The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 679: What Life Is (2)

“Yerim!”

I pulled a heavy bag out of Myungwoo’s pocket and tossed it to Yerim. Then I handed her the special–ammo gun as well. Yerim still wasn’t that good at hand–to–hand combat. She’d been working hard, but going up against veteran S–class Hunters without any skills was way too disadvantageous.

“The bandoliers in the bag are labeled by type! Let’s focus on support rounds!”

“Okay!”

Yerim nodded and slung the bag across the front of her chest. Regular bullets, no matter how large the caliber, didn’t do much to S–class Hunters. So it was more effective to use special rounds like flashbangs, smoke, and Myungwoo–brand sticky–item bullets.

“First target is Hyunah!”

If we were going to knock someone out first, it had to be Moon Hyunah. Mari looked like she had less combat experience, and Samir had never truly teamed up with the other S–classes here. They were short on information too. We could set Seong Hyunjae aside for now, and between the remaining two, Hyunah was easier to deal with. Because—

“Hyung, that’s harsh!”

“…Ugh.”

Because I could use the teacher skill on her. Among the opposing team, Moon Hyunah was the only one whose keywords triggered it. Thanks to that, even with the backlash being strong, I could just barely endure it. With the teacher skill I’d placed on Hyunah, I fed all her senses one–way into our team.

“Hunter Noah, just put support skills on and keep a hard mark on Seong Hyunjae! Yerim, unload the stickies on Mari!”

“Kyaa! What is this!”

If you used most of the sticky rounds on one person, you could keep them glued down for a good long time. The downside was, if we got close, we’d get stuck too and wouldn’t be able to tag them. But Mari’s movements were slow compared to other S–classes and she didn’t have much experience, so she was a perfect target to pin down with glue.

Last was Seong Hyunjae, the single trickiest one. Combat foresight. With combat skills banned, as long as he had that, getting close enough to lay a hand on him was nearly impossible. It would be nice if combat foresight was banned too, but that was less a skill and more the same as all the time he’d stacked up until now.

“We only need to catch three of them anyway!”

It was better to just set aside the one most troublesome piece.

“Hunter Noah.”

Yuhyun tossed me upward. Noah shifted into human form, spread his wings, caught me, and Yerim swung the wire in a wide arc and let go. Grabbing onto the wire as it wrapped, Yuhyun’s body carved through the air. Spinning in midair, he added momentum and hurled the wire toward Moon Hyunah.

There was no way Moon Hyunah couldn’t dodge that. But—

“Just take one hit for me~.”

Crunch, Liette shattered the sidewalk as she charged at her. You couldn’t dodge two perfectly coordinated attacks at the same time! A touch from Liette meant elimination. Hyunah twisted away from her claws, gleaming sharp from partial dragonization, and the wire snapped snugly around her arm. At the same time, Yuhyun hooked the wire over a protruding part of a streetlight and dropped, putting his weight on it.

Ping–!

The wire went taut in an instant, about to jerk Hyunah’s arm hard when—

Slash!

Samir appeared out of nowhere and sliced the wire with his curved sword. His body spun like he was dancing as he flung the sword straight toward Yuhyun. It flew dead on target, but Yuhyun didn’t even glance at it and turned his body straight back toward Moon Hyunah. Just before the tip of the sword could pierce his arm—

Thwop!

A lump of special ammo, like rubber putty, smacked into the sword and knocked it aside.

“Han Yuhyun! I barely ever shoot guns! Don’t trust me that much!”

Yerim grumbled as she reloaded, but Yuhyun didn’t so much as twitch an ear. Both he and Liette stuck to my orders and focused on Hyunah, but Song Taewon was already holding the line there. With her movements being read entirely thanks to the teacher skill, Song Taewon stepped in front of Hyunah.

Rumbleee–

Song Taewon’s toes scraped along the ground. The paving slabs surged up like a wave, blocking Liette’s and Yuhyun’s view.

“Chief Song! I can run, you know!”

