WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 65: Q&A

──────

“I only plan to Awaken a few high-grade Hunters myself, or people with skills that are truly difficult to obtain. For everyone else, I’ll just verify things.”

Once we knew someone’s aptitude, it was possible to guide them toward Awakening by creating the right environment. The success rate would be lower than optimized Awakening, but that couldn’t be helped.

“If I provide the data, other people need to handle the rest themselves. How could I personally take care of every little thing? I can’t.”

“You’re pretty firm for an old man.”

“Who wants to go looking for hardship?”

Yerim’s eyes widened dramatically.

“You, right in front of me. That’s why the Guild Leader is giving off such an icy air.”

“…When exactly is he planning to get over it? Is he still the same? Not over it at all?”

“He’s been completely gloomy. Honestly, I know the Guild Leader worries about you, mister, but it looks excessive to other people. Adding one or two more skills doesn’t really change anything. Even if a gold nugget everyone wants becomes twice as big, everyone still wants it.”

That was completely true. Whether or not I added the fact that I could determine anticipated Awakening ranks and skills, the people trying to mess with me would remain the same.

“He is being excessive, but I still need to soothe him. We agreed to enter a dungeon together, too.”

Maybe I should buy him a bouquet.

“Come on, use this chance to make things clear. Tell him to keep his interference reasonable. And come with me instead!”

…What did they mean, come with them? They belonged to Haeyeon Guild anyway.

“You can go into dungeons with me! I can clear low-grade dungeons quickly by myself now.”

Yerim spoke confidently. Right, they said they would soon reach level thirty. If things didn’t work out, I could go with Yerim.

“Do you have time?”

“I’m an S-Class Hunter. I make my own schedule! Just say the word.”

“Hey, think about the other Hunters who move with you. You can’t act like that already just because you’re S-Class.”

“I’ll let them know in advance. When are you going?”

“Um... hold on. I’ll check with Yoohyun first.”

I texted Yoohyun that if he’d been busy lately, I would go to the dungeon with Yerim instead. A reply came almost immediately.

[There’s no need. I cleared my schedule.]

“He says he’s going himself.”

“Ah, I knew it!”

Yerim looked deflated.

“Go with me too!”

“Sure, next time.”

“Somewhere with nice scenery. We can pack lunch!”

Were we going on a picnic? A low-grade dungeon was practically picnic-level, though.

* * *

After chugging mana potions and searching all afternoon, I found two people with B-Class special skills.

It wasn’t the right time to attempt their Awakenings immediately, so I handed the list to the Association for now. I wanted to find at least ten people to account for the possibility of failure. Hopefully, tomorrow would be as productive as today.

If not, we could try people with slightly lower ranks. For now, all we needed was definite proof.

‘Tomorrow is Garosu-gil, right?’

Renting a ground-floor spot in a prime location was work in itself. Money could handle most things, though.

“Peace, Peep, have you both been well?”

I wanted to bring them both along, but the law still didn’t allow it outside Hunter-related facilities. It wasn’t as if I traveled alone, and I had A-Class Hunters or above with me. Maybe I should pressure the Association to do its job.

“You’re back?”

As I prepared food for the kids, Myeongu suddenly appeared out of thin air. Myeongu had looked terrible yesterday, and today was no different.

At this rate, he was going to work himself to death.

“It’s not urgent. How about taking it easy?”

Even with an exhausted expression, Myeongu grinned at my words.

“I’ll make something at least A-Class before construction is finished. S-Class is the goal.”

“Isn’t that pushing yourself too hard?”

“It’s worthwhile hardship, so it’s fine. Life is much more bearable than when the future was pitch-black. Back then, it wasn’t really living. This is real life.”

Real life, huh. Hearing that, I couldn’t discourage Myeongu anymore. I should at least make sure Myeongu took the restorative tonic Kim Seonghan had sent.

* * *

After using Sprout until it practically wore out, I found three more people with B-Class special skills. There was also one combat Hunter with B-Class stats. I might have found more if it hadn’t rained midway through. I had failed to consider weather as a variable.

‘Busy districts aren’t bad, but visiting one company or school at a time would reduce duplicate checks.’

Hospitals would be good too. The more healers, even lower-ranked ones, the better. I could tour the entire country... No, no.

Once the Special Awakening Center was established, plenty of people would come to us anyway. There was no need to create more work for myself. The Association and guilds could handle it.

I was going to relax.

“Peace, we’re going into a dungeon today.”

Grrr.

I spoke while rubbing Peace’s scruff.

