The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 523

521. Channel (2)

“…Could this be fake too?”

It was a face I’d never seen before. In just about an hour, people claiming to have broadcast the video I made were popping up left and right. Self-proclaimed hackers, terrorist groups, Hunters with special skills, even people claiming to have borrowed power from aliens—all sorts of nonsense was overflowing.

Among them, the most credible claim was that it was a collaboration between Haeyeon, the Breeding Center, and Seseong. It felt realistic, but most people probably thought it was staged. How could an F-rank… That’s how I would have taken it too.

[First, I would like to apologize to those who were surprised by the sudden broadcast.]

The man on the screen had green eyes and long white hair. It looked like white hair that had appeared with age, but he looked to be around thirty at most. Hundreds of broadcasts were spewing nonsense, but this video seemed to be gaining attention because of the man’s appearance. The number of viewers was rapidly increasing.

“I know that face.”

“Yes?”

Seong Hyeonjae said, looking at the white-haired man.

“A self-proclaimed prophet. From China.”

“Ah… the ones you met back then. The cultists who claimed dungeons were the will of God.”

My brow furrowed involuntarily. Between the party invitation and those cultists joining hands with Chatterbox, it was becoming increasingly clear. Chatterbox was probably acting as a self-proclaimed god.

“Weren’t they the ones who were hostile to you?”

Yoohyun said, looking at the self-proclaimed prophet with a cold gaze. Yerim also wore a worried expression.

“Are those the people from that recording who called you a devil or an angel, Mister? The one the Guild Leader brought to the hospital and played?”

Seong Hyeonjae nodded and ordered the analysis and tracking of the video being broadcasted over his phone.

“It’s just a normal stream right now.”

“Chatterbox could only interfere with TV broadcasts, it seems. Well, even that alone is excessive interference.”

I should go ask the newbie. Isn’t this kind of meddling against the rules? Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed prophet introduced himself. Words of ridicule poured out at the mention of being able to see the future. I could only understand Korean, but I figured the atmosphere was similar in other languages.

– LMAOOOOOOOOOO

– If you’re a real prophet, you’d buy the Super Bowl and live large hahahahaha

…I should have memorized the Super Bowl numbers. Who knew I’d regress? Anyway, no one was taking the prophet’s words seriously right now. He was being regarded as just another random person who had jumped into the commotion. It would be a relief if that were really the case.

[The current time is a little past 10 PM, New York time.]

The prophet said, looking at something beyond the screen. Then, he smiled brightly.

[The population has decreased a bit since the first Dungeon Shock [the initial appearance of dungeons worldwide], but it’s still a bustling city. As such, dungeons are also overflowing. Many of you probably know about the C-rank dungeon next to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. During an NBA game, a dungeon break occurred, and most of the players awakened [gained Hunter abilities], with 80 percent of them becoming D-rank or higher, leading to the misfortune of both teams being disbanded.]

There were a few cases like that. After dungeons appeared, the phrase ‘your whole team awakened’ started being used as an insult. People would say to underperforming players, ‘Just awaken already,’ or ‘That X will always be like that even if they awaken, because they’re F-rank.’

“We were like that too.”

Moon Hyuna said with a nostalgic expression. Hyuna also awakened with her colleagues.

[In one hour from now, this C-rank Barclays Dungeon will break again.]

The speed at which the chat was rising, which had slowed down for a moment, picked up again at the prophet’s words. There was Korean, but since the location was what it was, there was much more English.

“The Barclays Dungeon is currently being raided.”

Yoohyun read the English and told me.

“It’s a 2-year-old A-rank guild, and they manage the dungeon well. There are also posts saying to report it.”

“Spreading false information about dungeons is a serious crime in the United States as well,”

Song Taewon said. Especially if it’s said that a dungeon is going to break in the middle of the city, it would naturally cause a great uproar. These days, preparations are well in place, but even so, many people would have to evacuate, and many accidents would occur in the process. The damage from the last intentional dungeon break was no joke.

“If it’s false information, that is. I wonder what it will be like.”

Seong Hyeonjae turned to look at me. I swallowed dryly without realizing it. If, just if, those words really came true.

[I’ll see you again in an hour.]

The prophet ended the broadcast with a greeting.

“If a C-rank dungeon really breaks, the repercussions would be no joke.”

“There are two ways to go about this. One is to prepare in advance and frame it as a lie. Time is tight, but it’s not impossible. We could say the prophet colluded with an A-rank guild and prepared an accident in advance.”

As Seong Hyeonjae said, we could claim he pretended to see the future. Unlike natural disasters, simple accidents can be fabricated by human hands.

“If it’s a case of someone with memories from before regression, it could be even more troublesome. What’s the second way?”

