The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 589: Han Yujin (1)

Back when I was serving, I’d gone through a few dungeon breaks. But actually raiding a dungeon was a completely different story. Non–awakened soldiers set up and guarded barricades, directed the evacuation, and their main job was cleaning up after the monsters were cleared out. It wasn’t like there was no danger at all, but unless a dungeon break happened right next to the unit, it was rare to come face–to–face with a monster. There was always at least a mid–rank Hunter attached to us, and sometimes even a high–rank one.

But inside a dungeon, the only person responsible for my life was me. Maybe it was different if you started out backed by a well–established guild, but most low–rank Hunters were just thrown in. The Awakening Center had just opened and rookie Hunters were pouring out, so things were even worse. Sometimes I’d hear that a Hunter I’d just run a dungeon with had been injured or killed the very next week.

It was a time when even low–grade gear was hard to come by, so maybe I was actually a little lucky. I at least had equipment, even if it was under the label of “debt.”

I saw myself curled up, unable to sleep after finishing my first raid. My phone screen lit up with an alert. A deposit notification. Sender: Han Yuhyun. It was enough money to pay off the debt.

“…”

Han Yujin stared at it for a long time. That simple deposit message felt like it was telling him to stop doing pointless things and just live quietly. That there was nothing he could do as an older brother.

But back then, if I wasn’t Han Yuhyun’s older brother, what else could I have been? And how was I supposed to live after taking that… blood–soaked money? People were dying left and right. No matter how much of an S–rank he was, in the end, it was my little brother’s life on the line.

So Han Yujin—

“…Hold up. If you keep going past this, it’s dangerous.”

He turned to look at the King of Harmless as he spoke.

“We haven’t revealed how I awakened, and there’s no Awakening Center scene, so it’s fine up to this point, but if you show any more, people are going to start getting suspicious!”

From there on out, my life goes completely off the rails from what people know. The jellyfish made a face like, “Who cares.”

“I can trim bits and pieces, but if I cut the whole thing out, it loses impact. If you want to show how you became the current Han Yujin, you need the pre–regression scenes~”

“But if you keep going like this… just so I can live, doesn’t my whole world end up in danger?”

“Well—”

The King of Harmless cut off mid–sentence and snapped their mouth shut. The corners of their lips slowly curled up as they asked, almost in a whisper:

“Who cares. You have to live first.”

“…I don’t need that. Not to that extent.”

What use is it if I live but the world falls apart? All it would do is buy me time to say goodbye.

“It’s not like it’ll collapse overnight. Maybe it’ll all turn out fine.”

“There’s no way it’ll be fine.”

“Then are you just going to disappear like this? Give up on Han Yujin? Is that what you want?”

“…No.”

If it was for the people precious to me, I’d gladly throw myself away. But at the same time, I—

“Of course I… want to live. Obviously. No matter what…”

I said I didn’t want to die. Even after I’d already pulled the trigger aimed at my own head. Ru Ga Pheya’s clear laughter rang out.

“Living is way more fun~ Once you die, even your memories stop. Now, shall we keep watching?”

“No! Even so—”

“It’s fine, even if we cut it off here, the result is the same, everything still goes to ruin~”

“Don’t just hand–wave it like it’s someone else’s problem!”

“Honestly, it’d end up about the same. You might have a moment where you think, ‘Maybe I should’ve given up back then.’ But if you give up, you won’t even be able to have that kind of regret. But you know what?”

A pale finger poked my cheek.

“Regret is fun too.”

“…What?”

“Thinking, ‘I should’ve done this, I should’ve done that.’ Never having those thoughts even once would be way more boring. Everyone regrets things. And that’s fine. That’s just how sapient beings are.”

I mean, sure, that’s true, but still.

“But the things you can’t take back…”

“So you’re going to stop because of that?”

…My limbs were still tied down. If I stopped here, that would just be the end. Other people might go on living, but there would be no Han Yujin there. And Yuhyun… both of us would disappear. One brother would at least remain in people’s memories, and the other would vanish along with mine.

“…Honestly, the world—this part isn’t going on the broadcast, right?”

“Yeah, it won’t.”

“Whether the world falls apart or not, I just want to hold the people I love close.”

I didn’t know about anything else; I just wanted us to all stay alive together.

