The S-Classes That I Raised - Chapter 59

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 59: Pretending to Have Forgotten (2)

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‘They had three A-rank skills.’

It had seemed a waste to leave him alone, but I had not been willing to use an optimized Awakening skill that could only be used once a month. I did not want to apply a Keyword, either. But now I could perform optimized Awakenings up to three times a month...

‘And A-rank special skills are not common.’

Maybe I should at least get acquainted with him first.

- Hello. Yes, it’s the new one I brought in. ^^

A reply came back the moment I sent the message.

- Oh my god, you replied! Thank you! I-I-I was really moved by your broadcast! Peace is so cute, and I seriously completely love Peep!!!

- Ah, yes. Thank you.

- My dream is to Awaken and join Haeyeon Guild! I want to go there and be Peace's foot-wiping rag!!!

I was going to leave Haeyeon soon. More importantly, what did he mean, Peace's foot-wiping rag?

‘How should I reply to that?’

I could hardly say, Yes, work hard at being a foot-wiping rag.

- Awakening is not easy. ^^

Not yet, anyway. Once the Awakening Centers opened, everyone and their dog would Awaken and make a fuss about becoming Hunters. That would cause another whole mess. It had been absolute chaos.

- Right! I tried this and that, but nothing worked, so I asked an Awakening broker for help!!

What?

- Oh no, they said I shouldn’t tell anyone. It’s a secret:

It was like spitting into my own face, but what an idiot.

‘He got into trouble in a dungeon.’

No wonder I did not remember seeing his face. He had either been badly injured enough that he could not work, or died. One of the two.

What was I supposed to do with him?

- Awakening brokers are scammers.

- Scammers?

- Yes. Do not meet the broker.

Our chat had been practically real-time, but there was no reply for a moment.

- I’m already here...

Damn it. What kind of people were these brokers? Most would let someone leave if they gave up on getting their money back, but a small number of particularly vicious ones lured people in intending to kill them from the start. They would buy an exclusive entry permit, enter a dungeon, and dispose of them inside. No body, no evidence.

Of course, if they did it a few times, they would eventually get caught. But at the time, dragging ordinary people into dungeons was not considered murder. It was merely an unfortunate accident.

Even if they were caught, at worst their Hunter licenses would be suspended. Brokers were usually low-rank Hunters, so it was not much of a loss.

- Where are you? Who is the broker?

- A D-rank dungeon near Wonhyo Bridge in Yeouido. I don’t know their names. There are C-rank and D-rank Hunters mixed together. The leader is supposedly C-rank.

Damn. If a C-rank team was involved, they had more to lose if their side business was discovered, so they would be thorough about silencing people. They would not just let him leave.

- Should I just say I don’t want to do it?

- No, wait a moment. When are you entering?

- Not everyone is here yet. The team leader contacted us a little while ago and said he would be about 30 minutes late.

Thirty minutes. Wonhyo Bridge was close from here. Should I contact Haeyeon Guild and have someone sent over? Or...

‘Should I just go get him myself?’

There was no need to make this bigger. I could use Thorn Trap a little, then use Stealth through skill sharing with Hidden Picture and slip away.

- Are you inside the building?

- I’m in a van outside.

As expected, the leader must have won the bid. They would need both the password and a Hunter license chip, so they could not enter yet.

- They said I was managing my fans, but now they're telling me to turn off my phone.

- Listen to them and sit quietly.

It was not difficult, and I could use this chance to put him in my debt. I could say that, for safety reasons, I was not supposed to sneak out, but I had been so worried about him that I came myself. If I sweet-talked him a little, he would probably fall for it easily. He wanted to become a Hunter that badly, so I should bring him in and use him as a figurehead.

* * *

It was a busy time of day, so getting out did not take long. Near the D-rank dungeon building by Wonhyo Bridge, a van that looked suspicious at a glance was parked along the road. The body was black, and so were the windows.

‘Has the leader not arrived yet?’

The dungeon building was deeper inside an alley. I could use Thorn Trap and pull Park Hayul out while they passed through there.

‘No, should I save him right before they enter the dungeon instead?’

It would be better to make the situation more dramatic. Right after they entered would be fine, too. The dungeon gate remained open for an hour, and I could freely use attack skills inside. The earring's shield skill could also be applied to others. Park Hayul would not get hurt.

The best timing would be right after they showed their true colors. Park Hayul was probably still unsure whether to believe me.

I would decide after seeing the situation.

‘I should test how well the concealment skill works, too.’

Should I try it on Yoohyun? I should at least tell him about the Unfindable title. What should I say about how I got it? That my little brother had tried so hard to hide me? Other than the Saint, there probably was not another F-rank who had been protected this much by S- and A-ranks.

Screeech.

Just then, a car pulled in quickly and stopped by the road. Finally, they were here.

I pushed myself away from the wall and straightened up. The car door opened, and a large man stepped out.

