The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 49

Bang!

A loud noise hammered against my ears, which had been deep in slumber. It sounded like a door being opened, or perhaps smashed open.

Following that, the Premonition of the Weak sent a sharp warning. Was it because the effect was quadrupled? I could even sense the other person’s rank and aptitude, which was quite fascinating.

The Awakened approaching now had S-rank stats, an SS-rank skill, and their main attack aptitude was fire.

It’s Yoohyun.

Yerim and Kim Sunghan were there too.

As Yoohyun got closer, the Premonition of the Weak activated even more strongly. It felt like it was nagging me to run away immediately. At the same time, Fear Resistance was saying, ‘It’s okay, no problem,’ emitting a calming effect.

It was like, ‘That guy’s scary, I’m so nervous!’ VS ‘He’s just an S-rank, don’t be scared!’ Of course, the latter won. It was an L-rank skill, after all.

‘Is this what happens when I encounter someone A-rank or higher for a week? Annoying.’

I wonder if I can turn off the Premonition skill. Still, leaving it on would be good for hiding my current state. I can quickly sense the approach of anyone A-rank or higher.

Creak.

The sound of bars bending echoed. Then, with a snap, they broke off completely.

I guess I should pretend to wake up soon. Peace is too quiet, so it would be strange if I woke up first. But if it’s my disgustingly perceptive S-rank brother, he’d notice that I was pretending to be asleep.

Let’s just say I didn’t take enough medicine.

“…Hyung.”

A heavy, subdued voice reached me.

Okay, should I act surprised first? Get scared because someone suddenly approached, then be surprised, relieved, and glad when I hear my brother’s voice? That would be a standard reaction.

I slowly turned my head to the side and slightly opened my eyes, still looking a little scared.

My brother’s face, looking down at me, came into view. Oh my, he’s full of worry. I should give him a reassuring smile at this point. Still a little sleepy, with some happiness mixed in.

…This is not easy.

“…Yoohyun, is that you…?”

“Yeah, Hyung. Are you okay?”

“Uh… yeah.”

I am a helpless and pitiful kidnapping victim. Suddenly kidnapped and dragged to an unfamiliar place, locked up.

Moreover, as an F-rank Awakened who hasn’t been Awakened for long, I’m closer to a normal, unremarkable non-Awakened person. Naturally, I’m terrified, scared, and grateful to my brother for coming to save me, so I cling to him and cry. Enough is enough.

I put on an expression that says, ‘Wow, I’m so glad, I’m saved,’ and gently cradle Peace, who’s been fidgeting slightly as the drug wears off. Then, I try to get up,

“Ugh.”

“Hyung?”

I forgot about my injured ankle.

Yoohyun’s face, which had been relaxed to reassure me, quickly hardened. He wasn’t the only one who reacted.

“What was that sound just now? Was that Ahjussi’s [term for an older man, often used respectfully] voice? Were you hurt? What the hell!”

“Are you injured? Doing this to someone who’s already weak! I’ll call a healer right away.”

Yerim and Kim Sunghan’s voices chimed in. Yerim, watch your language. You’re worse than Sunghan.

Then, my brother picked me up. Ack, wait a minute. They’re calling a healer.

‘I can’t push him away…’

He’ll definitely notice and say, ‘Hyung, you seem stronger than usual?’

“No, it’s not like I can’t walk…”

But I couldn’t strongly refuse, tell him to let go, or get lost. I’m a kidnapping victim who’s clearly terrified from being subjected to violence. …How long do I have to keep this up? Can’t I just act normal soon? Is it too early?

“Who did this? Who hurt Ahjussi?”

Yerim stuck close to Yoohyun as he carried me towards the door, constantly asking in an angry voice. I already killed that bastard.

“…I don’t really, remember.”

Maybe it’s because I just woke up, but I really couldn’t remember. What’s the point of remembering the face of a dead guy? What was his name again? Kim something.

“Not even a little? His age, or height—”

“Hunter Park Yerim.”

Yoohyun said in a stern tone.

“We should ask those things after he’s stabilized.”

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

Yerim lowered her head dejectedly. I can’t exactly say it’s okay.

As we went outside, I saw the healer Kim Sunghan had brought. The Haeyeon Guild only had B-rank healers at the moment.

