The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 588: Mist of Memories (2)

A hand settled on my shoulder. It felt completely human. Ru Ga Pheya’s original three eyes were down to two, like a person’s – no extra one stuck on her forehead. I couldn’t see clearly, but everything below her upper body was just a hazy blur of mist.

One way or another, it was the King of Harmless.

“…You, how.”

My mouth moved in the middle of my confusion. Ru Ga Pheya tossed her overflowing hair back over her shoulder and answered.

“Because I’m the mist of memories.”

“Memories?”

“What I left you with was just a message. But that’s also a piece of my memory. Normally, it would’ve passed on a single line and then scattered~ But look at this now!”

That pure–white hand waved again, as if greeting the people beyond.

“The King of Harmless! Ru Ga Pheya! The mist devours memories, and memories are my nourishment and my power. I was spread to this many people, they all came to know me, and a pot with a seed in it soaked up that power – how could it not sprout?”

…So I was the flowerpot. All through the party, Chatterbox had been gathering people’s awareness through me. And then trying to twist that awareness into the King of Harmless.

“There wasn’t a soul who didn’t know the master of the Sea of Mist~ It was the first story kids heard once they could understand words. Remember the master of the mist. If you forget the mist, you’ll forget your dad and mom too~”

Humming like a song, the King of Harmless rested her chin on the crown of my head. Then she looked at Chatterbox.

“Tell me!”

Everything that had happened so far. Ru Ga Pheya was purely, genuinely delighted.

“Uh, hey. Shouldn’t you be helping me?”

“Hm? Why would I?”

…Asked like that, I had nothing. Still, there was no way she’d want to be brought back like this. …Probably. Either way, I couldn’t just sit there and take it, so I shouted at Chatterbox, who was still staring holes through Ru Ga Pheya.

“Your mist is right here, so–”

“Why would I be his mist?”

Ru Ga Pheya tapped her chin pointedly against my head. I suddenly felt bad. The King of Harmless would never belong to that psycho.

“Chatterbox claimed that, I never agreed. Anyway, Ru Ga Pheya, just tell him I wasn’t the one who killed you.”

“I don’t think that matters. No matter whose hands I died by, the result would’ve been the same~ So what happened now? Why does Chatterbox look like that? Why are you turning into me? What’s this broadcast? Weren’t we supposed to keep quiet about Transcendents in this world?”

Come on, it sounds fun, hurry up and tell me! Ru Ga Pheya slapped my shoulder lightly with her hand. Totally hopeless. The jellyfish only cared about her own fun. That was just the kind of person she was – even if she’d been a Transcendent.

“…Ru Ga Pheya.”

The silent Chatterbox finally opened their mouth. They lifted both hands like they were in worship.

“Perfect.”

“Why are you both talking about completely different things.”

Ignoring even Ru Ga Pheya’s words, Chatterbox’s face bloomed into a wide, soundless smile. The mist, which had paused for a moment, began gathering toward me again, and mana once more dug into my body.

“Chatterbox!”

“I will, with my own hands, bring my beloved mist into existence here once more!”

“Guys, I’m about to stop having fun.”

My hair – my hair, not the King of Harmless’s – grew down to my shoulders. Chatterbox was ecstatic. Nearly euphoric. Of course they were. They’d been polishing material to craft a fake, and suddenly the real thing popped out. Well, technically a replica, but it was still far closer to the genuine article than to a cheap knockoff.

“Ru Ga Pheya, ngh, you really think she’ll go along with you? If you make her like this, she might try to kill you!”

“That would also be one form of completion.”

“…You crazy bastard!”

So he’d be fine dying by the King of Harmless’s hand, huh. And if she came back, there was no way she’d leave Yuhyun alone. She’d mess with him for her own amusement. Seong Hyunjae and Chief Song Taewon, who she’d taken an interest in, probably wouldn’t get off lightly either.

“Damn it, I’m Han Yujin!”

I wasn’t the King of Harmless. I clung to myself with everything I had. But the erosion was clearly moving forward. Chatterbox watched me struggle to hold out with total indifference.

“People aren’t seeing the whole Han Yujin right now.”

“…Yeah they are. That’s me.”

“They’re watching the F–rank that beat an S–rank, created by the party.”

“That’s still me.”

Thock – the tip of Chatterbox’s dress shoe nudged the Ruler’s Sword. They pressed down on the hilt with their sole, smiling.

