WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 135: Drawn To (5)

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Rumble. The outer wall of a building that had been barely holding on collapsed in a flood. The remnants of fires scattered here and there were still consuming everything around them with a crackle. The smell of blood mixed with burning flesh.

It would not have been an exaggeration to call it the middle of a battlefield. In fact, a dungeon break was no different from one. During the height of Dungeon Shock, they had even entered a quasi-wartime state.

Only, the danger now was not monsters, but Hunters.

“Han Yujin is a person.”

Song Taewon spoke firmly.

“Of course he is. Did you only realize that now? How cruel of you to have never treated young Han Yujin as a person.”

No, you were the one going on about items. Seong Hyeonje slowly stepped forward. As the distance between us closed, the chill clinging to my skin grew stronger. I wouldn’t need air conditioning around him.

It wasn’t quite enough to scare me to death, but a chill ran down my spine, and the tips of my hands and feet tingled.

Squelch. A dress shoe stepped into a pool of blood. Seong Hyeonje stopped two or three meters away and met Song Taewon’s gaze. His gloved hand stretched out and crooked lightly.

“Hand him over.”

“There is no reason for me to do so.”

“And there is no reason for Manager Song to be holding onto him.”

“Han Yujin is practically a civilian with F-Class stats and no attack skills whatsoever. With a dungeon break occurring, I have a duty to protect him.”

Seong Hyeonje laughed softly. Just after I thought his smile looked rather murderous.

“Ugh...”

The pressure, which had felt barely bearable, bared its teeth and crushed my entire body. I couldn’t breathe, as if my head had been shoved underwater. I reflexively turned my head and closed my eyes. I was still using the teacher skill, so I could see Seong Hyeonje through Song Taewon’s eyes.

“...What did you do?”

Seong Hyeonje looked down at me in puzzlement. Did he not know the details of Song Taewon’s skill effect, or had he not guessed I had Fear Resistance?

“That is a natural response to an S-Class Hunter. Please restrain your presence.”

“Han Yujin.”

At the call, I looked back at Seong Hyeonje. The instant our eyes met, my whole body tingled. I liked the faintly sulky look on his face. I was sorry for calling him over, but this was his turn to play the villain.

Song Taewon couldn’t settle on an attitude toward me. Was I someone weak who needed protection, or a bomb that needed disposing of? It was surely more complicated than that, but that was the simple version. I should tip the scales a little to make his decision easier.

“I, I’m sorry... Sesung Guildmaster.”

My voice shook badly. No one would ever think it was an act. It wasn’t an act, either. I really was scared.

“Please go back...”

Seong Hyeonje parted his lips slightly, then smiled without saying a word. It annoyed me how absurdly perceptive he was, but that was also why I liked him. No wonder he had something like combat precognition.

Song Taewon probably couldn’t properly see my face, so I curled up the corners of my mouth in return. Since you’ve come this far, please play along. And perhaps because he felt like it.

Rattle.

A golden chain flew in, directly toward my neck. Song Taewon grabbed its end.

“What are you doing?”

“Can’t you see? I’m retrieving lost property.”

“Did you not hear him ask you to leave?”

“I have no need to take that to heart.”

At the declaration that he would simply ignore my opinion, the hand holding the chain tightened. Light flashed along the taut links. An ordinary person would have been electrocuted to death, but a shadow that crept into Song Taewon’s hand swallowed all the crawling current.

The sudden surge of tension made my body shake again. Ah, I wanted to go home. I was never supposed to be involved in something like this.

“Can you walk?”

Song Taewon asked me. Walking would be hard, but maybe I could crawl.

“You can just leave me here.”

I wouldn’t die if they did. Song Taewon frowned slightly and let me go. I staggered, then sank to the ground. Genuine concern filled the gaze directed at me as I gasped for breath. He was like an upgraded version of a brother who gave you poison and then medicine.

“Do you truly have no intention of leaving at this point?”

