The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 645: Year–End Settlement (1)

[A new system administrator must first create their own ‘room’!]

“That’s the basic requirement.”

Myungwoo added an explanation.

“You’re getting your own workspace. But since you two are temporary staff, Rookie made each of you a room on a provisional basis. Even most Transcendents can’t easily interfere with an administrator’s room.”

That’s nice. So it’s like the Drawer, but with tighter security? It’d be great if I could keep using it.

[Temporary System Administrator – Han Yujin

Temporary Number – H0207]

Seong Hyunjae is probably S0830. A keycard with the number engraved on it appeared in front of me.

[From your own ‘room,’ you can operate the system. The current permissions of Administrator Han Yujin are as follows.

◇ Registering and removing affiliation for Awakened

◇ Moving affiliated Awakened

◇ Managing affiliated Awakened

※ Consent from affiliated Awakened is required.]

“Isn’t that way too few permissions for a system administrator?”

“One of the main jobs of a system administrator is managing Awakened. Even if it’s limited to those affiliated with you, that’s not a small thing. You can check a much more detailed status window, adjust skills and items, and even allocate clear rewards. For security reasons, consent is mandatory. Even Rookie couldn’t rummage through things at will.”

My ears perked up at Myungwoo’s words. So basically, I could check on Awakened and hand out skills and items like Rookie did.

“Honestly, compared to everything we’ve done, we got way too little in return! It wasn’t dungeon clearing, sure, but it was still related to Transcendents. And we didn’t get a single proper reward out of it.”

“You should be able to check that part too. Your permissions might increase depending on the situation.”

His gaze toward me turned stern.

“Don’t get greedy. The system itself clearly has its own limits. If anything feels wrong with your body, you tell us immediately.”

“I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong at all.”

Myungwoo, Yuhyun, and Chief Song all stared at me at the same time. Hey, I really was fine. Maybe thanks to Mister Sloth, nothing felt off yet.

“You do seem fine for now, but this system was originally designed to be handled by Transcendents. Keep that in mind and please, take care of yourself.”

“Understood. I’ll carve it deep into my heart, teacher.”

Myungwoo let out a short sigh. I had done more than a few things to make myself untrustworthy.

“Use the keycard to enter your room, practice operating the system, then summon three out of the four remaining affiliated Awakened to the room.”

“And after that, what are we supposed to do?”

“Both sides have put forward representatives, so they’ll have us fight it out to a reasonable degree. They said there have been a few similar cases in the past. Conflicts between Transcendents cause too much collateral damage.”

“It’s better for us to fight among ourselves than for Transcendents to step in, but… I don’t like it.”

They were still discussing and making decisions among themselves without so much as a sliver of our input. Even if they claimed it was for our sake, unilaterally deciding everything and dragging us around like this was nothing more than violent livestock raising.

“Be careful. The Unfilial Children are trying to protect the world, not people. Don’t trust Transcendents.”

“Yeah.”

Just because they were protecting our world didn’t mean they were on our side. Even people with the same goal could split and end up hostile over the methods. It’d be easier if you could divide everyone neatly into black and white, but life doesn’t work like that.

With one last worried look at me, Myungwoo disappeared. I was about to use the keycard to move to my room when Seong Hyunjae approached. Yuhyun and Chief Song’s eyes sharpened in unison.

“Mr. Han Yujin.”

“What.”

“Don’t overdo it.”

He continued.

“They told me to tell you that.”

“What? Hey, wait!”

Apparently he’d already used his keycard, because Seong Hyunjae and Song Taewon vanished. “Told me to tell you,” my ass!

“Don’t overdo it? Don’t overdo it? That’s what he has the nerve to say?!”

My stomach, which had finally settled, flipped all over again. A dull throb started in my head. Yuhyun looked at me anxiously.

“Hyung, did something happen?”

“You saw it too, didn’t you? How Seong Hyunjae keeps messing me up.”

“Not that.”

My little brother stepped in front of me and looked closely at my face, carefully but kindly.

“You’ve been a little off lately. More precisely, ever since the wedding. You keep acting like you’re fine as always, but sometimes you look more on edge than usual, and your mood swings harder than normal too.”

“…That’s because.”

Without thinking, I touched my own cheek.

“…Honestly, it’s because everything ahead looks pitch black.”

Ever since I rejected Crescent Moon’s offer, a heavy rock of anxiety had been sitting in my chest. The end of the world wouldn’t be solely my fault, but I couldn’t say I bore no responsibility for the choice I made back then. So I had to do something, anything, but there was no clear answer, and on top of that, look at the state Seong Hyunjae was in.

