WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈
Chapter 193: Director (3)
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I liked comfortable clothes. Preferably slightly oversized and loose, without any useless extras. Light, soft fabric was even better. Anyway, I didn’t care for anything restrictive.
‘I hate suits.’
Tailored suits that showed off the fit. Sure, they looked decent enough. But I had also been told to wear every other kind of casual clothing properly fitted to my body. No one would bother me at home, but outside, I was supposed to pay attention even if I was only going to the nearby supermarket.
When entering a dungeon, I wore fitted clothes no matter how much I disliked them, since it would be a problem if the hem got caught or snagged. But normally, I wanted to live comfortably. It was already September, but it was still hot. The kind of weather that tired both body and mind if you dressed up properly.
‘The atmosphere is already tiring too.’
Sitting alone in the back seat of a heavy, formal-looking car, I kept getting lost in thought. The driver and attendant in the passenger seat were both dressed in black suits. They were both A-Class Hunters sent by Haeyeon Guild.
I had originally planned to bring Noah along, but Seok Simyeong said that bringing an S-Class Hunter as an attendant while going to meet another S-Class Hunter could seem like picking a fight. As if I would be opening with, I can even order S-Class Hunters around.
Thanks to that, silence settled inside the car. It felt awkward to start a conversation first.
I took out my phone for no reason and checked the time. There were still well over thirty minutes until the appointment. I had been told it was better to arrive early and wait, since I was younger, lower-ranked, and socially inferior.
‘They said Seong Hyeonje is the type to arrive on time.’
Seok Simyeong said he was not the type to seize the initiative by playing games with appointment times. Still, he warned me to be careful. If Seong Hyeonje appeared late, even by chance, he would surely mean to firmly put me in my place.
Even as Seok Simyeong taught me all sorts of things, he seemed to think Seong Hyeonje would not take me seriously. I agreed to some extent.
It would not have surprised me if he showed up at the meeting place and said it had simply been a whim, and he was already tired of it. I thought there was even a chance he would stand me up.
‘...This feels like going to a job interview.’
Like an unqualified high school graduate with nothing to offer who had barely scraped through the cutoff and now had to stand before the chairman of a major corporation, not even a simple hiring manager... Come to think of it, that was not all that different. Thinking of before my regression made me feel even smaller.
When I arrived in front of the hotel, a waiting employee came out to greet me. The luxurious lobby held only hotel employees standing in neat lines. Surely they had not emptied the entire hotel. Even if it was a weekday, there must have been guests with reservations.
Yet as I was led to the elevator, I did not see a single person who looked like a guest. This was not just reserving a conference room or restaurant. Had he really booked the whole place?
‘...He is the sort of person who can throw away a cruise ship, I suppose.’
Even so, this was excessive. How much did this cost? Could he not play around within the bounds of common sense?
“From here, only Mr. Han Yujin may enter.”
After we took the elevator up, a Sesung Guild member waiting at the entrance to the corridor spoke.
“The attendants may wait this way.”
They said the Sesung people would not enter any farther either. There were only a few non-Awakened hotel employees whose identities were verified. With my heart beating a little faster, I walked forward alone. A soft carpet covered the floor beneath the dim lights, leaving my footsteps nearly soundless. There were still around twenty minutes until the appointment.
‘Go in first, sit down and wait, then naturally stand and greet Seong Hyeonje when he appears.’
I opened the door while reviewing what Seok Simyeong had taught me. A wide, quiet lounge appeared before me. Beyond the windows that filled an entire wall, the darkening sky was visible. After taking a few steps, I stopped short.
‘...I did not expect this.’
A man sat by the window. Leaning lazily against the back of his chair, he was looking in my direction. His long legs were casually crossed.
Unlike me, he looked so completely relaxed that it was a little irritating. Why was he here already? As I started walking again, my mind raced. Should I apologize for being late? But I wasn’t late. Should I ask if he had been waiting long? But I wasn’t late. I was early.
