WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 15: Like a Shrimp (2)

──────

“Yerim? You signed a contract to join Haeyeon Guild, didn’t you?”

“It was a priority, not an absolute requirement. You amended it for me, Mr. Han.”

Yes, I did. Yerim spoke sharply.

“I’ll add a condition to my contract with Haeyeon Guild naming you as my guardian. I saw on TV that even A-Classes get all sorts of additional terms. They mostly receive items, but there’s no reason a person can’t be one too, right?”

That was true, but why me... Did she remember we had met less than a day ago? There was no need to be so stubborn over something so pointless. Did she have some kind of awakening side effect?

“Um, calm down first. You don’t need to put that in the contract. Choosing a guardian is your right, Yerim.”

Her expression eased considerably at my words.

“Really? Then I don’t have to listen to the Haeyeon Guildmaster?”

“More or less. As long as I accept it...”

“Big brother.”

...You too, now? I had been wondering why he had not joined in.

“You need to decide carefully. She’s not just any rank, she’s S-Class. I know from experience that all kinds of pests swarm around a young S-Class. Miss Park Yerim is only fifteen, so it will be even worse.”

“Still, it’s better than letting an S-Class slip away, right? If she belongs to a guild, that will cover some of those issues. As long as Yerim doesn’t ignore my opinion, it should be fine. She’s not such a bad kid... is she?”

“I’m nice.”

Park Yerim suddenly said, stepping briskly closer to me. If she could control her strength, she looked ready to grab my arm and pull me along.

“My personality only got rough because of my uncle’s family, especially that bastard Park Sucheon. I was nice originally. My teachers praised me a lot in elementary school.”

“...Could you step back a little? Just one step. No, two.”

I was afraid she would get excited and grab my arm without thinking. Even a slight tug would probably pull it right off. Park Yerim obediently stepped back.

Then she looked at me as if to say, See?

Yes, very nice.

Swallowing a sigh, I turned back to my brother. How had I ended up caught between these two?

“If you’re the guildmaster, you should be thinking about securing an S-Class before anything else. Why are you suddenly getting prickly when things had been going so well?”

“An S-Class who can’t control herself properly could be worse than having none at all.”

“Come on. Even if that’s true, it’d be far better to secure her first, get paid handsomely, and transfer her later.”

“Transfer? You mean send me somewhere else?”

Yerim moved close again. Could she please maintain a safe distance?

“I mean that could happen if you act too selfishly. But you said you were nice, right? Then there’s no problem.”

“That’s right, I’m nice. I guess there won’t be a problem.”

As though determined to prove it, she stepped back again. Yes, please stay right there quietly.

“More importantly, like I said before, the guardian issue is between Yerim and me. As guildmaster, you can offer advice, but I think any further interference would be excessive.”

Yoohyun let out a short sigh.

“If you feel that strongly, I won’t stop you any further. But be careful. Among Awakened, rank comes before everything else. She may be fine now, having only just awakened, but there’s no guarantee she won’t change.”

As he spoke, Yoohyun turned to Park Yerim. Park Yerim met his gaze without looking away.

The looks the two were giving each other were icy. Being caught between them was making the back of my neck ache.

The atmosphere had been fine until just a moment ago. Why were they making such a big deal over a guardian?

“You say rank comes before everything else, Guildmaster. Does that apply to you too? Oh, right. I heard you only barely reconciled with Mr. Han a few days ago. Was it because of that ‘rank’ that you two fell out?”

...Huh? Yerim had just thrown down the gauntlet?

“I only kept my distance from my brother briefly to protect him. I’m not like someone who only wants to keep him close for her own selfish desires.”

Yoohyun struck back immediately. Yerim looked furious at the accusation that she was acting out of selfishness.

Yoohyun, you might be fine if she got so mad she couldn’t see straight, but I would be in danger.

“Both of you, stop it.”

I hurriedly intervened before I ended up as the shrimp caught between two fighting whales.

“Why are you getting so worked up over something so minor?”

“It’s not minor.”

“It isn’t minor.”