“To dismiss it as a skill. The ability to see the future is impressive, but in the current world where Hunters exist, it’s bound to lose its mystique. A simple skill, a power that anyone can awaken and possess if they’re lucky. By lowering its status like that, we can reduce its influence.”

As he said, if a real prophet appeared in a world without Hunters, they would wield tremendous influence. But in a neighborhood where the house next door flies, the house across the street teleports, the house behind turns into a dragon, and the house down the street becomes invisible, seeing the future doesn’t feel particularly special.

“Can’t you do something similar, hyung? You regressed, right?”

“I don’t know much about overseas affairs. And the country has changed too much. I know about the dungeons that will appear in the future, but… if I had revealed from the start that I knew all that, I wouldn’t be here like this.”

“True, you wouldn’t have even been kidnapped overseas.”

Moon Hyuna nodded and glanced at Seong Hyeonjae. Seong Hyeonjae replied nonchalantly.

“It’s fortunate that MKC disappeared.”

“No, Seong Hyeonjae, you. Hyung and Yerim wouldn’t have even met, and the young master would have had a small chance of being alive. Or Seok Simyeong would have completely hidden hyung. We would have just known that Haeyeon’s Guild Leader was missing.”

If I had rashly acted alone, it would have been the former, and if I had consulted Haeyeon, it would have been the latter. Yoohyun would have cooperated with Seok Simyeong too. At Moon Hyuna’s words, Seong Hyeonjae pretended to be wronged.

“I’m not that much of a villain.”

“Look, Seong Hyeonjae’s conscience is rolling around on the floor over there. Someone pick it up.”

“It’s too small to even see, unnie [older sister].”

“You said that S-rank Hunters accompanied you back then, right? If there were two, there’s a possibility there were more.”

Although he was smiling brightly on the broadcast, that prophet wouldn’t be ordinary either.

“How did he protect himself and recruit S-rank Hunters?”

“In the United States, there would have been fewer restrictions on his actions compared to Han Yoojin-gun. Thanks to Song Taewon-siljangnim [Team Leader Song Taewon], Korea has become the country with the best-established order in the Hunter world.”

Indeed, in Korea, it was extremely difficult to operate without registering with the Hunter Association. There was a black market, but it was much smaller compared to overseas. Before I regressed, after Song Siljangnim died… it had changed a bit.

“The King of Innocence or Chatterbox might have helped him. Anyway, for now, it seems best to lay the groundwork as Seong Hyeonjae-ssi said. Yoohyun, tell Team Leader Seok to contact Japan and China as well. Hyuna-ssi, would you help too?”

“Of course. But we’re still small. The main team isn’t affiliated with the guild.”

She said there was a team secretly created directly under the Guild Leader. It was to continue overseas transactions even after independence. And Seseong too.

“Can I trust you?”

“Please leave it to us.”

We began preparing for articles to flood the media saying a new skill had appeared if the prophet’s words came true. At the same time, we were planning to subtly mix in the first method Seong Hyeonjae had mentioned. In a way that would make it seem like manipulation was entirely possible.

“Since it’s dungeon-related information, it would be good to involve Team Seok Hayan and say that prophecies aren’t very useful.”

Since the dungeon would be safe anyway. The actual work wasn’t something I could handle, so for now, I just had to wait an hour. I buried myself in the sofa and stared at the screen that displayed the broadcast had ended.

‘What on earth is Chatterbox trying to do…?’

I never expected him to come out so openly like this. I thought it would be a fight that only those in the know would be aware of, like before.

“There’s no mention of the prophet in Korea yet.”

Yerim said, sitting next to me and diligently tapping on her phone.

“My friends, my friends’ older sisters, and my older sisters’ friends too. There’s some overlap, but since they’re in different places, I can check news from most of the large communities, so I’m sure.”

“Communities? Your friends’ older sisters’ friends know too?”

“They don’t know me personally, but they hear about it indirectly. I made a group chat and gathered all the kids. Oh, there’s one place where they posted that it’s unique. They’re wondering if he grew his hair long and bleached it to create a concept?”

Yerim said something more, but it was a little hard to understand. This must be what they call a generational gap. What’s a forum?

And an hour passed, and breaking news appeared.

[C-rank Dungeon Break in Brooklyn, New York.]

It was reported that due to internal conflicts within the guild, the C-rank dungeon raid team had turned back in front of the dungeon gate. As an A-rank guild with several mid-level raid teams, they would have normally sent another raid team right away, but it seemed the message hadn’t been properly conveyed.

It was briefly summarized on TV that the higher-ups thought the raid was proceeding as planned, and the lower-level team assumed the higher-ups had been notified and would take care of it.

[There was someone who predicted the Barclays Dungeon break.]

The internet broadcast had finally made it to TV. And to the whole world. Coincidence, manipulation, special skill. All sorts of words were mixed together. If he had only predicted the Barclays Dungeon break, it wouldn’t have blown up this much. But.

[Here’s a video from ABC.]

It was Noah. The young man with bright blonde hair lightly ran up a steep mountain path. Next to him, Kang Soyoung, with her hair tied up high, was visible. To lower the guard of the opposing team, they had formed a team with the support-type Noah and the A-rank Kang Soyoung. It was said that Noah’s help allowed the A-rank to defeat the S-rank, but that was a 2-on-1 situation.

The scene changed, and Noah jumped off a cliff without hesitation. His body spun in the air, and the S-rank Hunters who were cleverly hiding below the cliff to avoid the guns were revealed. Originally, they would have had to go down the cliff to approach and attack. If the distance closed, Noah and Kang Soyoung’s team would inevitably be at a physical disadvantage. But using the fact that they wouldn’t die anyway, Noah fired his gun in mid-air.

The sound of gunfire rang out along with the S-rank Hunters’ flustered faces. After the victory, Noah died from the fall, and Soyoung obtained three gold coins and gave two to Noah.

And next, Riet appeared. Riet’s legs wrapped around a Hunter’s neck and snapped it clean off. The screen turned black at the scene where she wrapped her legs around the neck, but the imagination was enough. Riet had entered with me and dealt with the opposing team with her bare hands without receiving any firearms. The opposing team swung their weapons and inflicted serious injuries, but she didn’t care and broke the limbs of the last person as well. In the end, Riet also died from excessive bleeding, and I received three gold coins and handed them to her.

[According to the ‘Prophet,’ this video is from the preliminary round of ‘Chatterbox’s Party.’]

…It’s not wrong.

[Invitations to Chatterbox’s Party have already been sent to Hunters in various countries.]

Really, like this.

[The participants of this party will receive tremendous rewards.]

I didn’t expect it to come out like this.

[This party, attended by numerous S-rank Hunters, will be broadcast live on Channel Chatterbox.]

The announcer tried to speak calmly, but an unavoidable excitement could be felt. A party, battles, and live broadcasts of S-rank Hunters. I felt like swearing.

That crazy bastard, it was supposed to be a funeral. It was as if he was going to enjoy a lively and extravagant funeral with people all over the world. Is this what funerals are like in your neighborhood?

The first S-rank ranking match from before regression came to mind. It wasn’t live and the filming wasn’t in good condition, but it was held as enthusiastically as the Olympics. But this, the Transcender [Chatterbox] is going to broadcast it live. Of course, it’s a party for now, so it might not be a simple battle. But still.

‘It’s a program that gathers and pits world-renowned celebrities against each other.’

Just gathering the top celebrities from each country would be no joke, but these are S-rank Hunters, which is even more than that. Just having them all gather and eat would cause viewership to explode.

“The prophecy has been reduced to attracting interest.”

Seong Hyeonjae muttered. The higher-ups might be more interested in the prophet, but the general public’s attention would be focused on the party. He had only predicted dungeon accidents so far, and even those were predictable if you knew the inside story, so he wasn’t very trustworthy.

“The prophecy was probably to gain the cooperation of the American upper class.”

He would make it feel like a clown show before the party to the general public and contact important figures behind the scenes. In the end, we helped him, but this was better.

“…Ajusshi [term for older man, like ‘mister’], I really think it would be good not to go online for a while.”

Yerim said, troubled.

“What are they saying… no, Yerim, you just don’t look either. Hyuna-ssi.”

At my call, Moon Hyuna frowned slightly and answered.

“They’re saying why Han Yoojin is attending, and to hand over the invitation to an S-rank.”

I didn’t even have to look to know. They must be saying it’s not a place for an F-rank.

“They’re probably saying I passed the preliminaries by freeloading off the surrounding S-ranks.”

“Hmm, probably. They’re saying you let them win on purpose. We need to announce this quickly. I’m hearing that the Guild Leaders can’t attend because of hyung [older brother/term of endearment for a close male friend].”

Because it was a preliminary round. If they think Yoohyun, Seong Hyeonjae, or Song Siljangnim can’t go to ranking matches because they lost to me… I’d curse too.

“Announce the situation, and then… I need to go to the dungeon.”

I need to move right away, but I don’t have any strength. Yoohyun quickly contacted Seok Simyeong to announce that Haeyeon’s Guild Leader and Hunter Park Yerim would also be attending. Seong Hyeonjae and Moon Hyuna were the same.

Interview requests were pouring in, but first, I decided to visit the newbie.