The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 302

“Let’s get out of here.”

I’ll call him, and if he doesn’t answer, I’ll barge in or something. I need to tell him. I only need to tell Seong Hyeon-jae about my regression and my relationship with Crescent Moon. No need to go into a long story. As I took a step, Yu-hyeon opened his mouth.

“But your leg, can I ask about it?”

“…Huh? Ah, that’s…”

Yu-hyeon looked worried, probably because my expression unintentionally hardened.

“No, it’s just, I was curious. If you still limp even after treatment…”

His words trailed off. Yu-hyeon probably thinks I received treatment. Is he assuming I was injured so badly that even a high-level healer couldn’t completely heal me? He must have many other questions too. But he didn’t ask further. Instead, he studied me.

“Sorry. I was just so happy, even though it must have been hard for you, hyung [older brother or respected male figure]. But I’m really okay. If you’re worried about me, please don’t be.”

“Oh, okay.”

He smiled again. As he said, Yu-hyeon is okay. He will be in the future too. The anxiety he had when he left me was mostly gone. He didn’t seem to be forcing himself or overly enduring, with an attitude that it was okay even if I didn’t tell him. His concern for me was still there, but there was definitely a sense of ease.

He will continue to change like this in the future.

So, in the end, my brother… my brothers have changed.

They are definitely the same person. They were the same person. But the twenty-five-year-old version of my brother in front of me will be completely different. There were already many differences. His skills have changed. Some of the people around him were also different. Not only that, but even his appearance was likely to change. He will be a little taller, his eye color will change occasionally, and his impression will also change.

Even while constantly feeling that fact, I wanted to pretend I didn’t know. But now I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

My brothers who are the same person but have changed and will continue to change. My brothers whom I love dearly.

“I did hurt my leg, but you, Yu-hyeon, worked hard for five years. To protect me.”

The current Yu-hyeon would have acted the same way if I hadn’t changed. He would have walked the same thorny path that burns him up inside.

“Back then, I was much weaker than I am now, so I couldn’t help it. My stats were still F, and my skills were pathetic. So I suffered much, much more than you do now. It was hard.”

Yu-hyeon was just being loyal to me, the same as always. It was me, many things, the surrounding circumstances and environment that had changed. Like countless events, countless people.

I slowly moved my steps towards the gate far away. Moisture was gradually seeping into the dried-up wasteland. Perhaps because the underground water source was still there, the ground was slowly becoming moist. Here and there, I could see puddles that were already filled with water. The puddles were surprisingly clear, perhaps because all the impurities had burned away, or because the accumulated ash acted as a filter. The murky swamp was nowhere to be seen.

“…Was my leg really some kind of curse? The trap too, if those guys were seriously targeting hyung… Still, I was satisfied, I would have been, hyung. Because you thought of me and liked me enough to come back for me like this. Really. I’m sure of it.”

Yu-hyeon said, following beside me, saying that he knows me well because it’s me, and diligently making excuses so that I wouldn’t feel guilty. Listening to his voice, I became convinced that I couldn’t say anything more right now.

The person I need to pour out five years of time to. The person I need to grab and cry to, the person I need to ask why, the person I need to hug and say thank you, thank you, I’m sorry, is the brother I left behind.

I couldn’t pass that on to him. I shouldn’t. I need to see Yu-hyeon as Yu-hyeon.

“That’s enough for me. So please think of yourself first, hyung.”

And more than anything, I could easily imagine how the current Yu-hyeon would react if he knew the truth, so I couldn’t open my mouth yet.

I can’t give up on my brother. I couldn’t let go of even the smallest piece. Even if my brother, Yu-hyeon, desperately wanted it. I can give up anything else, but I can never give up that. To anyone in the world.

Then my brother would have to suppress himself again. He would worry and be anxious… Yu-hyeon is already still wavering. He has an ambiguous light that is neither black nor blue. I didn’t want to add more anxiety factors, at least until it stabilized.

‘It would be nice if he took care of himself a little more.’

Right now, Yu-hyeon would definitely tell me to abandon him, to give up on him. I’m not in a position to say anything to my brother about that.

“Think about yourself too, Yu-hyeon.”

“It must have been the hardest for hyung, why? You’re still alive like this. Back then… I definitely didn’t like leaving hyung alone.”

No, I smiled. I swallowed the words. I smiled and nudged Yu-hyeon’s arm. Still, being able to take out even a part of it was much better than keeping it all inside. I picked up Peace, who was loitering around my feet and watching me. Then Yu-hyeon immediately showed his displeasure.

“Even if it’s mental, you said your leg is uncomfortable. Put him down.”

