The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 395

393. The Prophet (1)

No matter how quick I was, even with Teleportation, it was impossible to dodge all the rain. Freezing it had its limits, and eventually, Dang Ye’s water touched Park Yerim’s shadow. As an A-Rank, with stats nearing S-Rank, her movements were only slightly slowed, but the effect was still significant.

Compared to the weakened Park Yerim, Dang Ye received an additional buff. Including the basic buff from being in the daytime without shadows, it was more than enough to make up for her lack of experience. Furthermore, the momentum of the water she summoned remained strong.

The water under Dang Ye’s control required more effort for Park Yerim to freeze and manipulate than usual. Even when the ice melted, it quickly returned to Dang Ye’s grasp. It was like trying to bail out the encroaching sea with a bucket. Park Yerim’s ability was by no means weak, making her more like a large pump, but it was still insufficient.

“Oh, no. I’m out of mana!”

Soaked to the bone, Park Yerim raised one arm and shouted. Without a mana potion, it was practically a defeat.

“Want me to give you some of mine?”

Dang Ye, looking like she’d just come out of a swimming pool fully clothed, asked. Park Yerim shook her head.

“I’m not the only one in this dungeon. Usually, they don’t talk, and we have to fight to solve things, so save it.”

Park Yerim used her remaining mana to create an ice bench. Complaining about a headache from using too much mana, she leaned back against the bench, slouching. Dang Ye approached and sat next to her.

“I heard you can faint if you don’t have much mana left. You can use a potion. I have plenty.”

“I’m not that bad. Besides, if you’re a high-level Hunter, you can endure it even with only 1 percent left.”

Normally, one would lose consciousness if their remaining mana was less than 10 percent. However, high-level Hunters with strong base stats often developed resistance to mana deficiency. Especially those with high magic stats and a large mana pool could endure it more easily.

“I still have trouble making it this clean.”

Dang Ye said, touching the ice bench. It was perfectly shaped and balanced, as if it had been mass-produced in a factory.

“Simple shapes are easy, but if it gets a little complicated, it turns out differently from what I imagined in my head.”

“You have to practice that too.”

“Did you practice?”

“Yeah. And it’s about having a sense for it. Anyone can draw with paper and pencil, but not everyone is good at it. Some people are good at it right away, but usually, it takes practice.”

“…So, do I have to study art too? There’s so much to learn!”

“Civil engineering is good. Especially things like balance and force distribution. If you learn it, you can achieve greater effects with less power. Even the same ice wall can have different strengths depending on the structure. Plus, it’s good to use in various ways when attacking as a team.”

Dang Ye made a face. She thought she wouldn’t have to study as much once she awakened as an S-Rank.

“But I wonder if he really doesn’t remember me.”

“Huh?”

“Youjin Uncle, I mean.”

Park Yerim said, brushing the hair off her face.

“If he remembered, he would have already told you about it. Most of what I told you, I also talked about with Uncle. Uncle likes collecting Hunter information. That’s why he got along so well with Dohamin Uncle, even though he pretended not to.”

“Oh, I know Hamin Uncle.”

“He’s famous as an informant. But you wouldn’t have known him at your age, would you?”

“Uncle hired him.”

“What? He doesn’t remember me but remembers that cheapskate? You always complained about him!”

Park Yerim stomped her foot, feeling wronged. Then, she changed to a worried expression.

“I wonder if something happened a year ago. I should have gone to see him, but I was too busy settling down.”

“Let’s go ask him!”

Dang Ye jumped up from her seat. Park Yerim’s eyes widened at those words.

“What?”

“Ah, you can’t go out. I’ll go get him.”

“Wait, is Uncle here? If this is a real dungeon, it’ll be at least S-Rank! Uncle is F-Rank!”

At Park Yerim’s cry of what crazy thing she was doing, Dang Ye looked sheepish.

“Well, this dungeon isn’t normal. He was forced to come in. And it’s not the first time Uncle has entered a high-level dungeon.”

“Not the first time? A high-level dungeon? That’s crazy! Why is he doing that? I thought he reconciled with the Haeyeon Guild Leader. So why is he doing dangerous things again?”