“I’ll leave once I’ve collected what I came for.”

“Han Yujin has already refused. If you continue trying to lay a hand on him, I will respond.”

“That wouldn’t be bad, either. It’s been quite some time since we last met, hasn’t it?”

That man looked like he was enjoying this. I suddenly felt sorry for Song Taewon. Had Fear Resistance affected my conscience as well? Since its grade had dropped, it kept pricking at me. Should I stop here?

“Song Taewon, I’ll go with the Sesung Guildmaster. I was the one who called him here in the first place.”

“No. It is fine.”

“Still, you don’t need to fight over this...”

“Stay still.”

There was a weight to that voice, as though it pressed down on me. The moment I heard it, I became certain that he had no intention of listening to me, either. Even if I shouted that I’d go with Seong Hyeonje because we were actually close, he’d just repeat no like a machine.

Song Taewon took out something like a wrist guard and put it on. Since he was using it now, it was probably an item with electrical resistance. Had he also acquired a new cold resistance item?

“It is a shame to leave you sitting on bare ground. Next time, I shall at least bring a chair.”

What did he mean, next time? Then the chain exploded.

The links broke apart one by one and shot toward Song Taewon like dozens of dark snakes. Every one of them carried a powerful electric current.

Song Taewon swung his shadow-draped arm to block several that had already reached his face, then dodged. Next, he grabbed a mole corpse and threw it upward.

Crash!

At the same time, lightning struck down and turned the corpse to ashes. With a metallic clatter, the scattered links formed a chain once more. Seong Hyeonje slid forward through the drifting ash. Their feet nearly touched as his gloved hand released crackling current.

Despite the light spreading right before him, Song Taewon didn’t blink once as he grabbed Seong Hyeonje’s wrist to twist it. But Seong Hyeonje stepped back faster. At the same time, a chain striking from behind attacked Song Taewon’s already injured shoulder. As soon as Song Taewon twisted aside to avoid it, a dress shoe slammed into his chest as though stomping him down.

“I have one question.”

Seong Hyeonje leisurely said, winding the chain that had flown to his side around his hand.

“How could the young master be here? In Korea, the only person who could leave that level of burn on Manager Song Taewon is our young master.”

He watched Song Taewon use a potion without even trying to stop him, then tilted his head slightly.

“If he hadn’t entered the dungeon, he wouldn’t have vanished while leaving his older brother behind. Did he acquire some adorable new trick without my knowing?”

When he looked at me as he said that, I mouthed, Mind your own business. He had far too much interest in someone else’s little brother.

Song Taewon moved again. The ground split in a long crack beneath his weighted step. He charged fiercely toward Seong Hyeonje, who had leaped away to avoid it. His stats were S-Class, and with mass added to them, his speed was truly like lightning. And while suspended in the air, without a flight-type skill, there wasn’t much room to dodge.

Clang!

But a chain had already spread out to block Song Taewon’s attack. The other end of the chain wrapped around Song Taewon’s wrist was tied to a collapsed block of concrete and pulled it in. Screech. A concrete block as large as a truck dragged over the ground. Even with his movement restrained, Song Taewon kicked off the ground and flipped his body. His heel came down toward the crown of Seong Hyeonje’s head.

Boom!

The blade-like kick grazed Seong Hyeonje’s collar and shattered the ground. As Seong Hyeonje dodged by a hair, the concrete block swung by the chain came crashing down on him. Golden eyes narrowed in a smile.

Rumble. Concrete fragments scattered like grains of sand amid the burst of light. Through them, a black arc severed the chain and swung at the relaxed man. Fist and palm collided. Seong Hyeonje was inferior in raw physical force with all that mass behind it, so he did not resist the driving power and retreated as if pushed back. At the same time, he threw a knife that he had somehow already drawn. Song Taewon guided the back of the blade over the back of his hand, spun it smoothly, and struck the end of the handle hard to send it back to its owner.

