The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 164

164. The Next Day (1)

Even an S-Class Awakened isn’t immune to exhaustion. In fact, if you’ve been overworked, fought battles, sustained injuries, and then stayed up all night, your eyes are bound to ache and your head pound.

Swallowing a sigh, Song Tae-won lifted his head from the desk. He wasn’t in the Awakened Management Office, but in one of the Hunter Association’s offices. Normally, documents would be sent to the Awakened Management Office via the Association. But instead of waiting, he’d borrowed a desk at the Association and was receiving them directly. There was no need to waste manpower or time, nor was there enough to spare.

“This is the last of the MKC-managed S-Class Dungeons,” an Association employee placed a file on the desk and asked if he wanted coffee. Although caffeine had no effect, Song Tae-won asked for it anyway and shifted his gaze back to the documents.

The report read: Choi Seok-won used illegal items to grow to SS-Class but was deemed to have lost control and gone berserk. S-Class Hunters Song Tae-won, Riete, and Noah, along with Kim Min-yi, presumed to be a quasi-S-Class, and A-Class Hunter Kang So-young, joined forces to successfully stop Choi Seok-won, but Choi Seok-won escaped to a nearby A-Class Dungeon and has gone missing.

It was quite different from the truth, but that was the official report.

Above all, he couldn’t reveal that Han Yu-jin, with his F-Class stats, had dealt with Choi Seok-won, who had transformed into an SSS-Class. It was impossible to explain, and Yu-jin had asked him to keep it a secret.

Song Tae-won had gone directly to MKC to inform them of Choi Seok-won’s actions. The Guild Leader was missing inside the dungeon, effectively dead. This was to prevent the high-ranking guild members from running wild upon hearing the news.

He’d then spent the entire night collecting all the S-Class equipment and documents related to S-Class Dungeons within MKC. He couldn’t entrust it to other hunters from the Management Office or the Association, given who the opponent was. With the guild on the verge of collapse, it was also necessary to act quickly to prevent guild members from embezzling.

Thanks to this, he had been searching through MKC until sunrise, and even after returning to the Association, he was personally conducting a final review to ensure nothing was missed.

‘Once the cleanup is finished, I’ll have to hold a press conference…’

He needed to shower and change. Song Tae-won held the coffee he’d been given without drinking it. Although it was summer, the warmth from the paper cup felt welcome. The white paper cup looked ridiculously small in his large hand, providing a small distraction from his troubled mood.

If it weren’t for the sudden, uninvited guest.

“Director Song Tae-won.”

He had sensed his presence before the door even opened. But Song Tae-won didn’t acknowledge him until his name was called, then he turned and rose from his seat. Sung Hyun-jae, the Guild Leader of Sesung [one of the top guilds], stood there with a smile.

And a small, white, round baby bird was perched on his head.

– Chirp!

It was hard to read its expression since it wasn’t human, but Song Tae-won thought the baby bird seemed very dissatisfied.

“What brings you here?”

At Song Tae-won’s low voice, the Association employees, who had frozen at the sight of Sung Hyun-jae, or rather, the chick, quickly came to their senses and quietly fled.

“Naturally, I’ve come to ask about last night’s events. It seems you had a pleasant time with Han Yu-jin while I was away. I told you that if you pick up something that belongs to someone else, you should return it to the owner, didn’t I?”

“First of all, Han Yu-jin is not an object, and you should blame your own negligence.”

“I have nothing to say about that.”

Sung Hyun-jae put on a pitiful expression. “I didn’t know he would abandon his chick and run away from home.”

– Peep!

The tiny beak pecked hard at the fingertip approaching it.

“Hunter Kang So-young was also at the scene.”

“So-young is on a date. She said she had to revive yesterday’s sensations before she forgot them, so she went into a dungeon with Hunter Riete since dawn.”

She had left only a dungeon raid report and disappeared as soon as she woke up. She was truly in her element.

Since Kang So-young and Riete had gone into a dungeon, Song Tae-won was the only one left who could give Sung Hyun-jae objective information. Han Yu-jin wouldn’t refuse, but it was better to deal with the person who knew the most last. The smaller the information gap, the more accurately and deeply you can extract what you need.

“An official announcement will be made soon.”

“That’s a boring joke. Have you had breakfast?”

Instead of answering, Song Tae-won stared at the man who was uniquely out of place among the S-Class Awakened. At the same time, he recalled the events of last night.

Han Yu-hyun.

He was an Awakened who gave off a similar chilling feeling to Sung Hyun-jae. But last night, he felt different.

Not a beast looking down on everything, but a human. And a child who had only just become an adult. That’s how he was perceived and thought of. He looked like an ordinary human, not a beast pretending to be on a leash, but helplessly crawling on the floor, entangled in all sorts of emotions.

