The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 581: Preparing the Ingredients (3)

KABOOM!

An explosion went off on the massive screen. Earbuds plugged in, people stared, eyes nailed to the video. Even when the crosswalk signal changed, some of them didn’t budge, just watched in a daze.

Black smoke billowed up, and white mist bloomed through it. The Hunter scanned the area, but there was no sign of Han Yujin. The mist thickened, and the Hunter’s face twisted into a deep frown.

“What kind of stealth skill is that!”

Even a pretty high–grade stealth skill had a hard time slipping past the sharpened senses of an S–rank Hunter in combat. But it was hard to pinpoint Han Yujin’s position. Because of the mist wrapping around the area.

It wasn’t just blocking vision. The mana infused into the mist was oddly similar to Han Yujin’s, interfering with the Hunter’s senses and blocking him from locating the real body.

“…How with an F–rank Magic stat.”

And that kind of delicate mana control was not something an F–rank was supposed to have. The Hunter let out a long breath. Even if he couldn’t find him, it was hard for someone of Han Yujin’s strength to land a critical blow on an S–rank Hunter. The white gun was pretty powerful, sure, but as long as he focused, it wasn’t hard to notice mana gathering into the gun. All he had to do was catch the moment he tried to attack, and it’d be over.

“But just waiting around like this is boring!”

Gray power gathered in both of the Hunter’s hands as he shouted for the viewers’ benefit. Mana condensed into round bombs.

Pop!

It burst apart into pieces. Hundreds of fragments rained through the mist, ripping up the ground and trees, smashing and splintering them. The instant one of those scattered fragments hit something, he’d be able to locate Han Yujin.

“Lucky this time.”

Nothing made contact. Just as mana started gathering in the Hunter’s hands again—

Ssssshhhhh–

The mist abruptly cleared. Out of it, both of Han Yujin’s hands reached toward the Hunter’s.

It was a slow movement, easy to dodge, but the Hunter simply stood there, the corners of his mouth lifting. Whatever he was planning, he’d walked into range himself, so as soon as the skill went off—

“…Huh?”

Han Yujin’s hands touched the gray clump of the skill. The flow of mana felt off, but it was already too late for the Hunter to cancel the skill. The mana bomb packed with tremendous power—

Viiiiiing–

Instead of detonating outward, it reversed and collapsed inward. Compressed smaller and smaller in an instant.

“Gah!”

It punched straight through both of the Hunter’s palms.

Everyone’s eyes were locked on the scene like they were hypnotized. People muttered how the hell is that even possible, but most of them stayed glued to the video. The Hunter, now missing both hands, threw himself back to dodge as mist spread around him again. White mist. And then—

[King of Harmless]

The caption overlaid on the screen. Every time Han Yujin used the mist, different mist–themed captions popped up. Sometimes they added explanations about the Sea of Mist. The viewers accepted the captions without thinking much about them.

“Huh?”

Just then, the dungeon gate beside the streetlight started to glow faintly. Normally, dungeon gates were supposed to be surrounded by defensive structures, but when the dungeon rank was low and space was tight, sometimes they only blocked access in a minimal way.

This dungeon gate was F–rank, so for ease of status checks they’d only boxed it in like a transparent phone booth on one side. The gate, which had been a stable blue, suddenly flared with light, and the people nearby quickly stepped back.

“Call it in!”

“Any Hunters here?”

“I’m a D–rank Hunter. Stay calm and move around the area! It’s an F–rank dungeon, so it shouldn’t be too dangerous.”

A couple of Hunters stepped forward. Meanwhile, the light from the gate grew stronger and stronger, and then—

“…A person?”

“Was it being raided? But the gate color was showing inactive.”

A man with slightly darkened, scorched–looking skin appeared. With his face set in a hard expression, Yu Myungwoo opened the locked door and stepped out. Right after that—

Thupthupthupthup–

The sound of a helicopter came from the sky. A door on the lowered chopper swung open, and a man holding onto a rope ladder jumped down. The ladder swayed and then stopped just above Yu Myungwoo’s head.

“Welcome to New York, Mr. Blacksmith.”

Hwang Rim, grinning warmly as he held out his hand, got a brief glance from Yu Myungwoo, who took a rope from his inventory.

“Take me up. Now.”

The rope in taciturn Yu Myungwoo’s hand whipped up like it was alive. In an instant, it tied itself to the open door handle of the helicopter and hauled its owner upward. Yu Myungwoo’s figure vanished into the helicopter. Watching, Hwang Rim shrugged.

