Chapter 792

The S-Classes That I Raised

“What is that supposed to…”

“The very root of your existence. Completely. I’ve never attempted it before, but with Plunder’s help, it should be much easier.”

The black shadow that had vanished for a moment began to ripple again.

“That is what the trace of my pre–regression self taught me as well.”

The present Seong Hyunjae whispered to the present Han Yujin, who had gone rigid. Han Yujin’s eyes shifted toward the man behind him. The method for completely absorbing the magic stones of his subordinates. It seemed the Seong Hyunjae who had lingered briefly and then disappeared, his past and future self, had taught him that.

“Then I…”

The Han Yujin in the memory looked up at Seong Hyunjae. His eyes were trembling violently.

“You disappear. Completely.”

The sound of a sharp inhale reached them. Han Yujin twisted reflexively, but the hand gripping his shoulder did not budge. The golden eyes drew a thin curve.

The hand on his shoulder tightened. Even through his clothes, Seong Hyunjae could feel his pulse pounding hard with terror. Han Yujin’s entire body shook and shook again, as though his body itself had become one giant heart. The pressure was so crushing that even breathing was difficult, and shallow, gasping sounds kept spilling out of him.

“On your knees, just like this.”

The low voice flowed out with startling gentleness. But to Han Yujin’s ears, it was no different from the sound of an executioner sharpening his blade.

“You could press your forehead to the tip of my shoe. Politely, of course.”

“Why, haah… do you make it sound like… you’ll let me live…”

“It’s your last words.”

The hand on his shoulder drifted over the back of his neck, brushed past his ear, and slowly stroked Han Yujin’s head. Not as if touching an equal human being, but as if petting a young animal rolling around at his feet.

“Song Taewon worried about a fragile F–Rank until the very end. Because that is the kind of man he was.”

“Song… Taewon…”

“I received his inheritance, so I should answer it at least a little. So bend. Crawl, Han Yujin.”

His head was pressed down slightly. Han Yujin tensed his neck on reflex.

“Behave so pathetically that even I feel repulsed. Make yourself so filthy I wouldn’t want you anywhere near my mouth, so worthless that you aren’t even worth stepping on. I have no desire to swallow something insignificant.”

If he rolled in the dirt and begged to be spared, Seong Hyunjae would lose even the desire to touch him.

It was not that the act of clinging to life was shameful. Seong Hyunjae was generous to those who wanted to live. But he found no value in someone who only relied blindly on another person’s mercy and prostrated himself without thought. Breathing did not, by itself, mean living. He would still shield and protect such people, perhaps, but his gaze would never so much as brush across them.

So Han Yujin could escape as well. If he obediently lowered his head, held his breath, abandoned the act of thinking for himself, and curled up small.

Han Yujin’s upper body bent a little.

But instead of bowing all the way down—

Smack!

He shoved Seong Hyunjae away with both hands as hard as he could. Seong Hyunjae did not move an inch, solid as a wall. Han Yujin was the one pushed back. He staggered badly, then slammed his uninjured foot against the floor. His body lifted into the air and flew backward before rolling across the ground. Having put distance between them, Han Yujin coughed harshly.

“Ugh, hhk!”

After the coughing came the dry heaves he had been holding back under the pressure. Even so, he planted a hand against the floor and retreated farther, pulling a spear from his inventory and using it like a cane to push himself upright. At the same time, his other hand gripped a dagger and threw it at Seong Hyunjae, who was still standing exactly where he had been.

Tap.

The blade he had hurled with all his strength fell without leaving so much as a scratch on the fabric covering Seong Hyunjae’s arm. Leaning on the spear, Han Yujin clenched his back teeth. To an S–Rank, an F–Rank was not even worth putting an inventory–sealing bracelet on. He knew that. Of course he knew that. But realizing it all over again was still miserable.

Even while trembling, unable to fully shake off his fear, Han Yujin lifted the corner of his mouth.

“Seong Hyunjae. Go to hell.”

