The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 631: Alps (3)

A pair of golden eyes and a single golden eye looked at each other, as if observing a specimen. Almost no emotion was contained in their gazes. As though reading a long string of programming code, they mechanically parsed the other. After a brief silence, the two opened their mouths at the same time.

“Just a simple remnant.”

“You turned back time.”

Seong Hyunjae slowly ran his eyes from the top of the remnant’s head down to his toes. Five years – now, you could call it four – in the future, yet in truth he was nothing but a fragment of the past. Hair that seemed even more faded than it did now, old eyes, a white shirt with the top two buttons undone, an empty sleeve on one side, loose clothes that felt like indoor wear yet pants that still fell in clean, straight lines, and gray slippers.

It felt less like facing another self identical to him and more like staring at an old photograph. Seong Hyunjae clicked his tongue.

“Still bored, pretty worn out, and you look like hell.”

“You’ve…”

The worn remnant’s lips curled faintly.

“You’ve gotten younger. Maybe even more than the Seong Hyunjae from dozens of iterations ago.”

His appearance did not change. Even after letting hundreds, thousands of lives flow by, there were no traces of time to be found on the surface. But the atmosphere a person carried, their gaze, their expressions were different. If the flesh is eternal, you end up judging its age by what is inside. In that sense, the current Seong Hyunjae was undeniably young.

Seong Hyunjae laughed without a sound.

“I suppose it is because I actually feel alive for the first time in a very long while.”

Savoring every emotion to the fullest.

“Just a few days ago, I was pretty angry. Anxious, frustrated, and probably a little sad too.”

It was an appealing kind of instability. Seong Hyunjae could control himself and everything around him almost perfectly. But that only made his almost motionless world fade even further. Shaking it on purpose had no meaning, so it was only natural that, after dragging all sorts of things into his vast fenced pasture to raise, he ended up enticing even the wild beasts beyond the fence to poke their heads in.

“On the other hand, the me before regression looks like he lost everything.”

“You were down to scribbling postcards.”

The worn remnant took a step. With his movement, the hazy surroundings grew clearer. An old–fashioned fireplace, a carpeted floor, beyond a large arched window a white mountain towered. It was not as sprawling and gaudy as Sesung Guild’s main estate, but you could not call it frugal either. Just because he holed up in the mountains did not mean he had to live in a one–room shack, and he was not the type to put on a show of modesty.

“Summer was far too short.”

Because of that, one person died. The one who remained erased his own memories with his own hands. And stayed behind alone here, where you could see the perpetual snow. The remnant’s fingertips brushed the postcard lying on the desk. It was a common tourist postcard printed with a lake view. The kind of thing you would pass right by even if it were lying on the ground.

Leaning slantwise against the desk, the worn remnant looked at Seong Hyunjae. The single eye he had left held no emotion at all.

“So talk.”

Seong Hyunjae spoke in a gently coaxing tone. The remnant tilted his head a little. His lips stayed closed.

“So the same thing does not happen to us again.”

“‘Us’ is wrong.”

The remnant spoke calmly.

“You do not consider me yourself.”

“I do think of you as my past and future self, though.”

“And because I was also Seong Hyunjae, I have no feelings toward you at all.”

Most people feel disgust and threat toward an existence identical to themselves. But Seong Hyunjae was different. After stacking up endless layers of himself and still firmly maintaining his ego, nothing was going to suddenly shake him now. Unlike Sigma, who had shown resistance when he had not had much built up yet, Seong Hyunjae treated Sigma lightly; even if a perfect copy were shoved in his face, the uniqueness he had defined for himself would not crack.

At the same time, because of that, he felt no need to go out of his way to cooperate with his past or future selves. They were the same yet clearly different existences. Seong Hyunjae wanted something from the remnant, but the remnant was indifferent.

Seong Hyunjae lowered his eyes slightly.

“I really am finicky. Sometimes doing a good deed would not be so bad, do you not think?”

“What a trivial thing to say.”

“Actually, I ended up with a son.”

The remnant lifted one eyebrow in a quick glance. He was at least a little interested now. To draw information out of him, Seong Hyunjae had no choice but to offer something of similar value. For a remnant that would vanish soon enough, material things were, of course, meaningless.

“You could say Chief Song Taewon is also in the middle of child rearing.”

“That I am a bit curious about.”

