WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈
Chapter 9: Friends for Ten Years Starting Today
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That hunched man, looking worn down by life, had failed to obtain an SS-grade skill!
Judging by its name, it was clearly a special skill related to crafting. My God, not a single equipment-crafting skill had appeared even five years later. And I was seeing one here.
Special skills had always been rare, but after the Awakening Centers were established, they had practically disappeared altogether. The Awakening Centers used virtual-reality combat to awaken people. A virtual-reality program for healers was added later, but that was it.
As a result, 70% of Awakened from Awakening Centers had combat skills, and 29% had healing skills. Most of the remaining 1% had combat-support skills. Special skills appeared in roughly one out of every million people.
‘Anyway, jackpot. A real jackpot!’
There was the problem that I needed to say that damned keyword to raise him, but he was still too valuable to give up on. I decided to at least introduce myself and started after the man walking away in the opposite direction.
Grab.
Someone caught me by the nape. Seonghan lightly lifted and pulled me back as if I were some stray dog, speaking in an annoyed voice.
“Where are you going now without saying anything?”
Did I have to report even this? I felt like a five-year-old who had come grocery shopping with his mom.
“I just... thought I saw someone I knew. I was going to say hello.”
So let me go. Seonghan told me to give him a heads-up beforehand and released me, but by then the man who had failed to acquire an SS-grade skill was already far away.
No, wait!
“Hey! Myeongu!”
I shouted without hesitation. Yu Myeongu, who had been about to turn the corner, startled and looked back.
I strode over to him with a delighted grin.
“Myeongu, right? Yu Myeongu. It’s been so long!”
When I made a huge fuss over recognizing him, Yu Myeongu examined my face in confusion.
Of course you don’t recognize me. We’ve never met in our lives.
“Uh... who was it again? Sorry, I really don’t remember....”
That’s fine. I don’t remember you either.
“You don’t remember? Han Yujin. Yujin.”
“...Sorry. I really don’t know.”
“It has been a long time, so that’s understandable. I wasn’t completely sure myself. Have you been well? Did you awaken too?”
I lightly patted Yu Myeongu’s shoulder. He gave an awkward smile.
“Yeah. I’m F-grade, though.”
“Both your stats and skill?”
“My skill is E-grade, but... it’s not enough to enter dungeons. I only came to get the subsidy.”
A faint, powerless smile crossed Yu Myeongu’s face. Even at a glance, his life seemed harsh.
“I’m FE too! Still, we can get hunter licenses. We’re way better off than FF.”
I whispered that last part. Yu Myeongu’s smile brightened a little.
“If you’re FE, you applied for the basic program, right?”
He shook his head at my question.
“No, I didn’t. Tuition is free, but they said we have to pay for a week of room and board.... The basic program doesn’t give a subsidy, and with my abilities, I don’t think I could clear dungeons anyway. I should spend that time looking for work.”
It reminded me of myself before I returned. If I hadn’t had debts, I might have given up on being a hunter and entered the ordinary job market too. Going into dungeons with nothing but an E-grade buff skill had been truly stupid.
So I... had used the Haeyeon Guild’s guild leader to recruit party members. It was practically a scam, and naturally my reputation had hit rock bottom. Back then, I cursed Yoohyun plenty for turning me away instead of helping me.
Let’s reflect on that. I shouldn’t do it again... though I was still spinning lie after lie right now. This was for both our sakes, so it was fine!
“But isn’t that a waste? Want to train at our guild with me?”
“Huh? You have a guild...”
“Mr. Han Yujin.”
Kim Seonghan, who had been silently standing a short distance away, cut in with a frown. Yu Myeongu, only now noticing him, shrank his neck like a frightened turtle.
“Only guild members can receive rookie hunter training.”
“Come on, can’t one person tag along? I’m not even an official guild member. Besides, he has a good personality. He’s kind and good with his hands.”
You only think that because you don’t know. He’s the real deal. A true gem, but there was no way I could explain it.
“But...”
“Then ask Yoohyun. If they say no, I’ll give up.”