“This isn’t truly Han Yujin’s either.”

“I bought that!”

With my own points! …Sure, it was basically the points I’d gotten from Seong Hyunjae, but still.

“The original you couldn’t even have lifted a sword of that rank. Even if you swung it, would it have left so much as a scratch?”

“…”

The reason I could beat Seong Hyunjae with the Ruler’s Sword was Yuhyun’s power. Because he was still my little brother. The one I’d… lost.

“This too, and this.”

They pushed the blade aside, toeing the Lynx set, Grace, and the earring.

“If we stripped every last bit of this away, what could Han Yujin do?”

“…I got those. I worked for them!”

“An F–rank cannot beat an S–rank.”

As if stating a simple fact, that calm voice continued.

“Right now, the Han Yujin people are watching is a finished product crafted by Chatterbox.”

No. I knew that wasn’t true. I knew what it took to get here.

But at the same time, his words shook me. I did well enough. I’d accomplished more than my abilities should’ve allowed. Anyone would say so. But Han Yujin had been holding failure from the very start. The very bottom of that pillar I’d stacked up was dug out and hollow.

…The only reason I could stand here like this was thanks to Yuhyun. That part was true. I hadn’t protected him, I hadn’t gotten him back – I’d just kept receiving. That much still hadn’t changed.

“And so Han Yujin must disappear. What more people see and feel is the truth. As it always is.”

“…Bullshit.”

Truth, my ass. I bit down on my lip. The sting brought me back a bit.

“Yeah, everyone said that. Thought that. But! It still wasn’t true!”

My little brother had protected me to the very end, and I’d loved him too. You were wrong. You were wrong, and that’s why I’m still here, alive like this.

“Voices that can’t be heard.”

At that, I flinched and tried to turn the mic back on. The warning about keeping Transcendents secret flashed through my mind, but this wasn’t the time to worry about that. If the King of Harmless had even SSS–rank–level power, the world would be wrecked.

…But the mic didn’t come on.

“Are useless. They just get quietly buried.”

“This isn’t what we agreed to!”

“The party has already ended. Whatever Han Yujin shouts now, no one will listen.”

“…”

It was just like before I came back. There had been a few people who listened. But most ignored or twisted my words. I felt hollow. Why was it like this again…

“…No, you’re blocking it. This time they’ll listen!”

Unlike before, this time there would be people who heard me and believed me. I had people cheering me on, I knew that. I tried again to turn the mic on. But there was still no response.

“Chatterbox!”

“You are going to become, as you are now, the most powerful being in this world.”

There was no way. The second that thought crossed my mind, the mist lunged, sinking even deeper into me. How much longer could I hold out? I chewed my lip bloody and looked back at the King of Harmless.

“Just promise me one thing.”

“Mm?”

“You know who’s precious to me. Please, don’t touch them.”

At least that much. The King of Harmless tilted her head.

“How boring. So that’s why Chatterbox is broadcasting? For me.”

“…Yeah. Countless people are watching this right now. You can feel it too, right?”

Ru Ga Pheya drummed her fingers on my shoulder like a piano. Then instead of her voice—

[It’s boring if Han Yujin disappears.]

—her words rang in my head.

[So you show them too!]

“Wh–what… how.”

I answered in a tiny voice, barely moving my lips. Ru Ga Pheya beamed and stirred the mist wrapping around her with her fingertips.

[Your memories.]

“…Huh?”

[*You’re going to show *you* to them. This broadcast is for me, it’s mine, so they’re all connected to me. Showing them your memories is easy~*]

“Th–at…”

Show them my memories?

[We’ll show the whole world that Han Yujin is Han Yujin! A solid recognition they won’t waver from no matter what Chatterbox does!]

The King of Harmless lightly brushed my cheek, then stroked down.

[I’m curious too. So, what’ll it be? Will you hand your memories to me? Answer before they all get eaten and disappear!]

“…Not all of them.”

[Mm, fine. I’ll skip a few parts if they really, really can’t be shown. In that case~]

I hesitated, then nodded. The King of Harmless clapped her hands.

“Thanks for the meal!”

My vision went black, then—

“Have a good trip.”

—our old, familiar home appeared. I was by the front door, maybe twelve or so, saying goodbye. My parents, blurred as if shrouded in fog, hurried out like they were fleeing. I turned and ran to the room where my little brother was. Yuhyun smiled at me. I smiled back.

