The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 677: People of the Past (4)

“Chirp or whoever, just one more time!”

Just once, to a point after Seong Hyunjae made his contract with Crescent Moon! The Crescent Moon of now wasn’t exactly easy to talk to either, but I still might be able to get a hint on how to undo the contract. As the world around me collapsed, Young Chaos’s figure vanished as well.

“Not yet, Rookie!”

Just let me stay a little longer. I only want to check on Seong Hyunjae’s condition… Honestly, I wanted to go even further ahead than that.

‘…No matter what I do here, nothing’s going to change anyway.’

Even so, I wanted one more shot. Like Wildflower did.

–Peep!

Chirp flailed in my hand. He seemed startled, maybe flustered. Somewhere in this nowhere space, I heard a crackling, splitting noise. Hm… This isn’t something dangerous, right?

“Hey– whoa!”

The ground dropped out beneath my feet. My body pitched forward, about to fall.

Crunch!

With a loud, grinding sound—

“First kid!”

A familiar voice shouted. Chaos, in the body of a boy, tore the collapsing world’s crack even wider as he appeared. As he stepped into the gap, his form grew in an instant. His hand caught me as I fell, and he landed us on one of the few remaining fragments of intact space.

“Sir?”

“I’m apparently the only one who has a connection to this place.”

“Ah, well, this is really ancient times.”

Back when Crescent Moon was still treated like she was young. Before Rookie, before the Mermaid Queen existed.

“Probably because I don’t have any restrictions here. But how the hell did you end up here, First kid.”

Young Chaos clicked his tongue and looked down. I followed his gaze and saw my shoes. The fuzz from those soft, downy flowers was still stuck to them.

“Smells like flowers.”

Chaos’s lips curved into a soft line.

“He’s a good one, isn’t he?”

I stared blankly up at his face, then nodded.

“Yeah.”

If I went back now, maybe I could still see him. But the past I’d stayed in was already shattered apart and swept far away. Unlike me, looking back, Young Chaos showed no lingering regret. It wasn’t that he’d forgotten; he still had the affection that could rise up at the memory of a single flower, and yet even so—

Holding me with one arm, Chaos leapt upward. He stepped on what had once been pieces of night sky, batting aside the collapsing space like it was nothing. His loose sleeve brushed with a hollow thump, pushing away chunks of night, his feet kicking off tiny fragments like a mountain goat scaling a sheer cliff.

“Sir! I need to see Crescent Moon one more time!”

“I don’t know.”

“Huh? Ugh!”

His sudden, soaring movement knocked the breath out of me. The endless fragments fell away, and Chaos’s toes were now stepping on pure empty air. Nothing but pitch–blackness. It was like a starless universe. Other than me, Chirp, and Young Chaos, there was nothing.

“They said if I stashed you somewhere and waited, the Rabbit would come find me.”

Chaos stopped moving. He didn’t put me down, just looked around. All I could see was darkness; was there really something there?

“They were whining they couldn’t locate you at all.”

“So you’re saying there’s nothing you can do either, huh. You haven’t changed at all in all that time.”

“You little brat.”

“Were you lonely?”

Leaving on his own, rejecting all the other Transcendents. Young Chaos smiled. Then he grabbed my ear. Wait, hold on, wait—

“Ow! Why! Ow!”

So much for getting gentler with age! Past you is more decent, you know that? At least back then my ears were intact.

“If you fall into some weird place, the first thing you should think about is how to get back.”

“I am trying to, oww!”

“Wasn’t this exactly what you wanted, First kid?”

Well, yeah, I did want to come. And when there was an error, I did jump into a world with a completely unfamiliar view on purpose.

“My ear is going to come off!”

“Of course I was lonely.”

Still twisting my ear, Young Chaos answered.

“I was bored, and sometimes I felt drained. There were days when even the last scraps of attachment fell away and I thought, maybe I should just try wiping out the Source itself.”

“The Sou–owww! Seriously, my ear! My ear!”

He finally let go. Then grabbed the other ear. Somebody save me.

“Even if I could pull it off, I wouldn’t be the one dealing with the aftermath if something went wrong with the Source. I’m not exactly overflowing with responsibility, but I’m not completely without it either.”

“My ears, ugh! Responsibility for those too!”

“It’s good for your body.”

Ear massage, really? Felt more like a beating with a bonus lecture.

“Living means you feel all kinds of emotions. Not feeling any at all would be more of a problem.”

“And right now?”

“You’re asking that after making this huge mess? A rotten calf only learns when you tan its hide–”

“I’m sorry!”

I’m old enough to know better! Sure, next to him I’m basically a newborn, but still. He finally let go of my other ear. Both ears were so sore they practically went numb. My whole body felt oddly refreshed, but it still hurt.

