The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 115

115. Even If I Tell You to Rest (1)

“Uncle.”

The deep voice sent a slight tremor through my chest. The Myth-grade power bearing down on me rendered my fear resistance almost useless. I quickly turned off Teacher Skill, which helped a little.

“I told you not to use your skills.”

The person standing before me was definitely Yerim, but she felt completely different from usual. She was shrouded in an aura of intimidation reminiscent of the Mermaid Queen, making it difficult to treat her as casually as before.

But the Water Ruler skill item’s duration is quite long.

“I’m not using it now. Hey, Yerim.”

“Yes.”

“It seems like you can still use the skill. Instead of this, shouldn’t you try to get more used to it?”

A massive wave crashed down. Or at least, it felt like it. I realized she wasn’t really angry before. Just the slight twitch of Yerim’s eyes made my heart sink.

“Ah, no…….”

I instinctively grabbed Yoohyun’s arm, stammering. Calm down. Everything ended well, so why am I like this?

“You knew that using Teacher Skill would put a lot of strain on me, didn’t you?”

“I knew, but… isn’t enduring burdens part of the deal? Who enters a dungeon expecting not to get a scratch? When we caught that toad last time, I even slept for days.”

Compared to that, I can still see clearly this time.

“It’s different from that.”

Yerim said firmly. Her gaze was still heavy and intimidating. This chilling feeling, it’s been a while.

“It wasn’t a situation where you absolutely had to use it like with the toad. There was no need to use it. We would have won even if you had just left it alone.”

“But if you want to understand and accept the Water Ruler even a little more…….”

“Uncle.”

…I never knew the word ‘Uncle’ could sound so menacing. I want to tell her to focus on mastering the Ruler skill, but she’ll get even angrier if I do. Still, it’s a waste.

“Hey, say something to her.”

I fidgeted, asking my brother to mediate. But all I got in return was a glare as cold as Yerim’s.

“I’m on Park Yerim Hunter’s side this time.”

Oh, um. You’re angry too, I see. But doesn’t Yoohyun feel Yerim’s intimidation? Or is Yerim controlling it well? Considering Yoohyun’s rank, it’s probably the latter. Our Yerim has become much more skilled at controlling her abilities.

It stings that she’s using that control to scold me.

“I know you were thinking of me. But this isn’t right. Fortunately, nothing bad happened, but I’m still feeling how tremendous the Water Ruler skill is. And you just accept this sensation without even being an item user? You even accepted the Seseong Guild Leader. Are you crazy, really?”

“Calm down a little…….”

You’re really scary right now. It feels like standing on the edge of a cliff, looking out at a stormy sea. The waves are crashing right in front of me, and a huge ship is sinking over there, or something.

I realized this wouldn’t work, so I looked back at Seong Hyunjae, grasping at even a rotten rope.

“Hey—”

“I’m also on the little miss’s side.”

Why are you doing this too? Feeling unfairly wronged, I glared at him, and he gave me a shameless answer.

“It would be my loss if you pointlessly overexert yourself and break down. I haven’t received the interest on what you owe me, and the three favors I promised to help with are still outstanding. I have a lot to receive.”

“Uncle, you owe him? How much?”

“What’s this about helping three times?”

Yerim and Yoohyun questioned me one after another. I knew that man wouldn’t purely worry about me, but why did he have to say that now? He’s definitely trying to mess with me.

“It’s not money. It’s nothing much.”

“If it’s nothing much, then what is it?”

“It can’t be nothing much.”

Damn it, I don’t have anyone on my side. No, I do have people on my side, but they’re not taking my side. A gate has already opened, should I just run? I glanced around, slowly backing away, but water grabbed my legs. As I fell backward, the air, the moisture in the air, supported me like a soft sofa.

Wow, look at Yerim’s skill in manipulating water. It’s almost touching, but why is she using it on me? …Is it a good thing that she’s practicing like this?

“I think you need to clear your head. You haven’t been an Awakened for long, and you’ve already experienced too many dangerous things. Maybe that’s why you don’t have a sense of crisis.”

“You haven’t been one for long either.”

“I’m an S-class stat. My mental stat is also high, you know? But you’re a semi-general person, a general person!”

I’ve been doing this for almost five years, it’s unfair. Yoohyun joined in on Yerim’s nagging.

“Park Yerim Hunter is right. How about taking a good rest for a while?”

