WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 134: Drawn To (4)

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“How did you...?”

My voice cut off, and my legs gave out. It felt like all the backlash I’d been holding back hit me at once. Yoohyun’s arm caught me as I was about to collapse...?

At some point, the little lizard had taken human form. It wasn’t a perfect human appearance. Like Irin and Ismuar, it was a shape formed from flames.

“...You can do that too?”

“I guess it’s thanks to that whole mess in Hong Kong. But the burden’s too much to keep it up for long.”

“The burden? How much?”

“For one thing, my real body is completely defenseless...”

“Are you insane, Han Yoohyun? Go back right now! You’re in the middle of raiding an S-Class dungeon!”

“Don’t worry. A dungeon with only guild members is safer than outside. There are two S-Classes there, and Peace and Park Yerim will protect my body well for your sake too.”

My damn little brother spoke casually, but I was so worried my heart hurt. He said it wasn’t easy to send a spirit this far away, so he’d left Irin asleep and set things up so Irin would wake if Eunhye reacted.

Then had he not seen the wound on my chest? I’d reflexively covered it as soon as I heard Yoohyun’s voice.

“Full Assimilation can only last around thirty minutes at most. Irin will go back to sleep too. So contact the Sesung Guildmaster.”

Yoohyun spoke while looking at Song Taewon, who was putting out the flames clinging to his clothes as though shaking them off.

“Isn’t Seong Hyeonje still in the dungeon?”

“He left the country again over the Hong Kong incident and got back this morning. Hunter Evelyn entered the dungeon instead.”

It appeared another S-Class Hunter from Sesung had entered the raid in Seong Hyeonje’s place. I didn’t know what he’d been doing, but it seemed he was at least keeping his promise to inform Haeyeon Guild.

“Um, I’m planning to stay away from Seong Hyeonje for about three days, so calling him is a little... Mr. Noah is nearby too.”

“Noah Hunter won’t be enough. Manager Song has more experience fighting S-Class Hunters than anyone else in the country. He specializes in fighting people, so even as support, Noah probably wouldn’t last three minutes.”

Three minutes? That was short. Still, I didn’t want to face Seong Hyeonje right now.

I swallowed dryly and looked at Song Taewon. When our eyes met, a chill ran down my spine.

“Call him now.”

Yoohyun formed a spear of flame as he spoke. There was a faint tension in his low voice.

“I don’t know what happened, but he doesn’t look like he’ll let this end easily.”

At the same time, Song Taewon began to move. Since I wasn’t using the Teacher skill, I couldn’t properly follow his movements. I only heard the ground shake.

Boom!

The fire spear struck the ground and raised a wall of flames. Yoohyun had vanished from beside me before I knew it. Feeling heat swirling all around, I pulled out my phone.

I really didn’t want to face him now.

Seong Hyeonje answered before it rang long. His relaxed voice felt slightly different from usual. I already felt a little intimidated just talking over the phone. If I faced him in person, fuck, should I just say I’d dialed the wrong number?

“...If you have time, could you come to the dungeon break area for a moment? You don’t have to come if you’re busy.”

“Is Manager Song not enough? Even if it’s an S-Class monster, if it’s a Lycan type, he should be able to handle it without much trouble. I heard Noah, a support Hunter, is there too.”

He sounded mildly puzzled. You know a lot. The S-Class Lycanthrope was currently a total mess.

“Manager Song is the problem. You said he wouldn’t go after my life as long as my stats are F-Class, but this time you were wrong, Mr. Seong Hyeonje.”

“It seems my item’s charm was too much.”

“If you don’t want to see that damn item reduced to fragments, get over here within ten minutes.”

I didn’t think Song Taewon would truly kill me. But he might break an arm or a leg to tell me not to act up and stay put. Maybe because my Fear Resistance grade had fallen, just thinking about it made one of my legs throb.

I hoped he’d go easy on me. Having both legs intact was more convenient.

‘Should I use the Teacher skill?’

All I could see were flames and the occasional flying fragment. It would be hard to endure the information transmitted through the skill in my current state, but perhaps that wouldn’t be bad. Wouldn’t it be better to be unconscious than to face Seong Hyeonje while fully awake with C-Class Fear Resistance?

