WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈
Chapter 16: Head of Human Resources (1)
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[Han Yujin? Can’t you hear me?]
When I gave no reply, Seok Simyeong spoke again. I wanted to say I couldn’t hear him and hang up.
Seok Simyeong, Head of Human Resources at Haeyeon Guild. A B-Class Awakened, he was an unusual man who rarely entered dungeons and stuck to office work. There were even rumors that he possessed skills related to human resources.
As one of Haeyeon Guild’s founding members, he and Kim Haeyeon, the Head of Legal Affairs, handled most of the guild’s business outside dungeon raids. He was a major figure, a pillar supporting the absurdly young guildmaster.
...My relationship with him had been a little, no, very bad.
He had a blade for a tongue and a talent for cutting people to ribbons before grinding them into rags. Fuck, I had been so wronged, bitter, and resentful that I could barely sleep. I had almost considered drowning myself in a saucer of water.
[If you can’t hear me, I’ll come up in person.]
“No, no. I can hear you.”
Why would he come up here?! I didn’t even want to see his face. His voice alone was enough to give me chills, so stay away!
[That is fortunate. It seems you did not hear me properly, so allow me to introduce myself again. I am Seok Simyeong, Head of Human Resources at Haeyeon Guild.]
“...I’m Han Yujin.”
Why was he calling? Was it because of Yerim? Then he could contact Yerim directly tomorrow... Ah, I was her guardian. Damn it, should I not have agreed to become her guardian?
Why did I keep seeking out things to regret every other day? I hated this guy. I really hated him. I should’ve escaped Haeyeon Guild in the first place. Why hadn’t I thought about getting tangled up with this bastard? If he was the department head, he should just send one of his subordinates. Was that impossible because she was an S-Class? Damn it, should I run now?
[First of all, I look forward to working with you.]
“Ah, yes. I look forward to working with you too...”
Unlike my trauma, Seok Simyeong’s voice was calm and elegant. He looked exactly like a middle-aged gentleman who would appear on the cover of a famous business magazine. His first impression had been very good. He had seemed both capable and kind.
...Kind, my ass.
[I heard about Miss Park Yerim from the guildmaster a short while ago. As the head of the guild’s Human Resources Department, I would like to express my gratitude and admiration to you, Mr. Han Yujin.]
“Y-Yes. Thank you.”
Seok Simyeong remained polite. Well, I hadn’t caused any major trouble yet this time around. ...So was this fine? Did I not need to be afraid? He wasn’t going to stab me in the back again, was he?
[I would almost like to invite you to join Human Resources.]
Was he insane?!
“No! Not at all. This was just, just a coincidence.”
No matter how much things had changed from before my regression, I didn’t want to work face-to-face with Seok Simyeong. The stress would give me chronic indigestion.
[Even if it was a coincidence, I do not think it is an accomplishment that can be diminished for that reason. It will be a great help to Haeyeon Guild in many ways going forward.]
“I-I see.”
To think I was getting praise from this man. Regressing had been worth it. The area around my ears felt strangely itchy.
[I have contacted Miss Park Yerim’s school. I hear her stat adaptation will be complete by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. If she makes active use of the equipment in the training room, it may even be finished in the morning.]
“Yes. I’m planning to go down early tomorrow morning and check on her.”
[You are diligent. The guildmaster expressed concern, but I believe you can become a fine guardian, Mr. Han Yujin.]
...Why was this old man being so gentle? Was he really that happy an S-Class rookie had joined? Well, it made sense that he would be.
Unless it was after awakening centers had been established and the number of Awakened had risen dramatically, there wasn’t yet a single guild in the country with two S-Classes.
Perhaps Haeyeon Guild would crush the three major guilds far more quickly than it had before my regression.
[I will discuss the details of Miss Park Yerim’s contract with you in person.]
“Yes...”
I didn’t want to meet him, but as Yerim’s guardian, I had no choice. Still, if he stayed as kind as he was now, it would be fine.
