The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 48

48. Sometimes Getting Stronger (3)

C-Rank defensive Hunter, Park Sanghoon. His eyes widened when he saw me.

“No, how could—!”

“Where’s the key to the Flame Horned Lion cage?”

Park Sanghoon looked flustered, then chuckled derisively.

“Seriously, an F-stat like you got lucky and escaped. Shouldn’t you be running instead of crawling in here?”

Oh, really?

“Seeing as you don’t have an inventory seal bracelet, you must have used an item, but even if an F-rank wears good gear, it won’t work against a C-rank. Well, I guess a newbie who hasn’t even properly explored a dungeon wouldn’t know that.”

He said, getting up leisurely. He had the attitude that he could easily catch me even if I turned and ran.

“I’m asking where the Flame Horned Lion cage key is.”

“You’re taking care of it like it’s your own cub. It’s in my inventory. What are you going to do about it?”

He snickered as if daring me to attack.

‘If it’s in the inventory, it must be a key made of dungeon metal. This is annoying.’

The inventory was a space that others couldn’t interfere with. Taking out items inside was only possible by the will of the inventory’s owner.

“How about taking out the key first, and then we talk, shall we?”

“Why should I?”

His expression, which wasn’t just looking down on me but mocking me, was irritating. He didn’t seem like he would hand it over willingly, so let’s hit him a bit first.

I took out a tentacle and swung it at his cheek.

Slap!

“Ugh?!”

Park Sanghoon’s face turned to the side. It didn’t contain poison, so he wasn’t poisoned, but there was a bright red mark left. Park Sanghoon looked bewildered and touched his cheek.

“W-what was that just now…….”

‘Didn’t see it? Then I’ll hit you one more time.’

Smack! With a cheerful sound,

“Ugh!”

The other cheek was hit fairly as well. This time, thanks to putting in more strength, not only his head but also his body turned to the side.

He still had an expression of not knowing what was going on, but he seemed to realize that I had done it.

“…A-An item, maybe?”

“Nope.”

“Th-Then…….”

‘What else could it be? It’s a skill.’ I gave him the middle finger and used Thorn Trap.

“Kuh-ugh!”

Thud, the chair collided and fell over, and Park Sanghoon also fell over like a caught fish, flailing.

‘Blackie, I really like your skill. If I can stand the grossness of the tentacles, it’s really useful. If it wasn’t for the 7-day limit, I could use it well in everyday life. Like lying on the sofa and bringing the remote control from afar, or opening the refrigerator door without going to the kitchen.’

…Poor Blackie.

I sighed once and approached Park Sanghoon, who was trembling. When I tapped him with my foot, he looked up at me with teary eyes. Ugh… my eyes are ruined.

I clicked my tongue and deactivated the Thorn Trap skill. At the same time as the skill was canceled, his convulsing body stopped abruptly. Park Sanghoon twisted his upper body and stood up like a zombie.

“Guaaaah!”

He drooled and charged at me with a roar. Ugh, disgusting. Looking at his face, I didn’t even want to touch him, so I lightly dodged to the side.

Bang!

Park Sanghoon slammed straight into the steel locker. The locker door rattled, and papers scattered through the gap.

The veins on his hands bulged as he grabbed the locker. He lifted it up and threw it at me.

Avoiding the locker flying with great force, I jumped back. Crash, the locker swept away the desks and chairs and crashed to the floor, and documents were spread out on the floor like fallen leaves.

“Break it all, break it all.”

As I took a few steps back, he took out his weapon and armor.

“You seem to have a hidden skill, but even so, you have no combat experience—”

Okay, whatever, Thorn Trap.

“Keugh!”

Park Sanghoon collapsed again and thrashed around. The curse resistance on his armor must be low.

“If you hand over the key willingly, I’ll spare your life.”

Of course, I had no intention of actually letting him live.

When I deactivated the Thorn Trap again, Park Sanghoon groaned and raised his head. His dirty face was full of injustice.

“…Damn it, why did I get caught?”

“You don’t need to know that. And that’s not the only skill I have.”

I took off my glove and picked up a pen on the desk. When I applied sticky poison to the tip, the pen melted black. When I shook off the poison and the melted pen, black holes appeared wherever the droplets landed. It was quite a gruesome sight, burning with a foul smell.

Putting my glove back on, I smiled at him.

“Are you going to hand over the key, or are you going to slowly melt from your toes up?”

Fear finally settled on Park Sanghoon’s face.

“I-I’ll give it to you. Just write a contract…….”

“Of course.”