“…It just happened?”

Dang Ye didn’t know what to say. “Anyway, I’ll be right back,” she said, and as Dang Ye flew up, she bumped into a transparent barrier.

“Ugh! What is it?”

[The defeat declaration of the boss monster has not been heard! Raiders can leave the area after completing the area raid!]

A system message window appeared. Dang Ye stared blankly at the message.

“What? Hey, Volleyball Head!”

There was no such thing at first! Dang Ye shouted. No new message windows appeared even when she said she would be right back. Park Yerim waved at Dang Ye, who was hovering in the air, telling her to come back.

“You can’t leave until you clear it!”

“Really?”

“Yeah. How cheap!”

“Isn’t it a big help that they changed it like this?”

Park Yerim said, taking off the ring she was wearing.

“It’s an SS-Rank ring. It can hold two attributes.”

It was a ring with two intertwined rings, one blue-silver and the other red-gold. Dang Ye accepted the ring in a daze.

“…It also contains poison? Why didn’t you use poison? I don’t have poison resistance skills, and my poison resistance equipment is low-grade, so it would have been effective.”

“There’s no healer nearby. What if something goes wrong? Especially with me. And… oh?”

Park Yerim, who was about to hand over the spear, stopped. A system message window appeared in front of her.

“I can only give one reward item. The ring is better, right? It was really hard to get.”

Reward item. Dang Ye’s face darkened at those words. She fiddled with the ring, narrowed her brows, and sighed deeply.

“I, well, I want to fight a few more times.”

“Yeah, it was fun.”

“Yeah! Me too!”

“Maybe I’ll just go back to my real place. Then they’ll make a fuss about what happened to the ring.”

Park Yerim smiled. But Dang Ye couldn’t smile easily. She lifted Park Yerim’s hand and lightly patted her smaller shoulder.

“Even if that’s not the case, you are, so to speak, my future. I exist, so you became who you are.”

“Still, it’s a shame.”

A brief silence fell. Park Yerim scratched her arm, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Ah, I think I’ll have regrets too. Let’s finish this quickly. I lost! Park Yerim won!”

Park Yerim shouted without hesitation.

[Congratulations☆Raid Complete☆]

A message window popped up as soon as the shout ended. At the same time, Park Yerim’s figure began to blur.

“Wait! There’s something!”

“Say hello to Uncle for me. Find out about his memories. And also, um, I’ll take care of myself!”

Park Yerim smiled and waved her hand.

“Park Yerim, fighting!” [A Korean expression of encouragement, like ‘Good luck!’]

“Uh, uh… yeah! Fighting!”

Park Yerim shouted with all her might. And then it became quiet. Park Yerim, left alone, rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Like I said, she’s so impatient. She could have stayed a little longer.”

She put the ring left in her hand on her finger. The slightly large ring shrank and fit Park Yerim’s finger perfectly. Seeing the faintly glowing ring, tears welled up even more. It wasn’t just the sadness of parting. Various emotions mixed and overflowed.

“Little Mr. Kim!”

“You scared me!”

“Are you crying?”

“I’m not!”

Park Yerim wiped her face with her wet sleeve.

“This is just water, water!”

“Okay. But I’m sometimes curious. Why is crying embarrassing?”

Yoon Yoon tilted her head.

“Well, if you cry, you look weak.”

“Little Mr. Kim is very strong, though?”

Yoon Yoon looked around and said.

“I saw the water soaring even though you were far away. Amazing!”

“…Yeah. I’m amazing.”

Park Yerim nodded. Park Yerim was always amazing, anywhere, anytime. A round water droplet appeared in front of her. Park Yerim washed her face with the clean water and swept her wet hair back.

“Let’s go find Uncle! Before sunset.”

“Yeah. But the sun hasn’t moved since earlier.”

“Huh? Oh, that’s right. It was sunset when we got here, but the sky is still the same?”

The two looked up at the sky at the same time. It was then.

Rumble-!

