The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 669: I Lost It For a Bit (2)

“It’s just off for a bit, that’s all. They said it can go back to normal and that they’ll do it. So don’t worry, you two. I’m really fine.”

The ribbon didn’t seem to be doing much. I’d wanted it to say, See? I’m fine enough to do something this stupid.

“R–right. It’s probably a common thing for Hunters anyway.”

Yerim was trying hard to stay calm as she spoke. Liette chimed in, Yeah, that’s right.

“Losing a limb is fine. As long as your head’s intact you’re good. S–classes don’t die easily. Sweetie just has low stat grades, so we have to watch out for exsanguination and death by shock.”

“There was ab~solutely no danger. From the start there was no way I was going to die in this round of the bet.”

They probably wouldn’t take responsibility if I pushed myself so far my actual lifespan got shaved down. Still, at least this time I hadn’t gone as far as staking my life. And like Liette said, this isn’t rare for Hunters. Of course, if a mid–rank or lower Hunter loses a limb, that’s a disaster. Restoring a body part that’s completely gone takes connections or a ton of money.

In spite of my excuses and Liette’s comments, Yuhyun didn’t react at all. He just stared silently at the spot where my arm used to be. His darkened eyes were steady, calm, and that somehow worried me even more.

“It’s a simple injury, just an injury. Yuhyun, your big brother’s a Hunter too.”

“I know.”

My little brother spoke in a dry voice.

“But… I still hate it.”

“Well of course. Hey, if you lost an arm I’d be pissed and sad too.”

“…It’s a little different.”

At that moment, Iryn bounced over to me in a hurry.

– Big bro! Yuhyun’s acting that way because he likes you!

“…Huh?”

“I should’ve swallowed it.”

Yuhyun said in a low voice. Liette, who’d been lounging on the living room floor, got to her feet. Noah also shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet, ready to jump in at any moment. As the tension slowly ratcheted up, Yerim shouted.

“Han Yuhyun! What nonsense are you spouting! Mister, come over here first.”

Yerim beckoned to me. But I didn’t feel like moving.

“There’s no way Yuhyun would hurt me.”

“…That’s true, but still.”

He might talk about locking me up again, though. On my shoulder, Iryn spun in little circles.

– See, big bro! It’s like this! You get mad if someone else eats food you were saving because you really like it, right? You’re way more precious than food or anything, but still!

“Mm, yeah, that would tick me off.”

If it’s Yuhyun or Yerim, that’s one thing, but if it’s some total stranger, that’d be infuriating. You’d think, I should’ve just eaten it earlier. I’m not something to eat, obviously, but from Yuhyun’s perspective it’s a bit different.

– Yuhyun’s been holding himself back really, really well!

Yeah, if I was going to hand myself over, I should’ve given myself to my little brother. …Okay, that sounded wrong. Anyway, Yuhyun was still holding himself back. His face had gone completely pale. His jaw was clenched so tightly I could see the tension.

“Yuhyun.”

I reached out, wanting to hug my brother like always, then hesitated. I was missing a hand. I could hug him with one arm, but it felt awkward. As I hesitated, Yuhyun blinked at me. His expression shifted from before, going a bit blank, a little bewildered. And then—

“Hyung, are you really okay?!”

Tears welled up in his eyes in an instant and spilled straight down. Oh, come on.

“They can fix it soon, really. I’m okay.”

“…Sniff.”

The little sniffle didn’t come from Yuhyun, but from Yerim. She lifted an arm to cover her eyes.

“It’s because Han Yuhyun started crying first!”

Guys, seriously. Flustered, I looked back and forth between the two of them.

“I’ve gotten hurt tons of times. I’m just missing an arm for a little while, my body’s totally fine! I might even be healthier now. I accidentally ate something like a health supplement. I’m serious!”

“…It just feels weird, Hyung.”

Yuhyun said as tears kept falling silently.

“No matter what you look like, I like you, but… even though it’s not life–threatening…”

He stumbled over his words like he couldn’t sort his feelings out.

“You’ve… gotten hurt a lot… before, and…”

There was even a time he thought I was dead. He’d been really shaken then too, but this felt different. I pulled him into a hug with my one arm. I wanted to tuck Yerim in with us too, but I only had the one arm. Realizing that, Yerim sniffed again and turned her head away.

