The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 26

OFF (2)

“Oh, how did you get here…?”

A young employee in his early twenties, who was standing near the entrance, stiffened when he saw Kim Sung-han. He does have a scary face to run into in the dim light.

“Do you know Kim Min-ui?”

Kim Sung-han asked in a low, interrogating voice. *He’s going to make the kid cry. He’s totally intimidated.*

“Ki, Kim Min-ui… Ah, you mean Min-ui hyung [older brother/friend]? Yes! I got a call!”

I was wondering why he was asking out of the blue, but it seemed Kim Min-ui had told him he was a regular and to treat me well. The employee smiled in relief.

“You’re Min-ui hyung’s senior. Please, come in! I’ve saved a quiet spot for you!”

Somehow, it turned into an atmosphere where we were about to be led to a private room. Of course, there was no such thing as a private room, just a seat set apart in the corner. I liked that it had partitions, though.

I felt like I wanted to hide in many ways.

“I’ll quickly bring you the best stuff we have! For drinks, how about imported beer? We also have whiskey, but the Valentine’s 17 is the best. We don’t get many requests for it, so we don’t keep many bottles in stock.”

The employee, who had completely regained his energy, chattered away. *Kids these days have no fear.*

Kim Sung-han, sitting across from me, looked at me as if telling me to order. I picked up the menu on the table, then carefully put it back down. There’s so much food and alcohol. My staple is just soju [Korean distilled spirit].

“Bring us a mix of beer and soju, appropriately.”

Just take care of it, appropriately, well.

“Yes, sir!”

The employee, snapping to attention, quickly walked away.

The lively music is loud with chatter and laughter. As I came in, I saw a long bar and a small stage area. *Is this half a club? Kids these days hang out in places like this.*

While I was briefly looking around, the drinks and food came out. That was fast. An assortment of fried foods, fruit, budae jjigae [Korean army stew], and snacks were spread out on the table. This is chicken… salad? Why a salad?

“Please call me anytime if you need anything~”

I could get full just eating the appetizers. I started by wetting my whistle with a light beer and picking at the snacks. This french fry is good. The greasy, sweet, and salty flavor, with the well-seasoned and generous cheese sauce, was just perfect.

“I would like to apologize once again for my misunderstanding.”

Kim Sung-han said with a serious face, a serious voice, and a serious attitude, with a bright and cheerful pop song playing in the background.

Yeah, this isn’t the right atmosphere. I wanted to get drunk quickly.

“I did act in a way that could be misunderstood. Like with the Awakened broker incident.”

It wasn’t a misunderstanding, but since he kept calling it that, I decided to go along with it.

I answered vaguely and picked up the chicken salad with a fork. Wow, this chicken salad is delicious. What’s the sauce? The spicy and fiery flavor is exactly what makes you want a beer. The meat is moist and chewy, like it’s made with the thigh. Boneless chicken is all about the thigh meat. Kim Min-ui knows his good restaurants.

“Wasn’t there something else you were thinking? You’re not someone who would be fooled by a con artist.”

Kim Sung-han said with conviction. *I wouldn’t be fooled now. This is going to cause a setting conflict; how do I get past this?*

“Actually, it was because of my personal curiosity about the Awakened broker. I’m quite interested in Awakened and dungeons. I’ve done quite a bit of research and studying on my own.”

I did in the future.

“Section Chief Seok also mentioned that you are knowledgeable about Hunters. Still, it was a dangerous thing to do.”

“Of course, Yoo-hyun wouldn’t let it go. As expected, I was caught and dragged away right away. Well, it was a little faster than expected, to be exact.”

Kim Sung-han smiled as he emptied his beer glass.

“You seem to move quite calculatingly.”

No, I’m the embodiment of impulse. The regression itself was impulsive. If I had cooled my head and calculated things, I would have just become the strongest and cleaned up the urgent dungeons, living well and prospering.

“I thought it was just simple luck until you found Park Ye-rim, but gaining Ye-rim’s trust, nipping potential problems in the bud, and neatly concluding the contract with Section Chief Seok… those are things that are impossible with luck alone.”

