The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 441

439. You’ve Worked Hard (3)

To get straight to the point, only about 20 percent of the Awakened here have perfectly acquired optimized Skills. Most were combat-types, and since it was relatively easy for combat-type Awakened to obtain optimized Skills, it couldn’t be said to be a high percentage.

In the end, Dan Un-bi and Park Ha-yul’s sister didn’t seem to be the same person. Who could it be? Could it be an unrevealed born S-Rank? A born S-Rank with the ability to nurture others… it didn’t really fit, though.

‘To be honest, Yoo-hyun doesn’t really take care of others, except for me… he does look after Yerim a bit, but still.’

It was unlikely, but if my brother were to ever have a child, I’d rather raise it myself. Riete tried her best, but she was too violent. At least Sung Hyun-jae had some inclination in that direction, but it was only for short-term amusement.

…If any of those three had a child, I’d take responsibility for it, even if it drove me crazy. Of course, their wife or husband might be perfectly normal… but if they were normal, why would they be with those three? Feeling uneasy, I let Peace climb onto my lap and stroked him.

“Lately, I’ve been thinking that if someone says they want to date Yoo-hyun, I should pack a lunch and go around protesting.”

“Congratulations, Uncle. You’ve finally shed one layer of your rose-colored glasses.”

Yerim clapped her hands while eating a mooncake.

“There are still about nine hundred and ninety-nine layers left, though.”

“Still, Yoo-hyun is a little better than Riete, right?”

“What do you mean? Riete gets along really well with Soyoung. She’s also friends with Hyunah; she has a lot of friends.”

…Even if I give up on love marriages, can’t I do something about friends? She went out with Noah earlier and seemed to get along well.

“Yerim, can I call you Yoo-hyun’s friend?”

“Um… sort of like a pseudo-housemate?”

“Housemate?”

“Think of it as wavering between being enemies and best friends.”

“Best friends means really close friends, right? Thanks, Yerim.”

“…I’ll just tell people you’re moderately close.”

Why are you looking at me with such pity? Avoiding Yerim’s gaze, I reviewed the list I received from the Murim Alliance [a martial arts association].

“Besides this elder, there was another A-Rank healer in China. And a relatively young one.”

Were they still unawakened? Currently, there were only two A-Rank healers in Korea. One was at Sesung, and the other was at the now-defunct MKC. Since MKC had collapsed, they would have to transfer affiliations, but Breaker and Hanshin were not willing to back down easily.

The Hunter Association also jumped in, suggesting that they should be jointly affiliated, subtly trying to bring them into the association. That was annoying, but in fact, there was nothing wrong with having an unaffiliated A-Rank healer.

“Hyunah would be very happy if Breaker got an A-Rank healer.”

“Of course. Why, are you going to concede?”

“It’s always good to have more high-level healers, but first, I’ll meet the elder. The MKC healer is younger, but I can negotiate with Hyunah depending on the situation.”

Even among healers, Skill types and ranks varied. The qualifications for a healer were to possess the three abilities of healing, detoxification, and purification, and the healer’s rank was determined by the average rank of those Skills. Since I have detoxification and purification, it would be best to bring the person with the highest healing Skill rank to Haeyeon.

“Yerim, is there any Hunter you’re drawn to?”

“Don’t speak Chinese. I borrowed this translation item from Hyunah. Even if I get my own, my team members won’t be able to understand me.”

That was a problem. Translation machines, not items, couldn’t be used in dungeons. And translation items weren’t common enough to be given to A-Rank Hunters.

“When we return, focus on team raids for a while.”

“Don’t worry. Oh, I still haven’t decided on a name for the water dragon! Haerang, Sanho, Suri, Maru, Doran, Parangi… No, never mind.”

Yerim waved her hand hastily. I felt a slight blow to my pride.

“Parang and Blue are similar, aren’t they?”

“It means wave, not the color blue.”

…I should have just kept my mouth shut. But still, if you don’t know, aren’t they the same? I quickly changed the subject back to Hunters.