“A cute kid. He dotes on his dad. Apparently even in the special office he secretly calls that stiff superior ‘Daddy Song.’ Because of work, he often leaves the child at Mister Han Yujin’s place. He is still busy.”

“The Han Yujin I know?”

A postcard spun at the tip of the remnant’s finger. Getting his interest had definitely worked.

“Strictly speaking, you could say the first is a child between Mister Han Yujin and his little brother. The second is with Soyeong, and the third involves the Breaker Guild Master.”

If Han Yujin were here, he would have grabbed Seong Hyunjae by the collar on the spot; the family tree was an absolute mess.

“Not human, I presume.”

The worn remnant said it shrewdly.

“And regression was brought about by Han Yujin?”

“It is a relief he reconciled with his brother safely. That was the only thing that weighed on me.”

“They get along extremely well. Not long after the regression, they started living together. The little lady is with them too.”

Seong Hyunjae pulled out his phone. A photo of a boy with pale pink hair from an article filled the screen. The remnant set down the postcard and lightly rubbed under his chin.

“An item? A skill?”

“Closer to a skill, but it seems I did my part as well.”

“Han Yujin’s…”

The remnant’s voice cut off, then continued in a low tone.

“Nurturer.”

“You mean a title.”

“The Nurturer title itself is not rare. And Han Yujin raised a natural S–rank. The world thinks the two of them have a bad relationship, so they have assumed he would not have any title.”

“In truth they cannot live without each other, so there is a high chance Mister Han Yujin has the highest–ranked Nurturer title among the ones that are known.”

The remnant quietly watched Seong Hyunjae.

“You really do not know. Or are you pretending not to.”

“I suppose I should spend some time reflecting on my way of speaking.”

Without so much as a hint of preparation, let alone a proper ready stance—

Tap!

The toe of a dress shoe bumped into a slipper. The remnant’s only hand sliced through the air toward Seong Hyunjae’s throat, and an arm wrapped in a suit sleeve blocked it. Golden chains burst out, wavering aimlessly in midair. Electricity flashed faintly. Only the innocent carpet burned black, sending up a harsh stench.

“You met it too, then.”

The remnant spoke. From the hand gripping Seong Hyunjae’s forearm, black shadow seeped out. Seong Hyunjae also drew on the power of Plunder, but his was much weaker. Confirming that, the remnant’s lips twisted.

“So you know at least to some extent what happened then.”

“I had a chance to look at things before regression. And once in the present as well, when I nearly got dragged into a wedding I did not want.”

“Was Han Yujin there?”

“That is also one of the reasons I came all the way here. Crescent Moon once lodged in Mister Han Yujin’s body.”

“I see.”

Crrrk, the faint sound of bone twisting came from his forearm. The strength they had was almost identical. Even with a four–year gap, the Seong Hyunjae right before regression had lost a limb and secluded himself for a long time, so there should not have been much difference. Overall, his physical strength might even have gotten weaker.

But Plunder—the power Song Taewon had left behind—was tearing through and weakening even the magic that protected Seong Hyunjae’s arm.

Slash?

Right before the bone could break, Seong Hyunjae’s free hand swung a short dagger. The remnant wielded Plunder with skill. Direct contact with his body had to be avoided as much as possible. The blade scored a shallow line across the remnant’s shirt. Letting go of the arm and seeming to retreat, the remnant suddenly dropped his body low and lashed out, leg whipping up in a long kick.

If he blocked it head–on, his bones would be crushed without magical protection. As the kick rose high toward his waist, Seong Hyunjae swiftly drew a long staff and slammed it into the floor.

Crack!

The middle of the staff broke, bending sharply into an L–shape. Still gripping the upper half, Seong Hyunjae rode the bending force, vaulting his body up and spinning once in the air. At the same time—

Clatter!

Chains hidden inside the staff streamed out, coiling around the remnant’s leg. Completing the spin, Seong Hyunjae landed and yanked hard on the chain. Weakened by Plunder, the chain soon snapped with a series of pops, but it managed to halt the remnant’s movement, if only briefly.

It was the perfect timing for a counterattack, but instead of leaping in, Seong Hyunjae stepped back. He watched as the worn remnant got to his feet, rubbing his throbbing arm.

“You tried to use Plunder to cut Crescent Moon away.”

“Of course.”

There was no way he had not tried using the key Chief Song Taewon had given him at the end.

“But the power I received was only a fragment. I got better at using it, but cutting down an old giant tree with a pair of manicure scissors is impossible. Not within the time I had.”

Even if drops of water falling without end could split rock, that required an immensely long time. And during that long, long time, Crescent Moon would not just stand by and watch.

“As consolation, shall I show you a cat picture.”

Without waiting for an answer, Seong Hyunjae pulled up a photo on his phone.

“This cat here is Mister Han Yujin.”

“You have picked up an amusing trick in the meantime.”

“And this is Chief Song Taewon’s gaudy wedding outfit—something you will have a hard time ever seeing twice. Mister Han Yujin dressed up too. To crash my wedding.”

It had been fun.

“Turns out the bride’s mother died by my hand before regression. Right here.”

“I was quite surprised,” Seong Hyunjae said.

“In any case, since she said to count it as my kill, we let that day slide. Do you remember?”

“Marisa Moore.”

The remnant searched his memory.

“She should not have had children.”

“She did not take after her mother. A rather cute young lady.”

“She had the potential of a natural S–rank, but by the time she awakened, her aged body could no longer withstand S–rank stats, it seems.”

Depending on the condition of the body, there was a limit to how many stats someone could awaken. Even if their innate talent was high, if their body at the time of awakening could not accept it, their awakened stats would fall for the sake of survival. That was why most Hunters with high physical stats were considered old even before hitting their mid–thirties.

“Even so, maybe because I had taken note of her, after I severed our contract and disappeared, the king of the Venom and Curse Dragonkin approached Moore.”

“So it was that guy.”

“I do not know the exact details, but through the king of the Venom and Curse Dragonkin, Moore tried to let Crescent Moon examine my condition, and deliberately caused a dungeon break around here.”

Using that brief moment when a dungeon extended its influence into this world, Crescent Moon had tried once more to reclaim a small moon. But Seong Hyunjae killing Marisa had beaten her to it.

“Marisa Moore wanted to protect this world. And she was managing the European Hunter world very effectively.”

“Just by Moore dying, Crescent Moon essentially achieved her objective.”

Even for Crescent Moon, directly interfering in a world and forcefully extracting an awakener was difficult. That was why she usually only retrieved her small moons when a world was on the brink of ruin. But she could not afford to wait so leisurely as before, because pre–regression Seong Hyunjae had been given the power of Plunder—a power that could not slice apart the countless entangled webs all at once, but that could, given enough time, cut them strand by strand.

So before that could happen, to drag this world toward destruction, she had drawn in Marisa Moore. As she had whispered to countless Transcendents in the past, holding up the salvation of more worlds. Whether she safely reclaimed the small moon or Marisa died at Seong Hyunjae’s hand, either outcome was success.

“So Mister Han Yujin losing his brother and regressing was because of that too?”

It was also why Diarma, who had not shown any interest in Han Yujin for nearly a decade, suddenly targeted him. But regression itself was not what Crescent Moon had wanted. Seong Hyunjae smiled, clearly amused.

“Since Chief Song Taewon was brought back to life and the world stepped further away from destruction, she must have been disappointed.”

“And now the key has become Han Yujin.”

The remnant continued.

“The key that will also undo your seal.”

“I do not have the hobby of forcing a key until it snaps.”

“We will see.”

Taking a few steps, the remnant looked down again at the postcard on the desk.

“The fact that you enjoy every emotion means, in the end, that you can always take a step back and watch. Emotions you cannot even afford to enjoy—being so angry you feel you will go mad, so sad it feels like your breath will stop—you have been around far too long for those.”

Seong Hyunjae did not answer. The remnant smiled.

“Ask. I will answer while the little time I have left remains. But as things stand, we can only ever arrive at the same ending.”

– Dad, I am okay.

The little Fairy Dragonkin clenched both fists and said it. But he could not completely hide how his eyes were trembling.

Gyeol, who had been stubbornly pressing all his emotions down, opened his mouth again as if he had made up his mind.

– Since it ended up like this, let us just throw that away and you and Gyeol can take over Sesung Guild, Dad!

…Who showed a kid articles about inheritance disputes? Though I had to admit, it was a little tempting.

That lunch, after we blew up the wedding.

I had half expected it, but things were a bit—no, honestly, a lot—more chaotic than I had imagined. I mean, seriously, just because a kid who looks like me showed up, how many soap–opera plots are people going to churn out? People are unbelievable.