Hyunah yelled as she widened the distance.

“Let me handle at least one of them! Also what is our team leader even doing!”

The instant she called him, a sticky round splatted at Seong Hyunjae’s feet. He glanced up at Noah, who was watching him.

“Receiving an angel’s blessing.”

“Yeah, Noah’s skill is a pain in the ass.”

A forced blessing. In close combat there was nothing more annoying than getting hit by that. But the moment Noah’s attention turned to someone else, Seong Hyunjae would move. Both sides had their key skills tied up.

Slash! A utility pole was cut apart like a bundle of reeds under Liette’s claws. Samir slid in close to Hyunah, barely dodging her getting hit, and blocked the attacks in her place. But since the two of them had never really fought together before, their movements soon fell out of sync.

“Liette, isn’t that an attack skill?!”

“It’s my body~. It’s more of a transformation skill than an attack skill. Or a beauty skill? It’s all sparkly and pretty, isn’t it!”

“Ugh, that skill of yours is really annoying, hyung!”

Frowning, Moon Hyunah leaped up onto the rubble. Having all your movements read by the enemy could not possibly feel good. I did feel a little bad.

“Watch out!”

Thud! Kicking a chunk of debris toward Yuhyun, Song Taewon shouted. Yuhyun slid just out of range of his attack. With his experience, Song Taewon had managed to hold him for a moment, but it was hard to keep up with someone who was clearly trying to disengage instead of fight him head–on.

Using the flying rubble as a stepping stone instead, Yuhyun sprang in a flash above Hyunah’s head.

“Kh!”

The wire looped around Moon Hyunah’s neck. Samir instantly severed it, but Liette’s tail lashed out in the same beat. Just before it smashed into her, Hyunah kicked off the black scales and dived upward.

She dodged Liette’s attack. But—

Tap.

Spinning half a turn in the air, Yuhyun brought his hand down in a chopping motion on Hyunah’s shoulder. Knocked aside, she crashed heavily down to the ground.

[Moon Hyunah, out!]

A message window popped up. In the distance, Mari, who’d been wincing under Yerim’s barrage of sticky bombs, yelped.

“I should be helping too! This stuff is way too tough!”

“Should I free the young lady first?”

Backing toward where Song Taewon was, Samir asked. He snuck a look toward Seong Hyunjae.

“It’s hard to line up properly with just a bit of practice, as expected.”

“With skills disabled, it’s even more so.”

Song Taewon calmly watched Moon Hyunah as she pushed herself up.

“For Hunters with more than a year of experience, skills are basically like arms and legs. Hunter Moon Hyunah, you’re out, but you can still move.”

Huh? Ah, crap!

“Move!”

I yelled at Liette. But faster than that—

“Huh?”

“I like dragons too. Maybe not as much as So–young, but still!”

Hyunah grabbed Liette and hugged her tight. Seeing her elimination message had made Liette drop her guard; before she could even start flailing in a panic, Song Taewon stamped into the ground.

“They said you’re out!”

But they hadn’t said an eliminated player couldn’t help.

Song Taewon tore across the ground toward Liette in an instant. Yuhyun didn’t just stand there either. He went straight in and—

Thud!

“Hey!”

He kicked Liette. Still clamped in Hyunah’s arms, Liette went flying.

“Hyunah, your arm strength is insane?!”

“My forearms aren’t losing to anyone!”

Even as she tumbled across the ground, Hyunah burst out laughing. Yuhyun blocked Song Taewon’s path, but Samir was still free. Stuck in Hyunah’s grip, Liette couldn’t get away in time, and Samir’s palm finally landed on her back.

[Liette, out!]

One for one. Liette bared her teeth viciously.

“Now that I’m out, I’ve got nothing holding me back!”

If he fully dragonized, getting free would be easy. But if he got too big, he’d be tagged out immediately, so he’d been holding back. Now there was no reason to.

“I’m going to stomp all of you flat!”

