The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 410

408. Goal (3)

Click. With a light sound, Moon Hyun-ah held a metal case in her hand. From it, she produced a cigarette.

“To have something like this while dealing with dungeon monsters.”

She extracted a cigarette with her long fingers and placed it between her lips. Then, she offered the case to Song Tae-won.

“Here.”

“I’ll pass.”

“There won’t be any cigarettes that work by then. This tastes pretty good.”

“No, I—”

The end of the cigarette was firmly pressed against Song Tae-won’s lips. Moon Hyun-ah frowned, her eyebrows furrowed, indicating his stubbornness. Eventually, Song Tae-won opened his mouth. A cool, tingling sensation spread from beyond the filter.

“Anyway, it’s good to see you after so long.”

Moon Hyun-ah raised her index finger, and a small flame appeared at its tip.

“It’s a skill I got from a dungeon near LA a few months ago.”

Moon Hyun-ah said, lighting the cigarette in her mouth.

“It’s just an E-grade skill that can only make a flame this small, but it’s convenient.”

“Here,” Moon Hyun-ah said, offering the fire. Song Tae-won hesitated for a moment before bowing his head. Instead of the strong smell of blood, cigarette smoke filled the space between them.

“What kind of dungeon is this to be in this state?”

“…It was called ‘A Christmas Nightmare.’ They told me to refer to Christmas carols.”

“Then am I the ghost of the future? From my perspective, Chief Song is the ghost of the past.”

Moon Hyun-ah tilted her head, exhaling a long stream of smoke.

“How is it, Tae-won? You’re dead. I don’t know the details, but you went into a dungeon with Sung Hyun-jae, and only Sung Hyun-jae came out. So there’s no body in your grave. Officially, you died during a dungeon raid, and your grave is at the National Cemetery, behind the Seseong Guild.”

The empty coffin was filled with your belongings.

“Can you guess anything? Sung Hyun-jae didn’t say anything.”

“…No.”

“Sung Hyun-jae didn’t hate you. He actually liked you. Even though that guy spread his attention here and there, as you know, there was always a line.”

He didn’t let anyone cross that line. Not even fellow guild members.

“So-young said she sometimes felt a chill, too.”

“That’s just how he is.”

“‘Just how he is.’ So, is that why Sung Hyun-jae took special care of Song Tae-won?”

“That’s not true.”

“What do you know? Me, So-young, the Haeyeon Guild Leader, Evelyn and Noah—I don’t know who they are. Anyway, all the other Awakened and non-Awakened were nothing to Sung Hyun-jae. Oh? Come to think of it.”

Moon Hyun-ah suddenly burst into laughter.

“Isn’t Sung Hyun-jae the first one to be abandoned!”

“…Excuse me?”

“Damn, I should have teased him more! Where is he now? Should I ask So-young?”

Ashes fell. Moon Hyun-ah, who was feeling regretful, turned her head to look at the fallen corpses.

“Let’s burn them. Don’t make that face. They’re monsters.”

“…If they’re monsters, there’s no need to burn them.”

“They feel like people to me. Even though I know they’re not, that’s how it feels, and it makes me feel dirty. There are several faces I recognize. Well, not as much as you, Tae-won.”

Moon Hyun-ah threw away her cigarette and started moving the bodies. Song Tae-won clenched and unclenched his fists. After a moment of hesitation, Song Tae-won also started moving, following Moon Hyun-ah.

“Funerals are for the living. What would the dead know?”

Moon Hyun-ah brought a large cloth and covered the dead people.

“It’s a kind of period, like a punctuation mark. Just like a period [full stop] is needed to start the next sentence, the living finish and continue to live. But that doesn’t work out well, so they keep repeating the previous part, or they close the book together.”

A small flame dropped onto the end of the cloth. Moon Hyun-ah used mana as firewood to fuel the flames. The bright red flames slowly began to spread.

“Since I’m playing the role of the ghost of the future, I feel like I should do something, but all I can think of is ‘don’t die this time’.”

“That’s not something I can do.”

“You’re saying that after getting engaged to me and suddenly dying?”

“…Excuse me?!”

Song Tae-won’s eyes widened. Moon Hyun-ah continued calmly, facing his shocked expression.

“Sung Hyun-jae was supposed to be the officiant at the wedding.”

“Th-that’s……”

“We were planning a double wedding with Han Yu-hyun and Kang So-young.”

“Yes……?”

“Sung Hyun-jae was already married.”

“Yes……?”