“Mm, Rookie seems to be running late. How about we move around a bit?”

“What are you trying to pull now.”

“Just sightseeing. It’s boring to just sit here doing nothing.”

“Even if you say you want to stay still.”

Chaos suddenly leapt backward. At the same time—

KRRR–KRAK!

Razor–sharp claws ripped a long trench through the spot we’d just been. Four blade–like claws, easily ten meters long, slammed down and pinned the darkness in place. The front paw, covered in white fur, had six toes, but two of them had been cut clean off.

–Mad Sword! There you are!

With a growl, a huge head lunged into view. Its long, badger–like face bore a pair of white, curved horns. Chaos retreated further back and tilted his head.

“Who was that again.”

“Maybe someone whose toes you sliced off, sir.”

Sounded about right. Probably.

“There are too many I’ve chopped pieces off.”

The wind sharpened into blades. Chaos treated the raging storm of air like a mere breeze, letting it slide past as he rode its currents upward. Growls, rampaging wind, talons lunging up, arrows flying in every direction. Attacks that would shred even an S–rank Hunter in seconds, and his coat hem just fluttered lazily between them.

The wind drifted off into the back of memory without so much as cutting a hem.

SPLASH, waves crashed. Young Chaos came down on a sandy beach.

“Well, now.”

He clicked his tongue briefly.

“You rude little brat.”

A small, cute voice spoke up. I turned and saw a chubby child with hair flowing down like a goldfish tail. In reality they were probably very old. Eyes an icy blue without whites glared coldly at Young Chaos.

“…Sir.”

“Run.”

“I told you never to show your face here again!”

With a shout like someone had swallowed a train engine, the sea rose into a wall. Sand turned into spears. Rookie, I think you sent us to the wrong person!

“Did you just go around picking fights every damn day?”

Chaos sprinted, lightly stepping on the tips of the sand spears. His long hair whipped behind him like a tail.

“I didn’t have that bad a relationship with that one.”

“This looks pretty bad to me.”

“It was like this, back then. That’s why we’re running, aren’t we.”

“At least you can run. Thought you’d stick it out to the bitter end.”

“What’s the point of fighting time that’s already gone by.”

His sheathed sword split the wave, scattered droplets forming a path. Chirp peeped and peeped in awe. Then the sea was gone, and a clear, deep blue sky spun around us.

–I have left as promised!

An elegant dragon with wings of golden feathers twisted its long neck and cried out sadly.

–O twilight of the First Source!

The dragon flew far away, and before I knew it, Young Chaos’s body had shifted into that of a boy. He glanced down at his own hand.

“All the Transcendents born in worlds belonging to the First Source were sent away. That was one of them.”

“They seem pretty gentle.”

“Even so, they’re a Transcendent, and by my rules, Transcendents are not allowed to exist.”

Young Chaos had said he personally intervened in worlds that failed to clear their dungeons before the Source swallowed them. In the process, the barrier protecting that world vanished, leaving it open to Transcendent intrusion. But in the worlds of the First Source, Chaos was the only Transcendent, so even if the barrier disappeared, it was still safe.

“So this is when you were alone.”

“Probably not too recent.”

Even so, by now Seong Hyunjae should already have contracted with Crescent Moon. I cupped Chirp in my hands and lifted him in front of my face.

“Chirp.”

–Peeep.

“Remember Crescent Moon? Pink hair, eyes full of night. She hugged your dad.”

–Peep peep.

“What are you doing.”

“It’s supposed to be a secret, but I think Chirp has some kind of ability. Something to do with space, mostly. He’s good at teleporting even normally. Let’s try going to Crescent Moon, okay?”

It should be fine; the old man can keep his mouth shut. He kept Seong Hyunjae’s business secret, after all. Chaos squinted a little, looking at Chirp.

“He just feels like a young little thing. Is he in a situation similar to mine?”

“No idea. He’s super suspicious, but there’s no way to check. He hasn’t done anything to hurt me though. Right, Chirp? You like your dad, don’t you?”

–Peep!

His tiny downy wings flapped enthusiastically. But nothing happened. In that case—

“Sir!”

“I don’t know how.”

Chaos wrapped his belt around my waist and picked me up. This really felt like one of those child safety leashes. The forest around us shivered.

“It keeps dumping us in places connected to us. Crescent Moon! Crescent Moon! Or Seong Hyunjae! Sir, that thing you do, hide your presence. I think we keep landing with Transcendents tied to you because your presence is overshadowing mine.”

This time, someone connected to me, please. Crescent Moon or Seong Hyunjae! No Rookie, no Mermaid Queen, no King of Harmless. And I absolutely refuse to see that bastard Chatterbox.

