The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 646: Year–End Settlement (2)

[Han Yuhyun (S)

Duplicate record detected. Which would you like to use for settlement: your current achievement record or your past achievement record?]

Past achievement record. My heart dropped into my stomach. I’d regressed and was practically a different person now, so why was there a record–

[Park Yerim (S)

Duplicate record detected. Which would you like to use for settlement: your current achievement record or your past achievement record?]

At that moment, Yerim and Noah also got messages saying their achievements were duplicated. Was this maybe because of the traces from running into our pre–regression, future–yet–past selves in the Nightmare Dungeon? There hadn’t been a pre–regression Noah, but since he had met Liette, maybe a bit of that got logged.

“What’s wrong, hyung?”

Yuhyun, sitting next to me on the sofa, asked. Yerim, who’d been rummaging around in Yuhyun’s room, also poked her head out.

“Something up? By the way, I don’t think there’s anything in here except some old textbooks and a few books. And your school uniform, Han Yuhyun.”

“It would’ve been built off my memories. I couldn’t remember every little knickknack in detail.”

“Knew it, we should’ve checked Mister’s room–”

“I said no.”

I still hadn’t checked my own room either. There wasn’t anything particularly weird there, but there might be things like a household ledger or a diary left. That’d be a bit embarrassing.

“There’s not even any doodles in the textbooks. Hey, Han Yuhyun. Did you keep a diary? You didn’t, right?”

“When Yuhyun was little he used to write in one every day. As for me… first grade of elementary school? I haven’t seen one after around then, so even if there is one here it’ll be blank.”

He used to take care of his homework on his own. I was pretty sure he stopped writing a diary once he hit middle school, though.

“More importantly, our achievement records are duplicated and we have to pick one side.”

“One side?”

“Yeah. The China dungeon was at the pre–regression point in time, remember. Looks like the achievements from back then are affecting things. In terms of raw numbers, I’m pretty sure I’d have more pre–regression.”

Just in terms of time alone there’s a gap of over four years. …Noah would have even less time than that, though.

“But I don’t know if our pre–regression achievements will all be reflected. Checking them in advance is… impossible for ‘security reasons’, apparently. Maybe because we’re technically the same person and also someone else at the same time.”

We were clearly the same people, but we’d spent over half a year living completely differently. If another five years went by like this, the gap would only widen.

“I’m choosing the current ones.”

Yerim shot her hand up without a hint of hesitation.

“I’m me and she’s her. I mean, I’m sure the pre–regression me stacked up way more, but I wasn’t the one who did all that, right? I want to get what I’m supposed to get.”

“You’re not bummed?”

“A tiiiny bit. But I’ve done pretty well too, haven’t I?”

Yerim squared her shoulders. Well, yeah. She had.

“I’ll take my current ones too. I might not even be that different from pre–regression anyway.”

“No way. Noah, you say you’ve changed from before, but even if you hadn’t, I’m sure you did a ton. You were already an amazing Hunter before you met me. There wasn’t a single person in France who didn’t know you.”

Noah just answered with a faint smile instead. It was great that he’d escaped from Liette, stood on his own, and regained his confidence, but he still seemed to look down on his past self. I was like that too. Who wouldn’t be.

“You saw the pre–regression me too, Noah. Back then I really was just a plain old F–rank. So honestly, I used to look down on the pre–regression me, too. Right now–”

Saying this out loud myself was kind of embarrassing, but.

“I think I’ve been working hard. And I’m sure you did too, Noah. You’re the one who made the current you. Even if I helped out a bit, I still think the biggest role in making a person is always themselves.”

No matter how good what you give them is, or how hard you try to teach them, if they don’t accept it that’s that. Being soothed and talked into changing might work when you’re little, but once you’re grown, it ultimately comes down to your own choices. Noah’s eyes dipped slightly.

“Yes. But still, I can’t help feeling like I was kind of pathetic.”

“I felt that way too. Even now, if you told me to pick an achievement record, there’s no way I’d choose pre–regression. The gap really is… big.”

The wish stone popped into my head for a moment, but I pushed it away. They’d said it was an item you couldn’t normally get, anyway.

“You were never pathetic, hyung.”

Leaning in closer, Yuhyun said quietly.

“I was weak, though.”