“Rest? I have so much to do. There are monsters, but the Association is also pushing me, I’m getting calls from overseas, and I’m supposed to go into a dungeon with Myungwoo…….”

I have to look after Yoohyun’s skills and spirits, prepare for the zombie bastards, get my hands on the stamina potion ingredient dungeon that will appear soon, and I promised the newbie a customized reward, so I have to clear some S-class dungeons. I also have to help Moon Hyuna, Kim Sunghan, and Noah grow, there’s the Riet issue, I have to find other born S-classes, and I should poke Song Taewon to see if I can make him the Association President… Oh, and I have to deal with Choi Seokwon from MKC. I have to bring Dohamin, and I think there was someone else.

Anyway, I have a lot to do. …Why is there so much?

“I’ll block the Association.”

“They might raise the limit on the number of people in the Awakening Center because you broke your promise.”

“If they have any sense, they won’t do that. If hyung says he wants to rest, Yoo Myungwoo Hunter will also cooperate, and Seseong and Breaker won’t refuse either. This is also a form of protection.”

“Pressuring the Association is an enjoyable leisure activity, even if it’s not for Hanyujin-gun’s sake.”

If that’s a leisure activity, what do you usually do? Anyway, I’d welcome it if you blocked them. There’s still quite a bit of time until the Awakening Center opens, so if I don’t have to deal with the Association’s whining, I can proceed leisurely. The workload has decreased. I’m happy.

“Take it easy, Uncle. Is someone chasing you?”

Yerim’s voice softened slightly. I felt a cool hand caressing my forehead.

“I’ll try to do that.”

“It’s not about trying, take care of yourself first, Uncle. I don’t appreciate things like what happened earlier.”

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

I was even more sorry because if a similar situation happened again, I would do something similar again. But I want Yerim to become stronger and a little safer. It’s my greed.

The raindrops weakened as the item’s effect wore off. Soon, the rain completely stopped, and the intimidation surrounding Yerim also disappeared. She was still sulking, but her pouting face was more cute than scary.

“How is manipulating the water? Did you take too much?”

“I don’t know. I think I need to practice before the sensation completely disappears. I might be stuck in a water-rich dungeon for a few days.”

“Don’t overdo it.”

Yerim glared at me, not unkindly.

“Are you the one to talk?”

No, I’m an adult. I brushed off her questions about what I owed Seong Hyunjae and what he promised to help with, and left the dungeon. The desolate landscape with only a large pit remaining where the lake used to be came into view. And Song Taewon’s shadowed face as well.

The special isolation facility has disappeared without a trace, so he must be very perplexed. What a bolt from the blue. But thanks to this, I can gloss over Yoohyun’s rampage.

“It seems you have successfully cleared the dungeon.”

“Yes. That place is a unique dungeon, so I’ll explain the clearing method separately.”

I answered, drying my hair with a dry towel. If you know the method, it shouldn’t be difficult to clear… No, it’s impossible. If other hunters enter, Yoohyun or Seong Hyunjae might pop out at the last minute. How can anyone clear that? As I was troubled, I looked back at the gate, but the blue light of the gate flickered faintly and then disappeared.

“…It seems there’s no need to explain.”

It’s a relief, but. Song Taewon couldn’t bear the abnormal phenomenon and let out a long sigh.

“From a dungeon suddenly disappearing to one exploding as soon as it was created, I’ll be dealing with this for a while.”

“But that dungeon was terribly difficult, so it’s much better that it disappeared. Or just cover it up as an abnormal geological phenomenon where water gushed out and then seeped back in. There are no traces anyway.”

“We can’t do that.”

Song Taewon replied with a bitter smile. Then he looked at Yoohyun and Seong Hyunjae, who were receiving towels from people from each guild and wiping off the water.

“Did anything else happen inside? I mean, between people, not monsters.”

“No. There were no problems.”

I just got scolded a bit. Song Taewon bowed slightly, saying he had worked hard, and then left to handle the aftermath. He’s busy. He’ll be even busier for a while. Compared to Song Taewon, I’m quite free, aren’t I?

‘As expected, it would be better to put that person in charge than to have him working under someone.’

If the Association is made like a quasi-guild with an S-class hunter as the guild leader, it will be easier to solve the manpower shortage. Right now, a general person is sitting as the head, so high-level hunters are reluctant to join.

I called out to Yoohyun and Seong Hyunjae, looking at Song Taewon’s back.

“We need to deal with Choi Seokwon. At least do something.”

