WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈
Chapter 201: Box (1)
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“Manager Song, you’re working hard again today.”
Moon Hyuna raised one hand in greeting. Song Taewon’s response looked no different from usual. If anything, he seemed calmer than when dealing with other S-Class Hunters.
‘Ms. Hyuna does seem to cause fewer incidents, at least.’
I didn’t know how she’d been before, but nothing much had happened lately. She was intense, but it felt like she knew where to draw the line. Maybe that made her a relatively comfortable person for Song Taewon to deal with. They didn’t look especially close, but they did seem quite well suited to each other.
They really did suit each other, didn’t they? Seeing Moon Hyuna as a Guildmaster, they seemed unexpectedly compatible.
“There are quite a lot of people. Looks like MKC members. They probably came over contract issues.”
Moon Hyuna spoke. Was that why Song Taewon was standing guard like that? If high-grade Hunters who had gone through bad experiences got overwhelmed by contract termination issues and snapped, someone would need to stop them.
“I’ll go get a waiting ticket.”
“No need.”
Moon Hyuna made a call, then turned back to me.
“Someone will be here soon.”
“Isn’t that an abuse of power?”
“It’s a matter of departments. This is an overseas matter. They’re relatively free over there, so we can go right up without registering.”
Was that so? An overseas affairs department. I should save their number too, just in case.
While we waited, Song Taewon didn’t look in my direction even once. I wanted to ask why he hadn’t answered my calls, but I held back. Seong Hyeonje’s words were still bothering me.
‘Maybe he’s fine because there are regular employees here.’
Seong Hyeonje was annoyingly perceptive about unnecessary things, so it was probably better to be cautious.
“This way, please.”
Soon, an Association employee came over and led us away. When we explained the situation in Japan, the person in charge looked troubled.
“We received word from Sesung Guild, but if the domestic slime dungeon is taken from us, public opinion will worsen significantly.”
“Don’t worry. It won’t be taken from us.”
Rather, we’d be the ones taking it. It might be good to start promoting this in advance. Yerim and Haeyeon’s image would soar.
Then there was a knock, and the door opened. A man I had often run into regarding the ranking match entered and greeted me with a bright smile.
“Hello, Director Han Yujin, Breaker Guildmaster. I am Choi Yeongjun, head of the Hunter Association’s Public Relations Department.”
He grinned broadly, saying he had heard I had good news again this time.
“Are you going to sneak in and take credit again?”
“I’m offering our cooperation. It’s not as though Director Han has no interest in that, is it?”
Quick on the uptake, as always. Still, he was good at his job. He had handled all sorts of matters quickly and efficiently during the last ranking match too. While joining me in complaining about the National Assembly.
“First, can you guarantee Hunter Park Yerim’s victory? We need to prepare for the repercussions if she loses. It would be best to raise excitement only to a manageable level.”
“If Japan proceeds according to the contract terms, then certainly. Even with a few variables, it’ll be manageable.”
Even if the Ama Guildmaster poured SS-Class equipment onto their side, it wouldn’t shake the odds of victory. It wasn’t as if we lacked SS-Class equipment, and Sesung Guild was in this with us, so we could ask to borrow theirs too.
Could we make the loan period about fifty years?
Only the country where it would take place was different. The basic framework resembled the ranking match, so the discussion proceeded swiftly and smoothly. We agreed to settle the remaining details once Japan contacted us.
“From now on, we’ll start letting things slip little by little. Including the opposing Hunter’s name and the seaside location.”
“By the way, when can the rearing facility’s portal key be replaced?”
“That isn’t my department, so I don’t know.”
Choi Yeongjun answered apologetically. Whether he meant it or not. Before getting up, I casually mentioned that I was considering moving to Yeouido.
“I didn’t expect you to be interested.”
“As you know, I’ve been trying to operate the rearing facility independently lately. The MKC building should be intact, so I thought it might be all right to leave the house and rearing facility as they are and move only the building and the rest.”
It was made up, but sounded plausible. Of course, I had no intention of actually moving. With a guild that had three S-Class Hunters right next door, where would I even go?
“Is it finally over? I need the bathroom.”
Moon Hyuna got up after finishing two iced teas. I was on my second cold coffee too, so I followed her outside. Naturally, we went into different bathrooms.