“C’mon, Mister. If you were really that weak, you wouldn’t even have managed to regress. You’d have quit being a Hunter ages ago.”

Well, there was that. In any case, Noah also chose his current achievements.

“What about you, Yuhyun?”

“…I.”

Yuhyun hesitated, avoiding my gaze.

“I really don’t know.”

“For you, Han Yuhyun, it’s worth agonizing over. Mister, you said that right before you regressed, Han Yuhyun was basically the number one Hunter in the world, right?”

“Yeah. Because he was really that strong, he was the one people targeted.”

My mouth filled with a bitter taste. Of all the natural S–class Hunters I knew, the only one who’d kept trying to protect the world to the end was Yuhyun. I’d heard there were more natural S–classes besides Seong Hyunjae and Liette, but there weren’t any that stood out as Hunters. I wondered what happened to the ones who were left. Maybe they were still too young and hadn’t awakened yet.

“He cleared a lot of S–class dungeons too. After Chief Song died and Seong Hyunjae left, the most active high–rank Hunter in Korea was Yuhyun. Hyunah disbanded her guild and went overseas as well.”

A lot of those skills and titles he had would’ve come from raid achievements, so if he could bring them over as is, it would be insane.

“Wouldn’t he get, like, ten more skills if he took everything?”

“Probably?”

Even a portion of them might be better than what he’d get from his current achievements. But I couldn’t bring myself to tell him to just go ahead and pull his pre–regression record over. To me, it was essentially like my little brother had become two separate people. It felt… wrong to now slap one of them on top of the other. It felt like something I couldn’t do to him, to either of them.

Yuhyun clenched and unclenched his fist. His lowered eyes looked darker than usual.

“The pre–regression me is definitely stronger than the current me.”

“Sure, but you’re going to get even stronger than that in no time.”

“Even if it’s in no time, we still don’t have that much time left.”

There was a thread of impatience in my brother’s voice. Given the situation, it was probably only natural he was wavering more. I reached out and patted his shoulder, arm looping around him.

“Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, Yuhyun. You’re already plenty strong, and it’s not like you have to fight Transcendents right this second. Or do you want to think it over slowly? There’s no time limit.”

“…Yeah.”

He nodded heavily. He’d just asked me what was wrong with me, said I was acting strange, but he was the same. I was pretty sure he’d been off since his birthday… but when he’d said he’d wait for me, it felt wrong for me to rush him.

Maybe I should just grab him one of these days and suggest we both get everything off our chests. What the heck was he worrying about.

“Then for now, Hunter Park Yerim~”

I deliberately raised my voice, bright and cheery. Yerim popped up with a “Yes, sir!” and jumped to her feet.

“Let’s check your rewards!”

Her achievements from outside dungeons rolled out in a list. First up were all the minor monsters we’d taken out in Japan and China, organized one by one. In Japan, Yuhyun had killed all the SS–class monsters, but Yerim had taken down a ton of small fry. Normally, monsters that appeared in a dungeon break didn’t count as raids, but those ones had shown up thanks to Ru Ga Pheya, so they did.

China was similar. Oh, throwing the zombies into the lake was ranked pretty high. The Demon King was lower than expected, probably because it was a group fight. We didn’t have stuff like regular Hunter–versus–Hunter combat in there, but the Chatterbox party fight did count as an achievement, probably because it was Transcendent–related. Thanks to Yerim doing a lot of work there, the total party achievement rank was SS– whoa?

“This is…”

“What? Something weird in there?”

Yerim scooted right up to me to ask. There was one achievement I hadn’t thought about. It was the very last one, and the highest rank of all.

[Illusion of the Mermaid Queen (SSS) – Raid Clear (L)]

“Remember that lake dungeon, when the Mermaid Queen appeared? That raid’s rank is L!”

“L–rank? Holy crap!”

We definitely hadn’t gotten any notable raid rewards back then. I’d figured Yerim getting the Mermaid Queen’s power had just been the reward.

“You basically beat it alone, so I guess that’s why the illusion itself is SSS–class but the achievement rank is L!”

“Whoa whoa whoa! What am I getting? If it’s L, is it maybe an L–rank skill? L–rank weapon?”