I briefly explained to Seong Hyunjae the reason why this dungeon was created. As long as the contract with the filial piety addict continues, we can’t just leave Choi Seokwon alone.

“It’s hard to openly touch him outside the dungeon. Especially right after doryeonnim [young master] caused an accident.”

“Yoohyun caused an accident? Do you have any evidence? All I see is water-soaked mud.”

He said that, but it was clear that Choi Seokwon’s side would strengthen their defenses because of this incident. It would be difficult to quietly cut his throat.

“Then I’ll request a visit to at least—”

“Hyung is on vacation.”

Yoohyun said firmly.

“We’ll keep an eye on him, so don’t worry about that for a while.”

How can I not worry? But because even Yerim came up and gave me a sharp look, asking what was going on, I nodded for now. I have to pretend to rest quietly for a few days.

* * *

– Wheeeng.

A round, flat robot vacuum cleaner was roaming around the living room, making a whirring sound. Ppiyak, sitting on top of it, chirped as if urging the cleaner on. I couldn’t use it when Blue was around because he would swat at it like a fly.

‘How cute.’

I uploaded a video of Ppiyak riding the vacuum cleaner to SNS [Social Networking Service]. The number of followers I’ve gained is no joke. Comments and messages are piled up, but I haven’t checked them. I just keep uploading.

As I sat sprawled on the sofa, Peace jumped onto my lap as if he had been waiting. I stroked his neck, and he flipped over on his back with a satisfied purr. His tail wagged slowly, looking happy.

The TV that was on was broadcasting about yesterday’s lake dungeon. A person from the Association was making a serious face and saying unnecessarily long things. I changed the channel, but there were no programs that caught my interest.

‘I’ve already seen everything interesting anyway.’

That’s the downside of regression. Even though I was far from cultural life around this time, when I looked into it, I had already seen almost all the famous things. I became close to the TV when my hunter life became somewhat stable. I bought and watched it on VOD [Video On Demand].

What should I do now? Should I read a book? Yerim went into a dungeon to train her skills, and Yoohyun is busy because of yesterday’s incident. Should I have followed Myungwoo shopping? I don’t know what he’s buying for two days in a row.

“I can’t do this, let’s go for a walk.”

I picked up Peace and called Ppiyak. He fell off the robot vacuum cleaner with a beep and I picked him up and put him on Peace’s back.

As I went outside, the hunter who was standing guard looked at me. They didn’t guard this far before, but the surveillance has increased.

“I’m going for a walk on the roof.”

I informed them of my destination and went up to the rooftop garden. It’s still morning, so the sunlight is weak for summer. It will get hot soon, though.

– Kyaaaa!

Before I could take a few steps, Blue flew over, spreading his wings wide. Peace bared his teeth slightly at Blue, who was about to rush at me. Then he flinched and landed quietly in front of me.

– Kyawoo.

“Yeah, how have you been? Are you comfortable?”

I looked up and saw Blue’s house, which was built quite nicely on one side of the garden. I wondered if he was lonely living outside alone. I wanted to find a suitable hunter for Blue as well. For my safety, if I pair him with a domestic hunter, I can alternate with Peace to leave my seat. There’s also Noah.

Should I casually mention it to Moon Hyuna? She would definitely welcome it. If she works with Yerim later, it would be good to have a flying mount.

I called Moon Hyuna while I was thinking about it. Almost as soon as the signal went, an unfamiliar voice flowed out.

[Hanyujin-nim, what is your business?]

“Yes……? Isn’t this the Breaker Guild Leader’s phone?”

[For the time being, the phone is connected to the security office. Calls to Hanyujin-nim are also routed through the security office. Because he’s on vacation.]

…Crazy? What have you done to my number? Is this a ban on phone work?

“Oh, please connect me to the Breaker Guild Leader. It’s just that I’m bored and wanted to ask her to come over if she has time.”

With an answer that she understood, I heard the signal again. This time, Moon Hyuna answered properly. I was worried about being eavesdropped on, so I only briefly asked if she would like to come over. After hearing her readily agree, I hung up the phone, and the back of my neck tightened.

‘Is it Yoohyun, Yerim, or both?’

Maybe there are other collaborators. The kids don’t trust me too much.

* * *

Not long after, Moon Hyuna arrived. She sent greedy and cute glances at Peace and Blue, then suddenly spoke.

“Do you know that your hyung [older brother] and dongsaeng [younger sibling]’s reputation hasn’t been very good lately?”

…What is this about?