“There’s an S-class Hunter named Evelyn. The two of them get along quite well. They lived well. You were the emcee at Sung Hyun-jae’s wedding. I sang the congratulatory song. Sung Hyun-jae was happy that Chief Song finally received a custom-made suit as a gift. It suited you well. You confessed to me at the after-party that day.”

“Th-that……”

“You said you were lacking in many ways but would work hard for the rest of your life, and then you just left.”

“I’m, I’m sorry……”

“Shouldn’t you realize by now that it’s a lie?”

Moon Hyun-ah chuckled. Song Tae-won, who had been blankly frozen, blinked.

“It’s true that So-young and the Haeyeon Guild Leader had a scandal. So-young called me and complained for three hours, saying she was so frustrated she could die! ‘I think he’s really crazy! In the first place, the Haeyeon Guild Leader doesn’t even have the word ‘love’ in his dictionary! How coldly he just does his job and ends it! Besides his face and skills, there’s nothing to see! I’m much better!’ she said.”

Moon Hyun-ah’s hand tapped Song Tae-won’s back. In the meantime, the flames had completely consumed the cloth. Smoke rose thickly into the sunset sky.

“Ask me if you have any questions. Think of it as fortune-telling.”

“You’re too quiet.” At Moon Hyun-ah’s grumbling, Song Tae-won opened his mouth, then closed it again. He didn’t particularly think of anything he was curious about regarding his future. He hadn’t really thought about it.

“…Really, nothing happened?”

“Huh? Oh, between us? What, Tae-won, were you perhaps interested in me?”

“No. I mean, I wasn’t interested in that way.”

“It’s disappointing if you say it so bluntly. I was.”

“…Excuse me?”

“You had a good body. You weren’t cute, though, but now you seem a bit cute. Should we date?”

“No, that’s……”

“You didn’t have time for that when you were alive. I had a hard time in many ways, too. Breaker hasn’t gone bankrupt yet, right?”

Song Tae-won nodded. Moon Hyun-ah shrugged her shoulders slightly, turning her gaze to the distant sky.

“I was stubborn, too. I tried to work too cleanly. But well, it’s not like everything ends with one failure. A lot of things changed for the better because Breaker went bankrupt and I left Korea. It was like a kind of shock therapy. If I hadn’t gone bankrupt, it would have been hard for So-young to continue leading the Seseong Guild even after Sung Hyun-jae disappeared.”

“…Did you leave Korea completely?”

“I still have my nationality. To be exact, I’m multinational. There’s more to do overseas. Somehow, I’m doing more rescue work than dungeon raids, especially those guys who grab kids and forcibly awaken them and sell them.”

There was still law in Korea, Moon Hyun-ah said with a bitter smile.

“When I left Korea, I thought I’d take a break and start again, but before I knew it, my team was formed, and it grew again. Far from resting, I’m busier than before. Already, in terms of personnel alone, it’s bigger than Breaker was.”

Even though she said it was hard and busy, Moon Hyun-ah’s voice was bright.

“So, Mr. Song Tae-won, if you don’t value your life, don’t throw it away and give it to me. I’m short-handed.”

“…I have a lot of work to do, too.”

“Then why did you die?”

“I don’t know either. But…”

Song Tae-won looked at the accumulating, scattering ashes. Perhaps because the skill level was low, or because of Moon Hyun-ah’s magic, the flames quickly and cleanly consumed everything.

“It must have been necessary.”

“Then that’s fine.”

Instead of asking for detailed reasons, Moon Hyun-ah nodded. Then, she jumped back.

“You couldn’t have come in alone, right? You have a raid team? Since I’m stronger than usual right now.”

Whether they were monsters or not, she had no intention of being quietly defeated. Moon Hyun-ah lightly shook her hands as if doing warm-up exercises.

“I won’t go easy on you. Prepare thoroughly and come back.”

Just as Song Tae-won was about to answer, a message window appeared.

[Seseong Guild Area Temporarily Closed!]

“What’s wrong?”

“The Seseong Guild area is closed.”

“What? Well, since this is a Korean setting, there must be a Seseong Guild. Is Sung Hyun-jae here too, by any chance?”

At Moon Hyun-ah’s words, Song Tae-won’s expression hardened. If he really was, there would be two Seseong Guild Leaders. Could it be that other people were also doubled? The Haeyeon Guild Leader, Park Ye-rim, Noah, and Han Yu-jin. His stomach felt like it was burning.

“Then, I’ll be going.”

