The S-Classes That I Raised - Chapter 53

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 53: Peep (2)

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Creeeak.

I quietly opened the door and stepped into the hallway. The dormitory floor’s security cameras were still only at the entrance, and my room was farther inside, so the bent hallway let me get this far without anyone seeing me.

After checking my surroundings, I pulled my cap low and used Lizard on the Wall at maximum strength.

It had originally been a D-Class skill with little effect, but things were different now. A special skill that concealed one’s appearance had quadruple its usual effect. Even an A-Class Hunter would have trouble noticing me unless they were paying close attention.

Just in case, I had tested it last night.

I stood perfectly still in the corner of the hallway with Lizard on the Wall active, holding my breath. None of the A-Class Hunters passing through the dormitory noticed me.

‘Yerim is at the Association, so I just need to watch out for my little brother.’

And if I got caught, so what? Like Seong Hyeonje said, I could afford to act more recklessly. It wasn’t like I was doing anything bad. What could Yoohyun do if he caught me sneaking out? Try to lock me up again?

Maybe before the mount negotiations, but now even the Haeyeon Guildmaster could not freely decide what happened to me. He would probably just nag me a little. Complain that I didn’t trust him, then be disappointed that I had been hiding something after all...

Yeah, I should avoid getting caught if I could. It would be annoying.

As I headed toward the elevator, I spotted an A-Class Hunter from Haeyeon sitting in a chair and reading. I watched her carefully as I quietly stood in the corner.

The emergency stairwell door was locked, and if the elevator moved on its own, she would find it suspicious. So I had no choice but to wait.

For the lunch delivery worker.

Since I had come out around lunchtime, the elevator arrived before long.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

The cafeteria employee greeted the Hunter and handed over a lunchbox. I quickly slipped into the elevator during that opening.

“I’ll return in two hours to collect the lunchboxes. Enjoy your meal.”

The employee stepped back into the elevator. There was a security camera inside, so when the employee covered the buttons while pressing the cafeteria floor, I extended a tentacle and discreetly pressed the first floor, too. Luckily, pressing the elevator call button on that floor also lit up the corresponding interior button, so the employee did not seem to think anything of it. On the security footage, it would probably look like the employee had pressed the wrong button.

After passing the cafeteria floor and getting off on the first floor, I saw a closed glass door between the hallway and the lobby. This was the biggest problem. All I could do was wait for someone to come in or go out.

‘As long as Yoohyun doesn’t come out.’

Don’t come out, don’t come out. Go do your work. If I took too long, Yerim might return, too. Someone, anyone, please hurry up and come in or leave.

Fortunately, a B-Class Hunter from Haeyeon approached before long. The moment the security room opened the glass door, I hurried out. There was an A-Class Hunter stationed by the security room as well, but perhaps because so many people moved through the lobby, they did not notice anything strange.

‘Without a special skill, even an S-Class would have a hard time sneaking in.’

Special skills that concealed one’s appearance were extremely rare. The only publicly known owner of a perfect Stealth skill was Goblin. Usually, only monsters had such skills, and Goblin was not human either, so it probably had to do with aptitude. Even if someone did have one, they would not reveal it easily.

After safely leaving the building, I walked down the street for about ten minutes. Between the buildings, I released the skill, bought sunglasses at a nearby shop to completely hide my face, and caught a taxi.

The F-Class dungeon I arrived at shortly afterward was in a small building practically hidden behind larger buildings. It had probably once been a small parking lot. Since an F-Class dungeon that was hard to profit from had not appeared inside the building, the building owner was lucky.

I went to the building surrounded by special walls, entered the number I had received beforehand on the keypad beside the door, and scanned the chip on my Hunter license. The door opened. After passing through a short hallway, I saw a gate sitting in an empty space. They had cleared the area because I wanted privacy, but the security cameras were surely still running. They had probably checked the number of people entering, too.

Entry records were kept for a month in case of emergencies. It was not as though anyone else could check them.

‘Well, shall I go in?’

It was only F-Class, but entering a dungeon alone felt strange. I did not hesitate for long before stepping decisively into the blue gate.

Squeak! Squeee!

The air abruptly changed. The thick smell of grass stung my nose. The cries of some unknown animal came from among the dense leaves.

“Look at this humidity.”

It was muggy. This was less a forest and more a jungle.

