WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈
Chapter 33: Found You! (3)
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Meee!
The cries of mountain goats rang out all around.
A lower D-Class rocky terrain dungeon.
The monsters that mainly appeared here were mountain goats that climbed cliffs. They were called Rock Goats, and their optimized initial skills were Jumping Headbutt and Trample.
I told you Sprout was a great skill. Its rank was the lowest among my title skills, but it had the best versatility.
Of course, there were a few skills that could check an opponent's information. But they could only inspect stats or skills one rank lower than the user's own. Compared to those, Sprout was an information skill that could check stats and skills of any rank.
Its main purpose wasn't checking status windows, and it had restrictions, but skills were all about how you used them.
Swoooosh.
Pure white mist spread toward a mountain goat running down the cliff as if it were flat ground. In a high-rank dungeon, it would only have been useful for keeping an enemy in check, but the D-Class monster went crack, froze solid, and rolled onto the ground.
It was literally an ice statue.
“Uncle, over here!”
Yerim proudly called out as she carried over the thoroughly frozen mountain goat. No, I said you needed to level up.
“I froze it well, so you only have to stab it. It’s safe!”
That was when it happened.
Fwoosh!
Flames rose along the valley stretching out on both sides. They weren't black flames, but fire with a faint black tint swept rapidly over the cliffs.
Thud. Thud.
Half-burned mountain goats fell like ripe fruit. Yoohyun had cleverly controlled the flames so they were badly injured, but still alive.
“You say we only have to stab them, but will a spear even go into that block of ice?”
Whirr.
The wire Yoohyun threw wrapped around one goat’s horn and pulled it in like a fish. The goat flew through the air and landed right in front of me.
Yoohyun glanced at Yerim as if to show off, then smiled at me.
“It’s still alive. Its tough hide is almost completely burned off, so the spearhead should go in very smoothly.”
“I-I can freeze them lightly too! Should I peel off their hides?”
Poor mountain goats. They were being frozen and roasted from both directions. I looked over at Yu Myeongu, who looked so shriveled up that they seemed ready to dig into the ground and disappear.
“You need to level up too. Come on.”
“M-Me too?”
Myeongu looked behind me.
Then they turned into a frightened, shrunken turtle. They were half-dead mountain goats, but were they still scary?
Just in case, I turned toward Yoohyun and Yerim. Both of them smiled brightly at the same time. What a nice atmosphere. The charred goats might have looked a little ominous, but Myeongu could've thought of them as roasted meat that had gotten burned.
“You need to reach Level 10 before I do.”
I was in no hurry, but Myeongu needed to reach Level 10 in this dungeon, then lock themselves away and sharpen blades. I grabbed their arm and pulled them along when they still wouldn't move. It was fine. Nothing to be scared of.
“Think of it as stabbing an overcooked steak. Or how about the frozen ones? Don’t they look like statues?”
“I caught that one for Uncle.”
Yerim grumbled. Why did that matter?
“Yerim.”
At my reproachful call, Yerim poked out her lips.
“But.”
“No buts. I’m telling you this now, the three of you should get along. Or at least don't fight and become decent teammates.”
Fire attribute, ice attribute, and equipment crafting. How well did that combination fit together? If Kim Seonghan became an S-Class too, we'd have both offense and defense covered. All sorts of ridiculous dungeons would appear later, but if they learned to work together and support each other, they would rise straight to the top.
The only thing we lacked was a healer. Even five years later, there hadn't been anyone with S-Class stats and S-Class skills, much less A-Class stats with S-Class skills, so it would be hard to find someone on their level. For some reason, healers’ stat ranks and skill ranks were inversely proportional. Was it because their average age was in their fifties?
Stat ranks tended to be better for people who were young and healthy. There were exceptions, but most people with S-Class stats were thirty-five or younger.
“Especially you, Yoohyun. Don’t try to pick fights with a kid five years younger than you. And Yerim, now that you've signed on as an official Hunter, don’t forget that he is your guildmaster and your senior by three years.”
At my nagging, the two of them sighed at the same time.
“I wasn't trying to fight. It just bothers me that she keeps getting involved with you, hyung.”
“Uncle is my guardian, so of course I do. Why does that bother you?”
“You may be young, but please be aware of your position. Didn’t the Public Relations Team teach you? It wasn't because I enjoyed keeping my distance from hyung.”
“I’m trying to be careful too.”
“If you’re being careful, were you planning to drag hyung along when you went to the Association?”
“That’s why I didn’t go with him! I’m still inexperienced, but I’m learning as hard as I can!”
There they went again. As if fire and ice weren't natural opposites, they were making it painfully obvious. Shouldn't their public image be the opposite? Like rivals or something.
“I said stop it, both of you.”