Crash! The knife, carrying entirely different momentum now, grazed Seong Hyeonje’s shoulder and split a streetlight in two.

That exchange had all happened in an instant. Boom! Boom! Boom! Lightning struck in succession, and Song Taewon leaped backward to avoid the light scorching every direction.

‘Song Taewon is clearly superior in close-range speed and strength.’

Yet his attacks didn’t land properly. It was probably because of combat precognition. Of course, if the gap was great enough, knowing in advance wouldn’t make dodging easy. Warning an ordinary person, “I am about to fire this gun at you,” wouldn’t give them many options. Still, it seemed the gap between the two was small enough that sensing it a moment early allowed a response.

‘What a ridiculously overpowered person.’

For no reason, I found him irritating. If not for combat precognition, he would have taken at least one or two hits. Thinking I could pass my senses to Song Taewon, I cast the teacher skill on Seong Hyeonje. The moment I directly sensed his presence, a chill ran through my entire body, but it was bearable...

“Urgh...”

My vision sank into blackness. When it returned, dirt and stones were rolling around in front of me. I had lost consciousness for a moment. Seong Hyeonje had rejected the skill. How merciless.

“Han Yujin!”

“Since Han Yujin went that far, shall we end the game here?”

Seong Hyeonje clicked his tongue. Song Taewon glared at him fiercely.

“What did you do?”

“It was not I who did anything.”

Rumble.

Thousands of snake-like strands of light shot upward from beneath the ground, not from above. The earth itself turned over as blades of current raged wildly.

“My adorable item.”

A dance of lightning nearly out of control chased Song Taewon as though driving a rabbit. He had said power weakened when it spread out, so what was this crazy thing? Still, perhaps it really was weakened, since being wrapped in a few strands did not seem to do much damage.

Crash!

Song Taewon moved toward a building and smashed through its wall. The collapsed building debris swept over the swarm of electrical snakes. The strands of light wrapped around the rebar jutting out from the concrete a few times before falling still.

“Then shall we finish this?”

Light flashed again. But the lightning struck not Song Taewon, but behind him. Just as both he and I wondered what was happening.

Crunch! Thunk!

Blood splattered. Rebar and all sorts of metal fragments shot toward Song Taewon like arrows carrying immense force.

There were not just one or two. Several buildings had collapsed nearby, and even the building beside us had many floors. Naturally, the amount of metal was enormous. It was a rain with no path of escape. Song Taewon managed to knock most of it away only because he was Song Taewon. Anyone else would have become a porcupine.

“...How did you do that?”

Song Taewon asked with rebar embedded in his shoulder, side, and one leg. A golden chain slowly crawled out from directly behind him.

“Simple. Magnetic force. I made the chains draw in metal.”

So that was what the earlier all-directional current had been for? The lightning hadn’t missed Song Taewon. It had struck the chains Seong Hyeonje had sent there? I didn’t fully understand it, but he could do something like that too?

Song Taewon gritted his teeth and pulled the rebar out of his body. Perhaps because it had carried current as well, the wounds were cauterized and did not bleed much. Seong Hyeonje looked at him with faint indifference, then turned around. He did not even seem concerned that an attack might come from behind.

“Then, Han Yujin.”

Seong Hyeonje came over to me and glanced at the wound in my chest. Then he picked up my limp body.

“I think we need to talk a little. Do you have the energy to speak?”

“Fortunately, moving my tongue doesn’t take much energy.”

The heavy pressure remained, but it was no longer difficult to endure. Song Taewon remained where he was and watched us. What was he thinking? I swallowed a sigh and withdrew the teacher skill.

Before we had walked far, I spotted a car by the roadside. It had originally been a truly sleek sports car, but it had been battered into half-junk by debris. He would have to scrap it.

“...It seems I parked poorly.”

Seong Hyeonje muttered with slight dismay, and I felt a little happier.

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