The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 10

10. Flame Horned Lion (1)

I exchanged phone numbers with Yoo Myung-woo, the future SS-class skill holder, and then we parted ways. Getting him to join the Haeyeon Guild is another problem, but should I insist to Yoo-hyun that I felt something amazing from Yoo Myung-woo?

When I returned to the Haeyeon Guild, people were giving me curious glances, as if some rumor had already spread.

“Is that person the Guild Leader’s brother?”

“I’ve never seen him before! But he doesn’t look much like him.”

“Hey, Guild Leader’s brother! Are you really F-rank?”

There’s a lot of talk. It looks like most of them came out to see me, but they should just go home and rest on the weekend.

“I am F-rank, please let me pass.”

Go away, you humans. Everyone except those on duty, go home.

Still, at this point, I hadn’t caused enough trouble yet, so there were no murderous glares or curses.

I started getting called trash about six months later, after the Awakening Center was established and I Awakened.

Immediately after the announcement that the Awakening Center would soon open, several people came to me. They coaxed me, saying they had high expectations for me as the brother of an S-class Awakener. Backed by their support, I confidently entered the Awakening Center on its opening day and Awakened.

And well, the result was F-rank.

At that time, many reporters were there, and there were many sensational articles like ‘S-class Awakener’s brother is also S-class?!’ After that… I got cursed and criticized like crazy, and the guys who sponsored me presented contracts and created debt…….

Even if I put the debt aside, I still feel wronged about being cursed at. Did I ask them to write articles? Why are they cursing me when they made a fuss on their own? Curse the trash reporters, damn it.

Recalling the past and the future made me feel like crying, so I quickened my pace. It’s unfair, damn it. Even if I don’t do anything else, I’m going to get revenge on those trash reporters. If it wasn’t for that incident, my life would have been half less ruined.

Especially Kim Seung-joon and Park Hae-shin. I can never forget these two bastards. Those sons of bitches who took interviews from me and distorted them to attract attention, just you wait.

I gritted my teeth and got on the elevator. To get to Yoo-hyun’s place, I had to be checked on the 10th floor and go to the portal room to verify my identity again before going through the designated mini-portal. I’ll move to the employee dormitory to avoid the hassle.

‘So where is my room anyway?’

Yesterday, I was moved by the huge TV and fell asleep on the sofa, which was as comfortable as a bed, while watching soccer. Soccer was so boring.

Athletes often Awaken as E-rank or higher because of their physical fitness. Eventually, they all retired one by one, and now only mediocre players are left in soccer, basketball, and baseball. Because those with stats of E-rank or higher are not ordinary people, they cannot participate in games.

Still, a league for C-rank or lower Awakeners is scheduled to be created soon. Those below C-rank were not earning as much as professional players, so there were many complaints.

‘How many rooms does Yoo-hyun have in his house?’

It took up half of one floor of the building, so it was terribly large. I opened one of the nearby doors. The inside was empty.

“He lives alone, so most of the rooms must be empty. What a waste of space.”

Muttering, I walked along the hallway. I’m going this way for the first time… oh.

An indoor garden surrounded by glass walls appeared. No, is it closer to a greenhouse than a garden? The trees are dense, and the flowers are growing wildly—

– Kyaang!

“Ugh, what!”

As I walked along the glass wall, something like a cat jumped out from the bushes. A cat with red fur, a fox-like tail, and a single horn on its head was threateningly hissing at me. This glass wall is sturdy, right?

“It’s small, but it’s very fierce.”

Was this not a greenhouse but something like a cage? It doesn’t seem like an ordinary animal, what is it?

Just in case, I used Sprout on the cat.

[Grade 2 Unicorn Subspecies – Flame Horned Lion (Juvenile)

Current Stat Grade: C

Potential Stat Grade: A~S

Optimized Initial Skills:

Flame Breath (S) Acquired after growth

Flame Rush (A) Acquired after growth

Gigantification (A) Acquired after growth

Flame Resistance (A) Acquired

※ Cannot grow without the help of an adult]

“…This cat is a Flame Horned Lion?”