The moment I pulled out my phone, Kim Seonghan panicked.
“They’ll be busy!”
“If they don’t answer, I’ll call again later...”
[What is it? Did you finish registering as an Awakened?]
Yoohyun picked up after exactly two rings. That was fast.
“Yeah. I’m done. I bought the contract too. But could a friend of mine join the Haeyeon Guild’s rookie hunter training?”
[A friend? More importantly, you’re getting hunter training?]
“Wouldn’t it be better to get it done, just in case?”
[Hmm. All right. I’ll let them know. You’re coming straight back, right?]
“Some bastard cleaned out my house. Where else would I go?”
Yoohyun laughed.
Don’t laugh, you bastard. If even one cup was broken, I’d bill you for everything... except I’d already taken a billion won from him.
“See?”
I ended the call and looked up at Kim Seonghan. They looked thoroughly displeased, but said nothing and stepped back a couple of paces.
“Um, how do you know the Haeyeon Guild’s guild leader...?”
“They’re my younger sibling.”
Yu Myeongu looked at me with eyes full of admiration and envy. Our Yoohyun was pretty amazing, after all. Heh heh.
“Completing a guild’s rookie training instead of the Association’s will make it much easier to find party members. In F-grade beginner dungeons, everyone’s stats and skills are about the same, so experience is what matters most. What initial skill did you get?”
“Grindstone. It says it increases the sharpness of edged weapons by 2%.”
“A weapon buff skill. It’s certainly awkward. Still, you can manage up to D-grade with good gear. Want me to lend you some?”
If you decked yourself out entirely in C-grade equipment, even an F-grade hunter could run E-grade dungeons. I was F-grade too, but I had entered dungeons up to D-grade. Then I nearly died to Raucitas.
Still, starting from C-grade dungeons, equipment alone became hard to rely on.
“Lend me... equipment?”
Yu Myeongu looked startled. Hunter equipment was expensive enough that even F-grade gear cost over several hundred thousand won. To benefit from equipment, you had to wear gear above your own grade, and then you could easily spend hundreds of thousands or over a million won.
I alone had spent hundreds of millions buying equipment today.
Of course he was surprised that I was offering to lend him something like that so readily. I gave him the friendliest smile I could manage.
“I can’t go into dungeons often anyway. It’d be a waste to leave it sitting around, right? I’m just lending you things that would otherwise be unused, so don’t feel burdened.”
“But... I don’t even properly remember you....”
“I said don’t worry about it! Besides, you’re a good guy. A very good guy.”
Your skill is so good it has a double S attached to it. If Yu Myeongu’s skill were discovered, who would care about a few pieces of equipment? People from all over the world would come running with contracts packed with unbelievable terms.
“At least I think you’re more than worth being treated this well, so accept it. There’s no downside, right?”
“R-really...?”
Yu Myeongu’s eyes squeezed shut, then...
Plop.
Big tears began falling in drops.
Uh, what?
“Am I... really someone worthwhile?”
“Y-yeah. That’s what I think.”
“Uwaah...!”
As if a swelling dam had burst, Yu Myeongu began to cry. He was sobbing so hard he was hiccuping.
Uh, what should I do? Should I comfort him?
“...You must have been holding a lot in.”
I awkwardly patted his bent back, and after making a choked sob, he suddenly threw his arms around me.
Hey, hey. Calm down. This was damn embarrassing.
Plop.
A paper cup dropped from the vending machine. Then coffee filled it with a trickle. I took out my coffee and looked at Yu Myeongu, who was sipping job’s tears tea.
His face was a mess.
His eyes were bloodshot, and heat had reddened his face and even the back of his neck. With tear tracks all over him, he looked like a beggar who had been beaten senseless and thrown out after asking for money, but his expression looked much lighter.
“Feeling calmer now?”
He sat on the bench beside the vending machine and nodded shyly. I took a sip of coffee and sat beside him. Who cared about coffee beans? Vending-machine milk coffee was the best.
“You know, I won lots of prizes when I was a kid.”
Yu Myeongu began speaking as he watched people walking along the path behind the Association building. The weather was really nice.
“Like you said, I was really good with my hands.”
“Yeah, I know. You were the best.”
If you had the talent to obtain an SS-grade crafting skill, of course you were incredible.
“But it was useless for making a living. When I was little, everyone praised me, saying I was good at things. Then, once I got a little older, they told me to stop fooling around and study. I had to get good test scores, get into a good college, get a good job. There wasn’t even room for the talent people used to praise.”
His calm voice continued.
“If my family had been well-off, maybe I could have found a way to make use of my talent. But there was no room for that. I had no talent for studying, went to an unremarkable college, and only ended up with a pile of debt. That college label, that GPA label. Once those marks were on me, there was nowhere to go.”
His sigh made my mouth taste bitter too.
I knew that feeling well. Even before Awakened and hunters appeared, the world had ranks. They weren’t openly divided from S to F, but ranks were assigned from the moment you were born.
The so-called silver-spooned and dirt-spooned. Just like awakening stat grades, people started out differently.
Of course, some people were born poor and made something of themselves. But most stayed where they were. Even with effort, many could only rise so far before stopping.
‘Maybe an initial skill is like talent.’
Talent that could never bloom if circumstances did not support it.
They forced everyone into schoolwork and divided them into ranks, and Awakening Centers forced everyone into combat and healing before assigning them grades. In the end, even an SS-grade skill could be buried and disappear, just like Yu Myeongu’s.
F-grade as a hunter, F-grade in society too.
Ah, I wanted to crack open some soju.
“My parents divorced long ago, and I was a useless mouth to feed. Want to know how I awakened? I did it while trying to kill myself.”
Yu Myeongu giggled.
It had been more serious than I thought.
“I was cutting my wrist with a knife when I awakened. Ah, I’ll get a million won. That was my first thought, and I could breathe a little easier.”
A million won was not a small amount, but it was not a great deal of money either. Without a decent job, it would disappear within a month or two of living expenses.
...What happened to Yu Myeongu before I returned? After receiving a million won and being happy for a while, how long could he have endured as an F-grade hunter with a support skill that could not properly run dungeons?
“With that million won, I ate decent food for the first time in a while. Then... I didn’t think much beyond that. I figured whatever happened, happened. But then you told me.”
Crushing his empty paper cup, he said,
“You said I had worth. That I should keep living, that you were opening a path for me, that I was worth reaching out a hand to.”
...He was going to cry again. I cleared my throat for no reason. I had only been trying to catch a jackpot, but now I felt awkward.
“I don’t do this for just anyone. I’m doing it because you’re really a decent guy.”
“Thank you. Really.”
Yu Myeongu rubbed away the tears already gathering in his eyes with his fist. The mood was pretty good. It felt like if I missed this moment, I would have trouble getting another chance.
All right, let’s do it.
“Our lives have hit bottom a little, haven’t they? Mine wasn’t smooth either. After our parents died, I had to support my younger sibling, so I even dropped out of school. Still, my sibling was lucky enough to awaken as S-grade, while I hit bottom as F-grade. Honestly, I was jealouuus of my sibling.”
As I spoke, my true feelings slowly slipped out.
“But you know, even if everyone else laughs and says our lives are ruined, do we really need to put ourselves down too? The world is hard enough even when you live confidently. If you cower, you’ll only end up rolling deeper in the mud.”
If your life was a mess and your mind became a mess too, you would see a bottom beneath rock bottom. If I had been a little less inferior, my old life would have changed a lot.
“Do we need to keep looking upward until we break our necks? Just live thinking, Actually, I’m great. Other people just don’t recognize it. Have some affection for yourself too. I love the amazing me!”
Mental victory was better than digging yourself into a meaningless hole. I smiled broadly at Yu Myeongu.
“Yu Myeongu. I love you too, my friend!”
He laughed, and I laughed too. A message window appeared.
[Awakened ‘Yu Myeongu’ has been influenced by the Keyword!]
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