“It’s where you originally lived. Do you remember? ...They probably aren’t good memories.”

From Peace’s perspective, humans had killed Peace’s family and kidnapped Peace. ...Could Peace really get along with Yoohyun?

“That doesn’t mean we can stop clearing dungeons. Later, there were even groups that argued monster survival rights should be guaranteed.”

They claimed dungeon breaks were a natural phenomenon, and that monster sanctuaries should be created outside dungeons. It was absurd. Would monsters really stay obediently inside those sanctuaries? We could only attempt coexistence if we could communicate with them first. Monsters attacked people on sight.

“Still, my little brother isn’t a bad person. ...Though he’s probably the worst villain in the world to you. I’ll tell him to treat you well.”

I held Peace in my arms and patted Peace gently. It would be better if Peace didn’t remember the dungeon. Since Peace didn’t act viciously toward Yoohyun, maybe Peace didn’t remember.

Peep!

When I held only Peace, Peep circled my feet as though asking to be picked up too.

“I can’t take you. It’s a D-Class dungeon, so it’s dangerous.”

Peep?

“No.”

When I repeated myself, Peep seemed to understand and became dejected. This one had become much more expressive lately. Peep had started taking an interest in things besides food, too.

“Wait nicely.”

Peep peep.

After putting Peep in the basket, I picked up the things I had prepared. Peace trotted after me.

[I’ll be down in the parking garage.]

After texting Yoohyun, I headed out. The Hunter by the elevator greeted me with a smile.

“Are you heading down now?”

“Yes. I’m going to wait in the parking garage.”

Without me having to lift a finger, they held the elevator and pressed the button for me. I shouldn’t get too used to this, but everyone was excessively kind.

When I arrived at the parking garage, Yoohyun was already there. His expression was stiff. He even looked a little sullen.

“Have a safe trip.”

The Hunter who had come with me read the room and stepped back. Though he must have noticed my presence long ago, Yoohyun turned toward me a beat late.

Then he looked slightly puzzled.

“…What’s that?”

The little jerk, who had been trying to maintain an air of I’m mad at you, couldn’t hold back and spoke first.

“A gift.”

“…For who?”

I walked over in long strides and held the bouquet out to my brother.

“Who else would it be for? You’re the only one here.”

Well, Peace was here too.

“I bought it because it seems trendy these days. Why don’t you relax that face a little? Are you planning to walk around advertising that you’re mad at me?”

“I’m not mad.”

“Then what?”

“…Do I even have the right to be mad at you?”

He turned away sharply, but accepted the bouquet. What was that supposed to mean? Had he hit delayed puberty or something? He had been far too quiet as a child, aside from running away from home.

“If something is bothering you, talk about it properly.”

“You wouldn’t tell me properly anyway.”

Ouch. I had nothing to say to that. Though I didn’t think he would believe me even if I told him.

“You don’t tell me everything either. Shutting me out unilaterally in the name of protecting me isn’t much different.”

“I told you, I’m not mad. I got upset on my own, so don’t worry about it. And thank you for the flowers.”

As if I wouldn’t worry. Yoohyun opened the rear car door for me. He was about to put the bouquet on the passenger seat when he stopped and made a call somewhere. Soon, someone from the secretarial office came down and took the bouquet.

My plan had been for him to receive the bouquet, say, “What’s this?” and laugh in bewilderment. Had the bouquet not been unexpected enough?

“How long are you going to stay upset?”

“I’m thinking about it. About what I should do with you. Honestly, I don’t have what it takes to handle you. I admit that. I know continuing to interfere with you is overstepping.”

Yoohyun spoke as he got into the driver’s seat. It felt strange hearing him say that. Compared to my brother, I was really nothing special.

“…Why say it like that? We’re brothers. No matter what the circumstances are, we can worry about each other.”

“It’s the truth. I need to accept that you have gone beyond my reach. I just don’t want to, so I act like this. You don’t need to worry about it.”

He said it firmly and started the car.

Mm, I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t tell him it was fine to keep interfering. But I didn’t like ending it with there was nothing to be done, either. Most of all, there was that talk about not being capable enough.

...What was overstepping about a younger brother worrying about his older brother? The reverse was true too. Sure, in my case, it was like a cat worrying about a tiger. Still, it wasn’t impossible.

The dungeon wasn’t far away, so we arrived quickly. It was a beach-and-forest environment under Haeyeon Guild’s management. Ordinary monsters appeared in the forest, while the boss monster appeared on the beach.

Grrf!

