The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 30

30. Goblin (2)

Yerim left for another appointment, and Yoo Myungwoo was sent up first.

Alone with Seok Hayan, my heart fluttered slightly. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve been alone with a woman who likes me. …Is this the first time?

Although Seok Hayan was full of academic zeal.

Her eyes sparkled as she drew a dungeon entrance on paper. She’s not good at drawing.

“It’s amazing that you can estimate the dungeon’s saturation level by calculating the shape of the entrance and the mana distribution. Right now, it’s just a simple average calculation, so sometimes we have to start the attack urgently. There are no indicators other than green for dungeons within three days of their occurrence and red for dungeons one day before a break.”

“It’s just a guess. There’s not enough data to be sure, especially since there aren’t that many dungeons in Korea.”

At my words, Seok Hayan let out a sigh of regret.

“That’s right! There are too few. Ah, I’ll probably get stoned if I say this outside. But I’m sad that I can’t investigate more dungeons.”

“If we investigate a large number of dungeons and compile statistics, we might discover something new.”

“Exactly! I don’t know why most countries don’t allow foreigners to investigate. I’m not saying I’ll attack, I just want to take a look. Honestly, isn’t this something the whole world should be cooperating on? If we knew more about dungeons, people could be safer!”

Seok Hayan, who had been shouting in frustration, now looked at me with admiring eyes.

“You’re the first person in Korea who understands me so well! The prevailing theory is that dungeons are random, unpredictable disasters. But to meet someone here who is convinced that there is a pattern and even investigates and researches it…”

She grabbed my hand and leaned in close. Wait a minute. I don’t do research.

“Would you like to start a lab with me?”

“…I’ll pass.”

“Why? We could definitely make amazing discoveries together!”

Like uncle, like niece, she was acting similarly to Seok Simyeong.

“I just run around and scratch the surface, so I can’t sit at a desk and rack my brains.”

“It’s okay. Just keep running around. I’ll take care of the rest. Statistics is my major!”

“I only have a GED [General Educational Development certificate], so my education is…….”

“No problem. I have professor qualifications. I was planning to create a dungeon or Awakened-related department with my connections anyway. I’ll be the kindest professor in the world. I’ll just pass your thesis!”

To think she’d create a department with her connections, her family must be amazing. The offer to get a university degree for free was tempting, but I didn’t feel like studying now.

Besides, if I get too involved with someone who will become an authority on dungeon studies, I’ll run out of resources in no time. It’s better to just pretend to know things occasionally.

“I’m sorry, but I’m more interested in other things now, so I don’t want to study dungeons and Awakened people.”

“…Other things?”

“Yes. I’m thinking of studying monsters.”

If I raise them, I’ll study them along the way.

“…Monsters…….”

Seok Hayan, who had been murmuring wistfully, suddenly made a determined expression.

“Let’s collaborate, Han Yoojin’s lab and my lab.”

“I don’t have a lab. I don’t have any plans to build one. I’m just raising a monster.”

“You’re raising one? Already? Wow, you’re really a hands-on researcher!”

It was when Seok Hayan was making a fuss about how she should learn from me.

Thud!

“Huh?”

Suddenly, the lights went out. It was underground with no windows, and all the lights in the hallway were off, so I couldn’t see an inch in front of me.

Is it a power outage?

“I think the power went out.”

“I see. I’ll turn on my phone’s flashlight.”

I took my phone out of my pocket and pressed the home button. A faint light came on, illuminating Seok Hayan’s face in front of my desk.

A face frozen in shock, beyond surprise.

“…Seok Hayan?”

Why is she suddenly like that? It’s really scary to see in the phone light—

“Kyaaaaaa!”

“Wh, what is it?!”

My heart sank at the piercing scream. I reflexively turned around in horror.

A blue, bloodied face floats in the misty light. White eyes met mine straight on.

Sh, shit…….

Thump, thump, thump, thump!

The chairs and desks shake wildly. The printouts on the lecture table fluttered here and there as if caught in a typhoon.

“Kyaaak! Mommy!”

In Seok Hayan’s screams, I collapsed to the floor. My legs gave way, no, I fell because the chair was shaking… Damn it, it’s a wonder I didn’t scream! What the hell is this… There’s no such thing as ghosts in the world… There are monsters in dungeons, so are there ghosts too……?

No, more than that, I have a fear resistance skill, so why am I shaking all over and feeling like I’m about to cry… Ah.

I turned it off. I turned it off and didn’t turn it back on. Am I an idiot?

