The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 423

421. Baby Duck (1)

I didn’t want to go in. I couldn’t avoid it, but I wanted to drag out the time a little longer. But it wouldn’t be good to stay outside for too long. Were Yoohyun and Noah still asleep? I didn’t think I needed to wake them up. Putting it off wouldn’t change the fact that I had to face it eventually.

I sighed and looked at Song Hyuntae’s back as he walked ahead. Seeing his stubborn back reminded me again. It was practically a done deal, but it was too bad to give up like this. I had finally gotten him to agree to take them!

“Are you really not going to take them? After promising? Just because they’re growing?”

“The value of a juvenile and an adult is different. If it were just a simple baby sheep, I could protect it. But I can’t handle a high-grade ride-type monster.”

His voice was firm. I wanted to accept it, but that was the problem.

“Earlier, I, um, persuaded you a bit emotionally, but this time I’m speaking as the director of the ride-type monster breeding center. I can’t do anything about the emotional responsibility, but I’ll definitely take the legal responsibility. I don’t send those kids away easily. Isn’t that right, Seseong Guild Leader?”

“The contract was quite thick.”

When I discussed the breeding contract conditions with Seok Sookyung before, I also decided on the treatment of ride-type monsters. Since then, it had been further supplemented and became longer and more detailed. Character copyright and dungeon revenue distribution were not included in the contract with Seseong, but ride-type monster welfare was added.

“Frankly speaking, it’s not like ride-type monsters live a safe life. It’s okay because they’re monsters and usually show combat tendencies, but if I had to force them to fight, I wouldn’t have been able to create a breeding center. It’s common to use animals for military purposes, but it’s different when I’m in this position.”

At first, I didn’t think much about it. But as I raised the kids, I couldn’t help but care for them. Ride-type monsters, people were more important than monsters, and protecting this world was the priority, but still, if Peace or Blue didn’t want to go into the dungeon… If other monsters were like that, I might have given up the breeding center even if I couldn’t bear it.

…Sorok was a bit of a concern, though.

“So, I don’t just make ride-type monster breeding contracts carelessly. I can’t just send them off and have them mistreated. The contract includes labor conditions, breeding environment, penalties for injuries and deaths, and regular inspections. There’s no leniency. I even scolded my brother for mistreating Peace.”

Even now, I liked Soyoung’s attitude much better than Yoohyun’s, but it was fortunate that Peace got along with Yoohyun unexpectedly well. Somehow, if Yoohyun fussed over Peace like Soyoung, he would have hated it.

“Since I’m still alive and well, I’ll draw up a proper contract with Song Hyuntae. If you’re worried that the Association or other riffraff will interfere, set up plenty of guarantors. Seong Hyunjae of Haeyeon?”

“Of course, I have to do that.”

“And I’ll ask Myungwoo too. Hyunah will probably agree as well. There’s only one thing Song Hyuntae needs to do.”

Song Hyuntae stopped abruptly at the hotel entrance and turned to look at me.

“Cherish them as a partner until the end.”

“Han Yoojin-ssi.”

“Not just Songi, but all ride-type monsters and other hunters will inevitably part ways someday. That’s how it is for us. Lower-level hunters have more dangerous lives, so many of them write wills.”

“…I’m also recommending it to the hunters in the Awakened Management Division.”

“Looking at your expression, you haven’t written one, have you?”

“……”

“Do you want to write one with me this time?”

“…Excuse me?”

“I feel like writing one.”

Before the regression [time travel/reincarnation], I was so precarious, but I didn’t end up writing one. After the regression, I wondered if I should write one, but I kept putting it off.

“How about Seong Hyunjae-ssi? If you don’t have a will, I’ll include you in our team.”

“Come to think of it, I was unconsciously thinking that there was no need to write one.”

Seong Hyunjae tilted his head slightly and said. Was he aware of the fact that he couldn’t face death?

“Shall I write one this time? It’ll probably be the first time.”

“How about, ‘I bequeath the Seseong Guild to my beloved partner Han Yoojin’? It’s a hot will phrase these days.”

“Han Yoojin is expressing his ambition to live longer than me, so I feel like granting it.”

“…No, that’s going to be a bit difficult. Even when I have my sixtieth birthday party, Seong Hyunjae-ssi’s face will probably still be smooth as it is now.”