“It’s rare to even get an S–class skill for clearing an S–class dungeon, and weapons drop even less, so who knows, but even L–rank equipment would be huge. No, just SSS–class alone makes it a first, a first!”

“You’ve got Grace, Mister. So, first among S–class Hunters!”

Yerim and I both threw our hands up in the air. Felt like we should be popping champagne or something. Non–alcoholic, of course.

“Let’s settle the lower–rank ones first. Thankfully, unlike the real year–end tax adjustment, there’s nothing to pay ba–”

[Achievement reward overage deducted]

…Huh? W–wait a sec. Overage? Deducted? When I asked what the hell that meant, a message from Myungwoo came flying in.

[When you do a system achievement settlement, any bonus rewards Rookie or the other Transcendents added at their discretion can get deducted.]

“What? This really is a year–end tax adjustment!”

[We’re almost done over here, so call in the last one within thirty minutes.]

The message cut off. Sounded like he was busy, anyway.

“…Yerim, you haven’t gotten that much on the side, right?”

“The biggest ones were the Ruler of Water gem and the spirit egg.”

“The egg was bought with points, so that should be fine. There’s no way they’re going to deduct an L–rank reward by clawing back the gem… right?”

No matter what, they wouldn’t do that. Achievements started getting deducted one by one. Hey, why the heck are they taking the toad reward! Because the Mermaid Queen’s earrings were customized for her? Normally you didn’t get that kind of made–to–order drop… They docked part of the spirit egg too! I mean, that dungeon itself had basically been made because we kept nagging them for rewards. We had wrung quite a bit out of them. It all shaved down bit by bit, and then–

“Please please please, leave the L–rank…”

[Overage deduction complete]

Finally!

“It survived! Yerim, the L–rank is still there!”

“We’re saved!”

We had one S–class, one SS–class, and even the L–class still proudly sitting there as unclaimed rewards. The Mermaid Queen’s power must have stayed because we’d paid for it with that droplet falling asleep. Anyway, thank goodness! I’d been shaking, worried we might have to spit it back out.

“You want to take the S, SS, and L all together or separately?”

“Mm, what should I do.”

“You’re still a bit low on variety when it comes to skills, so getting them separately might be good. Even if you add an S–class on top of an L–class, the difference won’t be huge.”

“Then separately! Since there’s Chatterbox’s vault, for the S and SS, skills are definitely best, right?”

“Of course. But…”

[Achievement Reward (S)

Random reward based on the awakened’s achievements and stats

※Can downgrade reward by two ranks to choose it manually]

When we claimed the reward, a random box popped out. That– was how it was supposed to work, as a random. Yerim took the box and frowned a little.

“I’ve seen this kind of game a lot. Better to roll the dice than settle for a B–rank, right? Says it’s related to my stats, too.”

“Yeah, that’s probably true. It’s not even A, just B. At least there’s no total bust option.”

“Okay, gimme something good!”

Yerim used the box. And then–

“Deep–Sea Illusion! S–class! Aaaahhhh!”

A scream of joy burst out. Deep–Sea Illusion? Sounded like a skill.

“It’s a skill?”

“Yeah! Uh… huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s both mental and summoning type? And… it says it can be combined with White Corpse.”

White Corpse was the skill that read the memories of the dead. Very useful, but it had nothing to do with combat, and I didn’t like the idea of having Yerim use it.

“If you combine them, the skill effect will usually change.”

“I mean, I’m fine without White Corpse anyway.”

“Then let’s combine them.”

Yerim fused the skills. She said a new skill, White Deep–Sea Illusion (S), appeared.

“The rank didn’t go up.”

“It probably became a higher–tier S–class skill. Since it was an S–class reward, the original skill was likely a lower–tier S. Once it grows a bit, it’ll probably hit SS–class.”

“It says it shows illusions from the target’s memories while lowering their Willpower, and draws on the power of the deep sea. I’ll have to actually use it to see.”

Next, she opened the SS–class box. This time it was an item, a bracelet. Two bands like rippling dark blue water crossed each other, and at the intersection sat a white gem.

“Waves of the Night Sea. At night, all skills get enhanced effects, movement skills get increased speed, and Night Owl Eyes. That’s an A–class vision support skill. Stealth and similar things count too.”

“That’s nice. With A–class vision support and you being S–class, even my stealth skills aren’t going to work on you.”