If I played dead, maybe Song Taewon would leave me alone. Though he wasn’t a bear. Was it bears that ate you if you pretended to be dead?

‘There’s nothing I can do anyway.’

I should lose consciousness before Seong Hyeonje arrived. First, I used the Teacher skill on Yoohyun and Irin. At the same time, it felt as though my entire body were blazing hot. The pressure made my mouth go dry.

When I had L-Class Fear Resistance, this had been like watching a fire from across a river. Now, it felt like watching hellfire close enough to almost touch.

And Song Taewon...

‘...How murderous.’

Even surrounded by flames, his calm eyes felt all the colder.

The doubled skill effect had disappeared, so Seeping Plunder’s range had narrowed. Even so, perhaps he wore fire-resistant equipment, because the flames circling him had left few burns.

Not none, though. One shoulder had been deeply gouged, apparently by a direct hit from the fire spear.

Crack!

His foot struck the ground, kicking a thick slab of broken asphalt upward. The flames trying to bite into Song Taewon melted the black mass thickly.

In that gap, a hand blade wrapped in shadow cut across Han Yoohyun’s chest. Since it wasn’t a real body, no blood sprayed out. It probably didn’t hurt, either.

But Yoohyun’s body itself could be considered a skill. The deeply split flames didn’t heal easily, and his red brows drew together as though troubled.

‘At this rate, he won’t last even half of thirty minutes.’

This wasn’t his real body, so he could barely use any skills and had no equipment. Since he was relying on pure firepower, the drain on his strength would be greater. And Song Taewon’s skill was steadily eating away even at that.

Well, if it got bad, I could just pass out.

I used the Teacher skill on Song Taewon again. My vision swayed, and my breathing quickened a little, but it wasn’t enough to make me faint.

‘Mr. Song Taewon isn’t rejecting it, though.’

Why? Even as I wondered, I one-sidedly relayed Song Taewon’s senses to Yoohyun.

Right after that, Yoohyun barely avoided Song Taewon’s kick and swung his arm hard. A ball of flame slammed into Song Taewon like a mace and sent him flying.

His body, struck directly and thrown backward, spun in the air. Song Taewon kicked hard off the outer wall of an unfortunate building.

Rumble!

The wall cracked, leaving a huge hole. Fire burned amid the concrete dust, and sprinklers activated from the heat. Steam surged where fire and water met.

The two collided again within it.

That building looked like it was going to collapse today.

Whenever their mana writhed violently, my insides churned as though I had motion sickness. In the end, I roughly sat down where I was. I wanted to faint before Seong Hyeonje arrived, but apparently my mind was tougher than expected. I should at least pretend to be dead.

“Hyung!”

Yoohyun shouted then. I could feel something ominous too.

Damn it.

Rumble.

The ground shook. Before I could even stand again, something like a gigantic mole burst through the pavement, shattering the sidewalk tiles. It looked like monsters from the first or second floor had appeared. I’d briefly forgotten that I was a monster hotspot.

Kiii!

The mole looked at me and seemed to say that I looked delicious. Probably.

Just before it could stretch out a front paw at me,

Bang!

Flames wrapped around its black head and burst it apart as though roasting it. A dagger flying in from elsewhere pierced the head of another one that had appeared behind me. A wire wrapped around the mole, which had a huge hole in its head and was falling toward me, then pulled it aside.

Thud.

The monster’s body rolled away from me and collapsed nearby. I was a little dumbfounded.

Honestly, Manager Song, you said you were going to destroy or hurt me just a little while ago.

‘It is like him, though.’

“Hyung, are you okay?”

Yoohyun suddenly appeared beside me and set another emerging mole ablaze. It wasn’t like I’d only seen monsters once or twice. This much just made me a little tense. I couldn’t get up, though. The ground kept shaking too.

This whole area would need major construction work.

“It appears Hunter Noah has difficulty stopping them without poison, since they move underground.”

Song Taewon spoke as he grabbed a mole by the neck and crushed it. A long burn mark now stretched from his forehead to the corner of his right eye. It looked painful enough for anyone watching, yet he didn’t even blink.

