The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 391

Will-o’-the-wisps flickered, swaying erratically as if flustered. Startled cries erupted.

“They’ve all disappeared!”

“Gone!”

The hunters vanished along with the mist. Their king, as well as the nightmare that had emerged from Yoon Yoon, were nowhere to be seen.

“The Great King and the Mister Kims are gone too!”

“Is this hide-and-seek?”

“Can’t find you, cuckoo! I give up! Come out!”

“Hey, there’s a big dog over there!”

The will-o’-the-wisps turned their gazes in unison. The Flamehorn Lion, its nose wrinkled in distaste as it examined the bloodstains on the ground, raised its head.

– Grrr.

A cold wind swept across the frozen lake. It wasn’t winter, but the weather was quite chilly. As a result, the scattered ice chunks stubbornly refused to melt, radiating cold air. The will-o’-the-wisps stared intently at the red fur fluttering in the breeze. It looked incredibly warm.

“It feels colder here than in the water.”

“Of course! It’s below freezing here. Minus something!”

“Yeah, the water’s frozen.”

The will-o’-the-wisps began to gather around Peace. Peace twitched its ears slightly.

“We’re not bad will-o’-the-wisps! We won’t hurt you!”

“We’re weaker!”

“Want to wait for the Great King and the Mister Kims with us?”

“Want a dumpling?”

A low growl made the will-o’-the-wisps jump back, but they slowly approached again.

“Let’s stay together!”

“It’s lonely alone.”

“So cute!”

Peace, looking conflicted as it gazed at the will-o’-the-wisps, shook its body as if resigned. Then, it used the Giant Transformation skill.

“Wow!”

“The big dog got huge!”

“It’s a Great King Dog!”

Those tiny things were what Dad and his packmates were trying to protect. So, Peace decided to protect them for now and plopped down on the ground. The will-o’-the-wisps swarmed it as if they had been waiting for this, burrowing into its red fur.

“Be careful!”

“Don’t pull! The dog will get hurt!”

“Don’t bother it too much!”

“Yeah! We have to tell it it’s a good dog!”

After a brief commotion, the will-o’-the-wisps settled down in various spots and quieted down, only small whispers escaping them.

Peace, too, rested its head on its folded front paws and let out a long breath.

[New Dungeon, ‘A Christmas Nightmare’]

The system message window appeared. Park Yerim narrowed her brows slightly as she read the message. So, they were inside a dungeon.

“Memories influenced it, what does that mean?”

She was flustered, but this place was definitely familiar. Dongmyoap Station. Seoul, Korea. Scanning the familiar cityscape, Park Yerim spotted Yoon Yoon collapsed near a convenience store and dragged him into the stairwell of a nearby building.

‘If it’s a dungeon, especially when exploring a new dungeon without information, you have to move as cautiously as possible. Especially if the grade is the same as or higher than your own… What’s the grade here?’

Park Yerim recalled what she had learned in dungeon strategy class. She wasn’t the most diligent student, but she remembered some things.

This dungeon didn’t seem like it would be low-grade. Based on her experience, it was more likely to be dangerous. So, she had to move carefully.

‘Assume that the grade of a monster you’ve never seen before is as high as possible and watch out for special skills. So, if we assume the monsters here are S-grade or SS-grade, the first thing to do is… join up with the team, right?’

But Seoul is so big! Park Yerim was lost in thought again. The only good thing was that she knew the area. If the dungeon is set in Seoul, where would everyone go? Probably Haeyeon Guild? Or the Breeding Center. If it’s Hanyujin, it’s 100% the Breeding Center. If he’s with Ahjussi [term of endearment, like ‘Uncle’], would it be Haeyeon Guild?

‘Ahjussi will be safe, right.’

What happened at the end? Even if it’s a high-grade dungeon, Hanyujin has Grace. Park Yerim gathered water droplets on her palm. She could still use her skills without any problems. So, there was no way Hanyujin would be in danger because of monsters.

“Leader Mister Kim!”

At that moment, Yoon Yoon suddenly opened his eyes.

“Something scary! Huh? What’s this?”

Yoon Yoon tilted his head, looking at his system message window.

“Dungeon? A real dungeon?”