Perhaps because it was attached to the department, the bathroom was small and clean. The corner of the sink was a little dirty, though. When you cleaned a bathroom properly, the difference showed immediately, which made it satisfying. There were plenty of good cleaning supplies these days, too. I washed my hands under the automatically running water.
Right after the sound of flowing water stopped.
Screeeak.
I heard a door open. There was a separate door at this bathroom’s entrance. It opened and closed. Then the heels of dress shoes softly tapped against the tile. It was a bathroom, so anyone could come in.
Even so, I had a bad feeling.
I casually turned to dry my hands. At the same time, I saw the man standing at the bathroom entrance.
It was Song Taewon.
‘Avoid being alone with Song Taewon for a while.’
Seong Hyeonje’s words flashed through my mind.
I’d only greeted him and passed by, yet this had happened.
“It seems you have business with me.”
I spoke as calmly as I could. If he had merely come to use the bathroom, he wouldn’t be standing there like that.
“You could’ve waited outside. I was about to leave.”
My wet hands bothered me. Of all things, there was a dryer instead of paper towels. It was loud, and it felt awkward to stand there with my hands under it.
“Um, I suppose you don’t have to keep watch over the reception desk anymore.”
“There was a minor disturbance, but it has been resolved.”
“You’ve been through a lot over the MKC Guild matter. Everyone must be on edge.”
The atmosphere still seemed all right, at least. I put on the most natural smile I could manage.
“Let’s continue this outside.”
“I heard you had gone to the bathroom, so I came here deliberately.”
I see. How was I supposed to react to that? Honestly, I still didn’t feel that much danger. Was it because of Fear Resistance, or because Song Taewon looked so composed?
‘...I really don’t know.’
Fear Resistance was a good skill, but it was like having a warning popup turned off, which was troublesome at times like this. Would it be better to leave it off when there was no one around to protect me?
“Then, what is it you need?”
You didn’t answer my calls, and yet. Still, this wasn’t the time to press him.
Tap.
His heel struck the tile again. Song Taewon took one step, then two toward me. The bathroom wasn’t wide, so that alone brought him quite close.
He was taller than me and much bigger, too. The real difference in strength was even greater. It should have felt threatening, but I understood that only in my head.
Running was obviously impossible. Should I at least shout? But that might provoke him for no reason. I met the eyes looking down at me. I couldn’t read his expression well either. This was difficult. I drew a shallow breath.
‘It’s not a life-or-death matter like poison or curse resistance.’
Even when Fear Resistance’s rank had dropped, I’d been able to live. I could turn it back on immediately, too.
Keeping my eyes on his black ones, I turned off Fear Resistance.
A chill ran over my entire body.
My heart pounded rapidly, and my mouth went dry. At the same time, a warning instinct struck through my mind as if everything had been dyed red.
The man in front of me wanted to kill me.
Perhaps I couldn’t judge properly because fear came crashing in all at once, like a dam bursting. But the heavy air pressing down on my whole body was not fake.
Song Taewon’s figure looked vaguely distorted. My body, which had nearly crumpled under the pressure, was caught and held upright. I instinctively reached out and pushed Song Taewon away, but he didn’t move an inch.
“Did you deliberately lower your skill?”
He asked quietly. Song Taewon didn’t know resistance-type skills could be turned off, but adjustable skills were common enough. I tried to answer, but only rough, short breaths came out.
Should I turn it back on? But against Song Taewon, I felt that being like this was better. More fitting for F-Class stats.
“Han Yujin.”
I needed to see his expression. I needed to decide whether to ask for help outside or make him recognize more clearly that I was F-Class and make him back off. I knew I had to face him to decide, yet my head remained lowered. My entire body was trembling faintly.
A wet mark spread over Song Taewon’s clothes where my hand had touched him. My head was still intact, I was still breathing, and my heart was still beating. The moment I calmed down even a little, I used Eunhye. It would be over if it was taken from me, but still.
‘...At this distance, I should stay quiet for now.’
Moon Hyuna was nearby. If I shouted, she’d definitely hear me. But Song Taewon would move much faster. No, he might cover my mouth the moment I tried to cry out. He wasn’t someone who would fail to notice my reaction.