[Do you have any questions regarding other matters?]
“No, I don’t.”
[Then I look forward to working with you once again. I will contact you tomorrow morning.]
“Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The moment the call ended, a sigh escaped me. It was fine. The atmosphere had been good. Don’t be nervous.
- Kkiang?
Peace tilted its head as if asking what was wrong, then set the belt it had been holding on my knee. I reached out and stroked the soft fur around its horn.
“Seok Simyeong and everyone else. It’s fine because they don’t remember who I was before.”
The current me was still clean. There wasn’t a single drop of blood on my fingertips.
Everything had been undone.
Regression really was convenient.
“Peace, should we sleep together tonight?”
- Grrr.
“Okay. Come here.”
Holding Peace in my arms, I stood up.
I should stop thinking useless thoughts and go to bed early.
‘Had she been under a lot of stress?’
I muttered to myself as I looked over a scene that was a perfect example of devastation. Not a single piece of equipment in the training room, which had been perfectly normal just yesterday evening, had survived.
They weren’t merely broken. They had been mangled beyond recognition. These were machines made for Awakened, so their durability couldn’t have been ordinary. How had she folded them up like that...?
“Didn’t you say your Strength stat was sixty-one?”
I asked while staring at a paper... crane whose material I couldn’t even guess at. It wasn’t paper, but no other word came to mind.
“That shouldn’t be enough to do this much damage.”
Yerim smiled proudly at my question.
“I used a skill. Not an attack skill, though. A buff skill.”
“A buff skill? What... is it?”
I almost said the skill’s name without thinking. Things had been too hectic yesterday for me to ask about her skills. While we were in the car calculating her average stats, she’d heard she was S-Class, happily waved her hand around, and smashed the front seat’s headrest.
“Shadowless Day. It’s an SS-Class skill.”
Yerim answered proudly. I had been curious about it, and Shadowless Day was a buff skill.
“SS-Class? That’s amazing. What kind of skill is it?”
“It’s an area buff with special effects. It raises a selected stat by thirty percent and increases the effects of skills with a selected attribute by twenty percent. It can also consume an enemy’s shadow to stop or slow their movements, and I get additional buffs depending on the quality and amount of shadows consumed.”
An area stat and skill buff, an enemy debuff, and additional buffs on top of that. It truly deserved to be called an SS-Class skill. Debuffs that stopped movement usually varied in effect based on the gap between the caster’s rank and the opponent’s. Even conservatively, an SS-Class skill used by someone with S-Class stats would turn B-Class or lower dungeon monsters into practice dummies.
...My useless L-Class skills, learn from it. It was SS-Class, yet its efficiency was incredible.
I clapped with a deeply impressed expression.
“That’s really amazing! What about your other skills? You have more, right?”
“Yes! Shoes of Hermes, White Corpse, and Cold Sigh. The first two are S-Class, and Sigh is A-Class.”
Cold Sigh was one of Park Yerim’s early skills when she became known as the Ice Witch. At least one had appeared.
“Cold Sigh overlaps with Shadowless Day. It freezes things and stops them too.”
Yerim said regretfully. Usually, when two skills had the same effect, one of them became useless.
“Can their effects stack?”
“I haven’t checked, but the description says similar and identical skills don’t stack... Just a moment. Shadowless Day.”
The skill activated as soon as she spoke. The ground around Park Yerim’s feet turned white, and the shadows beneath the overhead lights, which had been short, stretched two or three times longer.
When she stepped on the shadow of a crumpled steel ball, the shadow vanished as though melting away.
So that was how she used it.
A faint mist then spread out and froze the steel ball.
“They stack!”
“I knew it. Cold Sigh physically solidifies things, while Shadowless Day seems closer to a curse or magic, so I thought they might.”
“So even if the effects are similar, they aren’t similar skills?”
“Right. For example, crossing a cliff with magic and crossing it by throwing someone across with all your strength produce similar results, but they’re completely different actions. It’s like that.”