‘It’s probably an illegal contract.’

As expected, the contract he took out of his inventory had no association certification. The curse on it wasn’t a temporary skill seal or stat reduction, but permanent vision loss.

“I’ll give you the key on the condition that you guarantee my safety.”

“What safety guarantee? Don’t write it vaguely, specify the conditions properly. I won’t attack you for the next 24 hours. Run away well on your own. Instead, take out the Flame Horned Lion cage key from your inventory and never utter any information about me for the rest of your life.”

I could have written it roughly, but I demanded detailed conditions in case he suspected anything. Park Sanghoon wrote down the conditions on the contract with a relieved expression. He signed first, and I signed as well.

“Here’s the key.”

He threw the key to me, trusting only in the contract. Even his tone became shorter. I put the key into my inventory and shook the contract.

“I’m really sorry to shatter your hopes, but.”

I grabbed both ends of the parchment and slowly twisted it.

“One of my hobbies is tearing up contracts.”

I felt a slight resistance. But there was no way a contract that could withstand an L-rank curse resistance could exist in this world.

Tear.

The parchment was torn lengthwise, and the curse contained in the contract scattered like bubbles. Then, I completely melted it away with poison.

I spoke coldly to Park Sanghoon, who was staring blankly at the traces of the melted contract.

“Now it’s your turn.”

I wanted to leave his body intact, but there’s a young lady who can read the memories of corpses.

* * *

After dealing with Park Sanghoon, I returned to the room where Kim Woojae was. As soon as I opened the door, the unpleasant smell of urine stung my nose.

“Ugh, the smell.”

This bastard pissed himself. Tears, snot, and saliva were dripping down, but his eyes were still gleaming as he glared at me. He’s got quite the tenacity.

“Judging by your appearance, you don’t seem like you’ll open your mouth until the end.”

I didn’t really need anything more. It would be troublesome to run into the people who came to save me while digging for the exact mastermind, so should I end it here? There are still four left, and there must be evidence somewhere in this building, so others will take care of the rest.

I took off the inventory seal bracelet that I had put on him and put it back on my wrist.

Not wanting to get blood on myself, I took off my glove and dripped poison on Kim Woojae’s face.

“Keugh, cough!”

He couldn’t even scream properly because of the Thorn Trap. Even that stopped before long. His head melted away with the poison, and then his upper body spread out black and gooey.

Yerim’s White Corpse skill could only be used if more than two-thirds of the corpse remained. I wouldn’t be able to extract Kim Woojae’s memories at this point.

But before that, I shouldn’t make the kid look through the memories of such a bastard.

‘If they see this, they’ll think it was done by a hunter with poison and curse skills.’

Wouldn’t they suspect internal strife?

Looking at the ruined corpse made my mouth a little bitter.

‘I thought I wouldn’t have to do anything like killing this time.’

I’ve already killed two people. It’s the fault of the guys who kidnapped me, though. Why bother someone who’s trying to live peacefully? Just leave me alone, please.

“…You’re making me feel complicated in many ways.”

I turned my head and looked at Blackie’s corpse. If others saw it, it would be collected and used as material. Dragonkin corpses were quite useful. C-rank was a decent grade.

Leaving it like that was, as expected, not something I wanted to do.

I melted Blackie’s body, which had already hardened, with poison. As a Poison Dragon, he had stronger resistance than the B-rank Kim Woojae, but he didn’t last long.

In the middle of the small poison swamp that was created, a stone like a red jewel remained.

A magic stone.

I stared at it for a moment, then picked it up and took out an empty magic stone powder bottle and put it inside.

* * *

After finishing my business, I quickly returned to where Peace was.

I had only put curses on the remaining four and left them alone. They didn’t see me, and they weren’t the instigators.

Of course, those guys weren’t innocent either. Even if we put aside the kidnapping, if the guild leader of a guild that raises monsters to cast vicious curses on people who don’t listen, the guys he trusts would have committed a crime or two without batting an eye.

Still, if I just restrain them, the people who come to save me will find them and take care of them.

“Peace, are you still sleeping?”

I opened the cage door with the key and went inside. It was a large cage, big enough that my head wouldn’t touch even if I stood up.

Escaping was suspicious, and there was a high possibility of being bombarded with questions, and if I stayed locked up here with Peace, they would come to save me.

I was a little worried that some strange guys might come before I was rescued, but would an A-rank or higher really show up? If there was an A-rank, they would have come out already.

‘Even if an A-rank popped out, I could win if they were off guard.’

I reached inside and locked the door, then put the key in my inventory. Should I pretend to be asleep too?

