The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 226

It was a close call.

Whether it was thanks to the Piercing Eyes skill, or because Sung Hyunjae underestimated me, or perhaps both, I could barely perceive his movements as he approached. But I never imagined he would attack me.

Using the earring’s barrier skill was almost instinctive. My mind couldn’t anticipate it, but my body sensed it, I suppose. Five years of accumulated experience combined with my C-grade stats allowed me to barely erect a barrier before the attack landed. However.

Crack! The piercing kick shattered the barrier with ease. Then, the combat boot slammed into my abdomen. A suppressed groan escaped as I rolled across the floor. I was sure a dark bruise would form, but it wasn’t unbearable. If I hadn’t used the barrier, I would have been knocked out at the very least.

‘Well, it seems he didn’t intend to kill me.’

I was kicked, but question marks still floated in my head. What the hell? It’s Sung Hyunjae, right? Or is it not? Even if my eyes are failing me, there’s no way I could mistake that face. But why?

“Ugh!”

I tried to get up, but before I could, my hair was grabbed roughly. My head was pulled down, and his gaze fell on the back of my neck. Then, a low voice spoke.

“No mana imprint, no protection imprint either.”

It was definitely a familiar voice, yet it felt strange at the same time. I knew about mana imprints [a magical signature], but what was a protection imprint? I shook off the hand grabbing my hair. He let go willingly. Staggering to my feet, I stared at the man presumed to be Sung Hyunjae.

“…What’s with the sudden attack?”

I took a step back. Quickly surveying my surroundings, I turned my gaze back to the man before me. His appearance was definitely familiar, but the atmosphere was different. How should I put it?

He was withered. Lifeless. Bored. Even more so than when I felt the repetitive sensations from regression. It was as if nothing in the world could interest him, a completely emotionless face.

…Even though I sang about being bored, I never looked this faded.

“Stealth and a barrier. Roughly S-grade and B-grade, respectively. Stats seem to be around C-grade, quite peculiar.”

He assessed me. He showed interest, but only a faint curiosity. Something was definitely off. He didn’t seem like the man I knew.

I took another step back.

“By any chance, is your name Sung Hyunjae?”

“You don’t know me?”

“I’ve seen your face a lot, but I don’t remember the name very well.”

The end of my voice trembled slightly. That answer meant his name wasn’t Sung Hyunjae. Was he really someone else, or did he hit his head wrong coming in here?

But his attitude wasn’t that of someone who had lost their memory. His actions of checking for imprints were those of someone familiar with this place, this world.

“…I was just passing by, but can I keep passing by? Getting suddenly attacked does piss me off a little, but I guess the lower rank has to suck it up. Well, goodbye.”

“It’s a dangerous time for unregistered Awakeners to be wandering around.”

He took a step closer. A slow pressure washed over me. My fear resistance is S-grade, and that bastard’s grade is SS [Super Special grade, a very high rank]. At least my base stats, my mental stat, have increased, so my actual fear resistance is slightly higher than S-grade, but it probably doesn’t reach SS-grade.

A chill ran down my spine, and I swallowed hard. When I endured quite well, he slightly raised the end of his eyebrow. At the same time, a bit of life sparked in his expression. He seemed a little better, now that he looked somewhat human.

“You even have fear resistance?”

“It’s just a common C-grade. Don’t bother with me.”

I was happy for a moment that things were going smoothly, but damn it. It was a trap. The newbie definitely said he sent the message, but the guy in front of me didn’t seem to know anything about it. He didn’t even recognize me in the first place.

Is he really someone else? If so, I have to get out of here. But how?

‘I don’t want to waste a life.’

I jumped back and drew my gun. Golden eyes narrowed at the gun pointed at him.

“A poor choice. And a futile action.”

“Even a mere C-grade has pride. Surely an SS-grade can generously take one hit. It won’t even tickle you with my abilities, will it?”

The pure white gun began to absorb my mana. The Sung Hyunjae look-alike tilted his head slightly. If that bastard has a similar personality to my partner, he’ll watch a C-grade’s impulsive actions.

“If I generously take the hit, what’s the price?”

“Hmm, how about I obediently follow you? With my body intact, of course.”