The ground and sky flipped. They mixed together, collapsed, darkness spread—and then a silver plain appeared. Moonlight scattered in every direction. Young Chaos tugged the belt and pulled me closer.

“You did it.”

“Yujin.”

A voice called. With the same gentle whisper as always, the moonlight turned soft pink. Translucent light changed into hair, and eyes holding the moon’s reflection looked at me. Beneath the flowing hem of her long robe, down among the soft blades of grass—

“Is that the child you spoke of?”

“Seong Hyunjae!”

A familiar face lay there. His hair, a color I still didn’t know the original of, spilled over the grass, darker than the current Seong Hyunjae’s but lighter than Sigma’s. I instinctively tried to run, but the belt around my waist snapped me back.

“So you brought him here after all.”

“By your standards, it was long ago. If marriage is the completion of a contract of ownership, then calling him a future groom isn’t wrong.”

“You need to put ‘forced’ in front of that. I told you I don’t want forced marriages, remember!”

The belt around my waist came loose. Young Chaos’s brows furrowed, but he didn’t stop me. I stepped past Crescent Moon, toward Seong Hyunjae.

“I’m not from this place. So please tell me. This has nothing to do with the you of now. Tell me how to break the contract.”

“The simplest way is to kill me.”

…How the hell is that simple.

“You could sever it strand by strand. Or there is a faint possibility that the ‘me’ you know would choose to let go. But whatever method you use.”

Crescent Moon glided back. Her gaze turned to Seong Hyunjae.

“That child will remain the same. A moon filled to brimming with countless worlds.”

Her gentle voice continued.

“Yujin. The contract binds the moon, but at the same time, it protects it.”

My heart thudded hard. Protects. Crescent Moon had hidden Seong Hyunjae from the eyes of other Transcendents. Someone with a presence that couldn’t possibly be hidden, yet everyone assumed he was just a born S–rank. Only Young Chaos had sensed something was off.

If that protection vanished, how many Transcendents would go after that small moon that was nearly a full one?

“…You really are a ridiculously troublesome human.”

Even if he gets away from Crescent Moon, it’s still a problem. Crescent Moon, looking down at us, quietly scattered into moonlight. I knelt in the grass and stared at his sleeping face.

“Man. Just wanting to live your own life is this hard, huh.”

“You being unable to give up is its own problem, First kid. But you have no reason to carry this.”

“That’s true. But still. Hey, Seong Hyunjae.”

At my call, golden eyes opened. I flinched. Don’t tell me his name is Seong Hyunjae already. His clothes were unfamiliar. His gaze, still hazy like he was wandering in a dream, lifted to me.

“Uh… hi.”

He shifted his eyes to the sky tinged with moonlight. His lips parted slowly.

“…I don’t remember. But it’s this place again.”

“You’ve come here a lot, I’m sure.”

“And I shouldn’t be… here. E–rank?”

“F. If you’re mixing them up, you’re not fully awake yet.”

He blinked. A faint hint of a smile touched his lips. It must be funny and interesting to see an F–rank in Crescent Moon’s domain.

“Here, you…”

“Want to know why I came? Obviously, I’m here to save you.”

His golden eyes deepened with an amused smile. He looked happy. Even now.

“It’s far in your future, but still, uh.”

No matter what I said here, the present wasn’t going to change. And this Seong Hyunjae would also forget all of this.

“You lose both life and death, but you get them back. You’ll meet a very gentle death, and somehow, you’ll keep living.”

His eyes slid shut, as if he no longer had the strength to keep them open. At the same time, Young Chaos grabbed my sleeve.

“He’s here.”

Thump! Something hammered at the space around us. Then, with a shattering crash—

“…!”

A giant tentacle studded with flowers appeared. A Fear Resistance message popped up in front of my eyes. Ugh, I’ve got goosebumps! Rookie!

‘Giant squid, squid legs, grilled butter squid.’

At this rate I’m going to end up hating squid. This time, as if determined not to let me escape, several flowered tentacles whipped in from all directions. I wanted to scream. The flowers and glitter just made it more disgusting! Crescent Moon’s field vanished, replaced completely by those tentacles. With a sigh, I squeezed my eyes shut. Something soft brushed my ear.

[You □□□ love□ □□□□□.]

What? I opened my eyes and saw pink moonlight scattering between the tentacles that had pushed all the way up to my nose. Crescent Moon’s voice. What the hell did she just—

[Honeeeyyy!]

With Rookie’s booming shout, my body was yanked away.

“Hyung!”

Covered in petals and glitter, I was snatched into a tight hug by Yuhyun.