I took off my cap, looped the strap around my neck, and pushed it behind my back. I took off my sunglasses, too. Against the monsters here, I would be fine even barehanded. I considered taking out and putting on some equipment, but aside from the earrings I already wore, I only put on a bracelet that increased Strength. It only increased flat stats, so it was not that useful anyway, and layering equipment was a hassle.

‘Maybe I should get a few pieces of percentage-increase equipment, too.’

Something similar could happen again. There were still only a few targets affected by the Keyword, but as I steadily raised more monsters and their numbers grew, some would surely suffer unfortunate accidents. I did not want it to happen, but it could not be completely avoided.

I had to be prepared.

Rustle.

I sensed movement atop the thick trees. Then a greenish face suddenly poked out from the leaves.

Squeak! Squeak!

It was a Moss Monkey. I used Thorn Trap on the monster as it gripped a branch and shook it wildly in a threatening manner.

Screech!

The Moss Monkey let out a cry and collapsed forward. Since it was not a lethal skill, it was still alive. It had not fallen, either, caught on the branch.

Tentacles would be better than Thorn Trap here. The dense trees around me looked well over ten meters tall, but they grew thinner higher up. Large, heavy monkeys would probably only move around the lower middle branches, where they were thick enough. The length would be sufficient.

If that did not work, I could just pick up a rock and throw it. Should I give it a try? I picked up a loose stone and lightly coated it in poison. Then I hurled it with all my strength at a monkey that had come close.

Thud!

With a dull impact, the monkey hanging from the branch fell to the ground. High-rank stats really were nice. With my original strength, I could never have knocked it down in one hit like that.

Whether from its cracked skull or the poison seeping in, the Moss Monkey soon stopped breathing.

‘Should I look for a mana stone or not?’

I did not want to rummage through a corpse. Before my regression, that would have been a luxurious complaint, but now it was a hassle. My clothes might get dirty, and I had not brought a mana stone detector.

‘Shouldn’t I be getting contacted soon?’

I opened and closed my status window a few times, but nothing changed. In the meantime, another Moss Monkey approached, so I grabbed its neck with a tentacle and snapped it.

‘...Surely that wasn’t really the end after they finished checking?’

If they had no more business with me, I would feel relieved and annoyed at the same time.

Just then, a message window finally appeared.

[┖¶ π┣Z □┻Λ ○┣ ┗┃□]

...Yes, well? Not my fault? Was it talking about me? It was not my fault? What kind of nonsense was that all of a sudden?

Another message window appeared. This time, it contained proper text.

[Wish Stone: Mythical-grade

Grants the user one wish.]

It was the Wish Stone’s item description.

Why was this suddenly appearing...?

Wait. There were only two lines. There had originally been three.

...Fuck?

“You said reviving the dead was impossible!”

Was it not?! Did the bastard who made the system scam me? Was it originally possible? Huh?

“Damn it, I did think it was strange that it could turn back time but not revive one dead person...”

I had been tricked. Completely tricked.

I got angry for a moment, but I calmed down soon enough.

Honestly, the present, where time had been turned back, was better than bringing Yoohyun back to life then in many ways. Not only for me, but overall.

Just having Seok Hayan’s research results shared fairly would make the world far safer than it had been five years later. On top of that, there were mounts, so things would undoubtedly change greatly for the better compared to the chaotic future I had known.

So being tricked itself was fine, but...

‘...It’s not my fault?’

It probably meant that I had returned to the past because the bastard who made the system had deceived me, and that it was not my fault.

Then this meant...

‘...Could something go wrong because I regressed?’

There must be some problem serious enough for me to wonder if it was my fault, or they would not have specifically told me that. How kind of them.

So what was the problem?

I waited for a while, but no more message windows appeared. Let me organize this first.

I had returned to the past because the bastard who made the system deceived me. The system bastard knew about the events from before my regression, just like I did. And something would happen because of the regression.

Those were roughly the three points.

And to add one more thing, it was clear that when the system bastard sent me messages unrelated to the system itself, it could not use normal text. I had suspected that ever since the vertical writing.

It seemed less restricted inside a dungeon, but it could still only communicate indirectly. If it sent a direct message, an error occurred like last time.

Anyway.

“So what exactly is going to happen? Explain it properly!”

This was frustrating enough to drive me insane. Then another message window appeared.