“That’s possible even now.”

“My teeth might not scratch your neck, but they’ll dig into my own just fine.”

To keep attacking someone who kicked me away, to the point where I’d rather harm myself… It was ridiculous, but the Sung Hyunjae look-alike didn’t approach any further. …Seeing that, he seems like the same guy, but he also feels quite different.

I poured as much mana as possible into the gun. My head throbbed from the rapidly depleting mana, but I poured it in until I was just short of fainting, until it was almost completely gone.

Does that guy have combat precognition? Can he foresee my current actions? I don’t know, but I have to try.

“Thank you for being such a patient gentleman.”

I pulled the trigger. At the same time, instead of enduring the recoil, I kicked off the ground and jumped up.

A handgun. As small as it is, its power is usually weak. But what erupted from the white muzzle was nothing short of a storm of magic.

A massive energy, hardly deserving of the name ‘bullet,’ surged forth. My body, far from resisting, was even lifted into the air on the opposite side. Like a sharply fired arrow.

KWA-GWA-GWA!—

The swirling white light and the rough dance of shattered and flying building debris quickly receded from view. Turning my body in mid-air to change direction, I saw a five-story building that had been far away rapidly approaching. It was a place I had scouted out in advance.

I took out a dagger and threw it at the building. Thwack! The dagger lodged in the outer wall, and almost immediately, I stepped on the protruding handle and jumped upwards. Crack, crack. The dagger, unable to withstand the force of my step, scratched a long line down the outer wall before falling to the ground.

Unlike the fallen dagger, my hand, soaring upwards, barely caught the rooftop railing. Pulling myself up, I climbed over the railing and landed on the roof.

‘…Ugh.’

The kicked abdomen throbbed from the rough movements. I gritted my teeth and looked back at the spot where I had been standing, where the Sung Hyunjae knockoff was standing.

The surroundings were a mess, as if a giant beast had clawed at them, but Sung Hyunjae was unharmed. Well, a part of the clothes on one arm was torn. Whether he was injured was hard to tell, as it was obscured by the tattered fabric.

He was smiling calmly. The distance was far, but he could chase after me in an instant if he wanted to. So I had to run away quickly, but.

“You son of a bitch.”

I was wronged and angry, so I raised my middle finger. I don’t know if it means the same thing here, but. And I immediately turned around. Crossing the rooftop, I reached the railing on the opposite side, tied a wire to the railing, and jumped off.

Thud, thud— Gripping the wire, I stepped on the building’s outer wall and quickly descended. Pulling hard on the stretched wire, it broke off part of the railing and dragged it down with me. I quickly collected it into my inventory, drank a mana potion, and used the stealth skill.

My bike is parked on the complete opposite side, damn it.

‘Sung Hyunjae, you damn bastard!’

I don’t know if it’s the real one, but since there are said to be three people in the world who look exactly alike, it could just be a guy who happens to resemble him.

…Damn it, his behavior pattern is similar too, so is he really someone else? The skills are the same too. Or does this place have lightning striking from a clear sky or something? Anyway, even if he’s someone else, Sung Hyunjae is at fault.

‘How long has it been since he said he would protect me without a scratch! And he even kicked me!’

I did reject the offer, but frustration welled up on its own. Damn bastard. If he’s the same guy, no matter what excuse he makes, I’m really going to… Damn it, I can’t do anything with my strength, so it’s even more annoying!

Low-level monsters occasionally caught my eye, but they didn’t notice me. I ran along the road for a while and entered a narrow alley between buildings. I sat down with my back against the wall in a curved corner that couldn’t be seen from the outside.

Taking out a potion, I lifted my shirt and saw the blue bruise. I sprinkled a life potion on the bruise and drank some in case of internal injuries.

“…Tastes bad.”

Unlike mana potions, which are meant for drinking, life potions are usually applied directly to injuries, so they didn’t have any additives. There were some made to be easier to drink, but I didn’t have any with me right now.

I rinsed my mouth with water and popped a dried fruit into my mouth. The sweetness made me feel a little better.

‘I should have looked for Yoohyun first.’