“Why are you so upset? Oh, is Sung Hyun-jae here too? Are there two Sung Hyun-jaes?”

“…There’s a possibility.”

“Oh dear!”

Moon Hyun-ah held her stomach and laughed loudly. Song Tae-won sighed deeply. Sung Hyun-jae was Sung Hyun-jae, but Han Yu-jin was also a headache. He had to find them as soon as possible, because he didn’t know what the two of them, or rather the four of them, would do—

Bang!

Moon Hyun-ah’s foot suddenly kicked the floor hard. Drawing her spear, she charged towards Song Tae-won at a terrifying speed. In the rushing storm, Song Tae-won quickly lowered his center of gravity and raised his arms in a cross. There was no time to dodge.

Just as he was prepared to have his arms broken.

Thwack! Crack!

Blood splattered. It wasn’t Song Tae-won’s. Moon Hyun-ah swallowed the blood rising up her throat and swung her spear. Clang, clang, clang, silver chains wrapped around her spear and were pulled violently before stopping.

“Damn it, ptui [a sound of spitting], what is that?”

Moon Hyun-ah, who was blocking Song Tae-won’s path, looked up at the sky. Beneath the sunset, an impossible moonlight was pouring down.

“Hunter Moon Hyun-ah!”

“Do you have a gate stone [item used to exit a dungeon]? It’s better to just get out of this dungeon.”

Blood trickled down from the silver chains that pierced Moon Hyun-ah’s body in several places. The moonlight swayed serenely, and before Song Tae-won could answer, it flashed sharply again. This time, it was an attack aimed directly at Song Tae-won.

“I said get out!”

Moon Hyun-ah kicked Song Tae-won away. He tried to resist, but his body couldn’t overcome the force and slid backward. Strength entered Moon Hyun-ah’s two arms holding the spear. The taut chains snapped, and powerful magic swirled towards the newly flying moonlight.

“What kind of monster is that!”

The ground under Moon Hyun-ah’s feet caved in. The muscles of her entire body tensed, and the pure white spear cut through the air.

Kwaaa─

The wind swirled, and the paved floor cracked and flipped over. All the windows around shattered. The building in front of Moon Hyun-ah also cracked greatly, and the center caved in, unable to withstand the increasing pressure.

In that tremendous momentum, the chains forged from moonlight and the spear collided.

Clang, chaeng!

A dazzling light and the sound of clashing metal spread out. In the dozens, hundreds, thousands of echoes, the light faded, and the tattered spear plunged into the ground. Moon Hyun-ah’s body, barely standing, slowly faded away.

“Tae-won, run.”

Song Tae-won staggered backward. For him, running away, leaving Moon Hyun-ah, another Hunter, in danger, was an impossible choice. If she hadn’t been a monster, he would have stood by her side, even if he couldn’t last a single moment.

But there were real raiders in this dungeon.

Song Tae-won gritted his teeth and turned his body.

The moonlight slowly circled as if surveying the situation. Soon, it discovered the receding target and added a pale light.

Sarr─

The light, stretched out like a veil, materialized and began to take on a solid texture. A tinkling sound, like the ringing of bells, tapped at Song Tae-won’s ears. The silver chain trembled faintly in the air and headed towards Song Tae-won’s back.

Kagaang!

“What kind of hardship is this!”

Someone once again blocked the attack aimed at Song Tae-won. A small hand instantly cut the chains and grabbed the back of Song Tae-won’s neck.

“Rabbit!”

With a shout, the two figures disappeared from the spot. The moonlight tore through the empty road.

The surrounding scenery suddenly changed. Song Tae-won roughly turned his body and broke free from the hand grabbing the back of his neck. His eyes widened slightly as he turned around.

“Why is it that there’s never a normal guy around the First [referring to Song Tae-won]?”

The face of the boy clicking his tongue was familiar. If Han Yu-jin had a younger brother than Han Yu-hyun, he would look just like this. The boy, the young chaos, looked up at him in Song Tae-won’s gaze.

“Where is Gangnam?”

“From here……”

Song Tae-won looked around. Seoul City Hall came into view.

“It’s about thirty to forty minutes by car.”

“Let’s go for now. Hide your magic as much as possible, and don’t use it.”

The young chaos took a few steps and then stopped again.

“Which way?”

“This way, but who are you?”

He didn’t seem like an ordinary boy. The young chaos answered, shuffling his feet.

“An old man getting sick from cleaning up after the young ones.”

“……”

“I shouldn’t have given you my sword!”