WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 30: Goblin (2)

──────

Yerim left for another appointment, and I sent Yu Myeongu back upstairs first.

Left alone with Seok Hayan, my heart fluttered a little. How long had it been since I’d been alone with a woman who liked me? …Was this the first time?

Though Seok Hayan was full of academic enthusiasm.

Her eyes shining, she drew a dungeon entrance on paper. She really couldn’t draw.

“It’s amazing that you can estimate a dungeon’s saturation level by calculating the shape of its entrance and the mana distribution. Right now, we only calculate simple averages, so sometimes we have to rush into a dungeon. Other than the indicators that dungeons less than three days old are green, while dungeons one day away from a break are red, we have nothing.”

“It’s still only an estimate. There’s too little data to say for certain. Especially since Korea doesn’t have that many dungeons.”

Seok Hayan gave a regretful sigh.

“Exactly! There are far too few. Ah, people would throw stones at me if I said that outside. Still, it’s a shame we can’t investigate more dungeons.”

“If we investigated many dungeons and compiled statistics, we might discover something new.”

“Exactly! I don’t understand why most countries won’t even let foreigners investigate them. It’s not as if we’re trying to clear them. We only want to examine them. Honestly, isn’t this something the whole world should cooperate on? The more we understand dungeons, the safer people can be!”

After passionately voicing her frustrations, Seok Hayan looked at me with moved eyes.

“You’re the first person in Korea I’ve been able to talk to this well, Mr. Yujin! The prevailing theory is still that dungeons are random, unpredictable disasters. I never expected to meet someone here who was certain there were patterns and had even investigated and researched them.”

She abruptly grabbed my hand and leaned close. No, wait. I didn’t do research like that.

“Would you like to start a research lab with me?”

“…I’ll decline.”

“Why? The two of us could definitely make incredible discoveries!”

Like uncle, like niece. She acted just like Seok Simyeong.

“I’ve only learned a little by getting out in the field. I can’t sit at a desk wracking my brain.”

“That’s fine. You can keep working in the field. I’ll organize everything. Statistics is my major!”

“I only have a high school equivalency diploma, so my education…”

“That’s no problem. I’m qualified to be a professor. I was already thinking of using my connections to establish a department related to dungeons or Awakened people. I’ll become the kindest professor in the world for you. I’ll even pass your papers without question!”

She was going to use her connections to establish a department? She must have come from an impressive family. The prospect of getting a university diploma for free was tempting, but I still had no desire to study at this point.

Besides, if I stayed involved with someone destined to become an authority on Dungeon Studies, she’d figure me out in no time. It would be better to just act familiar with her once in a while.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve become more interested in something else. I don’t want to research dungeons or Awakened people anymore.”

“…Something else?”

“Yes. I’m thinking of studying monsters.”

If I raised them, I’d naturally learn along the way.

“Monsters…”

Seok Hayan murmured wistfully, then suddenly put on a solemn expression.

“Let’s have your research lab cooperate with mine, Mr. Han Yujin.”

“I don’t have a research lab. I have no plans to establish one either. I’m merely raising a magical beast.”

“You’re raising one? Already? Wow, just as expected from a researcher who works in the field!”

Seok Hayan was making a huge fuss about how she ought to follow my example when it happened.

Click!

“Huh?”

The lights abruptly went out. We were underground with no windows, and the hallway lights had gone out as well. I couldn’t see properly even an inch in front of me.

Was there a blackout?

“I think the lights went out.”

“You’re right. I’ll turn on my phone flashlight.”

I took my phone from my pocket and pressed the home button. A faint light came on, illuminating Seok Hayan’s face in front of my desk.

Her face had frozen in not just surprise, but horror.

“…Ms. Seok Hayan?”

Why was she suddenly looking like that? She looked incredibly frightening in the light from my phone.

“Eeeek!!”

“W-What is it?!”

The piercing scream made my heart drop. Startled, I reflexively turned around.

A bloodied, bluish face floated in the air amid a misty glow. Its white, upturned eyes met mine directly.

F-Fuck…

Rattle rattle rattle rattle!

The chairs and desks shook wildly. Papers on the lectern fluttered everywhere as if caught in a typhoon.

“Eeeek! Mom!!”

Amid Seok Hayan’s scream, I collapsed onto the floor. Not because my legs had given out. The chair had shaken me off… Damn it, at least I hadn’t screamed! What in the world was this… There couldn’t be ghosts in this world… Though there were monsters in dungeons, so maybe there were ghosts too…?

No, more importantly, why was my entire body shaking and why was I so scared I could cry when I had Fear Resistance…?