I need to get at least one healer for Haeyeon. Should I go on a nationwide tour to find one?

The healer fixed my ankle and removed the drug’s effects on Peace. But my brother still wouldn’t put me down. It’s just a sprained ankle, even a C-rank, no, a D-rank could fix it, so let me go already.

“Now I can get do—”

“I’ll take Hyung back. Hunter Park Yerim, please investigate this place. I think you know what to watch out for.”

“Yes. I’ll take care of it thoroughly.”

Is he going to make her use the White Corpse skill? When he says ‘watch out,’ he probably means not to reveal her skills. Yoohyun, even so, Yerim is still in middle school.

“Hey, can’t Yerim come with us too?”

“Don’t worry, Hyung. I’m here. No one can lay a hand on you.”

That’s not what I’m worried about. Anyway, the corpses are all melted, and the rest are alive, so it should be fine.

Still, as Yerim’s guardian, I should give her a warning.

In the end, my feet didn’t touch the ground until I was placed in the back seat of the car. Once I was settled, Peace snuggled into my arms, whimpering softly. His ears and tail were drooping, looking very listless.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. You were very surprised, weren’t you? It’s okay now.”

Even a dungeon boss monster is still a baby.

Yoohyun got in the passenger seat, and the car started. Come to think of it, where are we anyway? Outside of Seoul?

“Let’s go to the hospital first. Let’s get a comprehensive health checkup while we’re at it.”

My brother took out his phone and said. Why is he suddenly saying something so troubling? The healer already healed me!

“I’m not hurt anywhere except my ankle.”

I probably have some bruises on my stomach. And some hair was pulled out. My shoulder and back hurt when I was thrown around… There’s a lot. I rolled around more than I thought.

“And right now, I want to go home…”

I said in a deliberately weak voice. I absolutely can’t go to the hospital. If I get a health checkup now, it’ll be a disaster. My stats have increased overall, so my durability alone will be different. They’ll say, ‘You don’t seem to be F-rank,’ when they can’t get a needle in.

“Can’t I just go home and rest? I don’t want to face any more strangers today, and if I get tested, they’ll probably have to use anesthesia… I don’t want to even think about that for a while.”

Even if it wasn’t for the kidnapping trauma, I hate hospitals. Anyway, I can’t go for at least a week. Yoohyun put his phone away at my words.

“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Let’s go straight home. You’re really not hurt anywhere else?”

“I’m fine.”

Thank goodness. He probably won’t tell me to get a health checkup for a while. Relieved, I changed the subject.

“But you found me faster than I thought? The guy who kidnapped me was sure you wouldn’t know until I got on the boat.”

“The MKC Guild Leader tipped us off.”

“The MKC Guild Leader? Was he involved?”

“Not as a mastermind, but more like negligence. It wasn’t the person they were supposed to send. There was a slight problem with the MKC’s internal command delivery system… It’s hard to explain in detail here, but they were a bit different from the people sent by other guilds.”

That’s certainly true. Their rank was different, but more than anything, they weren’t interested in the Gi Seungsu [a valuable item or resource] at all.

“I just thought MKC was saving manpower. Their condition isn’t good.”

They originally lasted about three years longer. Will they collapse sooner than in my regression?

“It’ll be okay from now on. MKC will be excluded from security for the time being, and the other guild leaders have agreed to personally provide visitor information.”

“The guild leaders? Aren’t they busy? They have to go into dungeons too.”

“It can’t be helped. As long as there’s a risk of information changing in the middle, that’s the most reliable method. Of course, none of the other three guild leaders are as incapable of managing their direct hunters as MKC, but just in case.”

Now there’s really no chance of my safety being threatened. No, I can’t guarantee it one hundred percent. There’s no such thing as perfection in the world.

“Even if you’re that careful, there’s no guarantee that a guild member won’t betray you, right?”

How can you know what’s in someone’s heart? Yoohyun hesitated a little at my words before opening his mouth.

“Well, direct guild members are a little different. Usually, if you’ve cleared upper dungeons with the guild leader, you can assume they won’t betray you. It’s like… camaraderie.”

“Really?”

Camaraderie. There was nothing like that in lower hunter teams. Of course, it’s not like there weren’t good people. It’s just that they all died before long. That’s the problem.

