The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 486

I instinctively reached for my phone to call Sung Hyunjae, but stopped myself. I couldn’t do that right now. If I called the secretary’s office using my number, they’d probably connect me right away.

“Could I borrow your phone? Sesung Guild’s number is registered, right?”

“Yes, of course. Or you can connect to the Dodam secretary team.”

Seo Kyung-hoon smiled, telling me to use them often. Aside from basic tasks, I didn’t give him much to do. I’d been leaving everything to Haeyeon.

“Isn’t it still too much to take on my work when you’re short-staffed?”

“We have enough capacity to answer calls. Haeyeon is dispatching people until we can fill the positions. But we need to be able to operate independently as soon as possible.”

Kyung-hoon hyung [older brother/male friend] said confidently that it wouldn’t take long. I was worried that Seok Simyeong would give him a hard time, but he seemed to be more suited to it than I thought. Seeing his bright face made me feel good too.

I called the Sesung Guild Leader’s secretary’s office with Kyung-hoon hyung’s phone. The person on the other end was quite flustered to find out it was me. They were puzzled as to why I didn’t call Sung Hyunjae directly, but soon calmly connected me.

[It feels like we’ve suddenly grown distant, which is disappointing.]

“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”

Someone who could guess the situation just from the fact that I called through the secretary’s office. As expected, Sung Hyunjae got straight to the point.

[You need data for the Dodam-hosted gathering, I presume.]

“Exactly.”

[You want a transaction, not a favor.]

“That’s right. So I found the venue myself.”

It would be easier to leave it to Sung Hyunjae. But if I did, the Sesung Guild Leader would be the de facto [in reality] organizer, not me.

“I’m sure you have information on overseas matters as well as the birthday party. I want to buy everything possible.”

I’d been around S-Rank Hunters several times, but they were all people who liked me. But the Hunters coming this time were different. They would definitely cause trouble. They’d clash hard with each other. A hotel being half-destroyed or a cruise sinking might be mild. Actually, the cruise was pretty much destroyed by Sung Hyunjae, and it was fine until then.

So, I had to know as much as possible to prepare.

[I wonder if Han Soojang-nim’s [Guild Leader] pocket money will be enough.]

Sung Hyunjae said with a bit of a laugh. …I have to spend a lot of money to prepare too.

“You’d rather have something other than cash anyway. I’d be happy to end it with money if you want.”

No money, no money. I don’t really have it, but I’m not confident I can handle that side. Loans would be easy to get, but Yoo-hyun would be upset if he heard I was borrowing money from someone else. I didn’t want to ask my brother for help. I shouldn’t, either.

[If it’s something else, the detailed breakdown of Han Soojang-nim’s status window.]

“I refuse.”

Like I’m crazy enough to reveal all that. But I didn’t show it and continued.

“You already know most of it anyway. I’m not interested in getting something like that for free.”

[I was serious.]

“Stop joking.”

I subtly gestured to Kyung-hoon hyung. He immediately understood and left the room.

“If it’s information for information, let’s do it with Ki Seung-soo. Or I can recommend overseas dungeons. I remember quite a few.”

Dungeons that haven’t appeared yet. Dungeons with valuable materials like stamina potions were still a long way off, but it was possible to persuade the newcomers to bring forward the appearance time. Even if not, it was still valuable information. Haeyeon was still having a hard time managing distant overseas dungeons like those in the US or Europe, and getting the rights themselves was nearly impossible, so it wouldn’t be bad to hand them over to Sesung. Sesung had even created an American branch.

“Frankly, in terms of the quantity and quality of information, I think the compensation is enough for what I’ve brought you so far. I’ve given you everything about the Transcendent.”

[So I wouldn’t expect you to say that I’m giving it to you for free.]

“It shouldn’t be seen as the Sesung Guild Leader favoring the Nursery Director.”

I wasn’t planning on getting help from my brother or Haeyeon this time either. I applied keywords to Shisio, and my role was significant in resolving the situation in Japan. It would also be a plus for the Nursery Director to negotiate with the Amaterasu Guild personally.

[Han Yoojin Soojang-nim.]

Sung Hyunjae’s voice dropped heavily.

[Please prepare a proposal in the appropriate format and send it to the Sesung Guild Secretary’s Office.]

And the call was unilaterally cut off. I was dumbfounded and glared at the innocent phone.

“…This is right, but.”