Han Yujin’s gaze flicked toward the exit. Even if he got out of this room, this was still Sesung Guild. An A–Rank Hunter would be guarding the mini portal. Before that, escaping Seong Hyunjae himself was already impossible. Even if he ran with everything he had, how many steps could he possibly get?

There was no answer. No way out. Nothing but a wall in every direction.

Even so, Han Yujin moved. He struck the floor hard with the tip of his spear and turned his body toward the exit.

Shrrrring—

A metallic sound rang out. It was the sound of chains, one that would be hard for any Hunter to mistake, whether Korean or foreign. In the blink of an eye, it closed in behind Han Yujin’s back.

Before he could even take a single full step.

“Ugh!”

The chain wrapped around his good leg. Han Yujin lost his balance and fell forward. Clang. The spear struck the floor and rolled away. Before he could snatch it back up, he was dragged across the ground.

“Let me go! Seong Hyunjae!”

Something like a short hook appeared in Han Yujin’s hand.

Thud!

The end of the hook dug into the floor and lodged there, and he tried to hold on. For some reason, the chain loosened for an instant. Han Yujin struggled up on his bad leg and threw himself toward the sofa. But before he could hide behind it like a shield, the chain reached him first and wound around his body.

“Silver?”

Han Yujin flinched at the color of the chain, which he had not noticed until now. For one moment, he wondered if it was not Seong Hyunjae’s weapon after all, but the shape was unmistakably familiar. The chain pulled Han Yujin onto the table, knocking him flat, then bound him in place so he could no longer move. Han Yujin kicked the table hard, but perhaps it had been made from dungeon byproducts, because it did not budge.

“I gave you a path to walk out of here alive.”

Along with the voice came the faint sound of heels striking the floor. Han Yujin strained his neck, lifting his head as much as he could. But he could not see Seong Hyunjae. That made a chill crawl even colder down his spine.

“What a pity.”

Han Yujin’s head hit the table. His chest, tangled in silver chains, rose and fell roughly. He felt like an ingredient laid out just before being cooked. Han Yujin squeezed his eyes shut, then forced them open again.

“…I can’t die here.”

“Everyone says that.”

“I have to… go home. Yuhyun…”

With his brother.

He had to go back with him.

The sound of dress shoes stopped. Han Yujin felt the gaze looking down at him. He was scared. His breath kept catching in his throat.

“Still your brother, is it. Even though you bare your teeth so much in front of him.”

The vast, distant ceiling was reflected in Han Yujin’s eyes.

“…I never hated him.”

Why had he left? Why had he pushed him away? Why wouldn’t he listen to a single word?

It would have been impossible not to feel something like resentment. But that hatred had been aimed more at the circumstances that had wrapped around the brothers than at Han Yuhyun himself. If they could go back to the way things had been before, all those bitter feelings would melt away like snow. Peacefully, as if he had never said cruel things, as if he had never raised thorns.

“So… please tell Yuhyun I went missing.”

Because maybe he would grieve a little. Because maybe, even now, he might be hurt because Han Yujin was still his brother.

“To a child, a parent can be the whole world. But a parent, too, can become swallowed up by the child.”

Seong Hyunjae spoke with a faint trace of pity.

“Especially when they throw away their own life and cling only to that child. Even adults with fully formed selves can fall into that, yet Han Yujin, you were a child as well.”

A child too young to have even thought about having a life of his own.

And there had been no proper help from anyone around him.

Seong Hyunjae bent slightly at the waist. Han Yujin’s view of the ceiling was blocked by him.

“Erasing it all and beginning again may be the right path.”

“…And who gets to decide what’s right?”

Han Yujin coughed lightly, then laughed.

“I’m sure it doesn’t look healthy to other people. But damn it. Don’t stand there and decide someone else’s life was wrong when it was the only life they could live. When it was what they had to do. Did I go out of my way to hurt you or something?”

“No.”

Instead of the faraway lights, golden eyes held the light before him.

“You lived very hard, Han Yujin.”

“…Yeah.”