“Right, live a long, long life.”

The jellyfish patted my head. They were probably only doing this because they wanted to satisfy their own curiosity, but somehow that made it not feel as bad.

I watched myself stay curled up until sunlight began to stream in through the window. His face was so dark it looked like he might die at any moment, but Han Yujin still kept living. Sunlight slowly seeped in. Han Yujin blinked his eyes sluggishly.

“…I have to get out of here alive.”

If regression gets exposed, there’s no telling what’ll happen. Things might end up even worse than the King of Harmless reviving.

Even so, first I had to make it out alive. I couldn’t do anything otherwise. If I ended it here, it would all be a pointless mess, neither here nor there.

Han Yujin got up from the bed. He staggered a little as he poured himself some water and drank. Then he made a call.

“…Yes, this is Han Yujin. About the next raid… No, I can do better this time!”

After begging and pleading, he was allowed to participate this time as a porter on top of that. Naturally, the pay was less than a quarter of what a regular raid member got. Once he heard what dungeon they were raiding, Han Yujin started searching for information on it. There wasn’t much data on low–rank dungeons, but he still reread the few scraps of text over and over.

Then the second dungeon, the third dungeon. He was still obviously terrified, but bit by bit he got used to being in dungeons. By the fifth, he wasn’t a porter or a miner anymore.

“Hey, make sure you include the money Haeyeon Guild sent me now and then too. I don’t want Yuhyun getting blamed.”

He might even be watching this himself. Thank god he found out about what happened before regression in that nightmare dungeon at least…

“And cut out as much as you can of Haeyeon guild members bullying me.”

“Then you’ll just get more hate, you know?”

“I’ve already gotten plenty, so it’s fine. And honestly…”

Crunch! I watched Han Yujin drive his spear with all his strength into a monster that looked like a gigantic pill bug. His main role was support, but he was constantly on the move.

“Water here! They said if you wash the wound off quickly, you won’t even need an antidote!”

Healers almost never joined low–rank raids. Potions and antidotes were expensive, so they had to be used as sparingly as possible. Han Yujin ran toward a small puddle. To check the water, he dropped in a leaf from a dungeon plant he’d collected earlier. How much the leaf discolored told him whether it was usable. Then he hurriedly filled canteens with the water and passed them to the combat–type Hunters.

“I’m doing better than I thought.”

It wasn’t bad. Really. I’d expected it to be embarrassing, shameful, something I couldn’t even bear to watch, but it wasn’t. I was working hard to live.

“‘This is the last of it, right?’”

Han Yujin looked straight at the so–called sponsor who’d saddled him with debt as he spoke. His eyes had grown stronger in the meantime. Without touching a single won of the money Yuhyun sent, he managed to pay it all back.

“…Yeah, you’ve held out pretty well. At first I worried you’d run off right away. Good thing you didn’t.”

“Good thing, my ass. If I ran, you were just going to go crying to Haeyeon anyway.”

Telling him to cut the crap, Han Yujin spun around. His face was actually pretty bright. He was still F–rank, and his little brother was as distant and high above as ever, but he still felt a sense of accomplishment. It felt like he’d climbed at least one step.

Of course, things didn’t just keep going smoothly like that.

“When did I ever say that! Say it to my face, you son of a bitch!”

Han Yujin was shouting into his phone. A calm voice flowed out from the other side.

[So you’re saying you haven’t gotten any help at all? You got priority Awakening and support because you had a card that said you were the Haeyeon Guild Leader’s brother, didn’t you? If some ordinary orphan F–rank tried to pull what you did, Mr. Han, they’d already be having their funeral.]

Han Yujin couldn’t say anything, only sucked in a rough breath. This was back when an article had come out claiming the Haeyeon Guild Leader’s brother was getting special treatment. It attacked Haeyeon Guild and the high–rank Hunters, saying countless low–rank Hunters had died or been injured while he walked away without a scratch.

[I heard you even tagged along on that low–rank guild raid last time by trading on the Haeyeon Guild Leader’s name. I interviewed that guild leader, too.]

“No, that’s—! I didn’t even realize they felt that way at first…”

Han Yujin’s voice grew smaller and smaller. My fist clenched without thinking. I really got cursed out a lot back then. My heart thudded like I was reliving it, but this time, surprisingly, I was okay. The call ended, and Han Yujin let out a small, choked sob.