“...Okay.”
“...Yes.”
No matter how I looked at it, Yoohyun was more of a problem than Yerim. That punk worried far too much about my safety. I needed to raise Peace quickly and bring in another monster or two, so he could worry less.
“One of you is my biological little brother, and the other is my ward. How do you think it makes me feel when you keep fighting over me? At least pretend to get along when I’m around. You did fine in front of the reporters.”
If they kept pretending, it might become real.
“If Uncle wants it, I’ll do it. Pretending is easy.”
Yerim smiled brightly and looked up at Yoohyun.
“If you’re Uncle’s biological little brother, then you can’t exactly be a stranger to me either. Let’s get along from now on. Can I call you big brother?”
...Wait, she was suddenly jumping straight to big brother? Yoohyun returned her warm smile. They both looked good, so it was pleasant to watch.
Only on the surface, though.
“Of course. Then I’ll speak casually too.”
“Yes, please do. I look forward to working with you, Big Brother Yoohyun.”
“I look forward to working with you too, Yerim.”
They were smiling sweetly, but I could practically hear them sharpening knives behind their backs. Good grief. Look at them stubbornly maintaining eye contact, like they were having a staring contest.
It was fortunate there weren't many S-Class Awakened. If I'd unknowingly reeled in several of them, I might have had to start a Get Along campaign.
And poor Myeongu was still shriveled up. Well, two S-Classes were locked in a standoff. How could an ordinary F-Class keep their nerve? Even an A-Class would be trembling. Hang in there a little longer. After hardship comes happiness.
“You probably won't see them for a while after this, so just endure today. You only need to reach Level 10.”
After that, Myeongu would have to spend half a year, at a generous estimate, doing nothing but sharpening blades, so they wouldn't be able to see them even if they wanted to. At my pat on their shoulder, Myeongu nodded. Maybe hard labor alone in a tiny room would make Myeongu feel more comfortable.
The dungeon raid continued smoothly afterward. Yoohyun went without saying, but Yerim was amazing too.
Once we emerged from the winding valley, a wide basin appeared. Hundreds of mountain goats roamed in herds across the green grassland. Beyond them stood a huge black-furred mountain goat with great dignity.
Why not just put up an electronic sign saying, I’m the boss?
Still, I was grateful when they made themselves so obvious. When you ran into one that hid, it became ridiculously annoying.
“You said you’re still Level 9, right, hyung?”
Yoohyun asked. Since we had focused on feeding experience to Myeongu, I hadn't reached Level 10 yet. Yu Myeongu had reached Level 10 about thirty minutes ago and had been devastated when they didn't gain a skill.
I had hoped otherwise, but it looked like the skill Myeongu was supposed to receive at Level 10 had been replaced by Master of the Golden Forge.
When a skill that should be gained every ten levels didn't appear, it usually meant the conditions hadn't been met. They might receive it later the moment they fulfilled those conditions, or they might never get it at all.
Half of it was luck.
“I don’t necessarily need to reach Level 10.”
“It'll be easier if you have even one more skill. I’ll bring a few over.”
“Me! I’ll do it!”
Yerim, who had grown completely accustomed to using the Shoes of Hermes, stepped forward confidently.
Whoosh.
She flew upward. She really was like a fish in water.
‘Will I not get a skill this time either?’
Before my regression, I still hadn't gained a new skill by Level 30. It probably wouldn't be much different this time.
What exactly was my optimized skill?
It would be nice if I could use Sprout on myself too. I had tried using it while looking in a mirror just in case, but naturally, no status window appeared.
And it wasn't just Sprout. Of course, I couldn't receive growth buffs either. Swallowing my embarrassment, I had quietly said, I love myself, but nothing changed then either.
Seriously, one L-Class skill title I had managed to get was full of things I had no use for, while the other only benefited other people. Whoever created the system, do you hate me? Or could you at least make it easy to use? The weird effects and the Keywords too, it was really so damn underhanded and petty...
[Found You!]
...What?
A message window appeared?!
W-Wait. Could it be because I cursed? Did it find me because it knew I had cursed? No, it wasn't like I had only cursed at the system once or twice. That couldn't be it. What was this? What was this?
Another message window appeared before my eyes.
[Oh, sorry!]
No, I should be the one apologizing for cursing... No, that wasn't it. An error? Did an administrator accidentally send a chat message?
Fuck, wait. Let's talk. Was there no keyboard window? Why was the conversation one-sided...
“Hyung!”
That was when Yoohyun suddenly shouted and threw his arms around me.
At the same time, I shouted too.
“Yerim, protect Myeongu!”
I didn't know what was happening, but it was a danger signal. In other words, if we left Myeongu alone, they would die.
