The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 617: Health Checkup (2)

“…When you think about it.”

I started talking, sneaking my eyes away from Elder.

“What is it. Spit it out. There’s no real need to cling to this body– ow! You can’t just use violence nowadays! They say you’re supposed to lecture kids with words!”

“What about your body?”

“Even if my appearance changes a bit, I’m still me. Right?”

Either way, Han Yujin would still be Han Yujin. And it was way better than just dying in a month. I wasn’t joking; I was dead serious.

“If I get bound to a Transcendent, it’ll be hard to stay in this world. And there’s no way I won’t be paying some sort of price. Plus, there are definitely Transcendents who’d try to change me like that bastard Chatterbox.”

Elder was about the only one I could trust, but he’d said his world wasn’t this one. In the end he’d have to go back to the world of the First Source, and then I’d have to follow. That would make all of this pointless.

“Compared to that, being a sword is better. There are all sorts of races out there anyway, so there can be a blade race too. My little brother isn’t a normal human either. Rookie walks around in the shape of a volleyball, my kids change into humans sometimes even though their real forms aren’t human. And Yuhyun will think I’m me no matter what I look like.”

“Hyung… Of course I will, but…”

Yuhyun looked at me with eyes like he was wondering if he’d done something wrong.

“No matter the shape, you’re still you… but I think I like you best as you are now. I mean, no, I’d love you the same no matter what you turn into, but still…”

“See? He says he’d like me just the same even if I become a sword.”

“No, hyung, that’s… I mean, yeah, but…”

“Other people would be shocked at first too, but I’m still me, so they’d get used to it eventually, right?”

Nobody batted an eye when I turned into a cat. If I could get some kind of voice–output function attached to the sword, even better. Even if Elder couldn’t do it, maybe Myungwoo could. …Myungwoo would definitely yell at me too. And if we added a 3D projection function on top of that, there wouldn’t be much difference from now. If my skills stayed intact, we could still meet in the mental world.

Honestly, it seemed like a pretty decent solution.

“If you think about it, saying a person can’t become a sword is basically race discrimination–”

Smack. Something cracked against my forehead. A switch had appeared in Chaos’s hand at some point. Ow!

“Don’t half–ass accepting a world that’s completely different from yours.”

Young Chaos’s voice turned stern. It felt like up until now he’d just been nagging lightly; now his words pressed down on my shoulders with real weight. I couldn’t help shrinking back.

“It’s good that you’re trying to understand your brother and accept that he’s different. That’s how it should be.”

He went on, firm but oddly soothing.

“But understanding doesn’t mean you let yourself be swept away. Accepting and acknowledging the way beings different from you live – that’s fine. But different is different. There’s no need to equate them with yourself. You mustn’t.”

“…Still, if it really is just the body that changes, can’t it be okay?”

“It’s not that simple. First of all, you’re not ready for that at all. A body is just a shell. That’s not wrong. But that only applies to people who truly aren’t bound by their shell.”

I didn’t think I clung that much to my appearance… Uh…

“First of all, imagine that you become a different race. Or even just that your age or gender changes. Do you really think you’d be exactly the same as you are now as a child, as an old man, or as a woman?”

“…I don’t think I’d be that different.”

“You sure talk nicely. Then that guy with the chains.”

“Seong Hyunjae?”

“His age, gender, race – none of that would change him.”

That was true. Whether Seong Hyunjae was younger than me, an old man, or a woman, he’d pretty much be the same. People around him would treat him differently, so he’d adjust his behavior a bit to match, sure. But he’d still live however he wanted, doing whatever he felt like.

“But you, first of all, would treat him differently.”

“No, not that much…”

“If he were a child or a woman?”

“T–that’s…”

That was, um… My gaze automatically dropped to the floor. Even if Seong Hyunjae stayed exactly as strong as he is now, if he became as young as Gyeol or his gender changed, yeah, my attitude would definitely change.

“On the other hand, no matter how you changed, he’d treat you the same. Just like the second over there next to you.”

I looked at Yuhyun. If he’d been my little sister instead of my little brother. If he’d been younger. …I would’ve gone insane at least twice as much. On the other hand, if Yuhyun had been my older brother, a lot of things would’ve been different.

“If our genders had been different, we wouldn’t be able to sleep together even after we were grown up. I couldn’t just casually take care of you like this either… But that’s how it’s supposed to be…”

“I wouldn’t care. You’d still be you. The only reason I’d go along with what other people think is because you’d be bothered by their stares, hyung… but yeah, I’d get a little sad.”