I quickly reactivated the fear resistance skill. Then, I soon found peace of mind.

‘Was it because I turned off the skill that I was in bad shape this morning?’

The skill description was only intimidation nullification, but since it was an L-grade skill, it was likely to have other effects. Besides, since it’s passive, it probably raises my mental strength a bit even normally.

Still, my original mental state wasn’t weak, but I was swept away by anxiety because the skill was turned off. Is this why you don’t know how much you miss something until it’s gone?

“Seok Hayan!”

I picked up the dropped phone, turned on the flashlight, and quickly approached Seok Hayan. She was sitting on the floor, half out of her mind.

“Are you okay?”

When I shook her shoulder lightly, she slumped over and collapsed completely. She’s breathing fine. Did she just faint? I held her in my arms and shouted.

“Stop it! Goblin!”

There’s no way a ghost would suddenly appear in broad daylight, especially with such an exaggerated performance.

As my mind cooled, the culprit quickly came to mind.

It’s a goblin.

A goblin who likes to play pranks, especially scaring people.

“Okay, okay. Don’t get angry~”

A neutral voice, neither male nor female, said playfully. Then the lights in the hallway, the lights in the training room, turned on one by one.

“I came because you said you wanted to meet me.”

Chuckling, a figure appeared on the desk. It was a person with a red goblin mask and a blue robe. The guy swung around a bloody blue face model.

“Was I a little too much? I didn’t know you’d faint. Really. I usually control myself well, but it’s been a while.”

“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like you’re hurt…….”

I looked up at the goblin. It was the first time I’d seen one in person. He wasn’t very tall, but he wasn’t short either. A quirky, playful, but good-natured human.

A hunter who doesn’t belong anywhere, with mid-range teleportation, stealth, and later even ultra-long-range portals.

I want him.

Besides, even now, with just the two of us, if I could get his help.

‘I can investigate the dungeon.’

Seok Hayan could discover the dungeon creation rules in Korea without having to go to the United States.

‘…A goblin who likes to play pranks. A goblin who is even said to be obsessed with scaring people.’

This is an opportunity.

I raised the corners of my mouth in a sneer and said provocatively.

“Why don’t you stop playing pranks that aren’t scary at all?”

“What?!”

The goblin jumped up.

“Not scary?! You were so scared that you turned completely pale! You collapsed and trembled with your legs giving way!”

“You must have seen it wrong. It was dark.”

“No, I saw it! I saw it all clearly?”

I deliberately stuttered, making a flustered expression at the goblin who was feeling wronged.

“Th, that’s. It’s just because I didn’t expect it.”

“So you were surprised! Do you think you wouldn’t have been surprised if you had expected it? Coward~ Coward~”

“Of course I wouldn’t be surprised if I expected it! Honestly, your pranks are childish.”

“Childish! It’s classic!”

The goblin stomped his feet. Should I start pulling the fishing line?

“Then how about we make a bet?”

“A bet? I like bets! What should we bet?”

“If you can’t scare me, you admit that I’m greater than you! Um… you’ll be my subordinate for three years.”

It was a bit childish, but the goblin seemed to like it. He shrugged his shoulders and laughed.

“Okay, okay. But I’m a very capable and great person! If it’s my three years, you’re… an F-class, but since you’re the Haeyeon Guild Leader’s brother, I’ll specially cut it down and make you my subordinate for 20 years!”

So he knew about me too. But he didn’t seem to have figured everything out. Well, no matter how great a goblin is, he only has one body. There’s no way he’d look into every move of a mere F-class.

Still, now that we’re involved like this, it might be better to be a little more careful in the future.

“Do you have a contract?”

At my words, the goblin’s laughter stopped abruptly. The eyes behind the mask stared straight at me.

“A contract? You want me to write a contract?”

I guess he thought it was just childish servitude. But that won’t do. I have to be sure.

“Of course I have to write a formal contract. Why, are you scared?”

“No! But I don’t understand. It’s too suspicious? Besides, you’re too confident.”

The goblin’s body floated into the air. He slowly approached me and circled around me, examining me closely.

“You don’t have a resistance skill because it’s passive, are you going to use an item?”

“I’m not using it. If you’re suspicious, you can add a no-item clause to the contract.”

“Then a skill that raises mental strength?”

“I’m not using that either. Anyway, my skill only increases it by 5%. It won’t even show? I’ll add the skill to the contract too. I won’t use my own active skills, or anyone else’s, would that be enough?”

