WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 1: Regression (1)

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“…Hyung, are you okay?”

That was what he asked, even with his side torn open as though something had bitten into it, his entrails forcing their way out.

Seeing his face so calm despite dying, only a little paler than usual, irritated me. I sat on the floor and silently looked up at my younger brother.

He was the guy who got in my way at every turn. He was so damned capable that I was sick of hearing people tell me not to hold my amazing little brother back and to just stay quiet. In the end, I had not merely held him back. I had practically broken his ankle, so they were not wrong.

But still.

“…Why are you here?”

Even though he had saved me, my voice came out blunt.

Why had he come looking for me and gotten himself into this mess? He should have just left me to die for getting in over my head. We were far from close. Whenever we faced each other, the air turned cold.

When the bones in my leg were shattered, he had not visited me once. After he coldly refused my request to help heal the leg that would leave me limping for life, dragged me out, told me not to show off and to just take the money he gave me, then cast me aside, we had barely exchanged a proper word.

At my question, he smiled bitterly.

“Why did you come here, damn it?”

The curse slipped out, even though I knew I was being absurd. There were so many expectations resting on his shoulders, yet he was throwing away his life to save one useless relative. Crazy bastard.

Since when were we that close? If you died and made the news, damn it, I would spit out a few curses and forget you.

So why did you save me?

I was angry. Angry at my own pathetic self, irritation surging inside me.

Right. I was always the worthless older brother. Even now, full of inferiority, I was trash who could only babble childish complaints.

So just leave me to die in some corner of the dungeon. Why did you come looking for me?

“Listen carefully, Hyung.”

He ignored my question and spoke.

“Raucitas falls asleep every five hours. If you hide for just one more hour, it’ll enter a sleeping state. Then you can get out through the entrance. I took care of all the smaller monsters, so you should be safe as long as you don’t disturb Raucitas.”

Then he held out a small blue stone. It was a Gate Stone, an item that created an exit from a closed dungeon. It could only be used near the entrance, was for one person, and was single-use, making it extremely valuable.

Without taking it, I tried to sound bold.

“Forget it. You use it.”

He smiled at my words.

“I have one too. Though I won’t need it.”

…So Korea’s strongest Hunter carried several of those precious Gate Stones around. As though reluctant, I accepted the Gate Stone.

Only then did he look away from me and down at his own wound. It was a grievous injury that would have brought him down long ago without the power of his skills.

“…You have Gate Stones, but no elixir or anything?”

“Yeah, no. I have some minor potions, but I don’t think they’ll be enough. Raucitas’s claws carry a powerful curse too.”

He smiled again. I did not know how he could smile.

But even that calm expression soon reached its limit. His knees buckled and his body pitched forward. Reflexively, I caught his upper body.

The smell of blood, which I had not noticed until now, struck my nose.

It was overpowering.

I thought I had grown used to the smell of blood after all my dungeon runs, but bile rose in my throat.

I wanted to throw away the body I was holding and run.

“…Hey.”

I could barely hear him breathing.

There was no answer.

He was not smiling either.

“…Are you dead?”

My voice trembled. It did not matter to me whether a bastard like him died or not.

“Han Yoohyun, are you dead?”

Damn it, you idiot. Even if I got out alive on my own, I would be cursed to hell and back. There would be plenty of people lining up to burn the trash who had gotten his own accomplished younger brother killed.

“Are you screwing me over to the very end?”

I muttered hollowly.

He had kept getting in my way, stopping me from doing anything. Now I would have to hide for good. He really was rotten to the end.

[The effect of the title ‘Caregiver’ activates.

Caregiver Additional Skill: Final Recompense

The skills and stats of the Awakened Han Yoohyun will be transferred at twice the efficiency.

Duration: 01:00]

A notification window appeared, confirming his death beyond doubt. One of my title’s additional skills let me inherit the skills and stats of someone I had given a growth buff to when they died, for one hour.

At twice their normal effectiveness, too.

Strength flooded through my entire body, and part of his memories came with it.

‘My older brother is an F-rank Awakened.’

This bastard, right to the very end...

‘So he can’t be involved with me.’

Yoohyun was speaking to someone, sounding a little sad.

‘Our relationship is already as ruined as it can be, but from now on, we need to keep even farther apart. Awakened who qualify as Hunters receive less legal protection than ordinary people.’

‘If my brother becomes my weakness, those bastards will surely target him.’

…Who the hell were those bastards?

‘Damn it, deal with every last one of them!’

It was when my leg was wrecked. He was furious. And sad again.

‘No. Tell them healer support is impossible… It would be better that way. Push him out first… Then help him in a way that makes it seem unavoidable because we’re brothers…’

‘Hyung, I’m sorry.’

‘I’m sorry…’

‘Please don’t enter a dungeon.’

‘Hyung.’

My younger brother’s memories closed around my throat. The surroundings were silent, yet the sound of him calling me hyung made my ears hurt. The body in my arms was cold and stiff.

I felt like I was going mad.

He really had screwed me over to the very end. Who did he think he was, protecting me? I was the older brother. I was the one who had dropped out of school after our parents died early to raise and care for my little brother.

“Damn bastard. Do you think this will make me regret anything?”

It was your fault for never saying a word.

Carefully, I laid my younger brother’s lifeless body on the floor. His face looked peaceful. Could he really leave all by himself with such peace of mind?

“I’m not even going to cry for you.”

Why waste tears on someone who had been selfish to the end?

I stood up. When I looked at my status window, skills packed the screen. Every one of them was top-tier, and they were even boosted twofold.

A laugh escaped me.

For one hour, at the cost of my younger brother’s life, I had become stronger than anyone else in the world.

“Damn it, what am I supposed to do with only one hour?”

It would have been far better if Han Yoohyun, the Blackblood Flame Emperor, had lived another forty or fifty years. Even as a bent old grandfather, Yoohyun would be several times stronger than me. How could a one-hour, single-use power compare?

“You idiot. You damned idiot.”

Tears even welled up at my brother’s stupidity. The word genius was wasted on him. What a complete idiot.

“Gigant Shield.”

The moment I used the skill, a faint golden light wrapped around my body. Normally, it could not even block Raucitas’s claws, but with the twofold boost, it would withstand even a direct bite.

“This is all yours. So I’ll avenge you.”

I slowly stepped out from the crack in the wall where I had been hiding. At the far end of the vast cavern lurked a massive monster.

Raucitas. A first-class dragon species. Dragon King of poison and curses. It had only appeared twice before, and both times it had been judged impossible to subdue. They had dealt with it both times by holding out until the dungeon gates could be closed.

The red dragon with three heads turned toward me.

Grrrrr.

The low rumble rolled heavily through the cavern, striking the walls. The middle head’s two eyes had burned away. Raucitas possessed tremendous regenerative ability, but it seemed even it could not quickly recover from wounds inflicted by Yoohyun’s Bloodflame.

Yeah, my little brother really was incredible. And I had twice his power.

Damn it.

You’re dead.

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