Liette growled, and Hyunah hastily let go and jumped back. Samir also retreated, and Song Taewon… huh?

‘Mari backed off too?’

That was weird if it was just because of Liette. A bad feeling thumped the back of my skull. A trap. The moment that gut feeling hit—

“Get aw–!”

Boom!

My shout was swallowed by the explosion. Craaack— something shot up from beneath the splitting ground. It was a translucent, bluish liquid. No poison, no threatening aura. It even flowed continuously like groundwater or the city water mains, something the S–classes had sensed but dismissed.

“Ugh, what is this!”

Yerim yelled in disgust. With that much liquid shooting up that fast, there was no way to dodge without teleportation. And the liquid hardened in an instant. Yerim had a flight skill, so she was fine, but—

“Mr. Yujin!”

Noah’s wings had hardened, and he quickly twisted his body to get underneath me. The hardened liquid clinging to him cracked with a rough, splintering sound. I couldn’t move an inch, but the S–classes didn’t stay trapped for long. The problem was the wings.

Just before Noah and I fell and smashed into the ground—

“Checkmate.”

Seong Hyunjae’s hand touched me. Noah spun away with me wrapped in his arms, but it was already too late. Yuhyun bounded over and checked me over.

“Hyung, you didn’t swallow any, right?”

Yuhyun and Noah peeled the hardened gunk off my body. Yerim hurried over too. I flexed my freed arm and looked at Seong Hyunjae.

“I figured this might be a place you knew, but it seems you know it even better than I thought.”

“In this world, it’s a resource used like oil or gas. It hardens the moment it hits the air, and it requires constant vibration to keep it flowing smoothly, so they do this.”

Seong Hyunjae looked around at the perfectly straight boulevard. The central road that cut through the city. So that was why they’d spaced intersections out as far as possible and set things up so cars would mostly use the central road. How did he set it off, though. Did he sneak his chains into the ground?

“So what was your name here, then? It couldn’t have been the same.”

“Only fragmentary bits of information pop up, here and there.”

With a smile like it had been drawn on, Seong Hyunjae answered.

“We walked right into it, didn’t we.”

Even if the liquid hardened extremely solid, it wasn’t enough to pin an S–class by the ankles. But Noah’s wings were feathers. Once the liquid soaked in, clumped, and hardened, it was much harder to shake off than from arms or legs, and flight became completely impossible.

“If he just blocked Mr. Noah’s movements, he’d get me as a bonus.”

If Noah hadn’t brought his wings out, or had still been on the ground after doing so, there would have been a gap to slip past Seong Hyunjae. But our team had me, and naturally Noah took charge of me and flew me out of the danger zone. All he had to do was make us fall and he’d bag two of us at once. One of our team gets eliminated, he waits until Noah’s in the right position, then sets it off.

This was why home ground was an advantage.

[The winning team will roll the dice first.]

A message window popped up. Dice? Why dice. Two big dice, one white and one black, appeared.

“I haven’t heard any explanation at all, though.”

Not that there’d been time to hear one. From the looks of it, the others didn’t know much either. Except for Seong Hyunjae.

“It’s a kind of life game.”

“…Excuse me?”

Picking up the black die, Seong Hyunjae continued.

“More like a career–type board game, closer to something like The Game of Life.”

And what the hell is that supposed to mean. A big, neon–sign–bright message window popped up.

[Live an awesome life!]

My life is already awesome as hell, thanks. This time the message seemed visible to everyone, because Yerim bounced and raised her hand.

“I think it’s like a board game, Mister!”

I dunno. If we’re going to do this, give me yut sticks or some hwatu cards. Hard pass on go and chess.

[Choose a job and try to become the best!]

“I’m already the best in the world, though.”

Because I didn’t have any rivals. I was the world’s only S–class Monster Mounts breeder. I picked up the white die and snuck a glance at Seong Hyunjae. Had he picked this game too? He was probably trying to jog memories from the world he’d stayed in.