“Yeah, they said we’re inside a dungeon.”

“Huh? I can’t enter dungeons?”

Yoon Yoon jumped up from his seat and said.

“You can’t enter?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t enter before? I haven’t tried since I became the Goblin Great King though! Can you enter if you’re a king?”

Both Park Yerim and Yoon Yoon tilted their heads. And they both came to the same conclusion.

“Let’s ask Ahjussi.”

“Leader Mister Kim might know. Leader Mister Kim is the one who made me the Great King!”

Yoon Yoon suddenly tried to go outside. Park Yerim quickly grabbed Yoon Yoon’s sleeve.

“Wait!”

“Why?”

“You said it’s your first time in a dungeon. Then you have to listen to someone with experience!”

“Little Mister Kim is experienced?”

“Of course! I have my own strategy team and I’ve cleared dungeons several times.”

Usually, she was the least experienced newbie, but right now, she was an excellent senior. Park Yerim put on a serious expression to look more mature and continued.

“When exploring a dungeon for the first time, you need to assess the surrounding situation first. What kind of place it is. Do you know A Christmas Carol?”

“Of course I know! Jingle bells~ Jingle bells~”

“No, no. The novel.”

Yoon Yoon, who had been clapping and singing, suddenly went silent. As if she expected it, Park Yerim confidently began to explain.

“Once upon a time, there was a miser named Scrooge who met a ghost on Christmas Eve.”

“I like ghosts too!”

Park Yerim told Yoon Yoon the story.

“So, in this dungeon, the present, future, and past…”

“Will appear?”

“Uh… maybe?”

Park Yerim’s expression clouded over. Would the past really appear? The memories of the explorers also had an influence, but still, it’s just a dungeon. Her heart pounded with anxiety, but she shook her head inwardly, telling herself that couldn’t be the case.

“F, first, let’s go to Haeyeon Guild! Most people probably went there. This is Dongmyo, so, it’s far! It’ll probably take over thirty minutes by car.”

“I can use long-distance space distortion!”

“Really?”

“I can open a goblin gate once every ten days.”

At the mention of ten days, Park Yerim quickly shook her head.

“That’s too precious. Let’s save it in case something happens and just go carefully.”

“I can use short-distance often though. Or should we fly?”

“Ugh. No. We don’t know what kind of monsters are out there, so… let’s slowly check the area up to Sindang and speed up if it seems safe. Information is the most important thing when exploring a dungeon. That’s why the first exploration is the hardest. We have to be careful.”

“Little Mister Kim seems to know a lot.”

Park Yerim’s lips curled up slightly at Yoon Yoon’s admiration. Park Yerim gestured for him to follow and took the lead out into the street. She also took out her weapon.

“There are no people or cars. The subway probably isn’t running either.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“There are no monsters in sight right now. It’s around sunset. The weather is a bit chilly, is it winter? Then there’s a high chance of ice or snow attribute monsters appearing.”

Dungeon environments and dungeon monsters are usually closely related, Park Yerim explained confidently. The two of them slowly moved forward, carefully surveying their surroundings.

“By the way, do you remember what happened before we came in here? I was in the back, so I didn’t see properly. I saw a strange mist come out though.”

At the mention of mist, Yoon Yoon flinched. He looked scared.

“It’s the Demon King. When I became the Great King, the Demon King’s power came into me.”

Yoon Yoon told her the story of when he almost became the Demon King.

“I decided to become the Goblin Great King and I was originally stronger than the Demon King, so it was okay. But if I hurt people, he gets stronger.”

“If you hurt people?”

“Yeah. So goblins shouldn’t hurt people. It gets scary. The other kids will be the same, probably.”

“Then what about monsters?”

“Killing monsters is also not allowed. We have to be careful. I hate blood.”

In the end, that meant Park Yerim was the only one who could fight right now. Park Yerim patted Yoon Yoon’s shoulder, telling him not to worry.

“It’s okay, trust your senior! But that Demon King won’t come out anymore, right? That skill that prevents you from using skills other than goblin skills, is that the Demon King’s?”

“Yeah.”

“I was really surprised then. It was a little scary too.”