“No, luck played a pretty big part.”

If you’re lucky enough to regress, Sung-han can do it too. Oh, you need the skill too. But getting the skill was half luck too.

Luck is the best after all.

“And when you went to save your friend, I was honestly touched. It’s not like you’ve known each other for a long time, and you’d risk danger for an old friend you just happened to run into. It made me think that you’re someone I can trust to have my back.”

“Th, that’s going too far…”

I saved him because he could get an SS-grade skill. I felt embarrassed and cringed at being treated like someone who did something purely righteous without any selfish motives, with ulterior motives. Yu-myung-woo, Seok Si-myung, and now this misunderstanding is piling up, and there’s no way to resolve it.

I quickly emptied my glass to hide my awkwardness. I wish I could get drunk faster. I have nothing to give back if you expect too much from me.

“My friend’s thing was just impulsive. It was a reflexive action, like helping someone who collapses on the street.”

“Even if it was impulsive, helping someone who has simply fallen on the street is completely different from pulling someone out of the path of an oncoming vehicle.”

“…It wasn’t that dangerous since Sung-han was there.”

Stop it, please. My face is going to turn red even though I’m not drunk.

Let’s change the subject. What should I talk about? What’s popular these days? …Come to think of it, I don’t remember anything that’s popular or trending these days. There should be a new X-ble series out. Did Monster Taming 4 come out this year? When did that variety show that hit it big by gathering only Awakened celebrities start airing?

“Do you know ‘Hunters From Today’ by any chance?”

“…Pardon?”

“No, never mind.”

I guess it hasn’t started yet. Oh-hun was fun. High-ranking Hunters came out as guests. I even applied when they were recruiting 출연자 [performers/participants] for the special episode on low-ranking Hunters. I got rejected, though.

“Sung-han, you were an early Awakened, right?”

I don’t know anything about the world, so I just turned the conversation to Hunters, which I know best. I should stick to the TV and computer for a while.

“Yes. More than half of the current Awakened, including myself, Awakened during the first Dungeon Shock.”

When dungeons first appeared in the world, and everyone was cautiously curious, like primitive people discovering fire, the over-saturated dungeons burst one after another.

Fortunately, the initial dungeons were only F to E-grade. Only monsters with little magic, which could be dealt with using ordinary weapons, poured out into the outside world.

However, ordinary people without weapons found it difficult to deal with even F-grade monsters. Of course, there should have been a huge number of casualties, but the actual damage was surprisingly small.

This was because many of the people attacked by the monsters Awakened.

Early Awakening skills vary depending on the Awakening environment. Most of the early Awakened, who felt their lives threatened, had attack and defense skills as their initial skills. Although most were F to E-grade, they were much more useful than ordinary, unfamiliar blades when dealing with low-level monsters.

In addition, when a small number of mid- to high-level Awakened appeared, the situation quickly calmed down. Even so, there were hundreds of thousands of injured and tens of thousands of deaths in Korea alone.

“The place where I was at the time was in the countryside, so it was even more dangerous. Most of the people were elderly, so it was difficult to Awaken, and even if they did, their stats were low.”

Kim Sung-han said, emptying his glass again. As he said, if a dungeon burst in an area with a high proportion of elderly people, the damage would be so great that there would be no survivors.

“Fortunately, I Awakened as an A-grade, so I was able to reduce the damage.”

“You must be a complete hero in that town.”

“The elders of the village still contact me often. They send me things, too.”

He smiled a little shyly.

“It was fortunate that I was down at my grandfather’s house for the weekend with a vacation. If not… I would never have seen my grandfather again.”

“You seem to have a good relationship with your grandfather.”

“He raised me.”

“Ah… then your parents…”

“They are alive. However, after the divorce, my mother remarried, and my father went abroad and only sent alimony. After I became an adult, I completely lost contact with him, so I think my father may have started a new family. Thanks to that, I barely remember what they look like.”

I see. It seems like no one has a smooth family life.

It’s different from Kim Sung-han or Yoo-hyun’s case, but in fact, quite a few early Awakened had broken families. At that time, Awakening meant being attacked by a monster… and there were many cases where they were with their families on the weekend.