“This much is okay. Don’t be so mean to a kid as an uncle. Right, Peace? Uncle Yu-hyeon is being too much.”

I grabbed Peace’s front paws and tapped Yu-hyeon. Peace purred softly.

“It’s been a while since he became an adult. And why am I an uncle?”

“Okay, I’ll give you the dad position. Peace’s guardian. Peace is really kind and cute~ Peace, should we go to dad? No? You shouldn’t show your teeth to dad.”

“…It reminds me of when hyung worked at the animal hospital.”

“I was popular with the kids and their guardians back then. It’s so long ago, really. More than 10 years ago.”

“Not that long… Ah.”

“My perceived age is thirty. Ah, it feels so refreshing to say it! Yu-hyeon, you’re now ten years younger than your hyung. You’re a complete kid, a kid. Ye-rim is almost like a daughter. Myeong-woo is my younger brother. I’m even older than Hyeon-ah! But Hyeon-ah seems older. The age difference between you and me is less than the age difference between the Seseong Guild Leader and me? Aren’t you and Song the Section Chief about the same age?”

I laughed out loud, watching my brother’s bewildered expression.

“If hyung is… thirty years old. Still, hyung is hyung, right?”

“Of course, the hyung of young Han Yu-hyeon! Whether it’s five years older or ten years older, you’re all hyung!”

No matter how he changes in the future, that much will not change. Even if I become younger, I’m still the hyung.

“Oh, right, I’m going to tell the Seseong Guild Leader about the regression too.”

“What? Why? Not Park Ye-rim.”

Yu-hyeon looked displeased at my words. Still, he takes care of Ye-rim.

“I’ll tell Ye-rim if possible, but the Seseong Guild Leader takes priority on this. There’s information I have to tell him.”

I vaguely glossed over the thing about Crescent Moon because I couldn’t just reveal it without the person’s permission. A deeper furrow appeared on Yu-hyeon’s brow.

“…Were you close?”

“Huh?”

“Were you close to the Seseong Guild Leader? How close were you? Don’t tell me you were closer than you are now─”

“Hey, not at all. I told you, before the regression, I didn’t have any special abilities. I was just a common F-class hunter, and of course, the Seseong Guild Leader had no interest in me at all.”

“That can’t be true.”

Yu-hyeon looked sulky, asking why I was trying to deceive him.

“Even knowing about my relationship with you, he had no interest in hyung? The reason the Seseong Guild Leader became interested in me was because of hyung. If he knew about hyung’s existence, his interest would naturally shift to hyung. It’s the same now. He’s lost interest in me and is overly concerned about hyung.”

“More than half of that interest is probably because of my skills.”

“Even without skills, it’s a fact that hyung is unique. It’s impossible that he had no interest.”

That was true. I heard that raisers themselves were extremely rare, so if Seong Hyeon-jae knew of my existence, he would have found it fascinating. But wouldn’t he have judged that it wasn’t enough to get directly involved, unlike now? Maybe he just checked on me, believed that Yu-hyeon would continue to protect Korea, and ended it by leaving.

“Still, we really had no relationship. In the first place, the Seseong Guild Leader left Korea and even went missing. How could I have been close to someone whose whereabouts I didn’t even know?”

“Really?”

Yu-hyeon nodded with a relieved expression. He seemed very pleased that Seong Hyeon-jae was not in Korea.

“He seemed to care more about overseas than Korea anyway. A high percentage of his major guild members are foreigners. When is he leaving?”

“Well, I don’t know. The situation is very different now. He went missing, aren’t you worried?”

“Why would I be? Whether he’s dead or alive, it has nothing to do with me. If he died, I’d be curious about the reason. Ah, did I kill him?”

“…He was probably alive.”

He was fine, so he must have had memories from before the regression.

“Aren’t you curious about other people? If it were me, I would have asked a lot of questions.”

“Hyung said you were with me. He said Haeyeon is the best, so that means the guild is fine. Other than that… Park Ye-rim?”

“Ye-rim was safe too. Her awakening environment wasn’t good, so she was A-class, but she was still a famous hunter.”

Although it was very different in many ways compared to now. In a way that was closer to the bad side. I didn’t want to say more details because I thought Ye-rim should hear this first.

Yu-hyeon’s gaze briefly turned to Peace. But he doesn’t ask about Peace. He must have guessed what happened to Peace since I said I didn’t have any special skills. Maybe he resold him as a rare pet. The food costs are no joke, but if someone like Shisio took him, he might have taken good care of him.