I miss my brother. I miss Yerim, Peace, Noah, and Hyunah too. It hasn’t even been a day since we were separated, but I already miss them. I hope they’re all doing well. I wonder if the Sung Hyunjae I know is even here.

‘…I hope other people aren’t like that too.’

Newbie, did you do your job properly? Did you send the message properly? There’s no way to contact you. Make a customer service center for me. I think there’s a bug, so take a report.

As I sat leaning against the wall, drowsiness crept in. I was still dizzy, so I wanted to close my eyes and lie down. The floor is cold, but it’s an A-grade dungeon where S-grades rush in, so I thought I’d be out in a day and didn’t bring a tent or anything.

I’ve been bathing in hot springs and sleeping in soft beds, and now I’m a homeless person. Sleeping rough in a dungeon is common, but the scenery is similar to modern times, so I felt a little sad. Even before the regression, I had my own small house.

I don’t even have any money. The reward for the ‘Is There Anyone Here?’ quest is only 1,000L [Likely a currency]. I hope it’s not 1,000 won [Korean currency, roughly equivalent to $1 USD]. Even if it’s 10,000 won, it’s not enough for lodging.

‘…Don’t they have any new subscriber services or anything? This is a complete failure of a game.’

Usually, they give you some initial funds. More sub-quests have appeared in the meantime, but I don’t have the strength to look at them, so I just closed my eyes. I have to get some sleep and then try to find the others somehow.

…Sung Hyunjae, you son of a bitch, really.

* * *

He gazed at the rooftop where the strange C-grade had disappeared. C-grades were common. However, C-grades wandering around alone like that were rare. Usually, they were assistants or fuel belonging to a guild. A C-grade Awakener wandering around alone without belonging to a guild was practically begging to be captured.

But the C-grade from earlier was peculiar.

Higher-grade skills than their stats, and a high-grade weapon as well. And.

‘That wasn’t the reaction of a newbie.’

High-grade stealth skills are useful. That’s why he had intended to capture them in one go. He had launched an attack strong enough to reliably knock them out, and he had expected them to be unable to counterattack, let alone evade or defend properly.

But the C-grade had deployed a barrier in time. Even though he had been off guard with his combat precognition skill turned off, he had failed to knock out a mere C-grade. An SS-grade Guardian had failed.

Then, they had fearlessly aimed a gun at him and escaped using the gun’s recoil.

For a C-grade to show that level of action, they would have had to have been rolling around among the Guardians for at least two or three years. At the same time, they couldn’t have gone unnoticed, but he clearly saw a face, skills, and a weapon he had never seen before.

All of that was peculiar, but the most puzzling thing was.

‘Were they… disappointed in me?’

Being flustered and surprised was a natural reaction. Being wronged and angry was also a natural emotion. But disappointment? What were they expecting? A C-grade from an SS-grade?

“Master! The cleanup of the 5-B residential area is complete. 3-A was also finished a little while ago.”

A group of people appeared. The man and woman at the front of the group approached him. Both were S-grade Guardians.

“Did something happen?”

“I encountered something peculiar.”

The woman widened her eyes and poked the man next to her in the ribs with her elbow. Her expression and attitude seemed to be asking if he wasn’t surprised. For someone who easily learned and got bored with everything to see something peculiar. He even felt a slight hint of enjoyment, which was rare.

The man who had been losing interest in most things around him and fading away day by day, except for mandatory monster hunts.

“That’s good. Where is that peculiar thing?”

“It escaped.”

“Shall we capture it?”

No answer came. Instead, this time the man among the two spoke.

“A few days ago, the Alpha of Akates City went berserk. The entire 2nd commercial district was burned down. It seems to be suppressed now, but the city’s defense agency has requested us to stand by for suppression.”

“Reject suppression. I’ll accept it if it’s for killing.”

“That’s practically a rejection. I’ll relay that message.”

No defense agency would try to dispose of a valuable SS-grade Guardian just because they damaged the city. Unless they went completely insane and became no different from an SS-grade monster.

“There are no more high-level monster alerts, so let’s go inside.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go catch it? Whatever it is.”

Instead of answering, he glanced at the rooftop one more time before turning around.