Even if that wasn’t the case, it was an unprecedented situation with as many as a million injured. There were many wounds, and many people still hadn’t healed.

“My grandfather, who was like a parent to me, also passed away last year due to illness. The Guild Leader and Section Chief Seok gave me a lot of help at that time. They even brought in a specialized healer from overseas to care for him.”

“I see.”

Healers can’t cure diseases, but they are excellent at replenishing energy and reducing pain. Unlike narcotic painkillers, skills have no side effects. The biggest downside is that they are expensive.

As the stories piled up, so did the empty bottles. But strangely, I didn’t feel drunk. It wasn’t completely absent, but it stopped at a tantalizing feeling, like I was about to get tipsy.

“You seem to be stronger than you look.”

Kim Sung-han said. That’s not true. My alcohol tolerance isn’t that high. It was only after five years that my level increased and my tolerance increased due to my stats, but now that I’m level 1, my face should be flushed after one bottle of soju. But why am I fine?

“…It’s just going down well today.”

I tilted my head and answered. Why aren’t I getting drunk? Of course, I didn’t intend to get completely drunk. It would be troublesome if I accidentally blurted out something about my skills.

But I need to be a little tipsy to make it easier to say the keywords. I can’t say it sober.

“It’s better not to get too drunk. My drunken habits are embarrassing.”

Still, I laid the groundwork.

“Do you cry or something?”

“Hey, there’s nothing embarrassing about that. My drunken habit is… confessing to anyone.”

I couldn’t help but make an awkward expression without having to act.

“I’ve even been slapped after a drunken confession.”

Of course, that never really happened… I did get slapped after confessing sober and in my right mind. I still don’t know why she slapped me when she could have just said no. Did she hate me that much?

“That must have been difficult. One of my college classmates would grab anyone and try to kiss them when he was drunk. There were many victims during orientation.”

…What’s orientation? I don’t think he’s talking about military training.

I was too embarrassed to ask, so I just sipped my soju and laughed it off. Maybe I should go to college. I have plenty of time, so I could study and take the college entrance exam…….

*‘I’m not even drunk, and I’m already having crazy thoughts.’*

What college? But really, why aren’t I getting drunk? I should have already blacked out. Come to think of it, the beer I drank last night didn’t have any effect either. I thought it was because I only drank half a can.

What’s the problem? I didn’t wear any items that increase magic power except for the earrings, and the skills… could it be because of the skill?

*‘Is Poison Resistance the culprit?’*

That’s the only skill I suspect. Does it block alcohol as a poison if it’s above a certain level? It’s addictive and bad for the body if you overdo it, but it’s not poison.

…If it’s because of the Poison Resistance skill, does that mean I can’t get drunk anymore? Am I saying goodbye to the pleasant feeling of getting tipsy forever? Are you kidding me?

“You don’t look well; did you drink too much after all?”

“Ah, no. I just remembered something… worrying.”

My alcohol! My chicken and beer! The Awakened League is coming out soon, and I have to watch that mess sober!

*‘Damn it, why did it have to be a passive skill? Can’t I turn off the skill? I’ve never heard of being able to turn off a passive skill, though.’*

Usually, people don’t even think about turning it off because it doesn’t consume mana. I don’t think it would even turn off in the first place. That’s why it’s called passive.

*‘Still, it would be nice if I could turn it on and off. Can’t I do it just this once? I don’t want to pretend to be drunk and say the keywords sober. Poison Resistance skill, turn off. Poison Resistance skill off.’*

As expected, it doesn’t work…….

[The Poison Resistance (L) skill has been canceled.]

Clang! The glass slipped from my hand and fell. The scene was perceived slowly, like in slow motion.

“Han Yoo-jin-ssi? Are you okay?”

No, I’m not okay… crazy… I did something stupid. It really, turned off.

Like a dam that had been full, the alcohol rushed in all at once. Damn it, it feels like I swallowed a fireball… Skill, I have to use it again…….

*‘Skill name… what was it…….’*

What, was it…….

And then I blacked out.