I reached the table. Seong Hyeonje looked up at me with a faint smile, saying nothing.
“You must have a lot of free time.”
The words came out before I could think. Honestly, he looked like he had nothing to do. Should I have said, You are quite diligent? That sounded sarcastic too. Something safe, like, You arrived early. No, I should have just greeted him normally.
“Um, Guildmaster Seong.”
Hello did not feel right, and have you been well was ridiculous when only a few days had passed. Have you been enjoying your confinement? would be throwing down the gauntlet. Stop staring at me and say something too. Please.
“I heard you do not usually come out this early, so this is unexpected.”
“I could not take my first meeting with my partner lightly.”
“Is that why you reserved the entire hotel?”
“A small gesture of sincerity.”
Our sense of scale seemed very different. I held back the urge to snap at him. I had gotten too used to it lately.
Still, he had not left me waiting. He had even come out first, so I could take it as a positive sign. Of course, I could not relax yet. When I sat in the chair across from him, Seong Hyeonje straightened his posture.
“Recently, I have been working on the rearing facility...”
I abruptly remembered the business cards. I had planned to hand him one and naturally bring up the rearing facility. For that, Seong Hyeonje needed to show up later... Ah, whatever. Reserving the hotel from the start might have been a way of seizing the initiative.
“Please accept my business card first.”
I took a business card from my inventory and held it out. Sorry, Mr. Seok Simyeong, but I had messed up from the start, so I did not think I could follow your lessons. It was not as though I could pretend to be a capable, dignified businessman overnight.
“Director Han Yujin.”
“Please give me one as well, Guildmaster Seong.”
Weren’t business cards supposed to be exchanged? Seong Hyeonje handed me his own card. Neat. The contact information printed on it was different from what I knew.
“As you already know, I intend to reorganize the Mount Rearing Facility. Accordingly, I would like to revise some of the existing contract terms.”
Haeyeon had no issue with it, and Moon Hyuna had responded positively on Breaker Guild’s side. MKC had collapsed, so only Sesung and Hanshin Guild remained. They said that if I secured Sesung’s agreement, Hanshin would not oppose it either.
“There will not be many major changes. The main point is to shift the security previously handled by each guild to the direct control of the rearing facility.”
I said there would not be many changes, but ultimately it meant reducing each guild’s interference. With Hunters from the five great guilds, now four, handling the facility’s security, information would naturally leak. They would learn every detail of whom I met and what I did.
I wanted to stop that.
“I refuse.”
I barely stopped myself from asking, Pardon? His leisurely voice continued.
“There is, naturally, no reason to revise a contract that has already been concluded to my disadvantage.”
That was true. The problem was that I did not have any suitable bait to make Seong Hyeonje accept the proposal. Seok Simyeong and I had put our heads together and thought it over, but we could not come up with anything good.
“Please tell me what you want.”
“As expected, Mr. Han Yujin is not ready yet.”
“...Pardon?”
“Sit up straight again.”
At Seong Hyeonje’s words, I reflexively straightened my back. At some point, I had leaned toward the table.
“Once when you entered, twice in front of the table, and three times after sitting down. In that short time, your expression slipped a total of six times, Mr. Yujin.”
Without thinking, I touched my cheek. I had been surprised a few times, but had I shown it that much?
“Does that disqualify me?”
“I am not heartless enough to throw an unfledged chick from its nest. My partner is still young and inexperienced.”
He smiled as if he were being generous. Well, how kind of him to think so.
“However, Mr. Han Yujin, my possessions may do whatever they like. They may be sloppy or shabby. Even if I held a crudely sharpened promotional pencil rather than an expensive pen, the way people looked at me would not change. Everyone knows that the Guildmaster of Sesung can buy pens costing tens or hundreds. If anything, the pencil’s value might rise.”
Seong Hyeonje’s hand moved smoothly, as if pointing at me.
“Partners are different.”
His chair slid back silently as he rose. He was already tall, but looking up at him like this, he seemed especially enormous.