Right afterward, the screams of the mountain goat herd struck my ears.
Keeeek!
Kiiieee!
The smell of burning meat spread thickly through the air. Yoohyun’s Fire Resistance affected me too, so I couldn't feel the heat. Were Yerim and Myeongu safe? Since the Final Grace activation window hadn't appeared, they seemed to be alive at least.
“...What the hell happened?”
I couldn't assess the situation while being held. I knew we had just been hit by a large-scale fire-attribute attack, but this was a lower D-Class dungeon. So why had something with an area-of-effect attribute attack skill appeared here? It wasn't five years later, when dungeon ranks fluctuated wildly. Things should still have been stable.
“It’s a monster I’ve never seen before too.”
Yoohyun spoke quietly. Hey, let me look too. When I tapped his shoulder, he loosened his arms around me.
“Be careful.”
I turned toward the basin.
The green grassland was burning red. The remains of mountain goats, some burned to ash and some still burning, were piled up like a mountain.
Beyond them was the black mountain goat, the original boss monster, pierced through by a sharp golden beak.
The monstrous bird wrapped in flames swung its beak and tore apart and swallowed the well-roasted mountain goat.
I recognized it the moment I saw that distinctive beak.
‘A Class-2 monster-bird species. Golden-Beaked Maiya.’
It was a boss monster from an upper A-Class dungeon. Monster-bird species were relatively weak for their class, so it wasn't at S-Class level.
But why the hell was that thing here?
‘...Was that what it meant by sorry?’
Was this really a system error? A bug? Bring out the administrator. We needed to have a talk.
“Are you two okay?”
After identifying the monster, I turned to find Yerim and Myeongu. Fortunately, it seemed Yerim had used Cold Sigh in time. Yerim stood in front of Myeongu, and a blackened scorch mark lay before them.
“...We’re okay. But what is that?”
“Very rarely, a monster that doesn't match the dungeon’s rank can appear.”
It was extremely rare at this point in time. More importantly, since an exit gate hadn't appeared even though the boss monster was dead, it looked like that bird bastard had replaced the boss.
This was going to be annoying.
Things were probably in chaos outside by now. The dungeon containing Haeyeon Guild’s guildmaster and a rookie S-Class had suddenly become at least B-Class. More than an hour had already passed, so no one could come help us.
“Hyung, take this.”
Yoohyun held out a Gate Stone.
Was this a repeat of what had happened before my regression? Of course, compared to Raucitas, that damned lizard, a fire-breathing bird was cute.
“There’s no need. It’s weaker than you.”
Their attribute attacks wouldn't work against each other, but Yoohyun, with his S-Class combat aptitude, was stronger physically. The fact that it could fly was troublesome, but Yoohyun had Blue Willow Leaves, so it wouldn't be a problem.
Myeongu and I could hole up in a corner and let Yerim protect us.
Yoohyun looked puzzled at my words.
“You know what monster it is?”
“A Class-2 monster-bird species, Golden-Beaked Maiya. As you can see, it has a fire attribute, and it is on the level of an upper A-Class dungeon boss. It has a habit of continuously pursuing its first target, so it is unlikely to switch aggro. If you do well, we should be able to get out quickly. Watch out for its beak attacks. Its legs are relatively weak. Its skull is soft, while its back and belly are the toughest parts. Maybe to protect its head, the flames are hottest around there, but you’ll be fine. It looks like it only has one pair of wings, but it has a hidden spare pair, so rather than attacking its wings to bring it down, it’s better to strike its head directly. Yerim can protect Myeongu and me. Also, that beak is an extremely expensive material, so if possible, cut it off cleanly in one piece.”
Yoohyun looked speechless for a moment.
“...Hyung, I think you really have become a little strange.”
“Not strange. Suspicious, right? Did Seok Simyeong say I was suspicious too? It’s hard to explain even if you ask, so let’s just brush it off. Can we do that?”
“There’s no reason we can’t, but...”
“Anyway, I’m your hyung. That much will never change.”
Whether I was Han Yujin from five years ago or the current Han Yujin, I was still Han Yoohyun’s older brother.
Yoohyun nodded slightly and placed the Gate Stone in my hand.
“Still, keep this.”
What a death flag. It wasn't like he would lose to some bird that shot flames, but still.
“I leave them to you.”
Yoohyun spoke politely to Park Yerim.
“Don’t worry.”
For this moment, both of them had completely discarded any emotional resentment and wore serious expressions. It made me happy for no reason. I hoped they would keep cooperating and getting along well in the future.
After looking at me once more, Yoohyun turned around.
He would be fine.
The Yoohyun from five years later would have finished it in ten minutes, no, five. Even now, wouldn't it take thirty minutes at most?
So I would relax and cheer him on.
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