“Your society taught you that that’s normal. There are races and societies with no sexual shame at all. And you, first of all, were in no position to leave the herd. Meanwhile, origin–bearers can exist alone without the herd’s protection, so they’re relatively unbound.”

Come to think of it, Liette would’ve been the same whether she was a man or a woman. She would’ve just rampaged however she liked, same as now. Liette would be the same; the only difference would be that people picked fewer fights with her. I, meanwhile, would probably have seen Liette as an even more violent threat than I do now.

“You say you’re fine with it, but if your whole body changes, the shock will be huge. Even losing a single limb, or having your age or gender change, deeply wounds a normal human’s mind. And you’re talking about losing your human body of flesh and blood overnight.”

“…That would be hard to endure.”

Once I recognized how I behaved, my confidence faded. Could I really accept a changed me that easily?

“I thought I’d adapted pretty well to this changed world, but I guess I haven’t.”

“I said accept other worlds, but don’t let yourself be swept away. You adjust bit by bit; you don’t throw away everything you had before. Tossing everything else aside for the one thing that looks best… I don’t think that’s right.”

…Isn’t it right to keep the best one? Is this like a diversity issue?

“And another thing.”

“Ow!”

He smacked my forehead again.

“Anyone who can truly keep their mind in any situation wouldn’t be talking like throwing away their own body is no big deal!”

“…I’m sorry. But I am trying to take care of myself, you know. It’s just.”

I glanced sideways at Yuhyun and continued.

“There aren’t many ways for me to stay with my brother and the others for a long time. If I’m a sword, I don’t really have a lifespan, and once Yuhyun’s lived his fill, he could just eat me with Blade–Eater…”

The fingertips resting on my knee twitched. Given what he usually wanted, that probably sounded kind of appealing to Yuhyun. Plus, if my skills carried over well, honestly it might be easier to use skills as a weapon than as a human. I kept that part to myself; I was definitely getting whacked again if I said it out loud.

“It’s something that’ll come for everyone eventually, but for you it’s a bit early. And that’s because you got tangled up with things from outside.”

If I’d just had a normal lifespan. If I’d had even twenty or thirty years left, I probably wouldn’t have gone to such extremes.

“But you, first of all.”

Young Chaos leaned forward a little and stared down at me.

“Your body’s condition is a little strange.”

“Excuse me? Oh, well. It’s a bit…”

So he’d noticed. I didn’t want to say it in front of Yuhyun, but I couldn’t keep hiding it either. Young Chaos beckoned me closer. I shuffled on my knees until I was right in front of him, and his hand pressed down on the back of my neck.

“It’s similar to when we first met.”

“…Huh? Wait, if that’s then then that means!”

Back then he’d said I wouldn’t live long, but if I managed myself I’d have around twenty years!

“Did my lifespan go back up to twenty years?!”

That’d only get me to forty–five, forty–six with the new year about to start, but still, that was huge. He’d just said a few days ago that I had a month left! Maybe that item was busted. Like it glitched out from sitting in a drawer too long.

“Three years.”

“…What?”

“You’ll probably burn through it all and make it just one year anyway.”

“…If I don’t burn through it?”

“With how things are right now, that doesn’t seem very likely. But if you manage yourself well, you could live quite a long time. Maybe forty or fifty years?”

Whoa… that was more than double. Damn. Even Yuhyun looked shocked.

“R–really? It went up more than last time?”

“Take your shirt off.”

I hurriedly stripped. Young Chaos examined the mana inscriptions carefully, then spoke.

“It’s like your body was reset to how it was back then.”

“Chatterbox completely changed my body and then it went back. Is that the reason?”

“I’m not sure, but all the accumulated damage is definitely gone.”

“Oh yeah, my mana sense suddenly dulled too. That was after I woke up this morning—well, tonight.”

“Your senses are something you’ve already felt and learned, so they’re only dull for now. They’ll come back soon. That’s why you’re more stable than you were then. When I said you had twenty years, you were still being pushed around by the inscriptions.”

I didn’t know exactly what had happened, but it was a relief. As relief rushed in, my chest clunked down in the opposite direction. All the worries I’d been pushing off because of that one–month death sentence now came back all at once, and my heart started pounding. My whole body felt weak, but the corners of my mouth rose.

Guess I really did… want to live longer.

“Hey, Yuhyun, my lifespan went up!”

“Yeah, that’s really great. Congrats, hyung.”