“Partners stand on equal footing and acknowledge each other. In other words, if Mr. Han Yujin appears lacking.”
Seong Hyeonje started walking. He circled the table and approached me. I forcibly tore my gaze away from following his movements. The end of his suit vanished from my sight, and a hand settled on my shoulder.
“Then it affects me as well. Above all, Mr. Yujin, you are my only partner. If the person I acknowledged and accepted as an equal is disappointing, then my judgment will ultimately be questioned as well. Birds of a feather flock together, after all.”
A low laugh scattered above my head. Just imagining myself standing beside Seong Hyeonje made my vision swim. If I had not possessed Fear Resistance, I might have shouted that I quit. Anyone could see I was lacking. Of course I was.
As if he knew my thoughts or did not, his voice continued.
“So if you cannot even reach the bare minimum in the end.”
The hand on my shoulder turned, long fingers lightly brushing my neck.
“I will have no choice but to pull you down from a place that does not suit you.”
I let out a short breath, almost as if spitting it out. What a terrifying amount of pressure to put on someone.
“Should I start worrying about my life now?”
“Oh, it seems I led you to misunderstand. Do not worry. My affection for you, Mr. Han Yujin, has not changed. Only your position will.”
“Like before? Or will it be worse than before?”
“It will change somewhat. It would be troublesome if the leash broke again.”
So he meant to trample me thoroughly so I would not even think of resisting. It seemed he did not fully acknowledge me after all. He had merely given me an opportunity.
It made sense. To him, it must have been like a pet he had doted on suddenly claiming that it was a person too and demanding human rights. Just making this much of a concession was remarkable, I supposed.
Even so.
“I am sorry, Mr. Seong Hyeonje.”
I tipped my head back against the chair and looked up. My eyes met the eyes looking down at me.
“Even if I am lacking compared to you, I will not return to how things were.”
Those golden eyes narrowed as if telling me to continue.
“You see, I do not stand alone. If you carelessly claim ownership over me, then no matter how great the Guildmaster of Sesung is, you will be bitten badly. You may even be fatally wounded.”
I did not want the people who cherished me to get hurt. If I came into conflict with Seong Hyeonje, we would be seriously hurt whether we won or lost. It would also be a major loss considering what lay ahead. There were enemies outside. Fighting among ourselves was wrong. Wasting strength for no reason was foolish.
So the best way was for me to bow my head. I kept thinking that it would be best to do as Seong Hyeonje wished and calm the people around me.
‘In the end, that is simply the way that is easier for me.’
I wanted to sacrifice myself. That was easier. It was also the faster path.
But I had seen them worry, suffer, and clutch at their chests in pain because of me. No matter who the opponent was, even if they had no chance of winning, they were the people who would take up weapons for me and make them for me. They would be happier to do that.
So what choice did I have? All I could do was hold hands together until the end, put our heads together, worry, and struggle. At the very end, if there truly was no other way, I might waver. I was not that strong. But for now, it was all right.
“At the very least, it will be impossible to take hold of me while remaining unscathed. For either of us.”
“...It is troublesome when you tempt me that way.”
Seong Hyeonje muttered. What nonsense was he talking about now? Did he mean that he found a proper fight more appealing? ...Should I take back what I said and explain I did not mean it that way? Peace was best. Let us settle this through conversation.
“Dear Director Han, first, I recommend that you enroll in university.”
“What?”
“I believe Seok Simyeong recommended it as well. It is best to reduce your flaws as much as possible.”
Seong Hyeonje said this as he walked back toward the table.
“...Even if I get in through special admission, it will not look very good.”
“Special privilege is an ability too. People may resent it, but your evaluation will improve compared to remaining a high school graduate. No matter the process or means, if it is a position you gained through your own strength, people accept it surprisingly easily.”
Standing across from me, he slowly looked me up and down as if assessing me.
“Then let us keep it simple. We will begin by examining your current state.”
Seong Hyeonje spoke like a teacher. Could I refuse this class?
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