“Even if you’re going to be all better, still! I’m a Hunter too, but Han Yuhyun started crying first!”

“Yeah. So what if you cry. I’m so–”

“If you didn’t cut it off on purpose, don’t you dare say you’re sorry!”

…Uh, technically I was the one who cut it off, though. Liette shrugged and gave Yerim’s back a light pat.

“Don’t worry. I know the Saintess, too. If they can’t fix your arm in here, I’ll introduce you when we’re out~”

Oh, right. Well, Liette was a famous S–class on that side of the world, it’d be weirder if she didn’t know her. Noah handed Yerim a handkerchief.

“…Honestly, if it were someone else coming back with a missing arm, I don’t think I’d be this worried. I was surprised about you too, Mister, but you still seemed kind of okay. And the ribbon is pretty. …It’s because Han Yuhyun started crying. Tears are contagious, you know.”

With his eyes still wet, Yuhyun silently took my intact hand and fiddled with it. It was understandable. The moment of a big injury is shocking, sure, but when your daily life changes because of it… that brings a different kind of hit. Not being able to do things you always took for granted can hurt a lot more than you’d expect. I’d heard plenty of stories about people who struggled more with that long, drawn–out shock – sometimes for life – than with the accident itself.

When my eyesight had gone bad, I could still move around fine thanks to Teacher skill, and it didn’t show much outwardly. This time, though, I couldn’t even do the most basic, everyday things. Maybe thanks to Fear Resistance I was okay, but the kids clearly weren’t.

“…I thought I’d be okay as long as you were alive, Hyung.”

Said the same little brother who once swore he’d cut off my arms and legs. His hand was still playing with my uninjured arm.

“Of course, you being alive is more important than your limbs being intact, and even if you were like that, I’d still take good care of you.”

His eyes, clearly showing how deflated he felt, blinked.

“I just didn’t think you not being able to hug me would feel this… weird. You’d still be my Hyung no matter what.”

“Our feelings aren’t going to change no matter how we change. But because you like someone that much, you want to do more for them, and you want to receive more too. There was a time you just gave up on being on the receiving end, Yuhyun.”

You just crushed your own wants and gave up. I squeezed his hand with my remaining one and swung it back and forth, smiling.

“Now that you’re allowed to want things too, it hurts more. It’s changed from, As long as he’s alive, to, I want to live together with him.”

‘In a heart that used to be filled with only “Han Yujin,” “Han Yuhyun” was carving out a place too, so of course his emotions were more complicated than before. Before, he probably only cared that I was hurt; now, losing pieces of our everyday life was hitting just as hard.

“Yerim.”

“I’m telling you, it’s because of Han Yuhyun. I’m fine. You said it’ll go back to normal, too.”

“If either of you got hurt, I’d flip out too. I’d probably make a bigger fuss than this.”

“But I’m an S–class Hunter.”

“Mister’s career is four or five times longer than yours. S–class or F–class, it’s perfectly normal for your heart to hurt when family gets hurt. Liette would lose it if Noah got injured too.”

“Obviously.”

Liette nodded and looked over at Noah.

“I’d kill them all.”

“…You’re the one who’s hurt me the most, noona.”

“But I never meant to hurt you. Really.”

“I still got hurt.”

Liette’s eyes rolled around, full of fluster. She shot me a look that said, Help, but what was I supposed to do. That was her karma. No matter what the perpetrator’s intentions are, the victim doesn’t have to care. Even if you say, I only did it for your own good~, you’re still the one who did the hurting.

“S–classes might be sturdy, but that doesn’t mean our hearts are made of stone. It’s okay to be weak sometimes.”

“I’m not weak.”

Yerim said stubbornly.

“I’m strong. For real.”

“Being strong doesn’t mean you always have to act strong.”

“But I am okay.”

Insisting she was fine, Yerim formed a little water droplet and wiped away every trace of tears from my face. Her pluckiness was great but… it still worried me that she tried so hard not to lean on adults.

“Hyung, redo the contract.”

Once he’d calmed down a bit, Yuhyun said that. Contract?

“What contract?”

“The one where a wound appears on the back of my hand if you get a critical injury.”

“What? You want to redo that? It broke?”