In just twenty years, I probably wouldn’t look older. When that time comes, should I decide on honorifics based on physical age? Try calling me hyung [older brother – a Korean honorific used by males to address older males].

“Anyway, Song Hyuntae-ssi. Take them. Besides, I trust Song Hyuntae, but if you mistreat Songi, I’ll take them away immediately as per the contract.”

He wasn’t the type of person to deliberately neglect the baby sheep with that in mind. Song Hyuntae sighed deeply.

“First of all, if we go out. After returning to Korea─”

“You’re going to take them?”

“There are procedures, you know.”

“No take-backs this time! Seong Hyunjae-ssi, did you hear that clearly?”

“I heard it clearly.”

I barely succeeded. And I have to write a will too. Now I have to write one because of the baby sheep.

“What are you doing, you guys.”

At that moment, the hotel door opened, and the young Chaos stuck his head out.

“Come in right now.”

We quickly went inside the hotel. Seong Hyunjae put me down and properly put on Silrakia’s wings. His upper body was almost naked, so it was a bit embarrassing to put on a coat right away.

“Did anything happen?”

“Except that the first one almost had a heart attack.”

Ah… Yoohyun heard and his appearance must have been a mess. I would have been horrified too. That’s me, though.

“Am I with Yoohyun? Where are Yerim and Yooyoon?”

“They went out.”

“…Excuse me?”

Wait a minute, what?

“They, they went out, just the two of them?!”

“The second one said that you guys would be a mess, so they went out to get more clothes.”

“You should have stopped them! It’s night! There’s no crescent moon anymore!”

Why aren’t the kids scared! I told them not to go out after dark!

“There won’t be any problems yet. And those two are better at protecting themselves than you are.”

The young Chaos said sullenly. Yerim and Yooyoon were S-class, but still!

“You could have brought the clothes in the morning… Yerim, that kid, really! Ah, could it be that it came? Hunter Spring. Do they not call it that anymore?”

Spring. Spring, which means both spring and coil, was a phenomenon that mainly appeared in first-year high-level hunters. To be exact, it was often seen in those who had easily cleared dungeons without much hardship.

“Yerim has grown smoothly as a hunter. She was confident to begin with, but now she’s even more confident. High-level hunters who have never failed a raid and have never lost a team member tend to take dungeons lightly.”

Their attention decreases, and their attitude toward raids becomes lax. They loosen up as if basking in the warm spring sunshine and act impulsively like a coil. Then, eventually, a big accident happens.

“I see what you mean. It’s early, but the possibility isn’t zero.”

Seong Hyunjae nodded, and Song Hyuntae’s expression hardened slightly.

“It seems necessary to pay attention, but they usually don’t listen.”

“That’s right. That’s the problem.”

“Kids are supposed to grow up making mistakes.”

“Elder!”

Lives are at stake in dungeons!

“They only realize it when they experience it.”

“Isn’t that too Spartan! And you can grow up without suffering, or with less suffering. Does it have to be hard? Yerim has already suffered a lot!”

Can I really entrust the kids to him? I’m getting a little anxious.

I was worried, but I couldn’t go out to look for Yerim and Yooyoon now. The two of them went out together and had teleportation and space movement skills, so they didn’t violate the precautions, but…….

“The moon has set, but the dragon is already asleep, so it is said that it will not wake up tonight.”

Chaos said as he crossed the lobby.

“When the moonlight completely disappears, nightmares will roam around, so don’t think about going out.”

“You’re telling me to guard the door, right?”

There was still a little moonlight left, but when would the kids come?.

“They can’t invade the hotel unless it’s a dragon.”

There had to be a gatekeeper, but it was a relief that I could rest safely until morning.

“I’ll go wake up Yoohyun and Noah. You two wash up before the kids come.”

I took the elevator to the guest room floor. As I entered the hallway with soft carpets, my heart was pounding. Let’s see, Noah’s room is this way, and that room is……. I wanted to wake up Noah first, but it would be better to finish the difficult task first.

I took a deep breath and opened the guest room door. In the not-so-large room, which was a standard room, there was a bed and my brother lying on it, and,

“You came.”

There was me, glaring at me murderously.

“You said you were sane.”

“No, it’s a bit much to call that sane……”

Thwack!

The dagger that grazed my ear was embedded in the wall. Haha. Eunhye is with that guy right now too.

