu guild master keeps sending over congratulatory flower stands and presents.”

Yuhyun said. Shishio really… I should at least call him once.

“Most of the public opinion at home about this party is positive. They say the image of low–rank Hunters has improved, and admiration for high–rank Hunters has gone up even more.”

“I was worried I might have damaged the image a bit. It’s okay?”

I mean, my stats are F–rank, and if you get beaten by an F–rank, you can’t help but feel they’re not that scary.

“Yeah. I think it’s because it’s the first time they’re seeing it live. A report said Hunter Park Yerim and Chief Song Taewon’s performance had a huge impact. The Outlaw Team demolishing a city was shown in full detail.”

Thinking about it, even before I regressed, the S–rank Hunters got even more popular after the ranking matches aired.

“But the ones drawing the most attention are still you, Mr. Han, and Chatterbox.”

Seong Hyunjae said. Me, I could understand, but Chatterbox… it still didn’t sit right with me. Rookie said it would be fine, but there was nothing good about him gaining more recognition. If Chatterbox got famous, it would be easier for him to pull S–rank Hunters over to his side. Maybe that was what he was after. But judging from the broadcasts so far, there hardly seemed to be any S–ranks who wanted to antagonize the Korean Hunters.

“Those who oppose gatherings of high–rank Hunters are apparently very active. There are more protests going on even today.”

Seong Hyunjae said he’d had related materials sent to each of our emails. When I pulled out my phone to check, there were protest photos and videos attached.

“We’re busy enough trying to protect the world as it is. Even if they can’t picture the world ending, they should at least get that dungeons can blow.”

“They’re the ones who have to keep living in the world we protect. It’s surprisingly common to see people get more worked up over today’s traffic jam on the way to work than tomorrow’s apocalypse.”

“Says the guy with his own private helicopter. You even commute through portals.”

We didn’t come up with any real countermeasures, just went over where things stood. Chatterbox was one thing, but Crescent Moon really left me at a loss. It felt like we were a school of fish in a giant aquarium tank. Once a net came in, all we could do was dart around – there was nothing else we could do.

“Hyunah–ssi, can we talk for a bit?”

“What is it, what is it?”

As I caught Moon Hyunah, Yerim’s curiosity flared and she came over.

“The grown–ups have something to talk about.”

“What do you mean, ‘grown–ups’? Han Yuhyun can go but I can’t?”

“Yuhyun’s not allowed either.”

Yerim’s jaw dropped.

“Whoa… don’t tell me, Mister, are you finally going to confess to Hyunah unni?”

“I’m not!”

“Han Yuhyun! Mister’s getting married!”

“Yerim!”

How many steps are you skipping here! At Yerim’s shout, everyone around us turned to look at me. I wanted to die of embarrassment. It was awkward even looking at Hyunah–ssi.

“Hyunah–ssi, it’s not like that…”

“Just bring yourself over, just you.”

Moon Hyunah said with a laugh. The back of my neck burned.

“…You’re teasing me again!”

“Park Yerim, can’t you see how flustered Hyung is?”

“Why not~ you two look great together~ Han Yuhyun, you’re the one who’d probably move out if Mister got married – gasp! Mister, no, you can’t! Don’t leave just me and Han Yuhyun behind!”

Yerim freaked out, saying she hadn’t thought of that and that if it was just the two of them left, she’d run away from home. I hurriedly insisted that wasn’t what this was about and, after a lot of excuses, slipped out with Hyunah–ssi to the terrace. Moon Hyunah brushed back her wind–tousled hair behind her ear, almost like a scratch, and looked at me.