The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 520

518. I’ll Take Good Care of It (1)

“Location.”

[America, my place. Wanna come over?]

If that was true, it meant he’d crossed an enormous distance. It was the power of a Transcender, so it wasn’t surprising.

“Cutting to the chase, what exactly is the Puppeteer’s purpose?”

[How cold. Shouldn’t you start by asking how I am?]

“I am truly sorry to hear you are safe, Mr. Hwanglim.”

Hwanglim chuckled. Then, surprisingly, he answered readily.

[I’m just an errand boy, so I don’t know all the details, but the reason they want to bring down the Public Servant is simply because he’s dangerous.]

“Because he’s a threat to Transcenders?”

[Something like that. Like I said, if handled well, he can even devour Transcenders. Not many Transcenders know about the Lunar Eclipse [Song Taewon’s ability], but if they did, they’d all find him annoying.]

I glanced back at Song Taewon, who was sitting on the sofa. Everyone here knew the inside story: me, Chief Song, Yoohyun, Seong Hyunjae, and Gyeol. Yerim complained about being left out, but there was nothing I could do for now. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Yerim, but the involved parties wanted it that way.

“Did you hear that?”

“Yes.”

Song Taewon nodded slightly in response. Seong Hyunjae, sitting next to Song Taewon, looked quite indifferent. Yoohyun, next to me, was also eyeing the phone with displeasure. More precisely, he didn’t seem to like Hwanglim on the other end. For the record, this phone line was thoroughly secure. It would be troublesome if someone were to eavesdrop.

“Please ask if he knows the exact method.”

“Okay. How can Chief Song Taewon eliminate a Transcender? Does the Puppeteer know the exact method?”

Even as I obediently relayed the words, my heart ached. Chief Song hadn’t wanted this power, so why him of all people? It would be unfair to anyone, but it felt even more so with Chief Song.

[Wouldn’t you think so? I don’t really know~]

“In that case… the Puppeteer could use Chief Song Taewon to eliminate other Transcenders.”

I continued to relay Song Taewon’s questions.

[Ah, I did hear something about that. You can use the Lunar Eclipse. But if you’re not careful, you might get devoured instead. To use it safely, you need to have Transcender-level contracts layered two or three times.]

“Contracts are essential, then.”

Song Taewon faintly revealed a hint of relief as he spoke. I also breathed a sigh of relief. If Transcenders could easily manipulate him, Chief Song would never leave himself alone. At the very least, he would leave Korea, leave our side.

…Suddenly, Seong Hyunjae from the Nightmare Dungeon came to mind. The one who failed to escape the Crescent Moon [a powerful Transcender], lost Song Taewon, and left Korea.

[Is the Public Servant very worried?]

“None of your business.”

[If I had known you were like this, I would have met you secretly and persuaded you with words. What a shame.]

Hwanglim said with a laugh, but it sent shivers down my spine. If that had happened, there would have been no chance to hold onto Chief Song. I would probably be panicking about his sudden disappearance right now. I reflexively looked at Chief Song.

“I will not disappear without a word.”

“Even if Chief Song puts those around him in danger?”

“…Unless it’s an urgent situation, I will say something.”

“Yes, let’s worry together.”

[You’re so cold to me, that’s too much.]

Hwanglim grumbled.

“Consider your character.”

[Inside and out, I’m excellent.]

“All that glitters is not gold.”

[You like my dazzling appearance so much, thank you, darling.]

…If I were an S-Rank, or even just a mid-level one, the receiver would have shattered. I want to sew this bastard’s mouth shut. What kind of slippery snake is he? Seong Hyunjae is good at stabbing people with his words, but he was gentlemanly compared to Hwanglim. Both are thousand-year-old serpents, but Seong Hyunjae seems to have refused to become a dragon even when told to ascend to the heavens, choosing to stay in the mortal world, while Hwanglim would have been banned from ascension for being rotten to the core even before reaching a hundred years.

[Why don’t you and the Public Servant come visit me? I’ll show you the Statue of Liberty.]

“Hey, you’re Chinese. Why are you talking like you’re inviting me to your country?”

[It’s the American Dream.]

What is he even saying? How could this guy even get into the military? If I get caught up in this, there’s no end, so I changed the subject again.

“Forget about you, I want to talk to the Puppeteer directly, so connect me. I heard they’re very interested in us.”

[That’s why they’re using me as an errand boy, because it’s not easy. Besides, I invaded Xiaojin’s secret room, so it’ll be hard for me to contact them for a while. They said I interfered too much.]

“Until when?”

[At least a week?]