Then, is it possible for the man in front of him too? Or the other S-Class Awakened? What about the S-Class Awakened that Han Yu-jin is already embracing?

At that moment, the door burst open and a woman in her late 40s entered. It was Choi Eun-young, a former employee of the Hunter Association who had been ousted but returned due to this incident. She looked back and forth between Song Tae-won and Sung Hyun-jae, wearing a satisfied smile.

“Oh, it’s good to be alive. Our Director Song is amazing in many ways, but…”

She strode towards the two men, continuing, “You’re still artistic, Guild Leader Sesung. The new fashion suits you well too. The thing I missed most after leaving the Association was not having the chance to see Sung Hyun-jae up close.”

“Oh, I thought I had given you my personal contact information, but I was mistaken.”

“I remember the number clearly. However, I’m a little too timid to have a private meeting with Guild Leader Sesung.”

Choi Eun-young turned her gaze to Song Tae-won with the same smile. However, her gaze was much softer.

“The MKC crackdown is almost over, so you can leave the cleanup to us. Please go rest now.”

“It’s alright.”

“Even if Director Song is alright, the people watching aren’t. And there’s someone here who came with a nice car, so can I ask you a favor, Guild Leader Sesung?”

“I’ll take responsibility and drive him home safely.”

“Then I’ll assume that Director Song will personally chase away the S-Class Hunter who’s disrupting the Association’s atmosphere, and I’ll see you the day after tomorrow.”

Adding an excuse and putting out the immediate fire, she implied he could come the day after tomorrow. Song Tae-won hesitated slightly before tidying up his desk.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, the room was already bright. My brother was still fast asleep. Even with the help of skills or potions, healing major wounds consumes energy, so he must be tired. Choi Seok-won, you son of a bitch.

Moreover, there was a recovery debuff [a negative status effect] attached to the fog or skill, so the scar on his shoulder remained. Seeing the red, raised mark peeking out from his collar, I felt my anger rise again. I shouldn’t have let him die so easily.

‘Morning… or is it lunchtime?’

It was a bit early for lunch. Anyway, I had to make sure he ate. As I got out of bed, Yu-hyun narrowed his eyes. I told him to sleep more and stroked his head.

My eyesight had improved a little more overnight, so I didn’t wear lenses. Since it was recovering little by little every day, I’d have to get new lenses or glasses every day. Still, I could see quite well without them now.

– Shhh.

Bellare, who was on the windowsill as if trying to photosynthesize, raised his head. I took the jewel snake and went into the bathroom. Bellare liked water, so I fixed the showerhead and turned it on, and he spun around and around under it. I roughly washed up and left the bedroom.

I need to go pick up the chick. Should I have him sent here?

– Chirp!

“…Huh?”

I heard a familiar sound from the living room connected to the kitchen. I wasn’t surprised anymore. He must have teleported here. Our chick is so admirable….

“You’re awake.”

“…What the fuck?”

It’s Sung Hyun-jae. A curse word popped out involuntarily. At the same time, the bedroom door burst open and Yu-hyun appeared with messy hair and a half-asleep face.

“Hyung!”

“You don’t need to come out. I’ll take care of this, so go back to sleep.”

I told him to go back, but Yu-hyun glared at Sung Hyun-jae even with sleepy eyes. I don’t know why he’s growling again when he entrusted him to Sesung, so I barely managed to get my brother back into the bedroom, telling him to wash up first.

Sung Hyun-jae, who had been out of touch all night, looked annoyingly fine. If he had arrived on time, I would have desperately shouted at Choi Seok-won not to touch him.

“Why are you trespassing when I didn’t call for you?”

“I thought I’d deliver what you left behind and make excuses.”

Sung Hyun-jae said, looking at the chick circling around me. So he didn’t teleport here.

“I’ll listen.”

I answered nonchalantly and went into the kitchen. I had lost a lot of blood, so I should feed him meat. But since I had been away from home for a few days, there was no way there would be any usable cooking ingredients in the refrigerator… There were. There were fresh vegetables, meat, and even seafood.

I turned to look at Sung Hyun-jae, and he took out a card and placed it on the table.

“You forgot this too.”

“I gave it to you to use freely. More than that, what about filling the refrigerator…….”

“Although he ran away from home, the contract is still a contract. I have a duty to feed Han Yu-jin well.”

“Wasn’t that contract terminated?”

“Leaving on his own despite having provided a certain level of protection is not a violation. Is it an invisibility skill after all?”

I was going to go back on time because I didn’t want my skill to be exposed.

“Yes, yes. You’ve finally discovered the hidden bonus. Congratulations, and since it’s a bonus skill, I won’t charge you for using it. Please contact me anytime you need it.”