Even if it wasn’t the Sesung Guild Leader, the secretary’s office or other staff would have dealt with it. Even if I had called Sung Hyunjae directly, he wouldn’t have said that much and would have cut me off after telling me to contact the secretary’s office. Still, I was a little annoyed.

“How obnoxious.”

Even the leading overseas major guild leaders have a hard time getting direct contact with the great Sesung Guild Leader, but still, how obnoxious. And he’s not even ranked 1st yet.

I returned the phone to Seo Kyung-hoon and asked for the proposal format, but the answer was that it wasn’t something the Director should be doing.

“If you organize the content, I’ll send it to the Sesung Guild. Since you were told to send it to the secretary’s office, it’s probably not top secret.”

“That’s true, but.”

I could hide anything that might reveal the pre-regression content well. It felt awkward to use people, but I nodded obediently. Right, I have a secretary team too.

Chloe was quiet, perhaps because I still had three hostages in my hands. She hadn’t made any particular contact and was quietly staying at the Sesung Guild.

And Song Taewon was getting more and more nervous every day. Song Yi had also decided to stay at the Nursery until the college entrance exam was over.

“This is the time of year when Song Siljang [Team Leader] is most sensitive.”

Moon Hyun-ah said, checking the list of liquors to use at the gathering.

“Even Sung Hyunjae is relatively docile at this time.”

“Really?”

“I don’t know the details, but they seem to have had a big fight. He unilaterally notified her that he would return from overseas on the dawn of the day of the exam. That was the first time Song Siljang went and dragged him back herself, even though the Sesung Guild Leader hadn’t done anything wrong. It wasn’t like he said he wouldn’t come.”

“Unexpected… but not really.”

Considering Song Siljang’s values, it was plausible enough. Kids with bright futures were taking an exam that would greatly affect their future as a group. The mere thought that a dungeon, a monster, or a Hunter could interfere with that would make him sharp.

I really had to be quiet until the day of the exam.

“Okay, that’s it. I’m giving it to you cheaply for promotional purposes.”

“Thank you~”

Liquor was a double-edged sword, but it wasn’t enough to get even high-ranking Hunters drunk yet. Besides, there wouldn’t be any high-ranking Hunters who would get so drunk that they couldn’t control themselves in the midst of S-Ranks. They’d drink moderately on their own. If there were one or two rough stones, that would be fine too.

I signed the contract and got up from my seat.

“How’s the reaction?”

“Good. But they can’t touch it easily because I’m the one holding it.”

Hyun-ah ssi [Ms.] opened the door with an exaggerated gesture and said,

“I don’t have anything to offer me in a deal. Are they going to give me money, or are they going to give me a seat? They can’t bring an SS-Rank weapon.”

It was a product aimed at middle and high-ranking Hunters with plenty of money. It was still based on regular alcohol, but if research progressed further, alcohol that made you drunk on mana instead of alcohol would be released. Then there would be considerable demand from non-awakened people with money because it wouldn’t harm their health.

Who could be called a businessman if they didn’t covet this? But the other party was Moon Hyun-ah, an S-Rank Hunter and Guild Leader.

“I’d be willing to hand it over if they came out and said, ‘I’ll step down from the Breaker Guild!’ But that’s not going to happen.”

“It’s important to get a head start, but someday others will be able to develop it.”

There would definitely be those who secretly took the liquor and analyzed it. It would take quite a while since there was no original. In the first place, Hyun-ah ssi said that she knew the method of making alcohol to some extent thanks to Lambda’s memories. Still, in the long run, it was better to hold onto an S-Rank Guild.

In the end, I was greedy and missed out.

“The bait has been set, so now it’s a fight without weapons. Stocks, shares, mergers, acquisitions, legally this and that, whatever. It’s complicated. It’s not really for me.”

“I’ve been like that lately too. It’s not really for me to have subordinates.”

I was subtly trying to act like the pre-regression raid team, but he said that the hierarchy had to be established for the sake of the new recruits who would be coming in the future. Seok Simyeong said that it was better for the employees to clearly separate work and personal matters. Well, it would seem a bit unreliable if the people at the top of the company were all buddy-buddy, shoulder to shoulder.

“It would be nice if we could just live doing what we want to do. But we have to do things we don’t like and things we’re not good at for the sake of what we want to do.”

“I know, right? It would be nice if we were healthy without exercising.”

“That’s a little different. Are you still exercising? Have you gained any muscle?”

“Don’t touch me. Ah, no, no!”