“Han Yujin.”
I heard him call me again. His tone was calm, and it almost sounded kind. Or perhaps my ears, desperate to live, were hearing it that way.
My body was lifted. He set me on the sink. No children would use this bathroom, and Hunters were generally taller than ordinary people, so the sink was higher than those in typical public bathrooms. Thanks to that, if I raised my head just a little, I could meet Song Taewon’s eyes.
“...You shouldn’t sit on a sink.”
“It was built sturdy.”
That was true, but still.
“Is this not better than collapsing on the bathroom floor?”
“Thank you for your concern.”
I slowly raised my head. He looked somewhat troubled. He was hesitating. Turning off Fear Resistance had been the right answer after all.
“If Song Taewon reaches out, I can’t resist. It would be very easy. It would be over in an instant.”
“I know.”
“Then why do you...”
Not too directly, so as not to provoke him.
“Me...”
Why did he want to kill me? Why? I was weak. Song Taewon was not someone who harmed the weak without reason. If anything, he wanted to protect them. Even though he felt an aversion to high-grade Hunters, he had not tried to take their lives.
Then...
“Are you afraid of me?”
I’d said something similar before. But it was for a different reason than when I had applied the doubled effect of offensive skills. Then, I had acted not as a person but as an item.
Now it was different. Why now?
“Do you think I’m afraid?”
“Is there another reason? I’d like to hear it.”
“I do think you’re dangerous.”
Song Taewon confessed evenly.
“S-Class Awakened are independent and individualistic. Until now, there has been nothing that could serve as a center of gravity. If there was a possibility, I thought it would be the Sesung Guildmaster.”
Seong Hyeonje certainly did have many connections with other S-Class Hunters. He had brought Noah and Evelyn straight to Korea, too.
“Are you worried that I’ll bring S-Class Hunters together? But that wouldn’t become a problem immediately. More importantly, have we ever joined hands and harmed those around us?”
Individually, we had. And I’d told them to do it... I was reflecting on how excessive it had been to destroy the new Hunter Association building and the Awakening Center. But Hong Kong had honestly deserved to be wiped out.
“Even my younger brother...”
Song Taewon’s expression shifted. Clearly. Why, when I mentioned Yoohyun?
“He helped you not long ago too, Manager Song. At my request.”
I spoke while keeping my eyes fixed on Song Taewon’s face. Yoohyun. My younger brother. What had happened? ...Back when that bastard Choi Seokwon had done it.
“He’s a younger brother who treats his weak F-Class older brother like an older brother and follows him very well. You know that too, Manager Song.”
Was it because of that time? That time. My heart, which had raced in terror I could never completely escape, turned cold. A suppressed groan. A voice calling for me.
“Were you shaken badly? My younger brother, and Manager Song Taewon too.”
I didn’t try to imagine what he must have looked like. I hadn’t asked anyone else, either.
“What did my younger brother look like?”
“...”
And one more person.
“What about Seong Hyeonje?”
“He’s unchanged.”
The answer came unusually quickly. It didn’t sound like he was stating a fact, but like he was whispering a wish. A wish for him to remain unchanged.
The moment I heard that voice, the thought came to me.
In Song Taewon’s terms, Seong Hyeonje was the pinnacle of monsters. And perhaps, in the new world Song Taewon had been dragged into against his will, he was the standard that allowed Song Taewon not to waver.
A marker that stabilized his precarious position, one where he fully belonged to neither wolves nor sheep. As long as that perfect monster existed, Song Taewon could remain a monster who had to stop him, yet wished not to be a monster himself.
The reason he could keep wearing a box that did not even fit him, though it should naturally be discarded.
If that monster, who had to remain his perfect opposite, changed...
“Mr. Seong Hyeonje is my partner.”
Those two black eyes sank heavily. A chill ran down my spine, then something like electricity crawled through it. My throat stung and my tongue stiffened, but I opened my mouth.
“But I don’t want to lose you either, Mr. Song Taewon.”
As Seong Hyeonje had said, I needed him. So...
Bang!
A loud sound rang out, followed by a booming shout.
“Did you set up house in the bathroom?!”
Moon Hyuna kicked the door open as if to break it down and charged straight at Song Taewon without hesitation.
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