As I lay down, hugging Peace who was snoring, I really felt sleepy. I did go to bed late last night. Should I close my eyes for a bit? Since my stats are over B-rank, I’ll be able to notice quickly if someone approaches.

Stroking the warm and soft fur, I closed my eyes.

“Don’t die before me.”

As an S-rank dungeon boss monster, you have to live a hundred years longer than an F-rank stat.

* * *

Park Yerim bit her fingernails. It was a habit that started when she lost her parents and started living with her uncle’s family. But after awakening, she thought she wouldn’t be biting her nails and not knowing what to do alone anymore.

She was anxious and uneasy.

Suppressing the urge to run out immediately, she instead opened her status window and looked at the skill she had never used before.

[White Corpse (S)]

She raised her hand and flicked her fingers as if to touch the skill name.

It was a skill she was reluctant to use. She also hoped she wouldn’t have to use it. But at this moment, it felt more welcome than any other skill.

At that moment, Kim Jiyeon’s cell phone, who was with her, rang briefly. At the same time, Park Yerim’s shoulders tensed slightly.

“We’ve arrived.”

At Kim Jiyeon’s words, Park Yerim shook off the slight tension and moved her steps without hesitation.

Haeyeon’s Guild Leader, Han Yoohyun, was standing where she arrived. The face looking at her was extremely cold. The sensitive sense of smell caught the smell of blood.

“He’s in that room.”

Han Yoohyun said. Park Yerim threw back a chilly gaze.

“After I find out, let’s talk.”

At her words, Han Yoohyun raised the end of his eyebrow slightly.

“Or make excuses.”

“Excuses?”

“Yes, excuses. You said there wouldn’t be any problems with Uncle’s safety, but what is this?”

With a sharp voice, Park Yerim entered the room. The door slammed shut.

Han Yoojin wanted Han Yoohyun and Park Yerim to get along well, but that was a very difficult thing. The higher the stat grade, the more sensitively they could feel the abilities of others, especially those of awakeners above a certain grade. Of course, they couldn’t recognize detailed stats and skills.

It was a kind of scent.

The scent of an Awakener’s aptitude, especially a high-grade attack system, was particularly strong. Even if they tried to ignore it, they couldn’t.

Park Yerim had coldness, and Han Yoohyun had heat. They couldn’t possibly feel good about someone who had a scent that was so contradictory that it could be a weakness.

It would have been okay if the grades were different, but the two were the same S-rank, only with a level gap. Naturally, they became wary of each other, not just disliking each other.

Even now, when both of them were as nervous as they could be, just facing each other was stressful. It felt like the string of patience was stretched to its limit.

Not long after, Park Yerim came out. She was frowning with a cold, white firefly-like thing wrapped around her body.

“Ah, this feels so dirty.”

“This is a secret from Hyung [older brother/close male friend].”

Han Yoohyun asked. If he found out that Park Yerim had used White Corpse, his brother would definitely disapprove. Even if Park Yerim herself wanted to do it, there was no need to tell him on purpose.

Park Yerim nodded and told him what she had read. There were a total of three places where Han Yoojin was likely to be held. Han Yoohyun immediately contacted Seok Si-myung and ordered a search.

“Why did Uncle get kidnapped? I thought the Haeyeon Guild had airtight security.”

Park Yerim, who had been waiting for Han Yoohyun to finish his call, said as if scolding him with her arms crossed. Han Yoohyun’s gaze turned to her.

It was a complaint that could be ignored. She was a fifteen-year-old child who didn’t need to know much about the world. But at the same time, she was an S-rank hunter and a member of the Haeyeon Guild. As the guild leader of Haeyeon and a senior S-rank hunter, Han Yoohyun had a duty to inform her of relevant information.

Besides, there was nothing else to do right now except wait for the search to be completed. Han Yoohyun opened his mouth in a low voice.

“Logically, it’s an accident that shouldn’t have happened.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“It would be better for Hunter Park Yerim to know this opportunity.”

This was something he was planning to tell Park Yerim when she formed her own team. Han Yoohyun continued calmly.

“The A-rank or lower hunters directly under the S-rank hunter are unlikely to betray them.”

“Unlikely? Hey, aren’t you trusting people too easily for a guild leader?”

Park Yerim made a suspicious expression. This is a world where people abandon their families for money.

“To be exact, it only applies to those who have attacked S-rank dungeons together. After facing an S-rank dungeon boss monster that they can never deal with on their own, watching the S-rank hunter fight that monster on equal terms right next to them, and recognizing that S-rank dungeons can break at any time, a strong sense of subordination is created.”