Han Yujin closed his eyes.

“Getting to hear that at the very end feels disgustingly nice. Especially from the Guild Leader of Sesung.”

“And that is why it must be erased.”

“I said I refuse—!”

Han Yujin’s eyes flew open. At some point, Seong Hyunjae had seated himself on one edge of the wide table. With one leg crossed over the other, he slowly swayed the tip of his foot and looked down at Han Yujin.

“Us.”

“…What?”

“Even if I safely let you go, as Song Taewon wanted, I will ultimately put myself first. If you keep living and keep growing, I will end up putting my hands on you eventually.”

“…So what are you planning to do?”

“Does the chain’s color look unfamiliar?”

The end of the silver chain settled into Seong Hyunjae’s hand.

“Crescent Moon noticed Song Taewon’s movements. But since she could not erase the power of Eclipse itself, she tried to erase the relationship between him and me.”

“The relationship…?”

“If Song Taewon and I became completely unrelated to each other, then I would be unable to obtain Plunder, much less use it. Fortunately, Seeker’s Chain blocked the moonlight. More precisely, it absorbed it.”

Its essence was not metal, but light. That was why it could be dyed by moonlight.

“It wasn’t perfect, so there must have been some aftereffects. For you as well, Han Yujin.”

“For me too?”

“We spent quite an enjoyable time together, after all. And one could say you were the one who sent Song Taewon to me.”

Han Yujin scowled.

“I was one–sidedly deceived, actually. …In the end, was saying we were the same age part of testing the title too? What was it, your birthday was earlier, so you counted as my older brother or something? Do you have a conscience?”

“That hurts. You used to treat me like some sheltered young master who knew nothing about the world, protecting me so warmly, yet now you have gone cold.”

“Because of the things you did! You acted like you knew everything, all relaxed and smug, but then you were awkward in the weirdest places… Forget it.”

Seong Hyunjae laughed quietly. A faint silver light began seeping out of the chain binding Han Yujin.

“You will forget, Han Yujin. If your feelings toward me disappear, then your power as a Nurturer will become useless as well.”

“I refuse.”

“I, too, will forget some things, and some things will be mixed together. I cannot neatly cut out what has become tangled. The people connected to us will forget our relationship as well.”

“I said I don’t want that!”

“The reason I erased your memory and let you go was guilt, I suppose. Guilt over Song Taewon’s death. A desire to protect you. Clumsy though it may have been, there was a last request. It isn’t a bad explanation.”

“What guilt!”

Bang!

Han Yujin stamped his foot hard.

“I’m not going to forget Chief Song Taewon for some bullshit reason like that! Even if I was involved, it was still Chief Song Taewon’s choice. And he… he was absolutely not the kind of person who would be forced into something he didn’t want to do. Not something like this. Never.”

Even if he had been bound by public office and had not been free.

Even if he had lived while suppressing himself.

In the end, he was a person who would decide and move by his own will.

“So I won’t feel guilty. He must have done what he wanted to do. Who am I to take that away from him?”

“I’m sorry.”

Seong Hyunjae apologized honestly. But shadows were flowing from his fingertips, mixing with the silver moonlight.

“Still, Han Yujin. Rest for a while.”

“Seong Hyun… jae—!”

Han Yujin blinked. He tried to forcibly hold on to consciousness, but it was too much.

“Besides protecting you from me, Crescent Moon has not given up on me yet. All of this needs to be hidden.”

Should I sing you a lullaby?

Seong Hyunjae whispered. The eyes that had remained stubbornly open slowly began to lose strength. Seong Hyunjae quietly watched him.

“It will be a little lonely.”

Song Taewon and Han Yujin.

Those two people had been closest to Seong Hyunjae’s line.

Song Taewon, who had tried to maintain a proper distance, had ultimately crossed the line and remained as a part of Seong Hyunjae.

Han Yujin had been a little farther away. Even so, he had been the one who had first drawn Seong Hyunjae, who had hidden his identity, inside his own line. Even after learning that he was the Guild Leader of Sesung, Han Yujin had been unable to throw him away. Now he would be pushed completely far away.