Fuck, fine. It was a big deal. Why did they get along so well at times like this? They were making me look stupid.

“Anyway, let’s stop here. If you two want to keep fighting, I’m leaving. Work it out yourselves.”

“Big brother?”

“Mr. Han, are you sulking?”

What was there to sulk about?

“I’m scared. If either of you takes a stray swing, I’ll die.”

“I won’t!”

“I’m past the stage of making that kind of mistake.”

Yerim glared at Yoohyun.

“I’ll adjust quickly too!”

“Fine, just don’t have a standoff in front of me. I feel like a shrimp caught between two fighting whales.”

It was bad for my heart. Both of them fell silent at my words. Surprisingly obedient.

“That settles the guardian issue. And Yerim, I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here with you. It would be too dangerous if you break equipment while adjusting and fragments fly around. I’ll come down early tomorrow morning instead.”

“...Okay.”

Park Yerim looked dissatisfied, but nodded.

“By the way, even if you don’t get along, shouldn’t you contact your family? It could get troublesome if they report you missing.”

“There’s no need. I fought with them and stayed over at friends’ houses a lot. Just contact the school.”

“Okay. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I left the training room and headed toward the elevator. My brother, walking beside me, still looked displeased about the guardian matter, but he didn’t say anything.

“What kind of person is Park Yerim’s current guardian?”

Yoohyun asked. I pressed the elevator button before answering.

“The kind of person who considers money more important than blood. They took all of Yerim’s parents’ property, but apparently won’t even buy the kid a pair of shoes. They make her work at a restaurant without pay too.”

“Then there’s a high chance they’ll be troublesome later.”

“One hundred percent. So give them some money.”

“To buy their silence?”

“Something like that.”

I had dealt with plenty of people like that. Their greed had no end, and giving them a little once or twice would never satisfy them. I needed to get a firm hold over their weakness.

We couldn’t let such a precious S-Class get a stain on her record, could we?

“And since Yerim is here too, I’ll move over to the employee dorms.”

I spoke while watching the elevator doors open. Haeyeon Guild had off-site housing too, but I couldn’t live outside because of the people who would bother a newly awakened S-Class, and because of Peace.

“...What are you doing?”

When I stepped into the elevator and turned around, Yoohyun was standing there with a displeased look on his face, holding the door button.

“Do you like that girl that much?”

What kind of nonsense was this now?

“I haven’t even known her for half a day. There’s nothing to like or dislike yet.”

“You take awfully good care of her for that.”

“It’s only natural for an adult to look after a child. Especially since I brought her here because I needed her help. If I didn’t even do that much, what kind of person would I be?”

I had said we should end the guardian issue, so why was he starting again? ...Was it because I said I was moving out? Just in case, I added,

“Moving to the dorms would be more convenient in several ways. I’m not saying I’ll move out completely. I’ll use both places. It would be a little strange to bring Yerim to your house, right?”

Yoohyun’s home had a greenhouse full of dungeon creatures, as well as several S-Class items marked as part of his personal collection. He couldn’t let just anyone come and go.

“It would be convenient to have something like a separate annex.”

Yoohyun stepped into the elevator.

Was that really what this was about?

“I have a separate house for receiving guests too.”

“You have a separate one?”

“A detached house is better for meeting quietly. Quite a few people dislike being seen.”

People who disliked being seen? Unregistered Awakened, perhaps.

Naturally, not every Awakened registered with the Association. In particular, people who wanted to use their awakened abilities on ordinary people in the real world rather than for dungeon raids stayed away from the Hunter Association. If they registered all their stats and skills while doing illegal things, they would practically be saying, Please come arrest me.

I wondered whether Yoohyun did shady things behind the scenes too, but I didn’t ask. There was no way he was completely clean.

Before I regressed, I had also... Well. There was no need to dig up a past that no longer existed.

“Miss Park Yerim will be staying here for a year, so... There’ll be a lot to prepare.”

Saying he would be busy for a while, Yoohyun got off on one of the middle floors. I went straight up to the house and headed for the greenhouse first.

“Peace!”

The red cat with a horn swished its tail beyond the glass wall. It jumped about excitedly as if it were overjoyed to see me.