“There was also a B-Rank healer where Yoo-hyun and Noah went. Should I bring this person too? The more healers, the better. Are there any high-ranking curse support types? It would be convenient if we could create our own contracts.”

“There’s Riete and Noah.”

“I mean affiliated with Haeyeon. And the curse side has good prospects. It’s used in various ways. Outside of dungeons, there are translators and translation devices, so foreigners aren’t a problem. I want to bring this enhancement support Hunter too. Where is Guangzhou [a major city in China]?”

“It’s near Hong Kong.”

Eun Se-sun said as he entered through the round doorway.

“Are you really not going to take a hot spring bath? It relieves fatigue and helps alleviate pain.”

“Not now. To be honest, I’m reluctant to go in alone.”

How could I completely trust the Murim Alliance? With Yerim, who has teleportation Skills, by my side, it wouldn’t be difficult to escape even if S-Ranks swarmed in. Peace could go in with me, but I’d still be a little uneasy.

“Gunwang─”

“No, I don’t know anything about that.”

Why are they talking about kings again?

“Do the people of the Murim Alliance like to quote ancient sayings?”

“Strictly speaking, they are Chinese, but I heard that the Alliance Leader went a little too far.”

Eun Se-sun said apologetically.

“I fully understand your caution. But how about at least soaking your feet?”

That was tempting. Was it because I overdid it at the end? I felt intermittent throbbing. But I couldn’t turn off my poison resistance and take painkillers.

When I said I would, Eun Se-sun led me to the back of the mansion. Inside a space surrounded by high walls, there was a large open-air bath like a pond. Peace stepped on the damp floor and shook one of his front paws disapprovingly.

– Kkiuung.

“Aigo, it’s wet and I don’t like it.”

– Kkyang.

“Peace is such a drama queen.”

I rolled up my pants to my knees, wiped the water off a rock with a towel, and sat down. As soon as I settled down, Peace immediately climbed onto my lap.

“It’s nice.”

It felt like the warmth was relieving my fatigue. Yerim, sitting next to me, splashed the water. Eun Se-sun excused himself, saying I should rest comfortably. Clouds were slowly flowing across the clear blue sky. I could hear birds singing somewhere.

“I met you in the dungeon.”

Yerim said, fiddling with the ring on her finger.

“Do you think I was cool too, Uncle?”

“Of course. You were famous, Yerim. Actually, people don’t really remember A-Rank Hunters well. Even S-Ranks aren’t a small number.”

Even people who are interested in Hunters usually only look up S-Rank Hunters. There weren’t many in Korea, but if you include overseas, there were hundreds. So, even if an S-Rank Hunter wasn’t famous, they wouldn’t know much about those from overseas, let alone A-Rank Hunters.

TV also mainly talks about S-Rank Hunters. The exposure itself was different.

“But there weren’t many people who didn’t know Park Yerim. There was one incident that made you famous.”

“What is it?”

Yerim asked, her eyes shining.

“The Snowflower Butterfly of Shinho Group. It was probably right after you Awakened. Shinho Group was raising dungeon-spawned butterflies for research purposes. But they suddenly exploded in numbers and poured out.”

They were dungeon-spawned creatures that were hard to classify as monsters. The problem was that the butterflies’ powder caused some crops to wither and die.

“Yoo-hyun was in the middle of a dungeon raid at that time. Sung Hyun-jae was also abroad. The butterfly swarm had to be dealt with before it left Seoul, but other than those two, no one had effective wide-area Skills.”

Even though they weren’t monster-level, insecticides didn’t work. They also possessed basic mana, so they were much tougher than ordinary butterflies. It was none other than Park Yerim who stepped up in that difficult situation.

“I froze them all?”

“Because there were so many, ‘Lament’ and ‘Pale Rain’ weren’t enough. Instead, water trucks, fire trucks, and fire helicopters were mobilized. It was quite a sight. A tremendous amount of water scattered like rain, and cold air spread through the wet butterflies. The frozen white butterflies covered Seokchon Lake like snow.”

Other Hunters also worked hard to lure the butterfly swarm to the lake. I wonder if the management of plants and animals in dungeons became more thorough after that, or was it before that?