“And once a day, I can summon the Wave of Night. If that means making water, that’s great, right? I’m at a disadvantage in places without water.”

Yerim said she liked it, too. The skill–boost only applied at night, but true to an SS–class item, the stat options were great as well. After putting on the bracelet, Yerim carefully cradled the last remaining L–class box. The two of us swallowed dryly in unison.

“Weapons are good, but skills. Dear God, Buddha, Confucius, Allah, everyone, please let it be a skill!”

An L–class skill would be seriously incredible. Yerim prayed as she used the box. Her closed eyes flew open.

“…A title?”

“What? A title? Which one?”

A title? Normally, titles were even better than skills!

“Um, it’s Heir of the Mermaid Queen, L–class.”

“Heir of the Mermaid Queen? Because you beat the Mermaid Queen’s illusion? You got a skill with the title, right?”

She was literally an Heir of a Transcendent. Just the Dragon Slayer title we’d gotten from killing Lautitars came with three L–class skills and one SS–class. A Mermaid Queen should be even more amazing, right? But Yerim’s expression was… odd.

“There’s nothing.”

“…What?”

“It just says, ‘The heir recognized by the Mermaid Queen.’ That’s the whole description.”

“What? Seriously nothing? Not even one?”

“Seriously, nothing.”

…What the hell. Scam! An L–class title in name only! I ground my teeth, wondering where to file a complaint, and Yerim blinked. She’d gotten a message, apparently.

“She says the Mermaid Queen is inviting me.”

“…To give you something personally, maybe? Do you have to go right now?”

“I don’t think so. There’s no time limit.”

“Then let’s ask Myungwoo or Rookie first, before you go. It’s not like ‘heir’ sounds like a bad thing, but…”

Still, suddenly calling her over as an heir like this… If she turned down the heir spot, would they swap it out for some other L–class title with skills? Or at least a decent standalone skill.

I shelved the uneasy feeling and settled Noah’s achievement records next. Noah’s were similar to Yerim’s, but he didn’t have anything like the Mermaid Queen’s L–class. On the other hand, he barely had anything deducted either. Me, Yuhyun, and Yerim were the ones who’d been getting the most extra stuff on the side. Noah hadn’t even been around when we took down the toad.

“Two S–classes and one SS–class. What do you want to do?”

“I’ll take them together. This is more than I expected, honestly.”

Noah gave a slightly bashful smile. I kept telling him he was underrating himself. Combining the two S–classes and one SS–class gave him an SS–class box, which ended up in Noah’s hands. Please, something good, something good!

“Since we’ve got Myungwoo for equipment, a skill would be nice.”

“One offensive skill wouldn’t hurt. No matter how support–type you are, you need something to protect yourself. Preferably not another poison or curse type, but a direct attack.”

Noah used the box soon after. His light gray eyes blinked.

“Veil of the Light Dragonkin.”

A veil like a golden aurora flowed down over Noah’s hand.

“It’s equipment?”

“Yes. It says it’s a veil passed down to the royal family of the Light Dragonkin. If I wrap it around like this…”

The veil wrapped around his body and then melted away. Noah gave off a faint glow, more like a gentle aura than a blinding light.

“It soaks into you, so you can change just part of your appearance or your whole body and it’s still fine. Myungwoo said he can only work with equipment that uses metal and he’s bad with cloth, so I think this is good.”

“How are the options?”

“It has a bunch, but in addition to boosting Light Dragonkin skills, it halves cooldowns.”

Holy crap, that’s broken. That meant the Nest skill’s cooldown would go down and it would be buffed too, right? Totally busted.

“Wow, we really should do a group fight sometime.”

“With Noah’s skills stacked on top, we’ll definitely win! Tell that three–star Mister to come at us whenever he wants!”

Yerim yelled, full of spirit.

“With you here, we won’t be all clunky like when we fought Belare either! We’ll still keep practicing our combined attacks, though.”

“You guys are the least of my worries.”

Liette, on the other hand… I wasn’t sure how well she’d respond to teacher–type skills. I called Liette in for now. She answered right away and appeared in the middle of the living room.

“Hello, my little brother! Sweeties!”

“Shoes off first.”

Can’t we tweak her arrival spot for this thing.