“I really… did my best… I did…”

Back then, no one listened. But now, how hard I’d worked was being shown. There would still be people who cursed me out. Even so, maybe, this time, there would be people who actually listened to what I had to say.

[This plant–type monster often appears in low–rank dungeons in East Asia.]

Eating a late dinner, Han Yujin had his eyes glued to a foreign Hunter’s personal broadcast. Now and then, he jotted down notes.

“He’s the guy scamming people using Haeyeon’s name.”

“I heard he was the only one who survived that E–rank dungeon a while back.”

“If we get mixed up with him, our team’s image will tank too for no reason.”

Every time people were about to forget, another negative article came out, and I’d become someone it was perfectly fine to hate on. Even so, in the middle of all that—

[Mr. Han Yujin, are you free for three days?]

A message came in. Low–rank Hunter Han Yujin was hanging in there, and most of the people he raided with acknowledged him. It was hard for an F–rank to raise their stats. So instead, he built up experience.

“There’s a big pond at six o’clock. You know gray sand beetles slow down when they get wet, right? Let’s move toward the pond first.”

Saying he’d seen it in a Philippine raid video, Han Yujin took the lead. He cut down all the reed–like plants around the pond and spread them out over the water. Once he covered them with enough grass, it looked natural. If you looked closely you could tell, but the beetles’ eyesight wasn’t that good.

Next, the fastest person lured the swarm of beetles over. The Hunters waiting on the far side of the pond all made sharp metallic noises at once.

– Kkirreuk!

Sensitive to the metallic sounds, the swarm of beetles rushed out over the pond. The plants held up the mass of beetles, and when they’d been lured all the way to the middle of the pond—

“Now!”

Boom! Boom! The ranged combatants launched their attacks. The melee and support types threw rocks and stones too, aiming not at the beetles, but at the plant mat they were standing on. Several beetles were knocked into the water. Even the ones that didn’t fall in couldn’t dodge the spray bursting up.

“Aim for the degenerated wings!”

Spears thrust toward the beetles as they slowly crawled back onto land. The fight didn’t last long. When someone said thanks to that they finished it pretty comfortably, Han Yujin smiled a little, bashful.

“…I’m sorry.”

And then he cried. It was a funeral home. There were places he could go, and places he couldn’t. When I was the only one who survived… I couldn’t bring myself to go.

“You know that skill, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I won’t show it. Did you ever use it on purpose?”

“…”

Han Yujin’s fingertips trembled. He paced around the funeral home, then fled—no, he ran away. He curled up at home like he was hiding there. Sometimes he just sat there blankly, sometimes he cried like he was going to die. And even after curling up like that, he stood back up again.

“I really was stubborn, huh.”

Somehow, I found myself laughing.

“It’s even more than I remember. Really. I’d thought I was just barely flailing to get by.”

“There are a lot of sapients like that. Especially the ones who think their lives weren’t anything special.”

“I mean, it is true that most people just live ordinary lives.”

“But the fact that you’re living at all is what’s special.”

Ru Ga Pheya said, waving her hand lazily.

“Every single one of those lives is a memory and my food. Weird ones like you are my fun, but all living sapients are delicious~”

“…Not being a picky eater is good, I guess.”

Then a hospital appeared. Leaning on crutches, Han Yujin limped out of it. Walking along with a gaunt face, he pulled out his phone. There was no light in his eyes as he looked at the screen. After hesitating, he slipped into a secluded corner and called someone. But the other side didn’t pick up.

Gripping his phone tightly, Han Yujin dropped his head. He went straight back home and then—

“Um…”

The scene shifted, and Haeyeon Guild came into view. The receptionist at the front desk gave him a cold look. I closed my eyes without thinking.

“That’s enough for before regression. Skip ahead.”

“You really don’t want to see it?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you want to see your little brother?”

Ru Ga Pheya hummed as she spoke.

“And how did Han Yujin get all the way to the present~? That’s the important part. Especially this next bit.”

What came next… It felt like blood was rising up my throat. The thought that I had to see it tangled together with a sickening dread.

I opened my eyes again. I—Han Yujin—was shouting.