“Mr. Han Yujin.”

A veined hand pulled out the monster’s spine, then threw it into another mole’s eye. At the same time, a mole’s scream spread from beneath the foot he brought down hard.

Yoohyun glared at him as he approached me. His presence was fierce, but the spirit’s flames had already weakened considerably.

“Come this way. I’ll protect you.”

A hand smeared with blood and flesh extended toward me. The fact that he meant those words sincerely made him seem truly insane. Yoohyun half wrapped me in his arms and frowned.

“What really happened, Hyung? It looked like Manager Song tried to take off your bracelet, but now he wants to protect you?”

“...We had something like a discussion about life.”

I’d told him to stop doing that twisted-doughnut twist and help with my work, even though my own life was thoroughly twisted, then stuck my nose into his. Thinking back, even if Song Taewon tore out my tongue, I’d probably have to let it go once and say he had a point.

Our first meeting had been fairly pleasant, too. Then Song Taewon’s car got wrecked, and he strangled me... Hmm, perhaps it wasn’t all that different from now.

People really needed to keep about a spoonful of proper fear in their hearts. Otherwise, this could happen to you.

“I’m sorry, but I’m scared of you right now, Mr. Song Taewon, so I don’t want to go.”

“People are normally afraid in situations like this. Still, it would be better than being swallowed by a monster.”

Song Taewon coaxed me as though I were a victim found in a disaster zone.

“How do you know which would be better? A monster’s stomach might be more comfortable than getting caught by you, Mr. Song Taewon.”

“If you quietly do as you’re told, I’ll have no reason to lay a hand on you.”

My own words came back to me.

Even as we spoke, more moles kept emerging. They couldn’t approach the blazing area and instead gathered in a group some distance away.

“I’ll get out as quickly as I can.”

Yoohyun, who had become much fainter, looked down at me worriedly.

“You don’t have to. I’m fine.”

Yoohyun’s body shrank. Returning to the form of a lizard, Irin, he sat on my shoulder before sinking into my skin like a tattoo.

Song Taewon walked toward me across the ruined road. I had no strength to stand, so I simply looked up at the man before me. Though it was a summer night, I felt cold.

Frankly, I was trembling.

“I’m a terrified civilian. Please be kind.”

“If you stay as you are, I can do so as much as you like.”

“Things like drinking beer together and making pointless calls to chat?”

“Not during working hours.”

“Do you get along with your neighbors that well too?”

“I’m not a good person to get along with.”

“If I get scared, I won’t be a good person to deal with either.”

Song Taewon bent at the waist. He lightly lifted me into his arms.

“So you won’t call anymore?”

“I will call. And I’ll keep doing things you dislike, Mr. Song Taewon. You’ll keep doing things even if I dislike them too, right? But I’m closer to an ordinary civilian, so please go a little easy on me as an S-Class.”

Thunk!

Instead of answering, he kicked a fragment of pavement. The head of a mole that had been creeping closer shattered.

They were monsters that could tear through the ground, easily cross barricades, and wreck the city center. Yet right now, every one of them was only looking at me.

At this rate, I’d gain another must-have item option for reducing dungeon break damage.

“I still don’t know how I should treat Mr. Han Yujin. Sometimes I think it might be easier to eliminate you here and now.”

His calm voice was even more chilling. I suppressed the fear slowly rising in me and chose my words.

Kra-boom!

Thunder roared. Light bright enough to hurt my eyes flashed, sweeping away the group of moles. Their screams were buried beneath the consecutive thunderclaps.

In an instant, the monster horde became a heap of corpses. As a bonus, one unfortunate low-rise apartment building and two houses burst apart like popcorn bags.

“Manager Song.”

Seong Hyeonje lightly leaped across the road, split as though an earthquake had struck. There was a smile in his eyes as he looked our way.

“If you pick up someone else’s property, you should politely return it to its owner. Can public servants receive rewards under the Lost Property Act? My item is exceptionally precious and expensive.”

You could make a tidy profit.

Seong Hyeonje made one of his usual needling remarks. At that moment, I felt that Song Taewon and I probably shared similar feelings.

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