The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 634: Children (3)

The Christmas–themed room vanished, and a dungeon unfolded in its place. Over the small river, Yerim immediately shot forward, waving her arm in a big sweep. The water that surged up hardened into arrows of ice and poured down, and Noah and Chief Song Taewon also stepped up.

“If the opposite attribute is water, then… Water? Hanmul, Hansu, Hangang, Hanbada…”

They all sounded fine. Having the attribute decided like this made naming so much easier.

“Or we could go with ice. Haneoreum, Hanraeng… no, those sound off. Hanbing, Hanchan, Hangyeoul could work too. Is that too similar to Gyeol?”

If you called Hangyeoul quickly, wouldn’t it just sound like Hangyeol?

– Dad, you can take your time, really. Take it slow.

Gyeol, perched on my shoulder, waved his front paws as he spoke. Since “winter” in Chinese characters is “dong”, we could even go with Handong.

“Now that the black dragon’s basically Korean, Hangang has meaning and sounds pretty good, right? Or Dongi sounds cute too. What do you think, Yuhyun? It’s also the true form of your sword, so your opinion matters.”

“I’m fine with any name you come up with, hyung.”

– U–uncle!

– Yuhyun!

Following Gyeol, Iryn, who had been quiet all this time, finally spoke up again.

– But it’s still Yuhyun’s sword!

– Right, Uncle. And you’d… come up with a better name.

Gyeol watched my expression carefully as he spoke. I really thought I was doing fine this time, but they were being way too sensitive. On top of that, Yuhyun clearly found this whole thing a hassle. More precisely, he seemed to think it wasn’t something he had to worry about. Spirits had to be named by their contractor, sure, but the black dragon wasn’t one.

“Hangang sounds fine.”

Yuhyun answered half–heartedly. Gyeol patted my shoulder. Iryn, perched on the other shoulder, did something similar.

“Hm, still, shouldn’t we at least have one candidate name you came up with yourself, Yuhyun?”

Unable to withstand the kids pushing me, I tried coaxing my brother. Yuhyun thought for a moment, then replied.

“If we’re going with the opposing attribute, how about snow? Han Seol.”

His voice was light. But my heart gave a heavy thump for no reason. It was worse because the black dragon resembled Yuhyun. My little brother, born with the power of fire, left alone in the bitter cold snow.

“…Is it really weird?”

When I froze up and couldn’t say anything, Yuhyun asked carefully. I quickly shook my head.

“No, it’s just… Snow is cold and kind of… lonely, you know?”

“Yeah? But to me…”

Yuhyun lowered his eyes as if searching his memory, then lifted them to meet mine again.

“There were more times when it wasn’t lonely than when it was. Winter was both your birthday and mine. Except for when I was away from you, it was always warm. You liked it when it snowed. Ever since we were kids, you’d say you hoped it would snow on my birthday.”

“…Yeah, I did.”

Because it was Christmas. When it snowed, it felt like a present to celebrate Yuhyun’s birthday. The snow was definitely cold, but I never disliked it.

“Right, that’s true. It wasn’t cold on your birthday a few days ago either.”

Even though it was the middle of the night up in the mountains, with snow blowing through air cold enough to freeze you solid, it had been warm. Because we weren’t alone. And the black dragon wasn’t lonely anymore, either.

“Han Seol… I like it.”

The black dragon had already met someone he loved, someone who would love him back. So even with a name taken from freezing snow, he wouldn’t be cold or lonely. If anything, they’d be able to hold hands warmly in the falling snow. Warmth comes even more gently on a snowy winter field than under the blazing summer sun.

I thought back to that night a few days ago. A black night where sky and earth seemed to blend together. Willow leaves wreathed in flames dancing, white snowflakes glittering between them. Countless stars scattered low, as if they might spill down any moment…

“For the youngest… let’s go with a star. Han Byeol.”

A star that sparkled beautifully. The black dragon had been looking after the kid all this time, too. Snowflakes came in all kinds of shapes, but they were like stars. As if they had fallen from the night sky carrying starlight.

“Han Gyeol, Han Seol, Han Byeol.”

They sounded like three siblings. I figured the kid would accept his name, but the black dragon might not, so I should keep Hangang and Hanbada in reserve.

“This side’s all cleaned up!”

From far off, Yerim shouted as she controlled the river like it was her underling. Peace shifted into his adolescent form and lowered his body for me to climb on. The dungeon the French Hunter Association had handed over this time was A–rank. Judging from what I’d heard, it didn’t make much money and was annoyingly tricky for its rank, so it had stayed under the Association instead of being popular with guilds.

They’d willingly handed us a dungeon twice now, so this was just a small way to pay them back.

“The entire second floor here is swamp. That’s why no one likes it.”

Noah said as he flew over.

“It’s the kind of terrain that sucks if you don’t have a flight skill.”

“Swamps are the worst.”

Swamps were second only to underwater zones on the “avoid if possible” list. Most Hunters moved on foot, and your legs would sink down with every step, so just crossing the place took forever. High–rank Hunters could at least use items to deal with it.

“They said there’s poison too, right?”

“Yes. So it would be better if Chief Song Taewon moves together with me.”

Most high–rank dungeons had poisonous swamps to match their difficulty. And if monsters hid inside the bog, even top–rank Hunters had a hard time sensing them.

“One of the dungeons I hated going to before regression was that E–rank moss swamp near Seoul Land. Has that one not shown up yet?”

Given my circumstances back then, I mostly went to the unpopular dungeons. That one had plant–type monsters in the swamp, so they’d grab your legs and dunk you all the time. It was low–rank so there wasn’t any poison, but you ended up swallowing a ton of muddy water. And if you fell over in the swamp, a swarm of tiny monsters that had been lurking and waiting for a chance would come rushing at you… Ugh. It wasn’t very dangerous, but it was a truly annoying, miserable dungeon.

“I’ll dry everything up. Hyung, you stay on Peace’s back.”

“I can suck all the moisture out too!”

It was reassuring, honestly. We finished clearing the first floor and headed up to the second. The moment we passed through the gate, a fishy, bitter smell washed over us. Noah transformed into a dragon and let Chief Song ride on his back, and Yuhyun also used his Blue Willow Leaves. From beyond the wide swamp, I could hear unseen monsters gurgling and croaking.

“Get higher up. You too, Park Yerim.”

Yuhyun spoke to Noah and Yerim as he stepped forward on his Willow Leaves. Fwoosh, flames rose around him. A monster, startled by the sudden heat, burst up from the swamp, but his swinging sword cut it cleanly in two in an instant.

Whoosh–

Centered on where Yuhyun slowly crossed the wide swamp, dark blue flames began to spread. For a moment I heard the hissing sound of steam evaporating, and then even that was swallowed by the fire and vanished. The swamp boiled, then in an instant dried up and crumbled away into brittle ash. Ash whirled through the air as thick smoke billowed up.

As expected of an A–rank dungeon, the swamp was enormous, but the spreading flames showed no sign of tiring. They kept expanding their territory, as if determined to swallow the entire dungeon whole.

“That brat Yuhyun, the area he can control with his fire keeps getting bigger.”

He couldn’t fine–tune things over an area that big yet, but when it came to simply burning things down, it felt endless. Unlike other attributes, fire could keep using everything it burned and devoured as fuel, burning until the entire world was scattered to ashes.

Of course, if it burned everything, the fire itself would disappear too, so we couldn’t let it go that far.

The flames also washed over and sank down around Peace. Thanks to his fire resistance, I didn’t feel anything more than a bit of heat. Leaving only charred black marks behind, Yuhyun’s figure moved farther away. Yerim and Noah, flying high up in the sky, followed after him, and Peace also slowly skimmed along the blackened path.

The endless expanse of black wasteland was almost awe–inspiring. There wasn’t a drop of water left, let alone any monsters. Even seeing it with my own eyes, it was hard to believe this place had been a swamp.

‘If Awakened are going to stick around, dungeons have to stick around too.’

An individual could have this kind of power. If there were no external enemies like dungeons and monsters, it would only be a matter of time before high–rank Awakened were rejected. People have that unavoidable survival instinct that makes them feel threatened by anything too strong. No matter how kind and reasonable someone was, if you heard a lion or tiger lived next door, most people would want its teeth and claws pulled out.

There were already cases like that even now. That’s why we worked so hard on image management.

‘…Well, for now, whether the world ends or not is the more urgent issue.’

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared. I definitely needed to build that school, and what else…

“Gyeol, you don’t hate the idea of going to kindergarten, right?”

Gyeol, sitting on top of Peace’s head, turned to look at me. His round golden eyes were so beautiful.

– Yeah, Dad. I think it’ll be nice if we all go together. I’ll take good care of my younger siblings.

“No, you just need to get along. Actually, it’s fine to have little fights now and then too. That’s how kids grow up.”

– But I’m the oldest.

“Oldest, middle, youngest, a kid is still a kid. It’s natural to say, ‘Since you’re a bit older, treat the younger and weaker ones kindly.’ Even if they aren’t siblings, you should always be careful with someone smaller and weaker than you.”

That went for little animals like puppies too, not just people.

