The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 67

“Hey, you—”

Wham! Two arms reached out from behind me, pulling me into a tight embrace. A hard, broad chest pressed firmly against my back, squeezing me painfully. Seriously, it hurts!

“Ouch, ease up!”

It’s gotta be my brother. I know he’s worried, but this is too much—

“Ugh, hey!”

I was lightly lifted and thrown over Yoohyun’s shoulder. I tried to resist, but it was no use. Of course.

“Yoohyun! Peace!”

Even Peace is just staring at me, though I guess I can excuse my brother. He’s scowling and trotting along behind us. He really is handsome. He hasn’t fully grown yet, but his legs are long and sleek, and his mane and tail are full and lush. His horn is shinier, and his fangs have grown long and sharp.

It’s a heartwarming sight, really.

“Put me down! I know you’re worried, but let’s talk it out, with words!”

“…What more is there to say here?”

A voice, barely suppressing its anger, replied.

– Grrr!

And Peace is backing him up? …I’m glad they’ve gotten closer while I was gone, but Peace, your dad is being forcibly dragged away right now. Even if it’s my own brother, this is technically kidnapping. But where are we going? Seems like the beach.

“Yoohyun, I’ll explain everything. Calm down and let’s talk.”

“Shut up before I gag you!”

Immediately after the hysterical shout, I heard the grinding of teeth.

This is awkward.

I know he must have been really surprised when I suddenly disappeared. I would have been terrified if it were me. But to refuse to even listen to what I have to say…

…He’s not actually going to gag me, is he?

“Just listen to me this once. Actually, I—”

“Hyung, do you really want to see me lose it?”

I think he already has.

“This is enough!”

“No, what……”

“The stuff outside the dungeon, fine! But this, what the hell… Once might be a coincidence, but not twice! Why does something weird always happen whenever you go into a dungeon?!”

I guess that’s how it looks to Yoohyun. He doesn’t know I snuck into the dungeon. I’ve only set foot in a dungeon twice, and the first time an unranked monster popped out, and the next time I suddenly disappeared.

I can see why he’s going crazy.

“I’ll explain—”

“I don’t need it.”

Just let me talk.

“I—”

“Last chance. Shut your mouth.”

He really seemed like he’d gag me if I said another word. I guess I’ll just go along quietly for now and try to talk to him again when he’s calmed down.

The sound of waves grew closer, and Yoohyun stopped walking.

– Grrr.

I heard a suppressed groan. Is it a monster?

“I even thought that maybe I should just put up with it. You were doing so well on your own. Now it’s beyond what I can handle. So I should just restrain myself.”

His words are admirable, but his actions say otherwise.

“That’s what I should do, but I guess I can’t.”

Yoohyun finally put me down. Peace came to my side and rubbed his thick neck against my waist.

– Grrr.

Why is he suddenly so big? As I stroked Peace, I noticed a monster with its legs cut off. It was the boss monster of this dungeon. The eagle-like head occasionally opened its beak, letting out groans.

Why did he leave that alive?

“So, I’ll just have to say you died here.”

“…What?”

“I can’t control you while you’re alive. There are too many things involved for me to handle on my own. My reputation will plummet if I can’t even protect one companion in a D-Rank dungeon, but…”

“…It’s not just going to plummet, you’ll be suspected.”

It doesn’t make sense that an S-Rank combat hunter with three years of experience would lose a teammate in a D-Rank dungeon. It’s not even funny as a joke.

“Besides, what are you going to do about the aftermath? You’ve got a lot on your plate, like you said.”

“I don’t care.”

The guild leader nonchalantly spat out. As expected of a guy who’d throw away his life for a fully prepared meal. Did I raise him wrong?

He seems a little calmer now, so I should try to soothe him.

“Don’t care? If you mess up, Hae Yeon might collapse instead of MKC [a powerful hunter association]. That’s a bigger problem than kidnapping.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I had to prepare this to reduce suspicion.”

Prepare what… the monster?

“To be sure, I should cut off an arm or a leg, but I can’t bring myself to do that. But there has to be some blood or flesh. The Sea Lutum [a type of monster] isn’t big enough to swallow a person whole, so it tears them apart with its beak.”

Yoohyun explained calmly. I didn’t want to agree with the assessment that my brother was crazy in this way. But the fact that he can’t cut off limbs makes him seem less crazy.