I couldn’t hide my surprise as I looked at the hissing cat.

Grade 2 Unicorn Subspecies Flame Horned Lion. A high grade of 2, and a Unicorn subspecies is also a high-ranking magical beast species, though not as good as a dragon species.

With high stats, fast speed, and powerful skills, it was a monster that even an S-class would have difficulty facing alone without elemental resistance.

Yoo-hyun would have been easy to deal with since he is immune to fire attributes.

‘Did he catch it to tame it? Has an Awakener with a tamer skill already appeared?’

If taming is possible, it would be a perfect mount for Yoo-hyun. No, it must also be possible to grow it. If it can’t grow without the help of an adult, it’s a bust.

…Could my ‘My Brat is the Best’ skill work on monsters too? It didn’t say it only works on people.

Let’s try it once…….

[The target is not yet keyword-sensitized.]

The same message appeared as when I used it on Kim Sung-han. There was no message saying the skill could not be applied. It works on monsters too!

[When applying the ‘My Brat is the Best (L)’ skill, the time required for the Grade 2 Unicorn Subspecies – Flame Horned Lion to metamorphose into an adult is 15 days.]

A series of message windows popped up. Being able to apply it for 3 days once a month meant it would take 5 months to become an adult.

‘Surely Yoo-hyun didn’t have a mount even after 5 years.’

The higher the dungeon level, the wider the interior, so having a mount is convenient. However, due to Yoo-hyun’s skill characteristics, he couldn’t ride a mount without A-class or higher flame resistance. If he was attacked while moving, he would end up killing the innocent mount while using attack skills.

‘So he caught a Flame Horned Lion cub but failed to grow it.’

Tamer skills could only tame monsters of a lower level than the skill grade. The Flame Horned Lion is at the S-class level, so it can’t be tamed unless it’s a cub. But since the cub is C-class, even a B-class tamer could tame it.

But it won’t grow anyway.

‘He couldn’t use something this small as a mount. It would be perfect if I could grow it for him.’

Mounts are so rare that even ordinary magical beasts are treated as S-class items, so it’s a waste to just leave a magical beast with such perfect attributes. If it’s a Unicorn subspecies, it’s faster and has more attack power than a magical beast species. It’s really top-notch.

But the keyword is the problem. Would it even understand human words?

“Hey, kid. Do you understand human words?”

– Krang! Kyaang!

“It doesn’t understand.”

– Grrr.

Still, it was too good to give up. Can’t I train it somehow? There are many dogs in animal farms that understand human words.

‘I don’t know if it needs to understand the keyword or if it just needs to hear and feel emotional things.’

The keyword itself could be somewhat flexible. In the case of the previous keyword, ‘Cheer up,’ the effect appeared even when using ‘Cheer up,’ ‘Cheer up,’ ‘Cheer up,’ etc. So I thought it would be enough if the meaning was roughly conveyed, but if understanding is necessary as I guessed, it’s troublesome.

How do you teach love to a Flame Horned Lion?

‘Should I experiment with it to see which one it is?’

Like Pavlov’s dog, I will show a reaction if I say I love you every time I give food. After learning ‘I love you = food’, if I starve it for a few days and say I love you—

Bang!

At that moment, I heard the sound of the door opening as if it would break. I don’t think anyone else would do that in the Guild Leader’s house, is it Yoo-hyun?

That’s good. I should tell him that I’ll raise the Flame Horned Lion cub.

“Yoo-hyun… ah?”

As I went out to the hallway to call my brother, his expression was unusual. His eyes and mouth were stiff as if he was angry. What’s wrong?

“What’s wrong? What—”

“Give it to me.”

My brother, who came closer, said as if growling. What, what? Is he talking about the gift card? Well, the amount was too much. …I’ve almost used it all, what should I do? Can I get a refund?

“Black Poisonous Mist Orb.”

“…Huh?”

“Give it to me right now.”