Ah.

I’d turned it off. And forgotten to turn it back on. Was I an idiot?

I hurriedly reactivated Fear Resistance. Calm immediately settled over me.

‘Was the reason I’d felt off this morning because I’d turned the skill off too?’

Its description only said it nullified intimidation, but it was an L-Class skill. There was a good chance it had other effects. Since it was a passive skill, perhaps it normally boosted my mental strength as well.

Still, my mental fortitude wasn’t naturally weak, yet I’d been consumed by anxiety just because the skill was off. Was this what they meant by not realizing what you had until it was gone?

“Ms. Seok Hayan!”

I picked up my dropped phone, turned on its flashlight, and hurried over to Seok Hayan. She was sitting on the floor, half out of it.

“Are you okay?”

When I lightly shook her shoulder, she swayed limply before toppling over completely. She was breathing normally. Had she simply fainted? Holding her in my arms, I shouted.

“Enough! Goblin!”

There was no way a ghost, especially one putting on such an exaggerated performance, would suddenly appear in broad daylight.

Once my mind cleared, the culprit came to me immediately.

Goblin.

Goblin, who loved playing pranks, especially scaring people.

“Okay, okay. Don’t get angry.”

An androgynous voice spoke playfully. Then the lights in the hallway and training room came on one by one.

Click, click, click.

“You said you wanted to meet me, so I came.”

Chuckling, a figure appeared on top of a desk. They wore a red goblin mask and a blue robe. Goblin waved around the bloodied blue face prop.

“Was I a little too much? I didn’t expect someone to faint. Really. I’m usually good at moderating myself. Maybe I’m out of practice.”

“Fortunately, she doesn’t seem hurt…”

I looked up at Goblin. It was my first time seeing them in person. They weren’t particularly tall, but they weren’t short either. An eccentric, playful, but kind person.

A Hunter unaffiliated with any group, who possessed mid-range spatial movement, Stealth, and would eventually gain ultra-long-range portals.

I wanted them.

And if I could get their help even now, while they only had the first two abilities.

‘Seok Hayan could investigate dungeons.’

She could discover the laws of dungeon generation in Korea, without needing to go all the way to America.

‘…Goblin loves pranks. Goblin is said to be obsessed with startling people.’

This was an opportunity.

I curled my lips in a mocking smile and said provocatively,

“Why don’t you stop playing such completely unscary pranks?”

“What?!”

Goblin leaped up.

“Not scary?! You were totally pale with shock! Your legs gave out and you were trembling!”

“You must’ve seen wrong. It was dark.”

“No, I didn’t! I saw it! I saw everything clearly!”

I deliberately stammered, putting on an aggrieved expression to match Goblin’s outrage.

“T-That was only because it was unexpected.”

“So you were startled after all! Do you think you wouldn’t have been startled if you’d expected it? Coward! Coward!”

“Of course I wouldn’t have been startled if I’d expected it! Honestly, your pranks are childish.”

“Childish? They’re classic!”

Goblin stomped their feet. Should I start reeling in the line?

“Then, shall we make a bet?”

“A bet? I like bets! What’ll we wager?”

“If you can’t scare me, you admit that I’m more impressive than you are! Hmm… and you work as my subordinate for three years.”

It was a somewhat childish thing to say, but Goblin seemed to like it. They shrugged and laughed loudly.

“Fine, fine. But I’m an incredibly capable and impressive talent! If you have my services for three years, then you… You’re only F-Class, but since you’re the older brother of Haeyeon Guild’s guildmaster, I’ll give you a special discount. You can work as my subordinate for twenty years!”

So Goblin knew about me too. Still, they didn’t seem to know every detail. Well, no matter how remarkable Goblin was, there was only one of them. They wouldn’t keep track of every move of a mere F-Class Hunter.

Even so, now that we were involved, perhaps I should be more careful from now on.

“You have a contract, right?”

Goblin’s laughter suddenly stopped. The eyes behind the mask looked straight at me.

“A contract? We’re writing an actual contract?”

They must have thought being a subordinate was just a childish game. But that wouldn’t do. We had to make it official.

“Of course we’re writing an official contract. Why? Are you scared?”

“No! But I don’t understand. It’s too suspicious. And you’re far too confident.”

Goblin’s body floated up into the air. They drifted toward me, circling around me as they examined me closely.

“You don’t have a passive resistance skill, so are you planning to use an item?”

“I won’t. If you’re suspicious, we can add a clause to the contract prohibiting items.”

“Then a skill that raises mental strength?”