Hugging Peace’s neck, I backed away. Peace seemed to sense that the atmosphere wasn’t good either, and he was slightly tense.

“Don’t even think about touching my body.”

“Sorry. There’s a painkiller, so it won’t hurt. And I can heal you right away with a high-grade potion.”

“If you’re sorry, then don’t do it! No, I said I’d explain! More importantly, are you saying you don’t care as long as my body is intact? Do you think I’d be grateful for forced protection? Were we just starting to get along, only to go back to barely talking to each other for the rest of our lives?”

“You weren’t going to accept me anyway.”

“…What?”

What is he talking about now? My brother’s gaze dropped slightly, then returned to me.

“I was stupid to expect anything. Or maybe I’m just shameless. You just wanted to quickly and safely establish a foundation.”

“No, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You’ve been hiding everything from the start. The Beast Trainer skill, you got it at level 10, right? It’s weird that you readily agreed to raise the Flame Mane Lion cub as soon as you saw it. The food costs a fortune, and even if you say it’s not a big burden for me, you’re not the type to accept it without hesitation.”

That… is true. No matter how cute and lovable it was, there’s no way I would have readily tried to raise a pet whose food costs ten million won per meal. Especially since I was just an F-Rank hunter who had just awakened from being an ordinary citizen. I should have balked as soon as I found out the food costs and said, ‘Oh, no, I can’t raise it.’”

Unable to say anything, Yoohyun’s gaze grew colder. At the same time, he looked a little sad.

“What have you told me truthfully? You weren’t even flustered when you disappeared today. I was going to try to put up with the skill. Hiding your skills to some extent is a common practice among hunters, and there’s no need to make an exception even for family. But what happened today, when I can’t even lift a finger, when I can’t even understand it…”

Yoohyun turned his gaze to the side. I reflexively looked in the same direction.

A forest, so devastated that its original form was unrecognizable, came into view.

“…There’s no way I can bear it.”

In my brother’s voice, there was a distinct sadness. Stronger than anger.

The excuse that I would explain everything just rolled around on my tongue. I had to say something. I took a deep breath and forced my mouth open.

“Is there anything else you suspect?”

“…I don’t know. Ever since you told me you loved me, since then. At first, I was just excited and happy. But it’s weird that you suddenly said you were sorry. But I just tried to pretend I didn’t notice because things were going well. It felt like we were back to how we used to be, so.”

“Yoohyun.”

“It’s like you’re the hyung [older brother] I knew before things went wrong, but also like you’re a completely different person. I don’t know.”

Even if we were estranged for years, family is family, it seems. I didn’t realize Yoohyun was feeling such a distinct sense of alienation. I thought it would be enough if I apologized first and helped in various ways.

I guess I was wrong.

“It’s true that I’ve been hiding a lot. As you guessed, I was planning to raise Peace from the moment I first saw him. The skill that awakens people is once a month, but it’s not just a simple awakening, it’s optimization. Yerim’s expected stats were originally A to S rank. There was a higher chance she would be A-Rank, but I can say I made her S-Rank.”

I took a breath and continued.

“I’ve also snuck into dungeons. Bbyong is from that dungeon. I also have an A-Rank stealth skill, and I can share some skills. I also have resistance to poison, curses, and fear.”

“…I know about the poison resistance.”

“You know?”

“Hunter Park Yerim read the memories of the Briggs D-Rank hunter. No matter how much they searched, there were no detoxification items, but they remembered being puzzled that the Guardian’s Fruit item didn’t work.”

“What? To Yerim! No, let’s talk about that later. To add to that, it’s L-Rank.”

“Painkillers won’t work, then.”

“I can turn off the skill.”

“…The resistance skill?”

“Yeah. If I try to turn off passive skills twice in a row, they turn off. Usually, there’s no reason to turn them off, though.”

“You turned it off when you were drunk.”

That devil. I was wrong to try to deceive someone like him.

“There’s also a skill that doubles dungeon reward items and attack skill effects. It’s not very useful to me, though. My stats are still F, and I don’t have any attack skills.”

“…Your status window is really unique.”

“Tell me about it. It would have been hard to believe even if I had told you honestly.”

A hollow laugh escaped me. Yoohyun slightly raised the corners of his mouth.

“Skill sharing is only possible when in contact. There’s a 15-day cooldown.”