“For me, you’re the biggest support, Yuhyun. And I trust Yerim, Gyeol, Mr. Noah, and Peace too, but no matter what, you’re different from the adults. I do rely on the Sesung Guild Leader in his own way, you know.”

Not in the same sense as Chief Song and Hyunah, but there was that vague feeling of “he’ll somehow make it work.”

“So now that things have turned out like this, it’s a lot of weight on my shoulders, and yeah, it’s tough.”

“You still can’t tell me?”

“…Huh?”

“What happened at the wedding.”

Yuhyun asked calmly. No one had asked me for the details at the time, but there’s no way they hadn’t noticed that something had gone down.

“…Yeah.”

I gave a small nod. But I still couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone. My guilt was part of it, but also, well… If Yuhyun found out, he’d probably want to grab Seong Hyunjae on the spot and hand him over to Crescent Moon. Chief Song would agonize over it, and Hyunah might just say to toss him out.

“Got it. But hyung, just like always, I’m on your side. No need to overthink it, no need to feel guilty. Do whatever you want. Even if the world ends because of your mistake, I’ll still stand with you.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

I answered, but even to my own ears, my voice sounded weak. Yuhyun pulled me into a tight hug. This time, his kindness just made it hurt worse. I had to protect everything somehow. No matter what it took.

“Let’s check out the room first.”

They said it was possible to increase my system permissions, so maybe I could use the system to kick the Transcendents out of our world altogether. I used the keycard. The place we were standing changed in an instant. Sunlight was streaming into a modestly sized living room. A sofa, a table, a TV. The clock on the wall was stopped at midnight.

The familiar sight stole my breath away.

[The initial design of the room is set to the location with the most information.]

A message window popped up. Information… That meant information I possessed. The place where I had lived and spent the most time.

“This is our place.”

I murmured under my breath. The home we’d lived in a long time ago. I let out a long breath. It was our old place, but still our home. I’d always only wanted one thing. That simple fact suddenly came to mind. Right. We had to finish this quickly and go home together.

“Ah, my shoes!”

Why drop us in the middle of the living room instead of the entryway? I’d ended up barging in with my shoes on. I hurriedly kicked them off and stuffed them into my inventory. Then I looked around. Light was coming in, but the view outside the windows was hazy, like it was shrouded in fog. The front door wouldn’t open. The TV would power on, but there were no broadcasts, and while the refrigerator was running, there was no food. The gas stove worked, and so did the boiler.

“The actual place, is it still like this?”

In response to my question, Yuhyun nodded. Of course they would’ve kept it in good condition. I wondered if he ever came by from time to time, or if he’d avoided even going near it.

“When we get back to Korea, want to go check it out?”

“This apartment?”

“Yeah. I’m okay now. It feels wrong to just leave it abandoned.”

We’d fled here like we were running away, but now I was fine. We should at least go tidy it up. I wondered what it looked like now. When I turned on the kitchen faucet, water streamed out just fine.

“I probably need some kind of control authority whatever to change this too. Let’s see.”

I recalled the five plates I’d moved and the system’s mana. My mana imprint warmed slightly, and the scenery around us melted and twisted together.

“Urk!”

“Hyung!”

Yuhyun hurriedly caught me as I staggered. The kitchen cupboards, the dining table, and the fridge all turned into a tangled mass of mana for an instant. The table was relatively simple. The cupboards were a bit more complicated, and the fridge was woven out of mana in a structure I couldn’t fully understand.

‘…A flow of mana that generates cold, huh.’

The actual components of a refrigerator were pretty complicated, so of course a system–mana fridge wouldn’t be simple. I’d have to put off changing the room’s design. Where was I supposed to even start touching that? Instead, I opened up the permissions I’d been given.

[Affiliated Awakened

Han Yuhyun (S)

Park Yerim (S)

Noah (S)

Liette (S)

Shishio (S)]

I checked Yuhyun first.

“Hyung, I’m getting a message asking if I consent to my info being viewed. I’ll accept.”

“Okay.”

[Han Yuhyun (S) – Human

Titles

Skills

Stats

Achievements

Misc.]

It was a bit different from a normal status window. He didn’t have any titles yet, but I tapped it anyway.