If I worked hard, I could get back to where I was before the regression. Hyun-ah ssi had business with the research team, and I had to ask Myungwoo for Piak’s protective gear, so we headed to the building together. Song Taewon was on the large TV in the lobby, which was similar to a Hunter waiting room. He still had a stiff and awkward face.

[We ask that you be sure to report during the voluntary reporting period.]

It was a broadcast asking unregistered Awakened people among the test takers to visit or contact the Hunter Association within the period. Because they could use their inventory or skills to cheat, Awakened people had to take the test separately under the supervision of Hunters.

“He’s having a hard time. When are they doing the lottery?”

“Last year, Song Siljang went to the Guild Leaders with the number tickets himself, but this year, the Gakgwan office is just drawing and delivering them on their own. Choi Seokwon, who got Jeju Island, protested about the order of visits.”

Jeju Island is good, what’s wrong with that? Before going to the smithy, I showed my face to the research team. I thought it would be more than half empty because it was daytime, but there were surprisingly many people. Besides.

“Noah ssi?”

“Hello.”

Noah was sitting at one of the desks. She was wearing glasses and diligently looking at some kind of data.

“Do you have any problems with your eyes?”

“No. S-Rank Hunters originally have good eyesight, but it’s even better after dragonification. To be exact, it’s for flying, so it’s a little uncomfortable to read letters up close for a long time. So, White Teacher made special glasses for me.”

It got worse after she got the Light Dragon Species skill. It wasn’t that she couldn’t control it, but it was tiring to pay attention to it for a long time.

“Are you working part-time here too?”

“It’s studying. I thought it would be good to learn mana and skill theory.”

She said that she was studying this and that because there was a research team in the same building. Noah ssi, you’re so diligent. Seok Hayan was looking at Noah with a pleased look. Suddenly, I remembered when Hayan ssi told me to study under her. The other researchers around Seok Hayan were also sending pleased… but somewhat creepy gazes. Noah ssi, who was an S-Rank with special skills, was worth coveting. I was worried, so I whispered to Noah ssi.

“Get out if you think something’s wrong. Or contact me.”

“Don’t worry. I’m an S-Rank, you know.”

Well, that’s true. Noah ssi also has a surprisingly firm side. But she just looks so innocent to me.

I left the lab with Noah instead of Moon Hyun-ah and went to Myungwoo. When I consulted him about Piak, Myungwoo also looked troubled.

“It’s impossible for me to block space movement right now. I’ll make a protective item for now. It’ll be hard for Piak to use it according to the situation, and constant damage nullification will be… at best, around B-Rank, if you’re lucky with C-Rank.”

It was only possible because Piak was small, and he said that mana replenishment was also needed periodically.

“Thank you, I’m counting on you. And I want to increase my drawer space control, is that possible?”

Myungwoo closed his mouth and looked at me carefully.

“If you only look at Yoojin’s conditions, it’s enough.”

“My conditions?”

“Your stats are F-Rank, but your mana is high thanks to Grace, and you have an engraving. It’s actually more advantageous for a producer to start with low physical stats.”

“Really? Not S-Rank?”

“Yeah. To be exact, the bigger the difference between physical stats and magic sensitivity, the better. The higher the rank, the higher the magic sensitivity, but the difference between 1 and 10 is smaller than the difference between 99 and 100. Noah is the latter, and you’re the former.”

The conclusion was that there was hope. I just wanted to be able to maintain the drawer!

“How do I do it?”

“Grind.”

“…Huh?”

“Simple repetitive work.”

Myungwoo said firmly. Myungwoo’s image of sharpening a knife clearly came to mind. I see.

“…Should I sharpen a knife too?”

“To increase your understanding of objects made of mana, first disassemble them. And then reassemble them. If you keep repeating that, you’ll get a feel for it.”

How many times is ‘keep repeating’? I felt like a hard road was unfolding.

“If you come when you have time, I’ll teach you how to disassemble and assemble items. And put one made of mana in that drawer.”

“Oh, yeah. Thank you.”

There was something that looked like item production equipment in the basement. Drawer maintenance… I have to do it.

Noah took me to the Nursery and went into the Director’s office and closed the door. I checked my clothes in the bathroom mirror and sat on the sofa. I sent a proposal to Sesung, Shisio was cooperating well, and there were no problems with other preparations.

“Chatterbox.”

As soon as I called out, the party organizer appeared. A Transcendent in a sleek black tailcoat, wearing a white mask and a black veil. The lips engraved on the mask curved into a smile.

“Han Yoojin.”

“Should I say, ‘Nice to meet you’?”

I smiled back.