“You can come out to the living room now.”

“Okay, hyung.”

Yuhyun nodded. We couldn’t bother our parents. That was the excuse, and I believed it. It’s not that Mom and Dad hated us. It’s just that they loved each other so much that… that was how it was. Even though we were just left behind in the house, our faces were bright.

The scene shifted to a funeral hall. Our parents died, it was just the two of us now, and not long after that, I dropped out of school.

“I can help you too, hyung.”

Middle–school–aged Yuhyun said to me. I smiled fondly.

“I told you, it’s fine. You don’t have to worry about anything!”

I meant it. I really was okay. It wasn’t that it wasn’t hard, but I was still happy. Even I looked happy, watching it now.

“My little brother’s really a good kid. Sometimes I get worried. He’s so nice and quiet I’m afraid someone might bully him.”

“Looks are power for kids these days. He’ll be fine!”

“If that were truly enough, there’d be no problem. Look at this.”

I was getting scolded for the umpteenth time, and still I was smiling. It was an ordinary life. Summer, fall, winter. We spent Christmas, then my birthday passed. No matter which memory you picked, there wasn’t a bad one. Both Yuhyun and I were smiling.

And then—

“Han Yuhyun!!”

I shouted. My hand clutching my phone, my expression, were desperate.

“I told you it’s dangerous! Why are you going into a dungeon! Yuhyun, that kind of thing is for adults… Huh?”

My brother awakened, and I tried everything I could to hold him back. I got mad, begged, cried and pleaded.

“We saw this part before.”

Leaning her arm on my shoulder, the King of Harmless spoke. No matter how many times I saw it, it hurt. My expression had completely changed. So had my brother’s, on the TV screen.

“Mr. Han, you don’t need to worry about Hunter Han Yuhyun. He’s an S–rank Hunter.”

A Hunter Association employee told me. Everyone else was the same. They clicked their tongues, wondering why I was like that when my brother was doing so well.

“Were you really that worried about him? He was born S–rank.”

“…Look at his face.”

How was I not supposed to worry. If he was really doing well, if he’d left home for something he really wanted, his face should’ve been bright. People said the Haeyeon Guild Leader’s personality was just like that, but the brother I’d watched for over ten years wasn’t like that.

“…I heard bullets don’t work on them.”

In full gear, face dark, I asked my superior. Not that he had more than a few months’ experience dealing with monsters himself.

“That’s for high–rank ones. You can still hit the low–rank kind. It’s just not efficient. You can’t pierce them, but you can knock them back.”

Back then, the military was focused not on foreign enemies but on domestic dungeon break response. Because of that, service time was short. They said it was because we were being dragged in during a dangerous period, but in reality the army was safer. Every unit had a set number of Hunters assigned, and we were allowed to carry weapons.

…Looking back, getting drafted might’ve actually helped me get through the worst of the dungeon break era in one piece. I’d run around all over, digging into dangerous places trying to stop Yuhyun from becoming a Hunter.

“…Jerk.”

After discharge, I stepped into our empty home. The tiny hope I’d been clinging to shattered the moment I opened the door. My face twisted like I was about to cry. I couldn’t stand living alone in that house and ran away, moving out.

Then my awakening. My fist clenched on its own. All the parts of me I didn’t want to see were laid bare in front of everyone.

The me from before I came back.

“What? F–rank?”

One of the men who’d promised to sponsor me snorted.

“You went on and on about your precious little brother! What are we supposed to do with this! Maybe we should squeeze something out of the Haeyeon Guild Leader!”

“Wh–what are you talking about! Just cancel the contract! I won’t take the gear or anything!”

It had been a contract to help me get established as a Hunter. New Hunters normally didn’t have the cash to gear up properly. Same with securing dungeon raid slots. The contract wasn’t canceled, and I ended up with a debt called “equipment rental fees and raid costs.”

If I’d been at least mid–rank, it would’ve been a normal contract. But I was F–rank, and support type on top of that.

– Kyarrrrk!

“Hey, rookie! Where’d you go!”

I saw myself curled up and shaking behind a boulder. A dungeon you were thrown into with zero training was nothing but pure terror. All I could do was panic and run. Of course, someone like that didn’t get any rewards. That was how Han Yujin became an F–rank Hunter.