The ground shook. No, even the sky, the entire space, the dungeon itself shook greatly. Park Yerim and Yoon Yoon reflexively hugged each other. Both were ready to use Teleportation and Spatial Movement while holding each other, but then realized and separated again.

In the meantime, the vibration subsided.

“K, Kim Seobang! What is it…?”

“I don’t know either. But if something like this happens, ninety-nine out of a hundred times, it’s Uncle.”

Park Yerim said with conviction. Then, she was about to hurry to the Haeyeon Guild when a system message appeared.

[The Seseong Guild area has been temporarily closed!]

* * *

The tears didn’t stop easily. My eyes continued to sting. The moonlight, the chains that wrapped around my body, placed me on the table. Seong Hyunjae looked up at me, who was crying.

“What are you looking at?”

“It’s not like I suddenly miss my younger sibling.”

“I might miss him. I can never get enough of my younger brother, you know?”

Even as I retorted, anxiety crept in. I didn’t know why these emotions suddenly surged, but I could guess the cause. It must be Yoohyun. They said that dungeons created with pre-regression information also affect the raiders. Is this one of those things?

‘…But it’s not just sadness.’

If it was the influence of my brother’s death right before regression, my stomach would be twisted. But what is this joy? Does the fact that I’m also happy mean that nothing bad has happened to Yoohyun? I wanted to go find my brother right away.

“Hey, Seong Hyunjae. How about I bring Seong Hyunjae here myself? I even have leftover contracts. He’s an S-Rank. I’ll coax him well within an hour and bring him right in front of you.”

“It’s not urgent, so it’s okay.”

“Or I’ll go to the bathroom for a bit. You’re not in a hurry, but I am. There was a cafe right in front of here.”

Seong Hyunjae smiled and politely pointed towards the wooded area with a graceful gesture.

“Public urination is a crime and a nuisance.”

“I, as the owner of this building, permit it.”

“No, thanks.”

I knew it wouldn’t work, but it didn’t work. Damn it, but now I’ve calmed down a bit. I wonder if Yoohyun and everyone else are okay. Newbie, please take care of things. Take care of the kids.

“You really don’t remember anything at all?”

Seong Hyunjae blurted out. I shook my head briefly.

“I really don’t remember. If I did, I wouldn’t have appeared as the Seseong Guild Leader in the first place.”

“But, perhaps…”

Seong Hyunjae’s words trailed off. A crease formed on his smooth brow.

“Perhaps what?”

“My memories aren’t perfect either.”

His voice was filled with displeasure. Seong Hyunjae often has memory… Wait a minute. Is it the aftereffects of Plunder? If Seong Hyunjae, who was full of energy, went safely to the Alps or Greece, then Song Chief must have used Plunder. I don’t know exactly how that skill was used, but his experience, his memories, must have been reduced.

It seemed that what I had extracted with the help of the Changeling was only information from the distant past, but Seong Hyunjae in front of me seemed to have lost some of his memories from this world as well.

“…At first, I thought you were a really annoyingly perfect person.”

“Did it affect you too?”

“Huh?”

Me? Why me?

“Me and Song Taewon. I don’t mind, but it seems Song Taewon doesn’t remember either.”

“…Why is Song Chief like that?”

“How about Park Yerim?”

Huh? Why is Yerim coming out here? As Seong Hyunjae carefully observed me, who was confused, he continued.

“Park Yerim and Han Yoohyun almost fought.”

“Th, this is the first time I’m hearing this! They almost fought? No, they do that often these days, but even before I regressed?”

Because of their attributes, there were articles that pitted them against each other. But before regression, Yerim was an A-Rank, so it ended vaguely. At best, they were linked as young representatives of each rank: Han Yoohyun, who had established himself as the strongest of the Korean S-Rank Hunters despite his young age, and even aimed for the world’s number one, and Park Yerim, a young but dazzling A-Rank Hunter. It was difficult to put them side by side in battle since their ranks were different.

“How on earth did that happen?”

“You really don’t know.”

Seong Hyunjae seemed like he was about to tell me.

“But it’s something you don’t need to know now.”

He cut me off again. Is he doing that on purpose? I’m starting to get annoyed.