“I won’t use that either. Besides, my skill only gives a five percent increase. It wouldn’t even be noticeable. We can add skills to the contract as well. Something like, I can’t use active skills, whether mine or someone else’s.”

Even after I said that, Goblin remained suspicious. They had good instincts.

“Mmm, strange. Suspicious. It feels like you’re hiding something! You’re definitely going to lose, you know? You were incredibly startled earlier. Your legs gave out too.”

I was hiding something. First, I needed to put them at ease. At this rate, Goblin wouldn’t sign the contract easily.

“To be honest… I do have an ulterior motive.”

I continued, pretending to be a little embarrassed.

“Even if I lose, this bet won’t be a loss for me.”

“It won’t be a loss?”

“Yes. I’m an ordinary F-Class Hunter, while you’re the famous Goblin. Winning would be amazing, but even if I lose, I get the title of Goblin’s subordinate.”

This time, I made an embarrassed expression. I didn’t even need to try acting. The moment I remembered confessing to Kim Seonghan thirty times, the back of my neck quickly turned red. So humiliating, damn it.

“You’re… just as you say, impressive, and also… um, I’m not exactly a fan. I mean, it would be an honor to become your subordinate… or something. Anyway, I don’t think you’d treat me badly. And…”

“And?”

Goblin asked in an excited voice. If they hadn’t been wearing a mask, I was sure I would’ve seen a wide grin.

“…You were cool. When you declared, ‘My bundle contains every kind of secret.’ You were really cool.”

“I’m impressive and cool!”

Goblin cackled and shot up into the air. They were going to hit their head on the ceiling at that rate.

“I like you! If you’d just said you wanted to be my subordinate, I would’ve laughed it off, but you provoked me into making a bet. This is fun! I like that you’re even making a contract!”

“I said I wouldn’t mind losing, but I’m confident I’ll win.”

“Right, right, great!”

A sheet of parchment appeared in Goblin’s hand.

“Let’s make a bet!”

The fishing had succeeded.

As Goblin laughed cheerfully, I adjusted Seok Hayan in my arms. Now all I had to do was enjoy the finished meal, so I should deal with this woman first.

“Before that, could you take this person to the infirmary?”

Goblin readily nodded, took Seok Hayan away, and soon reappeared.

Spatial movement really was an excellent skill. I wanted it too.

“Now, let’s write the contract!”

Goblin set the parchment they had been holding on the desk. It was an Association-guaranteed stat-reduction contract for A-Class Hunters.

‘Come to think of it, what are Goblin’s stats like? I should check their name too.’

Their name might even reveal their gender. When I used Sprout, Goblin’s veiled status window appeared.

[Awakened: Yun Yun

Current Stat Rank: B

Potential Stat Rank: B

Optimized Initial Skills

Acquired: Guess Who? (S)

Acquired: Cloud Steps (B)]

…What kind of name was that? It was bizarre, just as expected of Goblin. I couldn’t tell whether they were male or female either.

Their stats were high at B-Class, and unexpectedly, none of their optimized initial skills were related to spatial movement. Guess Who? seemed to be a Stealth skill, while Cloud Steps was a relatively common flying skill.

“Are you not going to write? Did you change your mind already?”

Goblin urged me when I blanked out for a moment while examining the status window. They were impatient.

I took out a pen and wrote the terms in the empty space on the contract.

“One time is too vague, so let’s make it three attempts.”

Goblin interrupted as they watched what I wrote. It wasn’t because one time was vague. They just wanted more chances to have fun.

“If you don’t get scared even once, I’ll make you my number one subordinate!”

“Do you have other subordinates?”

“Three, including you!”

Well, they needed trusted aides to release their bundle or whatever it was if something happened to Goblin.

While Goblin occasionally interfered, I wrote down the conditions for deciding the winner and the prohibition on using skills and items. Goblin was so meticulous about every detail that we nearly ran out of room.

Despite their frivolous manner, they were surprisingly careful.

“The part about not obeying unreasonable orders absolutely needs to be included, in detail. It should also say that if I lose, which I won’t, you won’t ask about other people’s confidential information!”

“Of course I won’t ask about that. I have no intention of putting you in danger.”

They were valuable, so I needed to treat them with care.

Finally, we set the wager period at one week and signed the contract.

“Don’t involve other people if possible. And I’d like you to respect a minimum level of privacy. Bathrooms and toilets, for example.”

“Don’t worry! I’ve never secretly entered a restroom or bathhouse! Nor have I ever wanted to!”

“Right, right. Good. I look forward to working with you.”

I carefully put away the contract, then gave my future subordinate a warm smile.

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