Yuhyun smiled. He definitely looked happy, but something felt off. Even though we were talking about my lifespan, his reactions had been… kind of subdued the whole time. That shouldn’t be the case; was I just imagining it? Or was it because he really did like the idea of me becoming a sword? Then we could literally be together forever, and he’d worry less. It was nice.

“I’d already given up on having a 60th–birthday party! Even if people don’t really celebrate them that much anymore.”

“You planning to behave yourself till then?”

“Even if I did, I couldn’t.”

I stood up and started pulling my clothes back on.

“You know how it is. Surviving the moment comes first. What am I supposed to do if there’s a wolf right on my heels? Even if the rabbit’s heart might burst from running, it still has to run.”

Still, with forty or fifty years, if I did well I might squeeze out at least twenty years. I did have a track record of cutting twenty years down to thirty days, but, well… that item must’ve been broken.

“So if, you know. If I end up with no choice again someday.”

“Your value is high, but your body’s no good as material. A weapon’s gotta be hard, at the very least.”

Young Chaos scratched the side of his head.

“But I’ve probably got something I can use as a base. Something so old it’s lost its original nature.”

“You didn’t turn everything you caught into swords?”

“Obviously not. It’s a lot of work. I only made weapons out of what I liked. The rest, I just stashed away.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I never said I’d do it. If the time comes, and I think it’s acceptable.”

His red eyes quietly looked up at me.

“Don’t think of it as some last resort. If it doesn’t sit right with me, I’ll just help with the funeral.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll remember.”

As if time was up, the surroundings trembled faintly.

“Be careful. What comes next… I’m in the dark too.”

Maybe the white bird would know. I wanted to grab it by the collar, if it even had one, and demand what it had seen and what it wanted.

The scenery shifted. A wave of cold air struck. Yuhyun quickly lit a fire, and I pulled a scarf and cardigan from my inventory and threw them on.

“I’ll go clear this. Keep Grace on.”

Handing Iryn to me, Yuhyun was about to go deal with the monsters when he stopped, turned back, and looked at me.

“Hyung, you’re going to keep going, right?”

“Huh?”

“Chatterbox is gone now, so the others might not try to mess with you directly. Chatterbox’s remnants are only humans. So, we could just go straight back to Korea and lie low.”

“…We can’t know that. And Guild Leader of Sesung’s wedding is right around the corner. There’s definitely a Transcendent, maybe even Crescent Moon, involved in that. How am I supposed to go back to Korea?”

“That has nothing to do with us. Chief Song will handle it. He always has.”

Well… Chief Song would take care of Seong Hyunjae, sure.

“I mean, we’re kind of, like, friends or something. If you know someone that well, the least you can do is show up to their wedding. It’s not like you get married twice in a lifetime.”

Seong Hyunjae totally could get married three or four times and I wouldn’t be surprised, though. At my words, Yuhyun let out a short sigh.

“And even if I can live fifty years, if the world ends, that’s still it, you know? It really does seem like this is important. For keeping our world intact.”

“…Yeah. But hyung. How strong was I before the regression?”

“…What?”

The sudden question left me speechless. He’d never really seemed curious before. Was it because he’d seen my pre–regression memories?

“I was pretty strong. Honestly, you were basically the strongest.”

Seong Hyunjae, who’d been number one, had gone off the grid after Song Taewon’s death, and that must have hit him pretty hard. So there was a good chance that after that, as Yuhyun kept growing, he’d gotten stronger than Seong Hyunjae.

“You said you could use my power from before the regression, right? When we were in the mental world.”

“Uh, yeah. But it wouldn’t be perfect. I didn’t… use all of it back then…”

I could only use what I’d actually used myself, so I couldn’t bring over all of that Yuhyun’s abilities. Back then, thanks to the double–buff title, I actually hadn’t used that many skills. Titles, skills – he’d had way more than now, but I never got to really check them.

“Can I get stronger?”

“Of course you can. …You’re you.”

And this time, you’d live on at twenty–six, twenty–seven, and on and on. As time stretched out further, you’d get even stronger. Yuhyun gave a small nod and smiled. His figure soon receded into the distance.

“…I guess hearing it and actually seeing it are different things.”

Just hearing, I regressed and the twenty–five–year–old you saved me, and actually watching it in a video were totally different. Iryn, who’d been sitting on my shoulder, spun around in a circle.

– …Hyung.

“Yeah?”

– …Never mind.

Iryn had started to say something, then clamped his mouth shut again. Why was he so deflated? He’d been off all day. I tried coaxing him, asking what was wrong, but Iryn kept his mouth shut to the end.