It wasn’t that long. Anyway, to summarize, the Puppeteer’s apparent goal is to deal with the Lunar Eclipse, Song Taewon, who could be a threat to them… or so it seems. Since they’re entangled with the White Bird [another organization], there must be other purposes as well.

‘He helped him to be born in the first place… is it because he’s become stronger than expected?’

There seemed to be something more to it. Does the Newbie [a potential ally] know about the Puppeteer? I should stop by after the party.

“Then I’ll contact you again in a week.”

[There’s Un at the lower floor, should I connect you? He misses you a lot, you know.]

“Tell him to clean his neck and wait.”

Even if it’s Hwanglim, there’s no reason to keep Cho Hwa-un alive when we meet again. Even if I don’t do it, he won’t stay still around me. Hwanglim kept babbling, but I hung up.

“It seems best to keep Chief Song a secret as much as possible. Otherwise, Transcenders other than Chatterbox might try to get involved.”

If they find out about his existence, they will surely want to eliminate him or make a contract.

“For now, only the Crescent Moon, the Puppeteer, the White Bird, and the King of Innocence know about Chief Song. The Elder seems to have guessed as well. The King of Innocence is dead, the White Bird has disappeared, and the Puppeteer has been silenced, so only the Crescent Moon is left. But she won’t be able to spread the word easily either. Otherwise, the identity of the Small Moon [Seong Hyunjae] might be revealed.”

So, for now, we just need to watch our mouths.

“If the interference of the Transcenders disappears and we protect the world, Seong Hyunjae will be safe, and then Chief Song will be able to stay as he is now.”

Seong Hyunjae, if the Small Moon remains as Seong Hyunjae and does not threaten the Source, then Song Taewon, the Lunar Eclipse, can continue to live as a human. It’s a one plus one deal.

The problem is how to drive out the Transcenders, though.

“The Puppeteer seems to be reasonable, and the immediate problems are Chatterbox and the Crescent Moon. It’s daunting, but we have our own Transcenders. If we bring in the Puppeteer, it’s 3 to 2.”

The Newbie seems to be almost on our side, and the Elder will probably help us too. However, it seems that there are several Transcenders under the Crescent Moon… the Crescent Moon is the biggest problem after all. I haven’t even seen her face yet. The more I think about it, the more I feel sorry for Seong Hyunjae. How did he get targeted by the Crescent Moon?

“You don’t remember anything from the past? How did you live to get caught by a Transcender?”

“I would have been me even then.”

“I shouldn’t blame the victim, but I want to.”

It seemed better to focus on blocking Chatterbox for now. There was too little information about the Crescent Moon.

“I don’t know when the party will start, but it would be good to meet Hwanglim and the Puppeteer before that.”

“I don’t like that human.”

– Yeah, Daddy.

Yoohyun said with dissatisfaction. Gyeol also agreed.

– Can’t Uncle just get rid of him?

“You shouldn’t say things like that. He’s not someone who’s done anything seriously wrong, is he?”

Even if he were to be formally tried, he wouldn’t serve more than a few years. Even if it’s a kidnapping request, Hwanglim was specifically asked to prevent the Goblin King from falling into the hands of the military, so the mastermind is Park Hayul. Hwanglim was in the position of a bystander who could easily slip away like a real slippery snake.

That’s how it is now too. He’s just an intermediary who doesn’t take responsibility.

“He’s certainly annoying.”

Even Seong Hyunjae expressed his displeasure with Hwanglim. When Seong Hyunjae agreed, Gyeol narrowed his eyes. He seemed to dislike being of the same opinion as Seong Hyunjae. Should I arrange a place for them to become friends?

“I thought you would just ignore Seong Hyunjae. You don’t waver even when he picks a fight, do you?”

He responds, but he doesn’t hold onto it. It’s like a fly buzzing around, so you catch it, and that’s it. Seong Hyunjae turned his gaze to me and Song Taewon in turn.

“I don’t like having my things taken away. Haven’t I said that before?”

“First of all, it’s not yours, and you just let Soyoung take Sesung [a powerful artifact].”

“I can’t get angry every time someone takes a handful of sand from the beach, can I?”

…Is Sesung just a handful of sand? Seong Hyunjae slightly spread his arms.

“If I were to assess the value of possessions from a purely personal perspective, I am poor. I am the poorest in the world, holding only a handful of sand.”

“You’re saying things that will get you stoned.”

But the existence of Seong Hyunjae would be like that. What good would it do to hold the whole world? Nothing would be left for him. Not even the memory of having it.

“To try to take away the only two valuable things I have, isn’t that too much?”

Seong Hyunjae pretended to be pitiful. He actually felt a little pitiful.

