WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 13: The Second S-Class (2)

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- Sizzle.

Richly marbled chuck flap, as dazzling as flowers in bloom, landed on the grill with a delicious sound. Beside it, Korean beef intestines swelled with sizzling fat.

Life really was worth living.

A shot of soju or a beer would have been nice, but maybe not in this situation.

“You can drink.”

“…Huh?”

“You look like you really want to. I see drunk people all the time, so I don’t care.”

…Was my expression that obvious, or could she read minds?

“I can’t get drunk when we’re about to exchange contracts. Especially with someone across from me who doesn’t seem easy to handle. I’d be too afraid of getting taken for everything if I got drunk.”

“Maybe I’m not hard to handle. Maybe you’re just easy to handle, Mister.”

Park Yerim laughed happily. Her bad mood seemed to have completely melted away.

We had deliberately taken a private room so we could talk comfortably, and there were no other customers nearby. There had not been many customers in the first place, since it was an awkward time of day.

Kim Seonghan had declined the invitation to eat with us, looked around the restaurant, and left, saying he would wait outside. Maybe I should just give up on turning that person into an S-Class. They really wouldn’t let me get close.

“But do you really know my parents?”

Park Yerim asked as she picked up a piece of meat.

“How else would I have found you so precisely if we didn’t know each other? We weren’t close, but they helped me out when I was young.”

“When you were young?”

“Yeah. I lost my parents young too. I had a younger sibling to support, so I had a hard time making a living.”

I was going to wear this sob story threadbare. But the thing that tugged hardest at a Korean heart was exactly that: orphaned young, no one to lean on, poor pitiable me, and so on. With an orphan sympathy ticket, you could even become president.

“Your parents gave me some small help back then. It was about ten years ago, so you probably don’t remember.”

Of course, I didn’t remember either. I poured soda into my glass instead of alcohol and continued.

“Until I awakened, I was too busy surviving to think of looking them up. I did have an S-Class Awakened sibling, but we didn’t get along until recently.”

“Really? Now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything about the Haeyeon Guildmaster’s family.”

“We reconciled just a few days ago. I awakened, got a useful skill, and made up with my sibling. Only once life became manageable did I start thinking about the past. Selfish, right?”

“How is that selfish? Look at my uncle! There are plenty of people who repay kindness with betrayal. The fact that you remembered at all, even late, is already something.”

Park Yerim puffed out her cheeks as she spoke. They were soon filled with a neatly wrapped mouthful of meat. She ate well.

“Hey, that’s a spicy chili.”

“I’m good with spicy food.”

She even dipped raw garlic heavily into seasoned bean paste. How many cloves of garlic was she putting into one wrap? I couldn’t eat it unless it was grilled. It upset my stomach otherwise.

“So I asked around right away and found you. At first, I only came to see whether there was any way I could help. But you seemed to have exceptional potential as an Awakened.”

“Mmph mmph.”

“Swallow before you talk.”

Had that bastard uncle been starving his niece or something?

“So all I have to do now is sign a contract with you?”

“Yeah. Depending on the circumstances, you might awaken right away, or it might take a few days. It won’t take long.”

“I hope it happens right away. There’ll be chaos when I go home.”

“It’s partly luck, but I’ll do what I can.”

How should I bring up the keyword? Maybe I should talk more about her parents.

First, I took the contract from my Inventory. Park Yerim’s eyes widened as parchment appeared in midair.

“That’s an Inventory, right? This is my first time seeing one in person.”

“You’ll have one soon too. You can only put dungeon-related items in it, but it’s useful.”

Ordinary objects could not be stored in an Inventory. Only items from dungeons, or items made solely with dungeon byproducts as materials, could go in.

“There are three conditions. First, you will not tell others about my skill. Second, you will serve as my escort for one year. Third, you will sign with the Haeyeon Guild.”

“Your escort?”

“Yeah. I’m only F-Rank, so I need someone to protect me. I was looking for someone suitable with my skill when you caught my eye.”

“Come on. You want a fifteen-year-old to protect you? Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“Even a ten-year-old would be stronger than me if their stat rank was high enough, so I’m not embarrassed.”

What was there to be embarrassed about now? I answered vaguely and took out a pen. The pen and its ink had also been made from dungeon byproducts. As I opened the contract and wrote in the conditions, Park Yerim leaned forward to look.

“Your overall stats drop by twenty percent for a year if you break the contract? That’s all the penalty is? Breaking it wouldn’t be a big deal.”

“A twenty percent drop means the highest dungeon rank you can clear falls by at least one level. The difference in income is enormous.”

“Still, you only have to wait a year.”

“That’s true. But this is a Hunter Association-certified contract. If you break it, your credit will hit rock bottom. Depending on the circumstances, your Hunter license could even be suspended.”

That was why, unless it was an under-the-table deal, Hunter Association-certified contracts were much better than illegal contracts with harsh contractual penalties.

“I thought Awakened contracts would have terrifying punishments and things like that.”

“Those exist too. They’re illegal, though.”

“Only Awakened people have stats. Does the effect still work if I sign now?”