Not the gift card? But how did he know I bought the Black Poisonous Mist Orb? The Hunter Shopping Mall should guarantee confidentiality. Does the gift card also send payment texts?

“Why do you need that—”

“Give it to me.”

The urging voice became even more fierce. A dark red light was swirling in his eyes. Thanks to poison resistance, I’m not scared, but why is he being like this?

“No, what the heck—”

“Hyung [term of endearment for an older brother from a younger brother].”

Let’s talk. He’s cutting me off.

I felt like he was about to grab my collar if I resisted any further, so I reluctantly took out one Black Poisonous Mist Orb from my inventory. I was planning to solo an F-class dungeon with this. Do I have to give them all?

“The rest too.”

When I took out the remaining two and handed them over, Yoo-hyun’s expression finally relaxed. He threw the Black Poisonous Mist Orb into his inventory and sighed deeply.

“Why on earth did you think of this?”

“…Huh?”

What is he talking about?

“Was I that untrustworthy?”

My brother seems to be talking nonsense. Is he already suffering from the heat? He has plenty of fire resistance.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if we’re talking about untrustworthy, I’m more so. You’re a trustworthy guy.”

He’s so trustworthy that I could pull in about a billion if he guaranteed something. Of course, you shouldn’t guarantee anything, even for your siblings.

Yoo-hyun’s face contorted greatly at my words. I told him he was trustworthy, so why is he like that again? I wish I had a skill to read my brother’s mind.

“Don’t say that. Hyung… you were even prepared to give up your life for me.”

…Huh? Not the opposite? You died and thanks to that, I lived and even regressed.

“Um… I don’t really know what you’re talking about, but I didn’t particularly—”

“Even if you’re taken hostage, don’t even think about using poison. No matter what happens, I’ll save you, so don’t even think about dying.”

“Oh, oh?”

Poison? That was it!

Well, this guy doesn’t know that I have poison resistance.

The Black Poisonous Mist Orb is a wide-area poisonous fog. If you use it without poison resistance, it’s like saying let’s die together… I can see why he misunderstood.

I smiled awkwardly.

“Hey, I have no intention of doing that. Why would I die?”

“Hyung…….”

He hugged me tightly. No, don’t do this. It’s a misunderstanding!

“Thank you.”

“No, that’s…….”

“But your heart alone is enough, so don’t worry about me and take care of yourself.”

…I’ve never worried about you.

Since Yoo-hyun was coming on so strong, I was embarrassed to tell the truth and just nodded vaguely. It’s also difficult to explain why I have such a high poison resistance skill that the Black Poisonous Mist Orb doesn’t even affect me. Suddenly, an L-class poison resistance skill appeared! That’s suspicious.

“By the way, Yoo-hyun, there’s something like a red cat over there.”

I asked, getting out of my brother’s arms. At my words, Yoo-hyun looked towards the greenhouse.

“It’s a Flame Horned Lion cub.”

“Flame Horned Lion?”

“Yeah. Haven’t you heard of it before? It first appeared in the S-class dungeon we cleared two months ago. Since there was a cub, I caught it to use as a mount… but it hasn’t grown at all for two months.”

Of course, it wouldn’t grow. It’s a magical beast that can’t grow without the help of an adult.

“The tamer who tamed it said that it seems to only be able to grow under special conditions. There’s no way to know the conditions, and it’s useless as it is, so I’m planning to dispose of it.”

“Dispose? Are you going to put it up for auction?”

“No. I have to kill it. Just in case it grows in someone else’s hands. Especially if it falls into the hands of the three major guilds, it’ll be troublesome.”

It was a cold-hearted statement. Even if it’s a monster, you’d get attached to it if you raised it for two months. It looked quite cute.

“It’s a waste, can’t I just raise it? Even if it’s a cub, it’ll be stronger than me, right? It seems like it would be useful in an emergency.”

“It’ll be a bit difficult for hyung to raise it. The food costs are not cheap.”

“How much is it?”

“One C-class magic stone per meal.”

…Ten million won [approximately $7,500 USD]? Are you crazy?