“But Gyeol, you’re still too young to have to take responsibility. Being the oldest doesn’t mean you have to take care of your siblings. Taking care of them is the adults’ job.”

That was how it should be. The world didn’t always work by the book, of course, but if possible, it should. Kids already had a hard enough time just taking care of themselves. I had no regrets, but it wasn’t like things had been easy for me either.

Gyeol gave a small nod, then hesitated before speaking.

– But Dad, I want to take care of my younger siblings.

“Then you can.”

– Is that okay?

“Of course. If it’s because you want to, you can do it as much as you like. Not because you’re the oldest, but because you want to.”

– Yeah. I want to.

This time, Gyeol nodded more firmly and looked up at me. He’d basically had siblings dropped on him out of nowhere, but he hadn’t complained even once.

“Gyeol, if you ever feel upset because of your siblings, you can tell me anytime. It’s okay.”

– No, I’m fine.

His pink tail curled into a loop, and his tiny front paws held the tip.

– I only had you, Dad. Uncle, Auntie, and everyone else, they’re… different from me.

…Monsters and humans. And Gyeol was a beast born especially unusual even among them.

– Everyone’s really nice to me, but still. More than anything, I’m a monster that was born for you, Dad.

“Gyeol…”

– So, I feel a little bad for Uncle and Auntie, but… it feels like I really have a family now.

Gyeol whispered like he was sharing a secret.

– My little siblings are like me, right? But you… you’re different from me. My siblings are the same. Even if we don’t get along, even if they don’t like me, I still won’t be alone.

“…Of course you’re not alone. It’s okay, the little one already seemed to like you.”

I carefully wrapped my arms around the small fairy dragon. So that’s how he had been feeling. There was no way to change the fact that he was a different species on his own. Whatever race you were, if you thought there was no one else like you in the world, you were bound to feel lonely.

On top of that, unlike Peace, Chirp, or Belare, Gyeol wasn’t fully a monster, but he couldn’t really be called a pure human either. I hadn’t realized how lonely it must feel to be stuck in between.

– And Dad, even if you live a really long time, it won’t be as long as me.

“…No.”

– I know that too. That’s why it was a little scary.

“…I’m sorry, Gyeol.”

– It’s okay. When I go to kindergarten, I’ll make more friends. Friends who don’t mind that I’m a fairy dragon.

“Yeah. I’m sure you’ll be really popular.”

Gyeol would live in this world just like everyone else. So would the other two kids. Not as monsters I created, born for me, owned by me, but as Han Gyeol himself. Even if I left first someday, he would go on.

I smiled at him. He beamed back at me.

“Then… would you like to have even more siblings?”

– Umm, let me see how it goes with the ones we have first! And Uncle doesn’t like it, Dad.

“He’ll definitely get mad.”

Besides, there was no guarantee that any new ones would be human–like monsters like these three. Even the little one would probably have been more monster than human if not for the black dragon’s influence. He probably wouldn’t have been able to speak or transform into a human.

– Uncle can’t be without you, remember?

“In that sense, you might be more mature than he is.”

If I were about to die, I’d be more worried about Yuhyun than the kids. Right now, it felt like Gyeol would manage better than he would. The black dragon went without saying. The little one was the only real concern. Would he even understand death?

– Still, because of Uncle, you’re safe so far.

Gyeol crossed his short arms and scolded me.

– If it weren’t for him, you! You would’ve done way more dangerous things!

“…Sorry.”

He was right. Because Yuhyun insisted he’d die without me, I at least hesitated and thought about dropping the firewood before throwing myself into the flames.

– You can’t do that, for your siblings’ sake too.

“Okay, okay. It’s all my fault. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

I had to stay alive at least until all the kids grew up. …It wouldn’t take them two or three hundred years to reach adulthood, right?

“Hyung!”

Stepping on his Willow Leaves, Yuhyun hopped over and came right up to me.

“It’s done.”

“Already? Even though it’s A–rank!”

“The rank was mostly because of the terrain. It wasn’t as big as the average A–rank. You didn’t get hurt anywhere, right?”

“Why would I? Of course I’m fine.”

Seeing this, any country’s Association would be dying to have Yuhyun. As long as it wasn’t an underwater zone, he could probably finish any place in no time. S–ranks were already popular, but he’d be in a league of his own among them. If you added Peace on top of that, they could probably clear even S–rank dungeons in a flash.

We left the dungeon in less than a few hours, and the Association employee waiting to greet us gaped in shock. Even with several S–rank Hunters, it was hard to clear things this fast. Honestly, Yuhyun had practically soloed the second floor.

We headed back to the nearest Association branch to prepare to deal with the Prophet’s group when a visitor came looking for me.