“What the hell did you do to make Han Yoohyun, who easily cleared S-class dungeons, look like that?”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Damn, I’ve never seen him covered in blood like that before?”

“I’m the one who deserves to die. But the TV, no.”

If his condition wasn’t good, they would have censored the broadcast, but there wouldn’t have been any reason for Yoohyun to get seriously injured during the dungeon raid. …Could it be that he got hurt more after the regression? I messed up after all.

The me from before the regression got up from the chair and strode towards me. He grabbed my collar in one swift motion and frowned.

“What’s this again? Silrakia?”

“My top got burned off. Oh, we also decided not to use Seong Hyunjae’s Silrakia during the ranking match.”

“That’s good. If you don’t go missing this time, that is.”

Seong Hyunjae disappeared, and Yoohyun didn’t go abroad, so the guy who was overwhelmingly crushed by Seong Hyunjae in the next ranking match took first place. So, they still said that Seong Hyunjae was practically number one. And that ranking match number one got angry at hearing that and challenged Yoohyun, who had fought Seong Hyunjae most equally in the past preliminaries, to a match and got crushed.

Thanks to that, there was talk of creating a special rule that the match would unconditionally be held in Korea for the Haeyeon Guild Leader. In fact, in the last ranking match before I regressed, they gave Yoohyun as much consideration as possible, so he rose to 4th place.

“I was pissed off at the first ranking match.”

“The first one held preliminary matches by country. I heard you didn’t even pass the preliminaries, damn it.”

Each country held preliminary matches, and one to a maximum of three people were selected according to the number of S-class holders. That was Seong Hyunjae, and anyway, the Haeyeon Guild Leader was criticized for failing the preliminaries.

After that, instead of by country, they divided the strong and mixed them up before drawing lots. In the second match, Seong Hyunjae was the overwhelming first place in the first ranking match, so he went straight to the quarterfinals, and Yoohyun finished 32nd with a perfect record of one forfeit win. This was because it was decided that the match would be held in the opponent’s country during the round of 32. Seong Hyunjae also took first place at this time.

“I couldn’t go abroad because I was worried about us, so I’m going to sweep them all this time.”

“Just in case, try to steal that chain too.”

“Why don’t you just lock him up so he can’t participate at all.”

“The first one is okay to do that. There’s a difference in experience. It’s unfair.”

“That’s true.”

I’m right. In fact, Seong Hyunjae’s actual experience might have easily exceeded hundreds of years. It’s unfair after all. Isn’t it experience that should be retired and judged? But how can I catch and imprison him? If Song Hyuntae says right before the match, ‘I’m retiring and thinking of joining Seseong!’ wouldn’t he follow? Or, ‘Let’s have a match with me instead of Yoohyun! Crescent Moon power can be recreated!’ and drag him out.

“Still, take it off, it’s an eyesore.”

“Yes.”

I handed over the shirt that the kids had brought as a bonus, saying that I had brought it for Yoohyun to change into. It’s huge.

“I want to beat you up, but are you going to wake up Yoohyun now?”

“Yeah.”

“Even if I beat you up, Yoohyun will only worry. You bastard.”

The me who was displeased frowned and went outside to get the clothes when Yerim and Yooyoon came. The door closed, and silence fell in the bedroom with only indirect lighting on. As I approached the bed, the dark red stains came into view. The wounds were healed, but the traces remained.

“Yoohyun.”

The moment I reached out,

Thwack!

A red lizard popped out and slapped the tip of my hand with its small front paw. Then, it jumped up and down as if it was angry.

“Sorry, Rina.”

I reached out my hand, telling it to come here and talk, but Irin turned away and disappeared. It must be very sulky. I put my hand on Yoohyun again and shook his shoulder slightly.

“Hyung is here.”

As expected, he showed no sign of waking up with just this. Since it’s my skill, shouldn’t I be able to withdraw it even a little? Borrowing the power of Mana Imprint, I slowly searched for traces of the Lullaby skill from Yoohyun’s body. It wasn’t easy, but I succeeded in extracting a little of the skill’s trace.

Han Yoohyun’s eyes flashed open. The blurry focus quickly fixed on me. Immediately after that.

Thud!

My body was pressed down onto the bed. Yoohyun’s hand gripped my neck tightly, and Irin reappeared and landed on my shoulder.

– Let’s swallow him, Yoohyun.