“Guess I’m just not popular with Koreans~”

Gesturing at the helicopter to take off, Hwang Rim swung his body lightly while still holding onto the rope ladder. His foot tapped the nearby streetlight and—

Crack!

He kicked off the steel pole and shot up in a single leap. Leaving behind a deep footprint in the metal, Hwang Rim slid into the chopper as well.

On the large TV taking up nearly half of one wide wall, Han Yujin was moving. White mist puffed up from his toes as he stepped down onto the rock. Reclining deeply into the back of his chair, Chatterbox watched. The thick mist spreading out, and the dark red metallic threads cutting through it.

Boom!

Just then, one wall blew out. Dust roared in, and chunks of the shattered wall tumbled all the way to Chatterbox’s feet.

“Excuse me.”

Beyond the gaping hole, Hwang Rim bowed his head slightly and stepped in. He wore a friendly smile.

“One of our VIP customers requested a house call. You can bill the repairs to—”

“Any S–rank guild.”

Yu Myungwoo brushed past Hwang Rim and walked up to Chatterbox.

“Wherever in New York you go, if you give my name, they’ll pay.”

“As expected of a VVIP!”

Hwang Rim clapped slowly, clap, clap. Chatterbox, who had kept his eyes glued to the TV even while the wall was exploding, turned his head toward Yu Myungwoo. There was the faint scent of a Transcendent. Of course, it wasn’t coming from Yu Myungwoo himself. Yu Myungwoo gave the TV a quick glance, then stepped in front of Chatterbox, blocking the screen.

“You’re breaking the contract.”

At Yu Myungwoo’s words, the corners of Chatterbox’s mouth lifted under his mask.

“All the party participants are unharmed.”

“You’re trying to overlay something on Hunter Han Yujin right now.”

The traces of King of Harmless. Just handing over related items and having him use them wasn’t a big problem. But that broadcast was being watched by an enormous number of people. With the captions added on top, it was making countless sapient beings form a specific image of Han Yujin. On the stage Chatterbox had created, that was an act with a kind of ritual significance.

Even with his limited knowledge, Young Chaos felt something ominous, and Rookie freaked out. But neither of them could interfere directly, so instead they used the connections between dungeons to send Myungwoo to Manhattan.

“That’s all it is.”

Chatterbox tilted his head lazily.

“There will be no direct harm to Hunter Han Yujin. At least until the party ends. And even after the party ends, it might simply stay as is.”

Yu Myungwoo’s brow furrowed. As Chatterbox said, Han Yujin was still safe for now.

“It’s just decoration. People change depending on their clothes and surroundings. Or they don’t. Personally, I hope he does change, but if it fails, it’ll only be a bit disappointing.”

“Then stop it here.”

“I have no reason to.”

Viiiiing—

At some point, a short sword had appeared in Yu Myungwoo’s hand, ringing with a metallic hum as it pointed at Chatterbox’s throat. Chatterbox raised both hands slightly.

“Rookie’s Chaos’ sword, is it?”

“They said that even if it can’t take you out, it can at least cut the link to that body.”

He could only use it once, and only for that purpose. But if he used the borrowed sword, Yu Myungwoo would have to pay a price as well.

“Even if I back out for a bit here—”

“I know the party won’t stop. Just don’t move until that stage ends.”

At least Chatterbox wouldn’t be able to interfere directly any further. Chatterbox lowered his raised hands onto the armrests and let his whole body relax.

“Care to make a bet? I’ll put my money on Hunter Han Yujin winning. Even if I don’t interfere any further from here.”

Yu Myungwoo clenched his teeth. If Han Yujin didn’t win, he’d at least have a chance to slip free of the image Chatterbox wanted.

“Our Little Jin is amazing and all, but going up against the Sesung guild leader might be tough.”

Watching the two of them, Hwang Rim spoke as he pulled out his phone.

“Looks like my darling has the chat turned off~ Let’s see, his little brother is… yeah, not in here. Mr. Civil Servant is working hard at pretending he doesn’t see anything. Between Breaker–unnie, the youngest, and the Sesung guild leader…”

Saying Sesung would be best, Hwang Rim entered Seong Hyunjae’s personal stream and tapped at the keyboard.

“Ah, blocked. Mr. Phantom, mind loosening up the filters a bit?”

“External info related to participants is automatically blocked evenly.”

“Then ‘Please make sure you beat Han Yujin!’ will just look like a normal cheer. Hey, Jupiter! It’s H, the one who had an amazing time in China with Little Jin.”