The moment a monster came into view, Peace leaped from my arms. The Olgor, a monster that looked like a cross between a monkey and a cat, bared its teeth viciously at Peace.

“They were like that with the Fanged Mole too. I guess monsters don’t get along with each other...?”

“It’s common for different species to try to kill and eat each other. In high-grade dungeons where multiple species of similar rank appear together, they sometimes deliberately make monster groups fight each other.”

“I see. You know a lot.”

I nodded as if I were hearing it for the first time, then glanced at my brother. I should use this chance to have a proper, open conversation.

[Ready to talk!]

Right, talk. Huh? No, wait.

The moment the message window appeared, the surroundings went dark as though someone had switched off all the lights. Then small lights, like fireflies, began appearing one by one.

“…Yoohyun?”

Neither Yoohyun nor Peace was visible. What was this? Calming my panic, I looked around. I couldn’t sense their presence at all. Was this an entirely different space?

‘Nothing is visible.’

The lights floated in the darkness, but that was all. Nothing was illuminated. There was only blackness.

“Hello?”

If you dragged me here, at least say something.

As though answering, the cluster of lights gathered in front of me. A rectangular window formed, and a Korean keyboard appeared. It looked like a giant smartphone screen.

Deer: Hello, darling!

Tree: Nice to see you! How have you been?

Newbie: Hello!!

Wolf: Hi, sweetie!

Waterdrop: Can you see us? You can, right? I hope it opened properly.

Text appeared across the screen one line after another. Was this a chat? A chat window?

‘There are five of them for now.’

After hesitating briefly, I placed my hands over the keyboard.

Honey: Hello.

…What kind of nickname was that? Change it. Was there no chat settings menu?

Deer: Ooh, our sweetie! You connected safely! Send me a welcoming kiss~

Wolf: You have a lot of questions, right? Ask anything!

Waterdrop: Not anything! Sorry, Honey. Ignore those two. They keep butting in for no reason. Newbie will block them soon. Let me explain the precautions first.

At least one of them was normal.

Waterdrop: There is a limit to the information we can give you. The passage connecting your side and ours is narrow. Normally, it is completely closed. We have forced it open now, so if the amount of information exceeds a certain limit, it will be cut off.

Honey: Does small talk count as information? Also, can’t we just use our real names for nicknames?

Waterdrop: Small talk is fine. Names are information too, so we can’t. More than anything, we still need to keep Honey hidden.

Honey: Hidden from what?

Deer: The One Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken!^▽^

Voldemort?

Waterdrop: They haven’t been blocked yet. Still, that isn’t wrong. Names carry a lot of information. If we discuss them in detail now, that side will notice too.

Honey: Are they connected to the dungeons?

Waterdrop: That’s right! Dungeons gradually increasing in number and growing stronger is a kind of act of expanding their influence. But you don’t need to worry. Honey only needs to do one thing.

Honey: Raising the S-Classes, right?

That was the only thing they had directly asked of me.

Tree: Correct again! More precisely, you only need to apply the Keyword and gather exactly fifty people.

Waterdrop: More than that is fine too.

Newbie: If you do that, you can leave the rest to us!

Waterdrop: Though we can’t explain the details. Please trust us. Just fill your skill window completely with fifty people. That’s all you need to do.

Could it really work with only fifty people? Then again, if I kept applying Keywords and giving them growth buffs, they would become much stronger than the original S-Classes. Depending on how they grew, maybe even SS-Class Hunters could emerge.

Honey: Then could you change the Keyword to something easier?

Like “Keep It Up” from before.

Waterdrop: We don’t set the Keywords. We merely check Honey’s skill and write in a name and description to match it.

Deer: I came up with all the names for the Perfect Caregiver title skills! They fit perfectly, right?

So you were the culprit.

Honey: No, not at all. Then could you at least write more detailed descriptions?

Waterdrop: There are two reasons, Honey. First, we don’t know people’s skills, their abilities, with complete accuracy either. Say we discover a new kind of rabbit, examine it, and decide it has long ears, hops around, eats grass, and is called a rabbit. That’s about all we know. We lack both the ability and the time to investigate every detail.

Tree: Fortunately, we have accumulated data, so we’re managing the skill windows somehow. But Honey is truly an exception.

Waterdrop: Yes, the Perfect Caregiver title has appeared for the first time.

Deer: It’s really □□□□□!

Wolf: □□□□□□□□□!!

Waterdrop: Get those two out of here right now!

[Sorry, the chat has been unstable for a moment.]

Waterdrop had it rough.

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