“Perhaps I should raise a sheep. A black lamb.”

“…I am… Se… sung…”

“And send you a postcard from time to time.”

“You…”

“Lastly, I truly hope you and your brother reconcile safely. I mean that.”

Han Yujin’s eyes closed completely. The silver light threaded with black shadow spread outward, staining Han Yujin deeply. Seong Hyunjae, too, was swallowed by that light.

Silence settled.

The present Han Yujin walked forward.

“So that’s how we forgot.”

“The power of Eclipse still remains here, but Crescent Moon’s power seems to have been completely erased.”

Seong Hyunjae spoke. Han Yujin looked at the scattering silver light. The moonlight that had been locked inside him without his knowledge.

“Maybe this is why Crescent Moon was able to take over my body more easily.”

And the moonlight suppressing his memories must have been pushed out when Crescent Moon’s power was completely removed. Because of that, the memories that had been buried twice over, sealed away so firmly, had collided with the power of the pomegranate fruit and begun leaking out.

Han Yujin closed his eyes. His figure faded away.

At the same time, the Han Yujin on the table opened his eyes. The chain, having regained its original gold, slipped down. Han Yujin sat up and looked at Seong Hyunjae.

“I liked you too.”

“And then you came to like me again. Did you not?”

The Nurturer title.

Eclipse.

Seong Hyunjae.

Han Yujin sorted through the memories in his head.

“Gyeol was wary of you. Gyeol was born from a part of pre–regression Seong Hyunjae.”

The pre–regression Seong Hyunjae’s memories had been uncertain as well. But he must have sensed the element of threat. Han Gyeol also knew very well about Han Yujin’s power as a Nurturer.

“I’m sure you can guess this, but my Nurturer title is a higher rank now than it was before I turned back time.”

“You have also used that power on high–rank Hunters. The Teacher skill is tied to Nurturer as well, so its growth must have been even faster.”

“Maybe.”

Han Yujin swallowed dryly.

“If you absorb me as I am now, absorb the power of the Nurturer, then maybe you can sort through what has accumulated inside you much more safely.”

It was the power to make things grow.

If he swallowed the root of that power all at once, it would undoubtedly be a great help.

“A pseudo–origin can’t compare to an S–Rank, let alone a Transcendent, so it won’t be perfect. But I’m sure it would still be useful.”

An L–Rank title would not be enough to deal with an origin. Even so, for the current Seong Hyunjae, it was the most certain and realistic method.

It would not be strange for him to reach out this very moment.

“But… Gyeol said he trusted you.”

“And what about you, Han Yujin?”

“I trusted you.”

He had trusted the time they had built together.

“But the current Seong Hyunjae…”

“Erased his emotions.”

Han Yujin slowly clenched and unclenched his hand.

“My memories remain as they are, and Han Yujin is still Han Yujin, so I do still find you quite interesting.”

The golden eyes were smiling.

But they were not entirely as they had been before.

Seong Hyunjae took a step forward. The indoor garden, the high ceiling, and the arched doorway all vanished, and the water rippled back into place.

“Han Yujin.”

Splash.

“Did you not say you would treat me?”

Splash.

“I will gratefully accept.”

The power of Plunder that had seeped into Han Yujin lifted its head.

Seong Hyunjae parted his lips slightly.

Han Yuhyun stood on the water. The flames that had been circling him were gone, and the butterfly had vanished as well. As his gaze immediately swept his surroundings, the hem of a black coat entered his sight.

It was Han Yuhyun.

Shing—

Both Han Yuhyuns drew their swords at the same time. In an instant, the air pulled taut.

But then—

“Yes. I’m okay.”

A small voice broke the balance.

Both Han Yuhyuns turned their heads. They saw the back of a tiny child, around five years old, sitting in a chair.

“…Hyung?”

Han Yuhyun murmured.

Neither knew who had spoken first.

–TL Notes–

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