Yu Myungwoo’s expression twisted. His hand twitched like he really wanted to throw the sword at Hwang Rim.

“He recognized me. I’ve got a message to pass along from Mr. Blacksmith.”

Hwang Rim sent the message into the chat. Even while focusing on the sword aimed at Chatterbox’s throat, Yu Myungwoo glanced at the TV. No matter how good the items were, normally this shouldn’t have been possible. But Han Yujin—

All three pairs of eyes were nailed to the TV screen.

Clink, clink. Gold coins clattered together. I swept the mist aside with my hand and picked up the scattered coins. A long sigh slipped out of me without thinking.

‘…This really does leave a bad taste.’

There was no denying it was based on my own ability. But it was just as true that my ability alone couldn’t pull this off. The other items, I’d worked hard to get. The items Chatterbox had given me were different.

Even if we called it a contract, it wasn’t really something I was paying for. They were things I didn’t need to use, but I was using them purely out of my own greed. It wasn’t like Grace, that Myungwoo had created thanks to someone’s goodwill in response to my actions. I hadn’t bought them or stolen them either.

Of course, it’s not like you’re not allowed to borrow items for those reasons.

‘Other people are watching me.’

Even though I was leaning on Chatterbox’s power for half of this, people were probably saying stuff like Han Yujin is amazing. Even though I’m F–rank, even though I’m not combat–type, even though I’m pathetically weak compared to S–ranks.

It’s not like it was a crime or something I could clearly call wrong. But it still felt strangely, uncomfortably off.

‘…Yeah, I did want Han Yujin to be recognized.’

Just me. With my own strength. The reason I’d turned down help from the people around me and entered the party alone definitely had that feeling behind it. I checked the map. Thanks to fighting among themselves a few times, the number of other Hunters had already dropped by nearly half.

‘But that’s not what’s urgent right now.’

What mattered was scoring as high as possible to protect the people around me from Chatterbox. I stowed the coins in my inventory and started walking. Suddenly, I wanted to look at the chat window. At the same time, I really didn’t want to.

‘…I’ve been doing pretty well so far, but.’

I’d heard “amazing” plenty already. But the compliments I was getting now…

…There’s no point in chewing on this over and over. I took a deep breath. This wasn’t the time for useless thoughts. I’d be running into people I knew any minute.

I clenched the die in my hand. One of the dots on the map disappeared. Someone had been knocked out. The dot that had been next to the vanished one was—

‘Han Yuhyun.’

Yuhyun. I moved, using my stealth skill. There were no other Hunters nearby. Before long, charred ground crunched under my shoes. Even though we were in a forest, not a single ember had spread; only a section had burned, like someone had drawn a perfect line. My stealth was something even an S–rank Hunter would have a hard time noticing, but—

“…Hyung?”

My little brother immediately turned toward me. I dropped the skill, and his eyes widened a little as he looked at me.

“Hyung, right now… I mean…”

“Yuhyun.”

Yuhyun’s brows drew together sharply.

“…You’re weird.”

Glaring at the mist coiling around me, my little brother muttered under his breath.

“It’s definitely you, but.”

“It’s because of the items Chatterbox lent me.”

“…”

Yuhyun’s grip tightened around Ruler’s Sword. The mist probably annoyed him, but more than that, he clearly didn’t like Chatterbox messing with my mana imprint. It probably felt a bit muddled.

When I’d turned into Delroux, I must have felt like a completely different being too, but that was like putting on a mask. Take it off and I went right back to normal. Getting mixed together with something else was a bit different.

“We’re going to fight, right?”

Before Yuhyun could start prying into the details, I tossed the die. It rolled across the blackened ground and stopped, showing a three. At the same time, the scenery around us changed.

A sandy desert, my feet sinking a little.

“…That from Chatterbox too?”

“Yeah. It just lets us fight one–on–one. I’m at a disadvantage, remember.”

I smiled as I looked at Ruler’s Sword. Even Ruler’s Sword couldn’t pierce Grace. But that blue flame might be dangerous. The flame that had swallowed even the system wall.

Blue Flame that he still couldn’t use properly and that ate away at him… he might well use it to beat me.

…Normally maybe not, but he’d noticed that there was something off about me right now. So the best thing to do was end this as fast as possible.

I put a hand over my chest and looked at Yuhyun.

“Let’s start.”

Mouth tightening slightly, Yuhyun raised his pitch–black sword.