Skill descriptions only covered the most basic details, so Awakened had to try all sorts of things to find more efficient ways to use them.
“Cold Sigh is easier to use, so use it first. Then, against anything it can’t finish off, step on its shadow and lock it down. The synergy between those two skills seems pretty good.”
“Does it?”
“Of course. If you try to step on a shadow first, you risk getting counterattacked. But if you use Sigh first and then the shadow, you can turn your opponent into a practice dummy very easily. Does it only work on shadows if you step on them?”
“No. The skill description says to touch and absorb them.”
Touch, huh. It didn’t say it had to be a close-range attack. I picked up a scrap of metal from the floor and handed it to Yerim.
“Throw this at it.”
“Throw it?”
Thunk!
The flying shard struck the shadow of a triangular object. At the same time, the shadow vanished with a shhhk.
“It works like this too?”
Yerim turned to me in surprise.
“You said it only had to touch it. Don’t you have any attack skills?”
One area-damage skill would have been perfect. But Yerim shook her head regretfully.
“Neither Shoes of Hermes nor White Corpse is an attack skill.”
“Then?”
“Shoes of Hermes increases agility, lets me fly, and lets me teleport short distances. White Corpse is...”
Park Yerim trailed off. What kind of skill was making her hesitate?
“It’s a skill that extracts information from corpses...”
It made sense that she found it unpleasant. Still, it was a good skill with plenty of uses. It would be difficult for a fifteen-year-old girl to use, though.
“Hide White Corpse for now.”
“Hide it?”
“Yeah. It’s advantageous to keep special skills like that hidden and use them quietly. You don’t need to reveal every skill when registering as an Awakened. Just list Shadowless Day, Shoes of Hermes, and Cold Sigh. Cut down the descriptions of those skills too.”
It was better to keep one card hidden, or several if possible. Awakened usually disclosed easily visible effects in battle while concealing those that couldn’t be seen.
“For Shadowless Day, only write the buffs and debuffs. Don’t list the extra buffs you receive. For Shoes of Hermes, list only flight. Cold Sigh has only one effect, so list all of it. A flight-only skill is usually around A to B-Class, so mark Hermes as A-Class too.”
One SS-Class skill and two A-Class skills was an appropriate number for an S-Class.
“Mr. Han, you really know your stuff! You sound like a real expert!”
Yerim’s eyes sparkled with admiration at my explanation. I had spent five years in this business. This much was basic knowledge, but it was still embarrassing.
“It’s nothing much.”
“But you only awakened a few days ago too. Still, you know how to use and combine skills, and even tips for hiding them. Did you study separately or something?”
“I didn’t study exactly... My younger sibling is S-Class, so I just know a little more than most people.”
If you lived another five years and regressed, this much would be common knowledge to you too.
“It’s a shame you don’t have an attack skill, but you’ll get new skills as you level up.”
Usually, a new skill appeared about once every ten levels. However, some only appeared once certain conditions were met. If someone was unlucky, they could pass level fifty with only their initial skills.
“What if I only get more support-type skills?”
“Don’t worry. I can tell your next skill will definitely be an attack type.”
The fact that Cold Sigh had appeared probably meant there was a high chance of other ice-related skills too. It would be even better if Pale Rain, Ice Witch Park Yerim’s signature area attack, appeared.
It had definitely said that My Kid could allow her to acquire skills besides her initial ones, right? Its duration was only three days, so it would be a waste to use it now. I should use it when practical training started during her education.
“Your stat adaptation is over, right?”
“Yes! I barely slept and wrecked all the exercise equipment!”
She seemed awfully energetic for someone who had barely slept. Was it because she was S-Class, or because she was young? Well, staying up all night had been nothing when I was younger too. Once I hit thirty, it gradually became harder.
“Then let’s go sign the contract.”
I said, taking out my phone. Even if it was my biological sibling’s guild, business was business. We needed to make things official.
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