“It doesn’t matter. This applies a curse skill, and non-Awakened people can be affected by skills too. Your physical abilities would probably drop by twenty percent.”

“A curse? That’s kind of creepy.”

Once I had written all my conditions, I signed. Park Yerim, who had been watching, quickly held out her hand for the pen.

“I just write my name, right?”

She took the pen and contract and was about to sign when I said,

“Huh?”

I snatched the contract away. Park Yerim looked at me as if asking what was wrong.

“You really are a kid.”

“Why?”

Her voice came out sharp, as though she was sulking. I waved the contract in front of her.

“You need to check it properly before signing.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it.”

Nothing wrong, my ass.

“Your conditions are missing.”

“…Oh. You’re right.”

Park Yerim muttered blankly. The contract now contained only my unilateral demands. Her face reddened slightly, perhaps from embarrassment.

“I could’ve forgotten!”

“Of course you could have. But you can’t brush it off with an excuse when it comes to a contract. That’s what it means to become an Awakened, a Hunter. For Hunter work, you have the same rights as an adult, but you also carry the same responsibilities.”

I took back the pen and added conditions regarding Park Yerim’s awakening and support.

“And contracts like this usually involve negotiation. I’ve already told you that you can become a high-ranking Awakened. Your expected awakening rank is B or higher. That is very favorable information for you. You can receive good treatment anywhere, and if you turn out to be A-Rank or higher, you would have a free pass into the Big Three guilds.”

I continued, pointing at the condition about signing with the Haeyeon Guild.

“But if you sign to join a guild without negotiating the terms, what else is that but stupidity? It’s far too unfavorable a condition to accept just because I said I’d awaken you right away.”

I crossed out several lines and changed the condition to give the Haeyeon Guild priority in contracting with her, provided its terms were at least the Hunter industry average.

“There. This should be a reasonably fair contract.”

Park Yerim looked at me with an expression that was hard to read. Was she sulking, or was she surprised? After a moment of silence, she opened her mouth.

“So what do you want me to do, then?”

Was she angry?

“It may have sounded like a lecture, but what I mean is that you’re still at an age when you need an adult’s help. Once you awaken, there will definitely be many people who approach you. Even at B-Rank, the dungeon two ranks below is D-Rank, and after clearing it safely ten times, you can enter B-Rank dungeons too.”

An orphaned middle schooler earning billions of won a year. What a tempting description for people looking to take advantage. And Park Yerim was even an S-Class. If that became known, people would make a fuss not only in Korea, but overseas as well.

“Among them, there will be plenty of people who approach you pretending to be good people, like I am now, while trying to take advantage of you. As you just experienced, you’d be easily fooled.”

“……”

Park Yerim’s gaze fixed on the contract. Her expression was still stiff, but rather than angry, she looked deep in thought.

“…But I don’t want my uncle.”

“Yeah, I know. He’s not someone I would recommend as a guardian. It would be a relief if he didn’t take your money and run.”

“He’d definitely take everything and run.”

The tense mood eased a little as we cursed her uncle.

“If you’re all right with it, I’d like to take on that role.”

“…Isn’t that what you meant by supporting me?”

“It’s different. An ordinary sponsor can’t interfere with your transactions as a Hunter. But if you have a guardian, you can request that an unfair contract be voided even if you, as a minor Hunter, signed it alone. Even with the special law, a minor is still a minor. Usually, parents take on that role.”

A blood relative could not automatically become a Hunter’s guardian. The Hunter had to appoint them personally.

“So… I was thinking I could take your parents’ place.”

I deliberately cleared my throat awkwardly. I was actually a little uncomfortable too. Even before I regressed, I wasn’t old enough to have a fifteen-year-old daughter. She would be closer to a niece’s age.

“P-Parents?”

“Y-Yeah… Well. Of course, I’m not suited for it in many ways, and I have plenty of shortcomings.”

“…Why would you go that far? You said my parents only gave you a little help.”

“Because I had it hard too.”

It was both a lie and the truth.

“Maybe it’s just vicarious satisfaction. Thinking that if I’d had someone solid to lean on back then… Well, I probably don’t look very solid.”

“I think you’d be reliable enough too, Mister.”

“Really?”

“…You don’t need to ask twice.”

She didn’t seem to want to give an empty compliment twice. It was my fault for not being satisfied with one.

“Anyway, all right.”

Park Yerim shyly rubbed her cheek with her palm.

“Um, please take care of me from now on…?”

“Yeah, you too. So…”

I should have just drunk. The regret came too late, but there was no helping it. I had no choice but to say it sober. It was probably more natural to be this awkward, like I was about to die.

“I said I’d take your parents’ place, but of course I’ll fall far short. Not as much as your parents loved you, of course, but… um, how should I put this? …Yerim, I love you?”

“Eek! What even was that? That’s so weird!”

Park Yerim shouted, her face red as she rubbed her arms as though she had goosebumps. My face was surely red too. Saying nonsense while sober was damn difficult.

Still, that reaction meant...

[The non-Awakened ‘Park Yerim’ has been influenced by the keyword!]

It appeared after all.

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