There were fixed lower-level teams united by trust and friendship, but they rarely lasted long. As tightly knit as they were, if even one of them died, they couldn’t withstand the shock and fell apart. Even if that didn’t happen, there were many hunters who were bothered by those who were doing well, so they were attacked from the outside.

However, if it was an upper dungeon raiding team where such misfortunes rarely occurred, strong camaraderie would be created and would likely continue.

‘Still, to believe in camaraderie and think there’s no chance of betrayal. Is he still young?’

Is this okay, Haeyeon Guild Leader? I know his future is bright, but I’m a little worried. A flaw that didn’t originally exist in MKC has been created because of me, so there’s a possibility that other things could change.

“But Hyung, are you really okay?”

“I’m fine? Why?”

“No, um… you’re a little different than usual.”

I felt a twinge in my chest at his meaningful words. Did he notice my stats changing? I was being so quiet. But what he said next was unexpected.

“There’s a reptile stench…”

“…What?”

“No, it’s not that you smell, but… were you cursed or poisoned?”

…He’s disgustingly perceptive. Is he sensing the skill I received from the black guy? I shook my head, weakly using the wall lizard [referring to a skill that masks or alters one’s aura].

“If I was cursed or poisoned, I would have known first. The healer didn’t say anything either.”

“Healers can’t really sense curses unless they’re high-level, let alone poison. Haeyeon only has mid-level healers right now… Just in case, here.”

Yoohyun took off the bracelet from his wrist and grabbed my wrist to put it on me. No, there’s no need. Then, he put his nose almost to my wrist and smelled it.

“It seems weaker than before.”

“…Is that so.”

I’m glad the wall gecko is effective. S-rank stats are really annoying.

“You can sense that kind of thing if you’re S-rank?”

I asked, pulling my hand away as gently as possible.

“Slightly, if the skill was just used? If it’s the level of scent I felt from Hyung, it’s more like you have the skill than you were hit by it. But I’m not sure.”

Wow, he can really know all that? That’s cheating. I have to be careful, very careful. But I have so many other skills, can’t he sense those?

‘If he did, he would have asked me already.’

It seems like the black guy’s skill only detects poison and curses, so it’s probably limited to attack skills, and even then, only attributes.

It was just a reptile stench, so he can’t sense it accurately either. Is it just a feeling?

“Here, take it back. If I really had a curse, I would have used it.”

I took off the bracelet and held it out. You don’t know it, but I have L-rank curse resistance. You should keep the exorcism item for yourself.

“You had your exorcism/detoxification item stolen too, right? I’ll get you a better one soon.”

Yoohyun said, taking the bracelet. Um, I didn’t wear it, so it’s still in my inventory. Should I pretend it was stolen and give it to Myungwoo? Come to think of it, I wonder if that guy Myungwoo is worried too.

“More than that, I need magic power increasing equipment more urgently. I had my earring stolen too.”

I have plenty of magic power now, but it’ll run out again in a week.

“All I have right now is a percentage increase. Should I give you that?”

“It’s okay, it’s not like I need to use skills right now.”

My brother keeps trying to take care of me, so I feel a little embarrassed. Leaving aside that he’s my blood relative, it’s a relationship where I deserve to be taken care of from a business perspective, but I’m also the older brother. If I’m going to rip someone off anyway, it’s easier to deal with other guilds. Especially MKC, they should compensate me properly.

* * *

It was already dark when we arrived at the Haeyeon Guild.

“The house would be safer than the dorm.”

Yoohyun said, pressing the elevator button. It would be safer, but I had a bad feeling that if I went in now, it would be hard to come out again.

“It’s okay. You have to go back right away anyway. I’d rather have someone else around, even if they’re F-rank, than be alone.”

“I don’t necessarily have to go—”

“Hurry up and find out who’s behind this and clean it up, so I can feel better too.”

Did I act too weak? Stop clinging to me and go do your job.

I said it was okay, but Han Yoohyun took me to the door of my dorm room before finally leaving. It would be nice if it ended here, but I hope he doesn’t bother me more in the future.

“Peace, we’re finally home.”

Let’s go to bed early today. Should we sleep together for the first time in a while?

I opened the door, comforting Peace, who couldn’t seem to cheer up. And I opened the inner door too.

“…Yujin.”

Myungwoo was there, looking utterly heartbroken.