“A lot has changed in five years. The World Hunter Ranking Battle was also held. The number of domestic S-class hunters has also increased, but most of them were safe until right before I regressed. I want to bring more S-class hunters in advance, but I don’t know their identities.”

More S-class hunters awakened, but after the Awakening Center was created, the identities of high-level hunters were protected. In particular, as the difficulty of dungeons increased, foreign countries and foreign guilds often targeted high-level hunters, so some hunters changed their appearance and name and became active. Ye-rim was known because her parents were not around and she didn’t have a good relationship with her uncle’s family.

“If it’s most, then there must have been other dead S-class hunters besides me.”

“Oh, yeah. Two of them have already crossed the river Styx [a reference to death in Greek mythology]. Not everyone was okay in five years.”

“Section Chief Song?”

“…How did you know?”

“It would be more amazing if he lived long while suppressing himself so much.”

I… had nothing to say. I wanted to slap Yu-hyeon on the back, asking if that was something he should be saying.

“He’ll be okay this time.”

“I hope so.”

For a moment, I wondered if I had misheard. My brother is worrying about Section Chief Song, of course, Yu-hyeon is kind, but he doesn’t have much interest in others… a lot.

“He’s irreplaceable. It’ll be more comfortable for hyung if Korea is stable too.”

“Is that the reason? Still, you were looking at Section Chief Song favorably.”

“Other S-class hunters probably think the same. It’s not for nothing that the Seseong Guild Leader takes care of him. Even if there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of S-class awakeners, there won’t be anyone like Section Chief Song Tae-won. Who would do such a mi… strange thing.”

That’s true. Although the Awakening Center incident hasn’t happened yet, so the gap between the Association and the guilds isn’t deep, I still didn’t think Seong Hyeon-jae killed Song Tae-won. The place is inside the dungeon, and Seong Hyeon-jae would have been by his side, so is it related to Crescent Moon or another transcender?

I came out of the gate and took my belongings from the storage box. I took out my cell phone and immediately called Seong Hyeon-jae without much hesitation. But this time too, it just rang and then connected to the voice message. I can’t solve it if I can’t get in touch. Is he just going to disappear!

“Yu-hyeon, lend me your phone.”

He might answer if I call from someone else’s number. I think I’ll be a little angry if he answers, but. Yu-hyeon handed me his cell phone.

“…Isn’t the phone book list too empty?”

Hasn’t he backed it up yet? My hyung, Park Ye-rim, Team Leader Seok, Team Leader Kim, Vice Guild Leader, Secretary Office. That was the end of it with these six. Is the Vice Guild Leader Kim Seong-han? He’s already changed it.

“External calls are connected by the Secretary Office. You call the Secretary Office and just press the speed dial. If it’s not registered on the speed dial, you can just say it. There’s a separate number for external use.”

I see, it’s convenient to go through the Secretary Office because the phone number is exposed if you connect directly with a personal phone. I also called the Haeyeon Guild Secretary Office first and then asked to be connected to Seong Hyeon-jae’s number. Then he answers the phone right away. He really avoided only my phone─!

[This is the Seseong Guild Leader’s Secretary Office.]

“…Excuse me? Isn’t this the Seseong Guild Leader’s cell phone number?”

Suddenly, what Secretary Office? To my question, the person who answered the phone replied in a kind voice that the Secretary Office handles this cell phone number of the Seseong Guild Leader, except for some numbers.

“Then… can I contact the Seseong Guild Leader now?”

[I’m sorry. External calls are not possible at this time.]

Are internal calls possible? Is he answering if I enter the Seseong Guild and call? Anyway, the Secretary Office said there was no way to connect me. He’s being terribly picky. I swallowed a sigh and returned the phone to my brother.

“Seong Hyeon-jae is really……”

“He seems to not want to listen, so leave him alone.”

“I want to exchange about five bombs for points and throw them into his house. He’ll come out if I blow it up.”

“That’s a waste of points. I’ll set it on fire for you instead.”

“I’d be too sorry to Section Chief Song.”

It’s much better for a stat F-class to commit a bomb attack than for S-classes to fight each other. Just in case, I called my phone again, but the result was the same. I clenched my teeth and sent a text message with force on my finger. It’s a touch phone, so the feeling isn’t alive.

[If I don’t hear from you by 3 PM tomorrow, I will visit you in person.]

I’m really bringing a bomb.

“Is Ye-rim’s work over? Let’s eat out for the first time in a while!”

If you think about it, it’s been eating out all along, but it’s different from going out to eat with family in Korea. Just thinking about it, it was always fun. Yu-hyeon and Ye-rim are smiling, and Peace is comfortably lying on my lap in the evening.