I said that, but the goblin was still suspicious. He has a good sense.

“Ugh, it’s strange, it’s suspicious. I think you’re hiding something! You’re definitely going to lose? You were so surprised a little while ago? Your legs even gave way?”

I am hiding something. I had to reassure him. At this rate, he wouldn’t easily sign the contract.

“To be honest… I do have an ulterior motive.”

I continued, pretending to be a little embarrassed.

“Actually, it’s a bet that I won’t lose even if I lose.”

“You won’t lose?”

“Yeah. I’m an ordinary F-class hunter, and you’re the famous goblin. If I win, it’s a jackpot, but if I lose, I’ll get the title of goblin’s subordinate, right?”

This time, I made an embarrassed expression. I didn’t even have to try to act, I just remembered the fact that I confessed to Kim Seonghan 30 times, and my neck quickly turned red. Embarrassing, damn it.

“You are… as you said, great, and… um, not quite a fan. Th, that is, if I become a subordinate, it’s an honor… I guess. I don’t think you’re someone who would treat me badly. And…….”

“And?”

The goblin asked in an excited voice. If he wasn’t wearing a mask, his grinning face would have been revealed.

“You were… cool. When you declared that my bundle contained all sorts of secrets. It was really cool.”

“I am great and cool!”

The goblin chuckled and soared into the air. He’s going to hit his head on the ceiling.

“I like you! If you had just said you wanted to be a subordinate, I would have laughed it off, but you provoked me and made a bet. It’s fun! I like that you even brought a contract!”

“I said it’s okay even if I lose, but I’m confident I can win?”

“Okay, okay, good!”

A piece of parchment appeared in the goblin’s hand.

“Let’s bet!”

Fishing success.

In the cheerful laughter, I held Seok Hayan again. Now that all I have to do is eat the cooked rice [idiom for reaping the benefits], I have to do something about this lady.

“Before that, would you take this person to the infirmary?”

At my words, the goblin readily nodded and disappeared with Seok Hayan, then reappeared soon after.

As expected, the teleportation skill is really good. I want to have it too.

“Now, let’s write the contract!”

The goblin placed the parchment he was holding on the desk. It was an A-grade stat reduction contract guaranteed by the association.

‘Come to think of it, I wonder what the goblin’s stats are like. Should I check his name too?’

If I saw his name, I might even know his gender. When I used the Seedling Skill, the goblin’s status window, veiled in mystery, appeared.

[Awakened – Yoon Yoon

Current Stat Grade B

Awakening Possible Stat Grade B

Optimized Initial Skills

Who am I?(S) Acquired

Cloud Steps(B) Acquired]

…What’s with that name? It was bizarre, as if he was a goblin. I don’t know if he’s a woman or a man.

His stats were high at B, and surprisingly, none of his optimized initial skills were related to teleportation. Who am I? seems to be a stealth skill, and Cloud Steps was a relatively common flight skill.

“Aren’t you writing it? Did you change your mind already?”

The goblin urged me on when I was spacing out for a moment looking at the status window. He’s impatient.

I took out a pen and wrote the conditions in the empty space of the contract.

“Once is ambiguous, so let’s do it three times~”

The goblin, who was watching what I was writing, chimed in. It’s not because it’s ambiguous, but because he wants to increase the number of times to make it fun for himself.

“If you don’t surprise me even once, I’ll promote you to subordinate number 1!”

“Do you have other subordinates?”

“Three including you!”

Well, he has to have confidants so that if something bad happens to the goblin, they can release that bundle or something for him.

I occasionally received interference and wrote down the conditions for judging the victory or defeat and the prohibition of using skills and items. There wasn’t enough space because the goblin was picking at this and that.

Unlike his frivolous attitude, he’s surprisingly meticulous.

“The part about not listening to unreasonable orders must be detailed. If I lose, which is unlikely, I’ll also write that I won’t ask about other people’s confidential information!”

“Of course I won’t ask about that. I’m not going to do anything that would put you in danger.”

You’re a precious person, so I have to treat you with care.

Finally, I set the betting period to one week and finished signing.

“Don’t drag other people in as much as possible because it’s a nuisance. And I hope you’ll protect my privacy as much as possible. For example, places like bathrooms and toilets.”

“Don’t worry! I’ve never secretly entered bathrooms or bathhouses! I’ve never even thought about it!”

“Okay, okay. Good boy. Then I look forward to working with you.”

I carefully took the contract and gave a friendly smile to my future subordinate.