“Your recognition rose sharply with that incident… well, there weren’t only good things that came with fame. You were young and didn’t have a proper guardian. But you firmly established yourself in the Korean Hunter world!”

“Enough for you to remember, Uncle?”

“Yeah. Oh, but…….”

I hesitated and continued.

“It seems I met you before. I’m sorry I don’t remember.”

“I heard.”

Yerim said nonchalantly.

“It’s a shame, but I’m also glad.”

“Huh? Yeah?”

“In the end, you came looking for me because of my abilities, Uncle. That made me feel a little relieved.”

Yerim looked back at me, a little embarrassed.

“It would be nice if we were close from before, but, how should I say it? It feels like I achieved this purely with my own strength. Even if you lose your memory again and we all get separated again. I feel like we can meet again like this… ? It’s like my place will never disappear.”

It’s hard to explain, she muttered softly.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Uncle! But, um, I’m happy now. I’m having fun. But sometimes I get worried or anxious, even though there’s nothing really hard going on.”

“That’s how it always is. How many people in the world are perfectly happy? Sung Hyun-jae was bored with life and acted out. Riete seemed to care about Noah in her own way… I think.”

Still, I think she was bothered by Diarma approaching.

“Soyoung said she was worried that she might never meet her dragon again. She couldn’t sleep at night sometimes.”

“Really?”

“The Guild Leader said he could only get her a mid-level dragon, and she grabbed Hyunah and cried.”

“Dragons are precious even at the mid-level. Their stats are high compared to their rank.”

“She can’t raid dungeons with them.”

In addition, they were generally small or, like that eel from before, only dragon-kin in name. Blackie was also far from the typical image of a dragon. Soyoung seemed to like the big and rough type. She liked Noah too, but if you had to choose.

“Anyway, I! Feel relieved~”

Yerim said, stretching her arms above her head.

“I don’t know what will happen in the future. I’ll have more worries and concerns. But I think it’ll be okay.”

“Of course it will be okay. But if you ever have a hard time, tell me anytime, Yerim.”

“Yes!”

It would be nice to live a smooth life, but with the world changed, it would be difficult. And as Yerim’s dreams grow bigger, the obstacles will also grow bigger. When she grows up and starts going abroad, I won’t be able to reach her.

I already feel empty. But Yerim will definitely do well.

“My legs feel a little better.”

“Really? Soak in it completely when Hanyoo-hyun comes back later. You can go in with your clothes on now.”

“Yerim, take your hands off my back.”

“I wasn’t going to push you. Just lightly pick you up and, splash.”

“I’ll pass since I have to meet the Alliance Leader again here.”

Since it’s certain that she’s not Park Ha-yul’s sister, I should talk to her again. To prevent her from going over to Chatterbox. Well, anyway, she’s protecting Hunters and people, so she probably won’t side with the Transcendents who are trying to destroy the world.

Japan can be safe as long as Shishio is there. China should be okay as long as the Murim Alliance gains power. As for the other countries in the area… I should go to Russia once.

A golden dragon landed lightly on the roof of the building. It was a splendid sight that could be seen at a glance from hundreds of meters away, but thanks to its stealth Skill, no one noticed it.

“Hunter Han Yoo-hyun, shall I go in and scout?”

Noah, who had returned to human form, asked Han Yoo-hyun, who was standing next to him. Han Yoo-hyun shook his head briefly and held out his fingertip. A red lizard appeared, coiling around his finger.

“I was told that there is only one S-Rank Hunter here. Lure him out.”

The fire spirit landed on the roof, splitting into two, four, and six. Then, it disappeared as if seeping into the building.

Noah climbed onto the railing of the roof, looked around, and jumped down. As his figure disappeared, Han Yoo-hyun closed his eyes and focused on the movement of the spirits. Sharing a view with the spirits was not easy. Unless he completely transferred his consciousness in a defenseless state, only relatively faint sensations were transmitted.

Nevertheless, it was not difficult to survey the inside of the building.

Not long after.

Kwaang!

A blast erupted from the opposite building.