“I’m the only one for Hyung [older brother figure].”

– Daddy, me too! Daddy is the only one for me!

“Thank you both.”

But it’s not all good. Even if Yoohyun is inherently unavoidable, should I send Gyeol to kindergarten? He looks like a foreigner, so I could create an identity overseas and adopt him.

Good kindergartens have high competition rates. Should I just build one? Is it difficult to create a private kindergarten? Since Black Dragon can talk and might be in human form, there’s a possibility that another child will go to kindergarten. So, to be safe, a kindergarten staffed with Awakened teachers. If possible, it would be nice to go all the way through high school and university.

I was briefly lost in absurd thoughts and quickly came to my senses. When Gyeol is a college student, he might become too similar to Seong Hyunjae, which would be troublesome.

“Here are the Chatterbox party invitations. You can cancel and re-register party participants at any time, so please register the two of you for now.”

If Seong Hyunjae and Song Taewon are on the same team, there’s no one who can beat them, right? So it would be okay for them to go together. In terms of balance, it would be better to have each of them paired with a support type. Above all, it might be better to divide the final team for Chief Song’s mental health.

“Do you have any team members you want?”

At my question, Song Taewon hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Noah Hunter. However, anyone in the combat class would be compatible with Noah Hunter. Next is Hunter Park Yerim. Hunter Park Yerim can be a good team with anyone except Hunter Han Yoohyun.”

“That’s certainly true. To be exact, Yoohyun has no one who matches him except Noah. Noah can only assist and cannot use poison skills.”

“Other than Peace, Han Yoojin, who possesses Grace, is the best. If Hunter Evelyn participates, she will also get along with most hunters.”

“Hunter Miller is a combat type and can perfectly adapt to others.”

Seong Hyunjae also agreed with Song Taewon’s words. If Seong Hyunjae evaluates her highly, Evelyn’s skills must be extraordinary. At that time, Gyeol made a groaning sound and flew to Seong Hyunjae. Then he held out one front paw.

– Gyeol, team… with Gyeol.

“This is quite unexpected.”

– I want to go with Daddy, but there are two people each. I don’t want to bother others.

The fairy dragon said, trembling. Seong Hyunjae looked at Gyeol with a very interesting look.

“You mean to take responsibility for an incompetent team member.”

– Ugh.

“Then there’s a price to pay.”

– W-what…….

“Don’t bully the child!”

I quickly took Gyeol back. What are you trying to ask of a child?

– Daddy, I’m okay!

“Gyeol, you don’t have to do that. It’s not a dangerous place, okay?”

“I wasn’t going to ask for anything excessive.”

“You would have asked for something mean. I’ll be right back, so let’s play at home, okay?”

Gyeol whined but stared at Seong Hyunjae. He’s quite stubborn.

The next day and the day after, for two days, in addition to the breeding information of Giseungsu [a type of monster], we distributed stamina potion prototypes and leaked information on the production of hunter firearms. Moon Hyunah also signed several wine transaction contracts in the meantime.

Of course, I didn’t forget the bet with the party invitations.

Kwaaaang-! The bomb exploded spectacularly. This time it was a plain with a village similar to the first one. Our team arrived at the village first, planted the bomb, and got out. And when the opposing team arrived, boom!

“It ended too easily.”

“I know, it’s a bit boring.”

Moon Hyunah replied while straddling her bicycle. The secret about the firearms was kept, but the fact that we were passing it on had spread, and no one wanted to fight a team made up of S-Ranks. Thanks to that, I had to intervene every time. F-Ranks are easy to deal with.

“There’s only one team left. The rest refused even if I joined, and there must be teams that didn’t come here.”

“The last one is Chief Song?”

“Yes. Chief Song hasn’t had any gold coins yet.”

When he was on a team with Yerim, he declined to share the gold coins. A message window popped up saying two people get one gold coin each, and one person gets three.

“This is not good.”

“Right. So I’m a little worried about the party. Can I take Yerim with me?”

It’s ominous. Hyunah pointed her gun at me. I stared at her silently before opening my mouth.

“If I don’t want to die, what would you do?”

“Huh? Well, we can just divide them one by one. Why, don’t you want to?”

“No. What’s new now.”

At my words, Moon Hyunah laughed.

“What’s new. Not wanting to die is nothing new. It’s always something you’ll hear, ‘You thought well!'”

“…Well, it’s not real. Just kidding, so shoot.”

“Even if it’s fake.”

With still kind words, Moon Hyunah pulled the trigger.

I went outside, collected Song Taewon’s gold coins for the last time, and the gathering ended.