“Free is unexpected.”

“Sometimes there are services like this. Of course, there’s a separate call-out fee, and an additional fee of 10 minutes for every 30 minutes exceeded.”

It’s a really conscientious rate system. I put Bellare down and took out the ingredients, and Sung Hyun-jae looked at me with a strangely satisfied face.

“What are you staring at?”

“I just thought the real thing is better.”

“If you’re going to talk nonsense, chop the green onions.”

Is there a separate S-Class green onion? If you reduce the green onions chopped directly by an S-Class, it’s an S-Class green onion. He smiled, holding the whole bunch of green onions I threw at him. I guess he likes green onions.

“A jellyfish appeared?”

Sizzle, the meat sizzled on the heated pan. Sung Hyun-jae nodded, putting eggs into a bowl for steamed eggs.

“He asked if I knew Crescent Moon.”

“Ah. He’s one of the parricides [someone who kills their parents], but he’s asleep now so you can’t meet him. He said he knew the jellyfish.”

Why did he bother to go to Sung Hyun-jae to ask? Because of the Seeker’s Chain? The conversation with the jellyfish wasn’t very long, but he said that it was a distorted space in time, and after burning him and the fog cleared, it was close to midnight.

“I had to listen to complaints that I couldn’t see Candy Box thanks to you.”

What candy box. Was he traveling with a child? I briefly explained the Fog Sea Clan to him.

“I hope you don’t make any more contracts like that. I can’t undo it because I’m not a Cursed Poison Dragon.”

“Han Yu-jin is still my first priority, so don’t worry. It was more boring than I thought.”

He didn’t seem to be lying. Still, hearing that he had gone to Sung Hyun-jae made me think that I should crack down on the S-Class Hunters in the country. There aren’t many, though. I increased it by two, but two disappeared. Including Noah and Sesung’s new recruit, it’s like two more have been added.

“Sesung’s new S-Class Hunter, was it Evelyn? Is that person trustworthy? The jellyfish could approach other S-Class Hunters too.”

“She’s a lady who hates peddlers and pseudo-religions very much.”

“I hate that too.”

Anyway, he meant that she wouldn’t be easily swayed. I don’t have to worry about my kids, and Moon Hyun-ah isn’t the type to be tempted. Kim Sung-han isn’t someone who would betray Yu-hyun, so all that’s left is Song Tae-won and Han Shin. I don’t have to worry about Song Tae-won either, so I should meet Han Shin’s Park Min-gyu once.

Once I stop the S-Class Hunters from being taken over by the jellyfish, the domestic cleanup will be almost complete.

“Give up the MKC Hunters. We need to create two new teams on our side.”

Since the Guild Leader is dead, quite a few A-Class Hunters will come out. Soodam is relatively small, and the Vice Guild Leader has managed to pull it together well, but MKC is large, so a lot will leak out. There will also be S-Class Dungeons and S-Class equipment for sale.

“Ah, Healer! Absolutely don’t take the Healer. Sesung already has an A-Class Healer.”

“The more high-level Healers, the better.”

“No, absolutely not. How can you have three S-Class Hunters and not even one A-Class Healer? Please give in willingly.”

As I remember, the MKC A-Class Healer was quite skilled. Was he Chinese?

I set the table, shouting that the cold resistance items were all for my kids. Yu-hyun sneaked into the kitchen in the middle to help, but I sent him back to the living room, telling him to apply potions or something. He should take a long vacation with that level of injury.

“Han Yu-jin.”

I was wondering whether to put out only two bowls and spoons or be generous and put out three when Sung Hyun-jae called me.

“Since you helped me, I’ll specially—”

Sung Hyun-jae grabbed my arm and pulled me closer. The sound of water I had turned on was already coming from the sink. He asked in a low voice, mixed with the sound of water, a voice that even an S-Class Hunter couldn’t eavesdrop on.

“Are you confident that you won’t make a contract until the end?”

He must be talking about the contract with the jellyfish. He looked at me as if he was going to dig into my soul.

“What does it matter to you?”

“I’m not used to being deprived, and I don’t like it.”

“You’ve lived comfortably if you’re not used to it.”

“To put it kindly, I’m worried about Han Yu-jin.”

He looks very kind as he smiles with his eyes. If I say I’m thinking of making a contract, he’ll put shackles on me right away. If I ask my brother for help, Yu-hyun will kindly offer me a leash.

“I have no intention of making a contract.”

It wasn’t a lie to get out of the situation. The jellyfish’s offer was still tempting. But.

“My brother is still young. I can’t leave him behind.”

He says he’s in so much pain, what can I do? I have no choice but to hug him back. And.

“You can eat jam on toast.”

That’s just about right.