The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 399

397. Sunset (1)

“Hyung! Hyung! Hyung! Scold Yoohyun!”

Lee Rinnie jumped onto my shoulder, shouting loudly. It snapped me back to attention. But why all of a sudden…?

“Yoohyun did something dangerous!”

“Huh? Dangerous? What do you mean?”

“Yoohyun drew out and used his Source!”

The little lizard hopped around, fussing. So, that meant…

“Rin, calm down and explain it slowly. His Source, you say?”

“Fire! He shouldn’t be doing that yet! He’s only just started to feel it, and he’s already pulling it out like that! He can’t control it properly, so he can’t retrieve it!”

I still couldn’t quite understand. So, his Source is fire. Does that mean Yoohyun has the power of fire as his Source? I remember hearing that born S-ranks have more Source power than ordinary humans. And in Yoohyun’s case, the attribute of his Source is fire.

“Are you talking about blue fire?”

I asked, a little uneasy as I watched him.

“Blue fire? Dark blue?”

“No. It was completely blue. So clear it was almost translucent.”

Pure blue flames. That was the fire of Yoohyun’s true nature. The gaze of the other me looking at me dropped downwards. My dry lips were bitten.

“Originally, I shouldn’t have been able to come out of the designated area.”

“What? Oh, you were the area boss monster? You?”

It sounded strange when he said ‘you’ to me. I nodded.

“Yoohyun got rid of the barrier that was trapping me.”

With that blue flame. He looked back at Yoohyun with surprised eyes at my words. The barrier that trapped the area boss was part of the system’s domain and the dungeon itself. Yoohyun had broken that.

Until now, no one but a Transcender [an individual who has surpassed the limits of normal Awakeners] could touch the dungeon, but he destroyed a part of it. Is that even possible? He hasn’t even been awakened for that many years.

“But how, in the world…”

“True fire can burn anything! Rinnie didn’t know it well, but the fire turned blue because Yoohyun started accepting his Source!”

Lee Rinnie proudly stretched out his neck as he spoke.

“Real fire can’t be stopped. Not by defense skills or fire resistance! It can even melt that black sword!”

“Oh, if fire resistance doesn’t work, isn’t Yoohyun in danger too?”

“Yoohyun is Yoohyun, isn’t he? He can even eat your blue bird, hyung.”

“That’s not allowed! Absolutely not, Rin, Yoohyun.”

Even L-rank items can’t withstand it, that’s cheating. Or is it because it’s the power of the Source itself? I guess it’s possible since dungeons and items all come from the power of the Source in the first place, but still, that’s cheating. An attack that can’t be defended against.

“But what do you mean by dangerous? Is using that power dangerous?”

“That’s right, hyung! Usually, it’s impossible to draw out the power of your own essence! It’s only possible if you’re born with an attribute like us spirits. If you use your power skillfully for a very long time, you can feel the power of the Source, but even then, you have to slowly get used to it for a long time to use it safely!”

“But Yoohyun was too early?”

“Yes! Besides, Yoohyun kept suppressing it. He had been denying himself, and he’s only just started to accept it!”

In other words, it was like he had barely taken his first steps, or was just about to stand on his own, and suddenly he started running. He’s going to fall and get hurt.

“So, if you draw out and use the fire of the Source, you can’t retrieve it! It scatters and disappears!”

“…What happens then?”

“Since a part of himself disappears, Yoohyun’s lifespan decreases!”

“What?!”

I was surprised, but the other me turned pale. Yoohyun spoke defensively at the sight of me unconsciously taking a step back.

“It doesn’t matter, that kind of thing.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter!”

“It doesn’t matter! In the first place, I shouldn’t have come out!”

“It’s true, hyung.”

My brother continued calmly.

“I’ll probably live much longer than hyung anyway. So it doesn’t matter. My real lifespan will be the same as hyung’s.”

“Yoohyun!”

“Han Yoohyun!”

Me and the other me blamed my brother at the same time. He frowned, but my brother even seemed happy.

“Hyung might not like it, but I can’t concede on this.”

“No, still! Rin, how much is it reduced by?”