Even thinking about it now made her heart drop and gave her goosebumps. Turning the corner, Park Yerim carefully surveyed her surroundings again. There was still nothing in sight. The streets felt normal, except for the lack of people.

“Were you scared?”

“Of course, I suddenly couldn’t use my skills. I thought I had lost my powers. That wouldn’t do. Is this the right way?”

It was inconvenient not having a phone to find her way. She hadn’t been to this area often and didn’t know it well. Park Yerim checked the signs to find her way.

“If an Awakened [person with supernatural abilities], an S-grade Hunter, isn’t an Awakened anymore, they can’t do anything.”

“Why? Little Mister Kims go to school.”

There were still far more children in the world who weren’t Awakened. Even if they were Awakened, most were low-grade, and underage low-grade Awakened usually didn’t engage in Hunter activities.

“Yeah. I’d go to school if I wasn’t an Awakened. I’m going back now anyway… But if I was just a middle schooler, it’s true that a middle schooler can’t do anything.”

The traffic lights were off. Park Yerim lightly teleported across the street. Yoon Yoon used space distortion to follow.

“Even just an elementary schooler can’t do anything.”

There was nothing they could do. Nothing at all. Even if the world they knew collapsed and changed completely, they could only stand by and be swept away.

“So I like being strong. I want to be able to handle anything, to solve everything without any problems.”

“Me, too!”

Yoon Yoon clenched his fists tightly.

“I don’t want to lose anyone again. But I can’t fight…”

“The goblin kids are weak, so it must be hard for you. It’s like having dozens of Ahjussis. Let’s quickly go to Korea and find a safe place. Korea is much safer now. Ahjussi will definitely help.”

“Yeah. And I’ll study more too. I should have been more careful, I was having too much fun running around. When I was alone, there was nothing dangerous! But I’m not alone anymore. I have to become an adult now.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Park Yerim nodded emphatically. She wanted to be able to do everything on her own as soon as possible. No one was urging her to do so. Unlike before, there was no need for Park Yerim to become an adult quickly now. She had good adults by her side and lacked nothing.

But once lost, the experience, the memory, didn’t easily disappear. The thought that it could happen again was always in a corner of Park Yerim’s mind. It was a fear that would never be erased once she knew it.

If she became strong enough to solve everything and protect everyone perfectly. Wouldn’t that make her even more afraid?

“Huh?”

Park Yerim, who was walking along the street, reflexively lowered her upper body. Yoon Yoon also crouched down. They peeked out with only their eyes showing from behind a parked car.

“It’s Mister Kim.”

“They look like hunters, but it’s strange. Did someone enter a dungeon that’s being explored?”

People who looked like hunters were leisurely walking around in front of a building she had never seen before. Some were sitting on benches chatting, while others were getting warm drinks from vending machines. People were also seen entering and exiting the building.

Park Yerim’s expression slightly soured.

“This is really strange.”

Their ordinary appearances were too out of place to be exploring a dungeon. It was as if they were outside. Then, someone came out of the building. Yoon Yoon’s eyes widened.

“Huh? He looks like Little Mister Kim, but he’s like a grown-up Mister Kim.”

Park Yerim’s eyes also widened. It was definitely a familiar face. He looked older and his aura was different from now, but it was a hard look to mistake. The word ‘future’ flashed in her mind. Could it be…

“Little Mister Kim, look at that. What are they doing?”

Park Yerim took out a cloth from her inventory and quickly covered half of her face. She switched her weapon to a bow, firmly fixed her half-wig, and took a deep breath.

“I don’t know either, but… Let’s go. No, Yoon Yoon, you can stay out of this. Stay here. I’ll go check it out.”

Park Yerim raised her lowered body. Taking another deep breath, she used her teleportation skill. The hunters went on alert at her sudden appearance.

“Who are you!”

“I am.”

Park Yerim aimed her bow at the hunters and shouted loudly.

“I am Dang Yae of the Sichuan Dang Clan! Who are you! Especially you, you, I’m talking to you!”

The hunter Park Yerim’s fingertip pointed at raised an eyebrow and replied.

“I am Park Yerim, a member of the Water Sprinkler Guild and an A-grade Hunter.”

Park Yerim. A-grade Hunter. Park Yerim swallowed hard. The two Park Yerims looked at each other.