I left out my babies and our kid, who shouldn’t know the effects. Also, the last favor and Rauchitas’s nemesis, which are difficult to explain. I even wanted to confess about the regression.

[˙⌒˙ >>∞<< ˙=˙ ☞ ˙≠˙] A message popped up telling me to shut my mouth. Don’t mention the infinity symbol. It must mean regression. Well, if I say that, too much system-related information will be revealed. “And the reason I disappeared earlier is related to the system creator.” “The system creator?” Yoohyun looked surprised. He’s finally looking a little better. “I ended up helping the system creator. I want to tell you the details, but I can’t. I’m not supposed to. But I wanted to tell you, so I asked them to send you a message. It’s a system consonant. Please send it now.” Yoohyun’s gaze turned to the empty air in front of him. A message window must have popped up. He looks very flustered. “So… you’re saying there really was someone who made it?” “There is. It would be weirder if it just naturally appeared.” “That’s true, but……” “I got permission to tell only you this. It’s a secret from everyone else. You must never tell anyone.” There was silence for a moment. But my brother’s complexion had improved. “Are your skills also related to the system?” “Not all of them. I can’t tell you the details. But it’s not a normal skill state.” “…Yeah. No, but why you of all people? They’re not making you do anything dangerous, are they?” “It’s not dangerous. It’s the same as what I’m already doing.” Just gathering S-Ranks. For now, you were the most dangerous, brother. Suddenly, the Waterdrop’s advice to be careful of high-level awakeners came to mind. Goodwill can become violence, how fitting. “If you have any more questions, ask me anything. Don’t keep it to yourself.” After a brief silence, a dejected voice replied. “…I’m sorry. I was grumbling that you didn’t trust me, but it was the opposite.” “No. I wouldn’t have been in my right mind either after what happened today. It’s also true that I’ve been hiding things. Peace, I’m sorry to you too. You must have been surprised. I didn’t mean to take you so suddenly.” – Grrr. Peace, who was purring and looking back and forth between me and Yoohyun, suddenly shrank. No, he got younger. Not only did he shrink in size, but he was just like he was when he was a baby. [Grade 2 Unicorn Subspecies – Flame Mane Lion (Infant) Peace Current Stat Rank: C] The status window also showed him as an infant, and his rank was back to C. “Peace, you……” – Squeak! He scratched my leg with his front paw, asking to be held. Hey, you don’t mean. “You had grown into a sub-adult, but you deliberately remained an infant?” – Gyaaar. What a pure face, as if he doesn’t know anything. I picked him up as he wanted, and he wagged his tail. “When did he get so big?” “Shortly after you disappeared.” So he didn’t grow by catching monsters. Was he really deliberately not growing? Since when? Just in case, I opened Peace’s My Kid skill status window. [Time Required for Adult Metamorphosis (71:22)] 71 hours?! There were definitely over a hundred hours left? The time didn’t decrease even though I was staring at it for over a minute. So it was the same as usual, could it be thanks to the training? I often played with Peace even after the skill application was over. I’ll have to check when I get home. “Is there a problem?” “No. But why hasn’t Peace grown up yet? Did he get a related skill or something?” “I don’t know about skills, but he can’t hug you if he gets bigger. He said he likes hugging you.” Just because of that? “Still, Peace, let me know when you become an adult.” – Squeak. If the training effect is real, he might grow up before my My Kid skill cooldown ends. I’m already a little sad. I stroked Peace and looked at my brother. He looked embarrassed when our eyes met. Sigh, well, it’s my fault if you think about it. I felt sorry when I thought about how anxious he must have been. “I’ll say this in advance, the person I trust most in the world is you, Yoohyun.” My brother’s eyes widened. “…Huh? Me?” “Yeah. Even if you put my life in danger, I’d think there must be a reason. That will never change, ever.” Unless someone dies and comes back to life in my place or regresses, it will never change. “So don’t worry and don’t hesitate. You can meddle. You’re my brother. Of course, not too much. I’ll get angry if it’s too much. The same goes for confinement. No way.” “…Hyung.” Yoohyun came over and hugged me. Peace, who was stuck between us, squeaked softly as if he was uncomfortable. “Tell me anything if you need help. Just don’t overdo it. To me, you’re the most important thing. More than anything else.” “Don’t worry. I won’t overdo it.” As long as I only do what the system people tell me to do. I shouldn’t add any more work.