“Rinnie doesn’t know well. Maybe a week, or at most a year!”

“A year? Really?!”

“Yes! Yoohyun will only live for ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years instead of ten thousand years!”

…Since it’s one year out of ten thousand years, well, of course, even a single day of my brother’s lifespan shouldn’t be taken away, but somehow it felt anticlimactic. I knew that born S-ranks, Origin Holders, lived a long time, but ten thousand years.

“Is it really ten thousand years? I don’t think they said lifespans were that long.”

“Rinnie is a contractor, you know. It has to be at least that much!”

Is that just Lee Rinnie’s wishful thinking?

“So hyung has to live a long time too! How much longer are you going to live?”

“Uh… I’ll try to make it to a hundred, but I probably won’t-”

“No, hyung! Then Yoohyun will die quickly too! Try to live a long time!”

Even if you say no. If I live just a hundred more years, I’ll be a hundred and thirty, no, a hundred and twenty-five years old. That’s enough to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. How can living longer than that be achieved through effort?

“Hmm, how about Yoohyun changes his mind and lives a long time?”

“What do you mean, hyung?”

Lee Rinnie narrowed his eyes seriously.

“How can Yoohyun live without hyung?”

“No, he can live.”

“He can’t live. The person he likes disappeared. The most precious and only loved existence.”

“He might find someone new-”

“That’s not Yoohyun! Rinnie wouldn’t have awakened if it wasn’t for the fire that only looks at hyung!”

Lee Rinnie shouted. Oh my. He was flapping his tail and huffing, looking very angry.

“Rin, I thought you liked Yoohyun. But you’re saying he’s not Yoohyun just because of that.”

“But Rinnie is, a fire spirit! The first, the strongest, and the purest fire!”

“Hey, then if Yoohyun likes someone else more than me, or even as much as me, are you going to leave?”

“……”

Lee Rinnie shut his mouth tightly. Look at this guy. Is he really going to break the contract and leave? Lee Rinnie puffed out his cheeks and shouted again.

“Yoohyun isn’t Yoohyun! Yoohyun wouldn’t do that, so why are you like this, hyung! It’s too much! Rinnie made a contract with Yoohyun because Yoohyun wouldn’t do that! Yoohyun! Hyung keeps doubting you!”

Lee Rinnie wailed and jumped onto Yoohyun’s hand. Of course, as soon as he fell off my arm, his voice stopped abruptly. He just moved his mouth, and then he stuck to my arm again, saying it was too much.

“I don’t like that kind of me either. It feels bad.”

Yoohyun said, taking Lee Rinnie off my arm. The wriggling fire lizard seeped into the back of Yoohyun’s hand.

“I wouldn’t be me. That kind of thing. It can’t be helped, hyung.”

My brother looked at me and the other me. His thinly smiling eyes seemed to hold a reddish tinge.

“Of course, I can be the way hyung wants me to be. I’m used to enduring it. But now, I don’t hate myself. Hyung accepted me, so I’ve become a little more greedy.”

Yoohyun used to say that he hated himself for having the nature of fire. He had been suppressing it all the time. I was choosing what answer to give, but the sight of me blankly staring at Yoohyun caught my eye. Oh, I don’t really understand what he’s saying. Not at this time.

“…Yoohyun.”

The me in the dungeon opened his mouth.

“I don’t know what or how much has changed. But I… I might have just quietly tried to step back if you were still the same as before, smiling like when we lived together. If you looked happy. I would have had a lot of regrets, but still.”

…If Yoohyun hadn’t had that face.

“But you didn’t. You used to smile really well. We were never rich, but you looked happy. You were happy even with trivial things.”

I remembered when my brother had just left home. I felt like my brother had completely changed. Even though people said he was an S-rank Awakener [a high-ranking individual with supernatural abilities] and would do well in the future, I was only worried. The dangers of dungeons and monsters were dangerous, but still. The kid has that kind of face.

“But now you look like you used to. You seem happy. So, isn’t that enough? I don’t really understand what I’m saying now, but whatever you are, if you’re happy, that’s all that matters. The world applies various standards, but what’s the point of all that? They’re not going to live your life for you, and your own self is the most important.”