The moment I saw his face, I smiled without meaning to.

‘...Well, well.’

So life could bring me face to face with someone I had killed. What a thrill. I wanted to walk over and greet him, smiling broadly.

Hello. We met four years ago, or one year from now. You left me half dead, and I stabbed you in the neck. Such a fun memory, right?

The faces getting out of the van were all familiar, too. The second person I killed, the third, the fourth, fifth, and sixth. Park Hayul must have died before them.

‘Had I not thought of it, or had I chosen not to think about it?’

Of course they would be alive. The people who died. The people I killed.

The initial survival rate for F-rank Hunters was low. In the first year, when they lacked experience and proper equipment, half fled. Of the half who remained, half died or suffered irreversible injuries.

Put simply, even among those who stepped into dungeons prepared for it, half were carried out. And when I became a Hunter, the Awakening Centers had just opened. Newcomers were pouring in, and everything was a chaotic mess with all kinds of social problems.

‘No wonder Yoohyun got sick of it.’

Back then, it must have been hard for him to look after me, too. Public opinion was bad in many ways, and there were too many eyes watching for him to take care of me secretly.

Thinking about it now, someone might have launched a sort of operation against me. The reaction had been too extreme for it to have been the work of only a few gutter reporters. I was perfect material for sensationalism, easy to exploit because I was F-rank, and useful for tying down Haeyeon Guild amid the public mood at the time.

The government, the Association, rival guilds, whoever it was, they would have been fools not to use me.

Anyway, it had been a complete mess, but I did not die. Even without finding a proper team, I made it through the first year and past the second, settling into a relatively stable life.

Final Recompense. A skill that, when a target affected by the Keyword died, transferred their skills and stats to me for one hour at double efficiency.

The Keyword for the Caregiver title was very easy to apply. I just had to diligently buy people coffee, chat with them a little, smile brightly, and tell them to keep their spirits up a few times. If I kept at it, I could apply the Keyword to one or two people by the time we entered a dungeon.

“Let's get inside. Our customer needs to keep his face covered.”

Park Hayul pulled his hood low as instructed. He was wearing sunglasses, too.

...I swear I had not applied the Keyword with Final Recompense in mind. Except when I killed those bastards. It was only a small ten-percent growth buff, but it was better than nothing, so I applied it to them. There were people among them whom I wanted to keep being with.

And most of them died. I survived.

I was a buffer who used a spear, one of the last positions to die. By the time I was in danger, Final Recompense had activated. Thanks to that, I survived.

And so, well... that was how it had been, but none of it existed now...

The fact that I killed them, and that they tortured me, had all become things that never happened.

I quietly followed them. Their ranks were between C and D. Even when I stood right beside them, they did not notice me at all. Not when they entered the building, nor when they stopped in front of the dungeon gate.

“Is everyone ready?”

“Make sure your equipment is on properly.”

Perhaps because it was a high-grade D-rank dungeon, they were thoroughly prepared. High-grade D-rank dungeons were smaller than low-grade C-rank ones, but could bring in as much as half their income. They took a quarter as long to clear and were safer, too. C-rank dungeons were for striking it rich in one shot, while D-rank dungeons provided steady income.

The dungeon I entered with these people had also been a high-grade D-rank dungeon. I had been so easily hooked when they said they would take me to a D-rank dungeon. Even though I had already been burned by kindness without a reason, I fell for it again like an idiot. I had been desperate enough not to be choosy, though.

“So this is a dungeon!”

The moment he crossed the gate, Park Hayul shouted in an excited voice. Oh dear.

Thump!

“Argh!”

One Hunter kicked Park Hayul in the shin, then warned him in a low voice.

“You think you're some celebrity who needs to advertise to monsters, too? Stop drawing aggro and shut up.”

“...Yes.”

Park Hayul had no sense of danger, either. Though non-Awakened people were usually like that. Failing to Awaken was much like being a peaceful modern person who had never properly experienced a dungeon break. It was only natural that dungeons and monsters did not feel real.

That was why so many newbie Hunters died right after the Awakening Centers opened. The sharp increase in Awakened also lowered the quality of rookie training.

“We head in the three o'clock direction. Mark the entrance.”

The team leader spoke. This dungeon was a rocky environment with valleys branching in several directions. It was not as complicated as a maze, but it was best to leave markers while moving to avoid wasting effort.

I stuck close behind the dispirited Park Hayul and slowly followed them.

Crackle!

A steep rock wall broke apart, and a monster like a cross between a snake and a caterpillar sprang out. Its long body shot toward the Hunters like an arrow.

Hiss!

The monster's mouth split wide, revealing sharp fangs. It had a fairly vicious presence, but the Hunters skillfully raised their shields.

Clang!

The shield blocked the monster's attack.

Crunch!