“Uh, uh… I don’t really understand what you’re saying. So, S-rank hunters are strong, so they can’t betray them and follow them? Really?”

Park Yerim, who was suspicious but curious, asked honestly.

“It’s similar to a kind of survival instinct. Because they follow the S-rank hunter to survive, betrayal feels the same as death to the subordinate hunter.”

Of course, it wasn’t always the case.

It didn’t work well for hunters who already had enough experience. The same was true even if their mental strength stat or fear resistance was high. It had little effect on C-rank or lower hunters who had difficulty clearly feeling the abilities of S-rank monsters and hunters. Even if they were subordinate A or B-rank hunters, they could be influenced by another S-rank hunter and break away.

Even so, if you take care of them with a little care, you can form the main guild members with only trustworthy people.

“The fact that the Haeyeon Guild quickly established itself and grew is largely thanks to that.”

No matter how great an S-rank hunter Han Yoohyun was, he was too young to enter society. If there was no way to create trustworthy loyalists, it would have been nearly impossible to grow the guild so quickly.

“For that reason, a guild leader’s direct hunter of at least B-rank or higher was sent as Hyung’s bodyguard.”

“But Uncle was kidnapped.”

At Park Yerim’s words, a cold light flashed over Han Yoohyun’s eyes.

“MKC Guild Leader Choi Seokwon. That means he has lost control within the guild.”

“Lost control?”

“The MKC Guild is a place that receives support from non-awakened powerful people. Unlike Haeyeon, which is hunter-centered, the internal power structure can be seen as divided.”

As such, it was easier to rot from the inside compared to hunter-centered guilds.

“Now that the hunter and dungeon system has been established and society has become relatively stable, I expected it to start shaking. They are trying to take the profits from their investment in earnest.”

However, Park Yerim looked at Han Yoohyun with slightly different eyes at the explanation that it was faster than expected.

“Still, you’re a guild leader after all. Honestly, I didn’t really trust you. You’re only five years older than me.”

It was still annoying and obnoxious, but she thought she could trust him as a guild leader. Han Yoohyun retorted coldly at Park Yerim’s words.

“I still don’t trust you. Whether I can entrust Hyung’s safety to Hunter Park Yerim.”

“Why! I’ll take really good care of Uncle!”

“First, lack of skill, second, experience—”

“Th-That’s, that’s true, but.”

It was a natural assessment since she hadn’t awakened for long. Nevertheless, Park Yerim pouted unhappily.

“Just watch, Guild Leader. I’ll catch up within a year!”

Han Yoohyun completely ignored the confident declaration, and Park Yerim’s lips became even more pointed.

“Anyway, you can’t usually do betrayals like kidnapping Uncle, right? Still, tying people up like that seems a bit… 찝찝 [unpleasant/uneasy].”

“S-rank hunters and A-rank or lower hunters are so different that they can be called different species. Get used to it quickly.”

“But Uncle treated me so casually even though he was F-rank. And to the guild leader too.”

“Hyung is… unique.”

Han Yoohyun said, recalling past memories. Han Yoojin poured out his affection and took care of him, who even his parents shunned.

The same was true immediately after Han Yoohyun awakened. Until they fell out, he continued to worry about his younger brother, who was an S-rank awakener, and hoped he wouldn’t do dangerous things.

“Don’t have any false expectations because Hyung is especially strange.”

“Expectations?”

“Not only low-grade awakeners, but also non-awakeners instinctively shun S-rank awakeners.”

At his words, Park Yerim’s eyes widened.

“What does that mean?”

“Simply put, think of it as a prey facing a predator. The higher Hunter Park Yerim’s level and stats rise, the stronger that reaction will become.”

“Th-Then that won’t do!”

Park Yerim said in a flustered voice. To think that ordinary people would be afraid of her.

“However, you can control your magic power to hide your aura. Practice from now on.”

“If I hide it, will it be okay?”

“Yes. But only use it when necessary. If you hide your energy on a daily basis, it can interfere with the smooth flow of magic power.”

It was not a beneficial action because it was like forcibly suppressing power. That’s why many high-level hunters obtained and lived in accommodations within the guild.

Even if they were non-awakeners, they would become much less afraid once they got used to it. That’s why it was easy to use the facilities located within and near large guilds.

“Hunter Park Yerim is a mage, so it will be easy to control.”

“Yes.”

Park Yerim nodded. And not long after, a call came in. The two hurriedly set off for the place where Han Yoojin had been kidnapped.