[Titles

None

Titles likely to be acquired

Footsteps of Ash (SS)

Blessing of Fire (SS)

Dungeon Expert (S)]

‘Oh, this is…’

I knew the last one. Dungeon Expert was something I’d seen on TV. It was a title you got after clearing S–class or higher dungeons a hundred times, so right before my regression, there had been several S–class Hunters who had it. As for Footsteps of Ash and Blessing of Fire… The twenty–five–year–old Yuhyun probably had those. I hadn’t checked his status window properly at the time, but I remembered catching a glimpse.

His skills were the ones I knew. Black Flame, Blade–Devourer, Melted Last Gate, Fire Resistance, Blue Willow Leaves, Fire Attribute Enhancement, Weapon Expert, Unyielding Sword, Solo Action, Paralysis Resistance, Concentration, and so on. Among them, Black Flame had a note.

[Black Flame (SS) – Source of condensed, blackened flame

※ Currently growing outside system bounds]

An extra line of explanation had been added. That must be talking about the blue fire. He said he’d broken through the system’s wall in the Nightmare Dungeon in China.

“Hey, one of the skills you’re likely to get is Cold Resistance. Is that because of Yerim?”

“Could be. She uses it constantly at home too. Hyung might get it as well.”

“She doesn’t usually let it hit me much. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have it.”

You could never have too many skills. Yuhyun, Yerim, Peace – they all needed to get way more. We’d dealt with how many Transcendents now? The rewards were way too stingy.

“Hey, System. Let’s do a proper settlement, yeah? It’s almost time for the year–end tax settlement anyway, so let’s tidy up the whole year nice and clean while we’re at it.”

[Do you wish to recheck the achievements of Awakened Han Yuhyun?]

“Yessir!”

[No additional achievements under current system records.]

[Would you like to submit achievement data directly?]

“Yes! See, my little brother is so amazing that─”

[Linking directly to the records of Awakened Han Yuhyun.]

“…This isn’t dangerous, right?”

[The system cannot directly observe the world. Rookie couldn’t precisely track our movements either, remember.]

The message’s tone suddenly changed.

“Myungwoo?”

[They said an easier explanation was needed, so I got connected. That’s why the system gets direct consent from the Awakened and checks things that way. It’s basically checking memories, but the security on it is solid. The type is special, so it’ll probably take a couple of hours. Oh, and you have to set a time period. If you do their whole life, it’ll take a lot longer, so set it to around the last half–year.]

“Thanks! While you’re at it, contact the Sesung Guild Leader and ask him to look after Chief Song and Hyunah for me!”

Even if he was on the opposite side at the moment, I couldn’t just let this chance slip by. After linking to Yuhyun’s records, I summoned Yerim and Noah to the room as well.

“Mister!”

“Yujin.”

Yerim hopped over and clung to me, beaming.

“You really can’t do without me, huh? I calmed Gyeol down nicely before I came!”

“Is he really upset?”

“To be honest, he looked about ready to cry.”

Ah, poor kid.

“He did say he understood and that he’d go home first… but still. Anyway, where is this? What’s going on? Noah oppa, your shoes!”

“Ah, right.”

Noah hurriedly took off his shoes, belatedly realizing. Yerim was floating lightly above the floor anyway.

“So, the Transcendents suggested a kind of proxy battle.”

I explained what had happened so far to the two of them. Yerim’s eyes widened.

“Mister Sesung did? Why?”

“I want to know that too. I have no idea what he’s thinking.”

“So my sister is also under your affiliation, then.”

“Yeah. Are you okay with that? I should’ve told you ahead of time, but there was no way…”

Noah smiled gently.

“It’s fine. I’m more worried about you, Yujin. My sister is satisfied with Hunter Kang Soyeong’s skill, so I doubt you can use Belare as bait all that easily.”

“Ah… true.”

In Exclusive mode, she couldn’t use her sword. Thanks to that, she’d stopped nagging me about how long Belare was taking to grow, but it also meant she couldn’t threaten me with, “You’re not raising the kid for me!” anymore. Liette didn’t care much about items, and she didn’t need Monster Mounts, so there was even less you could use as bait…

“…It’ll work out somehow.”

“Cheer up. I’ll help as much as I can.”

This was more of a headache than I’d thought. She’d treated me relatively well, but still. Maybe I should ask Soyeong for help if worst came to worst. Maybe I should’ve brought her instead of Shishio. Yerim and Noah also requested achievement rechecks. After some time passed,

[Additional achievements updated.]

a message popped up saying the process was complete. Please be generous with the calculations, dear system!