The spearman behind the shield drove the spearhead precisely through the monster's head. Blood sprayed into the air, and the long body that had thrashed like a hooked fish soon went limp. Then another one, then two. The hunt continued like repetitive labor.

The C-rank leader was in front, with shields and spears on either side. Behind them was a C-rank defensive Hunter, and last came a support and porter.

It was a well-balanced team of seven.

‘They will keep hunting for the next hour.’

They would not show their true colors until the gate deactivated.

Gosan, a C-rank Hunter team. When I met them, they had two and a half years of experience. Now, they were an established team with one and a half years behind them. With two C-ranks, they had enough strength to form a guild, but they remained a raid team specializing in D-rank dungeons and had gained some recognition.

They had a decent image, too. Nobody knew about their side business.

“Mana stones are coming out well today.”

The support and porter waved an item with a mana stone detection function around. Every time a snake-caterpillar's belly was split open, Park Hayul's gaze shook around, too. Still, he was holding up fairly well for a non-Awakened person.

As a side business, Team Gosan targeted non-Awakened people and low-rank Hunters who seemed likely to have money. Under the guise of their decent image, they carefully selected prey with healthy bank accounts or people they could exploit, not just any riffraff.

Park Hayul was an actor who was only waiting to become famous. A quick look through his social media showed that his looks had already earned him attention despite his recent debut, and he had a substantial role in a film. If they got a good hold on him, he would become a steady source of money.

It seemed they had killed him due to a mistake or some other problem, but they must originally have planned to keep him alive and use him well.

By brainwashing him with the C-rank leader's skill.

[Awakened: Kim Yongjin

Current stats rank: C

Potential Awakening stats rank: C

Optimized initial skills

Downward Strike (D) acquired

Puppet Strings (C) acquired

Kick (D) acquisition failed]

Puppet Strings. A C-rank special skill. What had he done before Awakening for a brainwashing skill to be an optimized initial skill?

Most mental skills had weak effects for their rank. Even a C-rank skill would not work well on an F-rank, if that F-rank was in a normal state.

So those bastards lured F-ranks and non-Awakened people into dungeons and pushed them into an abnormal state. Once Puppet Strings was applied, they could enjoy easy money without worries.

There was a reason Team Gosan had not formed a guild and only raided safe D-rank dungeons or lower. Why risk their lives and struggle when they could rake in money comfortably? They only needed to raid enough to maintain their image.

The long valley ended, opening onto a broad clearing. We were not finished, but probably around the halfway point. About an hour had passed, too.

“Let's take a break here.”

The leader, Kim Yongjin, spoke. The moment he finished, the defensive Hunter and shield-bearers checked the surroundings. They really were a good team. They worked well together.

“You said your name was Park Hayul?”

Kim Yongjin took off his studded gloves and approached Park Hayul, who stood there awkwardly. Park Hayul nodded.

“...Yes.”

“Man, you're handsome no matter how many times I look. How can anyone look like that? Once your movie comes out, you'll probably get plenty of commercial offers.”

“I don’t know if it will succeed. And I want to be a Hunter...”

“People who already have everything are the worst!”

Thump!

Kim Yongjin's fist struck Park Hayul in the face. He had pulled his punch and thrown it lightly by his standards, but Park Hayul's slight body could not withstand it. He swayed like a reed.

“If you were born with a face like that, you should be saying thank you and thinking about how to sell it hard!”

“Hey, boss. Don’t touch his face.”

“Don’t worry. A potion will erase the marks from that much.”

Amid the snickering, Park Hayul froze with a blank expression. Blood ran from one nostril. He was handsome even with that expression and a nosebleed.

“Um, um, excuse me...”

“How long do you think this one will last?”

“One million won for thirty minutes.”

“I hear actors are tougher than you'd think. I say an hour. I'll put down five million won.”

When it was me, because I was an Awakened with some experience, even the guy who bet the least had put down five hours. Memories I had forgotten were really coming back.

“Wait, um...”

Park Hayul slowly backed away. The bastards watched him with smiles. The gate had already closed. Even if it had remained open, it would have been nearly impossible for a non-Awakened person to reach it safely alone. They had waited for the gate to close, not because they were worried Park Hayul would escape, but because someone might come rescue him. He was fairly famous, after all.

“Should we start by breaking a leg?”

“We cannot interfere with the actor's work. Take it easy, easy. Only enough that a potion can heal.”

They sounded so casual. How had it reached the point where he could not work anymore?

“P-Please, spare... Argh!”

A D-rank Hunter kicked Park Hayul in the stomach. As he staggered backward and fell,

Grab.

I stepped forward and caught him.

“W-What is this?!”

The Hunter who had kicked Park Hayul hurriedly backed away. The other Hunters immediately took fighting stances as well.

“What do you think?”

I had not worn a hat, and I removed my sunglasses, canceled Lizard on the Wall, and smiled. Park Hayul's eyes went round.

“U-uh...!”