[You’ve arrived in a new country and need to find a place to live first.]

[?Good luck!?

1 – Semi–basement

2 – One–room studio

3 – Small villa

4 – Medium–sized apartment

5 – Large apartment

6 – Penthouse]

[Please roll the dice!!!

?If both teams roll the same number, the winning team chooses which team rolls again.]

I scanned the sparkling message quickly. Oh, come on.

“This is way too unfair to me! Hello, S–class here! I can absolutely make a die come up however I want!”

Just imagine a game of yut where you only ever rolled mo. A game of annihilation. At my protest, another message popped up.

[The dice are random and determined by luck!]

“Seriously… we’re deciding something like this on luck?!”

Our land was on the line. We were deciding a bet where an entire country could turn into refugees overnight… by rolling dice? Not that it mattered when the Transcendents were swallowing whole worlds just to add a bit more to their collection. I frowned at Seong Hyunjae.

…You couldn’t exactly call his life “lucky”, but if you set Crescent Moon aside, it had to have been a smooth, paved road without a single bump. The one obstacle was just so huge it overshadowed everything else. In pure luck terms, he was probably on the fortunate side. Me, on the other hand…

‘Saying I’m lucky would be a joke with how much I’ve been dragged through the mud.’

From the outside, regressors might look like they’d gained a ton. But you could never say, “Wow, I was so lucky to get that Wish Stone right at the start~.” I’d sooner have my tongue ripped out than say that was luck.

“Does the team leader really have to be the one to roll? Maybe someone with better luck…”

I turned to Yuhyun. Hmm.

“Yuhyun, you’ve never scratched a lottery ticket, right? Ever have a lot of lucky things happen to you?”

“Having you as my brother is my greatest luck.”

My little brother smiled. It was a touching thing to say, but if you thought about how things were before I regressed… I figured he and I were pretty similar in the luck department.

“I’ve been up and down. I think I’m pretty lucky right now and before the dungeons exploded, but I never win any raffles.”

It was hard to say that luck walked with Yerim, considering what had happened to her parents. Even so, I hoped she’d always have luck on her side from here on out. I turned my head and met Noah’s eyes. He gave a wry smile.

“As for me… well, yeah.”

His gaze shifted sideways, toward Liette. Liette grinned wide and yelled,

“Me, I’m super lucky! I’m strong and my little sibling’s gorgeous~.”

Ah. Yeah. It still seemed safer if I rolled. Even if it came up bad, it was easier if I was the one responsible.

“I want to try rolling it!”

Mari raised her hand and shouted. Generously, Seong Hyunjae nodded.

“I’d love to say ‘be my guest,’ but…”

[Only team leaders may roll the dice!]

Yeah, figured. Seong Hyunjae casually tossed the black die. It tumbled across the ground and came to a stop.

[6!]

“Knew it, total cheat!”

Penthouse on the first roll, seriously?! Did he have some kind of destiny star following him that said “you will only ever live in penthouses or equivalent”? With that guy, I could totally believe it. He took the best housing, and then it was my turn.

‘A 5 would be great, 4 is still fine. There are five of us.’

I threw the die as hard as I could. It shot up into the air and bounced along the ground. Not 5, 6, or 3, 1 is out! Tumble, tumble, 6, 5…

[3!]

“Ah…”

A middling failure. For one or two people, that’d be plenty, thank you very much, but… does it have at least two bedrooms? How long were we supposed to live there, anyway. Could we move?

“The place… might be a little cramped.”

“I’m fine anywhere as long as you’re there, hyung.”

“As long as we didn’t get 1 or 2, we’re good!”

Yuhyun and Yerim comforted me, saying it was fine. Yeah, it was a relief we hadn’t gotten 1 or 2, but still—

“I’ve slept rough in dungeons a ton of times. It’s okay.”

“Right, sweetie. Or we can just take the place next door, right?”

More like rob it. Seong Hyunjae picked up the black die again. Bad omen. I really couldn’t trust my luck.