“You adorable little thing!”

I quickly opened the greenhouse door and let Peace out.

Yip!

“Yes, yes.”

When I picked up Peace as it clung to me, its warmth and softness soothed my heart. Ah, my stress was melting away. You really were the best. Was this why people kept pets?

“Let’s go eat.”

Forget human S-Classes. I wished I could just raise magical-beast S-Classes instead. Look at this one, so sweet and adorable.

I went to the kitchen, set Peace on the floor, opened the refrigerator, and took out raw meat. It was monster meat, not beef, chicken, or pork. I put the bluish meat into a grinder and ground it finely. Then I took out a glass bottle from my Inventory.

The bottle, a little smaller than a 500-milliliter water bottle, was filled with red mana stone powder. It contained the equivalent of twenty C-Class mana stones, making it a two-hundred-million-won bottle.

“My sense of money is going to be ruined at this rate.”

Ten days’ worth of pet food cost two hundred million won. That was six hundred million a month. Money didn’t even feel like money anymore.

Grrr.

Peace circled my feet, urging me to hurry up and feed it.

“Okay, I’ll give it to you soon.”

I scooped up mana stone powder with a measuring spoon, sprinkled it over the ground meat, and mixed it in. Then I shaped it into balls about half the size of my fist.

“Peace, look here. Food.”

Just as I had seen in dog-training videos, I first used a meatball to get Peace’s attention. Golden eyes stared directly at the meat in my hand.

Good.

“I love you.”

I spoke clearly and gave Peace the meatball. It chewed and swallowed it eagerly, as if it tasted delicious. I repeated that several times until it had eaten the rest of the meat.

How many days of training would it take for the effect to appear? It seemed to have about the intelligence of a dog or cat, so it probably wouldn’t take long.

Rrr! Grrr.

Full now, Peace gently bit at my toes as if asking to play. Should I buy some toys? Cat toys, or dog toys?

I picked up the bouncing Peace and went to the living room. Sitting on the sofa, I pulled a light cloth waist belt from my Inventory and waved it around. Peace immediately bit one end and tugged. It was B-Class, so it shouldn’t tear, right?

Grrr, grrrr!

“Easy, easy. I’m weak.”

Should I put on the manticore leather gloves? It would get hotter and hotter from here, though. Leather gloves had been a bad purchase. Should I ask whether the guild had any decent items? Or should I just raise my level?

‘How much was an F-Class dungeon exclusive entry pass again?’

If I wanted to go without Yoohyun knowing, I needed an exclusive pass that guaranteed secrecy. Before I regressed, I had only gone to dungeons through bidding, so I couldn’t remember. The average bid for a high-level F-Class dungeon had been around three million won. An exclusive pass would probably cost at least double that.

‘Come to think of it, how much money do I have right now?’

I couldn’t remember my bank balance from five years ago. I should at least have the one-million-won Awakened registration subsidy, and had I opened a savings account?

‘I quit my job to meet an awakening broker... I think I took all my severance pay and savings with me.’

As I remembered it, I definitely hadn’t handed over the money. That meant there should be quite a bit in my bank account. I needed to check... What had my digital certificate password been?

‘...There’s no way I’d remember.’

Over five years, I had gotten it reissued and changed the password three times. Were people who regressed to win the lottery geniuses? I couldn’t even remember my own password.

“I need to go to the bank too.”

Grrr!

“If I have enough money, should I buy stocks? What was going up again?”

Work, my memory. There had definitely been several stocks that exploded after developing dungeon-related new materials or substances. Which pharmaceutical company had developed the hair-loss cure?

Just then, my phone vibrated. I took it from my pocket and checked the screen. An unfamiliar number was calling. There was no advertisement label. Who was it?

“Peace, play by yourself for a moment. Hello?”

[Hello, Mr. Han Yujin.]

A man’s voice came through the phone. It sounded familiar. Who was it?

[I am Seok Simyeong, Head of Human Resources at Haeyeon Guild.]

...Fuck, it was this bastard. Should I just hang up?

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried