The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 145

“Something very precious… like an item. Maybe an SSS-grade weapon or something.”

I added an explanation under the prickling gazes. If the Steal skill that seeps in is made into an item, it would be worth that much. It would be S-grade now, and likely rise to SS-grade by the time Song Tae-won died.

And in my estimation, the ability to gift skills itself seemed to be an effect of the SS-grade Steal skill. Right now, it only lowered the opponent’s skill rank, but as it grew, it seemed it would literally be able to steal, to take away. If that was applied to oneself, wouldn’t it be possible to give it to others in reverse?

‘Then the claim that he gifted it would be true.’

That’s just my thought, though.

“I don’t have anything Guild Leader Sesung would covet.”

“You might come to have something.”

“The possibility of that is extremely low. Hunters affiliated with the nation do not have ownership of items acquired during dungeon raids. They can have priority if they want, but with my abilities, I cannot purchase an item of the level you mentioned.”

“Huh? Why don’t you have ownership? Don’t you usually take the reward items that come directly into your inventory?”

Group rewards, of course, as well as magic stones and other byproducts, are divided among civilian teams after being totaled, according to a pre-arranged ratio, but individual rewards are different. You take care of your own stuff. In the first place, it’s hard to even figure out who got what when it goes straight into the inventory.

If you get into a bad guild or team, they might threaten you to empty your inventory, but that’s a criminal act. But to not have ownership of items because you’re affiliated with the nation…

“I heard before that the dungeon profit distribution rate is also low, isn’t that too much?”

“That’s why there aren’t many hunters affiliated with the Awakened Management Division. That’s a big reason why the main duties of Awakened Management were transferred to the Hunter’s Association.”

Song Tae-won said calmly. The Association’s conditions were tight compared to guilds, but they still met the basics. They would raise it more for high-level hunters, too.

“It’s supposed to be a national institution… no, is it because it’s a national institution? Still, they should let you get individual rewards; isn’t equipment the most expensive thing?”

Suddenly, I remembered that Song Tae-won hadn’t taken out a weapon that matched his grade last night. He fought well even with mid- to low-grade weapons, but still, surely he didn’t really not have one. It must have been because mid- to low-grade ones were enough.

“Surely Section Chief Song has at least one S-grade weapon, right?”

“I have an A-grade one.”

…Ah, damn it. I suddenly felt like my eyes were getting hot. At least he has an A-grade one. S-grade weapons, well, there aren’t many in the country yet. Still, there are only eight S-grade hunters in the country. They’re using that precious S-grade Awakened at a cheap price, and they can’t even get him one S-grade weapon? Give them a generous budget, government.

“I suddenly feel like my patriotism is declining.”

“It’s because I’m a thorn in their side.”

Song Tae-won continued, as if talking about someone else’s business. The position of head of the hastily created Awakened Management Division originally had someone else scheduled for it. But because an S-grade Awakened suddenly popped up and stayed in public office, things went awry.

You can’t mistreat an S-grade Awakened. The nation couldn’t afford to lose him, and they had to be mindful of the gazes of other countries and hunters. Moreover, he was a national S-grade hunter in a time of great confusion. They’d be fools not to put him at the top and advertise, ‘Look here, our country is this strong!’

So, they gave him the section chief position, but it seemed that the sight of a young punk with no academic or regional ties occupying a high position grated on many people’s nerves.

Well, if you were in Song Tae-won’s position, the average age would be over fifty, and everyone would have splendid careers, for better or worse. In fact, the reason Song Tae-won became section chief was, in their eyes, simply luck.

A lucky bastard who Awakened as an S-grade and sat on the heads of adults who had built up their foundations normally. …This could easily make him a public enemy of the higher-ups.

‘I thought he was enduring the mistreatment because he had no ambition.’

Ah, of course, if Song Tae-won had properly shown ambition, they would only grumble behind his back and wouldn’t dare throw cold water on him so openly. He wouldn’t be out here in the field, either.

“The current government wanted to give more power to the Awakened Management Division, but the Association had, as they say, many connections.”

So, the Association took on the practical management of Awakened ones, and Song Tae-won is being used as a glorified cleaner for high-level hunters, is that it? I don’t know much about politics, but it seems there was a power struggle of some kind.

‘Could the reshuffling of the Association’s higher-ups be related to this?’

The current government did a good job. Just looking at how stable things have become in three years, the initial response was incredibly good. I heard there are still many places overseas that are a mess. But after they calmed the situation well, people chasing after profits appeared, and well, the rest is an obvious story, and so on.

“You’re going through a lot in many ways.”

As someone who has a younger sibling who was pushed around for being a young punk, I couldn’t help but sympathize. I glanced at Yu-hyun, but he was fiddling with an unopened straw, seemingly not interested in our story. He didn’t even touch his coffee.

“Should I buy you something else, or get you something to drink?”

“No, I’m fine.”

He shakes his head, even though he said he doesn’t dislike coffee. They probably wouldn’t get much of a caffeine effect anyway; I should have gotten them something else. I was just stuck on the idea that coffee is a must during work.

“Anyway, this is just an assumption. If Section Chief Song were to give Guild Leader Sesung a gift, that is.”

“…His birthday is coming up soon, though.”

Song Tae-won said with a reluctant expression. I didn’t think he’d care at all about Sung Hyun-jae’s birthday, but that’s an unexpected reaction.

“Not that. He wouldn’t care about birthdays anyway.”

“I take care of it to avoid getting annoyed.”

…What is Sung Hyun-jae.

“It’s better to take care of it so you don’t give him an excuse to pick a fight.”

Yu-hyun said from the side, also with a reluctant voice. Seriously, what is it?

“You too, no, does Hae-yeon also─”

“Please speak comfortably. I’ll pretend I don’t know.”

Song Tae-won said. He must have realized that Kim Min-yi is Yu-hyun. Well, he’s in a position where he has to manage S-grade hunters, so he probably knows even minor habits and mannerisms.

“Does that guy hold a grudge if you don’t celebrate his birthday? Is he a child?”

“It’s not that, but he sometimes picks fights out of the blue.”

“It’s to prevent him from suddenly finding fault, saying that he’s still upset about last birthday, for something completely unrelated.”

It sounded like they’d already experienced it. Yu-hyun and Song Tae-won simultaneously made similar, fed-up expressions. I really wondered what it was, but should I celebrate it too? Surely he didn’t give Steal as a birthday present.

Anyway, if I asked directly, ‘Section Chief Song gave Sung Hyun-jae his skill, why did you do that?’ I’d probably just get a look that said, ‘I don’t know either, please keep the nonsense to a minimum.’ What kind of situation was it? Why did he give it? Did they develop some kind of attachment over the years?

Instead, I asked a different question.

“Is it possible to apply the Steal skill to yourself?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never tried it.”

If it works, he probably gave it directly, and if not, he must have received help from someone else or an item. Asking him to try it now would be a bit much. It would lower his skill grade.

“It works.”

You used it!

“With this, I can know the duration of the effect on an S-grade target. Thank you for the advice.”

“Ah… yes.”

Well… he must have had one skill that he didn’t really need. The fact that he can use it on himself, does that mean he gave it directly? It’s not certain yet, though.

“Is it not possible to cancel the skill? It’s inconvenient in many ways.”

“Don’t you think it’s a problem that you feel inconvenienced? Considering that, you seem to be moving without much difference from before.”

Song Tae-won said, looking at my eyes, at my glasses. No, I’ve been through hardships I didn’t need to go through. If it can’t be canceled, I’ll have to be like this for at least three or four more days; it’s really sad.

After briefly discussing future actions with Song Tae-won, we went to Do Ha-min’s Happy Hamster’s. The sign that had been taken from the old store was leaning against the wall next to the entrance. When we went inside, stacks of delivery boxes blocked our view.

“Ugh, the Lord is better the further away he is!”

Do Ha-min, who was organizing products, openly showed his dislike. That’s true, but. Whether it’s the landlord or the real Lord, they should stay far away. Especially the latter; meeting him means escaping this world.

“Ha-min, I’d like to ask for your help this time too.”

“I’m busy raising the kids.”

Do Ha-min said, hugging a bag full of what looked like straw. Do hamsters eat grass?

“Come on, don’t be like that. We contracted to help each other when needed. I just need you to track the locations of about six people, at hourly intervals.”

There might be more than that. Do Ha-min frowned deeply at my words.

“Even one person is difficult.”

Do Ha-min’s skill, Connected Threads, didn’t immediately show the location when used. It had a specific formula, and it was a method of finding the target by inputting the unique number of an item that the target had used for more than a year and calculating it according to the formula.

So, if he used it several times in a short period, he would get tired as if he had overworked for several days. Also, he said that it would be easier to find if he had the actual item. Since detective agencies mainly receive requests for missing people, it was difficult to receive the item, so they searched only with the number.

“I should have put a limit on the number of times and people in the contract!”

“I’ll try to get you the actual items as much as possible.”

“Six people at hourly intervals, I’ll be bedridden for days.”

“I’ll pay for the part-time job, of course, and if you cooperate well in the future……”

Right, there was that. I said in a gentle tone to Do Ha-min, who was lying on the desk, rubbing his face.

“I’ll get you a gold hamster.”

“There are many golden hamsters here too.”

“Not golden, gold. A hamster with real golden fur. It’s a D-grade dungeon boss in Central Africa, about two or three times bigger than a normal hamster, with shiny golden fur. It also has silver mixed in its nape, and its eyes are like blue jewels, and it’s even intelligent.”

However, while it was small and had weak defense, its aggressiveness and attack skill power were strong, making it very difficult to capture compared to its grade. So, only its fur was being traded at a high price. In about two years, it became very popular as a pet. Of course, it was a disgustingly expensive pet.

“…A golden hamster? But that’s a monster.”

“It’s D-grade, so it can be tamed. The cost of getting it will be no joke, but Do Ha-min is worth it. How about it? Shall I get it?”

“Wild hamsters would be happiest staying where they live.”

“Since it’s a boss monster, it’ll naturally be hunted.”

“…Deal!”

“Okay, then you’ll help me without complaint from now on?”

“Please spare me.”

Of course, I have to protect your health. Should I ask Sung-han where he got his tonic? I should give some to the Seok Ha-yan team too.

Capturing a hamster from a Central African dungeon is not an easy task. Central Africa was a mess even before the dungeons appeared, so it’s difficult to even get the rights to raid the dungeon. Moreover, if it’s a boss monster, a tamer has to enter the dungeon directly to tame it for the raid. If you just capture it, you can’t raid the dungeon.

‘I’ll have to put a live gold hamster as the price for raising the first mount overseas.’

Still, a guild that can entrust a high-level mount will somehow get it. I don’t know which guild it will be, but fighting.

I contacted Seok Si-myung and trained Blue, and it quickly became evening. In the middle, Noah recognized Yu-hyun as Kim Min-yi and bared his teeth, but he quickly calmed down when he learned the truth. I took this opportunity to invite Noah to have dinner together.

“So, I’ll be Kim Min-yi until the dungeon raid is over.”

“And you’re staying with Yu-jin?”

“I can’t go to my own house.”

It would be strange for Kim Min-yi to stay at the guild leader’s house. I’m F-grade, so even if I’m a B-grade support type, I can act as a bodyguard, but what am I doing against an S-grade guild leader.

I felt sorry for Noah, who was invited to dinner, but I didn’t take out Myung-woo’s food. Instead, I cooked something simple. Both of them tried to help, but I told them to stay still since they were guests today.

“If Noah wants to officially become a Korean hunter, he’ll have to raid an S-grade dungeon once; how about going with Yu-hyun?”

Lake Dungeon is A-grade, so you can’t get S-grade recognition. If a foreign hunter wants to personally transfer their affiliation to Korea without guild affiliation, they must raid a dungeon of the same grade as the one they want to be recognized as, with themselves as the main force. Even if Noah is S-grade, he’s a support type and doesn’t have any teammates right now, so it would be difficult to raid an S-grade dungeon alone. It’s not impossible if it’s a lower one, but there’s no need to suffer unnecessarily.

“…No, I’m fine. I don’t need to be recognized as S-grade right now.”

Noah, who glanced at Yu-hyun with a reluctant expression, put the end of his chopsticks in his mouth. Come to think of it, he’s good at using chopsticks. If they raid a dungeon together, they might get closer like Peace. Poison and fire; their compatibility isn’t good, though. …Is that why they don’t get close?

We ate dinner and the night passed without any special news. I lay down to sleep with Piyo, but I couldn’t easily close my eyes. It would be nice if Peace was here. Piyo is too small. Besides, my vision is blurry when I take off my glasses, so I felt even more uneasy.

‘Please give me back my fear resistance…….’

I tossed and turned for a long time before finally getting up. I’ll be busy tomorrow, but I have to sleep. After much deliberation, I took Piyo in one hand and a pillow in the other and headed to the guest room where my younger brother was.

“Let’s sleep together.”

“Huh?”

“I can’t see well, so I can’t sleep well.”

I don’t know what that has to do with it, but I threw out a rough excuse. I can’t say that I can’t sleep because I keep thinking about you dying and I’m afraid you’ll come out in my dreams again. Wouldn’t it be okay if I had my living younger brother next to me?

Whether it was because of that, I didn’t have any useless dreams.

And the next morning, a hunter who could read information from corpses arrived from Sesung, along with data related to honey sales.