I lowered my gaze again.

“…If everyone says it’s wrong, it feels like it is. But usually, those are just words thrown out without thinking. Anyway, I like you much better now.”

The me looked at me as if to ask if I agreed. Well, that was obvious.

“I’m right. But Yoohyun, even if your lifespan isn’t ten thousand years, but a hundred thousand years, a million years, don’t use it carelessly. It sounds nice to say it’s only a year, but it means your body is getting hurt. And according to Rin, it’s also a power that you can safely use.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll be careful.”

“Of course, don’t hesitate when it’s dangerous. You have to live first.”

What’s the point of remaining lifespan if you die? I scratched the back of my neck a little and looked at me. It still felt strange.

“Um, excuse me. How old are you?”

“…Twenty-nine.”

Not thirty yet. I glanced at the box I was holding. It didn’t seem to be my birthday cake, so was it Christmas or Christmas Eve?

It seemed that time was slightly different for each person, monster, and area here. The only place with Christmas decorations was the Haeyeon Guild. If the entire dungeon was in the Christmas season, there’s no way there wouldn’t be a ribbon decoration on the Seseong Guild building. Even if it was Seong Hyunjae, So Young was the acting guild leader. They would have had a party.

The time frame that Seong Hyunjae mentioned was also like that. If it had been more than a year and a half since Song’s manager’s death, the me in front of me would have been thirty years old.

“Do you know the Seseong Guild Leader?”

“Yeah. He went missing.”

“Has the Seseong Guild Leader ever sent you a postcard?”

The me looked at me as if I were crazy. Yeah, he didn’t remember. Even my brother gave me a look that said, ‘What are you talking about?’

“You said you hadn’t met at this time.”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s what I remember. But that Seong Hyunjae who came out as a monster said he had met me.”

“So it was closed because of hyung.”

Yoohyun’s voice lowered coldly.

“Why did you go alone, and to the Seseong Guild, not Haeyeon?”

“No, I went to Haeyeon first! Of course! But no one was there, so I left a message and went to the Seseong Guild. Really! And I wasn’t alone. I went with Chaos Elder, but he passed away. Or should I say he went out, not passed away.”

It looked like he had passed away. I roughly explained to Yoohyun what had happened after entering the dungeon, except for Seong Hyunjae’s memory part.

“So it was closed, but I don’t know if this counts as cleared.”

“Haeyeon Guild will be opened last, and I destroyed the place where hyung was, so the only confirmed cleared area is the Hunter Association. There was an SS-rank hunter?”

“Yeah. I think that hunter is probably the boss.”

“Could there be other areas? If she went to a related place, Hunter Park Yerim is, where.”

“That is, well…”

Yerim’s guild, I definitely knew it.

“It’s the Waterdrop Guild. Near Dongmyo [a district in Seoul].”

I said. Ah, that’s right.

“Dongmyo. And I think Song’s manager might be in the Special Management Division. The National Cemetery is near here, so there’s no way he wouldn’t have come to see the Seseong Guild collapse.”

But I had no idea where Yoon Yoon, Noah, and Seong Hyunjae had gone. Especially Seong Hyunjae, where would he have fallen if not the Seseong Guild?

“Yoohyun, you don’t have any idea? A place where the Seseong Guild Leader would go.”

“No, not at all. Hyung knows better. You even know the Seseong Guild Leader’s safe house.”

“I don’t think it’s there. He used to use the hotel I went to often, so is it there? Or his favorite restaurant or bar? Maybe Song’s manager’s house? Or maybe the special isolation room or Awakener management room where he was mainly confined. Should we check the disciplinary residence too?”

“…Why do you know so well?”

“Because I talked to Song’s manager and So Young.”

Some of it was told by the person himself, but a lot of it came from those two, especially So Young. Anyway, it seemed best to go to Dongmyo first, where the destination was certain. To go to Dongmyo…

[The sun is setting soon!]

Then the system message window appeared.

[Warning! The dragon will be released after sunset!]

What the heck is this?