[☞'≠'☜ T_T T_T T_T T_T T_T ._. ]

Just draw a picture already. Did that mean it could not speak because its mouth was covered?

“Even if there’s a problem like last time, I can handle it now, so just tell me!”

I was right in front of the gate, and Lizard on the Wall was already at maximum strength. Unless something like Raucitas appeared, I could escape without a problem.

A moment after I shouted that,

[Oh, my dear, don’t be angry. We know this is frustrating, too. Yes, we want to tell you plainly, but we can’t. Direct conversation requires sacrifices. Preparation, too. Last time, the newbie... Only your side had time reversed. Dungeons are separate. We’re holding it back to delay the progression. The more interference there is, the sooner it will be discovered. Related information. If too much becomes known. Danger. Properly. Prepare. One week. Dungeon.]

Messages poured down in a rush. Wait, slowly. What?

Only our side had time reversed, while dungeons were separate. In other words, their numbers and difficulty should have remained at the level of five years later, but someone was trying to delay their progression.

...Did that mean dungeon difficulty would rise faster than before my regression? That was insane. And what did it mean by being discovered? Was there something else?

It sounded like they needed a week to prepare and wanted me to return to a dungeon. But in one week, the duration of Final Grace would end. I had already told Yoohyun I wanted to clear dungeons, so I could ask him.

Then the message window shook violently and began to distort. It seemed they had forced themselves to send the message after all.

Rumble!

“Ugh!”

A loud sound followed, and even the scenery around me wavered like a summer heat haze. This felt like something enormous was about to appear.

Fortunately, the gate was still active, so I could run right out without using a Gate Stone. I immediately turned to run toward the open dungeon gate when,

Plop.

Something white and round fell from the air. The chubby, rice-cake-like thing rolled across the ground, then lay upside down and opened its beak wide.

Peep!

...What was that? It was cute.

Peep!

It cried again. Its short little legs flailed in the air. Downy fluff like a dandelion seed, round black bean-like eyes, a pale yellow beak and feet... A baby bird? It was only about the size of two fists put together. No matter how I looked at it, it seemed completely harmless.

Peep, peep!

Flap, flap.

...Fuck, look at those wings. They were tiny. What was that? Did that really come out? It did not seem right. Had it just fallen from a nest in a tree?

Feeling bewildered, I used Sprout.

[□□□□□ - □□□ (Infant)

Current stat rank: F

Growth potential stat rank: □

Optimized initial skills

Acquired after □□□□□□ growth

※ □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□]

...It really did seem to be something that had appeared because of an error. Other than its current F-Class rank and the fact that it was a baby, I could not learn anything. Still, judging by the number of optimized initial skills, it definitely did not seem like an ordinary monster. Five of them.

Even Peace and Yerim, whose growth potential stats ranged from A-Class to S-Class, only had three or four. Since there was only one box, it did not seem to be SS-Class or higher. Was it S-Class? There was no guarantee that the number of boxes matched the number of letters, though.

‘...What should I do?’

Could I just leave an error monster alone? But killing it was, honestly... something I strongly did not want to do.

In the meantime, the baby bird finally managed to get upright and began waddling through the grass. Perhaps because I had Lizard on the Wall active, it seemed completely unaware that I was there. Instead, it spotted the dead Moss Monkey and approached it carelessly.

Peep peep peep peep.

It chirped as it tried to poke the monkey’s corpse with its beak. Gasp! That was poisoned! Even touching it could be dangerous for something with F-Class stats!

“No!”

I rushed over and scooped it up. It froze in surprise for a moment, then flapped its tiny wings with all its might.

Peep! Peep! Peep! Peep!

“It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”

I hurriedly released Lizard on the Wall and soothed it. Fortunately, it did not seem to have been poisoned. Its round black bean-like eyes blinked as it looked up at me.

Peep!

“Yeah, yeah. Good little Peep.”

The little body nestled in my hands was incredibly soft and warm. Cute. What should I do? Should I just take it with me? It was small enough to hide in my arms.

If they asked where I got it... Could I say I just found it? Whatever. I would insist on it.

“Want a mana stone? Will you eat one? Is a C-Class mana stone too much for F-Class stats?”

It might get sick. But I did not have any F-Class mana stones. No, that was not true.

When I looked up, I saw a Moss Monkey peering down from a tree.

I would have to catch it without poison. Just wait a little, Peep. I’ll prepare your meal.

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