When would that have triggered? The time I almost died… was it during the Chatterbox thing? It was kind of borderline as a “critical injury,” but since my entire existence had almost vanished, it wouldn’t be weird if the contract effect had gone off. Reflexively I looked at the back of Yuhyun’s hand, but of course it was fine now. It had been a while.

“I’m safe right now anyway. I can’t even die, so there’s no reason to make you anxious. Let’s do it after this is all over. Honestly I’d rather reverse it and make the contract the other way, but… Curse Resistance would get in the way.”

It’s not like I can just turn the skill off, either. Yerim sidled up and formed a little water sphere for Yuhyun, like she was telling him to wash his face. Then she carefully straightened the ribbon on my arm.

“Was it Myungwoo oppa? Or Mister Sesung?”

“Obviously it’s Myungwoo. You can tell just from the craftsmanship.”

“I bet Mister Sesung would be good at this stuff too. He just doesn’t do it. Soyeong unni said he was good at flower arranging, you know.”

Flower arranging, huh. Still, I could totally see it.

“…It really doesn’t hurt?”

“I took painkillers and got healing skills used on me. It’s just a little empty. The ribbon actually helps. It covers it so you don’t see it much.”

With the giant ribbon and the frills, you could almost miss that the arm itself was missing at a glance. Yerim pressed her lips together and toyed with the ribbon, staring fixedly at my arm. I really shouldn’t have had Yerim come. No matter how much the world had changed. My chest ached, heavy.

“When is it coming back?”

“The Mermaid Queen said she’d let me get it back in the next match.”

“Hunter Noah.”

Yuhyun looked at Noah. Noah couldn’t do regeneration—

“Can you transplant someone else’s limb?”

“Hey!”

My voice automatically shot up. This damn kid! Whether I yelled or not, Yuhyun continued calmly.

“I’ve heard that having the same body part reduces the difficulty of healing. And as brothers, we’re genetically close.”

“Our blood types are different, you know that? And I’m not going to die from missing an arm, but you might! Plus I’m support and you’re combat! Close–range combat on top of that!”

What kind of insane crap was he spouting. My little brother looked back at me and answered casually.

“I’ve still got one left. And it would be less inconvenient for me than for you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You use both hands.”

Most high–rank combat Hunters are good with both hands, but even as a kid, Yuhyun was basically ambidextrous. And the difference between having both hands and only one in a fight is enormous.

“It’s impossible.”

Thankfully Noah shook his head firmly.

“Even if you had the severed part, properly attaching it would require not just basic healing but regeneration and purification skills of a certain grade. I only have basic healing. The different blood types would also be a problem.”

“Hear that?”

“What about high–grade potions?”

“Yuhyun, you! I told you not to use up my potions so casually.”

“Isn’t high–grade fine at least?”

“No. I don’t need any more healing skills used on me either. I’m not shaving off my lifespan just to stick an arm back on.”

At my words, Yuhyun finally relented with a quiet, Got it. Why is your first idea to chop off your own arm!

“I’d be upset if you lost your arm too!”

“Yeah, Mister would definitely cry too.”

“…I wouldn’t cry as long as we could treat it, but still. Take care of your body too, Yuhyun.”

“I just thought it’d be better if your arm was intact. Compared to you, I’d be fine. And she didn’t say you could get it back next match; she said she’d let you have it back. It might be a reward for winning. So if the next match also focuses on the sub–team, then it’d be better for you to temporarily have my arm—”

“Still no.”

I cut him off flatly.

“It might feel weird and be even more inconvenient. Look at the size difference. Even the length is different.”

“That’s true. Then maybe my—”

“Yerim.”

“I’m kidding~. I’m just saying. I’ve caught up a lot to Mister’s height, you know. And I’m type O too.”

“Don’t even joke about that.”

These kids kept saying terrifying things.

“I’m definitely getting my arm back, so don’t worry. And if all else fails, we’ve got Liette’s connections. Let’s just get plenty of rest instead. Who knows what they’ll make us do next.”

“I’ll help you wash up.”

Yuhyun volunteered. It wasn’t like I was incapable of washing myself.

“Sweetie, want me to help too?”

“What do you mean, you too! Get lost! Where do you think you’re following me to!”

“I used to help my little brother—”

“Noona! That was when I was a kid! A really little kid!”

Noah yelled hurriedly. Liette, seriously. I hurried into the bathroom like I was running for my life.